Research: Key Skills Learned in School

For much of your life from now on, you will be asked to conduct research. Being an adult, also means you are responsible for yourself and dealing with a myriad of problems that will come your way. Even as an author, it is no longer enough to "make up" all the details. You will have to conduct some level of research to get the answers you need.

"Research" means looking for an answer to a question or problem.

Different kinds of questions require different kinds of answers, and different kinds of answers require different kinds of research. Knowing what you need is a first step.

• If the answer you're looking for is a known fact: What's the percentage of teens who attend public schools in America, for example, then you're probably going to have to search the internet or look in books or articles in a library, or consult an expert.
• If you're seeking reinforcement, then you may have to conduct a study or experiment of some sort, or sift through existing records, books, websites, etc. to find what you're looking for. Libraries can be helpful, but you are likely to start with the internet first.
• If you're searching for evidence of harmful and/or illegal action on the part of a corporation or government agency, (or you end up studying law, politics, or sociology) you may have to do some actual detective work: searching through documents, taking pictures, talking to employees, etc.

Research encompasses all these methods and more. What kind of research you should do depends on what and what kind of information you need.

Advantages of research:

• Research supports your position/subject. Your research adds facts and statistics to your belief and passion. The latter two are important, but they won't actually convince too many people who disagree with you. Hard evidence might.
• Research gives you new information. Often, your research will turn up information that you didn't know about. This helps you learn.
• Research can provide you with anecdotes and examples to strengthen your position. While statistics and facts work on your argument's logos, examples are often more powerful to reach us through pathos because it makes the issue immediate and real. An anecdote or example doesn't necessarily prove a case, but it can make it easier for people to understand exactly what the issue is about.
• Research can confirm what you were suspecting or thinking as true. You may "know" that you're right about a particular issue, but it brings a great deal more security to be able to say that all the experts in the field agree with you, or that studies have shown that what you're writing/stating is true.
• Research gives you credibility. If you do your research well, it identifies you as a serious or intelligent person and will make people more willing to listen to you, and to believe what they hear. This is ethos.
• Research can disprove the opposition. If you've done careful research not only on your own position, but on the opposition's position as well, you'll have the information to answer their charges and questions, and either disprove their claims, or make reasonable and logical arguments against their position.
• Research makes you a learned expert. If you become known as the one with the right answers, people (legislators, officials, concerned groups, the general public, etc.) will come to you with their questions and concerns. When you're recognized as the authority, your advocacy position becomes infinitely stronger. People will trust you.