The Forth Chapter Of The Curious Researcher

The Author, Phillip Lopate, Introduces himself in “The Essay, An Exercise in Doubt” as an essayiest; a professional essay writer. This was an interesting discovery for me, when I think of an author I never considered that there was a market for writing essays alone. Lopate introduction alone sparked my interest. I was not sure where the essay would lead me but was aware that I would be engaged and informed.

A case study is defined as “a report of case materials obtained while working with an individual, a group, a community, or an organization. Case Studies illustrate a problem; indicate a means for solving a problem; and/or shed light on needed research, clinical applications, or theoretical materials” (APA, 2010, p. 11). The goal of this paper is for me to conduct a case study on myself and explain what I have learned about research at an introductory level, and how I evaluate or critique it from a biblical, Christian perspective.

Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, explores the theme of the pursuit of knowledge and scientific discovery through the main characters; Victor Frankenstein, the Creature and Robert Walton. This pursuit of knowledge drives the plot of the novel, leading Victor to create the Creature in his attempt to break down the mortal barriers that surround him and unlock the secret of life. Robert Walton’s quest for discovery leads him to the North Pole, far beyond the reach of Humans at that time. Ultimately Victor’s thirst for knowledge and scientific discovery did him more harm than good with Victor’s hatred of his creation driving him to death. Frankenstein’s message to the modern is age is simply put as “humans should not meddle in the business of the gods”. Mary Shelley’s is using Frankenstein and the actions of the characters in the novel to warn us that although we have the technology to for example, create a human being, some things are better left to nature. In our quest for knowledge we can do ourselves more harm than good. Through her novel Shelley tells us that on our path of scientific discovery there are some trails better left unexplored.

On February 22, 2016 author John Warner published an article on Just Visiting entitled “Kill the 5-Paragraph Essay.” Warner creatively talks about how rudimentary of a structure this type of essay holds. Writers are locked inside a cage of regulations and guidelines making them unable to write the essay as they please, but rather having to piece together regulated sentences and paragraphs because that’s what they have been told would score high on certain test questions. The article targets people of all kinds, but is more directed towards early college aged students. The purpose behind this article is to get them to expand their horizon, disregard all the regulations they have been previously taught and start to write in a much more open-minded sense.

The poem entitled “Curiosity” written by Alastair Reid is a symbolic poem that uses cats as a metaphor for humans. It relates felines to people in the sense of curiosity, and what could be considered actually living life to the fullest. Essentially, this work contradicts the popular phrase, “curiosity killed the cat” by placing it within a broader context. Instead of discouraging curiosity, Reid explains why people should embrace it.

Foley contends that in addition to blocking discovery, the Five-Paragraph Essay formula squelches the student's authenticity. Foley states, "filling the structure with the requisite 500 words, they go through the motions of writing, but they seldom create something authentically theirs," (232). Foley knew that students feel much more at liberty to freely express themselves in their personal journals and in their letters to friends, but take on a different identity for the essay. The students' character, personality, and convictions are locked away until given the opportunity to free write.

In “What Is It We Do When We Write Articles Like This One- and How Can We Get Students to Join Us?”, English professor Michael Kleine conducts a research of his own the similarities and the contrasts of students and professors when it comes to writing academic papers- what makes professors differentiate in methods of writing an academic writing piece versus a student and how to have students be more open in writing about their own interests? Mr.Kleine concluded this essential question by observing high school and college students on one Sunday night, writing research papers. He noticed a pattern in all of the students in which they were actually doing, copying. “I know they were writing research papers because they were not writing at all-

Although the topic of this assignment refers to your individual learning style, avoid the use of first person tone (words such as, "I, we, our") in your essay.

Discovery inhibits the ability to embrace new beginnings and accept a sense of change whether it is found or forced upon an individual. The places you travel and the people you meet can emotionally revolutionize a self-discovery through unexpected but anticipated terms evoked from curiosity. ‘Swallow The Air’ written by Tara June Winch and ‘The Thing Around Your Neck’ written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie break the inhibitions of vulnerability, as their ideas represented through cultural contexts and values, lead to an overall self-discovery.

The constant repetition of certain words throughout the entire piece of writing by Williams allows the audience to instantly connect with the narrator, which, in turn, allows the reader to create a more personal relationship with the narrator. The author begins each sentence in the essay with the words: “I write.” The narrator’s extreme passion towards writing resonates through the abundant use of a single but powerful phrase, “I write…” which causes the audience to interpret her tone as forceful and ardent toward the subject at hand. Not only does repetition assist in offering the audience a deep connection with the narrator, but it also reiterates the various reasons

      Additionally, another weakness that I had when coming into English 101 was that I was a selfish writer. Like Trimble said, “His natural tendency as a writer is to think primarily of himself- hence to write primarily for himself.” (Trimble, 4) I was a writer who only cared about impressing one type of audience my professor and not writing to prove a point or expand my knowledge to several other audiences. However, after writing several unsatisfying essays I had come to realize that my style of writing was too narrow and boring. In this realization of writing I discovered that what matters the most is pleasing your audience (many not one), and

Throughout Frankenstein it is evident that Victor and Robert express their thirst for knowledge, which often leads to destruction. Through analyzing Frankenstein it is possible to find many examples that illustrate the fact that wanting to have more knowledge can be extremely dangerous. Firstly, as Victor is creating life he is able to create a humanoid monster, unfortunately he is appalled by his creation and becomes very ill. Afterwards, when Victor is completing the female companion for his original creation, Victor realizes that this will only create more destruction. Finally, as Walton is on a journey to the North Pole he encounters difficulties that nearly kill him and his crew. This shows that Victor and Walton are repeatedly

Throughout this course I have learned many things about research at an introductory level. Research is a critical part of all of our lives in many ways. God blesses each of us with a degree of common sense and we all learn from observing others even as babies, we learned behaviors and skills by observing our parents. Walking through experiences throughout life teach us a lot we need to know as well but sometimes we have to take a better approach when we need to learn about certain things. Many of us know that what works in some situations or with certain individuals doesn’t always work or is the safest option for another situation. Controlled and precisely organized study allows scientists to compare and examine contrasting methods and concepts, also helps them to discover various approaches and be able to learn from individual’s behaviors and experiences. I will act as the case study throughout this paper in order to observe what I have learned about.

My investigation about Percy Buckner lead to me doing researching about him, this lead to some strengths and weaknesses in my inquiry. Some strengths in my inquiry was the amount of detail I found in the sources I found due to 2 of my sources being in the library of the university of Wellington. My soldier isn’t well known by he is known enough that I could find some secondary sources about him in the form of websites. The battle he was in was also well documented as a turning point in the war. Some weakness in my research was I wasn’t able to find to much about my soldier nor was I able to do well in seeing he’s significance of his battle to New Zealand or the affect he had on his society, this made it differently and near impossible to ask

What I have learned about research is that it is a process, a scientific process that psychologist and scientist develop that includes many different approaches and that is carefully peer reviewed and evaluated. There is what is called the Scientific Approach where scientist have an idea or theory and based on their observation will either support the theory or the theory can be falsified by their peers. Data also goes through a review period before it is published in a scientific journal by scientist who have the knowledge and expertise to evaluate it.