Where Research Begins

“The best book on research I have ever read. Clear, prac­ti­cal, and gen­uine­ly inspiring.”

“This book should be required read­ing for every grad­u­ate stu­dent. It trans­forms anx­i­ety into excitement.”

“Mul­laney and Rea’s engag­ing vol­ume can serve as an inno­v­a­tive and insight­ful primer for any­one about to embark on a research project. While this book’s imme­di­ate tar­get is under­grad­u­ate and inex­pe­ri­enced researchers, it is writ­ten in such a com­pelling way that sea­soned schol­ars begin­ning a new project can ben­e­fit from and return to the book again and again. Its premise is exceed­ing­ly astute but often over­looked: that the research process at its incep­tion needs to be self-cen­tered; that the prob­lem must fun­da­men­tal­ly mat­ter to you as a researcher; that the pow­er of research begins with a per­son­al con­nec­tion to what you have deter­mined to write about. Through exer­cis­es, writ­ing prompts and ques­tions, this book pro­duc­tive­ly requires your active par­tic­i­pa­tion. It is a book that any­one teach­ing research meth­ods or intro­duc­tion to research or run­ning an under­grad­u­ate research pro­gram needs to make use of and assign to their students.”

“This is a book we have all need­ed for a long time: a prac­ti­cal, help­ful and reas­sur­ing guide for those fac­ing the scary task of defin­ing a research top­ic. With clar­i­ty, humor, and com­pas­sion, Mul­laney and Rea pro­vide a step by step guide to fig­ur­ing out what inter­ests you, why, and how to tack­le the prob­lem you have defined. Where Research Begins will prove an invalu­able addi­tion to research-cen­tered cours­es as well as a guide for indi­vid­ual read­ers seek­ing to define their intel­lec­tu­al agenda.”

A ​“super use­ful book… on how to design a project that works, includ­ing writ­ing and stress-test­ing your research ques­tion. It was a real plea­sure to read and use­ful for peo­ple of all levels.”