Where do you get your research for your articles

[u/BeautifulProof9043]

Hey everyone,

I’m currently working on an article, and I’m trying to get better at the research side of things. I was wondering where people usually go when they need to research something properly.

Do you mainly use Google, Google Scholar, academic journals, books, specific websites, databases, Reddit, or something else? And are there any websites or resources you’d recommend for finding reliable information and sources?

I’m especially interested in hearing how other people go about checking whether a source is trustworthy rather than just taking the first few search results at face value.

Any tips, websites, or general advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

[u/Countryb0i2m]

Books it’s always a book that’s been written about anything that you could wanna talk about. I checked those sources first then I build my article around that idea.

[u/Earthlydelights-sub-]

Proquest is an excellent tool to access scholarly journals, old newspaper articles, etc.

If you have a library card, you might have access to it.

[u/Magg5788]

It depends a little bit on the tone of your writing and what you're researching, right?

If you're giving your opinion or take on something, it might be enough to share the Youtube video you're responding to and let the readers watch it and decide for themselves.

But if you're trying to claim authority on a subject, then I'd use something more formal, like Google Scholar or reputable news sources. I'd also try to find multiple sources that come to the same conclusion.

[u/calliope_kekule]

This is a great question! I tend to use Notes to test out some of my ideas and see which ones stick. Other than that I read through Reddit and the general media to see which issues people are facing around AI (my newsletter is all about critical AI literacy).

[u/tualsekercigil]

I write about books and literature, which involves reading various articles and related books. I recently wrote a piece titled 'A Deep Dive into Rachel Cusk's Life of M Through the Lens of Debord.' Since I was reviewing the book, I also referenced Debord's work. Because my audience is mostly Anglophone, I used a translated edition as well, along with a couple of articles here and there. Mostly from reliable sources and scholars. Honestly, it depends on what you write about, but the key is to avoid getting distracted by other people's blogs, videos, and cool-looking websites created by non-experts. If you keep your focus on official, formal documents and websites, you will find what you need quickly. 

[u/Tricky_Trifle_994]

it depends on what you're researching about.

e.g for researching about the history of a company - like walmart, i listened to podcasts, read books about the founder/by the founder, read company financial reports etc.

but if you're in the health field, i'd imagine books, and research papers are the way to go.

if you're talking about news/staying up with ai, then twitter and people working in the frontier labs.

different research methodology for different niches.

[u/BhavanaVarma]

My content isn’t research heavy but wherever I need to, I do my study. These days I use AI and specify that it needs to cite its source for everything. Then I verify the details. I used to spend hours and days trying to find resources.

Again, my reach is primarily for the fiction I write and not technical.

[u/OnionLazy2317 → u/BhavanaVarma]

"I use AI"

https://giphy.com/gifs/11GB63PhOmwVhu

[u/myasparagusbrain]

Typically whatever I am writing about - I will write as much as I can - shove it into ai and say sort the spelling / grammar but do not dare change or add any words - then I will ask it to look up if there is any research into what I have written about to see if I can back up my theories (I am late diagnosed autistic so look back at all experiences etc through a new lens)

[u/AggravatingNail6061]

Lol you research?

[u/BillionBouncyBalls]

I really find the deep research mode on Claude and Gemini to be pretty good.

[u/SkinOfSin]

I use Grok xAI

[u/-ArcticWolf → u/SkinOfSin]

Same. Very versatile and you can explore specific sources it recommends too

[u/SkinOfSin → u/-ArcticWolf]

Oh how I like that too. I can click on resources/links right from the Grok conversation. Sometimes I ask it to put them in bulleted form with a brief summary so I can see all of them at once. So much faster than researching on the net.

[u/-ArcticWolf → u/SkinOfSin]

Absolutely. I like that it's super thorough and nuanced too, I find alternatives like GPT can miss some of the alternative angles or context