Research Rut

Hi. I'm Courtney, the bad news bearer. After writing the rough draft (and I mean ROUGH) draft of my research paper, I was frustrated to say the least. While my topic interested me and I usually have no problems sitting down and writing, I was stuck on this paper to say the least. My research through me over the edge, partly because of the lack of research I found. I had a hard time finding research specific to my topic and once I did find any good journals, the opinions were extremely vague and almost uninformed. Therefore, I decided to scrap my annotated bib and start from scratch, writing my rough draft with only 2 sources and my own opinion. Now I feel more prepared with this clean slate. After reading Amanda's comments on my paper, I felt much more successful because of her positive feedback on parts of my paper that I thought I made no sense. In addition, after going back over my paper with fresh eyes, I realize that I have a good base and can now move forward with my research. Also, once Cathy informed us we can use "I", I was ecstatic. Being a creative writer, the use of "I" is huge for me as it makes me more comfortable to use my creative voice. Often times, I jumble my thoughts in research papers because I focus on sounding formal so by using my own voice I feel I will have more success writing my final draft.