Scientific and Technical Communication: Theory, Practice and Policy

U.S. Government Publications

The United States government publishes documents on subjects ranging from household cleansers to the detection of cosmic rays, and at reading levels from pre-school to graduate school. As a scientific and technical communicator, you may find valuable government documents in many areas -- space science, the environment, health concerns, social issues and education, to name a few.

The U.S. government is the world's largest publisher, a fact which becomes evident by a glance at the government documents section in any library which collects government documents. There are roughly 1400 official depositories of government documents located throughout the United States. Of these, the best coverage is offered by fifty regional depositories (one in each state) which contain everything distributed by the Government Printing Office. The rest are selective depositories -- and hold about 20-25% of the materials in regional depositories.

The problem government documents present researchers is not only their sheer quantity; it is also their organization. Government documents are classified according to their own call number system -- and it is based not on subject, but the particular agency from which a given document originates. For instance, two articles on "energy awareness," which would otherwise be found side by side, might, if they are government documents, be found in separate sections -- The Department of Energy and the Department of Education, for instance. Increasingly, libraries are including government documents in their own computerized card catalogues, making the search easier. Still, there is a need for overviews.

The Monthly Catalog of Government Publications is the most useful general guide to government documents. It is indexed annually, and has a CD-ROM counterpart -- GPO on SilverPlatter.

National Economic, Social and Environmental Data (NESE) contains a great deal of information on a wide variety of topics, among them health data, industrial outlook, toxins in the community, and education statistics.

The Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS) provides access to many government documents, articles, and transcripts of speeches. A PAIS CD-ROM search for keywords "dolphin and tuna" yields three citations. We call up the first, and are greeted not only with a reference, but with an abstract.

Boreman, Stephen M. Dolphin-safe tuna: what's in a label?: the killing of dolphins in the eastern tropical Pacific and the case for an international legal solution. Natural Resources Journal. 32:425-47 Summer 1992

Shortcomings of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 in terms of protection of dolphins from tuna fishermen; proposes a regional multilateral convention to protect the dolphins and preserve tuna fishery.

Subject headings: 1. Tuna fish industry - Environmental aspects. 2. United States - Environmental policy. 3. Marine mammals - Conservation. 4. Marine resources - Conservation.

Private industry is concerned with intellectual property, especially patents -- that is, grants made by a government to an inventor which assures her of the right to exclude others from making, using or selling her invention. Those of you who enter the engineering professions will be expected to find patents. Fortunately, the U.S. government keeps records on every patent it issues, and such information is readily available from several sources. The most useful general guide is the Official Gazette of the U.S. Patent Office, which contains abstracts of all U.S. patents. There are various indexes to the guide -- the most useful being Indexes to the Patent Gazette and Patentee/Assignee Index. Complete descriptions of patents may be obtained from Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Washington DC 20231.

Databases and Electronic Networks

Databases are collections of references stored electronically and accessible electronically. Online databases are connected to telephone lines or fiber-optic cables and accessible from any attached computer terminal. Databases may be categorized as bibliographic, tabular, directory and full-text.

Bibliographic databases are lists of titles and publishing information on a given subject; The Turing Institute Artificial Intelligence Database, for instance, provides citations with abstracts to materials on artificial intelligence.

Tabular databases are numerical data; the electronic version of the Journal of Fluid Engineering is largely presentations of numbers with little or no accompanying text.

Directory databases are lists of names and addresses; the University of Wisconsin has a database listing the names and addresses of its faculty.

Full-text databases offer entire articles, even entire journals and serials; TIME magazine became accessible via database in September, 1993.

In 1979 there were 300 databases; by July of 1993 the number had increased by a factor of seventeen -- to 5,210. The Gale Directory of Databases offers general listings and some useful accompanying narrative; it contains a geographic index, a subject index and a master index. It is itself available electronically through the online services Data-Star, ORBIT Search Service and Questel. And what is perhaps most important in an area as quickly changing as this, it is published semi-annually. For our report we search Gale's index for the keyword "environment." We discover an entry for Oceanic Abstracts -- a database containing "more than 225,000 citations to the worldwide literature on oceanography and marine-related aspects of other sciences."

