Today, I decided to move the writing of the blog post at the end of the day. Although I did some reading yesterday too, I felt like the weekend slowed down my thinking process , and I couldn’t come up with something to write about before actually finish the chapter that I started reading on Sunday…
Well, today I felt that the writing software that I use when doing research are not always useful…
But maybe it might be easier to describe first my process of working…
Usually, when working on a text I make notes on a separate document…These notes can be specific quotes that I found useful for my research purposes, but it can also be a train of thoughts that were triggered by a specific idea reflected by the text. Depending on the type of thoughts that are generated, I also try to elaborate further on how a specific idea on the text can be connected to other texts that I have read and explore ways in which I can expand on them.
These thoughts are flowing more or less organically while I read, but once I identify them and try to codify them through writing, I also try to go back to the text, read it again and again, to make sure that I have not misunderstood what is being said. This becomes quite important when I identify some connections with other texts. Although I might think I remember what a text was suggesting, it is also often the case that I generalized some arguments. And then, the connections that I made with the other text are not entirely entirely valid. Sometimes the angle needs to be adjusted, while other time it is better to abandon the idea.
This is actually what I used to do during the first period of my research, which I recently identified as problematic. So, I decided to be very attentive to what is actually argued on each paper, especially when I try to see some connections between different authors. Every time I identify a connection, I try to ask myself:
- In what context is this idea presented in each text?
- What are the points of convergence and divergence between the texts and the ideas that I see as related?
- What would be the value of connecting them?
- How is this going to be helpful for my research more specifically? What purpose will it serve?
Another thing that I decided to do is to organize my notes based on the outline of the book. So, as I am writing, I am also including the sections and subsections of the book, and I add a table of contents at the beginning. This makes it easier for me to be able to go to the specific section of the book when I am looking for a specific note. I have never been so systematic with my research, but I have the feeling this method will help. Especially since it is the first time, I am dealing with such a long list of literature for my thesis.
Finally, what I try to force my self to do after finishing a chapter of a book or an article is to try to make a short summary, or at least be able to codify the main ideas which I find related to my research. This way, I am able to arrive to some preliminary conclusions about the usefulness of that particular text, but also to actively reflect on what I read. By rewriting what I read in my own words, I can comprehend and absorb the material better.
So ideally, I would like to be able to have an overview of all the notes that I have made from all the texts that I have read. Sometimes, I am imagining having a very, very big screen, or even multiple screens that allow me to have direct access to all the notes that I am making from all the different papers I read…But sometimes I feel a bit limited by the fact that the writing software only allows vertical movement… wouldn’t it be fun if you could write on multiple pages as different columns and them being able to move horizontally?
Maybe this is actually already possible, but I haven’t figured out a way to implement
A Student's Journal 