I wanted to tackle Martial Law from a different angle and I hope my presentation helped to demonstrate that while Solidarity’s role in the implementation of Martial Law is something that we as a class are familiar with, the Soviet role in the crisis required further examination. This is very important to me because after learning about Gen. Woijeich Jaruzelski’s background and the incredible amount of suffering that he’s endured and still does due to eye and back injuries he suffered during his deportation to Siberia, that anyone could think that he would welcome a Soviet invasion. What irks me is that a large amount of the research I performed on Soviet Military doctrine and positions relevant to NATO simply didn’t fit into the research paper like I’d hoped it would. This cut down dramatically on the number of citations that would’ve otherwise been included, and thus reduced the quality of my writing.
I felt it necessary to include visual aids in my presentation while delivering the material in a context that would keep the attention of the class. While my choice of vocabulary might be viewed as less than scholarly, the ability to recognize and connect with an audience takes precedence if the message is to be understood. I enjoyed the questions asked about my sources and at the same time I offer apologies for my answers as they could’ve been more helpful. I will fine tune any other presentations to include a complete list of my sources, which in this case numbered close to 20, but with only around 7-8 actually used in the final draft of my research paper.