Usually when someone asks me about my ability to do something, my first thought is the infamous Bible verse, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. 😊 However! My next thoughts are usually, how long will it take? Exactly how hard will this task be? Will I hurt myself in the process (I’m super clumsy and accident prone 🤕), and is this REALLY necessary for me to do?
I think that image is SO fitting to how I feel because I KNOW I am capable of doing any AND everything, it’s just the process that I will have to go through is unfamiliar which can potentially cause MAJOR frustration and emotional damage (the dramatics are nonstop! 😂)
In the case of this Literature Review Paper, I think it will take a considerate amount of time, it WILL be challenging, it shouldn’t be too painful (unless we factor in mental stress 😕) and it is absolutely necessary for me to complete for me to even begin the research process (the WHOLE purpose of the class!).
Basically, there’s no getting out of writing the review, but luckily for me, I EXCELLED (“excelled” might be an exaggeration) at writing essays and research papers in high school and undergrad (I even won some writing awards). But, graduate school literature review papers might be a bit more intense.
To be successful at anything, one must always highlight their strengths to give them a confidence boost! With that being said, I feel like I utilize the thesaurus well (I actually REALLY enjoy using the thesaurus 🤓), my comprehension skills are well developed, and I can effectively summarize my findings and add insightful thoughts.
On the other hand 😬, to be successful at anything, one must always acknowledge areas of weakness to know when and where to seek help. I will admit that I do struggle with grammatical errors! It’s not uncommon to find run on sentences and misplaced commas. I usually read my work aloud to make sure I haven’t missed a word and that it flows. I also have my sister read my papers (she’s a published author and proud grammar police) to ensure that it’s understandable to someone outside of my field of study.
A quote that stuck out to me from Machi and McEvoy that I will keep in the back of my mind throughout the remainder of my academic career is, “Some people do not have the patience and foresight to do it right the first time but have infinite patience and capacity to do it over and over and over again”. I think it’s important to take the time to be as precise and efficient as possible for the first draft of the Lit Review so I can get good feedback from my peers.
Reflecting on my reservations around how hard this task will be, if I follow the 6 step process outlined in Machi and McEvoy along with the other resources available to me, I believe I will be able to complete this task with flying colors!
Cheers to a lit Lit Review! (no typo! 😁)