In class blog #10

I am very glad that I decided to take this class as a freshman for many reasons. The biggest reason is because I learned a lot of valuable information that I can apply to more classes and papers in the future. This class has taught me important information on paraphrasing and plagiarism that I can keep with me when I have to cite sources in other classes. I will be writing many more papers in my college career and it is imperative that I learn the basic rules my freshman year. I am also very happy that we went over different sourcesand what they can be used for. Often times, people forget that they can use magazines, newspapers, periodicals, and more as sources in their papers. many students will usually use books and websites just because they are the most common and easily accessible. The annotated bibliography was also helpful because it forced me to research my topic and find many sources before I actually begin the paper it self. I have learned many different tips and rulesto use to make me better at researching and putting together a paper. I think it is a great idea for us to have to present our research in this class because we will have to do that in many of our other classes throughout college, and also once we get into our careers.

I will apply these skills that I have learned to all of my other classes. I will also apply these skills to my career one day. Majority of jobs include employees and workers presenting their information to the rest of their co-workers and it is important that we know how to present our own research or information. I will forever use the CRAP test when taking information from a source. It is a great tip to use for the rest of my life.

in class blog 9

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenorton/5643121091/

1) No real name was given, but the username is: lowjumpingfrog
2). The author does not specify what this photograph was for. I believe it was just a cool picture that he took. It says that the photo is also shown under Sea of Cortez Adventures.
3). The title of the image is: Dolphins.
4). Under the license it says that "some rights are reserved". This means that we are free to share or remix the original picture.
                     1). You must make it clear to others the license terms of this picture if you reuse it.
                     2). It does nott talk about the pictures commercial purposes.
                     3). We have permission to have derivative work.
5.) Dolphins [art]. (2011). Retrieved April 10, 2011, from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenorton/5643121091/


                    

homework march 6th

I have always been familiar with what an annotated bibliography is because we have talked about it all through grade school and in different classes. After watching the video and looking over the web page I found out more detailed information about the annotated bibliography and learned new things about it. An annotated bibliography is the combination of a bibliography and of an annotation. A bibliography is a list of sources that someone uses while researching a topic. An annotation is a summary. When you combine the two words together, an annotated bibliography is a summary of sources. In this class, Mrs. Pashia is requiring us to write an annotated bibliography because it forces us to do our research early and not wait last minute. This will be good experience for us students, and should also prepare us for our papers and get good grades. This forces us to research as many sources as topic and this will allow us to have a wide range of sources and references in our research papers.

In class Blog #8

Today in class we had a speaker come in and talk to us about what special collections is and she explained different examples of a special collection to us. Special collections is found usually within a library, and at UWG the special collections can be found on the first floor of the library. Special collections is the department that stores specific items such as, rare books, archives, manuscripts, etc. These items that are in Special collections are usually fragile, and they need to be taken proper care of. We also talked about what a primary source is and then we went around the room and all gave an example of a primary source that we personally have. Primary sources are an original source. For example, my Grandpa died when I was a baby, so I never got the chance to really know him or learn about him. I have a picture of him from the yearI died and I have kept on to it all these years later because it is all I have left of him. This is an example of a primary source. Other examples could be letters written to you from years ago, or old video, or scrapbooks. Special Collections and Primary sources could be helpful in a research project if you are doing a project on your family or if you are trying to find background information. Some questions could be answered such as, "Where did my family come from?" or "What did my Grandpa look like before he died?"

In class blog #7

Today in class I searched two different databases. I first went to Galileo and typed in "psycINFO" into the search databases bar. I clicked on that and then typed "gun control' into the search bar. All of the articles had many of the same keywords and subject terms. Each article was about gun laws, firearm regulation, and gun control policies. The second database that I researched was "Social Science Journal (ProQuest). I also typed in "gun control" into this database as well to research. The articles that came up on both databases were kind of different from each other. The first database had more information on safety messages and firearm regulations. The articles from the second database had more information on crimes and the government. When I did the subject filter the results for each database were different. The databases both had a good bit of information under "abstract" but it was different types of information according on the database the articles were from. They are both similar to Academic Search Complete. I would use the databases when I am researching for projects or academic classes. These are especially helpful to use for sources in research papers for this class, or English class. From my experience, I liked the psycINFO database the best.

Homework Feb. 20th

I had never even heard of a filter bubble before I watched the video. I had no idea that our computers were basically being monitored and changed to our personal likes. I do not think that filter bubbles are a good thing what so ever. It is kind of cool how if we type something into Google, that the search results will come up with stuff that is similar to our likes and interests, but that is not neccaserily a good thing. What happens if I am trying to do a project and do not want any biased information? That is hard to find if we have filter bubbles. We would only find information on stuff that we want to see, but for research we need to see the entire spectrum and learn about stuff that we don't exactly want to see or learn about. I do not think that anyone should have filter bubbles because this might also lead to not everyone being aware of important information, etc. I then looked at the list of ten things to pop our filter bubbles, and I think that this is a great article. I was so unaware that Google and Facebook, etc. are able to find out our likes, dislikes, interests, and more just by what we click on. It kind of freaks me out and I will definitely use some of the 10 tips to pop my filter bubble. I did not realize that our web history could also have such a big impact on our search results, so I will definitely be clearing that on a regular basis. This was a really interesting topic to learn about and I am glad we did because I feel that it is important information for everyone to know.

In Class blog post #6

Over the past two weeks during class, we have talked a lot about different sources to use on a research paper and what specific information to look for in each source. One of the sources that we learned about in class was a magazine. In a magazine we would find updated information such as, current updates, interviews between people, and current news articles. Magazines are a popular source because it is a source that gets looked at on a regular basis. There are many academic type magazines and this would be helpful towards answering a specific research question. Most of the information is true and valuable information. A second source we learned about is a newspaper. In Newspapers you would also find important new articles and information going on all over the world. There will be sections covering all types of topics, such as, current events, politics, alerts, etc. Newspapers are considered a scholarly and popular source. They get looked at everyday and there are new ones being printed every single day. A newspaper would be able to help answer a research question, as well. A third source that we talked about is a book. In books you can always find research, background information about a topic, and sometimes interviews, depending on what type of book it is. Books are considered a scholarly source, because they are usually the first source that people will use to research something specific. A book could definitely be used to answer my research question because there are all different kinds of books, and I would be able to get all my information from just books alone. They hit every aspect of my topic. A fourth source would be a website source. This can be a popular or scholarly source, but usually scholarly. They have all kinds of information to find on the inernet. The websites are my favorite sources to use, so I will definitely use them to answer my research question because it covers both points in my paper.