The only research I have ever done for academic purposes was for close readings of novels. Because of this, my experience with research is probably different than the process taken for an extensive research paper.

In high school, I was typically given a prompt, so I didn’t really have to ask my own questions, I simply had to pick a position and support it. The real work was finding quality sources that supported and embellished my argument. My first step was always to search a few key words on an online database, like EBSCO or JSTOR, and then browse through dozens of articles.If I found that I needed more information, I would reach out to our school librarian who would direct me to more literary criticisms. While reading through all these sources, I always kept my position in mind and asked myself how their argument would further my own.

Reading Bizups’s BEAM article clarified the research process and shed light on new ways of viewing research. His terminology for defining sources made me realize the importance of how you use a source in your work and their rhetorical purpose. I now understand that the novel I was analyzing, although still accurately classified as a primary source, was more importantly an exhibit (a material I analyzed and interpreted) and that the literary criticisms I was citing, although still accurately classified as secondary sources, were more importantly arguments (materials that I affirmed, disputed, refined or extended).

The article pointed out the strengths of my research and writing process. My essays accomplished something that Bizup supports: analyzing “specific exhibits in order to further conversations embodied in the specific constellations of argument sources” (81). I would “start with an exhibit [and] look for argument sources to engage” (82).

But, the article also pointed out the mistakes I made during my research and writing process. I often decided on a specific topic prematurely, which Bizup advises against. Also, I didn’t look at the research process as an “active exercise in ‘knowledge construction;'” I had tunnel vision and viewed the research as merely part of an English assignment, not the real world.