from inquiry to academic writing

from inquiry to academic writing

The Importance of Inquiry in Academic Writing

1. The Role of Inquiry in Academic Writing

The first kind of inquiry is the second kind mentioned above, simply seeking to learn more about a topic by locating information. This sounds simple, but it has proven complicated for many students, who are accustomed to learning through direct instruction and may not know how to learn about a topic that interests them or has been assigned to them. Part of the challenge is that as one learns, new questions will frequently arise that do not have answers readily available, and thus must be pursued with further research. This kind of “brainstorming” questions and then researching to answer them can at times lead to a “quest” for knowledge that takes on a life of its own, and many students have reported assignments that were supposed to take an hour but took several days because they found themselves so interested in what they were learning. This is the principle of “intrinsic motivation” and while it is merely a more complex form of an assignment with a carrot at the end of a stick, having a genuine interest in what one is learning or the stories one is trying to tell is the best predicament for a student. However, one must effectively weigh the opportunity cost to accomplish their assignments.

In academic writing, the concept of inquiry is central to many types of work, though the specific methods and outcomes of inquiry will depend greatly on the scholar and his/her discipline. “Inquiry” can take many forms: simply asking a question is a form of inquiry, and so is reading a book to learn more about a familiar topic. However, when scholars speak of the importance of inquiry in academic writing, they are referring to a more specific set of skills and activities. At the most basic level, inquiry in academic writing is about seeking and finding information, then using that information to better understand the topic at hand, or to build an argument to deepen our understanding of the topic. This form of inquiry can be divided into two broad categories which are not mutually exclusive: searching for information in order to learn, and critically evaluating information sources.

2. Developing Effective Research Questions

Considering that your essay is intended to assess the causal factors of a general phenomenon in modern society, it is clear that the questions would direct you towards primary research on this topic. Failure and retention can be considered a “success or failure to _____” issue, and more often than not, there are ample case-specific examples that are rich in data and easy to access. Furthermore, answering these questions could give you an accurate understanding of the topic in present and recent terms and also a fairly definitive idea of when and how the trend began.

1) Is there statistical evidence proving that failure is an issue with today’s students, and if so, what are the causes and effects? 2) What led the student in question to retention, and what are the long-term effects of the decision? 3) What possible solutions are there for this student, and what are the potential effects of implementing these?

Turning a topic into a question – “What are the effects of primary and high school on kids’ development in their homes?” rather than “The author argues that there are many problems with students in elementary and high school, so it is clear that this setting would not be effective with this age group. In fact, failing is a big issue with older students and retention is one possible solution.” – and supporting that question with a series of sub-questions is a simple but effective way to begin thinking with inquiry in mind. For this example, your primary research question would be “How and why are the kids failing, or why is retention an issue for older students?” and the following are sample sub-questions:

3. Conducting Thorough Literature Reviews

Recognize places of this concern which are controversial to all who have looked at it. You might think this is known as an effortless venture, nonetheless, often times there is quite a vague challenge about what can be described as up-to-date issue within the historical past! Then, attempt to nitpick the varied points of view within this subject.

Of those who do further explore on the subject, a great number of will discover that earlier on operate on the subject is now analyzed very well. In any literature review, an important step could be to find out the gaps in awareness. Finding out these spaces is actually serving to to spell out your job on your subject and reflective on the way to check out a response regarding the problem. This really should be no different for any individual performing exploration as a result of an academic paper! Then, learning the gap in education may make a choice the variation and method for this inspection.

Identify the narrow theme of your work. After that, it is possible to check out instances to find out about what other writers have published about this design. You have got to choose regardless of if the reputation, a particular promote, a grouping, or an aspect for this concern is the center of your respective challenge. Then you would be able to are aware of which other categories will most completely focus your report on.

4. Analyzing and Synthesizing Research Findings

At the analysis stage, students are encouraged to “acquire a critical habit of mind”. This requires asking questions about what, why, and how findings develop and are linked. Students should assess the quality and value of the research they have been reading. Here it may help to return to the various types of inquiry and identify which one predominates in the research (descriptive, interpretive, or causal). They should also ask what broader issues are addressed, and look for patterns in the findings. Adcock and Collier suggest students “extract enough information from the article to provide a clear understanding of the evidence, the argument and the methodology pursued”. To this end, students can annotate articles with notes in the margins or an abstract on the top of the page. These activities lead to creating a “good list of what the article has to say” which should be written in one column. In a second column, the students should summarize the article in their own words. This distinction between source and student’s own writing is useful to prevent inadvertent plagiarism as students compile information for their project.

5. Presenting a Convincing Argument in Academic Writing

Though creativity and artfulness are not always associated with academic writing, it is an art form. Understanding complex ideas, breaking them down, and reconstructing them clearly requires that you think through the logic of another’s thinking. This is why writing is often so hard for us and why it is absolutely critical, in an argument-driven essay, that you take the time to think about and construct your ideas and the logic of their organization. In the discussion of types of argument that follows, I will distinguish between “informal” and “formal” arguments, these being the type of arguments that students will most likely encounter in their academic careers. In the event that anyone should want to do further work in logic and argumentation theory, a good place to begin would be with a visit to the web page of Argumentation and Communication, which is the journal of the National Communication Association’s (United States) argumentation division. In addition to abstracts of articles from recent issues, this website provides an excellent links page to other argumentation sites.