The collection of research materials and preparations for the academic researches –M.

Nanjundaswami IPS, 8-2-2014, Orientation Course, KUD

The Collection of Research Materials and

Preparations for the Academic Researches
By
M. Nanjundaswami IPS

“A research that doesn’t shock doesn’t qualify to be a research.”

Today research in any field is the need of the hour. Research in common
parlance refers to a search for knowledge. Some activities command more interest,
devotion and enthusiasm from man than others. And men make passionate
commitments to them. Is there any significant work, ever done without great
personal involvement? Research is a significant activity, and it is any investigation,
survey or study tending to correct, verify or add to the knowledge in general or in
specific field. The research is classified into, fundamental or pure research, applied
research, descriptive research, evaluative research based on intent. Based on the
methods, a research can be classified as, experimental research, analytical research,
historical research and survey research. Depending on the environment, research can
be stemmed into field research and laboratory research. Whatever the type of
research may be the research assignment is essentially the detailed presentation of
an idea, using external sources to explain or substantiate one’s own idea or ideas. It
is not simply a rehash of those resources. The research assignment may be term
paper, thesis, or dissertation; it is more ambitious than the essay or the small-scale
science report. To begin a research, one useful way of arriving at new insights into
a topic is to bombard it with questions. At this point, Kipling’s verse remains a
valuable standby:
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
_ “The Elephant’s Child”

The components of the research paper or thesis are straightforward enough: a

title capturing succinctly the problem or field researched; an introduction; several
sections or chapters of research findings and analysis; conclusion; bibliography or
list of sources consulted. Other common features are the preface (including

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The collection of research materials and preparations for the academic researches –M. Nanjundaswami IPS, 8-2-2014, Orientation Course, KUD

acknowledgements) and a review of existing studies (or the current state of research)
on the same topic.

RESEARCH MATERIAL COLLECTION TECHNIQUES

If you steal from one author, its plagiarism; if you steal from many, it’s research. –
Mitterand President Francois 1916 - 1996
Basic Sources of Materials
Point – 1. The best material is in your brain: Research begins with your own
knowledge and ideas – write down in point form every relevant fact or thought you
may have on the subject.
Point – 2. Converse with your friends and mentors: Next, if appropriate,
discussion with others, or interviews. Confer with relatives or fellow-students, not
just for their ideas, but as a stimulus for further ideas of your own. A blind can’t lead
another blind. So, make friends who know the subject and take mentors who
encourage you to conduct research into your subject or topic of choice.
Point – 3. The old text books and notes: Your own books and notes – primary texts
if possible, such as the play or novel you intend writing about; then secondary
sources, such as your lecture notes or a text book. The temptation, if you are pressed
for time or lacking in confidence, is to ignore your own ideas and simply adopt or
adapt of the ‘experts’.
Point – 4. Read the original texts and writings: The students conducting research
into the Vedic culture must read the Vedas themselves – reading only commentators
on them instead. Don’t chance it. You will never learn to think independently and
judge a topic critically if you always rely solely on other people’s opinions.
Point – 5. External Library: Begin with your reading list, you have a number of
choices.
a) You could ask the library assistant to ‘recall’ the books, or to order extra
copies (perhaps on inter-library loan), or to give you the name and address of
the current borrower: you could then ask him to share the books with you, or
to pass them on to you one by one as he finishes with them.
b) You could buy the most important of the titles. If you buy them second-hand,
and sell them again once you have finished with them, it should not be too
expensive an exercise, though it might prove unacceptably time-consuming.

c) You could try another library nearby. Even libraries outside the public library
system, such as university libraries, are often amenable to a personal
approach: you may secure a day pass to the reading room, for instance, where
you can consult the relevant books or articles.
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The collection of research materials and preparations for the academic researches –M. Nanjundaswami IPS, 8-2-2014, Orientation Course, KUD

