English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

As with almost any paper that is written, research must be done. There are certain steps that should be followed to make the entire process of researching and writing go smoothly. After solidifying a topic and hypothesis, I like to create an outline of the paper so that I know every subject that needs to be covered. Next, I gather as much reliable information on my topic as possible and read through it. All relevant information or data is compiled in a text file on a computer or on paper if no computer is accessible.

The beginning of a research project can be intimmidating and overwhelming. It's tough sometimes to know where to start. The biggest message I took from Part 3 on research from the Thompson Handbook was about getting organized.

When beginning any technical document, it is crucial to have valuable research performed correctly. Our White Paper Project revolves around the idea of providing the correct information for home owners to make the proper decision if renewable energy is right for their home and choose a type of domestic renewable energy source. Part three of The Thompson Handbook suggests several good processes of potential research methods when beginning our White Paper Project.

This weeks reading in the TH focuses on how to do a research project. For our white paper it seems like research will be the bulk of the work that we do. From the very beginning of the reading the TH lays out ways to make sure your research project is a success. TH says to make sure you start early and plan your research ahead of time. I think that my group and I have a good start on this after completing our Gantt chart where we divided up the research and set up initial time frames that we want to have our research accomplished by.

After the reading and some recent comments about our proposal there has been a lot I’m taking from this week’s lessons. First and foremost, our group discovered we really need to revamp our proposal. We discovered that we don’t have much of a specific audience and need to really address this big issue. So this is currently where the project is at. I’ve found that in order to research this topic we’re going to really need to slim down our audience focus. This week’s reading from the Thompson Handbook covered the importance of research and gave several strategies for successful research.

I thought the Thompson Handbook did a good job of bringing up a lot of very valid points for researching topics. Rather than saying not to procrastinate like we hear over and over again, it brought up that you should have a sense of urgency when doing your research. I think it is a common misconception that because you start early, you are going to keep pace. Many people start early but lolly-gag and end up having to cram it all in at the last minute. I think this is where they got the saying “If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do.”

This week’s reading in the Thompson Handbook covered the importance of research and gave several strategies for doing it effectively. The reading covering the Gantt charts also provided insight into Gantt charts and how to go about creating them.

Research. The backbone of most major educational writing endeavors. Something that most of us have done to some extent since we started school. This week’s reading covered various ways with which to not only conduct research but also to organize the resulting data efficiently.

One thing that I learned that I plan on using in my own research is a research journal. This will greatly help me not only write a more thorough research blog but also help me track the various sources I’ve found.

One of the key points that I took away from this chapter is making effective use of your research. I realized while reading this that our group had chosen a rather large audience in our original proposal. I think that by narrowing this down to something smaller would allow us to find research that is more specific. I think we should focus our white paper on a small middle school. This would be the optimal environment. The fact that they would have a limited amount of resources makes an open source solution perfect.

After getting through this week’s assigned readings, I have a little bit of a clearer insight of what it takes to affectively research, and how exactly I’ll apply research methods to our White Paper project. A key point that was made in the Thompson Handbook reading regarding researching is that you (the researcher) need to have some type of fundamental interest in the topic in question. Or, at the very least, understand the importance of the topic and see a reason for others to be more informed on the subject. Research takes time; in many cases it takes a lot of time.