Murphy's Blog

Blog #17

bennettmurphywnsp — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:59:42 +0000

REALLY? YESSSSSSSS! So you did say it would be tough as shit but I honestly did not believe you 100%. I had what I thought was a good idea of what type of student I was and thought to myself that I would be able to get through your class, even if you did say it would be the hardest class here at IUP. HELL WAS I WRONG!!!

At the beginning of the course when thigns got underway I realized that I was in WAY over my head. I tend to do this to myself and bit off more than I can handle and I thought that this was just going to be another time where I realize that I am not going to be able to live up to the standard I want because I took too much on to myself. To my surprise and great pleasure I was wrong. I believe that I handled the class and honestly am very happy with the work that I have accomplished this semester.

I took all the fears of not completing the class with an A, because honestly I am big on grades and probably should not be, but I took those fears and turned them into determination. I figured if I was going to put up with this shit the whole semester I might as well get a kick ass paper out of it!

I really enjoyed learning more about the deaf culture and the stuggles of students through my research. I also feel very accomplished because I have gotten the word out about the deaf community to a lot of people who have never heard of it before. That was one major goal of mine with the paper and I may even do some more research and try and publish because I feel people need to know about the deaf community!!!

My proudest moment was these last few weeks. I felt good because it was over and I made it!! The class was way more enjoyable than I thought it would be and because I liked being there, I think that I will remember more from it. I met alot of pretty sweet people and learned some interesting shit. Thanks Marlen!

Blog #16

bennettmurphywnsp — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:16:24 +0000

picking a document that was most useful is really difficult for me. I found that thinking back at a quick glance, I can’t think of one in particular because everything has helped, but if I had to choose one I would have to say that the articles that I read on the lit review were the most helpful. I really did not understand what this would include and when I looked over my first draft of my entire paper, I felt that this section was the one that I did the best on and that I understood the concept the best. All of the feedback that I have recieved is helpful but the most helpful was from Marlen after I was finished the shitty first draft of the entire paper. I was really beat down because I thought that I had gone in the wrong direction with some parts and he gave me the encouragement and direction to know that it was on the right track. Honestly I am still working on the drafting of my paper and will finish it this weekend. For me the hardest is even wanting to go back and look over it. By this point in the semester I am so done with school that I am having an awful time trying to fix everything. The easiest for me is the grammer errors because my peer editors found them. I feel that my final essay will show that I care about the education of all students and will do the research needed to help them out in my classroom in the future.

Blog #15

bennettmurphywnsp — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:49:41 +0000

While working on the peer review project I have learned quite a bit. I found that while reading other peoples papers, I noticed things that they may have done well, that I know I can work on, or things that they may have missed that I have done and I can let them know that. I learned from reading the articles about how to peer editing effectively that I use to just read over and check for grammatical errors. I now know that this is not the only aspect of a paper that I need to look at when peer editing. I think peer editing is very helpful, because I am now more aware of what I should look at in my own paper.

As of right now I have received some feedback from one member of my group. What she has said is very helpful. I know that I want to revise my paper A LOT, and with her feedback I will look specifically at what she said first. I will do this because she is the reader, and I want the readers to really enjoy my paper. If the readers don’t like it, why write it?

Blog #14

bennettmurphywnsp — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:15:04 +0000

Results (Marlens Article)
• Present the results in a manner in which your audience can understand
• All table and graphs should be accompanied by text so the reader knows what to look at
• One may need to simplify results
“Writing Up Research; Results”. Language Center. 2003. Asian Institute of Technology. 25 Oct. 2009. http://www.languages.ait.ac.th/EL21RES.HTM

Results (My Article)
• This section will vary in length for everyone based on the results they found and how they are presented to the audience
• Save all interpretation for the discussion section, just state the results you got
• Always use past tense in the results section
“Writing Research Papers”. 20 Aug. 07. Rice University. 25 Oct. 2009. http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/tools/report/reportform.html

From both articles I took information that I thought was important but wasn’t really stated in the other article. In the article I found, it gave different do’s and don’ts that I found very helpful in understanding the results section of the research paper. The most important thing that I read was that one should not interpret any of the results, just give it to the audience in a manner in which they will understand.

