Article: This is a good tactic if you're working under a deadline and don't have the luxury of years of research. Order your research to-do list from more important to nice to have. Do this first to give your interviewees time to respond to your request for an interview. Be responsive when setting up an interview and be specific about possible times for the interview. If you have difficulty getting possible interview subjects to get back to you about an interview time, don't be afraid to be persistent. You may need to contact them again with a reminder email, especially if they have busy schedules or get a lot of emails every day. You may also think about talking to subjects that are easier to access, like a family friend who could give you an expert opinion or a person who works in a lower position who can still give you relevant information. Often, establishing a relationship with someone who works with someone you are trying to interview can also help you get in touch with the interview subject. Exercise good listening skills during the interview. You are doing the interview to learn more from the person or to get information from the person. So don't interrupt the person speaking or try to show how much you know. Come prepared with a list of questions for the interviewee. However, don't feel obligated to stick to your list of questions. The person may give you information you weren't prepared for or looking for, so be open to moments when the interview goes in a different direction. If you don't understand a point made by the interviewee, ask for clarification. And if the person does start to go off on a tangent, carefully bring the focus back to the subject you are researching. If you are interviewing someone in person, use a digital recorder with background noise cancellation. If you are going to be doing extensive interviews with a person, you may want to hire a transcription service to transcribe the interviews and save you some time. If you are interviewing someone online via Skype, you can download recording apps that will record your Skype conversation for you. You can then re watch the video and transcribe it, or send it to a transcription service. Make the research librarian at your local library your new best friend. Before computers, librarians acted as walking databases and in many ways, they still are. Most librarians can point you to a specific shelf that applies to your topic or to a particular research book that may be useful. Ninety percent of research is done through libraries' full-text databases, so take advantage of this free information source. Most universities have a large, central library and several special-collection libraries. Though you may need to pay a fee to access certain books or online databases, university libraries are a great resource for academic and scientific topics. Public government records and documents can be great research sources. Many of these documents are free to access and can provide key factual information for a particular subject. One of the best ways to conduct internet research is to use search engines effectively. Type several keywords into search engines to find useful sources of information online. Search engines like Google and Yahoo are a good place to start. You can also try metasearch engines like Dogpile and MetaCrawler, which tend to search lesser known and specialized websites. Keep in mind the downsides of metasearch engines, as they usually only allow you to search keywords and can pull from paid for content, full of advertisements. Try to look past the first page of your search. Some of the better sources may actually be on page 5 of your search. You will then need to confirm the sources are reputable by looking at the "About Us" section of the website and checking that the URL of the website ends in ".edu" ".gov" or ".org". Use an online folder on Google Drive to keep all your research documents in one, easy to find place. Or start a running Word file with your notes. You can also use post it notes on paper documents to notate important information. You should keep a physical folder or several folders to store other important documents, like photographs, newspaper clippings, and handwritten notes.

What is a summary?
Start with the most important research elements first. Set up interviews with experts or witnesses early. Conduct the interviews. Use your public library. Look into university and specialized libraries. Check out government records and documents. Take advantage of the information on the internet. Compile your research in one place.