Category: Discussions/Homework

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Overview of Week of 6/29

As we approach the July 4th midpoint of the course, it’s a good time to take stock of where you’re at–any missing assignments you need to catch up on, any discussion posts or replies you didn’t complete, how your research work is coming along. If you have any questions, please reach out to me by email–we can chat that way or set up a time to talk by phone/Zoom to make sure you’re clear on where you stand.

This week, you’ll be continuing your work toward the research portfolio, locating, reading, and taking notes on sources. Read on for an overview of this week’s work.

Reading

  • “Changing organizational culture: from embedded bias to equity and inclusion” by Cori Wong
  • Chapters 8 and 9 of They Say/I Say (“As a result” and “You mean I can just say it that way?”)–note that chapter 9’s title was incorrect on the schedule of assignments. Sorry about that.
  • possible sources for your research portfolio as you locate them

Writing/discussion

  • Preliminary notes exercise (submit through Bb dropbox by Wednesday, 7/1)–the goal here is to catalog the sources you’re finding and begin sketching out the different perspectives they have to offer
  • Research plan–review page 3 of the unit 2 assignment sheet (submit on blog by Sunday, 7/5)
  • Discussion work on blog (see link below for prompts)

    Discussion posts for Week of 6/29

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Discussion Week of 6/22

  1. When looking for articles that I feel are clearly written, provide detailed background to the authors and are easily accessible to college students I always use Syracuse Libraries. When I use the site I tend to type in the idea I’m looking for and then refine the search for a journal article. When I use Syracuse libraries I feel it really helps me search for articles that relate to college students and ones that have qualified authors. When I’m looking for an article it takes me a bit of searching because sometimes they are written too many years ago and don’t convey the same message. However I find it helpful to refine the search and look for articles written in the past 2 or 3 years so the content aligns with current events in the world.
  2. In the past few assignments we have been analyzing differs communities and environments and the way they are able to make each space inclusive to everyone. In order to add to our portfolios we have done research on articles that not only note the problems that occur day to day but the changes that need to be made. However, in order to truly understand why we need more inclusivity and diversity we must hear first hand from the ones who feel aliened. In order to learn more about bias and discrimination we must read a primary first hand account from someone who experienced it. For this assignment I wish to write about the action required when discrimination occurs and what the thoughts and emotions of the individual experiencing it. I wish to focus on college minorities because their experiences may not be so different from those of our own. I will use Syracuse libraries because not only is it presented by our own college but it recounts the stories and experiences of those in our own situations.
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Week of 6/22 Discussion

About a year ago, the owner of two local bars made some racially insensitive comments on Twitter. As a result, I made the decision not to frequent his establishments anymore. The first of these, Ryleigh’s, was home to the Baltimore chapter of the US Tottenham supporters club, and as a self respecting Arsenal supporter, there was no way I was ever stepping foot in there. His second bar, Crossbar, is a German beerhall-style spot, serving huge liters of beer. Once the owner outed himself as a racist, downing liters at Crossbar was longer an option. That’s why it stopped me in my tracks this past weekend when a friend suggested we go there once the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. It surprised me because this friend and I share many similar values and come down on the same side of many political debates. I got to thinking about whether my stance was actually hurting the owner, or myself.

With all of this in mind, for this exercise I wanted to find some writings about “cancel culture”. With the recent controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling’s comments about transpeople on Twitter, I took to Google to look for news articles offering perspectives. I experimented with the search terms, and typed in the following: “Should I still read harry potter jk rowling twitter“.

The first three results of my search were from The Guardian, the New York Times, and a link to Rowling’s Twitter feed itself.  I read the Guardian and Times articles, ultimately settling on the one from the Times for my notes-taking exercise.  Because I wanted to use a recent, news-worthy topic, I knew that Google would be the best tool for this particular job. However, I expect I’ll be using tools such as JSTOR to help me find a scholarly journal or article which will help me gain a historical perspective.

Rowling is clearly not the first person to be threatened with “cancellation”, and “cancel culture” is just the latest term for what is sometimes referred to as “consumer activism”. What I’m hoping to find are well-researched articles and papers – perhaps even a book or two – that focus on the effectiveness of consumer activism. How often have boycotts worked? Can they go too far?

I’d also like to find something that looks into whether it’s truly possible to separate the artist from the art. Should we all really stop listening to Michael Jackson? Should we not read Mark Twain? Should we stop watching films produced by Harvey Weinstein? What might be easy for some will not be as easy for others. I’m finding these questions intellectually stimulating, and am looking forward to getting some help in an attempt to answer them for myself.

