Panic time

I've had to switch from reading assignments to writing assignments (two essays due Nov. 10). I'm learning that, at the master's level, you don't just regurgitate what you've read. You share your ideas and sprinkle in a few footnotes from the readings to support your points.

I'm struggling with this on two counts:

1. I totally want credit for reading all these thankless articles and chapters in professional journals. So I want to summarize everything I've read, and to hell with my ideas.
2. I haven't had time to form any of my own ideas. I'm so busy trying to keep up with the readings that the thought that I could go back and study my notes and digest all this information and form my own opinions seems like an unrealistic expectation. I probably have 50-plus pages of notes, most of it cut and paste from hundreds of pages of readings. I mostly haven't reviewed the notes because I'm always onto the next reading.

I got one essay half done then turned to next week's readings, including this morsel:
"But just like other forms of normative statements, CSR standards are not neutral in content but carry institutional luggage. They are inscribed with normative orientations and theoretical assumptions and have significant intended and unintended performative effects. However, they do not automatically increase the transparency and legibility of decisions and the understanding of complex social phenomena."

I just don't have a strong opinion on this.
11-1