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"The messiness of research requires us to be flexible, often modifying our approaches along the way." (Wierszewski, pg. 232)

This quote relates to the first draft of my first essay revolving around the corruption behind the meat processing industry. As I began developing the research paper, the format of it was very stagnant and expressing too many issues all at once. The quotations discussed different ideas such as the abuse of the workers, consumers, and animals, but it didn't concentration on one singular issue. This prevented my researcher paper from being persuasive towards the reader, in order to for them to reconsider contributing to the meat industry by purchasing meat. In addition, I didn't analyze the message behind the text and simply rephrased it, rather than relate it to current dilemma this issues brings. As I redrafted my essay, I decided to suggest methods to how society can combat this issue and state how choosing to resolve this issue can save our world. In addition, I decided to organize the format of each paragraph and clearly discuss the issue and solution to end the corruption behind the meat industry.

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"When we are open to selecting and engaging with these multiple published perspectives in our research, we are also forced to consider how they extend or challenge our beliefs and ideas about a topic."

In my essays this semester I have been using a lot of sources  from Google Scholar to prove the points made in my papers. While considering different works from brilliant writers, I myself have come to question the topics I believed in and was writing about. The research first model has proven to be effective when progressing in a linear way when writing a paper. But writing a paper usually requires a full understanding of the sources incorporated to prove a point. When I already have a thesis ready and the sources do not incorporate with the idea that I thought I would be presenting in my essay, it poses a problem with structuring the entire argument.

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In the article Research starts With a Thesis Statement , the author states."One of the primary problems with the research paper is that it teaches students that to do research is to look things up-to use the library or the internet."
This quote relates to my work because during my second essay I used nothing but the internet. This caused me not to have a lot of variety in my writing as I just used basic articles that I found about my topic which might have not had great or interesting information. The reason I cannot say the same about my first essay is because of the fact that we had watched the Food inc. movie. This made writing and researching for my essay a lot more interesting and fun because I had something to relate to. I also feel like I have retained a lot more information from watching the movie than reading articles. This is why I think people need to use different ways of research instead of just looking up things online.Different ways of research can definitely benefit peoples papers for the better

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Research Starts with a Thesis Statement 

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Research Starts with a Thesis Statement 

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"The messiness of research requires us to be flexible, often modifying our approaches along the way."

This quote relates to my errors in my first essay. As I was writing my essay, I ignored the mistakes that I had me. I felt like the essay was understandable enough for anyone who reads. In my introduction, I added a source to the paragraph that I wasn't supposed to which kind of altered the meaning of my thesis statement. My essay was about obesity and how it affected our nation's economy. I generalized a lot to sentences in my essay and didn't explain how my sources relate to my thesis. There was one source that didn't support my thesis statement at all. In my solution paragraphs, I didn't really think through, and ended writing solutions that didn't relate to the problem at hand. I have learned that I really think carefully on what I write and specify more on my ideas so that my reader can understand the meaning of my essay.

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One quote that I pulled from the text was, "Research rarely progresses on an uncluttered path toward a clear solution."
This quote related to both essays I wrote this semester, Going back to my first essay,  I tried to gather information on both sides of the FDA and sanitary vs unsanitary conditions. However, because my thesis was based on evaluating on whether or not our food inspection agencies require a more effective oversight, I had to lean towards finding information on unsanitary conditions. When conducting research, I had to find an argument on how the FDA looks over certain food conditions. Although there were a lot of foodborne diseases and other viruses, my research was on an issue that the FDA had sight on. Going to my second essay, I had a very similar process of researching information. My thesis was based on whether or not technology was the downfall of society today, connected to media consolidation. For this it was not as hard as the first essay, but it was still difficult finding information that related to media consolidation and technology and the downfall of society. Honestly this quote perfectly describes my research process on both my essays, and the solution that I present at the end. That's why the flow of my essay's are confusing at points.

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One quote that stood out to me in “Research starts with a thesis statement” was “When we understand research as a process of discovery rather than a process of proof, we open ourselves up to be changed by our research”(Wierszewski 233). I found that this related to both of my essays. For the first essay on how the FDA does not care about foreign food inspections, I learned that the discovery part was more important than the proof. I was more focused on the process of discovering new information than the proof. For me to write a well developed essay I would need to understand my research. This made my first essay better than the second essay on Apple invading human privacy. On my second essay I focused more on finding proof than reflecting on the information. I had been so focused on proving a point than understanding it.That is why I got a better grade on the FDA for not caring about foreign food inspections than Apple invading humans' privacy.

