The Joy of... the Master's Paper?!

One of our requirements as we head to graduation is our capstone Master's Paper.  This paper is not a dissertation or anything like that, but it's still quite a large task that requires a lot of reading, research, writing and rewriting.  Currently, we take a course that helps us along the way, at least to the point of getting a first draft completed.  But until this paper is handed in this Spring, we will be working on it nonstop.  The library, Google Scholar, and probably coffee will be our best friends.

Thankfully, the Master's Paper doesn't have to be this long.

This is the first time I've had to complete an academic paper of this magnitude.  The thought of working on this for months on end is sometimes a bit scary, to say the least.  But thankfully, the course we are in is helping to make sure that we have the tools necessary to make this a fulfilling writing experience.  We've gotten chances to work with our classmates (future colleagues!), we've been given great insight from our instruction team, and for me personally, I've already learned a lot about myself as a researcher and writer.

So as I said in my last post about "stopping to smell the roses," I am doing my best to make sure that I actually enjoy the day-to-day process of writing this Master's Paper.  Completing this paper will not be easy (of course!), but in the end it will all be worth it.


*Image from Wikimedia Commons.