A7.6 Response to McInnis

Amanda Williams

October 6, 2007

McInnis, R.G. (1994, September). The three “R’s” of inquiry: Teaching literacy in academic cultures. Council of Chairs Newsletter. Retrieved October 6, 2007, from http://www.marshall.edu/commdis/courses/315/mcinnis.doc

TAP: This article was written to inform educators about the current literacy status of students today, and how to change that status.

Claim: McInnis claims that students need to learn how to more effectively read, write and research to succeed in academic cultures.

Evidence: McInnis states that students are not cultured when it comes to research. He believes that students need to change their attitudes when it comes to doing research and writing papers. Research is a process of finding relevant information, piecing it together, noting importance and eventually putting together an answer, not necessarily the answer. Most importantly, McInnis feels like students need to do more reading and writing to better their researching skills.

Connections: This article is informative, yet persuasive, pushing students to be more active when it comes to research. Also, the author thinks students of today ask for too much when they need to be doing the work themselves,putting all of the puzzle pieces together. This article reminds me of a communications class I had in which we had to write a persuasive speech. As a class, we were asked to put together a five minute speech of a persuasive nature, preferably regarding something we were passionate about. I did my speech on abortions. I knew it was a very touchy subject for most, but I am definitely passionate about my opinions on the subject. (In order to keep things neutral I won’t even mention my beliefs.) I spent several hours gathering information, flipping through brochures and reading position statements from both sides of the arguments. My beliefs did not change throughout the process, I remained adamant and when it came time for my speech I confidently defended my case, or tried to persuade others to join in my beliefs. I think that all the reading, writing and research I did to produce the end product of a speech was worth it. However, just like the author states in the article I had to compile the answers to my questions; they weren’t handed to me.

     This text is very similar to a guide I was once given by an English professor. The class was just a basic college English class, but the professor was adamant about how she wanted papers formatted, submitted and even how she wanted us to do the research necessary. She flat out insisted we use books only. We were not allowed to use periodicals like journal articles, or even reliable online sources. Similarly, this author is very “strict” about his suggestions.

     I feel like this article could be of use to some students and professionals today, to help them better understand the fundamentals of research. I could find this article helpful in the future if I decide to help peers do research, or instruct students or clients in my field about research principles.