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“We should conduct research not just to back up our pre- existing assumptions and prove we’re right about something, but also when we feel curious or confused and do not have answers.” (Wierszewski 233)

The following quote relates to my first paper of the semester, which highlighted the correlation between mental illnesses and obesity. Throughout my paper, I questioned why many written works that emphasized the negative effects of mental illnesses would never mention obesity. Including my thesis statement, throughout my essay, I would incorporate questions; Not only for my reader to ponder about but they were questions that I genuinely thought of while writing the essay and conducting research. For example, in one of my paragraphs, I wrote how much research suggests obesity and mental illnesses are increasing at a fast rate in the United States. While reading this information, I thought about if mental illnesses are also on the rise in the United States, then is it possible that there could be a huge correlation between people with mental illnesses and obesity? By ending off this paragraph with a question, I was able to incorporate research that supported both sides of the argument, while emphasizing my perspective and thoughts on the topic. I was able to find different studies and distinct perspectives on the topic, which overall was able to help my essay.

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"Truthfully, research rarely progresses on an uncluttered path toward a clear solution. Instead, research is a recursive process that involves many diversions, bumps, and missteps" (Wierzewski 232)
I relate to this quote greatly. For my first research paper, I needed to make a cohesive argument with concrete evidence that corporations knew that glyphosate causes cancer. This came with many bumps within the process: I had to analyze my sources to make sure they where trustworthy and respectable. I found to have trial and error with this process, which resulted in me swapping my sources several times before I was able to solidify my argument. For example, I remember I had this one source claiming that Monsanto might have knew glyphosate caused cancer in humans based off a 1981 study. However, when looking at that actual study, this was among female rats not humans themselves. In addition, there was little to no credentials associated with the article claiming this. As a result, I needed to go back to the drawing board and research for stronger sources that would better support my point. Evenly, I was able to form a strong argument that was backed up by strong evidence.

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“However, a researcher who begins with an open-ended question motivated by curiosity, whose goal is not to prove anything, but to discover salient ideas…” (Wierszewski 233).

I found this quote to relate to both essays that I had written this semester, but had a synonymous relation to the first essay that I chose to write on the FDA and the USDA. When I cross-referenced my outline and my thesis for this essay, I see that I started with my question “To what extent does the USDA and the FDA take to achieve a common standard of inspections in the food industry to ensure the sanitation of food in America?” As I skimmed through the essay I saw my development of the main idea and more unity to what I was discussing. I also looked at the second essay that I wrote on media consolidation's effects on democracy and saw the antonymous relation it had to the quote. I once again looked at the outline I prepared and saw that there was no open-ended question to my research and my discussion. I started my research with a statement and that statement had very few alterations after the research process was finished. Now looking back, the first essay I wrote was graded higher and had a more coherent structure with analyzed research. I can see the value in using an open-ended question to start and guide the construction of the essay and prompt I am writing to maintain a flow and a more open-minded POV on the topic I choose.

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"This kind of thesis-first approach to research becomes harmful, however when we assume it is the only or the most valuable way to conduct research" (Wierszewski 231).

Most students will only research a topic that they know will fit the requirements of their assignment and that will give them easily accessible research. In my own works this semester, I saw myself tend to do this. In my food Inc paper, I chose a very generalized thesis about the effects of foodborne illnesses that I knew I would find many sources on in a short time frame. It was not a topic that was my first choice, but I knew it would be a good basis for a paper that would give me infinite resources. This same trend seemed to happen with my second paper in which I based my paper on the huge scale company, Amazon. In order to improve my writing in the future in the opinion of the writer, I need to focus less on topics that fit the mold of the assignment I am working on and more on topics I want to research. I agree with this because it would improve my research abilities by choosing less simple and generic topics.

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“In other words, research isn’t just for backing up our hunches. It can, and should, also be used as a method of investigating areas of uncertainty, curiosity, conflict, and multiple perspectives” (Wierszewski, 232).

When writing Essay 1 I had a question regarding why foodborne illnesses were on the rise in the U.S. and used this as my starting point for my research and the topic of my paper. Upon researching I found that it was because of the population’s switch to a healthier lifestyle, which included an increase in the amount of fresh produce that people eat, that ultimately led to this increase. However, this led me to another question of why fresh produce has a higher chance of contamination that leads to these foodborne illnesses that people contract. Starting with a question instead of a thesis statement led me to new ideas that I would not have found had I stuck to a thesis statement I came up with. My research was used to investigate further upon the issue of foodborne illnesses in the U.S. instead of supporting a thesis which allowed me to conduct a genuine inquiry.

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“Students need to be taught not to look for answers, but to look for problems that need solving and for questions that need to be answered” (Witte 2). This relates to both the issues that I wrote about this semester. When doing my research, I found answers to many of the problems that I was writing about. But throughout the essay, I was able to voice my opinions, ideas, and own resolutions on the issues I was writing about. Specifically, in my second essay, I wrote about the new education system and how it differs from the old-fashioned system. The new education system was making children more dependent on technology, whereas the old-fashioned education system promoted hands-on learning which yielded critical thinking and significant progression. I was able to express my own resolutions on how to improve the new education system so that it is less revolved around technology but still promotes creativity and passion. Writing about my own opinions allowed me to successfully voice my opinions instead of just writing about already made resolutions that I can just read and write about.