Discussion (Marlens Article)
• This section is to interpret your results
• Always connect back to the introduction
• Tells how your results have moved the research forward in the area that you are researching
• Make points clear
• You must relate your work to the findings of other studies – including previous studies you may have done and those of other investigators
• Never introduce new results in this section
“The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Journal – Style Scientific Paper”. 25 Sept. 2008. Bates College. 25 Oct. 2009 http://abacus.bates.edu/~ganderso/biology/resources/writing/HTWsections.html#discussion

Discussion (My Article)
• Generalize what you learned from your own primary research
• Give meaning to your results and how they refer back to your introduction and the information you found from other sources
• Relates directly to your thesis
“Online Guide To Writing and Research”. University of Maryland University College. 25 Oct. 2009 http://www.umuc.edu/ewc/onlineguide/chapter4/chapter4-13.shtml

I learned that this section is usually written in the present tense, something that I did not realize before. I also found that it refers right back to your intro. I realize that I now need to make a more clear point in my intro as to what my research question is. I feel like this part may be hard for me because I am not sure how to relate it back, this is something that I need to work on.

Conclusions (Marlens Article)
• Gives your readers an understanding of why this information is important to them and their daily lives
• Help your readers think of things differently
• Different types of conclusions that one can look at
“Conclusions”. UNC Libraries. 25 Oct 2009 http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/conclusions.html

Conclusions (My Article)
• answer the most primary research question again
• clear and direct format
• In this section you can say exactly what you feel is important for the reader to know
“Research Paper Conclusion”. EssayCapital.com. 25 Oct 2009 http://www.essaycapital.com/conclusion_research_paper.htm#

I have always had a hard time writing the conclusion section of a paper. I tend to just restate a lot of the information rather than give reasons why the information is important. I realize now that I need to answer my research question and say why my information that I have found about that research question is important for my reader to know.

Blog #13

bennettmurphywnsp — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:10:05 +0000

As we wrote the different sections of the paper, I was putting them all into one paper, so it did not take much time for me to put them together. The section that I had to work on the most was the methodology section. This was because I had looked at a writing example that was writen in APA. I am writing my research paper in MLA, so therefore my methods section is very wrong. I am not sure what needs the most correction right now. I am hoping to have a better idea after this peer review and after Marlen reads over the papers.

Blog #12

bennettmurphywnsp — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:22:34 +0000

My participants for my research are going to be a few different people. I need to question head of the deaf education department. I also would like to question one of my friends who goes to school at IUP and is deaf. Finally, if time permits, I would like to talk to other deaf ed majors, because one of my mains goals for the paper, is to find ways IUP can improve. I have specific people because there is specific information that I need to find out. I will only need to interview 4-5 people for the information that I want, and each interview will hopefully last 20-30 minutes. I do not see any potential danger in my particpants taking part in my survey. One problem may be that I will not be able to get all of the information that I would like from the deaf education department because of confidentiality issues, so I do not know what I am going to do if that comes up. At no point will I release names during the paper, if the participants do not want it done.

Blog #11

bennettmurphywnsp — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:16:57 +0000

Writing up Research

Method and Research Design

Methods section two main parts

1. How was the data collected or generated?

2. How was it analyzed?

need to know how collected for validity
need to make sure not biased
also write about problems faced in study
do not write a how to paper(too detailed steps)
many different types of research, find what works best for you
always keep in mind the purpose
keep verb tense the same

How to Write the Methods Section of a Research Paper

use to be called matierals and methods
these are two parts that are in this section

The structure can be set up best by following these ideas

1. Describing the materials used in the study

2. Explaining how the materials were prepared

3. Describing the research protocol

4. Explaining how measurements were made and what

calculations were performed

5. Stating which statistical tests were done to analyze

the data

make sure no bias
keep ethics in mind

Had I started to write this section before reading these, I would have had just a small idea of what it really entails. First of all, I probably would have writen it in too much detail. I have a tendency to do so as it is, so I found it very important that they mention that in the article. Also, I never thought it imporant to put down who exactly you studied, but it makes sense to me know. Without giving the audience a good grasp on who your study was done on, they may be skeptical of your research.

