8. Research Paper Process

     Writing this research paper has been quite a process, yet I surprisingly enjoyed it.  At first I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of this paper; I had no idea what I wanted to write about or even which family member I wanted to research.  At first, I considered researching World War II era and even further back.  However, after much reflection, I realized how much I missed my immediate family and decided to pick a topic somehow related to them.  I contemplated the relationships within my family and remembered  a huge difference between my siblings and I.  My sister, Abby, is an introvert, while my brother Ian, sister Hailey, and I are all extroverts.  I recalled times of my childhood in which this was evident, and set my topic.  I was the most interested in how my parents raised Abby differently from the rest of their children.
     We went to the library and started doing research on databases.  I found many good sources, including a book, which I reserved on an inter-library loan.  After, I began working on my annotated bibliography and pulling out the direct quotes and information that seemed the most relevant to my paper.  I then was able to form a good thesis based on the information I had gleaned.
     Next, I sat down to start writing.  I started with my introduction because I work better if I can write a paper from start to finish.  Next, I did the background section.  The next day, I sat down and I wrote the first half of my body paper.  The next day, I wrote the second half of my paper.  The next class period, we did peer review and gave a copy of what we had to Mrs. Steadman.
     On Monday, I went into Mrs. Steadman's office and got my paper reviewed.  She said I was nearly there and gave me some things to correct.  I set off to correct the errors I had.  Next, I wrote my conclusion and set a draft off to my mother, who was an English major for a few years before changing her major.  She edited it, gave me some pointers, and I implemented them in my paper.
     I printed out another copy of my paper.  Someone else in class peer-edited my introduction.  I then went through and edited it one more time and put the changes into my paper.  After, I read it through one more time and saved it.
     I printed it, but my ink ran out.  I spent a good 45 minutes changing the ink cartridge because I had never done that before.  Finally, I was able to print out my paper in its entirety, put it in the folder with the rubric, and add in the several rough drafts.
     Overall, I was very happy with this paper.  When I neared the completion of my paper, both of my parents read it, my dad mostly because he was interested in what I had written.  Abby, who was the focus of the paper, read it and really liked it.  I liked this paper because researching the topic and analyzing it helped me understand my little sister, as well as my family dynamic, a little bit better.