ball point 1 & 2

The policy that Ball State enforces is set to encourage and increase better writing skills. The writing assignments given throughout the semester give us the opportunity to rhetorically analyze text not only in the classroom aspect, but outside as well. Throughout this course I will be able to apply the fundamentals of rhetoric to my research in hopes of obtaining a higher level of thinking process through my understanding of what rhetoric is and how it is used. As students, we will emply critical thinking while evaluating and analyzing our research. I think it's important to apply the fundaments of rhetoric in anything you are doing, and this course will give me the chance to experience and better understand how to do so. I think reflecting on our writing is very beneficial in improving your skills, and reflection on your work is a huge aspect of the policy. You are encourged to reflect on your relationship with diverse audiences and on the ways your participation affects the context of writing, all which are important in improving your writing.

Review

I think that almost all of the reading in Ball Point was review of stuff that was either covered in the syllabus or in discussions in previous English courses. I thought most of the first chapter was all self-explanatory, and obvious rules for any course. There was one thing that I found interesting in the first chapter, and that was the fact that my professors can keep my graded papers. I never knew that. It makes me curious to know how often professors keep graded papers, if they do, and why would they want to keep my peers, or my own writing?
Chapter two was a little more enlightening and interesting I thought, but was still just about everything that I was taught in English 103 or any other English writing class that I have ever taken. I suppose it was good to be reminded of what is expected of me, but it didn’t seem like it was very necessary for success in this course.

Do I really like Chapter 1 more than Chapter 2?

Chapter two was more interesting to me than the first chapter because I was drawn more towards the philosophy of the program than the rules and regulations. The ideas behind the use of rhetoric has always intrigued me which is one good way to capture my attention. The use of language and writing to try and persuade the intended audience to change their point of view about a subject has a very powerful potential for use or even misuse in some situations. I am certain that many of us can point out cases of misuse throughout history.

I have often wondered if there are situations or subjects that rhetoric would have no effect on the intended audience and I feel that may depend on how informed or misinformed that audience is. Going back less than one hundreds years ago we have a great example of the misuse of this power when a very charismatic man created the perfect rhetorical situation with the perfect misinformed audience and convinced them that genocide of a group of people was in the best interest of their country.

Hopefully today's audiences are more well informed about the world they live in and we won't fall into this trap of the misuse of rhetoric and allow history to repeat itself. With the availability of information today it would be very difficult for a writer to find a misinformed audience to sway in the wrong direction. There are audiences that I feel rhetoric would have no effect on no matter how talented the writer.

Politics. A dirty word to some and loved by others, it has as many opinions as people involved in it and this is the one subject and audience that I think has an immunity to rhetoric. If you don't believe it then try and change somebody's opposing view to yours about politics and you are more likely to start a fight more than anything else. I discovered this while posting on a message board that often discusses politics on a private website. While there I ran a non-scientific poll about the posters voting habits and if they vote a “straight ticket” and the results I got back from the over seventy-five responses closely coincided with a poll on political party affiliation from 2004 that I studied in government class. The poll showed that the far right and far left of the political spectrum only covered 17% each of the voting population while 40% was made up of independents whose vote could go either way, there was a margin of error of +/- 3%.

This message board was a perfect slice out of the pie of American voters and it was very east to determine which posters were a part of that far left and right of that political fringe. To this day I have not seen anyone be able to convince the people on the right that President Obama is not a Muslim or on the other side convince the left that Glen Beck is not the anti-Christ. Most posters on the board do however agree that it is probably impossible to change anyone's mind about politics.

Ball Point

That was so much fun, I'd really love to do it again. Reflecting on this document reminds me why I dislike most English classes. So much of the time is spent telling the students to brainstorm and draft. We've heard this before, I've heard this since Middle School. At this point, its annoying to hear it again. Not only is it annoying, but I have confidence in my ability to write, so to me its also useless.

These first two chapters were disappointing, but I've yet to read the other chapters, so I can't be too critical about the entire text. I'm sure that there is a slight bit of information hidden somewhere within the text, but it certainly was not in what I read today.

Ball Point a Cookie Cutter? [Journal 2]

I have some likes and dislikes about Ball Point. I'm quite surprised that I actually like this for the most part. I like the fact that it helps add structure to our English courses. I feel like it's making our English course into perfect "cookie cut" shapes. Which ultimately is a great thing because that way all of the English courses are covering all the same exact material. I think it's a great component to all English courses by being a resource for students outside of class. Especially for any new student to the "college experience". Ball Point gives any new student the direction of how to do their personal best in their English course or any course.

What I didn't exactly like was how long it was. Though, I'm not much of a reader, unless the material I'm reading is about castles, people flying on brooms, mystical creatures, "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" and the "Boy Who Lived". Then I'm all for reading! But back to the topic, I did find this extremely helpful though and feel like it'll be very useful for me to refer to later on down the road.

So all an all I can say almost nothing but good about Ball Point, even though I'm still quite surprised about this.

Ball Point YEA!!

