How Growth Mindset Affects the Research Process for First Year English Composition Students

Perhaps the most influential current mindset strategy is the one developed by Carol Dweck; growth mindset. At the core of Dweck’s ideology is the notion that challenges are what help to change mindsets and that students can learn more effectively when they let go of the idea that their capabilities are fixed. A challenge for both the Professor and the librarian is how to help First Year English composition students who have a ‘fixed mind” about their abilities to do research and also synthesize that research into a research paper. Additionally, other elements of the paper (high quality writing, avoiding plagiarism, and citation concerns) can create a type of ‘stagnation” for students who have pre-conceived notions about their abilities. In this presentation, a Professor and a librarian relay their work together and separately, to help students leapfrog barriers. Using strategies that help them bypass their own fixed mindsets towards the students, the two accepted the challenges they faced and attempted to confront the trials students faced in the classroom. The website mindsetonline.com states, “Mindsets are beliefs—beliefs about yourself and your most basic qualities. Think about your intelligence, your talents, your personality. Are these qualities simply fixed traits, carved in stone and that’s that, or are they things you can cultivate throughout your life?” The idea that there is a choice in how personal capabilities are perceived is highly influential for teaching and learning. What makes for additional impact here is the work towards the nurturing of certain mindsets for students, professors, and librarians