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Although I'm against the traditional research paper, I agree with Davis and Shadle that research writing is a valuable activity, central to the academy, that can encourage students to "cultivate their intellectual curiosity and expand their knowledge" (421). The teaching of research skills, engaging with sources, supporting arguments, and gaining expertise can be a valuable part of first-year writing courses. Alternative research writing can help students learn what Susan MacDonald refers to as “Generalized academic writing:” stating claims, offering evidence, respecting others' opinions, and learning how to write with authority.
At the same time, I agree with Richard Larson that the idea of a research paper as a generic, cross-disciplinary term is meaningless. Even though most of the research writing in my study was close in spirit to alternative research writing, there was a great deal of variation among the different disciplines when it came to the specific demands of each assignment. To discuss these differences, I'll look more closely at two features that were discussed in most of the assignment sheets I collected: style and evidence.
The very different expectations concerning style that I found across disciplines is seen in these statements from research assignments in the hard sciences and social sciences...
"Remember, this is a scientific paper. It is not designed to be entertaining or clever.”
"There is no room for any flowery descriptive language or 'filler.'"
"Written tersely, not as an essay for your English class, but as a scientific paper. Do not use three words where two will do."
Business...
"We use power English by polishing every sentence until each is error free and concise."
And humanities...
"Advocate your own interpretation in dialogue with others. Speak in your own voice. I am looking for lively, precise, and incisive analyses that teach me something new about the works you discuss."
"Write with directness, specificity, active voice; vary your sentence length; avoid clichés; immerse your reader in your exploration and discoveries concerning your topic."
Most of the instructors in my study were concerned with style, but expectations differed dramatically. The same can be said of evidence. Most instructors emphasized the importance of developing and supporting ideas with evidence, but what counted as evidence varied significantly across disciplines. A comparison of the instructors' definitions of evidence in research assignment #1 and #3 can serve to exemplify this variety. In research assignment #1, the western history course, the instructor writes:
“Historians balance their knowledge of primary sources (diaries, letters, artifacts, and other documents from the period under study) with later interpretations of these people, places, and events (in the form of scholarly monographs and articles) known as secondary sources. Through the evaluation of these different interpretations historians come to a socially negotiated understanding of historical figures and events.”
In research assignment #3, the international business course, a quite different notion of what counts as evidence is presented:
“In the third and final phase a formal business plan is formulated. Future revenues and costs will be projected under a bad scenario, average scenario, and good scenario. The three scenarios will give a distribution of rates of return. The business plan is presented to the Board for approval.”
These kinds of differences seem to support Larson's claim that "the
so-called 'research paper,' as a generic, cross-disciplinary term, has
no conceptual or substantive identity" (813). But they can also be seen
as an argument for the necessity of emphasizing the qualities that underlie
the most dynamic research in every discipline, and the qualities that are
found in alternative research writing: intellectual curiosity, personal
engagement, and originality.
Research Assignment #1: History of the American West
Research Assignment #2: Introduction to Sociology
Research Assignment #3: Public Policy and International Economy
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