how robert researches

 


Everybody researches in their own way, but there are certain required elements. For example, many of the basic elements of the research I did in 1975 back in fifth grade at the Fenton Elementary School (RIP) I still do today: (1) read, (2) take notes, (3) organize the notes, (4) write.

Back in Fenton, Illinois, my chosen topic was Japan. I found resources to read about Japan and, as I found an interesting fact, wrote it down on an index card along with the source I found the fact from. Once I had read all the readables, I then sat down and identified themes, such as culture, geography, industry, and general facts. I then divided my cards amongst those themes and then, within each theme, arranged the cards in the order I wanted to discuss them in my paper. This is analogous to what researchers do today when conducting a literature review.

My method is my method--you will need to find out what your method needs to be. However, students I pay for out of active contracts or endowments need to follow this approach. The rest of y'all are on your own!

I have tried various fancy-pants way of doing things over the years; however, my settled approach is notably Luddite (although it still involves computers). I know, I know: There is sophisticated software to organize references and whatnot. However, I keep things really simple with easily accessed software, namely Word and Adobe Acrobat (with a side of GoodReader).

First, I strive to get a PDF of every reference or resource I access, and I keep them in a "References" folder for my particular research project. Some will protest that I might have multiple copies of the same reference in my research folders. And I do. But this is by design. Yes, it may seem inefficient to have multiple copies of the same reference in different folders, but I will reread a key reference for each research project. Why? Because I am a different person each time I read that reference.

Recall that old adage from Hericletus, "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." Now recall this newly minted adage from yours truly "No person ever reads the same article twice, for it's not the same article and it's not the same person." Each time you read an article, you are a different person, more educated, more experienced, and with a different mission. The article is, in fact, the same damn article (unless it's been updated...) but is reads new given your new perspective. 

In my reference folder, I have folder titled "need to read," a Word file named "000 notes," and a collection of documents (PDFs) that I have read and may cite in my write-up. I name my references by the publication year and the author(s).

 In the case of a book I was not able to acquire digitally, I included a reference sheet for it:

You need to also print to PDF any other sources of information you might use in your research such as news articles, web pages (not web sites), and blog posts. These items can be ephemeral, so you definitely need to keep a copy of them for your research and to produce a copy later if your work is challenged or a reader wants to see an original source no longer available. As a side benefit, by forcing yourself to find the downloadable version, you also confirming the reference actually exists--critical in this age of AI and its propensity to make shit up.

My preferred method of reading PDFs is to do it in an app called "GoodReader" on the iPad. GoodReader allows me to highlight as I read and, critically, lets me export all of my highlights in a single file (with notation of the page number if that's important). You can use Adobe Acrobat to do this, but you have to copy and past each bit to get it into a separate file (although there may be other software to do this). Plus, with my reading on an iPad, I can curl up anywhere and read a tasty journal article.

Once I export the notes, I clean them up and pop them into a Word file (000 notes) organized by citation (year, author[s]) and listed in time:

When I clean the export file up, I add quotes around the bits I harvested from the document. THIS IS CRITICAL! This ensures that you do not unintentionally plagiarize someone's work and, in the process, irrevocably sully your reputation. If I am so motivated during reading or processing the information (or because the document only exists in hardcopy)), I will add my own thoughts without quotes and, as further protection, preface anything I write in this document at "MY THOUGHTS:" to be doubly sure. 

Cleaning up the exported notes takes a wee bit of brainless work, so I suggest listening to good tunes. May I suggest Sisters of Mercy?

Once I have finished my literature review and am ready to write, I will read through my collected notes and highlight the ones that I am likely to include in my write-up. Because I have the PDFs, I can bring them back up to put notes into better context or check a citation that an author referenced. I will also add the citation to the end of each note such that when I copy and paste and organize these notes, I know what came from where.

In this way, I have all of my references organized, notes organized, maintain my original notes, mark which ones I used (and didn't use), and then did my writing. And all of this is done with a PDF reader printer and Word. This has saved me countless hours and, I'm quite confident, PDFs and Word will exist for decades to come.


 

 

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