Any academic project, especially when it comes to higher education, involves the process of research. Conducting proper research enables a student to acquire the relevant information, which they can include in the academic paper to establish its quality. So listed below are some best ideas on improving the academic research before proceeding with assignment writing.
- Make a Schedule: Create a timetable with some milestones to accomplish the task by a specified date, and work diligently to reach that target. You will require sufficient time to search for the materials, select relevant ones, read them, take notes, and start putting it all together.
- Begin your research with Wikipedia but don’t end the process with it: Wikipedia is a great place to start the research process. It helps you to browse through the links that are pertinent to your topic of research and also lets you follow their suggested resources. Take notes of any resources suggested within the Wikipedia page. That way when you get down to write the paper you should have much better sources.
- Skim through bibliographies: If you find the right resource materials that are relevant to your topic, you’ll be sorted. At the end of those resource materials, there will be a list of scores of sources that you can refer to. So going over the bibliography would allow you to find the sources that are closest to your chosen topic.
Academic writers aren’t quite experimental with the title of their papers, so it is usually quite convenient to determine what their work is about from just by reading the title. See if you can identify any specific writer connected to your area of study.
- Prepare a research question:Ideally, your thesis should come from your research, when you have the adequate information in front of you. But you need a “working thesis” while carrying out the research process- a question you want to answer. As you search for fresh research materials, think about whether it looks like it will you answer your question. Anything that seems pertinent but doesn’t quite answer the question you have prepared shouldn’t be added.
- Tackle one aspect of the topic at a time:It’s not possible for you to conduct research for every facet of the topic at once. Try and make sense of the topic first, so that you can form a structure of the things you need to know, and then deal with each aspect one by one. This way you will be able to form connections between every aspect of the paper when you write your first draft.
- Follow a systematic approach:Begin your research with a proper understanding of how you plan to gather and compile your notes and details. Whatever approach you take, always ensure that every concept, theory, and the fact is related in some way to its source so that you can incorporate references while you’re preparing the paper.
- Get acquainted with your resources.Spend quality time trying to understand what resources, both online and offline, your library has to offer. Most university libraries are also connected with a number of academic databases, and most are easily accessible online. Also, familiarize yourself with research materials you can access from your home.
- Seek help when necessary:You can always use the human resources available to you alongside the material resources. Most university or college professors spend their office hours hoping that a student would turn up with questions in their minds and discuss the probable solutions to their academic problems.
So don’t be apprehensive to consult with your professor. You can seek their assistance in finding and studying the relevant sources, or for ideas on deciphering what to do with the resources you’ve gathered so far.
- Keep a notebook to write down your ideas: As you delve deeper into your assignment, your mind will start relaying what you’ve already read up on your topic, even when you’re not working on it. So keep a notebook with you always to write down notes whenever an idea strikes your mind, and utilize these notes go further into the research process.
- Look for updated details:Don’t forget to check the publication date of your resources. While it’s alright to utilize older details, but typically you should look for the bunch of your references to include the details of the last 10 years or so.
If there has been no significant research on your topic in the past decade or so, it might be because the topic has lost its significance, or due to any number of accidental reasons.
One idea you can adopt is to Google the major researchers whose work you’ve found and search for their dedicated web pages, most of these scholars will list their latest publication and their current activities within this space, so keep a close watch on them.
So this is how your research process will turn out meticulous and will enable you to add a touch of competency in your academic paper.
