When I started this blog, one of my main goals was to use it as a research tool. I wanted to push myself to develop my research skills, to improve my ability to write about the subjects I’m most interested in, and to deepen my understanding of different subjects. I started by making a list of everything I wanted to study—art, literature, mythology—and got to work. However, I found that blogging was more difficult than I initially anticipated, and the research side of things quickly became daunting and intimidating.
This strain was due to the nature of blogging as a practice. Blogging is fundamentally about writing, and there is sort of an expectation that one must be an expert in their field to write didactically on the internet (at least, that seems to be the standard for many fields, especially non-fiction writing). As you begin writing, you can usually spot or sense where your knowledge is weak, especially when writing about topics as massive as classics or art, and this leads to questions about what research is required to write a successful article and who has the authority to write such articles.
Blogging As a Research Tool
I am of the belief that, in order to become a reliable authority in a field (in the context of blogging), we don’t necessarily need to already have all of the technical academic skills to begin writing online. But what you do need is the ability and drive to do extensive research, be willing to practice and improve these skills, and be willing to get things wrong along the way. This idea that one must be an expert to share research and writing online, while daunting, can be a great motivator to do effective research and use blogging as a research tool.
Striving towards mastery is an inevitable motivator that accompanies the path to grow into a strong, reliable writer and scholar. It requires you to fact-check yourself and ensure that you are well-versed on your subject(s) of choice. When you do good research, you also do good writing, and confident writing at that. Blogging, thus, becomes a tool that can be used to encourage research, while also improving writing proficiency, promoting intellectual stimulation, and driving exploration.
Blogging and Research
Writing articles online, especially if you are focused on non-fiction, requires that you have a decent grasp of your subject before you begin writing. Just like if you had to write an essay for school, it is important that your research is thorough before you start brining all of the pieces—like brainstorming, outlines, and notes—together in writing. In this way, blogging is fundamentally linked to research, and blogging becomes a tool to develop your research skills and other cognitive abilities.
The research side of blogging isn’t simply about reading a text and quickly regurgitation facts. There should be effort to understand and retain information and then transform those facts into a meaningful article that is both informative and unique to you. It is about active research. Considering what problem you might be trying to solve, what ideas you want to focus on and disseminate, and how your research reflects your personal insights as well as the bones of your topic of interest. Blogging as a scholar requires effort not unlike writing an academic paper. The biggest difference, however, is that your research can and should be focused specifically on what you are interested in and want to gain mastery over. Using blogging as a research tool thus provides the opportunity to become a well versed and opinionated expert while creating a platform to share your research.
Expanding Your Research
Earlier I talked about how quickly you can begin to notice where your weak spots are or where there are gaps in your knowledge. A part of this is because so many subjects are intertwined with one another. For example, literature is often heavily intertwined with history; it documents and preserves different historical moments and trends. This means that to effectively research for an article, I’ve found that exploring adjacent topics ensures that an article is well rounded and well informed. Approaching research in this way creates space to gain proficiency in your field and understand how adjacent topics impact that subject, while creating the conditions where you can write wholistic, unique, and useful articles.
Research and Writing
Strong research means strong writing. This is because when you take the time to effectively research, understand the ins and outs of a topic, and explore your personal impressions of a topic, writing not only becomes clear and confident, but it also becomes more nuanced.
Writing a straightforward article about a mythological figure, for example, is valuable. However, doing the work to expand your research into adjacent fields, and include your opinions, allows you to write a complex and thoughtful article. This ensures that readers of you article are also stimulated, that they have something to think about or contend with, while also having the essential information that allows them to come to their own conclusions.
In other words, well-rounded research allows for well-rounded writing. Research not only makes writing easier, smoother, and clearer, but can result in articles that are more impactful and exciting to read.
Conclusion
I wanted to share my thoughts about blogging as a research tool for one important reason. Mainly because, as I continue to develop my skills and experiment with writing online, I’ve found that different approaches to research and writing provide different value. I’ve written plenty of generic articles that are really meant to get straight to the point and explain a topic without too many frills. This still entails research. On the other hand, the articles that I’ve really heavily research have resulted in pieces that were deeply enjoyable to write, have contributed to my knowledge on various fields or individuals, and, in my opinion, have more character. The articles where I research wholistically, by focusing on broad elements of a topic rather than solely on that main topic, accomplish what I was hoping to with this website—research that aspires towards mastery.
The way you approach research is up to you, and if you intend to use blogging as a research tool, it is absolutely beneficial to write simple, clear, and direct pieces without researching overlapping fields. Whether you chose a direct approach or a more nuanced approach like the one described here, using blogging as a research tool is a great way to gain knowledge and rehearse what you know. On the way, blogging helps to lead you towards mastery and allows you to become an authority in your field. I hope you enjoyed this article! You can find more posts about blogging for scholars and related posts here!
