Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Journal Entry
So, our final is tomorrow... my last final for this semester. It is hard to believe that this was my last semester of ultrasound classes. Next semester will be my last semester at Lincoln! WOW... time really goes fly by. I remember my first semester at Lincoln. I was so anxious and nervous because I had not been to school in so many years. I was also dreading thinking about how long it would take until I was finished. Now looking back, it seems like it just flew by. Now I can start looking towards a brighter future. I pray everyday that when I graduate I will find a job right away. I need a job right away, both for myself and for my husband. I need it cause I am so ready to start my career and to be earning a living again. I want it for my husband so he can stop working so hard. For the past almost two and half years, my husband has worked so hard to support us while I am in school. I could have not done it without him.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Chapter 23: Lab, Experiment, and Field Reports Summary
Chapter 23: Lab, Experiment, and Field Reports Summary
In this chapter we learn about how to properly document a scientific experiment or study. Accurately recording and thoughtfully interpreting the results of the study or experiment is a must. There are two methods in which this can be done. The first is the scientific method. You would start by observing something interesting and check whether scientists have explained this same observation before. Then you can summarize your observations and create a testable hypothesis. You want to be able to test your hypothesis, paying close attention to the variables and the controls. When you see the results of the experiment, you can accept, reject or modify your hypothesis. You may need to repeat a few of these steps in order to completely understand what you are observing and the results. The other format you can follow is the standard format. Following this format you would model scientific thinking, lab and field reports including an introduction that establishes the problem, details showing the procedure, results that provide the data and finally discussion that will interpret the data you found. No matter which of the two methods you choose, you need to understand and be able to distinguish the facts from possibilities and experiments from studies. Facts are the data that you have collected, while possibilities are interpretations of that data. And experiments test your hypothesis by manipulating the variables, while studies observe what is actually there by counting, measuring or sampling.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Physical Science Essay
Biodiversity
Carrie Casey
Lincoln University
Abstract
Over the past 300 years our world has lost half of its forests. Along with the loss of this wilderness, many species are endangered and/ or are already extinct. Bugs, weeds and plants are the base of our ecosystem, the base of our energy with all other species following in suite thereafter. Conservationists have the extremely tough task of deciding which species to invest in, and therefore which species to save. Conservation could be a luxury of a more wealthy western world, but if we do not do something about this, we could be looked at as the most villainous generation yet.
Biodiversity
“Comparing our ecosystem to a brick wall, we are systematically knocking out bricks and sooner or later the wall will collapse.”
– James Leape, Director General, WWF International
We have lost one half of our world’s forests, one half of our world’s wetlands, and one half of our world’s grasslands. One in four mammals and one in three amphibians are on the list of those threatened to be endangered (Leape, 2006). A reduced number of species means a reduced overall ecosystem.
Frogs are an extremely important species in forests and the Planet Earth team traveled extensively to film them. In Central America, in a small area in Panama, there is fifty species of frogs. Frogs absorb substances easily through their skin, which makes them extremely vulnerable to catch fungi (Plant Earth – the Future, 2006). In Costa Rica, the Golden Toad is now extinct due to the spread of fungus. The fungus has been traced back to the African Claw Toad from South Africa. For the 6000 species of frogs worldwide, one third is now endangered (Price, 2006).
In the Congo Basin in Africa, Forest Elephants are the Earth’s largest land animals measuring up to 11 feet wide and weighing more than six tons. The reason largely responsible for the continued drop in forest elephant population is poaching. Hunters are typically involved in the illegal trade of ivory. The bonobos are under threat from the bushmeat hunters and habitat loss. The mountain gorilla’s existence is also being threatened by hunting, conflict, disease, poaching, and destruction of forest habitat. Other species facing extinction in this region are the leatherback turtle, okapi, and the western lowland gorilla (Carroll).
In the “Roof of Africa” in the Simien Mountains, the walia ibex are the national symbol and a critically endangered species. Due to the environment being dried out and the growing human population, the walia ibex were pushed out to live on the steep cliffs of mountains (Beeley, 2006). The reason for the huge decline in the walia ibex population is caused by hunting from the locals. The Ethiopian people created the Simien Mountains National Park to try to preserve the walia ibex, which thus far has seemed to help (Animal Info).
How close a species is to extinction is one factor conservationists take into consideration when making the tough decision on which species to invest in. One species that makes it truly difficult to count how many are left is the extremely rare snow leopard that resides in the Himalayas. Planet Earth spent months trying to see one and even more months trying to film one (Beeley, 2006). The snow leopards live at 10,000 – 18,000 feet in the Himalayas, which is another reason they are so hard to find. The reason these leopards are so close to extinction is poaching. They are being hunted either for their fur or by shepherds who are trying to protect their flocks. Also being poached in this region is the horned rhino, the Asian elephant and the Indian tiger (Foott).
In the Artic, there are many species close to extinction, but one of the most vulnerable is the polar bear. The polar bears have been behaving very differently since changes have started occurring in their environment. They have been trying to hunt walruses, which is rare. About 15 years ago, in the same area you would see the polar bears living on a sea that was completely covered in ice and they would hunt small seals. The ice cap is rapidly melting and loosing ice cover, which means polar bears are losing the land they use to breed and hunt on (Beeley, 2006). Walruses, Pacific Salmon, Whales, Seals, the Artic Wolf and Artic Fox are all also in danger because of the drastic climate change in the Artic (Jenkins). These species will going forward have two options, move south or go extinct. If they move south, they will be forced to learn a completely new way of living and adapt to a new environment.
