English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

For my first research blog, I wanted to look at a few different articles and try to identify the main specifications (and the different levels of these specifications) that are important to look at when comparing routers. All of this research will be useful in crafting the introduction.

This document summarizes the information that will be used from the website http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=565. This is the manufacturer’s website for the product that I am researching for this white paper. The model I am researching for comparison is the D-link DIR-615. The main use of this website is for the specifications of the router’s performance. I also used http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/d-link-wireless-n/4507-3319_7-32435592.h..., a third party reviewer of tech devices, to confirm the information that the manufacturer gave.

So far I have been doing research on the usability of Opera and some of its convenient features. Since our audience is an IT department, any feature that will help save time or keep data/information organized is helpful. The main feature that stands out about Opera is the “Speed Dial”, where you can have nine “buttons” as your home page. This allows the user to access frequently used pages very fast. This would be great for an IT person that uses a lot of web based network utilities.

In my initial research efforts, my goal has been not necessarily to find information to include in the white paper itself, but to look for information that will help me proceed with my research. Our white paper will compare three web browsers for an IT department that is trying to choose one of them for use on its company's computers. Before doing the research on each of the browsers, we wanted to determine what current concerns of IT professionals are that would affect their browser decisions.

This document summarizes the information that will be used from the website http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127241 for my white paper project. This website, known as new egg, is a third party supplier of various items including software, cameras, and computers. They have no ties with the manufacturer so they are unbiased. The item I researched is a wireless router from the company D-Link, model DIR-615. I reviewed the specifications for the item on this site that were taken word-for-word from the manufacturers specifications.