Monthly Archives: October 2012

Last week was very useful and I want to thank Carmen for her suggestion of focusing in one of our potential sources, as this has allowed to me narrow my topic.

I am researching the potential effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and I was having a hard time really focusing in on a subtopic. Ultimately I have decided to focus in on the positives of having a comprehensive primary care system, as the best way to battle illness and disease is to utilize preventative measures. Mariam and Maggie suggested I look at how preventative care works in another country such as France or Canada.

So, this has been a great week for my research.

-Matt

I went over my bibliography, corrected some mistakes and decided to not use some of my references. Some of them are repetitive so Im going to end up leaving those from more reliable sources. Because I plan to focus on the political aspects of the rejection on the Kyoto accord, During writing I plan to make the following arguments: The bush administration favored their economic well being above the public health of American people. United States government does not prioritize the environmental protection of its country. These will be my main arguments and after writing in this direction for a while, I should have  a better idea about more specific arguments.

This [ast week I’ve been looking up new sources as well as reading some of the articles that I only had a chance to skim. Using the library’s database, I’ve been able to find quite a few more peer reviewed articles. Also, I have been reading documents released by the CBO based on their findings.

I’m having an issue because I’m not completely sure if non-scholarly or non CBO released articles and documents are appropriate due to biases of news organizations. But, on the other hand, I could use certain articles to dispel non-truths or myths put forward by different news sites.

Hey guys (specifically group 2),

I think it was a great idea for us to have that group meeting on Tuesday. It gave me some great ideas that I probably would not have thought of. One of the questions that came up is how much has America really advanced socially and culturally in the decades since the Voting Act of 1965? I think one of the ways to answer this question is to see the difference in the perception of voter ID in the states that have administered them and those who have not. I have not yet done extensive research on this, but I am somewhat inclined to think that the demarcation lands between red and blue states, but research will only determine if that inclination is right.

It was also suggested during the meeting to perhaps compare the social events in terms of civil rights that are happening at this moment. One of the events that was brought up was concerning women and their reproductive rights. Do you guys think that there is some connection to be made as it relates to my topic? Does anybody else have any other ideas of the social events that are occurring today? The worldwide revolutions were brought up, but I think that is going way out of the box. But then again, I did read in one of my sources that the social movements in the 60’s were not just specific to America alone, but that other countries were also going through their own revolutions. Research, research, research!

Hey Guys,

I finally had  time to  read  some of the sources  I previously skimmed, and it seems as though my research is changing direction again. Originally, I  was interested in  analyzing how public opinion on welfare policy affected  spending on other “entitlements”. Professor Kafka said that I might have trouble finding the information I wanted and  that was correct. This topic is discussed in many of the sources I came across but, the journals suggest there isn’t a  sufficient link. I think I am better of doing a comparative study of the  American Welfare System with European Welfare. Many of the studies I came across discussed European Nations so I believe this is topic which could amount to 20 pages or more. Between now and Tuesday I really have to spend my time fleshing out some type of hypothesis, so I feel like I have some direction for this paper.

See you all on Tuesday,

Dana

I really am frustrated with the bibliography process since  I cant seem to understand what kind of sources I have. besides that I dont know if they are peer reviewed. only way i can find out is if i specifically look for the peer reviewed articles on a database but then i dont find most of them useful. By now I mostly have non peer reviewed sources, which is not bad however the citation is probably the worst part of my college life. I understand that I need to cite my sources and I have no problem with the idea but the technical process of  periods and columns and capitalization is really unpleasant. I really hope my bibliography will be correct by sunday. I really dont want to look at the OWL website if I dont have to.

Besides that im learning a lot about my topic and  I like it to which is rare during research.

Since class on Tuesday, I have been searching through articles, forums, and blogs, focusing on the complexity of bullying . So basically I am somewhat shifting my research to explore the perpetrators side. This is not to say I will not mention the effects placed on the victims. I am looking at the kinds of motivational factors that would promote an individual to engage in bullying. I found some literature discussing family structure, child abuse, cultural factors etc. I have not yet begun to really analyze the information, which I will do probably over this weekend. My plans are to definitely discuss all different aspects from the perpetrators side and I am hoping to find a common denominator among all the work I come across so that I can highlight that in my paper. Hopefully finding a common factor among them may lead to a better understanding of this phenomenon.

As Rene was saying in class, I am also struggling with the idea that we have not began writing, but to be honest, what am I to write about if I have no thesis? So over this weekend I have designated a day to really sit down with this information and try to form even an initial idea. It won’t be concrete, but I will try to test it among other theories that I come across. One of the things that is helping me, is writing things down as I read through articles. Also, it’s not just writing it down plainly, I am giving a little background on my thoughts of what I have just read. That way when I come back to it several weeks later I won’t feel so overwhelmed and I may be able to pick up on a recurring idea.

Last night, I began writing down a simplified list of the things I want to discuss. I want to begin by the basics and background, the frequency of the situation, the discussions that are happening; basically the fundamental parts of my paper. As of now things are still vague but I must admit narrowing my topic down in class has allowed me to search more productively for information.

This is how you categorize your post.