The Internet

The Internet is a group of global computer networks, including wide-area networks like the National Science Foundation Net (NSFNET) and local networks like The University at Austin network (UTnet). And although most participating networks are in the United States, they exist too in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. Precise numbers as to Internet users are difficult to determine; but as this text goes to press, the Internet connects at least 30,000 systems and 2.5 million computers belonging to private corporations, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, schools and universities, and individuals.

The Internet allows degrees of access which vary in power, cost and complexity. The least expensive and simplest provides access to electronic mail services. The most expensive and complex allows access to databases worldwide. Many university libraries provide online services to students and faculty.

The Cold War Beginnings of the Internet

In the 1960s the Pentagon devised a plan for a command-control system that would operate during or after a nuclear war -- when all conventional communication hubs (like telephone switching offices and radio and television stations) would have been destroyed. The solution was a fantastically complex electronic communications network with no hub, no central switching station, no governing authority. And that communications network has become the basis for the Internet. The data lines that form the main artery of the Internet were constructed by the National Science Foundation. At present, its maintenance costs are shared among universities, national laboratories and various corporations.

Through Internet you can retrieve free software, see the card catalogue of the Library of Congress, or a list of 1994 recipients of grants from the National Science Foundation, view NASA satellite images, and send messages to world's foremost authorities on suspension bridges. The possibilities can be astonishing; for instance, the University of Virginia system allows a connection to library catalogs at academic institutions worldwide. On the screen appear:

Catalogs organized by location

1. Americas/
2. Asia and Pacific/
3. Europe and Middle-East/
4. South Africa/
5. unknown/

Selecting "2. Asia and Pacific," will produce a screen listing, by country, libraries which may be connected to Internet -- beginning with the "Australian Bibliographic Network" and continuing through "Deakin University." But the system by its own admission is far from foolproof. Choose "Cumberland College of Health Sciences at the University of Sydney," and there appears:

Warning!!!!!, you are about to leave the Internet Gopher program and connect to another host. If you get stuck press the control key and the ] key, and then type quit

Beginning users of Internet are encouraged to consult the FAQ, a file of Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) soon after they sign on. Most Internet services have their own FAQ file. Unix is the computer language of the Internet, and a user will move much more easily if she learns at least some basic commands.

The World Wide Web

The World Wide Web (commonly called "The Web") is a system of interfaces which allow easy access to the Internet. These interfaces are called "protocols" and "standards"; the most common are HTTP, FTP, Gopher and telnet. Retrieved information is displayed as documents which may contain text, still graphics, audio files and/or video. It is the fastest growing research system in human history. According to one estimate, by 1998 it will have 22 million users.

An especially useful feature of the Web is hypertext -- text which is linked to other documents. On most screens hypertext is differentiated from ordinary text in that it is underlined or colored. A user may point and click on hypertext and call up the related or "linked" document or documents. The following is the first screen from the Website of the National Science Foundation.

Finding particular information on the Web is made easier with search engines -- electronic indexes. As of this writing, there are over twenty-five search engines. They do not necessarily index the same information, although in any given case there is likely to be overlap. The search engines described here are those most useful to research in science and engineering.

OPEN TEXT (http://opentext.uunet.ca:8080/omw.html)

This database has been online since 1995. It has one million items, and indexes URLs, URL references and full text. It is updated weekly. It offers four types of searches: 1) Simple Search, which allows basic searching of terms and phrases, 2) Power Search, which allows the user to select subject fields to search, 3) Weighted Search, which allows the user to assign a numeric weight to terms and to order the results by either the sum of occurrences of such terms or by the number of different terms appearing in each record, and 4) Find Similar Pages, which uses the most used words to find pages with the same words.

ALTA VISTA (http://altavista.digital.com)

This search engine also became available in 1995. It contains a full index of over 13,000 news groups updated in real time.

