It is always hard to start researching for a project, especially if there is a minimum of citied sources needed. In the Thomson Handbook, it explains that most people do not want to begin research early in a project because of the harsh anticipation of it. The Thomson Handbook recommends that everyone people should start research early to establish their ethos, credibility, and to be trustworthy. The “Talk like an Insider” was very interesting because if someone reads a paper and are familiar with the subject, they are going to want to hear the terminology that they are used too.
In the White Paper project, the “talking like an insider” might come very important because we are covering renewable energy solutions. This subject has become very popular in the last ten years and everyone is going to want to read the same terms. If we use elementary terms then our credibility will not exist.
When researching for the White Paper Project, I think that online research is going to be very important. The subject of renewable energy resources is ever-changing subject that mostly articles in online databases will have the recent subjects. Also government databases and articles will also be very important because our main audience is the American federal policy makers. Finding the most recent energy solutions and opinions will help us make a good White Paper on renewable energy resources. I also plan on searching for information in a library to see if these topics are available in hard copy. I think that there will be a lot of information because even professors at Purdue are doing a lot of research on renewable energy resources. With the government leaning toward a more “green” American society, research will be a very important portion or our project. Especially because these topics are very unclear to us at the moment.
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Anti-procrastination.
I feel the same way about starting a research project. You can never really make yourself want to get it done, and in most cases, even start it. Often times I find it easier to just start researching and not even think about it that much. Once you get a little ways down the road on your researching it becomes much easier and you start providing more useful information that in the beginning. As you said online sources will most likely be the best way for you to do your research because there is so much new information about renewable energy on the web.
Establishing Creditability
Good point on how to write the paper using the proper terminology for being creditable to the audience. I personally would discredit a paper using elementary terms and without citing the resources when writing a project such as yours, renewable energy. Also with using the slang and terminology proper, the audience will be more willing to read and credit information that you are addressing.
Along with your white paper, having a proper ethos will help establishing creditability. If your professional audience has a white paper that looks like a 3rd grader has designed it, the audience is more likely to discredit the paper before even reading it.
Zebulon Rouse
Hating research
I must agree with you that the major reason why people do not want to begin research early in a research project is because of the “harsh anticipation of it.” I know that when I find out that I have a research project that is coming up I am dreading the fact that sometime soon I will have to start doing my research. I think that one reason why most people dislike research projects is because of the fact that there are normally a minimum number of sources they have to get their information from. Normally for any other assignment you can just find the information you need and go from there. Instead of with a research project having to cite the sources, print them out, and fulfill the minimum requirements.
It's all about the topic
The process of doing research is not exciting at all. The problem is not research itself necessary, more or less the level of interest you have in the selected topic. I know I’m not the only person who would rather conduct research on a topic that appeals to your interest. If you have a genuine interest in your topic you’ll spend more time researching information which might help prevent issues suggested with procrastination and only doing bare minimum requirements(with citation). While picking the topic for our white paper, I knew selecting a topic that would interest me would be important.
Renewable Energy Research
Our group is also looking into renewable energy for our project topic. And we have the same views of online research. For this particular application, the internet will offer the most up to date information because the topic is generally young. Therefore, published work, like books, may be slowly obsolete for this subject (however, books may still of serve some use). You have several good ideas for research sources. I agree that government released information can be very valuable for renewable energy. I thought it was interesting to involve professors into possible resources of information. I agree there are many well educated professors out there that have much to offer.
Renewable
The choice to use renewable resources as a topic for this project, I believe, is a good one. Like you said this is a relatively new topic so resources may be hard to find. Overall, in the end, this should be a fun topic to cover. The importance for renewable energy or resources is a huge topic these days, and it wouldn't be very hard to pitch this project to any one due to the high level of importance it brings forth. I am interested to see how your groups project pans out.
E-Books
Another source you might want to consider, e-books. Basically they're just online books to download. Usually they can be found as pdf's. These sources are just an example of the numerous publications you can take advantage of online. Just because you would rather utilize the internet for your sources doesn’t mean you have to shut out publications such as books. You can also find magazine and news paper archives online. These are essentially an online library and should definitely be considered for your research. The topics you guys are discussing here are very interesting. Dynamic topics such as this should seek out the most recent and accurate information possible as renewable energy is a hot topic and there is always breaking news on it. Just my 2 cents!
Renewable energy and "green processing" isn't that new
While working at LORRE (Laboratory of Renewable Resource Engineering) here on campus, I had a PHD student explain his philosophy on research. In so many words he explained that research is exactly that: "re" "search", you are re-finding existing information to put to use for your own ends. Several of the projects I saw/worked on while I was there referenced books, articles, or other papers from several decades ago as far back as the 20's. Henry Ford himself incorporated elements of recycling in his process: he sold charcoal that was a byproduct of the furnaces he used in his car plants. The idea of biofuels has been around for at least 100 years when petroleum was first being used as a liquid fuel source, likely as a potential competitor. Just because more people are talking about it now doesn't mean that some (well, several) people have been talking about it in the past.
Also, green processing is a laugh...Just another marketing strategy: the fact that a process plant operates with zero discharge or is carbon neutral or whatever isn't a result of that company's desire to "save the planet" it is simply a marketable side-effect of having to deal with scarce resources/money. One of the [sad] truths of a process engineer.