Research made easy (at least easier)

I've had a mounting suspicion that research papers - at least academic research papers - were supposed to be more authoritative than mine have generally been. I've been thinking that the best papers really ought to find all the sources on whatever topics they claim to be clarifying. Which is why dissertations are huge.

Well, this week I've been sitting in a Graduate Research Seminar. It could be called Research 101. And it makes research easy.

Not that real research is easy. It takes time and effort to find all the best sources and think through them, etc. But research is much more difficult when no one has given you any basic concepts on how to conduct research. I don't know why they don't teach classes like this in high school, college, or even in master's programs. The only reason I was required to take this class is that I am in an "Advanced" Master of Divinity program. The course is really intended for PhD candidates. By not offering the course to college students and master's students, though, they condemn us to hours and hours of teaching ourselves to research poorly.

I doubt anyone reading this will want a thorough treatise on good researching techniques. But I will recommend the two books I've read for the class so far. The first is written by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb and Joseph M. Williams and is entitled The Craft of Research. They give a lot of helpful pointers. But for a book that is specifically about the best methods for research, try The Oxford Guide to Library Research by Thomas Mann. I wouldn't necessarily recommend reading straight through the book (though skimming to get an overview would be good). But if you're trying to research well, I would follow the suggestions in one chapter until you're satisfied you did what he recommends. If you need more resources, try another chapter's recommendations.

For those of you I've bored with this talk about research, just remember that research doesn't have to be academic. This book could help you find the answer to all kinds of fun, interesting, and even worthless questions in almost any area of life. I think it will help a lot when I'm out of school.