AdviceforStudents:10StepsTowardBetterResearch

A little while back, I wrote about ways for students to add a little extra kick to
their research papers. Those strategies were meant for students who had already
masteredthebasicsofperformingresearch,notstudentsjustgettingstarteddoing
research and writing papers. As with writing, though, research skills are rarely
taughtveryclearlyprofessorsassumestudentsknoworcanfigureouthowtodo
good research, or at best turn their students over to a librarian for a tour of the
librarysfacilitiesandresources.Isitanywonderthatsomanyuniversitystudents
relyonWikipediaasthefirstandlaststopintheirresearchitinerary?
Tohelpstudentsgetuptospeedonbasicresearchskills,heres10tipstohelpyou
find,organize,andusetheinformationyouneedtoputtogetheradecentresearch
paper.

1. Schedule! I tell my students that the first step in writing a research paper is to admit you have a research paper. Write up a
schedule with a series of milestones to accomplish by a specific date (e.g. find 10 sources by September 20, finish
preliminary research by October 15), and keep to it. You will need time to get an overview of what material is out there, find out
whatsinyourlibrary,selectrelevantmaterial,readit,takenotes,andstartputtingittogetherandtodoasecondwaveofresearch
toclearuppointsraisedinthewritingofyourfirstdraft.
2. Start,dontend,withWikipedia.Wikipediaisagreatplacetostartyourresearchspendsometimesearchingforkeywords
relatedtoyourtopic,browsingthelinksyoufindoneachpage,andfollowingtheirsuggestedresources.Takenotes,especiallyofany
goodsourcestheyrecommend.Thegoalhereistogetagoodoverviewofthesubjectyourewritingabout,andWikipediais
farbetterforthatthanmostprintsources,becauseofitshyperlinkednature.Bythetimeyougetreadytowrite,though,youshould
havemuchbettersourcesatyourcommandthanWikipedia,soavoidcitingitinyourpaper.
3. Minebibliographies.Onceyouvefoundagood,solidacademicbookoressayonyourtopic,youregoldenattheendtherewill
bealistofdozensorhundredsofsourcesforyoutolookup.Youcanusuallyskimthroughthebibliographyandnotedown
anythingwhosetitlesoundsrelevanttoyourresearch.Academicauthorsarentverycreativewiththeirtitles,soitisusually

4.

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anythingwhosetitlesoundsrelevanttoyourresearch.Academicauthorsarentverycreativewiththeirtitles,soitisusually
prettyeasytotellwhattheirworkisaboutfromjustthetitleorsubtitle.Gobackthroughandseeifyourecognizeanyoftheauthors
namesthesetoomightbeworthfollowingup.onceyoustartfindingtheworkthefirstbookreferenced,dothesamethingwith
theirbibliographiessoonyoullhavealistoffarmoresourcesthanyouneed(butyouneedthem,becauseyourlibrarymaynot
haveallthebooksandjournalsreferredto,andinterlibraryloanissoslowastobeuselessforstudentswhoneedtofinishbytheend
ofthesemester).
Havearesearchquestioninmind.Technically,yourthesisshouldemergefromyourresearch,whenyouhavedatainfrontof
you.Butyouneedakindofworkingthesiswhiledoingyourresearchaquestionyouwanttoanswer.Asyoucomeacrossnew
material,askyourselfifitlookslikeitwillhelpyouansweryourquestion.Anythingthatlooksrelevantbutdoesnthelpansweryour
questionyoucanputback.Itstemptingtogatheralotofbackgroundmaterial,andsomeisnecessary,buttoomuchwillwasteyour
timewithoutcontributingtoyourresearch.Getoneortwogoodsourcesforbackground(yourinitialWikipediasearchingshouldbe
adequateinmostcases)andthenkeepfocusedbyworkingtowardsananswertoyourresearchquestion.
Dealwithonepieceatatime.Donttrytotackleyoursubjectallatonce.Getenoughofasenseofthetopicthatyoucancreate
anoutlineofthethingsyouneedtounderstand,andthendealwitheachpieceonitsown.Youllfindtheconnectionsbetweenthe
pieceswhenyouwriteyourfirstdraft.
Useasystem.Startyourresearchwithanideaofhowyouplantocollectandorganizeyournotesanddata.AlthoughIvewritten
papers using index cards before, my favorite system is to use a onesubject notebook. At the top of a fresh page, I write the full
bibliographicreferenceforabookorpaper,thencopyquotesandwritenotesbothtaggedwiththepagenumberstheycamefrom
interspersed with thoughts and ideas that occur to me as Im reading. Id love to use a computer more efficiently when doing
research, and have built databases and tried wikis and outliners and other kinds of software, but Ive never found a system that
workedwellIspentmoretimefiddlingwiththesoftwarethangettingworkdone.Whateversystemyoudecideon,make sure
thateveryquote,fact,andthoughtistiedinsomewaytoitssourcesothatyoucaneasilyinsertreferenceswhileyoure
writing.
Know your resources. Spend some time getting to know what resources, both online and offline, your library to offer. Most
libraries offer tours to students, or talk to a research librarian or at the least, walk through the library to get a feel for what is
where, paying special attention to the microfilm repository and periodicals, which youll use a lot in the course of most research
projects.Mostuniversitylibrariesalsosubscribetoanumberofacademicdatabases,andmostarenowaccessibleonlinegetto
knowtheresearchmaterialyoucanaccessfromhome.JStor,forinstance,holdsfulltextphotographiccopiesofhundreds
ofjournals,alleasilysearchable.Theresnothingquitelikethinkingofsomethinginthemiddleofthenight,loggingon,andprinting
outtwoorthreerelevantjournalarticlestoreviewinthemorning.
Askforhelp.Usethehumanresourcesavailabletoyouaswellasthematerialresources.Mostprofessorsspendtheirofficehours
waitingindisappointmentforastudenttodropinandgivethemsomethingtojustifythetimetheyrerequiredtokeepanopenhour

