I am attending a business writing course to help improve my writing skills, and one of the projects to do is a research paper. Luckily we are able to choose our own topics, and were asked to keep it related to our field.

I work in the computer field, but did not want to write a research paper related to that, so I chose to write a paper on Electrical Distribution and Safety, which I have had to do some work in when laying out computer rooms.

I plan on targeting the average person, who does not have a good understanding of how the power is distributed, the safety features, why some things are done, and common mistakes.

I will start off with some basic information on voltages, amperages, and watts. I will then move into transformers, phases, and define grounded/grounding conductors.
After the background I plan on covering overcurrent protection, GFCIs, and AFCIs, and move into common wire configurations for homes and businesses.

I will then cover what can go wrong with distribution, like not having a ground, or a bad neutral, or placing to much current onto a wire.

My reasoning behind this is seeing many people claiming they can just run a wire to the nearest copper pipe to make a ground or not knowing how a GFCI works.


Does anyone have any book recommendations that I can use for reference and citing? I already plan to reference the NEC, but I would like to find a couple of books on GFCI, AFCI, and Distribution/Transformers. Even general books on electrical safety would work.

Xanathar, I don't have a book recommendation but I do have a general suggestion. I work in a place where the safety issues range from standard safety issues like you'd encounter in a home all the way up the scale to radiation and similar risks. Safety events or failures of the large & catastrophic kind are relatively rare. More risk events occur in the lower, more mundane, levels of exposure or activity. My suggestion is that while you research and explore the primary objective of Electrical Distribution and Safety, include even the mundane safety measures in your paper. I often try to imagine letting a 3-year old loose in a location and what risks they'd reveal, for example.