Monday:
WRITE: Write a blog post (at least 400 words, posted as comment here) in which you introduce your research question. You may find your topic anywhere– from Unit One to the blog posts we wrote last week, to your peers’ blog posts! (It’s really okay if two people write about the same topic– I promise you.)Â
What is important here– and I can’t stress this enough– is that you research something you want to know more about, not something you think you already know the answer to. You may be curious to know why there are so few African American ballerinas in major companies, or you may want to know how much “housing projects” have changed in New York since James Baldwin wrote “A Talk to Teachers” in 1963, or you may want to know what we really learn from playing computer games. Just be curious. REMEMBER YOU MUST GET YOUR TOPIC APPROVED BY ME! We will start having one-on-one conferences during class next week.
Write it in question form (it can’t be a yes-or-no question, though) You must cover all of the questions in bold:
- Why are you interested in this question? (Feel free to talk about your own personal experience with the topic, or to tell an anecdote about your experience with this subject matter)
- What do you expect to find in your research? (Why do you expect to find this?) Remember that it’s okay to be wrong– you might find a completely different answer than the one you intended to find. You won’t get marked down for that!
Spend some time on this– because this will serve as the first draft of the introduction for your annotated bibliography!
Wednesday:
READ AND ANNOTATE: Graff & Birkenstein, “Chapter 3: As He Himself Puts It – The Art of Quoting”
What is more harmful alcohol or tobacco and why? I would like to know the answer to this research question because everyone talks about how it is harmful to drink and smoke but really few know why. I am interested in this question because drinking and smoking are major problems in colleges all over the United States, I would like to know what I am putting my body through when I drink or smoke what is more harmful, and what organs or systems take the most damage. I expect to find out how alcohol and tobacco work when get into our system what organs they damage, how the substances get absorbed and by which cells, and what neurotransmitters they release into our brain.
What lessons can people learn from playing video games? I would like to know the answer to this particular question because people are always saying how video games teach them so much. I am interested in this because I want to know what lessons people are actually learning from these games. I have played video games since I was little but never could really say that I have learned lessons from them. I expect to find that people have not actually learned lessons that will be useful to them out in the real world. I have played many games over my years but no games can come to my mind where im like this game taught me a really valuable life lesson.
I became interested in my topic because of my living environment. I live in New York City and in New York the rat population is insanely high. It is inevitable to live in New York and to not encounter a rat. In 2023 it is estimated to be three million rats living in New York City. That is roughly one third of New York’s human population which is a troubling statistic. These rodents are surprisingly vast and disgusting to look at. They have dirty pink tails that are seven inches long and razor sharp teeth. They eat almost anything, live in people’s homes, and destroy anything they can. Frequently, I hear on the news or social media unpleasant rat stories such as rats destroying vehicles, families of rats living in apartment walls, and numerous rats terrorizing schools. Mayors have even invested millions of dollars to reduce the amount of rats living in New York City. Rats are a serious problem and those who live here are trying to find any type of solution to getting them out of neighborhoods. From living in New York City I learned that the rat population is increasing and is getting out of control but never learned how the problem started. I see them scurrying on the sidewalk, searching for food in garbage, living in the subway stations, and I start to become inquisitive. Why is it that other cities and states have raccoons, possums, and other rodents but New York City has rats. Even the states that do have rats don’t have a massive population like New York. My research question is why is New York City overpopulated with rats? From this research question I intend to learn how the rat population started in New York City and why the rat population is growing uncontrollably.
What I’m curious about is why the deep web and dark web are not illegal or blocked. This topic gets stuck in my head since the dark web has a lot of illegal activities you can find. The dark web is like a hot spot for illegal stuff like drugs, weapons, stolen things (credit cards, accounts, etc.) I believe that this should be illegal since it serves as a hidden space for illegal activities. Accessing these 2 websites has a lot of risk. If you know anything about data privacy and protecting yourself from identity theft, it should be easy for you to avoid this, but for some people who don’t have any knowledge about it, It would be bad since the people who are on the web can take anything from you.
Interested in whether Graffiti is art or not, sounds a bit strange. Am I really interested? To be honest, not as much. It’s interesting and something to look into in general but I, myself, am not that interested in. So, if I’m not that interested in it, why is it my research question? Well because I don’t have many interests to look into, this just came to mind and I decided to go with it since nothing else caught my attention. Something to have in mind while going along with this question is to think about those big pictures and/or paintings made by spray paint, and then think about those “tags” that you find randomly on walls or truck’s containers. One is made colorful and the other is quick writing, but both of them catch the eye. Sure, maybe it depends on where you put it, but what would you rather have up on your wall out of the two? When you look at New York, most of the streets are filled with graffiti. It can be from the side of a tall building to the back of the door in a public bathroom. If it isn’t considered art, why is it called Spray “Paint”. The word “Paint” is usually connected to an artwork on a canvas or just simply painting a wall. All of these and more aren’t called Illegal or Vandalism, but then if it’s called “Graffiti” it gets questioned. What I expect to find in my research is an understanding. It doesn’t really matter if it’s art or not because it won’t stop people from doing it. I just want to know Why it’s either Art or Vandalism and How people feel about it. I bet this has already been answered before and that’s fine, so I wanna understand what reasons they have to do it. Knowing this can give me a different point of view when looking at “graffiti”. Can even say there’s a story behind it. Without understanding it, graffiti can be easily misjudged and be called illegal. With how easily people can be offended sometimes, they would probably call the cops to make the person who did it clean it up. Also, what I’ve heard these people would be called is “Graffiti Artists”. Artist as in painter, as in art, which means the whole thing sounds completely fine and legal. So far, graffiti is leaning to be more of an Art than vandalism.
“What makes carbon fiber so strong and light?”. The use of carbon has increased dramatically over the years. It’s definitely a material that is still being researched for further development. I, for one, am very interested in carbon fiber because of its increased application to cars. Like many people, I enjoy viewing and learning more about automobiles. Car companies have even started making carbon fiber packages for some of their cars, especially sports cars, because of its super low weight, making a car lighter, thus making it faster. What I hope to learn from my research is how carbon fiber was discovered, how it is made, and where else it could be used (besides cars). I am aware that carbon fiber can be expensive to make but being that it is stronger than steel and lighter than aluminium, it has a great amount of potential. Maybe in researching more about carbon fiber, I can find if there is an even stronger, lighter material being made/discovered.
my topic question is “what would you tell someone about rice who knew nothing about it”. I am interested in this question because I am passionate about cooking. Rice was something I thought of because of how diverse it is in some countries and different ways people make it. rice is also very well cooked in my household made by me but isn’t really in our culture. my experience with rice has been easy when using a rice cooker but without one I think my rice would taste raw. I’ve also made yellow rice and rice and beans but one of my favorites is sticky rice. in my research I expect to find the different perspectives what people think of rice. I think that when people don’t know what rice is used for or how people cook it in different ways.