Throughout
this course, I have seen my writing flourish through different assignments
leading up to my final research paper. Previously, I viewed the process of
writing research papers as collecting arguments from different sources on the
internet and putting them together into one paper (the night before, of
course). From this class, I have learned that it is so much more than that. It
entails conducting your own research and adding new and insightful knowledge to
the conversation that you are exploring.
After
looking over the five outcomes of this course, I believe there are ones that I
really excelled in. One for example is outcome two, which describes engaging in
a meaningful, dynamic, and an inquiry-based research process. This can be seen
through the final draft of my literature review:
“Many
parents have raised questions and do not think that students at such young ages
are ready to make tremendous life decisions (Badertscher). Bob Barr believes
that students’ minds are still being molded at this time and are not prepared
to make these kinds of decisions this early. He goes on to say that this will
be narrowing a child’s focus and will ultimately keep them from excelling and
being creative. Others say that this system seems “generally good” although
maybe a little “unrealistic” (Badertscher).”
In
this section I bring in multiple sources and work them into a cohesive unit that
gives background to the conversation I am exploring.
Another outcome that I feel I excelled in is outcome
five, which describes students being able to develop strategies for revising,
editing, and proofreading. This is evident once again from my literature
review. My literature review that is seen in my final paper did not start off
that way and took four drafts to get to the final product. An excerpt that is
in the first draft of my literature review is seen here:
“Through my research, I will be analyzing the long term
effects of students that have gone through accelerated programs in high school
and programs where students have to choose majors in the 9th grade.
I would like to analyze college students to see how they feel about the
programs they were in, if they are happy with the careers they chose as an
early teenager, and if they thought this system was beneficial or detrimental
in the end. Another analysis that will be done is one that looks at college
students and the factors that influence them on their career decisions and the reasons
behind those influences.”
This sample is the conclusion of my literature review but
is too close to what I stated in my methods section, so it had to be revised. Here
is an example of the conclusion of my literature review from my final paper:
“Researchers and journalists have looked at the
implementation of 9th graders choosing careers in high school, but have not
analyzed the effects of such programs on students after high school. In order
for programs such as this to be successful, the students are the ones that need
to succeed. There hasn’t been any research on the students that have been a
part of these programs and if these programs have been beneficial to the
students involved in them…. Much has been discussed on these topics but there
are still key questions. What are the influences that effect college students
in their career decisions? What are the outcomes of students that are making
career decisions so early on in their school careers? Through my research, I
would like to find out the answers to these questions.”
As you can see, this is a much better conclusion for this
section of my paper and demonstrates a greater level of writing. By creating drafts
and continuing to edit and revise this section, I made it so the reader can
better understand the points I am trying to make and ensuring that small
mistakes don’t intervene with my writing.
Overall, my writing has improved immensely due to this course.
It was challenging and required a lot of hard work and dedication, but the
final product is great and worth the effort. I believe that I excelled the most
in outcomes two and five and that can be seen through many of my assignments
and papers that were completed this semester. This class helped me to become a
better writer and I hope to bring this knowledge and pride in my writing to
future courses.
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