4 Important Research Tips for Researching a Subject

Research is probably the hardest thing to judge how long it will take, because how do you know? If you're trying to learn about something and you know nothing about it, it's impossible to figure out how long it will take you to learn. As a writer I do a lot of research on topics I know nothing about. So I've figured out 4 tips that really come in handy to make the daunting task of "learning something" more manageable:

1. Immerse yourself in the subject.

Start by getting an overview of the subject. Documentaries are really great for this, cause you can just sit back and watch and they usually take on the entire topic in a bare bones way, just giving you the general idea, or even a well done fictional movie that involves the topic -it obviously will have variable accuracy, but it'll give you a good idea of the things you need to know and will immerse you into the subject. That's usually the first thing I do when I want to learn about something. I'll search IMDB for the topic and Netflix the highest rated movie that comes up in the results.

Movies can actually be more effective than documentaries at helping you retain the information, because it's in the context of a story. If you have trouble with retention while watching a documentary you can just take notes. You don't need to be meticulous. Just jot down things you plan to look up later.

Wikipedia is the 2nd best place for getting a good overview on a research topic, but a little less friendly because of its encyclopedic style. Some people say you shouldn't trust Wikipedia. I find, most of the time, Wikipedia is usually accurate, but of course you should always read through the sources cited at the bottom of the article. The reason Wikipedia is such a great resource is really the breadth of information you can get from it. It usually has sufficient links to all the other sources you'd really ever need right there.

The main point of this is to fully immerse yourself in as much of the subject as possible, like a foreigner arriving in America for the first time and heading directly to Time Square. You'll have no clue what's going on. That's the point.

But, once you know what a subject is ESSENTIALLY all about, then you can make a list of the details -some questions; things you don't understand, or want to learn more about, and more importantly, be able to prioritize those details and know what the bigger more important sub-topics are.

2. Focus the research on specific details of the topic.

Take it one step at a time. If you need to understand 5 different things to fully comprehend something, take the time to learn each of those 5 different things on it's own and then come back and tackle the bigger topic. If you did it right, suddenly it should all make sense, and you'll go "OH! Now I get it!" just like the plot twist at the end of a good movie.

3. Don't worry about the technical details. Just get COMFORTABLE with the material.

Most people get overwhelmed with math, dates, numbers, names, and technical details related to a subject. Don't worry about those things. There's usually plenty of graphs, lists, and directories that you can go back and reference tomorrow or when you're 80.

The only time you need to know the actual technicalities of a subject by memory is if you're a professional in that field, like a medical doctor for instance needing to know every bone and muscle group in the body. As a writer or researcher or anyone else though, that kind of stuff you can always come back and reference later if you ever need to. The important thing is that you get the gist of it. You want to be comfortable with the subject, not overwhelmed by it. You should be able to write about it confidently without worrying if you're totally shooting in the dark.

What qualifies as something relevant and something unimportant or trivial is really judged on a case by case basis. Sometimes I'm actually looking for those little details to find leads to do additional research on, but most times I just wish there was a summary where someone could just tell me the bottom line.

4. Always find the bias.

On the note of "the bottom line" you do have to be careful. Articles, documentaries, books, anything you get information from ALWAYS has a bias. There's no way around it because no one has ever been omnipotent. The sooner you find out what the perspective of the author/creator is, the sooner you can get to the actual truth.

This is very key. This is HOW you figure out where to look for your other sources. Most people know the rule about always finding multiple sources, but when researching to get to the truth, it's most of the time even more important to find sources with opposing perspectives. If you've done research on a topic and all your sources say the same thing about it, looking at it from the same angle, go find something that disagrees with them. It's never a waste of time, because in the worst case it will prove the sources you already found were right.

The final step to any research project is creating your own individual perspective on a subject you are now totally comfortable with. You're no longer a learner and can have a say as to what the truth of the matter really is. But truth in reality, is always a matter of perspective. This is why it's important to not just pick a side. You will have to develop your own bottom line on the subject once you've learned what at least 2 or 3 of the different popular angles are. It may be wrong.

It may be right...

But at least you won't be misinformed.