Portfolio Reflection: Research Paper 

Samantha Migliore 
 
For my Advanced Placement Language and Composition course in my junior year of high school I 
had to complete a synthesis research paper over the course of five weeks. In order to prepare for this 
assignment, our class first learned what is required within a synthesis paper and then practiced writing one in 
class. The actual project required every student to choose a topic they would like to research, come up with a 
research question relating to that topic and then spend two weeks actually researching. Students then had to 
create an annotated bibliography for at least ten varying sources they used, along with a detailed outline of 
their essay. The final product was a multiple page synthesis essay which essentially answered their original 
research question. The audience of this project was of course Mr. Wise, however anyone who wanted to read 
them was welcome to. Overall, the purpose of this project was to utilize the synthesis skills we learned in class 
and create a convincing research paper. 
 
I completed my work based on the timeline that Mr. Wise created for us. It was planned so that the 
time spent working on all components of the project would be fairly distributed, preventing any last minute 
cramming. By simply following this schedule I was able to stay on track throughout the entire five weeks and 
deliver a convincing paper in the end. The most important skill I used throughout the entirety of this 
assignment was my attention to detail. When completing such a vast project like this one, small details prove 
extremely crucial. Since I was trying to convince my audience that the autism spike America has experienced 
in recent years is due to diagnostic changes, every detail that I included relating to my topic must have been 
extremely thought-out or else my audience would not be convinced of anything. I began researching by 
utilizing the resources that Mr. Wise gave us. He first provided everyone with a reliable article relating to our 
topic as a starting point. I used this initial text as a reference point for the rest of my research. By using sites 
such as Gale and Google Scholar I was able to find other reliable and academic sources. I thoroughly read 
through my findings and annotated any important facts I found. With that being said, the most important 
STAR skill I utilized throughout this project was undeniably my self awareness. In order to ensure that I was 
doing a thorough job of researching and writing I had to constantly check in with myself to guarantee that all 
the work I was producing was detailed and comprehensive. By doing this, I was able to yield an overall 
convincing piece of work which earned myself a proficient grade on this project. I believe that my outline was 
detailed enough so that I had a stable foundation to base my essay off of. By also proofreading my work 
multiple times I was able to catch most of my mistakes, which assisted in earning me a proficient grade.  
 
Overall, this project did improve my writing and researching skills. To improve in any subject, one 
must practice, and that is exactly what I did throughout the entirety of this assignment. Since this project was 
quite lengthy I was able to spend a copious amount of time researching and writing, giving me more expertise 
in both fields. Because of this assignment, I now know how to research any given topic more efficiently. 
Instead of going directly to Google and searching a broad topic, I now know that it is more efficient to go to 
a reliable search engine such as Google Scholar and find all my sources on there. This will not only yield more 
reliable results, but also cut down the amount of time I spend searching for them. In the future, I will be able 
to save time and energy when I am assigned to write other academic essays that require any level of research 
to be conducted.