Learning Outcome #3

Learning Outcome #3: Reflective Essay Research Paper Originally Submitted for COM207 Fall Session 2010 Co-Written with Katherine Meinel

Learning Outcome #3

The artifact submitted for Learning Outcome #3 was originally submitted for COM207: Intercultural Communication that I took in Fall of 2010. This is one of my first research papers that I did in college. The paper was co-written with Katherine Meinel. The ability to conduct systematic inquiry essentially means that one is able to closely research a topic in order to conclude meaning. I think this research paper accurately portrays this. For this research paper on midwifery, Katherine and I both looked at previous scholarly research on midwifery and the history of midwifery and we also conducted our own research. We conducted two face-to-face interviews with Coral, a doula at Well-Rounded Maternity Center in Menomonee Falls and also Jeni, a woman who has experienced two homebirths. I interviewed Coral and Katherine interviewed Jeni. We effectively incorporated in-depth descriptions of the setting of the maternity center, as well as direct quotes from our interviews. These interviews really contributed greatly to our paper. Both interviews gave us inside perspectives and insight on midwifery/doulas, as well as someone who experienced a couple homebirths. However, there are a couple things I would do differently for this paper if I were given the chance to re-write it. I noticed that our literature review is rather short and we only incorporated 3 scholarly sources and 1 non-scholarly source. Knowing what I know now about writing effective research papers, I think we should have definitely incorporated more scholarly sources to reference. Also, including a copy of the interview questions that we asked would have been a good idea to make the paper a little stronger.

Learning Outcome #3

A large part about writing a research paper is being organized. Its important to have patience to sit down and sift through all of the previous research available, and also to have the skills to organize whats most important to incorporate in to the paper. These types of organizational skills are definitely going to be significant in my future Communication career. More importantly, being able to write an effective document is very important for my future. Whether it be an actual essay, press release, memo, or a letter its important to be able to take your thoughts and regurgitate them on to paper so that it makes sense.