 

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discussion prompts 6/22

  1. I mainly have been using the Syracuse Summons page as it is easy for me to navigate. I have yet to dive into the advanced features thoroughly, however I used it for my first note taking practice and it provided me with what I needed. I was able to search more keywords to find exactly what I wanted, as well as narrowing it by using the peer reviewed articles feature. Some roadblocks I am running into is how to find the primary source on Syracuse summons. If I were to use another search engine for my research, I am unsure of where to look. Another roadblock I am encountering is how to find an article from a workplace or about an institution that provides services. I have recently found an article that details what certain workplaces are doing, but it mainly focuses on the experiences of those with disabilities. I am hoping to find an article that surrounds what workplaces have the ability to provide, but am unsure of what to search and look for.
  2. The kinds of texts Im hoping to find are ones that coincide with my points about disability services being accessible in the work force and what that looks like. Im hoping to find surveys or studies that center on those with disabilities who have experience in the workforce, or for articles that show those who do and those who do not. Im hoping to find articles that will emphasize the voice of those who would like inclusion in institutions. I want to make sure the voices of those who struggle with finding a job because of an impairment are heard, and find out why only some jobs offer services and others do not. Im focusing on searching disability services, workplace and education and hoping to find an article that incorporates those aspects. I will also want to try and include articles from workplaces who have services available on why they believe that this inclusion is important for the workplace. I want to be able to reflect that opportunity can be given, and it will be more beneficial for those involved.
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Discussion Prompts 6/22

  1. Similar to many of my classmates, I am using Syracuse libraries as a main source. However I am also using the New York public library to search for sources as well. When searching for an article for the unit 1 assignment, I found it best to search for key words instead of long phrases. When I typed in key words, I found the articles were more relevant and consistent with what I was looking for. Whereas when I typed in long phrases, the articles differed drastically. So I am going to continue to keep my searches short with key words. Also using advanced search features such as publication date and content type, helps make the search a little easier. Content type helps narrow down the type of writing piece you want and publication date is important because you want recent information rather than outdated sources.
  2. My topic is about diversifying the education system and more specifically the process schools go through when they are screening and accepting students. When looking for primary sources, I have looked at mostly interviews with students and faculty for both private and public schools. Looking at the diversity between the two and the different viewpoints that are being offered.  I have looked at articles about screening and all about the process of it for students and how it is different depending on the type of school and where it is located. When looking for scholarly articles, I referred back to Syracuse libraries as I have found a couple regarding the topic but will need to do further research. When doing this search, I hope to find people who are in the field of education or know a lot about it and are able to speak and contribute many viewpoints to the issue at hand.
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Week of 6/22 – Discussion

  1. As I’ve begun researching my topic further I found myself struggling to filter notable sources. This may be because I was looking through too many databases (Google Scholar, Syracuse Libraries: Proquest, JSHOR, etc.) without refining my search engine. Instead, I was sifting through quick content searches with conflicting and indecisive interests. Because of this it took me a while to finally settle on just one source but eventually I found an appropriate article written on language diversity in the international workplace. Given my topic of interest it helped to look through a database that was pertinent to the field. For this reason I chose the LLBA: Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts  however it did become intense handling numerous related articles. One tip I guess I would suggest would be to work more with less (instead of continuously trying to find the perfect source)!
  2. Some of the research topics I had in mind came about from my unit one assignment. From the article I chose the authors addressed limitations to their study and suggestions for further areas of future research. As of now I’m trying to find relevant work under this scope though I am a bit uncertain with concluding if a source is outdated (i.e. an article writing about the state of research then in 2006 compared to the research now) and if it can still be of value. Apart from this, I hope to find which voices are especially important to represent.
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6/22 discussion

  1. To find the scholarly sources, I’ve used the SU library database primarily. I’ve noticed that when searching for articles its best to use unique describing words to find a specific subject, my searches typically bring up 10,000 or more articles, and that’s with 5-6 keywords. When searching with less than that I got results that varied much farther out of my topic, and it was much harder to search through the list to find ones that pertain to my subject. My major at SU is Fashion design, and I have only written three essays that have needed scholarly sources. So, in general, I’m not that experienced in the art of critical research, I haven’t run into any roadblocks when researching, and recently have found some great articles for our canon.
  2. My research has landed me on the subject of the diversity and profiling of children in the education system. The recent article I used was written by four early childhood professors, and addressed this issue and collected data from studies involving student teachers learning to form connections with their students and learning how to form equity in the classroom. Their insights were very informative and introduced me more to what the current education majors in college need to focus on when they start their professional careers. I’d like to find an article that a current teacher who teaches ages 6-12 has written and addresses the disadvantages the children face because of a physical or social difference from their classmates. This issue usually is too complex for the children to give an appropriate response to, so I hope to find an article that addresses the teacher’s role in the classroom and with their fellow teachers and how they work towards a level playing field for all students. Issues, in public schools especially, can range from racial, gender, and sexuality bias, as well as a child’s social class and physical appearance. These issues may not all align in a single article, so I plan on widening my search to books and journals, as well as multiple articles that could focus more on one specific issue rather than all or most of them.
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Week of 6/22 research discussion, Aaron

