How to write aresearch project

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Contents

Making your research S.M.A.R.T. 4

How to start your research project 5

Key issues in project management 8

Key issues in time management 11

Potential pitfalls in research projects and 14how to avoid them

Resources 18

What is the purpose of thisbooklet?

Research allows you to discover new ideasand expand your understanding of differentsubject areas. It will form an essential part ofyour education, especially as you advancethrough university. If you’ve never done anyresearch work, being asked to complete aresearch project for the first time might seemfairly intimidating. It doesn’t need to be,though, and this study guide is designed tomake sure that it isn’t.

This booklet is a guide to some of the mostimportant aspects of research projects.Whether the project is as small as a researchpaper or as big as your final dissertation (orbigger!), the techniques covered here will giveyou the background you need. The examplescovered are not exhaustive, but there should beplenty of material to get you off to a good start.Even if you’ve never done any research workbefore, if you follow the steps we describe,you’ll be able to make a good job of yourproject, and hand it in on time.

The structure of the booklet is designed tofollow the path that you might take through aresearch project: it starts with a description ofa successful research project, then moves onto suggest methods for getting started beforegetting into finer detail on how to organiseyour time and find your resources.

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Along with writing, research is one of the mostimportant skills you will need to develop. Howgood you become at it will determine howsuccessful you are in your studies. Every researchproject you do will be different, but they will alsoshare some essential common elements. Thoseelements are laid out for you in this booklet –everything from getting started to ensuring youcan get it done. If you follow the suggestions onthe following pages your next research project willbe more successful and easier to manage.

Making your researchS.M.A.R.T.

Before looking at the small print of doing aresearch project, it’s worth taking a moment totry to get a picture of what the ideal researchproject looks like. The best word to describe itis S.M.A.R.T. It stands for Specific, Measurable,Advantageous, Realistic, Time-framed.

These themes will come up over and over againin different forms throughout this booklet. Ifthey seem like very straightforward concepts,it’s because they are – but don’t fall into thetrap of overlooking or dismissing them. It’sdifficult to over-estimate just how importantthey are when it comes to research work.

Specific refers to many things, but for ourimmediate purposes, it’s most relevant to

your research question or topic. Be specificabout what you’re setting out to do, about yourtopic, and about what you hope to achieve –and try to do this in the earliest possible stagesof the project.

There are two reasons why this is helpful. Thefirst is because it will make managing andcompleting the project much easier. An analogywith shopping can help illustrate what thismeans. Imagine you’re about to go to the storeto buy some food. What do you emerge with?Some food, of course, but that could be almostanything – it’s far from specific. Now imagineyou go to the supermarket to buy bread andcheese. You go in, you know exactly what youwant to get, you buy it, and you leave. Easy. Thisis how specific you should aim to be in framingyour research project. Try to set out exactlywhat you’re doing, then do it. It’s much easierthan trying to figure what you’re doing half-waythrough the project.

The second reason is because it makes it mucheasier for people to engage with the project.Remember, you have to be able to explain topeople what your project is, and how yourresearch is relevant to it. If you’re not sureyourself, there’s no chance you’ll be able toexplain it adequately to anyone else.

Measurable is how you keep track of howthe project is coming along. It’s useful to

establish a calendar and milestones for aresearch project. Not only do milestones giveyou goals to work toward, they give yousomething to chart your progress against. If youset them out on a calendar, you’ll actually beable to see how you’re getting on. This will alsohelp keep you motivated by reminding you ofhow much progress you’ve made to date.

Advantageous is what the project ought tobe, to you especially. Your project should

offer you a positive outcome, and ideally, thatshould be more than just the mark you hope toreceive for it. So what might make itadvantageous? You may have an interest in thetopic; you might not know much about the topic,but want to learn more; or you might see thepossibility of the project leading to somethinginteresting, like a job, entrance to anothercourse of study, or a diploma, for example.There are many potential advantages that youmight identify, not just good grades, and it’sworth doing so – that’ll help reaching theeventual goal of completing the project moreattractive.

Realistic. Ask yourself some questions todetermine how realistic your goal is: is it

possible for you to complete this project to areasonable standard in the time you have? Arethere enough resources? Does the projectrequire you to have any special skills tocomplete it– and do you have them? If theanswer to any of these questions is no, then

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your project may need to be reframed. It’simportant to ask these questions early on,before any complications arise, otherwise youcan get caught out. That doesn’t mean yourproject shouldn’t be ambitious; it just meansthat you should keep it in perspective. Yourtutor will be able to help you with this.

