Throughout the semester, I progressively learned virtually everything I need to know to make my writing stronger by proving my thesis with credible information. I learned how to find that information, how to determine the relevance and credibility of that information, how to incorporate the information into my writing, and how to properly cite the source. This will prove to be a very useful understanding in future years, as I have to write my senior thesis and other research papers.

The culmination of all the practice for supporting our argument came at the end of the semester, as we were assigned to research a topic of our choice and write an 8-10 page paper about that. The project was stressful, to say in the least, but was very beneficial to my overall writing talent and capabilities. The essay reinforced everything I had always been taught, but rarely done in such a meticulous fashion. Most times, teachers expect citations in their students’ papers simply to enforce anti-plagiarism ethics, but with this research paper, it was more than that. The sources I chose to use as evidence in my essay served as the foundation of my paper—without them, I would have nothing.

When I first started the brainstorming process, I had no idea what to write my paper about, and that I did not want to write about a cliché topic such as abortion of affirmative action. It wasn't until my economics professor mentioned something about outsourcing that I realized what I wanted to research. I decided to write about the growing economies in China and India, as well as a potential future military threat from China. Needless to say, it was not the most fun topic to write about, but I chose it anyways. The topic had always interested me, and I felt that I, along with the majority of other college-aged Americans, knew virtually nothing about the topic. Sure, everyone has heard his/her fair share of theories as to when World War III will take place between the U.S. and China, but I felt that there was so much to learn that had never been discussed in the American public school system. Out of sheer coincidence, my dad gave me a book later that week that he said I should read. The name of the book was The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman. Finding myself bored senseless one Sunday afternoon, I sat down and read the book front to back. I was amazed at much of the information discussed by Friedman. He discussed the effect of recent technological advancements on the U.S. economy, as well as those of China and India; he talked about the globalization that email and high-speed internet have recently created, and how easy it has become to outsource virtually any kind of jobs to foreign countries for much cheaper; he noted the effect of government on a nation's economy. I decided I would use the information acquired from this book as a base for my research. I wanted to look more into the global economy, and what affect it might have on the U.S.

I found a number of other sources, most of whom were scholars on the topic (economics professors, military advisors, etc…). The sources all provided some excellent information about the topic, but often too technical and complex. In order to be able to convey the information to my target audience, I realized I would have to analyze the information in detail, and filter out many of the things that were too complex or not especially important. For every source I found to support my thesis, I would need to find a source to explain what the other was trying to say.

If you read my research essay, you will see how I incorporated a wide range of sources, most of whom have intriguing and unique opinions, into the topic of the paragraph, and the general thesis as well. I tried to avoid paraphrasing many of the quotes of my sources, as I feel they said it better than I ever could, and thus would have a greater impact on my audience.