For my first assignment, if you exclude this rambling blog,
I am to write a position paper.
I have focused on “how to” this week; how to find sources of
information, how to come up with a thesis, how to argue your thesis, how to
defend your thesis, basically, how to produce an interesting yet scholarly
position paper. I have collated all these “how to’s” into what I now refer to
as my Book of rules.
My Book of rules tells me to research my topic in order to
develop a background on the subject and provide myself a list of pro’s and
con’s before deciding which side of the argument to support. Thanks to the handy-dandy
internet, I was able to search for books, journals and helpful webpages. The
hard part was picking out sources that were not only relevant but genuine.
There is so much garbage online these days. I found the task a lot easier when
I sneakily used my work computer. As it turns out, I have access to thousands
of reputable journals that have been weeded out from the rest, not to mention
an entire library of books that have been used in previous studies on the
subject! Someone did half the work for me, JACKPOT!
I have resources sussed and feel more at ease about this
paper… until I remember the Book of rules and how I never quite go to the last "how to". How to make sense of
it all?!
