50a. Managing the project
When you get started on a research project, you need to understand the assignment, choose what direction to head in, and quickly get the big picture for the topic you choose. You then have to fit all of these tasks into an already crowded schedule. The following tips will help you manage the beginning phase of research. And the chart at the bottom of the page will help you start thinking like a researcher.
Managing time
When you receive your assignment, set a realistic schedule of deadlines. Think about how much time you might need for each step on the way to your final draft. One student created a calendar to map out her tasks for a research paper assigned on October 3 and due October 31, keeping in mind that some tasks might overlap or need to be repeated (see the calendar at the bottom of the page). Notice that at the beginning of her project she started a research log to keep accurate records of the sources she read and her ideas about them. Notice, too, that she has budgeted more than a week for drafting and revising the paper.
Getting the big picture
As you consider a possible research topic, set aside some time to learn what people are saying about it by skimming sources on the Web or in library databases recommended by an instructor or a librarian. Ask yourself what aspects of the topic are generating the most debate. Why and how are people disagreeing? Which approaches seem the most intriguing? Think of this process as taking an aerial view of the topic. Once you have a sense of the landscape of the topic, you can zoom in closer to examine subtopics that look interesting. You may have to zoom in and out several times before you decide where to focus. If you zoom in too close, you may have difficulty finding sources or identifying the debate. You may have to zoom out to get a slightly broader view.
sample calendar for a research assignment
Thinking like a researcher
To develop your authority as a researcher, you need to think like a researcher—asking interesting questions, becoming well informed through reading and evaluating sources, and citing sources to acknowledge other researchers.
Be curious. What makes you angry, concerned, or perplexed? What topics and debates do you care about? What problems do you want to help solve? Explore your topic from multiple perspectives, and let your curiosity drive your project.
Be engaged. Talk with a librarian and learn how to use your library’s research tools and resources. Once you find promising sources, let one source lead you to another; follow bibliographic clues to learn who else has written about your topic. Listen to the key voices in the research conversation you’ve joined—and then respond.
Be responsible. Use sources to develop and support your ideas rather than patching them together to let them speak for you. From the start of your research project, keep careful track of sources you read or view (see 51), place quotation marks around words copied from sources, and maintain accurate records for all bibliographic information.
Be reflective. Keep a research log, and use your log to explore various points you are developing and to pose counterarguments to your research argument. Research is never a straightforward path, so use your log to reflect on the evolution of your project as well as your evolution as a researcher.