The Longest Paper 1

The Longest Paper

Melissa Vaughn

University of Houston Clear Lake

WRIT 3304

Professor Jacobs
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I started my school year like any other glad to be with my peers. I was still new to the

district with only being in Galena Park for two years prior. I went into my English classroom

excited to start reading poetry and interesting stories that they had always assigned the class. I

had heard from my current senior friends that I was going to have to write a 15-page paper. I

knew that we had to also write in English class, but I wasn’t ready for such a huge obstacle my

junior year. Instead I got a major project introduced to me the second week of school. Writing

was going to be the death of me going into my junior year because everyone started talking about

the Junior Humanities project. Writing has been one of the hardest things for me ever since I was

in middle school. I was used to writing only for the TAKS test and that was formatted differently

from a 15-page research paper. my classes were giving me so much information but all that kept

coming to my mind was the project.

It was finally that day to talk about our huge writing project of the year. I was dreading

going to class because I didn’t even want to think about writing a 15-page paper. I sat at my desk

and my teacher said to us “What are some issues that are happening around the world that you

would want to write about?” As soon as he said that my mind went into a frenzy, I had over a

million thoughts about what I would write. I don’t think I could even write a five-page paper

about one given topic let alone 15 pages. Still sitting at my desk, I could hear my peers

mumbling different topics. I heard them say obesity, poverty, and genocide. I had no idea where

to even begin. I was given two-weeks to figure out what would be my topic for the JHP. The bell

had rung which meant that my English class was over, and I now needed to head to my next

class. I ran to the band hall as that was my next class and I tried to find my best friend. She was a

senior and had already went through the JHP, so I asked her to give me some examples on what

to expect. She told me that she did her on homeless children and that she had to create an
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advocacy plan. I asked to see her final product but that was the worst thing I could have done. I

instantly became overwhelmed with all the words flowing off her paper. I wanted to pick a topic

that was a world issue but also one that might affect someone in my community. Two weeks had

gone by and I finally knew what my 15-page paper was going to be about, I choose my topic

which was the suicide awareness in rearguards to teenagers. I decided to pick this topic because I

knew that I was going to be able to write from my heart which was also going to help my paper.

Now that I had figured out my topic we were all going to have deadlines from now until

the end of the semester. I kept going back to my packet that had all my requirements that I had to

complete before I even started to write. One of the first things that was on the list was to get my

research done before getting any of my thoughts on paper. I had five different books that I

wanted to look over, I also had to look at academic articles and collect a total of over 20 quotes

to go into my paper. I would go into the classroom with so many books and articles. I couldn’t

see how it was going to come all together at the end but little by little I had so much information

that I could manipulate. My teacher allowed me to get a strong thesis produced and I was able to

work off one sentence once I got started. When it was time to start the writing process my

teacher gave us small areas to work on and would give us a week to get it done. He gave me one

week to get my introduction written. I was able to work on one area, but I could go back and

chance my introduction if I found that my final product was going another way then what I

intended. I also thought that I wouldn’t have any place to put any of the quote in my paper, but I

used all 20 quotes and I had to go back to find more throughout the process. I liked the structure

of the small assignments that I had different deadlines for because it helped me to finish all 15

pages without being extremely overwhelmed.

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I had the hardest time starting my paper even when I had all my research completed. All

I had to do now was get my words on paper, I did the pre-writing and planning before this

moment. I brainstormed by writing an outline on what were the most important ideas to keep in

mind while in this process. I had always had issues when it came to the beginning my papers but

once I got into the flow of things it was easier. I put my thesis sentence on the top of my page

and had the font size as 48 so that I could keep going back to remind myself. I wrote a sentence

and erase it repeatedly for about 15 times. I couldn’t see how I could combine the sentences that

I was producing to even make sense to be a part of my final product. After 45 minutes I finally

got an introduction which was only one-page long. The JHP was extremely time consuming for

me because I wanted to make sure that I was writing interesting but also true information. I

continued this pattern throughout my paper until I got to the end of my JHP. In the book Reading

and Writing Genre with Purpose it says, “all suggest that students learn better and more deeply

when their leaning is contextualized and genuinely motivated” (Duke, p. 2). After everything I

had to do to get the last word on my paper was causing me to have mixed emotions about my

final product. I loved my paper because I had worked so hard on making it worth reading and I

wanted everyone to learn something from my paper. However, I also hated it because it took me

over three months to write my entire JHP. I knew that it was going to be a little bit difficult, but I

wasn’t expecting that experience.

I can reflect and see that I now I know three things for sure about writing. It wasn’t my

favorite thing to do in school. I find it hard to get my person thoughts on paper to where I can

communicate effectively. I rather read about information than create my own. But I know that

when I become an educator I am going to have to gather information then rearrange the wording

to help my students understand the material. I also value structure when it comes to writing a
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paper because if I don’t have structure then I would have not been able see the end of my JHP

paper. If my teacher didn’t make us gather all the information before we had started, then it

would have been a much more longer experience. In the book The Educator’s Writing Handbook

says, “Cutting material from the final draft because you have too much information is always

easier than padding” (Reep, p. 10). I had used all the research findings for my JHP, but I had also

learned that it was better to have information that you left out instead of having to stopping the

writing process to go and research a little more. I have always had issues with starting my paper

and I cannot just start in the middle because I feel like everything must play off each other. I still

have this issue today where it still takes me 45 minutes to get a single paragraph completed. I

want to practice on having an appreciation for writing. I know that I am going to have to use it

all the time especially when I am a teacher. I never thought writing was such a big part of my life

until I got into high school and it continued in higher education.

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References

Duke, N. K., Caughlan, S., Juzwik, M. M., & Martin, N. M. (2012). Reading and writing genre

with purpose in K-8 classrooms. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Reep, D. C., & Sharp, H. M. (1999). The educators writing handbook. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.