Ruzich uses her “Schmoopy.” Starbucks Coffee Company Promotional Sign. 2004. cite in her article to show how the consumers of Starbucks were enticed by the slogan in the window of the store, persuading the consumers to enter the store and purchase coffee. Ruzich reports that Starbucks would give away these signs to loyal customers.
“Starbucks Eyes Overtaking McDonald's.”Seattle-Post Intelligencer. 26 July 2002. 13 Mar. 2004 〈http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/80069_starbucks26.shtml〉 Ruzich uses this cite in her opening paragraph. The quote used from Bishop's article says that Starbucks could surpass McDonalds. This could be used to show how many Starbucks store are actually opening in the world, giving Ruzich the advantage and strategy of giving possible facts to the audience for a more general feel of her article.
States and Social Evolution: Coffee and the Rise of National Governments in Central America. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1994. Is an article that Ruzich uses to start her process of giving information about the importance of coffee companies in the world. This article is quoted before Ruzich goes into detail about how the coffee industry influences growth in areas of the world.
Using sources in a research essay help grab the audiences belief and attention when reading an article. Without sources, one could not have any backbone to what they are writing about. I think that cited work helps build the foundation to a research essay. Finding sources is the actual research part of a research essay.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Assignment 7 - 60 minutes
From the 60 minutes clip, I realized that the audience is the most important part of the research project. If the audience cannot understand the point the researched is trying to get across, then the project is basically garbage. If the audience cannot trust the facts being stated, or even the reason for the story, then the audience will not like the paper they are readying. I noticed that the show was missing many important points and views from other people that should have been on there. Personally, I was not following or believing what the reporter and the protagonist were trying to sell off because there was a lack of proof behind what was said to have happened. It was a good story to sell and grab attention, but being critical of it, I did not like it.
In my annotated bibliography I tried to find supportive for my research question from different perspectives. After watching the 60 minute scene, I really got the idea that the audience is hungry for facts and feeding them before giving them the bedtime story, or the conclusion, really sets the right tempo of moving the research paper along. Without them proper facts and different sides of the story, the audience is not going to be interested. An audience is not hungry for crap, they want the juicy steak and potatoes to set them straight.
What I have so far is basically a list of details and perspectives and facts from multiple levels of fighting from my side, or the side that shows the bad decisions based of watching media. One of my sides shows that media does in fact influence decisions, stating that adolescents are attracted to vibrant media posters and slogans. I do not want to try and just fight and basically say that media is bad, however I do want to get the point across that media may influence adolescent drug use or underage drinking and early sex. Since watching the 60 minute scene, I don't want to be that reporter just trying to make a sob story for some bimbo who got too drunk and raped. I do feel bad for her, but how do I really know that she got raped? Am i supposed to believe she did because she feels bad for how drunk she got and how many guys took advantage of her? Maybe she actually had consensual sex with one of those boys, but the boys thought it would have been funny to just come in and start tag teaming, which is wrong Im not saying its not, but why didn't she go to the police? Why didn't the reporter talk to the boys? Maybe the boys didn't want to be on TV... and so on and so on.... The report was not right and did not show the proper sides of the story before going off on the college about how it is wrong to let these boys get away with what they did with the minor consequences.
With that being said, I do not want it to seem like I am going off on the media without 'letting the media speak for itself'. I think that i have some great points in my annotated bibliography, but I also think that it is lacking on some things that may support the media more as well. Maybe a testimony from an adolescent, maybe a testimony from myself.
In my annotated bibliography I tried to find supportive for my research question from different perspectives. After watching the 60 minute scene, I really got the idea that the audience is hungry for facts and feeding them before giving them the bedtime story, or the conclusion, really sets the right tempo of moving the research paper along. Without them proper facts and different sides of the story, the audience is not going to be interested. An audience is not hungry for crap, they want the juicy steak and potatoes to set them straight.
What I have so far is basically a list of details and perspectives and facts from multiple levels of fighting from my side, or the side that shows the bad decisions based of watching media. One of my sides shows that media does in fact influence decisions, stating that adolescents are attracted to vibrant media posters and slogans. I do not want to try and just fight and basically say that media is bad, however I do want to get the point across that media may influence adolescent drug use or underage drinking and early sex. Since watching the 60 minute scene, I don't want to be that reporter just trying to make a sob story for some bimbo who got too drunk and raped. I do feel bad for her, but how do I really know that she got raped? Am i supposed to believe she did because she feels bad for how drunk she got and how many guys took advantage of her? Maybe she actually had consensual sex with one of those boys, but the boys thought it would have been funny to just come in and start tag teaming, which is wrong Im not saying its not, but why didn't she go to the police? Why didn't the reporter talk to the boys? Maybe the boys didn't want to be on TV... and so on and so on.... The report was not right and did not show the proper sides of the story before going off on the college about how it is wrong to let these boys get away with what they did with the minor consequences.
