Effective Research

Introduction

Effective research lays the foundations for an excellent piece of work. It’s every bit as important as the actual writing part. Many students skimp on this crucial stage and it show in the work they hand in. This page will take you through what you need to do in order to conduct effective research and use your research time to best effect.

The research phase often takes longer than writing-up the assignment.

How To Carry Out Research

Follow this simple process when starting a research project:

1. Understand your assignment.

2. Understand what you already know and what you need to find out.

3. Consider the most appropriate resources to meet your research needs.

4. Use those resources!

Also consider the best environment for research e.g. School, Quit Room at Home, School Library and Public Library.

Allow Enough Time

Don’t leave you assignment till the last minute.
If you start writing without having done adequate research, your work is unlikely to be of good quality.
The amount of research time needed will vary according to:

The requirements of the assignment.
How well you already know the topic.
What teaching you’ve had on the subject.

You will need more time than you think.

Read the Assignment Title Thoroughly

Check you know exactly what is expected from the title – clarify with your tutor.
This will stop you wasting your research time.
The instructions in the question will have a bearing on the nature of your research.

Research What You Don’t Know

Start your research time by brainstorming what you already know.
This will identify the gaps in your knowledge - no time wasted researching what you already know.

Achieve a Basic Understanding First

If your brainstorm has yielded few ideas, you’ll need to acquire a basic understanding first
If you don’t you may struggle to grasp the topic and your research will be frustrating
Start from the very beginning maybe:

With a simple online search.
By referring to any core text books you use.
By re-reading any notes or handouts from class.

Work Through Your Reading List

If you’ve been given a reading list try to get hold of as many of the resources as you can.
However, it is unlikely you’ll have to read them all.
Start with the more general resources before honing your understanding from the more specialised resources.
Try to allocate a specific amount of time to each resource to ensure a good coverage of the whole topic.
Make a note of all resources used so you can reference them later.

Use a Range of Resources

Never rely too heavily on one resource.
You will probably need to give a balanced argument in an assignment, and that means researching a range of perspectives (different resources).
Keep a note of the different arguments, along with the evidence in support of or against each one.
If you see a scholars’ names cropping up again and again it’s worth finding out whether the Library has any other resources by them.

The Library isn’t just about books find out about the e-resources available.

Ask in the Library

The Library staff are there to help.
Don’t be afraid to ask if you’re not sure where to find a particular resource.
Once you are familiar with the Dewey System you’ll be able to find the resources yourself.
Use the library catalogue so search for appropriate resources.

Use the Contents Page and Index

If you haven’t been given specific pages of a book to read, make use of the index and/or contents page to help you find relevant material.

It sounds obvious, but many students battle their way through irrelevant chapters before finding something useful.

A quick look at the contents page will help tell you whether a resource is going to be of any use.

Take Notes

Take notes as you go along as you are unlikely to remember everything you’ve read.
Don’t write down everything – only the bits that will be useful for your assignment.
Be concise, and summarise arguments in your own words.
Don’t copy stuff out.

Question the Resources

Think carefully about what you read.
Question the sources and don’t accept what is written without challenging it.
Are they reliable? How do you know?
Who wrote it? Is it authoritative?
Does an opinion make sense? Is it biased.
Does it have plenty of evidence to back it up?
What are the counter-arguments?

Be Careful with Internet Research

Other than as an introduction, be very careful when using the internet for researching an assignment.
Often it’s simply not academically rigorous enough.
Anybody can put information online and a lot of it is wrong, out of date or simply an opinion with no evidence.

However, there are reliable resources available on the internet e.g. academic databases.

Note Down References As You Go Along

As you note down points jot down where you found these points as you go along.
Author’s first and last name, year of publication, title, edition, place of publication and publisher.
These can then be used to produce a formal Harvard reference for when you write up the assignment.
Many students forget to do this and have a difficult time trying to remember where they found a particular point.

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