Twenty-first century students don’t need to spend a lot of time learning how to find information. After all, many of you are online every day gathering information: reconnecting with people on MySpace and Facebook, finding open classes through PiratesNet, downloading driving directions, weather forecasts, song lyrics, recipes, and celebrity gossip.
But gathering information is not research! Research requires that you find information, of course, but it also demands much more from you. The MLA Handbook defines research in terms of exploring ideas, probing issues, solving problems, or making arguments relating to existing ideas. Yes, you need information to complete these tasks, but you also need lots of time to read the information you find, to reflect on it in terms of what you already know and what you are learning, and to write multiple drafts of speeches/papers so that you can present your research as clearly, logically, and successfully as possible.
If you need a quick overview or review of research strategies and concepts, please visit Kathleen's Research 101. The 101 guide will take you through the research process step-by-step, and includes help with choosing topics and developing a thesis, brainstorming the correct search terms, avoiding plagiarism, etc. It also contains information on how to develop research questions, a step that makes every research project more efficient and more successful.