July 24th: Introduction to Research

Chapter 8: Reports and Other Such Fun

Chapter 8 basically stresses the need to understand audience and purpose for particular types of reports. Of course, reports are industry specific, so we need to be careful about generalizing. However, there are important components of the chapter that can be generalized as effective types of technical communication.

Some questions

• What attributes make the report "Medical Malpractice" (Appendix C) pages 324-339 an effective report for the busy executive?

• What attributes make the report "Indoor Air Quality" on pages 150-153 an effective report for the consumer?

• How is the information arranged in the report from Laura Anne Ranford on pages 182-185, and what might we say about the assumed audience because of that arrangement?

Research Discussion Introduction

Here's what I propose for our research discussions:

• What is research?

• How would you find information on...?

• What is epistemology?

• How do we determine a source's credibility?

• What are the annotated bibliography requirements?

What is research? Why do it? Why is it something people devote their lives to? What does it mean to research a topic? Where do you start? When do you stop? How do you come to a conclusion? Do you or should you come to a conclusion?

I know what you're thinking: "Hold on! Can't you just tell us what to do?" Well, I could, but where's the fun in that?

As a class, let's think about how we've researched and been told to research in the past. Think about the research assignments you've done for other classes (in high school or college). What were their purposes, and how did you create a research "paper" or final project?

Epistemology

How do we make knowledge? How do we take data and make it information? Let's consider those questions as we explore epistemology.

Source Credibility

Are all sources equal? What makes a source credible or not so credible? Below are the names and descriptions of some types of sources you may encounter:

• Popular media—Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Charlotte Observer

• Internet sources—sources which exist solely online and do not mimic “traditional” print sources:
  (The links below should open up in new windows)

  • Legitimate: CNN.com, Salon.com, World's Greatest Webpage, etc.

  • Maybe not so…the Onion
    the Peter Pan guy (please be as objective as possible when viewing this site)
    the pregnant guy website, etc.

  • Encyclopedic and dictionary types:  Wikipedia, Dictionary.com, Nobel Prize winners, etc.

• Sources found on the Internet—databases and online "card" catalogs

• Trade and business sources—white papers, consumer reports, other sources for semi-technical to highly technical

• Specialized/Government Sources—commissioned reports, expert panels, empirical research

• Scholarly/peer reviewed/refereed sources—same as above

• Authoritative sources—the above three types of sources and usually primary sources or sources that have proven their reliability for offering credible information to a specialized group

Keep Up with the Syllabus

Tomorrow (7/25) we'll continue with our Research discussion, and your Set of Instructions assignment is due.

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