To start off I feel as though this essay was much difficult than the first. I don’t really know what made it so difficult. Maybe it was the extensive amount of research or trying to organize all of my thoughts. When choosing my topic of interest, I was so confident I would be able to write so much information on my topic. I knew that because of my prior knowledge on the subject it would be fairly easy to come up with information. However, this was not the case.

Throughout my writing process, it was very difficult for me to find useful information that would relate directly to my question. I found a lot of information or I knew a lot of information but I was very doubtful of my ability to relate those facts to my topic. Because my main question was more specific it became harder for me to try not to stray from the issue. I believe at some points during my writing, my passion for the subject got in the way of the facts and statistical research which was needed in order to complete my paper. When writing I tried to believe I was writing for those who supported the movement and wanted to have more information on how it impacted America. I feel like my intended audience also hindered my writing because it included my personal opinion on the matter. I know I usually have trouble with trying to steer clear from opinions so that is something I know I need to work on.

Overall, I think, despite the essay being challenging, it was very eye-opening on what changes need to be made for my writing to improve. I think it is very important for me to work on timing and organizing when writing. And next time I might stay away from topics I am already aware of so I can learn more and also have a fresh mind that is not full of predetermined opinions.

The topic I chose was actually kind of a difficult topic since I had to research something I had never really known about. It was through suggestions that made my topic about the broken windows theory. Originally it was about defunding the police but it was too new of a topic to write about. I had some trouble finding information before but once I had a solid topic it was quite easy to find what I need through google scholar. The most issue I had with my essay, however, was trying to word my thoughts into complete and logical sentences. It wasn’t like I had solved the issue but it was more of just thinking hard enough as if piecing together a puzzle in my head and forming each sentence for my essay. Basically using up a lot of time trying to gather my thoughts. I have discovered a little solution which is to put what I’m thinking into a sticky note on the side, which made the process just a little bit faster as I didn’t need to keep remembering the original idea while trying to form it into a sentence. This experience of writing this essay has also allowed me to learn more about reading and understanding a scholarly source as well.

In the beginning, I was deciding between choosing a new topic to write about or sticking with the topic I have chosen for my first essay. However, after an interesting conversation regarding the current world affairs with my parents and siblings, I found myself deeply intrigued in how the public reacted to government policies regarding Coronavirus.

I had some trouble finding some information regarding my research question because of the wording I chose when searching for scholarly articles. So, my solution was to be more specific in what I have in mind, by doing so I was able to get articles talking about a specific idea I want in my essay.

Some problem that I have encountered while analyzing my text was how sometimes the information that was being given to me through the text wasn’t helpful and I couldn’t use it in my essay because even though it was related to my topic it would be difficult to expand on the information that was given to me and implement it to the rest of my essay.

A major role my audience played was how I was trying to target people who are protestors, I want to understand the way they thought and why they made such claims. I was also targeting Americans in general because I myself am an American that is going through lockdown in America.

This process helped me understand the different types of essays there are and the purpose each one of these have. In this case, I realized that this entire essay started from a question, we began to build upon that question by researching about it which lead to information being built on top of each other. As a result, an inquiry-based research essay emerged.

When I first started my research paper, I knew that I wanted to focus on the topic of divorce, so when I first presented my research question it had a much wider scope. I originally wanted to research the effects of divorce over every age demographic, but considering the page limit of this paper that would not be plausible. Instead, I focused my research on children, which is anyone under the age of eighteen. I also focused my research question to children within the United States in order to narrow it down, as well as make it more relevant. 

At first, I did have trouble finding sources that I thought would benefit my research paper. In general search engines, like Google, I found that a lot of information was repetitive and vague despite them being from different websites. When I started using Academic One File, the information I obtained was then too specific to one effect of divorce. It was when I started to use JSTOR that I finally found information that was specific enough, but not so much that it only talked about one effect.

While doing research for this paper and reading other research papers, I found that almost every line had a citation that would be referenced in a footnote. In my first draft, I followed suit, but after my peers and our professor read it over, I found that I had to add a lot more analysis. In future essays, I will keep this in mind.

