For this assignment, I had to take the time to self reflect on my overall research experience this semester and answer a series of questions about how I have grown as a student and researcher! Posted down below are the questions and my responses to them-
1.) How has your process for doing academic research changed since the beginning of the semester? Be specific. Give examples.
My process for doing academic research has changed drastically and my feelings and thoughts towards doing academic research has also changed for the better. For example, in the beginning of the semester when I found out we were doing a semester long research project that involved academic research I was honestly dreading it because for me that meant I was going to have to put more time and effort into my assignments and research. By me having this certain feeling about conducting research for a semester long project and having to put more time and effort into my assignments it made me have a rough start to the semester and it showed that I did not care because my grade was well below average. However, towards the middle of the semester I noticed that my grade was still not improving to where I wanted it to be, so I got more serious and put more time and effort into my grade, assignments, and research. For example, I started reading the assigned chapters that correlated with the reading quizzes and took detailed notes and once I was done taking the detailed notes I quizzed myself on the material and then took the assigned reading quizzes that correlated with the chapters.
As the rest of the semester went off I continued that strategy and it slowly brought my grade up to where I wanted it to be. Now, for the research assignments that were leading up to the final paper I put my time and effort into them and applied the research skills we were taught in class to complete those assignments to the best of my ability. For example, when I did not understand how to do one of the research assignments I would look up examples online, look back at my notes I took while I was over zoom or in class, and wait until we had workshop days in class to get feedback from Dr. Pederson. By putting time and effort into my academic research and assignments and getting feedback on my assignments it made the process much easier and to this exact moment I feel more confident when conducting academic research.
2.) Describe your process for evaluating and selecting sources for your research assignments. How did you decide which sources to use and which not to use? Did you add or change sources for your final assignment after turning in your annotated bibliography? If so, please explain why.
When finding resources for my research assignments it was a little difficult at some points because the resources I wanted to use were either far out of date or the websites were not credible and were not providing reliable and accurate information. That’s when I noticed that I was having a difficult time finding resources, so I decided to go to the Greenwood Library on campus and ask one of the librarians for help. During my visit to the library the librarians showed me the research tab on the library website and explained to me how to type in certain commands that generated the search for resources. For example, one of the librarians explained the “AND” feature to me and when I typed in my research topic and a supporting detail about the topic it brought up hundreds of useful peer reviewed journals and articles that related to my topic and ones that I could include in my research assignments for this class. Once I left the library it made it much easier for me to find accurate and reliable resources for my assignments.
The type of resources that I used for my assignments in this class were from the Greenwood Library’s website, were peer reviewed journals and articles, were up to date, and had detailed, accurate, and reliable information regarding my research topic. Another strategy I used when deciding resources for my assignments was to see if the author of the journal article published their contact information and this is important because if the researcher had a question about something they could get in contact with the author and get it clarified right away. The resources I decided not to use for my assignments did not include publishing dates, authors contact information, or were too far out of date. I did not include these resources because they could provide the researcher with false and inaccurate information. Finally, I did not add or change any of my resources when turning in the final assignment because all of my resources that I used were credible and provided the reader and researcher with accurate and clear information!
3.) What challenges did you encounter when doing research for your assignments in this class? What strategies did you use to overcome them? Be specific. Give examples.
One of the challenges I faced when doing research for my assignments in this class is that you cannot procrastinate on assignments like this because they take time to complete and comprehend. As I mentioned earlier in this reflection, that was a big struggle for me in the beginning of the semester and it was costing me my overall grade and happiness within myself. For example, I rushed through the reading quizzes that were helping us prepare for the individual stages for the final paper and by me rushing through the reading quizzes it made the first few research assignments pretty difficult, which made me frustrated with myself so I made a change to overcome the procrastination. For example, one of the strategies and changes that I made and used to overcome the procrastination was to start the assignment as early as possible and to start the assignment the second it was assigned. By using this strategy it saved me so much stress and not to mention my grades and overall performance on the assignments were increasing rapidly, which made me feel more confident and happy with myself!
4. ) Have your attitudes and perceptions (confidence level) about doing research changed over the course of the semester? Be specific. Give examples.
Over the course of the semester I have seen a major shift in my attitude and perceptions towards academic research. For example, When I first started this class I hated the idea of performing academic research because it took too much of my time and I believed that it was not needed in the real world. As of now, I’m glad that I pursued this class because I now like to perform academic research and I also see the importance of it in the real world and it is truly a skill to have because most jobs and business will require one to do some type of research. For example, I’m a criminal justice major and for my Gender and Crime class I had to write a five page research paper and I already knew what to do because I applied the skills I learned in this class to my report and got a nearly perfect score on it! So overall, my attitude and confidence level about conducting academic research is very confident because I am applying those skills outside of this class and as I continue my college journey I can continue to apply my research skills in my future classes and career.
5.) Think about the research you’ve done this semester, and describe what you think it means to “Think Like a Researcher?”
Based on the research I have conducted this semester I have come to the conclusion that in order for one to think like a researcher they need to have a positive mindset and be willing to put the time and effort into the research. Personally, this was me this semester because I started off disliking academic research, but towards the middle and end of the semester I was starting to think like a researcher because I was fully engaging with the process and was willing to learn and discover new information about my research topic. Thinking like a researcher is being excited about the topic you are learning about and being excited to find out the results and finding about the certain topic. Overall, to think like a researcher one must be willing to put in the work, time, dedication, research, and positive attitude to come across their desired findings!