Research Process

1. Watch the video or consume some entertainment or content discussing the topic.
2. Read the Wikimedia on the topic.
3. Find the best sources for that topic online.
   1. Determine if sources have conflicts of interest
      1. E.g. Do they sell products related to the issue being talked about?
      2. Generally Nonprofits and Not-for-profits may be preferred to for-profit, but this is not always the case and it depends on the nonprofit or not-for-profit.
   2. Determine the scale of the source.
      1. Is it realistic and reasonable to assume that a large source with hundreds or even thousands of people working for them are colluding?
   3. Is the topic being discussed old? Possible things to source:
      1. Old newspapers: Shows documentation at the time of the topic even existing.
      2. Government records: Does the original government, modern existing variant of government, or another modern government have a publicly accessible library with the primary documents being discussed? (E.g. Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant)
   4. Is the topic being discussed political or controversial? Possible things to note:
      1. Is the source known for being politically biased?
         1. If so, are the facts shared between different politically biased sources similar or drastically different?
            1. If not, is there a primary source they all cite to that can be accessed?
            2. If yes, which ones are similar and are they important to the overall narrative?
      2. Is the source known to side with one side more often than another?
         1. If yes, is it because it’s factual or do they get some benefit from it?
         2. If no, is it reasonable to believe both sides are equally valid in the issue or topic being discussed?
      3. Does the source have a consensus of experts to appeal to that disagree?
         1. If consensus is believed to be corrupted for false, then is this conspiracy likely to occur and if so how exactly is it being done?
4. Take notes on those sources.
   1. Open a new Obsidian note.
   2. Write down random notes on the topic in a bullet-point list with no sources.
      1. Sometimes I will write down a source for a random note if the note itself is particularly hard to find or interesting.
   3. Save sources in Zotero and save them for future sourcing and citation.
5. Read into it further depending on how large or complicated the topic is.
6. Write about the sources in a highly factual note including sources for every claim.
   1. Avoid using terms such as “far-right,” “unfortunate,” or any other words that contain moral baggage within the “Research” section. However, I may use words like this when forming my Positions.
   2. Summaries and facts in my research should attempt to be as neutral as possible, and explicitly knowledge my biases when known and appropriate.
7. Write a position about it within my Positions folder.