This is a pre-print for an article accepted for publication in Research Strategies.Ongoing discussion between the Oregon State University libraries' instruction program and the English composition program focuses on improving collaboration between our programs and more effectively integrating the research process into the English composition curriculum. The authors, formerly the library instruction coordinator and the Assistant Composition Coordinator, briefly describe a qualitative analysis of the problems with students' writing that led us to develop a new model for integrating the research and writing processes. We provide our rationale for selecting conversation as a metaphor for research and summarize suggested teaching strategies from the literature that are consistent with this metaphor and approach.