What is good research writing?

Reading 1: “Research Starts with Answers” by Alison C. Witte

Reading 2: “Research Starts with a Thesis Statement” by Emily A. Wierszewski

Choice: I decided to read “Research Starts with a Thesis Statement” because I’ve always been taught to think about research in this way, so I was curious to see how this view could be limiting the way I write.

Summaries: Both of these essays discuss how we should embrace the idea of exploration in research. In “Research Starts with Answers,” Alison Witte argues that research should be about discovering new solutions rather than simply presenting the work of others. She makes this claim by explaining the importance of encouraging students to conduct primary research and take an active role in the exploratory process. In “Research Starts with a Thesis Statement” Emily Wierszewski also argues that we shouldn’t be going into our research with the purpose of proving something, but rather, we should go into research with the purpose of exploring something. She describes that going into research looking to explore rather prove enables us to learn and grow and discover that we too can be a voice of authority.

Prompt 2: Reading these essays reminded me of writing the literacy history project because of the way we were encouraged to explore an open-ended question and use primary data instead of just collecting information from secondary sources. This was different for me because I’m so used to going into research with something to prove, and like Witte explains, this answers-based research model “[...] became a tool for teaching students how to [...] skillfully search through the words of others. Such a task eliminates the writer’s voice from the conversation—as they are not required to participate in the discussion of the subject at hand [...]” (227). I definitely agree that when we go into research to prove something our research becomes all about our sources and not about our ideas, but when we go into our research looking to explore things we have the opportunity to express our own ideas. Additionally, Wierszewski states that, “[...] genuine inquiry—the kind of research that often leads to new ideas and important choices—tends to begin with unsettled problems and questions, rather than with thesis statements and predetermined answers” (232). I love the idea of going into research just to see what is worth finding, and this reminded me of how we began the literacy history project by reading through the self-studies just to see what stuck out to us. Getting to pick a topic this way also made the topic feel more meaningful to me. I also feel like going into research with a question rather than a statement to prove leads to more genuine research because when you go into something just hoping to prove one claim you’re only going to pay attention to supporting evidence; which may lead a researcher to ignore important insights about a topic.

Prompt 7: I really loved the way that both of these essays approached research in a way that challenges the traditional idea that research is conducted to prove a theory. This is definitely something I would want to share with my future English classes because I think that the concept of research as exploratory allows it to be more engaging for students and shows them how to express their personal ideas in an academic paper. Witte explains that,“Having students design and pursue genuine research projects that generate rather than simply locate information teaches them that research is about innovation—about doing what hasn’t been done” (229), and I think that one way I would like to get students thinking about research and innovation is by incorporating a research project into a unit on digital writing. Enabling students to conduct and present their research through a digital format may give them more opportunities to conduct primary research and to access a broad audience. Additionally, Wierszewski describes that “When we understand research as a process of discovery rather than a process of proof, we open ourselves up to be changed by our research—to better our lives, our decisions, and our world” (233), and I’d love for my future students to discover the potential research has to change their ideas and beliefs.