Author Archives: Mariam Allam

Hello All,

This week has been intense, Its already mid-November and things are getting real. I went to the writing center last week and got some help trying to structure the paper. I also got some help on trying to form the thesis. I’m still having difficulty articulating what I’m trying to say. I know what I want to say I’m just having a hard time putting it in writing and ITS THE MOST FRUSTRATING THING IN THE WORLD! I already started writing using what I have but I have to fix up my argument.

Hello All,

I feel that the past few weeks (excluding the past week ) I have been pretty productive. I have a set argument, yet i’m still concerned about the way I’m wording it. I have the reasons and evidence however I still need to clean up the way I worded it a little bit. I started working on the annotated bibliography, which I must admit has been very helpful because of the individual analysis that goes into each one. It gives you a better understanding of the topic.

I know that presentations are coming up soon, and while I am not yet prepared to present, I have a good idea of what I want to say , now its just a matter of organizing my ideas appropriately.

I hope everyone is well after the recent weather catastrophe, if not I would like to offer help to anyone who may need it. Please let me know and I will do what I can to help.

Hello All,

I will begin by saying this week has been good to me. I haven’t felt things were as clear until this week. I had a meeting with Professor Kafka that was very helpful. It cleared up some confusion I had about what I should and shouldn’t include in my paper, length of paper, focus, sources that help, examples etc. I am focusing on the bullying from more of the bully’s side. (So why does he/she bully?)

After the discussion with Professor Kafka, I figured since I was already in school I should meet with a librarian, I tried hunting down Randy, however he was in a meeting so I met with another librarian. When I first sat down with her and expressed some difficulties I was having with finding sources, she began by telling me that it would be difficult finding sources on my topics. (Complete frustration at this point) However, she spoke to soon. We began looking into Soc-Index and other Social databases and came up with some great articles. From there I began looking at the references, which many of them were tailored to my topic thankfully! With that, things began to make sense as I began reading and putting articles together. I jotted down the recurring themes that I found among the paper. I also have a better idea of the definition that I will use. I went to my local library to collect some books, I came across a book about bullying that have about seven chapters dedicated to reasons why bullying occurs 7!!!!

I am still undecided on the exact argument I want to make, I’m hoping that I can discuss this in the group tomorrow and get some helpful feedback. The argument will most definitely be about why it is important for school counselors and other helping professionals to consider the various aspects of bullying. Meaning health professionals, educators etc. need to look at both the effects of bullying both for the bully and the bullied in order to better understand and eventually remedy this phenomenon.

Side Note: The book does a very good job in helping  think about an argument, I will most likely need to re-read  some parts to clear up some confusions.

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.