Where to Start With Research: Employing Sources

Your goal: to fit all the pieces you've found into an interactive whole.

Now that you've listened to the right people, you have to make them interact with each other and with your own ideas. At this point you are probably forming your own opinions based on the answers you've heard, so figure out where you fit in!

Allow your sources to talk to each other. Introduce them and then sit back and watch what happens. What main arguments emerge? Do they agree or disagree? Does one position complicate another? Are they talking past each other or really addressing the issues together? Figure out where they fit in the overall picture. Get the lay of the land.

Then allow yourself to make some contributions. What do you think, given all that's been said? Why do you think that? And, most importantly, how do your thoughts relate to those previous contributions? This will determine how you use each source in your paper.

• Does it provide context or background that could be useful to your audience?
• Does it raise a relevant question or give rise to a particular line of thought?
• Does it lend authority or support to your position?
• Does it argue against or complicate your position?

These first three steps are all interwoven. Keep an open mind as you listen - you will probably need to reform your questions and re-strategize your searches as you go. Keep your research notes thorough and organized - you will want to refer back to them constantly as you fit everything together.