Grace Fleming (2009) starts off by saying that the introductory paragraph must catch your reader’s attention. The very first sentence of the introduction is crucial in grasping the readers (Fleming, 2009). There are 3 ways to do this, through a “surprising fact, humor, or quotation” (Fleming, 2009). Fleming (2009) states that the next thing you must do is hook the reader. There are 3 ways to do this also, curiosity, definition, and anecdote (Fleming, 2009). Then Fleming (2009) suggests to go back and re-do your introduction.

     According to Whitesmoke.com (2002-2008), the introduction serves 2 purposes, to keep reading and to see what the rest of the paper is going to be about. The introduction should include all of these,

• “A clear and specific thesis statement
• Providing background or history for the topic
• Defining a term, phrase, or concept central to the writing
• Providing statistics” (Whitesmoke.com, 2002-2008).

Whitesmoke.com (2002-2008) suggests that the reader must trust you as the writer. To gain this trust means that you must have a well written intro with “strong vocabulary and good grammar” (Whitesmoke.com, 2002-2008). Instead of coming back to write the introduction after the paper like Fleming suggests to do, whitesmoke.com (2002-2008) says to wait until the entire paper is written before writing the introduction.

     I think the most help was from the first website. The tips of how to actually draw in the audience was really helpful and i will certainly look back to that for writing my introduction.

Fleming, G. (2009). The Introductory Paragraph Start With a Great First Sentence. Retrieved September 29, 2009, from http://homeworktips.about.com/od/paperassignments/a/introsentence.htm

Whitesmoke.com. (2002-2008). How to Write an Introduction. Retrieved September 29, 2009, from http://www.whitesmoke.com/blog/how-to-write-an-introduction

     In just reading the introduction of Cornell’s Critically Analyzing Information Sources (2009), the best information I found was that you can find if a source is valid by just reading the bibliographic citation. The author, title, and publication information are generally in the bibliographic citation and those three things can help you find if the article will be of any importance to your research (Cornell, 2009). After just finding the information from the bibliographic citation, you should then read the rest of the article according to Cornell (2009) and just focus on the parts that are important to your research.

     The source that I found is from the University of California Berkeley. There are three things that UCB (2008) said to focus on, scope, audience, and timeliness.  Scope is what is focused on in the publication (UCB, 2008). Audience is who your writing for to read (UCB, 2008). Timeliness according to UCB (2008) is when an article was published or updated in the case of an online article. UCB (2008) suggests to not use articles that do not give a date. Further into the article, UCB (2008) states that you should look at the author’s information, the documentation of the publication which is where the source found it’s information, and the objectivity. The objectivity is what view point the author takes (UCB, 2008).

     It is very important to evaluate your sources you want to use in your research paper. It is important because you want to be sure that your information is valid. If the resource that you use is not a valid website, the information used in the paper could be very misleading.

Cornell University Library. (2009). Critically Analyzing Information Sources. Retrieved September 27, 2009, from http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill26.htm

University of California Berkeley. (2008). Critical Evaluation of Resources. Retrieved September 27, 2009, from http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/evaluation.html

      An introduction to a research paper is the way a writer “introduces” their paper. It  is like a preview of what is to come as the reader continues through the paper. A literature review basically shows that you, as the writer, have done your fair share of research on the subject. The literature review sums up all of the research done in order to write the paper itself.

      The annotated bibliography can help you write the introduction and literature review because it is a short paragraph about that source. The only thing that you need is a summary of your research for the literature review so having an annotated bibliography makes it that much easier to write your lit review. Also the annotated bibliography puts all of your sources and their summaries infront of you which makes it even easier!

     You know your sources from your annotated bibliography are valid if you are able to find a copywrite date, author, and place of publication. The source is unbiased if both sides of the story are there, not just writing more about one side of an issue. It must be a well rounded article. I found all of my sources so far on ebsco host and that is a reliable source to use to find information, to my knowledge.

     It is important to consider your audience when writing your lit review and introduction because it is in the beginning of the paper. If the introduction and lit review are not something of interest to the reader, they will stop reading there on the spot without even getting to the research you worked so hard on. The audience is mostly who the paper is written for, so if the intro and lit review are boring or not well written,  you lost your audience.

     I can not get through the 15 pages and my research paper will not be organize and I don’t get the literature review concept.

