Looking at a Research Paper more in depth

I had always thought of a research paper as being very structured. In past English classes, and even in introductory engineering classes, I was asked to pick a topic I was interested in and find articles pertaining to the subject to learn more about it. The content of these articles were summarized in my paper, thus explaining how I better understood the material after extensive research. I saw research papers to essentially be in the format “I have a question, and this is what I found”. However, upon taking English 225, I have found that the research paper is much deeper than that and requires more insight. “Aims of Argument” defines inquiry to mean looking deeper into something, and seeking truth within a subject that one is passionate about. To inquire means to constantly ask questions and not blindly accept anything as fact. Every fact found in an article is open to interpretation, and thus, certain words and phrases need to be clearly defined before referencing those articles. For instance, I am writing my inquiry paper on the psychological and sociological factors that can cause disease, and how this can impact interactions between doctors and patients. I found that there are two different models used in the medical discourse; the biomedical model, and the biopsychosocial model. The biomedical model views disease as something caused solely by biochemical agents, such as pathogens. It separates the mind and body as two different entities that do not interact with each other. However, the biopsychosocial model views the mind and body as a system, and shows how health and identity can both affect each other. This got me thinking about the main difference between these models: each defined health differently. The biomedical model defined health as purely physical, whereas the biopsychosocial model defined it as physical, mental, and social well being. Just simply studying these two models was not enough; I had to carefully analyze each to find the similarities and differences.

Throughout my research, I have found sources that supported each model. I have learned how to integrate these sources, and connect the ideas that each author presents. I have taken ideas that we have talked about in class, such as George Herbert Mead’s definition of social identity, and applied it to a situation that I am passionate about. In inquiry, the answers are never clear cut. Like I said in a previous post, it is a series of questions. A person is curious about a subject, and so he does some research on it. That research leads him to pose another question, which leads to more research and more questions. Throughout the process, several sources will say varying things, and as a writer, a person has to cross-reference sources and come to a conclusion about how he can answer his questions, or future studies that can be done. English 225 has taught me to push my mind beyond the obvious and dig deeper into the realms of my interests to satiate my curiosity.