Keeping Unused Research Materials and Ideas for other Papers

Keeping Unused Research Materials and Ideas for other Papers
While conducting the research for any significant academic project, there is a tendency to move in two different directions: in and out. By moving in I mean the intense narrowing of a scholar’s focus as he or she delves deeper into the particular topic or problem under consideration. Such a focus does not exist in isolation, however, since complications and anomalies arise while researching every topic or problem, and material on related topics and problems and occasionally derived from fields and subject areas beyond the scholar’s own often become essential aspects of the project. Although all relevant information must be considered carefully by a scientist or academic as a paper, presentation, chapter, book or blog post is written, it is very rare indeed that all the significant discoveries made during rigorous research can be included in the final written version of a study.

The question is what should be done with all that extraneous but potentially valuable material? Although there are a variety of options, the first and most important thing to remember is to record or retain it in some way for future use. It is never wise to delete or otherwise dispose of this information. For one, notes and ideas not used in one section of a text may, even when you least expect it, prove immensely helpful or useful in a later section, but if you no longer have that material at your fingertips, you will need to retrace your steps, redo your research and invest your time unnecessarily. The same policy can apply when you write paragraphs or pages while composing your text only to discover that they will not fit or work in the final document. Both the rough notes of research and draft paragraphs that do not become part of one project can easily be saved in separate files (physically tucked away in folders or cut and pasted into digital documents) that can then be used to initiate or enrich another writing project. This does take a little time and organisation, but not as much as repeating research does, and given that such notes and drafts are often a source of inspiration as one project is completed and another begins, their value can be immeasurable.

The ongoing paths of an individual’s academic and scientific research are such that the unused material from one major text often finds a place in the next, but there are plenty of other ways in which to use these leftovers productively. Notes and drafted bits can be crafted into project proposals for grants, synopses for conference presentations and even instructional materials for the classroom. In many cases, short discussions or explorations of an idea or problem will work beautifully for blog posts and other digital media with very little revision, and such popular media will enable comments from readers, which can provide enlightening feedback that will prove helpful if you decide to take your ideas further. The ideal is to view your research and writing as an ongoing process, retaining and using as much of it as possible to build an engaging and informative body of high-quality scholarship that will contribute to a successful career.