 

I cant find enough sources and eventhough I keep looking on ebsco over and over and over again and i am not finding anything that i think i can use…there are a lot of documents out there but to me, i dont think that they can be used I’m hoping to be wrong here very soon because it took me about 5 hours to find just 3 lpeer reviewed documents and i need 10 of them by ne h very soon ahh i can’t type anll of this and not back pace ist so natural fr me its really driving me nuts to not be able to hit the backpace button!!!!!!!! this paper is driving me crazy and so it this class the last blog wasnt so bad i was actually bale to sdo it in one night adnt hen i finally had a day off yesterday !!!! hoooraaayyyyy but now i know that I should’ve probably don’t done more work because now I’m freaking out that my sources will not be aenough to help me with this epaper…… I really need hel a cig to calm me down right now bc nowt hitting backspace is really messing wiht my OCD!!!! and going on about the paper I still am erally not clear on the lit review. I never had to write one before and I don’t know where to even start with any of this . every time I’ve done a research paper it’s been so that I can just find information on and dihediddjdkdkkkdkdkdkkdkd

I chose APA formatting for my research paper because I am going into the nursing profession. In APA formatting there are four main parts:

• Title Page
• Abstract- key points in research (between 150 and 250 words)
• Main Body
• References

(Purdue, 2009, p. 1).

In-text citations:

• Author-date. ex: (Mazur, 2009).
• Then put all of the information in the reference page.
• Italicize or underline names of books or movies. Anything that is a longer text ex: Dancing with the Stars
• Shorter texts should be writting in quotes

(Purdue, 2009, p. 2).

Short Quotes should include:

• Author
• Year of Publication
• Page number

Start out with the authors way somehow: According to Marlen Harrison (2009), then add in the quotation. If you do not do that then you should put the authors name at the end (Harrison, 2009, p. 69). <– note the period at the end! With short qutoes the period follows the parentheses (Purdue, 2009, p. 2).

Long Qutoes

According to Hacker (2003), “When you quote forty or more words, set off the quotation by indenting it one-half inch (or five spaces) from the left margin” (p. 389). At the end of the quote put a . (p. 89), you do not put the period after the parentheses after long quotes.

Summary and Paraphrase

The only information needed is the author and the date of publication but APA “encourages” that you use the page number too (Purdue, 2009, p. 2).

Reference Page

• Hanging indentation is used
• References should be in alphabetical order
• First and middle initials only and full last name
• Double Spaced
• Always add a period at the end.
• Abbreviate page “p.” and pages “pp.”
• Italicize titles of books
• Capitalize names

(Hacker, 2003, pp. 406).

References:

Hacker, D. (2003). A Writer’s Reference Fifth Edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) (2009).  APA Formatting and Style Guide. Retrieved September 16, 2009, from http://http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/02/

 

So far with APA formatting, I think that I have a pretty good idea of what to do. The one thing that I am still confused on is how I would site this blog. I tried it but I am not sure if I was right on the money. Other than this particular page with the bullets I think I know what to do with APA formatting. I went back to fix my Blog #5. When I wrote it last night I tried doing the APA formatting but I still had some things to fix such as where some of my citing was. I did not have any page numbers or years just the last names of the authors. The other thing I had to fix was the reference part because I had the authors full first names instead of the first initials. I also went back into my proposal and fixed that. I had to put in a reference section as well as site everything. I had nothing done! But now it’s all legitament and I believe that I understand it all!

Critical Reading:      

  Critical reading is very different from simply reading a text. Kurland (2000) stated that critical reading should focus on what and how the information is written. A critical reader must understand what is actually going on, not just read over the words. There were three key points that he noted on his website:

“What the text:

• Does-Description
• Says- restatement
• Means- interpretation”  (Kurland, 2000).

      Knott stated the same type of outlook on critical reading. It is not just facts; it is what information is being presented (Knott). Knott also gave some great tips to critical reading. To start out reading the beginning and end of articles aids in getting an idea of where to start. When using a quotation, continue on with more information not just stopping with the quote itself (Knott). Lastly, Knott suggested to read like you listen. In other words learn from what you are reading not just taking bits and pieces out.

     What I found most helpful about these two articles is that you need to look past the facts and focus more on what the author is trying to tell me as the reader. I never thought of doing that because it is a lot easier to look at a document and just pick out facts and statistics but I really am not learning anything. Also I found the 3 points from the article I found useful, “What the text says, does, and means” (Kurland, 2000) that right there helped me to really grasp critical reading.

Importance of an Audience

     Flower suggests that you should know your audiences knowledge, attitude, and needs. To understand their attitude, you have to help them understand what you mean and what you’re trying to say, especially if they do not know your same knowledge (Flower). In regards to their needs, you should take what you know and teach it to your reader in a way that they can comprehend or relate to. In other words, be their teacher! (Flower).

