Better Research

Advice for Students: 10 Steps Toward Better Research

A little while back, I wrote about ways for students to add a little extra “kick” to their research papers. Those strategies were meant for students who had already mastered the basics of performing research, not students just getting started doing research and writing papers. As with writing, though, research skills are rarely taught very clearly — professors assume students know or can figure out how to do good research, or at best turn their students over to a librarian for a tour of the library’s facilities and resources. Is it any wonder that so many university students rely on Wikipedia as the first and last stop in their research itinerary?

To help students get up to speed on basic research skills, here’s 10 tips to help you find, organize, and use the information you need to put together a decent research paper.

1. Schedule! I tell my students that the first step in writing a research paper is to admit you have a research paper. Write up a schedule with a series of milestones to accomplish by a specific date (e.g. find 10 sources by September 20, finish preliminary research by October 15), and keep to it. You will need time to get an overview of what material is out there, find out what’s in your library, select relevant material, read it, take notes, and start putting it together — and to do a second wave of research to clear up points raised in the writing of your first draft.
2. Start, don’t end, with Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a great place to start your research — spend some time searching for keywords related to your topic, browsing the links you find on each page, and following their suggested resources. Take notes, especially of any good sources they recommend. The goal here is to get a good overview of the subject you’re writing about, and Wikipedia is far better for that than most print sources, because of its hyperlink ed nature. By the time you get ready to write, though, you should have much better sources at your command than Wikipedia, so avoid citing it in your paper.
3. Mine bibliographies. Once you’ve found a good, solid academic book or essay on your topic, you’re golden — at the end there will be a list of dozens or hundreds of sources for you to look up. You can usually skim through the bibliography and note down anything whose title sounds relevant to your research. Academic authors aren’t very creative with their titles, so it is usually pretty easy to tell what their work is about from just the title or subtitle. Go back through and see if you recognize any of the authors’ names — these too might be worth following up. once you start finding the work the first book referenced, do the same thing with their bibliographies — soon you’ll have a list of far more sources than you need (but you need them, because your library may not have all the books and journals referred to, and inter-library loan is so slow as to be useless for students who need to finish by the end of the semester).
4. Have a research question in mind. Technically, your thesis should emerge from your research, when you have data in front of you. But you need a kind of “working thesis” while doing your research — a question you want to answer. As you come across new material, ask yourself if it looks like it will help you answer your question. Anything that looks relevant but doesn’t help answer your question you can put back. It’s tempting to gather a lot of background material, and some is necessary, but too much will waste your time without contributing to your research. Get one or two good sources for background (your initial Wikipedia searching should be adequate in most cases) and then keep focused by working towards an answer to your research question.
5. Deal with one piece at a time. Don’t try to tackle your subject all at once. Get enough of a sense of the topic that you can create an outline of the things you need to understand, and then deal with each piece on its own. You’ll find the connections between the pieces when you write your first draft.
6. Use a system. Start your research with an idea of how you plan to collect and organize your notes and data. Although I’ve written papers using index cards before, my favorite system is to use a one-subject notebook. At the top of a fresh page, I write the full bibliographic reference for a book or paper, then copy quotes and write notes — both tagged with the page numbers they came from — interspersed with thoughts and ideas that occur to me as I’m reading. I’d love to use a computer more efficiently when doing research, and have built databases and tried wikis and outliners and other kinds of software, but I’ve never found a system that worked well — I spent more time fiddling with the software than getting work done. Whatever system you decide on, make sure that every quote, fact, and thought is tied in some way to its source so that you can easily insert references while you’re writing.
7. Know your resources. Spend some time getting to know what resources, both online and offline, your library to offer. Most libraries offer tours to students, or talk to a research librarian — or at the least, walk through the library to get a feel for what is where, paying special attention to the microfilm repository and periodicals, which you’ll use a lot in the course of most research projects. Most university libraries also subscribe to a number of academic databases, and most are now accessible online — get to know the research material you can access from home. J-Stor, for instance, holds full-text photographic copies of hundreds of journals, all easily searchable. There’s nothing quite like thinking of something in the middle of the night, logging on, and printing out two or three relevant journal articles to review in the morning.
8. Ask for help. Use the human resources available to you as well as the material resources. Most professors spend their office hours waiting in disappointment for a student to drop in and give them something to justify the time they’re required to keep an open hour — be that student! Ask for help in finding and evaluating sources, or for help in figuring out what to do with the material you’ve collected so far. Another often-overlooked resource is your friendly neighborhood librarian. Librarians are, in my estimation, the best people on Earth — they know the material in their charge forwards and backwards, they are deeply concerned with seeing it used, and they have committed their lives to making information more available. Most librarians will be happy to help you find relevant material for your project, and some will even locate specific pieces of hard-to-find information for you. Don’t forget to ask your fellow student for help, too — some of the might have come across work directly relevant to your topic.
9. Carry an idea book. As you start really getting into your project, your mind will start churning through what you’re reading, even when you’re not consciously working on it. If you’re like me, you’ll be struck by sudden revelations at the least convenient times — in the bathroom, in the shower, at the supermarket. or while getting ready for bed. Keep a small notebook and a pen with you everywhere (well, maybe not in the shower — although I do keep dry erase markers by the sink so I can write down quick thoughts on the bathroom mirror when I get out of the shower); jot down notes whenever an idea crosses your mind, and transfer these notes into your research log (or software, or whatever) as soon as you can.
10. Bring it up to date. Pay attention to the publication date of your material — while it’s ok to use older material, ideally you’d like the bulk of your references to come from the last 10 years or so. If research in your topic seems to dry up a decade or so back, it might be because the field moved on, but it also might be because funding opportunities disappeared, a major researcher died, or any number of accidental reasons. One trick is to Google the major researchers whose work you’ve found and see if you can find their homepages — most will list recent publications and their current research activities — it could be that someone has a book about to come out, or reports published in obscure or foreign journals. If so, you might try inter-library loan, or in some cases, try contacting the researcher herself and ask if they can send you a draft or reprint. Be courteou
    s, explain what you’re working on and what you’re trying to find out, where your research has taken you so far, and what light you hope their work can shed on your topic. Do not ask for a list of references or what your thesis should be — nobody wants to do a student’s work for them.