Time-framed means you can complete theproject in the time allocated. If you have

one week to get it done, you should scheduleyour activities and aim to complete it within thatweek. Likewise for any other length of time youcare to name. Time-framed refers to more thanjust time management, though. Like ‘Realistic’,it’s meant to suggest taking a pragmaticapproach to your research project. Don’t try todo a month’s work in a week: frame yourproject so that it fits the time you have. Andremember, the more work you hope to do, themore time you’ll need. Keep this in mind whenyou’re planning your project.

How to start your researchproject

No matter how S.M.A.R.T. your goals, yourproject won’t be any good if you can’t getstarted. Research projects can be intimidating,especially if it’s your first one. That said, evenseasoned professionals rely on the occasionaltrick to get the ball rolling.

Getting started can be the most challengingpart for many people, but it doesn’t need to be.In fact, it ought to be the easiest. The trick is tobe conscious of the things you need to do. Ifyou are, you can make yourself a checklist, andsimply go through it.

So what do you need to take into account?Briefly put, these are the things you shouldhave on your checklist: 1) Have an idea, 2) turnthat idea into a question, and anticipate newquestions, 3) identify resources, 4) establishwhat has already been done (literature review),5) brainstorm around focused topic, 6) organiseideas, 7) write outline, 8) start filling in theblanks!

That’s all well and good to say, but let’s take amoment to explore it in a little more detail.

1. Have an idea. This is the most importantstep, though it need not be an intimidatingprospect. It’s even possible that your topichas been assigned to you, in which case youcan proceed directly to #3. If you’re choosingyour own topic, though, how do you start?Well, what, related to your studies, are youinterested in? That’s the prefect place tostart. Now it may be the case that the thingyou’re interested in is too big for your project,but if you talk to your tutor, they’ll probably beable to help you narrow it down.

Choosing a topic that I was interested in was thecatalyst to my research! Itimmediately led to other ideasand as it was a subject I waspassionate about, I was evenable to visualise how myfinished project may look.

2. Turn the idea into a question. Again, this iseasier than it might sound. Ideas can be verybig – so big that they’re difficult tocommunicate. One way to help you getaround this is to set out to answer a specificquestion. This allows you to talk about youridea in a focused way that’s easier to follow.For example, your idea might be that becausewe have the technology, all new housesshould be environmentally responsible. Whatyou want to do is to convince other peoplethat this is the case. So, you might frame youridea as a question like this: if we have thetechnology to make all new housesresponsible, why don’t we?

3. Identify resources. Now you’re getting into it.Where are you going to find the informationto answer this question? This could be thelibrary, the internet (careful, though, there’s alot of nonsense out there – see page 18!),books you have at home, and even your ownexperiments and discoveries.

4. Establish what’s already been done. You’vedone some looking around now. This is calledthe literature review. Has anyone else lookedat this question or similar questions? Whatdid they find? Does it support your ideas, ordoes it contradict them? You need to recordthis information to include in your researchproject, and you need to write down whereyou found it – you’ll probably want to go backand consult it again, and you’ll certainly haveto put it in your bibliography.

5. Brainstorm. Now it’s time to get a betterpicture of your project. Take 10 or 15minutes to write down all the bits ofinformation you’ve collected. Don’t worryabout putting them in any particular order, orhow important you think they are, just getthem down.

6. Organise ideas. Once you’ve got all of thoseideas down, collect all the similar bits ofinformation together under up to 5 headings.You can subdivide them later, if necessary.These headings will help you when you cometo thinking about writing-up your project. Ifyou can start with similar things in one place,it’ll be much easier to make your argument,and much easier for your audience tounderstand it.

7. Write your outline. You’re almost ready. Nowthat you’ve grouped all the information, you’reready to give it some structure. Puteverything together in a clear and easy tofollow order. You might want to do thischronologically, or geographically, or bythemes – just keep in mind that whatevermethod you choose, it should be obvious toyour eventual reader how it all fits together.

8. Start filling in the blanks. There’s nothing leftto do now but get started!

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When choosing my owntopic and question, broaderand more diverse research isessential. The hardest thing isnot to get too fixated on oneaspect, as wider research mayreveal more interestinginformation.

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Essex students say...

Caren – Philosophy and Art HistoryChoosing a topic that I was interested in wasthe catalyst to my research! It immediately ledto other ideas and as it was a subject I waspassionate about, I was even able to visualisehow my finished project may look. Identifyingresources was a little daunting as they werelimited. This took longer than I thought, butwas worth it. Framing my idea as a questionworked particularly well for me. I wrote a list ofquestions, all based on the same idea,narrowed it down to the one I felt was mostsuitable and referred back to it which kept mefocused. My interest in the subject meant Ialready had a little background knowledgewhich gave me a starting block to build on. As Iwas writing the list, I came up with more ideasand a plan began to develop.

