As this quarter comes to an end, it is time to look back on my research project and the course as a whole.

Conducting Research

The research process itself was very fun and interesting to me. I had no prior experience of using databases, online libraries, etc. In high school I remember trying to do research for my AP Biology class, and I'd often come to a page and see "Abstract" and "Full," then I'd immediately leave because those words scared me. Those scientific scholarly articles seemed way too advanced for me. During my research about Smokey Bear, as I read through scholarly articles that memory came back to me and I realized how far I've come from my high school "research projects." I had a moment of excitement that I could finally understand the "Abstract" and the "Full," and I was doing much more than just understanding them -- I was analyzing them and creating an argument of my own.

This epiphany felt like a moment in which I realized I am a college student, which was a pretty cool thing to experience but also strange to feel that while in my home instead of my dorm. While being fully online made it difficult for in-class discussions, it did not hinder my ability to conduct research for my project. I am glad to have finally learned how to use the UCI Libraries website and search features, and also how to locate scholarly, peer-reviewed sources. This will definitely be useful to me in my future coursework and I'm glad I discovered a few things about myself along the way.