After reflecting on what the word research means to me, I’ve thought a lot and realized that research to me means uncovering information that you do not even know about yet. I used to think that research meant finding information that no one else knew, but now being older and having done so much research in high school, I realized that it means just finding information that you did not know yet. I also realized that just because I didn’t know this information, doesn’t mean that other people haven’t spent their whole life researching it, and have become experts on it. I think after shifting from high school to university research I have realized that research is not just about finding information that other people have researched, or uncovered, but it’s also a part of contributing to the field of knowledge you are researching. By researching a topic, you then use that research and more to write your own paper, which means that potentially things people research could come from you. Research then becomes a continuing cycle that is used forever once the information is posted, as information never goes away, and never becomes useless, it can always be used in a certain context. For my essay specifically, I think that research will mean not just uncovering what’s out there on my topic but also taking the research that already exists and finding holes in the meaning of it. Uncovering how I see the research and not just how it is first presented.
I really appreciate this post, Kendell. I think if you can make the shifts you’re making – to thinking about research as a cycle – you will really have context for the work that is happening in the rest of your time at UBC.
I found this post very interesting as I also have similar views on research. In high school I did little to no research for assignments because all the texts were assigned. That being said, I didn’t have much knowledge coming into this year about how to conduct strong research. At first this was very overwhelming and I didn’t know where to begin. So, as you said Kendell, I agree that it is important to notice that there is not one right way to research. Any information that is new to me personally is considered research, as I was unfamiliar to it before.