Notes About Reasearch

• Research is the world's biggest industry
• Research reported in writing is the source of what we most believe
• Research is different than opinion
• It's ok to be skeptical of the research that you read...
• What is research?
• Broad terms -- we "do" research whenever we gather information to answer a question that solves a problem
• Writing Up Research
• Remember
• Understand
• To test your thinking
• Why a Formal Report?
• Satisfy demands imposed by a community of people competent in a given field
• You demand more from yourself when it is to be distributed to others
• Embody the shared values of a learning community
• Connecting with your reader
• Research is a conversation...
• Research can be like a bad classroom experience...
• You must think of your reader as someone who doesn't know it but needs to and yourself as someone who will give her reason to want to know it
• I've Found Some New and Interesting Information...
• These facts will help you do something to solve a problem you care about.
• Even if you don't have the audience right now, you must write as if you do. You must present yourself as interested in, even enthusiastic about wanting to share something new
• Their more common role is that of scholars who help their research community simply understand something better
• Wayne C. Booth;Gregory G. Colomb;Joseph M. Williams.The Craft of Research,Third Edition (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing (pp. 18-19). Kindle Edition.
• Three Roles of the Researcher
• I have information for you...
• I can help you fix a problem...
• I can help you understand something better...
• Understanding the Audience
• You must understand what they want...
• You meet your end of the bargain when you share whatever would interest them
• You are concerned with your particular community of readers, with their interests and expectations, with improving their understanding, based on the best evidence you can find
• Checklist...
• Who will read my report?
• What do they expect me to do?
• How much can I expect them to know?
• How will readers respond to the solution in my main claim?