To Whom It May Concern:

As a writer I have realized that I struggle with flow and creativity. My work is
perceived as choppy and forced. I believe one factor in the problem was I
had a preconceived thought that I wasnt a good writer. Therefore, I had
low expectations and didnt enjoy writing. This semester showed me that I
could like writing, if I wrote about things I am interested in. For example, the
research paper was difficult but I had interest in the topic, and therefore
easier for me to write about. One strength that I have is I usually dont add a
lot of fluff to my writing. I say what I needs to be said and thats it.
Sometimes, word minimums are hard to reach because if it. However, I do
understand that elaboration is necessary in helping us develop a thought and
becoming a better writer. During the research paper process, I found my
bibliography to be very difficult. In high school, I wasnt taught about what a
credible or non-credible source was. I was given a topic and then told to write
a 3-page paper about it. There were very few rules involved. I had never
heard about an annotated bibliography before this year. I did see if done
correctly, it could serve as a helpful summary or outline of your research
paper. One thing I greatly appreciated, was the library databases of credible
sources. It was very helpful on finding articles related to my research. I will
definitely take advantage of it again, when I write my next research paper. If
I could go back and change something about my research paper is it would
be more specific. My thesis listed out the causes of the fall of Detroit but
instead I should have focused on one or two reasons and elaborated more.
My topic was to broad and I should have narrowed it down. Secondly, I would
have asked more questions about how to do the annotated bibliography
because I was unclear on how to do it. That was a helpful step in the
research and writing process and I didnt get to use it. After finding credible
sources, I read through them and picked out the key points that were specific
and helpful to my topic. Many of my sources were 5 page or more articles
that had a lot information in them. One thing I think I did well was
highlighting key points in the article. The main thing the research paper
showed me is that as a writer, patients is really important. You can not rush
the process. You do each step at a time and it will bring together a well
written paper. At times I would get frustrated and want to change my topic
because I had trouble finding relating articles. However, with persistence I
found articles. Sometimes you have to tweak your thesis in order to have a
claim that has enough research and evidence to support it.