Gonzalez1

Delilah Gonzalez

Dr. Powers

English 1302

24 September 2023

Reflection Essay 1

Throughout my experiences of doing my academic research for the first time, I would say not

only did I learn about different information that I didn't know before, but I also learned how to

write an academic research assignment. At the beginning of writing my first academic research, I

not only didn't know what MLA citations looked like, but I also didn't know how to write my

citations in MLA style. It took time for me to get the information in MLA style by looking at

multiple examples and watching examples of how to cite in MLA style. Since it was my first

time doing academic research, not only was I unfamiliar with websites to find research articles,

but I also didn't know how to research and find what I needed, let alone know if the article was

peer-viewed. When we were already in the 2nd or 3rd draft, that's around the time when I was

already used to finding research articles that I needed, already knew more about MLA citations,

knew if the article was a peer viewed or not, and basically, getting used to using the websites for

searching articles.

What helped create my annotated bibliography was that while reading a specific essay regarding

my topic, I would find keywords that could connect to my topic and end up being the next to

write about or find another research article about that specific keyword. For example, I'll be

reading about a poor country having trouble growing food, which, of course, climate change

would be the problem, so climate change would be a keyword and, therefore, would be my

subsequent research about that topic and would help find new issues that are related to climate
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change. Another way that helped me annotate a bibliography was through writing, of course. The

research articles I have found helped me create my annotated bibliography because they helped

me put their ideas and information in my annotated bibliography writing.

I believe an annotated bibliography will help me approach research and writing tasks in the

future because it helps me learn various new things and also helps me get to know different

perspectives regarding my topic. For example, I thought that Alaskan natives were on board for

the Willow project; however, after I was done reading a research article, I realized that I was

wrong and the truth was that Alaskan natives did not have rights and the federal agencies did not

take their time to ask all Alaskan natives about the decision of making the Willow project to

happen or not, which wasn't good because some Alaskan natives supported and some didn't.

Another example is that I learned while doing my research that I didn't know in the beginning

about wetlands. I understood why the wetlands are so important on this Earth: they sustain

biodiversity, regulate climate water resources and many more.

Receiving feedback from my instructor was a big help during my writing experiences of writing

my annotated bibliography. My instructor helped me get the information in the right place in

MLA style for my citations and made me realize that some of my research articles needed to be

peer-reviewed. My instructor leaving me feedback was not only like a guide but also helped me

become a better writer for writing an annotated bibliography.

After draft 1, I received feedback from my instructor telling me that my citations were not in

MLA style. I fixed my citations by ensuring they were all in MLA style. After I submitted draft

2, I received feedback from my instructor notifying me that some of my articles were not

peer-reviewed, so I ended up trying to find out which were peer-reviewed articles and which

weren't so I could get rid of the ones that weren't peer-reviewed.

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I would say that my classmates also helped me improve my annotated bibliography when I

received feedback from them. One example of feedback I received from a classmate was to make

sure to add indentations at the beginning of my paragraphs, get rid of "annotated bibliography"

next to my title, and make sure that all my work cited are indented. Another example of feedback

that I received from a classmate was to make sure that I don't overuse "then" too often and also

to ensure that paragraph 3's last sentence is clearer.

The most challenging aspect of writing my annotated bibliography was not being specific.

Whenever I try to search for something specific that I'm trying to look for my annotated

bibliography topic, it usually doesn't give me something that I want right away, so I learned that

looking up research articles that you need for your topic takes time. For example, I remember I

typed, "Why do Alaskan natives support the Willow project?" no research article appeared

because I realized it was too specific, so instead, I typed Alaskan natives.

My least challenging aspect while writing my annotated bibliography was writing the summary

of a research article because they all interest me. After all, it all connects to my topic for my

annotated bibliography. For example, I found a research article about polar bears decreasing over

the years. I am interested in animals and related to the topic for my annotated bibliography.