Shanks

I really enjoyed reading Shanks work. This is unlike any other blog I have read in the past in that focuses on research, and blogs about relevant social issues that people care about, rather than most blogs, which simply highlight the events of a persons life.

I think he does a good job of using academic inquiry to attempt to solve his own research driven inquires and I am impressed at the sheer amount of articles on his site.

I hope to format my revised essay in a way that is more research based and focusing more on my sources than my original rough draft. I think I am on the right track.

I had fun on spring break, went to my old college, Winona State to visit some friends and some good looking females, refreshing break from Milwaukee.

I just got done reading the sample essay we were suppose to, and felt that I got a better idea of how to write this research paper. I'm not real sure what words you would use for what framed this persons research paper, but thought it was a good paper. I could also tell by this person being able to relate to their topic, it made the paper better and have a real sense of knowledge about it.

Anyone in the same boat as I am?

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For example, I gave the example earlier of the student who has the following research question: Why has extremist religion become such a problem?

And she has stated that she plans to use the ideas of philosopher Immanuel Kant, from one of his famous essays on religion, in order to analyze “extremist” Christianity or Islam. That is how she plans to generate answers to her research question.

This will lead her, when she is ready, to her statement of controlling purpose which will appear in the introduction of her Research Essay:

“In this essay I will analyze the rise of extremist Islam in the modern world using the Kant’s ideas about religion in order to understand what social, economic, and cultural factors fuel religious extremism.”

" Here is me quoting the instructor from an email, I believe everyone should have received.

It is apparent that her topic is extremist religion.

Here's where my part comes in....

I am writing on video game addiction, specifically MMORPGs, games like World of Warcraft for those of you who have no idea what MMORPG means.

I am not going to spend time talking about this, I know a lot of you really don't give two craps about what I have to say about my topic.

Anyways, I am still on the phase of just having my topic, video game addiction. In what I quoted above, this writer is using the "philosopher Immanuel Kant" to explain her topic.

Pretty much what I am getting at is that I just have my topic, I do not have my Immanuel Kant yet. Yes I have sources, but none of them can be used in a bigger picture like Kant is.

Damn, that sounded a lot better in my head, hope it makes sense to some of you.

Does anyone have their controlling purpose yet? Is it a good idea to get a source with a sociological or psychological background to assist us in inquiry? ...Inquiry, like all of us know exactly what that means now.

Anyone around the same level of progress as I am?

Sources

As I am evaluating the sources I have so far I seem to be finding more useful information in news articles and other journals and articles most relavant to my topic. I haven't searched many book sources yet although I plan to spend a few hours in the library later this week finding sources in books and other library materials.

Are the rest of you having more luck using sources you found online like articles, journals, newspaper, magazine, etc or books?

I am also wondering if we are required to have sources from multiple different types of sources such as some sources from books, some found online, some from articles and journals, etc. or if we should just focus on using the most relevant and up to date sources that focus on our topics.

I seem to be having more luck using sources with shorter information that is up to date and to the point such as recent articles, news, and opinion essays but I am open to exploring other sources as well.

My Topic and A Question About Contolling Purpose

I've decided to do my topic on prisons in the United States, specifically incarceration rate. My research question is: Why Does the United States Lead the World In Highest Incarceration Rate?

I plan to tie in research from various sources and use academic inquiry to further my understanding of this topic and try to answer my own question about why our country leads the world in highest incarceration rate. I feel this is an interesting topic and relevant to all of our lives because we all live in a country that is becoming a prison nation and has more of its citizens locked up than any other country in the world.

My question is on how to decide what my controlling purpose should be. In many of the examples we have read in class the authors are responding to other peoples works in order to "do" something with their writing and further their own understanding of a certain topic. For example, Rickert primarily responds to the ideas and works of Deleuze and Zizek to formulate his ideas and thoughts and accomplish his controlling purpose of his writing. Rickert also uses a few other sources to further examine the writing classroom in a post-oedipal world. Goleman responds primarily to Rickerts work, however she uses other sources to further elaborate on her thoughts and research. My question is, how do we go about determining what our controlling purpose should be? As I stated my research question is, why does the U.S lead the world in highest incarceration rate. Would it be best to pick one source or idea or concept and then use that to research and examine the research question in order to forumlate my controlling purpose? Is it better to use a variety of sources to come to one central idea or theme?

I am having a hard time understanding how to go about formulating my controlling purpose and tying it to my research question, I don't really know where to start. Any ideas or help would be appreciated.

Thanks, have a good night

-Gray Steinhaus

Confused

So is this just for everyone to read everyone elses thoughts? or is there something particular i should be writing about?