Stop ME!
Over the past few weeks, I was convinced that I didn’t have enough source material to make up an archive for my “U.S. Historical Novel” seminar paper. Because of this, I spent the last week or two photocopying, toting books home, and generally being paranoid about my bibliography. In an attempt to position myself within the framework of my paper (and to fulfill a requirement, and to procrastinate) I typed up my bibliography and a brief outline today…
I have 59 sources for my paper. This is too many. Many of these are anthologies. Many of these are only marginally relevant. My outline alone takes up 4 pages single-spaced. Clearly there is something wrong here. On the bright side - there are major parts of my outline that have already been written (thanks to my presentation), and other parts, which are partially written in technical jargon, and thus sound pretty cool as-is.
The problem with this is that although I have created an archive, it is only supposed to be a 20-page paper. Again, clearly something is wrong here. I will stop going to the library. I will simply write. I will - er... try and explain why I have so may damn anthologies (I am worried that if I start excerpting stories and citing them separately, I will have well over 100 sources.) Not Good. Not Good AT ALL.
Hopefully my professor (if I ever get to talk to her) will have helpful things to say about my argument and its presentation.- If not, I can always build a shrine to the paper gods and sacrifice a copy of the Norton Anthology of American Literature Vol. I. (for some reason this seems to please them much more than early British Fiction - go figure) in hopes that they will present me with the cognition necessary for an A-.
Clearly I am off my rocker, out the door, and staggering towards the swamp of incomprehensibility. Should you happen to meet me on the way, will you just turn me around and give me a push towards home?
I have 59 sources for my paper. This is too many. Many of these are anthologies. Many of these are only marginally relevant. My outline alone takes up 4 pages single-spaced. Clearly there is something wrong here. On the bright side - there are major parts of my outline that have already been written (thanks to my presentation), and other parts, which are partially written in technical jargon, and thus sound pretty cool as-is.
The problem with this is that although I have created an archive, it is only supposed to be a 20-page paper. Again, clearly something is wrong here. I will stop going to the library. I will simply write. I will - er... try and explain why I have so may damn anthologies (I am worried that if I start excerpting stories and citing them separately, I will have well over 100 sources.) Not Good. Not Good AT ALL.
Hopefully my professor (if I ever get to talk to her) will have helpful things to say about my argument and its presentation.- If not, I can always build a shrine to the paper gods and sacrifice a copy of the Norton Anthology of American Literature Vol. I. (for some reason this seems to please them much more than early British Fiction - go figure) in hopes that they will present me with the cognition necessary for an A-.
Clearly I am off my rocker, out the door, and staggering towards the swamp of incomprehensibility. Should you happen to meet me on the way, will you just turn me around and give me a push towards home?
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