Project Two: Reflection

Unlike typical high school research papers, this genre research paper was much more entertaining to not only read, but write as well. By reading Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace, it became much easier to understand how to make a research paper sound more “personal,” but still be very informative. My first topic was the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, and specifically focusing on Shands Children’s Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. After writing the first draft I decided I would be able to write a much better paper if I wrote about FSU’s Dance Marathon. By doing this I was able to incorporate not only Children’s Miracle Network, but also the experience I had while being able to listen to the families who benefit from the Children’s Miracle Network and Dance Marathon. I assumed it was going to be difficult to reach the 3,000 word count because of the concern some of the other students in class had. However, one thing I noticed about this paper was I had difficulty staying at the 3,000 word count. I always had a tendency to go over 3,000 words every time I would revise. It became difficult for me to take out parts of my paper because I wasn’t sure what would be beneficial. After much revision I finally finished with 2957 words which is still a very lengthy paper.