I have poor research skills ;)

I feel that I have poor research skills. The rhetorical analysis was very enjoyable because I felt that it worked a lot with the way I think. No, not critical. I just enjoy analyzing. With the issues paper I believe that I have to be much more objective and strictly a facilitator of information. I love the idea of this, but I don’t feel that it is one of my strengths. Because of this, I find staying dedicated to my research very difficult. However, I take it as an opportunity to learn.

 My research strategy is all about organization. First I like to lay out my paper into categories so that I can see the jest of my paper before ever writing it. I do this mainly to keep me from feeling overwhelmed. With all the information available it is easy for me to get down on myself and give up, so by organizing my thoughts into a well-developed plan. The downside to this is it takes time. I’m not a perfectionist by far, but I worry that if I mess up this step then the rest of my research could be for not, so this step takes a lot of brainstorming so that I get my ideas across perfectly.

After I have a basic organization, I start researching under each category and listing each source. I don’t start writing until I get all the research that I feel I need, but once I have my research complete I sift through my sources as a final cut process to see which sources are actually good enough to make it into my paper. Then I write. I like this step because if I am organized enough then the actual writing is easy it just comes down to a matter of grammar.

I have started researching topic questions that I know will be relevant to the paper. However, I have not yet completed step one. This paper is proving difficult to narrow down and organize because of all the directions I can go with it. Once I get an idea of how this paper will develop, research will get much easier. It’s just a matter of organization. I’m excited for this paper because the topic of youth in the church really hits home for me based off of where I grew up, and I know that if I do it write it could be a very enjoyable and effective read.