To Research or Not to Research: That Is the Question
Whether it is for an assignment, work, or personal reasons, researching a topic can be both interesting and challenging. But how do you know what to research? It helps to start step-by-step.
Determine:
· Research topic
· Research question
· Research style
· Audience and Publication
Your research topic can be any topic that you can find quality sources on. For example, I recently wrote a research-based blog series with a research topic of yoga and music educators. The research question is what you want to know about that topic. A quality research question is more than a yes or no question; it gives you, the researcher, a blueprint for researching and space to answer the question thoroughly. For example, my research question was how can yoga, as self-care, reduce burnout symptoms in music educators? Research style is important in work and academic environments. Quantitative research looks at facts and figures and results in a “black and white” answer to the research question. Qualitative research includes interviews, reading books, articles, etc., and is more open-ended. The answer to the research question is more subjective (not “black and white”), based on what you found in your searches and how you use that information. Finally, you need to consider your audience. Will you be writing your findings in a research paper or a thesis for academic work? Creating a report at your place of employment? Or maybe a research blog, like I recently completed? This last category involves both why you are researching and how it will be presented as a final product.
Sources, Sources, Wherefore Art Thou Sources?
We live in an amazing time where a plethora of information is at our fingertips! The internet makes it easy to go off into a rabbit hole in a variety of topics and search until your heart is content. I’m not saying the internet is a bad place to find sources, but there are places on the internet that are better for research than others.
Websites have a variety of creators, organizations, companies, government agencies, and individual people. The information available varies as much as the creators.
Libraries often have digital collections you can search online with access to newspapers, magazines, and academic journals in addition to books, audio recordings, and videos. For undergraduate and graduate students, university libraries often have digital subscriptions and books you can access online with your school credentials.
Databases such as EBSCOhost or JSTOR have academic journals, and web applications like Google Scholar can bring a variety of academic journals, theses, dissertations, and essays to you in the comfort of your home.
If you are researching a trending topic or have an informal audience, YouTube and social media content creators can be valuable research sources. For most academic applications, these sources are discouraged as their credibility is often unknown.
Credibility, Thy Name Is…?
Information from peer-reviewed academic journals is often considered the most credible source. This means that the information was checked, and the research findings were reviewed by other researchers knowledgeable in the topic. Websites from well-known organizations, such as the American Heart Association, or government agencies, are considered more credible than a person who has created a blog on the topic.
If your topic is new and there is not a lot of established research, you can tentatively establish the credibility of sources by having multiple unrelated sources indicate the same information. What do I mean by this? If you are researching a TikTok trend, find multiple creators involved in the trend. See if you can find the trend elsewhere, on other social media accounts, or has it made the news reports? Lastly, try to link the trend to academic research. Does the trend cause harm to a specific group of people or relate to a movie or fashion trend? Try to determine the building blocks of the trend and then find academic sources to aid the credibility of your research.
Keep in mind, the credibility of a source does not matter if you are not staying on topic with your research. Every source you use in your research should contribute to answering your research question as objectively and unbiasedly as possible.
Though This Be Borrowed, Yet There Is Method In’t
Your audience and end product (publication, report, etc.) determine how you use the research. Informal writing, like blog posts, might use short quotations that are meaningful or provide links to the source you paraphrased. You might also choose to include a reference section at the end of the informal research writing. For more formal writing, such as academic writing, a format style will need to be followed (APA, MLA, Turabian, etc.) The format style dictates your citation requirements and direct quotation use. For example, I recently completed a master’s degree in music education and was required to write using Turabian format. Other degrees at my university, such as in English composition or literature, require using APA or MLA format. Formal research writing requires copious in-text citations and a detailed reference page at the end of the work.
Get Thee to a Library (or Database)
For further help with your research journey, I have provided some sources below. Happy information gathering!
Format Help
· Academic Research Help: APA Style, Turabian Style Guide, MLA Style
· Informal writing or non-academic research: AP Stylebook
Research Method/Style: Research Design by Creswell and Creswell, Purdue Online Writing Center
Databases: EBSCOhost, JSTOR, Google Scholar
And if you want in-person help, your local public libraries, university libraries, and government offices may be able to help, depending on your research topic.
