Technical Writing

for Success

Researching at Work

3
Finding Secondary Data
Documenting Secondary Sources
Evaluating Sources
Taking Notes from Sources
Collecting Primary Data
© 2010
South-Western
Cengage Learning
 Chapter 3 Technical Research

Distinguish the difference

between researching at school
and at work.
Identify and locate secondary

Go al s sources.
Document secondary sources.
Evaluate sources.
Take notes from sources.
Collect primary data.
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Researching at Work
Technical Research

Writing on the job provides information to

help the business operate effectively, not to
show the writer’s knowledge of the topic.

At work, research is usually involved in

situations such as:
• Developing a new product
• Handling a production problem
• Purchasing equipment or services
• Establishing safety procedures
• Selecting employee benefits
• Planning an advertising campaign
• Expanding a market idea

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Researching at Work
Technical Research

Employees have two basic sources of

information:
• Secondary sources—reports or accounts
of what someone else sees, hears, or
thinks
• Primary sources—direct or firsthand
presentations of facts or observations

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Finding Secondary Data
Technical Research

For work-related research, you will probably

use one or more of the following sources of
secondary data:
• Your organization’s correspondence
and report archives
• Library catalog
• Periodicals
• General reference materials
• Electronic resources

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 Chapter 3
16 Documenting
Technical Research Secondary Sources

Documentation is:
• A way of giving credit to another person
(writer or speaker) for his or her work
• A citation system to note whose ideas or
words the writer is using and where he or
she found them

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 Chapter 3
16 Documenting
Technical Research Secondary Sources

Plagiarism is the term used at school for

the act of using another person’s words and
ideas without giving credit.

In the workplace, theft of another

organization’s work often results in lost jobs,
lawsuits, and ruined reputations.

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 Chapter 3
16 Documenting
Technical Research Secondary Sources

To avoid plagiarism, document anything you

use from another person’s work, including:
• Borrowed phrases
• Borrowed sentences
• Borrowed ideas

Document ideas in:

• Summaries
• Paraphrases
• Direct quotations

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 Chapter 3
16 Documenting
Technical Research Secondary Sources

Use the specific style manual for your field.

Record the sources you used in:

• The Works Cited list of sources at the end
of the document (also called the
Bibliography)
• Internal citations, or written indications of
the source of borrowed materials found
within the text

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Evaluating Sources
Technical Research

Choose your sources critically and carefully.

To evaluate sources, check the:
• Publication date
• Author’s credentials (reputation; methods and
resources)
• Depth and coverage

To evaluate electronic sources, check the:

• Author or sponsoring group
• Electronic address
• References and links
• Balance and purpose

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Taking Notes from Sources
Technical Research

Researchers take notes to help them

remember important information.

Notes can be written on 4" x 6" note cards

or typed electronically on computers.

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Taking Notes from Sources
Technical Research

You can use borrowed information in your

notes in these ways:
• Summarize—to condense longer material,
keeping essential or main ideas and
omitting nonessentials, such as examples
and illustrations
• Paraphrase—to borrow or use someone
else’s idea and to present it in your own
words, phrases, and sentence structure
• Direct quotation—to use ideas, words,
phrases, and sentences exactly as they
appear in the original
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Collecting Primary Data
Technical Research

Primary data can be used to solve work-

related concerns.

Primary data is gathered through field

research:
• Surveys
• Interviews
• Observation
• Experimentation

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Collecting Primary Data
Technical Research

SURVEYS
Surveys gather facts, beliefs, attitudes, and
opinions from people.
To develop a good survey:
• Explain why you need the information and how it
will be used
• Convince your audience to participate
• Order questions logically, beginning with
easy-to-answer items
• Ask only necessary questions
• Make the purpose of the question clear
• Write questions clearly
• Seek facts when possible (opinions also provide
useful information depending on your purpose)
• Stick to one topic per question
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Collecting Primary Data
Technical Research

INTERVIEWS
Interviews give you access to experts’ facts,
opinions, and attitudes that you might not find
any other way.

To conduct successful interviews:

• Define your purpose
• Make an appointment
• Do your homework
• Plan and write your questions
• Conduct the interview competently and courteously

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Collecting Primary Data
Technical Research

OBSERVATION
Observing is another way of collecting
primary data.

To collect credible data by observation, use

these guidelines:
• Train observers what to look for, what to record,
and how to record it
• Make systematic observations
• Observe only external actions
• Quantify findings whenever possible
• Support your observations

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Technical Research

EXPERIMENTATION

Experimentation is causing an event so

that an observer can test an assumption or
a hypothesis.

Experimenters must be careful to avoid

elements that will make the experiment and
its results invalid.

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Collecting Primary Data
Technical Research

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY

To maintain credibility, primary researchers

look for valid and reliable data.

You have valid data when you have accurately

measured what you intended to measure.

Reliable data means that, under similar

circumstances, the results can be duplicated.

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