Conference

I had my conference for my final project with my professor this past week. While going over my paper she said I had good historical information, but I did not really have my own twist on it. She helped me come up with an angle for it though. Instead of just telling about what Thomas Paine did for our country, I am going to relate some of his writings to events that have gone on after his time period in American history. I will be using Age of Reason, Common Sense, and Rights of Man. I am going to take some of his views on slavery, monarchies, and women's rights just to name a few. He was ahead of his time and his ideas were not really accepted in his time for the most part. I will be arguing that without ideas/leaders like Paine America would not be what it is today.

Multi-Modal Project

For my final presentation in front of the class I plan to show them a website I've built. Some of the headings will be the life of Paine, all about Common Sense, criticism, photos, and maybe a few other that I am not sure about yet. I am really excited to do this project because I do not know a lot about building websites and it will be something different. Writing papers is not all that bad, but a change in pace will be nice.

Final Research Paper

For my final research paper I have decided to write about how Thomas Paine influenced the American colonists to start the American Revolution with his pamphlet, Common Sense. I have found some good arguments against Paine in this day and time which will help me out when I am planning my argument. Reading through Paine's actual document has helped me see how he convinced the American people to take his side. I have researched some of his theories of government as well. I feel like I still need to go over some gray areas though.

Presenting

While doing our group project I thought that some people put in more effort than others. Our PowerPoint presentation was a little scattered and could have definitely had some improvements, but I do not think we did an absolutely terrible job. In the real world though I will be forced to work with other people even though it is very uncomfortable at times. I am for the most part an introverted person, so this project was a little out of my comfort zone. I am happy that I am forced to do projects like this though because they will make it easier on me later on in life.

Interviews in Bracken Library

I interviewed a non-traditional student from BSU in Bracken Library for my English class. We are seeing why people spend their time in the library. The lady I interviewed told me that she spends a lot of her time in the library researching the Civil War and Revolutionary War for her own enjoyment. She is getting her degree in History in the Spring and plans on working in a museum or something of the sort to educate the public. She said that she doesn't really use the library for much else. If she needs to finish homework or an assignment she just does so at home so she can be with her family. She was very kind and helpful with my research.

Narrowing Down to a Research Topic

I have had a lot of issues trying to decide on what exactly my final paper is going to be about. I have finished my annotated bibliography and I should start grasping some sort of idea as to what I am going to argue for my final paper. I'm thinking about writing about how American history would be different without the writings of Thomas Paine. His writing sparked the American Revolution, not to mention the French Revolution, but that is another story. Without him in our history we could be under the rule of Britain. He is somebody that a lot of people are not very knowledgeable of and I'd just like to help people see what an impact he has made on our lives today.

Annotated Bibliography

The annotated bibliography I completed for this English course was somewhat difficult to finish because I did not know for sure what my research question was. Not knowing where I wanted to go with my research question almost made me want to start over. I have found that the research I'm doing will help lead me to a more narrow topic, and that I do not have to know the exact thesis of my final paper yet.