Research Reflection

source: jholko.com

       This structure of this research paper was similar to other research papers I have done in the past, and because of that, I feel like I got the most out of the topic I chose. I had a few goals at the beginning of the semester, during this research paper I learned that I still have work to do on both of those goals, but I’ve moved in the right direction. I am proud of this paper, especially the topic that I chose. I think it’s past time people became more comfortable with mental illness, and this is one of those steps. My computer skills haven’t changed much, but I did discover that a school database can be helpful. I felt like I did well on this research paper, and I hope it is reflected in my final work.

I had a few goals at the begging of the semester. I wanted to learn how to write stronger thesis statements, and I wanted to become generally more comfortable with writing essays in general. I feel like I’m still working on both those goals, but they’re both things I think I’ll always be working on. I didn’t seem to discover a whole lot of new information on the topic, but I did find a few fun facts. I knew the sources existed, but I didn’t know there were so many of them so that was an interesting thing to find out. It reminds me that if I’m going to do it for myself I really need to look into which organization I do it through.

I feel like the topic of my paper makes me very proud because it’s something I’ve noticed for a little bit and I don’t think enough people can tell the difference between the two, or really care to. I think mental health has a lot of stigma attached to it anyway, so trying to take some of that away felt really good. I found the one section on “invisible disabilities” that really stuck with me. I loved the term and will be using it in the future. I’m proud of my ability to use larger, more intricate words without them sounding out of place. I think my teacher will be proud of my topic choice. 

I have always felt comfortable with my computer skills. I don’t think this research paper really changed that at all. I suppose I felt more comfortable because I had the database from Front Range to use, so I didn’t have to worry about where to find sources. I enjoyed researching even more about the complexities of understand therapy dogs as opposed to other service dogs. I disliked that it was still kind of hard to find a lot of information, meaning that people still aren’t really doing anything about it. Overall, this was a fairly easy topic to research because I was so interested in it. The hardest part is that, like I have stated before, there isn’t a whole lot of information to find. I didn’t discover any helpful research hints to share. Except maybe that having a school with a scholarly database can make things simpler, so try to utilize that if you need it.

-Kristen Skuba