For almost every class you encounter in college you will most likely will have to do some type of research whether it be for a paper, project, or article evaluation. Since searching for resources and researching is a such a common thing, it’s important to remember the following:
1. Outline your goals. Before you get started, outline the topics you need to research and determine what type of resources and information will be most valuable to your research for each topic. For example, I had to write a memo for one of my engineering classes about new technology that benefited our environment on a broad basis. So before researching, I outline what topics I wanted to cover then determined that empirical research through academic research journals would be the most valuable to me.
2. Make sure your sources are reliable. When you find a article or book online, make sure the author has some credentials. Look for their contact information, so that you can look at their background information and determine if they are qualified to talk about the topic being discussed. Also, look at the publication’s reputation. A publication will have a good reputation if they have many articles/magazines/books within a certain field.
3. Avoid Blogs and Wiki pages. A lot of blogs and wiki pages are unreliable due to they are mostly based solely on opinion and nothing on research.
4. Make sure your sources have high information quality. Make sure all references and statics are up to date and still relate to today, all facts are backed up with some type of research/statistic, and the article is not bias to the author’s opinion.
Great advice and written in an easy format for the listening article. Similar to what you have written, I also highlight the value of knowing how to do quality research throughout the college career and professional careers.