Today’s in-class peer review exercise left me with a stronger, more defined sense of how to approach my research in a manner that still permits for an in-depth, holistic account of my topic, but in a more concise, digestible format. At this point in my writing process, I have demonstrated the extent of my research through a highly detailed historical account of the Grateful Dead and its respective subculture. That being said, my claim becomes lost in the pages and pages of contextual analysis. I have focused too heavily on the notion of how and why Deadheads can be considered a cultural group, and have consequently neglected the reason this matters in the context of the fashion industry’s appropriation of said culture. I knew coming in today that I had an incomplete essay; I felt that my historical outline of the Grateful Dead/Deadheads was complete, and that I simply needed to further expound upon the fashion element of my thesis (I came in with short, disparate paragraphs pertaining to the fashion component)). I’d written this paper in a highly unconventional manner; over the past few weeks, I’ve jotted down thoughts, ideas, and short paragraphs in various documents and had to attempt to put them together into a unified paper. Although I have yet to achieve that sense of unification in my paper, I feel strongly that I can effectively tackle this over the next week or so. That being said, after receiving feedback from my peers, I do wonder if it’s absolutely necessary for me to expound upon the cultural analysis of the Grateful Dead in such extreme detail. I want to cover all bases in my research, but perhaps it is true that my argument becomes lost amongst as a result of my tendency to write so extensively.
Moving forward, I’m going to finish writing my paper, continuing with my initial approach: to write in extreme detail, covering all aspects of the subject. After I have effectively completed this task, I intend to go back into my research and refine the details so that my paper maintains the interest of the reader throughout. 