Planning your research
Finding appropriate information takes thought and planning. As a researcher, you will be looking for available literature on your topic, and this may involve looking beyond books and journals. At the start of your project, it is beneficial to plan your research. This approach allows you to define your goals, search effectively, and maintain momentum and focus.
When planning the parameters of your research, you should consider the following points:
Research question
- A clearly defined research question, which describes the key concepts of your research topic.
Keywords
- A set of keywords for each concept in your research question. Start with what you know and build on this as you start your research, using titles, abstracts and subject headings from the articles you find.
Timeframe
- Date of publication may be a consideration for your research question.
Document types
- To consider the types of literature your research question requires. This may include peer-reviewed research, evidence-based articles, reports, interviews, statistics etc.
Tools for your research
There are many tools you can use when conducting research and these tools are designed to assist with the key stages of the process. Reference management tools can help you to store, organise and generate citations and systematic review tools, such as Covidence, can help you with title and abstract screening, data synthesis, and critical appraisal.
AI tools for your research
If you're thinking about exploring AI tools to assist with your research, it is important to make informed decisions. Before making your decision, you should consider the following:
In this rapidly developing field, consult Learning, Teaching & Curriculum's list of publicly available AI tools.
