Alycia Holwerda

          During my freshman year, I took English101: Composition. I learned many skills on how to write various paper types such as a comparison, a proposal, a rhetorical analysis, and a response. These papers helped me gain research skills. Initially, I completed a proposal called, “Excess Demand for Parking at Minnesota State University Campus can be solved with a Parking Ramp” In the proposal, I examined various reasons why a parking ramp will create more parking on campus.

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          When writing my proposal, I researched many scholarly articles, opinions, and various other research sources to gain more knowledge on the topic. I went to the library and used an online educational database to find sources. I developed the ability to access information effectively, efficiently, and critically (Information Literacy: Level 1). I then took that information to formulate a strong stance on how MNSU would benefit from building a parking ramp. I have the ability to synthesize others’ ideas and develop my own opinion and ideas (Information Synthesis: Level 1). Also, through writing I exhibited the ability to draw upon multiple sources to present a coherent and integrated thesis statement (Information Synthesis: Level 3). For example, when writing my proposal on University parking, I researched through various sources to formulate a well thought out claim and thesis statement.

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          Second, I completed a response paper entitled, “A response to Against Football: Is America’s past time breaking morals?” In the response, I clearly supported my stance that football is not an unmoral sport and refuted many ideas in Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto by Steve Almond.

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          When writing my response, I thought about the author’s opinions of why football is an unmoral sport. I evaluated and synthesized diverse perspectives on the topic (Information Synthesis: Level 2). I researched statistics to both opinions. I thought about both sides and then was able to form my opinion to the topic which was stated in my response.

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          This class gave me a solid foundation to build my research abilities upon. Throughout the coming years I would use the ability to research other people knowledge to help when formulating my own research. I hoped to continue to develop my research abilities to ethically add new knowledge to the Data Science community.