5.1 What Do We Do When We Do "Research"?

Original Academic Research and Writing

Original academic research and writing is by definition INNOVATIVE. That is why it was emphasized above that the Thesis Statement has to be NEW, has to make a claim that has not been made before, has to contribute something to the collective knowledge of humankind that we did not have or know before.

To this end, it is ESSENTIAL that the student is fully aware of all pre-existing research on the subject (otherwise, the student is at risk of claiming to say something new that has been said before, which only shows that the student did not do her research properly; in a worst case scenario, this can be plagiarism and lead to disciplinary measures!).

In order to become aware of all pre-existing research on the subject (sometimes referred to as “prior art”, defined in Wikipedia as “… [any and] all information that has been made available to the public in any form before a given date that might be relevant to a [publication’s] claim to originality”), all relevant primary and secondary sources have to be gathered, evaluated, and organized.

To GATHER sources, use a Bibliography.

To EVALUATE your sources, use Active Reading.

To ORGANIZE your content, use a Mind Map.

A note on hierarchy of sources: One of the ways a researcher demonstrates mastery of her subject is by sensible handling of different, potentially contradictory sources. This is all the more important in a day and age when literally anybody can propagate their ideas and arguments via the internet. Just like the opinion of the Supreme Court is more important than the opinion of a local trial court, different academic publications have more or less standing and, in particular, different types of online publications should be treated with more or less regard. For example, an article in a peer reviewed and highly regarded scientific journal like the American Journal of International Law should normally be considered more carefully than an article in a student edited journal like the Golden Gate University Law Review. However, that is not to say that the well-known author of an article that makes it into a well-regarded peer reviewed journal is automatically right and an opposing view by an unknown author in a student edited journal is automatically wrong. Almost by definition, the editors or reviewers of the best established publications will be well established, hence older, and often more conservative themselves, and they may have a tendency to prefer similarly conservative views over more innovative and different perspectives. This can make for interesting reading “on the edges” of the scientific establishment and, indeed, I have sometimes found the freshest ideas in student notes published in lesser law reviews. That being said, every publication, every idea and every argument should be evaluated on its merits and a good peer review process takes care of much of that evaluation, while a selection by students, in particular for highly advanced and technical writing, is invariably a hit-and-miss operation.

The problem is most pointed with regard to online publications. Virtually anyone can and does publish online these days and even reputable websites like Wikipedia do not have professional editors as gate-keepers but rely on the wiki system of collaborative creation and modification. Most important, many blogs are specifically created to promote a particular and often narrow perspective of things. In combination with their speed of creation and ephemeral status, which systemically discourages careful reflection before publication, online publications often do not make good sources for academic publications (of course, this needs to be distinguished from more traditional publications that are also made available online). Remember the ever wider range of "fake media"!

In selecting the sources for arguments and ideas, students should consider the following: What is the intended shelf life of the writing project? Do you still want to be able to make reference to your master thesis when applying for a job 3 years down the line? Would people still look at your doctoral dissertation when you are eligible for tenure at a university 10 years from now? If yes, how would it look if the majority or the most important of your sources can no longer be found because the websites have changed and the links are broken?

As students compile the material for their research, it is highly recommended that all sources of central relevance to the subject are acquired in hard-copy. The importance of this will be illustrated in the next unit when we explore the concept of active or deep reading, which requires extensive and multi-level underlining and annotating, which cannot be accomplished in similar fashion on a computer screen with material that is available only in digital format.

However, ancillary material that will be referred to only as “on this subject see also..” or “similar arguments can be found in…”, can be kept in electronic (pdf) format, which is good enough for shallow reading, as long as it allows more basic highlighting and commenting.

The definitive work on the methodology of qualitative research is

Uwe Flick: An Introduction to Qualitative Research, Sage Publications, 6th ed 2018, 650 pp.