Case studies

You may occasionally ponder why you chose to dedicate such a major portion of your life to college. The most obvious reason would be for the development of your thought processes, writing ability, and other specialized professional skills. But another reason of great importance for many who choose to enroll at a college or university is the tremendous opportunity such a situation poses for socialization. For most of us, we will never be able to have such fun without consequences and to enjoy such friendships as we will during our undergraduate years. As the academic and social realms of our lives tend to exclude one another, one often finds one's self caught in a pickle between partying hard and putting on the big boy pants. There is no time when this dilemma is more obvious than when a serious paper or project is due, and no paper or project is more involved - perhaps other than graduate or doctoral dissertations - than an extensive case study. Case studies include more than just research, writing, and editing. They also involve the collection of interviews, statistical analyses, and really anything and everything else that might be useful in the exploration and explication of whatever group you happen to be studying.

It other words, case studies are very difficult and require tons of time to complete. While the completion of one might be one of the best, most valuable academic experiences in your life, and it may indeed be time well spent, there is no way to guarantee that your hard work will render anything meaningful or coherent. More than likely, you're going to end up with a mishmash mélange of assorted tidbits which do not complement one another very well, and don't add up to squat.