In the Amazon the fresh water dolphins are being killed to be used as catfish food in Columbia (Beeley, 2006). Mortality is very common due to fishing nets. Gill nets are the most dangerous to the dolphins, but are still used by commercial fisherman (Kremer, 2000, 2004). The Plane Earth team experiences a population crash of the Saiga Antelope in Central Asia. In the 1990’s, the Planet Earth team was in Central Asia filming for another series and was able to witness an amazing site; millions of saiga antelope. While filming the series for Plant Earth, they wanted to catch this magnificent view again, but were sadly disappointed. In the past 15 years, poachers have reduced this antelope population to almost nothing. The team had to travel east into the wilderness to witness the migration of that is left of the saiga antelope. The Mongolian Gazelle is here today, but could be extinct in 15 years (Beeley, 2006).
The Wild Tiger is another animal well known for being an endangered species. In less than 100 years, the entire species of the Caspian, Javan and Balinese Tigers have gone extinct. The South China tiger has not been seen in the wild in over 25 years. The wide distribution of tigers worldwide has dropped by 93%. A century ago there were about 100,000 tiers, now as few as 3,200 cling for survival in the wild. These tigers trying to survive have to avoid poachers, trying to fight for food and deal with habitat loss (WWF).
In the grasslands of Asme, India, the pigme hog is in danger. The people believe that once the grass dies, it is easier to burn and it will grow back quicker. This may be true, but in the process, the pigme hogs are being burned, along with invertebrates and tortoises. Here is where a major problem arises, there needs to be a solution to help these species, but there also needs to be a solution for the poverty of the people. There is no way you can ask a person in poverty, living day by day to care about the well-being of the animals (Beeley, 2006).
Over the past 300 years we have lost half of all the world’s forests with the loss being greater each year that passes. Every year the Amazon losses forest space the size of Switzerland. As previously mentioned, conservationists have to make tough decisions all the time on what species to invest in. One hot spot is the Congo Basin. There has been poaching patrols to look out for the Forest Elephant, but because this is a hot spot, there are many other species that are being protected in the Congo Basin as well. In Kenya, people are allowed to protect the wildlife themselves. In an effort to help safe the Amur Leopard, in New Orleans at the Zoo, they are practicing DNA cloning. Although some controversy around this, they believe this is a safety net for future generations (Beeley, 2006).
Bugs, weeds and plants are at the base of our ecosystem, they are the base of our energy. Biodiversity is something that benefits all species, including the human species. We depend on so much that comes from our world’s wilderness; medicines, industrial products, fresh water and food to name a few (Beeley, 2006). We are facing extinction of many species like the dinosaurs due to habitat change, pollution, global warming and over human population (Juniper). The rate of extinction has been accelerated, but we need all species because all are important (Wilson).
Conservation could be a luxury of a more wealthy western world or a fantasy, but it is definitely a better investment than war. In closing I will use a quote from one of the speakers in the Planet Earth – The Future series, Professor Wangari Maathai, Founder of the Green Belt Movement, “Don’t worry if you don’t know what it is for, you didn’t create it, so you don’t know what it is for. Just let it be because future generations might depend on that aspect of biodiversity.”
References
Animal Info: Endangered Animals. 7 March, 2005. Walia Ibex. <http://www.animalinfo.org/species/artiperi/caprwali.htm>
Beeley, F. (Series Producer). Bright, M. (Executive Producer). (2006) Planet Earth: As You’ve Never Seen It Before – The Complete Series [Motion Picture]. A BBC/ Discovery Channel/ NHK Co-Production, is Association with the CBC
Beeley, F. (Series Producer). Bright, M. (Executive Producer). (2006) Planet Earth – The Future [Motion Picture]. A BBC/ Discovery Channel/ NHK Co-Production, is Association with the CBC
Carroll, R., et. al. WWF. Congo Basin. <http://www.worldwildlife.org/home-full.html>
Foott, J. et. al. WWF. Eastern Himalayas. <http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/wherewework/easternhimalayas/species.html>
Jenkins, D. WWF. The Artic. <http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/wherewework/arctic/species.html>
Juniper, T. (Executive Director Friends of Earth, Speaker). (2006). Planet Earth – The Future [Motion Picture]. A BBC/ Discovery Channel/ NHK Co-Production, is Association with the CBC
Kremer, R. 2000, 2004. International Society for the Preservation of the tropical Rainforest. Pink and Gray River Dolphins. <http://www.isptr-pard.org/dolphin.html>
Leape, J. (Director General WWF International, Speaker). (2006). Planet Earth – The Future [Motion Picture]. A BBC/ Discovery Channel/ NHK Co-Production, is Association with the CBC
Maathai, W. (Professor; Founder of the Green Belt Movement, Speaker). (2006). Planet Earth – The Future [Motion Picture]. A BBC/ Discovery Channel/ NHK Co-Production, is Association with the CBC
Price, M.S. (Chief Executive, Darrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Speaker). (2006). Planet Earth – The Future [Motion Picture]. A BBC/ Discovery Channel/ NHK Co-Production, is Association with the CBC
Wilson, E.O. (Professor Emeritus Harvard University, Speaker). (2006). Planet Earth – The Future [Motion Picture]. A BBC/ Discovery Channel/ NHK Co-Production, is Association with the CBC
WWF. Tiger – Overview. <http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/tigers/index.html>
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Chapter 32: Drafting a Paper with Documentation Research Summary
Chapter 32: Drafting a Paper with Documentation Research Summary
In this chapter you learn all about plagiarism. Plagiarism is using someone else’s words, ideas, or images as your own. There are many different ways you can plagiarize information, such as, submitted a paper you didn’t write yourself, pasting large chunks of a source into your paper, using summaries, paraphrases, or quotations without documentation, using exact phrasing of a source without quotation marks, and/ or mixing source material and your own ideas. Plagiarism is very serious due to academic dishonesty, theft from the academic community by taking an unfair advantage over your classmates or disrespecting your readers or other writers, and now and in the future you rob yourself of your education and integrity. In order to avoid plagiarism you need to resist temptation, play by the rules, take orderly, accurate notes, document all borrowed material – common knowledge being an exception, and working carefully with source material in your paper. Besides plagiarism you want to avoid using sources inaccurately, using source material out of context, overusing source material, relying heavily on one source failing to match in-text citations to bibliographic entries, and other academic offenses, such as double-dipping, falstaffing and copyright violations. You always want to organize and synthesize your findings by developing your ideas, and developing a structure for delivering research results. Then you can choose your drafting method by writing systematically and freely and then shape your first draft. Next you can integrate source material carefully by supporting your point with facts, statistics, and details, giving credibility with an expert’s supporting statement, and address counterarguments. You want to be sure you have smooth integration when using quotations too. And always be sure to effectively document your sources. You want to clearly identify where your source material begins and ends.