Emma – SociologyThe first step I usually take, once I have a topic,is to carry out an initial topic search on thelibrary database. This provides me with aninitial understanding of the material that isavailable on the topic. Following this, I like totake myself off to the library and spend sometime browsing the shelves, sifting throughbooks and seeing what I can find. Whenchoosing my own topic and question, broaderand more diverse research is essential. Thehardest thing is not to get too fixated on oneaspect, as wider research may reveal moreinteresting information. Creating acomprehensive plan is essential to writing aconcise piece of work. If I have fully completedmy research then the planning is usuallystraightforward (with a little bit of time, effortand thought). However, if I’m struggling it isusually a clear indication that I need to returnto the books.

Alex – LawGetting started with a long research project isalmost like standing at the bank of a wide riverof information. I have to get to the other side tofinish my assignment. Having stepping stonesreally helps me get started. These steppingstones are key words which relate to myassignment. When reading the essay questionor case, most of the time I can form at leastsome idea of how I would like my answer afterI have thought about those key words. In thepast, I tended not to use online sources in mycoursework essays. Google searches rarely didmore than scratch the surface, but manylibraries now have an excellent selection ofreliable online journals. I prefer to have a firstdraft ready as quickly as possible and thenimprove it gradually by chipping away at it.

Ruxandra – PsychologyIf you know what your goal is everything ismuch easier. In most cases, the general topicwas given to me by a lecturer who then helpedme to focus it with my own ideas. I would startwith my literature review and after getting mylecturer’s advice on a list of books and articlesI continued by consulting the library. If you findanything similar to what you want to do but thehypothesis is different, you needn’t worry. Inthe words of one of my lecturers: you canalways contradict someone else’s findings,provided that you have the proof. That’s whatmakes research fun!

Key issues in projectmanagement

When you’re thinking about managing theresearch project you’ll probably find that someof the things you’re going to be doing aresimilar to things you were doing when youwere starting your project. The five key aspectsof managing a research project are: 1) Clarifyaims, 2) define activities, 3) identify milestones,4) establish/define priorities, 5) monitor andevaluate your plan and progress.

1. Clarify aims. What is it that you hope toaccomplish with your research project? This isnot meant to be a stupid question – far fromit. Many people start projects without everthinking seriously about what they hope theend result will be – they just begin readingand writing, hoping that magically a brilliantproject will emerge. We don’t recommend this!If you’re able to determine specifically whatyou would like your end result to be early onin the project, it will make it much easier toget it finished. That doesn’t necessarily meanthat you have to know exactly what you’redoing from the very beginning. Few people do– that’s the nature of research and discovery.If you follow the steps laid out above to getstarted, though, you’ll probably have areasonably clear picture.

2. Define activities. What do you have to do tomake sure this project gets finished? Whatneeds to happen? Remember the ‘GettingStarted’ list above. You might need to dosome more brainstorming here: write downeverything from writing-up, to locations ofresearch material, and how to get to them.Why is it important to do this? Simplybecause it will allow you to get an idea ofwhat you need to do in order to make yourproject successful. It will also help you

determine what needs to happen right away,and what can wait for a later stage in theproject. Do you need to travel anywhere? Areany of your resources only available atspecific times? When you define youractivities, these things will become apparentto you, and you’ll be in a position to plan forthem accordingly.

3. Identify milestones. Despite the name,‘research project’, which sounds like it’s justone thing, research projects are made up of avariety of parts and stages: they’re very rarelyseamless jobs that run from start-to-finish.It’s these different stages that we think aboutwhen we talk about milestones.

But how do you go about identifying whatyour milestones are going to be? Well, it’seasier than it might at first appear to be. Afterdefining the different activities that need totake place, it might even become obviouswhat your milestones are. Perhaps your firstmilestone is gathering your resources; yoursecond might be to familiarise yourself withall of them and make notes; your third mightbe to draft an outline; fourth, write sectionone, and so on.

Those are all fairly large milestones so it’sprobably sensible to subdivide them a bit –perhaps even down to a daily level. Thatmight seem like micromanaging, but what itallows you to do is to give yourself a sensethat the project is always moving forward.Take the milestone of familiarising yourselfwith your research material from the exampleabove: let’s say you have 15 books andarticles to get through. That can be a fairlyintimidating pile of work, and by extension,seem a practically unachievable milestone toreach. So break it down into moremanageable milestones: 3 books/articles perweek, let’s say. Then it doesn’t seem to be an

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impossibly large task and you get a feeling ofsatisfaction at the end of every week – andon a large research project, that really helps!

4. Establish and define priorities. What has tohappen first, and what can wait until the end?Are any of your source materials difficult toget a hold of? If so, perhaps chasing those upfirst should be amongst your highestpriorities. Then what? Well, the best way is gomilestone by milestone looking at theactivities you’ve identified. Make achronological list of when things need tohappen to allow you to move on to the nextstage, then start at the beginning.

