Types of Sources

Research involves collecting, sorting, and analyzing the information and data you find. Strong research involves using appropriate tools and comprehensive techniques. The stronger your research is, the more credible your technical document will be.

Articles published in academic and professional journals, for practitioners in a particular field, are often an important in technical writing. Many technical writing projects require a literature review, which collects, summarizes, and sometimes evaluates the work of researchers whose work has been recognized as a valuable contribution to a field.

However, research in journals is not the only kind of research you’ll find useful as a technical writer. There are many kinds of sources to draw upon, depending on what’s required for each communication project.

The typical kinds of research sources you might use for technical documents can be grouped into three broad categories:

Primary Sources: Primary sources are original documents and first-hand accounts. These might include the results of research you conduct yourself through lab experiments, product testing, surveys, observations, measurements, interviews, site visits, prototype testing, beta testing, etc. Primary sources may also be the results of another’s research, presented first-hand in published statistical data, lab experiments, product testing documentation, etc. Original technical and scientific papers that present the results of the author’s research, first-hand interviews, historical documents, and/or legal documents are all primary sources.
Secondary Sources: Secondary sources discuss, analyze, and interpret primary data; they offer others’ viewpoints’ on the original data. For example, a primary source research study on Covid-19, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, may spawn a number of other articles by writers who interpret the original study’s results and offer their own opinions, in respected publications such as The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and others. Reviews of research studies, meta-analyses, formal critiques, and opinion pieces are all secondary sources.
Tertiary Sources: Tertiary sources are background sources such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks that summarize and consolidate primary and secondary information. Tertiary sources are useful to gain a general understanding of a concept, event, or research study. Tertiary sources may also provide an overview of different lines of inquiry or schools of thought in a field.

Note that sometimes the line between primary and secondary sources blurs. For example, although newspapers and news websites contain primary source material, they also contain secondary source material. An article published on November 4, 2020, about the results of the U.S. presidential election, is a primary source, because it reports statistical data directly. However, an article published in the same newspaper two weeks later analyzing why the successful candidate was successful is a secondary source, because it interprets those statistical results in a certain way.

TABLE 1. Typical research sources for technical projects
Source Type	Description
Academic Journals, Conference Papers, Dissertations, etc. may yield primary and secondary source material	Scholarly (peer-reviewed) academic sources publish primary research done by professional researchers and scholars in specialized fields, as well as reviews of that research by other specialists in the same field. For example, the Journal of Computer and System Sciences publishes original research papers in computer science and related subjects in system science; International Journal of Robotics and Animation is one of the most highly ranked journals in the field.
Reference Works tertiary sources	Specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries can provide useful terminology and background information. For example, the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology is a widely recognized authoritative source.
Chapters in Books may yield primary and secondary source material	Books written by specialists in a given field may contain a References section which can be very helpful in providing other sources, and also in-depth context, for your ideas. For example, Designing Engineers by Susan McCahan et al. has an excellent chapter on effective teamwork.
Trade Magazines and Popular Science Magazines usually yield secondary source material	Reputable trade magazines contain articles relating to current issues and innovations, and therefore can be very useful in identifying current industry issues and understanding state of the art innovations. Examples include Computerworld, Wired, and Popular Mechanics.
Newspapers may yield primary or secondary source material	Newspaper articles and media releases offer information about what journalists and people in industry think the general public should know about a given topic. Journalists report on current events and recent innovations; more in-depth investigative journalism explores a current issue in greater detail. Newspapers also contain editorial sections that provide personal opinions on these events and issues. Original interviews in newspapers yield primary source material, while news stories generally yield secondary source material. Choose well-known, reputable newspapers such as The New York Times.
Industry & Organization Websites may yield primary or secondary source material	Industry websites can provide insight into current issues in an industry. If you access a particular company’s website, you may find that company’s mission statement, organization, strategic plan, current or planned projects, archived information, white papers, technical reports, product details, costs estimates, and more. Organization websites also provide insight into current issues in an industry, and provide more general information about the overall industry (like public service sites).
Government Publications & Public Sector Web Sites	Government departments often publish reports and other documents that can be very helpful in determining public policy, regulations, and guidelines.
Public Presentations may yield primary or secondary source material	Representatives from industry and government speak to various audiences about current issues and proposed projects that may be related to the technical communication you need to prepare. There are many presentations available on YouTube, TED talks, radio programs, podcasts, and more.

