Book: Where Research Begins

https://sobrief.com/books/where-research-begins (active)

unrealistic approach vs self-centered research

Trad way usually assume everyone know their passion or question.

a topic or a sub-topic are not question

Narrow it down doesn’t provide direction

self observation

Boredom
What about this bore me? Which subtopic bore me? Why i feel this?

Generate specific questions.
brainstorm a minimum of twenty specific, fact-focused questions.

Primary sources is not just a close bracket of your question, it also refine your question
Research is iterative btw

Avoid anachronistic keywords

Some stress-test eval

• you can make checklist for this
• specific
• unprejudiced
• presumed outcome
• clear
• precise
• jargonfree
• rooted in variable data
• indifferent to the outcome
• clear about the object

Assumption: wind in your sail
Caatgorize

• to work with
• to discard
• unsure/weak on primise

Problem : magnet (attract your question)

Find your problem by question’s pattern, find their shared concerns

Design a personal project

• a lot stuffs to list
• decision matrix

Find others who suffered with the same problem

Find your field’s problem

Writing

created on: Thu Feb 05 2026