The theme that I chose for my research paper is a research paper that I previously wrote in my ENG 102 class last semester. In this paper, I was to psychoanalyze the main character from the short story “Bartleby the Scrivener” and come up with at least three possible diagnoses for this character, using the DSM-IV and one more alternate source. The reason why I decided to re-write this paper is because my researching skills are very poor and even though I was given an “A” in my paper, I wish I could have done a better job in my research.
Since we first started reading this short story, I was very positive about the possible fact that the professor was going to make us do some psychological studies on the character, because he was always mentioning the word “disorder.” This of course was very exciting for me since my major is psychology. I was looking forward to my final paper because I wanted it to force me to do research on my field. However, the professor decided to give us a copy of the DSM-IV because he “realized” how difficult the assignment could turn without it. After having the diagnosis book with me, I realized that it had everything I needed to diagnose this character, so I felt very frustrated because I felt any other source I found was going to be unnecessary. Then I found a source, a little article of a writer who made some comments on the story, and that was all my research.
By re-writing this paper, I want to prove to myself that not only I can become a good researcher, but that the more information I find, the more convincing my points of view will be. The information that I’m looking forward to find are articles of points of views of psychologists and other writers that I can either refute or agree with. Also take a deep look at the story’s author and try to see if this story is just fiction or is in fact a projection of his own life.
