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How to research for Extended Project

After finally choosing a topic (if the mid-life crisis is fact or fiction and if it is true, why it happens psychologically) I am stuck on how to even start this huge task. Although i know it should be purely student managed, we have been given no guidance whatsoever by our teacher on where to start or what to even do. If you could please help me with the researching advice, how to collect primary and second data and to make sure the project isn't just regurgitating information from the internet,
thank you so much for you help
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CLMcS
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I found it useful to keep a word document to copy any useful information into- WITH REFERENCES. Don't leave references until last minute, take it from someone who did. It's a nightmare. Make sure you make it clear in the document what is paraphrased and what is an exact quote so you don't get mixed up when writing. That way you should avoid accidental plagiarism.
I also found it helpful, once I'd decided how I was going to structure my essay, to re-order my research into sections depending on the parts they would be relevant to.

It's good to use a range of sources, so perhaps see if you can get access to a university library for academic journals/ books, and look for podcasts etc.

It's also helpful to keep a log of which sources are reliable/ accurate, so you can cross-reference any that may not have been.

As for primary data, perhaps do some secondary research to find psychologists that have previously looked into similar areas, and email them asking for their opinions on the matter. Questionnaires could be difficult for this subject matter as you don't want to offend or upset the subjects, but perhaps you could ask advice on that from a sociology/ psychology teacher?


I hope that helps a bit. Your teacher really should be guiding you through this, and don't be afraid to ask them if you want clarification on something. An important part of the process is getting feedback on your progress and/or drafts from your teacher. If you have any other questions or if I didn't explain something clearly though, feel free to ask me :smile:

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