Evolution Essay
I have always liked to write. I cannot remember a time when I preferred science or math over English and social studies. I did not make a big declaration or have an ah-ha! moment where I realized I am a writer. Writing has just always been there for me, and I have taken every opportunity available to expand, explore, and develop my craft.
Although writing has remained constant, my research skills have evolved. Over the past four years, I have sought new research methods and new ways of incorporating these explorations into my writing. The first time I remember enjoying doing research was during my senior year of high school. I wrote a feature piece for the school newspaper about teachers at my school that had graduated there themselves. In addition to interviewing the seven faculty members who fit this description, I spent days sitting on the floor in the corner of the school’s media center flipping through old yearbooks. My goal was to find the senior pictures of the staff members I interviewed, but I became entranced with the imagery of my high school from the past. I wanted to know more, see more, and understand what life had once been like in my small, suburban town.
One may ask: how does research play into my development as a writer? For me, writing is about research. It’s about carrying stacks of books back to your attic apartment during a summer heat wave. It’s about sitting in the corner of a high school library surrounded by musty yearbooks. It’s about observing what’s around you and finding the person or story you find to be most interesting. It’s about the process, not the end result.
When I see the title of an old piece of writing, I think about how I got there. I think about how the piece came to be. The context, the inspiration, the drafts, how many times I changed my topic until I finally settled (usually because it was too late to start over…again). I can’t help that I am indecisive. Whether it is what to wear to class, where to go for dinner, or what media event to write about for a paper worth 50% of my grade, I change my mind more than anyone I know. That is why research is so important to me. Finding a topic that will engage me and will always leave me wanting to know more is how I produce my best work. Throughout my college classes and internships I have tried to use new methods of research to discover these “goldmine” topics.
Of course, my use of research started as traditionally as possible for a student born in the Internet Age, such as myself. I would use online journal articles, which I could search for and read from safely behind my own computer screen. A literature review for a group research project that I wrote for Communications 361: The Media and Public Affairs is a perfect example of what I thought research had to be when I started college. At that time, my sophomore year, I did not think of my time spent looking at yearbooks in the high school library two years earlier as research. In fact, I was almost scared to use the University’s libraries for checking out books, and limited myself to what I could find in an electronic database. In my eyes, the library was for getting coffee, printing readings, and pretending to study with friends. Any research I had to do (and research was just that – something I had to do) was put in the realm of in-class readings and scholarly articles. Research was like the Google and Yelp searches I would do to find the perfect restaurant when my parents came to Ann Arbor for dinner. That part seemed meaningless. It was the writing, like the amazing meal I would get to enjoy, that I looked forward to.
A short time later my fear of the library disappeared. My Communications 479: Sound in Media and Society instructor required me to use actual books for research, and I discovered in searching for these “actual books” that students can make online requests to pick up their book at whichever library they choose, no fuss – or getting lost in the stacks – necessary. Armed with a stack of books and a vague topic (the differences between early radio and television) I found myself getting lost in something else: learning. Each book gave new context to the issue, each author offered their own depth and perspective. This time, research was not just a means to the end of writing and completing an academic paper. This time, research was fun. I enjoyed diving into a subject and reading about every angle, even if most of it went beyond what my paper would cover.
Looking back on these experiences with research in mind, I want to recognize that these early adventures in learning were traditional for a reason. Academic papers typically require academic research; relying on journal articles and books made sense for the context of my work. But, just because that was the type of research I needed at the time doesn’t mean it had to be the only type of research I knew.
During my junior year I took an internship at DBusiness magazine in Royal Oak, Michigan. Part of the job was writing weekly articles for their online newsletter, the DBusiness Daily News. One memorable article covered the HipShotDot, which was a new product created to help players in first-person shooter video games. I have never played a first-person shooter game. In fact, I have no interest in any type of gaming at all. However this piece sticks out because I had an eye-opening, 40-minute long interview with the creator of the product. He was much more interesting to talk to than I had expected. I spent an entire weekend writing the 370-word article, which was a very long time compared to the 2-3 hours I usually spent on a piece, interviews and editing included. I loved hearing the creator’s story and had a difficult time condensing it into the four short sentences my word limit allowed.
