Approaching Research with Purpose

Do you become easily frustrated while doing research? Do you find that you take too many detailed, unfocused notes? Do you resort to cut-and-paste notetaking from online journals and ebooks? If so, it is also likely that you have difficulty keeping your notes clear and organized and that you struggle with thesis development or organizing your paper. Efficient research is purposeful in its direction. It is essential to consider the question you wish to address in your paper through the entire process of research and writing. Let the final product lead you.

The Starting Point

Avoid diving into reading or searching for sources if you have not taken the time to consider what you want to know about your topic. Although you may think research is the first step in preparation for essay writing, it is not: first, you must prepare to research. It is unlikely that you have picked a topic or been assigned a topic about which you know absolutely nothing. Consider what you have learned in the course or in other courses in the same discipline. Think of related topics or ideas and how you can extrapolate them. To get a better grasp of the content, make an inventory what you know (no matter how little),and ask both factual questions and analytical questions. See more about narrowing your topic and asking research questions in the ASC’sDeveloping a Topic and Thesis Statement.

Preliminary Research:Some early research will be necessary to better understand the topic. Having the basic questions laid out will keep you on track; you’ve set the parameters for this early research so that if you wish, you can look to Wikipedia or do a general web search so long as you are judicious and use critical thinking skills to evaluate your sources. Course materials often offer a much better look at your topic. In particular, look to important authors, key texts, and early studies, which are often listed in a syllabus, a list ofsupplementary readings, or in the references listed in required texts for the course. Other useful reference materials that are often ignored include dictionaries, bibliographies, and biographies, particularly those that are specific to your discipline, time period, or nation. Preliminary research is an important step because it can help you to refine your questions, both in detail and direction.

Searching for Sources:The bulk of your research will not derive from general web searches or reference materials but from peer-reviewed journals and monographs (books). Directed by your research questions, you will find it easier to plan for your search in the library catalogue or digital journal databases: make a list of varied but relevant search terms. The keyword search is not always the most efficient or productive approach to research. It is important to take some time to consider what types of sources you need; you can adapt the type of search you do with this knowledge.

Each discipline has its own standards for timeliness, credibility, and reliability. You also know what type of sources you need for your discipline or topic: primary or secondary research, meta-analyses, archival materials, literary references, maps, data, or government reports.Bata Library offers a research preparation worksheet to help you plan for your materials search.

Finding sources can take time – even when you’ve done some good planning and preparation. There is an expectation that material should magically appear on your screen; as participants in the Information Age, we are accustomed to instant gratification as search engines quickly offer answers to our questions. However, just as the most relevantor useful sites are rarely the first listed in your search results, you will find that the best sources may be buried beneath many other sources. Keep this in mind and be prepared to dig a bit. Maintain your focus, and have some patience. But also, be strategic.

  • Study the reference lists orfootnotes from important or useful sources on your topic. Some sources may be dated (depending your discipline), but they may also offer texts which are fundamental to your topic.
  • Look for additional sources by the same author; you may find an important expert in the field.
  • Review the index of an important or relevant journal or browse the contents of current print periodicals.
  • See how your best source is catalogued and search for other sources using the same keywords.
  • Vary the scope of your search beyond your exact topic; try to broaden or narrow your search.
  • Don’t forget to ask classmates, teaching assistants and professors about relevant sources you may not have considered.
  • Make an appointment with a reference librarian.

Check out these great links!

Bata Library offers excellent advice on searching for sources using the online catalogue and article indexes in their brief tutorials. They also offer important resources on using the internet to find trustworthy sources, listed in an A-Z index.

Don’t take one shot at gathering sources. You will likely discover a great source as you read – this is why it is important to plan for research and to start early.

Evaluating and Reading Material

Prioritize your reading: A large pile of research materials can seem to be overwhelming; taking some time to plan your approach to multiple texts will offer some relief. Maintain control of your project with a clear focus on your research questions. Prioritize your reading by considering relevance to your questions, but also assess materials based on importance in the field (is it a foundational text? Is the author an expert? Is it the most recent study?). Plan your reading to avoid jumping from text to text, which can lead to taking too many confused and general notes, distracting you from the focus of your paper.