Chapter 31: Conducting Research on the Internet Summary
Chapter 31: Conducting Research on the Internet Summary
You learn a lot about the Internet in this chapter. Some benefits of doing research over the Internet are: it is always open, and it contains a wealth of current information in text, sound, and visual formats. There are some drawbacks though,, they are as follows: the large amount of information can be disorganized, finding relevant material could take careful digging and you should evaluate all sources. Also the Internet lacks quality control, information can be here today, gone or changed tomorrow, and all that info makes it easy for plagiarism. The Internet itself is a worldwide network of connected local computers and computer networks that allows computers to share information with one another. The World Wide Web provides access to much of the material on the Internet. A website is a group of related web pages post by the same sponsor or organization. A web browser allows you to search through a directory or search engine. The Internet address is a URL, Uniform Resource Locator which includes the website purpose in the ending, for example: .com, .edu, .gov,. or .org. You are able to save Internet information by a bookmark, printout, saving it or downloading it, and emailing it. Always on the web you need to try to find the reliable information. You can use your library’s website, URLs, or follow helpful links. And if you know exactly what you are looking for, you can use a search engine or metasearch tool. All of the information in this chapter helps you to perform research on the Internet without plagiarizing work.
Chapter 30: Conducting Primary and Library Research Summary
Chapter 30: Conducting Primary and Library Research Summary
Social Science Essay
A Way to Cope:
Multiple Personality Disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder
Carrie Casey
Lincoln University
Abstract
Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) or Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is when a person, who has endured severe child abuse, has a split in their personality or identity to help cope with the abuse. A person can have anywhere between 2 to 100 different personalities, with an average of 10. In this paper, there will be some specific examples of people with multiple personalities. You will be able to see how a person with DID completely dissociates with the other parts of herself. When one personality comes out and takes control of the body, the other personalities do not remember what happens during that period of time. When the abuse is too much, the brain comes in to defend the person and in most cases, it is a functional way for the person to survive.
A Way To Cope:
Multiple Personality Disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder
Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), is not a common, but not a very rare disorder formed by severe trauma during childhood. The trauma is usually extreme, repetitive physical, sexual and/ or emotional abuse (as cited in Chakraburtty, 2009). Most of us have experienced a mild dissociation, like in daydreaming or getting lost in the moment, but MPD or DID is a much more severe form of that dissociation. It is a mental process in which produces a lack of connection in a person’s thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity.
Multiple Personality Disorder is a disorder involving the splitting of a person’s personality creating two or more separate and distinct personalities or identities that control the person’s behavior at different times. There can be up to 100 different personalities, with an average of 10 (National Alliance on Mental Illness [NAMI], 2000). Usually when under control of one of the identities, the person cannot remember some of the events that occur (as cited in Swartz, 2001). The dissociative aspect of this disorder is thought to be a coping or defense mechanism. When the person with the disorder cannot deal with a situation or experience that is too violent, traumatic or painful, the conscious self disappears allowing another identity to deal with the situation. These other personalities are referred to as “alters.”
Alters can have their own age, sex, race, personal history, self image, and name. They have their own gestures, postures, mannerisms, attitudes, thoughts, and speech. The alters may even differ in “physical” properties like allergies, right-or-left handedness, or the need for eyeglasses (National Alliance on Mental Illness [NAMI], 2000). They each also have a separate way of perceiving their environment, themselves and others. Each alter has a specific way they see where the other alters live when they are not in control of the body. Alters may live in such places as tunnels, houses, or levels. They go to where they live whenever they are not out or they are in hiding. The typical types of alters are a depressed, exhausted host, a strong, angry protector, a scared, hurt child, a helper, and an internal persecutor who blames one or more alter for the abuse they have endured (as cited in Swartz, 2001).
A person who has Dissociative Identity Disorder experiences life differently than those without the disorder. They experience depersonalization, a sense of being detached from their body or having an “out-of-body” experience; derealization, a feeling the world is not real or things look far away; amnesia, which is failure to recall information; and identity confusion or identity alteration, which is confusion about who a person is. The person may experience distortions in time, place, and situation (as cited in Chakraburtty, 2009).