With that being said, I do not want it to seem like I am going off on the media without 'letting the media speak for itself'. I think that i have some great points in my annotated bibliography, but I also think that it is lacking on some things that may support the media more as well. Maybe a testimony from an adolescent, maybe a testimony from myself.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Assignment 6 - Annotated Bibliography
1) Article:
14) Austin, Erica Weintraub, Bruce E. Pinkleton, and Yuki Fujioka. "The Role Of Interpretation Processes And Parental Discussion In The Media's Effects On.." Pediatrics 105.2 (2000): 343. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
15) Erica Weintraub Austin, Meng-Jinn Chen, Joel W. Grube, "How does alcohol advertising influence underage drinking? The role of desirability, identification and skepticism", Journal of Adolescent Health, Volume 38, Issue 4, April 2006, Pages 376-384, ISSN 1054-139X, 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.08.017.
-This article focuses more on alcohol advertisement and how the advertisements are or may be appealing to adolescents and possibly persuading them to consume alcohol. I also like this article because it goes in-depth on the psychological factors that come into play with adolescents and how their brain perceives certain alcoholic, or any, images or advertisements that they may see. This article does not necessarily give answers to exactly why an adolescent may underage drink, but it gives clear facts about how images are interpreted.
16) Wilma A. M. Vollebergh, et al. "The Soundtrack Of Substance Use: Music Preference And Adolescent Smoking And Drinking." Substance Use & Misuse 44.4 (2009): 514-531. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
17) Primack, Brian A., Erika L. Douglas, and Kevin L. Kraemer. "Exposure To Cannabis In Popular Music And Cannabis Use Among Adolescents."Addiction 105.3 (2010): 515-523. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
Maynard, W. Barksdale. "Thoreau's House at Walden." Art Bulletin 81.2 (1999): 303. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 19 Nov. 2002.Image:
2) Anderson, Craig A., Nicholas L. Carnagey, and Janie Eubanks. "Exposure To Violent Media: The Effects Of Songs With Violent Lyrics On Aggressive Thoughts And Feelings." Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology 84.5 (2003): 960-971. PsycARTICLES. Web. 16 Feb. 2012."Clown Fish." Getty Images. Points of View. EBSCO. Web. 30 Jan. 2007.
- I like this cite because the article uses multiple displays and graphs of the effects of violent song lyrics and aggressive thoughts. This shows that with the rise in aggressive music, more aggressive thoughts develop. The problem is that it is hard to tell if the thoughts are actually developed because the the aggressive music vs. actually personality.
3) Works Cited
3) Works Cited
Primack, Brian A., Erika L. Douglas, and Kevin L. Kraemer. "Exposure To Cannabis In Popular Music And Cannabis Use Among Adolescents."Addiction 105.3 (2010): 515-523. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
4) Valkenburg, Patti M., and Tom H. A. van der Voort. "Influence Of TV On Daydreaming And Creative Imagination: A Review Of Research."Psychological Bulletin 116.2 (1994): 316-339. PsycARTICLES. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
-This one is as well useful. The author uses multiple psychological graphs and experiments to display the amount of cannabis use in music vs. the use among the youth associated with the use in the music. The author is very scientific with his/her methods of experimenting to show all different possible accounts of music vs. sex/age/ect.., to show that the use is indeed more while listening to the cannabis-filled music. Although this article as well has a downfall of actually having enough evidence that music makes adolescence smoke weed, which is not the right decision while taking in the fact that it is against the law.
5) Harriss, Chandler. "The Evidence Doesn't Lie: Genre Literacy and the CSI Effect."Journal of Popular Film & Television, 39.1 (2011): 2-11.
7) Boer, Diana, Ronald Fischer, Micha Strack, Michael H Bond, Eva Lo, and Jason Lam. "How Shared Preferences in Music Create Bonds Between People: Values as the Missing Link." Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, Sept, 2011, Vol.37(9), P.1159(13), 37.9 (2011): 1159.
4) Valkenburg, Patti M., and Tom H. A. van der Voort. "Influence Of TV On Daydreaming And Creative Imagination: A Review Of Research."Psychological Bulletin 116.2 (1994): 316-339. PsycARTICLES. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
-This one is as well useful. The author uses multiple psychological graphs and experiments to display the amount of cannabis use in music vs. the use among the youth associated with the use in the music. The author is very scientific with his/her methods of experimenting to show all different possible accounts of music vs. sex/age/ect.., to show that the use is indeed more while listening to the cannabis-filled music. Although this article as well has a downfall of actually having enough evidence that music makes adolescence smoke weed, which is not the right decision while taking in the fact that it is against the law.
