I don’t say this to sound pretentious or superior and I do not consider this a bad thing, but I don’t feel as though I’m learning anything new about research in IS2. The things we’re covering in regards to research have all been covered in previous classes both last semester and in high school. I think what’s happening for me instead, is a much needed and greatly appreciated broadening of horizons. For example, I already knew all about different types of sources, and the all the different research methods we’ve discussed, but now I have the resources and, not only the opportunity, but the encouragement to explore them all. In high school our research was meant to be drawn from sources found on JStor or interviews. Now I have archives at my finger tips, I’m encouraged to conduct observational research and I can use images and artwork as sources.
Despite being previously taught on multiple occasions the basics of how to conduct research and how to write a research paper, I still struggle with identifying good topics to research. My ideas have a tendency to be either too broad or too specific, and I’m rarely able to tell until I’m either in over my head doing overwhelming amounts of research on vast subjects, or until I’m stuck with no paper because I wasn’t able to find any sources. In the past this has been manageable because we were given a generous amount of time to flesh out our ideas and discuss them with the instructor. However, with less space in my brain and time in my schedule to think in depth and get at the core of what I really want to research, this has proven more difficult and caused much more anxiety.
That being said, no, I do not have an idea of what I want to do my big research paper on. Thinking about it makes me sad.
