English 110 The Craft of Research Pp. 1-74

Gain better understanding of material Skills are transferable to other academic work Skills are transferable to non-academic work 99.9% of what we think we know comes from others’ research (and thus it’s a good thing to learn how to evaluate others’ research critically) Why do research? (pages 4-5, 9-11)

What is research? 1.Making a plan 2.Gathering information 3.Answering a question 4.Demonstrating a solution to a problem (page 10)

Your audience For the research paper, assume your audience consists of Goshen students who have serious interest in your topic but know much less about it than you What are you offering your audience? “I’ve found something interesting…” “I’ve found a solution to a practical problem” ☺“I’ve found an answer to a question that is important to you” (pages 18-21)

Components of a research project Topic: the subject matter under investigation Question: the flagging of a condition of inadequate knowledge pertaining to the subject matter Answer: the change in understanding that resolves question Problem: the condition of inadequate knowledge AND the costs of not resolving that condition Data: the information used to clarify your problem and support its resolution (pages 40, 60)

Narrowing topics Helps sift through sources Helps formulate a specific research question and argument How do you narrow a topic? Narrow concept being investigated (free will) Narrow range of concept Narrow object under study (commercial aviation) Narrow range of object It’s likely you’ll first need to start skimming through sources, looking for specific issues or subtopics about which you might write Pre-research: Get some general background first, if the topic is unfamiliar to you: look in encyclopedias, etc. (pages 42-43)

Specific, contestable research questions… Are needed in order for your data gathering to have a guiding aim: without them, you’re searching for something without knowing what that something is Do not already possess a readily discoverable answer: they require genuine investigation into multiple sources (how or why, not what or when) Lead to specific, contestable arguments Make the process of finding and reading through sources much more efficient Are best developed recursively--revised after beginning your research and even after completing a full draft of the essay Come more easily if you takes notes on sources and keep a journal of ideas (pages 38, 45-50, 57)

Example research questions Too broad: How did World War I produce so many soldier poets? Leads to: Most of the well-known WWI poets are British, so was there something special about Britain in combination with this particular war that produced these poets? Leads to: A summary of shared interests (Britain had a long- standing literary tradition, some of which addresses military history) and divergent views (the WWI soldier poets were mostly critical of war). More specific: “Were there any particular reasons that high quality poetry critical of war was so prominent among soldier poets in Britain during WWI? What in particular did these poets have in common? [narrowed to an issue, war poetry, and to a particular historical event, World War I in Britain] Leads to: The discovery that one of the treatments for shell-shock in WWI in Britain was poetry writing; in particular, at the Craig Lockhart Hospital, where Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and other well-known WWI poets were treated. Leads to: An argument-driven paper with a coherent, logical organization.

Significance of the question A specific, contestable question is not enough, if that question isn’t asking anything significant Example: “What would have happened to World War I poetry if there had been no Craig Lockhart hospital poetry treatment for shell-shock? Better: “What was the treatment program in poetry, what was the philosophy behind it, and how were soldiers actually taught to write in this context and how did writing poetry affect their emotional state?” Research formula: “I am studying the poetry writing treatment for shell-shock in WWI at Craig Lockhart Hospital because I want to find out how that treatment shaped writing by soldiers in order to help my reader understand the ways in which poetry can be a tool for peace and healing. (Pages 49-52)

Research Problem Rephrasing your research formula from the reader’s point of view: what existing problem does your question address, and how does your answer solve that problem? Two basic components of a research problem: a.The condition of incomplete or erroneous knowledge or understanding b.The cost of not resolving this condition: the lack of understanding something more significant Example (and note how suited this is to an introduction): –Condition, reformulated from the research question: Little is generally known or understood about the conditions that led to an explosion of significant poetry writing about war from soldiers in WWI Britain. –Cost, reformulated from the research significance: If we don’t explore the roots of this poetry, we will have an incomplete understanding of how actively teaching soldiers to write can affect the ways in which they view their experience and process their traumas. (Pages 56-57, 60, 62-63)