Throughout my research process, I learned a lot about the Equal Rights Amendment on the national level and on the state level in Colorado. I first explored the history of the Equal Rights Amendment, learning what movements sparked the national campaign. I studied the origins of the feminist movement including literature written by Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, the formation of groups like the National Women's Political Caucus and the National Organization for women. This movement was also emerging in the context of the Civil Rights movement and the anti-Vietnam War movement. Throughout this period of time, landmark supreme court cases, such as Roe v. Wade, were decided over women's rights. Although the Equal Rights Amendment was ratified by both houses of Congress, it ultimately failed to be ratified by three fourths of the states.

The results of my research revealed which factors made legislators more likely to support or oppose ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Learning about how political party, gender, religious affiliation, previous political attitudes, and more impacts how a legislator votes on the Equal Rights Amendment is crucial for predicting why the Equal Rights Amendment failed to gain support in the 1970s, especially now that many prominent political figures have called for a renewed Equal Rights Amendment.

I hope to apply this new knowledge in the future given that many legal institutions in the United States are attempting to limit women's rights, and many activists are currently advocating for an Equal Rights Amendment. I would like to learn more about the Equal Rights Amendment in other states in the 1970s and in the present. I would also like to learn more about how the passage of an Equal Rights Amendment would impact existing legal institutions for women.

One of the biggest skills I will be able to take away from this process is writing an academic research paper. The most difficult, yet beneficial, aspect of this paper was writing the literature review. First of all, I learned that one of the first steps in the research process is studying the research that has already been conducted in a similar field. This allowed me to explore what questions had already been answered and potential methodology for my own research. After reviewing many research papers, I was able to narrow it down to the four most relevant papers to learn about current studies and methodologies. I am confident that in future research that I will hopefully conduct in college, I will be able to repeat the literature review process and conduct successful academic research.

In addition to what I learned about writing an academic research paper, I also created a comprehensive presentation of my research process for the entire year. Creating this presentation, giving it for my peers, and refining it into a final product taught me a lot about presentation skills that I will bring to every future presentation. Taking feedback on organization, speaking style, and content was one of the most important steps in creating my final project. It was also helpful to collaborate with my peers in improving their projects, which helped me realize some of the shortcomings in mine.

Throughout this process, I was able to discover what I am passionate about and where my strengths and areas of growth lie in the research process. Learning about the Equal Rights Amendment has helped me discover that I am passionate about studying women's rights, especially as they pertain to legal institutions. With that, I hope to study Political Science and Women and Gender Studies when I attend college. Additionally, I hope to pursue law school after obtaining an undergraduate degree. As a researcher, I learned that I was effectively able to study the context, history, and existing literature on the question I wanted to research, but developing my methodology was a much more involved process that took trial and error as I went through the process of primary source analysis. In terms of the presentation, I learned that one of the most difficult aspects of research was tailoring my methodology and statistical analysis to audiences that may not be familiar with the discipline.