Relearning How to Do Research for Academic Writing
June 18, 2023 1:40 AM Subscribe
It's been 84 at least 12 years since I last wrote a proper paper and now I am embarking on a passion project that will involve a tremendous amount of research and writing and organizing. My abilities in this area have been replaced by the "ensure that this app or website make money" stuff required by my trade as a designer. How do I relearn how to do research for academic work?
Essentially I wish to create a comprehensive but reader-friendly online visual glossary/wiki of fashion terms used from 1795 to 1825, the three decades commonly referred to as the Regency period. I have purchased a domain (and a rather cleverly named one, too) and begun collecting as many photos as I can of extant garments, fashion plates, portraiture, and periodicals. My hope is to intersperse interesting bits of info about the context behind fashion trends as well as shed light on the fact that a good deal of that context involves slavery, exploitation, and imperialism.
What I don't really remember is any of the other bits of the research process except for choosing a thesis statement. I have a vague recollection of poring over texts in the library and writing down snippets of information on notecards that support said thesis. But what would my wiki website's thesis be? Do I need to approach this as though I'm writing a book? In design I'd go directly into competitive analysis but for some reason that makes me nervous/discouraged in this circumstance.
If you were me what would you do?
I hope this isn't a stupid question. I just genuinely no longer have memory banks in this area and would love any guidance people can offer.
Essentially I wish to create a comprehensive but reader-friendly online visual glossary/wiki of fashion terms used from 1795 to 1825, the three decades commonly referred to as the Regency period. I have purchased a domain (and a rather cleverly named one, too) and begun collecting as many photos as I can of extant garments, fashion plates, portraiture, and periodicals. My hope is to intersperse interesting bits of info about the context behind fashion trends as well as shed light on the fact that a good deal of that context involves slavery, exploitation, and imperialism.
What I don't really remember is any of the other bits of the research process except for choosing a thesis statement. I have a vague recollection of poring over texts in the library and writing down snippets of information on notecards that support said thesis. But what would my wiki website's thesis be? Do I need to approach this as though I'm writing a book? In design I'd go directly into competitive analysis but for some reason that makes me nervous/discouraged in this circumstance.
If you were me what would you do?
I hope this isn't a stupid question. I just genuinely no longer have memory banks in this area and would love any guidance people can offer.
I mean, here's your thesis statement right here:
Shed light on the fact that a good deal of that context involves slavery, exploitation, and imperialism.
Qualitative work like this is hard. When it's well done it looks easy, but the tricky thing is there's no linear path.
My own qualitative work tends to be...
-Notice something. Go, huh, that's interesting.
-Read, read, read. Find a particular framework or theory that mostly, but not quite explains what I saw. Maybe it needs to be extended a bit, maybe something needs to be tweaked a bit. Maybe I can bridge the theory or framework with another one.
-Go back to what I noticed. Can I write a coherent argument about how it fits x theory/extend on it?
-Rinse, repeat.
In your case, take some garments or construction methods or something you think tell a story about slavery/colonization/exploitation.
Maybethis one for example. Read the description; then think about how you might rewrite it to fit your framework/thesis. There's a ton here to work with- the bobbinett machine! Napoleon! Silk! Muslin!
Then, grab another garment. Can you tie it in with what you wrote and use it to help strengthen your argument? Can you pull in sources about industrialization in general to help make your point? Rinse, repeat.
Is there a garment you can find that's really hard to fit in with your framework? Pull that one in, find the holes in your argument. Refine your framework. Rinse, repeat!
posted by damayanti at 5:30 AM on June 18, 2023 [8 favorites]
Shed light on the fact that a good deal of that context involves slavery, exploitation, and imperialism.
Qualitative work like this is hard. When it's well done it looks easy, but the tricky thing is there's no linear path.
My own qualitative work tends to be...
-Notice something. Go, huh, that's interesting.
-Read, read, read. Find a particular framework or theory that mostly, but not quite explains what I saw. Maybe it needs to be extended a bit, maybe something needs to be tweaked a bit. Maybe I can bridge the theory or framework with another one.
-Go back to what I noticed. Can I write a coherent argument about how it fits x theory/extend on it?
-Rinse, repeat.
In your case, take some garments or construction methods or something you think tell a story about slavery/colonization/exploitation.
Maybethis one for example. Read the description; then think about how you might rewrite it to fit your framework/thesis. There's a ton here to work with- the bobbinett machine! Napoleon! Silk! Muslin!
Then, grab another garment. Can you tie it in with what you wrote and use it to help strengthen your argument? Can you pull in sources about industrialization in general to help make your point? Rinse, repeat.
Is there a garment you can find that's really hard to fit in with your framework? Pull that one in, find the holes in your argument. Refine your framework. Rinse, repeat!
posted by damayanti at 5:30 AM on June 18, 2023 [8 favorites]
If you were me what would you do?
I'd start by thinking how each item could be classified / described and developing a shorthand for taking notes; probably creating a form which allows easy input of the data for each item of apparel.
Bodypart: head, neck, shoulder, chest [incl 'neck' as synonym for bosom], tum, cods, arm, wrist, hand, thigh, [well-turned] calf, foot.
