Our New Book! Where Research Begins

www.topicland.org
A Topic is Not a Question, or, Why All of Us Need to Escape TopicLand
When a research project begins, we don’t always have specific questions in mind. Typically, we start with a “topic” of interest. For a researcher, having a topic can be a wonderful thing. Topics empower. They give a sense of identity and purpose. “I work on . . . the Harlem Renaissance, Soviet history, women’s studies, experimental poetry, urban planning, environmental history.” Having a topic makes us feel solid, self-aware, oriented.
But topics can be dangerous.
Harlem Renaissance what? Soviet economic history how? Environmental history where?
When you tell someone your topic, you leave them (maybe even yourself) wondering which of the many possible pathways you intend to follow, or why the topic matters to you.
The common advice is to “Narrow it down.” We’ve all heard it. But that well-meaning advice can lead to dead ends. We’ve fallen into the Narrow-Down-Your-Topic trap ourselves, and we bet you have too.
You cannot “narrow” your way out of TopicLand-but there is another way.
Join Stanford professor Tom Mullaney and UBC professor Christopher Rea as they sit down with Dan Schwartz (the I. James Quillen Dean and Nomellini & Olivier Professor of Educational Technology at Stanford Graduate School of Education) for an online discussion of their new book, Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project That Matters to You (and the World).
This first-of-its-kind guide leads students through the most exciting (and failure-prone!) phase of every research project: the very beginning stage, before you know what you’re really working on, and before you know your real research problem.
The first 25 registered attendees are eligible to receive a free copy of Where Research Begins (certain conditions apply).
Let’s help everyone escape TopicLand.
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