The Subject Is Research: Processes and Practices

There are two kinds of student researchers: those who thrive on the time and detail demands of the research process and those who would rather have a root canal than develop a thesis statement. The Subject Is Research is written for both of them. The contributors, some of whom are students, all realize that sometimes the process works and sometimes it doesn't. But by researching and studying their processes, they've all improved and gained satisfaction from their work.

The Subject Is Research provides the insight and ideas, directions and insider's advice that will help your students become the best research writers they can be. This research can take many forms - from library and Web searching to interviewing and watching television. Some chapters explode myths about research and others offer inventories, exercises, and alternatives to help students begin, continue, and complete a research project with more comfort and success than they have previously experienced. There are also chapters that illuminate what students are being asked to do. For extra help, "Sharing Ideas" at the end of each section encourage students to think aloud (or in a journal or classroom discussion) about their relationships to systematic, scholarly inquiry, and "Hint Sheets" at the end of the book offer lots of activities and resources for both teachers and students, including information sources, style sheets, and much more.

Pavel Zemlianksy is an assistant professor of writing and rhetoric at James Madison University. He is coeditor (with Wendy Bishop) of The Subject Is Research (Boynton/Cook, 2001) as well as author of book chapters and articles on research writing pedagogy and using computers in writing. He also collaborated with Bruce Dick on the publication of The Critical Response to Ishmael Reed (Greenwood, 1999). Wendy Bishop, former Kellogg Hunt Professor of English at Florida State University, is the author or editor of a number of books, essays, and articles on composition and creative writing pedagogy and writing research, including Acts of Revision; The Subject Is Writing, Third Edition; The Subject Is Story; The Subject Is Research; and The Subject Is Reading, as well as Ethnographic Writing Research, Elements of Alternate Style, and In Praise of Pedagogy, all published by Boynton/Cook.