#lookitup: MILLENNIALS,
RESEARCH, AND WRITING
Jennifer L. Kunka, Ph.D.
Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center
Francis Marion University
Everything at a Click
Millennials, Research, & Writing
 Who are Millennials?
 What place does research writing have for the
generation of students who have grown up
with everything they need to know at their
fingertips?
 How can comp instructors adapt to this
generation’s strengths and instructional
needs?
Who are Millennials?
Millennials
 Born between 1981-2000 (Pew Research
Center, 2010)
 13-32 years old today
 Ethnically diverse group
 Tend to be happy with life and optimistic
about the future
 Marked by their acceptance of social diversity
 Skeptical about trusting others
Millennials – Online Habits
 Millennials are more likely than other
generations to believe technology “allows
people to use their time more efficiently”
(Pew Research Center, 2010)
 “Multiple modes of self-expression”
 75% have established social media profiles
 86% of college-educated Millennials have profiles
 62% use wireless Internet
 20% have posted online videos of themselves
Millennials – Online Habits
 Technology has created for Millennials “a new
ecosystem for their social lives” (Pew Research
Center, 2010)
 More than half believe “technology makes
people closer to their friends and family”
 Mobile usage almost universal among Millennials
 94% have a cell phone
 83% keep their phones next to their beds
 88% use cell phones to text
 Average 20 texts/day
Millennials
 “Technological exceptionalism” (Pew
Research Center, 2010)
 More than one in four Millennials believe this is
what defines their generation
Millennials
 Millennials are connected, but are they savvy
about what they connect to or how they use
what they find?
Observation #1:
“I’m looking it up . . .”
Transactive Memory
 The way information is stored within groups
(Wegner, Giuliano, & Hertel, 1985)
 Do not need to remember everything
 Need to remember who knows what
Transactive Memory
 Google and other search engines now
operate as partners in transactive memory
(Thompson, 2013)
 Permanent storage affects the way people
process information
Observation #2:
“What is . . . ?”
“Research”
 Piecing together information that’s always
available
 Surface knowledge
 Students do not necessarily familiarize
themselves with information so that they can
explain it in their own words or analyze it
Look for What, not Why
 Millennials are also the No Child Left Behind
generation
 Testing went into effect for 3rd-graders in 2002-
2003
 Bernstein (2013) cautions that contemporary
college students are used to answering
questions for a test
 Limited in higher-order critical thinking skills
Observation #3:
“I found my research . . .”
“Filter Bubble”
 Pariser (2011) demonstrates the ways
personalization of online searches impact the
results users receive
Habits of Mind
 Framework for Success
in Postsecondary
Writing (WPA, NCTE, &
NWP, 2011)
 Curiosity
 Openness
 Engagement
 Creativity
 Persistence
 Responsibility
 Flexibility
 Metacognition
Habits of Mind
 Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing (WPA,
NCTE, & NWP, 2011)
 “Select, evaluate, and use information and ideas from
electronic sources responsibly in their own documents”
 “Use technology strategically and with a clear purpose that
enhances the writing for the audience”
 “Analyze situations where print and electronic texts are
used, examining why and how people have chosen to
compose using different technologies”
 “Analyze electronic texts (their own and others’) to explore
and develop criteria for assessing the texts”
WPA Outcomes Statement (2008)
 After completing composition, students should
be able to
 “Locate, evaluate, organize, and use research material
collected from electronic sources, including scholarly
library databases; other official databases (e.g.,
federal government databases); and informal
electronic networks and internet sources”
 “Understand and exploit the differences in the
rhetorical strategies and in the affordances available
for both print and electronic composing processes and
texts”
WPA Outcomes Statement (2008)
 Goals of first-year composition
 “Use writing and reading for inquiry, learning,
thinking, and communicating”
 “Understand a writing assignment as a series of
tasks, including finding, evaluating, analyzing, and
synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary
sources”
 “Integrate their own ideas with those of others”
Research Process
 Find topic
 Narrow or broaden topics
 Develop and answer research questions
 Locate sources
 Read, comprehend, and evaluate sources
 Check for credibility
 Determine whether sources are relevant
 Consider how sources operate in conversation with
the writer’s point of view
 Integrate sources responsibly into project
Research Process
 Use Millennials’ key strengths as tools for
inquiry
 Connectivity
 Interactivity
 Skepticism
#lookitup
 Instructional strategies
 Technology tools at work in class
 Focus on information literacy
 Emphasis on comprehension of source material
 Analysis of both tools and resources
#shareyourresults
 Assignments
 Projects that
 connect student writers with an audience
 put students in conversation with each other
 have utility beyond class
 are multimodal
 require problem-solving and argumentation
Critical Thinking
 Future Problem Solving Program
International (2013)
 Receive scenario and examine problem
 Define underlying problem
 Research and develop options for addressing it
 Develop criteria
 Measure options against criteria
 Make recommendations for implementing
solution (California Future Problem Solving, n.d.)
Future Uses of Research Writing
 Professional workplaces require
 Critical thinkers
 Problem-solvers
 Writing beyond the research paper
 Not just people who can find information but
can analyze and process information to
develop new ideas and address challenges
Discussion
 What do you see as the challenges of
research writing instruction with Millennials?
 How do you leverage Millennials’ strengths in
your classrooms?
 How do you shape research writing
assignments?
References










Bernstein, K. (2013, January). Warning from the trenches. Retrieved from http://www.aaup.org
California Future Problem Solving. (n.d.). The six-step process. Retrieved from
http://www.cafps.org
Council of Writing Program Administrators. (2008, July). WPA outcomes statement for first-year
composition. Retrieved from http://wpacouncil.org
Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, & National
Writing Project. (2011, January). Framework for success in postsecondary writing. Retrieved from
http://wpacouncil.org
Future Problem Solving Program International. (2013). Home page. Retrieved from
http://www.fpspi.org
Pariser, E. (2011). The filter bubble: What the Internet is hiding from you. New York, NY: Penguin.
Pew Research Center. (2010, February). Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to change.
Retrieved from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org
Thompson, C. (2013). Smarter than you think: How technology is changing our minds for the better.
New York, NY: Penguin.
Wegner, D. M., Giuliano, T., & Hertel, P. (1985). Cognitive interdependence in close relationships. In
W. J. Ickes (Ed.), Compatible and incompatible relationships (pp. 253-276). New York: SpringerVerlag.
Images on slides 4 and 13: Microsoft Office