Stopping Research and Starting to Write Dr. Hillary Hart CAEE October 19, 2009

1.How and when do you begin writing up your own research? 2.What does it mean to “review the literature,” and what is the purpose of the literature review anyway? 3.How do you gather the relevant data? 4.How do you use your own visuals to think through your findings?

 What is it you really want to say?  What will convince your audience?  What data or information do you still need to collect?  When you explain your methodology, what gaps are still there?

 Defining objectives  Planning  Drafting  Evaluating  Revising Learn to separate these stages!

You can’t get it right the first time around!

 Start early  Manage your time  Learn to draft – avoid need for perfection at this stage  Learn to separate the creative and critical parts of your personality.

 Move back and forth between doing research/engineering work and doing writing.  Writing helps you understand what you really know and what you are still unsure about. Helps you plot direction.

Writing 1 st draft 1.Introduction 2.Methods 3.Literature Review 4.Results 5.Conclusions Revising 6.middle three chapters 7.Conclusions 8.Introduction 9.Revise all again And again 10.Write Abstract

 To acknowledge work of others  To establish your credibility as a scholar  To give needed background  To show that your work is unique (identify the gap)  To produce a rationale or justification for your study  To evaluate and synthesize previous work What we know What is missing Adapted from M. Alley, Penn State University

 Include all work truly relevant to yours.  Demonstrate continuity and show gaps. The literature review is a big part of the for your work.

 Subject search  uses keywords  Snowball search  moves backward in time – begins with recent publication  Citation search  moves forward in time -- begins with key paper  Star search  looks at “star” journals or institutions

Douglas (2007) Nicol et al. (1999) Gaiver (1996) Bardeen (1994) Haus (1975) IEEE Journal Lugovoi (1979) Optics Haus (1986) Auschnitt (1995) Glasser (2004) IEEE Trans (a) (b)

 Science Citation Index – available through the Web of ScienceWeb of Science  Engineering databases Engineering databases  Academic Search Complete  You need your EID  Covers trade and industrial publications as well as journals published by professional societies.  Ei Compendex Ei Compendex  Covers these fields: Aerospace, Architecture and Planning, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry,Engineering Materials Science, Science and Technology, Transportation  even includes conferences

 SciFinder Scholar – download from McKinney Engineering library SciFinder Scholar  Includes conferences and dissertations, etc.  Has elegant search engine  Google Scholar Google Scholar  Others?

 As soon as you finish reading a piece (article, report, even an abstract), summarize it in your own words.  the contents  the relevance (or not) to your project  Summarizing makes a manageable paragraph out of a much bigger work.  Save your summaries electronically.

ResearchersTopicContribution Graedel and Allenby (1995)Industrial EcologyBest background source of information Frosch (1995)Industrial EcologyStages of industrial activities are linked across time, distance & economic sectors. Richards, Allenby & Frosch (1994) Industrial EcologyMajority of systems are Type 1 : linear, one-way flows Asano, 1991Water reclamation, reuse & recycling (WRR&R) Proper WRR&R is planned and direct water reuse, not indirect reuse by discharging effluents Shiklomanov (1990)WRR&RWRR&R technologies remain greatly underused.

ResearchersContributionRelevance Graedel and Allenby (1995)Best background source of information Audience will need summary of this. Frosch (1995)Stages of industrial activities are linked across time, distance & economic sectors. Basis for my motivation— this is widely applicable. Richards, Allenby & Frosch (1994) Majority of systems are Type 1 : linear, one-way flows This linearity is a barrier for adoption. Asano, 1991Proper WRR&R is planned and direct water reuse, not indirect reuse by discharging effluents This concept is not well- known, inhibits adoption of this technology. Shiklomanov (1990)WRR&R technologies remain greatly underused. This is the problem – need to fill this gap.

Preparing your information displays first helps you get started and sets out the framework of your written or spoken communication.

1. Which visual representation will bring out the meaning of the data best? 2. Which, perhaps previously hidden, meanings are there to be brought out? Choice of visual display can reveal new relationships among data. Representing the data differently can lead to new findings.

In 1854, Dr. John Snow made a map of deaths from the cholera epidemic in London. Tufte, Visual Explanations, 1997 Previously, data on deaths had been displayed chronologically. Example: Snow’s spatial representation

Brewery Work House

 Snow took data normally displayed chronologically and graphed them spatially.  Map makes quantitative comparisons visible and locates them spatially.  Map is good for showing cause and effect.  Time series chart not as effective for showing cause and effect (except in controlled experiments). “... the way in which we present the data determines what can be seen in the data.” Valiela, Doing Science, p. 183

 Choice of data display is especially critical when trying to convince authorities or other experts.  Spatial display convinced the authorities to shut down the Broad St. pump. From that moment, cholera was seriously understood to be linked to pathogens in water.

 The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 1983  Envisioning Information, 1990  Visual Explanations, 1997