Primary material: silk, wool, cotton, linen, hessian, leather, wood . . .
Secondary material: wool [worsted, tweed, gabardine, knit] . . .
Fastening: stitch, lace, button, bow, buckle . . .
Colour: where you'll have common ground with botanists [like Stearn's Botanical Latin]: - Greys: gray is darker than grey, of course. Latin has cineraceus, cinereus ashy, griseus pearly, schistaceus slatey, plumbeus leaden going in the opposite direction from more white to more black. Stearn throws murinus mousy and fumosus smokey in with the greys.
Country/region of manufacture:
Country of source materials:
Date of creation:
Similar to: . . .
Sounds like a neat, finite, project. Won't take more than 30 years?
posted by BobTheScientist at 6:51 AM on June 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'd start by thinking how each item could be classified / described and developing a shorthand for taking notes; probably creating a form which allows easy input of the data for each item of apparel.
Bodypart: head, neck, shoulder, chest [incl 'neck' as synonym for bosom], tum, cods, arm, wrist, hand, thigh, [well-turned] calf, foot.
Primary material: silk, wool, cotton, linen, hessian, leather, wood . . .
Secondary material: wool [worsted, tweed, gabardine, knit] . . .
Fastening: stitch, lace, button, bow, buckle . . .
Colour: where you'll have common ground with botanists [like Stearn's Botanical Latin]: - Greys: gray is darker than grey, of course. Latin has cineraceus, cinereus ashy, griseus pearly, schistaceus slatey, plumbeus leaden going in the opposite direction from more white to more black. Stearn throws murinus mousy and fumosus smokey in with the greys.
Country/region of manufacture:
Country of source materials:
Date of creation:
Similar to: . . .
Sounds like a neat, finite, project. Won't take more than 30 years?
posted by BobTheScientist at 6:51 AM on June 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
A good general overview of the research process is Wayne C. Booth et al., The Craft of Research (now in its 4th edition). I also think Thomas Mann's Oxford Guide to Library Research is very useful.
The academic field of fashion, dress, or costume history has really taken off in the last few decades. Some useful resources are the New York Public Library's Costume and Fashion History resource guide and the Fashion Institute of Technology's Fashion History Timeline.
The Association of Dress Historians and the Costume Society are UK organizations in the field; the US equivalent is the Costume Society of America. Each of those organizations publishes a journal on costume history and studies. More broadly, your interests fit in with social history and the history of material culture, both of which have burgeoning scholarly literatures.
Many useful resources for finding this scholarly literature are subscription based, but in some cases they can be accessed through a local university library, and some major city libraries offer access to some databases and collections.
posted by brianogilvie at 8:27 AM on June 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
The academic field of fashion, dress, or costume history has really taken off in the last few decades. Some useful resources are the New York Public Library's Costume and Fashion History resource guide and the Fashion Institute of Technology's Fashion History Timeline.
The Association of Dress Historians and the Costume Society are UK organizations in the field; the US equivalent is the Costume Society of America. Each of those organizations publishes a journal on costume history and studies. More broadly, your interests fit in with social history and the history of material culture, both of which have burgeoning scholarly literatures.
Many useful resources for finding this scholarly literature are subscription based, but in some cases they can be accessed through a local university library, and some major city libraries offer access to some databases and collections.
posted by brianogilvie at 8:27 AM on June 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
At the risk of being unhelpful, I want to ask you if this is actually academic writing. I typically think of academic writing as creating a piece of scholarship that is meant for peer review and publication in either an academic press or an academic journal. You say you're creating a comprehensive but reader-friendly online visual glossary/wiki of fashion terms in the Regency period. Awesome. It sounds like you're putting together an online resource with sources, citations and some analysis. Great! Do that. I think that's slightly different than academic writing (particularly if you're trying to make it accessible).
Write what you know already and put it into the wiki. Just start. Add in citations as you go. Put the pictures where they need to be, fix things when you figure out that they're broken, put in stubs when you don't have anything yet. Add in a few things that you know you'll need to fix later. Anything that is a wiki is going to be a little wild for a while.
Do you need a thesis for this website? Maybe. I do like damayanti's comment about what your thesis is. If that's true, write a compelling opener for the whole thing that describes what you're trying to do and then leave it there. You might change it later. Cool. Change it when it's clearer.
I'm a qual researcher (well mixed methods/teaching qual to quant folk) and I can tell you that the process of doing data analysis is messy, awkward, challenging and usually feels a bit like you have little things smattered all over the place (usually because you do). You have to just start. Try not to equivocate with all the tools/things you're supposed to do. Learn how to do THIS kind of research with THIS project.
When I teach qual methods folks often assume I can tell them how to organize their data/analysis work, and I have to remind them that I have no idea what their data is. And they know that a lot better than I do. This is the same thing. You know what you're talking about, you know what you're doing, though I'm sure you want to learn more.
One thing to keep in mind as you go is, what are the things you are pretty sure you'll want to search by later on? Is it the dates? Is it the material type? Is it an aspect of the context? If you already know you want to search on such points, be sure to give yourself little crumbs that will let you go back to that. E.g. tags, hashtags or little flags for yourself. That will help as you go.