These tips will help put a decent bibliography and a body of notes and data at your fingertips when you sit down to write up your paper. Although evaluating sources is also a necessary part of doing good research, it will have to wait for its own post, as it’s too big a topic to reduce to a bullet point here. A librarian or your professor can help, especially if you restrict yourself to books and journals available in your university library. Internet sources are trickier, as it takes no effort at all these days to put up a professional-looking website saying whatever you want; until you’re comfortable with the material in your chosen field, it’s best to stick to known sources like Wikipedia and sites endorsed by your library or department, if you use the Internet at all. Remember, though, that until a few years ago, most of us managed to do research with no Internet at all! With typewriters! Walking uphill! In the snow! Barefoot!

Author: Dustin Wax
Posted: Friday, August 3rd, 2007 at 10:00 am from lifehack.org

对学生的建议：如何做好研究

• 1. 做计划!  我告诉我的学生, 写研究论文的第一步就是要明确你真的有一份研究论文要写. 写一份计划书, 其中应当包括在某一天需要完成的一系列的重要进展. (例如: 9月20日前找到10份资料, 10月15前完成初步的研究). 按照计划来执行. 你也需要时间来看看自己还缺什么材料, 什么材料在图书馆中可以查到, 选择相关的材料, 阅读并做笔记, 并整合之. 之后, 你需要弄清自己要在论文中提出的观点.

• 2. 开始使用Wikipedia, 不要停下. Wikipedia是一个很适合开始进行你的研究的地方, 你可以搜寻与你的主题相关的关键词, 浏览每页上的链接, 并且接着看它所建议的资源. 做笔记, 尤其是对任何它推荐的好的资源. 我们在这里的目标是: 获取对你要写的主题的一个相对较好的综览. 并且由于它的超链接的特性, Wikipedia比大多数纸质的资料更有用. 到你准备好动笔写之前, 你应该已经由此得到了许多比Wikipedia上所呈现的更好的资料. 所以, 不要直接在你的论文中引用Wikipedia.

• 3. 整理自己的参考书目.一旦你找到了关于你的主题的一本好的学术书籍或是一份文献,  那很棒. 在它的最后将会出现几十甚至上百份资料供你去查阅. 通常, 你可以略读这份参考书目并且将标题看起来与你的研究相关的东西记下来. 学术文献的作者们并不会竭尽心机来给标题起一个很有创造力的名字,  所以通常你可以很容易的从标题与子标题中了解他们的研究方向. 接下来, 返回开头并且寻找你是否认识哪位作者的名字, 这将很有用.对第一本书完成这样一份工作之后, 你可以接着对后面的书继续做这样的工作.这样, 你将迅速获得远比你所需要的多得多的资源. (但是你确实需要这样做, 因为你的图书馆不一定拥有所有这些提及的书籍以及期刊, 馆际间的图书传递速度很慢以致于对于需要在学期末完成论文的学生来说并没有多大价值.)

• 4. 脑海里要有研究的问题. 学术的说, 当数据展现在你面前的时候, 你的主题应当从你的研究中浮现出来. 当你做研究的时候, 你需要一个”研究主题”, 也就是你想回答的问题. 当你遇到新的材料的时候, 问问自己这对回答你的问题有没有帮助. 你应当放弃那些看起来相关但实际上对回答你的问题没有帮助的资料. 找到一大堆资料看起来很有吸引力, 的确, 找到一些资料是必要的, 但是太多就会浪费你的做研究的时间. 找一两个好的资料做背景(你最初在Wikipedia上找到的在大多数情况下足够了), 然后坚持把精力放在向着回答自己的研究问题的方向上.

