Researching Secondary Sources

You may need secondary as well as primary sources to research information in order to create a technical document. While primary sources such as  interviews with engineers, programmers, technicians, or practitioners in the field about which you’re writing yield good information, they also depend on people’s availability and willingness to participate. Secondary research provides additional analysis and interpretation of data. You may use only primary research, only secondary research, or more often a combination of primary and secondary research for a technical writing project, depending on its purpose and audience.

Finding Secondary Sources

You need to know how to use keywords and databases in order to efficiently find secondary sources.

Keywords

You use keywords already when you do a basic Google search—you figure out what you want to search for and put in a few specific terms. For the most part, you probably use nouns and eliminate verbs, adjectives, and small linking words. If you want to know how birds are affected by wind turbines, for example, you most likely type in birds wind turbines. Those are key words. As you identify key words, it may be useful to think of synonyms for—and more specific versions of—those words in case you don’t find exactly what you’re looking for with your initial key words. Know that you can manipulate key words to focus your research when you use both Google Scholar and research databases, and know that you can add words to specify your search strategy.

Databases

Your college library or your workplace should have a link to search databases. Database searches use additional words, called “Boolean operators,” to specify what you are searching for; operators show connections between your search terms and help you specify your search. Boolean operators are and, or, and not. You can also add quotation marks to search for exact words or phrases.

  • Use and to narrow a search. For example, if you search for “vegetables” and “genetically modified,” you will only get results that include both of these search terms (as opposed to getting results that deal with just one or the other).
  • Use or to broaden your search. For example, if you search for “vegetables” or “genetically modified,” you may get some results that include both, but may get other results that include articles on genetically modified fruits, meats, and other items.
  • Use not to leave things out of your search. For example, if you search for “vegetables” not broccoli and “genetically modified,” you will get results that may include a variety of articles on genetically-modified vegetables but will exclude articles that mention broccoli.

Databases also have options to limit your search to peer-reviewed articles, articles within a specific time frame, or articles from a specific type of source or publication.

The video below presents tips for using library databases.

Evaluating Secondary Sources

Evaluate sources in different ways, at different points of the technical writing process.

Evaluate Sources as you Find Them – Initial Evaluation

  • Consider the publication in which you found the source. It is a publication that tries to present information objectively, without overt bias?
  • Is the date of the information appropriate for your research?
  • Does the author cite the sources of their own information?
  • After a quick skim or scan, ask whether the source directly relates to your research focus. If so, set the source aside to read more fully. If not, eliminate it.

Manage Sources as you Skim and Evaluate

You may want to use a graphic organizer to help you manage sources as you find them. It might look like this (adapted from the video, How to Create your Research Log).[1]

Keywords Used Title of Source Author Date of Source Date Accessed & Link for Online Sources Content Summary Use or Not Use? Why or Why Not?

If you record basic information, you should be able to move forward more easily in your research. A graphic organizer also helps you re-locate and re-assess the source when it’s time to read it more fully. Here’s a downloadable word version of a table for Source Management.

Fuller Evaluation

If your source fulfills the criteria in the initial evaluation, then read the source more fully and critically. Consider the author’s purpose. Consider the logic and completeness of the author’s information. Consider the quality of the author’s own sources. Overall, ensure that your source provides the information you need in a clear, reasonable way.

The video below discusses how to evaluate information in researched texts.

The following table specifies questions to ask to evaluate secondary sources for technical writing tasks.

Table 1. Evaluate the authority, content, and purpose of information

Authority
Researchers
Authors
Creators

Who are the researchers/authors/creators? Who is their intended audience?

What are their credentials/qualifications? What else has this author written?

Is this research funded? By whom? Who benefits?

Who has intellectual ownership of this idea? How do I cite it?

Where is this source published? What kind of publication is it?

Authoritative Sources: written by experts for a specialized audience, published in peer-reviewed journals or by respected publishers, and containing well-supported, evidence-based arguments.

Popular Sources: written for a general (or possibly niche) public audience, often in an informal or journalistic style , published in newspapers, magazines, and websites with a purpose of entertaining or promoting a product; evidence is often “soft” rather than hard.

Content

Methodology

What is the methodology of their study? Or how has evidence been collected?

Is the methodology sound? Can you find obvious flaws?

What is its scope? Does it apply to your project? How?

How recent and relevant is it? What is the publication date or last update?

Data

Is there sufficient data here to support their claims or hypotheses?

Do they offer quantitative and/or qualitative data?

Are visual representations of the data misleading or distorted in some way?

Purpose
Intended Use and Intended Audience

Why has this author presented this information to this audience?

Why am I using this source?

Will using this source bolster my credibility or undermine it?

Am I cherry picking, or using inadequate or unrepresentative data that only supports my position (and ignores substantial amount of data that contradicts it)?

Could cognitive bias be at work here? Have I only consulted the kinds of sources I know will support my idea? Have I failed to consider alternative kinds of sources?

Am I representing the data I have collected accurately?

Are the data statistically relevant or significant?

 

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHXNJW5xeew&t=394s  Rojas, Icess Fernandez. How to Create Your Research Log. YouTube video.