Having a "Beginner's
Mind" about Research
Recently I attended
a workshop that began with an idea borrowed from Buddhist meditation
practice - "the beginner's mind." The workshop prompted
me to think about what a "beginner's mind" might be
like in the realm of research.
None of the anecdotes
(all true, by the way) that follow are about prep students. I
want to emphasize that even advanced students in excellent universities
can have a "beginner's mind" in the library. From there
I want to suggest how Basic Writing instructors might make a connection
to the "beginner's mind" inside each of their students.
First story: A few
years ago I attended a technology conference in Chicago. One speaker
was the head of the psychology department at a University of California
college. She regularly taught a required research seminar for
seniors who planned to pursue advanced degrees in psychology.
Her biggest challenge, she said, was orienting the students to
research. They arrived with no idea how to formulate a thesis
and evaluate sources. Most had never heard of a "peer-reviewed"
journal. None understood the research process.
Second story: A colleague
from my community college was in the library at the University
of Florida when a senior came in for help with an assignment.
She had never been in a library before and was flabbergasted to
learn that she could borrow books free of charge. My friend overheard
her excitedly saying that she was going to tell all her friends
about the library.
Third story: A student
in my Advanced Composition course kept complaining that she couldn't
find any information about her research topic--the incarceration
of Japanese-Americans during World War II. I finally discovered
that she'd been doing all her research through a search engine
on the World Wide Web. It had never occurred to her to try the
library.
Lesson #1: Don't overestimate
your students' previous experience with research.
Lesson #2: Don't get
frustrated because your prep students don't know much about research.
Here are some introductory
activities you might want to try:
-Bring a few newspaper
articles to class and explain how the information was collected--and
how it might be useful to a researcher later on. If possible choose
topics besides gun control, capital punishment, and abortion--they've
been overdone.
-Bring a few professional
journals to class, along with a few popular magazines. Ask groups
to list the similarities and differences.
-Bring a professional
journal to class and explain how the peer review process works.
-Discuss a news story
that uses research to critique or advocate an idea. When the government
issued a report urging parents not to sleep with their babies,
The New York Times published an impressive response, including
expert opinions and data challenging the government report. My
basic writing classes enjoyed analyzing the pros and cons of the
issue, and they wrote excellent papers after our discussion. (The
New York Times educational Website
features an archive of stories like these.)
-Make a list of important
resources in the library, and ask each group to draw a library
map locating the resources on your list.
Additional
Basic and
Intermediate
Research Activities are available on this website