Research on Music = AWESOME!!

Writing a paper on music and videos was great. This was one research paper that I wasn't dreading to write. I chose songs by Adele. To do research for this paper, I just had to listen to Adele's music and watch some of her videos. It doesn't get much better than that. I love music and I believe that it can change your life. I also believe that there is a song out there made for everyone. A person has at least one song that they can relate to and know why that person wrote it. They know what they were going through when they wrote it. This was my favorite paper to write. Music is a very strong tool, and can describe many different things and have many different meanings and moods. Comparing music and videos was a great research topic for this paper

Research Writing

When I hear the word research, I start to panic. I think, twenty page paper on a boring topic. I have recently learned, that that is not the case. Research isn't meant to be scary, it's to be interesting. It is also to be a new learning experience. When researching, you are doing so to learn more, and to benefit others. It's not a scary thing at all. It's even sometimes fun. Research can also be in different forms than just papers. It can be in videos, music, movies, and lots of other different things. I'm not saying research is my most favorite thing to do, but this class has definitely made it more eventful.

Intersting Topics

When choosing a research topic, make sure it is one that you will be interested in. If it does not interest you, then you will not be able to get a "feel" for the paper. It will be boring and hard to research. You also want to make it interesting because when researching, you are always learning new things. If it is not an interesting topic, you will not be able to remember the facts being shown to you. It also make writing a research paper more fun if you're writing about something that you enjoy. So when picking a topic to research or even just write about, make sure it interest you as well.

Writng to your audience

When writing a paper, you always want to keep your audience in mind. For example, you wouldn't write a paper on the ten greatest movies when a group of scientists would read it. When writing, you have to have a connection with your audience. Make sure that they won't be bored with your paper, or that it is way over their heads. Think the way they think. Always keep them in the back of your head.

With the argument of how Pixie Dust is made, (slaughtering pigs),I think that we should ask ourselves, what do we do with pigs normally? We eat them, well at least for the most part. Why not use them to help people grow back limbs? It's helping other people. I love animals to death. I hate seeing them in pain, and I can't kill an animal. But I also have to remember that God put animals on this earth for a reason. He put them here to help us humans. If it came down to being able to save a pig or saving one of my limbs...the pig is going to be dead.

Fads

The 4th paper that we wrote was about fads. It is so strange how things catch on. Like the iPod, dance moves, and songs. I little device makes huge sales. Almost everyone has a portable music player. Learning how to dougie is a dance craze that is still popular and eager to learn. Songs are becoming more popular then the next each and every day. Such small things turn into fads in a matter of seconds.

What is to much?

We watched a video on the lizard man. This guy went as far as splitting his tongue, tattooing his body to look like scales, and even implanting things in his head to look more like a lizard. Is that to much? My thought is how are you going to get a job? Or how are you going to feel when you're 75 years old? I guess it's the way he wants to live but I don't see it as much as a life. He's looked at constantly, he most likely can not get a professional job, and he's going to look horrible when he's much older. I think this is a bit to much.

Video Project

Making a video for a paper was great. I really enjoyed it. It was a nice change of pace after writing several papers. It was fun to get into groups and have a little fun. Even when making a video on writing a research paper, we still managed to have fun. Everyone's videos were done really well and fun to watch.

What is in that chicken nugget?

A presentation was made and it was about what was really in your fast food. Can I just say one thing? Ewwww!! It was so gross. I could not believe that is what we ingest. I'm not sure what exactly is in it, but whatever it is, it doesn't age. Meaning that once in our body, it doesn't break down. The stuff that they put in the nuggets is even worse. It's a pink paste made up of all different animals and pressed out. Will I stop eating this? Probably not.

Proofread, proofread, proofread

Proofreading is extremely important. Even if you think you are the best writer in the world, you should still proofread. The best thing to do is, after a paper is written, step away for an hour. When that hour pasts then go back and read it. That way your brain will tell you what you are really reading and not what it has memorized. Silly mistakes will most likely appear.

