the best choice for you

So this topic of research has come up a couple times in my last couple blog post to say the least. I know I keep talking about research in all kind of different forms and I know you probably don’t want to be reading about the same thing over and over again but I have the mindset that if it keeps popping up all the time it must be somewhat important. Now the last couple times I have brought up the topic of research I have talked about the way that I do it, the different types of research, how to find credible sources and how to make sure you avoid some of the pitfalls of research. The one thing we haven’t talked about is the viewpoint of experts on research, claims, context and how to make textual sources persuasive.

                                                  THOSE WHO KNOW MORE  

One expert that I was reading about that I felt like really helped me and made me think about the way in which I present information, how I may fall into the trap of just reporting the fact instead of really presenting them and arguing what the facts may be was Margaret Kantz . You would think this should be self evident but it’s not and everyone falls into bad habits no matter how long you have been writing or doing research. The other thing that I took away from reading Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively by Margaret Kantz, was that facts aren’t inherently true they are just claims that the audience for the most part has accepted to be true.

                                YOU ALWAY’S HAVE SOMETHING TO LEARN

I don’t know about you guys but I really feel like this will help my written and the way in which I do research. The last point I want to make is right when you think you got it figured out is the moment you have decided to stop learning, don’t make that mistake realize that you’re always learning and trying to get better. No one knows  everything and you can always improve as a writer, researcher no matter how long you have been doing it.

The hopeful beginning  

When you begin any project or task you always have certain hopes, ideas and expectation for it whether those are good or bad. Now last week in my english class we started making our surveys for our topic that we wanted to do research on followed with a paper. For this project unlike a lot of projects I have had for school I was pretty excited about this one especially because of the topic I choice. I know that the topic of housing prices doesn’t sound like the most fun topic to do research on but I felt like it was something that I could connect with and really enjoy writing about.  That then leads me to my research process which I have talked about a couple of times in other blog post. As you go through the research process you’re always making adjustments because you never truly have one set way to do research and if you think you do you’re sadly mistaken. The way I found my article was not super complicated or even that hard to find I just did some research  online trying to find information that would help me make the best argument for my paper. Since my paper is going to be on how housing prices at college campuses, is becoming a more and more of a reason why kids attend a school or not I looked for articles that where not necessarily about housing but ones that did talk about why kids went attended a school or not. I did this because I can connect that information to my topic and it gives me more to write about.

What Are the Experts Talking About

Now those so called experts continue to talk about all the other facts that lead to why kids attend a school or not and keep ignoring housing prices. The article I choose was a short article that talked about all the facts that lead to why kids choose a school or not like location, price of school, whether the kid can play a sport there if they want to and the amount of money the family has. Now I understand that housing prices might not be the biggest reason and those other reasons might be more important to most people I just want people to realize that housing prices is more of a factor then people think to why kids attend a school or not. This article was definitely helpful for me in my writing process and  all the tricks that might my teacher has given me to help me through the writing process.

Now days, everyone says, just Google it. However, how reliable is Google and why would you believe everything that you see or read on the internet or through Google. Just a few years ago there was a commercial that made fun of the internet. It was an advertisement for State Farm Insurance. Without trying to explain the whole commercial, the quick synopsis of the commercial was that a man was standing next to his car explaining to a cute blond girl that State Farm had a great new app that gave you the ability to pay your bill and even submit an accident report on your cell phone. The girl expressed her disbelief, because she had read on the internet that what this gentleman was telling her was not true. He then asked her, do believe everything that you read on the internet? She said yes, “they can’t put anything on the internet that isn’t true.” Then all of a sudden her boyfriend shows up, whom she recently met on the internet and who is supposedly a French model. Yes, you guessed it, he wasn’t a model, wasn’t French and the internet and her new boyfriend lied to her.

As a new millennial, many young adults in my generation have grown up using the internet as a resource, even more so than books and periodicals. For that reason, it is understandable that the internet has become in many cases the only research tool that my generation uses. However, in a world of questionable information that has now created a new term called “Fake News,” how can we be assured that what we read or research on the internet is factual? The answer is, WE CAN’T! The internet, when used wisely, is a great resource tool that can save countless hours in research as long as you substantiate your information.

The best way to confirm your research when using the internet is to realize that all answers to all questions can be changed or manipulated based on every single word that goes into your question or the direction of your thoughts. As an example, if you were doing a research paper on “Voting laws in America.” Just by adding the word pro or con, would change the entire direction of the information that the internet pulled up for you to review and the majority of the articles would have a bias in one direction or the other. Also, you will find that the information that is pulled up will also change almost every time you access the internet. There are no absolutes when using the internet, the same question will be used at different times while using different search engines will present different results. The most effective way to utilize the information that we gather from the internet is to verify, substantiate, and verify again.