Yeah so I'm glad thats over...can't wait for the other chapter to read! No but all seriousness it was like everyone else is saying a lot of review and things that we have been told for years. The text was boring but its obvious that the better you can write and read the better you can communicate with co-workers, friends, and family. This is something that a lot of people now days have problems with just the basic communication skills, this can be to less education or just the lack of concern and effort into developing those skills.

The information in the reading and writing portion in chapter 2 is very interesting. I guess i never thought of it that most of our readings and writings that we done are rhetorical. We all have our own opinions on every single subject that differ from each other and its funny that we for the most part think that our way or our logical thinking is the right way, even though there can be different views on the subject. But a lot of the time we don't force but try to persuade people to think like we do.

Ball Point

This is not the first time that I have had to read through Ball Point. I actually already had it saved on my computer since my freshman year. I feel that it is a good idea for the English department to have this in order to make sure that everything that they expect is in writing and “easy” to be accessed. It is nice to have the grading rubric to see exactly how my paper will be graded. This also could help me to be able to read through my paper and see if I am meeting all of the elements of a well written paper. Even though I already know the plagiarism policy, it is a good thing for me to be able to go through and see if I am actually falling into the plagiarism category or not. I think that it is good to have the six elements of rhetorical writing in chapter two. It is just a helpful reminder of seeing if I am meeting my criteria or not for my writing. It is nice to be reminded to use visual elements in my writing too. If you have not noticed by my writing so far, I am not good at it. I ramble on and do not follow a real train of thought for very long. I feel that I want to learn how to write well but that it will be a tough thing for me to learn. I do not get excited about writing anymore. I used to write all the time in the past, but I had too many people say that I am not good at it, so I stopped. I did not want to have to write anything that someone would read again. But I guess this class is all about writing for others to read.

Learning as old as ancient Greece!

Personally I found the Ball Point chapters to be very well written (like I know what that is, it was just a lot better articulated then what I could do!) While I was reading it I couldn’t stop thinking, “Is this a sales pitch to convert me into an English/Liberal Arts major?” I certainly believe and have been told that “clear writing is a result of clear thinking”, but man did they talk up their program or what.
On a more serious note I found the readings insightful. Comprehending this gave me a better sense in how the program was designed, what the objectives are for us to learn, and how it can improve our future careers/life. One thing that caught my eye was the section of their main “beliefs” in enhancing our abilities. I found it to be quite interesting and I personally would love to be better rounded on the four aspects they discussed:
• Professionally
• Democratically
• Critically
• Personally

Another part of the reading that caught my eye was their second assumption on language. Personally I have never looked at writing and reading in this manner (even though it is pretty much common sense, guess I can pick up a little more of that). I really want to be able learn and include this into my writing and reading approach, so I can really get a better sense of other peoples perspective.

Back on the “sales pitch” in the latter sections they discuss the format in which classes, assignment, etc are to be conducted and it really made me feel better about spending $8,000 on tuition. Seriously though, if I am going to pay that much I do not want to be in a lecture hall with 400 other people (aka "Comm 210",even though they have individual labs). Having that individualism in this class is pretty cool and I think it will benefit all of us in the end. Well, I’m out…I’ll see you guys on Thursday.

Ball Point is boring....

Ball point chapter one was just common sense stuff that we all learned when we were young. I think that we should be putting our time and effort towards something else, and let freshmen in 101 read ball point and be done with it. Every English class that I have taken at BSU has made me read ball point and it's getting to be torture to read it!

Chapter two is better than chapter one because it isn't as boring and it seems to be more of what is expected of us and what we need to do during the class. I guess both chapters have information that we forget because we don't think about.... so I guess it's a nice refresher..... it's just EXTREMELY boring. By the end of reading the two chapters I wanted to rip my hair out.

Thoughts on Ball Point...

As I read through the long Ball Point document, I did not necessarily enjoy it. I thought the chapters were somewhat boring, but I did agree with and like how it was well planned out. I really think it's neat that instead of just making us write papers so that they know we can read, they are trying to emphasize imagination and communication. In my opinion, writing is just boring when someone just throws a topic at me and I have not been given the opportunity to discuss it with anyone. When that sort of situation happens it makes me angry and I feel I haven't been allowed to use my imagination in a way that I wanted to. I also agree with the functional beliefs. I think these skills are needed for things I will be doing outside school or my major. I am not going to get hired anywhere if I can't do all the necessary things I need to be successful in an English class. I like their explanation of how reading and writing are intertwined. Reading is needed to help with the better development of writing and vice-versa. I like how we are being taught to use a rhetorical approach with our writing and how to recognize it in our readings. I'm not sure if we were supposed to learn that in high school but it really helps me out when I'm trying to pick apart an article, so I like knowing how to do that. I think there was plenty of useful information in Ball Point, and I liked seeing the philosophy laid out. I will say I don't like reading things of that nature.

