A Student’s Guide to Research

Are you planning an assignment? Are you searching for information? If so then well done, because you’re in the right place!
One of the most important and useful skills to master is how to do effective research, so you get your facts right and have reliable information to reference in your work.
Here are five simple steps to ensure you get it right.

1.    FOCUS, or TASK DEFINITION

You may have been given a title or question for your assignment, in which case identify key words within it and ensure that throughout your research you don’t lose sight of the question. It’s very easy to get side-tracked and end up with a piece of work that doesn’t actually answer the question set.

For example: ‘Explore the representation of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, playing particular attention to her relationship with Hamlet and Polonius and Shakespeare’s use of imagery and symbolism.’

For this question you must keep OPHELIA in the front of your mind, as she will provide the focus for your essay.

 Well, she won’t, because she’s drowned, but you know what I mean.

You may find it helpful to split the title into bite sized questions, because teachers and examiners deliberately set complicated-looking questions that aren’t actually that complicated.

For example:  

§       What sort of person does Shakespeare describe Ophelia as?

§       What is Ophelia’s relationship with Hamlet like? Or with Polonius?

§       What images does Shakespeare use to describe Ophelia, and what symbols or     images are present in her dialogue?

Identify themes that you know are present in the work, or topics that you know you should include in your work, and use those as keywords and basis for your research.

For example, searching for ‘Ophelia’ and ‘madness’ in any database will give you much more concise and relevant results than simply ‘Ophelia’, which leads to an amazing 535, 000 results!

2.  WHERE?

It may surprise you to learn that there are other sources of information available to you than the Internet…..

Brainstorm all possible sources, and not those just here in the Resource Centre. It is wise to extend your search to make it as wide and varied as possible.

Consider:

	Encyclopaedias (Online and Text)
	Books - fiction and reference. Remember you can take books home with you – this is a library…If there is a specific book you need and we do not have it in stock, we will be happy to purchase it for our library stock.
	Websites
	Journals and periodicals (The Resource Centre subscribes to Time, Psychology Review, Design Weekly, Creative Arts and Nursery World.)
	Newspapers and Magazines (The Resource Centre has a wide range delivered daily.)
	Northallerton library (consider inter-library loan, where you can request books from local libraries.)
	Videos, DVDs and Audio Cassettes.
	Remember to use your teachers and the Resource Centre staff

The best researcher uses a combination of all these sources and spends time extracting relevant information from them. Resource Centre staff can help you with issuing books, photocopying, effective internet research and many many other things

3.  LOCATE

 Now actually find the information you need.

 Websites – Start by typing keywords into the search box in search engines such as www.google.co.uk, www.msn.co.uk and www.yahoo.co.uk then narrow your search from there.

Remember to consider the reliability of the information you have found. It is worthwhile remembering that the internet is not monitored or edited, so it is not the most reliable source of information. If you find something on the internet and would like to use it it is wise to refer to another source to assess the reliability of the information.

DO NOT PLAGIARISE i.e. Cut and paste, or PARAPHRASE i.e. cut and paste and change it a bit. It is unbelievably obvious that the work is not your own, and it’s not worth the risk.

Books – At the back of reference books there is usually an INDEX, which is an alphabetical list of subjects, names and topics that are in the book and what page you will find the information on.

Encyclopaedias are alphabetically organised and usually contain factual, historical and biographical information. They are especially useful for looking up dates and summaries of events, locations or people.

If you need to obtain articles from journals and periodicals that the Resource Centre or local libraries do not subscribe to, you can usually buy online versions from the publisher’s website.

 4.  ENGAGE

Select the material you want from all of the sources you have available to you. You will not need all of the information, so using indexes, contents pages and paragraph headings is critical. It may also be very useful to skim the introduction to books you are using, as these usually have summary paragraphs on what you will expect to find in each chapter.

Remember that the internet is not entirely reliable, so double check anything you find. You may find information that contradicts your original findings. It is up to you to select the most accurate and relevant information.

When researching from any source it is very wise to take notes as you go along, and to note down the publisher’s details for your bibliography of any works that you think you will cite in your assignment.

It is vitally important that if you do decide to quote another person’s work that you reference them both in your work and in your bibliography. There are different ways of referencing dependent upon the source. For more information on this see the ‘Referencing’ leaflet.

If you are unsure about anything – ASK. You will not understand everything and you are not expected to, but there is always someone available who can give you a helping hand.

 5.  ORGANISE

Now you need to gather all of your information together into some sort of order. You may like to write a rough draft, draw a sketch, create a brief outline or simply cut up all your notes and stick them back together again in a more coherent order.

When completing the work ensure you follow any guidelines for style, content or layout that have been set for you and remember to keep the original question in your head. It may be useful to write it in enormous letters and stick in on your wall or desk so you cannot forget your focus.

Don’t just summarise the information you have so lovingly researched. Remember this is YOUR piece of work, so be sure to include some of your own ideas and thoughts – your teacher wants to read something interesting, and maybe some original thought that they have not read a billion times before.

Don’t be frightened to make a statement of your thoughts that you believe to be right – if you back it up with evidence and explain it clearly your reader will be well impressed!

Include a bibliography of the works you have sourced and cited, using a consistent reference system.

 MOST IMPORTANTLY: Everyone is different and the same methods will not work for everybody. As long as you are well organised, well prepared and not afraid to ask for help if you need it you will succeed!


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