Review of Who is Driving 07/11/11

I enjoyed reading “Who is Driving?” by Kelly Anthony.  I don’t, however, enjoy writing research essays.  I realize that research essays are not assigned to simply torment students.  That doesn’t change the fact that they do though.  On one hand, I like that fact that there is not just one way to write a research essay.  On the other hand, I am one of those students who would love that step by step how-to guide she wrote about.   There is a lot of useful information in “Who is Driving?”  One thing that I picked up on was that we should write about what we know and what we want to about.  I think that’s the best way for the student to really get something out of the writing the essay.  If I were to write an essay on why grass grows better in some soil than others, I would be bored to tears.  However, writing an essay on the best soil and way to grow flowers would actually interest me.  The only problem with that is that I don’t know that much about growing flowers.  I have a black thumb.  I do want to learn more about it though and a research paper would be a good opportunity to become more informed.  I understand what she was saying about finding something that matters, something of interest in every topic studied.  “It will change your college experience and you will become educated”, I agree with that completely.   So I know that research essays aren’t assigned to bore or torture the student but why are they assigned?  If there is one thing I know for sure after reading this it’s that, “We write research essays to create new knowledge”!  I know this because it was stated many times in the essay.  It’s like that old economic saying.  What’s the most important thing when looking at real estate?  Location, location, location.  So, if it’s said three times in a row, it must be important!