There’s much ado about “consciousness,” but what even is it? What’s the big deal? How hard could it be? @_@ (At least as hard as FOCUSING THE CAMERA GAH)
If you are at all interested in this topic, please please please read the SEP entry on consciousness, it’s just fantastic - https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consciousness/
What It Is Like to Be a Bat (Nagel, 1974) - http://organizations.utep.edu/portals/1475/nagel_bat.pdf
Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness (Chalmers, 1995) - http://consc.net/papers/facing.html
A summary of Paul Churchland’s “Matter and Consciousness,” specifically oriented at summarizing common positions about the mind/body problem (Blackman) - http://reidblackman.com/pdf/reidBlackman.churchland.pdf
Continuity, Consciousness, and Identity in Hume’s Philosophy (Yandell) - http://www.humesociety.org/hs/issues/v18n2/yandell/yandell–v18n2.pdf
Telling More Than We Can Know: Verbal Reports on Mental Processes (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977) - http://people.virginia.edu/~tdw/nisbett&wilson.pdf
Introspection and verbal reports on cognitive processes—Two approaches to the study of thinking: A response to Howe (Ericsson & Crutcher, 1991) - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0732118X9190041J
For a contrasting opinion: “When Does Introspection Bear Fruit? Self-Reflection, Self-Insight, and Interpersonal Choices” (Hixon & Swann, 1993) - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8421251
What is Consciousness? (Vsauce, 2012) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjfaoe847qQ
A psychologist who uses timers to take mental “snapshots” of conscious experience - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/health/22prof.html?mcubz=1