I remember digging through the rows of Dewey decimal system file cabinets full of 3” x 5” index cards looking for reference books that pertained to a report that I was writing, going to the sections of the library, pulling the books, if I could find them, off the bookshelves, taking a stack over to the table and going through them, copying down the author’s name, title of the book etc., to make a bibliography. We walked to school barefooted back then, uphill both ways, through the snow, and we liked it!
Today, we just type in a few words at Google, popping up thousands of references to use, just copy and paste sentences in the paper, paraphrase it and then consider that we haven’t really stolen an idea or plagiarized the work of someone else. However, while attending school here for three terms I found out that you CAN”T DO THAT, they will take away your birthday, spank you, and destroy your entire life. They have the CIA type of tools and software to find out exactly where you got your information. Now how is that fair, they want me to work, use my brain and write my own ideas, which need to be supported by someone that actually knows what they are talking about because I’m just a student who knows nothing and hardly worth the effort of reading, especially when it’s not even my own ideas and I haven’t properly cited the work that I’ve stolen! How is that fair!
I admit I wouldn’t want anyone to steal my work, but I don’t really consider it stealing. Stealing is downloading 9,000 MP3s off of BitTorrent, a file sharing application, with nobody paying anything for them. Nobody having the incentive to compose music anymore. The thieves not even having enough time to listen, appreciate, and enjoy the music anyway; their greed to have everything keeping them so busy downloading, “I GOT TO HAVE EVERY ONE!, madness because of some compulsive-obsessive disorder passed onto them from their “long haired Vietnam protesting,hippie, drug damaged parents!” not a law-abiding, conservative, Mr. Rodgers do-gooder like me! Yeah right.
I have this bad habit of stepping back and looking at the big picture. I see myself stealing other’s ideas and not liking it, I see myself being lazy and inconsiderate of the time and efforts of others, I see the wrong in the whole situation. I just don’t see how the heck I am supposed to compose a paper with less than about 30% reference material and 70% of my own ideas when I’ve never done a darn thing in my life concerning most of the topics worthy of writing about for a academic research paper, it’s a real dilemma.
It’s time to put the nose to the grindstone and figure this out. My plan is to read about ten academic journals, get their ideas and then consolidate their opinions into an argument and then derive a conclusion from it all in my paper. Give credit to their ideas, rebuttal and/or agreement without much foundationn or qualification, and hopefully get a passing grade on the papers that I write in the future.
Then I have to FORMAT it in a very precise manner,it's like syntax for the literary community, imagine that, them telling me how to do something, who do they think they are anyway! I guess they got PHDs and know what they are talking about, I'm just venting, it's part of my healing process, I hate to look at the real world, see where I am in it, at the bottom of the food chain, the off cast chaff, the tenement worker, the laborer, a tool for the guys on top. I have little or no responsibility, is this how you get ahead, you gather responsibility, you start thinking, writing and publishing papers in an accepted format, pull the sword of "Excelsior" ( Excalibur) from the stone! Become the great King Arthur of Camelot. Oh, well at least I still have my dreams, they can't really take away my birthday, my life is already a shambles and can't get much worse. Maybe there is something to this giving credit where credit is due. Something to this learning and using APA format, maybe my dreams will come true, maybe I’ll rise from the ashes and become the Phoenix, bring joy to the world and everlasting happiness to those around me, maybe I’ll just pass this course and owe a few more thousand dollars on my student loan!
Does that seem a little bit melodramatic to you? Have a great day! I did.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a wood, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. - Robert Frost
Monday, July 5, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Back to Basics, the Basics of Writing
When you build a home, you need a good foundation. The building blocks and boards are place on the framework, then some modern conveniences are integrated such as plumbing, electricity, and gas, then a nice finish is applied to make it pretty on the outside.
When you write a paper you need a good foundation too, good spelling and grammar skills are essential, too many errors in this department distract from the message that you are trying to convey. A strong vocabulary is required to do the necessary research, to understand what the ‘experts’ are saying, and to be able to express exactly what you want to say fluently.
Your building blocks and boards are your sentences, then paragraphs. The sentences should vary in length, so as not to become mundane, thus keeping the reader’s attention and cognitive thought process flowing. They can be fast, short, and exciting. They can be long, thorough and in great detail. According to VanDam (2008), “It is important to think of your reader and structure your paragraphs accordingly. Look at how they appear on the page. Paragraph lengths should invite the readers in, neither seeming too daunting to read through nor appearing incomplete (p.45).” Each paragraph adds tone to your writer’s voice and should have rhythm appropriate with the topic.
