Entering and Participating in a Scholarly Conversation
I’ve always found the final unit in the composition sequence to be exhilarating. This final unit has student writers participate fully in a scholarly conversation. When I have taught this unit, I have had students discover new majors, career paths, and mostly, I have come to watch students beautifully find their voices. Hopefully, the research topic chosen is one student writers are excited about and invested in. If you are a student writer here, you have made it through Composition 1 and are now ready to finish Composition 2. And you are ready to finish on a strong note.
My hope is by the time student writers have arrived at this unit, where one will most likely produce an original research paper, they have found their passions and voices. Voice is something that bends, adapts, and builds on one’s identity, life experience, ethics, and beliefs. Voice is something inherent to you, as well as something you mold and create on the page. Voice is something not to be left out of research or academic writing. My hope is that you remember this as you end this final unit in Composition 2 and complete the rest of your undergraduate degree. My hope is that these chapters in the text help guide you as you produce writing and conduct research in this unit, and beyond.
In “Googlepedia: Turning Information Behaviors into Research Skills,” by Randall McClure, you’ll learn that it is okay to Google, but you’ll also learn the importance of knowing how to conduct serious research through your university library. You’ll come to understand most of us use both. Marjorie Stewars, in “Weaving Personal Experience into Academic Writings,“ will show you how blending who you are and your personal narrative with research can only strengthen your writing. You’ll learn about exigency and how a reader can spot your passion for a topic in “Exigency: What Makes My Message Indispensable to My Reader” by Quentin Vieregge. Finally, in “Everything Changes, or Why MLA Isn’t (Always) Right” by Janice R. Walker, you will understand the ethical importance of giving credit to other voices when credit is due.
My goal is that these four chapters help guide you to produce a final product you are both happy with and proud of. These chapters will push you to consider various methods of research. It will also challenge you to reflect on who you are, what your beliefs contain, and how you plan to influence readers through your writing. Words hold power. Research and storytelling hold infinite power. In these chapters. you will unearth what shapes your own identity, as well as others’ identities around you. Never turn your back on anyone. Your voice, your words, and research all hold the future. And I anticipate your writing will add a unique perspective and diverse voice to our ever-changing world.
