Research Project

Step One: Finding a Topic

When Ms. Aeschliman started to introduce our semester long research paper to us on the first day back to school after winter break, I was overwhelmed. The writing process seemed daunting and extensive, I had no idea how I was going to write ten pages for even ONE chapter of the paper. However, she told us the process had several steps that we would take slowly and one at a time. The first step, she explained, would be finding a topic.

That was pretty easy for me, to say the least. Ms. Aeschliman told us to write about something we were interested in or passionate about. I thought to myself, “what are you passionate about Emma?” which was probably pretty useless to even ask because I knew I was going to write about something related to music. Maybe a little cliche, but I am constantly doing something in my life that involves music, and it is my one of the biggest passions in my life.

Then I started to think about the people associated with each of those topics. My music teachers at school, who have taught me everything I know about playing technically correct music my entire life; my different mentors, who have taught me the important meaning of music on a deeper level; my friends and people closest to me who I have met through making music, and the concept of how it brings people together. I thought about how helpful and life changing music has been in my life, and how I have seen it change others’ lives as well.

I realized that music is a healing concept. All aspects of music; listening, playing, and composing are all effective in people’s lives. People are affected by music daily, whether you hear an amazing song on the radio on your way to school, brings you to tears as you play an excerpt of the beautiful Firebird ballet written by Igor Stravinsky, or as it strengthens your hands by playing guitar for hours daily.

Music can heal, both mentally and physically, and as I realized that, I knew my topic. Music therapy, still a developing form of therapy and being researched today, is an interesting, important topic I believe should be considered as a type of medical therapy used by all people of all ages. Music therapy can help someone emotionally and mentally through listening and playing different genres of music, and physically through percussion exercises and learning to handle different instruments. It can help those who have ADD and ADHD focus on patterns and techniques in music.

There are so many aspects of the topic of music therapy that I am excited to dive into as I research this semester.

So, pretty simple. In about five seconds I had my research topic down and I was ready to start the daunting writing process. However, things aren’t always as simple as they seem, and I had a lot of thinking ahead of me that I was not expecting.

Music is a very broad topic. Especially in my life, there are so many different things that involve music I could write an entire book about. Band, choir, a capella singing, music theory, musicals, composing music, genres of music, how the brain is affected by music, and so on. And even within those topics, there many different aspects to each of them.

Step Two: Getting Started

Before even writing our research paper for Composition 111, Ms. Aeschliman assigned us a proposal, which serves two purposes. It shows Ms. Aeschliman how prepared we are to start our research paper, and it gives us as authors an outline to what our paper will look like. The beauty of the proposal is it allows for change and flexibility. Researching for the proposal itself gives us ideas and leads us to information that interests us as authors.

Researching for my own proposal, I found found several of interesting and useful articles and dissertations that have helped me tremendously. I did not necessarily realize how many different aspects of my topic, music therapy, there were, which made the process a little overwhelming.

I decided to take this as an opportunity to address everything that I wanted. I found myself interested in the neurological side of music; how it affects the brain and musicians. I also am passionate about how music can be used as therapy and how it can help people on a personal level. Instead of choosing between the two, I am addressing both topics and how they are related.

As a writer, something that I struggle with is finding the words to say. Words are pretty important when you are a writer, but sometimes starting a paragraph or even an entire essay is difficult without starting a foundation for the paper you are about to write. I find that the process of writing the proposal has been helpful in discovering what I want to write about and also how to organize my writing.

I was remembering when in grade school as we started to write longer paragraphs and stories, our teachers would give us "pre-writing" worksheets to write and organize what we wanted to say in our writing pieces. I remember all of the charts, graphic organizers, and also all of the time we spent just "pre-writing". As I found myself struggling with what to write, I went all the way back to grade school and did a "pre-write". I simply wrote down my ideas and organized them in sort of a web, and it helped me organize my brain tremendously.

So, along with discovering what to write, I discovered HOW to write effectively. Writing the proposal and going back to the simple ways of writing were very helpful in this writing process.

