Question: I have a quest that requires me to collect 10 "Dwarven Cogs". However, I've yet to find such a thing in my adventures.

To be clear, I've covered a good bit of territory here already. I've got over 70 hours of gameplay logged already, am now at level 28, and have discovered countless dozens of locations all over the map. For anything I could generally be expected to collect ten of, I would imagine I'd have encountered a few already.

Now, I have run into some "Dwemer" machinery which occasionally contains a "Dwemer Cog". In other conversations and writing, it also seems that the terms "Dwarven" and "Dwemer" are used almost interchangeably. Usually though, when calling for specific items, I expect quests to use the correct and proper label in its requirements. (Unless of course, figuring out what the item is is part of the quest.)

Are these "Dwemer Cogs" the "Dwarven Cogs" I should be looking for, or is there something else out there I haven't encountered yet?

Answer: 
In The Elder Scrolls franchise, Dwarves are an extinct sub-race of elves (the species of which is collectively known as "mer"). 

So "Dwarf" is to "Dwemer" just the same as "Dark Elf" is to "Dunmer" or "Wood Elf" is to "Bosmer".

So if someone told you to collect "Dwarven Cogs", they really meant for you to collect "Dwemer Cogs", found almost exclusively in the assorted Dwarven ruins.

I assume you're doing [Arniel's Endeavor](http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Arniel%27s_Endeavor_%28A%29)? UESP says you're looking for Dwemer Cogs, despite the quest text.

The biggest issue of course being:

> 
> Currently the Quest tracker will not track it when you pick up a Dwemer Cog, however they still count for the quest, so you must keep count of them yourself.
> 
> 
>
If you are talking about the quest from [Arniel Gane](http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Arniel%27s_Endeavor_%28A%29), yes Dwarven Cogs are Dwemer Cogs.