Academic Reading, Research, and Question Formulation

Discussion on MLK's "Letter From Birmingham Jail"

• Purpose: To understand the letter's purpose, its primary claim, and the specific audience it addresses, drawing evidence directly from the essay.
• Key Evidence: The letter provides one long, scathing piece of evidence detailing the reality of racial oppression in America at that time.
• Options for Dialogue: MLK offers two main options for the portion of society unwilling to discuss the racial oppression of Black Americans:
  • Option 1: Open peaceful dialogue and conversations with the group he represents.
  • Option 2: An alternative, opposing group of that era, which will be identified on Friday.

Upcoming Assignments and Schedule

• Research Question: The research question activity will be assigned on Friday as homework and is due Monday by midnight. It will not be made live until after class on Monday.
• Group Work: On Monday, students will discuss research questions in groups, focusing on clarifying their questions before submission.
• Feedback: The instructor will provide feedback on submitted research questions, and the group discussion offers a chance for preliminary feedback.
• Source: The homework questions are directly from "Connected homework" or the "Howell Connected instructions," and answering them fully is advised for developing strong research questions and topic understanding.

Understanding Different Types of Reading

Reading is not a single activity but encompasses various interactions with text, often varying in purpose and retention.

• Reading for Entertainment/Escape: Reading a novel is typically for escape and entertainment. Information retention might be high for beloved books, potentially leading to rereading.
• Reading for Practical Application (Transient):
  • Directions to assemble something: Once an item is assembled, the instructions are generally discarded, and the information is not retained or revisited.
  • Directions to get to a party: These are discarded once the destination is reached; information is not retained.
• Reading for Brief Information/Passage of Time:
  • Social media: Read to see what's happening globally or within one's social sphere, typically without deep thought or retention.
  • Supervisor's memo about a procedure change: Read to learn a new rule, then mentally stored without revisiting the original text.
  • Magazine, chain mail: Read briefly to take in information or pass time, not for deep thought or retention.
• Reading for Retention and Deep Thought (Academic/Personal Significance):
  • A poem written by one's child: Likely read with attention, remembered, and possibly revisited due to personal significance.
  • Sacred texts (e.g., Quran or Bible): Often returned to and information is retained due to their importance.
  • Textbook for a college course: Assigned with the purpose of learning technical terms, definitions, retaining information, and being able to reuse it.
  • Research: Involves reading to retain, critically analyze, and reuse information to support one's own arguments, claims, and ideas. This is very different from day-to-day reading, as it serves a specific purpose for writing and reinforcing research needs.

Reading as Inquiry: The Intersection of Reading, Writing, and Research

Reading, writing, and research are an interconnected, continuous process in academic work.

• Constant Interaction: These three elements constantly influence and operate together; they cannot be truly separated in academic scholarship.
• Approach Based on Prior Knowledge:
  • Familiar Topic: If one has a good knowledge base (arguments, problems, discussions), the process might start with:
    1. Brainstorming: Getting ideas, arguments, and existing knowledge down.
    2. Identifying Gaps: Thinking about what needs to be gathered or what type of evidence is required to support claims.
    3. Research Plan/Gathering Sources: Developing a plan and collecting relevant materials.
    4. Reading Sources: Analyzing arguments, conversations, and evidence within the collected sources.
  • New/Unfamiliar Topic (Common for Students): When building a foundation of knowledge is necessary, the process typically starts with:
    1. Broad Reading: Beginning with general sources (Google, popular discussions) to understand common concerns and build foundational knowledge.
    2. Research: Seeking targeted, specific readings to address identified knowledge gaps and important discussions.
    3. Gathering Sources: Collecting expert sources and academic research.
    4. In-depth Reading: Thoroughly reading research to understand facts, arguments, and potential solutions.
    5. Writing: Commencing the writing process, which still involves continuous iteration with reading and research.
• Transforming Ideas into Fact: The core purpose of research is to transform personal ideas and opinions into substantiated facts. For instance, changing "I believe this is a problem" to "It is a problem because…" ($X$ evidence supports it).
• Library Resources: Next week, the library staff will provide expertise on navigating library resources and tutorials, reinforced by the instructor's crash course.

