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Research points
Before you research:
- Go through your notes and readings to find suitable keywords.
- Ask some questions, think about who would be writing the answers, where they would write them and what words they would use.
- Think strategically about the range of resources you are going to use.
As you research:
- Research in chunks - find a little bit, read what you've found, then use what you've read to inform how you approach the next chunk of your research (follow the advice in "reading smarter").
- Generate new questions and keywords as you go along.
- Note which authors talk about which topics and play "citation tag" - follow the references and find the citing articles.
- Work on a research file.
After you research:
- Select the most relevant works to read more carefully.
- Feel free to go back and do some more research if you've found some gaps that need plugging - it's an ongoing process.
- Make sure you complete a proper reference list.
- When you've finished with the assignment, file, note or dump the readings you have found - but look ahead, first. Are you still studying in this subject area/field? Be nice to "you in the future" and keep a good research file, to make sure you don't have to find the same information all over again.
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