LYCOS (http://www.lycos.com)

Lycos has over five million items. It indexes URLs and URL references, titles, headings and subheadings, the first 20 lines of text and the 100 most weighty words. Results are ranked in order of relevancy, and the items in the result can be accessed by direct link.

INKTOMI (http://inktomi.berkeley.edu)

This engine was also released in 1995. It contains 2.8 million documents. A search query may have up to ten words; results are ranked according to how many of these words a document contains. When making a search query, a user may indicate that a word must be present by preceding it with a plus sign (+), or that it must be absent by preceding it with a minus sign (-).

MAGELLAN (http://www.mckinley.com)

Magellan contains listings for 1.5 million sites, over 40,000 of which are fully reviewed. Unlike many databases, Magellan is edited: the Magellan staff includes an in-house group of subject specialists working in coordination with an editorial board. It allows Boolean logic searching and ranks search results. Each hit shows the name of the site, its rating, a partial or full description, and a link labeled "Review." The database will soon be available in French, German, and Japanese.

YAHOO (http://www.yahoo.com)

Yahoo was one of the first indexes to be developed. It lists over 600,000 items, updated daily. Users may search by title, URL or comments; searchers may use Boolean logic. Importantly, it has links to other Web databases, including OpenText and Lycos.

THE INTERNET PUBLIC LIBRARY (http://ipl.sils.unmich.edu/)

Allows access to online reference librarians.

Using Netscape, we perform a search with the keywords "tuna and dolphin." The screen shows a list of sites -- most involving advertisements for fishing expeditions. One, however, is called "Cetacean Society International." We click on it, and there appears:

The appropriate entry may be the one titled "Urgent Action Needed to Save Dolphins: The Tuna/Dolphin Debate Heats Up." We click on it, and are presented with a relevant article.

We offer some general advice for using these search engines. It may be necessary to use more than one engine to retrieve the most relevant information. Also, it is important to read the engine's search instructions carefully and to design your search so that it uses the engine effectively. Finally, the Web's disadvantages are that it is chaotic and in places unreliable. Unlike documents published by more traditional means, many documents appearing on the Web arrived there without the approval of an editorial board. There are no enforceable standards for content: the information you see may be inaccurate, outdated or simply wrong. For all these reasons, it is prudent to consider the Internet a supplement for more traditional research tools, not a replacement for them.

Information Services

Most databases are large. MathSci Disc is a comprehensive database of the world's literature on mathematics and its applications in a wide range of disciplines -- statistics, computer science and engineering -- all in all, 1.7 million citations. U.S. Patents is a database of 1.4 million citations, with abstracts to U.S. patents and similar documents issued since 1971. Even databases that are small by database standards are large by print standards. For instance, STREAMLINE: Australia's National Resources Database contains 25,000 citations, with abstracts, to Australian literature and research reports on water and wastewater use, and natural resource management in general.

Using databases is expensive. Because most people acquire their electronic network accounts from companies, research laboratories and universities, they may not realize that on-line information services charge considerable fees. Organizations pay upwards of $40,000 per year for access to a given database. For instance, NASA produces the Aerospace Database, a bibliographic file containing 1.8 million citations with abstracts, to worldwide literature (published and unpublished) regarding aerospace and related fields. Obviously the information is of great value to, for instance, an airplane design firm. But for smaller firms at least, the price is prohibitive: $90/connect hour (that is, the hour during which the user is connected to the database). If you know exactly what you are looking for, you can get in and get out quickly and cheaply. But 1.8 million citations -- no matter how well organized -- require most users to spend a lot of time orienting themselves even before they begin a search in earnest.

In recent years there have appeared services who profit from these avalanches of information -- services who are able to navigate quickly and efficiently through databases -- and who contract themselves to others. SEARCHLINE, Inc., for instance, specializes in comprehensive and/or unconventional literature searches in chemistry, engineering, biomedicine, environmental science and law, and boasts access to major databases and specialized databases within these fields. The best single source for identifying such services is the 1993 Information Industry Directory -- a descriptive guide to more than 5000 organizations, services and systems involved in the production and distribution of information in electronic form. Also included are library internets, online services and design consultants.

