So, how are you doing with your academic paper so far? Did you do a lot already? Any finished paragraphs? No? Well, frankly speaking I also didn't do a lot by now – I just couldn't find the time. However, I have a nice plan on how I'm gonna structure my paper and I already handed in an introduction last week. Writing the introduction really helped me putting together all the main ideas I want to deal with in the paper.
One thing I struggle a bit is finding the right sources. I had a couple of them at the beginning of the semester, when we were first told to think about our topic. Well, I should have bookmarked them, because I can't find some of the anymore. However, I think this shouldn't be too much of a problem, because I will do some more research as I'm writing the paper anyway.
What I found really useful was an exercise we did in class last week. Hendrik told us to write an elevator pitch about our topic. What's that? The idea is simply: pretend you meet someone in an elevator, you don't know when he/she will leave – all you got are some seconds or say a minute to persuade this person to read your academic paper. I found the idea really interesting, you might want to read mine...
Elevator Pitch
LGBT rights in the EU / on the Balkans
Hey! You know, you look like a very open-minded person and… well, I just wrote an academic paper about LGBT rights in the EU, also with emphasis on some Balkan countries. Did you know that Belgium, Denmark and Sweden are actually considered the most “gay friendly” countries? There’s no restriction on marrying the person you love, no matter what sex and same-sex couples can adopt children and so on. Isn’t that amazing?!
Gosh, have you read the newspaper recently? It’s unbelievable what’s goin’ on in the FYR Macedonia? There’s almost no protection for LGBT people. There’s high violence against LGBT human rights defenders. But the worst thing of all that are those “honor killings” of gays in Turkey. Have you heard of that? No? Well, I really think you have to take a look in my paper!
Hey Alex,
ReplyDeleteI really liked reading your elevator pitch and I would have loved to hear it from you in class because I want to know how the word "Gosh" sound from your mouth. I have never heard you use it before :)
Other than that I, too, have some troubles with the sources I want to use. I already have some but none of them are really academic. I tried using google scholar but it didn't work :/
I hope you find interesting sources and have fun while writing your paper. I am really looking forward to reading it.
Hey, I am really looking forward to reading your paper. I kind of had the same problem when I looked for sources. I mean, there are enough sources but to find academic ones is not too easy. Good luck with your paper!
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