The Big Kahuna

The Big Kahuna. The most dreaded part of senior year, both high school and college levels: it has to be none other than the research paper / thesis. And guess who gets to start that process on Monday?

Mee!

THE ASSIGNMENT

• Pick two books, plays, short stories, long poems, authors, subgenres (etc.) and compare them, as a literary analysis.
• MLA Format, seven to ten pages in length.
• Ten source notecards, fifty note note cards.

For my thesis, I am going to compare the styles of Edgar Allen Poe and his predecessor, H.P. Lovecraft.

Call me a nerd, but I am actually really excited to get started. I even went out to the store today and bought two hundred notecards in preparation! Actually, only about sixty of those will be used for the research paper, the others are going to be used for storyboarding my novel idea(s). But that's beside the point.

Since a lot of people think I'm nuts to actually enjoy huge research projects that take up a month and a half of school time, I have several good reasons for actually liking it. And, lucky you, I'm going to tell you why I love writing research papers. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!

Seven Reasons Why...

1. You get a month and a half out of English just to focus on this one homework assignment. Class days are dedicated to this, as is the teacher, and both the teacher and library are available to you.
2. You get to pick a topic that really interests you. I mean, why else would you pick two books to compare? You're going to be stuck with them and researching those two books for about six weeks, so might as well pick something that you will crave to research.
3. You'll be a little mini expert on the topic after this excursion is completed!
4. When you hand in the seven to ten page paper, think how proud and exhausted you'll be! Then it's just time for napping. A lot of napping.
5. It really makes you learn problem solving and adapting to difficult situations. If you're thesis about Victor Frankenstein and Jane Eyre being similar isn't really working out, you just got to work the words until a beautiful thesis falls into place.
6. Everyone in your class is in the same boat; it opens up a lot of opportunity for talking to new people. "Hey *name*, how's your paper coming along?" "Oh, my gosh, *name* I've been stuck on *such and such* for such a long time but I really think I've almost got it! What about you?" And other such exciting conversations.
7. Writing the paper isn't really the hard part - it's the research and then the thesis statement that is the most difficult. Once you have a solid topic, the research starts falling into place and then the essay will easily follow.

Look at all the pretty colors I put in! Isn't it even MORE fun than before?

So, there you have, the seven reasons why writing a research paper can be exhilarating! It's kind of like climbing Mount Everest (something I will never do, but the analogy fits well here): 

You have to work hard to get to the top, and at times it can seem really hopeless and exasperating, but man oh man, once you reach that top you are the king of the world!