RESEARCHSKILLS: WritingareportinIT RESEARCH SKILLS: Writing a report in IT

DumitruRadoiu Dumitru Radoiu

October2009
PETRU MAIOR UNIVERSITY

Informationsciencesisnomoreaboutcomputers th I f ti i i b t t thanastronomy t isabouttelescopes.

I want to know

I want to know know

time

Religion Art A Science Philosophy Universe Earth People

Thales 500 BC

Panic Zone Learning Zone

Comfort Zone

Panic Zone Learning Zone 90% of the population Mediocre life Just Survival

Panic Zone Learning Zone

Comfort Zone

Excitement, Success, Wealth, Confidence

Panic Zone Learning Zone

Comfort Zone

Risky adventure into unknown

Agenda
Six Steps to a Quality Report SixStepstoaQualityReport 1. SelectandFocusYourTopic 2. SetUpResearchStrategy 3. PreliminaryThesisStatement 4. InDepthResearch 5. FirstDraft 6. Finalversion

Types of reports/papers Problem: Writing a report 0 Solution: Report t

time

Types of papers: Literary report/paper (analyze a literary work) Argumentative paper (2 opposing views; pros and cons) Position paper (2 opposing views; discuss your position) Descriptive paper (report on a topic)

0 Problem:

6 Steps to a quality report

Writing a paper

1 1.Select&F Focusyourtopic

2.Set tupresearch s strategy 3.PreliminaryThesi is Stat tement

4.InDep pthResearc ch

5.FirstDraft Paper

Solution:

6.Fin nalpaper t time

1. Select and Focus Your Topic 1.Selec ct&Focusy yourtopic

Ope a g Systems Operating Sys e s

Windows

Widgets in Windows Vista

1.Selec ct&Focusy yourtopic Gene (Encyc eral clopedia) 2 2.Setupresearch strateg gy

2. Set Up Research Strategy

Very spec cific Journals

The middle (body) The end

The beginning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map

3. Preliminary Thesis Statement

1.Selec ct&Focusy yourtopic

2 2.Setupresearch strateg gy 3.PreliminaryT Thesis Statement t

The beginning

The middle (body)

The end

4. In Depth Research

1.Selec ct&Focusy yourtopic

2 2.Setupresearch strateg gy 3.PreliminaryT Thesis Statement t

4.In nDepthRes search

Situation:YourcurrentsystemisX.

Situation: YourcurrentsystemisX. Complication:Itdoesnotwork p

Situation: YourcurrentsystemisX. Complication:Itdoesnotwork p Question: How/whatshouldbe

changed?

Answer:Youneedto.

Establisha dialogue Establish a dialogue

E h i t Eachpointmust t raiseaquestion
Why? How? Why?

Whichyoumust answer below

Organize your thinking: The Pyramid Principle

WhyPyramids? h d?
Why?

Thesis es s

The brain works that way Thebrainworksthatway Thesis

Why?

Why?

Ideasthat supportthesis
How? How? How?

Cloud computing
Isthefuture

Why?
Isdynamicallyscalable

Why?
Resourcesarevirtualized

How?
Infrastructure Infrastructure asaservice Platformas Platform as aservice Softwareas Software as aservice

How?

Webservices

Monitor performance

Ondemand provisioningof resources

How? H ?

Followthe3RULES

1 Ideasatanylevelin thepyramidmust alwaysbe summaries ofthe i f th ideasgrouped belowthem below them

2 Ideasineach groupingmust alwaysbethe samekindofidea ki d f id

3 Ideasineach groupingmustbe grouping must be logicallyordered

Organize your thinking: The Pyramid Principle

Thesis

Ideasthat supportthesis h i

Inductive reasoning

Each of the elements answer a question about the element above

Organize your thinking: The Pyramid Principle

Thesis

Ideasthat supportthesis h i

Deductive reasoning

One element logically leads to the next

5. First Draft 1.Selec ct&Focusy yourtopic

2 2.Setupresearch strateg gy 3.PreliminaryT Thesis Statement t

4.In nDepthRes search

5.FirstDra aft

Structurethereport Structure the report

6. Final Paper 1.Selec ct&Focusy yourtopic

2 2.Setupresearch strateg gy 3.PreliminaryT Thesis Statement t

4.In nDepthRes search

5.FirstDra aft

6 6.Finalpap per

The beginning Title page Foreword Preface Acknowledgements Contents page Summary or Abstract Introduction The middle (body) Main body, including substructures

Check online for style guides: http://owl.english.purdue.edu http://www.apastyle.org/

The end Conclusions Recommendations Appendixes References Bibliography Glossary Index

CONGRATULATIONS!*

*greatreport!

References

Sandra Peter Creating Reports.ppt NSW Univ., 2009 Sue Baugh How to write term papers and reports NTC Publishing Group, 1992 http://www.12manage.com/methods_minto_pyramid_principle.html retrieved the 5th October 2009 Wikipedia www.wikipedia.com ped a ped a co

Assignment: Writing an IT Report

Write a report discussing the "state of the art" and predicted advances in one of the following areas of computer technology: - Cloud Computing - Grid Computing - Semantic Technology - Parallel Computing - Component Oriented Programming Identify your sources, cite your references in your paper to show where you obtained th facts you are discussing. bt i d the f t di i Citing means to identify where in the body of the report you used the information that is provided in the reference. If requested, students are expected to be able to defend their papers in plenary lab session. References must have been published in the last two years. Assignment due the 12th October, in hard copy.

http://www.crlsresearchguide.org/NewOutlineMaker/NewOutlineMakerInput.aspx