Response to TSW 318-374

Jessica Sumpter

English 484

March 28, 2008

TSW 318-374

There is a lot of good information in this chapter. One of the most useful things I learned from it are the note-taking techniques. I never thought of taking notes this way, but the benefits are obvious to me now, and I really think that I am going to start using note cards in my own research. I really think it would be a great time-saver and organizer. I hadn’t heard about taking notes in this way before, and that seems like a shame to me now. I have to say it seems odd that I wouldn’t have even heard about this before, and it makes me wonder what other helpful techniques are out there that I haven’t heard about yet.

I also thought the section on teaching quoting and paraphrasing was helpful, too. In the past, my teachers have let it be known whether or not they like to see quoting in their papers, and how much quoting. So I’ve never really had to develop a sense of when to quote or paraphrase because I’ve always gone by the teacher’s preference. Too, I’ve never thought of a literary essay as a research paper, so it was interesting to me to see it that way.

The most compelling part of the chapter is actually the beginning where Neman presents arguments first against, and then for, teaching the research paper. In my own experience I get a lot of assignments that read, “write a 1-2 page paper using at least one outside source” which has to be properly cited then. So while I don’t write a lot of what I would call research papers, I still get a lot of practice with in-text citing and works cited lists. So if I were to be assigned a research paper I’m familiar with the documentation methods.

Too, there is something about the arguments presented in favor of teaching the research paper that doesn’t ring true. She says something like that college freshman teachers dislike having to “re-teach” the research paper to their students, because they were taught the wrong way in high school. I disagree with this. I have never heard a professor say that they have had to re-educate their students because of something learned in high school; and I’ve asked.

Overall, I’m not entirely convinced that teaching a research paper is necessary, especially if students get practice with a documentation system, like MLA, in other ways. Becoming familiar with a documentation system is the key to being comfortable with writing a research paper. Of course, when a student learns how to make a works cited list and in-text citations, they’re also learning how to incorporate quotes and paraphrasing into their writing, so what is it about the “research paper” as defined in Neman, that make it important to teach it?