Research Notes 2/28/12

• Research is the world's biggest industry
• Research reported in writing is the source of what we most believe
• research is different than an opinion
• it is okay to be skeptical of the research you read
• What then is it? --- in 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 you Reader
• research is a conversation
• research can be like a bad classroom experience
• you must think of your reader as someone who doesnt know it but needs to and yourself as someone who will give her reason to want to know it
• "ive found something new and its interesting"
• "The things ive found are going to help you to solve a problem"
• even if you dont have an audience right now, you must write as if you do.  You must present yourself as interested in, even ethusiastic
• always write with an audience in mind
• tehir more common role is that they help to understand something better

Three Role of a Researcher:

• I have information for you
• I can help you fix a problem
• I can help you understand something better 

• Undersanding the audience
• you must understand what they want
• you meet your end of the bargain when you share whatever would interest them
• you are concerened with a 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 my readers respond to the solution in my main chain?