researching research
I'm currently working on a research project about how US undergraduate students conduct and write research papers, specifically history research papers. John, the professor whom I am doing research for, wants examples and articles of how students go about doing this. It was kinda odd trying to explain to the research librarian what exactly I was looking for. I tired to explain to her what I was doing and eventually I just said, "I'm researching research." Th hard part of trying to find articles is what exacalty I need to put in my search field. So far I've found a three articles that are helpful, but that's really not enough.
I think the weirdest part about this is that I was trying to think of how I was taught how to write research papers. There wasn't really instruction for me as an undergraduate; I pretty much just learned it as a high school student, and any classes that I did have at Syracuse were barely a refresher, but mostly a waste of time. I was thinking of what makes a good research paper, and all I could think of was Mrs. Jones' 11th grade writing class. There I learned about multiple sources and the importance of academic sources. Conceding to the opposition was also a big idea, but I don't see that as heavily emphasized in undergraduate and even graduate courses.
Another problem that I'm facing is that the project has an emphasis on history research papers, and my background is political science. I did minor in history, but the history papers I wrote weren't as argumentative as the ones I wrote for my poli sci classes.
This is going to be a really hard project for me. Already there's a lot of questions and then figuring out the best way to answer them. But still I'm really excited about doing this.
I think the weirdest part about this is that I was trying to think of how I was taught how to write research papers. There wasn't really instruction for me as an undergraduate; I pretty much just learned it as a high school student, and any classes that I did have at Syracuse were barely a refresher, but mostly a waste of time. I was thinking of what makes a good research paper, and all I could think of was Mrs. Jones' 11th grade writing class. There I learned about multiple sources and the importance of academic sources. Conceding to the opposition was also a big idea, but I don't see that as heavily emphasized in undergraduate and even graduate courses.
Another problem that I'm facing is that the project has an emphasis on history research papers, and my background is political science. I did minor in history, but the history papers I wrote weren't as argumentative as the ones I wrote for my poli sci classes.
This is going to be a really hard project for me. Already there's a lot of questions and then figuring out the best way to answer them. But still I'm really excited about doing this.