Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project That Matters to You (and the World) PDF
Preview Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project That Matters to You (and the World)
Where Research Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks Wendy Laura Belcher The Craft of Research Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. FitzGerald The Art of Creative Research Philip Gerard From Dissertation to Book William Germano Getting It Published William Germano Wordcraft Jack Hart Write No Matter What Joli Jensen How to Write a BA Thesis Charles Lipson A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations Kate L. Turabian Student’s Guide to Writing College Papers Kate L. Turabian Choosing a ReseaRCh PRojeCt that MatteRs to You (and the WoRld) Where Research Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas S. Mullaney & Christopher Rea The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2022 by Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637. Published 2022 Printed in the United States of America 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 1 2 3 4 5 isBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 80111- 7 (cloth) isBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 81744- 6 (paper) isBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 81735- 4 (e- book) doi: https:// doi .org /10 .7208 /chicago /9780226817354 .001 .0001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Mullaney, Thomas S. (Thomas Shawn), author. | Rea, Christopher G., author. Title: Where research begins : choosing a research project that matters to you (and the world) / Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea. Other titles: Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing. Description: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2022. | Series: Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing | Includes index. Identifiers: lCCn 2021032879 | isBn 9780226801117 (cloth) | isBn 9780226817446 (paperback) | isBn 9780226817354 (ebook) Subjects: lCsh: Research. Classification: lCC aZ105 .M85 2022 | ddC 001.4—dc23 lC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021032879 ♾ This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso Z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper). Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . Introduction 1 Self- Centered Research: A Manifesto 4 Centered Research Is the Best Research 6 How to Use This Book 8 Introversion, First. Extroversion, Second. 13 tRY this noW: Write Here, Right Now 14 part 1: Become a Self- Centered Researcher 17 Chapter 1: Questions 19 A Topic Is Not a Question 19 tRY this noW: Search Yourself 27 tRY this noW: Let Boredom Be Your Guide 33 tRY this noW: Go Small or Go Home 36 sounding BoaRd: Start Building Your Research Network 40 You Have Questions 41 Chapter 2: What’s Your Problem? 43 Don’t Jump to a Question (or You’ll Miss Your Problem) 44 Stress- Testing Your Questions 46 tRY this noW: Run a Diagnostic Test on Your Questions 47 tRY this noW: Use Primary Sources to Educate Your Questions 51 tRY this noW: Make Your Assumptions Visible 59 tRY this noW: Identify the Problem That Connects Your Questions 64 sounding BoaRd: Get Leads on Primary Sources 65 You Have a Problem (in a Good Way) 66 Chapter 3: Designing a Project That Works 67 Primary Sources and How to Use Them (or, Fifty Ways to Read a Cereal Box) 67 tRY this noW: Treat Your Primary Source Like a Cereal Box 75 tRY this noW: Envision Your Primary Sources 78 Connecting the Dots: Getting from Sources to Arguments 82 Sources Cannot Defend Themselves 87 tRY this noW: Connect the Dots Using Your Sources (in Pencil) 92 Taking Stock of Your Research Resources 94 tRY this noW: Decision Matrix 97 sounding BoaRd: Is Your Decision Matrix Complete? 99 Two Types of Plan B 99 Scenario 1: Same Problem, Different Case 100 Scenario 2: Same Topic, Different Project 102 Setting Up Shop 104 tRY this noW: Get Money for Nothing (Prepare a Formal Research Proposal) 108 sounding BoaRd: Share Your Proposal with a Trusted Mentor (Who Understands How Preliminary This Is) 114 You Have the Beginnings of a Project 115 Part 2: Get Over Yourself 117 Chapter 4: How to Find Your Problem Collective 121 Identify Researchers Who Share Your Problem 121 tRY this noW: Change One Variable 125 tRY this noW: Before and After 133 tRY this noW: Map Out Your Collective (Secondary Source Search) 138 Rewriting for Your Collective 142 tRY this noW: Find and Replace All “Insider Language” 146 sounding BoaRd: Does the Lay Version of My Proposal Make Sense? 149 Welcome to Your Collective 150 Chapter 5: How to Navigate Your Field 152 Find the Problems within Your Field 154 Read Your Field for Their Problems: Reimagining the “Literature Review” 156 tRY this noW: Start Your Own “What’s Your Problem?” Bookstore (aka Organize Your Field into Problem Collectives) 159 tRY this noW: Change Their Variables 164 tRY this noW: Rewrite for Your Field 169 sounding BoaRd: Find a Sounding Board in Your Field 173 Welcome to Your Field 174 Chapter 6: How to Begin 175 Don’t Worry. It’s All Writing. 176 tRY this noW: Create “Draft 0” 180 See What You Mean: Writing Draft 1 183 tRY this noW: Move from 0 to 1 185 Perfection Is Boring 189 sounding BoaRd: Talk to Yourself 191 Welcome to Self- Centered Research 192 What’s Next in Your Research Journey? 193 tRY this noW: Find a New Problem and Start a New Project 194 tRY this noW: Help Someone Else 196 Acknowledgments 201 Further Reading 203 Index 205 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In the early 2000s, when we were both in graduate school, we were assigned to teach a course on research methodology. The course was required for undergraduate majors in our department. On paper, it was taught by a professor, but in truth, everything was left to us. We had to design the course from scratch, with little guidance on how to do so. The one and only requirement was that each student had to produce a research proposal by the end of the term— a detailed plan of attack that outlined the specific questions the project sought to explore and answer, the sources they would use, and the potential implications and impact of their findings. The two of us teamed up to map out a semester- long plan through which a student could develop a full-fl edged re- search project in a relatively short span of time. We reflected on our own experiences, both as under graduates and now as early- career scholars, and synthesized everything into a road map as clear as a twelve- step smoking cessation program. It covered everything, we thought: working with primary sources, taking notes, compiling an annotated bibliography of secondary sources, developing a hypothesis, outlining the structure of a thesis, and summarizing the expected impli- cations of the study. By following our plan, each student’s paper would come together piece by piece. Or so we thought. Something went wrong. As soon as the class started, our 1
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