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"Viewing research as a process of discovery allows us to accept that not every question is answerable and that questions sometimes lead only to more questions." (Wierszewski 233)

I feel this quote has been very useful for me during this semester when trying to construct papers. Starting on a paper has always been hard for me because I didn’t know where to find answers or where to start. Having an open mind going into a paper, makes the paper flow a lot better in my opinion, and less subjective. I’ve had one example with this in my paper about global warming and food production. I went into the paper with the state of mind that we needed to cut meat production, and switch to only growing crops. I then found out that my assumption was wrong, and non-meat production can be just as harmful to the environment (if not worse) as meat production. The problem had not one simple answer, but many different factors, which created more questions and more possible solutions.

-Laurits

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"In a thesis-first model where our only goal is just to prove we were right, there is no possibility of being changed by your research" (Wierszewski, 233)

With regards to  my second essay about the negative impact of Twitter on democracy, Wierszewski's quote strongly relates to how I went about researching and writing the essay. Even when I chose the topic, I let my personal malice towards Twitter guide me in my choice. When I did my research, all of my searches had some negative connotation, which would obviously lead to me reading more negative articles about Twitter. This bias had prevented me from ever looking for any good qualities, an consequently limited my perspective on the topic to the one that I had entering the writing process.

I still stand by it though

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"Another potential harm of the thesis-first model of research is the attendant assumption that the research process is linear."

This quote relates to my work during this semester because for both essays I wrote, more specifically my first, I had to go back several times to my sources because my original idea for the paper had changed once I found out more information about the topic.
During my first essay about GMO's in foods and what testing is done on them to test any health effects. At first I wanted to write about the difference between organic and GMO's but then switched to why GMO's are not as bad for you as you think and finally settled on testing. all this to say that this quote describes my writing prosses this semester since if I had to stick to my first thesis then my first essay would have been a mess to say the least.

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A quote that stood out to me in the text is "when we understand research as a process of discovery rather than a process of proof, we open ourselves up to be changed by our research - to better our lives, our decisions, and the world"(Wierszewski 3). Back in the first essay of this class I read a singular article and chose my topic from that article, about the food pyramid. I had prior knowledge of this subject and formed my thesis off of what I already knew. when conducting my research I was only looking for information that backed up what I already knew and what I already formed my thesis as. I personally think there was more information about the topic that could have helped my thesis but instead of doing research for new ideas I was simply reinforcing the idea I already had. According to the author if I had a more open mind while conducting research I could have found more information that I did not already know which could have the potential to strengthen my argument or be a better source for my thesis.

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Creating thesis statement before researching. 

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Creating thesis statement before researching. 

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"Genuine inquiry- the kind of research that often leads to new ideas and important choices- tends to begin with unsettled problems and questions, rather than with thesis statements and predetermined answers" (Wierszewski 232).

Specifically, in my first essay I wrote about the US having larger portion sizes linked this directly to food production companies wanting to make more money by selling larger quantities. When I went to research I only was looking for information that would support this idea and did not look at if there were any other reasons for the increase in portion sizes. This did not allow for genuine inquiry like Wierszewski discussed in her article. My writing did not include a new idea, instead it was an idea that had already been reused by many others in their research. In order to create more unique writing I need to start researching first based on a general idea and then create a thesis statement that is supported by the evidence instead of the other way around.

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"Research isn't just for backing up our hunches. It can, and should also be used as a method of investigating areas of uncertainty, curiosity, conflict, and multiple perspectives." (Wierszewski 232)

I related this quote to my first paper that I wrote about the effects of centralized farming on the modern population of small farms. When collecting evidence from sources such as the documentary Food Inc. and the USDA, I started with a question that I wanted to further elaborate on, one that was somewhat touched in the documentary. My thesis had been the "question of whether smaller-scale farms are starting to make a comeback in recent years as compared to a century ago, and if their newfound popularity is shifting the gap in profits made between them and corporate operations." (Pallazola 1) While Food Inc. had presented the idea that the number of small-scale farms had been decreasing, I wanted to explore if they had been accurate or if they had just tried to play up dramatics due to the known bias of the documentary. I had researched credible sources but had to look in many different places to make sure the statistics I wanted to reference were accurate and made sense to the point thesis I ultimately needed to tie back to. My entire research paper had been based upon trying to see if there was any inconsistency in information and further elaborate on the information from the sources I had been provided.

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“When we are open to selecting and engaging with these multiple published perspectives in our research, we’re also forced to consider how they extend or challenge our beliefs and ideas about a topic”(Wierszewski 233).

I specifically had this issue when I was looking for sources for the first essay that was assigned to us which was based on the food industry. My topic was on a reading from a biased author that didn’t agree with how meat inspections were being done. The author didn’t have many sources to really support their claims. So when I chose my topic on large meat companies versus smaller ones, it was very difficult to find any actual evidence. I noticed that the sources I did find were making my claims less refutable. I now saw that my argument came from a biased standpoint and to do better on this, in my second essay I did extensive research and found sources that actually went with my argument which was based on education and the flaws of standardized testing. To not make the same mistakes, I made sure that my sources presented the facts of the situation and not just their own opinions on the issue.