The skills and information that I acquired and developed this semester was learning what a scholarly text is, how to find scholarly, peer reviewed sources, and how to use the Boatwright library website. In public school I was not taught the importance of scholarly work nor how to find it. The only time I was assigned a major research project was in my senior year of high school. I went to one of the specialty schools in the Richmond Public Schools system. Two of the requirements for graduation was the freshman paper and the senior thesis. Looking back, I remember how hard I was struggling in completing my freshmen paper. It was about the effects of the pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. The 10 page paper required extensive research with 350 flashcards, 3 drafts, and a class trip to the Chesapeake Bay at the end of …show more content…
Coming in I knew I had to write the research paper and I was dreading it. I hated writing the paper. I became stressed out and emotional because I did not know what to do. I was never taught how to write a research paper. I didn’t know what it was. I had to enlist my mom for help and if it was not for her then I would not have met the freshmen paper requirement.
After the disaster of my freshmen paper, I vowed for my senior thesis that I was going to do everything on my own without help. I had also write about the legalization of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. This paper was more extensive with more requirements than the freshmen paper. While writing my paper I used books, and websites, and I even consulted with a chaplain who is a very nice woman. Another requirement for my senior thesis project was that I