In my Critical Thinking and Writing Two class, the topic is research. Throughout most of the schooling I have received, the majority of my writing curriculum was based heavily on summarization, rhetorical analysis, and narrative writing, hardly ever research. The extent of my research writing includes a fifth grade paper on black holes, and a senior year high school paper on the life and accomplishments of Madonna Cicionne. In other words, I have little to no experience with research papers, and now am going to be spending the next ten weeks on writing on a topic of my choosing, but with no idea how to start.
When the professor described the theme on the first day of class, I was excited. The idea to be able to learn more about whatever I wanted and write about it was the academic freedom I had always dreamed about. However, as I began to ponder on topics, my innovative free-writing fantasy quickly came crashing down.
That feeling when you think everything’s going to be great but it’s not
From the same class I was assigned an article to read about this research writing technique called the BEAM. It categorized the sources of research writing into background, exhibition, argument, and method. All of which sounded the same to me at the time and when I finished, I thought about two things:
- This article is great for identifying sources and how to make them most effective, but in order to find sources, I need a topic.
- I need a topic…
I began to think back to one of my favorite shows, The Carrie Diaries. The show is a about a young high-school and her adventures as a young Connecticut writer who aspires to make it as a New York City author. In one of the episodes, she gets accepted to a prestigious writing school and half of her final grade is dependent on a research paper, similar to one I be crafting in my class.
The only two seasons of this show are available on Netflix. Highly recommended.
Throughout the episode, she racks her brain for any idea (I really mean any idea) from snakes, to the history of trains, to sex. After long nights of writer’s block, procrastination and extreme brainstorming, she decides on a topic she desired all along when everyone she admired advised her against it.
Throughout my research process, I found myself doing the same things Carrie did. Racking my brain, procrastinating to no end, and depending on the opinions of people I admire in search of a topic I deem satisfying. I would ask people what they thought about topics such as obesity, portion sizes, and sugar intake (things I was kind of interested in) and based on the positivity or negativity in their responses I would decided if it was something I wanted to learn more about. I ended up frustrated, overwhelmed, and still with no topic.
Frustration and overwhelm are in no way limited to high school students
Disclaimer: I am not in any way saying that you should not consult people when deciding on personal preferences, but I am saying that you should not always depend on only their feedback for decision making.
On the verge of giving up, I turned to my Pinterest feed to procrastinate and escape my lack of success. I was refreshed with all things I enjoy free: recipes, fitness routines, health tips, and travel guides. I began to think, maybe if I enjoy reading and speaking about these topics, maybe my research writing should be about something I want to explore for myself, not for other people.
Please follow my “Saucy” page on Pinterest @kellibates_ for fun, easy, and healthy recipes
I look forward to incorporating the BEAM once I have decided on a topic for this research endeavor. But for now, I’m going to start by finding a topic to research I want learn more about.
♥ Little Kelli