what's your writing process like? do you write as you research, or research before you write? i'm working on my MA thesis and am feeling overwhelmed by my burgeoning, unread biblio :///
this is always in flux for me!! like the biggest Change that grad school wrought on me was my relationship to my writing. my instinct had always been to read as much as possible before writing, but in the last few years i’ve really moved away from doing that because if i read too many opinions on a subject, i find that my own argument gets subsumed in other people’s thoughts. instead, i try to formulate an argument on my own, based on the primary text(s) i’m using and maybe one or two prominent secondaries. once i’ve really carved out my idea, i’ll move on to the rest of the secondary reading, and i’ll often read through my own argument - how does this relate to my own idea? does it support it? does the author have a totally different reading? do i agree with them completely, or do they get it wrong/miss a step/neglect to consider something i think is important?
this was a big change for me – when i came into grad school, my specific brand of imposter syndrome made me feel like i needed to build on the authority of established scholars, and my first paper read more like an annotated bib of what other people had said about my text, with my own connections stringing them together. it was missing the substance of an original argument – it was like a ghost. empty space given shape by objects outside of itself, yk? i think i’ve gotten a lot better since then, but i still work to make sure that i know what i want to say before i move on to what other people think. you can still be flexible, and your argument can change! but knowing what that argument actually is first is a good idea. this is also a riskier way of doing it – last year i had maybe 1500 words on the page before realizing someone had written my exact argument 5 years prior. but that happens very rarely.
anyway the tl;dr of this is that maybe you’re nothing like me, but i find it very beneficial to start working before finishing all my reading. plus, honestly, you’re never going to be done reading, ever. at some point you’re going to have to cut yourself off and write the damn thing. don’t be afraid to start that early.
origamiaround
gummygunk
turnnoffyourmind
stormborns
romaincrisis
tangentwithtanner
jacobvanloon
