Academic vs. Workplace Research

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來自 Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology 的課程

Technical Writing

33 個評分

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

Technical Writing

33 個評分

課程 4（共 5 門，Specialization English for Research Publication Purposes）

The course develops technical writing skills necessary to communicate information gained through a process of technical or experimental work. The course highlights the factors that determine the degree of technicality of the language and concepts involved. You will learn how to write different technical reports, e.g., laboratory reports, research reports, design and feasibility reports, progress reports, consulting reports, etc. The course also approaches several language, structure, style, and content issues that you can encounter while reporting the results of your research.

從本節課中

Module III: Researching Your Subject

This module will help you develop an enhanced understanding of such types of technical documentation as feasibility and recommendation reports, instructions as well as laboratory research. The module covers issues related to various types of academic and workplace research. The focus is on acquiring the best available information – the most accurate, most unbiased, most comprehensive, and most current.

Introductory video0:36

Academic vs. Workplace Research4:11

Conducting Secondary Research7:06

Primary Research12:35

與講師見面

Elena Bazanova
Director of the Language Training and Testing Center
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

Although academic research and workplace research can overlap,

in most cases they differ in their goals and their methods.

In academic research,

your goal is to find information that will help answer a scholarly question.

What would be the effect of the trade balance between the United States and

China if China lowered the value of its currency by 10%?

Academic research questions are often more abstract than applied.

That is, they get at the underlying principles of a phenomenon.

Academic research usually requires extensive secondary research,

reading scholarly literature, and academic journals and books.

If you do primary research, as scientists do in labs,

you do so after extensive secondary research.

In work place research,

your goal is to find information to help you answer a practical question.

Should we replace our sales staff's notebook computers with tablets?

Workplace research questions frequently focus on improving a situation

at a particular organization.

These questions call for considerable primary research because they require

that you learn about your own organization's processes and

how the people in your organization would response to your ideas.

Different research questions require different research methods.

Once you have determined the question you need to answer, think about the various

research techniques that you could use to answer them.

For example, your research methods for finding out how a current situation

is expected to change would differ from your research methods for

finding out how well a product might work for your organization.

That is, if you want to know how outsourcing will

change the computer supported industry over the next 10,

20 years, you might search for long range predictions in journals,

in magazines and on reputable websites and blogs.

By contrast, if you want to figure out whether a specific

scanner will produce the quality of scan that you need, or

will function reliable, you might do the same kind of secondary search.

And then observe the operation of the scanner at the vendor's site

scheduled product demos at your site.

Follow up the interviewing others in your company and perform an experiment

in which you try two different scanners and analyze their results.

The table you will see in a moment provides a good starting point

of thinking about how to acquire the information you need.

You're likely to find your research plan changes as you conduct your research.

You might find that you need more than one methods to get the information you need or

the one method you thought would work doesn't.

Still, having a plan can help you discover the most appropriate methods more

quickly and efficiently.

What is the theory behind this process of technique?

>> How do greenhouse gases contribute to global warming?

>> What is the history of this phenomenon?

>> When and how did engineers first try to extract shale oil?

>> What techniques are being used now to solve this problem?

>> How are companies responding to the federal government's new laws

on health-insurance portability?

>> How is the current situation expected to change?

>> What changes will outsourcing queries in the computer support industry

over the next 10 to 20 years?

>> What products are available to perform a task or provide a service?

>> Which vendors are available to upgrade and maintain our company's websites?

>> What are the strengths and weaknesses of compiling products and services?

>> Which portable GPS system is the lightest?

>> Which product or service do experts recommend?

>> Which four wheel drive SUV offers the best combination of features and

quality for our needs?

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