For the past 6 months I have been working on quantitative courses and not really so much on anything research or qualitative.  Even though I was required to write final projects the information was largely presented in equations, formulas and numerical answers with brief to thorough explanations.  There really wasn’t a whole lot of research to be done.  Well today I have been struggling over a 5 page paper.  When I finished my undergrad degree I could write a 5 page paper in two hours over something as trivial as the color yellow or the taste of a banana.  It seems that I have become rusty however and have begun to simply write in conversational English, like this blog for example.  Today was the first day in quite some time that I can remember removing all first person references, seeking multiple outside sources and qualifying every statement of fact in a paper.  I guess in short I am trying to get back into the rhythm of writing research papers again.

It’s funny how over the course of a short period of time you can begin to get rusty on something.  The old saying “practice makes perfect” comes to mind along with “use it or lose it”.  I can only imagine then how tough it must be for some of the professionals who are in my classes who have been out of college for somewhere to the tune of 10 years or more.  It makes me wonder then if it is really a good idea to wait to get a masters level degree or if you should just go ahead and get to the level you desire to be at as quickly as conceivably possible while your skills are still fresh?  It is worth a consideration at least.

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