Guest Post: Steps to make you a better researcher

Steps to make you a better researcher 

Research is the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions. It involves a lot of information and data, which have to be easily and efficiently managed. Research needs to be allocated enough time for it to be systematic and simple to understand. A good report at the end of the process is expected. The following tips offer insight into how you can become a better researcher using simple web tools.

Plagiarism checking tools
As a researcher, you will not be respected for the work you do, unless it’s authentic and original. A tool like plagiarism checker can come in handy, ensuring that what you produce is unique, especially when you’re making the final draft of your work.

Bookmarking tools
Bookmarks are a good partner for organizing your work. Bookmarks features let you save shortcuts to your favorite WebPages bookmark tool enable a researcher to put all his resources into one library. For instance the researcher saves all his/her findings in one source and can access information whenever needed that means even after a month the information will be available. Therefore bookmarks are good to use as they help the researcher save the researched links, images and texts.

Mind maps from bookmarks 
Research data at times can be so hard to understand when read directly. Therefore to make the most out of your research data it is advisable for one to create mind maps with resources that pertain to a particular topic. Mind maps allow one to visualize the research bookmarks in a non-linear format. The researcher breaks down data in an easier and simpler manner for one to understand and draw an imaginary map in mind.

Classification of bookmarks
All the resources gathered on the mind map can be classified according to the research purpose, objectives and structure. Where a researcher starts with a single category and research topics begin to pile up in the process he/she is able to create new categories depending on area of interest. As you start classifying your resources the valuable research becomes more organized, manageable, logical and more fun to work with.

Structure of research summary
Visually structure the main points first and establish your preferred and perfect layout that you can work with comfortably. Afterwards add on new branches containing information that is relevant for the researched topic. For instance researcher can start with the stating of the hypothesis, the description of project, method used then the findings. This saves on time energy used and also resources.

Set deadlines for research projects
Like in any other project being worked on, time has to be considered same applies to research. Therefore if you are involved in any research project, “deadlines” will have to ring in your mind. It is vital for a researcher to plan well for a research project in order to finish on time. Deadlines are crucial and should be kept in mind even before the project starts. Deadlines will help researcher stay focused, keep pace, Identify limits and strengths.

Sandra Miller is a freelance edtech writer from Brooklyn. She has PhD in English literature. You can reacher her at Google+