My Research Process
As Mr. Phillips introduced this project assignment, I was immediately worried. As I do not follow international news, I originally did not have a topic in mind like some of my classmates. I was very quickly overwhelmed with the decision of the country and issue I was to research and write a paper on. However, I decided to begin with selecting a country, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. As I have never left the country, I have dreamed of places I have wanted to visit. England has always been on the top of my list because of the famous Abbey Road. Even though my name has no correlation with the Beatles album, I have always been fascinated with the idea of walking across the street, in the same, iconic way as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison. When researching national issues of England, I found that many of them had to do with the whole United Kingdom, so I chose this as my region to research. Once this step was complete, choosing the specific issue was easy. The biggest news in the European Union at the time was the Brexit movement, so all I had to do was choose what sector I wanted to focus on. Quickly, I found an article on how the people of the United Kingdom overlook the issue within the farming industry. As my mom grew up on a tobacco farm in rural North Carolina, I knew immediately that this is what I wanted to further my research in.
After I had made up my mind on the research topic, the next step was creating a question to base my research on. This came fairly easy, as I knew exactly what I wanted to research. Even though I was confident with my question: To what extent will Brexit impact the industry and economy of farming after Britain leaves the European Union?, I remained nervous until Mr. Phillips' "APPROVED" showed up under my wiki post. I had my ideas of what the answers to the question were going to be, but after I started researching, I soon found that I was not entirely correct. There was a lot more to the issue then what I had believed. My thesis was formed based off of the complex answer I received when completing my research. I found that changed would be made in the areas of labor, land use, legal negotiations, and the economy. I used these four sectors to construct my thesis.
The next, and most terrifying step was writing and turning in my paper. This was the piece of the puzzle that was going to determine my grade and reflect on all of the work I had put in. When starting my paper, I had a severe case of writer's block. I knew exactly what I wanted to say, but did not know how to word or phrase it. As the class wrote our rough drafts in the computer lab, I was overwhelmed when looking over to my neighbors computer and seeing her paper three paragraphs in, when I had not even finished my introduction. That class period, I shut down and did not get much done, but when I went home that night and tried again, I was able to allow my thoughts to flow. I finished my rough draft, and was eager to start revising and editing to make it the best it could be. After I was finally happy with my paper, I had to place it in the turn in box and accept that whatever happens will be okay. However, it was not that simple because Mr. Phillips announced he would "bounce back" any incorrectly formatted paper. Even though I had never had any problems with MLA, I felt myself becoming ill with the idea of him returning my paper. A weight was removed off of my shoulders when all of the incorrect papers were passed back, and mine was not returned. At this point, everything with my paper was over, and I could finally relax.
Even though I am done researching for this project, I still follow the Brexit news to a certain extent. As the official movement will not happen until March of 2019, a lot has to be decided, and nothing is final. Now, there are even rumors that the movement will not occur at all. Whatever happens, I just hope that the farming industry will be okay, and that everything that I researched will not happen.
The next, and most terrifying step was writing and turning in my paper. This was the piece of the puzzle that was going to determine my grade and reflect on all of the work I had put in. When starting my paper, I had a severe case of writer's block. I knew exactly what I wanted to say, but did not know how to word or phrase it. As the class wrote our rough drafts in the computer lab, I was overwhelmed when looking over to my neighbors computer and seeing her paper three paragraphs in, when I had not even finished my introduction. That class period, I shut down and did not get much done, but when I went home that night and tried again, I was able to allow my thoughts to flow. I finished my rough draft, and was eager to start revising and editing to make it the best it could be. After I was finally happy with my paper, I had to place it in the turn in box and accept that whatever happens will be okay. However, it was not that simple because Mr. Phillips announced he would "bounce back" any incorrectly formatted paper. Even though I had never had any problems with MLA, I felt myself becoming ill with the idea of him returning my paper. A weight was removed off of my shoulders when all of the incorrect papers were passed back, and mine was not returned. At this point, everything with my paper was over, and I could finally relax.
Even though I am done researching for this project, I still follow the Brexit news to a certain extent. As the official movement will not happen until March of 2019, a lot has to be decided, and nothing is final. Now, there are even rumors that the movement will not occur at all. Whatever happens, I just hope that the farming industry will be okay, and that everything that I researched will not happen.
Header borrowed from nationalsheep.org.uk
http://www.nationalsheep.org.uk/know-your-sheep/uk-sheep-farming/
http://www.nationalsheep.org.uk/know-your-sheep/uk-sheep-farming/