What are research skills?
It can be described as an ability to provide in-depth information, with comprehensive and critical analysis, and offering suggestions on a given topic after intensive research on that particular topic.
Why are research skills important for students?
Research skills are more crucial today than ever as it equips the students with problem solving skills and teach them new things and help to adapt and evolve with changing times.
Here some useful information and tips are consolidated for the students to help them acquire the most essential skills to succeed in research writing assignments but importantly to tackle issues in their professional and personal life.
How can students develop their research skills?
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Define a lucid objective
Research is a long process, before taking a plunge, students need to have clear objectives and goals of the research they are interested in conducting.
If the objective is dubious, it is not recommended to proceed with the research. Clarity is so important for meaningful research.
One can acquire clarity by asking questions to one’s self, like ask- is the subject important or needs research? Will this research be meaningful? What are the gaps in the research? What would I achieve through the research?
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Explore
Once the objective is clear, and the aim is set, get ready for some serious and intensive reading to do. Start reading authentic papers and scholarly articles, books, and reports relevant to the research topic.
The research must be selective whether online or offline to attain a thorough idea about the concerned subject or area.
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Jot down your key findings
The heads are now filled with the ideas that have emanated out of the carried out by the students. This is an important step that must not be left for the end in order to retain the information you have read.
Ideally, all the relevant things must be written down along the way as and when the students find them.
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Seek expert advice
It is important for the students while conducting research to talk to experts. These are people who give expert advice in the light of their life-long experience that students might not find in any research journal or articles that can be a scaffolding for their research.
Students can also reach out for the expert’s assistance available online such as PaperHelp, a great online resource for students eager to help students in every way possible.
Students with the help of experts can easily consolidate the findings to come up with an exclusive conclusion and to reflect on their research on the whole.
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Expand the social network
It means that students should be open to meet new people. The wider the network, the greater the opportunities to meet the experts.
These area experts are crucial for any research and are not easily available for students to reach out when they needed them the most.
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Consult with a librarian
Research students must consult subject librarians as they are experts in crafting a thesis. They can help the students in searching and locating significant and specialized sources for their research.
Consulting the librarians can be a great means for enhancing students’ research skills.
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Organizing information
A very important part of any research is the organizing of the information. Students must develop a habit to gather and recycle large accumulated information, this will make it easy to find it when needed.
Inculcating organizational skills in students is a proven fact that it helps students in a great many ways, and especially while conducting research.
This is what you will do in order to be organized:
- Note references of everything you write
- Make separate folders or files for each section of the research
- Label the files accordingly
Suppose if someone forgets everything they have learned during the research, they can start again by navigating through these organized files and folders.
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Avoid unbiased arguments
The main idea of any research needs objective data and opinion for its strong standing and credibility.
It needs to show a comparison between different views or schools of thought and then formulate your own view about the topic or issue.
This approach forms the analytical skills of the researcher and adds up to the knowledge and experience that is counted as a valuable asset to their resume as an entry-level scientist or as a professional later in life.
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The writing should be coherent
The biggest flaw in any writing is its incoherence. Make sure that all the paragraphs are written in a logical sequence. Present your ideas with clarity and strength to enhance the quality of your research.
Make sure that the readers follow the ideas and arguments in making sense to them, and this can only be achieved through a coherent text.
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Stay away from plagiarism
Students whatever they read during the research, and while using the quotes of scholars in the research paper to raise the credibility of the paper. Nevertheless, make sure that the source is mentioned in order to avoid plagiarism.
Plagiarism is considered a serious crime, therefore do not indulge in copying anyone’s thoughts and ideas or their findings and if it is used in the research, do not forget to give their reference.
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Edit and refine the content of the paper
After summing up the research, it is now time to go through it all over for editing and giving it a final touch.
At this stage, there is no need to add new details or information, just revise it properly and double-check the word choice. And make sure that the rules of paper formatting styles are followed accordingly.
In conclusion, research skills are important skills that need to be acquired at every phase of life whether be it school, college, university, or a workplace.
It is interrelated to organizational, analytical skills and makes the individual or a student becomes a better critical thinker. Research is all about planning in advance and staying organized.
Take all the time you need to conduct meaningful and thorough research.