Good Research Practices - Using a Research Log

Hi, it's KB again with a discussion of good research practices. I've spoken in previous blogs about using peer-reviewed journals and the subject rooms provided at U of Leicester library, but today I'd like to talk about what a research log is and why you should use one.

A good research log affects your scholarship and what you write. This is important when you are doing assignments, but it becomes doubly important when you are writing your dissertation. Why is this the case? When we are working on assignments or longer projects such as dissertations, we do a lot of reading and thinking. Frequently, we come across ideas as we read and assimilate them into our understanding of the subject. Sometimes, these are concepts and ideas that form our understanding of what we believe or know about the subject on which we are writing. Still more frequently, they are ideas that are common to scholarship on this subject and are obviously not our own. When we don't have a research log, we forget or lose track of the origin of these ideas. It is even possible to remember whole swatches of information from other sources and put them into our work and believe that these are our own ideas.

When we keep an accurate record, that is the name of the books or journals that we have read in relation to the assignments that we are doing, then we have a trail of where we have gone and what we have read there. As I have encountered this problem more frequently, I have become convinced that this log should be detailed as possible. You should write down a few words about what you have read in these source journals or books, when you read them, and a complete bibliographic record of the journal.

For example, let's say I was writing a blog on passive verbs. Here is my research log.

Research Log - Passive Verbs

May 24, 2009 15:02 (GMT)

Hewings, Martin. Advanced Grammar in Use. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge U Press, 2006.

I read pages 48-51 on the use of the passive verb in writing. An exercise was included for students.

May 25, 2009 1:02 (GMT)
Hacker, Diana. A Canadian Writer's Reference. 2nd. ed. Toronto: Nelson Press, 2001.

I read page 103 on how to simply sentence structures by not using passive verbs.


Later, when I decide to write my blog, I will find the sources in my research log. This log can exist on your computer, in a notebook or another database programme. Personally, I prefer to use a steno notepad which I label with a big sticky label with the assignment or project name. I include quotations from the appropriate sources. If you use a computer, you should always duplicate this log in a few places.

Some of you know how to do this and have heard this speech before. However, I am constantly made aware that students fail in this very crucial practice and pay the price of failure and, sadly, lost time and work. It is almost impossible to reconstruct an assignment or dissertation that has gone off the rails due to poor research practices and finding lost sources can prove more of a challenge than beginning afresh. There are free resources, such as Refworks, to help you keep track of your work on the server at U of Leicester. I am, as usual, always here to assist you with your research (as are the librarians). Good research practices spell success in the MBA programme.