Improving Research Skills for Technical Writing

This is the third part of the series of articles about technical writing skills. Read the first two here: Exercises to Maximize Your Technical Writing Skills and Boosting Technical Communication Skills.

Another one of the main skills needed by a tech writer is research skills. Cause whenever you’re writing a new document, you’ll likely reach a point in your first draft where you don’t have enough information to go forward — and that’s where research comes in.

Here are a few research practices and tips to help you sharpen your research and writing skills:

1. Start broad. Researching can be overwhelming cause it is hard to know where to start. It is absolutely normal to start with a basic internet search. Online resources can give you the direction to take with a topic. They usually provide a basic overview with a brief history and any key points.
2. Use quality sources. Not every source is reliable, so it’s crucial to recognize the good sources from the not-so-good ones. To determine a reliable source, you’ll need to use your analytical skills and critical thinking. Then, take advantage of library resources. With any questions left, there are plenty of places out there to help you out. Many high school and university libraries offer resources for faculty members’ and students’ research and the larger community. Also, be sure to check out library websites for research guides or access to specific databases.
3. Verify information. The internet is a significant and anonymous place, so anyone can say whatever they want online. Many websites don’t make fact-checking. This means that there are plenty of unreliable resources out there. The best way to fight this is to prove that whatever you write in your content is accurate in several different sources. Make sure that at least two other places say something similar.
4. Be open. Solely looking for confirmation is a very limiting research strategy since it involves picking and choosing what information to collect and prevents you from developing the most accurate understanding of the topic. When you conduct research, make sure to keep an open mind to learn as deeply as possible.
5. Stay organized. During the data collection process, you’ll be seeing a massive amount of information, from web pages to PDFs to videos. It would help if you kept all of this information organized in some way to prevent yourself from losing something or not being able to cite something properly. Here are a few common ones: Bookmarks in your Internet browser, index cards, and an annotated bibliography that you keep updated as you go

Research skill is critical for a successful technical communicator. An active writer reads input with comprehension and can present it with clarity for a new audience, including making judgments as to what material can be excluded. This skill is fundamental to technical communication. It is essential to formulate and ask questions to subject matter experts. This is a journalistic skill, and just the act of asking a question from a user’s perspective can uncover design flaws. This skill includes testing and experimenting, and even the act of poking at things can uncover implementation bugs. So it is crucial to cultivate these skills along with others mentioned above.

Stay well!

Amrit.

“Follow the river and you will get to the sea.”