Monthly Archives: October 2012

Hi Everyone!

In conducting research, I have found it most difficult to  grasp the value of research publish 10+ years ago, how long is too long ago? It has also been difficult for me to enter into finding research without prior biases, how can I find, pick, and choose research efficiently when it doesn’t personally interest me but could serve as a substantial point of reference? Also, how can you best evaluate and chose between information that is interesting and information that is useful for your research?

I think I have a pretty good grasp on evaluating proper secondary research in an academic setting, but what are ways in which we can evaluate reliable primary sources? How can we ensure that our own first-hand primary research can serve as valid and significant research?

-Rebecca

Hello all,

After weeks of indecisiveness, I have finally decided  on my area of focus. I have found some articles related to how public opinions on welfare affect entitlements, but I think the information is not quite substantial enough for a lengthy research paper. I would like to continue with the Welfare topic, but I’m dissatisfied with the information I’m finding. I think I am going to broaden my net to encompass rhetoric, political ideology and  other chracteristics which can mold views on welfare. If anyone has any input on my topic, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and Good Luck

I have been narrowing down my questions for the research and have come up with some broad and some more specific ones. they include:

Why didnt the US government sign the agreement?

Who first wrote or had an idea for the agreement (an individual of an organization)?

where US scientists included in drafting this agreement?

If yes (most probably yes) which organizations did they belong to?

List of some invorenmental protection agencie sin US and the world. have they issued an opinion about this agreement? they stand on growing pollution and recommendations for  people.

Look for sustainable US businesses or famous NGOs that promote sustainability (NGO because it is related to public affairs and my work experience)

The main challange I am encountering dutrign this research is the pattern of more question sarrising. when i read an article or watch a little documentary about a topic there is a huge amount of information that makes other questions arise. because of this i often find myself forgetting my original question.

For the more specific questions like effects of the pollution and concrete consequences in numbers such as how much it will cost the US government to make a decision toward sustainability, I find conflicting answers. It seems that even experts disagree on the benefits of Kyoto protocol. Some say its great some say it wont make  a difference. this brings up a challenge of not being sure if my sources are reliable. Most of the time I can see that the information is from a credited source, however ive been encountering many opinion articles that I dont know if i want to use.

Hi Everyone,

So, I’ve finally decided to do my research on the Broken Windows Theory, and  how it affects relationships between the police and urban communities, namely those containing people of color.  The theory states that, in order to prevent larger crimes, heavy policing of smaller crimes is necessary.  Therefore, a large police enforcement is needed around areas with graffiti, abandoned buildings, etc.

The trouble that I’m having with my topic is finding scholarly articles that defend “Broken Windows”.  Most articles automatically link the theory to reinforcing racist ideologies between whites and people of color, but few expand on the possible benefits of its implementation.

Any suggestions?

-Celeste

The focus of my research paper will reside within the study community colleges as a means to learn about the history and development of community colleges in the US in order to identify conditions that can work to increase persistence and retention within higher education. In conducting my research, I have come across relatively minor setbacks, as I have been able to compile an extensive amount of information from various reputable sources, including the American Association of Community Colleges, Center for Community College Student Engagement and the Brooking Institution. Furthermore, I have accessed various scholarly journals and E-books through the Baruch Library database using Academic Search Complete, Education Full Text and ERIC (EBSCOhost), which has provided me with variety of resources and yet I have been unable to access certain scholarly reports that address the precise nature of my research topic. The problems resides within the fact that many of these reports take me directly to the primary website, where there is a fee attached to viewing the report and include reports published by the Community College Journal of Research and Practice and Sage Journals. The reports include, Looking Back and Looking Forward: A Century of Community Colleges in America written by Stephen G. Katsinas and Challenges and Opportunities for Improving Community College Student Success by Sara Goldrick-Rab. I would like to determine if I would be able to access these reports without having to purchase each report but may be willing to do so, given the close alignment with my research question and the focus area of the report, which examines both academic and policy research.

Hey everyone,

First and foremost, I would like to publicly thank Mariam for helping me with my question. I had an idea in my mind, but couldn’t quite find the words to express it. So thanks Mariam!

As you all know, I really just couldn’t figure out what to write about. I had VOTER ID as the starting off point, but then decided against it. I moved onto child abuse, but then also decided against it. I was then going to move into public health, but also decided to go against that. And I thought about VOTER ID again because it really has been in the news quite often, so I took VOTER ID and spun around with it a bit. What I know about VOTER ID is about what is going on now. But in 1965, the Voting Act was passed to prevent racial discrimination against those that wanted to vote. So with that in mind, I am going to attempt to find how does today’s culture (socially, politically, economically) differ/compare with that of the era prior to the Voting Act of 1965 which required such an act? If voter ID is the new form of discrimination, why now and is it similar to the events that occured five decades ago.

