Toward a Research Paper

Why another blog?

I have learned that blogs are effective tools for working toward research papers. They function as a kind of 'visible' journal of progress toward a thesis or even as an organized way to structure a project. I always fret about the 'research' paper at the end of the semester, but if I just worked on a "blog" toward research papers/topics/ideas, I may be able to track my progress. Furthermore, by using the blog form I will hopefully create spaces for thoughts that I hope will eventually connect--a kind of anecdotal note-taking process for an eventual paper rather than thinking that I need to create a continuous and linear narrative. I find this thought comforting and perhaps this will lead me to writing on a more regular basis, along with discovering surprising connections I may not have thought about.

 The (current) research task

I will call this way of research 'electrate' research after Greg Ulmer's use of the concept. The name of my blog, "Felt Theory" is also taken from Ulmer's Internet Invention and also an interview with David Bartholomae that I hope to use in a research paper on his relationship to Foucault, where he says that "Inventing the University" is an exercise in 'felt theory'. I hope to eventually find some connections between the electrate/Deleuzian logic of Ulmer's work and Bartholomae's use of Foucault to work through student writing in the university. I hope that somehow this would allow me to connect Bartholomae's project with Ulmer's, even though they may seem to have nothing in common.