Defining Research

For a lack of relevant pictures, here is a place I imagine would be excellent to research in. Image found here.

As an adjunct I teach four composition classes at two different universities. So, I think about research and writing a lot. As you can imagine, I also talk about research and writing a lot with my students.

Recently, during a conference with one of my students I was asked point-blank to what research was. I felt at a loss for words. What was research? Other than the thing that I was supposed to be doing when I was really grading papers (or watching TV or washing my hair or... you get the idea).

Before I could answer, she added this observation: she thought that research was simply gathering others' ideas and writing them down. I told her that in some ways she was right. After all, the first part of a large project is figuring out what everyone else has said.

But it's more than that - it's taking everyone else's ideas and laying them down as a foundation and building from there. This is why I encourage my students to use the first-person when they write. I know that's not the traditional way of writing essays (and in fact, I'm only "permitted" to do so at one university). I want them to own their ideas though. To separate their ideas from the critics' ideas. To see how their "building" is being constructed.

This student then mentioned that her preconceived notion of research included interviewing people (to what end, I don't think she knew). We are not interviewing people, though. Not even a little. In the realm of children's literature, as previously mentioned, I am strictly a book person. Occasionally, I consider the "ideal reader," maybe the author, but that's as close as it comes.

Books are data, I explained to her. They are the "what" that we are researching. They hold this snapshot of ideas, of a culture, of what it means to be human. For this class specifically, it's what a young adult is in book form - how the books convey what "we" trust young adults with, what we think they are capable of, what we think they want and need.

The student was convinced in the end. She was most likely convinced at the beginning, as her research project this semester is to write a ten-page paper exploring themes in a YA text of her choice, so I'm sure she'd already put two-and-two together. But for me, it was refreshing to reexamine what research is.

Research is not always easy, and more often than not, it can be daunting. However, talking about research with this student reminded me of why I do what I do. I cannot escape the fact that literary studies strikes a chord deep within me. As cheesy as it sounds, I feel fortunate to be able to share that with these students.