Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Chapter 16- Writing With Style

The first part of the chapter focuses on the beginning stages of writing with style. You first need to write concisely, some steps to this are to remove unnecessary modifiers, remove unnecessary introductory phrases, and eliminate shock phrases. You then must use active and passive voices effectively; active choices specifies a person or thing that carries out the action and passive voice indicates that something was done but does not specify who carries out the action. Adopting a consistent point of view is always a good idea, weather it's first, second, or third person. You should always choose your words carefully and wisely, the format, specialized language, and variety are all things you should consider.

The second part of the chapter is about polishing your style. You should start with giving your sentence structure variety some examples are: using statements, questions, commands, and exclamations. Transitions are a very important part of writing any sort of paper, article, or story. You should make sure you know a variety of transitional words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. You always need to introduce other authors in an effective way. A very important tip is to always avoid sexist language.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Chapter 12- Developing Your Argument

Chapter 12 in the Bedford Researcher is all about developing your thesis statment and assessing the intefrity of your argument. A lot of people ask 'How can I support my thesis statement?' the first step to this is to choose reasons to support your thesis statment, to do this you can generate ideas by brainstorming, freewriting, looping or clustering. The next step is to select evidence to support your reasons. The third step is to decide how to appeal to your readers, you need to assess your apeals to authority, to emotion, to principles, values, beliefs, character, and logic.

The second part of chapter 12 asks 'How can I assess the integrity of my argument?' You must check for fallacies based on distraction. A red herring is an irrelevant and distracting point, an ad hominem attacks attempt to discredit an idea or argument by suggesting that a person or group associated with it should not be trusted, and an irrelevant history argues that a proposal is bad because someone came up with the idea while under the influence. These are all forms of distraction to avoid. You need to look for fallacies based on questionable assumptions like sweeping generalizations, straw-man attacks, citing inappropriate authorities  and jumping on a bandwaggon. You should search for fallacies based on misrepresentation, for example, stacking the deck, base-rate fallacies, and questionable analogies. Lastly, you must locate fallacies based on careless reasoning.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Works Cited (20 Sources)

Works Cited
Ablow, Keith, Dr. "Should High School Athletes Be Tested for Drug Use?" Fox News. FOX News Network, 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
"The Athlete." Drug Testing, In Sports. N.p., 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
"Drug Testing Student Athletes." Archived: Creating Safe and Drug-Free Schools:. N.p., Sept. 1996. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
Franz, Joseph C., MD. "United States Sports Academy - "America's Sports University"" Student Athlete Drug Testing. The Sports Journal, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
"Frequently Asked Questions About Drug Testing in Schools." National Institute on Drug Abuse. National Institue of Drug Abuse, Dec. 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
Koski, Greg. "Drug-Testing Research in High School Students: Is There a Will or a Way?" The American Journal of Bioethics 4.1 (2004): 33-35. Print.
Louria, Donald. "Mandatory Drug Testing of High School Athletes: Unethical Evaluation, Unethical Policy." The American Journal of Bioethics 4.1 (2004): 35-36. Print.
"National Collegiate Athletic Association." Drug Testing. NCAA, Nov. 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
"No Random Drug Tests of Student Athletes." Seattlepi.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
Park, Loretta. "Controversial Drug-testing Policy OK'd by Davis School Board." Standard-Examiner. Standard Examiner, 17 Apr. 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
Payerchin, Richard. "Vermilion to Expand Student Drug Testing - Morningjournal.com." The Morning Journal. The Morning Journal, 20 Apr. 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
Pilon, Mary. "Differing Views on Value of High School Tests." Editorial. NY Times 5 Jan. 2013: n. pag. NY Times, 5 Jan. 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
Ringwalt, C., A. A. Vincus, S. T. Ennett, S. Hanley, J. M. Bowling, G. S. Yacoubian, and L. A. Rohrbach. "Random Drug Testing in US Public School Districts." American Journal of Public Health 98.5 (2008): 826-28. Print.
Russell, Brenda L., Brian Jennings, and Sherry Classey. "Adolescent Attitudes Toward Random Drug Testing In Schools." Journal of Drug Education 35.3 (2005): 167-84. Print.
Schumann, Rebecca. "Naperville, Ill., High Schools Considering Random Drug Testing After 'Rampant' Marijuana Use." International Business Times. International Buiseness times, 3 Apr. 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
Shamoo, Adil E., and Jonathan D. Moreno. "Ethics of Research Involving Mandatory Drug Testing of High School Athletes in Oregon." The American Journal of Bioethics 4.1 (2004): 25-31. Print.
"Teens Hooked on Steroids." Newcastle Herald. N.p., 21 Apr. 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
Welsh, W.E., and J. Nyland. "Adolescent Perceptions of Drug Use and Drug Testing Differ by Gender and Grade." Journal of Athletic Training. S9 33.2 (n.d.): n. pag. Print.
Winerip, Michael. "Random Test Rejected for Drugs." NY Times 30 Nov. 2008: P2-Op. Print.
Wood, Benjamin. "Davis Adopts Random Drug Testing Policy for Its High Schools." DeseretNews.com. Desert News, 6 Apr. 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Chapter 11- Developing Your Thesis Statement