5) Harriss, Chandler. "The Evidence Doesn't Lie: Genre Literacy and the CSI Effect."Journal of Popular Film & Television, 39.1 (2011): 2-11.
-This article explains the idea are affected by what is scene on TV by using the example of the show CSI and how crimes are committed now to prove that people are in fact learning from TV.
6) Quill, Elizabeth, and Quill. "A Mind for Music.(SPECIAL SECTION)(music Influence in the Brain and Body)(Brief Article)." Science News, August 14, 2010, Vol.178(4), P.17(1), 178.4 (2010): 17.
-This article fights that music influences the brain. Somewhat useful, but more of just a research paper and personal bias.
6) Quill, Elizabeth, and Quill. "A Mind for Music.(SPECIAL SECTION)(music Influence in the Brain and Body)(Brief Article)." Science News, August 14, 2010, Vol.178(4), P.17(1), 178.4 (2010): 17.
-This article fights that music influences the brain. Somewhat useful, but more of just a research paper and personal bias.
-This article proves that people are attracted to people with the same music preference. The point of this article is to help support my eventual point about peers and the media and bad decisions. People are most likely going to associate themselves with people of the same music preference. Some adolescence make decisions based off of their peers, who could be affected by the media in someway.
8) Schwartz, K. D., & Fouts, G. T. (2003). Music preferences, personality style, and developmental issues of adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 32(3), 205-213. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.lib.uwm.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/60284566?accountid=15078
-This article provides an exceptional but broad base for discussion when determining the developmental issues of adolescents associated with music preference. The music preference is said to also bring about a sort of personality style, possibly based off of peers with similar music preference. Adolescents appear to have a more troubled youth when associated with more violence in their peer life and choice of music genera.
-This article provides an exceptional but broad base for discussion when determining the developmental issues of adolescents associated with music preference. The music preference is said to also bring about a sort of personality style, possibly based off of peers with similar music preference. Adolescents appear to have a more troubled youth when associated with more violence in their peer life and choice of music genera.
9) Music Taste Groups and Problem Behavior
Journal of youth and adolescence [0047-2891] Mulder vol:36 iss:3 pg:313 - 324
-This article focuses on the possible relations between peers with the same music preference and behavioral problems. The article brings experiments to Dutch adolescents, focusing on their preferred choice of music and how they feel afterwords. Their are multiple different experiments done to try and eliminate any possible outside variables that may come into play, using large numbers of adolescents.
Journal of youth and adolescence [0047-2891] Mulder vol:36 iss:3 pg:313 - 324
-This article focuses on the possible relations between peers with the same music preference and behavioral problems. The article brings experiments to Dutch adolescents, focusing on their preferred choice of music and how they feel afterwords. Their are multiple different experiments done to try and eliminate any possible outside variables that may come into play, using large numbers of adolescents.
10) "Clinical Digest. Listening To Music With Cannabis Lyrics Encourages Use."Nursing Standard 24.39 (2010): 17. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
-This article is pretty straight forward using information from previous experiments done.
-This article is pretty straight forward using information from previous experiments done.
11) "Propensity Scoring and the Relationship Between Sexual Media and Adolescent Sexual Behavior." Developmental Psychology, 2011, Vol. 47(2), P.577-579, 47.2 (2011): 577-579.
-This article differs from the last articles that i have read through by focusing more on media portraying sex and underage-sex. This article also goes more into depth on actual psychological science and behaviors that adolescents endure and how sexual media can interact with adolescents choices to have sex by portraying it in ways that are appealing.
12) Effects of Visual and Verbal Sexual Television Content and Perceived Realism on Attitudes and Beliefs. Journal of Sex Research, 2005, Vol. 42, p130-137, 8p, 2 Charts, Taylor, Laramie D.
13) Hsiu-Chen Yeh, et al. "Media As Social Influence: Racial Differences In The Effects Of Peers And Media On Adolescent Alcohol Cognitions And Consumption." Psychology Of Addictive Behaviors 24.4 (2010): 649-659. PsycARTICLES. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
14) Austin, Erica Weintraub, Bruce E. Pinkleton, and Yuki Fujioka. "The Role Of Interpretation Processes And Parental Discussion In The Media's Effects On.." Pediatrics 105.2 (2000): 343. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
15) Erica Weintraub Austin, Meng-Jinn Chen, Joel W. Grube, "How does alcohol advertising influence underage drinking? The role of desirability, identification and skepticism", Journal of Adolescent Health, Volume 38, Issue 4, April 2006, Pages 376-384, ISSN 1054-139X, 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.08.017.