There are a few well known cases of multiple personalities or dissociative identity disorder. One of those cases is famous retired NFL star Herschel Walker who has struggled with dissociative identity disorder for years, but has only been receiving treatment for the past 8 or 9 years (as cited in Chakraburtty, 2009). In an ABC Nightline interview (2008), Herschel old ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff, ‘You don’t want the Herschel that plays football… babysitting your child… When I am competing, I am a totally different person.’ He means that literally. Herschel Walker says that, when playing 15 seasons of professional football in the NFL and USFL, when he pushed a bobsled for the 1992 Olympic team, when he was a family man who married his college sweetheart, when he danced with the Fort Worth Ballet and when he was a business man, none of those guys were him. They were his alters. He doesn’t even remember winning the Heisman Trophy (Woodruff, Hennessey, Hill, 2008)!
There is also well known cases which have had movies made after them, like Sybil and The Three Faces of Eve. Sybil was a movie based on the personality disorder of Sybil Dorsett. Sybil Dorsett had 16 separate personalities, two of who were male. She endured horrific child abuse at the hands of her mother and her father was unable to rescue her from it. Each of her personalities embodies feelings and emotions that the ‘real’ Sybil was unable to cope with. The Three Faces of Eve was a movie based on the real life of Chris Costner Sizemore. Later, Chris Costner Sizemore ended up writing her own book telling her own story. She ended up with 22 different personalities; the first to split was after witnessing traumatic events. She never did complain of childhood abuse (Ramsland, Kuter).
On the Oprah Show, Oprah Winfrey has interviewed two women that have multiple personality disorder. The first woman was interviewed before Oprah even had her nationally televised talk show, her name was Truddi Chase. Truddi Chase was a woman who, after suffering sexual abuse by her stepfather at the age of 2 years old, split into 92 different personalities. Her stepfather would not only sexually abuse her and her step-brother, but also the farm animals. He would then kill the animals so they did not show signs to the neighbors. Truddi remembers hearing the screams of her step-brother and praying they would not stop because she knew as soon as they stopped, she would have to endure the same abuse.
Truddi Chase told Oprah in that interview, ‘We all remember different sections… Multiplicity keeps you sane under the worst conditions. I am sane; we are sane. Believe it or not, it’s easier to deal with than the abuse was’ (The Woman with 92 Personalities, pg. 3, para. 1). Truddi’s therapist, Dr. Robert Phillips believes that the brain has a creative process that comes in and helps to defend a person. This person is usually abused at a very, very young age and becomes extremely overwhelmed. He does not like calling this “dysfunctional,” but in fact it is the most functional way to help a child like this survive and go on.
Truddi Chase’s daughter Kari went on the Oprah show in 1990. She said that growing up with a mom with 92 personalities was by no means typical. She says she would come home from school not knowing who she was coming home to (Follow Up with Truddi Chase, pg.1, para. 1). Because of her mother’s MPD, her childhood friendships became complicated. People did not understand and the parents were scared so they wanted to keep their kids away.
Earlier this year, Oprah interviewed the second woman with DID. Her name is Kim Noble and she has 20 different personalities. Among her personalities are “Patricia,” the primary personality; “Salome,” a devout Catholic; “Judy,” the personality who comes out at mealtimes and, “Ken,” a depressed gay man whom Kim thinks weighs more than 200 pounds (Life as a Mother with 20 Personalities, pg. 1, para. 3). Kim’s psychologists believe she suffered severe trauma from sexual abuse as a young child.
Kim’s 20 personalities each have their own email address, in which she does not have any of the passwords for, along with their own wardrobes, closets and toothbrushes. “Patricia” is the main personality that keeps up with the house and the bills and takes care of Aimee, her daughter. “Patricia” believes that Kim is gone forever. That the abuse was too much for her so all the others have to take over running the body.
On her daughter Aimee’s birthday, many of the personalities give Aimee their own gifts. Aimee knows each personality and has had to build a relationship with each one (Life as a Mother with 20 Personalities, pg. 4, para. 4). Aimee is fine with her mom the way she is. The only time she seems upset is when the personality “Dawn” come out. “Dawn” believes the year is still 1997, the year Aimee was born and she does not realize that Aimee is her daughter. Because of this, Aimee feels rejected.
Kim is a person with DID that does not remember any of her abuse. She believes that her personality “Ria Pratt,” a 12 year old girl, holds the key to that. “Ria Pratt” does paintings that show abuse, but she doesn’t directly come out and say what happened (Art Therapy and Dissociative Identity Disorder, Video). When “Patricia” watches the video of “Ria Pratt” showing and talking about her artwork, she feels sad for “Ria Pratt,” but is glad she herself was never abused. So you can see how the dissociation happens in Kim’s particular case. Even though “Ria Pratt” is a part of her, Kim considers her to be a completely different person.
I, just like Aimee and Kari, have also had a close relationship with someone who has been diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. This person has a total of four personalities along with her adult self. These four personalities do not have different names, but different ages and different mannerisms. There is a 3-year old girl who is scared and will not look you in the eye, a 5-year old girl who is screaming and crying while clutching her fists tightly, a teenager girl who doesn’t have a care in the world, a schizoid personality and her adult self. I have witnessed all of these personalities come out. I have had the experience of trying to get the personality to go back into hiding and bring the adult self back out.
MPD has always fascinated me for many reasons and continues to prove interesting with all the research I have done. It is amazing how a person’s mind can split, creating different personalities or identities in order to cope with abuse they have endured, and how it is a defense mechanism to protect themselves against situations they cannot handle. The brain is an incredible thing and it is truly amazing how it finds a way to let the person survive.
References
Art Therapy and Dissociative Identity Disorder, The Oprah Winfrey Show. (2001, Oct. 1) Video.
