1. What is research? How to conduct an online search

Limited: All research needs to have its limits. Learning how to focus your research on a clear and manageable topic is the beginning of successful research. Often identifying what your research project ISN'T going to do is as useful as identifying what it is intended to achieve. Simply going out with a vague idea that you want to buy shoes is likely to be less efficient than deciding before hand that you are specifically looking for non-practical party shoes that don't need to be very comfortable but have to look cool and can't cost more than £50.

Support: Often research is designed to argue in favour of a particular point of view. With this in mind researchers frequently gather information that is intended to show how a particular opinion is superior to another one. This sort of comparative study requires all the competing points of view to be explored carefully before coming down in support of one of them. Arguing that one point of view is "better" than another requires the researcher to gather evidence to prove this. It is also important to make clear what you mean by "better than" in this case. One pair of shoes may be "better" than another in your eyes because they are stylish and will make you look good but in the eyes of someone else the alternative might be "better" because they are cheaper. You need to make clear how you are evaluating your research evidence.

Illuminate: To illuminate something means simply to shine a light on it, to make it clearer especially if it wasn't easy to see before. In many cases research is not concerned with arguing for the superiority of one point of view over another but simply to make complex issues clear. People may be confused over your shoe buying choice but you can easily clarify why you made a particular purchase by presenting evidence that might not be obvious to them – the shoes were on sale, you have a number of events coming up where they will be appropriate, they are made under ethical conditions and not in a sweatshop by underpaid workers.