After writing my previous blog post, I started to wonder…when was the last time I actually did research? Everyday I use Google on my phone to check what the weather is or what a Spanish word would translate into English, but is this actually research? So I assigned to myself to think about…

What was the last Research Project I worked on??

When we put in the word Project in, it seems to take a whole different meaning. This is not are everyday tasks of Googling, looking for a book in the library, or asking a friend to see what the lunch special at the cafeteria is. A research project has to have a theme, an argument, a question which we are trying to answer.

Research is a process. (Source)

In college, I have been assigned many papers, some as short as 2 pages and as long as 10. I have made presentations, created discussion material, and cooperated in group projects to pitch a proposal. But have any of these been research projects? My answer is NO. In the papers, I of course did some research, looking for quotes to cite and material to use as reference for my argument. For presentations, I looked at data and used graphs to visually appeal to my audience. In any case, it never was a research project, it was only surface level research so I could make my assignment more complete.

I think we can agree on our hatred for group projects…always enough people but never enough minds at work.

So maybe I never have even done a Research Project. Maybe my report on solar panels in space which I did in high school would count, since I dug up all different kinds of papers and studies to argue that such a mode of electricity generation was needed. But then again, if I haven’t even done a research project in college (on my standards), maybe that should not count. I didn’t find anything new by research: I was just confirming my ideas. Anyway, true research is a new concept for me, something I must learn from the basics.

For me, my project may well be research itself.