While writing my research question I found it difficult because of the way I wanted to pose the question. Like I already knew that I wanted to talk about immigrants and their contributions to America because they are so underrated. I just was struggling on a strong, clear way to present it. But I feel good, because I didn’t leave it a one word answer to my question. But as I was writing my essay, I found it hard to choose certain information because you know not all information you read in an article is supporting your topic or specific idea. So what I did was reread the whole article twice while highlighting important information that I knew I wanted to add for my analysis.

The only problems I had in a few of my sources was how to transfer the text I wanted to my paper without adding the entire message from the author, with this I simply took some information out and paraphrased into my own words. Then I started to just talk and add on from further in my thoughts. My audience in my essay was pretty clear based on my tone, it was to everyone the people in our country. Everyone needs to be talking about these immigrants and what they bring to our country, not just the bad. I feel like i’m learning more and more as I do my own research and just how I write. I still feel like I have more to develop to become that strong writer that I want to be. Not the one who second guesses herself and constantly rereading and taking stuff out and adding stuff in. Overall I enjoyed writing this paper, I’m excited to see what the next paper brings to my style of writing.

When I initially set out in my research I chose to explore the primary contributing factors to an increase in crime across the United States during the Covid-19 pandemic. As I began acquiring source material, I found that this question was somewhat broad and refined my question to the exploration of three possible influences. Even with my scope narrowed I spent a considerable amount of time searching the database, changing key words and scanning articles. One of the tips that Professor Harris provided early in the semester was to use AND in the search function, this was extremely helpful to me when locating applicable articles in the academic database. At first there was concern that not enough documentation would be available to analyze, as we are still currently experiencing the Coronavirus crisis,  however, this was ultimately not the issue. It was much more difficult tracking down reports about previous epidemics that corresponded appropriately with my topic. I noticed it is far easier to locate sources that fall into the “grey area,” or general information that pertains to your topic, but it is much more laborious to locate articles that specifically correlate. I ended up rejecting earlier selections and adding additional sources, to ensure each one substantiated any concepts that evolved as I wrote.

I was addressing an audience of unnerved citizens, primarily those located in urban areas where crime is more predominant. Readers who might have noticed more crime in and around their neighborhoods or watched as news became increasingly violent. Those who found themselves wondering what the reason for the spike could be and if perhaps the unusual circumstances of the pandemic played a role.

While composing this essay I felt the most difficult part was maintaining a flow of ideas while thoughtfully incorporating source information. Often I would find myself off topic, parallel to my research question but not quite hitting the mark. I am thankful I received a reminder to slow down and take my time connecting each thought process; and that it is important that my own voice be more prevalent than source material. One cannot be an effective writer by simply organizing the thoughts and opinions of others, you must create a personal approach. This is something I will definitely be mindful of going forward.

When attempting to come up with my research question, I did not want to form a question that could be answered with a simple yes or no. My essay revolved around the college education system in the United States, so I had to specify this within the question. Furthermore, my idea was to compare and contrast the different perspectives on the college education system. In order to relate these perspectives to my intended audience, I used the professor’s feedback to add ‘quality of life’ into my question to now relate the college system to students. When trying to find sources and evidence to support my ideas of comparing different viewpoints, I did struggle when trying to find the correct sources. Many sources seemed outdated in a way that would not completely validate my ideas. In order to overcome this, I had to take a deep look into the database to find the right sources that were around our time period as well as sources that contained the necessary information I needed to support my ideas. One issue that I encountered was adding too many quotations with limited analysis. For my final draft, I added my own ideas after providing quotes to further strengthen the different arguments. Furthermore, I split my ideas into several different paragraphs to improve the overall organization of my essay. The intended audience for my essay were young students, especially those in high school who are preparing for their future in regards to the path they will decide to take. Since it is an important decision when deciding if a college education is valuable and worth it, I felt that discussing the contrasting arguments would be essential for my essay, in order to properly inform students of what issues or benefits come with obtaining a college degree. In order to be an effective writer, this process has taught me to improve the way I organize my ideas as well as the way I elaborate on my ideas through analysis.

