DOnT lOoK aT mE lIkE tHaT

iTs rEaLlY tUrNiNg mE oN

cAn I gEt a OwA oWa BAHHAHAHA

it is natural to stand at the beginning of a research project and feel overwhelmed by the amount of published research that exists in databases, literature reviews, and reference pages. at the same time, each new research project brings the hope of discovering something new. overwhelming though a project may be, starting at the foothills of a new thread of research is a great privilege, and is best approached as an opportunity to learn rather than a drudgery. as a researcher/writer, you have the chance to dive more deeply into less frequently encountered pools of knowledge.

depending on the topic or scope of your research, it is also natural to spend many days and weeks - and in some cases months and years - searching. no matter how great or small the scope of research is, the serious researcher needs to reserve adequate time to perform a thorough survey of published articles. for an undergraduate course project, finding five or six sources might seem like plenty of material to review, but graduate-level writing projects typically involve up to 20 sources minimum.

note that the main point here is not to say that it is only the number of research articles matters most, but rather that having a broad spectrum of papers to choose from you choose your topic for at least the following two reasons: 1) a larger pool of sources provides you with a broader perspective of the topics within your scope of research and 2) along the way you will find many topics within your field that you do not want to write about! so, one particularly effective way of viewing research is not finding the absolute minimum sources to "get by", but rather to find a variety of sources that you can an artist uses negative space to "carve" shapes out of a dark guide you toward topics that are more directly relevant to your topic.

the good news is that as you research you may find that some of your sources that were published in the same decade or so will cite and reference each other.

one of the joys and privileges of research is being able to follow your curiosity; if you are truly curious about your topic, and authentically driven to find out as much as you can, then even the articles you don't find interesting will be useful for a future project, and no energy will be wasted.

explanation:

related words: : : : : : :

administration noun

the government of a country

affairs

events and activities relating to the government, politics, economy, etc. of a country, region, or the world

the corridors (of power)

the places where people use their political influence and major political decisions are made

government

the process, method, or effects of governing

play politics

to use politics for your own reasons, without caring about the effects on other people

political

relating to politics

political

interested or involved in politics

politically

in a political way

politicize

to bring an issue, organization, way of doing something, etc. to the attention of the public so that it can be discussed

politicize

to make someone more interested and involved in politics

politicking

political activity by someone who is only interested in doing things for their own advantage, not in other people

politics

the ideas and activities involved in getting power in a country or over a particular area of the world

politics

the profession of being a politician

politics

the ideas and activities used by people within a particular group to try to get power

public affairs

political issues that affect most people

public life

work that involves being known to a lot of people, especially in politics, but also in religion and education

public office

a job in the government that you have because you were chosen or elected

public service

work or important positions in the government, or in organizations controlled by the government

representation

in politics, the job of officially people and making decisions for them

sociopolitical

involving a combination of social and political matters

state

the government of a country