Some people think about priorities in theseterms: things you need to do now, things youwill need to do, and things you’d like to do. Asyou might expect, that’s the order you want todo them in. The things you need to do now areurgent. They need to be completed right awaybefore you can move on, so once you’veidentified them, they are the place you’ll needto start. The things you will need to do comenext. These are the things that will becomeurgent, but aren’t yet. Do these second. Thethings you’d like to do are like rewards. If youwant to make sure you complete yourresearch project on time, make sure you don’tlet these become your highest priority. See thetime management section for more tips likethis.

5. Monitor and evaluate your plan andprogress. Your plan is simply what we’vediscussed above, but it’s not enough to haveone – you need to stick to it. The best plan inthe world won’t do you any good if you don’ttry to keep to it and reach the variousmilestones set out in it.

It’s easy enough to monitor a plan: just lookat where you said you were going to be in the

plan, and then ask yourself whether or notyou’re there. Perhaps you’ve been reallyenthusiastic about your project and nowyou’re ahead of schedule. That’s great – butdon’t use that as an excuse to take too muchtime off the project. It can be difficult to buildthat momentum back up again.

Or maybe you’re behind schedule. If you’redisciplined about monitoring your plan, thismay not be a big deal. You can just jiggle anupcoming stage to make sure you get it donea little quicker, and thereby get yourself backon track. It may be the case, however, thatyour original plan was too ambitious. If you’regood about monitoring your plan from thevery beginning this will become clear fairlyquickly. At the beginning of the project it’sfairly easy to reformulate the plan to makesure you can still bring the project in on time.You don’t want to find out that your plan wastoo ambitious near your deadline, though.That could be disastrous.

Research needs to beactive – this is how I keep itinteresting and exciting. I always consider why I’mreading each book and ifit’s helpful or relevant: if itisn’t, then I put it down andmove on.

Essex students say...

Caren – Humanities and Comparative StudiesI found defining activities an excellenttechnique for getting a realistic overview of howto manage my research. I began by drawing atimetable with information such as where myresearch was located and when it was eitheropen or when I could get there. There were alsotimes allocated to ‘outside research’ which werethings like questionnaires or visiting museumsand galleries. That gave my research a structureand a sense of satisfaction when I crossed offeach milestone. When setting out my researchschedule, instead of allowing one day, I wouldallocate two or three. This was a great stress-buster if life got busy. It meant I could carry onmeeting my goals by juggling my timetable forthat week.

Emma – Social SciencesResearch needs to be active – this is how Ikeep it interesting and exciting. I alwaysconsider why I’m reading each book and if it’shelpful or relevant: if it isn’t, then I put it downand move on. Each book or article should giveme greater knowledge of the topic, a furtherargument or a new opinion. If I find that if this isnot happening, then I know it is time to ask forhelp. Milestones are very important, as is settingdeadlines for them. This helps me ensure that Ihave allowed enough time to complete theresearch and to go back and fill in any gaps ifnecessary. I always allow myself more time thanI think I need – this provides back-up time ifnecessary or relaxation time if I finish early.

Alex – Law and ManagementI found defining priorities during myassignments to be the most important elementof managing my workflow. I tend to startcollecting my resources at a very early stage,because my classes are quite big and there aremany people studying the same thing as me. Istart with my primary sources, which I usuallyneed to read and reread primary sources untilI’ve assimilated all relevant information. I alsoorganise secondary sources as soon as I knowmy research topic because there may not bemany copies available in the library. The samewill also be applicable for my dissertation nextyear. Although as this time I am going toanswer a question I have set myself, I expect todo research beyond the University’s library tolead the project to successful completion.

Ruxandra – Science and EngineeringWhen it comes to project management, I alwayshave in mind three main aspects: time,resources, and people who may be involved inmy research. Out of these, time is the mostimportant one for me. A good, scientific pieceof research must have plenty of time allocatedto it. Just a week of work would probably notboost the quality of your project. Resources arean important thing to consider while doing yourresearch. The vast amount of resources thatyou need may pose some problems. Onesolution is to break it down to smallercategories and to handle one at a time. If youknow you need the help of a certain tutor, youmust plan ahead to meet him or her andmaintain an active relationship with him. Don’tforget to always keep an eye on your initial planto keep you on the right track.

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Key issues in time management(self management)

We all have deadlines to work to, so we allhave to think about time management regularlythroughout the course of our lives. As a result,consciously or unconsciously, we all have somesort of system in place. That is to say, whetheror not you are aware of it, you already have amethod for managing your time. Chances arethough, if you don’t know what it is, there’sroom to tweak it so you can get more time outof the day.