      WordsWork Consulting stated that you should “know who you are writing for.” Many Americans are not strong readers and have trouble understanding concepts, so you must write your paper in an easy-to-read format in order to help them understand (WordsWork). How can you do this? Use common vocabulary that they can understand, to do this you must know your readers. There are also online programs that can test your writing to find the grade level that you write in. Unfortunately these sites are not very reliable (WordsWork).

      Both of these sites basically said to know who you are writing for. This is a very important part of your paper because if you need to keep the attention of your readers. The concept of knowing there needs was helpful to read about from Linda Flower. This excerpt really put it into perspective for me, “If you ask a friend majoring in biology how to keep your fish tank from clouding, you don’t want to hear a textbook recitation on the life processes of algae. You except a friend to adapt his or her knowledge and tell you exactly how to solve your problem” (Flowers). That makes perfect sense. Nobody wants to hear lengthy words and explanations of something, keeping it short and to the point is what readers can comprehend.

 

Flower, Linda. “Writing for an Audience.” Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers. Ed. by Paul Eschholz,

     Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000: 139-141.

Knott, Deborah. Critical Reading Towards Critical Writing. Retrieved September 15, 2009, from University of Toronto,

     New College Writing Centre Web site: http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/reading-and-researching/critical-reading

Kurland, Daniel J. (2000). What is Critical Reading? Retrieved September 15, 2009,

      http://www.criticalreading.com/critical_reading.htm

WordsWork Consulting, Inc. The Importance of Audience. Retrieved September 15, 2009,

      http://wordswork.com/tips/audience.html

 

 

 

 

The topic I am going to research is how our generation has allowed casual dancing to go from ballroom style dancing to grinding on anyone and everyone.

1. My major reasearch question is “Is our generation concerned about how we have allowed casual dancing to go from ballroom style dancing to grinding on any person in the room?” I am curious about this topic because I have been a part of the dance community since I was two years old. I have always been interested in ballroom style dancing for awhile. My interest first began at a family wedding when I was watching my grandparents dance together. I loved watching them! It was so beautiful and flowing and elegant. Then the movie Take the Lead was released and that is when I really wished I knew how to ballroom dance. I am just very curious to see how students react to my thoughts of our generation ever going back to that style of dancing.

2. Assumptions of ballroom dancing vs. grinding:

1. The style of dancing that is popular among America’s youth, called grinding, is extremely informal and is not always appropriate.

• Is grinding on eachother as the main form of dancing these days perfectly fine with people my age?
• As we all grow up and start getting married is the norm going to become grinding on eachother for the first dance?
• How does the rest of the world view grinding as a dance?

2. Ballroom dancing is more popular today because of the large media exposure.  

• Did Dancing with the Stars or Take the Lead make any sort of impact to my generation on that style of dance?
• Is ballroom dancing now a secret interest of anyone in my generation?

3. Other cultures have influenced what dance is today.

• What are other dances that have led up to person on person dancing?
• Does anyone in my generation, specifically at IUP, wish ballroom dancing was our regular form of dancing

4. Ballroom dancing is more accepted among older people than younger people.

• Are older people offended by the way our generation “has fun” dancing?
• Do we as the “younger people” think only old people dance like that?

5. Most young people see ballroom dancing as a boring style of dancing.

• Do most of America’s youth see ballroom dancing as boring and out of style?

6. Ballroom dancing is just moving around in a circle with a partner.

• What different styles of ballroom dance exist that are fun and exciting?

3. I began on ebcohost looking for articles to see what else is out there. The first article I found was research of all types of ballroom dancing across the board. It looked at how popular it’s become in all age groups by talking to organizations involved with ballroom dancing as well as instructors of classes. Many articles that I found stated the health benefits of ballroom dancing. It is an awesome work out according to numerous articles on ebsco. I wonder if that information would lead young people to try it out. After hours and hours of continued searching for something that would be useful and made sense with what I am trying to discover, I finally found my article! Read through the whole thing and it was from 1987. So in 1987 ballroom dancing was booming in the generation I was looking for about 20-30 maybe a few years younger. They interviewed dance instructors to see why they thought ballroom dancing was so marvelous and why they believed it was becoming popular again. The Saturday Evening Post focused on the Indiana Roof Ballroom to monitor the activity of the young people they were researching. Another form of research on ballroom dancing that was done was a look at same sex ballroom dancing. I only could find an excerpt from the full article on ebsco. My research is different from all of the articles I found because I will be talking to students directly, seeing what they think in regards to ballroom dancing. Most of the articles I pulled up that had to do with my research questions were not very current. My goal is going to be to put out new, fresh ideas straight from the brains of IUP students. In the articles, the only young people being asked about ballroom dancing was ballroom dance participants. So we already know that they must have some sort of interest.

