THE RHETORICAL WORK OF RESEARCH

AND CITATION

Technical communication is grounded in research: technical communicators often work closely with subject matter experts (SME) to articulate complex information to a non-expert audience. Further, technical communicators often must conduct their own research, both to inform their approach to a given communication task and to create their content.

Research happens at various stages of the communication process, and informs the work that technical communicators do.

Research, proper citation of sources, and ethical and accurate use of data, are key components of technical communication. Because technical communicators work to explain things to a target audience, research is a crucial part of that work. In the previous section, we focused on the importance of receiving feedback during the revising and editing stages of a project. This type of feedback can also be framed as research, since technical communicators are gathering data and then making decisions based on what this data suggests. So, they use research to inform their approach

to a given task. Technical communicators also must gather research when developing genres such as proposals, reports, and instructions in order to be sure that they are communicating accurate, appropriate information to their audience. You can read more about these genres in Section 4.4 and Section 4.5 of this text.

A photographer documents scientists at work at Fermilab, an international research center. Their research is collaborative and rhetorical; scientists build off research that has come before even as they collect their own data. Properly crediting and incorporating previous research helps them to situate their own studies in a specific, rhetorical context. Image by Ryan Eichberger.

In this section, we consider two key frameworks through which to understand research and citation in technical communication:

1. Citations are an “ethos building” practice. Conducting research and using sources in your writing is a rhetorical move as much as it allows you to build your content and information.

2. Research is an ethical practice; it is important to consider how your research is engaged in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and how it considers social justice and representation.

We discuss research, and citation practices, as a way to develop ethos below. First, let’s consider the second point: Research is an ethical practice.

How is research ethical? When conducting research in the past, have you considered how your research practices and inclusion of sources intersects with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion? Research is related to ethics both in how you conduct research and in how you choose to include or represent data in your work. As technical communicators, it is important to always consider whether the research you’ve conducted includes a variety of voices. It is important to note, however, that including diverse voices does not mean that all opinions are equally valid! In fact, as researchers, we work to back up an opinions and personal experiences with data–something that we can observe or measure and that helps us to make sense of the world around us. Including a variety of voices, experiences, and world views does not mean that we stop evaluating those sources for credibility (which we discuss

1.5 THE RHETORICAL WORK OF RESEARCH AND CITATION | 97

below). Instead, it means that we are careful to include credible sources from a variety of perspectives even when those perspectives do not match our own.

Including a variety of voices as we conduct research also means that technical communicators must acknowledge the ways in which certain voices have been systemically or historically excluded and work to revise claims or approaches that are rooted in that exclusion. Including a variety of voices means that technical communicators consider who they include when they collect their data (ie does their research subject population only white, middle-class men? only white men and women with a college level of education?) and that they consider which secondary sources (see below for information on primary and secondary sources) they seek out and read when conducting their research.

As an example, consider that you are conducting usability testing on your organization’s website in order to make sure that the information contained in that website is accessible. As you recruit participants, what would happen if all participants (or most participants) are part of the same cultural, sexual, age, language, or class demographic? When specific groups are excluded from usability testing, can you really determine whether your website is accessible?

As another example, consider that you are conducting research for the content you’ll include in that website. Part of that research includes library searches, and part of your research also includes conducting surveys with folks across the

Twin Cities. Why might it be so important to recruit a diverse demographic for your surveys? How can you conduct research in a way that considers what various groups and individuals have already published, researched, or found related to your topic?

For more on putting diversity, equity, and inclusion at the forefront of your own research, please see Conducting Research through an Anti-racism Lens at our University of Minnesota library website.

Key Takeaway: Research, Ethos, and Ethics

Research is important in developing logos, the rhetorical appeal to logic or reason. Research helps a technical communicator support their claims and allows them to communicate accurate and appropriate information to their audience. Research

1.5 THE RHETORICAL WORK OF RESEARCH AND CITATION | 99

is also important in developing ethos, which is the appeal to authority or “character” of the document.

Research develops ethos by communicated to an audience that the information is trustworthy, that they can believe what this text is telling them.

Consider how both logos and ethos do not exist in a cultural vacuum; logos and ethos are informed by culture and are tied to a specific audience. How can you consider the specific context and culture of your target audience when using research to establish an appropriate appeal to logos and to ethos? How can you make connections between using and conducting research and considering diversity, equity, and inclusion in your project?

Nearly all instances of technical and professional communication involve research. While the type of research involved in technical and professional communication might look different than academic research, there are some consistent principles related to using and evaluating data, supporting claims, developing a persuasive or trustworthy ethos, and avoiding plagiarism.

Think back to the rhetorical situation and the three rhetorical appeals: ethos, paths, and logos. Research is an important part of understanding a given rhetorical situation

and in developing the appeals. Research, very broadly speaking, allows us to better understand what it is we want to convey, question, or communicate and make choices about how to best do that work for a specific audience.

Research involves, often, asking a question and finding credible, reliable sources to help you find an answer (or, sometimes, to validate that there is no adequate answer). At the beginning stages of a writing task, research can help you to better assess the rhetorical situation. For example, in order to understand the context in which your problem or question exists, you might conduct secondary research using the library or Internet in order to see what others have said or are currently saying about this question.

Research can help you to make choices related to rhetorical appeals, because it helps you better understand your audience by finding out what you can about who is likely to interact with your writing. Further, the way you use research in your writing can appeal both to ethos and to logos. Research appeals to logos because data (particularly numbers) often appeals to a reader’s sense of logic and reason. Research appeals to ethos because it lends credibility to your writing:

citing reliable, credible, or expert sources makes your reader more likely to “buy in” to your claims. And, of course, technical communicators want to clearly and accurately communicate information, which requires conducting and evaluating various types of research.

1.5 THE RHETORICAL WORK OF RESEARCH AND CITATION | 101

Primary and secondary