TECHNICAL NOTE: At certain points, you will have to copy links provided and paste them into a search engine (e.g. Google) to access the resources indicated.

WHAT IS RESEARCH? Research is searching for, gathering, and analyzing information.  The question you ask can be simple or complex, but if you follow up on it you are engaging in research. ​Critical information literacy sees research as "not a process of answering questions, but rather a process of formulating questions, ideas, and narratives" (Pankl & Coleman, 2010). As a student and a professional, you are engaging in an ongoing conversation with your peers fueled by questions, ideas, stories about topics that concern everyone in your field.​ WATCH the video below and answer the question that follows.

MCNY RESEARCH GUIDES - Research is a process. It takes time, planning, and creativity. Often, we think about research. Click on this MCNY research guide https://libguides.mcny.edu/research_process and note that in the box "What is the Research Process?," it represents the research process as a series of steps.​MCNY has many online research guides like this one. You will find the full list on the MCNY library homepage https://www.mcny.edu/library/ under the tab Research Guides.​ Research guides are designed to help you search for sources on a variety of topics, including emergency & disaster management, literature reviews. The guide here , Introduction to Research, is an additional resource for you to use.  You can click on each tab (The Research Process, Resource Evaluation, Where to Search, etc) to get more information about a particular aspect of the research process.

RESEARCH IS A PROCESS The list you just reviewed in your MCNY library guide makes the research process sound neat and easy, but it isn't! You know that, but it's always good to get confirmation.​Even picking your topic is research as the video here suggests. You may need to repeat steps or start from an earlier step. For example, as you write your paper, you may realize that you need more evidence to support one of your claims. You would then search for more evidence and evaluate the evidence before continuing to write your paper. ​You will spend more time on one step than on others. For example, you may find a lot of information during your search, but it may take you longer to read and evaluate that information than it did to find it.​

THE RESEARCH PROCESS REVISITED - Sometimes it can be helpful to visualize research as a straight line or a series of steps, just to help you move forward in your work. But it's equally important to keep in mind that research is a complex process, involving a lot of back and forth between linked tasks. And, because research is messy, it often involves something of an emotional rollercoaster. So, be prepared!​ Below, you will find an image suggesting that the research process is usually not a straight line, but a repeating cycle, and another showing the different emotional states you may experience during the research process according to information specialist Carol Kuhlthau (2018).