4. My plan to write this paper is to interview and do a questionnaire as well as incorporate facts and statistics that I can find to parrallel the information that I gather. I will ask friends their thoughts as well as random people who will talk to me. My plan for the questionnaire is to first focus on everyone, both male and female. After I gather the results from that questionnaire I will target male and female so I can get a better feel for what is going on in each sex’s mind. I will post a questionnaire on facebook as well as one to print out and have passed out to Marlen’s english classes (if he lets me).

5. Possibilities for publications:

        1) The Journal of Pop Culture https://www.msu.edu/~tjpc/submissions.htm

        2) Dance Research Journal http://www.cordance.org/drj-submission-guidelines

        3) Crimson Quill  http://www.iup.edu/page.aspx?id=69579

         4) New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/contact/contactus

         5) Empire Publishing service http://www.publishersglobal.com/directory/publisher.asp?publisherid=3329

           According to the OWL at Purdue, there are two main types of research writing. They are argumentative and analytical. Throughout the section about genres, examples of argumentative and analytical research are given. The example for argumentative research is about cigarette smoking. It shows how you should NOT go about writing your thesis for an argumentative paper. You must be able to have the pro-side and the con-side in each paper. Your thesis not only should show your stance but should also have room for debate. With analytical papers, on the other hand, the authors never choose a side. As an author of an analytical research paper, you must research the topic and come up with his own interpretation without actually persuading any reader to a particular side of a debatable issue. It is more of a review or analysis (which is why it’s called analytical) of the information.

            The two topics that I will narrow down to for possibilities are topic 1: the evolution of dance styles and topic 4: living with a significant other without being married. My reason for choosing topic 1 is because dance in general has been a major part of almost my entire life. From the age of 2,  I participated in tap, jazz, modern, and ballet classes, although, I will not be focusing my research on those types of dancing. My focus will be ballroom dancing which I have always had a fond interest in. I  have always wondered why more people do not take ballroom dancing classes or even practice what dancing was considered to be not too many years ago. Watching my grandparents dance at weddings is always so wonderful to watch. I find myself wondering as I watch them if the men in my generation would ever go back to dancing with girls (or other guys, I don’t judge) the way that my grandparents do. Dance is one of my passions and this topic really interests me. The reason I chose topic 4 is because that is also a very interesting topic. I wonder if living together before any other type of serious commitment is made is the formula for a long, harmonious marriage. I would also like to see what statistics reveal in comparison to what people may think. I believe that our society has allowed serious commitments to go to hell. The divorce rate is outrageous! Could it be that if they lived together, before hand, they would have realized then that they were not made for each other? Or did they in fact live together before the marriage and all that time spent together drove them insane??? I think that both topics would be really fascinating to do research on. I just am very curious to see how my generation really thinks and rationalizes these two topics.

       I think that both topics would most likely be written in an analytical way. I believe that this genre of research would be best because I will be analyzing statistics as well as polls for both topics. With the dance topic I will poll students on campus asking them if they wish they could dance like the people on Dancing with the Stars. That show alone has reopened many people’s eyes as to what real dancing is, not the grinding that we all have sadly resorted to instead. So, I want to ask students their opinions on how most college students dance when out at clubs or bars or where ever in comparison to how it may have been years ago and could be in the future. Do they want to change what has become the norm for dancing in our generation? I hope so. So with all of the student opinions I will search for statistics of dancing in our parents and grandparents eras and compare those to now. Another statistic I will look for is how many people have taken a ballroom dancing class since Dancing with the Stars premiered. I would also like to add that Dancing with the Stars is not the only example I will use. Take the Lead was a very good dance movie and there are a few others also whose titles slip my mind that I would include. Now for living with a significant other before marriage, my way of analyzing this topic will be polling and statistical analysis like in the dancing topic. I will look for students on campus who have been in or are still in this type of living environment and ask them their opinions on if they thought it was a positive or negative experience for them and their significant other. I also will poll students who never have lived with a significant other and see what they think the outcomes could be and compare that to the statistics I find. Both papers will require a lot of patience, hard work, and dedication but they both seem to be very good candidates as of now.

 

Website for first part of blog.

Purdue University. (1995-2009). Genre and the Research Paper. Retreived September 10, 2009, from

       http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/02/

So coming up with 5 possible topics has been an extremely stressful process. Unfortunately, I know that this will not be the last of my frustrations with this class. Brainstorming does not come very easily to me what so ever. Alright I just had to let that out here are my 5 topics.

