Research
Thinking Critically about Research
Research is best approached in steps. Unfortunately, the
summer term is too short a time to really immerse ourselves into the “ideal”
research process or do a full research project. Ideally, you should spend quite a bit of time researching your
topic’s background, evaluating the sources you find, refining your research,
evaluating the new information you find, interpreting the information, and
synthesizing your findings into a review of what is known about your topic up to
the present. From there you begin to explain what you’re doing that’s new or, in
some cases, recommend a strategy for dealing with some issue. Since we have a
limited amount of time, this will be more of an introduction for future projects you'll have in your majors. Regardless of
the time you have for research, efficiency is imperative.
The right way to research is to gather more information than you need and allow your research question(s) to guide what to synthesize and what to leave out.
Annotated Bibliography
I’m going to have you find 5 sources for your annotated
bibliography. Normally, the annotated bibliography shows the reader (me) that
you've explored a topic by having done background research. This research is supposed to
inform your research questions and, ultimately, your final project (report,
design, presentation, etc.). Please consider potential projects, which you don't
have to do, that revolve around one of the following:
- Proposing a technical or scientific solution to a
problem.
- Expanding a company or organization's business
model(s).
- Describing a technology (must be different from
your set of instructions).
- Describing a science (must be different from your
set of instructions).
- Something else related to technology or technical communication.
Please make sure these are
actual, real world problems--no magic wands or science fiction technologies.
All the sections below do not
have to be addressed--use your best judgment.
- Purpose of the project--what or why or how
are you going to address the project's research question
- Scope of the project--what are the
boundaries of the project (you can't cover everything)
- Methodology of the project--how might you go
about gathering the necessary information or items for the project
- Timeframe of the project--how long might an
actual project of this size take
- Budget for the project--how much might a
project you're proposing cost (if applicable)
- Possible impact of the project--what result
or results might you expect (this might already be addressed in the purpose)
Remember, you're not doing a full research project; instead, you're doing the preliminary parts.
Annotation Requirements
The goal of this assignment is to do research the
right way. By “the right way” I mean that you should always gather more
information than you need; then, you should sort through the information in
order to learn more about your topic. Some information might be more helpful
than other information, but you wouldn't know that if you simply gathered the
first few sources that came from google. In order for me to see what topic you’re
considering, I want to read an annotated list of sources.
By annotation I mean summary (about two or three sentences per source),
evaluation (one sentence), and statement + reason (which might be
implied in the evaluation but it's better to repeat in this case than assume you've implied) for your intent with the source (one sentence). Please note, that means you should have 4-5 sentences per source.
Annotated bibliographies evaluate possible sources and tell readers why a source
is good or bad for your topic (bias, date, relevance, trustworthy, etc.). So, one more time, annotation means the
following:
- Cite the source using the style most appropriate
for your major or discipline--MLA, APA, Chicago, IEEE, CSE,
etc.)
- Summarize the source in 2-3 sentences—that means you efficiently tell me
what the source is about
- Evaluate the source in a sentence—is the source worthy? Why or why not?
- State whether or not you will be able to use the source
based on your research questions(s) and, of course, why or why
not?
Annotation Example (alphabetize)
Tarrant, D. R. Marconi’s Miracle: The Wireless Bridging of the Atlantic. St.
John’s, Newfoundland: Flanker P, 2001.
After discussing a brief history of wireless communication, Tarrant recounts
Marconi’s construction of the wireless stations at Poldhu in Cornwall, England
and Signal Hill in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The book covers biographical
information about Marconi up until his early twenties, where it then focuses on
experiments and strategies Marconi used to “bridge” the Atlantic. Tarrant, as do
many biographers, emphasize Marconi’s genius as being able to envision the
wireless as a successful commercial product. The book is historical and written
for a lay audience; however, Marconi appears to be the only wireless inventor, making the
author biased to a “lone inventor” myth. The book will definitely help my
project because it offers important historical information useful to my research on Marconi's life.
Anatomy of an annotation:
2-3 sentence summary
- After discussing a brief history of wireless communication, Tarrant recounts
Marconi’s construction of the wireless stations at Poldhu in Cornwall, England
and Signal Hill in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
- The book covers biographical
information about Marconi up until his early twenties, where it then focuses on
experiments and strategies Marconi used to “bridge” the Atlantic.
- Tarrant, as do
many biographers, emphasize Marconi’s genius as being able to envision the
wireless as a successful commercial product.
1-sentence evaluation
- The book is historical and written
for a lay audience; however, Marconi appears to be the only wireless inventor, making the
author biased to a “lone inventor” myth.
1-sentence on it's value to your (assumed) project
- The book will definitely help my
project because it offers important historical information useful to my argument
[whatever that might be].
Where do you begin?
The first step is to ask a question about a topic (I guess
the first step is coming up with a topic, but you often come up with a topic by
asking what your interests are in a certain area). As a class I want us to go
through a scenario where we ask a research question and then practice finding
information using the library database.
Research question: What is the best way to reduce acid
rain in the Northeast United States?
Whoa! That’s quite a question. If you were really going to
ask this question, I’d tell you to switch to a more manageable question for a
semester course. However, this topic will show us how to incorporate the
following strategies:
- Refining a topic
- Expanding a topic
- Exploring the background of a topic
- Understanding the need for more research (in theory)
Let’s head on over to
everyone’s favorite library catalog.
Library Databases Specific to Science, Technology, and
Engineering
-
Go to the the "articles database"
- The librarian associated with a particular field has his or her name and e-mail address on the right side of the page (Subject Librarians)
- Browse through the databases to see which ones may
contain sources for your topic
- The above described
databases mainly search articles in scholarly journals; use search on the Atkins homepage "Catalog" tab to find books, and click the Journals tab to find journals the library owns
Research Topics
Here are several issues to consider as you explore
potential research topics. You don't have to think about all of them at once,
but, if you get stuck, revisit these items below:
- Don’t bite off more than you can chew—aim to argue
a small part of the topic you’ve selected. {However, you aren't actually going to do this project because of the limited time we have in the summer.}
- The above being said, however…don’t consider too
small of a topic; you need one that will fit the requirements.
- Make sure you have a research question. Assuming
you were to do a research project, you
would use this question to guide your process.
- Write down all the possible words, phrases, and
other descriptors you could use to search for information on your
topic. (Think of synonyms, related ideas, and people associated with your
topic)
- Think of the types of materials you’ll need for
this research.
- Ask yourself how this topic affects you or why you,
specifically, are interested in this topic.
Oral Presentations and
Visuals
Since each of you needs to do an oral
presentation with visuals, I have guidelines for you on the oral presentation page.
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