Graffiti

When learning about graffiti a question was asked whether or not it was vandalism. Surprisingly a lot of people said yes. They said if something was inappropriate or offended some one then it was then vandalism.

Guest Speaker

We had a guest speaker in class. His name was Jason. He cam in to talk to us about tattoos. He had a tattoo but told us it was a cover up. His previous tattoo was done unprofessionally and at a young age at a music festival. It didn't have any meeting and was not in good shape. He got that tattoo covered up with a purple coy fish. He then proceeded to tell us the meaning behind the tattoo. This time the meeting was much more meaningful then a whim at a music festival. When asked if he thought tattoos were graffiti on people. He said that he thinks that most tattoos that people get are art and it may even tell a story.

Facebook

A Facebook blog was brought up in class. Instead of having a blog through Google we should have ir through Facebook. I personally think that it's a great idea. Almost everyone is on Facebook all the time. It would be so much easier to write on Facebook, then go to a separate site like Google.

Feminism

What to think about feminism. I think it's a crock. Women say that the reason they are feminists is because they don't want to cause attention to themselves. But when they yell at men, dress in not so nice clothes, and don't shave their armpits...you're going to draw attention to yourself. I think all feminism is, is a reason for attention. I could be way out of line, but that's just an opinion.

Advantages on working with a group to finish a paper.

When the class found out that we would have to work in groups to finish the last to papers, I was scared. I thought it would be more difficult to work with a lot of people. They might not do their job or have so many different views that it would be impossible to write a whole paper together. Luckily, it was quite the opposite. Everyone agrees on at least a few topics. When working with a large group it make things go faster as well. If each person takes one section of the paper, the project flies by. Working with a group to do papers was a great plan!

Writing Group Papers!

Although sometimes it is harder to write papers with other people sometimes because people have different ideas than yourself, it has many benefits to it. These past two papers have been with small to larger group sizes which helped myself learn to really see other people's points of views and ideas. Sometimes its good to see the other side of the spectrum especially when you work with people that have different ideas on how to make a paper successful or just ideas in topics. This was really my first time ever doing a legitimate group paper and I think through this new experience it helped me learn how to bring other people pieces of writing with your own and still make it cohesive with your own writing.

With so many different ideas it makes things interesting because I realized that in order to have a successful research paper you need other people's point of views which makes a paper interesting. With these past papers I liked reading them more because of how each part was assigned to a different person and each had a different style of writing. I see now that although group papers may take a little more work to come together, it makes it easier as well in having a successful paper with people bringing different elements to the paper.

Group Papers aren’t So Bad After All

In the beginning when Mr. Mohamed stated that we were going to do a group project, I thought to myself this will not work out. My first group project there was two of us working together, researching graffiti. The last group project there was a total of 6 people working together, researching fashion. Working in a group isn’t so bad its way less stressful and it’s very interesting.

As a group there are many different opinions, as a group you can learn so much about each individual.When you work together your paper comes out stronger than it would when working by yourself. When there is more than one person working on a paper, there are many different outlooks on things. After finishing the two papers I have come to realize, Group papers aren’t so bad after all, it was actually very interesting. We all worked together and came out with a very strong intelligent paper.

Jasmine Farlow

Benefits of Writing a Group Paper!

The past two papers that our class has written have been group papers. First there was a small group paper consisting of two people, and our last paper that was a large group paper. When the groups were discussing their papers and writing in groups on Friday most of the groups said that it was interesting working in large groups. Groups also said that working in a larger group helped take some of the stress off of writing the paper by breaking the sections of the paper up equally among the group members.

There is an old saying “two heads is better than one.” Having more than one person working on a writing project increases the amount of combined knowledge of the authors. In areas of intelligence where one person is weak, others may be strong, and vice versa. If done properly, the collective intelligence of a group of writers can be a powerful resource.
Rachel Holland

About memes!

