Now that I am entering my 5th week at college I can say I have learned a lot more about research then I knew coming into college. As APA is new to some people I learned the format to APA in high school so I know how to format it. After reading the chapter in An Insider’s Guide to Academic Writing I learned some information and got a refresher on what we have gone over in class. One of the key take-aways that I have not only taken away while in class but also in the readings is the difference between a primary source and a secondary source. Before college I did not pay attention to that and how it affects how my sources must be cited. As I am an elementary education major, I know I will be tasked to do a lot of research on children development and classroom studies so I know being able to tell if it is study or a reflection is going to be a very important part of my research. While I feel I have made a lot of progress on my research skills. One of my biggest challenges is making sure I read the whole article before I decide if it is a good article to pick. I find myself skimming articles more than I read them. So with that being said I am working on slowing down during research and reading the article fully before I decide. When it comes to backing up my own ideas. I find that it helps me get into the topic to a deeper level because it is not just my ideas that I can talk about and I have something to prove when I use information I have researched. I also feel like I am pretty good at paraphrasing while doing research, which I know will be a good skill to have for the rest of my life. Overall, I feel that this class is making me a better researcher to prepare me for the next 4 years in college.