Specialists

At sometime in your career, you will require information which can be provided only from a single source -- a local pharmacist, a small engine manufacturer, or a government agency. First, decide who is likely to supply you with the best information. Perhaps you require an authority; but appreciate that she need not be internationally recognized. The local yellow pages are names and telephone numbers of authorities, many as capable as information sources as those with more prestigious backgrounds. It is a good idea to call first -- ask the organization who is most qualified; you may find that you need speak only with an assistant manager, not a vice president. Because it may be necessary to address the question to a receptionist, be prepared, before you make the call, to offer a rough description of your needs. And because a receptionist may not understand your question if it is specialized, you should be able to phrase it colloquially. If the information you require is specific and easily described, and if you would like a record of your communication, you may wish to contact the source by letter.

Sooner or later you will need to learn who a specialist is, and where she is. For finding specific people, there are several sources.

Who's Who in Science and Engineering offers brief biographies and places of employment for eminent scientists and engineers, but the list is by no means exhaustive.

Directory of American Scholars offers the same for eminent scholars from all fields including science and engineering. Unfortunately, it is dated; the most recent edition was published in 1982.

National Faculty Directory is an alphabetical list, with addresses, of over 600,000 members of teaching faculties at universities and two and four-year colleges in the United States and Canada. Although it offers no descriptions and so cannot be used to identify authorities (it is compiled from course catalogues and class schedules), it is useful mostly because it is current.

The Biography and Genealogy Master Index is probably the single most useful in reference in finding information about eminent figures in all areas (including science and technology). It identifies 450,000 biographical sketches in almost one hundred current and retrospective biographical dictionaries. It too, is published annually. Like all references to references, it may not give you the answer, but it will show you where to find the answer.

The Research Centers Directory is a guide to nearly 13,000 nonprofit research organizations carrying on continuing programs in a range of fields. If you have questions regarding a specific field, but no need for a particular person, consider research organizations: many are funded by private contributions, and are pleased to oblige inquiries if for no other reason than because such communication enhances the image they present to the public.

Electronic Discussions

Increasingly, Internet services are allowing users to derive specific information from specialists quickly and unceremoniously. Users are sending inquiries regarding specific topics to electronic discussion lists -- a practice with many advantages over letters. An electronic inquiry will reach a vast audience; some lists have readerships in the thousands, allowing the inquiry to become, in effect, a mass-mailing. Further, an electronic inquiry may use a personal and/or casual tone which invites response. Finally, electronic inquiries are fast: a message may move from the United States to Europe in as little as ten seconds.

How to find an electronic discussion? Many online services ask the user for keywords, which it matches to various lists. A more comprehensive search might begin with The Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists (1993), which lists addresses and gives brief descriptions of 240 journals and newsletters, and 1152 discussion lists. The discussion lists, in particular, offer a ready audience -- many are by their own definition informal, and so invite participation from non-specialists. For our paper we might send a query to ENV-LINK +@ANDREW.CMU.ED, which offers "free information for environmentalists around the world and discussion of matters both profound and mundane, reflecting a shared set of core environmental issues."

Interviews

There are several situations in which you may need to request an interview. Perhaps you need general information before you can even begin to ask detailed question. Perhaps you need a kind of extended narrative -- a whole story regarding an organization's product, public relations, or its history within the community. The dolphin/tuna paper might be enhanced by the perspective of a tuna packager. Standard and Poor's Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives provides addresses, phone numbers and names of chief executive officers for major U.S. corporations. Although you may be unable to speak with management, you may be able to interview one of the public relations staff.

1) Consider a telephone interview. It may be more convenient for you and your subject -- who will appreciate your consideration of his time. Disadvantages are that you are denied visual signals and everything that personal contact allows. For many reasons a personal interview is likely to elicit more candid responses: your subject will of necessity give you her full attention, you will have to make eye contact, you will probably shake hands -- in other words, your subject will regard you not as a disembodied voice, but as a person.

