Nandini Soni

December 27, 2020

Career Life Connections 12: Capstone Journal 3

The progress I have made during this past week:

The deadlines that I set for myself last week were that I complete the documentary, complete my
research and write a couple of sections of my research paper. This past week I did complete
watching the full documentary. I think this was the best and most interesting documentary I have
ever watched. I thoroughly enjoyed watching every second of it. It was extremely difficult to keep up
with it because it was in a different language as I mentioned and the direct translation was not
worded correctly. In the end, I took 5 hours this week to complete this documentary; one hour every
day. I also completed the rest of my research. I watched 5 different videos and read articles. I
watched videos of renowned Bharatanatyam dancers, observing their different styles. Completing
the rest of my research and finding the missing gaps of information took me 4 hours as well. I also
completed the “Preface” of my research paper, which took me an hour and a half. Since I went
snowboarding at the beginning of the week, it was hard for me to keep up with dance practice.
Therefore I only practised for 3 days for 30 minutes. I practised many poses this week. Holding these
bosses requires stamina and flexibility, therefore I stretched and practised doing the splits as well. I
have a 30-minute meeting with my mentor who recommended the same books my dance teacher
mentioned (Bharatanatyam by Sunil Kothari). I researched places I can order this book. I soon
realized it was expensive ($70). I wrote up an email to send to my dance teacher asking if I could
borrow it and he said yes. I picked up the book today.
(Spent one hour writing this journal)

What I need to move forward with my Capstone:

I will need to schedule 10 hours to complete a significant portion of my research paper. As for
materials, I will need my laptop and the Bharatanatyam book. I will also be researching how to write
a formal research paper.

Obstacles that I encountered and how I have moved forward:

Some of the obstacles I encountered this week were time management and finding resources. Time
management was difficult due to it being winter break and finding the motivation to complete tasks.
I also had to practise piano and other extracurricular activities while working on university
applications and giving myself the time to spend with my family. I moved forward by creating a daily
schedule for myself and making sure I spend at least 45 minutes to 1 hour on my Capstone project.
This allowed me to effectively use my time to complete a variety of tasks over the week. As well as
time management and finding motivation, finding resources I needed for the research. Both of the
books I was looking for were expensive and out of stock. So, I decided to ask my dance teacher if I
could borrow the book from him and he said yes!

Obstacles I can foresee in my next steps:

Some of the obstacles I can foresee in my next steps are related to continuing to write my report.
Writing is not my strong suit. Therefore, it will be difficult for me to effectively and efficiently
present and express my ideas. It will also be difficult to maintain a consistent and correct tone and
style of formal writing.

The skills I have used and what I have learned:

I was using my time-management skills by creating daily schedules for myself. Additionally, I was
using my formal writing skills while writing the Preface of my research paper. I used critical thinking
skills while completing the rest of my research and coming across conflicting ideas and information. I
learned how to time-manage and simplify the information I acquired from documentaries, videos,
reports and articles into understandable and simple terms. Additionally, I learned that creating strict
deadlines for myself challenged me and allowed me to be more proactive so that I could complete
the tasks in time. Creating realistic yet challenging deadlines for myself has taught me to properly
plan out my week as well.

My goals and deadlines for next week:

By January 3:
1. I will have written the "Overview" for my report
2. Completed the second draft of the “Preface”
3. Read 15 more pages of “Bharatanatyam” by Sunil Kothari (the book is very large)
4. Research on how to write a formal research paper
5. Write the next section of the research paper

My evidence of progress:
These are all the videos I watched and articles I read this week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch/SgiLOzFQh14
https://kalavandanam.com/about-bharatanatyam/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9JeXIgNGF4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM7oaujUek0
https://feminisminindia.com/2018/09/11/balasaraswati-bharatanatyam-indian-women-history/

Here is the link to the document of my completed notes from research:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kLpZ7zzzScx5rjVlNEOohviz6c8qS9xMltKMoX_BwRY/edit

I read the Preface of the book by Sunil Kothari:

Here is the first draft of the Preface of my research paper:

Continue for hours:

Total Hours posted on last journal 29 hours (since last journal)

Hours used since last journal 12 hours

Total Hours 41 hours