I believe the way I refined and rethought my research question was with the Professors wise recommendations and how to move forward with the ideas behind my paper. There was a great deal of research and reading needed to be done for my topic of Psychedelic substances for therapy and the legislation about them. Often I would have to read very difficult scientific literature but as I often read scientific literature regardless I was able to find the big pictures of what they were describing. Also there were often articles that were not very helpful and from risky sources because of the nature of the subject. The audience played the role of listeners and interested parties looking to find more information about a developing situation in American science. This is because my audience for my example paper was mainly other researchers and those that would find this topic so interesting to go through it diligently. This process has broadened my idea of a theory of writing by showing me that there is much more to writing than I first assumed. I believed that writing was primarily what one created from their own understanding of something. Now however I would like to include that writing is not only your understanding but also the understanding of those whose backs you stood upon to write yourself. We all take information from someone else to better understand things so no one really is original. In that sense writing is kind of like a history of human knowledge and if characterized that way there is much more inherent worth that is recognized in writing. 

The way I came up with my research question was, I thought about my interests and during that time, I was interested in poverty in the US. However, I was also interested in racism so I combined the two topics together. However, the question I created was too broad, and with the help of Professor Harris, I was able to narrow down my question to the political aspects, specifically the historical and present laws and policies that contribute to the racial wealth gap.

While typing this essay, I did have some trouble finding scholarly sources. I overcame this challenge by being more strategic in gathering my sources. First, I searched on JSTOR, Gale Academics, and Google Scholar. If I didn’t find the source, I would later search it up under the popular media source. I just knew that I needed to find at least 3 scholarly sources for my essay. Furthermore, the video, “How to improve your search terms” that Professor Harris provided allowed me to find sources that I wasn’t able to find previously.

When analyzing my text, most of my sources were extremely long. However, I overcame this by reading the section headings. This allowed me to find certain quotes that would be beneficial to my essay much more efficiently. Another problem I had when analyzing my text was, one of my sources was complex and difficult to understand. They threw several terms that I didn’t understand and the source did not provide any definitions or background to the terms. For example, when my source mentioned the NRA and how it affected black and white Americans, I had to go through my own APUSH study guide to understand the purpose of the NRA.

The audience was a factor in the way I presented the information in my essay. The intended audience of my essay was the American public who are interested in the political and historical perspective of the racial wealth gap. Because this is my intended audience, I wanted my essay to go in chronological order, that way it would be easier for them to understand as time progresses, how the laws and policies continued to discriminate and suppress Black economic success and growth.

Writing this essay has taught me many things such as, in order to be an effective writer, I should add more of my own thoughts into an essay rather than having several sources do the speaking for my essay. I shouldn’t let my sources guide my essay. I should also break down each source one by one and explain them, instead of rushing.

My research question for Essay #2 was “What are the current conditions of the immigrant detention facilities in the United States and how do these conditions influence the physical and mental health of detainees ?”. 

When choosing my research question I wanted to further my understanding of my topic on my last essay regarding the corrupt immigration center. Due to the fact that I was a bit familiar with the topic I did not find it too hard to research about it a bit more from a different stance. In which that being the physical and mental effects on detainees in immigration facilities. I found the correct amount of sources and  brushed up on them. I organized my essay with subtitles each being about a different form of abuse and the background of detention centers. I feel that I could have added a bit more data to back up my stance, however I also feel that the data that I did add covered my topic and sub paragraphs. I also liked writing my background of my essay because that is where I can attract my readers and make sure they were familiar with my topic and the leading issue of it all. Furthermore, in my essay my intended audience would most likely be people who feel a connection with the topic or generally people who want to be informed about a leading issue in today’s society. This essay definitely helped me with organization and how to make sure my thoughts and data made sense. I also feel that a problem I have is being a little repetitive and that is something I need to improve on in my next writing assignment.