Original Research

I, myself, have never done original research. I have not had a project or paper where I have had to do research for my own. Original research is different from library research in many ways. One way is that original research often includes conducting surveys, experiments or compiling data. You are observing that population for yourself instead of taking someone elses word for it like you would be doing for library research. You also have to identify assumptions and build a research question for those assumptions.

Library research can guide or assist original research by giving ideas for your own research. For me, it takes a lot of time for me to come up with a topic for a paper or project. But if I do research ahead of time I am able to get ideas from it and come up an idea for my own.

Some cons of library research often include too wide or searches. Too many results are given for a search and most of the time they aren't useful enough to use. They are very broad rather than being specific enough to use for research. On the other hand, that con can also be a pro! By getting a lot of result for your research your results are unlimited. For a person like me who likes to change their mind a lot, seeing different angles of a topic helps me explore my options when writing a paper. I am able to change my mind to a topic that works better for me.

For both types of research, critical thinking skills must be involved. For example, evaluation of sources is very important. You must be able to decipher creditably of authors and their research. You must also have to be able to interpret that information and ask yourself, "Is this information relevant? Will it help in my overall goal? Can I use this information and will it help make my paper accurate?" These critical thinking skills are very important.

In my opinion, creditability is most important in both original research and library research. With so much information out there in library research, you must have a fine eye when telling which is creditable and which is not. On the other hand, creditability is just as important in original research when figuring out who to interview, survey or question when conducting research of your own. You may think you have a creditable source but by not doing your research on them, it could make your whole study inaccurate.

Blog 19: Statistical Information

I found a government document that reported 10-20% of students between 6th and 12th grade have reported using cocaine or another form of it. However, it does not indicate how the data was collected or analyzed. It does, on the other hand, report that  U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics conducted the study. Although it doesn't report the reason for conducting the survey, I believe it was conducted to show how big of a problem cocaine use is among teenagers which will help give the government a better idea on how to deal with it.

U.S Department of Justice, (2005). School Survey on Crime and Safety. Retrieved April 10 2012, from http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ssocs/tables/scs_2005_tab_07.asp
The scholarly journal that I found reported similar discoveries to those of the government document. It reported that 6% of 12th graders have used cocaine at least once in their lifetime. This article also does not report the reason for collecting the data. I believe this is because the article is used to inform rather than just present the facts and in that case, there is no need to report the reasoning.

National Institute on Health, (March 2012). InfoFacts. National Institute on Drug Abuse

Google 101

I learned a lot about Google during Google 101 that I did not know about before. I have always used Google for basic research because it is quick and it gets to the point. I had no idea it was so advanced or that so much could be done with it. I also had never used the "more" button or the other links like it. They are great tools and since then, I have been exploring with them much more. I learned abou the You+ feature that allows you to personalize Google to your own taste and liking.

This exercise has changed my opinion about Google and the way I look at resources online. I realize there is a lot more information that is available to me just be using different tools that Google has offers. I am no longer using the basic Google to find research but rather, I am using all aspects to find that best information that I need. I will use the new Google tool by using the extra features that Google provides. They are a great source and tool for research.

Checking In

So far I feel I have been pretty successful. I have a few more sources to find but I feel pretty good about it so far. However, I am having problems with the presentation aspect of it. I am not a good public speaker and get extreme anxiety when presenting. I am extremely nervous for the oral presentation and I am scared I am going to get a bad grade because of it, no matter how prepared I feel.

Luckily, I have no other research projects going on now or for the rest fo the semester. I am fortunate because I am already taking a heavy class load and the two research projects for this class is plenty! They have become a lot more work than I thought I would.

Intellectual Property

I'm not exactly sure what intellectual property is, but if I had to guess, I would have to say it has to do with using someones original words or thinking as their own. However, according to Wikipedia, intellectual property is a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of executive rights are recognized under the corresponding fields of law. This means that owners are granted rights to their objects. A few examples of intellectual properties that come to mind would be music, books, and artwork. Intellectual property changes when it is maipulated by not receiving credit where credit is due. The creator also does not benefit when intellectual property is manipulated and share. For example with music. When iPod's and MP3 players became popular, sites such as limewire and frostwire developed. People were able to download and share music instead of having to pay the stores or iTunes for the product. Musical artists were no longer recieving their pay for the songs they produced.

Urvashi Vaid

Coming into the presentation I didn't know what to expect. I knew very little about Urvashi Vaid and even the topic itself. However, I was pleasently surprised. Urvashi Vaid presented information in a forward manner. She used facts and stories to help support her topic. The information did not differ in anyway from what I had learned or believed, but rather only added to it. The one thing that I really took away from the event was the fact that people think that we are near the end of the gay right's movement. To me, which is similar to Urvashi Vaid's idea, the movement is far from over. Not until the LGBT community has equal right will the movement be over. Urvashi Vaid's backgroud did make her an authority on the topic. She is very creditable when it comes to the topic. She has been apart of the movement for over 30 years and has won numerous awards for her work. She is very dedicated to the subject and has done countless amount of research along with writing books. The presentation made me rethink my Alternative Viewpoints topic. I am taking away from the presentation a new topic. I would like to change my topic for the Viewpoints paper to the struggle for same sex marriages to be passed. I feel I will be able to find a lot on this topic, especially with President Obama's recent address. I was only able to stay for 15 minutes of the question and answer before I had to leave for work. But by that time no one in the class had the opportunity to ask a question, although many other people had.

Semester Research Questions

So far I have completed four of the eight research questions. I have completed questions 1,2,3, and 7. I am needing help with finding a good organization that will educate people about the population and also I need help with the challenges that people have in doing library and original research on the effects of cocaine on adolescents.