At the start of the summer I was already thinking: how many hours of research am I going to do each day? What is expected of me? What is everyone else going to be doing? In the first couple of weeks, these worries only got louder and louder as barbecues and ice cream socials brought everyone together with the inevitable question of, “How’s your research going?” I remember early on being worried: “Oh, I’ve not done too much but I’m getting there!” while others would say they were already 2,000 words in. After a panicked chat with my supervisor, she reassured me that, given the nature of my project, I was perfectly on track. Looking back, I think this was my first real lesson in research: progress isn’t particularly useful when measured against someone else’s timeline.
Some friends I chatted with said they would wake up at 9 and spend the morning studying at home before heading to a café to study in the afternoon, and this would be their routine. Others said they locked themselves in their room and studied from day to night, fuelled only by caffeine and determination. I’d accepted that there was no ‘right way’ to be doing research, but still, hearing these vastly different approaches terrified me. Where did I fit into the equation? What method would work for me, and how quickly should I be going?
As time went on, I began to treat this less as a world-ending problem and more as an extra research goal for me to explore throughout the summer. And that’s what I did. I tried a lot of different methods over the six weeks and learnt a lot along the way.
I tried studying in the library, and through that I found that the eerie quiet of post-uni St Andrews was far too quiet for me. I tried café study, and that was nice, but could be quite overwhelming with the bustle of tourists and golfers coming in and out. Then I tried studying at home, and that worked well, but I still found myself distracted and sometimes un-invested in my research. (Photo below taken as I was distracted by a rainbow out the window!)
It was starting to feel a little like Goldilocks: the library was too quiet, the café was too busy, and home was almost right, but not quite.
I then realised that when doing research, there’s a lot of talk about needing timetabling and set discipline to achieve a goal. And whilst I think the discipline part is true, the set timetabling of study does not work for everyone. It certainly didn’t work for me. Regardless of where I was, I would find myself pushing back the time at which I would start: “Oh, five more minutes of this book…” or “One more Instagram reel!”
So, I opted for a different approach. Instead of deciding exactly when and where I would work, I started saying to myself: “I want to do this many hours of work today.” It didn’t matter where, and it didn’t matter when. Just today.
With this approach, I still procrastinated. I still fell short of my target on occasion. But I felt far more in control of my research than I had done before. I had found something that worked for me, rather than trying to force myself into a system that worked for someone else.
Looking back, the most daunting part for me wasn’t actually the research. It was the comparison, the expectation and the feeling that everyone else had somehow figured out the ‘right’ way to do it. What this process has taught me, more than anything, is that there is no set method that works for everyone. Everyone is different, and so the way you engage with research will be different too.
So don’t beat yourself up if you can’t stick to a timetable or a particular method. Try different things. Don’t be afraid to try something and realise it doesn’t work. That’s part of the process too.
Eventually, after a lot of “too hot” and “too cold”, you’ll find something that is “just right” for you.