Research Paper Review!

Boy oh boy do I detest research papers... normally. Typically I can't stand it, but this time around, I really quite enjoyed doing research on something that is not only extremely significant to me, but also to my mom (and sister). I loved that my professor asked us to do research on a topic that had to do with my family. At first when I read the example Research Paper (a girl wrote about how her family was held in the Japanese internment camps) in one of our handbooks for WRTG 150 I thought to myself, "my family has nothing crazy significant like that." I struggled for a while about what to write about, so then I started thinking about what I loved. Gymnastics. I asked myself why I loved it. How did I come to love it? And that's when I found my topic. Gymnastics began with my mom and it has impacted my entire family ever since, especially me.
From there, I wasn't too sure what I specifically wanted to start researching. At first it was what influenced performance level/the age where performance level is at its best. As I researched this stuff, I came across an article talking about the 2008 Beijing Olympics controversy with the Chinese Women's team. That's when the idea clicked. I would write a paper about the age requirements for women's gymnastics, more specifically, if that age requirement should be lowered. Research was pretty easy from that point. I just looked at physical and psychological benefits of being a younger gymnast. I gathered the sources and began writing. It was actually pretty hard trying to create my own arguments with hard core facts. Like all I wanted to do is quote, but eventually I feel like I got a pretty good handle on it. Once I got on a role of writing, the words just seemed to come much easier. As I continued researching I became so fascinated with it. And I gained so much more knowledge. I feel like I grew even closer to the sport that I love.
As much as I hate writing research paper, I have to admit that I quite enjoyed the process of this one. I doubt I will ever forget the things that I learned from this writing process.