Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

Dear sonal88,

Over the last few months there have been lots ... and I mean LOTS of posts on this site about student thesis choice, many of which have come from people in the final MONTHS of their course
who are, not surprisingly, beginning to fret, en masse, about what they ought to write about for their final opus.

Io a few of those question, the fear has been almost palpable, so you are wise to begin thinking about this subject now.

However, if I read ONE MORE QUESTION that asks what aspect of social marketing a student ought top write about, I fear I'll go mad, or that my head will explode! Perhaps it will be both.

I've only been contributing to this forum properly since the beginning of May, so I've no idea what students were writing about a few years ago, but I'll put good money on the subject being blogging.

Now, in 2009, the big subject is social media. Why? Because it's current.

But what this means is that thousands of students are all jumping on that same bandwagon. But by doing so, few of them—unless they have something truly unique to say, which I doubt will be the case—few of them WILL STAND OUT.

When a piece of writing fails to stand out, it becomes, in effect, invisible. I'm sure that the people who have to assess these things are BORED TO DEATH by the thought of having to read YET ANOTHER thesis on social media.

I know I would be.

Do you think that this might then lead to a lower overall grade because the assessor saw the subject "Social Media and its impact on Boogers" (or whatever) and just couldn't bring themselves to engage, just couldn't be bothered to READ the darned thing because it was the 154th such tome they'd come across?

Perhaps.

I graduated in ... well, let's just say it was a jolly LONG time ago ... and my final thesis was, as I recall, crap. I'll gloss over the details but suffice it to say that it did me few favours.

My thesis was crap because it was rushed, because I left it until the eleventh hour to write it (by hand ... it then had to be typed ... and corrected ... and re-typed ... and then bound. oh, the horror!), and because I didn't think about my reader that much, let alone about my subject.

In short, writing that crapy little thing was a CHORE! And at the time I was too young, too arrogant, and WAY too stupid and bull headed to accept advice, to follow my gut, and to write about something I was interested in and something I COULD TALK ABOUT without sounding like a rambling, burbling, babbling idiot.

Let this be a lesson to you.

Back then i knew nothing ... NOTHING about marketing. But now,
I know ... well, at least a little, which means I see that within the field of marketing today there are literally COUNTLESS areas you could write about.

here are a few possibles:

Niche marketing online.

Music sales and the decline of CDs and the rebirth of vinyl.

What is a brand?

Which message makes a mark?

The life and death of major adverting agencies.

Famous for 15 seconds (life on Youtube).

Direct response versus big brand advertising, compare and contrast.

... and so on. Note, if you will, that in the introduction to this list, my use of the world COULD. Not "should" (which as an instruction is a pet peeve of mine): could.

But here's the kicker: whatever you write about, make sure it's something you are INTERESTED in. Interest in a subject is good at any time. But interest in a subject that one then feels the urge to WRITE about results in a product that is head and shoudlers about its brethren.

Why?

Because that interest generates significance, ostensibly for the writer, but mostly, for the reader. And without a reader who sees at least a modicum of significance in ones words, one is not a writer in the true sense of the word: one is a self absorbed hack.

So, pick a subject you are not only interested in but one you are PASSIONATE about. The key isn't just interest. I'm interested in lots of things but I'm only PASSIONATE about a few things, one of which is marketing.

When you write with passion and style, you drive that essence into every page, and when that happens, a truly wondrous event takes place: your subject becomes ALIVE!

When you inject passionate life into your subject it ceases to be just a subject and suddenly, it breathes, eats, sleeps, poops and drinks. It takes on shape, form, substance, and gravity. Your subject then begins to ... God forbid, actually MEAN something.

Imagine that? Shocking!

And if the passion and style goes in while you're writing, that passion and style, YOUR passion and YOUR style will SHINE for your reader like a goddamn beacon!

Finally, click on the link below and read just a little more. You won't regret it.

https://public.lanl.gov/kmh/pc-24-66-vonnegut.pdf

I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA