I chose to do the quiz at http://students.slis.wayne.edu/policies/plagiarism-quiz.php.  I’m gonna go ahead and agree with Van on this one. This quiz was irritating. Every time I answered a question, I was redirected to another page explaining why the answer was what it was. Also, some of the answers were a little poorly built. For instance, one question asked “Plagiarism is punishable by failing the assignment.” I thought, oh of course this is true. A student can very easily earn a zero on an assignment for turning in plagiarized work. The answer was “FALSE. It depends on the instructor, the department, and the institution in which the plagiarism occurs. Some institutions expel the student, some instructors fail the student for the course, and yet other instructors fail the student for the assignment. LISP instructors place plagiarism statements in their course syllabi.” The wording of the quiz, the format in which it was presented, and the information presented by the quiz didn’t really teach any more about plagiarism than I already know.

I can honestly say research isn’t all it’s cracked up to be in those movies. For my high school, as I was in an academy, we had to conduct a senior research project, mine being a study on blue crab stuff in the chesapeake bay. I did my 100 hours of hands on research and study, then proceeded to work on my research analysis paper. Needless to say, after slacking off way too hard in math, I failed the course and was ejected from the academy, but to sum it all up, research blows hard if it’s research on something you aren’t interested in. Sure, Dr. Henry Jones is intense with his research, because he is portrayed as a field researcher, in a field with unimaginable possibilities. Most, if not all, other research is generally very bland.

Think of a topic or field in which you consider yourself more knowledgeable than the average person.  How did you build your knowledge over time? Describe your journey from knowing little about this topic to being familiar with it and confident about discussing it.

I personally feel as though I have a greater knowledge on the issue of racism in America than most people, because I have always felt that issues based on race are more often than not heavily biased in favor of minorities. Also, I have read quite a few articles about racism in our country, and developed a serious sense of hatred for the current view on racism in our country, particularly something known as “color blind racism.” Ever since high school, I felt like it was ridiculous that minorities got scholarships for being of a different nationality, or even 2nd or 3rd generation descendants of a minority, while I would have to work myself crazy to even come close to EARNING a scholarship that was, in many cases, HANDED to them. I always thought that was ridiculous, and ever since then I have educated myself on the matter across social classes and ethnic groups and developed very definite beliefs that oppose those of most people.  And since I began my sociology class this semester, I have been exposed to many more articles focusing on the topic of racism in America.

My preferred writing and reading place is the roof outside the window of my bedroom at home.  Its just a calm place, that almost seems separated from the rest of the stressful household I live in.Often times, I feel that it’s far too noisy out there to really peacefully read, so if it were a quieter place, it would be far better.  My whole life, the house I live in has been full of strife, stress, anger, and negativity. When I was about 17 I decided I wanted to get away from it, and that writing would help relieve some of the stress. I used to go to the beach to write, but it was kind of difficult when it was too cold or when it rained. I didn’t really have anywhere else to go when I couldn’t write at the beach,  so I couldn’t always write when I wanted to.  I used to have an extremely bad relationship with my dad, so it was very important that I express myself whenever I need to.  However, I recently moved into a new house, and I picked the room that has access to the roof over the garage, which turned out to be a fantastic place to just go out and read and write. It gets me away from my family, and gives me a place to just think, and be by myself.