techtip: USE YOUR CRITICAL-THINKING SKILLS IN CONDUCTING RESEARCH

USE YOUR CRITICAL-THINKING SKILLS IN CONDUCTING RESEARCH

You have probably heard that colleges and universities expect their students to be able to conduct research when they write papers or create projects. In high school or a casual setting, doing research usually means going to a search engine like Google, Yahoo, or Ask.com. Many of us do this so automatically that we say, “Let me ‘Google’ that.” But is a Google search all professors are looking for when they ask you to conduct research? How else could you conduct research?

Internet searches will help you find people basically doing three things: yelling, selling, or telling.

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Yelling: Someone has a viewpoint and puts it forward on Blogger or YouTube, but how do you know if they are biased or a member of a fringe or hate group when you use their video in your project?

Selling: Often, people promote products or services in a way that makes them sound like credible sources of information when they are really simply trying to get you to buy something.

Telling: These places and people actually have credible information that you find informative and useful, but how can you verify their credibility?

The Problem

You need to conduct research for a paper, but you’re not sure how to evaluate the types of information found on the Internet.

The Fix

Use a critical-thinking system to conduct your research.

How to Do It

Start with good questions. If you are researching a topic, such as “marijuana legalization,” generate some questions you have about that subject rather than just going to Google and typing “marijuana” into the search box:

  • What is the history of marijuana use in the U.S.?
  • Why was it made illegal in the first place?
  • Where has it been legalized and why?
  • What have been some of the positive and negative outcomes of making it legal?

Generating questions will save you time by clarifying what you need to know, so you will recognize useful results and ignore the ones that won’t help you.

Go to the library. Show the reference librarians your list of questions. They can help you fine-tune them and will recommend good places to find certain kinds of answers.

Use databases. Your school pays for research databases, which collect a variety of credible, scholarly research. When you use research databases, you can be sure that the information is reliable, and you can refine your search terms to produce 20 or 30 returns, as opposed to 20 or 30 million. Most databases are available online with login information that your college can provide, so you can use them anytime from home or on your laptop.

Use a variety of locations to confirm information. When you see the same information in a variety of credible sources, you can start to trust its accuracy. Remember that there are still good sources of information in print form that are not available online.

Consider the quality of the information. Where did it come from? Who said it and why? How current is it? Has anything major happened in this area since this information was published?

EXTRA STYLE POINTS: Get in the habit of reading (not just watching) a variety of news and information sources. If you get news only from TV or links posted on Facebook, you will miss some important stories. Remember this: Professionals need to be up to date in their own areas of interest and expertise, but they also must be able to understand larger current events happening in the world around them. You must have broad knowledge in order to place your professional knowledge in context.