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.