2) Make thorough preparations. Appreciate that the representative is giving freely of her time (and her organization's), and that you stand a much better chance of getting what you need when you have a strategy. Have ready not merely a list of questions, but a structure within which the list is ordered. Have a general idea of the directions you would like the interview to take, and do not allow your subject to dissuade you without good cause. Occasionally a subject will depart from the subject for no reason more sinister than he likes to talk. Try to return him to the issues without telling him he is rambling. Do not say, for instance, "Excuse me, but could we get back to the point?" Instead, say "I'd like to hear your thoughts on the viability of decreasing dolphin mortality by limiting fishing to daylight hours."

3) Do everything you can to ensure that your records are accurate. If you use a tape recorder, make sure the subject knows. Otherwise, take accurate notes. Unless you know shorthand, it will be impossible for you to transcribe everything your subject says. Listen for particularly important details you might use as direct quotes, and do not hesitate to ask your subject to repeat a statement -- both of you will want accuracy. Other parts you will have to summarize. Knowing the difference is a skill which is developed over time, but common sense and awareness will greatly assist even a first-time interviewer.

4) Ask questions that are provocative and (if possible) original. Do not ask questions whose answers might be supplied in elsewhere -- in, for instance, an organization's promotional brochure, a scholar's book, or a manufacturer's training manual. Your subject may suspect that you have not done your homework. If your subject is candid, she might suggest that you are wasting her time; and if your subject is less direct and perhaps overly polite, she will nonetheless grow bored, her thoughts may wander, and her answers are likely to become clichéd and unconsidered.

Poor interviewers engage their subject in what is sometimes called "cross-talking"; they ask questions which elicit responses that seem almost programmed. For instance, a poor interviewer might ask: "Do you think that your company's policies with regard to environmental concerns are sound?" The subject is likely to answer in the affirmative, and offer a few paragraphs quoted directly from a published policy manual. Good interviewers, on the other hand, phrase questions likely to elicit thoughtful answers. A good interviewer might rephrase the same question as "What conflicts do you see arising between your policies and local environmental concerns?"

5) If you challenge your subject, do it carefully. Particularly if your work is investigative and/or if you need to approach areas that an organization may regard as sensitive or controversial, phrase your questions with some attention to their probable reception. Do not ask: "How is it possible for your firm to perform anything like objective research in pest control when your work is largely funded by a pesticide manufacturer?" Instead, say: "Your work here is funded in part by Little Mermaid Corporation -- a major marketer of tuna. Does this present difficulties for the objectivity of your research?"

6) Understand that your work is not over when the interview ends. Look at your notes and transcribe them into readable text as soon after the interview as possible. The longer you wait, the less you will remember. If you intend to release a transcript of your interview the public, and if it contains controversial information, be certain your quotes are accurate and not taken out of context. In some cases you may want to show the subject your transcript.

Finally, appreciate that your source -- however authoritative -- is not objective. Recheck figures she supplied, observe biases and try to account for them in any conclusions you draw.

Reporting Research

Much of this text devotes itself to strategies for reporting scientific and technical information. This section is limited to concerns particular to reporting the results of formal research.

Accuracy and Cross-Referencing

It may be human nature to assume that printed information is accurate information. But indexes may be incomplete, abstracts may misrepresent the document they claim to summarize objectively, and as a cross-reference of relatively straightforward numerical data often shows, almanacs may not agree even on numbers that would seem incontrovertible. As a researcher, you have an obligation to cross-check, the better to qualify your assertions. But cross-checking can take time even for professional librarians, and if a given article is already top-heavy with factual information, you may be inclined to remove some of it rather than try to confirm it. If you decide that you are really overwhelmed by data, you may want to prioritize things. First, determine which is most crucial to your argument. Then, check and re-check that data. Finally, retailor your argument so that it rests upon the data which you have confirmed. You may implicitly absolve yourself of responsibility for information that is not cross-checked by mentioning the source in the text. For instance: "Terwilliger claims that for every hundred pounds of tuna processed, a dolphin is killed." You have gotten the basic point across -- that dolphins are destroyed to catch tuna -- and you have allowed the weight of the responsibility for the specifics of the claim to fall upon Terwilliger.