If you’re not sure whether you manage your timewell, there’s an easy way to check. This can bedone when you’re undertaking a new project, orjust to get a sense of how well you use yourtime in your day-to-day life. Ask yourself thefollowing simple questions:

i. How well does the way that you allocate yourtime align with your current goals?

ii. What changes might you make to improvethat alignment?

iii. What changes are you actually prepared tomake?

iv. What obstacles might prevent you frommaking those changes?

v. How can you overcome each of thoseobstacles?

It’s as simple as that. Many people find that oncethey ask these questions and make themselvesconscious of how they spend their time, theyimmediately find ways to use it more effectively.

It can, however, seem impossible sometimes.Have you ever been in the situation where youhave so much to do that you don’t know where tostart, so you start on the non-urgent tasksbecause they seem smaller and easier toaccomplish? Or, have you ever found yourselfcleaning your room or arranging your clothes by

colour when you should be revising for an exam?If you answered yes to either of these questions,you probably know what’s coming next: It doesn’tmatter if you complete 5 non-urgent tasks if themost urgent task doesn’t get done.

So how can you avoid this? The key tosuccessful time management is planning andthen protecting the planned time. A list of dailytasks will focus your mind on importantobjectives. One especially good way to do this iswith the A, B, Cs of time management:

1. At the same time everyday write a to-do-list.First-thing-in-the-morning or last-thing-at-night are popular times to do this, but it isworthwhile experimenting to find the best timefor you. Keep your current goals in mind whencompiling your list.

2. Prioritise the list using the following method:

n A Priority – it supports apersonal/professional goal, is urgent andimportant, has direct affect oncolleagues/family/friends and if notcompleted today will have seriousconsequences: an essay due in tomorrowwould be a good example.

n B Priority – is important but does not havethe same urgency as a type-A Priority. Type-B priorities generally become type-Apriorities with time. For example, doingresearch in the library for an essay due in 3-weeks (type-B now, but over time it willbecome a type-A priority).

n C Priority – is not important but would benice to do. Again, this priority could changewith time. Type-C list priorities should onlybe started once the A and Bs have beencompleted. Cleaning your room, forexample, is a type-C priority at exam time.

3. Once you have prioritised your to-do-list giveeach task a number: A1, A2, B3, etc. Makesure you complete the list in this order (dothe As first, Bs second and Cs last). The onlyexception to this rule is your natural rhythmof productivity, if you know you are not atyour most alert after lunch complete a quickC then.

4. When planning your day try not to be overambitious. Many tasks will take longer tocomplete than you anticipate, so it is a goodidea to try to plan for unexpected tasksshould they arise.

5. If a type-‘C’ priority remains on your to-do-listfor more than 2-3 months delete it. It can’t bethat important.

6. Try to work on one task at a time wherepossible. This will ensure you are focused onthe task in hand.

7. Don’t procrastinate. The priority task mightseem daunting but getting started is oftenthe biggest hurdle (see the section ongetting started on page 5).

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Exercise:

Calibrate your internal clockClose your eyes and start a stopwatch (useyour watch or your phone). Open your eyeswhen you think a minute has elapsed. Don’tcount in your head: the exercise is about your“internal clock” – your subconscious sense oftime. Check the watch when you open youreyes and make a note of the time.

Have you underestimated the amount of timein a minute (0-59 seconds) or overestimated(61 seconds +)? This can tell you a lot aboutyourself. Extend your conception of time overa whole hour, a day, or even a term. Imagine allthose extra minutes you have, or the time youthink you have but don’t. Does your internalclock tell you anything about the way you liketo work, how punctual you are, or your attitudeto deadlines? If you overestimated, do youhave a tendency to be too relaxed aboutdeadlines? If you underestimated, do youoften panic (perhaps unnecessarily) aboutdeadlines and work?

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Essex students say...

Caren – Humanities and Comparative StudiesI discovered (the hard way) how to manage mytime. I knew that my research project wasgoing to be produced over a longer period oftime than an essay so I had to ensure the timescale did not make me complacent. I had madea plan, and I had to make sure that eachresearch task listed for a particular day orweek was completed. I learned very quicklythat if I decided to get the housework andshopping done first, and then stop for lunch, Ihad lost a day from my schedule. Thehousework did not have a deadline attached toit, so it became low priority. The ironing maynot have been done, but my research met mypersonal deadlines! Thinking about doing adifficult task was always worse than actuallydoing it.

Emma – Social SciencesI am a big fan of writing lists - partly due to thesatisfaction of crossing things off them. I findthat writing down tasks is a good way to focusmy mind on what needs to be done, and toorganise the tasks by priority. However, as longas it is not a life-or-death situation, or that adeadline is missed, I believe that completingmy list out of order is really not the end of theworld. Similarly, if I know the tasks anddeadlines and the level of priority for each,then taking a day off to enjoy myself is, a) nota bad thing, and b) could potentially bebeneficial to mind, body and soul, helping meto produce better work in the end. However,the ability to take days off relies upon the factthat I am organised in the first place and thatmy ‘relax-time’ is controlled – if the essay isdue tomorrow and is not written then it isprobably not the best time to be watching TV!

