Weekly Journal Entry

Diagnostic Essay

This week I have learnt that diagnostic essay does not give time for editing, feedback, revision or brainstorming. This technique is useful in my research as I have learnt that the knowledge I have been learning in my course work will be useful during my research. It has prompted me to research more at this time to have a wide knowledge on my research question. During this week, I have made progress in going through the weaknesses I had while writing my diagnostic paper. The strengths exceeded the weakness and these two will help me in delivering a better research. Every single aspect that I learnt through my writings will be useful in my final presentation.

I have had some struggles especially in understanding my instructor’s prompts. At first I did not know what to include in my paper but after some few researches I was able to deliver. This changed my attitude positively as at first the work was overwhelmingly. However, I changed the attitude after learning that the internet holds the solution of my struggles.

Proposal

While working on my proposal, I learnt about the format of writing my proposal. While working on it I realized the importance of having knowledge of the research issues that are related to the research problem. The ethical consideration part will be useful in my final research due to the confidentiality aspect of the study. This week I have made great progress with my research questions where I have gathered knowledge on my research problem. I have checked on my time scale to be able to monitor the progress of my study and manage it effectively.

However, in the course of the week I have had different struggles especially with the methodology to use. Due to the limited time, choosing on the best method is challenging. The topic is wide and cannot be wholly explored. However, secondary information- analysis of secondary materials will be used in the study. This week was a hectic week and I was giving up on my project but before the end of the week I made progress that has lightened the attitude.

Definition Essay

While working on my definition essay, I had an elaborated meaning of my research problem. Clear and basic information of the key terms in a research paper is essential. This has formed a clear picture of what I will research on during my project. I have learnt that there are different ways I can define my terms; with their function, structure or analysis. I have progressed well during the week as I have developed more interest in the subject and I have familiarized myself with the subject.

Nevertheless, even though this has been a learning week, I have had few struggles. My topic is not a one lettered topic. This therefore required researching of different meaning of all the words. In addition, different definitions of the topic were required. This has given me a positive attitude through the week as I have understood the topic in details.

Bibliography

While working on my annotated bibliography this week, I have learnt ways of summarizing scholarly articles. Each article has its own way of representing information. As I was comparing the works of different authors, I realized that there is a lot of information from different authors that is widely different. This will impact my final project positively as I will not rely on just a few articles but will research for wider information sources. The scholarly articles I have worked on this week will be sources of information in the project.

The struggle that I passed through this week included selection of scholarly articles. The internet has several information sources but not all that are scholarly. However, this did not change my attitude as the information that was obtained will be useful in my final research paper. It will act like a checklist to use in my background, literature review and other areas of the paper.

Synthesis Paper

            During this week while working on my synthesis essay, I have learnt ways that I can combine more summaries in one paper. This is by identifying the traits or themes in the different texts and organizing the final material according to the themes or traits. This learnt technique will be useful in my final project as I will use different scholarly articles, synthesis them and present the information in the final project. This week I made progress in identifying ways of combining different texts or summaries to one copy that is flowing due to its organization

The struggles that I passed through this week included identifying the specific articles to use in my synthesis. However, this did not limit my progress with the paper and it did not change my attitude negatively. In turn, it has made me to be enthusiastic as I expect my final research paper. Am eagerly waiting for the project as the information learnt throughout the course I have presented it in each essay.