waitingindisappointmentforastudenttodropinandgivethemsomethingtojustifythetimetheyrerequiredtokeepanopenhour
be that student! Ask for help in finding and evaluating sources, or for help in figuring out what to do with the material youve
collectedsofar.Anotheroftenoverlookedresourceisyourfriendlyneighborhoodlibrarian.Librariansare,inmyestimation,thebest
peopleonEarththeyknowthematerialintheirchargeforwardsandbackwards,theyaredeeplyconcernedwithseeingitused,
and they have committed their lives to making information more available. Most librarians will be happy to help you find
relevantmaterialforyourproject,andsomewillevenlocatespecificpiecesofhardtofindinformationforyou.Dontforgettoask
yourfellowstudentforhelp,toosomeofthemighthavecomeacrossworkdirectlyrelevanttoyourtopic.
9. Carryanideabook.Asyoustartreallygettingintoyourproject,yourmindwillstartchurningthroughwhatyourereading,even
whenyourenotconsciouslyworkingonit.Ifyourelikeme,youllbestruckbysuddenrevelationsattheleastconvenienttimesin
thebathroom,intheshower,atthesupermarket.orwhilegettingreadyforbed.Keepasmallnotebookandapenwithyou
everywhere(well,maybenotintheshoweralthoughIdokeepdryerasemarkersbythesinksoIcanwritedownquickthoughts
onthebathroommirrorwhenIgetoutoftheshower)jotdownnoteswheneveranideacrossesyourmind,andtransferthesenotes
intoyourresearchlog(orsoftware,orwhatever)assoonasyoucan.
10. Bringituptodate.Payattentiontothepublicationdateofyourmaterialwhileitsoktouseoldermaterial,ideallyyoudlike
thebulkofyourreferencestocomefromthelast10yearsorso.Ifresearchinyourtopicseemstodryupadecadeorsoback,itmight
be because the field moved on, but it also might be because funding opportunities disappeared, a major researcher died, or any
numberofaccidentalreasons.OnetrickistoGooglethemajorresearcherswhoseworkyouvefoundandseeifyoucan
findtheirhomepagesmostwilllistrecentpublicationsandtheircurrentresearchactivitiesitcouldbethatsomeonehasa
bookabouttocomeout,orreportspublishedinobscureorforeignjournals.Ifso,youmighttryinterlibraryloan,orinsomecases,
trycontactingtheresearcherherselfandaskiftheycansendyouadraftorreprint.Becourteous,explainwhatyoureworkingonand
whatyouretryingtofindout,whereyourresearchhastakenyousofar,andwhatlightyouhopetheirworkcanshedonyourtopic.
Donotaskforalistofreferencesorwhatyourthesisshouldbenobodywantstodoastudentsworkforthem.
Thesetipswillhelpputadecentbibliographyandabodyofnotesanddataatyourfingertipswhenyousitdowntowriteupyourpaper.
Althoughevaluatingsourcesisalsoanecessarypartofdoinggoodresearch,itwillhavetowaitforitsownpost,asitstoobigatopicto
reducetoabulletpointhere.Alibrarianoryourprofessorcanhelp,especiallyifyourestrictyourselftobooksandjournalsavailablein
youruniversitylibrary.Internetsourcesaretrickier,asittakesnoeffortatallthesedaystoputupaprofessionallookingwebsitesaying
whateveryouwantuntilyourecomfortablewiththematerialinyourchosenfield,itsbesttosticktoknownsourceslikeWikipediaand
sites endorsed by your library or department, if you use the Internet at all. Remember, though, that until a few years ago, most of us
managedtodoresearchwithnoInternetatall!Withtypewriters!Walkinguphill!Inthesnow!Barefoot!
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