Research Paper

Submitted By rosesavvy
Words: 2972
Pages: 12

Savannah Mejia
Professor: Nancy Miller
English 101
2-20-15
Reflection Essay
The relationship between the mind and writing always poses complications. This is true because an idea is endless, but once you let the idea escape from your mind out to the world it becomes part of you. You have then let the idea become something you commit yourself to. This way of thinking really reflects on the type of writing process I endure. While writing I really focus on how I want to identify myself, what questions I wish to discover, and how this idea might change me.
To begin my paper I use an outline. On this outline at the top of the page I write my main topic that I wish to write about. After I have created the topic, I then write a list of ideas that relate to what I want to talk about. Out of the ten ideas I create I choose three or four that are different, but also have a clear path to intersect. Once I have those ideas formed, I lay them out on the messy outline form. These will be my main topics for each paragraph I do. Below those, I start listing examples and pulling readings I could use to back up my samples. After creating a long messy list I then consider the counterarguments against the topic I am using. This I feel makes a writer creditable, they are able to see more viewpoints than their own. After completing the counterarguments my outline is then ready to use. I have my topic (thesis), paragraph points, examples for the paragraph points and then finally the counterarguments that will be used. This process is what gets me started on the actual writing assignment. Granted this procedure takes the majority of the time, but it makes executing the paper far easier. It allows for a solid plan to take place.
My process to even reach my thesis was a large event that took place. I thought at first I had a strong thesis statement, but when I continued to write my paper I realized I was not reaching a focused idea. It was disordered, all over the place, and exhausting to read through. Finally after weeks of trying to make my initial idea work, I gave up and found a better thesis to delve into. The original thesis was focusing on discrimination such as racism, but that is a broad topic to try to cover in six pages. After I reached the thesis of ethics vs. society and using the racism aspect as the main example, I noticed it was more specific and centralized to a certain degree. The main point during this paper was to demonstrate how society has a large impact on people’s behavior and what they believe. I was curious to find evidence to support my theory. I had the mindset that if I found evidence on what I believed, I then wanted to persuade people to see my viewpoint as correct. For example, if society shapes our ethics and ultimately in a sense forces us to abandon our principles then individuals need to find strength to stand up for what they believe in, because the majority of society’s beliefs may not be in the best interest for everyone.
After much research, I found two arguments that could be possible conclusions on the idea of society and how it affects ethics. One, that society does have social pressures that mostly force individuals to feel compelled to adapt too. The second argument is that society is used as a check for power and privilege but the ultimate decision comes from the individual and not society. Out of these two options, I felt that society mostly persuades people to alter their ethics because the pressure of going against a large belief is too demanding for one individual or a small group of individuals. Basically by using the outline I was able to find two arguments contradicting each other. I had an argument I sided with completely and the other I could use as a counterexample, this find made me appreciate the outline even more.
The last paper I had written left my self-esteem a bit dim, but after this research paper I feel proud in the fact I continued to try hard. There were several times I felt the