The Great Expectations

First I want to start off by saying this may have been the most boring thing I have ever read. However it was very important to read this because it gives us help on what we need to know about the class we are enrolled in. It gives a great background of information about what we should expect and what is expected of us. In chapter one, it is a lot like a really long syllabus. It talks about attendance, grading, behavior, withdrawing from the class, and most importantly plagiarism. Chapter 2 explains how philosophy is put into the class.

Chapter one is all something we should be familiar with since we have all taken English 103. We know that going to class in going to help our grades. The behavior part is something we should have learned in Elementary School. Plagiarism is still something we should be familiar with but it is always good to be reminded about because it is the most tempting. It would just be so much easier to not cite your sources and just let them be. Even though I know not to plagiaries sometimes I feel like a common mistake can be seen as plagiarism just because citing sources can be so difficult. Also with so many different ways to cite sources some of us may not be as familiar with the new MLA as others.

Chapter 2 taught us more of what is expected of us when we are writing. It listed all of the rhetorical situations that we need to know while writing our papers. Then it talks about inquiry in the classroom and how English 104 is made to guide us through how to do this. It seems as though English 104 writing is going to be different then writing in English 103 or English 101 and 102.

Chapters 1 and 2 of Ball Point

The main points of these chapters is to let the students know what we will be learning about and working towards in this class, English 104. The main focus is on the use of rhetoric and writing processes and how to do research. Another main focus is on the policies and the purpose of the class. It is said in the beginning of chapter one that "reading broadens your exposure". This leads me to believe that we will be learning to read more in depth.

When talking about the rhetorical aspect of writing, Ball Point says that rhetorical processes are constructive, social, technological, personal, and knowledge-making. This basically states that when using rhetoric, all aspects of life are integrated in the process.

I feel that the writing program at Ball State is fair in that it allows you to negate your grading or other problems that you may encounter while being enrolled in an English class. In the program attendance policy, I believe that the grading process is completely fair. Being in class not only allows you to fine tune whatever project you are working on at the time, but it allows you to have time to work on it with help from the professor. The grading rubric is similar to one that I've seen before in my Advanced Placement English class in high school, and I am aware of the standards, but it is still good to be able to look at them.

I have never had a problem with plagiarism because it has been ingrained in my mind to cite authors of sources, always. The only problem I've ever had with anything of that sort is citing them correctly, but during this course I will work very hard to fix that.

Something that really interested me about chapter 2 of Ball Point were the six elements used to create language to change reality. I have never seen any sort of list that involves points to focus on when writing rhetorically. I feel that referring to this may help with me my writing this semester.

All in all, chapters one and two of Ball Point go over the writing policies here at Ball State University and rhetoric writing processes.

It Was a Pleasure, Ball Point...

I can't say that i necessarily enjoyed reading this long tedious document known as, Ball Point. However, it was cleverly written and it did provide with much information that is helpful to know when being enrolled in english classes. Its good to know that the Writing Program is designed to provide success in your chosen career and to deepen your connection to the physical and social world around you. Before reading this i just considered english classes to be, well, english classes. I never considered this class to "enable you to transform your longing for a prosperous place in the world." But hey, ill take it. Im glad this document provided the writing programs office address and phone number, this makes it much easier to get in touch and ask further questions. A lot of the information is reoccurring and very much of it is common sense, things we all have heard since the fifth grade. Thank you Ball Point.

Pedagogy?

So I have finished reading our ballpoint writers guide; chapters one and two. I find that I appreciate it. Not only for its thoroughness, but because it made me look up a new word. I had never in my life seen the word pedagogy. Evidently it means the art of teaching or for referring to different modalities and methods in instructing. I always enjoy learning new words. The rest of the chapters I read are pretty well organized, but also have a kind of common sense approach that makes for easy understanding. I also liked that they broke down the beliefs pertaining to different things with words and definitions. Not so much the definition from a dictionary, so much as a definition as to how that word or concept applies to Ball State and our writing classes. When I first heard that I was going to have to read from some dry, boring writing manual, I groaned; literally. Now that I have done my reading I find myself presently surprised. It wasn’t all that dry or too boring.

Journal 2 Ball Point

I must say that Ball State has a very good way of getting a point across. I feel like i read these policies a lot or at least have seen them before. Most of the things they were stating were reasonable, such as missing more than 6 classes results in a fail. That is completley understandable because how could you possibly be succesful in a class that you miss quite often. I feel like the whole classroom behavior is a little over-rated. I think as college students we all know how to act in the learning enviroment. I do completely agree with the fact that Ball State believes that students should be able to write and comprehend things to be successful. We come into contact with people everyday. We sometimes have to write to people to communicate also. What if students weren't capable of doing these things? So I believe the emphazise on Liberal Arts in the core curriculum is a must. Overall a lot of things that chapters 1 and 2 covered were repetitive things most of us should really know.

The mary-go-round is always the same no matter where you sit.

When starting to read Ball Point Handbook it sounded all very familiar to me. The core goal for writing program is very much like FCS core goal for their students and I am sure its goes for many majors/departments. They want you to be able to take what you learn out into the community. You will need what you learn here for your future. After the core beliefs it just went on and on about things we have talked about. Then in chapter 2 , when it started to talk about writing,while it what was new to me didn't it keep my attention. My one wish is that required reading of a handbook was more entertaining.