-This article focuses more on alcohol advertisement and how the advertisements are or may be appealing to adolescents and possibly persuading them to consume alcohol. I also like this article because it goes in-depth on the psychological factors that come into play with adolescents and how their brain perceives certain alcoholic, or any, images or advertisements that they may see. This article does not necessarily give answers to exactly why an adolescent may underage drink, but it gives clear facts about how images are interpreted.
16) Wilma A. M. Vollebergh, et al. "The Soundtrack Of Substance Use: Music Preference And Adolescent Smoking And Drinking." Substance Use & Misuse 44.4 (2009): 514-531. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
17) Primack, Brian A., Erika L. Douglas, and Kevin L. Kraemer. "Exposure To Cannabis In Popular Music And Cannabis Use Among Adolescents."Addiction 105.3 (2010): 515-523. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
18) Perspectives on Personality, Seventh Edition Author(s): Charles S. Carver; Michael F. Scheier
19) Zhong, Bu, Marie Hardin, and Tao Sun. "Less Effortful Thinking Leads to More Social Networking? the Associations Between the Use of Social Network Sites and Personality Traits." Computers in Human Behavior, 27.3 (2011): 1265-1271.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Homework 5
Does present-day media affect student's bad-decisions?
The question itself insists that students make bad-decions. Do students make bad-decisions? Does present-day media affect students? While attempting to revise, these are some of the questions I asked myself. Also, what is media? Well I would like to say that media is broad. From Facebook to the news and media to sports and music, general TV and movies. Maybe by saying "How does.." or "How can.." How can would seem to be a list. How does would seem to be a attempt to find an answer. Is this whole thing an attempt to find an answer to my inquiry question? This is were I am struggling... When in this 'process of elimination' I keep coming back to the starter of my question. The rest of the question seems to be almost simple enough to re-word.
Instead of affect, maybe I could use... "The effect of media on present-day students." But that would be too listy...
I suppose that my actual question at hand is not the NAME for my research paper.. just a question to base it off of. Instead of affect, maybe I could use 'impact', or 'bear upon'.
"How does media impact present-day students?"
Now when i write it like that, media seems like a bad word to use..
A book that i found on some of the implications of media in society.. I read parts of the book, since it is a long book and I am just on the starting-line of this project, and can summarize it as a book the shows how students can be critical consumers of media while retaining the pleasure they derive from it.
I can use this book to help produce ideas of new places to research, where to find them, what terms to search for, and how to search for them. I believe this book is a great starting place for my research project.
The question itself insists that students make bad-decions. Do students make bad-decisions? Does present-day media affect students? While attempting to revise, these are some of the questions I asked myself. Also, what is media? Well I would like to say that media is broad. From Facebook to the news and media to sports and music, general TV and movies. Maybe by saying "How does.." or "How can.." How can would seem to be a list. How does would seem to be a attempt to find an answer. Is this whole thing an attempt to find an answer to my inquiry question? This is were I am struggling... When in this 'process of elimination' I keep coming back to the starter of my question. The rest of the question seems to be almost simple enough to re-word.
Instead of affect, maybe I could use... "The effect of media on present-day students." But that would be too listy...
I suppose that my actual question at hand is not the NAME for my research paper.. just a question to base it off of. Instead of affect, maybe I could use 'impact', or 'bear upon'.
"How does media impact present-day students?"
Now when i write it like that, media seems like a bad word to use..
Speaking the lower frequencies: students and media literacy
By Walter R. JacobsA book that i found on some of the implications of media in society.. I read parts of the book, since it is a long book and I am just on the starting-line of this project, and can summarize it as a book the shows how students can be critical consumers of media while retaining the pleasure they derive from it.
I can use this book to help produce ideas of new places to research, where to find them, what terms to search for, and how to search for them. I believe this book is a great starting place for my research project.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Assignment 4b
My question: "Does present-day media affect student's bad-decisions?"
Before I even went onto the library page, I wrote a mini-diagram about how I am going to approach this.
I broke it down by first examining the age group I am going to be projecting: 18-21. Then I pulled from my question "present-day media". I broke that down into music, TV, and new.
Under music I listed; rap, rock ect.. but then asked myself "what is this age group's most listened to music (most poplar)?"
Under TV I listed; shows (from episodes to gossip channels) and movies. Then I somewhat combined music and TV and listened "Music Videos". I asked what is this age groups most popular shows and movies?
Under news I listed; gossip (Facebook, magazines, ect..), facts (newspapers, local news, world news, ect.. (I pondered on this thought as listing these as facts because I wasn't really sure how determine what was actually considered 'facts vs gossip' therefor brought me to that inquiry! "Is it important to know what is going on around the world or local area?"
Then, I labeled a few bad-decisions that all these senses of media portray; drug abuse, sex, alcohol consumption (binge drinking), crime, violence, and 'slacking'.
