Huh?

After reading Ballenger’s introduction I basically confused myself. I still am not a fan of writing but thought “Ok maybe this will be more interesting”. I’m not a hundred percent sure how to write it but now I feel every paper I’ve ever written was wrong. But despite the fact they were technically incorrect, I did well. Weird? I didn’t’ really mind writing papers in high school. I didn’t have to many, and they were simple, research “reports” I guess. Basically we looked up information and wrote it in an essay. It was time consuming but simple. You never really got to write your thoughts down, just facts. Or if you did, you had to argue a side which isn't necessarily fair or easy. Sometimes you want to agree with both or disagree with both but you are forced to pick one and defend only that one side. O well those are over and done with. I did have one teacher in high school who made us choose one noun, and the whole paper was about this one noun. It was actually interesting to write because I learned a lot about a simple word. We wrote about its origin, how it is used, etc.
If I could write about anything, I’d probably choose fashion and designers. I find arts and design to be very interesting so if I have to research information I’d prefer it to be at least about an idea I enjoy. Art has always been apart of my life, from elementary to school till today I still study art. I use to go to art academy classes and now i'm majoring in design, and its also part of my family, they work in the industry. In addition, I’d like to write about medical researches on immune deficiencies. I know that’s on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, but I have a lot of background knowledge of it and I enjoy learning more. My younger brother has an immune deficiency so I use to read about it to understand it better and be able to help him understand it since he’s younger.
I guess I’m excited to learn how to write this form of essay, yet nervous because I never really have before. High school papers were a drag, because it was stupid work. Writing down information you look up isn't all that interesting, but this paper should be interesting. I know now to carry a conversation in a way throughout the paper and I'm allowed to use voice in research not simply state facts.

Ms. O'Malley... Do we get to decide what we write about in our research paper? or are you giving us the topic?