A paragraph helps organize your thoughts and each point that you would like to bring out is the topic sentence for that paragraph, supported by the other sentences in the paragraph offering details, emphasizing certain aspects or points of view. There should be a purpose and relationship to the topic sentence, it can be an introduction to the topic sentence, offer subtopic explanations, wrap up the thought as a conclusion, or a transition to the next paragraph. Paragraphs break up massive amounts of information into easy to follow logical thought patterns, allow stopping points for the reader to ponder your message, and cascade or buildup the thesis statement in some way
Your paper’s framework is the outline and notes you made during your research. You mount your paragraphs on the framework and fill it with supplemental information using citing from those with authority you found during your research. . The plumbing, electricity, and gas of the paragraph are the quotes that you use, interlaced into the framework. This establishes reader trust that you know what you are talking about , that you have done your research, and may help to convince them, if that is the purpose of your paper, of the truth of the message that you are writing about
Finally the finish is the layout of the paper, does it look good? In APA format specific guidelines must be followed in order for your paper to be accepted and to receive a good grade if it is a requirement of the course. The writer must do research to insure that they are following those guidelines and use the writing center as peer review and criticism about their papers. Getting back to basics with each paper that you write should be part of your own proofreading technique, details down to each sentence should be considered during the rough draft stages, and detailed paragraph analysis during the final drafts should be implemented.
Reference
VanDame, K. PhD. Kaplan Handbook for Writers 2nd Editon. 2008. United States. Cengage Learning.
When you write a paper you need a good foundation too, good spelling and grammar skills are essential, too many errors in this department distract from the message that you are trying to convey. A strong vocabulary is required to do the necessary research, to understand what the ‘experts’ are saying, and to be able to express exactly what you want to say fluently.
Your building blocks and boards are your sentences, then paragraphs. The sentences should vary in length, so as not to become mundane, thus keeping the reader’s attention and cognitive thought process flowing. They can be fast, short, and exciting. They can be long, thorough and in great detail. According to VanDam (2008), “It is important to think of your reader and structure your paragraphs accordingly. Look at how they appear on the page. Paragraph lengths should invite the readers in, neither seeming too daunting to read through nor appearing incomplete (p.45).” Each paragraph adds tone to your writer’s voice and should have rhythm appropriate with the topic.
A paragraph helps organize your thoughts and each point that you would like to bring out is the topic sentence for that paragraph, supported by the other sentences in the paragraph offering details, emphasizing certain aspects or points of view. There should be a purpose and relationship to the topic sentence, it can be an introduction to the topic sentence, offer subtopic explanations, wrap up the thought as a conclusion, or a transition to the next paragraph. Paragraphs break up massive amounts of information into easy to follow logical thought patterns, allow stopping points for the reader to ponder your message, and cascade or buildup the thesis statement in some way
Your paper’s framework is the outline and notes you made during your research. You mount your paragraphs on the framework and fill it with supplemental information using citing from those with authority you found during your research. . The plumbing, electricity, and gas of the paragraph are the quotes that you use, interlaced into the framework. This establishes reader trust that you know what you are talking about , that you have done your research, and may help to convince them, if that is the purpose of your paper, of the truth of the message that you are writing about
Finally the finish is the layout of the paper, does it look good? In APA format specific guidelines must be followed in order for your paper to be accepted and to receive a good grade if it is a requirement of the course. The writer must do research to insure that they are following those guidelines and use the writing center as peer review and criticism about their papers. Getting back to basics with each paper that you write should be part of your own proofreading technique, details down to each sentence should be considered during the rough draft stages, and detailed paragraph analysis during the final drafts should be implemented.
Reference
VanDame, K. PhD. Kaplan Handbook for Writers 2nd Editon. 2008. United States. Cengage Learning.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Commonly Used Logical Fallacies
The KU Writer’s handbook states (p. 64), “…even logical reasoning can result in incorrect conclusions. These are called logical fallacies.” We are discussing these patterns in seminar this week, Unit 3, and I thought that it would be a good topic to write about parallel to the course.
Have you ever seen a magic show or an illusionist, they use some of these fallacies and sleight of hand tricks to deceive the viewer and call it “magic.” Our own minds can often be predictable, we draw conclusions and are misdirected. The same can happen with statistics, certain peer groups, in mob psychology, and in our own arguments in support of those things that our hearts believe to be true. Awareness of these fallacies makes us wiser consumers, businesspersons, readers, and writers. On occasion, depending upon our audience, we might even elect to use these techniques to persuade a weaker mind into a proposal that a more knowledgeable person would never consider, they are often used by parents to control their offspring and I think that’s where the trouble begins, we had parents that used these upon us during our childhood and the logic is passed on this way from generation to generation.
