When I started writing my research journal, it seemed easy to choose interesting topics because I have a bad habit of being interested in many things without taking any further action. However, the free writing part was challenging as I had to write non-stop for three minutes, which burned my brain cells.
Moving on to Invention Activity 2, narrowing down to one topic was relatively easy because I chose “Grades, Learning, and Success,” which already interested me when I chose my research topic for the Writing 1 class. However, I choose another topic, loneliness, because I felt a stronger personal connection. I choose “Grades, Learning, and Success” as my topic because it is a common and researchable topic.
During my research, I found that there were a lot of sources available on this topic, but I underestimated the difficulty of finding primary sources. Initially, I thought I had found enough primary sources, but after discussing with my instructor, Molly, I realized that I had to delete some sources that didn’t meet the criteria and conduct further research.
The source report went relatively smoothly, particularly the citing and quoting part. However, researching the authors to establish their credibility was somewhat annoying, especially when dealing with multiple authors and trying to find common ground among them
Finally, outlining the write-up seemed relatively easy since I only had to come up with the introduction and conclusion. However, crafting the body paragraphs required more effort as it involved not only selecting and copying quotes but also synthesizing them together to support my argument. I had to make sure that the sources blended seamlessly with each other and contributed cohesively to the overall message of the paper.