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Online Version of this Issue Green Career Tips Archive
We are so fortunate to have our GCC Research Expert Lauren Delp share Part 2 of her 3-part series about Researching your Green Career. This week, Lauren shares some practical tips on how to organize and pace yourself during your research process to get your desired results. Read on!
If you missed Part 1, Click Here >> Getting Stuck Before You Get Started
Tip of the Week: Research - Part 2 of 3-Part Series:
Too Much Of A Good Thing
by Lauren E. Delp, Green Career Research Expert
In last week’s tip, Getting Stuck Before You Get Started you found some strategies for getting your research off the ground when you don’t know where to start looking. We created an outline of the types of information to look for, and introduced some interesting and innovative websites.
Another way you might get stuck is at the other end of the spectrum. You have some very good search phrases or questions and know just where to go, but in your first pass through the results you realize that there is so much out there, you might as well be looking for a needle in a haystack.
What you might experience:
• You are frustrated and unsure of what information to keep and what to discard
• You feel overwhelmed and begin doubting yourself and your goals
Believe it or not, we can use the same strategies for getting you unstuck as we did with too little information.
First, take a deep breath, drink some water, walk around the room, stretch, and get some oxygen to your limbs and brain. If you can, go for a ten-minute walk. Don’t walk fast. This time, count how many birds you see during the first five minutes of your walk. This will relax your mind, minimize long-term eye strain and help you to breathe deeper. If you don’t like birds, count how many red cars you see.
Then, during the second five minutes you can start thinking about the outline you’re going to write when you get back. Again, start with a list of the kinds of information you want to end up with; types of jobs in an industry, pro and con sides in a specific issue, best place to supplement your education, contacts for informational interviews, etc.
Preparing your outline
I recommend formatting each item in the outline as a heading and putting it at the top of its own separate page.
Ask yourself what are you going to do with the results? Where in the stream are you? Are you ready to talk to experts or are you still collecting background information? What you don’t want is to try and go after everything at once.
This is also a good time to reflect on how much is enough? It will help you tremendously if you have some idea of when you can stop or when you don’t yet have enough information. For example, you may only need two or three examples of a green MBA program, etc. Write this down too, so it’s easy to see when you’ve got what you need.
Using your outline
As you find information that you think is going to be useful, paste the URL and a short description of the web page into the outline.
I promise you will not remember this page an hour from now, so make sure you write down what sort of information is on the page, and always include a brief write up of your impression; what your enthusiasms or reservations were, why you think it’s useful, as well as any other thoughts you might have. For example, you might want to get to know the author better, or the page seems a bit out of date (you’ll still want to document it though, as later you might find it’s the most current information out there!), etc.
If you find information that clearly invalidates something you already included, delete and replace the bad information right away. If it’s not obvious which information is correct, include them both but remember to make note of the discrepancy.
Always keep a section in your project for collecting ideas and miscellaneous URLs that you might want to follow up on later but that don't fit into your outline! Many a treasure is discovered this way!
As you make your way through your search results, your outline will begin to fill out. When you have enough information to work with under a given heading, move on! Don’t spend too much time capturing additional pages. You might make a note of the kind of information you are walking away from, in case it becomes interesting in the future.
Usually you will end up looking at a few headings with no information at all. Then you have to go looking for it. Use the resources in last week’s tips to get you started.
Pulling it together
When your outline is filled in, you have, in effect, a resource document for all of the questions that are pertinent at this phase of your process. Your notes and comments give you an overview of the answers. The URLs give you direct links to detailed information.
First, you may need to re-order the outline. New information frequently changes your premise or expectations. Once you’re satisfied with the sequence of your next steps, you can take each item in turn and go learn as much as you need.
Keeping it fresh
Make sure you take frequent breaks. Any time you start to feel frustration, or tension in your shoulders and neck, it's time to get up and walk around. Drink a glass of water to re-hydrate, to deepen your breathing and add oxygen to your brain. Look out the window so your eyes focus at more distant objects.
Don't research for more than 2 or at most 3 hours without taking a 20-minute break. That’s when you get to sit back and remind yourself what you're doing and why. Look at how much you've accomplished since your last break. Think about why you're excited to be joining your life with the green economy.
Don't go more than one day without reviewing your project to see where you are and where your current material fits in.
Keep your project organized. Make sure you stay within the scope appropriate to your current step. Don't get too far ahead of yourself.
-- Lauren E. Delp is a Research Expert at Green Career Central.
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