Research Skills

If you've been set a piece of research work at college, then two targets will probably already be available to you:

1.   the project content,

and

2.   the project deadline.

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The first thing you will need to do is to make sure you know exactly what's involved in completing the project and when it is all due in. You should have been given some sort of brief or instructions for your research assignment which, as well as possibly including the subject matter, will tell you what needs to be included in the final project for it to pass. If you don't have that, ask your teacher or mentor for it. Often it will include:

• selecting a topic or area of interest (if the topic or question has not already been provided);
• identifying and drafting the objective(s) for your project (in the form of a question, hypothesis, problem, challenge, etc.) and providing a rationale (explaining the reason) for your choice;
• producing a plan of how you intend to achieve your final project outcome;
• conducting the required research, using appropriate techniques and evaluating source credibility;
• writing up the outcome of your research, evaluating your methods and answering your original question;
• reflecting on your own learning and performance.

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That looks like a scary amount of stuff to do! But it only takes a little bit of breaking down into more manageable targets, in your own words, to suddenly seem a lot more achievable.

Planning and target setting is an important skill and a necessary part of all research projects, so don't skip it or you might be missing out a piece of actual project work! You will probably be asked to review your planning at the end of your project as well, so keeping clear notes from the start and using them throughout your project will help you evaluate your successes and where you could have improved.

In order to set targets, many people in all walks of life use the SMART target system. SMART stands for:

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You can easily use this to help you set suitable targets to work through your research project. Break the main brief/instructions down into a number of smaller tasks that are simple to do, achievable and realistic. Then set a realistic timescale for completing each one, and provide yourself with some form of measuring when it has been completed, such as a simple tick box.

One way would be to create a table like this:

Some students have also used Gantt Charts to help them organise their project time. A Gantt Chart lets you visually plan and track projects. It combines a table of tasks to be accomplished along with assignment details and timelines showing their status. Gantt charts were developed by mechanical engineer Henry Gantt more than 100 years ago and have been a staple of project managers ever since. The reason is that they are simple and intuitive to create and use, but display a considerable amount of information at a glance.

You can find some fancy computer software online which will help you create Gantt Charts, but you can also make them fairly simply and for free in Microsoft Excel. If you're not familiar with Excel, this is a good way to start learning to use it. Instead of creating your table in Word, create it in Excel, setting out the task, the date it needs to be completed, and how long you think it should take (duration). Then follow the instructions in this video:

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To sum up target setting:

before you begin your project, break down the requirements into SMART chunks

and 

create a timetable in a format that works for you.

Don't forget to add the final deadline and all your project task deadlines to your homework diary/planner/electronic or paper calendar.

Once you have a plan, you're ready to get started with the research...

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Quick Activity

Using your research project brief or instructions, create a target time plan in a format of your choice. You could try out a Gantt chart or use an alternative version, such as a Word table. Make sure your targets are SMART.

This is an essential activity, so you can upload your evidence below if you wish.

You can upload a Word document, an Excel spreadsheet, a pdf print-screen or scanned document, or a png/jpg print-screen of your plan, either in its initial format, or in its final version after you've finished the project, with any ticks, changes and notes included.

Upload your Target Time Plan example here

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Gantt Chart information adapted from http://www.smartdraw.com/gantt-chart/. See also http://www.gantt.com/.