What are your feelings about researching? Do you find it an exciting phase of your learning and assignment preparation? Or a time-consuming and chaotic endeavour? Possibly a mix of all this? With this page we try to provide tips to make your research strategic and effective.
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Research process
You have a new topic to research for an assignment or a dissertation. Where do you start from?
A) You draft an outline and then research targeting the sections listed in the outline.
B) You read and familiarise with the topic and then draft an outline.
There is no right or wrong answer! You can do either, or both! The research process is iterative and at the initial stages it is perfectly fine to drift between generating ideas, devising a plan and reading.
For the sake of simplicity we present you the following order:
1) Analyse the assignment brief
2) Undertake some broad reading around the assignment topic/question.
2) Generate ideas of what YOU want to say about the topic and produce an outline.
Especially for dissertations: Think about the outline of your literature review; think about the methodology. Will you need primary research, in addition to secondary (literature) research?
3) Read around what you specifically want to say in your assignment;
Especially for dissertations: Also start the primary research, if needed.
4) Start writing.
5) Read more, write more, do more primary research. It's very iterative here.
6) Finalise the first draft.
7) Edit and produce a second draft. You may need more than two drafts.
Start broad, then narrow down
It is an effective strategy to start your reading by researching broadly and then narrowing down your research scope in a subsequent time, when you acquire a clear vision of what you want to address in your assignment.
Searching broadly
Initially, broaden your search not to overlook relevant results. You can use mind mapping to identify the key areas related to your topic.
Mind mapping for generating ideas and creative thinking
Place a blank sheet in landscape position and write the assignment topic in the centre. Draw branches from the question, which are possible ideas and topics to include in the essay. Add sub-topics (“leaves”) and connect ideas and evidence from your reading. You can use colours and images to stimulate your thinking. Some leaves can be used as key words for your search.
Play with your keywords
Look for synonyms and related terms:
Example:
Topic: “The impact of Covid-19 on the British environment”
What to search?
Covid-19 British Environment
Synonyms and related words
Coronavirus; SARS-CoV-2
Pollution; air quality; waste
Britain; United Kingdom, UK, England, Scotland, Wales, British Isles, Ireland
Be selective
Keep an open mind but only look for and use sources which are relevant for your assignment (unless of course you are reading for interest!).
It is crucial that, especially as you progress in your work, you take control of the literature, and do not let the literature control you! The literature is a means to your end, that is, finding information and evidence to discuss the specific issues you have identified as relevant for your assignment. You are not just trying to fit into your assignment all the literature you find.
The quality of your sources will have a direct impact on the quality of your assignment, so when you’re selecting sources, be careful and check the following
Be critical: evaluate the validity of the sources
Be critical towards the literature: always question the validity of the information you find. See Critical Reading for more information.
Try different search tools:
Library search: this will give you only academic, peer-reviewed sources. All these resources are accessible to you online and/or in the library. See the guide on Library Search.
Library subject guides: these provide subject-specific research support, including access to subject-specific books, journals, databases, legal materials, archives etc. They also provide guidance on citing and referencing. Check your Library subject guide here.
Google Scholar: this provides scholarly results as well as technical reports from governments and other organisations, and other academically valuable sources like patents, theses etc. Google Scholar allows the useful feat of forward citation tracking (finding newest sources that cite a given source) that can help you find what other literature comments on a certain source. It has to be noted, however, that not all resources on Google Scholar are peer-reviewed and reliable. See the library guide on using Google Scholar.
Internet (for example, Google): will give you the largest number of results, but most of the results will not be peer-reviewed and may not be reliable. You can use it to have a general overview of your research topic.
Contact your Academic Engagement Librarian: the Academic Engagement Librarian will be able to suggest resources, search tools and search techniques that can help you get a head start on your research. You can find details of your Librarian here.
This presentation explores effective strategies for locating, evaluating, and organising sources to enable you to produce a comprehensive and well researched dissertation. It also covers where you can find further help, as and when you need it.
