Prepare for research

essay

essay

Why should I prepare?

If you don’t spend time developing the questions you need to answer, EVERYTHING you read appears relevant to your essay!

If you spend time working out your questions, you can decide exactly where to go to find answers!

Why spend time on questions?

If you have attended lectures and tutorials, or done some of the reading, you already have a wealth of knowledge about your essay question.

By harnessing this knowledge BEFORE you go to the library, you can prioritise your reading schedule and identify the texts you need first.

Questioning

Qn: “Without the mass media, global terrorism would be impossible.” Discuss.

Let’s return to our Communications Studies essay question from the previous presentation.

It’s useful to break the question down into parts, and identify as many questions as you can think of for each part.

Without the

• How important?

• Without anything else?

•Is it exclusive?

mass media

• what is included?

• who defines it?

• alternative media has an impact?

global terrorism

• what counts as global?

• who defines it?

• who has written on this?

• how is terrorism defined?

would be

• could be???

• is this the case? How can I find out?

• what circumstances?

impossible

• why and to what extent?

• in what way or ways?

• implausible? problematic?

Discuss

• who debates this?

• what are the main arguments?

•Do I agree? To what extent?

Qn: “Without the mass media, global terrorism would be impossible.” Discuss.

Question table

Prioritise

Now, all you need to do is identify which questions are the most important, and dedicate most of your time to these!

Psst! The more questions you answer in your essay, the more complete and analytical your essay is likely to be.

Checklist for prioritising

What do I need to know most about to answer the question?

What is important but not crucial?

What would be interesting as a side-point, but is not vital to the question?

What does my professor often emphasise?

What do I already know?

Which questions interest me the most?

Remember to answer these questions before you hit the books!

Where can I get answers?

• Reading list (Unit outline)

• Supplementary readings (Course Materials Online)

• Lectures (Lectopia)

• Relevant books and journals (Catalogue search; SuperSearch; reference lists in readings)

• Websites, Tutorials (Tutorial notes; mass media; alternative media)

Let’s try with an example from our Communications question.

global terrorism

• what counts as global?

• who defines it?

• who has written on this?

• how is terrorism defined?

Summary

By preparing for research, you can approach the library with a sense of purpose. This means you can find the sources you need and are less likely to fear that you haven’t read enough and can’t start writing.

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