Research projects were never really my thing. I don't enjoy having to research a topic so deeply in depth that I can recite every piece of information about that topic upon request. I don't appreciate having a bibliography taking up three pages front and back of citations for a topic I'm not too fond of. I had to do this for my first research paper in seventh or eighth grade, which was the first research paper I had to write. Unfortunately I cannot recall everything I wrote about all those years ago, in fact, I had to think quite a bit about what exactly I had written. After some thought, I realized it was about a certain theme of the book Inkheart by Cornelia Funke and analyze it, similarly to what I had to do last year in English 11. I must say, it was not a fun experience, and it was quite amateur to what students in high school and especially in college have to write. But it was my first research paper, and it's a skill that I know I will have to build upon for next year in college.
For my research project for middle school, I had to analyze the characteristics of one of the characters within the novel Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I thought at first that the project was going to be extremely easy, since I read and enjoyed the book, but it really wasn't. I chose to analyze the character Basta, for he was my favorite at the time, and thought that his behaviors and habits would be easy to look up. From what I remember, I wrote about how he had a troubled passed, which resulted in his negative behaviors in the book, and his small habits that were made known. I ended up looking up many psychological websites to discover why Basta is the way he is. Because there are so many of those sort of websites on the Internet, I had many, many citations on my bibliography. I wasn't properly taught to take out certain information and that if more than one idea was discussed in one article, I do not need to include every other article that said the same thing. Overall, the project wasn't fun, and it wasn't great for preparing me for high school and college. However, it did give me a taste of what I would have to write as I continue my education.
As for many, my first research project was not as thorough and analytically as what teachers in high school and college professors would find ideal. It was decent for my level at the time, so I do have to give myself some credit for it. When I speak to some of my peers about when they first started writing critically like I had to in middle school, they respond with not having to do such until high school. This surprised me, since I thought everyone was exposed to research writing prior to prepare for grades 9-12. Now that I'm a senior, I have written several pieces that require a moderate level of research which has build upon a foundation I started quite a while ago. I intend to polish this skill for college, and carry it through to my future career.
