Reading Strategies

It's important to understand and accept that you are not going to know exactly what you are looking for in the beginning.

Initially, you should read to explore. As you read, you will find that certain aspects of your topic interest you more than others, and that certain approaches offer more opportunities for new scholarly work.

Reading Strategies

Even if you are doing scientific experimentation, you need to be flexible in the beginning and willing to modify the initial question you're trying to answer.

As one science major told us, "I had specific questions to answer when I started. As I got further, those questions were refined and others evolved."

Reading Strategies

When it comes to secondary sources, pay attention to the footnotes. This strategy will help you to contextualize your ideas. It will also tip you off to marginal issues in the field that have not been overly explored.

Writing Strategies

Perhaps the most useful tip we can give you is to write all through the research process.

As you read, take notes. Write summaries or short reactions to everything you read. It's also a good idea to keep a journal.

Not only will you find that you can cut and paste some of these notes and summaries into your final project, but you'll also find that you've kept track of where your information came from.

If you have a good sense of what sources provided you with what information, you can save yourself a lot of time.

Writing Strategies

In short, don't view the research process as entirely separate from the writing process.

One student notes that "Most ideas won't coalesce just by reading without writing." Writing throughout the research process keeps your thought process active and records your responses to new ideas as you're having them.