Now that I talked about how I started off, I am going to continue the assignment by using the library resources.
I searched up most of the items I have listed prior to this paragraph and came up with more and more questions yet to be answered. There seems to be an endless list of possibilities of reasons why college-aged students would make "bad-decisions". A good point that I did come across is that I should have also listed video games into my list of media-based things. Also to take into account; when I asked "present-day media" I didn't really pay too much attention to the "present-day" portion of that. It sounds goofy, but present-day 'kids' are raised differently than, say, people who are 20-years older. Technology and media has grown drastically, in my own words, people know more now than they did. I came across a study that brought up the topic "leisure time". Do college-age students have more leisure time than they did, say, 20 years ago? Also, a survey done said that the top-three favored music genres were; 1-hiphop, 2-country, and 3-rock and roll. From personal experience, I know that media shows all different types of 'bad-decisions' being portrayed by popular 'faces'. After the short research I have done, I have concluded that there is A LOT more questions to be asked to even start off saying that the media really does affect bad-decisions. I need to go more in-depth into all the questions I have asked already and try to find answers and facts to back up my inquiries.
Before I even went onto the library page, I wrote a mini-diagram about how I am going to approach this.
I broke it down by first examining the age group I am going to be projecting: 18-21. Then I pulled from my question "present-day media". I broke that down into music, TV, and new.
Under music I listed; rap, rock ect.. but then asked myself "what is this age group's most listened to music (most poplar)?"
Under TV I listed; shows (from episodes to gossip channels) and movies. Then I somewhat combined music and TV and listened "Music Videos". I asked what is this age groups most popular shows and movies?
Under news I listed; gossip (Facebook, magazines, ect..), facts (newspapers, local news, world news, ect.. (I pondered on this thought as listing these as facts because I wasn't really sure how determine what was actually considered 'facts vs gossip' therefor brought me to that inquiry! "Is it important to know what is going on around the world or local area?"
Then, I labeled a few bad-decisions that all these senses of media portray; drug abuse, sex, alcohol consumption (binge drinking), crime, violence, and 'slacking'.
Now that I talked about how I started off, I am going to continue the assignment by using the library resources.
I searched up most of the items I have listed prior to this paragraph and came up with more and more questions yet to be answered. There seems to be an endless list of possibilities of reasons why college-aged students would make "bad-decisions". A good point that I did come across is that I should have also listed video games into my list of media-based things. Also to take into account; when I asked "present-day media" I didn't really pay too much attention to the "present-day" portion of that. It sounds goofy, but present-day 'kids' are raised differently than, say, people who are 20-years older. Technology and media has grown drastically, in my own words, people know more now than they did. I came across a study that brought up the topic "leisure time". Do college-age students have more leisure time than they did, say, 20 years ago? Also, a survey done said that the top-three favored music genres were; 1-hiphop, 2-country, and 3-rock and roll. From personal experience, I know that media shows all different types of 'bad-decisions' being portrayed by popular 'faces'. After the short research I have done, I have concluded that there is A LOT more questions to be asked to even start off saying that the media really does affect bad-decisions. I need to go more in-depth into all the questions I have asked already and try to find answers and facts to back up my inquiries.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Assingment 3 - Examining Inquiry
First off, Bryson is a best-selling author of non-fiction books (according to Bill Bryson's official website). Bryson was born in Iowa in 1951 but moved to England in 1977. Bill Bryson started his career off as an author after he worked for a journalism company. Bryson moved back to America in the 1990's, then to the UK where he presently lives with his English wife. Most of his books seem to be about travel he endured throughout his life experiences. I believe most of his audience may be scholars, or just some ordinary people who are intrigued by his writings.
Bryson's At Home seems to fit our academic model as a some-what research assignment. I describe inquiry as an investigation. When I hear 'inquiry', I have a million ideas of different types and styles of investigations taking place; from police investigations to my mom asking me where I was last night. My mom hasn't interrogated me in a couple years, but I still picture her inquisitive voice and facial expression questioning me until I give in.
The introduction to Bryson's book is actually very inquisitive. He asks some of the strangest, yet unexplainable questions that really had me thinking. Why does a fork not have 5 prongs? How did these two seasonings end up on my table? Salt and pepper..? Who would have known!
