Initially I thought that I would research a topic in Public Health – something that I want to study in graduate school- and I was beginning to narrow down my topic to harm reduction, but I diverged from my syllabus significantly. Creating a syllabus in the beginning weeks helped me realize that I could plan a concrete project on tobacco use and analyze successful and unsuccessful intervention programs that have a harm reduction approach to tobacco consumption. As I was researching, I began to broaden my topic more and more. However, after reading Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity For Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, I knew that I wanted to change my research topic to rape laws in Pakistan. Needless to say, I have not been following my syllabus and have not taken the time to create one for my new topic. I think I will carve out a better plan by examining research material as I progress. In fact, I will most likely diverge again if I begin making a syllabus/ mind map for this topic because the more relevant questions I think of answering, the further away I get from my original topic. Consider this analogy: When you are in a dark room and you cannot see anything, you should not focus on looking at the thing you cannot see. Instead, it’s better to look to the side for the rod cells are sensitive to light.

I have been researching my new topic for a month now. I have to catch up on writing research journals. Also, I have to begin crafting interview questions that I would be asking different people. I have found a lot of sources for background information and at this stage I am concentrating on what are some important aspects of Islamic law and how they were introduced into Pakistan’s legal system.