1.Research thought of the day: if your original research question, and along with that your preliminary biases & conclusions, hardly shift during the process of thinking, collecting data, analysing sources, presenting, re-thinking & writing, you're probably doing something wrong.

2. For me, the research process is another name for searching more deeply for adaptations, qualifications, and nuances in -- and on some occasions complete upending of -- preconceived ideas that create the space for personal growth through self-doubt and intellectual humility.

3. If your journey through research is not doing this for you, you need to stop in your tracks and seek an audience that can help you unpack your ideas and, in a positive way, punch holes in all the things that give research its rigor: questions, argument, method, data, analysis.

4. Most of all, let your research brew slowly. Give ideas & arguments some time and distance to percolate. Don't be afraid to be wrong, in fact be bold and reach for that big argument. And then slowly chip away at it like a passionate but persevering and self-questioning sculptor