Retrieved on Nov 6, 2010, from http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Art-Therapy-and-Dissociative-Identity-Disorder-Video
Chakraburtty, A. (2009, Sept. 16). Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality
Disorder). Retrieved Nov. 6, 2010, from http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder
Follow Up with Truddi Chase, The Oprah Winfrey Show. (2010, Oct. 6). Retrieved on Nov
6, 2010, from http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Truddi-Chase-Follow-Up/2
Life as a Mother with 20 Personalities, The Oprah Winfrey Show. (2010, Oct. 6). Retrieved on
Nov 6, 2010, from http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Kim-Noble-Multiple-Personality-Artist/1
National Alliance on Mental Illness [NAMI]., March, 2000 Dissociative Identity Disorder
(formally Multiple Personality Disorder) Retrieved Nov. 6, 2010, from http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=Helpline&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=20562
Ramsland, K., Kuter, R. (n.d) Multiple Personalities: Crime and Defense. Tru TV Crime Library.
Retrieved Nov 6, 2010, from
Sybil Isabel Dorsett: The most famous case of multiple personality. Retrieved Nov. 6, 2010,
The Woman with 92 Personalities, The Oprah Winfrey Show. (2010, June 11). Retrieved on Nov
Woodruff, B., Hennessey, J., Hill, J. (2008, April 14). Herschel Walker: ‘Tell the World My
Truth’: Former NFL Start Opens Up About Battle With Dissociative Identity Disorder. ABC News/ Nightline. Retrieved Nov. 6, 2010, from http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=4643971&page=1
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Chapter 29: Getting Started - From Planning Research to Evaluting Sources Summary
Chapter 29: Getting Started – From Planning Research to Evaluating Sources Summary
In this chapter you learn all about how to do your research for a paper and how to evaluate the sources you get your information from. You need to have a narrow manageable topic first. Then you can start brainstorming research questions. You need to have both simple and substantial questions, as well as, main and secondary questions. You also need to have a working thesis. The formula for a working thesis is: Working Thesis = Limited Topic + Tentative Claim, Statement, or Hypothesis. It is important to remember your thesis can change throughout your writing process. After this, you need to choose your research method. You can do background research, field or primary research, library research and/ or internet research. It all depends on your topic and where the relative information will be for you. You need to make sure to establish priorities when it comes to your research, like how much research will you need to do, what range of resources will give you quality, reliable information and what types of research does your project specify? You need to open to mind to explore all types of possible information resources and sites. Sites can be personal, reference works, books, government publications, people, libraries, mass media, testing, or the workplace. Make sure when doing your research that you choose your keywords carefully. You need to have some strategies for choosing your keywords. You need to engage your sources. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. It’s better to skim the source before your read in-depth and read with an open-mind. Be aware of the rating of your source. You want to make sure it is reliable. You want your source to have current information, have a credible author, reliable publication, and you want your source to have quality writing and design. One of the most important things your working bibliography; this is very important. You need to make sure you are not plagiarizing someone else’s work. You need to tell when you are using information from a source. It is also important to develop a note-taking strategy. You need to take good notes and make sure to separate your source’s information from your own. You can also summarize and/or paraphrase your source’s information, but also make sure to tell where this information comes from. This is a great chapter in combination with other chapters to help you write a perfect research paper.
Chapter 34: APA Documentation Format Summary
Chapter 34: APA Documentation Format Summary
In this chapter we learned about how to write an APA formatted paper. The chapter listed guidelines for you to follow, such as, having a separate title page, placing references in the text, what the margins should be like, and page numbers. In an APA formatted paper, you should always have a separate title page and you should always include your references. You need to have a margin of at least one inch on all sides of the paper and have the page number in the top right hand margin. You also always need to have an abstract. And abstract is a 100- to 150-word paragraph summarizing your paper. Having an appendix in your APA paper is really up to the instructor, per this chapter. The chapter also gives several examples on how to document where you get your information, or the content of your paper from. There are proper ways to tell and show in-text citations and reference entries such as book and other documents, printed periodical articles, online sources, and other sources like primary, personal and multimedia. I really found that this chapter will be very helpful when we write a paper that needs to be in APA format. I’m sure I will be referring back to it a lot when writing my social sciences paper.
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Thursday, October 28, 2010
Journal Entry
Well, I missed class today as I am not feeling too well. So I figure I can at least try to get some book work done. I would prefer to have that out of the way so I can focus on my upcoming social sciences essay. I am already trying to think of a topic for that essay. I am not sure yet what to write about. I am hoping in class we will talk about some different options.
Chapter 26: Writing for the Workplace Summary
Chapter 26: Writing for the Workplace Summary
This chapter can be very helpful to anyone who reads it. It is all about how to write properly for the workplace. It thoroughly goes through how you can write a business letter. The parts to a business letter are as follows: heading, inside address, salutation, body complimentary closing, signature, initials, enclosure, and copies. Everyone needs to know how to write a business letter at sometime or another in their life. For myself, I knew certain parts of the business letter format, but not all, so this was very useful for me to read. I had no idea about the proper way to address the reader in the letter. I did not know you should never assume and write Miss or Mrs., but that you should leave it as Mr. or Ms. I also did not know about putting initials on the bottom of the letter for the writer and the person who types the letter for the writer.
Also in this chapter you learn a bit about how to properly write a memo and an email. I knew a lot about this section of the chapter, but it was a great refresher. I think it is important to remember when writing a memo and/or an email you should keep it clear and to the point. This makes it easy for the reader to understand what you are trying to communicate and whether or not it is important for the reader to keep and/ or respond to.