To be honest, the copy that was posted on our D2L page was a little difficult to read; some small details seemed to be cut out do to copying complications, therefor I rather skimmed through the assigned read. I did howeve, notice countless mysterious, and somewhat horrifying, facts Bryson pointed out. On pages 68-69, Bryson informs about how important bread was in the early centuries. Investigators checked out some of the local bakeries and found that the bakeries were filthy! Cobwebs on the wall drooping down from the weight of the flour dust, random undesirable things were in the food mixtures. At one point, Bryson says that a candy maker actually painted his sweets yellow with the paint used for his, I'm assuming, candy cart! I like how Bryson never says why he is explaining what he is explaining until you actually learn all the details behind something (for instance when Bryson was talking about the bread) then Bryson hits you with a reason for it. Alum was added to flour to whiten it? And before that it was used in industrial facilities? I believe that that was a great example of 'inquiry'. Another example was when he slowly brought up the ice company. Bryson did, however, switch from bread to ice quite abruptly, but I didn't really realize that I was going onto the next subject until I was half way through learning about the Wenham Lake Ice Company.
Bryson seems to go in chronological order throughout his book. I could go on and on about the crazy-yet amazing things he uncovered to me. It was enjoyable reading the passage. The way At Home is written really gets my mind formulating. I love the mystery of wondering what the heck he is trying to get across (see note 1) as I was reading.
NOTE: I couldn't really explain what I was trying to say here much better than what I had said... I was intrigued learning what I was learning even if it had any relation to me or not. I guess what I mean is that I like the way Bryson wrote this book. I think that a research paper should be like this. Overall, the small passage I read (well what was assigned; I didn't read the entire book obviously) was awesome and kept me reading. I didn't feel as if I wanted to skip ahead to the end and summarize, but actually keep reading: that is what I think a good research paper should be like. Inquiry.
Bryson's At Home seems to fit our academic model as a some-what research assignment. I describe inquiry as an investigation. When I hear 'inquiry', I have a million ideas of different types and styles of investigations taking place; from police investigations to my mom asking me where I was last night. My mom hasn't interrogated me in a couple years, but I still picture her inquisitive voice and facial expression questioning me until I give in.
The introduction to Bryson's book is actually very inquisitive. He asks some of the strangest, yet unexplainable questions that really had me thinking. Why does a fork not have 5 prongs? How did these two seasonings end up on my table? Salt and pepper..? Who would have known!
To be honest, the copy that was posted on our D2L page was a little difficult to read; some small details seemed to be cut out do to copying complications, therefor I rather skimmed through the assigned read. I did howeve, notice countless mysterious, and somewhat horrifying, facts Bryson pointed out. On pages 68-69, Bryson informs about how important bread was in the early centuries. Investigators checked out some of the local bakeries and found that the bakeries were filthy! Cobwebs on the wall drooping down from the weight of the flour dust, random undesirable things were in the food mixtures. At one point, Bryson says that a candy maker actually painted his sweets yellow with the paint used for his, I'm assuming, candy cart! I like how Bryson never says why he is explaining what he is explaining until you actually learn all the details behind something (for instance when Bryson was talking about the bread) then Bryson hits you with a reason for it. Alum was added to flour to whiten it? And before that it was used in industrial facilities? I believe that that was a great example of 'inquiry'. Another example was when he slowly brought up the ice company. Bryson did, however, switch from bread to ice quite abruptly, but I didn't really realize that I was going onto the next subject until I was half way through learning about the Wenham Lake Ice Company.
Bryson seems to go in chronological order throughout his book. I could go on and on about the crazy-yet amazing things he uncovered to me. It was enjoyable reading the passage. The way At Home is written really gets my mind formulating. I love the mystery of wondering what the heck he is trying to get across (see note 1) as I was reading.
NOTE: I couldn't really explain what I was trying to say here much better than what I had said... I was intrigued learning what I was learning even if it had any relation to me or not. I guess what I mean is that I like the way Bryson wrote this book. I think that a research paper should be like this. Overall, the small passage I read (well what was assigned; I didn't read the entire book obviously) was awesome and kept me reading. I didn't feel as if I wanted to skip ahead to the end and summarize, but actually keep reading: that is what I think a good research paper should be like. Inquiry.
assingment 4
What
kinds of questions do you think lead to inquiry? (If you are stuck, take a look
at Bryson’s “Introduction” and your notes from our discussions). What types of
questions seem to close down inquiry? Give examples, if you can.
