Book review – the Craft of Research
2018.9.10
Planning a project and find ideas
- Specific topic with the potential to dig deeper.
- Ask questions about the topic.
- Think about how to answer the questions, what do you need in order to find answers.
- Think about how to get your needs to find answers.
Highlights
Interest to topic
A research topic is an interest defined narrowly enough for you to imagine becoming a local expert on it. In this step, just find a general topic.
Broad topic to a focused one
Narrow topics by adding words and phrases, but of a special kind: conflict, description, contribution, and development.
Focused topic to questions
From simple questions, slowly focus on hows and whys. Identify the topic by finding out the relationship between the topic and other topics, or a larger system. Identify it's history and role in a larger history. Identify its characteristics and categories. Define its value.
Question to the wider significance
topic - questions on the topic - motivate the question
Booth, Wayne C, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. Print.
Tips
- take notes all the time
- spend some time to understand your notes
- make preliminary outlines
- query
- visualize data to find connections
- record random thoughts
- summarize