The HipShotDot article helped me see that there is a human side to research, too. Research can be subjective. It can involve simply looking at the world and asking questions about what is there, or what is not there, and wanting to know more. My fierce desire to learn, both academic and practical knowledge, has fueled my research and helped expand it into more creative fields. This, in turn, has made me a better writer. When I am able to dive into a topic that truly interests me, the resulting work becomes more memorable, at least in my eyes. But, I have learned that research and sustainable topics do not have to come from complicated books or academic theories. I can start with a question, or even a simple phrase.
Around the same time as I was writing for DBusiness I was assigned a paper in Spanish 485: The Negative History and Travels of the Surreal. The only requirements were a 15-page minimum and that the topic be related to the course material (though it did not have to be an issue that was specifically covered in class). I spent weeks trying to find a topic, not having any clue where to begin. Then, in class one day another student used the term “manic pixie dream girl” to describe a character in the book we were discussing. The phrase intrigued me; I had not heard of a “manic pixie dream girl” and I felt the need to know more. My final paper topic took advantage of this interest. I compared the Surrealist muse in literature and photography with the “manic pixie dream girl” character trope of contemporary “rom-com” films. I also found myself applying several different forms of research to an academic paper – something I had not done before. I used a mix of books, film clips, blog posts, and movie reviews to investigate a topic I felt passionate about. Going beyond traditional research allowed me to write a well-rounded piece. The paper presents a wide range of viewpoints that would be missing if I limited myself to scholarly work. My interest in the topic was also important. If I was asked to choose my own paper topic earlier in my college career, I would have been likely to stick very closely to the course material. My paper would have been a bland reiteration of the class readings and discussion notes. But as I learned how to employ different research methods into my writing, I was able to expand the way I think about choosing a subject. Just as research does not have to come from a strictly academic channel, an idea does not have to come from academic concepts or theories in order to make it a viable topic for a college paper.
As I started my senior year I returned to news writing with an Environmental Journalism course. The final feature piece I wrote for the class serves as a culmination of all I had learned about research and academics up to that point. Rather than choosing some sort of pertinent environmental or health issue that I could investigate locally, as a number of my peers did, I started with a question I had always wondered but never knew the answer to: “Why is Styrofoam not recyclable?” The issue turned out to be more complicated than I thought, and I spent much more time researching than I had anticipated. I started with traditional forms of research, and although scholarly articles were able to answer the question of why foam products are not usually accepted at recycling stations, it was not enough. A purely scientific point of view could not capture the complexity of the topic. It could not tell personal stories and show how the environmental issue has effects beyond the commonly reported impacts on air quality and human health. In a radical departure from previous works, this article took me on a journey far away from my computer screen. I visited the local Materials Recovery Facility and Recycling Drop-Off Station, and interviewed employees of both. I talked to city officials and business owners both locally and across the country. In all honesty, the article isn’t perfect. There are still more ways I could investigate the issue, more media to look at, and more stories to tell. Still, expanding my search for information beyond academic sources brought new elements into my work that I would not have found two years earlier.
Over the past four years, the use of new research questions and methods has transformed my writing in and outside of the classroom. I began like any other college student, regarding academic articles as the only suitable evidence for academic pieces of writing. Although this is necessary in some contexts, I learned there are many other forms of research that can add interest and unique points of view to my work. I have also learned that research topics themselves do not have to come from academics, either. A question I would like to answer or a concept that attracts my attention can create a wealth of research topics and lead to valuable pieces of writing. I have experienced that my interest in a subject will relate to how willingly I can throw myself into researching it. Finally, I have learned over time that better research leads to better writing. I have evolved my writing process, which has greatly shaped the development of my writing as a whole.