Step Three: Consider Your Audience

After a few weeks of working on my research project, I feel better about taking this assignment on. I feel confident about my topic and researching the aspects of the neuroscience of music and music therapy. After turning in my proposal and getting constructive feedback from other peers, I realize how important this step is in all writing processes.

There were several people who edited and reviewed my proposal. One was assigned my proposal to review, one was another peer, and the other two were my parents. I’ve never not given a school essay to my parents for them to read. Some might say they might be biased and just tell me that my essay is wonderful and doesn’t need any changes. However, when it comes to my parents, they really, really aren’t afraid to hurt my feelings.

Reading and reviewing all of the feedback that I received on my proposal was super helpful. Letting a little “audience” read your paper before the final product is extremely beneficial. It can let you know where information is missing; it is frustrating for readers when they can’t tell if the author is for or against the topic being presented.

Arguments and information need to be clear and straightforward for the audience. Especially when proposing an idea or argument, your audience needs to be aware of your exact stance on an issue. If they are confused, they will lose interest or stare at your paper like this:

In middle school and high school, most of the time your audience was or is your teacher. You aren’t usually writing to a broad audience. However, for this research project Ms. Aeschliman made it clear that we are writing to the broader audience; in my case, those interested and looking to discover information about the neuroscience of music and the option of music therapy in health care. (If you are interested how music relates to the brain and want a starting point, click here.)

From reading my peer reviews and the comments from those who annotated my paper, I realized that making sure that my claim is clear and concise is just as important as the many other aspects that I discovered go into writing an effective research paper. In other words, just because I might understand what I am saying, doesn’t mean that my audience does. Especially when citing other sources to support my argument, making the distinction between MY words and OTHERS’ words is crucial. If the audience in confused about whose information is being said, I could be in big trouble, and not just with my audience.

I feel more prepared going into chapter one of my research paper, knowing where my topic stands and what I need to look out for. Peer reviews can be a super helpful part of the writing process, and can give you a nice “pretend” audience before turning in the real deal.

Step Four: Diving Deeper

I successfully wrote chapters one and two of the research project. To some, I’m sure successful means an A, but to me, all successful means is I turned it in by the 11:59 deadline.

For this blog post, I could write about all of the challenges I faced while writing my chapters one and two. Instead, I am going to share what I discovered through writing about my topic.

Although my topic is mainly the cognitive neuroscience of music and music therapy, there is a bigger aspect to these two topics: the importance of music to humans lives. In one of my scholarly sources, Dr. Robin Wilkins writes “Biological researchers suggest that if music serves no specific evolutionary purpose for any particular human benefit, it should arguably have been extinguished long ago”.

That’s pretty deep, right? When thinking about our lives as humans, music is such an influential and large aspect of how we live.

When I read this particular quote, I had to take a step back. The first thing I thought was, “Of COURSE music is beneficial for humans! I don’t know how I could ever live without music present in my life.” But then I thought, I have been a musician since I was extremely young, so I think I am a little biased.

However, this isn’t the case. Music is important to me because it is my passion; it is what I spend every waking minute thinking about and doing. But for those who are not musicians or whose lives aren’t involved in music, it can be equally as important. Music is present everywhere in our lives. Cultures and communities bond over music and express feeling through traditional song, anthems, and other forms of music.

Think about your everyday life and how music is present. Do you listen to the radio in the morning? Do you listen to music while doing homework or while you are practicing your sport? Is there a certain situation where you turn on a playlist of special songs? Does your family sing songs on a certain holiday, or maybe you have traditional religious songs you sing for religious holidays or gatherings?

Thinking about all of these things makes you wonder, why is music so important to humans? Why does music cause a sense of community and unity? And it has always been this way as well. Music traces back to early civilizations where it was still a part of their everyday lives.

I challenge you to think about how music impacts your life, or how you can incorporate it into your life. Music moves people to do powerful things, can heal the mind, body, and spirit, and can bring people together in unity.