Overview:

During Week 5 and Week 6, most of my work went toward continuing to analyze all of the primary sources that I’d collected over the course of my research and writing on these themes I’ve found. Throughout the research period, I watched such an incredible amount of Chinese Central Television Footage that I started dreaming about The Voice (not kidding, unfortunately)! On a more serious note, the notes and analysis I found continued to corroborate and expand upon the themes I have found regarding the relationship between CCTV and identity construction — so finally, at the conclusion of these six weeks, I’ve been able to fully flesh out my thesis and piece together my paper! I really believe that finally being able to develop a thesis relates to the experience and confidence that this program has helped foster — more on that in the workshop reflection.

Future Plans:

When I embarked on my Laidlaw research project, Professor Shernuk and I discussed the possibility of working beyond the six-week timeline. Since this was my first time conducting research, we thought it would be valuable to take time to ensure that I understood and appreciated the process, rather than trying to rush through. Now that we’ve had our sixth mentorship meeting, we’re both in agreement that I should continue my work! I’m excited to continue writing my paper, making my poster, and expanding my findings. I’m not sure that I will have time, but one more avenue that I also want to explore as the summer continues is the history of propaganda and information dissemination by the CCP through the Chinese television industry — so far, my research has only focused on official policy.

Workshop Reflection:

Week 6’s workshop covered a variety of topics that related to taking full advantage of our Laidlaw and research experience! Research conferences were discussed first. I learned that the CRF does actually allocate some funding toward assisting students financially to attend conferences — something that I hope to look into! The list of Georgetown research symposiums was also very helpful, and I had never heard of those opportunities either. Additionally, various research development opportunities were discussed — I learned about other Georgetown research opportunities, such as the David F. Andretta Research Fellowship and the Office of the Provost Penner Awards. Finally, being able to have summaries of 10 different fellowships available to us in the next few years was super helpful; I will definitely be doing some more research into Yenching Academy! 

Beyond the incredible opportunities mentioned above and in the workshop, research can open up a lot of doors for students like all of us in this cohort! As I’ve been researching and talking to my roommates, I’ve grown to really believe that research is a huge confidence-building tool. This may feel like an idealistic answer, but it’s something that I’ve actually been reflecting on quite a bit over the past six weeks (so bear with me through my long-winded answer!). At the beginning of the research period, my housemates and I were all pretty confused about what “research” even was. But beyond that, we chatted about how it felt impossible for us, mere 18 and 19-year-olds, to make a brand new and independent contribution to the academic world. Over the summer, however, it’s been incredible to see everyone’s growth. Whether it was Laura inputting over 5,000 Chat-GPT prompts, Alex getting over 200 responses to her survey, or talking through identity construction and research themes with Maggie, I think we’ve all been able to witness extraordinary growth in everyone in our cohort (but special shoutout to Nevils L-21 <3)! Even though we may all feel like we didn’t do enough and that there’s so much more research to be done on all of our topics (which there undoubtedly is), we’ve all been able to develop our academic skills and find some more confidence in our abilities.

When it comes to my own experience, I can definitely admit that my research process was slowed because of a lack of self-assuredness in what I was doing. Often, I found myself stuck because I simply didn’t know if my work was a big enough intervention, meaningful enough, or frankly even correct. This confusion and lack of confidence meant I spent many hours sitting in pouring over my work but making no progress. Most commonly, it manifested in long coffee shop sessions, where I sat in front of my computer trying to write to no avail. However, in these last two weeks, the pieces of the puzzle have begun to click and I’ve felt myself becoming more confident in — and therefore more passionate about — my work! 

During my first mentorship meeting, I asked Professor Shernuk: “What is humanities research? If I’m just interpreting events through an academic lens, what do I do when my analysis is simply wrong?” In response, he told me that this question went to two huge aspects of research. First, research is collaborative — he reassured me that he, along with other scholars, is always available as resources to talk through my findings and ensure that they were valid and compelling. And second, part of research is finding the confidence to know that you aren’t making up an analysis. If you see something interesting that you want to explore more academically, chances are that you’re right... and that your interpretation is, in itself, a research finding to jump off of. And while I’d been able to understand and utilize his former point almost right away, I feel like I’ve finally found enough faith in my ability to understand his latter point. Putting your own analysis, opinions, and new knowledge out into the world *does* require a lot of confidence, and I’m so grateful to this program for its role in helping me foster that kind of belief in my ability and my work. However, I feel even more grateful and privileged to have watched that transformation in my roommates and my cohort :).