“Writing up Research; Method and Research Design”. Language Center. 7 Oct. 2009. <http://www.languages.ait.ac.th/el21meth.htm>

Kallet, Richard. “How to Write the Method Section of A Research Paper”. Respiratory Care. 7 Oct. 2009. <http://www.rcjournal.com/contents/10.04/10.04.1229.pdf>

Blog #10

bennettmurphywnsp — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:42:20 +0000

CATEGORY	10	7	4	0
Mechanics	No grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors.	Almost no grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors	A few grammatical spelling, or punctuation errors.	Many grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.
Sources	All sources (information and graphics) are accurately documented in the desired format.	All sources (information and graphics) are accurately documented, but a few are not in the desired format.	All sources (information and graphics) are accurately documented, but many are not in the desired format.	Some sources are not accurately documented.
Quality of Information	Information clearly relates to the main topic. It includes several supporting details and/or examples.	Information clearly relates to the main topic. It provides 1-2 supporting details and/or examples.	Information clearly relates to the main topic. No details and/or examples are given.	Information has little or nothing to do with the main topic.
Diagrams & Illustrations	Diagrams and illustrations are neat, accurate and add to the reader’s understanding of the topic.	Diagrams and illustrations are accurate and add to the reader’s understanding of the topic.	Diagrams and illustrations are neat and accurate and sometimes add to the reader’s understanding of the topic.	Diagrams and illustrations are not accurate OR do not add to the reader’s understanding of the topic.

Total Points______/40

When we analyzed the article using the rubric, we assigned the points as is:’

Diagrams and Illustrations

It was a shorter article, so having one diagram is appropriate. We thought that the diagram he used was appropriate and helped with the information. So we gave him the full 10 points.

Quality of Information

The article was only a blog, so the information did not need to be one hundred percent researched. This made it difficult to judge his work. Here we would not have given him the full points because he kind of jumps around.

Sources

As we said, the article is just a blog, so the sources do not need to be legit, but he should have some background info to better help the reader understand what he is talking about.

Mechanics

We both admit that we are not experts on mechanics, but from what we could see, he was pretty good with all of it. Because of this we gave him the full 10 points here.

Blog #9

bennettmurphywnsp — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:48:00 +0000

First impressions are important, even in writing
intro paragraph needs to start with a sentence that peaks interest in the readers
thesis sentence must be direct and informative
Thoughts for making a good hook (first sentence) Humor, Interesting Fact, Quotation that catches the eye

Fleming, Grace. “The Introductory Paragraph.” about.com. 29 Sept. 2009 <http://homeworktips.about.com/od/paperassignments/a/introsentence.htm>

They should get the reader’s interest so that he or she will want to read more.
They should let the reader know what the writing is going to be about.
Do this second with a well crafted thesis sentence
Know that your intro paragraph will not catch the attention of everybody, but try and get the biggest reader population possible
Never say you don’t know what you are talking about!
Move confidently into your essay

Livermore, Harry. “A Proper Introduction.” 29 Sept. 2009 <http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/intros.htm>.

I found both of these articles to be very helpful in better understanding what an introductino paper consists of. I now know that it is now just a straight forward statement of what you are going to write about, but also some catchy quotes or humor that will keep the reader wanting to read more. The first impression is very important, so the first sentence needs to be catchy or witty or something not boring!

Blog # 8

bennettmurphywnsp — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:18:46 +0000

Critically Analyzing Information Sources

There are five main parts of the source that one should look at
- Author
- Date of Publication
- Edit or Revision
- Publisher
- Title of Journal
- One must next look over the content of the journal if they find that the source is reliable
- If there is an abstract or preface, it is important to read that over first to see if the source is even going to help with your research

Engle, Michael. “Critically Analyzing Information Sources.” Cornell University Library. 24 Sept. 2009 http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill26.htm

Critically Analyzing Information Sources

There are a couple main steps
- Is there an author and what are his credentials
- Look at date of publication, is it an out of date journal
- Who is the publisher, many colleges publish and then these are usually scholarly journals
- Now you must look at the content and see if it applies to your research
- Consider if the content is biased or opinionated
- Is the material primary research or secondary research

“Critically Analyzing Information Sources.” Texas A&M University. 24 Sept. 2009 http://library.tamu.edu/help/help-yourself/using-materials-services/critically-analyzing-information-sources>

I find that after looking at these two articles that the most important aspect is making sure the author is reliable. In both articles, the authors said that checking the credentials and date of publication and other aspects of without even reading the article is the first thing to do. I found this very interesting because I always go right for the content to see if I can use it. I guess it makes sense to check this entire section first though because if it can’t be used, why even read it right? I also realized that I need to look into the type of writing and how biased the piece is more. Most of my articles so far, I have just picked them out because when I typed my topic into EBSCO HOST they came up and after quickly skimming them, I thought they would work. I now see that I have a lot more work than I imagined and a lot more critical reading than I thought. All of these steps are extremely important to finding reliable and informational sources. In order to write a well written paper and a paper that is backed up by legitimate information, one must complete these steps, no matter how lengthy the process.