Caught Between Exploration and Argument

            What do you do when halfway through a paper your sources begin to contradict what you thought they were going to say? What happens when a paper meant to be exploratory turns argumentative? This is a question worthy of a research essay itself!

            The process of academic inquiry, though extremely helpful for writing papers, is occasionally difficult to follow. Throughout my research process, I tried to suspend judgment. I tried to keep the hunch I had as just that, a hunch. However, as I continued to research my topic, I found ideas developing against my will. If my essay was purely argumentative, this would have been fine. However, the brunt of my essay, because it comes from student testimony, is exploratory, and no final idea was supposed be arrived at until the end. But because these ideas had developed, and my first few interviews conflicted with them to some degree, I found myself a bit confused about how to continue with my essay. Do I start trying to prove my presuppositions, or do I pursue the new leads that these interviews are giving me and throw out some of the material I’ve already written? I’m still struggling with this question, but I know the correct answer. I should pursue the new leads, because my intention from the beginning was to write an exploratory essay. At this point, my struggle is just over trying to throw these ideas that developed out the window.

            This problem, being caught between argument and exploration, is new to me, as I’ve never written an essay that follows the process of academic inquiry. Though I will probably continue to struggle with this problem and others as I continue to write and conduct research, I know that my essay will continue to develop slowly but surely.