Research Journal , Part 4: types of Information

Practice Questions?

1. Is a vegetarian diet healthier than a meat-based diet?

My answer for this would be to use a Academic Journals to find studies done to see what the affects of a vegetarian diet vs. a meat diet do to the body.  Also websites from licensed nutritionists, or books written by nutritionists expert opinions from educated sources.  

2. Target often forces musicians to alter lyrics in order to have their Cd's sold in Target stores.  Is this censorship?

I would conduct my research for this using academic encyclopedias regarding freedom of speech, maybe trying to read or interview someone at Target that makes these decisions on censorship, and looking into academic journals on research done on a similar topic of censorship.  

3.  How much more can a college graduate expect to ear over someone with a high school diploma?

I would definitely use an academic journal for this research.  I am positive that studies have been done on this topic lots of times over the last 50 years.  Also magazines like Time might be a good source for articles as well.  

4.  Should educators use commercial services to combat plagiarism?

Using academic journals for a topic like this would be very useful since this has been a highly researched topic since the introduction of the Internet.  Websites may also be a great too, like Google.  Find postings by educators that have ran into plagiarism and what they have discussed in stopping it.  

5.  Is the current lack of sunspot activity affecting global warming?

Books written by an accredited author in this subject would be a great source as well as academic journals.  

3 Research Questions?

1. Does censorship infringe on Americans First Amendment rights (Freedom of Speech)?
 To answer this question I would use an academic encyclopedia to get some base information, then move onto an academic journal to see the research that has been done on my topic. 

2. How did censorship begin?
Academic encyclopedia would work for this broad topic, as well as the Internet like Google to help narrow the topic to something like When did censorship begin in the music industry?  Then I could use popular magazines like Rolling Stones, and maybe even find info from MTV.com.  

3. Who decides what material is subject to censoring?

 Like the Target question above I would try to look into some government websites to see who mandates censorship within our state and country.  Also use Academic encyclopedia for beginning information, then move onto academic journals to see if I can find a match article to answer my research question. 

Thanks,

Megan Fletcher

Part 3: Exploring Topics

I really enjoyed this weeks topic about exploring the deep web.  As students of Clark College we have access to so many free research tools, it is amazing.  I do enjoy using Wikipedia, but prefer to use GVRL as a research tool.  I like the idea that the articles are written by scholars within that specific field, and these scholars also reference other cited information at the end of their article so you can do even more research, or confirm your source.  

I chose to research the topic of censorship, and found and abundance of information.  Being able to use the keywords, I was really able to narrow down the search to a few questions for my research paper to answer.  

The sources that I chose to use were specific to freedom of speech with students.  The article gave a brief history of when this movement started, and a few of the more important court cases that have had historical affects on students.  One interesting fact that I found out was that freedom of speech and students didn't become a issue until the Vietnam War.  It was at this time that students began to have opposing political views from their teachers and administrators. 

The IRIS tutorial is always a helpful tool.  Being able to be guided through all the search engines available to students can be confusing.  I have used the IRIS tutorials a few times in my student career. 

All of the popular databases available to students via the Clark College website can help any student become an minor expert on a specific research topic.

Thanks,
Megan Fletcher

Three research questions

Here are my three research questions I would like to be able to answer in a paper regarding censorship.  

1. Does censorship infringe on American's First Amendment rights (Freedom of Speech)?

2. How did censorship begin?

3. Who decides what material is subject to censoring?

I felt that these three questions could really narrow down a paper on a specific aspect of censorship.  

Thanks,

Megan Fletcher

Wikipedia

Searching through Wikipedia was not a information as searching the Gale Virtual Reference Library.  When I searched the term censorship it brought me directly to a like titled Censorship.  It did give me like 2 or 3 other areas in Wiki to search to obtain additional information on censorship, but nothing as detailed as the Gale site. 

Here are the keywords that Wikipedia came up with in regards to my subject of censorship: political, religion, education, books, film, music, map, and internet. 

There was also a tool in the toolbox section of Wikipedia that helped me cite the page, however it did state that Wikipedia is not responsible for incorrect information being stated on their pages.  In my past when writing a paper or doing any type of classroom research, professors have asked students to avoid using Wikipedia as a source, but use it as a tool when researching a topic to write about.  Sort of a first line of information.

Here was the citation from Wikipedia:

"Censorship." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Apr. 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2012.