I find the most important parts of this chapter to be the section regarding “applying for a job.” This section of the chapter goes over the application letter or cover letter, the recommendation request letter, the application essay and how to prepare a resume. Especially as a college student who will be soon looking for a new career, I found all this information very useful. Your cover letter is very important. It introduces you to the potential employer and highlights information you want to stand out from your resume. When asking an employer or instructor to write a recommendation letter for you, you must do it properly. It is best to follow this outline: a situation, explanation and an action. You want to remind the reader of your relationship and ask them to write a recommendation letter for you. It is important to then describe the work you did for the reader and the type of job in which you are applying for. Then you should include what he recommendation letter should include and where and when to send it.
You may be asked to write an application essay when applying for admission to a program, trying to gain a scholarship, or research a grant. Whatever the reason for writing, you want to understand what you are being asked to write and why and focus on the instructions given on how to write your letter. You always want to be honest with yourself and your reader. You want to think about your purpose and audience. You want to develop your essay with flowing organization in having an attention grabbing introduction, a body that develops your thesis and a conclusion that stresses a positive point, looking forward to participating in the program, internship, or position. You need to write personally, but professionally and always refine your work to make a flawless final draft. In preparing an essay, you need to include your personal data, such as, your name, address, phone numbers and email address. You want to have a job objective, list your skills summary, experience, education and other experiences, such as volunteer work, awards, achievements, licenses and certifications.
This is definitely a chapter to refer back to when I, or anyone, is searching a career and in need of writing a cover letter and resume and obtaining some recommendation letters.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Journal Entry
So... I moved at the beginning of this month and I still do not have internet at home! When you don't have internet you realize how much you are missing it! It is so hard for me to do my homework, to help my friend plan her wedding, to keep up with my emails, and to do my volunteering work with Doctors Giving Back. My internet is supposed to be up this Friday... so hopefully AT&T keeps to their word THIS time.
We have our social sciences essay coming up... and I am interested to hear more about this topic. I am wondering what the topic of my essay will be. We shall see....
We have our social sciences essay coming up... and I am interested to hear more about this topic. I am wondering what the topic of my essay will be. We shall see....
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Journal Entry
“No friend like music when the heart is broken to mend its wings and give it flight again.”
I absolutely LOVE this picture and that quote! I have always felt a special connection to music. Music has always been the healer of my soul. When I am feeling any type of emotion, music is there to support that emotion. Whenever I felt the need to tune something out, music has been there to help me. Music has a way to lift my spirits like nothing else. Much of me feels I owe my sanity to music. It has done wonders for me!
Humanities Essay
“Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue”
September 11th, 2001 is a day America will never forget. September 11th, 2001 is a day I will never forget. I remember waking up that morning to my mom telling me to come downstairs and take a look at what the news was saying and showing. I remember walking down the stairs, staring at the TV in absolute shock. I tried to call our extended family in New York, but the phone lines were busy for hours. Worry and wonder had then joined my pool of emotions that somber day. In the days following 9/11, I was able to reach my family members by phone and was overjoyed to hear they were okay. Although hearing some of the stories gave me the chills. Hearing about how my cousin’s grandfather had to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge in order to get out of New York City that day was unimaginable. Hearing about a friend of the family who worked on the 102nd floor of one of the buildings never missed a day of work, but her friend talked her into playing hooky that day was unbelievable. And hearing of my cousin’s aunt dying in the World Trade Center was heartbreaking.
I traveled to New York twice in 2001; once in November and then again in December. Both times I went to ground zero and saw the devastation. The streets were still filled with debris and ash. The air smelled of smoke and death. Ground zero itself was enclosed by fencing which was covered with pictures of people’s loved ones, missing person posters, candles, teddy bears, firefighter helmets and all other sorts of personal mementos. It was one of the saddest sights I had ever seen. I remember looking up and imagining standing on those streets that infamous day and all I could feel was disbelief and fear. I could not believe something like this could take place in our country, on American soil. I could not understand why or who would want to cause such destruction and suffering.
Toby Keith, an American country music singer was inspired by the events of September 11th and his father’s death in March of 2001 to write the song, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.” In November 2003, Toby Keith told CBS in an interview that his dad was a veteran who taught him how important our freedom is, which is stated in the song as, “…my daddy served in the army where he lost his right eye, but he flew a flag out in our yard 'til the day that he died. He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me to grow up and live happy in the land of the free…” (Cowboy Lyrics) Because of these values he was taught by his dad, the attacks of 9/11 made him very angry and he used the words of this song to get that across. This song about his father’s patriotism and faith is the USA only took him 20 minutes to write. At first he only sang this song live in front of military personnel until the Commandant of the Marine Corps, James L. Jones, told Toby Keith it was his duty as an American citizen to record the song and continue to entertain and lift the morale of the troops.
In the second verse of the song, “Now this nation that I love is fallin' under attack, a mighty sucker-punch came flying in from somewhere in the back. Soon as we could see clearly through our big black eye, man, we lit up your world like the fourth of July.” (Cowboy Lyrics) I see these words directly related to the terrorist attacks that happened on 9/11. As he is singing about a mighty sucker-punch that came flying in from somewhere in the back, this is in reference to the attack by the planes at the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. When I hear these words, I am filled with such powerful emotions. I am filled with emotion that makes me want to shout from the roof tops saying, “Hell yeah!” I feel like outsiders came into America and did such unimaginable damage, caused such a huge loss of life and created such a sense of fear that here in this verse, we are saying as Americans, we will not stand for that and we will fight back!
The chorus is a very powerful verse in my opinion too. It goes like this, “Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list, and the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist, and the eagle will fly and it's gonna be hell, when you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell. And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you. Ah, brought to you, courtesy of the red, white and blue.” (Cowboy Lyrics) I love the way Toby Keith uses symbolism in this verse. Uncle Sam putting a name at the top of his list, I think Osama Bin Laden is at the top of that list. The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of the United States, and in this verse, you hear that she is angry at what is taking place in her country. The eagle flying to give hell, I see as the military flying in to protect and fight for America. Mother Freedom ringing her bell is symbolizing the Liberty Bell, which is also a symbol for the United States. In saying, “brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue” is a great way to wrap up the verse by saying the United States of America is fighting back and standing up to terrorism.
