To research is to follow a scent. Sometimes you know what you’re looking for. Sometimes you don’t. Sometimes it starts with a single word you can’t shake, a quote you read in passing, or a flicker of an idea that has no shape yet, just feeling.

To research is to follow a scent. Sometimes you know what you’re looking for. Sometimes you don’t. Sometimes it starts with a single word you can’t shake, a quote you read in passing, or a flicker of an idea that has no shape yet, just feeling.

When you find a good article or essay, crawl its bibliography. Bibliographies are treasure maps. Follow the names. Follow the hyperlinks. Find the one-line citation that leads to a whole new rabbit hole. Some of the most insightful articles I’ve read were ones I found three clicks away from where I started.

5. Handwrite, If You Can

Philosophy and literature are messy. Tangled. You need space to draw arrows, scribble tangents, reframe questions. I still handwrite everything when I’m in the middle of a research spiral. It’s less linear. More like thinking. I know it’s not an option for everyone (I have nerve damage in my hand, so I can only write for... See more

When you find a good article or essay, crawl its bibliography. Bibliographies are treasure maps. Follow the names. Follow the hyperlinks. Find the one-line citation that leads to a whole new rabbit hole. Some of the most insightful articles I’ve read were ones I found three clicks away from where I started.

Every good search begins with a glimmer. An image, a sentence, a word. “Every battle is linguistic,”

To research is to follow a scent.

To research is to follow a scent. Sometimes you know what you’re looking for. Sometimes you don’t. Sometimes it starts with a single word you can’t shake, a quote you read in passing, or a flicker of an idea that has no shape yet, just feeling.