After weeks of work, the end of the tunnel finally lightens. You’ve supported your thesis and documented your sources – you’ve even revised your draft a time or two. You’re ready to submit your magnum opus for a final grade. Well done!
But hang on a minute: what if you could showcase your ingenuity and initiative – and absolutely nail your argument – with a couple fresh, original insights? “Whoooo-who wouldn’t,” wonders the owl, “especially when it’s so easy!”
So how do you capture such insights? By simply reaching out, either to practicing experts or researchers, and talking to them! Practicing experts – your doctor or my auto mechanic, for example – maintain their expertise by “doing.” They also rely on another type of expert in order to stay up-to-date: researchers, who generate new knowledge by conducting experiments, lab tests, and surveys; and who, as authors, then publish their findings.
Experts are engaged in virtually every area of inquiry imaginable:
- Structural engineers design earthquake-proof buildings
- Psychologists unravel the mystery of consumer buying behavior
- Political scientists predict voter preferences
- Chemists develop green household products
- Sociologists explain group dynamics
- …and on and on.
And though their work might seem mysterious, experts, researchers, and authors are quite accessible – in fact, they’re right here in Indianapolis! They work as college professors and as leaders in professional associations; they serve on publications’ editorial boards and are employed in business and industry. They’re lawyers, musicians, veterinarians, carpenters, designers, marketers, accountants, social workers. And they’re more than happy to answer well-crafted questions from intellectually curious (and courteous) individuals like you.
So interview an expert. Weave your discoveries into your final draft – and cite your expert properly – and you’ve not only nailed your argument… but the assignment as well. Of course, most school assignments don’t require tapping into expert knowledge like this. But by doing so, you will also have opened up your mind to new people, new ideas, and new possibilities. “Whoooo wouldn’t?!”
Add fresh insights to your next research project. For help finding an expert, strategizing your inquiry, or incorporating your discoveries, contact Scholar’s Secret anytime!