After reading Michael Kleins, “What Is It We Do When We Write Articles Like This One – and How Can We Get Students to Join Us?” I related mostly to the students he was disappointed in in the “night library”. While my own research process is a little more complicated then just copying down information from encyclopedia’s, I don’t think I engage with the material enough (in other words gather).
Source: thehuntergatherer.net
In sum, a good research process looks like this, “Researches/writers need to collect data; then they need to sift the data rhetorically, keeping that which is relevant to audience and purpose, and throwing out that which is irrelevant; then they need to seek patterns in the data – and use those patterns to either make or confirm hypotheses; and finally they need to translate their findings into writing.” (25) Klein articulates that the research and writing process should be riddled with detailed analysis and organization. In the abstract those things sound pretty easy to accomplish but take it from me, they’re not.
Source: Giphy
In his statement Klein essentially outlines all the things I’m lacking as a researcher and writer. When I’m doing research, I do only include relevant information and translate my findings into writing, but that only covers a few steps. Although I don’t relate to the ways he describes a good hunter/gatherer, I plan to use his article as a resource in my future research projects. A lot of what he says would make any research assignment I embark on much stronger because it forces me to be a more mindful writer and reader.