Formatting and Citation

Scholarly reference lists and bibliographies include standard information about any given work. For books: name of author(s), title, volume number (in the case of multi-volume works), edition, place of publication, press, date of publication. For articles in periodicals: name of author(s), title, periodical, volume number, issue number, date of publication and pages on which the article may be found.

As a student, you may become familiar with the style of your own discipline -- probably your papers are required to follow the appropriate style (that is, methods for citation, punctuation, etc.) Every discipline has an associated society which publishes guidelines for citation called style manuals. Be certain your citations appear in the right place, and appreciate that it is wholly proper to place a citation anywhere in a sentence. Phrases like the following require citation immediately thereafter: recent findings (cite), a motion study (cite), earlier results (cite).

Copyrights and Permissions

Copyright is, quite literally, the right to copy, and copyright is a possession which can be held, bought, sold and willed to heirs. The United States Copyright Act of 1978 Copyright protects "original works of authorship." And although the act defines those works broadly (they may include artwork and computer software), this discussion will limit itself to written material. The author holds the copyright for her entire life and for fifty years after her death. Beyond that date, the work may be copied by anyone; legally, it has entered the "public domain." A work is copyrighted without being printed, typed or notarized; even a few words scrawled on a napkin are protected. However, a published work is better protected if it includes a notice of copyright: such notice should appear on the first page or one of the first pages of a work. It includes the word "copyright" or an abbreviation, the year of publication and the name of the copyright owner; for instance: "David Toomey and Jim Collier, Copyright 1996." And a published work which is registered is better protected against lawsuits. An application and information concerning registration may be obtained from Register of Copyrights, Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington DC 20559. You may register a document by returning the completed application, with a fee and two copies of the document, to the same address.

Copyright, of course, may be surrendered; and often an author surrenders copyright of an article to the publisher who prints the article. Most journals contain a notice of their practices in this respect. If a work was produced under contract with an employer, the employer -- not the author -- owns the copyright. The copyright of work for hire is valid for 75 years beyond publication. And as mentioned above, work produced by the U.S. government is not protected by copyright.

The fair use doctrine allows copying, without permission, for purposes of criticism, commentary, and research. To various degrees, copyright is international. The United States is a member of several international copyright conventions which protect works produced in several foreign countries. The phrase "All rights reserved" is a standard copyright notice in many nations. Should you have specific questions in this regard, see the U.S. government document "In Answer to Your Query; International Copyright" (1992).

In an article written for a class, you need to concern yourself with proper citation; you do not need to be concerned with copyright and permissions. But a text you intend to publish is about to enter a more public arena -- and a more legal one. To cite the author in a footnote and/or in the paper's works cited section is sufficient when the quote is a few words or a sentence. To quote a passage of more than about one hundred words, you should obtain permission. The good news is that permission is not difficult to gain: you merely make a written request to the owner of the copyright -- whose name should appear on the bottom of the first page if the work is an article, and in the prefatory material if the work is a book. Most publishers deal with permissions routinely. Large publishers have entire staffs whose specific purview is permissions, and even small presses deal often with such requests. Rarely are they denied. Typically, a copyright owner answers a request by sending a blank form asking for information like passage to be quoted, and place quoted material will appear.

Dear Permissions Editor:

I am preparing a text to be published by 21st Century Publishers, Inc.