Types of Data

Data—the information that sources provide—can also be categorized in different ways.

Primary Data

Secondary Data

Data that have been directly observed, experienced, and recorded close to the event. This is data that you might create yourself by…

Measurement: collecting numbers indicating amounts (temperature, size, etc.)
Observation: with your own senses or with instruments (camera, microscope)
Interrogation: conducting interviews, focus groups, surveys, polls, or questionnaires
Participation: experience of doing or seeing something (visit the site, tour the facility, manipulate models or simulations, Beta test, etc.)

Comes from sources that record, analyze, and interpret primary data. It is critical to evaluate the credibility of these sources. You might find such data in…

Academic and professional research: refereed studies published in academic and professional journals
General Interest sources: websites, books, trade magazines, newspapers, popular media, etc.
Non-written Material: TV, radio, film, such as documentaries, news, podcasts, etc.
Professional Documents: annual reports, production records, committee reports, survey results, etc.

Quantitative Data	Qualitative Data
Uses numbers to describe information that can be measured quantitatively. This data is used to measure, make comparisons, examine relationships, test hypotheses, explain, predict, or even control.	Uses words to record and describe the data collected; often describes people’s feelings, judgments, emotions, customs, and beliefs that can only be expressed in descriptive words, not in numbers. This includes “anecdotal data” or personal experiences.

Types of Research Methods & Data Analysis

Research methods can be categorized as quantitative, qualitative, or multiple method. Some projects, like a technical report in science, require a quantitative approach that uses the scientific method of inquiry, observation, quantitative data collection, analysis, and conclusions to test a hypothesis. Other kinds of projects take a more deductive approach and gather both quantitative and qualitative evidence to support a position or make a recommendation. The research methods you choose will be determined by the goals and scope of your project, and by your intended audience’s expectations.

More specific methodologies, such as ways to structure the analysis of your data, include but are not limited to the following:

Cost/benefit Analysis: Determines how much something will cost vs. what measurable benefits it will create
Life cycle Analysis: Determines overall sustainability of a product or process, from manufacturing, through lifetime use, to disposal (you can also perform comparative life cycle analyses, or analyses of a specific stage of a life cycle)
Comparative Analysis: Compares two or more options to determine which is the best solution, given specific problem criteria such as goals, objectives, and constraints
Process Analysis: Studies each aspect of a process to determine if all parts and steps work efficiently together to create the desired outcome
Sustainability Analysis: Uses concepts such as the triple bottom line or three pillars of sustainability to analyze whether a product or process is environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable

In all cases, the way you collect, analyze, and use data must be ethical and consistent with professional standards of honesty and integrity. Lapses in integrity can not only lead to poor quality technical documents, but also can lead to lawsuits, job loss, and even criminal charges.

Some examples of lapses in honesty include:

Fabricating your own data (making it up to suit your purpose)
Ignoring data that disproves or contradicts your ideas
Misrepresenting someone else’s data or ideas
Using data or ideas from another source without citing the source.

Types of Sources & the Research Process

As a technical writer, you’ll use all types of sources, depending on your own level of expertise with what you’re writing about, your communication’s purpose, and your audience. You’ll also initiate research at different points for different projects, and will move around among resource types depending on the type of information you need.

As you begin researching a topic for a technical communication, take time to identify types of sources, data, approaches that may be appropriate, and a good place to start your research. That’s the whole purpose of the information on this page—to get you to consciously consider the types of sources you need based on the type of data you need. Taking time to analyze the research task will save you time overall when you need to incorporate researched into your technical writing.