Researching is a skill that you may not have had to use much in academic work before your A-Levels or University, where you are expected to read broadly, and pick out information to use effectively, by evaluating and making conclusions. Often, with so many resources out there, it can feel difficult to know where to start with this process, and how to assess what is useful information to you. However, it is an essential skill, and becomes so much easier with practice! In this blog post, I will discuss some of the things I have found work for me when it comes to researching to make it as effective as it can be.
Firstly, if you are struggling to find a starting point with your research, I sometimes find it useful to make a mind map of my ideas, to further understand my topic and what it is I need to research in order to create a stronger piece of work. I have found that it is important to make sure you fully understand your question and to figure out what you are looking for in your research before beginning this process, to get the most out of what you discover, rather than reading material with no purpose, and this will save you time in the long run.
My next point to emphasise is to make sure you utilise the resources made available to you by your school or University! There are great databases which are often made available to you through your institutions which you may not have access to otherwise to find valuable primary and secondary sources such as journal articles, images, reviews and reports. Using these databases also tends to give more reliable sources, as articles found in these databases (such as JSTOR or the University’s Library Search) will often be peer-reviewed and approved, unlike Wikipedia or some websites.
This leads me onto my next point, which is to avoid using Google or Wikipedia when researching. These can sometimes be good starting points for basic information on a topic, however it is important to not completely rely on these as they are not the most reliable sources, and could ultimately weaken your work. By researching using scholarly resources, you are more likely to gain an in-depth understanding of your topic, which then allows you to evaluate and draw conclusions more effectively from your research. However, Google Scholar can sometimes be a good place to search for resources.
Ultimately, the more broadly you read and extend your research, the more knowledge and understanding you are going to gain. However, not everything you read is going to necessarily be useful to you, and this is okay! A large part of the research process is to be able to evaluate what you read, and pick out the information that applies to your topic; I like to skim read and scan read texts as it’s a useful way to figure out if something will be useful or not. Additionally, remember to assess your research as you go along, to figure out how relevant the materials are to you, and also the extent of their reliability. This also applies to other materials such as images, or speeches and podcasts that you may want to explore as part of your research.
Written by Emily, a BA History student
