A thesis in the making.

Yesterday I was going through my research on the Overland Trail and having trouble visualizing where my quotes and evidence fit into their proper geographic locations. Pretty much all of my primary source research is hand-written on index cards, which helps me physically manipulate their order when organizing my papers (which will eventually combine into my master's thesis). So I started putting the cards into piles for areas like the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevadas, and Oregon. But those are way too broad. What about things that took place at the South Pass, Fort Hall, or on the Umatilla River? It was all too confusing for me to keep in my head.

Then I was a genius. Using string and even more index cards with color coded markers, I mapped out the second half of the Overland Trail on my living room floor. It's awesome.


I started the map at the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains, and I have the Oregon Trail going to the Willamette Vally and the California Trail cutting off and going to the Sacramento Valley.

Now I'm going to go add my research cards to the map and decide how best to write this section of my paper. But first I will make coffee.

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Later...

See? Only now I still have to figure out how to get all this across in narrative form...