Weeks of research have come to an end, and I still can’t believe how quickly time flew by. It feels like just yesterday I met my cohort members for the first time as we shared our names, research topics, and the places we hoped to explore in New York.
What made these six weeks feel so short was how completely immersive they were, filled with deep-dive analysis and weekly check-ins with my mentor. Conducting a systematic review taught me so much about academic literature, from mastering language and writing style to understanding the structure of research papers themselves. Because there were few papers on my specific region of focus, expanding my analysis to papers from around the world allowed me to engage with different cultural contexts and social frameworks.
Right now, I am actively writing my research paper. The process feels manageable and rewarding because I now have a much clearer perspective on how to approach academic research.