  1. Mostly I have relied on JSTOR through the Syracuse Library’s website. I’m pretty familiar with it through other classes I have taken, and was aware at the vast amounts of articles/book chapters that are available on there. Originally while conducting this research I never used the advanced search to limit the publication dates, but have since changed that to find articles or chapters that were written in the last 5 years or so. I also plan to use some news articles (being aware at the plethora of unreliable websites out there) I’m deciding to only use things written by a reputable news source and written by an expert in the field of educational diversity, rather than just relying on any random post that some random person wrote,
  2. As stated above, definitely relying on the academic sources- peer reviewed is always a go to for me. Most of the sources that I have found so far on JSTOR have been chapters from books, so I plan to piece those together in the most fluid way possible. As far as news articles, looking through things like the New York Times, Washington Post, Forbes, etc. I realized I can probably just use the proquest search engine on the Syracuse Library website also since there’s a vast database of newspaper articles available on there. Do any of my classmates have good advice on sifting through newspaper articles to find something that isn’t opinion based or anecdotal? Thank you!
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Discussion Prompts Week of 6/22

  1. My first time around, I went straight to google scholars as my first way of attempting to find an article, but this time I started with using library.syr.edu. I’ve already found several articles on ProQuest and Wiley Online Library by using the Summon Search. I’ve noticed that typing in the appropriate keywords is what leads me to find what I’m looking for, but sometimes being too specific is not the right strategy. It’s disappointing, though, when the same articles constantly appear after several attempts at different searches when I know they do not contain the information I am seeking.
  2. While I will need to have at least 1 primary source and at 1 scholarly source, I hope to find texts that encompass how this generational gap in the working environment is adjusting to each other. Because these sources should have different viewpoints and contributions, I will try to look for authors of different ages who have different experiences in this topic. For example, I want to make sure a voice from each generation (if possible) is represented: Baby Boomer, Gen X, Xennial, and Millennial. I understand this may be difficult but hopefully my research is successful. I will work to find them by trying out different databases, maybe even searching related TEDTalks and then looking up the speakers to see if they have written any articles, etc.
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Prompts, week of 6/22, Toni

What search tools have you tried, and what are you noticing about them?

I was inspired by one of the readings this week as a source/topic, the reading about Four Questions To Protect Your Culture From CoVID-19, and particularly the statement: “every moment is a culture-shaping moment, for good or for bad, and will continue to have an impact long after theCOVID-19 crisis.” This time I went to the SU Libraries first.  It was much more successful than my first round and I do think I have some better scholarly sources to start out with.  I already feel more secure in this endeavor than the last one with the results I saw just by one search topic in the SU Libraries.  I also will continue to use the Notetaking exercise we were given this week, to help focus the selected articles and the information most robust to my topic.  I found this very helpful and similar to what I have been doing, but with more specificity.  I also think it will help narrow down my topic more clearly.

Plot some research goals for yourself.

I plan to expand my search topics, but keeping within the pandemic/capitalism and also diversity and inclusion within that topics, i was not expecting those to be so easily searchable, but it seems there’s a breadth of discussion around all of these topics individually and together.  I feel once i have worked with the following selected sources so far, I will be able to whittle down an even more focused search criteria.

First, I’m wondering if my 1 primary source would be the article we read this week that inspired me to move forward with this topic? https://www.thinkbrighthouse.com/2020/03/4-questions-to-protect-your-culture-from-covid-19/

Other than that I am developing a nice list of scholarly sources from both general searches on the internet as well as the SU libraries.

https://hbr.org/2020/04/preparing-your-business-for-a-post-pandemic-world

https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/sr/article/view/22515

https://journals-sagepub-com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/doi/10.1177/1090198120922942

https://search-proquest-com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/docview/2388163353?accountid=14214&pq-origsite=summon

https://search-proquest-com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/docview/2398213685?pq-origsite=summon&accountid=14214