Alex – Law and ManagementGood time management is essential for me.From the outset I know that I will first write aninitial draft. Then I will chip away at the essayonce that draft has been finished. At thebeginning of my first year I took a timemanagement course where I was shown atechnique to chart my tasks in four boxes: eachbox represented a different degree of urgency.Box 1 contains the most urgent tasks, Box 2those with the next lowest degree of urgencyand so on. For me this is a great way of stayingfocused and prevents me from procrastinating.With this technique I can sort according tourgency what would originally have been along list of different tasks.

Ruxandra – Science and EngineeringThe first thing that needs to be done forefficient time management is to create asystem that works for YOU, not necessarily foreveryone else. I like to write a to-do list for thefollowing days and stick it on post-its allaround so that I can constantly be reminded ofwhat needs doing. We’ve all been in thesituation when we are aware that we musthand in a certain paper tomorrow, however wefind ourselves checking email, Facebook,Google-ing all sorts of things that have noconnection whatsoever with what we’re reallysupposed to be doing. So I set priorities and donot allow myself to jump to the next priorityuntil the previous one is done.

Potential pitfalls in researchprojects and how to avoidthem

This will probably come as no surprise, butwhen working on a research project there aremany potential pitfalls. But what are they, andhow can you go about avoiding them? Someof them will be things you’d expect, but othersyou might not have thought of. Let’s take acloser look.

Potential pitfalls and solutions Pitfall: Lack of planning. It takes time to findand collect the research materials you need. Ifyou’re using books, some may be checked-out,and others may not be available on the shelvesof your library – maybe you have to travel to getthe information you need. You’ll need to allowtime to make sure you’re able to get your handson them.

Solution: This book has been designed with theexpress purpose of helping you avoid this pitfall.In the end, whether you plan your project, andhow you choose to do it, is up to you. If you’rereading this now, there’s a fairly good chanceyou’re off to a good start. Hopefully some of thehints and tips contained in here will be useful toyou.

Pitfall: Lack of focus. Research projects thatare too broad can be difficult to research andwrite. You’ll need to make sure your project isnot too ambitious for the amount of time you’regiven.

Solution: But how do you know, at thebeginning of the project, whether it ismanageable or not? If you’ve never undertakenresearch before, you might feel a bit lost.Perhaps the easiest way to focus your project isto talk to your tutor, or someone who isknowledgeable about research projects, aboutit. They’ll be able to tell you whether or not

you’re biting off more than you can chew - and,if you are, they can probably help you narrow itdown to a manageable size.

Pitfall: Unreliable webpages. The internet is afantastic resource – but anyone can putanything on it. Make sure you choose sourcesthat are reliable. They should be peer-reviewed.Make sure you evaluate the source of theinformation, (ie journal, scholarly website, etc.)as well as the authors credentials. Is theinformation fact, opinion or propaganda? Youwill need to be able to tell the difference.

Solution: The trick to using the internet forresearch is to know where the informationcomes from. Did you know that Wikipedia mightnot be considered a scholarly source when itcomes to your assignments? Lots of peoplebegin and end their searches with it, but youneed to do better than that for your coursework.What about other sources? Does the authoryou want to cite have respectable academiccredentials? Does the information appear in thepages of a peer-reviewed journal? Did youaccess the website through the librarydatabase? All of these things can help youestablish how reliable or unreliable your chosensource is. If you have any doubt, it’s probablybetter not to use the information, or at least tosee if you can find a source for it that you knowis reliable.

Pitfall: No resources. There is no information foryou to support your research project. No otherwork has been done in the area, or perhaps it’sall in a language you don’t understand. This canbe the unfortunate end of even very promisingprojects.

Solution: This pitfall is best avoided by carefulplanning. If you look around at the beginning ofyour project you should be able to determinejust how much information is available to you. Itmay be the case that you can’t find anything atall in this initial search. Depending on how long

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you have for your project, you may want to thinkabout choosing something else. Alternatively,you could ask your tutor for advice. Maybe theyknow of resources in a place you haven’tthought to look.

Pitfall: Too little time. Research projects havemany facets to them, each of which requirestime. Very often, they require more time than theresearcher might think. Plan your projectcarefully, and don’t leave it to the last minute.

