Last week in my post on Micheal Kleine’s What is It We Do When We Write Articles Like This One-and How Can We Get Students to Join Us? I talked about extensive use of quotes. So much that it almost turns into plagiarism because only other peoples words are being expressed and yours are limited.
Now, I have had time to reflect further on my own research and writing process with regards to Kleine. Kleine describes two main ways of completing research. First is described as the “hunter.” A hunter “finds what he is looking for” and “goes into the world with a strong sense of direction.” The second is the “gatherer.” A gatherer “looks widely” and “discovers that which might be of use”.
Reflecting on this myself, I found that I have completed predominately “hunter” research. I am generally very focused on finding what I want as quickly and effortlessly as possible. If I have an idea for a topic in mind, I will immediately search that. For example, if I wanted to research IQ tests in college students then I would search “IQ Tests college students” in google and receive millions of hits. I would then quickly filter through the information and find things only pertaining exactly to what I want from my research. When collecting information and looking for patterns within my research I look very narrowly, finding only things that I know I can use.
The idea of the gatherer seems rather foreign.
The idea of the gatherer seems rather foreign. In this case, your research may have a guiding theme, but really it is open to any findings that may occur. As we talked about in our class discussion, it is kind of like going onto youtube with a particular video or topic in mind and then spending the next several hours watching the related videos on the right hand side of the webpage. While this version of research may be effective for some, to me it seems inefficient. It may very well yield better results, but it will take much longer to get there.
If you have a lot of time to simply explore a variety of websites and topics, then I think it is great. And the quality of your research will likely be greater, but as college students in an extremely fast paced world, lallygagging on the internet sounds like a waste especially if you can gather information on your topic much faster using the hunting method.
I honestly wish I had the time to use the “gatherer” method
I see value in both methods, and I honestly wish I had the time to use the “gatherer” method more, but I think I will be sticking to the “hunt.”