Chapter AttributionDavid Murray Show
Michelle Miller Sherena Huntsman Writing Research ProcessThe writing process takes you from the very beginning of a writing project—finding topics and analyzing audience and purpose—all the way to the end—writing and revising the rough draft. The following chapters focus on some of the key phases of that process:
Find Report TopicsAs a writer in a technical writing course, you may need some strategies for finding topics for writing projects, which are provided in this section. By definition, technical writing courses are opportunities to focus on practical uses of your writing skills. In the ideal technical writing course, you would have a work-related writing project every two to three weeks: for example, instructions for that pesky printer down the hall or a white paper on a newly adapted software program. However, technical writing courses are also great opportunities for exploring science and technology: latest advances in nanotechnology, theories about the origin of the universe, methods for hydroponic gardening. If your instructor encourages you to find your own topics, take a look at the following suggestions. These are just a few ways you can generate ideas. Read Sondra Perl’s Composing Guidelines available through the International Focus Institute Group These guidelines will help you discover what is on your mind and what you can write about.
Topic ideas from interesting courses or projects related to your major or areas of interest
See if the following list of audiences brings to mind technical writing projects
Brainstorm Topics for Writing ProjectsIf you have a topic for your writing project, the next step is to think about subtopics related to it. During this stage, the “invention” or “brainstorming” stage, use the following suggestions to explore your writing project topic:
A Checklist of Invention QuestionsUse an invention checklist like the following. If you ask yourself the questions listed below, you’ll be less apt to overlook important subtopics; and, with use, these questions eventually become almost automatic.
Narrow That Report TopicFor a writing project in a technical writing course, the ideal starting place is a workplace problem requiring some writing as part of the solution. With such a project, the audience and problem are there to help you narrow the topic. However, if you begin with a topic, it’s harder to narrow. Narrow the topic and do some careful research—the result will be a practical, useful document that doesn’t go on forever. Narrowing means selecting a portion of a larger topic: for example, selecting a specific time period, , component, or use or application. Narrowing also means deciding on the amount of detail to use in discussing those topics. Following the Narrowing Process
To this point, you’ve been operating in a vacuum, not considering audience and situation, focusing instead on your interests in this topic. Now it’s time to get real—to define a real or realistic audience and situation. Who wants this document? Who would hire you to write it? How would people obtain this document? Are we there yet? Not quite. Narrowing means two things: zooming in on progressively smaller and smaller subtopics. And deciding on level and amount of detail. In this overview, must you cover the subtopics in excruciating detail? No, at most you’ll want to cover practicality in moderate detail: readers need enough detail to see that the method actually works. Use the same amount of detail for yield, perhaps citing some comparative studies. But use only light detail for management and costs. You must keep this overview relatively brief and readable. Home hydroponics system: topics
Finishing the ProcessIn the end, try to produce something that is integrated with a real or realistic situation. The questions below can help you do this.
In some outlines, however, you almost don’t notice the chronological pattern. For example, effects come after causes; solutions, after problems; or findings, after research method. The chronological pattern is most important in a research proposal outline: I. Introduction A. Historical background on caffeine studies (past) B. Objectives of the study C. Limitations of the study D. Plan of development II. Review of the literature on caffeine III. Experimental method to be used IV. Results of the tests V. Discussion of the results VI. Summary and conclusions VII. Implications for further research (future) Chronologically, the researcher first defines the problem, the reviews the literature on the problem, plans a research method, conducts the research and gathers data, analyzes the data and draws conclusions from it. Afterward, she may consider areas for further research on the problem. At-rest to in-motion sequence. Another common outlining pattern is to start with an object at rest, motionless as if in a photograph, and then to move to a discussion of it in operation, in action as if in a motion picture. II. Basic Components of Wind-Powered Electrical Systems A. Rotor (motionless) B. Generator C. Tower III. Basic Operation of Wind-Powered Electrical Systems A. Wind energy into mechanical energy B. Mechanical energy into electrical (in motion) energy C. Stabilization of electrical energy D. Conversion to household current Specific to general sequence. Some outlines move from a specific, close-up focus to a more general, panoramic focus. They seem to start with a microscope, examining the minute details of a subject, and end