Journal 2

After reading Ballpoint there were some things that jumped out at me. One is that even though I don't think of Ball State as a liberal arts college like some smaller liberal art schools that doesn't mean that it isn't. It seems like Ball State just wants to make sure that all of it's students are well rounded when they graduate and are not just sevants of their major. Which is the reason for all those core circulum classes. Sometimes you have to do and learn things that don't want to such as writing papers or doing algebra because even though you may never have to do it again after graduating ,it's still considered one of the college standards. I mean if I were an employer I wouldn't want to hire someone who had absolutely no knowledge outside of their major. If most graduates from Ball State couldn't write a paper then it would give the university an unfavorable name and would diminish importance of getting a degree reguardless of your major. I do have to say that I don't entirely believe the comment about reading and writng being so connected because if that were the case then should be no way my blog should be this bad with all the reading I do. So I guess I will finish writing this blog even though I never intend to be a novelist.

Repetitve and boring

Alright, maybe I'm in a bad mood but this ballpoint reading was definitely boring. I understand the philosophy of the program and agree with it but it did not enlightened me in any new style of teaching I haven't heard before. I would say that the only interesting part was the idea of including reading and writing in a writing program, this approach make sense and seems logical to me.
Over all, nothing new and pretty time consuming. It seems that it s best to read this through the semester whenever needed.

Typical Writing Philosophy

Most writing programs of today teach the same basic fundamentals and ideas. They usually entail that you learn how to write well by essentially knowing how to research and critically read your resources. They also mention how this skill comes from practice and is needed no matter what career field you choose. While reading the Ball Point chapters, I noticed certain aspects of the handbook that were trapped in the back of my head. The first thing that caught my eye was where the author states that learning the tools to be a good writer will help you with your insight and reflections towards others. At first, I somewhat laughed at this notion. I found it hard to believe that being a good writer meant you were able to see how someone else thought. Then, I realized that being able to interpret how other people think will offer you a view of how they see the world around them. By the way someone writes about something, it is shown how they feel or see what they are writing about. Everything from the text used to the tone of the writing can give you a grasp on this concept. The second thing that intrigued me was how the author perceived to teach the mechanics of good writing. There were so many ways given but the main one that stood out to me was the method that involved attempting to establish a reasoning for why the author wrote what they did. This attempt involves the reader more in order to get them more involved in the information written, rather then the reader being bored and reading word after word. The aspect of learning how to write well that works for me is the discussion form. It helps me so much to share with others and have their opinions towards my writing.

Nice round of first posts!

You're catching on quickly to this, which should make for some interesting discussions. You all have experiences, talents, and insights worth sharing, which I hope translates into all of us learning from each other.

Remember to write attention-grabbing post titles: I particularly like Jerry's title, "Who is ERIC and why does he have the article I need to read?" Also, remember to respond to at least two of your classmates' posts to make sure we are conducting an online discussion and not just posting a series of monologues. A few of you didn't show up for the first round, but I hope you will soon accept your invitation and join the conversation!

Surprise, surprise....

"">

I’m a little surprised by this article but not surprised at the same time. I have gone to two different schools now and at each of them, students are required to take and pass English courses that should address this very problem. I guess I didn’t realize the problem was so widespread. But even if I hadn’t taken these classes, this would still surprise me in a way due to the fact that I can just infer that a professor doesn’t want a student getting every quote from Wikipedia or from Google. One thing that really grabbed my attention is when she mentions that the difference between journals and popular magazines and articles and abstracts were being lost on students. Maybe it’s just me but I think this signals that something else, more fundamental, is wrong. Although I can see how it relates and contributes to this problem, this seems to be more of a problem of early education about different types of literature, which, to me, is more disturbing. It’s more disturbing because it has nothing to do with research and everything to do with English classes from the lowest level. Later in the article, she goes on to mention several times student’s lack of direct experience in a library. It has been my experience that students lack this because of the lack of resources in the libraries at the elementary, middle and high school levels. I always just assumed that was why most first year college curriculums included those types of courses. One of the solutions she suggests about teaching the language of library research really caught my eye. It seems so simplistic that it almost seems like it wouldn’t be a problem until I think about my own research and I realize that I mostly guess when it comes to some of the words she mentioned like “text image”, “verbatim image”, or “search wizard”.

Oh Geez

I found the title of the article very ironic considering it took me all afternoon to track it down! However, I completely agree with just about everything that Ms. Jenson had to say about students not understanding what they are really looking at, whether it is a scholarly journal, magazine, or newspaper. I often find that I have that problem when looking up research. I also too often start my searches with Google.
My brother, who attends Ohio State University and also teaches a few courses there, offered to proof read one of my research papers last year. So naturally, I send it to him to look over. He was about as appalled as Ms. Jenson at my lack of knowledge of what is appropriate to cite. He gave me a few scholarly websites for me to look at, and of course I went to them. However, I was so confused by the set up and what the search asked me that I quickly gave up and went back to Google.
I think that there is a greater need for courses that teach how to affectively research on the internet. The desire to learn is there for most students. The issue I believe is the formatting of the scholarly sites, and the lack of knowledge for what we are looking at.