Today as we were discussing memes, Mr. Ahmed had mentioned something that caught my attention. He had mentioned that memes are presented with conflicts that at that time determine the strength of the meme, which in turn, determines whether its existence continues or dies out. Before class had begun, I was watching the news. They were reporting on “Occupy Wall Street”. For those of you who may not know, this is a nationwide protest located in major cities throughout the United States. Particularly, “Occupy Wall Street”, is a resistance movement of the greed and corruption of corporate ownership, social injustice, and high unemployment, just to name a few. These demonstrations and protests are held, not only in New York, but are also in Pittsburgh, PA and Oklahoma City, OK.

The relationship between the survival of a meme and these protests comes in the form of eviction letters given to the protestors to discontinue their movements and move out of the area. This clearly demonstrates the conflict a meme can endure through its process of development. Just as these protests are being noticed and becoming a huge ordeal, the government decides it’s in the best interests of everyone to knock them down, blaming them for uncleanly circumstances. As many of the protestors are standing strong, this truly will determine whether this meme of standing up for what’s right is to stay or go.
Jessica Young

Interpreting Graffiti

In Friday’s class, we went to the library to look at graffiti. Graffiti has a wide range of interpretation. Some may think that its art and some may think that its vandalism. Looking at the graffiti in the library, I think a lot of it is boredom. Students are sitting there and their studying and they draw on the desk to give themselves a break. A lot of the drawings were in support of fraternities while others were of sexual content. Then there’s graffiti that is very much like art to me; Such as the snoopy drawing and the spaceman drawings. These were both very detailed and intricate and showed expression of the artist.

I think graffiti gives the artist a way to show their voice without anyone knowing who it is. It’s a way to show people who they are and what they stand for through art. Other times though, graffiti can be very hurtful depending on where it’s at and how people interpret it. For example, the graffiti that is on the desks in the classrooms can be interpreted as vandalism, art, and some may be offended by of it. However, I think its students boredom and they decide to doodle. It’s just like when you doodle in your notebook only it’s on the desk and some may feel that it is vandalism but I think if it was that big of a deal to the university or even students that something would have been done already.
Megan McCreery

On Pixie Dust

With the agrument of how Pixie Dust is made, (slaughtering pigs), I believe it comes down to a matter of what are we here for?I believe each and everything has a purpose and reason for being here, whether it be human or animal.Think about Noah Ark... He was to take a male and female of each animal etc. Why?Think about dinosaurs... They ran the world at one point, why are they not here anymore?Think about Steve Jobs... He was resigned as CEO of Apple in 1996 after a power battle in 1985 lead him to leave the company. Why?

I think they matter shouldn't be how its done, but that it can be done and for what reason is it being done.

Candace Scott

Pixie dust and cloning: What are the boundaries?

There are many controversies when it comes to science and what it can achieve. After viewing the video of the man that grew his finger back it reminded me of the cloning video that we viewed the prior week. Although science is a subject that is trying to expand, it is also a subject that has a desire to solve world mysteries, but what are the boundaries? Pixie Dust was a substance formed from pig's bladder, although that maybe controversial for some people it does not actually call for more slaughtering of pigs, the bladder is simply received after the pig is most likely slaughtered for making the food that most people eat almost everyday. Cloning, though, does result from the death of an animal though, but instead from something is a major controversy in today's societies. Cloning results from copying an embryo, but the statistics that the embryo will actually clone are very small. Due to this fact many embryos are needed to try to clone, and some people may see these embryos as killing a part of human life. Human life is seen by many people as a sacred thing. This fact brings up the question of what is the line between sacred and what humans do. The last line that has to be drawn through cloning is who decided who should be cloned, if only certain people are cloned should that be illegal because cloning is trying to create one standardized culture. Also, what happens if the cloning does not turn out right is the clone killed or would that be murder. Clones are not part of society today, but if they are one day what is the separation between clones and normal humans. Science can lead to major leaps and bounds in the lives of humans in the future, but how far it can go and what it can achieve needs to be specified before the trials even begin.
Carin Shafer