I have begun doing research on this idea, but the difficulty in my research is due to the time period before, during, and after the Voting Act of 1965. Since I am doing a historical investigation, it is quite challenging to find first-hand or primary sources of the events that occured over 5 decades ago. There have been a lot of secondary sources, which is fine, but primary sources really just add more punch into a paper. Bias in these sources seem to be a constant characteristic as well. Of course, in past times, people held more tightly to their convictions, and it comes across on both ends of the spectrum, from those that believed in the necessity, or lack of such a necessity, for the Voting Act of 1965. Lack of the information-storing capabilities also seems to be an issue. Hard-copies were the primary engine for maintaining the accounts of the events that occurred decades ago, which again goes back to the issue of finding enough relevant sources.

In order to somewhat solve these issues, newspapers and magazines are a good starting off point. But like I said, as unbiased these sources seem to be, every source has a specific platform it stands on. I, therefore, must attempt to be unbiased myself. Documentaries, an avenue of research that I have never done before, might also actually help at this point.  Documentaries tend to just recount what events had happened, so that might alleviate or narrow down the scope of what my paper would become.

Hello All,

In past weeks I have had difficulties forming a question. After Rahad’s comment about a topic being too “boring” I really felt obligated to shift the way in which I was approaching my potential topic. I finally chose bullying. I needed something that I would be passionate about, something that perhaps I can relate to, maybe even something that I have experienced firsthand. While this helped me discover my topic, I must admit that the initial research is not easy because of the immediate bias embedded in me about bullying. Being bullied as a child makes me immediately empathetic towards the anti-bully side. However I am constantly pushing back because I want to explore beyond my understanding and scope of the kinds of effects that bullying has on individuals, basically I want to explore the complexity of bullying. This means I want to consider both the negative, as well as possible positive outcomes produced from bullying. I feel that it is important to keep my bias in check or I will risk losing any insightful data that may help me balance my thoughts and ultimately reach a final conclusion on the topic.

One of the other issues that I am facing is data overload. While bullying has only been a popular topic of concern in recent years, its outcomes such as increasing incidents of suicide, lured in several scholars to study the phenomenon. This resulted in large amounts of data being produced, from a variety of scholars exploring a variety of aspects on bullying. So basically, Bullying is multi-dimensional; there is physical, mental and cyber bullying. Then there are the motivations behind bullying, the effects on the victims, and the policy side of it. These are all great and I am sure that they will benefit me in my research, but now it’s a matter of trying to sand things down and attempt to figure out what data best suits what I am focusing on.

One of the things I noticed while doing initial research is that sometimes I will come across articles that completely confuse me. They are talking about bullying on a few pages and suddenly it becomes a mix of things that aren’t even related. These articles not only puzzle and frustrate me, but also waste a lot of my time.  I need to possess better skills on how to weed out irrelevant articles in order to better manage my time.

Hi everyone.

As many of you  are well aware of, immigration reform is a hot topic right now. Every time I walk into to my house and my parents are watching the news, there is at least a 15 minute segment in the news about something relating to the immigration reform. As I watch these news reports and continue to do research, I find that one of the more challenging things is figuring out how to speak about the difference in policies in states like NY and AZ, and incorporate the current events. For example, during the upcoming presidential debates immigration reform is something that will be discussed a lot and I will be looking for ways to incorporate that into my paper.

-Rene

The challenges I feel like that I am facing is where to start my paper. Gathering information is not hard, but thinking about how to stricter the paper is the tuff part. I’m just wondering how will I fit information into a thirty page paper. In elementary and junior high school we learned that when writing a paper there should always be introduction, body and conclusion. Introduction just gives what reader they will expect in your paper and conclusion is your final results. The body is the main part with solid information backing up your points. This may be the hardest part of the paper. It is easy to go off topic and just talk about random things.

Also another challenge is how much information do I need? Will my information be enough? Honest truth the information that I researched it feels like it will be a two page paper. I’m just a little scared to write the paper. I’m going to get away from negativity and stay positive in what I do.

Hello Professor Kafka and classmates,

I find my research very interesting and am learning more about the Affordable Care Act and the views for and against the act.

One of my main issues is letting my personal views influence potential sources. I am for the Affordable Care Act for many different reasons and can be dismissive of certain articles and documents which is no help to my research. I don’t need to put aside my personal views but I do need to absorb views from the other end of the spectrum.

I hope everybody is doing great. See you tomorrow.

-Matt