Lesson Four
Gathering and Documenting Information
Dr. Nancy Hoagland

Lesson Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

  1. narrow an issue or problem for your research project
  2. analyze the audience for your research project
  3. distinguish between primary and secondary research
  4. explain why and how information sources are cited in a document 
  5. Locate APA or MLA guidelines to use for documenting sources in writing for this course


(Transcript)

||  Readings/Tasks  ||
|| Focus Questions  || Lecture || 

  Interview with Sharon Blades,
Emergency Management Specialist, FEMA

"Planning a Document to Meet the Needs of Your Audience"

video | transcript

 

Tasks/Readings

Readings

  • Read Markel, Chapter 7: Researching Your Subject, pp. 123-158.
  • Read Markel, Appendix: Reference Handbook, "Part A: Documenting Sources, MLA Style" pp. 592-593 and 610-620.
  • Read Course Guide, Unit 3 Gathering and Documenting Information, 3-1 - 3-29.

Tasks

  • Make 4 conference posts under the conference topics for Lesson 4: Gathering and Documenting Information:
    • Meeting the Needs of Your Audience
    • Past Research Experience Counts
    • What Research Methods Do You Plan to Use?
    • Developing Items for a Questionnaire
    • Completing the module "How to Avoid Plagiarism"
  • Respond to at least one other student's post by sharing your own insights and experience.
  • Complete the module How to Avoid Plagiarism, which counts 10 % of your Course Participation Grade. To receive credit, send me an email of your Certificate of Completion.
  • Submit Assignment 1: Audience Analysis. For more information, see the Assignment Sheet for Assignment 1: Audience Analysis and the Evaluation Sheet for Assignment 1: Audience Analysis. If you want feedback on a rough draft of this assignment, you can send me a copy as an e-mail attachment before submitting it to me for a grade. Also, if you need an extension on the deadline, please let me know.

Focus Questions

  1. What problem or issue will make a good project for this class? Who will be the audience for this project? What are the available research sources for completing this project?
  2. What is the difference between primary and secondary research? What are examples of each kind of research?
  3. What research tools are available for locating relevant and reliable secondary resources?
  4. Why is it necessary to document the use of research sources? How should research sources be documented in a technical report for this course?
  5. What are some items to consider when conducting an interview?
  6. What are some items to consider when designing a survey?
  7. Where can you find a copy of APA or MLA Guidelines to use for documenting sources using in your writing for this course?
  8. How can you avoid the appearance of plagiarism when you write documents for this course?

Lecture Notes

NOTE: Lecture notes are intended as a guide to each week's reading assignment from Markel's Technical Communication, 7th ed.. In the notes, I will identify the topics that I consider important in a reading assignment. I will also try to relate the reading assignment to the writing assignments for the course. Questions on the final exam will be based on the objectives, focus questions, lectures notes, and assigned reading for each lesson.

Introduction

By the end of Lesson Four, you should have identified the topic for your class research project, submitted Assignment 1: Audience Analysis, and begun to plan your research for your project.

In Chapter 7, you will read about how to limit the topic of your class project and methods to use in researching your project. Markel classifies and describes research methods based on the two major kinds of research: secondary research and primary research. Most students decide to use a combination of primary and secondary research for the class project.

At this time, you should also review basic information about doing research and writing for a college course. You should use only reliable and up-to-date sources. You should distinguish carefully between paraphrasing and quoting directly from a source to avoid plagarism.. You are also expected to apply either APA or MLA Guidlines for in-text citations and the list of works cited.

These lecture notes will refer you to useful sites as you work on the class project. If you feel the need to improve your research and writing skills, you will find help at the UMUC Effective Writing Center. There you will find UMUC's Online Guide to Writing and Research as well as other online self-study modules on writing.

Please note that UMUC has become a national leader in the effort to detect and prevent plagiarism. Students who are found to have plagiarized assignments are dealt with fairly but strictly. You should review UMUC's online module How to Avoid Plagiarism and complete the module How to Avoid Plagiarism, which counts 10% of your Course Participation Grade. You will be held responsible for this information, and I will use the Web site Turnitin.com in accordance with college policy which requires notifying students of its use.

NOTE: Completion of the module How to Avoid Plagiarism counts 10 % of your Course Participation Grade. To receive credit, send me an email of your Certificate of Completion.

REMINDER: Assignment 1: Audience Analysis for the Class Project is due this week. See the Syllabus, Course Projects for details.


