Vent about the Research Project? And not get in trouble for it? Why yes, yes I will! First of all, I hate Research Projects, but what did I expect? The title of English 103 is “Critical Thinking and Research”! I knew when I signed up for this that this part - the researching part - would be difficult for me. Anyway, this specific project is kicking my butt.
I took seven classes this semester. Plus, if you think about it, this online class adds about another three-ish classes. Honestly, with all of the other papers and projects I’ve had to do in the past few weeks, I haven’t had enough time to really focus on this paper. I’ve been collecting sources, mentally preparing for the hours I’m going to spend this week simply sitting in front of my computer typing out the pages. So essentially, everything has been extremely difficult with this paper.
My hardest thing to deal with is the thesis. I’ve chosen to do the second prompt, to talk about women’s rights in relation to Reading Lolita in Tehran. I know that Jennifer said this would be harder, but I feel like it will be easier because it is something that interests me. Lately, I’ve been having trouble with any of the thesis’ I’ve done in this class. Mostly, I lose track of my thesis while writing my essay. I forget that I’m proving a point because the facts are more interesting to me. I just keep writing. This is something I know I have to pay more attention to with this essay and hopefully it will come out the way that it is supposed to.
My game plan is to finish everything that is due for my other classes by Monday night. I am going to write out the outlines for this paper, weed out the unimportant or less useful sources that I’ve gathered and see if I can find any that might be more relevant. By Tuesday afternoon I will start the writing process and write until my brain explodes or my hands fall off, which ever comes first. Then I will re-read it. I will take out pieces here, add pieces there, and look away from it. After Thanksgiving and some well deserved time off from school with my family, I will come back and read it once more. If there are still areas that I am having trouble with, I will tackle those areas in my best efforts of not confusing my group members during the peer draft review.
I am most excited for the PDR. I feel like by reading my peers papers, I will get a better sense of how I am doing myself. Sometimes when I read what the others are writing new ideas form for me. Also, getting the criticism and advice from my peers is an amazing tool that I don’t take for granted. So hopefully with some help from my group my paper will be worthy of an amazing grade. As frustrating as this paper, and this whole semester is, I’m excited for the time I’m going to spend actually writing it and all of the things I am going to learn in the process.
Good luck to you all as well!
I have also found it hard to find the time to work on the paper. I have completed some research and tried to mentally prepare to start the body of the paper. I have taken many classes online and on campus and feel this class has been the hardest one I have taken and has the most work to be done.
ReplyDeleteThe thesis is also a hard part for me and we must keep focused while writing to remain on track and not deviate from the topic we have chosen. I feel the past few assignments have had thesis' which are sort of off from the evidence in the paper and would like to improve on that.
It is great to realize that I am not the only one who cannot sit down and write a paper without adding and removing information and then going back and doing more research to help improve the paper. It is nice to know that we have Smartthinking and the peer reviews to help us get a better understanding of where we need to make improvements. This review is something I have not always had in the past in classes I have taken and it can help a lot.
Venting about this project is fun and we can all see we have many similar issue facing use while working on our paper. Stick with it and we will help each others writing skills improve.
Vent . . . How about Venti? I'll take a skinny vanilla cafe latte, please!
ReplyDeleteBut theses: Yes, they are hard to get a handle on. Some write theirs after the paper is all done, and that probably works. But for me, I at least must have a working thesis; otherwise, if a topic has potentially many avenues to explore, the paper can become disjointed and out of control very quickly.
A thesis can keep you on track; then, at the end, if you need to tweak it, there are no thesis police to say you can't.
Then there's the title. I like playing with titles, but sometimes they are hard to come up with. I thought about titling this one Essay 4 or Working Title, but that's a bit boring.
I'm glad you like peer reviews. Some get defensive, and I can understand that because it's your baby. But a cold reader does see things that the writer becomes blind to. I knew my sons were owning their own work when they started bucking me on essay revisions; but my comment then was, and it still holds true, if I as a cold reader don't understand it, it needs tweaking--no excuses. :-)
Best of luck on your paper and Happy Thanksgiving!