I found myself pondering about this topic over the weekend after a class discussion about humanities research. My students and I were discussing some of the research they are doing in their majors, and I mentioned I was also working on some research. This launched into a fairly quick conversation that a) English students also do research and it isn’t just read Jane Austen and analyzing lines and b) yes, we also do empirical and practical research.
But then, I moved on to thinking about all my students in my classroom and how many of them are currently doing undergraduate research projects. Nine. Nine out of eighteen students are engaged in undergraduate research. Fifty percent of my students are already conducting research in their fields, but what about the business technical writing field? Are we inviting students to be an actual part of the discourse, or do we leave them out and hope they figure it out when they get to grad school? Or even more depressing to think about, do we not invite them because we don’t believe they can arise to the occasion or be useful? As much as I would love to think that the latter is not the case, I’ve worked in a setting where faculty thought it was unprofessional to invite undergraduates into the research and how they wouldn’t understand the main concepts/framework of their studies. And while I don’t think we should hand our research off to undergraduates and tell them to go wild, I think there is some area where we can be more inclusive and invite them into the research around their field and create more opportunities for them to learn in practical, contextual settings.
If we don’t think that students can arise to the occasion , we have to look at all the other field and understand that this is obviously a fallacy. What about the engineering students, pre-vet, pre-health, and natural science students who are working in their departments to do research? I sat to talk with three of my students about their research and all of them seemed incredibly interested and invested in their work. One is working with a faculty and graduate student to study the mulching patterns of Finch birds. While I have no interest in this topic, my student was beaming while he talked about his experience. My other student is doing research about foals attachment to caretakers, and the work she has done. She spun into the direction of telling me how she was actually kicked in the face by the foal (at 3am!!!) while doing research. It’s fascinating to hear these students talk about their experiences and what an impact the research has had on them. My other pre-vet student did research in one of her classes, and her teacher helped the article get published. I was amazed! This is such an incredible opportunity, and I was really impressed that the teacher welcomed the student into the discourse and helped establish them (whether they fully understood or not) inside the field.
While many of my students are doing research in their fields, I don’t think any of the students are doing a project solely on their own, but nonetheless, the experience has been influential, to at least the two I’ve talked with, if not more. I keep thinking about Berlin’s essay Inventing the University and how if we actually, truly, invited our students to be a part of research, learn about the field in tangible, real-world context setting, it would be beneficial to them. So, now, I’m left thinking about how we can invite students into the discourse more, especially regarding business technical writing and how we can create similar experiences with our students. I would love to hear your thoughts!
Katie Rieger, Portfolio 