RESEARCH TOPIC SELECTION WRITING FORMAL PAPER 

1. How did you go about narrowing your topic selection? What made you decide on the final topic? 
a. Back when I wrote my paper my heart was set on nothing more then wanting to become a 
meteorologist. I wanted to be one of the people you who you would see on your tv telling you 
the weather. I could make an impact.  
2. While writing your paper, what did you learn about the research process? 
a. I learned that writing a research paper is difficult. You have to compile so much stuff in one 
place and find a way to connect it all into one giant paper. It was difficult for me to compile it 
all.  
3. When you complete research in the future what will you keep or change about the process? 
a. I will make sure to know what I want to put into my paper from the beginning and not make it 
up as I go. I tried my best to string in all together but I feel like structure is so important to 
putting together a research topic.  
4. What did you find the most challenging in the process?  
a. The Annotated Bibliography, the most tedious and hardest part of the whole writing project I 
just wish I was better with getting it all together 
5. How confident are you in completing formal research in college?   
a. We’re gonna see what happens, I think with no procrastination I could accomplish it pretty 
well.  
PROFESSIONAL PARTNER 
1. How  was  the  research  related  to  your  professional  hours?  If  your  professional  was  not  directly related 
to  your  topic,  what  did  you  learn  about  the  career/industry  that  can  be  translated  to  any  future 
professional setting? 
a. My  professional  partner had nothing to do with My paper as my Paper and Project were about 
two  completely  different  job  fields.  I  learned  that  making  it  in  the  cooking  industry  is  rough 
and  hard  and  you  can  lose  in  the  2nd  round  but  at  least  you  made  it  to  that  point  to  begin 
with.  
2. Can  you  describe  the  professional  hours  that  you  completed  in  terms  of timing, quality of experience, 
confidence in a new setting, challenges you faced, etc. 
a. They  were  amazing!  She  did so much for me in terms of teaching me what she does everyday. I 
thought  going  to  the  wcnc  studio  with  her  and  getting  the  chance  to  watch  her  work  was 
worth all the effort.  
3. How  did  working  with  your  professional  affect  your  understanding  of  the  topic  area, development of 
your project and/or the professional world 
a. She  helped  me  decide  on  my  project  topic.  She  was  the  reason  I  did  what  I  did  and  I’m  so 
happy that that is what I decided on doing no matter how much work it was.  
4. If your mentor contributed to the development of the product, how were they involved?  
a. They gave me the idea for my project as well as sending me recipes to use with my project 
PROJECT 
1. How did you go about narrowing your project selection? What made you decide on the final topic? 
a. I  knew  I  wanted  to  do  something  with  cooking  and  history  and  I  found  a  way  to  combine 
them all together in what would be my project 
2. How did creating a product and completing the hours challenge you personally? 
a. It  was  like  there  was  always  something  I  was  forgetting  to do, it was the strangest feeling. This 
big important item that could decide my future was due in 3 months  
PRESENTATION 
1. Do you feel prepared academically and emotionally for the presentation? If not, why?  
 a. No,  I  was  not  ready  for  the  presentation.  It  was  so  awful  for  me,  because  I  ended  up  getting 
sick and my voice sounded so bad during my presentation 
2. What challenges did you face preparing and practicing the presentation? 
a. Baking  the  food  for  the  teachers  to  test  was  pretty  hard  because  I  was making a breast instead 
of a whole bird so I had to try and adjust the times correctly. 
3. How  did  you  change  or  grow  as  a  learner  and  as  an  individual?  What  “life  skills”  did  you  acquire and 
how will they help you in the future? 
a. I  was  once  again  taught  the  skill  of  not  procrastinating,  if  you  do  like  I  am  now  its  just  not 
going  to  end  well  for  me.  Get  things  done  at  the  first  possible  moment as to avoid pain in the 
aftermath  
4. Other  than  time  management,  describe  any  obstacles  you  faced  and  how  you  overcame  them?  If you 
had to go back and do parts of the project again, what would you do differently? 
a. Just  my  own  mind,  It  was  so  overwhelming  sometimes  that  it  felt  like  i  was  going  to  get 
smooshed  under  the  pressure  and  sometimes  I  would  get  smooshed,  Now  that  the  project  is 
done I can say it wasn’t that bad  
5. Based  on  the  entire  Journey  Project  experience,  do  you  plan  to  pursue  this  field  as  a  career  or  area  of 
study in college? If so, why? If not, why? Provide specific reasons. 
a. Im  not  sure  yet,  my  heart  is  still  divided  between  history  and  cooking  so  I’m  going  to  try out 
whatever I can and hope it will work out for me in the future 
 

***ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS FROM THE ONLINE DOCUMENT*** 

FINAL REFLECTIONS 

1. What are your overall thoughts about the Journey Project? 

a. It was good! If not a little difficult, I found the project to be very very difficult in terms of time 
management but it seems you guys alreadt know about that  
2. How did you feel about the Journey Fair evening event? Are there things we can do to make it better? 
What would you do differently if you needed to do it again? 
a. I didn’t go do to being sick, but if it were me I would make it during the school day so their 
fellow students can see what they make 
3. In retrospect, would to re-choose this same topic? partner? project? Explain. 
a. I don’t really know, I guess I would just focus on Cooking and make the project a lot smaller in 
terms of work and pay off, I thought what I did was good and would do it again with better 
time management involved with it.