Since the Recommendation Report is a long document, you’ll benefit from starting early. Once your topic has been approved, you can begin the process of gathering research for your report. As I mentioned in the Recommendation Report Topic Overview, you need to be able to conduct both primary and secondary research.

Primary Research Secondary Research

Primary research is data that you gather yourself. Here are some examples:

  • gathering prices at several grocery stores for similar items.
  • trying several recipes and comparing the results.
  • interviewing people for their recommendations.
  • surveying people to learn their opinion.

As you gather your primary research , you photos or record videos that you can use to illustrate your report.

Secondary research is information that you find in books, articles, and webpages. Here are some examples:

  • looking up product reviews in Consumer Reports.
  • checking recipes in cookbooks or on foodie websites.
  • researching local food truck legislation.
  • finding USDA data on organic food production.

Your report should include a bibliography that provides documentation for all of the resources you have consulted.

You can review the differences between these two kinds of research further by watching the LinkedIn Learning video on Conducting Research to Collect Information. The video is free with your VT login. Follow these instructions to login.

Screenshot from the LinkedIn Learning course Conduct Research to Collect Information

Gathering Resources

Follow this process to begin searching for and gathering your research:

  1. Work through the steps in the “Guidelines: Planning for the Research Process” on page 122 of Markel & Selber.
  2. Move on to the “Guidelines: Researching a Topic” on page 123 of Markel & Selber, working your way through the steps.

Documenting Your Research

Be sure to keep track of the details for the resources that you find for your research so that you can include them in your report’s references. You can use whatever documentation system is used in your field for your citations. For instance, electrical engineers use IEEE, and biologists often use CSE.