Title (tentative): _______________________

Publication Date (tentative): ______

Approximate Length (in pages): ______

Binding (soft/hard cover): ____________

Price (tentative): ______

I request permission to reprint the following materials in this edition and in all future revisions and editions thereof:

Author: __________________________

Title/Edition: ___________________

Selection: ____________

Page number(s): _________

I request permission for:

non-exclusive English language rights in the United States and Canada

non-exclusive English language rights throughout the world

non-exclusive rights in all languages

By signing and returning one copy of this request, you warrant that you are sole owner of these rights, and that these rights do not infringe upon the copyright or any other rights of any person or entity.

Sincerely,

David Toomey
Jim Collier

__________ ________
Signature Date

A Final Word

Libraries are equipped with an especially valuable resource: librarians. They are trained to assist you, and are likely to complete a search quickly and successfully. Although you should appreciate librarians, appreciate also that too great a reliance upon them will waste your time and theirs. And as your expertise grows, you will pass the point at which a librarian (whose training is, after all, only generalized), can help you. But when you do get help from a librarian, look at more than the goal. Observe the path you took to get there, ask questions about the references used and references not used. And think ahead; imagine what references you might need later, and ask about them. You have heard the proverb "Give me a fish and you've fed me for a day; teach me to fish and you've fed me for a lifetime." Librarians can give you a fish; but if you let them, they can also teach you to fish.

The volume of information available is increasing at a great rate -- and shows no sign of slowing. This, and the proliferation of new means to access that information, can overwhelm even the most industrious researcher. You can anticipate and prevent this circumstance by spending a few hours exploring the library's reference section. Not only will you have discovered the odd and interesting fact; you will have gained a sense of the library's arrangement that will avail you when you do not have as much leisure. Still, at some point you are likely to be daunted. And when that happens, return to where you started: ready reference, the librarian, and your common sense.

Discussion

1. Consider and discuss the assertion "Information is not knowledge, and knowledge is not wisdom." If you agree, you might give an example of each category, and explain their differences.

2. Where, in the imaginary research paper discussed in this chapter, would the researchers have had difficulty gaining information?

3. In his book Technopoly, Neil Postman reports that an early critique of writing warned that its users "will cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful; they will rely on writing to bring things to their remembrance by external signs instead of by their own internal resources." How might the same critique be leveled against electronic means of research -- CD-ROMs, databases, electronic card catalogues, etc.? Or, how might such technologies be seen as actually assisting a researcher's "internal resources"?

Exercises

1. Make a set of directions and an accompanying map to the reference section of your library. Be sure to include locations of ready references, shelves of periodical indexes and computer terminals through which databases may be accessed.

2. Choose a specialized topic suitable for a research paper. Take one from your field, or invent one from any field. Compose a one-page bibliography in the style of the appropriate manual. (Style manuals for many fields in science and engineering are listed in Chapter Twelve: Scientific Articles and Abstracts. For the convenience of your instructor, attach to your assignment a sample "works cited" page from that manual.)

3. In groups, list the references you would use to locate each entry. For several, there is more than one path. (All answers are references or strategies mentioned in this chapter. Those marked by an asterisk will require you to begin with a general reference to identify a more specific reference. Those marked by two asterisks may require two or more references, as well as some elementary algebra.)

4. Evaluate the performance of the search engines discussed above by conducting the same search through each. Here are three problems and their best answers:

Problem: You know that the Journal of Biological Chemistry is on the Internet, but you do not know how to find it. (Best answer: The URL for Journal of Biological Chemistry Online.)

Problem: You need a comprehensive site on crystallography. (Best answer: The URL or link to Crystallography World Wide.)

Problem: You need general information on protein synthesis. (Best answer: articles in several online journals and a link to Protein Data Bank.)

Phased Exercise #3

Groups will design research strategies based upon suggestions of this chapter. Each group will present a list of sources to be investigated -- giving attention to limitations of time and resources: each use should be accompanied by brief justification.

References

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Conducting Research
Chapter 4: Part 2

David M. Toomey with James H. Collier

Book Contents

Chapter 4: Part 2

Conducting Research Chapter 4: Part 2

David M. Toomey with James H. Collier

Book Contents

Chapter 4: Part 2

Conducting Research
Chapter 4: Part 2