How to research any topic | Insider tips for easy and fast research

Summary

This video teaches effective research techniques for both academic and everyday purposes. The presenter covers how to define a research question, use tools like Google, Wikipedia, and Google Scholar, and emphasizes the importance of organizing research in folders. The video advises patience in filtering quality sources, highlights the value of review papers, and stresses reading primary sources. A key takeaway is knowing when to stop researching and move forward. Additionally, the video promotes a newsletter with tips and resources for enhancing productivity in research.

Takeaways

• 🔍 Research is essential for both academic and personal pursuits, from PhD research to hobbies like sewing.
• 📁 Organize research materials into folders and use a running document for notes and insights as they come up.
• ⏳ Patience is crucial when researching. Not all information is valuable, and it’s important to filter out low-quality sources.
• 🌐 Use broad resources like Google, Wikipedia, and Google Trends to get an overview of the research field.
• 📚 Google Scholar is a great tool for accessing peer-reviewed academic research, even for non-academic purposes.
• 🔑 Always verify secondary sources by checking the primary research to avoid misinterpretation.
• 📝 Review papers are helpful for summarizing a field and can serve as a great starting point for deep research.
• 🧠 Organize research findings into relevant categories, and don’t be afraid to discard irrelevant information.
• 📊 Abstracts, titles, and figures of academic papers help quickly assess if they are worth reading in full.
• 🛑 Know when to stop researching once you've gathered enough information to answer your research question.

Q & A

Why is having a well-defined research question important?

A well-defined research question is crucial because it helps set boundaries for the research, preventing the researcher from gathering too much unnecessary information and ensuring that the research is focused and relevant.

What simple method does the speaker suggest for organizing research materials?

The speaker suggests starting with a basic folder structure on your computer, creating folders for different categories as you gather information. As you research, you can organize papers and notes into these categories.

How does the speaker recommend handling large amounts of research material?

The speaker recommends creating a running document for notes, sorting material into categories as it comes in, and reviewing abstracts and figures to quickly decide which papers are relevant without having to read every word.

What tools does the speaker suggest using for starting research?

The speaker recommends starting with general resources like Google, Wikipedia, and Google Trends to understand the field. For academic research, Google Scholar is highlighted as a valuable tool.

Why is it important to refer to primary sources during research?

Primary sources provide the original research and are less likely to be misinterpreted. Secondary sources, like journalistic interpretations, can sometimes misrepresent research, so it’s important to verify information by going back to the original work.

What is a 'review paper' and why is it valuable for researchers?

A review paper is a summary of existing research in a particular field. It is valuable because it consolidates multiple sources and provides a broad overview, often referencing hundreds of papers, making it easier to identify key research and gaps in the literature.

How does the speaker suggest filtering search results effectively in Google?

The speaker advises using search modifiers such as including the words 'science' or 'research' in the query. This helps refine the search to focus on more credible and research-oriented content.

How can researchers determine when to stop collecting information?

Researchers should stop collecting information once they feel they have enough to answer their research question and have a clear understanding of the topic. It’s important to know when to stop to avoid overloading with unnecessary information.

What does the speaker say about reading research effectively?

The speaker recommends not reading every word but instead focusing on the title, abstract, figures, and captions to get a quick understanding of whether the paper is worth further reading.

Why does the speaker emphasize patience during research?

Patience is crucial because research can be time-consuming. The process involves filtering through large amounts of information to find credible and relevant sources, and this often takes more time than anticipated.