Welcome to the Research Skills Guide!
This guide will walk you through how to conduct research using the library and give you some important skills to take with you as you move beyond the university. First though, it might help to talk a little about why we do research and to give you three key tips for surviving the research process!
Why do research?
Research is a key part of how we create and innovate new ideas and technology. We need to understand what has already been done in order to find ways to improve and build upon old or outdated ideas and generate new ways of understanding the world around us.
Research isn't just limited to academics in the university, though. Doing a bit of research could help a parent discover new activities to engage their child's imagination on a rainy day. A programmer could learn a new computer language to construct a new app for smartphones by using research to find help online.
While this guide will focus on doing research in the library, it will also cover some important skills that could be used in everyday research as well.