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Doing Research

“I'm going to the crime scene to see what I can find out. You guys research the Polgara demon.”

— Buffy, Goodbye Iowa and most other episodes

A new monster has arrived in town and it’s already beaten off our heroes once. Is it time to get dangerous?

No. It’s time to hit the books.

Our characters head to the Library of Babel to consult the Great Big Book of Everything and the Tomes of Eldritch Lore. They search the Magical Database and scan samples with the Everything Sensor, possibly with the help of a Hard Work Montage. Only when all avenues have been exhausted will they summarise their findings and formulate a new plan.

Not to be confused with Did Not Do the Research or Shown Their Work, which are about writers doing research.

Once a book in Harry Potter, generally undertaken by Hermione.
Alice's entire purpose as the scholar for The Witch Watch involves doing research and so it's not surprising her first reaction to the situation is to hit the books

Buffy the Vampire Slayer involved research nearly every episode, although generally Buffy was patrolling while the other Scoobies hit the books.
- Angel had the same thing. Fred and Wes traded off or went together for research roles, sometimes with Cordelia joining in, though Gunn occasionally got in on it in season 5.
Chloe on Smallville regularly played this role.
The science montages in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Franchise are halfway between this and Hard Work Montage.
The title character of Merlin does this very often, usually with the help of his mentor Gaius.
Many episodes of Supernatural involve one of them, usually Sam, trying to find out what they might be facing and/or how to kill it by this method.