9.26.08 Chapter 6 & 7

Chapter 6 focuses on reader-centered research. The first point the chapter wants to make clear is that research at work greatly differs from research at school. Obviously your audience is much different in a workplace setting so you need to adjust accordingly. You need to be effecient and you need to be able to produce results that are easy for your audience to find valuable. In order to accomplish this the chapter sets out 7 guidlines that can help guide you to your goal. Of the 7 that it lays out the one that I find most important and that I use the most in my career is "Define your research objectives." If you don't know what you are looking for ahead of time you will waste a lot of time. On occasion at work I will begin to look into a particular product and then end up way off point. For example if all I need to find is the features of a product, sometimes I end up looking into how it is installed or reading case studys of past installations. Does anyone else find themselves doing the same thing?

Chapter 7 is all about transforming your plan into a deliverable. I found the statement about persuasiveness to very true. "Regardless of a segment's size, readers mentally process its persuasive claims and evidence in the same way." How true is that? It kinds of reminds me of what I got from chapter 20. Get to the point as efficiently and effectively as you can. If you can say what you need to in one paragraph, don't stretch it to a page and a half. People don't have time for that. Another important aspect to this is organization. I am learning that headings with bold words go a very long way with the reader. It is important for the reader to be able to pick out the information that is most important to them very easily. When you can organize your communications in a way that is consistent with the way that your regular readers expect, you will be miles ahead.