step #7

Write your term paper.
But don't just write any paper. Write the term paper.

If you decide your goal at the outset (that of using the requisite term paper in your Conditioning, Learning, and Cognition class as a platform for launching your critique and subsequent revision of all current thought), you will not be distracted by alternative--and seemingly more feasible--topic options. Even come up with a catchy title, and get that thing on paper before it slips away. One possible option might be, "Everything That Has Ever Been Written is Wrong (and How it Should Be Changed)". Or, if parenthesis aren't your thing, "A Critique on Modern Thought." Either way, the important thing here is to make your aim clear: Kuhnian scientific revolution. Revolution. Rest on that word. Don't ever let it go. Oh, there will be days when you will want to let it go, choose a more feasible paper topic, given the present time constraints. But deep down you'll know that doing so would only be compromising your ideals. Research away, grad. student, even in the face of having absolutely no direction whatsoever. The only way to critique everything is to first read about everything, so direction isn't going to be that important anyway--in the end, you'll have to read about it all anyway.