Hi. I am a law student at university and I wanted to share with you some thoughts about research for assignments and revision for study. These are merely observations that will allow you to understand more effective research methods.
Starting your assignment
So your teacher has just given you your assignment. Ready, set, go.
Where is the first place you head?
The internet.
Now this isn’t wrong but it may not be the best place to start. Libraries are full of books to help you on your topic. They are specialized in the area you want to research, unlike the internet that thinks it is an expert in everything. Accordingly, it is going to be easier to find a starting point for your research in a book rather than a computer. Now I am not saying a computer is going to be unused, however after some basic research using books, you may find you have:
- A greater basic understanding of the topic; and
- Some new search words and terminology you can use on the computer.
So let’s discuss this further.
Understanding the topic
Gaining a basic understanding of the topic is going to make your research more productive. You will better understand what information is relevant and what is not. The internet is full of information and any help deciphering it is going to save you time.
Using key search words
The new search words and terminology you gleaned from a book maybe subject specific. Applying these terms to your internet search will better refine your results and in turn give you the information you need.
Using your sources of information
When using a wide variety of sources to find information, you have to make sure you are using the correct ones. Just using the internet is sometimes not enough. For instance, in researching law you will have primary sources and secondary sources. Primary being any legislation or judgments and secondary may be an encyclopedia or text book. Just using a secondary source or the internet is not going to give you the best outcome. Similarly I can imagine other topics such as mathematics or science are going to have different levels of research. Accordingly you have to target where you get your information from.
Targeting your information
Wikipedia is not a valid source to gain all your assignment information. Although, it may be a good place to start for a general understanding of the topic, just as books were when we discussed them earlier. A more targeted search through an online encyclopaedia or science/maths website may better results in a faster manner. Just remember that Google doesn’t give you all the information, all the time. There is a lot of information that you are going to have to weed through to find what you are looking for. Using a different, more direct approach, may give you the information you seek in a timelier, easier to understand, manner. Just remember, an assignment is about applying the knowledge you find. A search engine generally won’t give you the answer to your direct problem.
Best of luck.
This is a guest post by my husband. If you would like to contribute to this blog please read my Guest Blogger guidelines or email me via the contact form.
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