The document is a summative reflection by a student on a research project about addiction among veterans. Some key points: - The student learned that addiction is more common among veterans suffering from mental illnesses like PTSD due to using substances to relieve stress. - Finding relevant research specifically about veteran addiction was a challenge, but the student eventually found helpful sources. - The most difficult part of the project was the research, as it took longer than expected to find current and meaningful sources about veteran addiction. - The student gained a new perspective on addiction issues through learning about problems faced by veterans and how the brain functions with addiction.

1. Jordan Grandt
Lester and Hamilton
10th Honors Lit/Comp
02 May 2012
Summative Reflection
1) Over the course of this research project, I learned a lot about how the brain works with addiction as
well as how addiction can connect to mental illnesses. When someone is under a lot of stress and turns
to drugs, alcohol, or even caffeine, chemicals are released that ease the stress. The brain will then tag
that substance as a stress reliever and addiction begins. This is highly common in veterans suffering
from mental illnesses and especially those with PTSD. Stress levels in these veterans are higher than
normal and therefore addiction is more likely to occur. Also, amputee patients struggling with PTSD are
now more likely to be prescribed higher doses of medication. Combined with increased stress, addiction
is much more likely for these veterans. Some questions I still have pertain to what kind of treatments
can veteran addicts struggling with mental illnesses be given. I would also like to know what the success
rate of recovering veteran addicts is.
2) Some of the challenges my group went through involved finding relevant research that relating
specifically to veterans struggling with addiction. However, we did eventually find very helpful sources
that we were able to use in our research. My partner and I were able to collaborate fairly well on this
project and that never became much of an issue. I think we could have managed our time more wisely in
class though. I think that I focused on smaller aspects of the project and that took up more time during
class that we could have used for the research. Work at home had to be done in order to finish
everything on schedule.
3) The most difficult and tedious aspect of this project was definitely the research. It took longer than
expected and it was hard to find meaningful sources at first. I think that if we had found more useful
sources at first, we could have gotten more work done in class. The difficult part of the research was
finding current sources about addiction and veterans. The most common sources we found were just
general articles about addiction that helped our research but did not relate to veterans. I think the most
rewarding part of this project was being able to learn about problems that our veterans face and also
learning about how the brain functions with addiction. It gave a new perspective to people struggling
with addiction.
4) Neither All Quiet on the Western Front or The Things They Carried really influenced my choice of this
topic on addiction because neither book really had this issue in it. However, the Fishbowl discussions
definitely sparked my interest in a few topics in which my partner and I eventually decided on addiction

2. because we both thought that it was an interesting issue to research. I do not know whether my
partner’s war book influenced her interest in addiction and whether that was a contributing factor to
our choice in topic.
5) I do not think that this project will necessarily have a lasting impact on me because I do not have any
emotional connection to it. However, a lot of the other issues that we discussed in our Fishbowl
discussion definitely widened my view of war and the effects that it has on soldiers. Coming from a
strong military background, I found the topics we talked about in class such as luck, brotherhood,
comradeship, and many other topics were very interesting and will have a more of a lasting impact on
me.
6) Something that I did well was finding a lot of the abstract images that we used to represent our
research. Also, I was able to find a good contestant for our interview although we never received a
reply. I think that I was able to find a few solid information sources as well. We were able to use a lot of
that information towards our final project. My partner and I were very good at communicating with one
another throughout the process of constructing our project.
7) The most challenging part of this project was gathering all of the most important information and
putting it together to form the final project. We had found a lot of information and it was difficult having
to really narrow it down to the most important aspects of addiction and veterans. Eventually, we were
able to piece together our final project from our information sources and combined everything into our
research. We were able to find some strong points out of our research that were beneficial to the
project.
8) I did not receive the menu of skills due to my absence.
9) I think constructing a zen powerpoint presentation for this unit on war really helped me gain
knowledge about today’s issues with returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan as well as issues with
veterans from previous wars. I was able to compare the effects from different time periods and see how
addiction issues have increased. Also, I gained knowledge about the technology that we used to
compose this project. The zen presentation was a good way to collect the information but put it
together in a more modern way as opposed to the usual research papers. It gave me more experience
with the databases as well as websites like Symbaloo.
10) Our initial plan for the Symbaloo was to use it so that we could compile all of our sources and
databases together in one place. However, we weren’t able to upload the sources individually. We only
ended up putting all of the most helpful websites for resources and information onto our Symbaloo tab
for addiction. I would definitely use it more often in the future. I feel like since we printed out the
majority of our sources that we didn’t always need to use the Symbaloo page for much. I think that I
would consider using Symbaloo for really big projects in the future that require a lot of resources. The
Symbaloo that we made I believe shows that we are a little more traditional in some ways of our
research. We would rather have printed sources to look at rather than have it pulled up online.

3. 11) After nearly two semesters in World Literature and Composition, I feel as though I am much more
prepared for American Literature and Composition next year. I have gotten on a much higher level of
analytical thinking as opposed to when we first started this school year. I can now actually read a novel
and pick up on the hidden meanings and the larger pictures at hand. I feel like I have gained knowledge
about our modern uses of technology in literature and how we can use it to compose digital texts that
are less traditional than the normal research paper. Also, I feel more prepared for college after this year.
After all of the handouts and discussions we’ve had in class I feel like I know a little more about what the
future holds.