Assignment Descriiption:
Our third unit of English 1010 will be focused on the art of research – the foundational activity of the
modern university.
You might begin by thinking about two common models of academic research – the “problem solver”
approach or the “what’s missing from the conversation” approach. The first model involves seeing what
solutions have been offered for an unresolved problem and then using your essay to offer an innovative
and distinctive contribution to that discussion. The second model involves looking at how other scholars
have analyzed or interpreted your topic and then demonstrating how your own conceptual framework
addresses a missing element or gap in the current conversation. Your research essay must make a new
contribution to human knowledge. It should not merely summarize pre-existing knowledge.
Below, I’ve suggested steps for how to move through the academic research process.
(1) Come up with a topic and then read what other people are writing about it. This will require some preliminary
searches just to get an understanding of what the conversation about this topic is like among the general public and
among specialists. Are there any missing elements to this conversation? Are there any unresolved or unsolved
problems? What do other writers write about when they write about X?
(2) You will construct a specific research question (a question about your subject that you are legitimately curious
about finding an answer to, even if that answer turns out to be partial or provisional). The key word, as always, is
specificity. “Why do people enjoy Mardi Gras?” is incredibly vague. “What strategies should individuals suffering
from crowd-related anxiety disorders use to cope with New Orleans Mardi Gras?” is better. “What is Shakespeare’s
approach to monarchy in Hamlet?” is too disconnected from a conversation. “What is missing from Shakespeare
scholars’ approaches to monarchy in Hamlet?” is better connected to a research conservation. Do not choose a
research question that you already have an answer for “in your pocket.”
(3) Dive more deeply into research than you did in the preliminary search. Once you come up with your
contribution to the conversation, figure out how to frame your thesis in a way that demonstrates to readers how
you’re building upon, revising, or tweaking the ways other scholars have approached the matter. Then compose your essay.
Three of the sources must be scholarly sources – i.e. peer-reviewed academic journal articles or books
published by a university press. You may utilize other kinds of sources in addition to these, but avoid
personal websites and blogs, as these are rarely considered authoritative sources in academic discourse.
(Sometimes these can be used as primary sources, brought in to help a researcher analyze how a particular
phenomenon is playing out among the general public.)