Solution: As you will have seen in the section ontime management, you probably have more timeavailable to you every day than you may havethought. The trick with research projects is totake advantage of it. Start early, and work at itregularly – if you do, you’ll probably find youactually have more time than you need. If,however, you are already a master of managingyour time and you’re still finding that the projectis taking longer than you have, there aresolutions. It’s possible that you set out to do toomuch, so one solution is to re-evaluate howmuch it is possible to achieve given the amountof time you have: you may have to reduce thescale of your project a bit. If this is what youthink you need to do, you’ll need to talk to yourtutor to make sure it’s ok.

Pitfall: Lack of motivation. Even if you leaveyour-self enough time, research projects cansuffer if you lose motivation. It can be difficult tofocus on a single project for a long time – you’llneed to make sure you can sustain yourmotivation.

Solution: You’ve probably experienced this inother areas of life, and it’s not different inresearch projects: you just don’t feel like doing it.How do you usually get around this? Perhaps asimilar strategy might work for you in thissituation. Or perhaps you want to try somethingnew: if that’s the case, there a couple of thingsyou might try. You could, for example, setyourself small deadlines and give yourself

rewards for meeting them: these might be verysmall to start – like working solidly for 1 hourwithout checking your email; your reward mightbe 5 minutes catching up on all the latest news.This method has the potential to increase yourmotivation in two ways: first, you have a rewardto look forward to; second, you have the senseof satisfaction that comes with getting yourwork done and dusted. It may not sound likemuch now, but once you get down to it, you’llfind that satisfaction is worth quite a lot!

Pitfall: Too ambitious. Know when to draw theline. This is a research project – it’s not likely tobe the culmination of your life’s work. It’s notnecessarily appropriate or beneficial to try toinclude every piece of information you find. Juststick to what’s most relevant and best supportsyour argument.

Solution: As enthusiastic as you may be aboutyour topic, you want to keep in mind that it isonly a project and doesn’t need to cover everyaspect of everything ever related to your topic.It’s much better to try to cover the mostimportant things well, rather than trying tospread yourself too thinly over everything. It’salso much easier to get finished in the allocatedamount of time if you keep in mind that yourtutor is not expecting the ultimate, definitivebook on the subject to emerge from yourproject.

Pitfall: Too much information. If there is a lot ofinformation available on your project topic, therecan be a tendency to get overwhelmed by theamount of it. You’ll need to stay focused if thishappens and not get distracted by informationthat’s not directly related.

Solution: Many potential research areas havehad a great deal of work done on them. What ifyours is one of them? Well, to begin, don’t panic:you don’t necessarily need to read everythingever written about a subject for your project tobe successful. It’s most likely to be the case that

once you’ve focused your ideas, some of theinformation you find, though related, is notdirectly relevant to your project. Keep your ideafocused in your head and allow it to be yourguide as you sift through the mountains ofinformation. For example, if your focus isconsumer culture in modern British villages,then you can probably shelve that book onconsumer culture in ancient Greece. Beselective – you can always read the rest of thestuff when this project’s finished.

Pitfall: Intellectual distractions. Inevitably whendoing research, you will find new and excitingideas to pursue. That’s a good thing, but it canbe detrimental to your project if you give theseother avenues of inquiry too much attention andignore the task at hand.

Solution: This can often be the result of havingtoo much information available to you. There’slittle doubt that it’s all interesting, but do youneed to read it now? One of the greatestchallenges for anyone involved in researchprojects can be remaining focused on theproject at hand. When you’re really involved inyour project, it’s normal to want to explore allthe interesting questions that come up whileyou’re doing research. And there’s nothing tosay that you can’t, but make sure you protectthe time you’ve given over to your researchproject. This has to be your priority; pursuingthe other interesting ideas has to wait. Maybethat could be your reward for a productive day’swork?

Pitfall: Boring. Don’t pick a topic that doesn’tinterest you. Try to find something you canreally engage with. If your topic is one thatyou’re not enthusiastic about, then it’ll be thatmuch harder to do a good job on it… or to getit done on time.

Solution: If you don’t find your projectinteresting, it’s unlikely anyone else will, either.That’s because your lack of enthusiasm will

translate through your research into the finalproduct. This is easy enough to avoid, though.The obvious way is to choose a topic that you’reinterested in. If that’s not possible – perhapsyour topic is assigned to you – then try to findsomething in that topic that’s interesting: can itbe related (reasonably) to something that youare interested in? It’s also possible that onceyou start doing some research on your topic,you will find it interesting, so don’t discount ittoo quickly. If however, despite every effort, youare still bored of it, all hope is not lost: trylooking for your topic in your everyday life.Sometimes all a topic needs to ‘bring it to life’is, well, to bring it to your life!

Pitfall: Not original. Not every research projecthas to redefine the discipline, but you should tryto take an original approach in your project.That doesn’t mean that you can’t rely on workthat others have done, but if all your informationcomes from a single source, what reason isthere not to read the original rather than yours?