The third verse of the song is I believe where you can feel a lot of Toby Keith’s anger and certainty about America and how we will fight back as a country and what that means. The words state, “Oh, justice will be served and the battle will rage: This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage. An' you'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A. 'Cos we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way.” (Cowboy Lyrics) I would have to say that at a Toby Keith concert, when this verse is being sung, it gets the most shouts and claps. I think there is just so much passion behind the words. I think the events of September 11th caused a lot of anger in a lot of people and music is a great way to deal with that anger. In fact, music can deal with all kinds of emotions, not just anger. That is why I think this song is so powerful for so many people.
When I personally hear the song, I can honestly say I have never felt so patriotic! The song represents so many things to me. It represents freedom and what that means to this country. It represents how we will stand up and fight anyone who makes an attack on American soil and that we will not just lay down. It also represents how we stand behind and support our troops. As the song says in the first verse, “American girls and American guys, will always stand up and salute. We'll always recognize, when we see ol' glory flying, there's a lot of men dead, so we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our heads.” (Cowboy Lyrics) This verse above all else tells us what our American soldiers do for us. Regardless if you support war or not, you should support your soldiers and recognize all the work they do to make this country safe and how they can and will fight for our freedom.
Hearing this song it always give me goose bumps, fills me with passion, and even on occasion can bring a tear to my eye. I think I have a sense of closeness to this song not only because of the patriotism behind it, but also because of the reason it was written. For everyone in the country, September 11th was a tragic and terribly sad day. For me, it was hard to believe it even happened; but when I saw ground zero, when I saw the devastation, when I smelt the death in the air, when I felt the sadness all around, and when I heard the many stories of friends of the family it made it so real for me. It really hit a place in my heart where I will always carry it around and think of all those people. I will never forget what I saw and that was a month and two months after the fact. I can only imagine the horror those people felt when this attack took place. So in hearing and seeing Toby Keith in concert singing “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” with all the military in the audience on stage with him, I cannot help but be filled with all these emotions. I cannot help but feel patriotic, to feel so blessed to live in this land of the free where our military works so hard to fight to protect us, and I cannot help but just love this song.
Toby Keith had a public feud with the lead singer from another country music group, the Dixie Chicks, Natalie Maines. Natalie Maines thought this song was very ignorant and made country music sound ignorant. I strongly disagree with Miss Maines. I think this song is very patriotic and shows how Americans will fight against terrorism. I also think this song is a great way to release emotion, as many songs are great for, and a great way to support our American soldiers. I admire Toby Keith for writing this song and standing behind it, even when some think it may be “too patriotic” or “too politically incorrect.” (CMT) What else can I say except this song makes me proud to be an American!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Journal Entry
I just finished by chapter mind maps and summaries for the next week. Now I can focus all my attention on my humanties essay. I think I will write about the Toby Keith song "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue!" That song really touches my heart and gives me goose bumps when I listen to it.
On a personal note, before I can focus 100% on writing this essay... I have to move this weekend. I am hoping to do it quick and get completely unpacked all this weekend so I don't have to worry about it anymore. This whole full-time student, packing and moving stress has been killing me!! I cannot wait until this weekend is over and we are all settled in our new place. Then I can just go back to being a full-time student and focus my attention back on my studies!
Wish me luck! Tons to do in a little bit of time! I'm sure I can get it done.
On a personal note, before I can focus 100% on writing this essay... I have to move this weekend. I am hoping to do it quick and get completely unpacked all this weekend so I don't have to worry about it anymore. This whole full-time student, packing and moving stress has been killing me!! I cannot wait until this weekend is over and we are all settled in our new place. Then I can just go back to being a full-time student and focus my attention back on my studies!
Wish me luck! Tons to do in a little bit of time! I'm sure I can get it done.
Chatper 25: Taking Essay Tests Summary
Chapter 25: Taking Essay Tests Summary
I actually really found this chapter quite helpful for myself. This chapter talks all about how to take tests. You should do daily reviews after or before every class and weekly study sessions as well. The most important part of studying is repetition! The more you repeat, the more you will remember. Daily reviews help you to move information from your short-term memory to long-term memory. Your weekly study sessions really help to get you to remember new information for the long term as well. Some study tools you can use are mind maps, flash cards, review questions, explain or teach the subject to someone, create mnemonics and/or organize a study group. If you plan to study with a group, start off by setting up one study session first. See how that goes, then you can set up a second sessions. You want to be sure you mesh well with who you are studying with. In your group, you want to discuss your goals and make sure to stay on tract. You want to make sure to discuss any issues that may arise in your study group and exchange you contact information.
When taking an essay test, you want to be sure to evaluate, synthesize, predict, analyze and write a worth-while answer. There are many different approaches that can be taken. For example, analyze, classify, compare and contrast, define, explain, justify, prove, review, state, and trace, to name a few. You want to be sure to reread the question several times, rephrase the question into a topic sentence or thesis statement for your answer, outline the main points you plan to cover in your answer and then you can write your essay. For taking true/ false, matching or multiple choice tests, you want to be sure to read all the questions and answers completely before answering. I’d say that is the most important thing to remember. You need to take you time and pay attention to all the words in the question that is being asking. If you have anxiety before tests, there are many tips that can help you. You can make sure to study smart, review with others, prepare mentally and physically, get some exercise, take a shower, get to class early, relax, glance through the entire test, begin with questions you know the answer to and most importantly – don’t panic!!!! I think this chapter is extremely helpful because who doesn’t have a hard time at some point with test taking?! I think everyone has their moments when tests are extremely hard, overwhelming and when you have moments of anxiety. Everyone can get something out of reading this chapter.
