If you have little experience doing research for academic projects, you may feel some anxiety about a major research assignment. Bear the following tips in mind to turn yourself into an expert researcher:
You already know something about doing research. You act as a researcher whenever you try to find out more about anything that interests you. If you are researching coffee options, you may look up information online about the trade practices of coffee suppliers or talk with friends about coffee shops with the best atmosphere, the lowest prices, or the tastiest coffee.
Research projects that interest you are easier and more enjoyable to complete. Researchers usually seek out information and opinions for a reason. Your main purpose in college research may be to fulfill an assignment, but if you can also find a purpose with which you make a personal connection, your research task will be more rewarding.
Research rarely progresses in a neat line from start to finish. When you begin any research, you don’t know exactly what you will discover. You begin with a question that may lead you to other sources. Additional research may narrow your idea—or cause you to change directions entirely. If you set out to find information on the development of the multiplayer online game World of Warcraft and end up interested in how players work together to succeed in the game, your new purpose will require you to take another look at the research you need to do.
Good research calls for careful reflection. While you may often begin research by skimming to identify useful sources, once you have found key sources, stop skimming! Read carefully, taking notes and reflecting on what a particular source offers you in terms of the major point or argument you are making. What makes this source useful to you? How reliable is it? What does it suggest you may need more information on?
Good research can make you a genuine expert. If you approach your research seriously and follow all the leads that you can, you may eventually become an expert on a topic that interests you—a Korean soap opera, homeopathic allergy treatments, or low-cost early childhood services in your neighborhood.
College research may range from a couple of hours spent gathering background information on a topic for a brief essay to weeks or months of full-scale exploration for a term project.