Point – 6. Personal Physical Library: Collect all the books you have in your
house/room at a place. Scan all of them for their utility for the subject you are
handling for the research. Arrange all of them subject-wise and keep them safe and
easily available, in the book racks, for your reference.
The collection of books and articles, before you conclude your research, have
to form the best library for the subject you have conducted the research.
There have to be at least six racks of books in your personal library by the
time your research is concluded.
Rack I - Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Rack II – The original books of your subject bought by you
Rack III – The secondary books that have opinions of other scholars
Rack IV – The books downloaded from the internet and spiral bound
Rack V – The articles, notes and tit-bit information alphabetically arranged
Rack VI – Your manuscripts and scribbling
Point – 7. Personal Digital Library: Today digital library is as much important as
the physical library.
Your digital library could include:
I- The laptops, desktops, kindle readers and notepads
II- The micro chips, pen-drives, compact disks, and hard disks of high
capacity
III- The blue tooth, wi-fi, internet and printers
IV- The facilities to read and type comfortably
Point – 8. Personal libraries of the scholars: The scholars who have worked on
the subjects keep their own personal libraries, if you contact them they would be of
great help. They would guide you to search the materials for your research and they
would be able to gift or donate their books and articles from their library for your
service.

The sourcing of materials

The networked materials: The sourcing of the materials begins with what you
know. Read any book or article related to the subject or topic of your research and
look for the references quoted or sighted in them. Start searching for those materials
in your personal library or in any external library.
Once you have tracked down a suitable book or article, you may well find that
it refers you in turn to other relevant items. It is often heartening to discover how
easily you can keep up the momentum of your research, as one reference leads on to
another.-RD, How to write and speak better.

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The collection of research materials and preparations for the academic researches –M. Nanjundaswami IPS, 8-2-2014, Orientation Course, KUD

Look and pick: Concentrate on those chapters or sections that bear most closely on
the specific topic you are researching. And shift that material very finely in turn
when taking notes on its contents.

File, don’t pile: To avoid the unnecessary delays, and to avoid the misplacing of
required materials, keep all the books, articles, notes, and tit-bit information in an
organized manner. Keep a proper file, regarding all the materials you have and avoid
the negligent attitude found commonly among the research scholars who pile up the
materials collected, casually in a corner of their rooms. The file would help you in
tracing the material as and when required and as often as required. It would promptly
assist you in compiling the bibliography.

Book shop: The easier and sure way to source the popular books is a book shop in
your city. The shop keeper may assist you in sourcing those books which are
normally not placed on shelves of the shop by ordering for the books directly from
the publishers.

Publishers: The publishers would send the books to you directly to your address.
You can select many modes of payment for paying for the books. A good research
scholar would know well the publishers who publish books of his choice.

The internet shops: The net-shops like the flipkart, amazon, and many other shops
on the net are selling books, compact-disks, videos and many more materials that
are relevant for the academic researches. They can be purchased online.

Free-sites: There are a plenty of web-sites with digital on-line libraries that allow
the net-users to browse and down load books and articles freely. You can use them
extensively for sourcing of the materials required for your research.
To name a few sites:

www.archive.org
www.gutenberg.org
www.wikipedia.org
www.academia.edu

And many blogs and web-sites of various universities, museums, institutions, and
colleges would help you.

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The collection of research materials and preparations for the academic researches –M. Nanjundaswami IPS, 8-2-2014, Orientation Course, KUD

Tour: The touring is another good source for collecting the materials for the
research. As much as possible go on tour to collect books, specimens, and to visit
the fields and the people.

Journals and Magazines:

The Journals and Magazines that enthralled the scholars for many decades would be
of great help to you even now.
The various sources could be:
Indian Antiquary
Journal of Bombay Branch of Royal Asiatic Society
Journal of Bengal Branch of Royal Asiatic Society
Madras Museum Journals
Gazetteers
Manuals
Travelogues
Reports
Check lists before you say you have done your research
report ready for print:
1. Is the subject or purpose of the paper clearly defined for the reader?
2. Does the paper really engage that subject or purpose? – and in a way that
reflects my own views rather than just summarizing or quoting the views of
others?
3. Have I backed up my views adequately with well-reasoned arguments, and
have I substantiated my general statements with specific evidence and
examples?
4. What about the structure? – is the information well organized and
proportioned? Have I written a clear, and brief, introduction and conclusion?
In the body of the paper, does the argument jump about too much? Does it
leave any loose ends or raise any unanswered questions? Are the links
between arguments properly forged, and the transitions from paragraph
properly signposted?
5. Are all the contents relevant? Perhaps some paragraphs are just digressions,
and interrupt rather than aid the flow of argument?
6. Is the wording tight and economical? – not a surplus of examples, no over-
subtle distinctions, no waffles
7. ? No,?