Engdahl_Journal3

I chose this journal because I thought it was interesting. It was the very first time I learned how to use MLA format, and the first time I realized that you don't always have to put all your effort into an assignment. Now I look at an assignment and figure out how I can do the least amount of work. = Research Paper = In ninth grade I had to write my first research paper ever, and surprisingly, it was my most successful attempt. Every quarter in my English class we had to pick a book to read and do a report about it. The last quarter my English teacher decided to have us write a research paper about the book we chose. The book had to be from a classic American author. I chose to read __Catch-22__ by Joseph Heller, because I was interested in reading the book where the famous phrase came from. The actual research paper was about how the book was received by the public and only included a brief summary.

I ordered my book online and decided that the best thing to do was to start researching. By the time I got __Catch-22__ in the mail, I was pretty well into my research and there was no turning back. I read the first few chapters and was not impressed. I gave up on reading it and continued with my other research. In the end I managed to write a five page essay and give a five minute presentation on a book that I never read. I got a high “A” on the paper, and did a lot better than most of my classmates. Since then I have written two other research papers. One was on last year’s election that I did well on. The other was about Napoleon that I worked really hard on, but got a pretty bad grade. Sometimes putting minimal effort into a project works out well. From that paper I learned that there is no need to put more effort into things than is necessary.