Research Essay Reflection

When writing my research essay, like any other normal college student, I ran into problems, came up with solutions, and made conclusions.  I won’t cover the fact that many of the problems I encountered were motivational, but some were inevitable and technical.  Even though there are bound to be some kind of complications when writing an essay, you have to overcome these issues and find proper solutions. Admittedly I could have avoided some complications if I put this essay on a higher spot on my priority list and made time to sit down and focus on this essay, but after all I did not and my paper and I suffered the consequences.

 After conquering my procrastination I came across more unsightly issues, such as, having a hard time finding sources that supported my thesis and losing 4 pages to my paper.  I have a busy schedule, so it was very hard to sit down and find time to properly focus on this essay.  I came up with the solution of email the word document to myself through Gmail and working on the essay through Google Docs between classes on any available computer.  I started the paper with only 3 out of the 5 sources I needed and it was a little difficult to find sources about my topic or articles that supported my thesis.  When I did finally stumble upon interesting sources, they didn’t fully support my thesis. Therefore, I used an idiom that my mother would always tell me in tough situations, “Don’t try to change things you can’t change, but do change things you can.”  I changed my thesis, to be well suited for the sources I had chosen for my topic.  My topic was Louisiana’s Cuisine and my thesis was, Louisiana’s cuisine had been shaped by more than its history; climate and location played a large part in shaping the cuisine as well.  I spent many sleepless nights and cups of coffee on this paper because I wanted my paper to be astoundingly awesome and near perfect.  In the end I turned in the paper at around 2 am on Monday when it was due the Thursday before at 8:30 am.  I didn’t turn the paper in on time because I lost 4 pages, 2 sources, and all corrections I made, right before I was going to turn in the paper around 2 am on Thursday.  I emailed my professor immediately after the situation happened and after a meeting I was given an extended deadline.  I worked extensively on the paper Sunday night, pulling yet another all-nighter to complete this paper.

This was my experience when writing my research essay, I learned that planning is a wonderful concept to consider before delving into the writing process and to always properly save your documents before exiting the Windows program.  I learned that cutting corners out of the planning process will definitely show in the paper.  It is always a good idea to make time for a paper and sit down with no distractions and focus solely on the work at hand.  I have learned from this experience and graciously accept all consequences from my prior actions when it came to the paper.