Essential Skills for Academic Engagement

A range of activities are crucial at the intersection of research, reading, and writing:

• Critical Reading:
  • Approaching texts from multiple perspectives.
  • Opening them up through rigorous questions: What is the author's origin and perspective? Who is their audience? What are they trying to convey and what do they want the audience to take away?
• Annotating:
  • Active Reading: Always read with a pen, pencil, or digital annotation tools (e.g., highlighting, scribbling on PDFs or using an Apple Pencil on an iPad) to create a written record.
  • Creating a Map: Annotations serve as a map of the text, highlighting important ideas, arguments, supporting points, and posing questions in the margins.
  • Time-Saving: This active process saves significant time when revisiting sources, allowing one to quickly navigate to important sections rather than rereading from the beginning.
  • Challenges of Academic Sources: Academic papers can be boring, dry, and filled with discipline-specific jargon, making active reading even more critical for comprehension and retention.
• Summarizing:
  • Capturing the essence of a text and its main ideas quickly.
  • Rephrasing the author's main arguments and supporting points in one's own language for one's readers.
• Quoting:
  • Identifying and marking potential evidence within research sources that can support one's own claims.
  • Active annotation makes it easier to locate and extract these quotes for inclusion in one's writing.
• Overall Role: These skills prepare students to effectively integrate their own thinking and writing with that of scholars encountered during research.

Academic Research and Formulating Research Questions

Academic research is fundamentally driven by well-defined questions and aims to address gaps or problems within existing knowledge.

• Question-Driven: Research focuses on identifying gaps and problems in the overall body of knowledge within a discipline or topic.
• Building on Scholarship: The goal is to build upon or correct previous scholarship.
• Persistence of Issues: Topics like immigration and racial discrimination remain subjects of ongoing research because unresolved gaps and political barriers prevent definitive solutions, despite many answers being proposed over time.
• Formulating Research Questions: The "Topic and What?" Approach:
  • Start with a broad topic (e.g., Climate Change, Gun Violence, Protest Poetry, Kendrick Lamar).
  • Narrow the focus by considering "and what?" to pinpoint a specific problem, aspect, or area of inquiry.
  • Example $1$: Kendrick Lamar and Protest/Music
    • Question: "How does Kendrick Lamar challenge mainstream society and his community through music to address issues of injustice and oppression?" (Focuses on a specific artist and his method of protest).
  • Example $2$: America and Protest Poetry
    • Context: "America has always witnessed the power of protest from civil rights to poetry. We have witnessed Americans provide their voice to issues of race, equality, and freedom."
    • Question: "How and why does America see voices of protest today in artistic expression?" (Focuses on the type of poetry and the reasons for expressing protest).
  • Example $3$: Climate Change and Personal Consumption
    • Context: "We are witnessing the evolution of our planet under attack from our own consumption of fossil harmful fossil fuels and plastics. It has been said that it is in our hands to influence change."
    • Question: "What can we do individually to influence a real seismic shift in the way we consume harmful products?" (Narrows climate change to the individual carbon footprint and consumption habits, not climate change as a whole). This could involve choices like driving vs. biking or using reusable cups.
    • Alternative Focus: "Climate change and rising temperatures in Arizona" would lead to research on water conservation and local impacts.
  • Example $4$: Gun Violence and the Second Amendment
    • Context: "America has seen numerous tragedies over the last several years. Each time we are only left searching for answers on how these horrific crimes can be ended. These conversations often lead to heated debates about the Second Amendment and the senseless violence we were witnessing."
    • Question: "Should we redraft our constitution so that it reflects current and modern society in relation to the Second Amendment?"
    • Historical Context of Second Amendment: Originated after the Revolutionary War to allow for the formation of militias to fight against a potentially oppressive government (like the British monarchy).
    • Modern Critique for the Question:
      • Current debates often devolve into simply asserting "my right to buy as many guns as I see fit," rather than a constructive conversation.
      • The original purpose of a militia fighting against a government with firearms is obsolete given modern military technology (missiles, drones).
      • Inconsistent state laws regarding gun types and magazine capacities (e.g., some allow machine guns, others restrict clips to $10$ rounds).
    • Speaker's Stance: The question is not about abolishing the Second Amendment but revising its interpretation to fit modern society.
    • Existing Restrictions: Guns are currently restricted from criminals and individuals convicted of domestic violence, and implicitly immigrants.
    • Proposed Revisions/Considerations: The question implies considering restrictions for mentally ill individuals deemed dangerous (referencing past events like Columbine), and limiting the type of firearms available to civilians, as the original need for machine guns to form militias against the government is no longer relevant for home protection.
• Personal Connection: It is important to explore why an issue is personally significant, as this can generate potential content and motivation for research.

Conclusion for Research Questions

• Defining Focus: The research question is crucial for defining the specific focus within a broader topic, such as "Racism and police brutality," "Police brutality and the culture of policing," or "Immigration and America's history of applying that to different groups."
• Upcoming Practice: On Friday, students will review research questions from their textbooks. On Monday, they will discuss their drafted questions in groups to ensure clarity and narrow focus, asking "Climate change and what?" or "Immigration and what?" to refine their inquiry.