Research Skills

Research Questions

Before you dive into your research it is best to come up with a list of questions you want and need answered. This will help you do much better research than just blindly reading up about your topic (though sometimes you can stumble upon some interesting information this way).

Come up with a list of research questions and then prioritise them, just as you would in design class. You could do this by writing 'high' 'medium' or 'low priority', or 'need to know' 'want to know', colour coding or labelling them with numbers.

There are many thinking routines which can help you come up with good questions. Try the Question Starts routine.

The Knowledge Compass is also a great website to help you come up with different types of research questions. This website shows you lots of different types of questions. Click through them and see which is best for you.

Citations

We expect all students to cite sources correctly using MLA 8 format. There are some very useful tools that will do a lot of the work for you. However, it is very important that you understand the system, and you record your citations systematically. You may want to try Citation Machine or EasyBib.

Here are some useful resources regarding citing sources of research.

• MLA 8 Student Guide

• MLA 8 Guide (detailed)

• Understanding MLA8 - Video

• Why Citing is Important

• Did I Plagiarise? Infographic

Source Evaluation

You must show that you have explicitly evaluated your sources. In your presentation, you should mention which sources you have used, how they helped you and how you know they are credible/reliable. You should also have evidence of source evaluation in your process journal. How you choose to evaluate the source is up to you.

Here are some ideas and links:

• CARS checklist (evaluating online sources)

• CRAAP Overview

• CRAAP Worksheet (possible worksheet for process journal)

• Evaluating Print Sources (checklist)

• Evaluating Sources - Questions to Ask (possible worksheet for process journal)

• OPVL Evaluation Questions/Table

• Source Evaluation Table (possible worksheet for process journal)

• RADCAB

Primary and Secondary Sources

In your research, you must use both primary and secondary sources, and a range of different source types. Source types are books, newspapers, magazines, field notes, interviews, videos, journal articles, experiments...

For an overview of primary and secondary sources, review the information on the UNSW Sydney's Library website, as they share this information in a clear, concise and easy to understand way.

Interviewing

It is important to be prepared for all your interviews. Even if you intend for the interview to be informal, you should still have a list of topics and questions you want to cover. You should ask open questions, covering who, what, why, how and when! After your interview you can write up a summary or transcribe the entire account. If you are doing your interview through email, make sure to keep a copy of the whole email conversation. You may wish to use this in your process journal as evidence of research, collaboration or communication skills!

For further advice/help:

• General Guidelines for Conducting Research Interviews

• How to Conduct Interviews for Research

• Interviewing for Research - Asking the Questions

• Ways to Generate Great Interview Questions