If you really writing on doing qual research, I recommend Salsa Dancing in the Social Sciences by Luker. It's a really good read and quite accessible.
posted by mulkey at 9:54 AM on June 18, 2023 [7 favorites]
Write what you know already and put it into the wiki. Just start. Add in citations as you go. Put the pictures where they need to be, fix things when you figure out that they're broken, put in stubs when you don't have anything yet. Add in a few things that you know you'll need to fix later. Anything that is a wiki is going to be a little wild for a while.
Do you need a thesis for this website? Maybe. I do like damayanti's comment about what your thesis is. If that's true, write a compelling opener for the whole thing that describes what you're trying to do and then leave it there. You might change it later. Cool. Change it when it's clearer.
I'm a qual researcher (well mixed methods/teaching qual to quant folk) and I can tell you that the process of doing data analysis is messy, awkward, challenging and usually feels a bit like you have little things smattered all over the place (usually because you do). You have to just start. Try not to equivocate with all the tools/things you're supposed to do. Learn how to do THIS kind of research with THIS project.
When I teach qual methods folks often assume I can tell them how to organize their data/analysis work, and I have to remind them that I have no idea what their data is. And they know that a lot better than I do. This is the same thing. You know what you're talking about, you know what you're doing, though I'm sure you want to learn more.
One thing to keep in mind as you go is, what are the things you are pretty sure you'll want to search by later on? Is it the dates? Is it the material type? Is it an aspect of the context? If you already know you want to search on such points, be sure to give yourself little crumbs that will let you go back to that. E.g. tags, hashtags or little flags for yourself. That will help as you go.
If you really writing on doing qual research, I recommend Salsa Dancing in the Social Sciences by Luker. It's a really good read and quite accessible.
posted by mulkey at 9:54 AM on June 18, 2023 [7 favorites]
A couple good reference books:
The Oxford Guide to Library Research by Thomas Mann
Digital Paper by Andrew Abbott
posted by Saxon Kane at 2:05 PM on June 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
The Oxford Guide to Library Research by Thomas Mann
Digital Paper by Andrew Abbott
posted by Saxon Kane at 2:05 PM on June 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Ok, so maybe I've been overly ambitious and what the scope of my project really is is what I said in my first sentence: "a comprehensive but reader-friendly online visual glossary/wiki of fashion terms used from 1795 to 1825". That's where I need to start and stop and then any other commentary, academic or otherwise, can be collected separately and added later. I will do a separate initiative that focuses on the cultural influences/appropriation/etc that I am seeing as I go through garments in a variety of sources.
Thank you all for the notes!!! Yes, this may well take 30 years, but oh, I will enjoy it for this is one of my most favorite things to talk about in the whole world.
I leave you with photos of some of my favorite garments:
• Gown with Train, 1805 - 1810
• Green Silk Pelisse, 1818
• Red and White Cotton Gauze Gown with Grecian Elements, 1805
• Purple Silk Dress, 1820s
• The Holly Gown, 1824-1826
• The Pineapple Gown, 1810
• The Strawberry Gown, 1810
• The Raspberry Gown, 1805
posted by The Adventure Begins at 3:13 PM on June 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
Thank you all for the notes!!! Yes, this may well take 30 years, but oh, I will enjoy it for this is one of my most favorite things to talk about in the whole world.
I leave you with photos of some of my favorite garments:
• Gown with Train, 1805 - 1810
• Green Silk Pelisse, 1818
• Red and White Cotton Gauze Gown with Grecian Elements, 1805
• Purple Silk Dress, 1820s
• The Holly Gown, 1824-1826
• The Pineapple Gown, 1810
• The Strawberry Gown, 1810
• The Raspberry Gown, 1805
posted by The Adventure Begins at 3:13 PM on June 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
You might be interested in checking out my art historian friend’s website on Dutch textiles. It’s an academic project that is sort of similar to what you’re thinking of. I think knowing what’s out there already and who the major names / fields are is an important first step even if it’s mostly for casual readers, the folks who are super engaged will help promote the site (if they like it) and get you viewers.
https://dutchtextiletrade.org/
(apologies, linking isn’t working on my phone)
posted by momus_window at 5:07 PM on June 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
https://dutchtextiletrade.org/
(apologies, linking isn’t working on my phone)
posted by momus_window at 5:07 PM on June 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
In your shoes, I’d go to the best library for your project (or any library you can access) and ask the reference librarian how to proceed. (I’m a librarian.)
posted by Riverine at 3:37 PM on June 19, 2023
posted by Riverine at 3:37 PM on June 19, 2023
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In terms of organizing your thoughts, notecards have generally been replaced by various electronic resource organizers that keep the pdf/link of the document and your notes all organized. Zotero is free and open source. Mendeley still has a free version, but is owned by Elsevier now. Papers used to be my favorite for Mac, but it's been bought and sold a few times and I'm not as big a fan of the current version. You may remember EndNote from back in the day, and it still exists. There are others out there, but I think those 4 are the big ones.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:45 AM on June 18, 2023 [7 favorites]