Alawami 1

Lina Alawami
Frances Voltz
11-13 -2014
ENGLISH 1102
Reflection

The learning and research process has been challenging and fruitful. To begin
with, I faced difficulty in finding a suitable topic for the study. I later realized that an
effective topic should address an issue that has not been addressed before. Alternatively,
a new topic could be a concept addressed in a sense that it has never been discussed. In
the end, through my annotated bibliography, I realized that a shopaholic is a product of
given circumstances. This occurred in spite of the fact that I had thought of a shopaholic
as an irrational person.
In the research process, I uncovered useful information. This is because I both
used journal articles and books. While articles offered real-time information, whereby
conclusions were drawn from observable facts, the books offered theoretical analyses.
Theoretical analyses are subjective information that rely on the insight and perception of
the particular authors. In this view, I gained a double-edged form of knowledge that
considered philosophical reasoning and empirical pieces of evidence.
The writing process was a challenging concept but I found effective help from the
proposal. The proposal provided a foundational plan for articulating the essay. In
addition, the next step of bibliography helped me gather various perspectives of
addressing the issue. I realized the essence of a plan in developing an essay. This is

Alawami 2

because a plan helped me achieve a particular perspective of assessing a rather broad

issue. In addition, it helped me gather the specific information for supporting the premise.
I faced difficulty in gluing the different parts of the essay to support a compact premise.
All the same, the writers workshop was helpful in planning and writing a
coherent essay. To begin with, we could make drafts that each group member would
assess and point out the stylistic and grammar flaws. In addition, we would read aloud
our essays to each other. This would provide different angles of reading ones essay.
Besides, it helped me position myself in the context of an audience who would later read
my essay.
The research process is fulfilling when it produces concrete results. I realize that I
had to draw conclusions from empirical evidence. Furthermore, I appreciated the concept
of subjectivity in explaining a complex issue in the society. In addition, I appreciated the
essence of passiveness in gaining multiple forms of knowledge. In the end, a person has
to listen to multiple perspectives in order to gain intelligence about the world.