week 3

One of my first big assignments was to do research for a media presentation. Specifically, I needed to collect a lot of data about the child welfare system and the justice system. When I first was looking at the information I needed to gather, I was rather confused. The way it was worded, I didn’t quite realize that I was supposed to research these two things separately. When I questioned it a bit to my boss, she didn’t clarify much, and because it was my first project I didn’t want to ask a lot and sound like I wasn’t capable of doing the work. So the first day I spent most of the time researching just the child welfare system and applying my answers to both the child welfare system and the justice system. I felt like I wasn’t finding good information, mainly because my confusion was hindering my ability to understand the information I was reading. The next day, my boss told me to continue researching like before. I decided to speak up and ask for assistance, because I knew I wasn’t going to do well on the assignment unless I understood it further. She clarified the difference between the two systems, and how I specifically wanted to look for information on how much it cost to hold a child per diem in Illinois. This simple clarification helped me drastically, and I began finding all sorts of information on the matter. I realized I would look much more incapable if I didn’t ask for help and didn’t find good information than if I asked for clarification that allowed me to get good research to enhance the presentation. Once I really understood what I was doing, I enjoyed the project much more. I ended up finding a bunch of solid facts; I felt like I was really making a difference. When I emailed the media director the research that I found, she complimented me and she said my information was really helpful to her!  

This is the email I got from the girl in charge of the media presentation!