From Information to Understanding by Alima

From Information to Understanding by Alima - July 2026 Scholarship Essay

It was late May. All of our AP exams were finished, the sun was shining, and we were ready to close our textbooks for good and plan for summer. Unfortunately, our AP Psychology teacher had other plans. He announced to a disengaged class that our final would be a ten page research paper in APA format. My excitement quickly turned to anxiety. I’ve never written a research paper before and had never heard of the APA format. This was my final, worth ten percent of my grade; I could not screw it up.

We were told to choose from a list of diverse topics ranging from Terrorism and Fear to Gambling and Addiction. Our teacher wanted us to conduct deep research in each topic and find nuanced connections between the two. I chose Marketing and Influence. Since we live in a new age of digital marketing, I’ve experienced firsthand how much influence marketing has on a person through social media. Because of this, I thought it would be easier to find sources and interesting to make connections. I was partially correct. It wasn’t difficult to find an abundance of sources on digital marketing techniques and the psychology behind influence. It was, however, difficult to make sense of it all.

The articles and studies I’ve found spanned over forty pages. The pages were dense and filled with difficult jargon that I couldn’t possibly begin to decipher. I couldn’t identify key arguments or extract evidence. The paper required a citation every other sentence and I couldn’t even pull out the information to cite. I realized that finding information is not the same as understanding it. I felt overwhelmed and the due date was inching closer with each failed attempt to research. I had to do something.

Instead of continuing to struggle along, I reached out to my friends from the class who were having success. I asked them for help understanding the convoluted academic articles and studies. Their advice changed my approach entirely.

First, they told me I was reading the articles wrong. There was no way to read such huge passages in one sitting and make sense of them. I had to break it up into smaller, comprehensible units that I could understand and pull out citations from. They also mentioned that I’m reading the wrong articles. The articles I chose were bulky and time-consuming. They showed me how smaller sources of five to ten pages could pack just as much quality information as the bigger ones and take way less time to understand.

Armed with these new critical thinking skills, I began to read with intention. I started to identify patterns across sources, question the credibility and relevance of each study, and extract meaningful evidence to support my claims. Writing this paper no longer felt overwhelming. I was able to get through it with analysis and decision-making.

I didn’t receive a perfect score but I learned how to analyze and evaluate journal articles. I know now that critical thinking can help me refine my approaches when my first attempt fails. More importantly, I learned how to move beyond simply collecting information and instead focus on understanding it. This lesson has prepared me to approach future academic challenges with confidence and resilience.