Starting research: brainstorming

This week, we’re still beginning our research project, the reflective annotated bibliography. As you get comfortable with the details of the project, what you need to know is that you’re going to do some research and share it in the form of a bibliography (you’ve probably done one of these any time you had to list your sources for something you wrote) plus annotations, or notes, about that source (again, get to know those details in the Project 2 description and the additional details). For Project 3, you’ll be conveying what you learned in your research to a group of your choosing using a genre of your choosing.

But before we can get started with any of that, let’s think of what sparks our interest that we want to learn more about. For this discussion, add a comment in which you list different topics–whether you understand them well yet or not–that you might have to or want to take a stand on in your studies, your job, career, dream job, in your community, or in your life. You might think about what choices you would need to make running your own business, working as a designer, healing patients, etc, or you might think about what you’re passionate about, and learn more about it.

When we have a longer list of these ideas, we can start thinking about which we want to learn more about, and then we can start our research to find out more about the topic, so that we can become more knowledgeable and share that knowledge with people who need to know it (that’s Project #3).

Here’s an example to get us started:

Imagine you’re suddenly in charge at work–let’s say at a restaurant. You’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a while, and you have some big ideas you want to put into action. One of them is to use only food grown locally–within 200 miles. Does that sound controversial? You have great reasons–it keeps jobs local, it lets you get to know the farmers supplying your food, it has a much smaller environmental impact, there’s less taste and nutritional loss because it goes from farm to you much faster, among other benefits. Who could argue with that? Well, whoever does the budget for the kitchen might have something to say about it. But the idea itself isn’t controversial. Asking a research question like “why should I buy locally grown foods for my restaurant?” will give you lots of great information, and maybe even some you could use in conversation with whomever does the budget.

Here’s another one:

You always use a certain product (hair care, face care, etc). You hear that it contains an ingredient that is banned in other places. Or your friend tells you that a different brand is more natural and therefore better. You might start researching your favorite brand, the one your friend recommends, the ingredient you read is controversial. Ultimately, you want to know “Is this product safe for me to use?” When you find the answer, you’re certain to want to share it with other people!

So think about something that is important to you, something that you wish you had the power to do–or maybe even really do have the power to do now–whether as a current student, in your current or next few jobs, or even in your dream job, or as a member of your community.

In your comment:

1. Make a big list of possible ideas–one of these ideas will spark something for you, and whatever you cast aside might spark someone else’s idea.
2. Choose two that you could imagine working on and for each
   1. write about what interests you about it, what you know about it already, whether you think it is controversial or not, what the controversy is as you currently understand it if there are any.
   2. Write about where would you go to learn more.
   3. Who would want to know more about this topic?
   4. What are some search terms or keywords you would use to find information or resources about it?