Research Reflection

Maritza Roman

Professor Jennifer Zukowski

English 121

December 3, 2015

English is a hard subject for me which lead me to set many goals for English 121. I had too many goals but only focused on three. I focused on writing strong thesis statements, being able to browse the web to find legit websites and helpful information, and on organization. I’ve always had trouble coming up with a good and strong thesis statement. Unfortunately, I still need practice on creating an effective thesis statement. I looked at many tips but I believe I have to take a minute and think thoroughly about what I want to talk about. I also need to be specific when creating a thesis statement. Maybe when I am able to do this I will improve my thesis statements. On the other hand, after doing the research paper I can say that I have improved my web skills. I liked using Wikipedia because it is easy to understand and provides a lot of information. Though I thought it was a good website it is not a good website to use on essays. I found many proper websites, such as, database and WebMD. I was also able to analyze the websites to determine whether they were proper to use in my essay. This skill will continue to be helpful. Whenever I browse the web to find information about something I will be able to know if the information provided can be trusted. I think I improved on organizing my ideas and placing them on the right paragraphs. However, I can still work on organizing paragraphs on the right sequence.

In English 121 we did an argument essay. Mine was on cosmetic plastic surgery on teenagers. At first I was for it but to my surprise after doing a lot of research it changed my point of view on the topic. I read many articles that explained why plastic surgery at a young age might not be the best decision. All the new information that I was reading was very interesting. Throughout my research I came across many stories in which women who are now adults had plastic surgery as a teenager and after they matured they regret getting it. This was something I did not know. I have always thought that since it was something they wanted they would always love it. I realize it is just like any other thing.

Doing the research paper made me realize many things and it also made me think differently. I enjoyed finding new information and reading the experiences that the young women went though. I read many things that could support my argument but I was skeptical on some of the websites. There were some sources that I think were great to add to my paper but after analyzing them well I decided not to include them because I was not sure if they were credible. It was a little disappointing that I was not able to use them. It was difficult to find good sources and to write some information in my own words since I did not understand some of the articles writing. However, I really liked that while doing the research process I improved on using different keywords to have specific information. I spent a lot of time doing research because there were times where I was not able to find what I needed. For me it was not enough time and it was probably because I spent way too much time looking for the right source. Next time I will try to spend less time and focus on the big picture and not so much on details.

One thing that I did notice that was very helpful while researching about plastic surgery was that when I did not find what I needed I would use different words to what I had. It would give me specific information about my topic. For example, when I did not find information about the risks in some articles I would look for them specifically in another search. Using keywords and different words that mean the same as the terms used before are very helpful when researching. This also helps the research process go a lot faster. I could have used more time on the whole process of researching and writing the paper. I could use help finding more websites that can be trusted like WebMD and database. I really liked these two websites.