This week provided some new and old information for me. I was extremely happy to get a refresher course on MLA citations. I have taken classes on how to use citations but it’s been at least 8 years since I took that class. It was a bit of a challenge especially citing an encyclopedia reference. I had to refresh my memory on this and was glad I have a book on citing MLA format or APA format.
Annotation analysis was a bit more of a challenge as I have never done anything like this before. It’s hard to construct your thoughts on a book to a few sentences that would provide enough information to deem it worthy of reading. The book I chose is a headline series from the Foreign Policy Association, which is a non-profit organization founded in 1918 to provide information about the world to the American public. The books are independent publications so the author information took a bit of researching. I was able to find a commentary written for the Daily Star on the author at www.zoominfo.com.
I find annotations very important and actually was recently doing a research project in which all books, or articles used must be scholarly. I was unable to find any books in the library at school so I had to buy some of the books used on my research and it was very important to read the annotations to determine that the books would be considered scholarly and not for entertainment.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Week 4 reflections
This week to complete the “How you know” part 1, I did a Google search, and found a lot of interesting information on Canuck. But since I figured everyone would get the same information I decided to search a few different places. I went to dictionary.com and found the most useful information there. I also tried going to the Oxford English Dictionary and didn’t have much luck since I needed a membership. I then went to the Big Bend Community College website and search the resources database and was able to use the Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary and got the same information as dictionary.com.
Reflections on what you know or what you think you know was hard. I came to some interesting realizations that not all information is facts, even if you trust the source. Trust does not equal accurate. I also came to the realization that most information is never really first hand and we base a lot on what our parents, bosses or teachers have taught us.
I had the hardest time with Library of Congress Classifications. When I went to the library and viewed the books I wrote down all the subject headings but didn’t realize I should have written down the call numbers. Opps, Live and learn.
Reflections on what you know or what you think you know was hard. I came to some interesting realizations that not all information is facts, even if you trust the source. Trust does not equal accurate. I also came to the realization that most information is never really first hand and we base a lot on what our parents, bosses or teachers have taught us.
I had the hardest time with Library of Congress Classifications. When I went to the library and viewed the books I wrote down all the subject headings but didn’t realize I should have written down the call numbers. Opps, Live and learn.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Week 3-Reflections
I have to admit this was a tough week from me. I really had some trouble with the academic library visit. I have really been upset all summer that my only academic library is closed on weekends and only open M-F, 8-4. I work a full time job, and it’s really hard, especially in the summer, for me to take any time off. This is where my frustration comes from because I feel like I can’t be honest with my boss. But anyways I called in sick one day and spent it at my library. It was really useful and I actually enjoyed myself.
The database assignment at first was overwhelming. It can be so confusing if you don’t know what you’re looking for. But once I got the hang of it, it was very useful. “Web design” who knew there could be so much information out there about it. I got like 10,000 hits the first time, when using the advanced search and changing it to search titles that really helped and narrowed down the hits to 55.
The library catalogs assignment was my favorite. I learned how to get exactly what books I needed and the ones that best fit my topic. I started with United States and Foreign aid and the subject fields lead me to foreign aid policies and economic assistance, which really gave me a lot of useful books. Then I went and looked for the books at the library and it really took me no more than 5 minutes to find all of them. I used this same technique for one of my other classes. I found all the books I needed and was able to run into my library as soon as it opened, had my books w/in 10 minutes and ended up being just about 40 minutes late to work, which isn’t bad considering I have a half hour commute.
I also really enjoyed the organizing information assignment, as I am very controlling about things, I love to organize. And I really do have a lot of books. I have them in boxes and piles and piles of them on one bookshelf, I can barely see the titles. So when thinking about something I would organize I thought of my books and now I really want to do it.
The database assignment at first was overwhelming. It can be so confusing if you don’t know what you’re looking for. But once I got the hang of it, it was very useful. “Web design” who knew there could be so much information out there about it. I got like 10,000 hits the first time, when using the advanced search and changing it to search titles that really helped and narrowed down the hits to 55.
The library catalogs assignment was my favorite. I learned how to get exactly what books I needed and the ones that best fit my topic. I started with United States and Foreign aid and the subject fields lead me to foreign aid policies and economic assistance, which really gave me a lot of useful books. Then I went and looked for the books at the library and it really took me no more than 5 minutes to find all of them. I used this same technique for one of my other classes. I found all the books I needed and was able to run into my library as soon as it opened, had my books w/in 10 minutes and ended up being just about 40 minutes late to work, which isn’t bad considering I have a half hour commute.
I also really enjoyed the organizing information assignment, as I am very controlling about things, I love to organize. And I really do have a lot of books. I have them in boxes and piles and piles of them on one bookshelf, I can barely see the titles. So when thinking about something I would organize I thought of my books and now I really want to do it.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Week 2 reflections
Well this week was a little harder for me. I was able to read and understand the issues regarding our freedom to read. But when it came time to do the global topics I had a much harder time. I am not sure why I couldn't come up with any global topics.
I research online at www.globalissues.org and found some really good ideas there. But I still had a hard time because I felt those topics were to general and overly talked about. So then I took a different approach, I decided to think about the things I am passionate about but don't really know too much on. So that is how I came up with Foreign aid and immigration. And then I was stumped again, so finally I decided to ask my boyfriend if he was asked to discuss one global topic what would he want to research and he gave me the idea of nature and animal conservation.
I also ran into some problems when doing research on my local academic library because I found that I needed a password to access a lot of the sites and the library and college are not open on weekends or after 4:00pm on the weekdays, which poses a problem for me as I work full time from 8-5. But I was happy that I found a contact email and was able to ask whether I can set up this account online or by phone. I have not received a response back though. I was a little stressed out when I found out that the library was closed on my one day off July 4, I guess it never occurred to me that it would be closed since I take online classes and I actually had my first test today, July 4, in another one of my classes. Although I was unable to complete the assignment to my satisfactory I felt I had given it a good effort and will try to get to the library by the end of the week, even if I have to call in sick. My boss is very unreasonable when it comes to time off.
I research online at www.globalissues.org and found some really good ideas there. But I still had a hard time because I felt those topics were to general and overly talked about. So then I took a different approach, I decided to think about the things I am passionate about but don't really know too much on. So that is how I came up with Foreign aid and immigration. And then I was stumped again, so finally I decided to ask my boyfriend if he was asked to discuss one global topic what would he want to research and he gave me the idea of nature and animal conservation.
I also ran into some problems when doing research on my local academic library because I found that I needed a password to access a lot of the sites and the library and college are not open on weekends or after 4:00pm on the weekdays, which poses a problem for me as I work full time from 8-5. But I was happy that I found a contact email and was able to ask whether I can set up this account online or by phone. I have not received a response back though. I was a little stressed out when I found out that the library was closed on my one day off July 4, I guess it never occurred to me that it would be closed since I take online classes and I actually had my first test today, July 4, in another one of my classes. Although I was unable to complete the assignment to my satisfactory I felt I had given it a good effort and will try to get to the library by the end of the week, even if I have to call in sick. My boss is very unreasonable when it comes to time off.
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