Students' Descriptions of Their Traditional Research Paper Processes* (Why We Must Change)
*Jennie Nelson, "The Research Paper: A 'Rhetoric of Doing' or a 'Rhetoric of the Finished Word'?" Composition Studies. surveyed fifteen randomly selected sections of freshman composition in fall, 1992, receiving 238 responses, which she analyzed and categorized into four approaches:
1. The Compile Information Approach: (74%) purely linear approach to picking "a topic, collecting information, taking notes and/or writing an outline (these two steps were optional for many students), and writing the paper). At no point in the process did students describe the need to identify questions or to formulate a thesis, focus, or controlling idea...." (67)
2. The Premature Thesis Approach: (11%) developing "a thesis or controlling idea for their papers before doing any research" (67) but the approach is linear as above.
3. The Linear Research Approach: (10%) "forming a thesis or controlling idea on a topic after completing the research and before they began writing." (67) but the approach is linear as above.
4. The Recursive Research Approach: "12 students (5%) described their research process as recursive, involving exploratory research and reading on a topic, formulating a tentative focus, and completing additional research to refine and extend their focus or thesis prior to writing a draft."(67)
Other studies:
Sandra Stotksy reports 74% of the students "did not include the development of a
thesis or controlling idea as part of their process." (68). Stotsky,
Sandra. Connecting Civic Education and Language Education: The Contemporary Challenge.
New York: Teachers College Press, 1991.
Carol Kuhlthau found that of 385 library users they surveyed 50% "did not make focused statements or describe developing a personal perspective on their topic at any point during the search process (27)" (68) Kulthau, Carol C., Betty J. Turock, Mary W. George, and Robert J. Belvin. "Validating a Model of the Search Process: A Comparison of Academic, Public and School Library Users." Library and information Science Research 12 (1990): 5-31.
Elizabeth Cooper
Virginia Commonwealth University
ecooper@vcu.edu