Questions I believe lead to inquiry are not necessarily questions in general, but questions that have no defined answer. Who, what, when, where, why, or how are too general in the idea of asking an inquiring question. I feel as if I was asked these questions, it would feel as if I was being interrogated. Maybe if I were to mix it up a little bit like who/why or what/how; that would be more original. For example, say John kicked someone: obviously the what would be that John kicked someone, but the how would be because he used he leverage and force of the muscles in his leg elevated towards someone he was aiming for, then I would rationalize by saying, well since we know that he kicked someone, the who would be John, but the why is a mystery. I am only using this as an example because its very simple to get the main idea across in theory. Who really knows why John kicked whomever.. Maybe it was because he was angry or maybe it was self defense, it could have been just because he has a twitch in his leg or a doctor hit the place on his knee where the reflex interacts causing his leg to accelerate at a rate causing him to kick whomever wherever he kicked the person. Obviously this example is very vague and does not explain much, but the question causes mystery. The inquiry is completely oblivious: No one could really answer this question, well to an extent if oneself were to dismiss the facts leading up to the kick to whomever. Besides all this nonsense of John kicking whomever (I'll just say this person is Doe) the mystery behind it is, in fact, a mystery. An example would be like a cop trying to solve a case. Who murdered who. Well first the cop would look at the evidence, then analyze. Questions I think lead to inquiry are questions that cannot be answered instantly. I wouldn't just write an essay about the legalization of marijuana because (for instance if I was pro-legislation) I would go on and on about how marijuana can be used as an alternative to fuel, paper, fibers, medicine, ect.. But instead, I would look at both sides.. Marijuana causes lack of memory, marijuana is a great pain reliever for cancer patience, marijuana impairs driving, no deaths have been reported from marijauana, or whatever facts and information I research about it is all vague already answered questions; facts that are already all over the internet. If I were to write a paper about the legalization of marijuana, I would ask questions like: Is marijuana a substance?
To my defense, the question 'Is marijuana a substance' could be answered millions of ways depending on, basically, one's personal opinion. I could argue that yeah, it is bad for the brain because it clogs up general areas needed for short-term and long-term memory and impairs driving, but it also helps cancer patience ease pain. BUT my opinion on the legalization of marijuana is not my main point for this blog. My point is that a broad question like "should marijuana be legalized" could be paraphrased into many different defenses and offenses about the topic. I could go on and on about supporting the topic, then I would eventually develop a paragraph or two about my actual research into the topic. I could also argue as well by saying no no blah blah blah.. so for everything I have discussed in this blog about the topic of marijuana is very repetitive and already boring. We have all heard all the sides about marijuana legalization and prohibition. Why not go further, or ask more non-biased questions?
Topics I would like to research:
Today, I read into the effects of marijuana just to kind of get an idea about this blog post .. There are numerous cases about employers firing marijuana-card holding- smoking-prescription-tumor-cancer patients getting fired because they had THC present in a drug screening at their work. These employees lived and worked in states that granted the use of marijuana as medical use, but their job did not allow the smoking of marijuana. when an employee was asked to take a urinalysis, don't forget that he employee had a marijuana smoking card for medical use, the employee was still fired for having THC present in the urinalysis. The employee went to court to fight against the employer, but yet lost the case. Why should the employer have the right to fire the employee??
Im sure that in every class, there is at least one student who has a research paper about marijuana. Like I said earlier, we all know the facts about it. Why not go deeper into the subject and discover why it should be legalized and why it should stay criminalized? Is it because the government can't control the growth of it??
A different example of a topic I would like to research into would be a subject like "Who will America go to war with next?" Iran, Venezuala, ect. I believe that that is a topic that would be a mystery in the making.
Or why do schools have a no fire-arm/weapon policy? Obviously someone would think the answer is because its for the safety of our students and faculty, the people of the community, but would oneself feel more secure if oneself had a form of protection? Yes, mace is a form of protection, but would oneself want to bring mace to a gun fight? what if the opponent had a baseball bat.. Personally, if I were maced and i had a more powerful weapon than mace, the mace would just piss me off even more and if would be swinging recklessly. On the other hand, yes, it is a great law to keep campuses safe from firearms/weapons, but doesn't the amendment say that we have the right to bear arms?? I could go on and on about how this topic could be discussed extremely deep; maybe even to the point where an uprising could develop. An uprising developing in the middle east over a single Tweet which resulted in national news. I suppose the idea of pursuing a topic like weapon control on a campus could also be very vague, but if the research and correct questions are asked and possible answered, maybe never answered, could be a very great research assignment.
Another topic that I may be interested in researching, like the example given in the assignment guidelines, is "why do we wear what we wear?" Since this was an example, I think that this must have been someone's prior research project, but really, why do we wear what we wear? Is it a psychological thing? Is it to present ourself to the public? Are we embarrassed of our past so we wear newer clothes so someone else gets a different impression of oneself?
I personally believe that almost anything can be a great research opportunity if one would actually ask the correct questions; creating a mystery until the end when oneself actually examines all what has been learned throughout the research process and comes to a possible conclusion, if possible at all.
