whether you're researching for a novel you're planning, or simply just trying to do some background reading on an assignment, it's important that you know how to research effectively. otherwise, it's easy to spend hours in a rabbit hole on google, with little reward for your effort! generally speaking, there are 4 steps to thorough research:
breakdown question/topic
general research/soft research
draw key words/beliefs
specific/targeted research
of course, you can add or remove steps as you see fit - but this general structure is a great way to learn more about your topic.
when researching, it's important to first figure out what you're researching. if you're trying to complete an assignment or task, have a look at the research question! you can break this down into smaller sub topics that are relevant. if you're writing a book, consider the era, setting, and genre as some starting points for your research.
once you know what you're looking for, it's time to start your general research. this is the stage where your queries will most likely be vague and rather simple - such as “what is the victorian era” or “succulent growing conditions”. at this point you probably won't find any high quality sources you can use as a reference, but it's a great way to gain background information and form a general opinion or answer to your research question.
while you're researching, keep an eye out for any words or phrases that appear numerous times across different sources. these can be considered your key words or beliefs. keep a note of these, as they'll help you develop more specific questions to guide your research!
once you feel like you have a broad understanding of the topic, you can analyse your list of key words. think of any search queries you can draw from these terms, and note them down. this way, you'll have a list of targeted phrases to enter into google - and your results are more likely to be exactly what you're looking for!
while that’s the general guide to researching, there are a few tips you can use to maximise your research. these include:
checking your source
who does the information come from? when conducting research (especially for an assignment), it's vital you compare different perspectives to better understand how bias can affect a source.
using specific search queries
there's a bunch of symbols/phrases you can use in your google searches to make your life easier. "quotes around a phrase” search for the exact phrase. add filetype:pdf/doc/etc to only get results in that format, e.g. a pdf. use website:website link to only get results from that website.
using google scholar
rather than just searching google, try searching google scholar for academic literature & reports!
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