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EXTREME RESEARCH:
10 SNAPPY RULES FOR SUCCESS by Christopher Brown
So you want to learn to research well, and not
waste any time. Let's do it. Here are a few NECESSARY preliminary points.
1. First, adopt an aggressive I-am-taking-over-this-place mindset.
2. Develop a system for executing the research process. By
creating your own rules to follow systematically, you really speed things up.
Don't have one? No worries. You can use mine. I happen to have "research
animal" stamped on my forehead.
3. Follow the rules. You can
tweek them to suit your own style after a couple of runs with this method. But
these make for great training wheels.
4. Before going into
battle, always ready your weapons.
Do not go near a library or desk to
start research unless and until everything you will need sits neatly arranged
all about you for quick access. This one is your call. I use 2 or 3 pens and a
pad of paper to scratch out notes and thoughts, and a pack of index cards for
especially important notes. Then come the highlighters. In college, I used to
work the highlighters until they overheated.
Some people like sticky
notes (post-its). You can stick 'em all around you as you work. You will want a
rolodex and a phone nearby in case you have to call someone you know to ask
questions. For instance, if you have a specially-gifted techie friend in your
inner circle, or know a professor, you may want to put him on speed dial. Think
a bit about anything else you might need. Some folks study and research well to
music, so get your headphones if you need them. Okay, here we have the system
lined up for you.
PART #1: Begin Reconnaissance. You're going
in.
A. Get an overview and "contextualize" your topic.
Learn its timeline of events and the major historical factors associated with
it. When did it happen? What did it do? Why do people care about it at all?
Find a short article that outlines the history of, or at least offers a
timeline for, your topic. Everything has a history, and gaining a quick
overview of your topic's chronology will give you the context into which all
your other sources will fit.
B. Next, ride the wave. This is
the surfing and browsing stage. Start with what you know. Pick out words
associated with your topic or subject and Google them. When you land a starting
topic (you can change this as you go, no worries. Just start somewhere.), use
online encyclopedias and other resources to get a "quick snapshot" of the
general views on the subject that exist out there already. Try to see your
subject from as many angles as possible, as it were, "walking all the way round
it," inspecting as you go. Ask questions in your head, or even out loud like I
do (caution: this may scare people), and put them down on paper in a special
spot. Slap a sticky note on it that reads "QUESTIONS I HAVE."
To aid
and abet developing a "snapshot overview," start looking up books on the topic.
Find 10 of them. Note the titles on maybe 50 books -- if you can find that many
-- about your subject or topic. Note the overlap in words used in the titles
about your topic. This will give you a quick idea about who or what this topic
means to others who have already studied it.
Next, read the
bibliographies of books. One good book can give you 5-10 great leads you might
never have found otherwise. Note the titles that show up repeatedly in
different bibliographies. In research geekspeak this is "bibbo," bibliographic
overlap. Bibbo identifies your IRT's -- Initial Research Targets. Photocopy or
print out from your IRT's: the table of contents; the first chapter; a middle
chapter that looks interesting or helpful; and the final chapter. Then read
these and highlight the Dickens out of them. This gives you a snapshot, and a
working knowledge, of the entire book extremely fast. It works too. Use your
scribbled out question set as a filter for "what to look for" -- and highlight
or take notes on -- when reading your IRT's. Write down any further questions
that develop. These can be as simple as "Who is that guy?" Let your curiosity
guide you, and let the sticky notes FLY!!
Next, read journal and
magazine articles. How do you find these? Try checking your Bibbo. Or just
follow any that you think might land you somewhere interesting. Play the
detective. Follow your nose if you smell a good lead.
PART #2:
Compile and organize your sources.
Use the old-fashioned vanilla
file folders and mark them up, so you know which is what. Then get a file box
to keep them handy.
PART #3: Determine which are the most
relevant features of your topic from its effects or imlplications in 3
different areas of study. For instance, if your topic reads, "Interesting stuff
about World War II," then you will need to ask and study questions like, "Who
did it cost, and how much did it cost them, to have this war?" Follow the money
(economics). Then, you might ask "How did this war change the mindset or values
of American society" (sociology or philosophy). Finally, ask maybe, "What
inventions did Europeans develop to fight this war?" (technology).
By
looking at your topic from at least three disciplinary viewpoints, you will
gain a broad understanding of it, and find yourself -- somewhat suddenly --
asking GREAT questions about it.
PART #4: Find and choose a
controversial feature of topic, and choose a side of the issue.
Write
down your viewpoint in one sentence. This we call your "thesis." Arguing this
point well now constitutes your "objective." Ask the question of your thesis,
"How do you know this is the case?" Ask this three times. Each time you ask it,
give a brief answer in writing from one of your three areas you chose. Each
answer must reflect views formed from a different area.
PART
#5: Next, Re-read or skim your sources to develop an outline (in order to
support your three points offered in defense of your thesis). Now pull out the
photocopied (or printed out) chapters from your IRT's and highlight and
scribble all over them -- but keep it legible. Argue your case vigorously with
your imaginary critic who knows what you know. Take his side and argue against
your thesis the best you can. Shoot it down, developing three criticisms. Some
of these will already have circulated in print in your sources. Line them up.
Then answer the critic. Refute his three points. Your outline is nearly
finished.
PART #6: Organize your notes into subgroups listed
under the branches of your outline. Draw a picture of the flow of your argument
and objections as though it were a tree, and label the parts. Modify the
outline as needed. Add relevant subheadings (you will come across new info in
your scribbling) under the branches of the outline. Fill out relevant details
from your notes to form the arguments for each section and subsection. Your
rough draft is now complete.
PART #7: Rewrite your rough draft
5 times using our rules of good writing.
PART #8: Study the
cleaned-up draft for logical errors in arguments. See our "Blogic For Writers"
website for this; modify and strenghten your case. Use T Edward Damer's
"Attacking Faulty Reasoning" for this too.
PART #9: Write your
conclusion. This final paragraph spells out "what important point or points you
have learned from doing all this hard work (e-search). Here, you make the case
for why your research has value. Also, here either write or rewrite your
introductory paragraph to "hint at" (anticipate) the concluding paragraph. Most
of the time it actually makes the best sense to write your introduction LAST,
since this way you write with a view of the WHOLE work, which you did not have
at the beginning.
In the introduction, hint at your conclusion, but
don't give away the whole story. This makes for a smooth and logical flow from
start to finish, giving your work a stylish symmetry, where the first part
foresees the end, and the end reflects on the beginning. All good stories have
this symmetry.
PART #10: Do the footnoting (or endnoting) and
contstruct an extensive bibliography. Add title page and Table of Contents. See
Kate Turabian's or an MLA manual online for this, and for grammar and style.
You can also use the resources we list in our sidebar.
You are
DONE. Your paper or article "so totally rocks," and you get an "A." Your
readers love you, and you then become wealthy and famous. Your actual mileage
may vary, batteries not included, offer void where prohibited.
About the Author:
Christopher Brown escaped with a degree in history
from the California State University (Hayward), but did hard time in seminary.
In March, 2004, he founded Ophir Gold Corp., and runs its sites:
http://scriberight.blogspot.com or "OGC's Free Web
Traffic:" http://ophirgoldcorp.blogspot.com or "Extreme Profit:"
http://extremeprofit.blogspot.com
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