Process Documentation

As students we all endured a great amount of expenditure on college textbooks throughout our college careers. Most of us in the group are either Science or Arts majors and we have experienced firsthand how much of an added cost textbooks can be to complete a course. This semester alone we spend about $500 in just a few textbooks required for our courses. Over the course of our college careers the financial burden of college textbooks adds up to a great amount. As college students we already have the realization that this is a topic that does matter to a large demographic and chose to discuss it further by creating this information resource. This led to the five of us in the group having a similar and consistent mindset about this issue to get together and find possible solutions.
To research the topic of affordable college textbooks we utilized sources of information ranging from databases to online articles. The specific database used to research into this topic was ERIC.ed.gov. Instead of looking for general journals or articles about college textbooks we looked for strategies in how college textbooks can become more affordable and accessible to students in financial peril. Across our searches, we came across quite a few articles that specifically related to our cause.
Each individual in the group were given specific tasks. We each did our own research and our own sources. The way we were able to get together and combine ideas through email, class time, text messages enabled us to get the project done. Combing those ideas we collectively as a group created a making college textbooks affordable Zane. The Zine has a descriptive layout ranging from the heavy expenses of college textbooks to possible solutions to resolve this matter. Filled with artwork and brief summaries, it is a collection of ideas from our group.
When researching, the keywords that we used were affordable textbooks, college books, and book rentals. We used GOOGLE search, GOOGLE Scholar, GALE and EBSCO as our research engines. We found it extremely easy to find our sources. We checked our sources citation to check their accuracy, we also used easy bib to help us make our bibliography. When choosing our images, we had to be very cautious. We used creative commons to check if our images were violating copyright policies. We came to the consensus that by each individual writing a few sentences each on a source we read we could edit the final draft for our proposal. The questions that we asked ourselves are what do we consider affordable textbooks? Is this a wide spread issue for universities across the nation? What is the average number of spending for college books?
The PowerPoint assignment was given to the one that had the best computer/art skills. The group member responsible for this task was James Mateo. With his creative ability to put together our collective thoughts, we were able to bring it into one completed body of work. It took James two days to organize the Power point assignment.
The group member responsible for creating the Zane was Nebu Skaria. He had an idea in class of making the Zine look fancy in resume paper. Resume paper is not only fancy, but sturdier than regular printing paper. He followed an example of Zine given to us by professor Sucre a few weeks ago during class. Using a color set provided by Geraldine Mendoza, we were able to make our zine, which was not only eye catching and vivid, but distinct enough to hold to stand its ground in its future home at the Brooklyn College Library.
During our library research class, John Kaku had already previously written a research paper on Zines. He was responsible for supplying us with the additional information needed for this project. His Zine was based on affordable textbooks for students. He was already invested and passionate for this subject
Geraldine Mendoza and Marie Rochebrun were collectively responsible for all the aspects of the project. They gave their input/ review spelling and grammar checks. Marie was responsible for keeping everyone in contact via email, texts, and phone calls. Geraldine helped Nebu add the information and helped with the creativity of the Zine. Our group was very successful with the organization process and the breakdown individual tasks.