Journal 1

In Jill Jenson's article "It's the Information Age, So Where's the Information? Why Our Students Can't Find It and What We Can Do To Help." she highlights a very important view that even I have, that students are becoming less and less familiar with a library and more so with the Internet. Thought the Internet was a great invention, and it's uses are nearly limitless, it is very easy to get lost in the digital data jungle. Going to a librarian for consultation on finding an article or text is a thing of the past, that nice lady has now been replaced by browsers like Google and Bing. But even as helpful at finding information as these browsers can be, the indiscriminate property it has may very well be your bane. In looking for information on movies and theaters for your project you casually type in "theaters" into Google, the first link you click on is the time listings for the movies in the theater downtown. The second is how to install your very own home theater system, finally on the third link you fine a website with some of the information you are looking for, but it is just a brief article and it does not say where the original document came from.

I'll admit it, going to the library seems like a bit of a choir to me, because not only do I have to find a book or such on what I need, but I then must scan through it to find the parts I want to use. But even the library has changed with the coming of new technologies, there is still the nice lady behind the counter, but there are also some computers with software that you can use to type in the keywords to find a book relating to your search without the need of knowing an author. And just like the nice lady, this program will tell you if the book is checked in and where in the library you can find it. But again in agreeing with Jenson, I feel the youth is losing touch with the old ways of pouring through books at the library. Who knows maybe one day technology will fail and we will have to reteach ourselves how to use the library.

Journal 1 Lesson Learned

When I began to tackle this assignment last night around 11pm little did I know that I was going to go to bed upset and unaccomplished. After waking up this morning I knew the first thing I would discuss today in English was how I couldn't find this article. Little did I know that I was just falling into Tess's plan to prove a point. However, tonight I am not going to bed upset nor unaccomplished. I am going to bed tonight feeling like I learned a lesson.

It felt like a huge fist to the face when reading the first few paragraphs of Jill D. Jensen's article. I am very guilty of what she discussed in her article "It's the Information Age, So Where's the Information?" it's almost sickening. I have used Google as an easy escape to gather information for any research paper and have always felt like I was more intelligent than the average student. After having read this article I feel less intelligent than the average student. As a whole my generation rely's too heavily on search engines and not enough on true academic sources.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Jensen's article because she approached this topic from every point of view possible. Which was nice to not have to read a one sided article about how my generation isn't truly "computer literate". I feel like I really learned something from reading this article and the lesson proved by Tess.

Journal #1

While reading this article, I found it to be true in my life. I always found real books to use as my research material, which limited my topics greatly when my high school did not carry a great selection of books. I never learned how to use an electronic database to find academic articles to make my research that much better. I mainly did not care to learn because I was not expecting to go to a college, let alone having to do extensive research for multiple classes. When I got here to Ball State University, I was in a world that was new and confusing. I knew that there was a library in the middle of campus, but I was not going to be caught dead in it. My sophomore year came with three classes that needed me to do research for academic articles. I broke down and went to Bracken, but I still did not know how to search for things on the computer. I made it through barely, but I did not want to go through that hardship again. I had my religious studies professor help me learn the basics of how to search for academic articles. I am hoping to improve on that skill throughout this year. I feel that I would have been greatly benefited to be taught how to do those kinds of basic searches in high school when you have more one on one help from your teachers. I understand that it is hard for professors to have to deal with us students complaining about how we do not know how to search for academic articles for our research papers. I do like that Bracken has classes on how to research and use their systems. I just need to make myself go sit down and take the time to learn how to do it with their help.

I've got a headache...

English class at my high school was a joke, the teachers never made us cite our work or get sources. After reading the article, it is more of an insult to our generation than anything. I believe that our generation is much more advanced than this article makes us out to believe. We are used to being able to spend 5 minutes online and find what we need. As long as we take our time and not get side tracked with Facebook or checking our E-mail we are fine. I know we might be a little lazy at times, but I think that a lot of our elders underestimate what we can do. I think the future will prove to everyone just what our generation can do.

Too much information

After reading Dr. Jenson's article, I find myself disagreeing with her concerning myself, but agreeing with her concerning many of my peers. I have done plenty of research, and used research databases since I was a Freshman in high school. In high school we were forced to go to the library and use Ebscohost. Now while the quality of research paper I wrote in high school was pathetic compared to the standards of a university research paper, I knew how to use research databases. Secondly, when I got to college I was forced by a TCOM professor, named Jim Needham, to find several Broadcast Publications and use in quote citations in preparation for the research classes that were down the road. With my background I often find myself finding too much information on the subject that I am researching, and occasionally I will begin to read one article that is relevant to what I am researching, but has a different view, which completely throws me off track.

