For all the summer researchers taking on bigger projects than they have experienced in their classes so far, for all the incoming first-years who will soon receive more rigorous research assignments than they have previously encountered, I hope this brief catalog of common research “failures” might, if nothing else, do away with some of the unnecessary secrecy.

Walk through the Coates Library on any given day and you will often find students with both a physical print book open on their desk and an electronic book open…