Where Research Begins

Thomas S. Mullaney is professor of history at Stanford University and a Guggenheim fellow. His books include The Chinese Typewriter: A History and Your Computer is on Fire. Christopher Rea is professor of Asian studies at the University of British Columbia. His books include Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1949 and The Age of Irreverence: A New History of Laughter in China

Introduction
Self-Centered Research: A Manifesto
Centered Research Is the Best Research
How to Use This Book
Introversion, First. Extroversion, Second.
TRY THIS NOW: Write Here, Right Now

Part 1: Become a Self-Centered Researcher

Chapter 1: Questions
A Topic Is Not a Question
TRY THIS NOW: Search Yourself
TRY THIS NOW: Let Boredom Be Your Guide
TRY THIS NOW: Go Small or Go Home
SOUNDING BOARD: Start Building Your Research Network 
You Have Questions

Chapter 2: What’s Your Problem?
Don’t Jump to a Question (or You’ll Miss Your Problem)
Stress-Testing Your Questions
TRY THIS NOW: Run a Diagnostic Test on Your Questions
TRY THIS NOW: Use Primary Sources to Educate Your Questions
TRY THIS NOW: Make Your Assumptions Visible
TRY THIS NOW: Identify the Problem That Connects Your Questions
SOUNDING BOARD: Get Leads on Primary Sources 
You Have a Problem (in a Good Way)
 
Chapter 3: Designing a Project That Works 
Primary Sources and How to Use Them (or, Fifty Ways to Read a Cereal Box) 
TRY THIS NOW: Treat Your Primary Source Like a Cereal Box 
TRY THIS NOW: Envision Your Primary Sources 
Connecting the Dots: Getting from Sources to Arguments 
Sources Cannot Defend Themselves 
TRY THIS NOW: Connect the Dots Using Your Sources (in Pencil) 
Taking Stock of Your Research Resources 
TRY THIS NOW: Decision Matrix 
SOUNDING BOARD: Is Your Decision Matrix Complete? 
Two Types of Plan B 
Setting Up Shop 
TRY THIS NOW: Get Money for Nothing (Prepare a Formal Research Proposal) 
SOUNDING BOARD: Share Your Proposal with a Trusted Mentor (Who Understands How Preliminary This Is) 
You Have the Beginnings of a Project 

Part 2: Get Over Yourself 

Chapter 4: How to Find Your Problem Collective 
Identify Researchers Who Share Your Problem 
TRY THIS NOW: Change One Variable 
TRY THIS NOW: Before and After 
TRY THIS NOW: Map Out Your Collective (Secondary Source Search) 
Rewriting for Your Collective 
TRY THIS NOW: Find and Replace All “Insider Language” 
SOUNDING BOARD: Does the Lay Version of My Proposal Make Sense? 
Welcome to Your Collective 

Chapter 5: How to Navigate Your Field 
Find the Problems within Your Field 
Read Your Field for Their Problems: Reimagining the “Literature Review” 
TRY THIS NOW: Start Your Own “What’s Your Problem?” Bookstore (aka Organize Your Field into Problem Collectives) 
TRY THIS NOW: Change Their Variables 
TRY THIS NOW: Rewrite for Your Field 
SOUNDING BOARD: Find a Sounding Board in Your Field 
Welcome to Your Field 

Chapter 6: How to Begin 
Don’t Worry. It’s All Writing. 
TRY THIS NOW: Create “Draft 0” 
See What You Mean: Writing Draft 1 
TRY THIS NOW: Move from 0 to 1 
Perfection Is Boring 
SOUNDING BOARD: Talk to Yourself 
Welcome to Self-Centered Research 

What’s Next in Your Research Journey? 
TRY THIS NOW: Find a New Problem and Start a New Project 
TRY THIS NOW: Help Someone Else 

Acknowledgments 
Further Reading 
Index