However I can easily see that other students, who were not forced to do these painful exercises that I was forced to do, have problems finding information. The research databases are tricky to use, and the articles are dry. Not only that, but with many of the databases you have to have some sort of subscription or go through your library's subscription, so you can't just go directly to the point of interest. Students aren't used to that these days, they're used to being able to see something they want when they want to see it, but with research it doesn't work that way.

“The Quandary With (In)Query’s”

“The Quandary With (In)Query’s”

My first thoughts as I spent nearly two hours searching for “It’s the Information age, so where’s the Information?” (Jenson, Jill, 2004), where that this whole searching fiasco had much in common with “The Trouble With Tribbles”, an episode of the original Star Trek. In this episode, for the majority of you that are not sci-fi geeks like me, the starship crew had a heck of a time with rapidly breading creatures eating up all their food stores and causing havoc with their electrical maintenance. In any case, I felt as overwhelmed as they appeared to be on the television.
I consider myself an above average student. I feel I have a pretty decent grasp of computer literacy and having a certain amount of research savvy. This assignment proved to me that my opinion of my knowledge and skills is somewhat in error. According to the American Library Association, “To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information” (Jenson). Evidently, I am not as “information literate” as I believed I was.
In her article Dr. Jenson wrote about many topics from what information is out there, to where to find it, to students not knowing what information is useful versus what is just a waste of time. She also detailed that it is a collaborative effort between student and instructor that makes good researchers, not the work of the professor or pupil alone. She explained that her information age students basically would be lost in a library; where some of the best sources for college and professional research can be found. Jenson also highlighted the fact that the same technology fees that students have been complaining about for years, pay for the online library resources that would be so helpful if the students would just learn how to use them. Her article was both enlightening and if nothing else a useful insight into how much we cocky, conceited and very much procrastination prone students are ignorant of.
As I read professor Jenson’s article I began to realize exactly how much I did not know. There are many things that make a particular source reliable, credible, and useful. The search engines on the Internet don’t screen our resources for authenticity or to see how up to date the information is. We have to do that for ourselves. We have to take the time, especially on the web to find out which sources are pertinent, and which just so much dross. As I’ll explain when speaking of tech fees shortly, there are people to screen our sources for us, if you let them.

Another point I really appreciated about the article was how teachers should take more responsibility for ensuring that their students understand how to do research in this technologically advanced age. In every learning environment it is good to have a baseline from which to begin. If you have a diverse class (age, ethnicity, economic…) then you are going to have different levels of tech abilities and knowledge. It is always a good idea to find out where your students are coming from and take them from there to where you want them to be, as opposed to starting nearer to your own knowledge level and just expecting them to keep up. This is not to say that the entire responsibility is upon our esteemed professors. Hardly that! The bulk of the onus is on the pupil, the student. We, as such, must put in the effort to ask the tough questions; those that we may even feel would sound as “stupid questions” in front of our peers. We must learn from our mistakes and put in the time and effort required to fully research our topics of either interest or assignment.
Speaking further to this; we must learn to visit the library. You know that place with books and card catalogs, microfilms and magazines. This is the place where you can find some of the most relevant and credible resources. I remember growing up in the early 80’s and going to the library to look for a book. I did not sit at a computer and search by keyword or any other such bulk tool. I had to know either the title or the author. I had to go over to these stacks of little 3”X5” drawers and pull out cards with a name, title, and a little number that explained where I could find the book. Think of it after searching through those little drawers and finally finding the book I need all I have to show for it is “342.1 Daw”. How was that suppose to help? Then you have to actually go and search through the “stacks” to find the book with that number on it. Finally you have your book. It may even have the information you need in it. If not, as Dr. Jenson says in her article, “… finding a library book by its call number can lead to the happy accident of discovering that all the books on the shelf surrounding that one are about the same topic” (2004). Imagine that, even if your book doesn’t have enough or the correct information, one of the dozen or so around it probably will.
Do you know a place that will more than likely have most of the information you could want for a myriad of college research papers? Your school’s online library, that’s where. You know those “tech fees” you don’t like very much? Well part of that goes into paying for rights to particular information and articles. Another part of it goes into paying the knowledgeable academics who sift through the endless amounts of data to pick the more useful or relevant information so that it is there and accessible to you, the student. Your online library and its architects have enabled you to access an enormous storehouse of pre-screened and credible information (Jenson, 2004). This all without you having to sift through hundreds if not thousands of websites your local search engine brings up; just to see if the data is relevant or up to date, not to mention authentic scholarly work.
As I am writing and thinking of the work I put into this, I realize that even though the syllabus said 750-1000 words for this assignment, I may have already gone over the limit. Perhaps our instructor will credit my extra words to those of a student that went under. In any case, I enjoyed the article; and truth be told the work that went into finding it. A challenge is rarely something I back down from. I also enjoy insight into myself, without that ability I would never have made it through the Army’s Mental Health Specialist Training Course. Thank you all for your time and I sincerely hoped that my thoughts and ideas on this article were worth it.
Randall Bratton

