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How I Research A New Subject
There’s no magic bullet. It’s mostly about sheer, dogged persistence
“How do you research a subject?”
I got asked this last week, while being interviewed by some college students. We were chatting about energy and technology, but they were also interested to know:
As a journalist, how do I set about researching a new area? If I’m starting fresh and reporting on a subject I’ve never reported on before, where do I begin? How do I know when I’m done?
They’re great questions. I’ve pondered this a lot during my 25 years writing long-form magazine journalism, and I can’t say I have a precise set of rules I follow; every research journey tends to be a bit idiosyncratic.
But there are some general guidelines. So I told them what I’ve learned.
Having done so, I figured hey — public thinking — let’s set it down here in case this is useful to anyone else!
So here are A Few Guidelines For Doing In-Depth Research Into A New Subject:
1) Start by getting a 50,000-foot-in-the air view
When I’m researching a new area, the first thing I try to do is get the lay of the land. What are the core concepts I need to understand in the…
