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The traditional research paper seems 1.0 have been part of the English curriculum forever. Where did it come from? Why? How did its "generic" form become so entrenched? The answer to these questions, as well as a glimpse at what teachers in the past have done to alter its teaching and final format, provide a background against which English teachers may want to reevaluate and reinspire their own teaching of the research paper.
The ubiquitous research paper. It strikes fear and loathing into the hearts of students and teachers alike at all levels of instruction. Yet, as Bruce Ballenger maintains, the research paper (or investigative theme, term paper, or source theme as it has been variously called) has not always been the fixture in American education that it is today (5). In tact, almost since its inception in 1876 (Russell 80), it has been a source of debate among college, university, and high school administrators. It is even a source of debate in our own minds, evidenced by Carol Jago's story of how she abandoned the research paper in 1989, calling it a "Termpapasaurus Rex" ("Term" 23), but resurrected it ten years later on advice from former students. This debate, however, has been entwined with a debate over composition courses themselves, which, as Robert Connors has pointed out," has been marked by alternating periods of [. . .] reformism and abolition" (47). For English teachers who wish to take part in the current debate over the research paper, understanding the origins of both the research paper and composition courses and being acquainted with some of the alternatives teachers have already instigated may help fortify their arguments no matter on which side of the debate they choose to stand.
The Research Paper Comes to America
Prior to the 1870s, "classes were conducted by the recitation method, with students mastering a text for homework and reciting it" (Brereton 3); the teaching of composition per se was not seen as a necessity. Plenty of writing took place in American schools, but it was seen as preparation for oral recitation, was mostly derivative, and, according to David Russell, was certainly not taught directly (72).The few references to writing that exist in the history of education from 1776 to...