with a telescope, considering the subject from a distance in relation to other things. (This pattern can also be reversed.) I. Introduction II. Characteristics of municipal solid waste (MSW) III. Methods of disposal of MSW (microscope) IV. Processing municipal solid waste V. Plant modifications for co-combustion VI. Advantages of co-combusting MSW A. Environmental advantages B. Economic advantages (telescope) VII. Case studies of three co-combustion plants In this next outline, the focus broadens after part III, changing to aspects related to computerized voice recognition technology: I. Introduction II. Human voice production A. The generation of sound B. Factors affecting the human (microscope) voice III. Components of the isolated word recognition system A. The preprocessor B. The feature extractor C. Components in the classification phase D. Decision algorithms IV. Problems with computerized speech recognition A. Accuracy B. Limited vocabulary size C. Privacy V. Applications of voice recognition systems A. Data entry B. Mobility C. Security D. Telephone access E. Devices for the handicapped (telescope) VI. Current availability of speech recognition systems VII. The future of the computerized speech recognition industry Rhetorical sequence. Elements in outlines can also be arranged rhetorically, in other words, according to what is most effective for the reader. Here are some examples of rhetorical patterns:
This list is by no means complete, but you can see that elements in it are arranged according to impact on the reader—that is, the impact the writer would like to have. Here are some excerpts of outlines where these patterns are used. If you have ever studied computer programming, you know that commands like PRINT are simple; variable assignment commands (like LET A = 30), less simple; and FOR-NEXT loop statements, rather complex. If you were outlining a report on fundamental BASIC commands for the beginner, you’d probably start with the simple ones and work your way to the complex:
Simple-to-complex orderIII. USEFUL BASIC COMMANDS A. PRINT B. LET C. IF-THEN D. FOR-NEXT E. DIM An obvious outlining principle is to avoid creating interruptions within an outline sequence. Here’s an example: Outline excerpt with interruptionI. Municipal solid waste generated in the US A. Total amounts of MSW 1. Increases since 1950 2. Projected increases to the year 2000 B. Processing MSW for cocombustion 1. Primary storage 2. Grinding 3. Air sorting 4. Magnetic separating 5. Screening 6. Secondary storage C. Characteristics of MSW 1. Composition of MSW a. food waste b. paper and other rubbish c. non-combustibles 2. Factors affecting energy content a. moisture content b. areas of MSW origination II. Power plant modifications for co-combustion Revised outline excerptI. Municipal solid waste generated in the US A. Total amounts of MSW 1. Increases since 1950 2. Projected increases to the year 2000 B. Characteristics of MSW 1. Composition of MSW a. food waste b. paper and other rubbish c. non-combustibles 2. Factors affecting energy content a. moisture content b. areas of MSW origination II. Processing MSW for co-combustion A. Primary storage B. Grinding C. Air sorting D. Magnetic separating E. Screening F. Secondary storage III. Power plant modifications for co-combustion In the problem version, the municipal solid waste discussion is interrupted by the MSW-processing discussion. A better arrangement would be to discuss MSW fully before going on to the discussion of how it is processed. Use these common arrangement principles to get your topic list into an initial rough order. The rearranged version of the topic list shown previously might look this way: I. Historical background A. Rising energy, utility costs B. Search for alternatives (review) II. Composition of MSW III. Special components of the co-combustion plant IV. Steps in the co-combustion of MSW V. Economics A. Cost to build or convert B. Cost to operate C. Cost of produced electricity VI. Advantages A. Less coal used B. Reduction of utility rates C. Less landfill used D. Reduction of landfill costs and needs VII. Disadvantages A. Expense of converting existing facilities B. Handling MSW C. Increased emissions Electronic Note-Taking MethodsAs of 2015, the writing-teaching world—at least at the college level and in terms of textbooks—is seriously behind in terms of what it knows and what it teaches about note-taking for major writing projects. Strangely, the very best writing resource on the Internet, the Purdue OWL, has nothing on note-taking. Read the following section Traditional Note-Taking Methods for a review of just what good any note-taking system is. Until we get our act together, consider how the traditional note-taking system is implemented in software applications. A number of software applications are available that support note-taking and related tasks: Evernote, EasyBib, NoodleTools, and more. Their basic functions are similar so let’s use NoodleTools. It has a nice set of YouTube videos that walk you through the main phases of its use. Traditional Note-Taking Process: An OverviewIn the traditional system of taking notes for a long report, you:
When you have taken sufficient notes to cover all parts of an outline, you transcribe the information from the notecards into a rough draft, filling in details, adding transitions, and providing your own acquired understanding of the subject as you write. Naturally, you may discover gaps in your notes and have to go back and take more notes. Developing the Rough DraftAs the section on outlining emphasizes, you must have a working outline before you begin gathering information. The rough outline shows you which specific topics to gather information on and which ones to ignore. Think of the outline as a series of questions. If you don’t have a good, specific outline, the sky is the limit on how many notes you can take. Think of the outline as a set of boxes that you fill up with the information you collect as you do your research for the report: Gathering information and taking notes: you continue gathering information from the various sources until all the boxes are filled.Direct QuotesIn most technical reports, direct quotation is needed only for the following situations:
There are essentially two types of direct quotation: “block” quotations and “running” quotations. Here is an example of a block quotation (any quotation over 3 lines long):
In Myers’ view, the nuclear power industry has every reason to comply with the NRC’s regulations to the very letter: The NRC issues an order to shut down or imposes civil fines only after repeated violations have indicated what the NRC considers “a pattern of non- compliance.” The NRC argues that, particularly with power plants, civil penalties are unnecessary for the most part. “The greatest penalty,” one official said, “is to require the plant to shut down, forcing it to buy replacement power (often at a cost of $100,000 to $200,000 per day) elsewhere. A civil penalty’s largest cost—the NRC is limited to a $5,000-per-violation ceiling per 30 days—is the stigma attached to it.” (8:46) The “stigma” refers to the fact that, once a nuclear power plant is fined, it will likely be the target of public concern and even more stringent and frequent NRC inspection. “Running” quotations are direct quotations that are trimmed down and worked into the regular sentences of a report. Notice how much smoother and more efficient the running quotation is in the revised version below: Ineffective direct quotation: There are two types of light water reactors: the pressurized water reactor and the boiling water reactor. LWRs of both types convert heat to electricity with an efficiency of about 32 percent—significantly less than the best fossil-fueled plants, although about equal to the national average for all thermal electricity generation [13:438]. As for harnessing the energy potential of uranium, LWRs are estimated to average only between 0.5 and 1.0 percent. Revision with running quotation: There are two types of light water reactors: the pressurized water reactor and the boiling water reactor. According to Paul Ehrlich, who has been a consistent critic of nuclear power, both these types of LWRs “convert heat to electricity with an efficiency of about 32 percent—significantly less than the best fossil-fueled plants, although about equal to the national average for all thermal electricity generation” (13:438). As for harnessing the energy potential of uranium, LWRs are estimated to average only between 0.5 and 1.0 percent. Guide for Using Direct QuotesWhen you use direct quotations in your report, keep these guidelines in mind. Using ellipsis in direct quotations. The three dots “…” show that words are omitted from the sentence. The brackets “[ ]” indicate changes made by the writer using the quotation so that it would read as good English and make sense.
ParaphrasingIn technical-report writing, usually the better approach is to paraphrase. When you paraphrase, you convey the information fact-by-fact, idea-by-idea, and point-by-point in your own words. The writer of the original passage ought to be able to read your paraphrase and say that it is precisely what she or he had meant. Paraphrases are necessary and preferable for a number of reasons:
Here is an example of an original passage and its paraphrases, with the unique wording of the original (which must be changed in the paraphrase) underlined. Original passage: About a third of light-water reactors operating or under construction in the United States are boiling-water reactors. The distinguishing characteristic of a BWR is that the reactor vessel itself serves as the boiler of the nuclear steam supply system. This vessel is by far the major component in the reactor building, and the steam it produces passes directly to the turbogenerator. The reactor building also contains emergency core cooling equipment, a major part of which is the pressure suppression pool which is an integral part of the containment structure. . . . . earlier BWRs utilized a somewhat different containment and pressure suppression system. All the commercial BWRs sold in the United States have been designed and built by General Electric. Several types of reactors that use boiling water in pressure tubes have been considered, designed, or built. In a sense, they are similar to the CANDU, described in Chapter 7, which uses pressure tubes and separates the coolant and mo- derator. The CANDU itself can be designed to use boiling light water as its coolant. The British steam-generating heavy-water reactor has such a system. Finally, the principal reactor type now being constructed in the Soviet Union uses a boiling-water pressure tube design, but with carbon moderator. Anthony V. Nero, A Guidebook to Nuclear Reactors, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. Paraphrased version: Boiling water reactors, according to Anthony V. Nero in his Guidebook to Nuclear