Chapter 3 Ms. Amany AlKhayat Technical Writing for Success

Conducting Technical Research Information is everywhere. The problem that technical researchers face is not a scarecity of information but in understanding what info they need, where it is, how it is stored, how to retrieve it, and what to do with it. Process of technical researcher can be outlined in steps

Researching at work Research is usally involved in all of the following situations: Developing a new product Handling a production Purchasing equipment Establishing safety procedures Selecting employee benefits Planning an advertisement campaign

Strategies for collecting information Find and evaluate the right material Conduct the research and reading efficiently Record the information you find and later paraphrase it to avoid plagiarism Documentation  Two basic sources of information: Secondary and primary

Finding Secondary Data  Here are some possible ideas for you: Check your organization’s correspondence and archives where the problem exists. Company’s Library catalog Periodicals: Magazines, journals, newsleters and newspapers published for a scholarly or academic audience

Finding Secondary Data Cont. General Reference Materials: encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, almanacs and fact books can be relied of for background information. Electronic resources: periodical databases, indexes, and online general reference materials such as encyclopedias and dictionaries.

Finding Electronic Information Search engines (p ) Searching with Keywords (strategy: TO LIMIT A SEARCH OR TO EXPAND A SEARCH) P.51

Documenting Secondary Sources Documentation is a system of giving credit to another person for his or her work to avoid plagiarism. Check p. 53 for tips on avoiding plagiarism And what information should and should not be documented.

Documenting and Secondary sources II Bibliography and works cited: A list of sources used in researching a topic that has 3 purposes: 1. It establishes credibility by showing readers what sources you consulted 2. It allows others to find your information path so they can continue or evaluate the study 3. It gives credit to other people’s thoughts, words, and sentences that you used. Internal citations Figure 3.1 P 56

Evaluating sources Publication data Author’s credentials Depth and coverage: covered in a way that is appropriate for you (You are looking for Islamic Architecture in Modern times and you found a book on Islamic architecture in Ottoman empire) Special guidelines for Electronic Resources P.59

Taking notes from sources You can used borrowed info in your notes in three ways: 1. Summary 2. Paraphrase 3. Direct quotation See Fig 3.2 p 61-63

Collecting Primary Data Surveys: Respondents, population, sample p Interviews Observation Experimentation Validity and reliability: 1. Valid data are data that provide an accurate measurement of what an individual intend to measure (you can’t measure English fluency in a math test) 2. Reliable data are data that provide results that can be duplicated under similar circumstances: if you explain that mixng two chemical liquids will create a solid, then other people can try the same test.

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