"Is the Research Paper Actually Useful?"

Questions that need answers! Teachers, do we actually need to put the research paper in permanent timeout? I'm here to tackle that question with the associate director of Brown's writing center, Dr. Charlie Carroll.

Links mentioned in episode:
Asao Inoue, “Classroom Writing Assessment as an Antiracist Practice: Confronting White Supremacy in the Judgments of Language”

John Mueller, “Authentic Assignment Toolbox”

Joy Santee, “Cartographic Composition Across the Curriculum: Promoting Cartographic Literacy Using Maps as Multimodal Texts”

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Transcript

BT:  Hello hello! I’m Britt Threatt and you’re listening to “College Writing, Actually” where we talk about the how-to and how-come of college writing and writing instruction every other Wednesday while school is in session. Today, I’m joined by Dr. Charlie Carroll, the Associate Director of the Writing Center. Thank you for making time to talk to us today, Charlie.

CC: Thanks for the invitation!

BT: A bit about Dr. Carroll. A first-generation college student, he holds a B.A. in history and religious studies from Saint Michael's College, an M.A. in history from the University of Massachusetts Boston, and a Ph.D. in history from Brown University.

Charlie has been working at the writing center from when he was a graduate student in the history department. Since his start as a tutor in 2014 he’s basically held all the roles, including Teaching Consultant and Interdisciplinary Opportunity fellow. In 2018-2019, he was a Faculty Fellow at Wheaton College in Massachusetts. He took on his current role in the Sheridan Center/Writing Center in 2019. 

Charlie is interested in composition and rhetoric pedagogies, creating and assessing authentic writing assignments, and self-deterministic pedagogies. In addition to overseeing the Writing Center at Brown, he also teaches courses on medieval Europe and the Mediterranean world in the history department. He also teaches the Course Design Seminar for graduate students at Brown’s Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning. What a journey… and a long way of saying that this is my boss so y’all be good.

So we’re mixing it up today. A lot of the episodes this season are geared towards student writing questions but today we’re talking to teachers and having a conversation that might seem blasphemous: “is the research paper actually useful?” Now, believe it or not, this was Charlie’s idea. Associate Director of Brown University Writing Center, what brought this on?!

CC: Thanks for the introduction, Britt. I actually hope that by the end of this episode I can make it clear that expanding writing assignments beyond the research paper actually isn’t that blasphemous; in fact many instructors are already using writing assignments beyond the research paper. But I still think that the research paper exists (problematically, I argue) as the gold standard in writing assignments across undergraduate courses, and I’m hoping I can help shake this up a bit and talk about why the research paper isn’t always the best writing assignment.

But let me start by talking about how a research paper can be a useful writing assignment.

• A research paper is a great way to communicate ideas with fellow specialists (or, in the case of undergraduate students, to put yourself in the shoes of a specialist communicating with fellow specialists).

• They can be a succinct way to communicate novel findings to a certain audience.

• They can be a good way for the author to demonstrate close reading skills—a good research paper shows the author’s ability to read their sources critically and not just summarize their sources.

• They can also be a good way to engage with other scholars. A good research paper will make a clear argument and then position that argument within what other scholars have been saying on the topic. When I give workshops on scholarly citations, I emphasize that citations are important not just to avoid accusations of plagiarism but, more importantly, to show where your argument is situated in comparison to other scholars. Citations show that you’re engaging with a community of other thinkers on your topic.

• And they’re also a great way to prepare future scholarly researchers for their writing and research career.

BT: I agree. I also think writing is an extension of processing information, organizing thoughts, marshaling arguments. The research paper has its uses… So why should we go to infinity and beyond?

CC: So my last point is one reason why we should consider, in some contexts, offering options beyond the research paper. Not all of our students are preparing for a career in the academy—I see this as a good thing because there are countless ways to use what we learn in college to make a difference in the world. So, if a tiny minority of our students actually end up writing research papers after college—why not build in writing assignments which actually teach students how to write in ways that are authentic to their future careers?

So it’s about outcome, but it’s also about motivation. When we create assignments that students see themselves using after college, that can be a motivating factor for many students. And even better, when we allow students to choose their own kind of writing assignment they tend to feel autonomous—also leading to higher motivation.

