Mods/Thaumcraft/Research

Overview
To create and use magical devices, the player will need to research the nature of the things around them, and from this deduce the details of how to create their desired items. This begins with the use of the Thaumometer to scan various things (objects, blocks, creatures, items, and nodes) thus accumulating research points in each of the magical ../aspect/]s. (Each player does start with a small supply of research points, about 16 for each primal aspect.)  Use of a [[../Research Table/ then lets the player explore for recipes using those aspects.  The research table can also be used to combine aspects into new aspects; the (necessary) example from the Thauminomicon is that Aqua (water) and Terra (earth) combine to form Victus (life).

Scanning
To gather research points you need a Thaumometer, which can be crafted from one of every type of aura shard, plus a bit of gold and glass. When you make your first one, you should also make a set of Scribing Tools as below, and keep paper in your inventory -- as you go about scanning things, you will occasionally get research notes (see below) for free.

Nearly every block, object, mob (and other entity), and especially node, has one or more aspects associated with it (read the entry in the Thauminomicon for more info). Known things will have those aspects displayed when viewing them through the Thaumometer. (Non-placeable items can be scanned by dropping them and scanning the dropped item.) By right-holding the Thaumometer, an unknown object can be scanned, and you will gain research points equal to the monster, entity, or item's points. For a node, you will gain research points equal to about 1/10 of the node's strength in each aspect.

Note that a monster or item can't be scanned and "learned", unless you know each of the component aspects for the scanned thing's aspects. However, when you scan anything that teaches you a new aspect, you get double points for that scan. New aspects will automatically be entered into your Thaumonomicon.

Here is a spoileriffic routine for discovering all the aspects,

Researching
Start off by reading the Thaumonomicon's entry on research. Then make your Research Table, by building a Table and clicking it with a set of Scribing Tools. Add some paper, and you're good to go. While you're at it, you might make your ../Arcane Crafting Table/, by placing a third table and zapping it with your wand.

There are three ways to get a research note to explore. Most commonly, you will spend one research point of a given aspect to look into some topic related to that aspect. You sometimes get research notes from scanning as well, and you can rarely assemble one from Ancient Fragments of lost research. The note is researched by playing a mini-game to connect all the nodes of the research map. The research topic will have one or two other aspects as well, and you then spend points of all of these aspects to activate or deactivate their runes. Note that not all minigames are solvable. If confronted with an unsolvable or overly difficult research note, you can put the note away or discard it, and try again.

You can also combine aspects using the list in the Thaumonomicon, but be warned this can cost a lot of points -- you normally only get one point of the combined aspect for a point each of the components. You get an extra point if you are also discovering the aspect, for example making Victus -- which you won't easily find elsewhere.

Here is an extensive guide to research, with many spoilers..