This semester
really opened my eyes to what academic writing and research really is. Back in the day, I would look at my assigned
topic that I really didn’t care much about, look up some articles regarding the
issue, then take pieces of each article and put them into a paper. . My
idea of the process of research has evolved in the past 16 weeks in the fact
that I now see that I don’t have to rely on the other research articles I find.
This
semester I went from basically summarizing old research to analyzing this
research and using it as a resource to aid my own thoughts on the subject. I also learned that the “so what” of a paper
is one of the most important parts when trying to get through to your audience.
One
big idea that I took away from this semester is that it’s my job as a student
to add to the ever-growing research world.
Yes, it seems like a scary place, but once you’re there, it’s not so
bad. As our class looked at what “counts”
as research, I learned that although numbers are great, interviews work just as
well in the academic world. For example,
even though I’m not going to a field like chemistry in which it seems easier to
conduct quantitative studies, the education field offers many opportunities for
qualitative research if that’s what I choose to do. As I explore what I want to study for my
Capstone project, I have realized that I don’t need to have conduct experiments
in order to do research. Also,
conducting research isn’t as hard as it sounds; I simple survey or interview
can reveal so much about a topic. This
took a big weight off my shoulders!
At
SCREE, I got to talk with many students both in and out of my discipline and listen
to them explain their research and what they found. From them, I learned that some research can
be conceptual, almost like common sense, but connecting ideas across different articles
is an important aspect of research. They
provided insight on how to approach the project in the fact that they took a
big topic, and narrowed it by finding an issue.
Also, I talked with one student in which their research just created
more questions, and that’s okay. The
biggest lesson I learned is that usually there is no one answer, and the
question I choose to ask will most likely create more questions.
As
I continue my education and work towards my Capstone I have a few goals for myself:
1. Find something I’m passionate about (I think I’m on the right track because of
this class) 2. Be creative 3. Don’t get stressed. Throughout this class, one of the key ideas
that has been ingrained into my head is that academic writing is a
conversation, and through my research, I am adding to it. As a writer, I need to keep in mind my
audience and anticipate any questions they may have and address them. This class has been very beneficial to my
idea of what is expected of me in regards to academic writing and was actually
very enjoyable due to the fact that I got to write about issues that pertained
directly to my passion.