Research Paper

I honestly didn’t know what I wanted to write about when we first heard about this research paper. I thought of nurses as my first choice. It had all the characteristics of a discourse communities and that I had access to many of them through my family. But then I realized that it was too boring for me and that I didn’t even want to write about it. After that I was still stumped. I couldn’t think of anything that I would even be remotely interested in. Every time I thought of something, I’d realize that I didn’t even have anyone to interview or that it was something to common or easy to write about. Then when we were in class one day and everyone was talking about their ideas I thought of it. K-pop fans. I mean, I was surrounded by a lot of people who loved k-pop, and I never really understood them and how they worked, so why not?

I’m specifically going to be looking at fans who follow a group called BTS. This group interests me because of how dedicated and up to date they are all the time. My friend, Jules, who you might seen during class, is a big fan. A couple of her family members are too. I don’t know much about the group itself, except for a coupe songs and their names because Jules used to constantly quiz me on them. I do know however, that whenever a new video or song comes out, her and her family member will wake up literally at the crack of dawn just so they can see it as soon as possible. They’re obviously dedicated. They also have group chats that have conversations about BTS ninety percent of the time. I’ve even looked at their phones and other electronics and they’re always a different picture of one of their favorite members in the background or on the actual case. And that’s just the k-pop fans I know in real life. I’ve heard of BTS k-pop fans all over social media and they get really intense. You probably don’t want to say anything bad about their favorite groups and members because they’ll come for you and cripple you emotionally. At least try to. Anyways, all of the people are always waiting and updated on whatever BTS does. A lot of them will also pay a lot of money to see them live and meet them in person for a couple minutes.

This group communicates a lot through social media, like twitter or Tumblr. Like and fandom, in order to become a member of this group all you really have to do is listen to BTS music or watch their videos and such and participate on some form of social media. I’m not sure what types of costs a member of this community give but I do know that it takes a lot of time and money. I walk into my friends’ rooms and its covered in BTS stickers, calendars, posters, etc. And like I said before, they’ll wake up and stay up at any time as well as spend hours watching music videos, dance practices, and interviews. They also have their own language of some sorts. Sometimes I’ll listen and I’ll have no idea who or what their talking about

I don’t know exactly where I’m headed with this paper quite yet, but I do know who I will be interviewing and what types of questions I’ll be asking. I already have 3 people in mind. I would ask them what made them so interested in the group, what caught their eye, how they keep up to date with them and how they share things, whether or not they talk to fans online or just in person, etc. I’m also keeping in mind some follow up questions I might have, depending on their answers. I also thought that I would observe how they would act if I randomly chose 2 music videos and made them watch it together. I could observe the types of things they say, how excited they get, and how they would share the experience together.

I’m a little worried about the length of this paper. I feel like I’ll procrastinate too much or that my paper wont even make sense and that I’m probably just writing a bunch of nonsense. But at least I know ill enjoy what I’m writing about.