Original Research

I have never done my own original research. Original research is different from library research since original research is based on information that you have collected from surveys, interviews and such. Library research can guide you in the direction of what kinds of questions to ask people in your research population, it can also show you what has already been researched so you know what might not have been researched before, thus starting a new topic for original research. Cons of library research: information might be outdated, might be biased based on sources. Pros of library research: hard work of finding the facts has already been done for you. Critical thinking skills required for both: reflection, reasoning, analysis, interpretation. The most important skill for library research is interpretation because you can gather information but you must be able to understand what you have gathered. While the most important for original research is analysis because you must analyze your findings in order to present actual and factual information based on your findings.