Last Post for the Term =D

This term has really been an interesting one for me. I learned how to write a scientific research paper and I learned how to write without including my personal opinion and influence. I still need to work on citing my references, as I seem to always forget how to write them. I wish that I had been able to attend all the seminars instead of doing the Option 2 because live seminars have always helped me learn and understand so much. Our professor has been great and she's so nice and helpful! I really appreciate her and the patience she has shown me during my difficult times. My fellow classmates are unbelievably helpful and I have learned a lot from them. I hope to see them again some time and wish everyone the best with their classes! =)

Whew! Final Draft

I am somewhat relieved that this paper is about finished. Time constraints have been brutal for me this term and my work has unfortunately suffered from it. I can honestly say that despite the roadblocks along the way, I am quite proud to have stayed focused enough to write my paper. Although I have not submitted it, it is finished. I learned a lot this term, especially about abstracts-we weren't taught abstracts in my Comp I class, so that was new to me. Feedback from my fellow classmates proved to be helpful in the revision of my paper and I am thankful for that. Sometimes its hard to know what we've written is good or not so good, so a fresh set of eyes always helps. I look forward to reading my classmates' papers and hope they enjoy mine as much as I'm sure I'll enjoy theirs.

Blogging is F U N!

I have to say that throughout this term I have really enjoyed blogging! It has been a sort of therapy for me to be able to mention a few of my vulnerabilities and receive positive reinforcement from my classmates. Sometimes I view blogging as a way to clear my mind of distractions, especially when I'm working on a paper or discussion and need room in my brain to think. The same thing happens when I sleep. If a really good story or idea pops into my head, I cannot sleep until I get up and write down the story or idea. I hope that I am able to keep up with a weekly blog after this class is over!

Peer Review

Peer review has always made me kindof nervous. If I'm reading someone else's paper I think: " I hope I can critique this paper without seeming like a hateful prude." I think everyone does well in the aspect of putting in the time to research and put into their own words a written work that can be shared with others. On the other hand, if I'm the person with mistakes, or a missing thesis statement, or citing errors, I would hope someone would respectively point out and say "Hey buddy, your paper is doing okay but you forgot to add your thesis statement. Maybe you can write something like this...." and there you go. I really like to get nice comments about my work, but if I've really made some noticeable errors, I would hope someone would point them out so I don't make the same mistake on my final paper. And the same goes for me reviewing other papers as well. It can be somewhat nerve wracking to let others read your paper and get their opinions, but we must all remember that we're all here to help each other do the best we can. =)

The Past 6 weeks.....

The past 6 weeks have been a trivial and frustrating time. I've been so behind on school because of mistakes made that's caused me to start late, people have quit at my job and we've become extremely short-handed so I'm having to work later hours, my mother-in-law has been in and out of the hospital dealing with breast cancer and the chemo which has caused her to become vulnerable to illness, and I'm just having a hard time trying to fit everyone into my schedule. I haven't gotten to really see my husband in about a month and gas is just too high for me to drive all over the countryside to do anything fun... Yeah, my life the past 6 weeks has been stressful and tiresome. Oh yeah, and my grandpa fell and broke his hip 2 weeks ago as well... I'm like one of those people that when bad luck strikes, it strikes HARD. But despite the chaos, I have continued to stay positive and upbeat and although school work has unfortunately been crammed into a couple days, I'm still working as hard as I can to get through. I learned today that we have a new hire at work who starts tomorrow(Sunday) and my husband just got a 2 dollar raise at his work, so maybe these are signs of good things to come. I suppose I'm just having one of those days where I want to disappear for a while so I can have the time to regroup and refresh.

Writing Ideas

I have been thinking about what to write for my blog this week. I find that because I have such a chaotic life right now, I could talk about so much! I was looking at the Prewriting techniques and pondered if anyone uses any other type of prewriting ideas besides freewriting and brainstorming? Those 2 seem to be the most popular types of prewriting techniques. Sometimes when I generate ideas about a short story, the first thing I do is name the characters and list out their traits, personal, physical, and emotional. From there I will start to list story plots and scenarios and create a little universe for my characters to dwell in. I call this the "snowball" effect. I start out with something small and end up with a whole story by the time I'm finished. In other words, my small idea snowballs into a massive story complete protagonist, antagonist, climax, story plot, beginning and ending. It may not be written, per se, but I have all these ideas jotted down and directed out thus having my paper, albeit not in any certain order, ready to typed up.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism, in essence, is stealing or taking credit for work that isn't yours. Someone has taken the time to put in their research and hard work to present information or ideas and when their work is used in someone else's report without permission, they aren't given the recognition for their hard work. People may think copying a report from someone for a good grade is just fine if no one finds out, but do they really stop to think about how that person feels doing all the hard work only to see someone else copy and get a good grade? I don't know about anyone else, but I work hard on keeping my grades good, and I would not be happy if someone took my ideas and used them as their own in order to make a good grade. No matter the circumstance, lack of knowledge of proper citation isn't an excuse to not cite your references. There are databases, websites, and books all readily available to help you cite and how to cite properly.

Being an Online Student

This is my second "year" at Kaplan. Being an online student has been wonderful so far. I was a bit apprehensive of online classes at first, but due to some really great professors, I have really done well for myself. I am a very independent person when it comes to homework and research, so this was right up my alley. I have had a few bumps in the road along the way, but that hasn't stopped my drive to do well in school. So far I've had straight A's and been in the honor's program, but I feel so behind this term because of a mistake my academic advisor made, I don't know if straight A's will be possible. Regardless of the outcome, I will do the best I can. The hardest part thus far has been finding time to do homework and working around my job schedule. Since my hours are never the same, it can be a bit trifling to manage my time. I really like how the students come together and help eachother out. We may not physically get to see eachother but its nice to know that if I have a question or need some help, I can rely on my fellow students for support.

I suppose we're to keep up with writing a blog. I'll start out by saying I've been blocked from my classes for a week, and I didn't find out until TODAY that I had 2 classes scheduled which was the reason for the block. Now that things are finally fixed, I can say that I am glad to be back in school and hope to get to know my classmates and am looking forward to having a good time in class. I really look forward to this class and hope to retain what I learn so that I am able to apply that knowledge to future uses.