Amateur Research: Start Your Own Intellectual Adventure

Using the rigor of academic study styles to practice curiosity, critical thinking, and discipline in a world full of skimming.

Oh, the joy of following a thought all the way through. The seemingly lost art of the child-like instinct to question everything; when you think there cannot possibly be any more depth to the question being answered, the child asks, “but why?” Isn’t it amazing to really sit and reflect on how we develop as children, starting with a blank canvas and no established skills or foundation to evolve into anything but a wobbly, babbling piece of mass. Yet, we do (P.S. I really want to use and em dash here but cannot because AI ruins everything). All of us begin to learn at different rates, with different approaches, circumstances, and environments. Like magic, we all learn to learn in our own capacity.

Do you think our ability to learn at such a significant learning curve (ie: learning to walk, talk, read, write, exist independently without supervision, think critically all for the first time) can be attributed largely by curiosity?

Remind me to add that one to my future research board.

I can’t help but to reflect on my own experiences to compare the difference between how I learned and challenged my brain as a kid verse now, in my 30s. If I were to make a generalization, I would observe that somewhere along the line we, as a society, had stopped asking questions like we did when we were kids. Somehow, the idea of asking questions began to feel like we were showing weakness, admitting we did not know something. (God forbid we do not know everything). Before we knew it, wondering “but why” out loud because we wanted to know more, or innocently tilting our head with our eyes-widened because we didn’t understand, turned into “fake it until you make it”. Suddenly ashamed to be seen learning, and not already all-knowing.

I’ve worked with them, I’m friends with a lot of them, and I absolutely have been them on more occasions than I am willing to admit. The boundary between faking it until you make it, or pretending to know something you actually don’t while you roll up your sleeves and figure it out on the backend, blurred right into claiming knowledgeable-to-expert on any and every subject, in any conversation (especially political).

And maybe that’s where something shifted.

I have always loved being a student, and not just in the institutional sense, but what it means to wonder without shame, to chase an idea down a rabbit hole, to admit I don’t know something and then go figure it out. Over time, I realized that researching, or cos-playing an academic didn’t have to be reserved for formal school or for professionals. It could be a practice, (a hobby) rooted in curiosity, intellectual care, and the craving to keep my mind engaged. Researching, writing essays, creating study plans, flash cards, and everything in between became my way of reclaiming that part of myself; the part that loves to ask questions, follow thoughts all the way through, and think critically just for the sake of it.

Why do I choose to do this?

Writing research papers is a fun and engaging way for me to cover several bases with one project:

Amateur Research: that is my lane. I write research papers to keep my brain engaged like I go to the gym to maintain a strong physique. It’s an elective exercise that checks a list of boxes that contribute to my quality of life in a neat, tidy, very Virgo way. I love a project that satisfies a web of my interests and intentions all-in-one.

With that being said, if you are interested in engaging with the Research as a Hobby file and following along my own arbitrary intellectual adventure, please keep in mind that the end product and methods used to execute the papers are that of an amateur.

As an Amateur Researcher, here is a framework that I follow to execute this process start to finish using A Beginner’s Mind:

1. Understand the types of research papers and their purposes. Here are some common types:

From my personal Notion Dashboard:

2. What are you curious about? Pick your research topic by making a list of all the things that interest you that you want to know more about.

   1. Try keeping a notepad handy throughout the week a jot down any questions that come to your mind or conversations that interest you

   2. Take a look through your google history and notice all of the types of questions you’ve asked in over the last years - this should be telling!

3. Turn it into a research question

   1. Narrowing down a specific question helps you focus your studies so that you don’t find yourself in an endless pitfall of one topic leading to the next

   2. Don’t overthink this part! You do not have to write a perfectly polished scholarly formatted question

   3. As you start to read through sources targeting your initial question, you may find yourself refining the wording as you learn more!

4. Critical - Vary your sources!

   1. This is such a valuable practice to have as an educated individual. Vary the resources you use to find your information. You will get better finding legitimate and reliable sources as you practice.

   2. Taking a page out of the academics textbook, use:

      1. Primary Sources

      2. Secondary Sources

      3. Tertiary Sources

5. Dive into the information!

   1. Sit with uninterrupted time to read, watch, listen, and enveloped yourself in your compiled literature and content.

6. Supplies:

   1. As a Virgo and self-proclaimed forever student, I love supplies. Use whatever gets you excited to take notes!

      1. Notebook

      2. Folder for loose articles, printed paper, documents, newspapers, etc.

      3. Flash cards

      4. Sticky Notes/Annotation Tabs

      5. Highlighters

      6. Writing Instruments

      7. or any digital note taking system you prefer

7. Make connections, ask more questions

   1. Once you start diving into your material, challenge yourself to make connections between all of your sources

   2. Challenge the material by trying to have a “conversation” with the authors or lecturers in your notes

   3. Start practicing drawing conclusions

8. Discuss with a friend or family member

   1. Reiterating what you are learning out loud in conversation not only helps you with information retention, but will help you refine the skill or articulating your points and conveying the information

   2. What discussions come about with others?

9. Turn it into a piece of written work

   1. Don’t overthink the format! The beauty of this hobby is that it is for your own personal growth and gain. It can be for your eyes only. Don’t get bogged down on the formatting, or even perfecting the type of research paper.

   2. Start by practicing synthesizing your findings and conclusions in a one-pager essay

   3. Graduate at your own pace to implementing academic formatting to your research papers. You will push yourself to write and think in the formats that the standardized papers call for

10. Celebrate! Share it if you wish, but definitely save it! It is so rewarding to look back on the work you put in and what you learned along the way, even if it was messy. You will get better as you continue to exercise this muscle!

My number one recommended resource is a textbook that was assigned to me during college:

From my desk to your inbox

Thank you for reading the first publication in The Research as a Hobby File! I am truly having the time of my life writing these.

As promised, the first published entry in each of The Files are available for Free. That is a total of 4 published articles so that you can get a solid idea of what is to come, and if you will find it valuable to add to your life before you subscribe as a paid reader.

Reminder: all “Front Pager” articles posted every Sunday morning (the newspaper-aesthetic articles) will always be free. These will give you tasty previews of anecdotes within the files, and a lot of exciting creative surprises to come.

The Publishing Schedule for Paid Supporters:

There will be 1 published article for each individual file per month.

• 1 Entry for File 1: Research as a Hobby (first week of the month)

• 1 Entry for File 2: The Organization Edit (second week of the month)

• 1 Entry for File 3: The Independent Curriculum (third week of the month)

• 1 Entry for File 4: Business Field Notes (last week of the month)

This ensures that if you have a specific interest in one file at minimum, you will always be getting quality uploads to indulge in every month so that your subscription is worth every penny. Otherwise, if you are interested in all 4 you will have so much to sift through throughout the month, and at a consistent and manageable pace. (I do not want to information overload you!)

Let me know if you have any questions - thank you for being here.

Much love,

Flossy Fay.