If the young student in your life dreads writing papers, consider turning the project into a quest to unwrap a mystery. Help arouse your child’s natural curiosity, and watch the anxiety dissipate.

by Joan M. Thomas

To some young people, the thought of doing research for a paper suggests tedium and can create a great deal of anxiety. For them, examining an intellectual subject is not only “so not cool,” it’s also beyond their capability. Yet, like their parents, all youngsters have a hot button—something that sparks their curiosity and ambition.

With gentle prodding and guidance from parents and teachers, a young student’s investigative potential can be aroused. Any youngster of average intelligence can do a great job researching a subject, and in turn write a great paper. All they need is inspiration and knowledge of the process.

The main motivation is the desire to know more—that natural curiosity that dwells in the hearts of all young people. So, when given the assignment, they simply need to figure out how to relate to the theme, to compare it to what they do know. Then, with direction, they can begin the search—or research.

Many times exploring a topic for academic credit inspires a lifelong interest and even a career. At the least, research is a skill needed for academici success all the way through college.

So if you're parenting children who dread writing papers, try turning the project into a personal quest. To illustrate, let’s create a story about a hypothetical junior high student named Jason who is studying American history.

Unwrapping a mystery

Jason is told to do a paper on an important historical event. He is not particularly fond of memorizing dates and events, but he has a fascination with American Indian artifacts, especially arrowheads and weapons. Here’s where a parent can help by brainstorming with him.

Starting with Jason’s penchant for weaponry used by Native Americans, he might want to look into what really happened at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Was it weaponry that contributed to the defeat of General George Armstrong Custer and his troops? Or was there something else?

Because the subject of Custer’s Last Stand is continuously revisited, there is bound to be tons of material from which to gather information. The trick, since a topic should never be too broad, is to narrow it down to a particular element or question.

First, Jason might check for the basic facts detailed in his textbook. Then he can compare that with information found in other books and on valid websites. He might be surprised to find that what most of us take for granted as fact may just be legend.

Facts, legends and mistakes

For instance, most Americans entertain the notion that Custer’s entire command was wiped out that fateful June day in 1876. Jason may be surprised to learn that Custer divided his troops as he approached the Indian encampment. Only the five companies he kept with him were massacred to the man.

The remaining two groups of three companies each fought the Indians before retreating to a ridge. Unaware of their leader’s fate, they held off until their opponents left, and the general in charge of the entire operation arrived on the scene with more forces. This discloses the fact that Custer was under orders to await their arrival before taking action. Once Jason begins to digest these components to the puzzle, he will certainly be intrigued.

Searching further, he will realize that much of what is written on the subject varies widely in detail and interpretation. Sometimes, even supposedly reliable sources are obviously in error.

For instance, a passage about the incident in the first edition of the book U. S. History for Dummies, published in 2001, gives the location of the event as at the “Little Big Horn River in South Dakota.” However, it is an undisputed fact that the site of the battle is in Montana. The second edition, published in 2009, correctly identifies Montana, but the fact that the original mistake stood for eight years will teach Jason a valuable lesson about sources. To piece together the facts, he must expand his search.

Original sources

As Jason continues to find out more and more, the most important thing for him to learn is the value of both primary and secondary sources. One primary source in this case might be a horse named Comanche, who saw the battle first-hand—he was the only known survivor of the five companies with Custer. Unfortunately, in this case, getting the story from “the horse’s mouth” would be impossible. But many of the troopers in the remaining six companies did survive. Moreover, there are a number of recorded documents and letters detailing their experiences still in print.

In 1925, E.A. Brininstool published a collection of his interviews and correspondence with soldiers of the surviving six companies as A Trooper With Custer. He revised and expanded the book in 1952 as Troopers with Custer, and it has been reprinted many times since. Studying first-person accounts in such a book will lead to more questions and answers.

Included in Troopers With Custer are Brininstool’s own opinions and analysis—in this case, a secondary source, because he was not present at the battle and did not report the event when it first happened. Yet, his knowledge of military history and his ability to narrate allow him to help us understand the writings of men who lived more than a century ago. That is the value of a secondary source.

Once Jason starts gathering the information he’s found in materials at the school, the internet, and public libraries (some of which have newspapers on microfilm dating back to 1876), the domino effect will serve him well. One bit of information leads to another source, and on and on. It’s akin to solving a mystery.

Now, all Jason needs to do is take his findings (which hopefully he’s organized in the way his teacher recommends) and draft his research paper. He will have settled on a topic or thesis early on. The experience of doing the research likely excited his curiosity, and he will be anxious to report his findings. Next thing you know, he will insist that the next family vacation be to some remote area of Montana. And, he will no longer cringe at the notion of doing research.

 

The author of three books, freelance writer and historian Joan M. Thomas also enjoys writing feature stories and essays on current topics. Born in Carroll, Iowa, she now lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with her husband, Bob, and canine pal, Sasha.

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