BT: Autonomy is definitely something I've spoken about before with several guest co-hosts. Usually, though, we’re speaking about it in the context of autonomous writing. I think autonomy is crucial across the board but I’m sure teachers who have been assigning papers for so long just have trouble figuring out what a viable alternative actually looks like.

CC: There’s been a lot of talk among my colleagues in both educational development and writing centers about this—what we’re talking about here is “authentic assignments.” So what’s an authentic assignment? An authentic assignment asks students to apply what they’ve learned to a new situation—they typically simulate the complexity of real-world situations, asking students to use their critical thinking skills, research experience, and judgment to address a real-world (or a simulated real-world) audience. Back in 1998, the educational developer Grant Wiggins defined an authentic assignment using these criteria:

1. It’s realistic. (It simulates a situation or problem that a scholar or practitioner in the discipline might encounter).

1. It requires judgment and innovation.

1. It asks the student to “do” the subject. (So, it asks them to use disciplinary tools to solve a particular problem).

1. It replicates or simulates the contexts in which practitioners are “tested” in the workplace, in civic life, and in personal life.

1. It assesses the student’s ability to efficiently and effectively use a repertoire of knowledge and skill to negotiate a complex task.

1. It allows appropriate opportunities to rehearse, practice, consult resources, and get feedback on and refine performances and products.

BT: Oh wow! So this is not a new concept. 1998! But that was a long checklist so I’m only excited in very abstract terms. I would love a concrete example if you have one up your sleeve.

CC: I was just reading a fascinating article by Joy Santee in Prompt: A Journal of Academic Writing Assignments. Professor Santee is in the English department at the University of Southern Indiana, and she uses cartography as a way to teach rhetorical composition strategies. She argues that maps are rhetorical instruments, they make claims which can shape political decisions, public debate, etc. So, her assignment asks students to compose a map which solves a real-world problem—it asks students to consider audience, purpose, and context. Some examples of problems that she provides are: healthcare inequities, disability access, and racial injustice—just to name a few. So students are asked to compose a map, and this exercise is scaffolded thoughtfully throughout the course, and then reflect on their composition process and decisions they made. Some reflective questions that she poses are:

• What does your map allow you to communicate that you might not be able to communicate as effectively using other modes of communication?

• How do you see your map contributing to solving the problem you address in your map? Who might your map help, and what other types of documents and/or actions could accompany the map to help it contribute to solving the problem?

• What other kinds of problems within your major or intended profession might be addressed using maps?

It’s a really beautifully designed assignment, and you can find the whole assignment sequence in the open-source article. So this is a pretty complex assignment, but there are more straightforward examples like policy memos, blog posts, opinion pieces, letters, emails, and so on.

BT: I’ll be sure to link that article in the show notes. Off top, I would be super intimidated to get that assignment. As soon as you said “cartography” I was out. My spatial awareness is toddler-level bad, but what I love about Prof. Santee’s assignment is how it pushes for students to consider the significance of the course in the world around them. Students don't have to wonder what the relevance is. Prof. Carroll, have you used authentic writing assignments in your own teaching?

CC: Well I’m a historian and a map nerd so maybe that’s why I was drawn to Prof. Santee’s assignment–but I do like how she conceptualizes maps as rhetorical texts.

But to answer your question: In a way, yes I have used authentic writing assignments in my courses. I’ll use my course on the history of Paris as an example. When I taught this course at Brown a couple years ago, the very first assignment asked students to articulate what interested them about the subject, to describe what they hoped to learn during the course, and at least one content-related goal related to social justice or a career-related goal. They then worked with me individually to design a “communicative media” project which tied together their personal interests and career goals to the course material. As an example, one student was from New Orleans and he wanted to explore the connections between Paris as the center of the colonial metropole and his home city, New Orleans, as a city on the edge of the French colonial empire—he ended up composing a fantastic podcast series on this topic. In addition to this semester-long project, which was submitted as a portfolio and included several opportunities for peer review and revision, I had a midterm activity where students were asked to compose articles for a fictional coffee table book on selected objects and texts related to the history of Paris (that was actually an idea I took from my Sheridan colleague Eric Kaldor).

