Friday, October 30, 2009

Applying the Concepts

In class we have been talking about how to write a well structured research paper. I have always dis-liked writing research papers the most. I always find them quite tedious and time consuming. Also, I find that it can be incredibly overwhelming when the time comes to sit down and put all the information into a written paper. Now that we are reading the book They Say, I Say, I have picked up some tips on how to write a persuasive and a research essay. The only problem I have now is choosing what to write about. Originally, I decided to write about the aftermath of September 11 2001, tackling the issues of security and racial profiling. I feel this is a lot to tackle and also too broad of a topic to do an entire paper on. I cant decide what I am truly interested in, with out being truly repetitive in what everyone else always writes about. I need something new, current topics, I believe that will keep me more interested. Hopefully I can figure it out before the deadline.

Group Work:

" Awareness of ADHD: Positive of Negative Impact?" by Kate Decker (SP,77-80)

1. Decker claims that as the population has grown more aware of ADHD, and the symptoms following ADHD, people are too quick to jump to the conclusion that their child exhibits the symptoms of ADHD, there for their child has the disorder.
The purpose of the essay is to make the audience more aware of what exactly constitutes as ADHD and why every child does not fall under that categorie of that disorder.

2. Decker supports her claim using various information from different doctors. An example of that would be " The number of children who received a diagnosis of ADHD increased 250% from 1990 to 1998" stated Pomerantz, a doctor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She also used information from other medical doctors as well. I would of definitely made the same choices. By using these doctors it makes the reader believe more and might even persuade the reader.

3. Yes, Decker does use the "They Say, I Say" template in her essay. Int he very beginning she states the "they" by acknowledging how popular the topic of ADHD is in present day. She also uses, rhetorical questions like " Is ADHS a real disorder or an invented diagnosis"? I believe questions like these are very affective and get the reader to think more.

4. Decker does cite correctly, she uses MLA citation. When ever she quotes or uses direct information from her sources she uses parenthetical notation. I know that this is correct because I my self had to write papers like this in high school and am now learning to in college.

5. Decker does use the "so what, who cares"? because she offers a clear claim and also information to help back up that claim. There is not really a specific spot because she really writes all over her essay on why this matters, and shows who cares. Especially when referring back to doctors from Yale medical school and psychiatrists from Harvard.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

They Say, I Say

As I was searching through the blogs and reading the different stories I noticed how a lot of them follow the "They Say, I Say" format. A lot of the blogs may not directly use the same kind of templates the books offers but they still use the same concept. Like how the blogger's were able to summarize the ideas of others with out fully cutting out the important information. Or how they might not have agreed with a certain subject but still discussed both sides. Although I read a lot of blogs, there were still a ton of them that did not follow the "They Say, I Say" format. Some just blabbed about how they disagreed with something, never giving full information and got lost in there summaries.

For My Argument:

As an American teenager, I have often heard that my own generation is lazy and socially awkward. I do not agree with this because times have changed and what may seem lazy and socially awkward to an older person, is just an adjustment to a new generation . For instance, when America was first established, the pilgrims had to start from scratch. Through out the history of America, new things were developed to help accommodate and build the United States. All the way up to present day, technology continues to grow. Many older people look at my generation as socially awkward because we use things like our cell phones to communicate, or our computers to message some one and say hello. It is not our fault that we were born into a life full of new and innovative technology. We were introduced to a world of fast paced people who are just looking for the next best thing. Can we help it that we have faster ways of saying hello? I believe it is all a part of a growing, pioneering America. If we want to keep emerging as a country, people are going to have to get used to it.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Going Green?

Our research topic is about the average college student and going green. By that we mean any where from recycling to hugging a tree. We are just interested in seeing how many college kids are actually involved in saving our environment and how many don't give an ozone layer about it.

It is very interesting what I came up with while thinking about my research. I notice myself trying to "conserve" more or all the times that I do not. I also find things that I want to change in our school. Like how ridiculously hard it is to find a recycling bin around here. I end up holding on to my empty water bottle all day long until I go back to Bru. Or how long I shower now that I am not at home with a mother screaming at me to get out. I notice many kids piling up their bottles and cans in their recycling bin but not knowing what to do about it. This will all be very helpful to our research especially when we make our survey.

Hopefully taking part in a project like this will help motivate me and other students to want to take care of our environment more. Especially today, keeping our earth clean is vital and I believe that even the littlest bit counts. Even a simple research project like ours.

Academic Integrity

Entering college this semester came with certain expectations and rules that I was aware of. I knew that plagiarism was not an exception to these rules. I came to find just how serious of a rule it was at orientation. Sitting through a 2 to 3 hour presentation on plagiarizing really made me understand how much this school takes pride in their students academic honesty. Especially after reading the schools Policy on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity.

Academic Dishonesty is summed up as plagiarism, cheating, academic
misconduct, or any other submission of another’s work that is not their owns. This is very important to our school because not only is it morally the right thing to do but it also defines the kind of person you are. Like they say "once a cheater, always a cheater" and that will carry you on through out life.

The consequences to violating the policy are fair I believe. In some colleges if even caught once violating the rules they are simply expelled. The College of Saint Rose issues a report form about the situation and than holds an appeal. It is basically a warning and if you are caught again the consequences are major.

I believe the policy is fair and I do not believe it will be a hard one to follow. The only thing that doesn't make sense to me is that it is considered plagiarism to use your own work twice. It may be unfair for some students but it is not really cheating if you think about it. It is recycling an old paper but I do understand where it might be unfair. Plus you are not really learning if you are just recycling an old paper.

I think that is only right that colleges issue a policy for plagiarism. Using other people's hard earned work is obviously unfair. Not only to the person's work you have stolen, or the professor that assigned you the work, it is unfair to your self. You cant learn by cheating, cheating is the easy way out of things. If a medical student cheats on their MCATS and passes, do you really want that person to be your doctor? I certainly wouldn't and that is why cheating or plagiarizing shouldn't be the answer.

http://www.northwestern.edu/uacc/plagiar.html

Above is an interesting link on how to avoid plagiarism and what will happen at Northwestern University if you do.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Credible or not?

Teens should get involved with voting, whether it is local or national it very important topic. One website that I think is a credible source is http://www.blog.rockthevote.com/2009/09/pass. This website is credible because it is not only a website where you can register to vote but it talks about upcoming elections. It also was a widely advertised website around election time, specifically for teens and people in their early twenties. Rock The Vote was a nation wide slogan, I believe this source would be very credible and useful during our research. It has a press section where there are reports and figures on polling, campaign reach outs and a lot more. It also touches on health care which is another hot topic that I think we should touch on when researching this topic.

A non-credible source i believe would be http://www.student.com/vote/. First off i found it on google. Google is not always reliable and you never know what you are going to get if you use it. Student.com, although seems like a legit website, has a lot of various forms of blogging on it. Who knows, any joe schmo could be blogging about teen voting, there opinions might not be as credible as other websites we could find.