Chapter thirteen is explained in a very mechanical and detailed way. I think universities can create a course out of it! As I was reading chapter 13, I feel like I have to rewrite my paper all over again. It seems as though I have to dissect every single word in my paper. In classes where we only have to submit the paper once and get a final grade, I usually revised my paper after I finished writing all the parts by focusing on both the style and whole at the same time. However, some classes will let you work on multiple drafts before handing in the final version. When I received my drafts back, I concentrate on the comments given by the instructor and try to fill in the missing pieces. I have to admit I have a hard time with organization. I think the difficulty with organizing comes from the not being able  to find existing literature on Japanese artists and mood disorders. It’s like every part of my literature review will have the same critique: the failure to use a diverse sample in past studies. I am very passionate about this subject but it seems to be a difficult topic to work with since all the evidence is pointing to research on Caucasians artists and the limitation is basically the same for all of the articles. Even though this chapter make revising to be a tedious task, maybe I can gain something from it.

For the opening words of my paper, I would like to start off with some lines from a poem by a Japanese poet since my thesis is related to Japanese artists and mood disorders. I seen this way of opening in several articles on creativity and mood disorders. I don’t know if it will be appropriate to use in my paper because I am only a student in a writing class.  The book said there are three elements to an introduction: opening context, problem, and response. The introduction is explained and shown in the book as a short paragraph with probably less than 300 words. Now our introduction includes a brief literature review, analysis of methodology, among other points. I feel that the introduction in our paper is different from the one discussed in the book. I wish this book talks about doing an introduction for a literature review. I mean, are we suppose include the literature review and analysis before stating the problem or afterward?

The book points out the importance of revising the body of your argument to make it persuasive and clear before concentrating on the style of the writing. Whenever I write my papers on a word processor, I noticed I always focus on both the content and style simultaneously. It’s difficult to ignore the style since every time you make a spelling or grammatical error, MS Word will underline it automatically.

I am following the list under the section “Questioning your argument” and trying to view my problem from the reader’s perspective. The problem for my research proposal is considered to be conceptual since Japanese artists were neglected in previous studies on mood disorders and the creative fields. The knowledge is this area is incomplete and by studying Japanese artists, my research proposal hopes to contribute to existing knowledge. Mood disorders present serious costs to societies and interpersonal relationships. This include suicide, loss of productivity, disrupted relationships, wasted lives, substance abuse, and homelessness. Therefore, researching about occupations that are vulnerable to mood disorders is critical. When people are educated about mood disorders, it is more likely they will seek treatment.

In my paper, I will also acknowledge alternative causes for a link between mood disorders and the creative arts. For example, people who are predisposed to developing a mood disorder may be more attracted to the artistic fields since it provides a high level of freedom to express one’s emotions. They are more likely to engage seriously in writing, drawing, painting, playing or creating music. A counterexample from the reader might be related to artists who lead psychologically stable lives. Yes, there are artists who lead psychologically stable live. The purpose of my paper is not to state that all artists suffer from a mood disorder but is there a higher rate of mood disorders among Japanese artist than people in other careers? Since my paper will be read by individuals in the social sciences fields, the definitions for term such as “depression” and “bipolar disorder” are derived from credible psychological sources such as the American Psychiatric Association.

I could not find any literature that examined mood disorders among Japanese artists. I will be supporting my claim that Japanese artists have a higher rate of mood disorders than people in other fields by using evidence from past research on Caucasian artists. Out of all the articles that I found, only one study looked at a population other than Caucasians. This study was about jazz musicians and mental disorders. The majority of the sample in that study are African American jazz musicians. An explanation for the lack of studies on Japanese artists may be the reluctance of Japanese people to seek mental health services and express their emotions openly. Living with bipolar disorder or depression puts an individual at a higher risk of committing suicide. Due to the eminent suicide rates in Japan, the study of mood disorders among Japanese artists may serve as an educational tool for seeking help and a measure for suicide prevention. Knowing about the existence of mood disorders may motivate some individuals to go into treatment which can prevent future suicides.

I organized the literature review section of my research proposal on similarities between the articles. Some examples are: Studies that only examined writers or artists, studies on clinical sample, the Stanford University studies, etc. Some reports were only about comparing the level of creativity between people with and without a mood disorder. They found out that people with a mood disorder score higher on creativity tests. I don’t know if I should take these articles out of my literature review since they are not related with artists. However, the artistic fields are directly link to creativity.

I tried to incorporate my topic into the five elements of research argument as stated in chapter seven. My claim is: Japanese artists will be more likely to suffer from mood disorders than Japanese people from other professions. My reason for making this claim is because the idea of a link between creativity and mood disorders has been presented in societies ever since the ancient Greeks. As I read chapter 7, I feel that I don’t have a strong “scientific” or even a “logical” reason but I am wondering if I can back it up with my evidence which say that since previous studies on Caucasian artists found mood disorders to be prevalent, this may also apply to Japanese artists. Also, the diagnoses of mood disorders are not considered to be new practices for Japanese mental health professionals. The objection that I perceived will be coming from the readers is: Then, how come some artists lead psychologically stable lives? I will defend myself by stating that the objective of my research is to compare artists with other professions not to measure the rates of mood disorders within the artistic group. Also, an explanation for why some artists do not have a mood disorder may be due to genetics.

I strongly agree with the book and article about keeping the readers in mind when writing a paper. That’s why I try not to sound repetitive in my paper. For this reason, I found it very difficult with the literature review section of my paper last semester. My topic is about mood disorders (bipolar and depression) among Japanese artists, musicians, and writers (poets included). The rationale of my paper is the failure to find any previous studies that examined this population. The literature review is not suppose to be a summary so I tried to include only the main points. However, the lecturer thought it was too short. I have a hard time finding a balance with synthesizing articles. Also, the articles shared similar limitations so how am I suppose to discuss the same things in 6 pages? The readers will get bored reading my paper. I don’t know how I score on that writing test we took on the first day of class. I mean, I love to write but I find this kind of writing to be such a constraining, painful process.