How I Fell In Love With Post-It Notes and Researcing One in Six Million (Response)

While reading Researching and How I Fell in Love with Post-It Notes by Susana Rodriguez, I found her research strategies somewhat relatable. Rodriguez breaks these research strategies down into tree steps: “Load the Research Guns,” “Fire without Aiming,” and “Walk away from Everything.” Her first step is "loading the guns " she makes sure she has all her supplies such as, pens, highlighters, post-it -notes and a comfortable spot to start her work. The second step includes “fire without aiming” by this she means, reads critically and slowly so it can understood more in depth exactly what is being said in the reading. The last step she does before the actual writing process is "walk away". She “walks away” by running errands or by taking a day or two break to the city.

However, while I follow the same steps as Rodriguez for preparing to write a research paper I do them in a somewhat different order with an additional forth step. My first step includes getting all of my research together; this includes books, scholarly journals, etc. My second step involves grabbing all of my supplies such as highlighters, a notebook, paper, pens, etc. My third step includes finding a quiet place to actively read and take notes on subjects I may want to include in my paper. My fourth and final step is almost the same as Rodriguez's third step, it includes taking a break. On the other hand, instead of running errands or getting out of town I get on Facebook, talk with friends, and eat junk food. Whatever the process to writing a research paper may be, is it is always a challenge.  

The second passage I read, Researching One in Six Million, by Hilary Selznick was an emotional piece. Selznick reminded me that research doesn't have to be boring. When one is able to choose the research topic, the research paper may end up being one of the greatest papers one has ever written. This is mainly because when one is passionate about a topic they want to display it in the best way possible to their audience. I also admired Selznick's determination to follow through with her research despite her mother’s discouragement. Selznick's, story was more than inspiring and she encouraged me to find out the mysteries of my own family history.