This has with out a doubt been the longest project I have ever had. Since the first day of this quarter, we hit the ground running. Every single assignment we had, every single workshop/library session, every single reading all built up to this one single assignment. We were expected to take from everything we had learned (even from last quarter), and condense it all into one ultimate assignment. Therefore, this assignment was almost a 9 week writing process, and I’m glad to say that I’m done with it.
I’m not glad because it just means it’s less work that I now have to do, I’m glad because I feel like I have truly invested countless hours into a paper I can truly call my own. From the research, to the subject matter, to the implication of method sources, they were all mine. And most importantly, I feel like this is the most I’ve learned out of any English or composition course I’ve had in a long time.
I had never researched in archives, I had never taken data and interpreted it in an argumentative sense, I had just barely used online databases for research. To have to learn all of these and apply them in 9 weeks was no easy task. However, I now feel confident enough to apply any of these methods in an research assignment in the future.
In my earlier research papers, I would only do basic google searches when researching for sources, and I thought this was sufficient information. In hindsight, these essays would not pass in college, and I’m glad that I now understand this. I’m glad that I have expanded my toolbox enough to find, collect, and implement multiple sources to create a well rounded, high quality essay.