Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Learning New Research Techniques

When I began my research paper I felt that my previous papers I had already completed, did not have good enough context to find research on. Once I finally decided to research my technology topic I found it much easier. I did not have a difficult time finding my sources at all; I actually found about eight different ones. My strategy was once I had them all written down I would go back through each source and highlight the important points. Doing so, helped me to plan out the points that I would be making in my paper. While beginning to write my rough draft I was very confused on exactly how I was suppose to incorporate my research. Once I began to write it became evident to myself, that I was actually better at writing quotes then I thought I was.

I feel that during the completion of this paper, it helped me complete the revision process. Correcting one of our papers encouraged myself to start revising all the other papers. I now understand most of all your comments on my papers and I am able to understand all the grammar mistakes that I have been making. While making my corrections I noticed that on this paper I kept my topic based on myself all throughout the paper. Whereas on my previous papers I tended to change subjects all throughout the paper. I feel that my technique to finding research helped myself very well, so that I never forgot any important points from my sources. After correcting this paper, I feel much more prepared for this portion of my portfolio. I’m glad that I changed my point of view from the beginning of the paper to now because I would have not been able to find such good sources. In result, my main improvement on this paper was learning how to correct my technology paper so that I could tie in important research.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The New and Improved Twitter

Farhi, Paul. "The Twitter Explosion." American Journalism Review 31.3 (2009): 26-31. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Nov. 2012.

In Paul Farhi’s article “The Twitter Explosion”, he is discussing the use of this giant social networking phenomenon. He specifically focuses on the use of Twitter by journalists. Farhi stated, “All of which means that Twitter attracts the sort of people that media people should love- those whole are interested in, and engaged with, the news.” He explains that Twitter seems to be used more by the older generations that read to be informed about what is going on around them, rather than the teens that post unnecessary information. Therefore, he believes that Twitter is just a trend in this time period for over half of the users and eventually will die out. He gives the example that the users that just post what they are doing everyday are going to eventually get tired of Twitter, but the one’s that release important information are the ones that are going to stick around longer. Farhi believes that the purpose of Twitter for its users is still developing and they should stick around to realize, because it may eventually become more than just a social networking website.

Personally as a Twitter user I do see where I have found useful information from reading many different posts daily. The posts can consist of stories from family, friends, and even events going on around the world that are on some scale important and sometimes not important at all. Therefore, could Twitter possibly become a source for urgent news to be broadcasted too everyone like Farhi has envisioned? Farhi’s point proves that maybe Twitter is not just a waste of time to the users. Most of society that is not on Twitter believes that they have no purpose to have one, but with what Farhi believes is in store for Twitter’s future, maybe they should rethink this. Also for all the users that are already using Twitter, they should stick around to realize that they are not just wasting their time on a social network.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Realizing How to Form a Topic

While I began to read the different articles upon writing my social responsibility paper, I knew that I needed to read with a different outlook on the paper. When writing my previous papers I always seemed to have a difficult time creating a topic for myself that I could relate too. Therefore, this time I finally realized that I needed to listen to Dr. Horton when he told me not to think about a personal experience in particular while reading the articles, but instead just start off by choosing the article that stands out the most. After doing so, I decided to list different reasons as to why I was interested in the article, “The Last Line of Defense” and the different quotes from the article that stood out to me. Once I made a list and began to brainstorm about all the different ideas, I was instantly able to create a topic from one of the quotes.

I felt much more confident while writing this paper in result to using this method. Once I started to write my rough draft, I felt as I could write for days. I know that when I first wrote my Education Paper, I did not feel this way. I know that I have improved as a writer from my first essay to now, in that I am now able to branch out on different topics. It has taken time for me to realize that I am free to write about anything I want to, but as I continue to write each paper I do see improvement in this. Also, on the previous papers it seemed that I would start each paper off being specific and giving great examples and then towards the end I would start using general word choices. I tried very hard in this paper to stay specific throughout the whole paper, and stay away from general word choices. I hope that I did improve in this area, and that it is evident to the readers. Even though, I do see improvement I know that I am still not the best writer, so I plan to continue and push myself in the next paper to become even better.