Thanks,

Megan Fletcher

Gale Virtual Reference Library

Using the Gale Virtual Reference Library through the Clark College library website was extremely easy.  I have used this search before when writing a research paper for English 102, and it helped tremendously.  Along with asking questions of the librarian, who are so well versed in research.  Another aspect of the GVRL is that towards the end of the article there are additional resources, additional cited sources, and even addresses to places of interest referenced within the article.  Very valuable information can be obtained, by using these other sources as well. 

The topic that I chose to research on was Censorship, using the Gale Virtual Reference Library.  Here is the list of keywords that I gathered: control, era, culture, religion, music, media, art, literature, speeches, art, human rights, war, politics, regulation, science, law, power, decency, obscenity, and freedoms.

The search that looked interesting to me was titles Student Rights/Free Speech

"Student Rights/Free Speech." Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law. Ed. Jeffrey Wilson. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 653-657. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 24 Apr. 2012.

Thanks,

Megan Fletcher

Unit 2: Plagiarism

Here is a response to the Purdue OWL "Safe Practices"

1. Last summer, my family and I traveled to Chicago, which was quite different from the rural area I grew up in. We saw the dinosaur Sue at the Field Museum, and ate pizza at Gino's East.
 - No need to cite any sources, just a person writing what they did and saw.  No information from other writers were used in this, reads like an opinion.

2. Americans want to create a more perfect union; they also want to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for everybody.
- This statement would require citation of the Bill of Rights.  Although most people know this statement this writer writes it not exactly but close.  Not only a citation at the end of the statement (BOR), but also on the works cited page.   

3. I find it ridiculous that 57% of high school students think their teachers assign too much homework.

- I would cite where the 57% stat came from and make sure that it came from a notable source.  Maybe even try to find that percentage from another author just to confirm the accuracy of the statement.

Numbers 4, 5, and 6 all refer to the following passage from Martin Luther King's "Letter from the Birmingham Jail":

You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.

4. Martin Luther King was certain that nobody would want to be contented with a surfacy type of social analysis that concerns itself only with effects and doesn't deal with root causes.
-This is an opinion of the writer based on their reading, I don't think that it needs to be cited.  

5. Martin Luther King wrote that the city of Birmingham's "white power structure" left African-Americans there "no alternative" but to demonstrate ("Letter from the Birmingham Jail" para. 5).
- Due to the quotes this statement must be cited.  I would probably not give so much information in the (Author last name & page # or paragraph #) at the end of the sentence, maybe (King LB speech P5). instead, as long as the reader can find the cited source on the works cited page that is all the matters, and that the works cited page contains all the correct information.  

6. In "Letter from the Birmingham Jail," King writes to fellow clergy saying that although they "deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham, your statement fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations."
-This statement needs direction at the end of the sentence of where the writer obtained this information in (Author last name & page # or paragraph #) to reference the reader to the works cited page to see the full citation.  

7. My friend Kara told me that she loves living so close to the ocean.
-No need to cite.

8. Americans are guaranteed the right to freely gather for peaceful meetings.
-This is information most people are aware of but I would cite it because it falls in the maybe category of citing material. 

I know how important it is to cite sources when writing papers.  Since beginning college and writing  papers every quarter it has become like second nature to have a works cited page as well as reference my works cited information within my text.  I have enjoyed reading papers over the quarter of other students and knowing where their information was obtained to write that paper.  One area that I was unaware of until now was citing graphics.  I use graphics from websites a lot when making power points for my Biology assignments.  Now I will make sure to cite the photographic source on the page where the photo is displayed, as well as on the works cited page.  All aspects of plagiarism are important!  Know one likes to be stolen from, and that is basically what you are doing if your reference material is not cited accurately.  I liked the COP on Iris for knowing how to cite sources, and it is a great tool just to check how each source is cited, because everything is cited a little different. 

Thanks,
Megan Fletcher

Hello to everyone on my first blog ever!  Using the tutorial was really easy, especially if you already have a Google account.  I am a current Facebook user so posting online is not something new for me, but using this format on blogger.com will take some getting used to.  One thing that I learned from this assignment is that it is difficult to pick out a title and a URL address for the blog.  I think it took me like 1/2 and hour to find one that had not already been chosen.  Well good luck to everyone.  Look forward to reading posts.

Thanks,

Megan Fletcher