Reactors, either completed or constructed, make up about one third of the light-water reactors in the U.S. The most important design feature of the BWR is that the reactor vessel itself acts as the nuclear steam supply system. The steam this important component generates goes directly to the turbogenerator. Important, too, in this design is the emergency core cooling equipment, which is housed with the reactor vessel in the reactor building. One of the main components of this equipment is the pressure suppression pool. The containment and pressure suppression system currently used in BWRs has evolved since the early BWR designs. General Electric is the sole designer and builder of these BWRs in the U.S. The different kinds of reactors that use boiling water in pressure tubes are similar to the CANDU, which separates coolant and moderator and uses pressure tubes, also. CANDU can also use boiling light water as a coolant. The British have designed a reactor generated steam from heavy water that uses just such a system. Also, the Soviets have developed and are now building as their main type of reactor a boiling pressure tube design that uses carbon as the moderator. [12:232] Guide for Writing and Using Paraphrases Here are some guidelines to remember when paraphrasing:
SummarySummaries are usually much shorter than their originals. A summary concentrates on only those points or ideas in a passage that are important. Unlike in a paraphrase, the information in a summary can be rearranged. Here is a passage from which summaries below will be taken: Numerous systems are available for controlling abnormalities [in boiling water reactors]. In the event that control rods cannot be inserted, liquid neutron absorber (containing a boron compound) may be injected into the reactor to shut down the chain reaction. Heat removal systems are available for cooling the core in the event the drywell is isolated from the main cooling systems. Closely related to the heat removal systems are injection systems for coping with decreases in coolant inventory. Both abnormalities associated with the turbine system and actual loss of coolant accidents can lead closing of the steam and feedwater lines, effectively isolating the reactor vessel within the drywell. Whenever the vessel is isolated, and indeed whenever feedwater is lost, a reactor core isolation cooling system is available to maintain coolant inventory by pumping water into the reactor via connections in the pressure vessel head. This system operates at normal pressures and initially draws water from tanks that store condensate from the turbine, from condensate from the residual heat removal system, or if necessary, from the suppression pool. A network of systems performs specific ECC [emergency core cooling] functions to cope with LOCAs [loss-of-cool- ant accidents]. (See Figure 6.) These all depend on signals indicating low water level in the pressure vessel or high pressure in the drywell, or both. BWR emergency core cooling systemsThe systems include low-pressure injection, utilization of the RHR system, and high- and low-pressure core spray systems. The high-pressure core spray in intended to lower the pressure within the pressure vessel and provide makeup water in the event of a LOCA. In the event the core is uncovered, the spray can directly cool the fuel assemblies. Water is taken from the condensate tanks and from the suppression pool. On the other hand, should it become necessary to use low-pressure systems, the vessel must be depressurized. This depressurization can be accomplished by opening relief valves to blow down the vessel contents into the drywell (and hence the suppression pool). Once this action is completed, the low-pressure core spray may be used to cool the fuel assemblies (drawing water from the suppression pool) or RHR low-pressure injection (again from the suppression pool) may be initiated, or both. The RHR system may also be used simply to cool the suppression pool. (Two other functions of the RHR are to provide decay heat removal under ordinary shutdown conditions and, when necessary, to supplement the cooling system for the spent fuel pool and the upper containment pool.) Anthony V. Nero, A Guidebook to Nuclear Reactors, Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1979, pp. 104-107. Sentence-length summaries. Often summaries are only a sentence long. To create sentence-length summaries, use one or a combination of the following methods:
Extended summaries. A summary can be longer than a single sentence because of the important information contained in the original passage. (Remember, however, that a paraphrase is a point-by-point recap of the original, while the summary is a selection, reordering and condensation of the original.) Guide for Using Summaries Whenever you summarize, you must handle the resulting summary the same way you would a direct quotation or paraphrase.
PlagiarismIf you follow the guidelines presented in the preceding, plagiarism should not be a problem at all, but make sure you understand what it is. Reports with plagiarized information are often easy to spot for several reasons:
Plagiarism is bad business: the plagiarizer can fail an academic course or lose his or her reputation among business and professional associates. It only takes simple documentation to transform a report with plagiarized material in it into one with legally borrowed material. The section on documentation explains these procedures in detail. |