Starting tomorrow, we will begin our first Research Week. We will be conducting research projects, and I believe making sure our research skills are up to graduate level speed. We also have times scheduled as Research Challenges; it will be interesting to see what those turn out to be.
In preparation, we were asked to read the first four chapters of "The Craft of Research" by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb and Joseph M. Williams. The main point of the first chapters is trying to teach writers how to frame their writing in a way that actually interests readers. It is very, very similar to what I read at Wartburg in the Turabian manual. It always fascinates me, and I know that I am as guilty of this as any, how unreadable we make ourselves. Both Turabian and the Craft of Research stress the importance of finding the answer to the questions "so what?" Without that answer, readers won't care, and readers who don't care won't waste their time on what you have written.
That being said, here is my "so what." I'm writing this blog to tell you, my reader, about my life as a student here at CGP? To that, we'll put the question. So what? So, my classmates and I are the future of museums. We will go on, like those before us, to become directors of national associations, to run museums around the world from the ground up, and to educate the public about the importance of the past. This is to show you how all of that starts. I hope that is a good enough so what for you.
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