With any project or term paper you’re about to start; you always have a little uncertainty that comes along with it no matter how prepared you think you might be. That’s not to say that most people are unprepared and I am not implying that it’s a waste of time to try to prepare. I’m just saying that at some point, you may have some uncertainty and doubt with what to write or how to get started. You may question what to write about or you may be concerned that your writing isn’t good enough. However, if you understand that this is part of the process, you will be ready to deal with the uncertainty and doubt. I have certainly fallen victim to this trap of apprehension. Just recently, I had a writing assignment in an English class that created a tremendous amount of anxiety. The more and more I stressed about what I was going to write about or how to get started, the more uncertainty and doubt filled my mind. I felt like I had no idea as to what I was going to write about for my survey paper.

Then one day during my English class, the teacher threw out a subject idea that caught my attention, and then all of a sudden I knew what I wanted to write about. The subject that caught my attention was the cost of housing prices at SCU. It is an important concern for many SCU students; however, I had never given the subject any thought. As a first year student, I never really thought of it since my dad took care of the paperwork and my scholarship took care of the cost. Until recently, I wasn’t aware of how the housing issues affected many students. However, the more I read about housing issues and pricing, the more interested I was in knowing more about the subject and being able to write about it. Ideas and inspiration can come from anywhere, when you hear about a topic or issue that catches your attention; those create the best opportunities to write about.

So for the past two weeks in my english class we have been working on these archival research papers that we just turned in the other day. Hopefully I did well on the paper I put in a lot of work on it and since it was our first paper we turned in it extra important because it will be the first grade that is put in the gradebook. With us finishing this paper it brings us to our next assignment which is a survey report which sounds interesting to me just because of how much more information I can learn from the survey and how I will be able to go more indepth about by archival research topic. Most of the time when I have heard the words survey I use to think about how much of a waste of time they are and how they really don’t accomplish anything. But as I thought of it I really have never tried to see it from the point of view of the person giving the survey, how much work and time they put into it. If you think about it surveys really do accomplice a lot like being able to reach a large number of people, they don’t take long to send out or complete and it’s much cheaper to do. So now with all that said I have to find out what topic I want to do my survey paper and the survey on. I feel like the toughest part of this paper won’t be the writing part it will be me actually picking a topic that I can write about with passion and energy in every sentence. I don’t have a whole lot of topics in mind but I think have one that I could write about that is also relatable to me and other students. The question would be how has the transition from high school to college been, has the academics been what you thought they were going to be, do you feel any pressure from family or friends to perform in school. I understand that this may not be the best question to ask but hey you have to start somewhere because no one has all the answers when they first began a project.

My first visit to Santa Clara University was almost two years ago on a baseball-recruiting trip. Little did I know that my first visit would also set the stage for my first archival research paper. As I was touring the campus with the baseball coaches, they took me through the university’s campus, where we toured Santa Clara’s iconic buildings and walkways. I can still picture our walk through the campus as though it was yesterday. So many of the buildings and landmarks stood out in my mind. The combination and balance between historic and contemporary, was evident as I spent time viewing the Mission Church and the Leavey Event Center. The architectural layout and design of the campus stands among some of the finest colleges and universities nationwide. The final step in our journey through the campus was to visit the Stephen Schott Stadium and the baseball player’s clubhouse. Deciding where I was going to attend college was an important decision, so I brought a notebook and pen so that I could take notes. Santa Clara was one of several colleges that I was considering attending and I wanted to make sure that I remembered as much as possible about my visit. As the coaches took me through the entry gates of the stadium I was overwhelmed with the grandeur of such a beautiful baseball stadium. Growing up in a small community of about thirty-five thousand people, we had just one high school with a baseball field that resembled the practice field for the bad-news-bears. To say the least, it was not a state-of-the-art facility. Matter of fact, our players clubhouse was an old beat-up trailer that sat off to the side of right field. The point of all this is that Stephen Schott stadium is more than just a stadium it’s a symbol of the hard working, dedicated and selfless people of Santa Clara who have created an image of excellence in whatever they do.

