Intellectual work is mostly clerical work. The researcher may own his work, but his work owns him too. His work is no asset that grows by itself.
So research is some kind of working process. Like any other process, it has states and actions. The states are of three types : DDD [1]. The actions are of four types, all in the name of this very blog.
Read. Pick a text. Surf its content. Find the main thesis. Get acquainted. Come to understanding. Make your own mind. Straighten the facts. Compare story versions.
Write. Take note. Compose. Quote. Refer. Edit. Move around. Put aside. Erase. Rewrite. Update.
Execute. Think. Memorize. Imagine. Motivate. Search. Contact. Communicate. Argue. Clean up. Throw away. Stop. Rejoice.
Archive. Get. Copy. File. Backup. Version. Tag. Cite. Index. Send. Commit. Dump.
Having a complete list of terms for research actions would mean having an index nominum of all the past, present and future posts of this blog. It would also show how the job can become cumbersome without being that hard. Not having completed this list implies timely updates, or better : a complete rewrite when all this gets specified formally.
Update : added 'update' as a writing action.
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[1] V. http://rwxa.blogspot.com/2007/09/ddd.html
