Research is a learning process that usually starts with a question or a casual, academic, or professional interest in a topic. The research process involves finding and gathering information, and then analyzing and synthesizing the information to produce an answer to the original research question or to discover more opportunities for further research.

There are several useful skills that the process of researching allows one to learn and practice. Whether you realize it or not, during the research process you are calling on a diverse set of skills that include:

• critical thinking
• problem-solving
• creative thinking
• data collection
• communication
• organization
• time management
• information evaluation
• and more

These are all important skills that are necessary in most if not all jobs and career fields. 

Research is non-linear. In other words, research is a cyclical process, and some steps in the research process may have to be repeated several times before completion. See the presentation slides below for a basic overview of the steps in the research process. Click through the tabs on the left-hand side of this guide for more detailed information on each step of the process.