For this exercise, I am doing something similar to a past post. Remember Dave? Well he's back to ask more questions, but this time, it is about the five week research process that I have gone through in my English Comp class while using the book Curious Researcher. Since the revision and editing of my paper is done, I felt it would be a good idea to reflect on the new writing process that we learned. For this post, I will be answering Dave's questions by using a technique called fastwriting, which was mentioned in a previous post, but to recall your memory, it is just taking a few minutes and writing whatever comes to mind as an answer. Here are the questions and my responses to them:
1. Dave: "Hey you, I think you can't really say that one opinion is better than another one. Do you agree?"
Me: I agree with you that one opinion isn't better than another; however, I feel that what makes some people think opinions are better than others is the supporting evidence. In this paper, I was supposed to give a proposal on what to do about my topic. For instance, I wrote to small town police departments saying that K-9 units are beneficial to their agencies. If my stance on this topic is strong enough, then these departments should go about following my advice based on my own personal opinion. The research that I collected was supposed to help back up my "argument" for incorporating these canines into the agencies, and by using other sources, I am able to add to my credibility.
2. Dave: "There's all this stuff in the book about research as a process of discovery. What did you discover?"
Me: Throughout this researching process, I have discovered new ways to go about actually finding credible sources and then to incorporate them into my essay by using double journal entries, which helped me keep a list of direct quotations and my commentary on them. This was a very useful tool because it allowed me to break the research process up into smaller steps and then I used those two strategies in order to complete the research needed for the paper.
3. Dave: "What do you figure was the most challenging problem you had to solve while working on this research project? How did you solve it?"
Me: The most challenging thing for me was using some of the templates in Curious Researcher because I felt like I couldn't think the way the template wanted me to. When I thought of something, I felt that it didn't coexist with the template, so I struggled with trying to make it fit. Though I struggled, I found that templates are a good strategy because even though they are written one way, they aren't set in stone. I found that they could be manipulated so that my writing would fit in the template and I didn't need to stress over trying to change my words so they fit within the template perfectly. Writing is special in that it can be changed, so if you feel stuck, you can try and manipulate the templates so they can better suit you.
4. Dave: "After all this work, what did you take away from this experience? What have you learned that you can use?
Me: I thought this five week research process was very helpful in getting my essay done in a timely manner, even though the process was time consuming. I found it very helpful in that it broke down the entire paper into very small chunks that were manageable and allowed me to be less worried about the actual paper and more focused on the task at hand. I will definitely use parts of this process when necessary, such as splitting the paper up into small steps so I am less concerned about the entirety of the paper, and I am also planning on using some of the templates if they fit the criteria. those templates were helpful in determining what I actually needed to have in my paper for some sections and gave me different options, which I also liked so I had variety. I will most likely use the CRAAP analyses the most in order to determine the credibility of sources that I will definitely need for future projects.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Exercise 5.3 - 11/20/13
The exercise we did in class today was the strangest thing I have ever done to an essay. I ended up cutting up my paper by paragraphs and rearranging the order. Then, I arranged them into piles that either showed it was on-topic with my thesis or was not. If it was, I kept it, but if not, it went in the "reject pile." Once the two piles were determined, I looked at the "keep" paragraphs and determined if the paragraphs provided evidence, explained a key point, illustrated a key concept, established importance, or raised/answered a question that is relevant to my thesis. Tonight, this blog post is about the new developments I found through this exercise. For the first part, I was asked to rearrange the structure of my essay. I don't think I was hard enough on my essay when I was first dismembering it, so I kept all of my paragraphs, which basically means the first new structure was pretty much the same as when I started, except for a few paragraph switches. To me, it seemed to flow well and I felt that it did a good job of supporting my thesis. The second time, I tried really hard to switch the order, and I think it worked a lot better. I started with the drawbacks of not having a K-9 unit and then moving into the benefits, followed by the "why" factor. I feel like this structure did a better job at presenting my point more clearly and flowed well, even though I need to add some more information to fill the small gaps I found by switching the order. Overall, I liked this exercise to help re-see my essay because it gave the opportunity to see my essay through my readers' eyes. Plus, it was a much tougher way of critiquing my paper because I had to really focus and judge my writing to get my point across as clearly as possible. Through this exercise, I found what I needed to change and the reasons for it, and this helped me see the flaws in my paper that I need to fix.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Exercise 5.1 - 11/18/13
Now that I've finally gotten my essay drafted, I was able to go through and do a global revision by seeing how I used my ideas and others' ideas. With my printed essay, I took one color highlighter and highlighted every sentence that I used that was from someone else's ideas, such as facts and quotes. I then took a second color and highlighted anything that incorporated my ideas, commentary, analysis, synthesis, claims, interpretation, or definitions. By doing this exercise, I was able to see the ratio between using my own ideas and others' ideas.
For this blog post, I will be answering some questions based on the work I did in class relating to my draft.
1. Which color dominates?
I have more of my own voice throughout my essay, but I have a good mix of having my own voice and then incorporating someone else's thoughts into my paper to back up my ideas.
2. Are you turning over too much of the text to your sources?
I don't believe I am because I have an equal balance of small chunks of my writing followed by small chunks of my sources, and this way, I feel like I am responding well to the conversation.
3. Are you ignoring them and rattling on too much about what you think, or does your source use seem appropriate to support your purpose?
I feel like I have an equal balance of using my sources and then responding with my own voice and thus adding to the conversation. I have also made sure to keep my direct quotations limited to 10-20% of my paper, and at this point I have about 50% of the allotted 300 words used.
4. What do you notice about the color pattern?
As I said earlier, I noticed that there is an equal balance between my use of sources and then with my responses to add to the conversation about the benefits of K-9 units.
5. Are you taking turns paragraph by paragraph with your sources, or is your own analysis and commentary nicely blended within paragraphs, so that the information is always anchored to your own thoughts?
This is something that I had some trouble with, but I also had a little success with. Most of my writing showed differences paragraph by paragraph, but there are some paragraphs where I have a blended use of others' thoughts and my ideas. When I go to revise, I will try to make more of my paragraphs blended instead of connected.
6. Do you surround quoted passages with your own voice and analysis?
It seemed like it when I first went through and highlighted my draft, but I may have missed some parts or thought that I did, when in reality I might not have.
7. Who wins the wrestling match?
I think in the end, I have won the wrestling match, but I have used an appropriate amount of sources to back up my ideas and give them some credibility.
For this blog post, I will be answering some questions based on the work I did in class relating to my draft.
1. Which color dominates?
I have more of my own voice throughout my essay, but I have a good mix of having my own voice and then incorporating someone else's thoughts into my paper to back up my ideas.
2. Are you turning over too much of the text to your sources?
I don't believe I am because I have an equal balance of small chunks of my writing followed by small chunks of my sources, and this way, I feel like I am responding well to the conversation.
3. Are you ignoring them and rattling on too much about what you think, or does your source use seem appropriate to support your purpose?
I feel like I have an equal balance of using my sources and then responding with my own voice and thus adding to the conversation. I have also made sure to keep my direct quotations limited to 10-20% of my paper, and at this point I have about 50% of the allotted 300 words used.
4. What do you notice about the color pattern?
As I said earlier, I noticed that there is an equal balance between my use of sources and then with my responses to add to the conversation about the benefits of K-9 units.
5. Are you taking turns paragraph by paragraph with your sources, or is your own analysis and commentary nicely blended within paragraphs, so that the information is always anchored to your own thoughts?
This is something that I had some trouble with, but I also had a little success with. Most of my writing showed differences paragraph by paragraph, but there are some paragraphs where I have a blended use of others' thoughts and my ideas. When I go to revise, I will try to make more of my paragraphs blended instead of connected.
6. Do you surround quoted passages with your own voice and analysis?
It seemed like it when I first went through and highlighted my draft, but I may have missed some parts or thought that I did, when in reality I might not have.
7. Who wins the wrestling match?
I think in the end, I have won the wrestling match, but I have used an appropriate amount of sources to back up my ideas and give them some credibility.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Exercise 4.3 - 11/15/13
Now that I'm in the drafting phase of my paper, I am being asked to write three different beginnings for it. By writing a variety of beginnings, I will have the opportunity to see some different ways that I could start the paper and choose the one that is the most effective in showcasing the rest of my paper. I will be using some of the different beginnings that I found in Curious Researcher.
1. Imagine living in a small town where crime is prevalent and teenagers are running rampant through the streets. The police department is being overworked, and they don't have enough resources to address all of these problems. What could stop this? What if I said a K-9 unit? These dogs are specifically trained for these reasons, and they have helped many police departments worldwide in fighting crime. K-9 units are more beneficial and effective to police departments and can do more than just fight crime within a community.
2. Have you ever wondered how often K-9 units are used in a big city? Did you ever think about these same dogs being used within small towns? Most people only ever hear of dogs being used in very serious situations, yet they barely know what kind of things these dogs actually do. These dogs have assisted in catching criminals, search and rescues, detection of illegal substances, even public relations. K-9 units do so much more than most people usually give them credit for.
3. Today, there are approximately 7,000 police canine teams in the United States. More and more police departments have begun implementing K-9 units into their agencies because they have made them more time- and cost-effective. In these towns where the K-9 units are implemented, the police agencies are more efficient in the areas where these dogs are trained. They are not only used in fighting crime and keeping the citizens safe, but they are also used for public relations within the community. K-9 units incorporated within small towns give the police department a lot more benefits than a police department who only uses human officers or tries to borrow other K-9 units outside of the agency.
After writing the three different openings, it's helpful to get some feedback from other people in determining which opening is the strongest, but I have the opportunity to decide my favorite. After getting feedback from myself and another friend, I can determine my tentative beginning. However, I should keep the other two openings because they could be helpful somewhere within the paper.
1. Imagine living in a small town where crime is prevalent and teenagers are running rampant through the streets. The police department is being overworked, and they don't have enough resources to address all of these problems. What could stop this? What if I said a K-9 unit? These dogs are specifically trained for these reasons, and they have helped many police departments worldwide in fighting crime. K-9 units are more beneficial and effective to police departments and can do more than just fight crime within a community.
2. Have you ever wondered how often K-9 units are used in a big city? Did you ever think about these same dogs being used within small towns? Most people only ever hear of dogs being used in very serious situations, yet they barely know what kind of things these dogs actually do. These dogs have assisted in catching criminals, search and rescues, detection of illegal substances, even public relations. K-9 units do so much more than most people usually give them credit for.
3. Today, there are approximately 7,000 police canine teams in the United States. More and more police departments have begun implementing K-9 units into their agencies because they have made them more time- and cost-effective. In these towns where the K-9 units are implemented, the police agencies are more efficient in the areas where these dogs are trained. They are not only used in fighting crime and keeping the citizens safe, but they are also used for public relations within the community. K-9 units incorporated within small towns give the police department a lot more benefits than a police department who only uses human officers or tries to borrow other K-9 units outside of the agency.
After writing the three different openings, it's helpful to get some feedback from other people in determining which opening is the strongest, but I have the opportunity to decide my favorite. After getting feedback from myself and another friend, I can determine my tentative beginning. However, I should keep the other two openings because they could be helpful somewhere within the paper.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Exercise 4.2 - 11/13/13
During my drafting process, I have found it necessary to determine what exactly I'm writing about. I need to come up with a tentative thesis statement to reflect my current understanding of my topic. I feel like my essay will be more argumentative, so my thesis will be my central point for the paper. By determining a tentative thesis (even if I change it later) should help me stay focused on my goal while I'm in the drafting process. As of right now, my tentative thesis looks like this:
Based on other police departments' experiences, the evidence strongly suggests that implementing a K-9 unit into a small town police agency will be more effective and beneficial to the department with more than just fighting crime.
Based on other police departments' experiences, the evidence strongly suggests that implementing a K-9 unit into a small town police agency will be more effective and beneficial to the department with more than just fighting crime.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Exercise 4.1 - 11/11/13
Now that I have completed the researching process of the paper, I will begin moving on to the drafting aspect. Before I do that, I want to analyze my topic to find out if I am missing anything. In Curious Researcher, I was introduced to Dave, an imaginary character who has many questions surrounding my topic that many other people could have about it. The following post will be a "conversation" that I have with Dave in order to answer his questions and fully understand my topic and research, while also determining the audience I am writing to in order to make my essay more focused.
Q: What are the why, where, who, when, and what of your subject?
A: K-9 units are important because they assist in catching criminals, search and rescues, detecting illegal substances, and public relations whenever necessary within small town communities all over the world.
Q: What do you mean by K-9 units?
A: When I say K-9 units, I am talking about implementing K-9 units into a small town police department because of the benefits that will make the department more efficient.
Q: How do most people see this? How do you see it differently?
A: Most people would view K-9 units as super aggressive and intimidating, which they are supposed to be, but they aren't only viewed as such. These dogs can help find people who are missing or even connect the department with the community it serves.
Q: Are you kidding? I didn't know that. What else did you find out?
A: Something that most people don't really think about is that K-9 units are actually very beneficial to small town police departments and not just within the big, flashy cities, not only by making it more efficient, but it is also more time- and cost-effective.
Q: Can you give me an example?
A: Since the implementation of a K-9 unit in Fraser, MI in 1999, Officer Maxey stated that his team is responsible for 21 arrests, $130,000 in cash seizures, the seizures of 1270 grams of cocaine, 190 grams of crack cocaine, 3200 grams of marijuana, 15 building searches, 43 search warrant executions, 213 vehicle searches, 25 suspect tracks, and 85 tractor trailer searches.
Q: Did that surprise you?
A: For the majority of the information within this example, yes, it did surprise me because I wasn't expecting all of this to be accomplished within 14 years of the unit first starting in this small town. This shows the obvious effectiveness of the canine unit, and it can also show the time efficiency of the unit by being able to search places a lot quicker than humans can.
Q: What other questions does this raise?
A: Some other questions that were raised by this research includes what does it take to actually go about incorporating a K-9 unit into a small town police department, and how long does it take for a canine unit to become cost-effective and increase the department's efficiency.
Q: Who does this affect, mostly?
A: This would affect any small town community whose police department is debating whether or not to implement a K-9 unit into its agency because it would increase safety and better the relationship between the people of the community and the police officers.
Q: What should we do about this?
A: We should propose incorporating K-9 units wherever possible because of the benefits they can create.
Q: I'm not sure I believe this. Why do you?
A: I believe we should do this because crime is a major problem in our country today, and implementing K-9 units will aid in fighting crime and making the communities safer.
Q: What do you think we should do about it?
A: To increase the number of K-9 units in existence, we should show small town police departments that the benefits of these teams heavily outweigh the drawbacks, while making the department more efficient and the town safer.
Q: What are the why, where, who, when, and what of your subject?
A: K-9 units are important because they assist in catching criminals, search and rescues, detecting illegal substances, and public relations whenever necessary within small town communities all over the world.
Q: What do you mean by K-9 units?
A: When I say K-9 units, I am talking about implementing K-9 units into a small town police department because of the benefits that will make the department more efficient.
Q: How do most people see this? How do you see it differently?
A: Most people would view K-9 units as super aggressive and intimidating, which they are supposed to be, but they aren't only viewed as such. These dogs can help find people who are missing or even connect the department with the community it serves.
Q: Are you kidding? I didn't know that. What else did you find out?
A: Something that most people don't really think about is that K-9 units are actually very beneficial to small town police departments and not just within the big, flashy cities, not only by making it more efficient, but it is also more time- and cost-effective.
Q: Can you give me an example?
A: Since the implementation of a K-9 unit in Fraser, MI in 1999, Officer Maxey stated that his team is responsible for 21 arrests, $130,000 in cash seizures, the seizures of 1270 grams of cocaine, 190 grams of crack cocaine, 3200 grams of marijuana, 15 building searches, 43 search warrant executions, 213 vehicle searches, 25 suspect tracks, and 85 tractor trailer searches.
Q: Did that surprise you?
A: For the majority of the information within this example, yes, it did surprise me because I wasn't expecting all of this to be accomplished within 14 years of the unit first starting in this small town. This shows the obvious effectiveness of the canine unit, and it can also show the time efficiency of the unit by being able to search places a lot quicker than humans can.
Q: What other questions does this raise?
A: Some other questions that were raised by this research includes what does it take to actually go about incorporating a K-9 unit into a small town police department, and how long does it take for a canine unit to become cost-effective and increase the department's efficiency.
Q: Who does this affect, mostly?
A: This would affect any small town community whose police department is debating whether or not to implement a K-9 unit into its agency because it would increase safety and better the relationship between the people of the community and the police officers.
Q: What should we do about this?
A: We should propose incorporating K-9 units wherever possible because of the benefits they can create.
Q: I'm not sure I believe this. Why do you?
A: I believe we should do this because crime is a major problem in our country today, and implementing K-9 units will aid in fighting crime and making the communities safer.
Q: What do you think we should do about it?
A: To increase the number of K-9 units in existence, we should show small town police departments that the benefits of these teams heavily outweigh the drawbacks, while making the department more efficient and the town safer.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Annotated Bibliography - 11/8/13 (my birthday!)
Throughout this week, I have spent a good eight to ten hours researching to find credible sources to use within my paper. My goal was to find the best five articles I could find on the benefits of a police K-9 unit and then create an annotated bibliography for each. An annotated bibliography gives a summary for each article on the works cited page and explains the credibility of the article. Below is a list of my five annotated bibliographies.
Bilger,
Burkhard. “Beware Of The Dogs.” New
Yorker 88.2 (2012): 46-57. Academic
Search
Premier. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
This article is a credible source
for my research because it is written by a well-published writer and published
by a long-standing, respected New York news source. Burkhard Bilger has been published in
anthologies eight times and has won many awards for his works. The article was published in one of The New Yorker’s magazines last year
(2/27/12). The author’s main goal in
this article is to inform his audience about the dogs in the New York Police
Department and what they do while in the police force. The publishing source for this article originally
planned on targeting an elite readership, but due to the magazine being created
by a group of editors and writers who came from the middle-class, it instead
focused on reaching a sizable audience of middle-class readers with upper-class
aspirations. This audience would be
interested in this topic if they want to learn more about the police force that
the majority of the citizens live under and what the police are doing to make
New York safer, while possibly agreeing with this author’s perspective on the
topic because it has an accurate depiction of the NYPD and its work with K-9
units. The author incorporates a
personal story, statistics found through research, quotes from multiple
experts, and quotes from some of the police officers who work with these dogs
as evidence. This evidence builds
credibility because the personal story and quotes helps to illustrate the
author’s point and it has some variance while incorporating many different
outside sources through the use of quotations from the experts. Based on my own opinion, experiences, and
research, I agree with this author because he illustrates the dangers these
police dogs have to deal with and how much training they must sustain in order
to be enlisted into the academy, which helps my argument for the need of more
recognition given to these dogs. I think
this article is important to include in my essay because it strengthens my
argument and sheds a new light on the use of police dogs through personal experience.
Rouhib, George. "Implementing a Canine Unit in a Small Police
Agency." . N.p., 19 Sept 2003.
Web. 7 Nov 2013. <http://www.emich.edu/cerns/downloads/papers/PoliceStaff/Patrol,
Operations, Tactics/Implementing a Canine Unit in a Small Police
Agency.pdf>. PDF file.
This
article is a credible source for my research because it is written by a police
lieutenant and was published into a university’s police program. Lieutenant George Rouhib has been with the
Fraser Department of Public Safety for many years and has written a couple of
articles about improving small town police academies. The article was published in the Eastern
Michigan University’s School of Police Staff and Command ten years ago
(9/19/03). The author’s main goal of
this article is to explain the benefits and risks of implementing a K-9 unit
into a small town. The publishing source
for this article would generally target other small town police
departments. This audience would be
interested in this subject if the police department is unsure about
implementing a canine into their academy and would probably agree and disagree
with this author’s perspective on the topic because his viewpoint was based
solely on his own department. Statistics
and personal experiences are used as evidence in this article. This evidence builds credibility by
incorporating personal experience into the article, but it is limited because
there isn’t much of a variety of types of evidences nor are there a lot of
outside sources. Based on my own
opinion, experiences, and research, I agree with this author because the
advantages of implementing a K-9 unit significantly outweigh the
drawbacks. I think this article is
important to include in my essay because it supports my argument while giving
me a few counterarguments to incorporate within it.
Handy, William F., Marilyn Harrington,
and David J. Pittman. "The K-9 Corps: The Use Of Dogs In Police
Work."
Journal Of
Criminal Law, Criminology & Police Science 52.3 (1961): 328-337. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 6
Nov. 2013.
This article is a credible source
for my research because it is written by an expert and published in an academic
journal. William Handy is a Junior
Research Assistant at the Social Science Institute at Washington University and
Marilyn Harrington is the Editorial Consultant for the research projects at the
institute. The real expert is Dr. David
Pittman, who is an Associate Professor at Washington University and is the
Sociological Consultant to St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and has
written extensively on criminological studies.
The article was published in the Journal
of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science over forty years ago
(9/1/61). The authors’ main goal is to
inform the audience about the history of the canine corps in police work in
Europe and in the United States and to give an outlook on what the K-9 units
look like today. This article would
target other academics who are in the criminology field and who may have
questions about the past use of dogs in the police force. The authors use statistical research within
their article. This evidence builds
credibility because of the extensive use of outside sources, but is also
limited because of the lack of variety in the types of evidence. Based on my own opinion, experiences, and
research, I could respond to the viewpoint of the authors by incorporating
their historical evidence into my paper as a background to the use of police
dogs. I think this article is important
to include in my essay because it makes me think more about how police dogs
have changed over the last forty years, and I can use it for more historical
background information.
Basich, Melanie. "How To...Start a K-9 Unit." Police:
The Law Enforcement Magazine. Police
Magazine, 01 Feb. 2003. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.
This
article is a credible source for my research because it is written by a
journalist who is familiar with police topics and is published in a specialized
magazine for the police. Melanie Basich
is an award-winning journalist who writes about many different aspects of
police departments, including emerging law enforcement technologies. The article was published in Police Magazine ten years ago
(2/1/03). The author’s main goal in this
article is to sell the idea of starting a police canine unit within a small
town’s police department. The publishing
source for this article would target other police officers and police
departments who subscribe to it, since it is a specialized magazine. This audience would be interested in this
subject if they are planning on starting a K-9 unit in their department but
still need convincing, and they would generally agree with this author’s
perspective on the topic because it gives them an opportunity to see the
benefits and what goes into making a K-9 unit work. The author incorporates quotes from canine
handlers and outside research to explain her point. This evidence builds credibility because the
quotes give firsthand experience from a canine handler’s point of view but it
is limited because it lacks a variety of evidence. Based on my own opinion, experiences, and
research, I agree with this author because she presents a good argument on
implementing a canine unit into a small town police department. I think this article is important to include
in my essay because it helps to improve my argument of incorporating a K-9 unit
into a small police department.
Vantassel, Stephen. "A
Biblical View of Animals: A Critical Response to the Theology of
Andrew Linzey." Emmaus
Journal. 12. (2003): 177-195. Web. 8 Nov. 2013. <http://www.academia.edu/246337/A_Biblical_View_of_Animals_A_Critical_Response_to
_the_Theology_of_Andrew_Linzey>.
This
article is a credible source for my research because it is written by a
theologian and found in an academic journal.
Stephen Vantassal is a tutor of theology at King’s Evangelical Divinity
School, and he specifically researches practical theology relating to animals
and the environment. The article was
published in the Emmaus Journal in
2003. The author’s main goal is to teach
his readers the correct way to see and use animals through a biblical
viewpoint. The publishing source for
this article generally targets Christians who want to learn more about the
Bible, biblical doctrine, practical issues of the Christian life and church, as
well as historical and doctrinal issues, but it could also target police
departments. This audience would be
interested in this subject because the police departments might want to make
sure that implementing a K-9 unit would be morally right according to biblical
principles. They would probably agree
with this author’s perspective on the topic because they would be able to use
this perspective to argue that using K-9 units for human benefit is morally
right and based on biblical principles.
The author uses the Bible, another expert’s theological viewpoints, and
personal ideas within this article as evidence.
This evidence builds credibility by using Bible verses to argue his
beliefs, but it is limited because of the lack of variety in types of
evidence. Based on my own opinion,
experiences, and research, I would agree with this author because he was able
to effectively argue his viewpoint against the other expert’s theology. I think this article is important to include
in my essay because it will allow me to incorporate a biblical stance on
implementing K-9 units into police departments.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Exercise 2.2 - 11/1/13
We are now working on the next step of the research paper process: finding relevant working knowledge. We are using the book Curious Researcher by Bruce Ballenger for exercises on completing our papers. For this exercise, we are given four different tasks on the type of research we want to look up by using general search engines, metasearch engines, or specific databases. For this exercise, I have decided to do step #1 and find research by using general search engines, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
The first website I looked up was on Google and it gave me a Q&A response, which I found to be very beneficial since I am very new to this topic and wanted to learn some general information about K-9 units. I found this article to be more credible than Wikipedia, and it gave me some great background information on the types of dogs used and the kind of training the dogs go through before becoming a "police officer". The link to this website is http://www.fallenofficersremembered.org/k-9s/k-9-facts-and-questions/
The second website I found was on Bing and this was a great website on finding specific training for K-9 dogs. There is training for all sorts of different jobs, such as search and rescue dogs and forensic evidence dogs (there are specific jobs listed under the main categories), even for the handlers themselves. This article is very relevant to my topic because I am still in the process of narrowing down my idea to get more specified research, and I am thinking about going on the types of job route. The link to this website is http://www.criminaljusticeschoolinfo.com/police-k9-unit.html
The third website I found was on Yahoo and this article is more about what a police dog and its handler does on patrol. It also talks about why law enforcement uses these dogs because of their special abilities. It also talks about the different types of dogs used for specific kinds of jobs the dogs can possibly do. I feel like this is the best article I found within my searches tonight because of the amount of information given and the variance in the information. The link to this website is http://people.howstuffworks.com/police-dog2.htm
I found this exercise to be very helpful in finding some of my general information that I can use in my paper and the third website seems to be very beneficial to having general information to build off of when I find more specified research using more databases. I am hoping to use some of this information within my paper.
The first website I looked up was on Google and it gave me a Q&A response, which I found to be very beneficial since I am very new to this topic and wanted to learn some general information about K-9 units. I found this article to be more credible than Wikipedia, and it gave me some great background information on the types of dogs used and the kind of training the dogs go through before becoming a "police officer". The link to this website is http://www.fallenofficersremembered.org/k-9s/k-9-facts-and-questions/
The second website I found was on Bing and this was a great website on finding specific training for K-9 dogs. There is training for all sorts of different jobs, such as search and rescue dogs and forensic evidence dogs (there are specific jobs listed under the main categories), even for the handlers themselves. This article is very relevant to my topic because I am still in the process of narrowing down my idea to get more specified research, and I am thinking about going on the types of job route. The link to this website is http://www.criminaljusticeschoolinfo.com/police-k9-unit.html
The third website I found was on Yahoo and this article is more about what a police dog and its handler does on patrol. It also talks about why law enforcement uses these dogs because of their special abilities. It also talks about the different types of dogs used for specific kinds of jobs the dogs can possibly do. I feel like this is the best article I found within my searches tonight because of the amount of information given and the variance in the information. The link to this website is http://people.howstuffworks.com/police-dog2.htm
I found this exercise to be very helpful in finding some of my general information that I can use in my paper and the third website seems to be very beneficial to having general information to build off of when I find more specified research using more databases. I am hoping to use some of this information within my paper.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Exercise 1.5 - 10/28/13
For this exercise, I will be determining my research question and whether it will lead to a successful project. This will include a brief proposal that outlines my research plan. I may change my mind or change the inquiry question later once I start researching.
For step 1, I will be determining my inquiry question on the topic that I plan to research.
Step 1: Inquiry Question
What is the relationship between dogs and law enforcement?
For step 2, I will be determining the primary purpose to explore and argue this inquiry question by asking more questions that will help in the research process and finding a hypothesis and/or a tentative main claim.
Step 2: Primary Purpose
Explore -
What kind of training do K-9 dogs go through?
How often are K-9 dogs used?
Why are dogs used in law enforcement?
What kind of dogs are used in law enforcement?
When do K-9 dogs start training?
When were dogs first used in law enforcement? Who thought of this idea?
Do K-9 dogs suffer abuse of any kind?
Argue -
I do not know enough about this topic to adequately give a theory, hypothesis, or tentative thesis about this subject until I know more about it.
For step 3, I will be including any prior knowledge that may be based on personal experiences or mindsets and any previous or current thoughts about this topic.
Step 3:
Without knowing much about this topic, one of my previous beliefs is that dogs are used to help police hunt down criminals and sniff out illegal substances. I still believe that is true today, but I want to know why they began using dogs in the first place and who thought of the idea. Also, when I was in public high school, there were a few times when the police would do random locker searches and bring in K-9 dogs to search for any drugs that may have been stored in the lockers. There were a couple times when the dogs did find drugs hidden in the lockers and those students were arrested and taken to the police station. I have also seen TV shows such as NCIS that show depict scenes where K-9 dogs are used to smell out drugs and to follow the scent of the criminals in order for the police to find them. This is the only kind of experience and preconceptions of using dogs in law enforcement, and I want to know more about the history of it and everything that goes into making a dog suitable for K-9 status.
For step 1, I will be determining my inquiry question on the topic that I plan to research.
Step 1: Inquiry Question
What is the relationship between dogs and law enforcement?
For step 2, I will be determining the primary purpose to explore and argue this inquiry question by asking more questions that will help in the research process and finding a hypothesis and/or a tentative main claim.
Step 2: Primary Purpose
Explore -
What kind of training do K-9 dogs go through?
How often are K-9 dogs used?
Why are dogs used in law enforcement?
What kind of dogs are used in law enforcement?
When do K-9 dogs start training?
When were dogs first used in law enforcement? Who thought of this idea?
Do K-9 dogs suffer abuse of any kind?
Argue -
I do not know enough about this topic to adequately give a theory, hypothesis, or tentative thesis about this subject until I know more about it.
For step 3, I will be including any prior knowledge that may be based on personal experiences or mindsets and any previous or current thoughts about this topic.
Step 3:
Without knowing much about this topic, one of my previous beliefs is that dogs are used to help police hunt down criminals and sniff out illegal substances. I still believe that is true today, but I want to know why they began using dogs in the first place and who thought of the idea. Also, when I was in public high school, there were a few times when the police would do random locker searches and bring in K-9 dogs to search for any drugs that may have been stored in the lockers. There were a couple times when the dogs did find drugs hidden in the lockers and those students were arrested and taken to the police station. I have also seen TV shows such as NCIS that show depict scenes where K-9 dogs are used to smell out drugs and to follow the scent of the criminals in order for the police to find them. This is the only kind of experience and preconceptions of using dogs in law enforcement, and I want to know more about the history of it and everything that goes into making a dog suitable for K-9 status.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Exercise 1.1 - 10/25/13
This exercise is a way for breaking out of the "I can't think of anything" mindset and embrace brainstorming. It is helpful in thinking about anything and everything in order to get ideas down and out of your head, and it does not matter if you know about it or you just want to know about it. This will help you find something that interests you or makes you ask questions about it. These ideas do not have to be censored, nor does it have to make sense to others, as long as you understand it.
For the first step, I will be brainstorming a list of ideas under my choice of four of these specific categories: places, trends, things, technologies, people, controversies, history, jobs, habitats, and hobbies. These ideas will come from what I think I know and what I might want to know about the category.
Step 1:
Places -
Hawaii
Europe
Paris
Italy
Tokyo
Chile
Alaska
Zoo
National Parks
Cruise Ship
Police Station
Fire Station
Australia
New Zealand
Sydney Opera House
Tennessee
Florida
Disneyworld
Disneyland
SeaWorld
Bahamas
Thailand
Dominican Republic
Costa Rica
Africa
Amazon Rainforest
Niagara Falls
Seven Wonders of the World
What country has the prettiest landscape?
What country is the richest?
Which is the poorest?
Trends -
Brands
Clothing
Shoes
Food
Sports/Sport teams
Animals
Family Vacations
What makes something popular?
Why are people obsessed with sports?
Does culture affect trends and popularity?
Music
College
Board Games
iPhones
Celebrities
Wikipedia
Nutrisystem
Energy Drinks
Caffeine
Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/Instagram
Sports Cars
Antique Cars
GMO crops
Organic Food
Health Conscious
Jobs -
Veterinarian
Physical Therapist
Neurosurgeon
Doctor
Musician
Rancher
Zoo Keeper
Scientist
Dentist
Garbage man
Police Officer
Interior Decorator
Coach
Athletic Director
Athlete
Congressman
Nurse
Factory Worker
Electrician
Estimator
Ice Fisher
Truck Driver
Postal Worker
Dog Trainer
Park Ranger
Firefighter
Nanny
Baker
Hobbies -
Sports
Photography
Cooking
Scrapbooking
Movies
Friends
Hiking
Sight-seeing
Bird Watching
Star-gazing
Gardening
Art
Why do people have hobbies?
Do people only have hobbies because they like them?
Are hobbies coping mechanisms?
Travelling
Collecting Items
Reading
Music
What makes people like doing these things?
What is classified as a hobby?
For step 2, I am choosing a topic that interests me the most out of the four lists I have previously brainstormed.
Step 2:
Animals
For step 3, I am generating a list of questions that I want to explore about this topic.
Step 3:
What training do drug dogs go through?
Why are animals becoming endangered so fast?
What factors cause animals to become extinct?
How can animals tell emotions in humans?
Why do people abuse animals?
Do different breeds of animals have specific problems or benefits?
Why are horses my favorite animal?
How do I train a dog?
How can I train a horse?
Can animals understand words?
Do animals have their own languages?
Can different types of animals understand each other?
Why do celebrities keep exotic animals as pets?
Why do people smuggle exotic animals?
How did animals evolve on Galapagos Island?
Are all animals colorblind?
For the first step, I will be brainstorming a list of ideas under my choice of four of these specific categories: places, trends, things, technologies, people, controversies, history, jobs, habitats, and hobbies. These ideas will come from what I think I know and what I might want to know about the category.
Step 1:
Places -
Hawaii
Europe
Paris
Italy
Tokyo
Chile
Alaska
Zoo
National Parks
Cruise Ship
Police Station
Fire Station
Australia
New Zealand
Sydney Opera House
Tennessee
Florida
Disneyworld
Disneyland
SeaWorld
Bahamas
Thailand
Dominican Republic
Costa Rica
Africa
Amazon Rainforest
Niagara Falls
Seven Wonders of the World
What country has the prettiest landscape?
What country is the richest?
Which is the poorest?
Trends -
Brands
Clothing
Shoes
Food
Sports/Sport teams
Animals
Family Vacations
What makes something popular?
Why are people obsessed with sports?
Does culture affect trends and popularity?
Music
College
Board Games
iPhones
Celebrities
Wikipedia
Nutrisystem
Energy Drinks
Caffeine
Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/Instagram
Sports Cars
Antique Cars
GMO crops
Organic Food
Health Conscious
Jobs -
Veterinarian
Physical Therapist
Neurosurgeon
Doctor
Musician
Rancher
Zoo Keeper
Scientist
Dentist
Garbage man
Police Officer
Interior Decorator
Coach
Athletic Director
Athlete
Congressman
Nurse
Factory Worker
Electrician
Estimator
Ice Fisher
Truck Driver
Postal Worker
Dog Trainer
Park Ranger
Firefighter
Nanny
Baker
Hobbies -
Sports
Photography
Cooking
Scrapbooking
Movies
Friends
Hiking
Sight-seeing
Bird Watching
Star-gazing
Gardening
Art
Why do people have hobbies?
Do people only have hobbies because they like them?
Are hobbies coping mechanisms?
Travelling
Collecting Items
Reading
Music
What makes people like doing these things?
What is classified as a hobby?
For step 2, I am choosing a topic that interests me the most out of the four lists I have previously brainstormed.
Step 2:
Animals
For step 3, I am generating a list of questions that I want to explore about this topic.
Step 3:
What training do drug dogs go through?
Why are animals becoming endangered so fast?
What factors cause animals to become extinct?
How can animals tell emotions in humans?
Why do people abuse animals?
Do different breeds of animals have specific problems or benefits?
Why are horses my favorite animal?
How do I train a dog?
How can I train a horse?
Can animals understand words?
Do animals have their own languages?
Can different types of animals understand each other?
Why do celebrities keep exotic animals as pets?
Why do people smuggle exotic animals?
How did animals evolve on Galapagos Island?
Are all animals colorblind?
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Exercise #1 10/23/13
This first exercise stated in Curious Researcher is a fastwrite, meaning you write down whatever comes to mind in three minutes without stopping. This exercise helps the writer to think through writing rather than before, which lets the words on the page lead you to what you want to say.
For the first step, I will be doing a fastwrite on a statement that has to do with the research paper assignment. I will be asking myself questions while I write and trying to answer them. The questions will include: Why do I think it is true or false? Where did I get these ideas? Is there a logic behind my beliefs? What might that be? This is a statement that I believe is false: You can't use the pronoun "I".
Step 1: I feel like you should definitely be able to use the pronoun "I" in your writing because it helps the readers understand your viewpoint in an academic argument. However, because of always being taught not to use, I have never actually used it in papers for high school because one, they are not academic writings, and two, because I was not supposed to put in personal experience. All of the papers I had to write in high school were open-ended topic wise, but I was given a strict set of rules to follow and that hindered my ability to add in any form of creativity, and I think that's why I never actually liked writing. I wish I was given more freedom in my writings so I could actually use "I" and put in my own personal experience because some of my papers would have flowed better and understood easier with the addition of my personal experiences and opinions.
For the second step, I will be doing another fastwrite, but this one is more focused on how I see facts, information, and knowledge and how they are created. I will first start by writing whether I agree or disagree and then explore why. I will be looking for concrete connections between what I think and what I have seen or experienced.
Step 2: I completely agree that people are entitled to their own opinions and no one opinion is better than another. I have always had personal opinions about topics that have been argued about with others because they do not see things the way I see them. they have a completely different opinion on the topic and there are times where I do not see where they are coming from either. Each person has his or her own beliefs and they have them because of their personal worldviews and their own experiences that they have gone through to gain these opinions. Every story is different and sometimes it is hard to see things from other people's perspectives. However, I feel that it is necessary to try and put yourself in the other person's shoes because then you can expand your own worldview by seeing what it is that they see.
For the first step, I will be doing a fastwrite on a statement that has to do with the research paper assignment. I will be asking myself questions while I write and trying to answer them. The questions will include: Why do I think it is true or false? Where did I get these ideas? Is there a logic behind my beliefs? What might that be? This is a statement that I believe is false: You can't use the pronoun "I".
Step 1: I feel like you should definitely be able to use the pronoun "I" in your writing because it helps the readers understand your viewpoint in an academic argument. However, because of always being taught not to use, I have never actually used it in papers for high school because one, they are not academic writings, and two, because I was not supposed to put in personal experience. All of the papers I had to write in high school were open-ended topic wise, but I was given a strict set of rules to follow and that hindered my ability to add in any form of creativity, and I think that's why I never actually liked writing. I wish I was given more freedom in my writings so I could actually use "I" and put in my own personal experience because some of my papers would have flowed better and understood easier with the addition of my personal experiences and opinions.
For the second step, I will be doing another fastwrite, but this one is more focused on how I see facts, information, and knowledge and how they are created. I will first start by writing whether I agree or disagree and then explore why. I will be looking for concrete connections between what I think and what I have seen or experienced.
Step 2: I completely agree that people are entitled to their own opinions and no one opinion is better than another. I have always had personal opinions about topics that have been argued about with others because they do not see things the way I see them. they have a completely different opinion on the topic and there are times where I do not see where they are coming from either. Each person has his or her own beliefs and they have them because of their personal worldviews and their own experiences that they have gone through to gain these opinions. Every story is different and sometimes it is hard to see things from other people's perspectives. However, I feel that it is necessary to try and put yourself in the other person's shoes because then you can expand your own worldview by seeing what it is that they see.
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