I was surprised at how much I enjoyed both the Luker and Knight readings - the chapter in Knight on starting with writing was so practical, and it was instruction that I really needed to hear. I am most comfortable "thinking" on paper (as opposed to out loud) and have often felt that this was a flaw - that because it took me longer to process my thoughts enough to feel comfortable articulating them, I wasn't as "good" a thinker as those very comfortable thinking out loud. But Knight's chapter had such a concrete explanation of why writing is necessary, and such precise instruction on how and what to write in a research journal, and I found these very helpful. I had never really understood how to make my inclination to write through my thoughts work for me, and I finished the reading feeling like I had been given permission to be myself in my academic work.

Both Luker and Knight addressed, in their own ways, some of the realities of being a researcher - the importance of keeping track of your ideas in writing, the difficulty of trying to tether your thoughts to something concrete, the desire for discovery in research as opposed to prediction - and I was surprised by this. What I found, in both Luker and Knight, were chapters that addressed and assuaged very real concerns that I had about doing research. It was unexpected and encouraging.