This blog is going to focus on technical research.  There is information everywhere and it is up to someone who is proficient in technical research to take that information, digest it, and come up with a well-organized product.  It is also very important to keep your general audience in mind when conducting the research so your product will be of interest to the reader.  This blog will define how to conduct technical research, what primary and secondary research is, how to properly document resources, plagiarism, and how to evaluate sources for credibility. 

WHY RESEARCH?

            There are many reasons someone may need to do research.  It may be for a school project, personal curiosity, or it may be a part of their job.  Researching at work can be useful for developing a new product, solving production problems, purchasing items or the company, establishing procedures, or planning an advertising campaign (Smith-Worthington & Jefferson, 2011, pg. 45).  It is important to keep in mind, while conducting the research, the 5 W’s (who, what, when, where, and why).  By keeping this in mind, you will be able to answer the question in its entirety with a well rounded answer.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY RESEARCH

Before you can write something for your audience it is important to conduct research on the topic.  There are two types of technical research, primary and secondary.  Primary research is research that is done by the author in the form of surveys, interviews, observation, and experimentation (Smith-Worthington & Jefferson, 2011, pg. 64).  Secondary research is reading other author’s work on the same subject you are researching in order to understand the topic better.  This is advantageous because it uses less resources to research other’s work rather than to do the experiments or studies on your own (Smith-Worthington & Jefferson, 2011, pg. 47).  Places you can find secondary data are the library, correspondence and report archives, periodicals, and scholarly or credible resources on the Internet. 

                                           SOURCES AND REFERENCE

 It is important to source your references in your paper as well as at the end of your paper in a bibliography.  The bibliography serves three purposes: First, it establishes credibility; Second, it allows others to find your information path so they can continue or evaluate the study; and Third, it gives credit to other people’s thoughts, words, and sentences that you used (Smith-Worthington & Jefferson, 2011, pg. 54).  Electronic resources found on the Internet can be tricky as all of the information out there may not be accurate or even true.  I think the easiest way to decide if the information is credible is the electronic address of the website.  All websites end with a “.XYZ”.  This identifies who the owner of the website is affiliated with.  Please take a look at the following examples:

Educational institution                                    .edu

Nonprofit organization                                   .org

Government organization                               .gov

Military                                                           .mil

For-profit or commercial organization            .com

After looking at these you can easily figure out which are going to be most credible and which aren’t.  Educational websites will most-likely be the best because they are academic and many are reviewed by peers to ensure accuracy.  Nonprofit and Government can be good places to find information, but the reader has to beware that it may be heavily biased or there may be an agenda behind the content.  Commercial organizations are not the best sources because the research may not be backed up with sources or the information may be “sold” to the reader in order to gain a profit.  According to a paper written in 1997, when the Internet was still somewhat new, it was discussed how the future of research in technical communication will happen in the “digital realm” (Gurak & Silker, 1997).  They are absolutely right, as I would say most research does happen online now.

            Overall, if you want to conduct successful research at the workplace, or at home, there are several main ideas you need to keep in mind:  What type of research will be conducted, primary or secondary.  Using credible resources to conduct your research whether its from reference books in the library or academic websites on the internet.  Sourcing your research accurately so you don’t look like you stole the content and so your readers understand that your work is credible as well.  It is also important to keep your audience in mind as you write your product so you know they will get something out of what you wrote.

WORKS CITED

Smith-Worthington, S., & Jefferson, S. (2011). Technical writing for success (3rd ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Gurak, L. J., & Silker, C. M. (1997). Technical communication research: From traditional to virtual. Technical Communication Quarterly, 6(4), 403.