You may be wondering, what’s the difference between research and the rest of what you do in school? Where’s the line between studying and research? The two are obviously related, but the main difference has to do with who’s calling the shots. When you study for class, you’re learning the material that your instructor has selected to help you master the topic. When you perform research, you’re in charge of deciding which sources will tell you what you want to know. If studying is like takeout (or even delivery!), research is like grocery shopping.

If studying is takeout…

… research is grocery shopping.

To stretch this metaphor: We all know that grocery shopping takes more effort than takeout. And you might not be as experienced as the cooks at the restaurant. But when you’re shopping, you’re in charge. If you want to make dal empanadas or chili-peanut sushi pizza, go for it. (Well, maybe not).

Since you’re in charge, you can research something that interests you. In fact, you SHOULD research something you’re interested in. This is easier said than done, though. When we think about research, our ideas tend to drift toward research-y topics: “Well, scientists have done a lot of research about climate change, maybe I should write about climate change.” While there’s nothing wrong with writing about climate change, let’s try a different approach here. The trick to writing an interesting, original research paper is to find an angle that speaks to your interests– not just things you know a lot about, but things you want to know more about. Fine, but how do we know what these things might be?

Bruce Ballenger suggests a technique he calls the “Interest Inventory.” Here are the steps in an interest inventory:

1. Start with a set of categories, then brainstorm as many words or phrases as you can about that category (don’t edit yourself here, just free-write whatever comes to mind). Here are some possible categories:
   

   People	Places	Objects	Technology
   Historical Events or Periods	Things on the Internet	Things that Annoy Me	Current Events

2. Look back over your lists and put a checkmark next to the words or phrases you’re actually interested in. As a rule of thumb, let’s call something interesting if you could imagine discussing it with a friend for a while without getting bored. Refine your list by circling a few of your favorites; that is, the topics that would lead to the most enthusiastic conversation.
3. For each of your circled items, list as many questions as you can think of. What would you like to know about this topic?
4. Review your questions and consider how each question might be approached as academic research. Think about other classes you’ve taken in college and ask yourself: what would happen if you applied the tools you learned in those classes to the question or topic you’re considering? Which approach might be the most revealing? (adapted from Ballenger 25-28)