• 5. 一次只处理一个论点. 不要试图一次把你的主题搞定. 对整个主题有一个大概的感觉, 为你需要了解的东西建立一份大纲. 之后每次处理一个论点. 在完成初稿之后,  你将发现论点间的联系.

• 6. 使用信息组织系统. 开始你的研究时, 应当对计划如何收集和组织你的笔记与数据有个概念. 尽管我曾经利用过索引卡片来写过论文, 但我最喜欢的系统还是一个关于单一主题的笔记本. 在新一页的最上面, 我写上参考书目的名字, 然后抄写需要引用的, 并且做笔记.  在旁边, 我会加上它们的页码做标签,  并且记下我阅读时突然萌生的一些想法.  我喜欢有效率的使用电脑, 我尝试过做数据库, 使用Wiki软件, 做Outline以及其它软件, 但是我从没有发现哪个系统特别卓有成效.  我的时间都花在与软件本身打交道了,而不是做我的研究. 无论使用何种系统, 确保每一个引用, 事实以及思想都能找到它的来源. 这样你就可以在写作的时候方便的添加上参考文献了.

• 7. 了解你要用的资源.  花点时间去了解你的图书馆究竟提供哪些在线或者离线的资源. 大多数图书馆都为学生提供介绍, 或者是让学生可以与图书管理员交流.至少, 你应当在图书馆里面走一遍并且知道什么东西在什么地方放着. 对微缩胶卷的储藏室以及期刊室要特别留心, 你将在许多研究项目中使用到它们. 多数大学的图书馆订阅了许多学术的数据库, 其中许多是在线的. 你要了解那些是从家里就可以连接的. 例如, J-stor储存了数百种学术期刊的全文图片, 并且它们都很容易搜索. 你可以半夜突然有点思想, 然后登录, 把两三篇相关的论文打印出来留到早上看.

• 8. 寻求帮助. 不仅要利用这些材料, 你同样应当利用你能利用的人力资源. 很多教授失望地在办公室里花时间等待,希望某位学生能够闯进来提出一个值得他们花这么长时间等待的问题. 要做这样的学生! 在寻找, 评价资料的时候可以寻求帮助. 你也可以请人帮助你指出你已经收集的资料的用途. 另一个经常忽略掉的资源是友好的图书管理员. 在我眼中,他们是世界上最好的人: 在他们的管理范围内的资料, 他从头到尾都知道. 他们很关心这些资料的利用, 他们的任务就是使信息更好的利用. 多数的图书管理员很高兴帮助你去找和你的项目相关的资料. 一些图书管理员甚至能将那些很难找到的信息定位到具体的一卷书中. 当然, 不要忘记向学生们寻求帮助. 有些人可能正好和你的主题相关.

• 9. 带一个记录思想的笔记本. 当你真正开始你的项目时, 你的大脑也同时在搜寻你所读过的资料. 如果你像我一样的话, 你可能在最不方便的时候突然获得启发. 比如说在浴室里, 超市里, 或者是准备睡觉时. 随身携带一个小笔记本以及一支笔. 将你的灵感记下来, 然后尽快的把它转移到你的研究日志上(或是软件等).

• 10. 使研究跟上时代. 要注意你的材料的发表日期 — 尽管使用旧的材料也可以, 但是你肯定还是希望你的参考资料都来自近十年. 如果关于你的主题的研究在近十年几乎枯竭, 那么可能是研究领域改变了, 但还可能是资助消失, 主要研究者去世, 或是其它偶然因素.一个小技巧是 去Google搜索主要的研究者, 看看能不能找到他们的主页. 在 主页上, 多数人会将最近的研究活动以及发表的文章列出来.  如果这样的话, 你可以尝试去馆际互借, 或是联系这位研究者本人然后询问能否发给你一份草稿或是复印件. 要有勇气, 你要解释你在研究什么, 你希望发现什么, 你的研究进展如何, 他们的文章能给你的主题什么启示等. 不要去要求一份参考资料或是你的主题具体是什么, 没有人愿意帮助你做本应属于你自己的工作.

这些技巧将帮助你在写作之前获得一份不错的参考书目以及充实的笔记和数据资料. 尽管评估资料也是做好研究的一个重要部分, 但我将独立的来写这一部分, 因为它涉及的东西在一点中很难说清. 图书管理员或是你的教授可以帮助你, 尤其是你的资料都限制在你的图书馆可以获得的资料时. 网络资源更难处理些. 但是记住, 没多少年以前, 我们都没有互联网但成功的做研究. 打字机而已. 这就像在雪中赤足爬到山顶一样.

翻译 by 河流 @ LifePro