Junior Theme Update

     This weekend I had my interview with Dr. Easton. He turned out to be the perfect person to interview because he was so knowledgeable and just had a lot to say. I wasn't sure if he was going to be able to respond to all the questions, since they dealt with a wide variety of topics, but he answered all of them and knew a lot about all of them too. I learned a lot from him and the interview gave me new things to look at that I hadn't necessarily gone into before.
     Also over the weekend I started to write a body paragraph like Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Bolos said to do. Originally I thought I was go straight into discussing lobotomy, but after I thought about it, I thought that it might be better to give a brief (or at least as brief as I could make it) description of treatments in the early 20th century. Since my Why Question deals with treatment for mental illness dramatically changing, I thought that it would help readers to know where we were coming from to better understand where we are today. And that would also show how dramatically treatments really have changed. But I'm not sure if that's what Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Bolos are looking for because it's not really analytical it's just historical information. So I'm not really sure what I'm going to do about that.
     It's getting pretty stressful because there are a lot of big decision that I need to make for my paper. After looking at some sample essays in class yesterday, and how much it was scrutinized to every last detail, I'm a little worried about what the class would say about my paper if they saw it. But I'm trying to work on it every night and I'm still doing research and I still need to finish my annotated bib.
       THINGS TO DO:
                                  1) annotate bibliography
                                  2) type transcript of interview
                                  3) continue research
                                  4) keep writing!

And I Have an Intro!

     I procrastinated all night, putting off my intro until the last possible moment. But I did it and I'm actually really happy with it. It took me about an hour to write, which is way longer than I had thought it would take. But I was so excited to finally finish it that I even read it to my brother at 11:30 at night and he could've probably cared less about it. But it's done! Hooray!
     Now I'm wondering if I should start writing the rest of my paper. I haven't scheduled my interview yet, but I know who I'm interviewing, as I explained in my last blog post, so I don't think it will be a problem. But I still feel like I don't have enough information. I'm thinking that as I start to write the paper I'll figure out what information I actually need and that can help to refine my searches. But other than that I'm not too worried. Every night I have been researching my topic and looking for articles. I just wish that we had some sort of timeline/deadlines because I think that would really help me. Right now I feel like I'm just floating around in a pool not really knowing what direction I'm going in. I liked the deadline for the intro because then I actually got it done. I mean, it's not like I'm not going to write the paper, but with deadlines you can do it in increments instead of one big, hurried chunk. For some reason this year, with every paper I write, it takes me such a long time to put words onto the page. I have to think so hard about each word and how it's phrased that it just ends up taking me a really long time to do.
     So the game plan: do a little more research and start writing!
     Things to do: 1) schedule interview
                         2) think of interview questions

Life and Times of Junior Theme

     Well junior theme is still stressing me out. I have a vague idea for a thesis but I still need to research my arguments. I read "Girl, Interrupted" and last night I finished another book called "Mad in America," which was extremely helpful. It gave me a ton of information and a great historical context. But I think I'm definietly lacking in other sources. I have two books but I don't have many sources from the databases. I'm trying to look for some useful articles.
     Also, I wasn't sure if Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Bolos were kidding about having an intro done. I thought they were serious but everyone else told me that they were kidding, but now I think that they were actually serious which kind of worries me. I don't have a clear thesis statement yet and I'm not completely sure what my arguments are going to be because I feel like I still need to do a ton of research.
     As for the interview, I have not yet e-mailed the person, (I'm planning on interviewing my friend's dad who works for the psychiatric ward at Rush Hospital) but I'm not really worried. We're practically neighbors so I'm sure he'll be able to fit in an interview some time. So that's pretty much all that's going on concerning junior theme.

Junior Theme: My Sweat and Tears

     The start of the infamous (and sometimes feared) junior theme has brought some added stress into my life, but not as much as I expected. The most stressful part for me so far is actually choosing a topic and a good book to go along with that topic. Many times I've felt lost, like I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. But today I made a major breakthrough. I've finally decided on a topic that, as of now, I plan to stick with. And that is: mental illness. I'm not exactly sure which direction I'm going to take with it, but I know that it's going to be about the treatment of mental illness, specifically.
     Before deciding on my (hopefully) final topic, I was thinking about researching prescription drug abuse and depression. But after doing a little research on depression and reading a little blurb about the history of mental institutions and the treatment of mental illness in general, I decided to switch to that. It just seems more interesting and like something I won't get bored of. So now that I know what I want to do, the problem lies in finding a book. The two books that I'm thinking about are "One Flies Over the Cuckoo's  Nest" and "Girl, Interrupted." They were both made into movies so which ever book I don't read, I figure I can just see the movie. But I'm not sure which book would be more helpful for my research. "One Flies Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is fiction and "Girl, Interrupted" is based on the author's real experiences, so that's why I'm not sure which one I should read. I also asked my mom for any suggestions and she told me about the movie called "Frances Farmer." The movie was made in the 80's and it's based on the true strory of Frances Farmer who was committed to a mental institution, so I'll definitely see this movie.
     So I guess what I really need to work on is finding a book. I'm glad that I at least have a topic but I also need to formulate some more WHY Q's. So that's the end of my first junior theme update!