This assignment helps to prepare students for the remediation of their scholarly essays into a new genre that draws on research. In addition to familiarizing students with the genre that they will need to produce, the exercise helps them to understand the role research plays in genres other than scholarly essays and to identify the research they might carry over from their scholarly essay and the new research they’ll still need to locate for the new genre.

Objective

To explore how research works in a new genre; to begin to think about the kinds of research from their scholarly paper to include in a new genre; to identify gaps in research

Key Terms

information literacy; rhetorical situation; research; genre remediation; public intellectual essay

Part 1: How Research Works in a New Genre

In small groups, identify information in the new genre that would have required research on the part of the author (or someone assisting the author).

For each piece of information you identified, discuss how and where the author could have obtained this information. Would they have looked it up? Observed it? Interviewed someone? Etc.

As a group, reflect on the following questions:

  1. How is research conducted for this genre different from research conducted for a scholarly paper? How is it the same?
  2. Does information gathered through research play a different role in the composition of this genre than it does in the composition of a scholarly essay? If so, how does it differ?
  3. What kinds of sources would the author of this genre have used in their research? Could these same kinds of sources be used in research for a scholarly essay?
  4. What are some research skills or ways of thinking about research that can be helpful in both of these genres and in research for other genres as well?

 

Part 1: How Research Works in a Public Intellectual Essay

Read a public intellectual essay, such as one from The New Yorker or another source. Working in small groups, use a highlighter to identify information in the article that would have required research on the part of the author (or someone assisting the author). You can leave out information that came from the author’s own observations or that is told to them by someone quoted in the story.

For each piece of information you highlighted, discuss how and where the author could have obtained this information. Reflect on the following questions:

  1. How is research conducted for a public intellectual essay different from research conducted for a scholarly paper? How is it the same?
  2. Does information gathered through research play a different role in the composition of a public intellectual essay than it does in the composition of a scholarly essay? If so, how does it differ?
  3. What kinds of sources would the author of this article have used in their research? Could these same kinds of sources be used in research for a scholarly essay?
  4. What are some research skills or ways of thinking about research that can be helpful in both of these genres and in research for other genres as well?