My first thought for this research paper was how I could incorporate something I wanted to know more about, not necessarily a topic I was well educated in. I decided to write about Muslim women and their role in society, their homes and the history behind the oppression of these women. Or if they even see themselves as oppressed. With no strong questions to thoroughly guide my research, I began to search for articles to guide my thoughts. With limited background knowledge on Muslim culture and the Islam faith, I figured starting anywhere with my research would be helpful. I did learn quite a bit but all my findings didn't seem to provoke any more questions to focus my broad topic. Continuing my research, but feeling a bit overwhelmed with such an enormous topic, I went to work hoping my co-workers could offer some guidance as many of them have written many research papers previously. I was right. They gave me great advice of how to research more efficiently and in a conversation with one of my co-workers, I learned of a neighbor of his who was Muslim. He had grown up near this Muslim family his entire life and remembers very clearly the devastating attacks on September 11th. The next day after America was still in shock at what had exactly happened the previous day, my co-workers Mom woke him up for school and said that she and his Dad needed to talk to him before he left for the day. His parents sat him down and tried to explain what had happened in New York. My co-worker was only 9 at the time and said he had a hard time understanding the effects of the tragedy. His parents explained to him that kids at school would try to bully his Muslim friend, Amina and that they would say terrible things about her family. They reminded him that he needed to always be kind, but especially to watch out for Amina. Throughout both of their lives my co-worker and Amina have remained friends and have discussed in detail, how hard it has been and still is to be a Muslim in America. This intrigued me and also made my topic become less daunting. I've decided to write about Muslims in America, specifically through a Muslim women's eyes. As I returned to my research, this time with very specific questions, I found a lot of great sources and evidence to support my claim that Muslim-Americans have been mistreated due to the impact of 9/11. Much has been written on the subject, with many first-hand accounts of Muslim women, explaining the difficulties they've grown up with living in America and still being faithful to their culture and their faith. My audience will be American citizens, as we are the ones who need to be aware of this stereotyping and mistreating of Muslims within America. I hope display this problem in America through the perspective of Muslim women and raise awareness of the issue. My biggest concern in writing would be finding enough information and strong evidence to carry my thesis throughout the entire paper.