Public Affairs Research Seminar 2012

Hello All!

First, I’d like to say that our library research session wasincredibly helpful.  I have found that searching for alternate terms to broken windows theory, such as the link between graffiti and crime, has yielded a lot more results, especially sociological analyses.  Perhaps we could schedule another research class later in the semester?

I believe I may need to get most of my pro-broken windows data from books, as current scholarly articles tend to be less than enthusiastic about its implications.  I’ve recently acquired a book from one of the original theorists about broken windows, George Kelling, titled “Fixing broken windows : restoring order and reducing crime in our communities.”  Although I do hope to find other authors, this should be great for providing background info.

Happy Hunting to All!

-Celeste

Since we last met, I’ve been doing some more research on why activist groups, like the Young Lords Party (YLP), have yet to succeed in gaining independence for Puerto Rico. I’ve spent a large chunk of my time reading The Young Lords: A Reader, a compilation of documents produced by and of prominent Young Lord members and ideologies. This book has offered a great deal of help in understanding the activist era of the 1960’s and 1970’s from the Black and Puerto Rican side of society in America. This book has offered a lot of points of references for further research, not just for understanding their side, but to also find additional aspects “revolutionary standards” and variety for Puerto Rican/Latino independence.

I have also been reading into a lot of articles published through Hunter College’s Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños (through EBSCO) to better understand the Puerto Rican conditions of the time, both in the U.S. and on the Puerto Rican mainland. The combination of conducting research with the Book, the Centro, and going over old notes from classes taken that discussed Puerto Rican culture and politics is shifting my research towards a different angle for my paper. I see myself leaning more towards the side of finding: if activist groups, like the YLP, have been able to progress the Puerto Rican people in the U.S. towards political and social independence on the U.S. mainland.

Throughout the course of my research, I have been able to identify a variety of research studies and publication that have be written with regards to the changing role of community colleges through time and efforts made to improve education attainment within higher education. The topics range from challenges and opportunities for improving community colleges to perspectives on access and equity. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the strategies that I have used with the hopes that it may be some support to you in conducting further research. I have found that keywords as well as attention to detail are crucial in finding the right data. For example, I have come across a solid article through the Brooking Institute, a recognized policy research think tank based in Washington, which provides access to policy studies, publications and events on an array of topic areas, including all if not most of the topics that are being covered in the class. Using this platform, I was able to locate recognized educational researchers by not solely limiting myself to research papers but by exploring the events they had posted on their site. Among one of the events was Transforming America’s Community Colleges and listed under the key speakers was Sara Goldrick-Rab, Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin and Senior Scholar at the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, which led me to find one of her studies on Academic Search Complete. I would recommend that when engaging in research, you review all the sources that appear including key words and you may also find it helpful to review the references list on the end of the studies, which can lead you to other resources on the selected topic.

Hello everyone.

After the session we had last Tuesday in the Library, I am having more success finding articles relevant to my research topic. Before Tuesday’s session, the articles in my research results were dealing with the immigration reform on a broad spectrum. But after Tuesday’s session, I am having much more success acquiring articles that speak specifically on the immigration policies in CA and NY after the tips we were given by the librarian. Something I wasn’t doing prior to Tuesday’s session was looking directly on government websites for information regarding immigration reform. After looking on the government websites, I found a lot of information about the stance that these states (NY and CA) have taken in terms of the immigration reform. They speak about the current events occurring in CA and NY, and they even have links to several immigration groups and things relating to the immigration reform.

At the moment, I can say I’m having a fair amount of success in my research. I don’t feel stuck anywhere. Every time I research, I’m making more progress. Hopefully I can continue to have this success throughout the different parts of this paper.

Hey guys,

Well now that I’ve finally figured out what my paper is going to be about, the research has begun. But one thing that I did realize is that this paper is due in two months, so I hope everyone is getting their work in!

So I made the center of all my research the Voting Act of 1965 and from there branch out into the social and political climate of that time. Of course we always think about the social movements of the 20th century to be those of civil rights for women and african-americans or the discontent with the Vietnam war. What I did not realize was that these events actually had an influence on getting the Voting Act passed. I sort of had this idea that I would find that the social events of that time to be self-compartmentalized and disassociated from each other but clearly they are not. In a couple of sources that I found, there also seems to be contrasting opinions that either believe that the sixties was a revolutionary period or that that time period was insignificant in American history.

Part of my research paper is also about comparing the 60s into the events that are occuring today. It seems to me also that voter discrimination has been a fluid event since that time, in the sense that periods in the decades that followed, such discrimination can be seen. As I do more research, it will become more evident the strength of those voter discriminations compared to as it is today.

And more on a perceptive level, to compare today to yester-years almost seems contradictory to me. It sort of like how do I take myself out this current period in time and be unbiased when I am living in this moment in time. Its a little psychological and interesting. Its kind of like talking about myself, from my own point of view, and having everyone to accept that point of view, when in reality, its really just self-delusion that is accentuating that point of view.

Hello class,

This week I found many articles that fit the criteria of what I looking for in terms of information and argument back up. However I am still having difficulty recognizing where in my essay would this type of information or source fit. I still dot have an outline or for the paper and even though I have a structure in my mind I highly doubt I will follow through with it sine it will probably change once I start writing. Since I know I am the kind of person that needs a push, I am making it my goal to have 3 pages of at least something by the end of this week. (Preferably Friday). This way even if what I write is horrible, which it probably will be, I will then have something to follow up on or add to.  This process will also guide me in the right direction of what type of keywords I should be looking for in during the research and it will build some patterns in the research.

At the beginning of the class I already thought I would have something solid written. This Friday goal will help me turn my procrastination around just like the last assignment for 10 references. It’s embarrassing that me; among with my peers still procrastinate so much. Ridiculous!

I can’t say I’ve had the best week with the research this week even if I found a bunch of new articles because I don’t have an organized idea of how I will use them. I do want to use them all however, I really think they are from a trusted source and backed up with evidence like we talked about in class. Also, I’ve been finding many economic reasons for not ratifying the Kyoto protocol but finding the political reasons are quiet difficult. My guess is that such reasons are hidden behind in the article. At least the standard Google search is not giving me anything concrete, just opinions of unqualified people from blogs.

See you in class.

So the big topic of the week is the debate between Obama and Romney. All news channels, Facebook and twitter are saying how president Obama was very weak in his arguments and Romney won the debate. Also Romney’s big bird comments made headlines. I was even on Facebook making fun those comments. Going back to the debates, I feel that both candidates were strong. Obama did great when he addressed the people in their fifty’s about health care. Romney had great answers about how we can fix the economy and create jobs. I am not taking sides, but we have to remember Obama is still the current president and has made mistakes in the past four years. Romney is taking these mistakes and pointing them at him. Mitt Romney is giving us his promises an ideas like every other presidential candidate has. We really do not know if they will work. Obama sold his ideas to us four years ago that he has not done. Americans should be optimistic and not jump to conclusion. Everyone should watch the vice presidential debate because both Paul Ryan and Joe Biden are economist. It’s going to be a war.

The problems I have encountered so far in my research has been narrowing down which direction I want to take the paper in. I dont want the paper to be a pros and cons paper because my goal is to know why the laws are currently the way they are. I want to find research that explains a what if senario and what the ramifications would be to society and to poorer individuals on waiting lists. Im not sure if im not searching the correct way or if the information i am seeking is avaliable. I am still searching and have found some good sources thus far.