Workflow

The basic questions before starting research:

  • ****What are you talking about? (that’s your topic)

  • Who are you talking to? (that’s your audience)

  • What problem are you solving for them? (that’s your content)

How to approach a topic?

  • After you have the topic, discuss it with the writer/content creator in a call for about 10 minutes to get on the same page.

  • Even though you're doing the research, it needs to match the creator's mental model so they can approach it from their POV, and it feels more natural for them. This way, the content will be done faster, and the quality will be better because they can add their touch.

  • If you're familiar with the topic, bring in some ideas that you're interested in; maybe it will spark ideas.

  • Take notes in Miro on post-it notes.

How to find content out there?

Google

  • Start with the main keywords in Google from your previous notes.

  • You can also use long questions/sentences in Google. Google is very good with long-tail keywords.

  • Start broad, and don't try to find the perfect article in the beginning; go for many articles and scan them; if something resonates with you, try to find a reference for it/where the original idea came from.-->the closer you're to the original idea (let it be a book or study), the better your source is.

  • If you're overwhelmed with the dozens of links in your tab bar, try to cluster them into folders.

  • If you find someone interesting, go deep, check their socials/Twitter/website/LinkedIn/Google+keywords.

Twitter

  • Regarding crypto and web3, Twitter has a lot of good content. Twitter's search is mediocre, so use google; just write down your keywords + Twitter.

  • You might remember someone posting about the topic recently, but you can't recall exactly; try to use Twitter's advanced search with their name.

  • If a person is creating content relevant to you, don't just look at their posts and repost; check their likes as well; that's a gold mine. You can find their likes on their profile in the last tab.

Sci Hub

https://sci-hub.se/

  • If you find a study referenced in an article, try to find the whole document here. There's a bit chance you'll find it here.

Scribd/Perlego

  • If you want to find a book try it here

  • They usually give a couple of days of trial; register with an email (if you used one before, you can either use a temporary email or set up a random protonmail)

  • Sometimes they ask for credit card details; I usually just use Revolut's disposable virtual card; make sure to cancel it if you don’t need it anymore.

Elict

https://elicit.org/

  • If you want to find particular paper/research try it here

How to structure your research?

Use a tree structure.

  • Your main topic of research should be at the top.

    • List primary sources (links, articles, studies, book covers) in a row below it

      • List and highlight insights from your source

        • Make a screenshot and use Miro's highlighter tool (left toolbar/second option under pen) to highlight relevant areas to the research topic.

          • If you have additional thoughts/insights, write them on a post-it in context/close to the highlighted areas.

Share it early

  • After your initial research session (~2 hours), share the board with the writer/content creator to see how it resonates with them.

  • Their feedback/comments will help you spend your next session (~2 hours) on the relevant stuff.

For the next session, repeat the process from the beginning.

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