Computer Literacy

I am only 19 years old and I should have taken offense to Jill D. Jensons article about students not being able to find proper scholarly articles. I do not take offense I actually find myself agreeing with her. As students we tend to want everything given to us on a silver platter. When it comes to Facebook and things we have interest in we have no problem at all getting to them via internet. But when its time to write a research paper, finding scholarly articles is like an different language almost. We just can't grasp the concept. In elementary and middle school we were in the library at least twice a week. Overtime i found myself very accustom to finding books without help. In high school we were not forced to use the library it was more of an "as needed" thing. So I can probably count the number of times i used the virtual library on one hand in high school. But when i got to college I had to write two pretty extensive reaction papers for psychology. This called for research and I just did not know where to start! I was in front of the computer for hours trying to find relevant scholarly articles. Luckily for me my English 101 professor was teaching us how to use the virtual library database around the same time. Overtime I learned how to maneuver my way around Ball State virtual library would and I find it useful. For today's blog, I knew just where to find it and it took me all of 30 seconds, thanks to my prior knowledge! I believe as students we should utilize this tool, it makes things so much easier and it isn't ask hard as it seems. Students who aren't in college yet should come familiar with learning how to find scholarly articles now so that when the time comes they can do it wiht ease.

My Generation...

I use the internet for many different things: checking up on my facebook account, checking my e-mail, making sure my class starts at noon and not one, even looking up who played McLovin off the movie Superbad. All of these things I have become adept at because I use them on a regular basis. However, if anyone were to ask me to look up an online journal or article, I would respond as if they had just asked me to do long division.

When at long last I found the article and read it, it became very clear that it is not just me facing these problems, but a vast majority of students. Growing up with a computer in my living room, I never had to leave the house to know the answer to a question, it was always a simple point-and-click away, and I am sure that a vast majority of the students in this class also grew up with Windows 98; infinite knowledge at one's fingertips. This has been both a blessing and a curse to our generation. There's an old saying, "lessons come from the journey, not the destination" or something along those lines. I can't help but think that because our generation can find information so quickly, it almost makes the information we find less important or less significant, as apposed to information that takes time and experience to learn. I can ask you how tall the Empire State Building is and you may tell me 102 stories, but until you take the elevator ride to the top observation deck and look down at the big apple, you have no idea how tall it really is.

Journal 1

I am feeling a little better now after reading all these posts about finding the article on ERIC. I was planning on doing this assignment last night ,but after about five minutes I realized that I had no clue how to actually find the article. On the bright side though this kind of proves the point that the article tries to make.

I think the argument Jenson is trying to make is that because students have quit going to the library some essential research skills have been lost. Even though it is the students who aren't going to the library it the teachers fault for not giving them assignments that require library research. Professors also need to make sure that students are famillar with the library and not just assume that because a student can create a killer myspace page that they must know to search an academic database. If college professors want good research then they are going to have to train their students how to do it and not assume that someone has already done it for them. They must also learn to coordinate with librarians who everyone seems to have forgotten about. I can't personally remember ever having a need to go the library in high school other than to get on the computer.

Where are the simple things in life?

Far too often, you can find me browsing around the internet. Most of my time is spent looking at sports scores, watching funny videos, or snooping around facebook. Hardly any of my time is spent researching, or broadening my knowledge. However, when the time comes for me to write an educational paper, I don’t have many problems. I’ll admit sometimes it is hard for me when it comes to citing my sources, but the research part is easy. Hardly ever do I have trouble weeding out the legitimate sources from the phonies, or finding a full sized article. This doesn’t mean that I don’t see or understand the problems many students face when researching on the web. Not only can you find more sources at the library, but they are almost all legitimate scholarly articles. The internet has made people lazy, but so has all other technological advances. Computers and the internet have made life much easier, however, it can be a bad thing. If I had things my way, life would be much more simplistic. I have no problems renting a book from the library, I just never do.
After reading this article, I began thinking about the issues I have with technology. It is beginning to consume people’s lives. Kids don’t play outside as often as they used to, people are too dependent on their cellphones, instead of walking one block people drive, and instead of reading a book people watch television. I strongly believe that future generations will completely lack any social skills. Nobody interacts with each other in person anymore, it’s always done through a cellphone or the computer. One of my biggest pet peeves is trying to hold a conversation with someone, while they are constantly toying around on their phones. I think we all have several friends that do this. No doubt technology has come a long way, and for many good reasons. However, I do believe it is an equal curse. People are getting lazier, fatter, and more dependent on materialistic things. Even the most secluded places on earth have seen some sort of technological advances. There are very few places where you can just get away and relax.

That Was a Work Out!

When I saw the assigned work from professor Evans to read the article, "Its the information age, so wheres the information?" by Jill D. Jenson, I just thought to myself, sounds easy enough, ill just google it. Little did I know that that choice would start a long and frustrating search only to find the abstract of the article. I knew my next choice was to search for it on the libraries website using ERIC. This too took me awhile to find what i was looking for, but eventually I did with the help of one of my classmates.

