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Saturday, January 6, 2024

Research is still "writing"

 What I mean by this is this: if you are researching, you will be taking notes, putting what you learn in written form. The exception is when you are reading a book and not taking notes, just marking pages or keeping mental note of ideas. The process of writing is continuous with the process of note taking.  

4 comments:

Thomas Basbøll said...

Reminds me of (and is somewhat at odds with) your "cordon sanitaire". (I usually suggest that the "writing" and "research" component of our scholarship should be easily distinguished.)

Jonathan said...

I've forgotten the cordon sanitaire concept. Re-reading those posts, it looks like I was seeing the cordon as a negative thing. She shouldn't have to shield our students from research.

Jonathan said...

we shouldn't...

Thomas Basbøll said...

Yes, rereading my own post, I realize that you weren't proposing the enforce the CS but to overcome it. My take was:

'One of the ironic things about the "cordon sanitaire", which Jonathan defines as the attitude that research is "esoteric" and of no interest to students, is that you overcome it by clearly distinguishing between your daily activities.'

This is the idea that seemed to be at odds with conflating note taking with "writing" proper (or seeing them as on a continuum.)

But I should reread all those posts again and think a little more about it.