Amira Webbert
ENG 1101 

After reading Alexandria’s Lockett, The Traditional Research Paper is Best, I learned a few different things about research. Her writing reinforces the use of technology to find the things we need compared to the use of libraries and other resource tools that would now be considered dated in terms of the way we currently find the answers we need to the questions we ask. Lockett writes, “typically, a first-year college student’s research paper assignment might require 5–10 sources, whereas advanced students are probably asked to cite no more than 30 sources. These figures may stem from research concerns that emerged during an entirely different technological history.” In this, Alexandria is explaining that due to technological advances, requirements have changed, due to effort it takes to get to the end result as well. She also explains that some textbook writers have complained about the number of resource papers that have actually lacked primary sources due to them relying on “questionable” secondary materials. Lastly, she explains that the labor that’s involved in research and the use of the internet tends to be ignored by others. Both educators and other professionals may not understand the time and effort it takes to examine online sources for works, she explains. We find that there may be “almost 19,000,000 results” for a Google Scholar search when you research “the research paper”, which takes time for students to comb through. 

The Wikipedia page entitled Research explains what research is. I learned a new definition of research being that it’s a “Creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge”. I understood this as simply research is a creative way to learn something new in a way that is systematically organized. According to the Wiki page, the primary purposes of research are documentation, discovery, interpretation, and the research and development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge. The Wiki page also explains that the word research comes from the Middle French “recherche”, meaning to go seek about.