As the Thompson Handbook says the key to good research is to actually “care” about the topic on which you are researching. If you don’t really care about the topic you are trying to research odds are the information you gather and write about will be weak and not able to complete the task it is supposed to. Another important element in researching is to make sure to plan ahead. Many people tend to procrastinate and wait until the last minute to research their chosen topic, which typically ends up with poor results. One way that you can make researching topics easier is to create a list and schedule of things you need to accomplish with this research. I do this when I have projects or even with homework. It seems like if you have a written list or schedule it makes it more satisfying to check something off that list after you have it completed. The schedule portion makes it easier to manage your time, but you have to actually follow the guidelines you create or it is useless and will not benefit your work. Analyzing your topic well can make finding the proper research much easier. If you know the details about the subject you can come up with much better information about the subject in terms of what it needs to cover and who the audience will be and things of that nature.
Since we are trying to create a white paper about wind turbines there will be much research to complete. I believe the bulk of this research will be conducted online because there is such a great wealth of information on things like that on the web. Conducting research online for a project like this will also help find pros and cons of certain brands or types of these turbines. One problem we will face when finding information on our topic online is credibility. Since anyone that has access to the web can post basically any information they want, about any topic they want, we will have to make sure that each source we use is legit and credible enough to use in our project. White papers are supposed to have factual, unbiased information and that is just what we will have to find. I think that we will also have to use reviews from consumers who have purchased these items as “enforcement” on the information we find about each kind. In addition to researching the products for our white paper we will also need to research the audience and figure out who we need to direct the white paper to. I don’t think that every random person will want to read our white paper and go out and get these turbines so we need to figure out who may want them and gear it towards that group of people.
Incorporate the readings
Note: you need to be sure to incorporate the assigned readings into these reading reports. There is no other way to determine if you have done the assigned readings. While you do cite the reading early on, you need to make a more explicit connection between the reading and the structure and direction of your research plan.
Audience Research
I like the point you made at the end of your reading response about researching your audience. I know something like this was mentioned in the instructor blog about audiences, but until then I never really thought about it. I had always planned on just researching my topic to get the information that I needed and then formatting the information in a way that would appeal to my vision of what my specific audience is. It makes a lot of sense to research the audience as well, though. This will definitely help when it comes down to choosing what exactly to put into the white paper and the proper terminology to use.
Using Lists
I also am a huge of lists. Often times when I know that I am going to have a very busy week, I will make a list of everything that needs to be done by the end of the week. I will then break this list up by the days by which things need to be completed. Not only does this ensure that I accomplish everything I need to, it also allows me to quickly see how much more work I must do by the end of the day. One of the best things of these lists is looking back at the end of the week and seeing how much I have accomplished.
List fan
One thing I did that I found really helped me organize my time was switch from the small mortar board to the larger size. That way i can easily block out time for classes, studying, and work. I just found that with the smaller one it barely had enough space for assignments and such let alone all the places I need to be at certain times. When I have free time on a certain day I can write in what I need to get. This really helps out when I get to that point in my day. I just open my mortar board and see what all I need to work on.
Andy