blog post no. 3

Research projects tend to be intimidating, and there is always so much information to take in that it can seem impossible to fit it all into one paper, and once you do, it’s just a lot of regurgitating and rewording what you’ve found onto your own paper. It’s stressful and hectic and it leads to permanent worry lines and grey hairs about whether or not you’re plagiarizing what you know, because those two sources taught you all you know. It’s a lot, and almost every class makes you write one.

The first section of chapter five in the Bedford Book of Genres explains multiple ways to calm the flurry of stress in a writer’s mind, such as limiting your sources so that you’re not overwhelmed with information. Oral discussion is a wonderful way to bounce ideas off of another person, and lists and notes are helpful ways to jot ideas down.

These helped me a lot because I tend to suffer in silence and stillness about these things, hoping that my brain will work out some type of response. I think it’s a great idea to talk to people about research options – I did that earlier today and my thought process composed itself a bit, and I am a huge fan of bullet points, which can turn into, hopefully, a well worded, seamless research paper.