Beginner's guide to research? :)

[hopscotch]

Hey everyone,

I'm taking a year out before M.A. to try and improve my research skills, and I'm wondering if anybody might be able to recommend any reading material to get me started. (I'm thinking along the lines of research student handbooks, etc.)

Any other practical advice would be more than welcome, too.

Thanks in advance,

hopscotch

[augustquail]

Hey everyone,

I'm taking a year out before M.A. to try and improve my research skills, and I'm wondering if anybody might be able to recommend any reading material to get me started. (I'm thinking along the lines of research student handbooks, etc.)

Any other practical advice would be more than welcome, too.

Thanks in advance,

hopscotch

I'm kind of confused by this. Perhaps it's just my experience, but I think the best way to "improve" your research skills is to be in school and do research. What does "research student handbooks mean"? Are you referring to books that tell you how to write papers and find relevant books/articles? The only 'writing' handbooks i've ever used are the mla handbook and this other great grammar book called 'sin and syntax.' I think research is something you learn by doing. Didn't you have to write a research paper or senior thesis for undergrad? Honestly, if I had a year off I would read just immense amounts of books and theory/criticism--and not student guide books. Make yourself write a paper as a research exercise, maybe?

Sorry if this sounds crabby. I haven't had enough coffee yet.

[poco_puffs]

Hey everyone,

I'm taking a year out before M.A. to try and improve my research skills, and I'm wondering if anybody might be able to recommend any reading material to get me started. (I'm thinking along the lines of research student handbooks, etc.)

Any other practical advice would be more than welcome, too.

Thanks in advance,

hopscotch

Something to check out would be the "Literary Research Guide" by James L. Harner. According to its cover, which will summarize it better than I can, it:

Identifies reference tools essential for the study of American and British lit, other lit in English, and related topics

Evaluates bibliographies, abstracts, surveys of research, indexes, databases, dictionaries, and other important reference materials

Contains 1,059 entries with complete citations and descriptive annotations explaining the benefits and drawbacks of each work

So lets say you want to research Restoration and Eighteenth Century literature, or find out more about it because of a project you're doing. This book will provide you with a list and reviews of the Histories and Surveys about that period; a list of literary handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias about that period; a bibliography of bibliographies (for putting together lists of reading for yourself); guides to primary works, text archives, manuscripts; periodicals; guides to genres of the time; a list of the guides to scholarship and criticism for that period etc. Harner's book doesn't contain ALL of that stuff in whole of course, but it CAN give you a comprehensive look at the resources out there available for that field of study, and it will give you some excellent places to start.

I do agree with August's suggestion, though. Go out and read. That's one of the biggest things you'll be doing in grad school anyway.

[diehtc0ke]

+1 to just getting out there and figuring out how to research through what interests you. And yes, "Research is something you learn by doing" but it helps to have a solid foundation to build off of--I wish I had had one.

I've actually never heard of that guide, poco_puffs. I might check it out for shits and giggles. If you want a more general book on how to conduct research, I'd recommend The Craft of Research (http://www.amazon.com/Research-Chicago-Writing-Editing-Publishing/dp/0226065847). It does a good job of guiding students on how to come up with research questions or topics in the first place.

[hopscotch]

Hey again, everyone.

Thanks all for your replies.

@augustquail: I'll take on board your suggestion to read (and then write) as much as possible. Thanks for the style guide recommendations.

@poco_puffs: Thanks very much. Will head over to Amazon and order my copy of the "Literary Research Guide" right away

@diehtc0ke:The Craft of Research looks like a great starting point. I'll be sure to check that out.

Happy Halloween!

[poco_puffs]

@poco_puffs: Thanks very much. Will head over to Amazon and order my copy of the "Literary Research Guide" right away

You might want to check it out in person first to flip through it. It might be a little too dry for what you need right now.

[skeletonkeys]

If you have access to a school's online databases, I think reading some dissertations and theses is useful. Because of the genre's expectations there are often nice literature reviews and outlines of methodology etc. that discuss research methods quite explicitly. This helps me, at least...I'm thinking of ProQuest Dissertations database.

And like others have said, read read and read some more. Especially journals in your field. I love American Quarterly, CCC and ELH.

[artist_lily]

Something to check out would be the "Literary Research Guide" by James L. Harner. According to its cover, which will summarize it better than I can, it:

Identifies reference tools essential for the study of American and British lit, other lit in English, and related topics

Evaluates bibliographies, abstracts, surveys of research, indexes, databases, dictionaries, and other important reference materials

Contains 1,059 entries with complete citations and descriptive annotations explaining the benefits and drawbacks of each work

So lets say you want to research Restoration and Eighteenth Century literature, or find out more about it because of a project you're doing. This book will provide you with a list and reviews of the Histories and Surveys about that period; a list of literary handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias about that period; a bibliography of bibliographies (for putting together lists of reading for yourself); guides to primary works, text archives, manuscripts; periodicals; guides to genres of the time; a list of the guides to scholarship and criticism for that period etc. Harner's book doesn't contain ALL of that stuff in whole of course, but it CAN give you a comprehensive look at the resources out there available for that field of study, and it will give you some excellent places to start.

I do agree with August's suggestion, though. Go out and read. That's one of the biggest things you'll be doing in grad school anyway.

Emphatically seconded on the Harner book. I'm already attending, and my research methods prof (a very eminent, old-guard medieval scholar) recommended this book to us immediately. It's a must-have. Good call, poco_puffs!