To start things off when I came into this class I knew what I was getting myself into, because I have taken Marlen’s class before. I was scared when the class started, because we had a lot of things to do and I felt that I didn’t have enough time to get all of my work done in my other classes and this class. My anxiety level increased as the research process began for our research papers. my anxiety level also increased when I couldn’t figure out my research topic and when I was trying to get my research question down. The first half of the semester was the hardest for me, because we had a lot of work to do for this class. Somewhat before the middle of the semester I was thinking about dropping this class. I am not one to quite at anything so I decided to stick it out. My biggest worry is that I wouldn’t get my research paper done in time or have it be long enough i.e. 15 pages.
I feel that I turned my anxiety, fears into strengths when I got my work done and on time. What also helped me was when I met with Marlen and Andrew for our conferences. They really helped me calm down and they told me where I was in my research process. I felt that if I was having trouble completing a part of my paper I could text Andrew at any time and he made me relax and feel more confident in my paper. I feel that when Marlen broke up the papers it really calmed me down, because not everything was due at the same time.
My future goals as a researcher is to read the abstract of an article before I read the whole thing. The abstract is a summary of the whole article. When I read the abstract it makes me feel better as a researcher and it saves me some time, which I love. As a writer I know what needs to be included in each part of my paper, just by doing the research. I feel that after I completed the research I knew how to put my paper to gether and that made me a better writer.
I feel that my proudest moment in this course is when Marlen said “Sam you have a kick ass lit review. That made me so happy and that comment gave me more motivation to complete my research paper and make it the best that I can make it. I feel that the one thing that will stick with me for the rest of my life is that become a researcher you have to know what you are researching. Another thing that will stick with me is how to cite an article, book, journal etc…