Chapter 7: Researching Your Subject

Narrowing a Research Topic

This chapter begins by discussing how to narrow a research topic. This is an important point for the class project for this course. The best class projects are those in which the writer has been able to focus on a very narrow topic. For example, if you want to write about instituting Internet security measures for a local area network, you can write about instituting Internet security measures for small companies with fewer than 50 employees. The topic is improved if you can focus on small companies of a particular kind such as a Internet businesses selling specialty items. The topic becomes much easier to do if you can write about instituting Internet security measures at Golden Key Online Foods, which has 15 employees and sells Asian food items.

The primary audience for this project would be the owner of the company and managers responsible for making a decision about a new Internet security system. The secondary audience would be any of the technical or support staff who wanted to keep informed about the company's plans or anyone employee responsible for carrying out the technical details of the project, such as determining specific equipment to purchase. This person might use only a part of the document such as appendix with a vender's description of the need equipment.

Secondary Research

One of the main sources of information for your project will be secondary research, or information gathered and made available by other people. Markel identifies six major kinds of media for secondary information: online databases, digital disks, Web sites, and online discussion groups. The chapter then describe five basic research tools including online catalogs, reference works, periodical indexes, newspaper indexes, and abstract services. The secondary information you find should be evaluated according to six criteria: accuracy, bias, comprehensiveness, appropriate level of technicality, timeliness, and clarity.

To continue the example of Internet security measures for Golden Key, you will need to locate information from reliable sources regarding the practices of similar small businesses. You will also need to read articles from professional sources regarding the technical side of the problem and learn about any recommended solutions. The best sources for this information will probably be Internet search engines and the UMUC Online Databases. Future lessons will go into these subjects in more detail. In the meantime, you can go to the UMUC Library page for help in searching the Internet and using the UMUC online databases.

Primary Research

Many people in this course also decide to use primary research for the class project. Primary research is information that you collect and make available to readers of your report. Markel identifies five types of primary research: "inspections, experiments, field research, interview, and questionnaire" (147).

For this class, participants often conduct interviews to gather information for the report. For example, you could interview the Golden Key owner to learn what kind of security problems the company has experienced and also what kind of money will be available for the project. You could also interview an employee of a similar business to learn what measures have been put in place by that business. If you decide to conduct an interview, Markel provides excellent Guidelines for Conducting an Interview on pages 150-151.

In the past, participants have also used questionnaires to collect information for the class project. As Markel points out, questionnaires are more difficult to use than one might think. For instance, it is difficult to create unambiguous and unbiased items for the questionnaire. You have to be careful that you do not give the questionnaire to a biased sample. Also, you seldom get as high a return as you expect or need. If you are still interested in using a questionnaire, Markel has a table containing Types of Questions Used in Questionnaires and a good example on pages 154-155.

I have one important warning to students who use interview and survey data. You must be careful that you do not over generalize the results. For example, if you interview two employees of Golden Key, you must not use that information to conclude that all 15 employees hold the same views. Or if you distribute a questionnaire to the three people who work with you on the late shift, you must be sure that you do not conclude that their responses represent the views of all of the employees. You can, however, use your interview or survey data to give concrete and personal examples to illustrate a point that you want to make. For example, you can use interview data to make clear the negative effects that security measures may have on employee morale. You should not infer, however, that all employees feel the same as the person in the interview.

Documenting Information

One of the most important things to get from Chapter 7 is a review of how to paraphrase and quote directly from a secondary source. In this course, you are expected either to write information in your own words or to use quotation marks to indicate that you are using the exact words of the author. You will find information about how to paraphrase, summarize, and quote directly on pages 137-144.

You must use an in-text citation with a name and page number (if available) when you use the exact words taken from a source or when you put the same information in your own words. Then you must give complete publication information about the source in the list of works cited. If you need a review of how to summarize, paraphrase, or quote from a secondary research source, see Chapter 5: Academic Integrity & Documentation from the UMUC Online Guide to Writing and Research.

You are also required to use either APA or MLA Guidelines for in-text citations and the list of works cited. You have several sources of information about APA or MLA format. One is Markel's Appendix: Reference Handbook, "Part A: Documenting Sources, APA Style" pp. 593-603 and "Part A: Documenting Sources, MLA Style" pp. 610-620. Another source is the handbook for the course, A Writer's Reference, 5th ed. For me the most valuable tool is the online Web site for AWriter's Reference. I used the Research and Documentation Online page to look up MLA Guidelines as I wrote lecture materials for the course. But the textbook site also gives APA Guidelines in an easy-to-locate format. The UMUC Library Citation Resources also has information on how to apply APA or MLA Guidlines.

For additional information on conducting a research project, see Module 2: Planning and Executing a Project.

Material for this course was originally written and developed by Michelle Didier, Edward Harris, James Gillin, Pat Kirby, Marj Crane,Danielle Bujosa, Andrew Joyce, Ed Brandmark, Traicy Garey, and Sharon Biederman.

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