Fire Alarm Technician Research Paper Sources?

Hey everyone,
Well it’s time to get sources for my paper about fire alarm technicians (what they do, how their job benefits society, income estimates, etc.) and I’ve been having a bit of trouble finding sources.

I can only do at least 3 web sources with the end URL being .org, .edu, or .gov. Everything else is off limits (so my teacher says). I also have to gather print sources, whether they are books, newspaper articles, or journals.

I also have to actually interview a Fire Alarm Technican by phone. I was hoping if one of the techs on the board could help me with that. It would be really appreciated because I can’t just call random companies, say I’m from a school, and that I need to interview a technician, because whenever companies hear the word “school” in the question, it is generally ignored or disregarded due to unimportance.

That’s a lesson I’ve learned from being a high school journalist, and our adviser always tells us to never, ever under any circumstance to say that because he’s seen that happen millions of times probably.

Not to mention this assignment is worth like 300 points.

As for web sources, I can’t seem to find anything either that’s a good resource. I haven’t checked databases for print sources yet, but I’m assuming that does not have much because it’s a school database. So, I checked with a google search and got more “employment opportunities” than anything. The NFPA website doesn’t have really anything good either, unless I missed something.

I can use Wikipedia only for background information, and that’s where I’m going to search for sources next.

So that’s my predicament and my progress so far on this paper. Any help is greatly appreciated. I already made a topic in General Discussion about this, but I thought if it was in Fire Alarm General Discussion it might generate more attention.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks again everyone! I’ll make any additional postings here if I find something later. The sources and interview are due Monday, April 17th so that’s why I decided I might need some help with this as far as looking on websites. Print sources will probably be easier than websites, but I’ll look around and see what I can find.

Bureau of Labor Statistics? I am sorry, but even as a fire alarm tech, I don’t know where exactly I would look for reputable sources discussing the generics of my job. I usually find that sort of thing on Wikipedia or the like, though perhaps you can skim the sources from relevant Wikipedia articles.

If you are looking for sources that relate to fire alarm design, I would definitely recommend the NFPA handbooks over the code books. The handbooks have illustrations, examples, and explain the context of the code where the code books are about the driest thing you could possibly read. They may be tough to find in a library, however. It sounds like this isn’t exactly what you’re after anyhow.

I’ll offer myself up for an interview, though I only have about 9 months experience in this field, so you might get more from someone who’s been in it for a while. I’ll send you my contact info in PM.

Fire Alarm Systems - NICET click on the content outlines towards the middle/bottom for a general idea of what techs are expected to know, as well as the reference materials for all levels.

nicet.org is a good reference too if you look around.

also poke around afaa.org, sdmmag.com, and campussafetymagazine.com

Thanks! I’ll be sure to check all these out; I’m sure they have good information.