someone tell me...
WHY do i want to take history again?? i mean...i love it and the learning of it is great fun, but...do i..more importantly, CAN i survive four or maybe more years of writing history papers?!
you may be thinking..well vania, you're pretty good at writing, i don't see why it would be that big of a problem for you. true, i admit in the past i've been pretty good at writing essays or whatnot, but history papers are a totally different thing. unlike normal english papers, history papers require an extensive research on a particular topic, a straightforward yet intelligent argumentative thesis and body, and the constant need to footnote and cite sources. "well...isn't that writing papers anyways?" yeah..it kinda is..but the key difference in writing a history paper is that every single sentence you put down has to be able to be backed up by information, quotes, any type of source or material.
which brings me to the sorry little rant that i am going to talk about while taking a "break" from writing my first ever history paper, which i really want to do well on.
looking up the information and research is actually pretty fun, but time goes by so quickly that i found i was pressed for time to actually formulate an idea and support it with facts. true, i did not start this paper early, and i believed in my stupid little mind that i could finish writing this 2500 word paper over a weekend. surprise surprise naive little vania, you didn't know how many words that was going to be! you also didn't know how much trouble you would have weeding through all the wonderful little tidbits or huge chunks of text trying to find information that will support your argument. even if you want to include the fact that stalin listened in on everyone's phone calls and threatened lenin's wife, you can't because that doesn't support your argument! now you are confused and burnt out, having spent 8 straight hours sitting in front of the computer, with only 1000 words typed out. great time to have writer's block huh. i've typed out way more in the post than i have typed out for the last 4 hours in my essay.
history...i love you...but, can i handle this grueling and difficult paper-writing requirement? bcause that's basically what there is to history! writing papers! i guess i would prefer that to doing labs though...since i know i will fail for sure on those.
now, back to sitting in front of the computer not typing anything again.
and..i'm not done and i'm gonna hafta hand in my paper late and i'm gonna get a bad mark and cry.
you may be thinking..well vania, you're pretty good at writing, i don't see why it would be that big of a problem for you. true, i admit in the past i've been pretty good at writing essays or whatnot, but history papers are a totally different thing. unlike normal english papers, history papers require an extensive research on a particular topic, a straightforward yet intelligent argumentative thesis and body, and the constant need to footnote and cite sources. "well...isn't that writing papers anyways?" yeah..it kinda is..but the key difference in writing a history paper is that every single sentence you put down has to be able to be backed up by information, quotes, any type of source or material.
which brings me to the sorry little rant that i am going to talk about while taking a "break" from writing my first ever history paper, which i really want to do well on.
looking up the information and research is actually pretty fun, but time goes by so quickly that i found i was pressed for time to actually formulate an idea and support it with facts. true, i did not start this paper early, and i believed in my stupid little mind that i could finish writing this 2500 word paper over a weekend. surprise surprise naive little vania, you didn't know how many words that was going to be! you also didn't know how much trouble you would have weeding through all the wonderful little tidbits or huge chunks of text trying to find information that will support your argument. even if you want to include the fact that stalin listened in on everyone's phone calls and threatened lenin's wife, you can't because that doesn't support your argument! now you are confused and burnt out, having spent 8 straight hours sitting in front of the computer, with only 1000 words typed out. great time to have writer's block huh. i've typed out way more in the post than i have typed out for the last 4 hours in my essay.
history...i love you...but, can i handle this grueling and difficult paper-writing requirement? bcause that's basically what there is to history! writing papers! i guess i would prefer that to doing labs though...since i know i will fail for sure on those.
now, back to sitting in front of the computer not typing anything again.
and..i'm not done and i'm gonna hafta hand in my paper late and i'm gonna get a bad mark and cry.