The Documentary Summary from Down Below

    I thought I knew what I was doing when I set out to write my Doc. Summary, which I did because I knew how to set up my paper.  I started with a thesis statement, and then outlined the rest of my paper.  I have been writing objective summaries since elementary school, so I wasn’t too worried about that part.  I was a little iffy on the analysis part because I didn’t know what my professor was looking for, and it took a while for me to get the hang of it.

    At first, I set up my essay almost as two separate papers; the first half was the summary, and the second half was the analysis.  Both had their own introduction and conclusion paragraphs and their own thesis statements.  I took this paper to class with me, and my professor wasn’t too keen on the set up, so I kind of had a mental breakdown because my brain couldn’t figure out how to organize a paper like she wanted. I sat on her comments for a couple days.

    I went back and rearranged the whole paper.  I completely deleted the second half and figured out how I was going to insert the analysis into the summary portion of the essay.  The more difficult part was ahead, however.  My professor had told me she thought my answer to the question, what is this documentary doing, was too surface level, so I had to figure out what the documentary was doing in a different way than I had been thinking of for over three weeks.  I then had another mental breakdown, and my roommate walked in on me.  She talked me through it, and even helped me figure out one the answer to my problem.

    All-in-all I am glad that this paper is over.  Additionally, I am glad that I was challenged, and I am glad that I was able to find a way through those challenges.