Creating the outline for my research paper was a little less scary when I actually set out to do it since we had done an activity last week to pull together potential sources and ideas, but still quite daunting. Organizing things is something I usually enjoy doing but sometimes it can be frustrating to try and settle all of my thoughts into one set order, especially when Iโm writing.
Thereโs a lot I want to say about my topic, and Iโm apprehensive because I know I write the most when Iโm passionate about something. Suppressing those feelings into a more academic tone feels like code-switching, if that makes sense. Like Iโm dampening my personality, which I suppose for a research paper is the whole point, but it also feels like Iโm detaching myself from the topic when it directly correlates to me as a Black woman. This is why I prefer creative writing to academic writing.
Other than that what really helped was the fact that my outline did not have to be in bullet points. We were given other papers that had different shapes that we could put topics into, and writing it out was a bit less stressful than traditional outlining. Iโm starting to feel more confident about it.
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