This paper considers students' attitudes toward research and writing about research and discusses methods used to help students overcome their largely negative attitudes toward research. The paper first states that at Illinois State University in Normal, the course that follows freshman composition is one on academic discourse. The paper reports on surveys given to students that revealed negative attitudes toward research but which gave vague reasons for the negativity--missing library materials, poor journal selection for student needs, etc. The paper points out that one simple solution is to help students discover more unusual research topics. The paper also notes that while some of the resistance to library research may be attributed to intellectual laziness, some of it also must be attributed to the constricting misconceptions students have about what constitutes student research. The paper argues that, in students' writing experience, they have rarely, if ever, been asked to do primary research. The paper suggests surveys, historiography, and ethnography as three areas of primary research that students may use to write fulfilling, engaging papers that push them beyond the typical synthesis or summary papers that require little original thought or critical thinking. To illustrate the relevance of these research types, a description is provided by the paper. Results of an environmental survey first given by Greenpeace and an account of the massacre at Little Big Horn from an 1876 newspaper are appended. (TB)