Next up in our Honours Student Interview Series is Leean Wu! Scroll down to read through her interview and learn all about her honours thesis research and writing process.
What is the title of your honours thesis?
“What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue?”: Women as Rhetorically Disabling in Shakespeare’s Plays
What interested you in this topic? Why did you choose it for your thesis?
The first fledgling concept for my thesis came from one specific sentence from “Disability Figures in Shakespeare” by Dr. Vin Nardizzi. His article was an assigned reading for a Shakespeare class taught by Dr. Dennis Britton, who later became the second reader for my thesis. Although this sentence was a passing mention and not the point of the article, it caught my attention, and I wished that I could read more about the topic. Since joining the Honours program and knowing that I would have the opportunity to create my own research project, I have kept a journal for any questions and topics that I find particularly interesting or curious so that I can look to it for inspiration. This practice has made me more attentive about everything that I read and anything that I am curious about, which has helped me with other class assignments as well. I chose this topic because I was the most curious about it. I was at first unsure if there was anything there for a project of this size, but I knew that if there was that I wanted to write about it. After two years of development and research, that original curiosity grew into my thesis!
What was your favourite part of the research process?
My favourite part of the research process was having my ideas grow and change. The first few times that I countered my own points or had a theory fall through, I felt somewhat discouraged. It can be intimidating to feel excited or confident in an idea and then have parts of it fall apart. However, I came to realize that this was not failure but development and improvement. It means that I have come to know more and am developing my ideas in more nuanced and informed ways than before. My thesis supervisor assured me that this is an essential part of improvement in general, and I tried to reframe “failure” into “pre-breakthrough.” The research and writing process of my thesis has helped me learn about more than just my research topic, but also about perseverance, growth, and grit.
Where do you hope to go next with your research or career?
In September 2025, I will start the Bachelor of Education program at UBC. After graduation, I will teach high school English literature and English Language Learning (ELL). At this moment, I do not have exact plans for when I will apply to a master’s program in English, as I am still focusing on and looking forward to the teaching program, but I hope that it will be in the next five years. There is still so much that I am interested in researching and writing about, and I want to further develop arguments and tangents that I encountered while writing my thesis!
What advice would you give to someone who is excited but nervous about writing their honours thesis next year?
Make your thesis a daily habit. Block out a chunk of time every day to work on your thesis, preferably at the same time and for the same length of time. This is probably the largest research project you will endeavour as an undergraduate, and although it can be tempting to rush to complete it all early on or to leave it to the last minute, neither tends to be as satisfying or successful as consistent effort and taking advantage of the time that you have. Rushing to be early may compromise the time you have for other classes and perhaps also your time to reflect on your ideas. Sitting and taking time with your ideas can help develop them. On the other end of the spectrum, leaving things to the last minute also compromises your time to develop ideas, and you will very likely be unable to complete everything to the quality that you want. Completing an essay one or two nights before the deadline might work for smaller assignments, but it won’t for something that is twenty-five pages long. Working in bursts of energy or inspiration is also unfortunately unreliable. Consistent progress every day helps to prevent burnout, and it allows you the time to get feedback, to explore tangents and counterarguments, and to sit with your ideas. Seemingly slow but consistent effort and progress also allow you to really savour the experience of the thesis and make it much more enjoyable.
Do you have any fun anecdotes from your university experience that you would like to share?
In my first year, a professor was really late for a Zoom class, and over 100 students were silently waiting for them. I’m still not sure what compelled me to do this, but I prompted a recreation of the iconic “I Want It That Way” cold open from Brooklyn 99. I unmuted myself and said, “Number One, could you please sing the opening to ‘I Want It That Way’?” like Jake Peralta did on the show. Sure enough, people started singing, and we recreated the entire scene. It was kind of a mess because of the Zoom audio lag, but a memorable and fun one.
