Reflection on Research Paper

This research paper was one of the more difficult ones I've written.  It was difficult because I didn't find it very argumentative, but rather what I was writing about was too obvious.  I liked that we had a lot of time to write it and brainstorm for a better paper.  The hardest part about his paper was the research.  Finding research to support your idea is actually quite tough, but once you find some good articles the paper begins to organize itself.  I used a lot of tools to write this paper.  I went to the writing center, I talked with my teacher, and I had my friends read it to give me feedback.  I hope that that will help my chances in getting a good grade.  I liked the fact that we started this paper earlier in the semester so that we don't have to be writing it during finals.    

Is two sets of parents better than one?

Zach Quinn

Sister Steadman

Writing 150

Research Paper

Is Having Two Sets of Parents Better Than One?

            
          My Mother was running around like a chicken with her head cut off.  She was running from point “A” to point “B” to point “C” in our little house.  While she was putting her make up on she was simultaneously putting on her shoes.  Mom was obviously late for something.  As she was frantically getting ready I heard the doorbell ring, and my Mother told me to go answer it.  When I got to the door I moved the curtains aside to see who the unknown person was on the porch.  It was a man, a man who looked relatively well dressed.  I thought to myself, “is he here to take Mom out?”  When I opened the door I introduced myself by saying, “hi my name is Zach.  I’m five years old.  Are you going to marry my Mom?”  That question must have taken him back, because he took a few moments to respond.  He said, “Hi Zach my name is Kenny, and no I’m not here to marry your Mom.  Is she here?”  I told him that she was, but she wouldn’t be ready for a few more minutes.  So, while we were waiting for Mom to get ready, he took me over to the piano and started to play a blues melody.  “I kind of like this guy,” I thought.

Thesis: My parents divorce has been one of the best things that has happened to me.  Although divorce does an awful thing to a family, remarriage is the best resource to better a child’s life educationally, physically, and emotionally.                     

Prioritizing time for faith (General Conference)

Richard G. Scott's talk was the talk that most spoke to me.  He talked of four things to better ones life.  Prayer, scripture study, family home evening, and temple attendance.  The two that stood out most to me was prayer and scripture study, and how we need to make exercising faith our first priority.  By prioritizing your time to make time for God through prayer, scripture study, family home evening, and temple attendance will bring peace into your life.
As a college student you're in a time in your life when you're making important decisions and you want to make the right ones.  Some of those decisions consists of a career, a spouse to choose and so on.  To be able to make those good decisions that are going to effect you for the rest of your life you want help.  Having a good relationship with God is probably something of benefit to have while making those important decisions.  Elder Scott teaches of that if we want to receive answers from God we need to make time for him.  He said that most answers we get from Him are through His written word.  We need to study the scriptures and the words of the living day prophets.  He said that studying those things is more important than sleep, school, work, and video games.  That was eye opening considering all I do every day is study school.  That being said I need to prioritize my own time to become better at those aspects of my life.  

Ideas for Research Paper

In my research paper I think I'm going to write about divorce.  Not only about divorce, but how it is a beneficial decision.  I'll ask questions like, "Is divorce a good thing for the two spouses?" Or, "Is divorce beneficial for the children?"  I think this will be a good topic, because I think that it will be very argumentative.  Coming from a divorced family, maybe that makes me uniquely qualified to write about this topic.  Not only are my parents divorced, but my step-parents as well before they got remarried to my mom and dad respectively.  That will allow me to have at least four personal interviews on their view of divorce, before and after.

Thesis: My parents’ divorce has been one of the best things that has happened to me.  Although divorce can generally have negative effects on families, remarriage can be one of the best resources to better a child’s life educationally, physically, and emotionally, with the influence of a father figure.

  

I think divorce is a very controversial topic, but I agree with your standpoint. If things will always be tense and never work out, why would they stay? It's only going to hurt everyone more. You'll have a lot to say (:

You will definitely not be void of articles!  I would mostly want to be sure that you do not write a cliche paper since there has been so much discussion on divorce in the past years, since it has become  even more prevalent in the past few decades.

That is a great idea!  Personal interviews will really help establish your ethos.  And it sounds like it is something you are clearly passionate about or at least close to.  And I think the effect on the children and adults are both interesting sub-categories.

I like the idea of having a lot of personal interviews. Make sure you ad some facts and statistics in there as well to gain some logical pespective

I would suggest relating your personal experiences to the topic you have chosen and showing the correlation between the research you find and what you have personally experienced.

Essay Review

Essay Review

            In writing this essay some of my strategies were the following.  First was I skimmed the speech, read it, then listened to it.  By doing this enabled me to become very familiar with the speech.  Which also allowed me to not waste time looking back at the speech over and over again.  Second I wrote for a very long period of time.  I like doing this because I keep my train of thought and am able to write much more productively.  Third emailing, my rhetorical analysis to Sister Steadman helped me know the things I needed to change.  One thing I wish I would have done was to use the writing center before having Sister Steadman look at it.  Because the essay was tailored to somebody else’s words and ideas made for a particularly easy topic to write about.