Category Archives: group 3

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.

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

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.

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.

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