These are the names of some examples according to the KU writers guide (pp.64-65)
The Anecdotal Fallacy or False Analogy (True Statement + True Statement= False conclusion)
False Cause, Mistaking Time for Cause and Effect , Post Hoe (a True Past Event + a Present Condition=False assumption)
False Authority, Appeal to Authority (Using the reference of a valid authority to sustain a statement of one without authority)
Slippery Slope (False conclusions derived from a series events that could or could not happen as a result of the preceding event in a chain reaction or domino effect)
Either/Or Dilemmas (Misleading or misdirection, leaving only one option for the audience as the result of an event, there are always other options they could take, but they are presented with only one)
Circular Reasoning or Begging the Question (supporting the same false conclusion through assumption by stating it again in a different way, or assumption that something is the truth)
Ad Hominem (Where a conclusion is based on a prejudice (against/favorable) of a person and not really on the statement or facts at all, but upon the person (good or bad))
Some other forms of Logical Fallacy mention in "The Curious Writer" by Bruce Ballenger and during this week's seminar are:
Hasty Generalizations (A judgement about something or someone or first impression which was not allowed sufficent time to make a true judgement about it)
Straw Man (Side tracking, ignoring or misrepresenting the actual position of the opponent. Making it easier to knock down with a logical argument)
Appealing to Popularity (because something is popular in the polls it must be good or true)
So, what is an appropriate way of presenting evidence? I'll write about that in my very next post.
References
VanDame, K. PhD. Kaplan Handbook for Writers 2nd Editon. 2008. United States. Cengage Learning.
Ballenger B. The Curious Writer 2nd Edition. 2009. New York. Pearson Education Inc.
Have you ever seen a magic show or an illusionist, they use some of these fallacies and sleight of hand tricks to deceive the viewer and call it “magic.” Our own minds can often be predictable, we draw conclusions and are misdirected. The same can happen with statistics, certain peer groups, in mob psychology, and in our own arguments in support of those things that our hearts believe to be true. Awareness of these fallacies makes us wiser consumers, businesspersons, readers, and writers. On occasion, depending upon our audience, we might even elect to use these techniques to persuade a weaker mind into a proposal that a more knowledgeable person would never consider, they are often used by parents to control their offspring and I think that’s where the trouble begins, we had parents that used these upon us during our childhood and the logic is passed on this way from generation to generation.
These are the names of some examples according to the KU writers guide (pp.64-65)
The Anecdotal Fallacy or False Analogy (True Statement + True Statement= False conclusion)
False Cause, Mistaking Time for Cause and Effect , Post Hoe (a True Past Event + a Present Condition=False assumption)
False Authority, Appeal to Authority (Using the reference of a valid authority to sustain a statement of one without authority)
Slippery Slope (False conclusions derived from a series events that could or could not happen as a result of the preceding event in a chain reaction or domino effect)
Either/Or Dilemmas (Misleading or misdirection, leaving only one option for the audience as the result of an event, there are always other options they could take, but they are presented with only one)
Circular Reasoning or Begging the Question (supporting the same false conclusion through assumption by stating it again in a different way, or assumption that something is the truth)
Ad Hominem (Where a conclusion is based on a prejudice (against/favorable) of a person and not really on the statement or facts at all, but upon the person (good or bad))
Some other forms of Logical Fallacy mention in "The Curious Writer" by Bruce Ballenger and during this week's seminar are:
Hasty Generalizations (A judgement about something or someone or first impression which was not allowed sufficent time to make a true judgement about it)
Straw Man (Side tracking, ignoring or misrepresenting the actual position of the opponent. Making it easier to knock down with a logical argument)
Appealing to Popularity (because something is popular in the polls it must be good or true)
So, what is an appropriate way of presenting evidence? I'll write about that in my very next post.
References
VanDame, K. PhD. Kaplan Handbook for Writers 2nd Editon. 2008. United States. Cengage Learning.
Ballenger B. The Curious Writer 2nd Edition. 2009. New York. Pearson Education Inc.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Selection of a Thesis Statement
We didn’t write a scientific research paper in my other writing classes. We wrote personal essays, reviews, proposals, arguments, and critical essays. When I was working in the ER we were required to write a report on a subject selected from a list of subjects that the charge nurse wanted to discuss that month in the group meetings. I specifically remember one that was a scientific research paper on the process of blood clotting and the use of anticoagulants that I had selected and was asked to do a presentation of because she thought I had done a very good job on it. I was nervous because several of the doctors had come to see the presentation. I guess that I must have impressed them and received a commendation letter from the base commander a few weeks later.
