A university instructor's advice to students: how to do a good job of Research

1. Make a plan!I told my students that the first step in writing research papers is to clarify that you really have a research paper to write. write a plan, which should include a series of important progress to be completed on a certain day. (For example, 10 pieces of data were found before January 1, September 20, and a preliminary study was completed before January 1, October 15 ). execute as planned. you also need time to find out what materials you lack, what materials you can find in the library, select relevant materials, read and take notes, and integrate them. then, you need to find out your point of view in the paper.

2. Start Using WikipediaDon't stop. wikipedia is a perfect place to start your research. You can search for keywords related to your topic, browse links on each page, and then view the resources it recommends. take notes, especially for any resources it recommends. the goal here is to get a relatively good overview of the topic you want to write. due to its hyperlink, Wikipedia is more useful than most paper materials. before writing, you should have obtained a lot of better information than the one presented on Wikipedia. therefore, do not reference Wikipedia directly in your paper.

3. Organize your own Bibliography. Once you find a good academic book or document about your subject, it's great. at the end of the page, dozens or even hundreds of documents will appear for you to check. generally, you can skip this bibliography and write down what the title looks like relevant to your study. the authors of academic literature will not give titles a very creative name, so you can easily learn their research directions from titles and subheadings. next, return the beginning and find the name of the author you know. This will be useful. after completing such a job for the first book, you can continue to do such work for the later books. in this way, you will quickly obtain far more resources than you need. (but you do need to do this because your library does not have all the books and journals mentioned above, the transfer of books between libraries is so slow that there is little value for students who need to finish their papers at the end of the semester .)

4. There should be research problems in my mind. Academics say that when data is presented to you, your subject should come out of your research. when you do research, you need a "research topic", that is, the question you want to answer. when you encounter new materials, ask yourself if this is helpful for answering your questions. you should give up the materials that seem relevant but are not actually helpful for answering your questions. it seems attractive to find a lot of data. Indeed, it is necessary to find some data, but too much will waste your research time. find one or two good materials for the background (the information you initially found on Wikipedia is sufficient in most cases), and then focus on answering your research questions.

5. process only one argument at a time. Don't try to fix your subject at one time. I have a rough idea about the entire topic and create an outline for what you need to know. and then process an argument each time. after completing the first draft, you will find the connection between arguments.

6. Use the information organization system.When you start your research, you should have a concept of planning how to collect and organize your notes and data. although I have used index cards to write papers, my favorite system is a notebook about a single topic. at the top of the new page, I wrote the name of the reference book, copied the name to be referenced, and took notes. next to them, I will add their page numbers as tags and write down some of the ideas that suddenly occurred while I was reading. I like to use computers efficiently. I tried to use databases, wiki software, outline, and other software, but I never found out which system was particularly effective. I spent all my time dealing with the software itself, rather than doing my research. regardless of the system used, make sure that every reference, fact, and idea can find its source. in this way, you can easily add references when writing.

7. Understand the resources you need. Spend some time learning about the online or offline resources your library provides. most libraries provide introductions for students, or allow students to communicate with librarians. at least, you should go through the library and know where something is stored. pay special attention to the storage room and journal room for microfilm, which you will use in many research projects. most university libraries subscribe to many academic databases, many of which are online. you need to know those that can be connected from home. for example, J-Stor stores full-text images of hundreds of academic journals, and they are easy to search. you can suddenly think about it in the middle of the night, and then log on and print out two or three related papers for the morning.

8. Seek help. Not only do you use these materials, but you should also use the human resources you can use. many professors are disappointed to spend time waiting in the office, hoping that a student can break in and ask a question worth waiting. to be such a student! You can seek help when searching and evaluating materials. you can also ask someone to help you identify the purpose of the collected data. another resource that is often ignored is a friendly librarians. in my eyes, they are the best people in the world: They know all the information in their management scope. they are very concerned about the use of these materials. Their task is to make better use of the information. most librarians are happy to help you find information related to your project. some librarians can even locate difficult information in a specific volume. of course, do not forget to ask the students for help. some may be related to your subject.

9. A notebook with a record of ideas.When you really start your project, your brain is also searching for the information you have read. if you are like me, you may suddenly get inspiration in the most inconvenient time. for example, in the bathroom, in the supermarket, or when you are going to bed. carry a notebook and a pen with you. write down your inspiration and transfer it to your research logs (or software) as soon as possible ).

10. Keep research up with the times. Note the publication date of your materials-although you can use old materials, you certainly want your reference materials to come from nearly ten years. if the research on your subject has almost dried up in the last decade, it may be a change in the field of research, but it may also be the disappearance of funding, the death of the main investigator, or other accidental factors. A small trick is to search for major researchers on Google to see if they can find their home page. on the homepage, most people list recent research activities and published articles. in this case, you can try to borrow from each other or contact the investigator and ask if you can send you a draft or copy. be brave. Explain what you are studying, what you want to discover, how your research progresses, and what theme their articles can inspire you. do not ask for a reference or subject. No one is willing to help you do the work that should belong to you.

These skills will help you get a good bibliography and enrich your notes and data before writing. although the evaluation data is also an important part of doing a good job of research, I will write this part independently because it involves something that is hard to say clearly at one point. the librarians or your professors can help you, especially when your documents are restricted to the information available in your library. network Resources are more difficult to handle. but remember, not many years ago, we did not have the Internet, but successfully did research. typewriter. it's like walking barefoot to the top of the mountain in the snow.