Chapter 40: Exploratory Essays
As a student, you may be asked to explain your position on a topic. An instructor may ask you to consider what experiences have helped you formulate your ideas or position on a topic. To develop your position, you will need to think about which aspect of a topic you’re most interested in and what questions you need to ask as you begin your research.
Exploratory Essays
The Exploratory Essay is often introduced as a research project that presents a set of questions about a topic and attempts to answers these questions through informal sources such as non-specific Google searches, strategic Google searches, or article databases including newspapers and magazines. This type of essay is written from the perspective of someone who seeks general answers and encourages students to begin learning basic citation formatting and practice honing keyword lists to navigate online search engines while applying evaluation tools to assess the reliability of these sources.
Many instructors encourage students to participate in the exploratory essay process as a tool to explore your own perspectives while learning about the research process. You will likely be asked to complete this process during your college writing journey.
Many college writing assignments call for you to establish a position and defend that position with an effective argument. However, some assignments, like the exploratory essay, are not argumentative but exploratory in nature. Exploratory essays ask questions and gather information that may answer these questions. However, the main point of the exploratory essay is not to find definite answers. The main point is to conduct inquiry into a topic, gather information, and share that information with readers.
The exploratory essay serves as an early and informal entry into research where students can continue to explore multiple issues related to their research topic and ask, “what questions about myself or my community emerge from this topic?”
Using an earlier assignment, such as a narrative, as springboard, students will explore multiple issues related to their assignment. For example, a student who writes a narrative about generational language loss may choose to research language policies in the U.S., or, a student who writes a community narrative about being a bicyclist in New Mexico might research cyclists’ rights to the road and national vs. statewide safety statistics. Your goal is to ask questions about your topic, find sources to help you answer those questions, and determine if the sources you found are helpful. For more information, review this Exploratory Essay PowerPoint.
According to the Table: Research Source Tiers from Writing in College, reproduced in the previous chapter, sources can be categorized into four tiers according to type, content, uses, and research methods.
As you consider your topic, you will learn to utilize that information to begin honing keyword lists to navigate online search engines while applying evaluation tools to assess the reliability of these sources. The Exploratory Essay draws primarily from resources found in tiers three and four:
Tier Three: Short pieces from periodicals or credible websites
A step below the well-developed reports and feature articles that make up Tier Two, Tier Three includes information found in newspapers, magazines, or credible websites. How short is a short news article? Usually, they’re just a couple paragraphs or less, and they’re often reporting on just one concept: an event, interesting research finding, or policy change. They don’t take extensive research and analysis to write, and many just summarize a press release written and distributed by an organization or business. They may describe issues like corporate mergers, newly discovered diet-health links, or important school-funding legislation.
You may cite Tier Three sources in your paper if they provide an important factoid that isn’t provided by a higher-tier piece, but if the Tier Three article describes a particular study or academic expert, your best bet is to find the journal article or book it is reporting on and use that Tier 1 source instead. If the article mentions which journal the study was published in, you can access that journal through your library website. What counts as a credible website in this tier? You may need some guidance from instructors or librarians, but you can learn a lot by examining the person or organization providing the information (look for an “About” link). For example, if the organization is clearly agenda-driven or not up-front about its aims and/or funding sources, then it is not a source you want to cite as a neutral authority. Also look for signs of expertise. A quote about a medical research finding written by someone with a science background carries more weight than the same topic written by a policy analyst. These sources are sometimes uncertain, which is all the more reason to follow the trail to a Tier 1 or Tier 2 source whenever possible.
Tier Four: Agenda-driven or pieces from unknown sources
Tier four sources can be helpful in identifying interesting topics, positions within a debate, keywords to search, and, sometimes, higher-tier sources on the topic. They often play a critically important role in the early part of the research process, but they generally aren’t (and shouldn’t be) cited in the final paper. Entering keywords into Google and reviewing those results is a fine way to begin your research, but don’t stop there. Start a list of the people, organizations, sources, and keywords that seem most relevant to your topic. For example, suppose you’ve been assigned a research paper about the impact of linen production and trade on the ancient world. A quick Google search reveals that (1) linen comes from the flax plant, (2) the scientific name for flax is Linum usitatissimum, (3) Egypt dominated linen production at the height of its empire, and (4) Alex J. Warden published a book about ancient linen trade in 1867. Similarly, you found some useful search terms to try instead of “ancient world” (antiquity, Egyptian empire, ancient Egypt, ancient Mediterranean) and some generalizations for linen (fabric, textiles, or weaving). Now you have a starting point to tap into the library catalog and academic article databases.
Suggestions for Organizing Exploratory Essays
Introduction
Your introduction should be the platform for your essay. Here, you will introduce important context – you can begin by providing general background information and set up a “map” of what the paper will discuss. There are several goals for the introduction. First, state the importance of this topic – the introduction should also compel the audience to read further and create interest in the topic. Second, state the questions or topic of exploration that initiated this research – this can be one or several sentences or questions that states what the author is interested in finding out, why, and how they intend to complete the research process Third, provide a brief overview of the types of sources you researched during your inquiry to establish your credibility.
Body Paragraphs
As you shift into writing your essay, work to create body paragraphs that discuss the inquiry process you followed to research your topic. These paragraphs should include the following:
- A question you have about your topic. You should begin each body paragraph with a different question.
- Introduction of source (title, author, type of media, publisher, publication date, etc.) and why you chose to use it in your exploration.
- Important information you found in the source regarding your topic; include a direct quote using P.I.E. (See ch. 9.1)
- Explain why the information is important and dependable in relation to the topic.
- Some personal introspection on how the source helped you, encouraged you to think differently about the problem, or even fell short of your expectations and led you in a new direction in your research, which forms a transition into your next source.
Conclusion
The conclusion should provide a general overview of what has been discussed. Here, bring up questions regarding the topic you explored and if the sources you found were helpful in answering these questions. Consider stating what other questions surfaced through your research; you will use one or a few of these questions that will drive your inquiries for the Informative Research Report, which is covered in the previous chapter.