I just finished the longest assignment of the year: the 10 page research paper.
This was actually an assignment I was pretty excited about, but as I wrote it I gradually became less excited. Although it ended up being fairly challenging and stressful, I did learn a lot of things from doing this.
1. Research Strategies.
One research strategy that really worked and I was glad I did was the annotated bibliography. Through completing this assignment, I was able to organize all of my sources and it gave me a great place to start my research. After knowing what sources I was going to use, I felt that my argument had a specific direction it was going and then it became easier to create my thesis.
2. Goals for the next assignment.
I am a procrastinator. I procrastinate many assignments and it is my biggest downfall. This assignment was no different- I waited way too long to begin. I should have given myself a week to write it so that I would have been less stressed. So, for my next assignment, I want to work on getting things done early and not procrastinating so that I can have less stress in my life.
3. Highlights from my research.
Despite much controversy in my argument that music classes should be implemented in schools, I was pleasantly surprised to find that many people are starting to change their opinions on this topic. Though there was still many people opposed to this, there were many that were saying that it is a substantial part of school curriculum. It was definitely the highlight of my research to see that improvements are being made in this subject matter.
All in all, I am glad that this paper is done, but grateful for the experience in writing it and for the things I learned along the way.
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15. Conclusion
The time has come for this blog to come to an end. It's the big conclusion, the big "see ya later". I've always love...
I agree with the advice to write the annotated bibliography. I had never done it before, but it seemed like once I went to wrote out my full paper, all of my research, as well as my commentary was already written out for me. It was nice to just be able to put everything in order. I think that writing out what you will use ALL your cited works for would be very helpful.
ReplyDeleteFrom an artist's viewpoint, I am glad you found many people who wanted to bring it back to school.
I wholeheartedly agree with both you and Kimber. The annotated bibliography, which at first seemed to be a big pain, actually ended up being super helpful. I can also agree with your procrastination bit because I am the worst when it comes to that. I'm not sure how but it seems like every time a major paper is due life in general gets 10x crazier.
ReplyDeleteI think that is such a great topic to research. Music was SO IMPORTANT to me in school and lets kids learn differently and develop their talents. I hope schools fight for music programs.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's pretty hard to remember that music is a branch of art. Just because it makes less money doesn't mean it isn't important. Fill an city full of rocket scientists and brain surgeons, someone still has to keep everything running. "Bioshock" and "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" have some pretty interesting takes on this concept. Also music is pretty cool.
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