Researching Your Topic Technical Writing for Information Science In-Bon Kuh GNU OS Lab.

Technical Writing for Information Science2 Contents  Researching your topic –finding sources –using your sources –summarize your sources –categorize your sources –interrogate your sources –make your sources work for you –keep track of your sources –cite sources correctly

Technical Writing for Information Science3 Finding Sources  Find books and articles in libraries  Use resources programs provided by your university  for information and computer science department –The ACM Digital Library - –IEEE Xplore - –Scientific Literature Digital Library - –Computer Science Engineering Research Information Center - –National Digital Science Library - –Korea Education & Research Information Service -

Technical Writing for Information Science4 Summarize Your Sources  Put your argument in your language  You can see aspects of the arguments that you don’t understand  You can restate an argument in terms that are relevant to your paper  It can help you in the organization process  Take the time to write a brief summary every time your understanding of your topic shifts or evolves

Technical Writing for Information Science5 Categorize Your Sources Everyone is speaking from a certain critical perspective  Look for similarities among your sources –A point of view –Similar conclusion  Discover differences among your sources  Try to understand what these differences and similarities mean to your argument.

Technical Writing for Information Science6 Interrogate Your Sources  Is this evidence sufficient? Why or why not?  Is there something that the writer is overlooking? Omitting? Is this omission a matter of carelessness, or does it seem to you purposeful? Why?  Does the writer's argument seem reasonable to you? If not, can you locate places where the reason seems to break down? Can you locate and identify any logical fallacies? (See Logic and Argument.) Do these fallacies undermine the writer's argument, or not?  Is the writer's language appropriate? Does she sometimes rely on a pretty phrase or a passionate claim to cover up a lack of evidence?

Technical Writing for Information Science7  What can you determine about the writer's perspective? Does she seem to have any biases that are important to note? Does she seem to belong to a particular critical school? Does the writer's perspective help or hinder the argument she is trying to make? Why?  Where do you stand in relation to the writer? Do you give her a round of applause? Do you feel like booing her off the stage? Are you sitting with your arms crossed, feeling skeptical? Keep notes of your personal responses to the writer, and try to translate those responses into comments or questions

Technical Writing for Information Science8 Make Your Sources Work for You  Make it work for you without overwhelming your argument –Don’t go to the library before you’ve thought about your topic on your own –Limit your sources to those that are relevant to your topic –Keep track of your evolving understanding of your topic by periodically stopping to summarize

Technical Writing for Information Science9 Keep Track of Your Sources  A bibliography –Includes every works you looked at in your research  A list of works –Includes what you quoted, paraphrased, or alluded to when your writing your paper

Technical Writing for Information Science10  From a book –Note of title, author, publisher, date, city of publication  From an article –Note of title, author, title of document, title of complete work, date of publication or last revision, URL, date that you accessed the site  ALWAYS keep track of the page numbers –Use Reference Manager Programs

Technical Writing for Information Science11 Cite Sources Correctly  To avoid plagiarism CITE any and all sources you have used.