Chapter 27: Writing and Designing for the Web Summary
Chapter 27: Writing and Designing for the Web Summary
This chapter walks you through how to write and design a website. You need look at the following seven web page elements – a heading, body text, preformatted text, lists, images, background color and tables. You need to look at each element and figure out what is best for your site. You need to remember that simple is best different computers display things differently and the user is king or queen. The user needs to be able to change how your site is displayed on their screen. You also need to understand some functions you can have on your page. You need to know about and understand hyperlinks, menus and forms. I believe every website should always have a menu – a table of contents in other words. That way the user can easily navigate throughout your site. Hyperlinks and forms may or may not apply to your site. You would need to make that decision as you build your site. In order to get started in creating a web site, you need to think about the purpose of your website, the site’s audience be and the site’s central topic. When establishing you site’s central message, you should write out the main idea or the “mission statement.” As your site develops, you need to keep this mission statement in mind, sticking to it and/or add secondary goals for your site. After you have your mission statement, you need to realize that no one will read your entire site, your site may have many small audiences, websites are not linear and you may need to build your site in phases. You can have a single home page and then pages that branch out from it. You can study similar sites to get some ideas, look at organization, what the voice of the site(s) are, what words are being used, is it understandable, what are the sentences used, are they correct, and look at the design. You then can gather and prioritize your content, gather all your supporting materials and then design and develop individual pages. Make sure when drafting your site you identify the site, provide clear links, introduce and title each page, keep all your pages uncluttered, and save your webpage as HTML. You need to get feedback on your website just like you do when you write an essay. You can check over your site yourself, get peer review, and check all the text and graphics, provide a feedback link, post the site to the web, check for universality, announce your site, monitor your site and then make adjustments and updates as needed. Building a website seems a lot like writing an essay; it is just a bigger project. There is a lot of the same guidelines you have to follow for both a website and essay. You need to gather and organize you thoughts, write or deliver them in a clear and complete way, keep in mind who your audience is, get peer review and then post and share your work.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Journal Entry
I have been thinking since last week's class about what I want to write about in my Humanities topic essay. I am really stumped as to what I want my topic to be. The essay is due in a couple weeks.... so I have some time. I will really have to start thinking about topics that mean something to me. We'll see what I come up with.
Chapter 21 - Observation Report Summary
Chapter 21: Observation Report Summary
This chapter is all about observation – how to observe, where to observe, what to see how to see it, and how to portray it. I love how the first sentence in this chapter states that “observant people are insightful people.” I have never looked at it like that, but it is so true. When you are writing an observation report, you want to be sure to share your observations by appealing to all the senses. When choosing an observation site, you have many choices. You can choose a natural site, such as a state park or zoo. You can choose a site full of people such as a sports arena or market. You can choose an unfamiliar site like a different neighborhood or an ethnic spot. You can choose a serene spot like a quiet park or an empty building. You can choose a coursework-related site too. If you are taking a course in early childhood education, you can choose to visit a day care center. Or you can choose a border site, such as the lines between city and suburb or land and water.
After you select your site, you want to be sure you consider your purpose and think of your readers. You need to be sure you are prepared to observe by understanding your goal and what you have to look for, by doing background research, and by requesting permission is necessary to observe. You also need to make sure your timing is right, that you have enough time and that you make multiple visits if necessary. You need to have all equipment or supplies needed with you and have proper transportation and clothing. As you sit and observe you need to make sure you pay close attention to what you see, hear, smell, and what you feel and taste. You can also explore your sixth sense – thoughts, feelings and associations. If you need to, take photos, record sounds and collect samples.
Next of course, you organize your thoughts, making sure to have enough details and you need to develop a theme. When writing your observation report, it should explode with vivid detail and your title should hint to your theme. And as always, with any report or essay, you need to get feedback, revise your draft, edit and proofread it, and then share your final essay.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Chapter 24 - Writing About Literature and the Arts Summary
Summary of Chapter 24: Writing About Literature and the Arts
This chapter talks about how you can write or review poems, short stories, plays, films, concerts, music and many more forms of literature and the arts. The chapter also gives four different examples given on how to analyze and write about different forms of literature and art. There is one example on a literary analysis, one of writing about a poem, writing about a performance, and one on writing about a film. One great point made in this chapter is that it is wise to experience the work at least two or three times if possible. I think this is so important because when dealing with literature and the arts, there can be so many meanings and so many things you can miss. It is truly best to view or listen at least a few times to whatever you are trying to write about. I also really liked how this chapter advised you to form your own opinions and insights before reading what someone else has to say about it. If you read others’ opinions first, it very well might sway your opinion. It is best when dealing with the arts to start with a clean slate of your thoughts. Go into the experience of reading some literature and/ or experiencing some form of art with an open mind. The guidelines for writing an essay about literature and the arts have almost the same steps as does any other essay. I’d say one of the most important things when writing about literature and the arts is to understand the work. You need to examine the plot, setting, characters, diction, theme, lyrics, lighting, symbolism, irony, figures of speech and so on. You really need to dig deep into the work and really analyze every aspect of it. You need to gather all the information, organize it, and write a first draft with am opening, middle and conclusion. Then you need to review and revise your work making sure you understand the work you are analyzing. You should then always get feedback, edit and proofread your essay, making it clear and complete, and then your essay will be ready to publish.
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