Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved Technical Communication: Strategies for College and the Workplace by Dan Jones & Karen Lane Chapter 6: Organizing & Managing Information

Organizing Research Information

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved Taking Notes and Recording Information  note and bibliography cards  databases  include complete bibliographic details  note sections of text quoted verbatim

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved Use Organizing Structures outlines trees flowcharts storyboards

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved Tips for Effective Outlining Think about the topic and subtopics Place first-level headings in logical order Look at the outline. Do the lower-level items fit within the higher levels’ headings? Have you fulfilled your audience’s expectations?

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved Tips for Developing a Tree Diagram Put one overriding point as the topic of the tree Use self-stick notes — write one point per note Focus on three or four important points —continued—

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved Tips for Developing a Tree Diagram Place the main points under the top point, left to right, in logical order Repeat the process one level at a time Stop when the bottom points are manageable blocks of related ideas

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved How to Avoid Plagiarism Keep careful track of what work and which ideas belong to someone else Know the difference between an idea that is general knowledge and one that should be credited to a specific source —continued—

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved How to Avoid Plagiarism Material on the Web belongs to someone you must have permission to use text, graphics, sound, or video from the Internet and you must credit the author or creator —continued—

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved How to Avoid Plagiarism Use a system for keeping track of research information –Write down complete bibliographic data for all sources Work on the art of paraphrasing –Remember to document the paraphrase —continued—

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved How to Avoid Plagiarism Give proper acknowledgment for works that you adapt Example: Illustrations

When in doubt... provide credit

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved Copyright: the right of authors to have control over the use of their works

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved Copyright applies to: books films songs television programs Web pages graphics

Copyright infringement is illegal

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved What Material Can You Use? In the Workplace: If you are asked to write a manual or brochure using previous versions or materials developed by your company —continued—

Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. All rights reserved What Material Can You Use? At School: If you are writing a paper for a class and want to cite someone else’s work to support your own argument