Five Tips for Easy Researching

When I think of research, my mind conjures up an image of a pile of ten pound books covering a table in some far corner of a library. There was a time when this was the way research happened.

We can all heave a big sigh of relief, because it doesn't have to be that way anymore. In fact, being a mom of four, I'm all about finding way to quickly discover all the information I need for a topic I would like to write about. In my home. In my spare minutes here and there. These are five tips for researching that I've learned the hard way:

1. Search engines. There's no shame in googling your topic. It's a place to start. And with the absolute wealth of information available on even the most obscure topic, it's a great way to find a starting place.

2. Library reserves. After I've googled it and started down a path toward the answers I'm looking for, I take some of the words I've come across and begin to search for them on my library's website. I can then scroll through the results and reserve the books I'd like to look through.

3. Children's books. Maybe I'm admitting to a certain lack of intelligence here, but I truly find that one of the best ways to find out what I need to know is to get a book on that topic that was written for children or young adults. These books tend to be more succinct than those of an author who is writing to adults. And of course, there's more pictures!

4. Lists. There's definitely a place for letting your mind soak up the flavor of a topic without worrying over the details, but you can't be a good researcher without a pad of paper and a pen. If you leave it up to your memory to recall what you need to know, you will probably find that a good deal of it has flown from your brain in the hubbub of life. So write down the things you need to remember. And remember where you put your paper.

5. Trails. Follow the trails your search reveals. What I mean is, if you are trying to find out about James Thurber and you discover he lived in Columbus, Ohio during his adolescence, find out what Columbus, Ohio was like in that time period. What would James Thurber have seen, felt, tasted, smelled, heard as he went about his life during those years? Put yourself in his shoes and discover who he was at his most mundane moments, and you have glimpsed what cannot necessarily be found in a standard biography.

There are many ways to go about research. These ways may or may not work for you, and in the end you have to discover for yourself what works best. For the person who is overwhelmed by the thought of beginning to research, and is having nightmares about all the work that went into those tedious research papers from high school and college... hopefully these tips will provide an easier place to start.