Why Teaching Research Writing Is More Important Than Ever

I’ve taught high school English for over 20 years. I am tasked with teaching young people how to formulate an opinion, test that opinion through fact-based research and then modify that opinion into a statement of fact using vetted and peer-reviewed evidence.

However, every year when I begin discussing the plan for writing said paper, I hear a collective groan from my students. This collective groan is because students are going to have to write something substantial, to think for themselves, to “think about what they think about” as one of my mentor teachers used to say, but the collective groan is troubling and is an indicator of what we are seeing currently on social media regarding the deadly coronavirus.

But you say: “Oh it’s not so dangerous. They are inflating the numbers. Big Pharma just wants us all vaccinated so that they can make money off of us and control us.” Of course, “ Godwin’s Law” states that “as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1”. Currently in a video circulating the internet, Dr. Judy Mikovits, a researcher who was convicted of criminal activity in her lab (and who is a leading antivaxxer) accuses Dr. Anthony Fauci ( who has these credits to his name) of being a deep state “Dr. Death” who is part of some Big Pharma conspiracy…