Archival Research has been a big part of my academic life the last couple weeks since I have been working on a paper for my english class. I have to be a little honest at the start of this assignment I kind of had the attitude of I can’t wait to get this paper over. I’m sure part of it is just because it’s the end of the year for school and I’m maybe a little worn out or tired of school but part of it I think is that since I have written so many papers for school that I had lost my love for writing. Now I’m the type of person who thinks that even though you may lose the love for something that it doesn’t mean you can’t fall back in love with it. I believe all people need is to be reminded why they fell in love with something and what made it fun for them. I loved writing because it gives me the ability to tell a story about anything I want in the world about anyone I want and it gives me the ability to try to reach as many people as I can with any message. Archival research seems to have brought back that love I had once had for writing. This paper has made me love baseball and writing two of my most beloved things in the world even more. It’s amazing what can bring back your love for something especially with it being because of school. I think the most important thing to take away from this is just because you may have lost the love for something don’t give up because you will find the love for it again even if you don’t see it right away like I did.

My initial research question was what where the athletics like at Santa Clara when the school first began? what teams did they have, were there only men sports teams how many did they have and do we have any of the same sports teams as they did in the beginning.  Also have we always been in the West Coast Conference or have we been in other conferences before this one and if so why did we leave? What I hope to find by asking these question is some of the history of Santa Clara with its sports programs since sports play such a big roll in college and in my life. The best part about this question is that it can take me in so many different direction because of all questions I’m asking and I can’t wait to find out the one of the many stories of Santa Clara with its athletics. There are many different types of research you can do but the best one is Archival  which is not only the best type of research but the one that works the best for my topic. It will really force me to almost do this paper like Nancy Drew because I will have to follow a series of clues to find my information instead of some research styles you may just look in one spot and find all your information which is no fun.  Not everything will be on the internet and some stuff I do find that’s on the internet may not be readable or formatted for my use. I also understand that the type of research in which I’m doing may take me into a direction I was not expecting or may not have wanted to go. With all that said archival research may not be the most exciting type of research for a number of reason but it is one of the more effective ways to do research if not the best one and if you have a choice of what type of research style to do for your next paper pick Archival.

When someone hears the words research paper, they usually say to themself; here we go again, more useless work, lacking no purpose, taking up my time, dealing with a topic that I have no interest in, and trying to find just enough sources to keep the teacher happy. I have to admit, I am guilty on all accounts. Throughout my high school career this was my attitude towards writing most of the research papers that I was assigned.

It wasn’t until my senior year in high school that I started to see the light. During my senior year I was forced to take two English classes in order to fulfill my core class requirements for college entrance. Who would have thought that an overdose of English and having to constantly write, would actually help me to respect, appreciate, and enjoy the process of research and writing. The more time that I spent enduring the process, the easier it became and the more I enjoyed researching a new topic and then writing about what I had discovered.

The benefits of this process far out way the discomfort that is created when we worry about the extra work, time, or just worrying about our grade in the class. Once I realized that the process is equally important as the outcome, it was easier for me to see the benefits doing a research paper. The more time I spent researching and writing papers the more I realized that this process could be applied to any subject or issue and could be used formulate a thought, validate a position, or to solve a problem. The process of writing a researched paper is something that we can use in almost any career path that we might choose.

Research papers are a great way of learning how to approach a problem, subject matter or an issue and then gather material and conclude your findings. This process helps us to have a better understanding of the topic and to validate our conclusions with documented sources. Research papers also enable us to learn the material and have a better grasp of the information. Learning the process, researching the material and writing down our findings is something that we can all utilize in many avenues of work and life.

My research process is pretty simple. It isn’t anything that is going to take hours on end and be more work than the paper, but I do think my reach process is pretty good and will help you write the best paper that you possibly can. It’s worked for me for numerous years, but I’m sure it can be improved. Now, as you go through your research process, you will come up with lots of questions, but the thing to do (and what I do) is to try to come up with questions that enhance the research for the paper or project. That’s what I’m doing so I not only put forward the best product I can but grasp the most information I can. Also as you go through your research process you have to consider if you’re using all the resources you have, and not do what so many kids do today which is rely solely on the internet. The thing to do is use a combination of a few things like the internet, books and maybe someone if they personally experienced the event in which your topic is about. That’s what I try to do, and I think that is part of the reason why I normally do well on my papers. The article BEAM: A Rhetorical Vocabulary for Teaching Research-Based Writing really made my think about the way in which I write, do research, view research papers, use the information from the research I do and the way in which teachers teach how to properly do research papers. The article also focuses on how research papers are either all for the topic or all against instead of just putting for the best information possible and not worrying about who’s right or wrong. The paper really changed my idea of what a research paper should look like and how it’s been taught to me for my whole educational career. The most important thing you can take away from this article is that the way we use research, write and teach the skill of writing research papers has changed for the better.