Doing Research

One-sentence summary

Doing research means studying similar solutions before you start a project, choosing trustworthy sources, taking organised notes, and honestly showing where your information came from.

Why it matters

In the previous lesson we worked on understanding the user and the need. Now we have an idea: let's say we want to build an automatic night light that turns on by itself in the dark. The first instinct is often "let me start building right away." But good engineers research first.

Research gives us three things. First, we see how other people have solved the same problem, so we build on good ideas instead of starting from zero. Second, we learn ahead of time which parts actually work, so we don't waste time and money. Third, we spot the safety points we need to watch from the very beginning.

Research is not copying. The goal is not to take someone's work as-is, but to learn, compare, and design your own solution more thoughtfully. That is why two habits come with research: taking notes and crediting sources.

Researching similar solutions

You are almost never the only person trying to solve a problem. The automatic night light idea has been tried thousands of times around the world. So we begin by gathering this ready knowledge.

Writing the right question

Research starts with a good search question. If you type "lamp," you get millions of results. Instead, turn your need into a sentence:

• "How do I build an LED circuit that turns on automatically in the dark?"
• "Which sensor measures the light in a room?"
• "Example of controlling an LED with an LDR"

The clearer the question, the more useful the results. Your need statement from the previous lesson is the starting point for the search.

Comparing two different examples

Don't stop at a single example. Find at least two different solutions and compare them. For the night light, for instance:

• Example A: A simple circuit that uses a light sensor (LDR) to switch on an LED in the dark.
• Example B: A circuit that adds a motion sensor so the light comes on only when someone walks by.

By comparing, you notice a difference: A is simpler but stays on all the time; B is smarter but needs more parts. Which one fits your user better? Research gives you the information to make that decision.

Choosing trustworthy sources

There is a lot of information on the internet, but not all of it is correct. A good researcher questions how trustworthy a source is.

Signs of a trustworthy source

• Who wrote it? A manufacturer, a school, a library, or a well-known education site? Or someone with no name?
• When was it written? Technology changes fast. Information on a very old page may be out of date.
• Is there evidence? Content with a circuit diagram, measurements, or a source list is more reliable.
• Do other sources confirm it? If you see the same information in at least two separate places, your confidence grows.

Verification: don't trust a single source

If three sources give different information on the same topic, you can't tell on your own which one is correct. That is why we do a cross-check: we don't accept a piece of information as certain until we see it in at least two independent sources. For example, if one site says "connect the LDR straight to the LED" but another trustworthy source says "you must add a resistor in between," you need to research and verify the second point. Usually the safer piece of information is the correct one.

AI chat tools can also be a starting point, but they can be wrong too. Check what they tell you against a manufacturer's document or a trustworthy education source.

Taking notes and crediting sources

What you learn during research will be forgotten within a few days if you don't write it down. That is why we keep organised research notes. For every important fact, record both the information and where you got it.

Why we credit sources

If you took an idea or an image from someone else, saying so is honesty. Crediting sources does three things: it respects the person who did the work, it proves where your knowledge came from, and it lets you return to that information later. In the upcoming Licences and Copyright lesson we will look in detail at the conditions under which you may use someone else's work; for now the golden rule is: note the source of everything you borrow.

Research note template

You can fill in the template below for each piece of research:

RESEARCH NOTE
Project: Automatic night light
Date: 2026-07-25
Researcher: (your name)

My question: How do I build a circuit that turns on automatically in the dark?

Finding 1: An LDR (photoresistor) increases its resistance as light drops.
  Source: (site/book name + link)
  Confidence: High (confirmed in two sources)

Finding 2: A series resistor is needed to protect the LED.
  Source: (manufacturer document)
  Confidence: High (safety information)

Finding 3: Adding a motion sensor makes the light come on only when someone passes.
  Source: (tutorial video)
  Confidence: Medium (single source, to be verified)

Open question: Should I use circuit A or circuit B for my user?
Next step: Compare the two circuits for parts and difficulty.

Don't let the template look complicated; its real purpose is to keep three columns separate: what I learned, where I learned it, how trustworthy it is.

Source comparison table

Placing two solutions side by side makes the decision easier:

Mini practice

Take a small project idea of your own (a night light, a line-following robot, automatic watering, and so on). Then follow these steps:

1. Turn your need into a one-sentence search question.
2. Find at least two different trustworthy sources.
3. Fill in a copy of the note template above for each source.
4. Cross-check at least one piece of information in a second source.
5. Put the two solutions side by side in a comparison table.
6. Write one sentence: Which solution did you choose, and why?

The goal is not a perfect piece of research, but the habit of research that is organised, honest, and verifiable.

Common mistakes

Trusting a single source

Accepting the first page you find as correct is risky. Compare with at least two sources.

Closing a page without noting the source

If you say "I'll find it later," you usually won't. Write the source the moment you take the information.

Turning research into copying

Taking someone's project as-is is not learning. Understand the examples, compare them, then make your own decision.

Ignoring how current the information is

Information on a very old page may not match today's parts. Check the date.

Skipping safety information

"It seems to work" is not enough. Always verify safety details such as resistor, polarity, and power.

Safety note

Research is mostly done at a screen, but you still need to be careful online.

• Don't share personal information. While researching, never enter your full name, address, school, or phone number on any site.
• Be careful with links. Ask an adult before downloading files from sites you don't know.
• Verify before you build. Before acting on circuit or experiment information, check it with a trustworthy source and, if needed, an adult.
• AI can be wrong too. Don't treat what a chat tool says as certain without comparing it to a trustworthy source.

Lesson summary

• Research means studying similar solutions and gathering information before you start a project.
• Good research starts with a clear search question and compares at least two examples.
• A trustworthy source has a known author, is current, shows evidence, and can be confirmed elsewhere.
• Note every fact together with its source, and cross-check important facts.
• Crediting sources is honesty and prepares you for the Licences lesson.

Check questions

1. When starting research, why should we write a clear search question instead of a single word?
2. Which four questions can we ask to decide whether a source is trustworthy?
3. What does "cross-check" mean, and why is it needed?
4. In a research note, which three pieces of information do we keep for each finding?
5. While researching online, what rule do we follow about personal information?

Answers

1. A clear question narrows the results and brings back useful information that fits your need; a single word gives too many unrelated results.
2. Who wrote it, when it was written, whether there is evidence, and whether other sources confirm it.
3. It means seeing and confirming a piece of information in at least two independent sources; because a single source can be wrong, it raises accuracy.
4. What we learned (the finding), where we learned it (the source), and how trustworthy it is (the confidence level).
5. We never enter personal information such as full name, address, school, or phone number on any site, and we ask an adult before downloading from sources we don't know.

Source and verification note

For “Doing Research”, verification focuses on whether the relationship between Researching similar solutions and Comparing two different examples remains consistent across examples. A project page should make a result claim only when it is supported by a real prototype, test record or observation. Numbers such as cost, duration and success rate must be labelled clearly when they are estimates.

Next lesson

The Requirements List: Turning the information you gathered from research into a clear list of what the project must do.