Solution: It’s very often the case that simplystarting a project from your own idea is enoughto make it sufficiently original. No matter whatelse has been done, you’ll bring your ownthoughts and voice to your project, and you’llcertainly be looking at several sources. If you’renot starting from your own idea (if the topic wasassigned, for example) the process of devisingyour own structure, doing the research andassembling it around the topic will probably dothe trick. Be careful that you don’t copy fromother authors when you do this, though: that’splagiarism. Not only is plagiarised work notoriginal, it is an academic – and criminal –offence to copy other people’s work and claim it as your own. Check out our Referencing Skillsbooklet for more information on how to avoidplagiarism.

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Essex students say...

Caren – Humanities and Comparative StudiesNot living on campus meant I had to travel toany research material required for my projects.I started my research straight-away rather thanwasting any time, which later proved to be theright thing to do. About half way in, I ended upwith piles of books and printouts. At this point I stopped and made a shortlist of what I reallyneeded. The technique I used was to create amind map. I used lots of colour and linked allthe themes and ideas which gave me theopportunity to see my project on one page.This was a good way of seeing what fit and thebest way to make it flow. Condensing theinformation kept me focused and motivated. Italso allowed me to review and revise myoriginal schedule.

Emma – Social SciencesThe key to any problem concerning research isDO NOT PANIC! Every problem has a solution,but a calm, level head is required to find it. If myplanning has gone out the window and thereare only a few days before the deadline then itis time to crack on! This is the time for iron-willdetermination and literally forcing myself to dothe work. I like to remind myself in situationslike this that it is only an essay, it has to bedone, and once it is I can forget about it! I findthe online journal database is a fantasticresource and the articles are shorter thanbooks and so more concise and easier to read.The reference section of the library also hassome fantastic resources – worth a visit.

Alex – Law and ManagementThe lack of the right resources was a pitfallwhen writing my coursework. I sometimes findthat I cannot retrieve a source which exactlysupports what I would like to say. A certain bookmight seem to be exactly what I need, butwhere one author may concentrate a great dealon one thing, another might mention it onlybriefly. As I am living off campus I often cannotsimply return to the library. As a result, I nowmake sure that I always procure a variety ofbooks on the same subject. As long as Iincrease my selection of the sources I collectand do not rely on a single source for an idea, I can defuse a potentially frustrating situation.

Ruxandra – Science and EngineeringNot writing more than is allowed in the wordcount can be difficult. One way I try to avoidthis is to plan my paper before starting toactually write it. I think about each section ofthe project and what I need to say, and thenroughly calculate a number of words I haveavailable. For example, I try to keep theintroduction to around 800 words, and myabstract should not have more than 120-130words. Try to plan each section beforehand andto stick to the plan - if you wrote 200 morewords than you were supposed to (it may notseem much but if your limit is 3000, you canlose marks!) you will have to go through yourpaper several times and eliminate whatever youcan. But this is both a frustrating and a time-consuming process so I like to try to avoid it.

Resources

The topic of your research project willdetermine the sorts of resources you need.Unfortunately, that means that you won’t findthe answer to where you need to start lookingin this booklet. If you’re stuck, there are acouple of places that are always good places tostart. The first is the Library at the University ofEssex. On its shelves and in its archives anddatabases you’ll find information on a hugenumber of topics. You’ll also find discipline-specific guidebooks to help you focus yoursearch. Many departments at the University alsohave their own collections of resourcematerials. Finding them can be as easy asasking where they are. There are also manyother excellent resources such as the BritishLibrary, or Google Scholar, and national librariesfrom other countries. And, of course, you haveyour tutor. If you get stuck, there’s nothingwrong with asking for some guidance. They areexperts, and they’re always happy to help eagerstudents find their way!

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Glossary:

Archive: a repository of information on asubject. Similar to a library, but often containinga more focused collection of researchmaterials.

Bibliography: a list of all source material usedin a project, used to allow researchers to givecredit to their sources.

Cite: to indicate the source of a piece ofinformation presented in a research paper.

Database: a collection of research materials(often data) accessed by computer, generallyonline.

Footnote: a method used to providebibliographic detail about the source of aquotation or piece of information.

Journal: a scholarly publication in which thework of researchers, scholars and academics ispresented.

Milestone: a stage to be reached in a researchproject, very often corresponding to a specificdate.

Peer-review: the process by which journalarticles are evaluated by other scholars in thesame field to ensure that they meet acceptedacademic standards.

Primary sources: source material, includingoriginal documents (diaries, photographs,official records), artworks (music, visual arts,literature), relics and artefacts (built structures,clothing, fossils) that are most closelyconnected to the topic being studied.

Research: the process of investigating a topic,idea or theory.

Secondary source: information from primarysources collected, interpreted and presentedby another author.

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Notes

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