Questions I believe lead to inquiry are not necessarily questions in general, but questions that have no defined answer. Who, what, when, where, why, or how are too general in the idea of asking an inquiring question. I feel as if I was asked these questions, it would feel as if I was being interrogated. Maybe if I were to mix it up a little bit like who/why or what/how; that would be more original. For example, say John kicked someone: obviously the what would be that John kicked someone, but the how would be because he used he leverage and force of the muscles in his leg elevated towards someone he was aiming for, then I would rationalize by saying, well since we know that he kicked someone, the who would be John, but the why is a mystery. I am only using this as an example because its very simple to get the main idea across in theory. Who really knows why John kicked whomever.. Maybe it was because he was angry or maybe it was self defense, it could have been just because he has a twitch in his leg or a doctor hit the place on his knee where the reflex interacts causing his leg to accelerate at a rate causing him to kick whomever wherever he kicked the person. Obviously this example is very vague and does not explain much, but the question causes mystery. The inquiry is completely oblivious: No one could really answer this question, well to an extent if oneself were to dismiss the facts leading up to the kick to whomever. Besides all this nonsense of John kicking whomever (I'll just say this person is Doe) the mystery behind it is, in fact, a mystery. An example would be like a cop trying to solve a case. Who murdered who. Well first the cop would look at the evidence, then analyze. Questions I think lead to inquiry are questions that cannot be answered instantly. I wouldn't just write an essay about the legalization of marijuana because (for instance if I was pro-legislation) I would go on and on about how marijuana can be used as an alternative to fuel, paper, fibers, medicine, ect.. But instead, I would look at both sides.. Marijuana causes lack of memory, marijuana is a great pain reliever for cancer patience, marijuana impairs driving, no deaths have been reported from marijauana, or whatever facts and information I research about it is all vague already answered questions; facts that are already all over the internet. If I were to write a paper about the legalization of marijuana, I would ask questions like: Is marijuana a substance?
To my defense, the question 'Is marijuana a substance' could be answered millions of ways depending on, basically, one's personal opinion. I could argue that yeah, it is bad for the brain because it clogs up general areas needed for short-term and long-term memory and impairs driving, but it also helps cancer patience ease pain. BUT my opinion on the legalization of marijuana is not my main point for this blog. My point is that a broad question like "should marijuana be legalized" could be paraphrased into many different defenses and offenses about the topic. I could go on and on about supporting the topic, then I would eventually develop a paragraph or two about my actual research into the topic. I could also argue as well by saying no no blah blah blah.. so for everything I have discussed in this blog about the topic of marijuana is very repetitive and already boring. We have all heard all the sides about marijuana legalization and prohibition. Why not go further, or ask more non-biased questions?
Topics I would like to research:
Today, I read into the effects of marijuana just to kind of get an idea about this blog post .. There are numerous cases about employers firing marijuana-card holding- smoking-prescription-tumor-cancer patients getting fired because they had THC present in a drug screening at their work. These employees lived and worked in states that granted the use of marijuana as medical use, but their job did not allow the smoking of marijuana. when an employee was asked to take a urinalysis, don't forget that he employee had a marijuana smoking card for medical use, the employee was still fired for having THC present in the urinalysis. The employee went to court to fight against the employer, but yet lost the case. Why should the employer have the right to fire the employee??
Im sure that in every class, there is at least one student who has a research paper about marijuana. Like I said earlier, we all know the facts about it. Why not go deeper into the subject and discover why it should be legalized and why it should stay criminalized? Is it because the government can't control the growth of it??
A different example of a topic I would like to research into would be a subject like "Who will America go to war with next?" Iran, Venezuala, ect. I believe that that is a topic that would be a mystery in the making.
Or why do schools have a no fire-arm/weapon policy? Obviously someone would think the answer is because its for the safety of our students and faculty, the people of the community, but would oneself feel more secure if oneself had a form of protection? Yes, mace is a form of protection, but would oneself want to bring mace to a gun fight? what if the opponent had a baseball bat.. Personally, if I were maced and i had a more powerful weapon than mace, the mace would just piss me off even more and if would be swinging recklessly. On the other hand, yes, it is a great law to keep campuses safe from firearms/weapons, but doesn't the amendment say that we have the right to bear arms?? I could go on and on about how this topic could be discussed extremely deep; maybe even to the point where an uprising could develop. An uprising developing in the middle east over a single Tweet which resulted in national news. I suppose the idea of pursuing a topic like weapon control on a campus could also be very vague, but if the research and correct questions are asked and possible answered, maybe never answered, could be a very great research assignment.
Another topic that I may be interested in researching, like the example given in the assignment guidelines, is "why do we wear what we wear?" Since this was an example, I think that this must have been someone's prior research project, but really, why do we wear what we wear? Is it a psychological thing? Is it to present ourself to the public? Are we embarrassed of our past so we wear newer clothes so someone else gets a different impression of oneself?
I personally believe that almost anything can be a great research opportunity if one would actually ask the correct questions; creating a mystery until the end when oneself actually examines all what has been learned throughout the research process and comes to a possible conclusion, if possible at all.
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