After unit 2 ended and we had a list of sources that contained the accumulation of knowledge we would be writing about, I thought that my final project was going to be a breeze. I suppose my thought process was that I have so much information on the topic I chose, that I would have a surplus of things to discuss. Though this was true, I overlooked the fact that having a surplus of sources also complicates your job as a writer because it often forces you to make cuts to your portfolio of sources. Deciding which sources made it into my article and which ones did not was a big struggle for me. In fact, a part of me wishes that I would have put a different article in my final project than the one I did. I am pleased with the way that my project turned out, but in retrospect I feel that the other article would have strengthened my arguments and made my writing flow better.
One thing I learned about writing research papers is that finding article that are of good quality and useful to you is challenging. Sometimes, I would find an article that seems promising only to find out that it is not for me. Another thing I learned was the importance of keeping my intended audience in the back of my mind at all times. When I was looking for articles, I would occasionally come across one that sounded like it is perfect for the topic I was writing about. However, I had found that the audience that the author intended to reach was other peers that are of the same knowledge as them. Reading these papers as a novice was very challenging as I did not have any background knowledge and was not familiar with the nomenclature.
Lastly, this research paper helped me understand the importance of understanding how when you write about a topic you are entering a discussion. It was important that when we wrote papers, we contributed something unique to the overall story. Reading this tip in they say I say was daunting to me. I thought “how am I supposed to come up with a new idea that the people that are experts in the subject?”. Upon further reading, one of the suggestions that I found most helpful was that contributing something unique can be as simple as paraphrasing something someone else wrote and giving your opinion on the matter or the meaning of the matter. One thing I have found really helpful is to come up with a analogy that makes sense to you and share it with your readers.
Thank you all for being a great community this semester. I wish you all good luck this upcoming semester. Stay healthy and safe
-Dan
You have distilled some of the really important takeaways for this course: thinking about audience, tuning into an ongoing conversation, and finding a way to contribute. Thanks for all your efforts this summer. Wishing you all the best in the year ahead.