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.

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