6.3 Using Your Research
Determining a topic and finding relevant sources are only the beginning steps in the research process. Once you locate sources, you have to read them and determine how useful and relevant they are for your particular research context. The sources we use can either add or detract from our overall credibility. Therefore, reviewing, processing, and documenting information is an integral part of the research process.
Skimming
Skimming is the process of reading key parts of a text in order to get an overview of an author’s argument and main ideas. There are many different methods for skimming, so you will have to determine which works best for you and your particular source.
Most well-written texts, such as essays, articles, and book chapters, are generally organized in similar ways:
Introduction: provides the main idea/thesis as well as overview of the text’s structure
Body: provides claims, arguments, evidence, support and so on to support thesis
Conclusion: provides connections to larger contexts, suggests implications, ask questions, and revisit the main ideas
Ideally, the main ideas will be presented in the introduction, elaborated on in detail in the body, and reviewed in the conclusion.
Further, many sources will contain headings or subheadings to organize points and examples. Many sources will also use well-written paragraphs with clear topic sentences that provide the main idea(s) discussed in the paragraph. All of these aspects will help you skim while developing a sense of the writer’s argument and main ideas.
When you skim a source, consider the following process:
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- Read the introduction (this could be a few paragraphs long).
- Scan the document for headings. In a shorter article, there may not be any headings or there may be only a couple.
- Whenever you see a new heading, be sure to read at least the first few sentences under the heading and the final few sentences of the section.
- Read the conclusion.
Taking Notes
Taking notes is a central component of the research process. While you skim the articles, record important information, beginning with publication information. Publication information provides a sense of the rhetorical situation for the source, such as its intended audience and context. As you encounter texts in your research, consider their role in your project and note the publication information as you use it. Recording the publication information as you go will help avoid problems, including plagiarism, or mistakes when citing and building the reference list (see examples below).
Journal articles: Published journal articles have been through a vetting process and are generally considered reliable and academically sound.
You should note the following information for citation purposes:
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- Author(s)
- Publication date
- Article title
- Journal title
- Volume and issue number
- DOI or permalink
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Web-based articles: When relying on websites, be sure that you have done some of your own vetting: