Advice Tidbit:
Having pondered my dilemma, I realized that one of my mottos can work on thesis research as well: "When you don't know it, Wikipedia it." We do it all the time when an unknown concept comes up while doing homework, or during an instant messenger discussion, right? Wikipedia is a great place to gather basic information JUST FOR PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE on a topic, but as it's a wiki, and is editable by any joe schmoe, you need to verify the information through reliable sources (though I'm sure you've heard this a million times already in class).
Personally, after having read the wikipedia article, I realized that there's much more of a history to Societe Generale than I originally thought. It's been around for well over a century, and had been doing really well throughout most of its history. Despite that, however, there was a money laundering incident right before the economic crisis. With the burden on the institution from this incident, combined with the added burden of the economic crisis, it's really surprising that Societe Generale survived. The article also "flamed the fire" to my interest in the topic I'm researching.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societe_Generale
The moral of the story is: If you're completely lost as to where/how to begin searching for information on your topic, use Wikipedia as a springboard to jump into your research.
Short-term goals:
-Come up with a solid thesis question (note: I emailed my advisor about it already, I just need confirmation)
-Create a rough outline of subtopics
-research current events as well as not-as-current-but-still-relevant articles involving SG, the banking reform and the economic crisis both in French and English