Illustrations of Life: Tattoos

Today in class we had a guest speaker who talked about his personal experience about getting a tattoo. He said that when he first got it an amateur artist did it, and he did not like it. The speaker then told the story on how he got it fixed by another artist and how he loves it now because there is such symbolism in it for him. Many people in today’s society think that tattooing is destroying one’s image, but in truth it is an illustration of the person wearing it.Tattoos have been around for centuries and are actually part of our history. For example, during the Holocaust Nazis tattooed the Jews with numbers labeling them. Those tattoos are part of our history and the survivors of the Holocaust still have those numbers on their bodies, and they tell a story about that person. It also symbolizes a time in their life. If the survivor does not want the tattoo anymore it can be easily changed like the guest speaker’s.Tattoos can be changed to fit the person. One minute the person may love what they got and then years later they want to change it, which is totally possible. Tattooing has developed as an art form and continues to establish itself. Back during the Holocaust tattooing was very simple, but look at it today. It still tells stories or moments in a person’s life. So no, I do not consider tattooing vandalizing the human body. I see it as an illustration on a person’s skin that will be there for the rest of their life that they can share with others.

Megan Sowers

Graffiti

Grafitti can be expressed in many different forms. Some people considered graffiti as a form of art and some people consider it as vandalism. Graffiti is a public marking that usually appears as words to express wall paintings.

I personally think that graffiti could be considered both vandalism and art. Some forms of graffiti can tell stories about life and personal situations. In other conditions, such as graffiti on school desks, I consider it vandalism.


Chrystal Eady

The Importance of Proofreading

Although this topic hasn't been explicitly discussed in class yet, it's one that I have always felt to be important as a writer. We have all discussed how vital engaging one's audience through accurate factual research can be, but haven't addressed how credibility can be forfeited when a writer chooses not to proofread their work. When a writer publishes a piece, they of course hope to be taken seriously, whether the piece is a work of fiction or an academic article.

However, when a writer publishes their work and a reader notices obvious grammatical errors or evidence of poor spelling skills, the reader will automatically assume the writer doesn't fully understand what they are talking about. This may be a false assumption, but when presented with sloppy writing, it is an easy assumption to make. A researcher may spend hours finding credible evidence to support their claim, but if they don't spend the same amount of time editing their draft, all that time and energy will be for naught. This is why I always re-read my drafts several times over, and even ask others to read my drafts for me in case I let anything slip by. I'm not trying to imply that everyone need be an exceptionally skilled writer. Everyone has their own talents and interests, and writing research papers is certainly not everyone's forte. That doesn't mean that as writers we should all be satisfied with producing carelessly proofread material. Try your hardest to produce the best papers you can every time, and as you practice honing your writing skills, you will become that much more trustworthy as a writer and researcher.

Emily Manno

The Use of Research Headings

Why shall the researcher include sub-headings while conducting and forming a research paper? As Professor Mohamed Ahmed declared earlier this week whenever the class discussed Paper 2, it is very professional and formal to include headings when conducting a research study. Certain headings which may be included in one’s paper include introduction, methodology, discussion, limitations of the study, implications for further research, and conclusion. This qualified form of research is critical because it provides the paper with clarity. As a researcher, you are expected to clearly and explicitly state headings as well as elements in your paper. Remember, what you think is clear may be vague to your readers. You do not want your readers to guess which section is which because guessing wrong may lead them to misunderstand the argument you are trying to claim. The main accomplishment through any research is to connect with your reader, providing them with a clear understanding of what is being addressed.

For example, discussed in the rubric for Paper 2, the introduction was required to include, in addition with the researcher’s thesis statement, the research problem, significance, and research questions, which were expected to be clearly and explicitly stated. Throughout our high school years, we were familiar with generating research papers without headings. As a class, including headings in our papers threw most of us off, while confusing the way we, as researchers, generated our papers. Our writing techniques had to be adjusted in order to effectively meet the requirements, and it made most of us feel as though the paper was not a “real” research paper. Headings provide clarity, allowing the reader to clearly understand issues, as well as important points in which the researcher is trying to address.