In this article by Jenson, she is pretty spot on in many of her points. If my story about my search for this article didn't prove that, then I don't know what will. She is definitely right about one thing, young students, especially in my age group are strangers to the library. I can say that I rely on google for all of the information I ever need for research, or just for anything I’m curious about. I never think twice that the information could be false and I could be learning something that was completely wrong. That is the risk you take when searching on google instead of doing a little extra work to find scholarly writing. I can't say that I have ever looked for information in a book my entire college experience. I wish as a kid I would have been taught that the library is a helpful place and that its not that hard finding information in a book. One problem with libraries is that they are so large and honestly, I just don’t know where to find things. Its very overwhelming for me to have to search for a book I need.

I think Jensons article is very interesting and very true. College students should be more aware of the libraries programs making it easier to search for scholarly documents. If not that, students should stop being so lazy and go check out some books!

I am lost and don't know where I am going

I feel another question I always find myself asking is " What can I put in the search engine to get it so it understands what I am looking for?" I don't find myself having trouble getting to articles cause as soon as I saw that ERIC didn't have the full text I got on the library's website and was able to get it on the first try. I think the only reason I was able to do that was because I knew what I was looking for. Leave me to pick a topic or give me a wide rang to pick from and ask me to pick what is the best information to use and then I get lost. I know how to find resources but how do I know which one is the best resource for what I am doing. The internet has to much to choose from. The one thing its good for it to get a feel for what you want to find in books or journals.

Dr. Jenson has brought up a good point students coming right out of high school aren't taught a lot on research using a library and all it has to offer. I know when I was in high school we did a lot on lap tops and web searches. Even though we used it a lot in high school the teacher would give us most of the websites we would use to find answers to a project. So we didn't worry if it was a creditable source, the teacher gave it to us. When we had to give sources we found as long as they were in MLA formate and wasn't something that looked like it was made in some ones basement it was a good source. Now that I am asked to find scholarly journal I find myself lost and not knowing what I am looking for.

Journal 1

I rarely prefer to use the Library sources found on the Internet because I find it difficult at times to use. It seems as if you don't always get the type of articles you really need. I found the article fairly easy through the Library's site. Reading the article written by Jill D. Jenson, I was primarily intrigued by the suggestion to teach students why they need to know something and the importance of the assignment. I extremely agree with this concept because I, myself, learn better that way. If I can realize the importance of what I am learning, then I will be able to conceive the idea of having some desire to learn the topic. Then, the author points out that you must teach students the language of library research in order to better prepare them how to utilize the tools of the online library. This idea would absolutely be feasible as well because if students understand the meanings of certain technical terms, then they can recognize them and navigate easily through the search engines. Jenson also declared that by taking a tour through the library with the students. I completely agree with this statement because when I was made to fill out a form about areas in the library, it was to my great benefit. The form helped me discover all of the various places in the library that I have never been. Now, if I go to the library, I know the exact floor I need to venture to in order to get what I need. Her concepts were very-well thought out. Students have become dependant on technological advances to complete their research. Now these "advances" can also be perceived as crutches. Some would even say that students have become lazy beings. I especially believe that I have been affected by this scenario. I typically always use Google or some sort of search engine like that when I have research to do. However, these English courses make me realize that these scholarly sources always make for better references.

Thank you Library Online Chat!

After searching for Dr. Jenson’s article on all (3) different ERIC databases I decided to swallow my pride and ask for help. Much to my surprise the librarian who helped me was actually really cool and patience. Of course they found the article on the first try (I was in my dorm room) and it took me almost five times until the article was found. The problem here was not my incompetence, but the systems in which the databases are located in, have been known to time out (thanks to the librarian for suggesting me to close out the session and start over again). Reading through this article really opened my eyes into how much “we” rely on the internet or some may just say “GOOGLE” for quick references, research projects, etc. Image having to drive to a library, search for the appropriate book/section to find out a simply question like, “when coca cola was founded.” I believe with our ability to find information at a click of a button, we have become lazy (yes, me too) and actually going through the library as mentioned above is an undesirable and daunting task.

I find Dr. Jenson’s perspective very interesting in the since that she acknowledges the Gen “Y” “X” “Z” or whatever class you’re in lack adequate research capabilities. I personally have search through the library for a few books in my years here and it does get very frustrating. I feel that Cecilia Peralta says it all when she stated this in her blog post, “I have survived all these years doing research with the direct help of the librarian EVERY time I started a new project. Pretty embarrassing; she must think I'm a bit slow.” We all have our reasons for not being adequate in the library, I don’t go there much, I’m too lazy to look, etc. but I believe as Dr. Jenson mentioned and so did John Mihm, students now a day’s NEED to be taught to go to the library and seek out hardcopies of book and get familiarize with the environment of a library. I personally feel a little bit more knowledgeable and better after reading this article and some of my fellow classmates’ blog post. Going to college should be about learning and collaborating to find answers to problems/situations like these.