Choice 1: The evolution of dancing styles.

What do I want to know more about? I would like to know how our society is moving toward less formal styles of dancing when not too long ago structured dances were the only accepted form of dance. Why is this topic important? This topic is important to me because I have been a dancer since the age of two. Although I never have taken ballroom dancing classes, it has always been a great interest of mine. How can I bring something new to the research topic? What I want to bring to the research or discussion is to ask people their opinions. Such shows as dancing with the stars has brought positive attention to structured dances so I would like to see how those shows as well as other movies involving more structured dances make younger people such as myself wish that everyone still danced like that. My research question?How has is become socially acceptable to grind on each other and consider it “dancing” instead of the structured dance it used to be? What kind of research paper could I write about this topic? The kind of research paper I could write on this would be an analytical research paper.

Choice 2: Socialites, how they are famous for having no talent.

What do I want to know more about? I would like to know why our society worships socialites such as Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian for having no special talents. Why is this topic important? This topic is important because our society has started trying to be more like these people who are not necessarily ideal role models and I want to find why this is happening. How can I bring something new to the research topic? I would like to do a comparison of the press that celebrities with talents receive (which would popularize them to the rest of the country) to those who are just plain popular. My research question? How is it that celebrities with no talents are so rich and famous? What kind of research paper could I write about this topic? I could possibly write a compare and contrast research paper about this subject.

Choice 3: Parenting styles today, for example “helicopter parents.”

What do I want to know more about?  I would like to know if these kind of parents truly do affect their children later in life. Why is this topic important? This topic is important because according to some of the articles I read it is becoming more and more of an epidemic, especially on college campuses. I think that if it is a common thing on this campus that it isn’t fair that some kids have their parents doing their work. How can I bring something new to the research topic? I want to ask students on campus their opinions of the way their parents raised them and if they would compare their mom or dad to a “helicopter” over their lives. I want to compare that to the way my parents raised me and look at some students I grew up with who’s parents did all of their work for them throughout elementary and highschool and compare those results to how my grandmother raised my mother as well as other in my moms generation. My research question? How do “helicopter parents” affect their children and why do they think they need to do everything for their children, did their parents do the same? What kind of research paper could I write about this topic?  I could write a compare and contrast research paper with this topic. Comparing parents today to their parents and contrasting the different results.

Choice 4: Living with a significant other without being married.

What do I want to know more about? I would like to know if living with someone before marriages makes the marriage last or does it in fact shorten the duration of a marriage. Why is this topic important? This topic is important because the divorce rate in the United States is through the roof. Maybe my research could give some insight and save a few people from having to go through a dreadful divorce. How can I bring something new to the research topic? I will talk to people who are or have lived with significant others and see if in their opinion it was a positive or negative experience for them and the relationship. My research question? Does living with a significant other prepare you for if you were infact married to that person and reduce the chance of divorce later on? What kind of research paper could I write about this topic? The type of research paper I would probably write would be a subject-based paper. This is because I plan to have numerous amounts of one-on-one talks with individuals in this type of living situation.

Choice 5: High school athletes grades are occasionally overlooked so that individual may still participate in their sport.

What do I want to know more about? Do administrators and parents think that giving leniency to athletes grades actually benefits them later in life or are they just looking at the present. Why is this topic important? This topic is important because allowing a student who is failing a course to continue playing their sport is not showing them any consequences of their lack of effort. If they are not challenged in highschool they are up for a rude awakening in college and that is not a good thing. How can I bring something new to the research topic? At my old high school there were several students whose grades did not matter for them to play sports. Their grades where either just raised without any real scores or it was just hidden before the sporting event. For this research paper, I would like to contact some of those students and just see how they are doing in college balancing sports and school much like in highschool but with no help. I would also pair that with other research of course. My research question? How are student athletes affected in higher education when they weren’t forced to perform well academically in highschool in order to play their sports? What kind of research paper could I write about this topic? I could write a subject-based paper about this topic since I plan to contact students from my old highschool.

 

I would greatly appreciate any help. If anything does not make sense please tell me I am so overwhelmed and frustrated that constructive criticism is NEEDED DESPERATELY! Thank you!!!!

so I’ve been desperately trying to reply to the comments, I do not know what in the world I’m doing wrong and it’s way to late to contact someone so I’m just posting something. Buhle thank you for the comment I think that picture is going to be most of us haha, Ben thank you for the comment as well I always love hearing feedback and to the other (Manuel? ) comment thank you and I hope that I can actually acheive what my philosophy states and execute it  because that would be awesome!!!