Ok, so one of the reading assignments this week was to read the section 5b “Writing a Thesis Statement “(p. 41-44.) It was enlightening to me and I thought I’d write about the process in my blog this week. For the project there are very specific instructions to follow about placement of the thesis statement, but not really how to derive one for your topic, this reading assignment covered it pretty well, answered all of my questions.
The reading assignment explained, “A thesis statement is one or two sentences that explains a paper’s argument, focus, or purpose. It is usually found in the paper’s introduction.” We were told in seminar to put ours as the last sentence of the introduction. The first step of formulating a good thesis statement was to do research on the topic and take a few notes from them about subtopics that interested me, and if I used direct quotes to be sure to get the citing information and record it in my notes so that I wouldn’t have to go back and re-read the paper, a time saving tip I thought was going to be very useful for doing this project.
The second step was called “Brain Storming” where I should analyze those notes to get a few ideas about subtopics and specifc aspects of the topic to generate some more notes about what other things I had left to do for research and try to formulate a few possible thesis questions from them in the third step.
The reading assignment stated, “To generate a research question, all you need to do is complete this sentence: I want to know why/how/what …” about this topic. Then from here, in order to formulate my research paper’s thesis statement, was to answer that question. Sounds pretty simple to me, but I’ll see how simple that is sometime later this week because the thesis statement is due!
Reference
VanDam, K. PhD. The KU Handbook for Writers. 2007. United States of America. Cengage Learning.
Ok, so one of the reading assignments this week was to read the section 5b “Writing a Thesis Statement “(p. 41-44.) It was enlightening to me and I thought I’d write about the process in my blog this week. For the project there are very specific instructions to follow about placement of the thesis statement, but not really how to derive one for your topic, this reading assignment covered it pretty well, answered all of my questions.
The reading assignment explained, “A thesis statement is one or two sentences that explains a paper’s argument, focus, or purpose. It is usually found in the paper’s introduction.” We were told in seminar to put ours as the last sentence of the introduction. The first step of formulating a good thesis statement was to do research on the topic and take a few notes from them about subtopics that interested me, and if I used direct quotes to be sure to get the citing information and record it in my notes so that I wouldn’t have to go back and re-read the paper, a time saving tip I thought was going to be very useful for doing this project.
The second step was called “Brain Storming” where I should analyze those notes to get a few ideas about subtopics and specifc aspects of the topic to generate some more notes about what other things I had left to do for research and try to formulate a few possible thesis questions from them in the third step.
The reading assignment stated, “To generate a research question, all you need to do is complete this sentence: I want to know why/how/what …” about this topic. Then from here, in order to formulate my research paper’s thesis statement, was to answer that question. Sounds pretty simple to me, but I’ll see how simple that is sometime later this week because the thesis statement is due!
Reference
VanDam, K. PhD. The KU Handbook for Writers. 2007. United States of America. Cengage Learning.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
It’s Fun to Get Stuff in the Mail
I obtained two more reference books that I thought would be useful for this class and useful in my writing process today in the mail.
Bryson. B. 2008. Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors. Broadway Books. New York
Hendrickson R. 2008. Encylopedia of Word and Phrase Origins 4th Edition. Checkmark Books. New York
I’ve only browsed through them for about ten minutes each, and find them to be quite interesting tools that I can reference should the need occur. I found phrase origins from “the almighty dollar” by Washington Irving first published in his sketch “The Creole Village” in 1836 to “tooth and nail” being the Latin equivalent phrase of “toto corpora atque omibus ungulis”- with all the body and every nail and the French phrase, “bec et ungles”- beak and talons, all meaning the same thing , to fight with tooth and nails, biting and scratching, with weapons, with all the powers at one’s command. These will be good sources of information for me when writing different types of papers for school. Don’t you wish you had one! My wife did, so now I have a carrot to wave in front of her to start writing again, she’s retired and needs things to do to keep her busy and out of trouble to fill up the time left over from retirement. Retire- comes from the French term 'retirer' meaning to draw back, to draw out, endure and unfortunately partially from a derivative of Martyr, possibly because martyrs were often drawn out of "the rack" almost beyond the limits of human endurance.Yeeech.
Wasn't that an interesting tidbit of knowledge? This is going to be fun.