-Jeffrey Fyock

Acknowledgments and Responses

In today’s class we discussed chapter ten in Craft of Research. The chapter dealt with Acknowledgments and Responses and how we as researchers must acknowledge and respond to our audience’s point of view. We then broke up into our five individual groups and discussed the importance of each part of the chapter to clearly explain acknowledgments and responses to our classmates. Group number three explained answering questions you can’t answer.

Group number three felt that not every researcher has the answer to all unanswered questions. Stating that it’s better to redefine or rebuild your argument or problem. Rather than discount your problem hoping that your audience will not notice. Another way to tackle this was to turn your disappointment into a victory. It may sound a little farfetched but you can turn the claim you at first desired into a hypothesis that your audience might think is sensible. Lastly every experienced researcher and professor will understand that everyone’s version of the truth is a confusing one, but they will acknowledge you for understanding your limits.

By Joseph Givens

The Top 10 Inventions of all Time

In today’s class, each group made a list of what they thought were the ten most important inventions of all time. Group one’s list included: 1) Electricity2) Communication lines3) Traffic lights4) The wheel5) Airplanes6) Matches7) Cell phones8) Cars9) Stove/oven10) Facebook

Group one felt that electricity was the most important invention of all time, because you use it every day. Another reason we discussed was that a lot of inventions on our list would not be possible without electricity. Each group could reasonably argue if the top picked inventions were critical or not. In each group there were different ideas and opinions pertaining to the most important inventions. Possible research questions: How do I keep electricity going?How do I transfer electricity?How do I make different forms of it?How do I experiment with electricity?

Kristi Eileen Quinn

Josh Readshaw said:
I really liked the point made about writing a research paper is being liek having a vebal argument with friends or family. In a verbal argument, you try yo persuade your opponent to believe that you stance on an issue is right and thier privious stance was wrong. This is what you do in a research paper except you don't get to see your opponent face to face. You have to try to convince them to believe your stance without you ever seeing them or them ever seeing you.

On assembling reason and evidence

Our text The Craft of Research in chapter nine discusses assembling reasons and evidence. Every good research paper has reasons and evidence, right? Well the authors duly point out that it is important to order reasons in a logical way and to distinguish evidence from reasons. Readers or an audience that seek out research for answers to their own questions will be skeptical readers. So even if your research and conclusion are “correct” if you have no bedrock fact to back up your claims/arguments say your research will be dismissed as unreliable.

The same is true when having a verbal argument with friends or family. If you have no factual backdrop to support your claims you will lose and look like a fool. We can think of research and writing our papers as a matter of winning or losing an argument. The more evidence you have for your reasons makes you a much more persuasive person. Or in terms of writing, you will be able to prove your point (thesis statement) in your paper.

William Coyle

Problematizing for the Common Good

In constructing a research paper that is both focused and relevant, one must do more than simply amass facts and statistics; some aspect of the topic must be problematized, giving the work a reason to exist beyond merely being a display of knowledge. The authors of The Craft of Research seemingly write ad nauseam about the importance of highlighting a problem to give structure to one’s writing, but ultimately, they do introduce a novel distinction that allows the skill of problematizing to transcend the field of research writing into daily life. The authors suggest that it is not whether one’s research can solve the manifested problem that is imperative, but if readers can be persuaded to care. Finding a solution can only stand to
improve a research inquiry, but if the topic’s relevance is questioned, it may all be for naught.

It is here that the art of problematizing for research’s sake finds an application in daily life. As students move ever closer towards graduation, they become more specialized in the subjects prescribed by their respective concentrations, hopefully later applying this knowledge at a professional level. While this knowledge is often sequestered in the minds of those lucky enough to have studied it, it is no less applicable to everyone. As responsible professionals, whether health care providers, educators, businesspeople, or otherwise, it is a vital talent to be able to recognize a problem found in an area of expertise and adequately convey the gravity of such an issue to those not privy to or fully capable of interpreting this information. By sharpening this skill through researching and writing, students will be better able to shed light on problems they encounter as professionals.

