Post #5: This week's Writing Exercise

12/28/2021

Overview: For this week's Writing Exercise, I am asking you to consider how different sources provide different kinds of information that is useful for different reasons. You will run a search on your topic in different sources and report back on the differences you see.

For a discussion of how I did the assignment and some discussion about what I'm asking you to do (and why) watch the video on the syllabus before trying to do this assignment.

BEFORE YOU POST:

Determine some key words from your research question. For instance, if I am researching the cost versus benefit of attending college, one thing I might research is "Student Debt". So that could be my search term.
Search for your key terms on wikipedia. You can read about what I learned about student debt on wikipedia (if you want) by clicking on this link here.
Search for your key terms in any search engine. I'm using google here, but you can use whatever you want. Here is a link to an example of what I found doing a google search.
Search for your key terms in a scholarly database. I'm using Jstor through the BSU library. Here is a sample of the article I located using Jstor:

schmeiserstoddardurban.pdf
File Size:	395 kb
File Type:	pdf

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Once you've run your searches and located your sources, skim them. I'm not asking you to read them super carefully. You don't need to do that for this assignment.

WHAT TO POST: In about 250 words, write about what your different sources have in common in terms of the kinds of information they give you about your topic. In what ways does the information seem different across these different sources? Why would you choose wikipedia over JSTOR? Is there a time when that might be the best choice? Are there other times where the google search would not work? Try to be as specific as possible.

6 Comments

ruoqi xu

1/4/2022 07:29:12 am

I searched on Wikipedia about American education. I think I can also write about the different meanings of the American public and private universities for international students.
Then I searched on Google Scholar for the advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad, and I think I can also make use of this aspect. Because international students leave their own country to study, there must be good places and difficulties. I think Google scholar will be easier to use than Wikipedia because Wikipedia searches for a large category of very concrete introductions. Google Scholar can search for more specific parts and can be used directly as a reference.

1/4/2022 07:30:11 am

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_United_States
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/tesq.21

George Ni

1/11/2022 02:07:34 pm

I have used Wikipedia and JSTOR as resources for my research questions. Both resources allow me to access abundance of information related to the topic. However, I have to research for key words in Wikipedia, while I can enter the whole research question into JSTOR. Wikipedia contains lots of articles written by people who use Twitter. Most of them use Twitter as media to express their personal opinions. In contrast, the articles published in JSTOR are mostly written by scholars and experts who did the academic research in the topic. Therefore, I think the articles published on JSTOR are more valuable as the resources for academic study. Moreover, I can only compare the US education system with the Chinese education system by myself after research on Wikipedia. Some articles in JSTOR have already shown that scholars have research on this topic before, so I can directly reference some viewpoints in articles in JSTOR. Nevertheless, Wikipedia is still useful as it provides many articles that show different people’s attitude and thoughts toward the education system in both countries. It can help me to better understand what do most people think about the differences between two countries. Many people who publish their articles on Wikipedia are educator or parents of child studying in either US or China. Their experiences and thoughts are also valuable for me to reference.

Overall, both Wikipedia and JSTOR are important research tools for me to further explore the topic. They have their own advantages. I prefer to use JSTOR more since it provides me abundance of academic articles that are extremely valuable for me to research on the differences between education system in China and the US.

Hanting Lu

1/21/2022 08:38:38 am

My research topic is student loans. I searched google first and it comes out with many advertisements about companies that provide student loans. Many of them are useful if I need student loans because I know where I can start. Then I tried Wikipedia which Wikipedia gives me a general definition of what is student loans and it has about five to six languages to choose which is awesome. Then I go with Jstor and it brings me to some books and professional resources about student loans. What I find out is google is the most useful source to search on. It can lead you to many sources such as Wikipedia and also businesses that related to what you search which could give you an idea of where to go or what to do. If you need an easy and quick definition, Wikipedia is always a great place to search but you have to be aware that Wikipedia is not professional. People can edit what they want on Wikipedia so it is good for a quick understanding but you can’t trust Wikipedia much and you shouldn’t use Wikipedia’s sources on your paper. Jstor is professional research that can bring you to some professional books or articles related to your topic. But it takes a lot of time for you to find what you really want. When you writing a paper and you want some professional sources, Jstor is a great place to go but it is not very useful during the main time.

Erik Torres link

10/6/2022 04:20:00 pm

Law book beyond fund kind.
Man most special address fast wear authority same. Glass agree cut themselves.

Michael Brown link

10/10/2022 03:52:35 pm

Blue fly sometimes care billion quite become. Much small understand able air conference. Left force military learn memory human pay. Often price leg response easy party crime oil.

Post #5: This week's Writing Exercise

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ENGL 102 Winter 2021/22

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