November 13, 2008
Paragraph rewrite
A) There are still a few facts that I need to add to my paper, but I really don’t need to use Ref Desk at this point. I have many sources that have more than enough information for my paper. The sight did look nice though. I like how it has all the major search engines in one spot off to the left. That would be useful. I bookmarked the page so I can use it later.
B) If the middle class is so beneficial to our society, then it’s a wonder why the richest portion of America doesn’t try to preserve it. If they want to keep false conciseness on all the lower classes to prevent protest and revolution, they must sustain the content middle class. Lower classes are greatly affected by social crisis. The middle class gives the lower classes a reasonably attainable goal to look forward to which keeps them from rebelling. Starting from lower class and working your way up to the middle class is a seemingly realistic goal. If the middle class were to disappear, it would be the rich against the poor setting the stage for revolution.
- If the middle class is so beneficial to our society, then it’s a wonder why the richest portion of America doesn’t try to preserve it. If false conciseness is to be kept on all the lower classes to prevent protest and revolution, they must maintain the content middle class. Unlike the middle and upper classes the Lower classes are greatly affected by social crisis. With the middle class being within reach, the lower class has a reasonably achievable goal to look forward to. If the middle class were to disappear, it would be the rich against the poor setting the stage for revolution.
Thesis Reflect
Derik Taylor
The main purpose of my essay on social stratification is to explain different views on the topic and argue which one is right.
There many different views on social stratification in this country. Is social stratification functional or is it a main source of conflict in society? Those are the questions that will be explored in this essay.
I’m pretty sure that most people would agree that (in terms of functionality to society) a doctor should be paid more than a janitor. But they most likely would not agree that an actor should be paid more than a teacher. Why do some aspects of social stratification seem functional and others seem unfair and conflictive?
October 17, 2008
Research Presentation
The first three potential topics I chose were cloning, genetic engineering, and social stratification. I finally ended up choosing social stratification because it is the subject that is most relevant to me. Social stratification affects every person in every class in the world. I really didn’t have any expectations when I begun my research. I’m trying to keep an unbiased opinion while in research mode even though everyone knows that rich people suck, and poor people rock.
Something that I found that surprised me was people arguing that the middle class might not be feeling a squeeze. They suggest that the middle class is being catered to just fine. I have a lot more research to do still, but I’m not sure ill agree with that statement when I’m done. Most of my current research is very technical. It’s been a little difficult to find popular opinion on the subject, but I think I have found a few ways to get a hold of some.
I think most people don’t realize that there are many people on the low end of the rich who make over 100K who think they are in the middle class and are upset when they don’t qualify for financial aid. I’m pretty sure that if I were making over 100K a year I wouldn’t complain about much. But that’s just me.
October 9, 2008
Three Sides of the Exploratory Essay
The Exploratory Essay must consist of three angles or points of views. My subject, Social Stratification, has a few different viewpoints. The first are Sociologists who view Social Stratification as a working institution which is functional or even necessity for society to operate effectively. The second are those who view Social Stratification as a source of conflict and inequality where much of the population gets the bad end of the stick and at the hands of a very small percentage of wealthy individuals at the top end of the upper class. And the third are those who believe that Social Stratification is a combination of the two. They view Social Stratification as both a functional institute of society and as a major source of conflict in a society.
My original topic was going to be on Social Stratification in the United States, but after this assignment I think I’m going to write on these three perspectives. I’m not sure yet, but writing about those three perspectives seem a little more interesting than just writing about why and how Social Stratification exists in the United States. I think I just might. It will be more of an argumentative paper than analytic paper.
October 3, 2008
The Curious Researcher 38-58
Our textbook, The Curious Researcher, has a lot of great tips and strategies to help us with our research paper. Developing a working knowledge of the topic is a good idea if you want to feel comfortable enough with the topic to write about it in your own words. Badke says that a “working knowledge is the ability to talk about it for one minute without repeating yourself.” If you can do that, you have a pretty good grasp on your topic. It sounds easy, but a minute can be a long time when you don’t know what you’re talking about. He mentions using different sources to help you develop different perspectives on the topic. That would be a great way to continue your working knowledge of the subject. As you look into your subject more and more your view broadens and a different vision of the topic develops. You see the topic from many different angles, and are able to use all that information to come up with a conclusion of your own. Also, the exercises named “Finding the Questions,” and “Finding the Research,” looked like they would be really helpful for the beginning stages of the research paper.
October 2, 2008
Gale-CQ-EBSCO
In my early searches using the Gale Virtual Reference Library, CQ Researcher, and EBSCO, I found that all three are very different from one another. I started out using the Gale Virtual Reference Library. I immediately found five sources with no problems retrieving the whole text. I found very informative articles there, and each article had a different take or view on the topic. They all had source information right on the page so all I had to do is save the page to a folder on my computer and print it out later. The CQ Researcher was good too, but I could only find one article that was useful. At least I was able to get the whole text without having it go to the library and have it loaned to me. EBSCO was a little frustrating. I found a bunch of articles that seemed to potentially be really good sources for my paper, but the whole article was not available. I know I can get the article if I choose to, but it’s a little irritating that I can’t get the information from EBSCO right NOW when I just got a ton of information from the Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Research proposal
Source-www.ils.unc.edu/…/socialstrat/directories.html
I finally chose my topic for the research paper. It was a hard decision, but I finally chose Social Stratification in the U.S. The two other topics I was considering were Genetic Engineering, and cloning. I chose Social stratification In the U.S. because it is the most relevant topic to me. The other topics are very interesting to me, but I won’t be engineering genetics in my life, and I probably will never clone anything. Social Stratification in the U.S. is a subject that is relevant to me, my family, and every other person living in the United States. Along with being relevant to me, I imagine there should be masses of information on the subject. Even the U.S. census could be a good source. The question I would ask about Social Stratification might be; is the gap between the poor, the middle class, and the rich increasing or decreasing in the U.S? I believe that the gap between the poor and the middle class is getting smaller, and the gap between the middle class and the rich is getting bigger. Whatever the case, it will be interesting to find out how and why it is the way it is. Source-www.ils.unc.edu/…/LCSubjectHeadings.html
September 25, 2008
Research-IRIS-Pigeons
Research:
My previous experience with research or research writing has been pretty good over the years with a few bumps in the road along the way. I usually pick a topic that is too broad, and find too many sources and information on the topic which leads to a lot of wasted time on the project. Sometimes I would choose topics that were to narrow and would struggled to stretch the paper to the assigned length. I found out that choosing the right topic for a certain length of paper made the whole project easier.
IRIS:
IRIS was interesting. It presented many sources and ideas for research that I didn’t know about. This is the first time I have heard of web based notebooks. They seem like a good idea for people who have regular access to the internet. Iris also had a good point about writing down your sources as soon as you get them. I forgot to do that last quarter for a research paper, and it only led to frustration and wasted time.
Pigeons:
Ballenger’s essay on pigeons seems to be a good topic for this class. The only worry I have is that his essay was only a little over seven pages long. Our essay needs to be twelve to fifteen pages long, and I don’t know how much more pigeon information can be stretched to fill five or more pages. Maybe the topic is a little narrow.
September 23, 2008
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