Assignment from nickkynickky
This is a three part assignment.
Part 1: (1.25 pages)
1. Name three strategies that you use to motivate yourself to overcome difficulties when learning and researching.
2. In your opinion, what is the most important step to take when reading research articles? According to the material you’ve watched and read, what is the most important step to take when reading research articles?
3. What obstacles make finding “meaning” difficult when reading a research article? What suggestions from the video and the template will help one to overcome these obstacles to meaning?
4. What research topic do you think that you will focus upon for this semester’s work? Why?
5. After watching the first two library tutorials, please find two articles on your chosen research topic that review and give the findings of a research study. In responding to this discussion topic, give the author(s), the title of the article, and a brief one- or two-sentence description of the research study and its findings.
Part 2: (2 or 3 sentences response to below discussion post)
- Some strategies that I use to motivate myself when learning and researching include taking frequent breaks, skimming articles for keywords and substance before a more in-depth read, and summarizing paragraphs in my own words to better understand the flow and details of the group of paragraphs in case I need to return to them.
- The most important step to me is skimming the article. The main reason why I believe this is because in researching you have to evaluate and reference a large pool and variety of articles that will support your cause. The ability to skim the article effectively allows me to find key points and specific information to save time so I can view more sources.
- While its not very rampant in research articles, finding meaning can be very difficult when you try to evaluate a source and its credibility when it begins to show a clear bias in its information and/or writing. I believe that the most important suggestion from the article that helps to overcome this is finding important figures and/or tables and the credibility and credentials of its cited references that it utilizes for its research.
- At the moment, I’m looking into researching something that has to do with Cyber security. The main reason for this is because it is my major and I believe that I can begin to better understand the background and its impact in today’s world by researching it. I’m still not 100 percent sure what area of Cyber Security I want to focus on yet.
- Research Discussion:
Research Study 1:
Author: Pedersen, Christian
Title: Much Ado about Cyber-Space: Cyber-terrorism and the Reformation of the Cyber Security
Summary: Pedersen explains that cyber security has become a big factor in defending the critical infrastructures that govern how we live today and our very way of life. He explains how a single successful cyber-terrorism attack can lead to catastrophic effects based on how and what is being attacked, for example, Businesses, Government facilities, and public utility providers such as electric power plants.
Research Study 2:
Author: N/A
Publisher: CFE Media LLC
Title: Administration asks for more for cyber security.
Summary: The article quickly explains that the Obama Administration is requesting a large increase in its budget for cyber security resources. The article states that the administration wants to enhance cyber security awareness in various areas including public safety and is collaborating with the cyber security industry to implement and develop a cyber-security assurance program to test and certify devices connected to networks (private/local?).
Part 3: (2 or 3 sentences response to below discussion post)
1.Everyone learns differently, meaning that everyone uses different techniques to overcome their challenges. Some of the strategies that I use to overcome these challenges are:
1. Setting a goal. When you set a goal for each day during a research project, you know what to expect of yourself. This means that if you do the same amount of work, you can get the research done in a timely manner without having to worry. Procrastination is not a friend of mine!
2. Planning. When you are starting a project you know that you need to plan when certain parts of the project need to be done. Such as figuring out what your going to do your paper on, then finding the articles on the subject, annotating, putting the outline together, writing the drafts, revising, submitting your drafts and adding in your citations. By knowing that all this needs to be done and planning you will relieve yourself of unneeded stress.
3. Practice. Nothing like practice makes perfect in order to make sure you know the material. Using any free time to study, get a note card in, annotate an article will help you in the long run.
2. In my opinion, I believe that the most important step is to annotate and make sure you understand what the research article is talking about. By annotating this will give you little reminders later on in your research
According to the video, the most important part of reading the research is to skim the articles in order to find key findings. the order that the video thinks you should read is by starting with the abstract, discussion, intro, results and finishing off with the methods. I do think that this is also an effective way to read.
3. In my experience I think it is hard to find the meaning of the research article because it is stated in the conclusion often, and this means you must read the conclusion then back track to find the proof that describes the meaning. This will also get your brain to think deeper into the article which some people may have a problem doing. As stated in the video, the language can be hard to understand but you can get over these obstacles by reading the methods section carefully in order to validate what they are saying.
4. A research topic that I would like to focus on is the recidivism rate in the United States and if it is rising or decreasing. I am interested in this because I would one day like to work with the state and be a probation officer. If there is anything in scholarly journals that I could learn now, this could positively affect my career in the future.
5.Author: Shakoor Ward
Title: Career and Technical Education in United States Prisons: What Have We Learned?
Research Findings: The proof behind recidivism is that we are rehabilitating people through job trades and education while they are in prison.
Author: Dana Britton and Andrea Button
Title:Prison Pups: Assessing the Effects of Dog Training Programs in Correctional Facilities.
Research findings: some of the findings are that prisoners who are given the responsibility of taking care of an animal such as a dog are less likely to reoffend. Programs like the prison pups are good to help reduce recidivism.
