DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Journey Reflection: Essay III Draft I

 

            This research paper has been quite the experience. After realizing that I would have no time to “get ahead,” I also realized that this weekend was parents weekend. I knew that there was no way I would have time to work on the paper that Friday or Saturday. The thought of writing a ten-paged research paper in one day really terrified me at first. However, once I accepted that there really was no way around it, I began to relax. I knew that I could easily write eight pages. Integrating ten sources, however, was another matter.

            Overall, I think I’ve done a fair job at using my sources; however, because ten sources is a lot to juggle and because I wrote it all in one shot, I’m a little concerned that my voice may not be as strong now as it should be. I’m also concerned, as usual, about the continuity and coherence of my thoughts. I played with a couple of ideas in this paper and will need to make sure they all work towards a coherent whole. Thankfully, I still have the week to work on this.

            As far as my process goes, I started by organizing my Word document notes on my sources into folders labeled, “Pros,” “Cons,” “Against Cons,” and “Background.” This way, when I went to write each body paragraph, I knew which sources to look at. Because of time constraints during the week, I read through my sources quickly and copied and pasted any key information from the source into its own Word document, keeping track of which page each copied section came from. This way, I could pick and choose important information when the time came and decide whether to quote or paraphrase it as needed. Then, I cut and pasted the information I wanted to use from a given section of sources (for example, “Cons”) into a separate Word document. I then went to work integrating my sources and personal commentary into body paragraphs. After I finished each section, I would cut and paste it into a larger, final paper document. I found that writing each section in its own separate document made the whole process feel less overwhelming and gave me mental freedom to cut, paste, and edit each section to my heart’s content.

            This draft is definitely rough, and there are quite a few awkwardly highlighted areas where I need to fix things and find extra reference information; however, given that I wrote it in a day, I’m quite pleased with my progress. However, what I’m most proud of is that I was able to fully relax and enjoy my Saturday with the family just hanging out, napping, and enjoying each other’s company. I wouldn’t have been able to do this in high school and would have felt a black cloud looming over my day. While I can’t say that I enjoyed the process of writing this essay, I was able to approach it in a stress-free manner for the first time and that’s a decent trade-off.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.