You’re right that many people say you can’t rely on wiki. Unfortunately, statements as broad as that are rarely useful. A more nuanced approach would be something like “wiki can often be a good starting point, but don’t stop there”. Check the sources, especially on topics (e.g. drifting speed) that aren’t particularly clear, but really on anything that catches your interest. When you feel like you have enough information to narrow your search terms a bit, do that and see if more sources come up that you weren’t able to access with the more general question.
You won’t be able to keep the whole topic in your head at once. Make brief notes on each source you used and quick summaries of any interesting information you got out of it. Number the notes so you can cross-reference them (any numbering system will do as long as each note has a short but unique identifier). Write down your questions and thoughts as more notes notes as they come to you (maybe set them in a special pile so you can find them easier), then append those notes with answers or partial answers when you find them. Record the full answer in your own words, and link to the notes that helped you write that. Back-link related notes to the question to make it easier to follow your cross-references using that question as an entry point.
If you’re thinking this sounds like a lot of work, it is. Keep a list of sources you want to check out and why, and take on only as much as you’re comfortable doing at a time. Even if you tend to process only one article or chapter per day, you are making progress! And don’t be hard on yourself if you feel like you can’t give the project the time you want to: that only leads to feeling frustrated and spending even less time on it.
On forums, you’re likely to get friendlier results for asking questions like, “I’m curious about [Specific Thing]. [Source] and [Source] seem to suggest [Brief Summary], but I’d like a little clarification on [Even More Specific Thing]. Sources would be appreciated!” than really general questions like “How does [thing] work?”, because you’re giving the community a starting point for the discussion instead of a general topic.
[ETA} From the conversation in the Answers section, it looks like you’re good at asking follow-up questions. That’s a huge help when you’re doing research!
I hope you find these notes useful. If you would like to go deeper into any of them I’d be happy to discuss them with you. :)
My appreciation—that’s really helpful, especially point 2. I was a bit hesitating when I saw the amount of links in cousin_it’s link, but point 3 encourages me to do it, even slowly.
Point 4 is kinda hard from my POV. I admit I’m too lazy to dig all the sources to display in a post. But then, if a question is formatted like that, wouldn’t it be way too long? I thought titles should be concise & provoking.
Remember, you have a title and a body to work with when asking a question. Pithy titles are good for getting attention, and there’s room for a bit more elaboration once people click through. The key is to keep it both open-ended and specific so the conversation has somewhere solid to start from. Otherwise you’ll get a lot more off-topic discussion.
Some notes on researching new topics:
You’re right that many people say you can’t rely on wiki. Unfortunately, statements as broad as that are rarely useful. A more nuanced approach would be something like “wiki can often be a good starting point, but don’t stop there”. Check the sources, especially on topics (e.g. drifting speed) that aren’t particularly clear, but really on anything that catches your interest. When you feel like you have enough information to narrow your search terms a bit, do that and see if more sources come up that you weren’t able to access with the more general question.
You won’t be able to keep the whole topic in your head at once. Make brief notes on each source you used and quick summaries of any interesting information you got out of it. Number the notes so you can cross-reference them (any numbering system will do as long as each note has a short but unique identifier). Write down your questions and thoughts as more notes notes as they come to you (maybe set them in a special pile so you can find them easier), then append those notes with answers or partial answers when you find them. Record the full answer in your own words, and link to the notes that helped you write that. Back-link related notes to the question to make it easier to follow your cross-references using that question as an entry point.
If you’re thinking this sounds like a lot of work, it is. Keep a list of sources you want to check out and why, and take on only as much as you’re comfortable doing at a time. Even if you tend to process only one article or chapter per day, you are making progress! And don’t be hard on yourself if you feel like you can’t give the project the time you want to: that only leads to feeling frustrated and spending even less time on it.
On forums, you’re likely to get friendlier results for asking questions like, “I’m curious about [Specific Thing]. [Source] and [Source] seem to suggest [Brief Summary], but I’d like a little clarification on [Even More Specific Thing]. Sources would be appreciated!” than really general questions like “How does [thing] work?”, because you’re giving the community a starting point for the discussion instead of a general topic.
[ETA} From the conversation in the Answers section, it looks like you’re good at asking follow-up questions. That’s a huge help when you’re doing research!
I hope you find these notes useful. If you would like to go deeper into any of them I’d be happy to discuss them with you. :)
My appreciation—that’s really helpful, especially point 2. I was a bit hesitating when I saw the amount of links in cousin_it’s link, but point 3 encourages me to do it, even slowly.
Point 4 is kinda hard from my POV. I admit I’m too lazy to dig all the sources to display in a post. But then, if a question is formatted like that, wouldn’t it be way too long? I thought titles should be concise & provoking.
Remember, you have a title and a body to work with when asking a question. Pithy titles are good for getting attention, and there’s room for a bit more elaboration once people click through. The key is to keep it both open-ended and specific so the conversation has somewhere solid to start from. Otherwise you’ll get a lot more off-topic discussion.
I’m glad you found my notes helpful!