Capstone

In order to earn a degree in most graduate programs you have to write a thesis. Well I'm a social worker and we don't really "do" that math and science stuff. So I thought that I was going to get out of graduate school without a silly thesis. I mean really who needs one?

To my dismay on my first day of graduate school they told us about what they term the "capstone project". I call it the- "it's a thesis we just don't want to call it that and scare you project". They counter by saying it is not a thesis because we do not actually conduct research. OK well maybe that is true but I have to read a million articles and that is research, right?

Anyway this paper is the main reason why I am losing my mind. I am writing about childhood sexual abuse (What a happy subject- I guess I am dark and twisty). On the one hand I love this paper because of what I have learned- the effects of sexual abuse, the way this abuse can change brain development, therapy modalities that can help victims, etc. On the other hand it is exhausting to write about such an emotionally charged subject for an entire semester.

Our paper is split up into five sections and now I only have two sections left. Just as I am losing my momentum they throw the worst sections at me (policy and research). Every social work student now moans in unison. If you were in my program that would have been audible across campus! We social workers are touchy feely folks and generally that means that the whole "math" side of us was never fully cultivated.  

But at the end of the semester I get to turn in a "binded paper" or something like this:

and I have to admit that when I turn that in I will be very proud of myself.

and then I will have a panic attack when I remember I still have a formal presentation of said paper in front of professors, students, and loved ones!