Chapter 11 is all about developing your thesis statement. You can use your sources and position statement by reviewing your position statement, reviewing your notes by identifying important information, ideas, and arguments, consider your purpose and role, and reflecting on your readers. To draft your thesis you must identify important information, ideas, and arguments associated with your position, draft alternative thesis statements, considering the type of document you plan to write, and focusing on your thesis statement rather than making it too broad.

Chapter 10- Searching for Information with Field Research Methods

Chapter 10 is all about searching for information with field research methods. When should you use field research methods? You should use it if you can't find anything, or not enough work relevant to your topic. Field research is sometimes the best way to learn about an issue or collect information to support a position. You can use interviews to collect information by first deciding if you even want to conduct an interview. To plan your interview you must decide who is the best person/people to interview. Once you've decided that, you then need to write out a few questions. Choosing the right way to conduct your interview can be difficult, you can do it face to face, on the phone, and by email. You should decide the way you would like to take notes during the interview, you can record it, take notes, etc. To analyze your results you can look for new info, look for statements that confirm info from other sources, look for inconsistencies, or contradictions, etc. How can you use observation to collect information? You first plan your observation by deciding what you should observe and how often, what to looks for, and whether you need permission to observe. To conduct your observation some suggestions The Bedford Researcher suggests are to arrive early, review your planning notes, introduce yourself, set up your recording equipment, take notes, leave contact info, and send thank you notes. To analyze your results you should identify key features and patterns of behavior, identify key individuals and describe their actions, look for unusual and surprising patterns and actions, etc. To use surveys to collect information you must decide whom to survey, what to ask and how to ask it with integrity, whether you are asking your question clearly, and how to distribute your survey. How can you use correspondence to collect information? Correspondence refers to any textual communication, and can also take place through social media.

Chapter 7- Avoiding Plagiarism

Chapter 7 is all about avoiding plagiarism. It first defines what plagiarism is; a form of intellectual dishonesty. Plagiarism can definitely be unintentional, for example you could neglect to list the source of a paraphrase, yet even though it can be unintentional it can still have serious repercussions. There is also intentional plagiarism, which can happen when you've waited until the last minute to write a paper so you just copy and paste. The second part of the chapter focuses on research ethics, which are based on the notion that writing is an honest exchange of information. You need to acknowledge the sources of the information you ;use, accurately represent that information, and provide a citation. Common knowledge is information that is widely known, like common sense. The book poses the question 'What is fair use and when should I ask permission to use a source?' they later answer that question by saying that writers usually don't need to seek permission to make brief quotations. Avoiding plagiarism includes a variety of steps: Conduct a knowledge inventory, take careful notes, distinguish between your ideas and those drawn from your sources, cite sources in the text and in a works cited page, and recognize misconceptions about intentional plagiarism. What should you do if you're accused of plagiarism? Review your documents to find anything that may have raised these suspicions, Collect materials you used in writing projects, collect materials you've written during the project, and reflect on your research writing process.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

