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Genre and the Research Paper
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Research: What it is.
A research paper is the culmination and final product of an involved process of research, critical thinking, source evaluation, organization, and composition. It is, perhaps, helpful to think of the research paper as a living thing, which grows and changes as the student explores, interprets, and evaluates sources related to a specific topic. Primary and secondary sources are the heart of a research paper, and provide its nourishment; without the support of and interaction with these sources, the research paper would morph into a different genre of writing (e.g., an encyclopedic article). The research paper serves not only to further the field in which it is written, but also to provide the student with an exceptional opportunity to increase her knowledge in that field. It is also possible to identify a research paper by what it is not.
Research: What it is not.
A research paper is not simply an informed summary of a topic by means of primary and secondary sources. It is neither a book report nor an opinion piece nor an expository essay consisting solely of one's interpretation of a text nor an overview of a particular topic. Instead, it is a genre that requires one to spend time investigating and evaluating sources with the intent to offer interpretations of the texts, and not unconscious regurgitations of those sources. The goal of a research paper is not to inform the reader what others have to say about a topic, but to draw on what others have to say about a topic and engage the sources in order to thoughtfully offer a unique perspective on the issue at hand. This is accomplished through two major types of research papers.
Two major types of research papers.
Argumentative research paper:
The argumentative research paper consists of an introduction in which the writer clearly introduces the topic and informs his audience exactly which stance he intends to take; this stance is often identified as the thesis statement . An important goal of the argumentative research paper is persuasion, which means the topic chosen should be debatable or controversial. For example, it would be difficult for a student to successfully argue in favor of the following stance.
Perhaps 25 years ago this topic would have been debatable; however, today, it is assumed that smoking cigarettes is, indeed, harmful to one's health. A better thesis would be the following.
In this sentence, the writer is not challenging the current accepted stance that both firsthand and secondhand cigarette smoke is dangerous; rather, she is positing that the social acceptance of the latter over the former is indicative of a cultural double-standard of sorts. The student would support this thesis throughout her paper by means of both primary and secondary sources, with the intent to persuade her audience that her particular interpretation of the situation is viable.
Analytical research paper:
The analytical research paper often begins with the student asking a question (a.k.a. a research question) on which he has taken no stance. Such a paper is often an exercise in exploration and evaluation. For example, perhaps one is interested in the Old English poem Beowulf . He has read the poem intently and desires to offer a fresh reading of the poem to the academic community. His question may be as follows.
His research may lead him to the following conclusion.
Though his topic may be debatable and controversial, it is not the student's intent to persuade the audience that his ideas are right while those of others are wrong. Instead, his goal is to offer a critical interpretation of primary and secondary sources throughout the paper--sources that should, ultimately, buttress his particular analysis of the topic. The following is an example of what his thesis statement may look like once he has completed his research.
This statement does not negate the traditional readings of Beowulf ; instead, it offers a fresh and detailed reading of the poem that will be supported by the student's research.
It is typically not until the student has begun the writing process that his thesis statement begins to take solid form. In fact, the thesis statement in an analytical paper is often more fluid than the thesis in an argumentative paper. Such is one of the benefits of approaching the topic without a predetermined stance.
What is a Genre?
Like the word research , the word genre also has many definitions. At its most basic level, genre is the French word for “type.” In the world of English for Academic Purposes, it refers to a communicative event that is widely recognized. In terms of research, some common genres include research articles, grant proposals, conference papers, posters, abstracts, and even job-related documents such as cover letters, research statements, etc. In this book, we are focused on the research article genre.
As genres have particular characteristics, one way of learning how to write better within a given genre is to explore the characteristics of it, which is one of our primary goals in this book. Before we explore the research article, however, it’s important to know about genre systems, which are interrelated text types that often work together to achieve a communicative goal.
Genre chains
The concept of genre chains was first discussed in Swales (2004) [1] , where he defined a “chain” as a genre that is an antecedent of another genre. When studying English for Academic Purposes, it is common to approach the learning academic writing, for example, by exploring genre chains because it helps us understand certain types of genre, like research writing, as it is systematized and chronologically organized in an order of sequences.
Genre ecologies
Genres are also sometimes conceptualized in terms of their ecologies, or interrelated and interacting genres Erickson (2000) [2] . In terms of the research article genre, it is helpful to envision the research write-up as only one piece of the communication that occurs between scholars. For example, lab reports, conference presentations and published conference proceedings, white papers, systematic reviews, and more are all part of ecologies that comprise a research communication genre.
- Swales, J. M. (2004). Research genres: Explorations and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ↵
- Erickson, T. (2000). Making sense of computer-mediated communication (CMC): Conversations as genres, CMC systems as genre ecologies. In 33rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences , ed. R. H. Sprague, Jr. Maui: IEEE Computer Society Press. ↵
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