The WWC Research Guide
A Beginner’s Guide to Academic Research
Here at Writing With Color, we often tell people
- It is not our job to Google for you or supply resources on demand
- Please research more.
However, the number of times we’ve made this recommendation and the number of asks we get for research recommendations tells us many of our followers might not be sure where to start. We hope this guide will be useful not only for these followers, but for anyone looking to learn (more) essential research skills.
Why Do Research Skills Matter?
Research skills…
…are important for quality representation and worldbuilding. Even if you aren’t intentionally pulling from outside influence for your writing, researching helps you both understand where the idea might have come from and determine if your interpretation is appropriate/ feasible/ cohesive.
…improve your critical thinking. It can help you to process information dispassionately, and more objectively. This is more important than ever as discourse on historical and cultural topics rapidly evolve and globalize.
…are empowering! Knowing how to find the answer to a question in a systematic, objective way can reduce stress and anxiety because you, the researcher, are in control of the fact-finding process.
The mods who have contributed to this guide all have an academic background in research. The idea of in-depth research might appear daunting, but our goal is to demystify this process and familiarize everyone with basic techniques to get started.