Bryson. B. 2008. Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors. Broadway Books. New York
Hendrickson R. 2008. Encylopedia of Word and Phrase Origins 4th Edition. Checkmark Books. New York
I’ve only browsed through them for about ten minutes each, and find them to be quite interesting tools that I can reference should the need occur. I found phrase origins from “the almighty dollar” by Washington Irving first published in his sketch “The Creole Village” in 1836 to “tooth and nail” being the Latin equivalent phrase of “toto corpora atque omibus ungulis”- with all the body and every nail and the French phrase, “bec et ungles”- beak and talons, all meaning the same thing , to fight with tooth and nails, biting and scratching, with weapons, with all the powers at one’s command. These will be good sources of information for me when writing different types of papers for school. Don’t you wish you had one! My wife did, so now I have a carrot to wave in front of her to start writing again, she’s retired and needs things to do to keep her busy and out of trouble to fill up the time left over from retirement. Retire- comes from the French term 'retirer' meaning to draw back, to draw out, endure and unfortunately partially from a derivative of Martyr, possibly because martyrs were often drawn out of "the rack" almost beyond the limits of human endurance.Yeeech.
Wasn't that an interesting tidbit of knowledge? This is going to be fun.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Topic Selection Process
“A good way to come up with a topic is to think about your own personal and/or career interests and then see how they might fit with your topic” - Academic and Professional Sources and How to Find Them Unit 2 resources In the Extra! Extra! tab.
I used this suggestion to determine what I might use as topic for the scientific research paper (Health Care Professional) 1- Advances of Emergency Room Equipment and Techniques Over the Last Forty Years 2- Legal and Ethical Issues in the Civilian Healthcare Market as Opposed to Military Health Care Policies 3- Future Developments in the Proposed National Healthcare Plan 4- How The Human Genome Project has Affected Health Care Insurance Provided by Employers 5-Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture, Homeopathic, and Chiropractic Alternatives to Medical Care 6- Star Wars, Star Trek and Other Sci-Fiction Adventures and Their Influence on Modern Medicine Advancements 7- Medicare and Healthcare, What is the Difference?
I had to narrow it down for two topics within the next week, what questions could I ask myself in order to determine which ones I should choose? I decided to place them all on post-its and put them into my Merlin’s wizard’s hat, randomly remove two and those would be the ones that I’d use. On my first roll of the dice I selected two which I decided I wouldn’t like to write about after all, the second attempt one was inappropriate for the assignment and the other was completely ridiculous, the third attempt was also unsuccessful, so was the fourth. Now I’m back to trying to decide which topics to select from. This is going to be harder than I thought it would be, I’m already stuck and the gyrations of the mind are skipping, what shall I do? Back to the drawing board I suppose and I mean drawing and doodle-bugging and whatever it takes to reach my short term goal of topic selection by tomorrow.
I used this suggestion to determine what I might use as topic for the scientific research paper (Health Care Professional) 1- Advances of Emergency Room Equipment and Techniques Over the Last Forty Years 2- Legal and Ethical Issues in the Civilian Healthcare Market as Opposed to Military Health Care Policies 3- Future Developments in the Proposed National Healthcare Plan 4- How The Human Genome Project has Affected Health Care Insurance Provided by Employers 5-Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture, Homeopathic, and Chiropractic Alternatives to Medical Care 6- Star Wars, Star Trek and Other Sci-Fiction Adventures and Their Influence on Modern Medicine Advancements 7- Medicare and Healthcare, What is the Difference?
I had to narrow it down for two topics within the next week, what questions could I ask myself in order to determine which ones I should choose? I decided to place them all on post-its and put them into my Merlin’s wizard’s hat, randomly remove two and those would be the ones that I’d use. On my first roll of the dice I selected two which I decided I wouldn’t like to write about after all, the second attempt one was inappropriate for the assignment and the other was completely ridiculous, the third attempt was also unsuccessful, so was the fourth. Now I’m back to trying to decide which topics to select from. This is going to be harder than I thought it would be, I’m already stuck and the gyrations of the mind are skipping, what shall I do? Back to the drawing board I suppose and I mean drawing and doodle-bugging and whatever it takes to reach my short term goal of topic selection by tomorrow.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
If you like movies, movie trivia
Comcast is giving away a lot of prizes this summer for movie trivia buffs. Big screen TV, tickets to movies, and laptops. They will give me some more chances to win if you follow this link, and you too can become a big winnner, ha!
http://www.truefantrivia.com/?o2mguid=31E6E8E8-71F7-47E0-B65A-EACF6DE09A5B&cid=NET_82_27
So, if you like trivia games go play.
http://www.truefantrivia.com/?o2mguid=31E6E8E8-71F7-47E0-B65A-EACF6DE09A5B&cid=NET_82_27
So, if you like trivia games go play.
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