Michael Ogbu

The major attribute of good writing is clarity: the ability to pass down message to the readers in a considerably comprehensible manner. This is the most purposeful type of writing, one that is borne out of a deliberate and thorough research process.

The ability to weave words into readable sentences is only a cog in the wheel of writing, as a craft. The real work, howbeit, lies in turning those arrays of words, sentences and paragraphs into meaningful ideas that convey the most gainful body of knowledge, interpreting same into a number of useful information. This, makes the most fundamental aspect of writing, and it stems primarily from research.

Why Research?

“Doubt is often better than overconfidence, for it leads to inquiry, and inquiry leads to invention” – Hudson Maxim. These are words on marble which in most succinct way, capture the imperativeness of research to knowledge. Be that as it may, research is, most of the time, wrongly perceived by the majority of us. When we think of research in most cases, our perception is that of some boring, monotonous exercise; an uneventful, and insipid engagement. We often visualise a nerd in his unattractive frame, curled up; his head buried deep in a mountain of books, and totally forsaken in a deserted library, or in the laboratory, peering endlessly, and laboriously into a microscope. But, that is not entirely true.

Research, in true sense is simply all about posing questions, gathering information in order to answer the questions, and sharing the answers with other people. Implicitly, every amazing writer is as good a researcher. In the real sense, all we, as writers, try to do each passing day of our career is gathering some pieces of information together that seek to answer one question or the other, which in turn would proffer solutions to some identified problems.

In other words, research becomes a component of writing when we take an intentional selfless step to gather information, and deciding to not keep them all to ourselves, but deliberately document them to be shared with others. Today, the library and internet are filled with millions of such information. These are information that have been gleaned by people from countless sources and documented to be accessed and utilised by others.

Evidently, research and writing are intertwined. They are literarily nothing less than a set of Siamese twins – inseparable, completely entangled, and interconnected. The two are so interdependent that any meaningful research would mostly depend on the documentation role of writing for its visibility, while writing on the other hand, depends on research as its sources, for its vitality, and validity. Research is what makes a good writing, and vice versa. Research in writing serves a host of invaluable purposes:

Quality: Research in writing ensures that we churn out and turn in quality information. Imagine throwing out a set of unverified and bogus information to the public only to find out later that they were either false or bland. That could be as embarrassing as being caught as a liar in broad day light. As pointed out earlier, research helps to give validity to the information we share, and the fact that we hope to document our research propels us to cross check our sources and turn out reliable and authentic information.

Becoming an authority in your subject matter: conducting research and documenting same places you in a superior position in your field of knowledge. It positions you for recognition as an authority in your subject area. Research helps in enhancing your grasp of information, driving you deeper into mastering your content, while writing on the other hand, hands you the exposures, offering you the visibility that rewards your knowledge.

Clarity: research is also one sure way you can write with optimum clarity. No matter how knowledgeable we may think we are in a particular subject, we would only gain fluidity and clarity when we equip ourselves further through constant and gainful research. Besides, knowledge is never constant. It’s an evolving abstract commodity that requires seasonless conduct of research to stay up to date with. So, to ensure that our writings are achieved in the best form of clarity, we need to imbibe the lifelong habit of researching.

Ease of drafting: the totality of the reasons why research is an undisputable aspect of writing is the onerous role it plays in making our writing processes seamless. Ordinarily, this may sound odd, mostly, considering that the process of conducting research can be very tasking on its own. But, looking at the dangers and inherent challenges of not having a full grasp of your subject before writing your piece can be even more damaging and time wasting. You would most likely dither and dally around your writing projects in a case you fail to heed the overarching importance of research.

In a nutshell, research and writing are two sides of one veritable coin. A coin of an interconnected craft that is almost as old as humanity. It is true that the craft of writing may have developed through some remarkable phases; right from the early time when man wrote on the stone, to the present time of sophisticated technology-aided writing, research has always tagged along, every step of the way. It has always been about digging up information and preserving same for the benefit of many generations to come.

Let us know in the comment section how you are able to marry these two inseparable crafts.