Wow, has the summer flown by! I know that’s a terrible cliche, but some things are cliche for a reason. This summer has been jam packed with research, meetings, seminars, and more, and I’m finding it hard to believe that I only have about a week of work left with my mentor. This summer, I’ve had the privilege to hone in on my qualitative research skills, grow into a more independent and self-assured researcher, and develop a close professional bond with my research mentor.
These past few weeks, I’ve been busy coding the news articles that I collected during the beginning of my research fellowship. That means that I do a close read of each article and search for certain themes, such as how masculinity and femininity are represented, and different definitions of sexual practices. It’s been very enlightening to dig into all of the articles, especially with the new perspective I’ve gained in the weeks since I’ve collected them. Additionally, I’ve been able to work with material that previous research assistants have collected, which has given me a great opportunity to synthesize lots of materials.
As the summer winds down and August rapidly approaches, I’ve also been getting ready for the big summer symposium, where I’ll have the chance to present the research I’ve been working so hard on. I’m really excited for the chance to not only show my friends, family, and peers what I’ve been researching, but also to closely collaborate with my mentor on how to best present our findings. Working together to create such a meaningful culmination of this summer’s work has been very exciting for me, and I can’t wait for everyone in my cohort and the other summer UROP fellowships to be able to share what they’ve learned.
Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, and this is my last blog post for the summer. I’d like to thank my friends, family, and the WAGSFP cohort for supporting me through this research fellowship, with an extra special thanks to the WAGSFP coordinator, Chris Bohle, and my fantastic research mentor, Anna Wozny, as this experience would have been impossible without their support and guidance. Thank you for a wonderful summer and I look forward to seeing where my experience with WAGSFP will take me!