So, to be clear, I don’t expect these students to go off and write a coffee table book or create a podcast (though I would love it if they did), but the assignments were designed to help students use their critical thinking and research skills and apply them to a communicative project which was interesting and relevant to them. So I would still consider these assignments “authentic” because they’re applicable to the students’ lives outside the classroom.

BT: Okay number one that sounds like an amazing way to encourage concept application… and also, number two I have decided: these authentic assignments sound really involved for the student and the instructor. Now I get why this was introduced in 1998 and some professors are still over here in 2022 like “naw, I’m good. Write this paper.”

CC: Time is a major drawback. For students, it often takes additional time and effort to compose an assignment with which they are unfamiliar—it takes time to step out of the “research paper writing mode” to, say, writing a policy memo. For instructors, it takes time to develop an assignment as complex as an authentic assignment. Instructors would need to design a new kind of assignment which aligns with their learning objectives and also design in scaffolding for these assignments. Feedback and revision should also be built into any authentic assignment sequence, and that also takes time.

Jon Mueller has created a very useful website which walks instructors through the process of designing and assessing authentic assignments.

BT: That too shall be in the show notes. I’m trying to think of what an authentic assignment would be for my English courses…maybe a blog post or a video book review? Writing a blurb for the book? I don’t know, but there has to be a way to create authentic assignments that aren’t time drains, especially if it’s not a midterm or final. A small scale version. 

The simpler examples you gave I think are equally generative and lend themselves to a good diversity of expression. Memos, blogs, op-eds, letters, those all allow you to play with different voices and tones, different audiences. Like you mentioned earlier, that’s a skill students will need post-graduation whatever career they go into.

However you design it, I definitely think authentic assignments are definitely worth pursuing and finding a way to do it if our goal is effective education and not just academic ritual.

[music interlude]

So Charlie, I know you’ve been interested in antiracist writing pedagogies, how do authentic assignments fit into that?

CC: My interest in authentic assignments arose in tandem with my interest in antiracist writing pedagogies, and I see those two things as linked. Research papers have their benefits, as I mentioned earlier, but they also have their drawbacks. From an antiracist perspective, assessment of research papers is especially susceptible to requiring students to conform to what Asao Inoue has called “the habits of White discourse”:

• Unseen, naturalized orientation to the world
• Hyperindividualism
• Stance of neutrality, objectivity, and apoliticality
• Individualized, rational, controlled self
• Rule-governed, contractual relationships
• Clarity, order, and control

BT: Well, I hear someone listening saying all of those things don’t sound that bad. What’s wrong with objectivity or clarity and order?

CC: I hear that too, and I’m not saying those things are bad. But they’re also not neutral–these standards didn’t just come down from the ether–they were constructed over time and based primarily on rhetorical models written by white, Western scholars. I’ll also point out here that Inoue cautions us not to view these criteria as static or monolithic–these are ways of experiencing and evaluating the world which are constantly in flux. So if we’re seeing these criteria as one way of evaluating then it’s not bad–but in many cases we’re use these criteria as the only way of evaluating language, say in a research paper, so we’re narrowing our experience of our students’ intellect and language and viewing them solely through unconscious habits (habits which are historically connected to those who constructed these standards over time). This is all according to Inoue but I tend to agree.

BT: Thanks for that quick gloss. So you’re saying authentic assignments can give the best of research papers without the hidden hazards?

CC: Yes, if they’re designed carefully and thoughtfully. Well-designed authentic assignments can encourage and value diverse epistemologies and use of various Englishes.

I also think that in only assigning research papers we’re missing out on the full intellectual diversity of our students. I’m constantly fascinated by the directions that my students take these assignments, and I’ve learned so much from them. They make for a richer intellectual experience for both my students and for me, and they can better prepare students for life outside the classroom.

BT: 100% agree on that. Thank you for your perspective, Charlie. Really good points for us to keep in mind. Teachers, if you have thoughts on this episode, take to twitter and share your thoughts. Please mention us with our handle @realcollegecomp. Questions or deep musings about instructive pedagogy and practices? DM College Writing, Actually on twitter and you could hear your topics on your favorite streaming platform! Alright, y’all we out of here. Wishing you teachers much growth.