Research Essentials Week 3 Notes
The Research Process
Research doesn't feel good at first - and that's okay
Research is a process. Like writing, it is also a circular process–not a straight line. It is
part trial and error, part happy accident, and part persistence. It should feel messy and
awkward at first. That's actually a sign you're on the right track!
Information science researcher Carol Kulthau charted the emotional stages of the
research process to prove that successful research does not "feel good", especially in
the beginning.
How Can I Make Research Easier?
Research should begin with questions.
Maybe you have ideas now about your problem and some potential solutions. If so,
great! But before you jump into finding information on your problem, it will save you time
to come up with research questions.
Research questions are useful because open-ended and can encourage you to
explore your problem or topic. We encourage you to explore with an open mind so that
you use what you read to inform you–instead of beginning with an idea and searching
for sources that agree with you. (Very little learning can happen that way.)
What is the Role of Books in the Research Process?
Since books are longer, they are useful when you want a source that provides lots of
background context for a problem or issue. Articles from the web or from magazines
and newspapers are excellent for analysis that is very focused on a single event or
phenomenon, but they don't usually provide as much lengthy, in-depth context as books
do. If we think of information as a timeline, books take the longest to publish, they can
contain more in-depth analysis compared with periodical articles or web articles, which
are published faster and are shorter in length.
