The process in my mind as I research...

My research has not progressed very far besides emailing myself a few articles this morning. My topic question still needs some work before my research will get interesting. I have considered talking about how the most traveled to places are effected environmentally and economically, but then I realized after talking with my classmates that it seems like an attack on tourists, which I have no desire of doing. All the research I did before class today was on the environmental effects in popular tourist attractions, and everything I read was on negative effects in these places. I decided this was not something I would love writing about for 8 pages.  I then talked with my teacher, and she suggested some ideas, such as narrowing it down to one specific place or how tourism effects culture. I have really considered researching Brazil, since it has recently held the World Cup and soon the 2016 Summer Olympics. I researched how Brazil is being effected so much environmentally as well as economically. Most of my research this morning has been on Brazil, and I found very intriguing view points on EPSCO. The tools on the library website are fantastic and I am not worried about the research part. Researching is very interesting, and I don't mind doing it at all. I have learned and gained exposure to many things in just 40 minutes of class. My only worry is how I will develop a question to answer in this research paper. On a good note, this is my chance to improve my decision-making skills, and find more things to be interested in. 

One thing I need to improve in my research is finding great specific key words to research with. I imagine this will be easier once I am sure of my research question. I also need to consider who my audience is, or even better, who I want to be my audience. In this case, my best audience for this type of topic would be anyone who travels, or anyone who attended the World Cup and anyone who will be attending the Olympics in 2016. 

My next research paper needs to be much more thought out in terms of a question to answer throughout the essay. I didn't do well at thinking about what I was really interested in and how I could make it a good issues paper. This is a learning experience, and I am glad it is happening now.