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Laura Beth Jones

UWRT 1102 - 008
DAllesio
April 10, 2016
Reflection

Reflection
Since the beginning of the semester, the research project was definitely a top priority. I
was very skeptical when we were put in a group, especially with people I knew nothing about.
Once we started to getting to know each other and starting to discuss what project we wanted to
do, we all agreed on the topic of disability studies. Personally, I was satisfied because I didnt
know much about the disabled and felt that it was a good idea to become more familiar. We did
have trouble finding what specific topics we wanted to research. I felt that everyone had an issue
with topics, including myself ,because none of us wanted our topics to be too broad or too
narrow. At first, we thought about splitting the topics up between mental and physical, but the
only problem with that is that no disability is exactly the same and it would be very hard in
incorporating our research with each others research into a project. We went back and forth
second guessing our project but in the end, it worked out really well.
We decided to make our project about the key factors that someone with disabilities will
or has experienced; those factors include: stereotypes, assistance, depression, acceptance, and
positive and/or negative impacts that they have created in society. As a group, we felt that those
topics covered majority of the disabled community but not all. Once we decided who was
getting what topics, I was given the topics of depression and acceptance.
Before starting my research paper, I created an outline to figure out the flow of my paper
and what I needed to research. Using that as a guide really helped me when it came to writing
the proposal. I started to get an idea of where I wanted to go with this project and how I could

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put my own twist on certain areas. Unfortunately, I had difficulty with the Screencast. I have
always had trouble finding sources that would fit the topics I was researching. I was still trying
to figure out what exactly I wanted to do in my paper and what I wanted to focus on, so finding
sources was a little difficult. I knew what resources I needed to use but if you would ask me why
I was using them, I probably couldnt tell you. I have a bad habit of using a source for just one
thing when I couldve used it for so much more information. Most of that comes from lack of
organization of research; I would choose good resources but would pull useless information or I
would pull useful information but not provide any good evidence to back it up. For whatever
reason, I have always had issues with that and would tend to drift away from the prompt. The
more research assignments I do, I feel that I am getting better. Overall, I found some good
research and found evidence to back everything up; I am satisfied with the research for this
project.
During researching, I was very surprised on the amount of information that I found on the
general topic of disabilities, but when you narrowed the topics down, the amount of information
became more scarce. Because of the limited information that I had found when I narrowed my
topic down, I decided to focus on the topics of depression and civil rights. Both topics had more
usable information that could relate to both physical and mental disabilities than other topics
including struggles of finding employment, health care, etc. Because of the amount of research,
I originally thought that all types of disabilities, mental and physical, shared the same struggles.
I was wrong. The main thing that I have learned while doing research was that every person
deals with their disabilities in different ways, no persons are the same.
While writing this paper, I learned a lot about myself; especially learned about my
writing style. I found myself writing multiple drafts. I would start writing, then go back and

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read everything, and second guess myself. I found myself restarting the introduction three or
four times. If it wasnt for the outline that I had wrote during my research, the organization of
my paper would be all over the place.
When I was in high school, I had to do a senior research paper that was strictly research.
This inquiry project became a slight difficulty for me because I did not know how to incorporate
my opinion into the paper without feeling that it was not enough to support my research. I do
think of myself improving in more and more areas of writing every time I write. Now that I have
finished this inquiry, I am glad that I have been exposed to both types of research papers.
Practice makes perfect. As I learn and maintain the fundamentals of writing, I feel that I can
write good research papers.
Ever since the start of this paper, I have used all of the Student Learning Outcomes;
including critical thinking, critical reading, rhetorical knowledge, knowledge of convention, and
definitely the process of composition. Using critical reading and critical thinking, I have learned
how to analyze a piece of research and how to pick out useful information. During the process
of writing my outline, I used rhetorical knowledge. While writing the outline for the paper, I
used rhetorical knowledge to determine who was my audience and the purpose behind the entire
inquiry project. Then after developing my outline, I used the process of composition to write the
paper itself by organizing the paper and determining the overall flow. Lastly, after finishing the
project, I used knowledge of conventions to proofread my paper to correct any grammar
mistakes, punctuations, etc. to enhance the readability of the paper.
Overall, I enjoyed writing this inquiry paper and learning about the disabled community.
This project opened my eyes to so many things that are happening in society, positive and
negative. This project taught me a lot about my writing style, the disabled community, and

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especially how to work in a group. Now that I have finished the main project, I have no regrets
with my work.