Julian Chimelewski

Stephen Hawking's Theory of Everything

On September 16, we had discussed problems, and how to overcome them. My group and I discussed “The Nature of Conceptual Problems” from Chapter Four. In the YouTube video, “Stephen Hawking's Theory of Everything”, there were some things that were discussed that would make some people unhappy (otherwise known as the cost). His studies were on how the universe was created. There are people out there who believe that it was created in some manner or another from a religious belief. While others believe in the “Big Bang Theory”. He had even questioned if there was a God responsible for the creation of the Universe. However, he had also come up with questions, such as, “What happens when the perfectly smooth sphere of a black hole meets this microscopic energy fields of space?”. And would later ask, “How does Gravity play a role in the creation of the universe?”. If we as an audience do not care, or ask, “so what?”, then no further questions can be asked.

We can use cost and consequence in every day life, just like many other theories that were read in “The Craft of Research. We can use this in presidential debates, when someone tries to explain their beliefs, or even when someone is explaining scientific data. What we as researchers need to do is focus on making our audience understand, give them knowledge, and make them happy in the process.

Keith Chappell

On KFCruelty!

On September 9, we watched a video in class that discussed the cruelty chickens are experiencing in the Kentucky Fried Chicken slaughter houses. Upon watching the video, Professor Ahmed asked us to come up with a topic from the video along with three questions to go with the topic. An example topic that could be used was the idea of the procedures used on the chickens. Three questions included with the topic could be "Who created these torture procedures, are these tactics used with other chicken brand companies other than KFC, and how can these procedures can be adapted to be more humane?" Overall from this video, in order to develop a proper research paper we must find a topic and develop questions in order to have a clear image of what to look for.

Along with the example we used in class, we can use this type of tactic not only in research papers but in everyday life. For instance, we may use this tactic when buying clothes. When buying clothes we usually ask ourselves, "how will the outfit look on me, will it match with the other clothes in my closet, and how will people react to the clothes?" Although we may not realize it, we use this topic all the time in our lives.

Alexandra Marie Julian

Research writing with an audience in mind

While discussing a section from The Craft of Research in class, my group and I focused on the importance of knowing the topic you are discussing in a research paper inside and out. In order to entertain your reader as well as show them why your research matters, you must know the history, facts, and new discoveries of your topic. Your audience will most likely be people who are interested in your subject; therefore you should reveal to them new facts that will help them to better understand your subject matter surpassing their previous knowledge. To present yourself successfully you must nail down your facts and evidence in a way to convince the audience their knowledge of the subject is quite small, and you can help them advance their flawed understanding.

A way you could successfully present a topic to an attracted audience would be to do so in an interesting way: with assumptions, guesses, questions and unproven stories. By conversing with your audience at the beginning, they will become more engaged and well aware of your large familiarity with the subject and therefore be more inclined to accept your research and standing on the topic.

Meghan McMeans

Developing a Research Plan

Last week when we were reading from The Craft of Research one thing that caught my eye was the part on developing a plan. The authors explain that by giving examples; one plan helps you prepare and conduct the research; the second helps you draft the report of it. One way to begin is with a question which will help guide their search for an answer. The authors then go on to discuss the idea of drawing up another plan one the acts as a rough blueprint for the first draft. One thing to remember is not to let the plan box you in, change it if you run into any problems or if you discover something that leads you in a new direction.

One way to begin a plan would be to start a rough outline of your research paper, meaning break it up in to different parts. Start with an introduction section, and then three body paragraphs, and give examples to the reason you chose those ideas. Once they are done, start on your conclusion to the paper. After you have finished the outline for the research paper draw up another plan, with this second plan go further into your research and find new ideas and new implications into the research paper.

Jonathan Pratt