Extreme
Research: 10 Snappy Rules For Success
by: Christopher
Brown
So you want to learn to research well,
and not waste any time. Let's do it. Here are a few NECESSARY
preliminary points.
First, adopt an aggressive I-am-taking-over-this-place mindset.
2. Develop a system for executing the research process.
By creating your own rules to follow systematically, you
really speed things up. Don't have one? No worries. You
can use mine. I happen to have "research animal" stamped
on my forehead.
3. Follow the rules. You can tweek them to suit your own
style after a couple of runs with this method. But these
make for great training wheels.
4. Before going into battle, always ready your weapons.
Do not go near a library or desk to start research unless
and until everything you will need sits neatly arranged
all about you for quick access. This one is your call. I
use 2 or 3 pens and a pad of paper to scratch out notes
and thoughts, and a pack of index cards for especially important
notes. Then come the highlighters. In college, I used to
work the highlighters until they overheated.
Some people like sticky notes (post-its). You can stick
'em all around you as you work. You will want a rolodex
and a phone nearby in case you have to call someone you
know to ask questions. For instance, if you have a specially-gifted
techie friend in your inner circle, or know a professor,
you may want to put him on speed dial. Think a bit about
anything else you might need. Some folks study and research
well to music, so get your headphones if you need them.
Okay, here we have the system lined up for you.
PART #1: Begin Reconnaissance. You're going in.
A. Get an overview and "contextualize" your topic. Learn
its timeline of events and the major historical factors
associated with it. When did it happen? What did it do?
Why do people care about it at all? Find a short article
that outlines the history of, or at least offers a timeline
for, your topic. Everything has a history, and gaining a
quick overview of your topic's chronology will give you
the context into which all your other sources will fit.
B. Next, ride the wave. This is the surfing and browsing
stage. Start with what you know. Pick out words associated
with your topic or subject and Google them. When you land
a starting topic (you can change this as you go, no worries.
Just start somewhere.), use online encyclopedias and other
resources to get a "quick snapshot" of the general views
on the subject that exist out there already. Try to see
your subject from as many angles as possible, as it were,
"walking all the way round it," inspecting as you go. Ask
questions in your head, or even out loud like I do (caution:
this may scare people), and put them down on paper in a
special spot. Slap a sticky note on it that reads "QUESTIONS
I HAVE."
To aid and abet developing a "snapshot overview," start
looking up books on the topic. Note the titles of maybe
50 books -- if you can find that many -- about your subject
or topic. Note the overlap in words used in the titles about
your topic. This will give you a quick idea about who or
what this topic means to others who have already studied
it.
Next, read the bibliographies of books. One good book can
give you 5-10 great leads you might never have found otherwise.
Note the titles that show up in different bibliographies.
In research geekspeak this is "bibbo," bibliographic overlap.
Bibbo identifies your IRT's -- Initial Research Targets.
Photocopy or print out from your IRT's: the table of contents;
the first chapter; a middle chapter that looks interesting
or helpful; and the final chapter.
Then read these and highlight the Dickens out of them. This
gives you a snapshot, and a working knowledge, of the entire
book extremely fast. It works too. Use your scribbled out
question set as a filter for "what to look for" -- and highlight
or take notes on -- when reading your IRT's. Write down
any further questions that develop. These can be as simple
as "Who is that guy?" Let your curiosity guide you, and
let the sticky notes FLY!!
Next, read journal and magazine articles. How do you find
these? Try checking your Bibbo. Or just follow any that
you think might land you somewhere interesting. Play the
detective. Follow your nose if you smell a good lead.
PART #2: Compile and organize your sources. Use the old-fashioned
vanilla file folders and mark them up, so you know which
is what. Then get a file box to keep them handy.
PART#3: Determine which are the most relevant features of
your topic from its effects or imlplications in 3 different
areas of study. For instance, if your topic reads, "Interesting
stuff about World War II," then you will need to ask and
study questions like, "Who did it cost, and how much did
it cost them, to have this war?" Follow the money (economics).
Then, you might ask "How did this war change the mindset
or values of American society" (sociology or philosophy).
Finally, ask maybe, "What inventions did Europeans develop
to fight this war?" (technology).
By looking at your topic from at least three disciplinary
viewpoints, you will gain a broad understanding of it, and
find yourself -- somewhat suddenly -- asking GREAT questions
about it.
PART#4: Find and choose a controversial feature of your
topic, and choose a side of the issue.
Write down your viewpoint in one sentence. This we call
your "thesis." Arguing this point well now constitutes your
"objective." Ask the question of your thesis, "How do you
know this is the case?" Ask this three times. Each time
you ask it, give a brief answer in writing from one of your
three areas you chose. Each answer must reflect views formed
from a different area.
PART#5: Next, Re-read or skim your sources to develop an
outline (in order to support your three points offered in
defense of your thesis). Now pull out the photocopied (or
printed out) chapters from your IRT's and highlight and
scribble all over them -- but keep it legible. Argue your
case vigorously with your imaginary critic who knows what
you know. Take his side and argue against your thesis the
best you can. Shoot it down, developing three criticisms.
Some of these will already have circulated in print in your
sources. Line them up. Then answer the critic. Refute his
three points. Your outline is nearly finished.
PART #6: Organize your notes into subgroups listed under
the branches of your outline. Draw a picture of the flow
of your argument and objections as though it were a tree,
and label the parts. Modify the outline as needed. Add relevant
subheadings (you will come across new info in your scribbling)
under the branches of the outline. Fill out relevant details
from your notes to form the arguments for each section and
subsection. Your rough draft is now complete.
PART#7: Rewrite your rough draft 5 times using our rules
of good writing.
PART:#8 Study the cleaned-up draft for logical errors in
arguments. See our "Blogic For Writers" website for this;
modify and strenghten your case. Use T Edward Damer's "Attacking
Faulty Reasoning" for this too.
PART#9 -- Write your conclusion. This final paragraph spells
out "what important point or points you have learned from
doing all this hard work (e-search). Here, you make the
case for why your research has value. Also, here either
write or rewrite your introductory paragraph to "hint at"
(anticipate) the concluding paragraph. Most of the time
it actually makes the best sense to write your introduction
LAST, since this way you write with a view of the WHOLE
work, which you did not have at the beginning.
In the introduction, hint at your conclusion, but don't
give away the whole story. This makes for a smooth and logical
flow from start to finish, giving your work a stylish symmetry,
where the first part foresees the end, and the end reflects
on the beginning. All good stories have this symmetry.
PART #10. Do the footnoting (or endnoting) and construct
an extensive bibliography. Add title page and Table of Contents.
See Kate Turabian's or an MLA manual online for this, and
for grammar and style. You can also use the resources we
list in our sidebar.
You are DONE. Your paper or article "so totally rocks,"
and you get an "A." Your readers love you, and you then
become wealthy and famous. Your actual mileage may vary,
batteries not included, offer void where prohibited.
About the author:
Carson Day has written approximately 1.3 gazillion articles
and essays, many with very insightful, if alternative, viewpoints.
He presently writes for Ophir Gold Corporation, and specialized
in the history of ideas in college. He has been quoted in
the past as saying "What box?" and remains at large despite
the best efforts of the civil authorities. You can visit
the Ophir Gold Corporation blogsites at http://scriberight.blogspot.com
(Writing With Power), http://ophirgoldcorp.blogspot.com
(OGC's Free Web Traffic), or http://ophirgold.blogspot.com
(Church and State 101)
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