A lot of the creators I’ve worked with recently have one thing in common. They love doing research, but it just takes too much time.
They have a lot of passion for the topic they are researching and end up falling into spirals trying to learn all there is to learn about their video idea. This is great in theory, but in practice it drains your time, lengthens your script development process, and burns you out.
If this sounds like something you’re struggling with, here’s some actionable tips about how to research YouTube videos effectively, without getting lost in the details.
1.Categories
If you have a very broad video idea it’s easy to go down multiple research paths. Something that really helps is to sort your video idea into mini-categories. If you’re writing about dragons in fantasy, you can split that into dragons, then fantasy, and once you have a basic understanding, you can jump into how they relate to each other.
This approach builds your video structure from the ground up without spending ages on research.
2. Research what you need for the video
This can be hard to do if you’re really passionate about your topic, but it is necessary for your long-term sustainability. I’ve spoken with creators who were reading multiple books as part of their research, which is really fascinating, but takes a lot of time.
There is space for this type of immersive research, but you have to stay focused on the goal of the script, especially if you want to maintain a consistent upload schedule.
However, that doesn’t mean that you have to limit your curiosity.
3. Rolling documents
Some great research advice I’ve read lately was from Matt Gray:
His approach of niching down in topics that you love and know a lot about is really helpful for streamlining your process because it means that you can recycle your research! If you’re writing about feminism in general, you can keep a master document of important sources that you can reference in future projects.
Not only does this save time, it’s also a bank of your knowledge on any given topic which will naturally help you…
4. Identify Gaps
There’s a lot of youtube channels out there. Chances are a lot of them are talking about the same broad topic as you, which is why it’s important to identify information gaps where you could add to the conversation, either with a fresh take on an existing topic, or with something entirely new.
No matter what your approach is, approaching research by searching for these gaps has a three-fold benefit. You get ideas for future videos, you can draw original conclusions through intertextual analysis, and you develop your own content identity.
5. Curiosity
Really what matters most of all, is that you stay curious. Research can be a slog at times but it can also be massively rewarding. I say that as someone who gets paid to do research and absolutely loves it. That being said, maybe you actually hate research, or it is simply taking too much time.
In that case, drop me a message and I’d love to help you out. If not, stick around for more script writing tips and tricks.
