Research Methods & Data Analysis

In our research class, the main goal is to prepare all of us in strengthening our ability to write a clear and coherent analysis of articles.  In this assignment specifically, we were to conduct research journals. The goal of creating a journal is to record down your research progress to see what strategies are working for you. It will also be helpful when creating your research papers as it will show the notes you take.  In our journal we needed to show that we completed two journal entries for the marking period, each a paragraph long using quotes with our analysis. I decided to write my journal entries about climate change and Mexico Independence Day.  Both articles had a lot of good information that allowed for interesting facts and details to be highlighted. One thing that we had to practice when writing this journal was our ability to properly quote information and provide a good analysis that does not repeat the quote. I believe that I was able to complete that and did very well in writing my journal. One of the things that I struggled in was making sure that I was providing accurate information of the article.

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x_FTiwPsMmuybwCGFytnIzqokGjjvNNmG-kctnNk8O4/edit?usp=sharing 

As part of our research and data analysis class, we were tasked with developing our own personal thesis paper. The personal thesis paper consisted of college level writing, implementing certain criteria. The purpose of this assignment was to help us develop our way of  writing when it came time to write our literature review for capstones. We had to individually select our own thesis topic that we knew we were passionate or greatly interested in. The build up consisted of a lot of research and background information that was needed to go with the topic. I chose to write my paper on a classic football rivalry in the Spanish league, FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid. The reason why I chose this topic was because I believed that I was passionate enough to put all my time in writing this eight page paper. It was something that I knew about through my own knowledge and showed a lot of interest towards. One of the difficulties that came with this assignment was the amount of research needed to put into the paper. A lot of information that needed to be collected focused on how the rivalry came to be, so it meant that I needed to find historical details that talk about how it was created. 

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yY705t_FemWzeq1MueCF3jeF87pp_GceCgaVQDlzaAc/edit?usp=sharing 

As part of our capstone project, we are to develop a literature review as part of our final project. The literature review is basically the project in writing. It explains the why´s, hows, and data collected to propose the solution we have developed for a problem we are trying to solve. In our literature review, we have different sections discussing the process of how our product came to be with research. In the final literature review, the sections that were talked about was the topic/problem we want to discuss and research we have conducted to justify the need for a solution. In our group of three, we would work together to complete the review and make sure we are thoroughly reviewing our work to ensure a well written review. The importance of this assignment is to really see how well we are able to conduct avid research and do college level writing. One of the difficult parts that we faced was really understanding the formatting of the writing because it was new to us. Another thing was that we ofte found ourselves with finding valid research articles that can be used in the review. Overall, it was a great experience but this is only the first part of the entire literature review. 

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FvEMlb3j9Ah0WI3OzuO4oi_O1BgMP__HqVSd5MDoQK0/edit?usp=sharing 

Each marking period, we are tasked to take a writing assessment. Through the writing assessment we have to showcase our ability to understand the context of an article, and be able to analyze it in order to answer the question being asked. Each writing assessment that we get has a certain time limit and access to sources. We are only allowed to use information given, The main point of discussion revolved around mental health. We had to compare the articles or talk about how attitudes towards mental health changed in the past 30 years. There were three articles, all from different periods of time. Each article discusses different aspects of mental health, that showcased its growth on society from years ago to current day. When discussing our points we need to make sure that we are referring back to the articles by including quotes and a coherent analysis connecting to the question being asked. That was very difficult as I was unsure on what points I was able to make given the information I had. But eventually I got through it. 

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12zkVjjo6Kd0nxX7FTMb7MEtpfbBUHKD7NMTabOmkgbk/edit?usp=sharing