Table Of ContentWhere Research Begins
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Writing Your Journal Article
in Twelve Weeks
Wendy Laura Belcher
The Craft of Research
Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G.
Colomb, Joseph M. Williams,
Joseph Bizup, and William T.
FitzGerald
The Art of Creative Research
Philip Gerard
From Dissertation to Book
William Germano
Getting It Published
William Germano
Wordcraft
Jack Hart
Write No Matter What
Joli Jensen
How to Write a BA Thesis
Charles Lipson
A Manual for Writers of
Research Papers, Theses,
and Dissertations
Kate L. Turabian
Student’s Guide to
Writing College Papers
Kate L. Turabian
Choosing
a ReseaRCh
PRojeCt that
MatteRs to
You (and the
WoRld)
Where Research Begins
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Thomas S. Mullaney & Christopher Rea
The
University of
Chicago Press
Chicago and
London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2022 by Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and
reviews. For more information, contact the University of
Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2022
Printed in the United States of America
31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 1 2 3 4 5
isBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 80111- 7 (cloth)
isBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 81744- 6 (paper)
isBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 81735- 4 (e- book)
doi: https:// doi .org /10 .7208 /chicago /9780226817354 .001 .0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mullaney, Thomas S. (Thomas Shawn), author. |
Rea, Christopher G., author.
Title: Where research begins : choosing a research project that matters to
you (and the world) / Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea.
Other titles: Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing.
Description: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2022. |
Series: Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing | Includes index.
Identifiers: lCCn 2021032879 | isBn 9780226801117 (cloth) |
isBn 9780226817446 (paperback) | isBn 9780226817354 (ebook)
Subjects: lCsh: Research.
Classification: lCC aZ105 .M85 2022 | ddC 001.4—dc23
lC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021032879
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso Z39.48- 1992
(Permanence of Paper).
Contents
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Introduction 1
Self- Centered Research: A Manifesto 4
Centered Research Is the Best Research 6
How to Use This Book 8
Introversion, First. Extroversion, Second. 13
tRY this noW: Write Here, Right Now 14
part 1: Become a Self- Centered Researcher 17
Chapter 1: Questions 19
A Topic Is Not a Question 19
tRY this noW: Search Yourself 27
tRY this noW: Let Boredom Be Your Guide 33
tRY this noW: Go Small or Go Home 36
sounding BoaRd:
Start Building Your Research Network 40
You Have Questions 41
Chapter 2: What’s Your Problem? 43
Don’t Jump to a Question (or You’ll Miss Your Problem) 44
Stress- Testing Your Questions 46
tRY this noW:
Run a Diagnostic Test on Your Questions 47
tRY this noW:
Use Primary Sources to Educate Your Questions 51
tRY this noW: Make Your Assumptions Visible 59
tRY this noW:
Identify the Problem That Connects Your Questions 64
sounding BoaRd: Get Leads on Primary Sources 65
You Have a Problem (in a Good Way) 66
Chapter 3: Designing a Project That Works 67
Primary Sources and How to Use Them
(or, Fifty Ways to Read a Cereal Box) 67
tRY this noW:
Treat Your Primary Source Like a Cereal Box 75
tRY this noW: Envision Your Primary Sources 78
Connecting the Dots: Getting from Sources to Arguments 82
Sources Cannot Defend Themselves 87
tRY this noW:
Connect the Dots Using Your Sources (in Pencil) 92
Taking Stock of Your Research Resources 94
tRY this noW: Decision Matrix 97
sounding BoaRd:
Is Your Decision Matrix Complete? 99
Two Types of Plan B 99
Scenario 1: Same Problem, Different Case 100
Scenario 2: Same Topic, Different Project 102
Setting Up Shop 104
tRY this noW:
Get Money for Nothing (Prepare a Formal
Research Proposal) 108
sounding BoaRd:
Share Your Proposal with a Trusted Mentor (Who
Understands How Preliminary This Is) 114
You Have the Beginnings of a Project 115
Part 2: Get Over Yourself 117
Chapter 4: How to Find Your Problem Collective 121
Identify Researchers Who Share Your Problem 121
tRY this noW: Change One Variable 125
tRY this noW: Before and After 133
tRY this noW:
Map Out Your Collective (Secondary Source Search) 138
Rewriting for Your Collective 142
tRY this noW:
Find and Replace All “Insider Language” 146
sounding BoaRd:
Does the Lay Version of My Proposal Make Sense? 149
Welcome to Your Collective 150
Chapter 5: How to Navigate Your Field 152
Find the Problems within Your Field 154
Read Your Field for Their Problems:
Reimagining the “Literature Review” 156
tRY this noW:
Start Your Own “What’s Your Problem?” Bookstore
(aka Organize Your Field into Problem Collectives) 159
tRY this noW: Change Their Variables 164
tRY this noW: Rewrite for Your Field 169
sounding BoaRd:
Find a Sounding Board in Your Field 173
Welcome to Your Field 174
Chapter 6: How to Begin 175
Don’t Worry. It’s All Writing. 176
tRY this noW: Create “Draft 0” 180
See What You Mean: Writing Draft 1 183
tRY this noW: Move from 0 to 1 185
Perfection Is Boring 189
sounding BoaRd: Talk to Yourself 191
Welcome to Self- Centered Research 192
What’s Next in Your Research Journey? 193
tRY this noW:
Find a New Problem and Start a New Project 194
tRY this noW: Help Someone Else 196
Acknowledgments 201
Further Reading 203
Index 205
Introduction
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In the early 2000s, when we were both in graduate school,
we were assigned to teach a course on research methodology.
The course was required for undergraduate majors in our
department. On paper, it was taught by a professor, but in
truth, everything was left to us. We had to design the course
from scratch, with little guidance on how to do so. The one
and only requirement was that each student had to produce
a research proposal by the end of the term— a detailed plan
of attack that outlined the specific questions the project
sought to explore and answer, the sources they would use,
and the potential implications and impact of their findings.
The two of us teamed up to map out a semester- long plan
through which a student could develop a full-fl edged re-
search project in a relatively short span of time. We reflected
on our own experiences, both as under graduates and now as
early- career scholars, and synthesized everything into a road
map as clear as a twelve- step smoking cessation program.
It covered everything, we thought: working with primary
sources, taking notes, compiling an annotated bibliography
of secondary sources, developing a hypothesis, outlining the
structure of a thesis, and summarizing the expected impli-
cations of the study.
By following our plan, each student’s paper would come
together piece by piece.
Or so we thought.
Something went wrong. As soon as the class started, our
1
