Beyond the Essay

Presenting your research in an alternative fashion and with alternative sorts of evidence change in interesting ways the role and place in research in both academic and non-academic settings. Besides that, writing about your research in a “non-traditional” way might shed a different and informative light on your topic, and it might even be fun. This chapter will introduce you to the basics of multimodal and multimedia composition, whether you are proposing a research project to your thesis committee, presenting results for a poster session, or even developing a completely non-traditional research project. Though everything you have learned about purpose, audience, argumentation, evidence, and medium still applies when sharing your research beyond the typed page, you will learn to think about the application of each of these differently.

Beyond the Classroom

Most of the research writing you have done so far is limited to academia. Most accountants, nurses, and lawyers don’t write research papers on the job. However, they do use the skills associated with the research process every day whenever they deliver information, propose a new policy, or provide guidance to other people. This chapter wraps up with some pointers for applying everything you have learned about research writing to the “real world.”