Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 2.2
How to think of and develop ideas. See discussion in text.
CASE ST
UDY: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DISSERTATIO
N TOPIC
When I (MKM) was trying to discover my research passion in graduate school, I had not
made a list of research interests as mentioned earlier in this chapter, but had written
hundreds of questions in the margins of my notebooks throughout my undergraduate and
graduate education. I decided to go back through each of the dozen or so notebooks and orga-
nize my scribbles. Fortunately, my little in-class epiphanies were often accompanied by
excessive exclamation points, stars, or highlighter (I recommend you do the same). During
my first course in archaeology at the Ohio State University, I remember the day I was intro-
duced to the “Venus of Willendorf,” the sculpture from the Upper Paleolithic period in what
is now Austria dating to 26,000
e
24,000 BCE (
Otte, 1990
). See
Figure 2.3
. Not only was she
beautifully sculpted, but something about her struck me as extraordinarily anatomically
correct. The professor discussed the shape of her pubic triangle and voluptuous breasts as
being anatomical exaggerations and labeled her a fertility goddess. I had spent many
summers swimming with my own voluptuous grandmother, and there was nothing unnat-
ural about the Venus' anatomy. The only exaggerations in my mind were her tiny arms and
absent facial features, feet, and hands. Was it possible that someone who lived tens of thou-
sands of years ago could have become obese? If so, how did they maintain a high body mass
with a migratory lifestyle? This question among others was scribbled in the margins of that
notebook a decade before I started working on my doctoral degree.
