In class assignment 10/29

How I found the Medical article:

• went to library homepage
• clicked on Galileo and Databases
• clicked on search 
• copied and pasted the title of the article in the search bar
• it was the first link 
• clicked on the email tab and emailed it

Blog 10/24

The topics we have covered in this class have been additional information on things that I have learned in another class. In college, the professors, especially the English professors, have pushed plagiarism into the students mind in order for them not to plagiarize. It is important because there are serious consequences for plagiarism in college and I believe the professors try to avoid those in order to help the students. With library research, these topics are all related as far as looking up information the correct way. With the knowledge learned in this class, applying it to other classes will be simple. The information learned is basic knowledge for all types of research that should be applied. The information is not hard but it is a lot of information to know and keep in mind when doing research. If a person does not follow the guidelines of the basic information, it depends on the severity of it and what can be done to handle the situation. Because we are in college now, we are considered adults and our consequences for bad actions are more severe than what it would be if we were still in high school. These are basic skills people should know and apply to all types of research. I have a clear understanding and I have no questions.  

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Plagiarism vs Copyright

Plagiarism to me is when someone takes another person’s work(s) and uses it for their own benefit without giving the original owner credit. Even if a person rewords someone else’s work and does not give credit to the original author, it is still a form of plagiarism. Some people reword the works and cite the owner but only changes a few words are still considered plagiarism. If a person truly rewords someone else’s work and puts the information in their own words and give the owner credit is not plagiarism. The difference between plagiarism and copyright violation is basically the law is involved. Plagiarism is just a form of being dishonest. A copyright violation is a violation of law and can be an end result of being sued and fined. It is very hard to tell the difference and I thought in order for something to be copyrighted a person has to trademark whatever it is, which is not the case anymore. An example of plagiarism that is not a copyright violation is when a person is writing a paper and uses someone else’s work as their own without giving credit. An example of a copyright violation that is not plagiarism is the case of the Ohio Marching band where the song they did was well known and assumed everyone knew it and made it their own is copyrighted. Because they didn’t buy the rights to do the song is a violation and they could be sued.

Jumping into a Conversation

If I wanted to join a conversation to show that I know the topic at which the people are talking about, I would gently say “Excuse me, but I overheard you talking about (the subject the people are talking about). I (and whatever it is that I know about the topic).” When I actually do jump into a conversation, I turn to the person or people and smile and just ease my way into the conversation. If I know what I’m talking about, then the information will just flow out easily and the people would understand what I am talking about and they really wouldn’t mind that I eased my way into the conversation. You really can’t just “jump” into a conversation that you were not in originally. If a person just “jumped” into a conversation I was having with another person or people, I would be kind of annoyed because they were not in the conversation in the first place. That is why I say you have to ease into a conversation not jump in. I know some people may know what they are talking about, but the information does not flow easily, but if the information seems correct and makes sense then, I wouldn’t mind because that’s more information than I knew and they didn’t just “jump” in the conversation; they eased in the conversation.

Filter Bubbles With Different Databases

I think that filter bubbles can be in the different databases. I do think that no one really takes the time to delete website searches, cookies, passwords, and other things that were said on the webpage about how to get rid of the filter bubbles. When students or just people in general use the databases in the library, they do not think to delete what they search for. I am not sure if the librarians or other people that work in the library take the time out to delete the history and the other stuff, but they all build up and I think Google or any of the other search engines do the filters and I think the search engines limit future searches even more. I personally have not noticed any searches, but I think if I, or someone else, were to bring their personal laptop to the library and search the same topic on their laptop and the computer in the library, I do believe that there would be different searches. I still think that it is crazy how the simple research Pariser did with his friends is a great example of the filter bubbles and I think if someone did the same simple research with different library databases and home computers or laptops will yield the same results as Pariser, different results for the same topic. 

Reflection of My Research Topic

I still think that my research question needs to be more defined or updated where I can more information as well as correct and effective information , now that I think about it. I have a general topic that is not too broad and not specific, but I think that it is not fully helping me get a better understanding of my topic. I believe my topic is a good topic; the big issue is that I can go so many ways with it and I need to be even more specific than I am now. Because my major is biology, I am looking at the biological aspect of viruses in the United States and since there are so many viruses, I do not want to just limit my search to one or two, but get a general concept that is not too general. I still have a lot of work to do as far as making my research question the best research question for this project and doing more research as well to help answer my research question.  So in the end, I need to define my research question more in order to better my research for my topic. 

Applying Skills to Other Classes

I have already had a basic knowledge of some of the information we learned in class. This class is just enhancing the knowledge I already knew for researching. I have learned more about how to search for sources that are more useful and creditable. With this knowledge, I will be able to redefine my search for other classes I may have to do research for. This will help me get better information on the topic at hand. It also helps me understand and know what sources are good sources to use and has a good amount of information that will help with my topic. I used Galileo once in high school and now, I know more about it and how to use it. So if I come across a subject in another class, I know that Galileo can be a good source for that topic. I already knew how to cite my sources because high school and college has drilled plagiarism into my head and that I need to cite my sources so that I will not get in trouble for it. I have been taught to cite the sources and especially cite them correctly. So as far as today, I already knew a lot of stuff, this class just helped better my understanding.

High School Library vs. College Library

I never used my high school library unless I really had to. Even when I had to use my high school library, it was not for getting books so I cannot compare my high school library to my college library. The one thing about my high school library is that the library did not have a big selection to choose from. Before my high school was remodeled, there were huge gaps on the shelves where books should be. When my school was remodeled there were more books, but there still was not a big variety. I even asked some of my friends that were in the library and they said they really could not find what they are looking for. With college, I have not had to look for books until this class and the process is quick and easy. The only thing is that when I actually look for a book it can get kind of confusing because of the letters and numbers. When I was looking for a specific book for the research project, the book I was looking for was not completely in the right spot, but that could have been from a student. How the books were organized and arranged was confusing as well. The way to get books are simple and easy but when you actually have to find it was a little confusing.

Redefining My Research Question

I will redefine my research question by first looking at different aspects of the general topic. Once I narrow them down I will choose which one has the best and more information on the specific topic. I am not sure of exactly what I want to do it on, I will need to do more research in order to be more clear and to choose which specific topic I want to research on. After that, I will make my question more specific, but not too specific.

Major Health Viruses

Our topic is based on the major health viruses of today. One main example of a major health virus is the West Nile Virus. This outbreak is the biggest outbreak in the US and there are many concerns people need to know and how to protect themselves. Because my major is Biology this interests me in a sense that many people are dying because so many people do not have any symptoms or are getting sick. Looking more in dept into the biological aspects and more importantly how it affects people, children in particular, is the approach I am going to take in researching our topic.