Throughout this research paper, I learn about myself as a writer. When doing this assignment, I was overthinking what struggle I should use and how I can divide up the sources I have.  While writing this paper, I can tell I wasn’t a good writer, but I learn a lot about writing this assignment. For example, I learn how to write a proposal, finding research, using text citation. All of these were new to me, but I enjoy each part of this assignment, and I believe later on in my college journey, I would be able to use this experience in other courses.

Looking back, one thing I would do differently would be the research process and the writing part by having an outline of what I want to discuss. While doing the research, it’s quite challenging to find what I need, since the proposal part was the first section on picking what topic I want to discuss. It’s better to look for the research first and then start writing the proposal to ensure I have the sources or ideas included in the proposal as a reference. But it’s useful too to have a topic proposal to set an aim throughout the research essay. Lastly, the writing part, the research essay, at first, I have no idea how to start the essay, how to use the sources throughout my writing, and the research paper’s struggle. Most of the time, I spent thinking about these, but attending tutoring with other professors’ lectures on in-text citations, helped me understand how to develop my essay.

If I’m describing my essay to an audience beyond just professors, I will focus on students and immigrants. Because not all New York City residents, especially students or immigrants from other boroughs, might know about Harlem gentrification’s story or history. For instance, I didn’t know about Harlem’s situation in my community (Brooklyn) until I entre college and study more about it. I would tell them the purpose of my essay; the early Harlem residents were suffering from the high rent cost since they were the lowest class, less capable of staying in this community. The idea of the rent gap caused all these conditions to happen by leading the land’s value increase. I would use a serious tone because this transformation it’s a severe topic throughout the history of New York, where the Black Americans have been replacing by the more affluent business and residents into their community.

The goal I set out for myself in the topic proposal was instrumental, as I thought. My goal on the topic proposal was to discuss the cause of Harlem to gentrification was due to the theory of the rent gap, and the ground rent increases it’s affecting the various of the population in Harlem. Throughout the research essay, I covered the topic I want to discuss, using the three research I found. The topic proposal’s goal is a handy tool for me while writing the research paper because it gives me a fundamental idea of what I want to aim for this essay. Therefore, I think the goal I set for myself in the topic proposal is useful in finishing the essay and the research part on finding what I needed.