Information
management and YOU
It's important to recognise that managing information is a very personal activity. We all employ different approaches or methods, and as such we need to find strategies that suit us, our needs and habits.
Have you ever noticed that when you are focused on a topic (be it your
research or just buying a car) you become attuned to this topic or issue?
When you are looking for a car, all of a sudden there will be multiple
advertisements for them on the television, or you will start spotting
them in car parks, or on the road. You'll often become conscious of someone
talking about a related issue in your work area or in the supermarket,
or there'll be an interesting item on a radio program …
Such things are often there constantly, but because we have a need or
interest, they jump out at us.
Orna describes these points of focus (your central ideas and concepts
within your research) as "hooks"- as a means of 'catching'
ideas and thoughts.
"The very action of identifying important topics in your own words, and writing them down, brings those words to the forefront of your mind, where they can act as a set of 'hooks' that you can trawl over the surface as you scan books, articles etc.; while the connections between the ideas they embody start to make a kind of net that helps you to pick up related ideas as you read, and to spot other links, so that the network gets richer as you go on." (Orna, 1999, p.38-39)
Just an observation
- if you turn a question mark 
around,
it becomes a hook!!!
Each of our hooks will be different - not only in terms of our topic or discipline - but also in terms of what we use to conceptualise or represent our research. For some of us 'subject headings' or keywords will be our hooks, while for others, concepts or themes, objects or places/regions might be the hooks upon which they hang their research. How you conceptualise your research (and the information you gather to support it) is a very personal thing.
Mike Danaher (Lecturer in Japanese Language studies) discusses how he categorises the information he retrieves.
Think about your topic. Spend a couple of minutes jotting down the key words or phrases that describe your topic of research - these can be concepts or names or issues …
Next, briefly note down how these relate to each other - what are the key relationships within the elements of your research project. Can you represent this as a concept map or diagram?
Have a look at our concept map, for the topic 'discuss the nutritional value of chocolate while studying'
This concept map is personal - it reflects my perspective on this topic. You may have noticed that while exercise was listed, it wasn't linked to the other concepts. I'm sure that if you had been asked to create a concept map on this same topic, it would be quite different to mine - you possibly (probably) would have linked exercise to the other concepts, or you may have come up with some different terms/concepts. How you conceptualise and organise your information is such an individual activity or process.
What are your hooks? Identify these on your concept map or plan.
These hooks can be central not only to your research and your information gathering - they can be used to support your 'information management strategies'. Think about your research 'data' or the literature you have gathered. Which of your 'hooks' would be suitable as a way of structuring your data or information? Could you use these 'hooks' as keywords or search terms in a computer program, so that you can retrieve them later? Are you able to organise your data by themes or trends or the relationships you identified in your framework earlier? It can be that such trends and themes only appear as you progress with your research, so you may need to initially organise your data by word or concept. Your 'hooks' can (and often do) change over time!
