As
a senior at Washington State University of Vancouver, I have written
my fair share of research papers. Some of the most difficult research
papers I had to develop were in 100 level courses at Clark College.
Was the instructor asking too much of their students? Did the
instructor take pleasure in causing pain and suffering of his/her
students by requiring such difficult research? Or did I simply lack
the knowledge of the basic research process which made my life feel
10 times harder than it should be?
After reading Carol Kuhlthau's article about the six stages of the information search process my experiences at Clark College made sense to me. I came to the conclusion that my awful experiences in writing research papers early on in my college adventure was simply due to my inexperience, insufficient knowledge and my overwhelming feelings of uncertainty. This was stage one, “initiation”. My feelings of uncertainty and inadequacy lifted for a moment when I picked a research topic that interested me.
For one of my early research papers I chose the topic of food history in America. In stage 2, “selection”, I was sure of myself and ready to start researching the topic that really grabbed my interest. In the initial stages of my research, I found it very difficult to separate reliable sources from the sea of unreliable B.S. on the internet. One source would say one thing while another source said the opposite. Which source was correct? In stage 3, “exploration”, I was grossly confused and frustrated.
In my “dip of confidence” I gave up for a few days and tried to pick another topic. I picked up where I left off and figured out how to refocus my efforts and decifer the inconsistent sources. This was stage 4, “formulation”. I had my mojo back.
I really got involved in my research and narrowed my focus even further. In stage 5, “collection”, I developed a passion for my new, narrowed topic of “The History of the American Diet: supermarkets are making us unhealthy.” At the end of my research, I was able to give a presentation to my class without notes or cue cards. I was able to teach my classmates about what I learned and new perspectives I gained from my research. In the 6th and final stage, “presentation”, I was so happy it was over!
