Process Paper

Ancient history, particularly Roman history, has long been an interest of mine. As soon
as I heard the year’s theme, my mind jumped to the Roman Republic. I found two other topics
that looked somewhat interesting, but couldn’t shake the idea of Rome and decided to use the fall
of the Roman Republic for my project.
The first step in my research process was collecting books from the library and reading
their introductions to get an overview of the arguments surrounding my topic. I located some
online sources as well, but generally found it was easier to get my hands on good books than it
was to find scholarly online sources. Throughout this process I’ve had so many ideas in my head
that it has been difficult to isolate a clear and cohesive thesis. I found that by trying to verbally
explain my ideas to others I could figure out what I wanted to say more easily than going directly
from my brain to the paper. Once I had a thesis I returned to research, looking at specific
questions and primary sources. I also located two interviewees and asked question linking their
areas of research to my own topic. The last step was putting it all together in the form of a
website, the first time I really tried to connect all of my ideas in a logical manner. I focused on
laying out pages and listing the specific arguments I wanted on each, fleshing it out before taking
my last step to rewrite my thesis into final form.
I knew that I wanted to do a website or paper. I’m typically good at writing papers and I
knew it would be difficult to collect visuals on such an ancient topic, but I wanted to try
something I hadn’t done done before and decided to create a website. It was difficult to figure
out the best way to present complex ideas in so few words, but once I had the general ideas
worked out I really enjoyed formatting my pages to best convey the information I wanted to
share.
As I added research to the website, my thesis seemed to change every week until very
late in the process. I have consistently thought that the fall of the Republic was a tragedy, but my
thoughts on causes have transitioned from excessive idealization of Rome’s past to the
selfishness of men in power, finally deciding on the flaws inherent in the structure of Rome’s
government and the discontent caused by their worst failure, the land problem. The connections
to theme and significance have been more constant, but were left unclarified until the final week.
In terms of theme, I’m arguing that it was a tragedy for the Republic to fall so far that an
emperor was necessary to improve people’s lives. The lesson for modern society is how to
balance flexibility with stability in a way that allows the continuation of a Republic.