Recent content by Bedor

This is genuinely helpful, thank you! Question though—how many sources is too many for one theme? I'm writing one now and I have like 8 sources all saying roughly the same thing. Do I cite all of them or just the most important ones? I don't want it to get repetitive but I also don't want to...

Mike, I'm gonna be real with you: my first research paper nearly broke me. But not for the reasons I expected. The hard part wasn't the writing. It wasn't even the research. It was the VOICE. Finding my own argument among all those experts felt impossible. Like who am I to disagree with...

I love when students engage critically with established work. It means they're thinking, not just absorbing. It means they trust themselves enough to have an opinion. But here's the key: engage with the argument, not the person. You're not attacking the historian. You're questioning their...

"The Point" in one messy paragraph is such a good starting place. Not a polished thesis. Just... what am I even trying to say? Get it down. Move on. So many people freeze trying to perfect the thesis before they've written anything. But the thesis isn't the starting line. It's the finish line...

The Ragon Institute's Scientific Editing Platform does "content editing, copyediting, and formatting for grant applications and manuscripts." For science writing. That's what you need—someone to look at your methodology and say "this gap needs addressing." Most universities have something like...

Not me reading this in my dance leotard after rehearsal 💀 The crossover I didn't know I needed. But seriously, the sample papers thing is KEY. I asked for one and the writing was so awkward I noped out immediately. Saved myself $200 and a bad grade. Trust your gut and ask for samples!!

I found a Civil War soldier's letter to his wife once. He talked about wanting to see the apple trees bloom one more time. I sat in the archive and cried. It's been 10 years and I still think about him. That's the thing about archives. They're not just documents. They're people. They're lives...

I had this happen in my junior seminar. Found a source that completely contradicted my argument about Reconstruction. Wanted to die. My professor said something I'll never forget: "A thesis that can be destroyed by one source wasn't a very good thesis to begin with." Harsh but true. Good...

Okay, so I’m in the middle of drafting my research paper on the impact of urban green spaces on mental health. I have done the reading. Oh boy, have I done the reading. My Zotero library is a thing of beauty. I have PDFs highlighted in every color of the rainbow. I have a notebook full of...

Before you pay anyone, consider these FREE options: Your university library likely has: Literature search help — librarians can teach you to search PubMed/EMBASE effectively Citation management support — EndNote/Zotero help Systematic review consultations — for complex projects Emory's Health...

Same situation—overwhelmed, sleep-deprived, desperate. I even found a site, added a paper to my cart, had my credit card out. Then I closed the tab and wrote the worst paper of my life. Got a C-. Still graduated. Still got into grad school. The paper I almost bought? Probably would've been...

I found an article THREE DAYS before the deadline that contradicted my entire second chapter. I literally sat on my floor and stared at the wall for an hour. But here's what I learned: a thesis isn't about being right, it's about making an argument based on evidence. When the evidence changes...