Read strategically:Some of the material will offer important evidence that requires reading for detailed understanding, while you may need only a general understanding of other texts. A brief survey of the material will often allow you to assess which approach is suitable for each source you have gathered; identify the thesis or main findings conveyed by each text using titles, subheadings, the introduction, and the conclusion. The importance and relevance of the text to the topic and your specific research questions will help you to determine how deeply you should read. Read all material with a critical mind; break down arguments, question evidence, assess the organization, and consider how the ideas connect. Read more about critical reading strategies in the ASC’s Reading Critically and Efficiently. Good notetaking can often help you to critically engage with research.

Organized Notetaking Strategies

It is difficult to organize your research, collect your thoughts, and record your evidence without a clear sense of direction. Using a rough outline to consider the direction of your paper-in-progress, you will be better equipped to take notes which will be useful to you, encouraging thoughtful analysis and the development of a cohesive and balanced argument through your paper. To create an outline at this stage may seem premature, but thinking through the basic structure of your paper is a practice which will help you to maintain focus while you take notes. No more lost sticky notes that once pointed to important evidence in a library book. No more endless and directionless pages of copied notes. No more passive collection of research!

General questions – like what, when, where – withina specific context or narrowed focus will help you to stay on top of the development of your argument. Using the rough outline and research questions, you can organize your notes in two ways.

First, you can organize by source and author. This is the way many people approach research, and it is quite helpful to keep references straight and to summarize and contextualize the argument of each source. Generally, students find it helpful to review these notes and organize their ideas by a colour or number system which relates to an outline and supporting arguments. Alternatively, you can organize and record your notes first according to research questions and outline topics, rather than by source. However, for this method, it is important to be very careful to note sources (author, date, and page number) for every summarized idea or quotation; you do not want to go looking for this information later. It is also best to build your reference list or bibliography as you read and take notes – this keeps you one step ahead and more likely to cite material correctly in your final paper.

No matter the organizational strategy you choose, it is important to take notes carefully and to include your ideas about the material you read. Using two columns, one for notes on content and one for analysis and response, you will be thinking about the construction of your argument as you research, which will make the connection between argument and evidence much stronger in your final paper.

In the content column, take accurate notes in point form. Summarize the main ideas of the text or paraphrase specific points or examples; use your own words more than those of the author. Be selective with quotations and be sure to clearly mark them with quotation marks. Include page numbers for all points, not only quotations. In the response column, you may find it helpful to use questions from your rough outline to direct your analysis. Evaluate the evidence and logic of the text. Consider it within the context of other research. And ask how the evidence or argument connects to your thesis.

From these notes, you can refine your thesis and complete your outline. For the majority, who record digital – not paper – notes, careful and critical notetaking can allow you to be more confident in cutting and pasting chunks of your notes into your working draft. However, moving large chunks of text directly from ebooks or online articles into your research notes is not a good method for notetaking as it generally leads to carelessness, superficial analysis, and plagiarism. Even worse is cutting and pasting chunks of text from a source directly into your draft. Keep hyperlinks or call numbers for all research as you may need to return to the original more than once.

Sample: Two-column notetaking
Original text: As research on similar issues in American history has convincingly demonstrated, interregional and export trades did not typically have the growth-generating effects postulated by a staples theory of the Innis-Callendar-North variety; volumes simply were not large enoughto account for the economic development that occurred. Nor were local and regional patterns of output and exchange as simple as is implied by most staples-oriented accounts, with their emphasis on a single crop
Content / Response
McCalla’s point is
- staples theory is not supported, trade in wheat could not alone develop economy
- not enough yield/supply
- ag econ very complex
- sim to US ag/econ hist / - econ devt - exports (to UK) and regional trade
– regions weren’t trading same crop with each other – connect to lit on mixed farming
- all UK could not be supplied by wheat from Upper Can
- see more on US disc.

Know your direction

A focused approach to research and notetaking is beneficial because it encourages active thinking about your argument and the essay as a whole. As you read and note, you are writing some of the important parts of your paper, in particular, the connections between argument and evidence and the transitions between supporting points. This approach also fosters efficiency; rather than aimlessly gathering sources and taking notes on anything related to your topic, you can research with a purpose and clear sense the questions you wish to address. This approach excuses you from reading beyond the scope of your argument and rewards you for thinking critically about how your research informs the paper you submit to readers.