The Twelve Basic Steps to Process Your Project Proposal

Step 1: use your library: Make the most of your university or college library. Become adept at using all the different information sourcing techniques available. You will need to enroll on training sessions to learn how to do electronic searches and to learn about all the different databases and other sources of information. Find out about web-based information services (eg. Web of science, Janet, Copac, Gabriel, Zetoc etc) you should also b able to get a list of subject related information sources and databases from your subject librarian.

Step 2: get online: You will not always need to go to the library for this information. There are a lot of web-bases and library catalogues that you can access from a computer anywhere. You might need to have a password to access some of them: consult your university/ college library to obtain these.

Step 3: be alerted: You can sign up for alerts to new information from some database organizations. This saves you constantly making new searches.

Step 4: track forward: Track forward to further sources by consulting citation indexes. In which other works has the paper you are reading been referred to?

Step 5: track back: Also check the references and bibliographies of anything you read for relevant past literature.

Step 6: keep track: The web is a seductive and sometimes frustrating source of information. Avoid getting sidetracked into irrelevant issues and poor quality sites of little academic credibility. It is a good idea to limit the time for each session so you don’t get lost. Earmark useful sites to visit in more detail during future sessions.

Step 7: read: Become conscious of the level of reading you need to use in each circumstance. Are you scanning for leads to information or are you actually analyzing the text in detail? The type of notes you make will be different in each case.

Step 8: take note: Spend some time analyzing your note-taking procedures. Differentiate between making a précis and making a commentary: both are valuable but should not be confused. Also differentiate between opinions, factual information, theory, methods, results, interpretations, examples, as well as sorting into subjects and concepts.

Step 9: get sorted: Your system of recording notes, storing and retrieving them is of vital importance to your project. Now is the time to sort it out! Although I have given a balanced review of paper-based and computer based systems, I would strongly recommend you using a specialized computer bibliographic database program such as endnote or Procite to store your notes. They provide more flexibility and useful compatibility with web as based bibliographic databases. Using a set of notes which you have made from your reading of your subject literature, decide on the system which you will use to collect, reference, store and retrieve all the information that you will collect over the next year r two or three or four.

Think carefully of the conditions under which you will be making your notes or collecting information, e.g. in the university library, at home, in a distant library, at an interview etc. this will affect the medium in which you make your initial notes; it can be cards, paper sheets, photocopies, tape recordings etc. will you then transcribe all the notes onto one medium, e.g. cards or a computer database, or will you keep them on a range of media? Decide on a standard form of referencing for each snippet of information. Consider how you will cross reference your notes with your bibliography list. Under how many headings or key words can you organize your information?

Step 10: try it out: How you will be able to retrieve your information will depend on how it is referenced and stored. Try to evolve a system which reduces the amount of rewriting of text and references. This will reduce the amount of errors. Computers can help here.

Whatever system you decide on, check, by making a test on a small sample of your notes, that you can do the following:
(A)Trace the exact location of each source from which your made the notes, including where you found it, library sort code if relevant, full publication details, and page number
(B)Easily pick out all your notes on a particular subject, concept or keyword
(C)Trace all notes on the writings of a particular author
(D)Distinguish between quotations, summaries and commentaries.

Step 11: back up!: Make regular copies or backups of your notes in case they get lost or damaged. This is particularly important with electronic media as they are particularly vulnerable.

Step 12: start your literature review: Using the framework of diagram 2.1, construct the structure for your literature review. Use the notes you have collected so far to back up the steps in your argument. You will probably not be able to complete it at this stage, but you will be able at least to make a start always the most challenging part of a task! As you read more and develop your ideas, you will easily be able to adjust and add to the boxes until you and your supervisors are satisfied that the structure is sound. You can then write it out in full as part of your research proposal.