April 16, 2013 LAB

1. a. In an interview with The National Catholic Reporter, the Principle of Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Mo., states "It isn't about testing our students to catch them, it's about providing a resource for our students,"

b. According to Greg Harkness, Principle at Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Mo., "It isn't about testing our students to catch them, it's about providing a resource for our students,"

2. a. In a very thorough article by Porsia Tunzi, of The National Catholic Reporter, she interviews Principle Greg Harkness of Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Mo., who states "It isn't about testing our students to catch them, it's about providing a resource for our students," Principle Harkness is more focused on the well being of the students rather that just catching them doing drugs; he wants to promote health.

b. A study funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education found that, "Students involved in extracurricular activities and subject to in-school random drug testing reported using drugs less often than their peers in high schools that didn't have drug-testing programs, according to a federal evaluation of 4,700 students spread across seven states." This survey shows that if you drug test in schools, students will be less likely do do drugs.

Bibliographic info:
Drug-Testing Programs Influence Teen Behavior. By: Samuels, Christina A., Education Week, 02774232, 8/11/2010, Vol. 29, Issue 37
National Catholic Reporter. 3/29/2013, Vol. 49 Issue 12, p1a-2a. 2p.
Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse. 2013, Vol. 22 Issue 2, p104-119. 16p. 4 Charts, 4 Graphs.
Journal of Youth & Adolescence. Feb2012, Vol. 41 Issue 2, p146-155. 10p. 1 Diagram, 2 Charts, 1 Graph.
American Journal of Bioethics. Winter2004, Vol. 4 Issue 1, p25-31. 7p.

1. a. In an interview with The National Catholic Reporter, the Principle of Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Mo., states "It isn't about testing our students to catch them, it's about providing a resource for our students,"

b. According to Greg Harkness, Principle at Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Mo., "It isn't about testing our students to catch them, it's about providing a resource for our students,"

2. a. In a very thorough article by Porsia Tunzi, of The National Catholic Reporter, she interviews Principle Greg Harkness of Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Mo., who states "It isn't about testing our students to catch them, it's about providing a resource for our students," Principle Harkness is more focused on the well being of the students rather that just catching them doing drugs; he wants to promote health.

b. A study funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education found that, "Students involved in extracurricular activities and subject to in-school random drug testing reported using drugs less often than their peers in high schools that didn't have drug-testing programs, according to a federal evaluation of 4,700 students spread across seven states." This survey shows that if you drug test in schools, students will be less likely do do drugs.

Bibliographic info:
Drug-Testing Programs Influence Teen Behavior. By: Samuels, Christina A., Education Week, 02774232, 8/11/2010, Vol. 29, Issue 37
National Catholic Reporter. 3/29/2013, Vol. 49 Issue 12, p1a-2a. 2p.
Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse. 2013, Vol. 22 Issue 2, p104-119. 16p. 4 Charts, 4 Graphs.
Journal of Youth & Adolescence. Feb2012, Vol. 41 Issue 2, p146-155. 10p. 1 Diagram, 2 Charts, 1 Graph.
American Journal of Bioethics. Winter2004, Vol. 4 Issue 1, p25-31. 7p.

Photos:
"Marijuana Past-Year Use vs. Percieved Risk among the 12th Graders" Chart. DrugFacts: High School and Youth Trends, National Institute of Drug Abuse, 2012. Web. April 16, 20113

"Past-Year Use of Illicit Drugs ans Pharmaceuticals among 12th Graders" Chart. DrugFacts: High School and Youth Trends, National Institute of Drug Abuse, 2012. Web. April 16, 20113



"Past Month Cigarette and Marijuana Use among 12th Graders, 1875 to 2012" Chart. DrugFacts: High School and Youth Trends, National Institute of Drug Abuse, 2012. Web. April 16, 20113
"Percentage of States, Districts, and Schools That Required Teaching Alcohol- or Other Drug Use Prevention, by School Level" Chart. Random Student drug testing. September 30, 2008. Web. April 16, 2013
"Steroid Screening For High School Athletes" Chart. The newsroom. 2010. Web. April 16, 2013