Chapter 13 of The Bedford Reseacher

The thirteenth chapter of The Bedford Researcher, which is simply titled Organizing, is split into three sections. The first section lists many different ways to organize different sources and documents, such as organizing them by description or chronology or by which support or don’t support your purpose, as well as what each term on the list means. The second section of the chapter goes into how to arrange your argument. The section has the reader do this labeling the evidence that has been gathered, and then grouping the evidence in such  a way that makes sense to the reader. This section finishes with two ways to group the evidence, saying that both clustering and mapping are good ways to arrange the evidence in such a way as to easily understand what is said in the evidence.

The third and final section of the chapter goes over how to make an outline. They begin the section with talking about how to make an informal outline to get the basis of what your document may be. They then go into formal outlines, specifically topical and sentence outlines, which help to organize the document into a more cohesive unit then before.

Chapter 12 of The Bedford Reseacher

The twelfth chapter of The Bedford Researcher, which is titled Developing Your Argument, is split into two sections. The first section has you looking at how to support your thesis statement. they do this by splitting up this section into three steps. The first step is choosing which reasons will be supporting your thesis statement, and making sure that those reasons are supported by evidence from the your sources. The second step is to choose which evidence you will use to support each of your reasons. Finally, they give the reader a list of different appeals (appeals to authority, appeals to emotion, etc.) and the third step is having the reader decide what appeals to use based on what kind of document you are writing.

The second section of the chapter talks about assessing the integrity of your argument. This section begins by splitting up the different fallacies that can be used up into a number of different categories, and having the reader look through each of the categories to make sure that none of the fallacies are being used in their own work.  

Chapter 11 of The Bedford Researcher

The eleventh chapter of The Bedford Researcher, which is titled Developing Your Thesis Statement, is split into two sections. The first section talks about how to use your sources and position statement. They have the reader go over their position statement and any notes they have. They then have the reader consider those while also looking at what the purpose of the document is supposed to be, and what role you are using as a writer, such as informing of or solving a problem. Finally, they have the reader reflect on their readers and what they would want from this document.

The second section of this chapter talks about drafting your thesis statement. This section begins with having the reader identify what the important information, ideas, and arguments associated with your position are. They then have the reader draft some ideas for what the thesis will be, and have them consider what kind of document they are writing. Finally, they have the reader focus in on just one statement, and refine it to be a thesis statement for their paper.

Chapter 19 of The Bedford Researcher

The nineteenth chapter of The Bedford Researcher, which is titled Designing Documents and Presentations, is split into seven sections. The first four sections of this chapter all use the same steps to figure out how to design four different documents. The documents in question are an academic essay, a multimodal essay, an article, and a website. They then have the reader figure out how to design these documents by considering what your purpose for writing the document is, considering what the readers will expect in the design of the article, and viewing other documents like the document you are attempting to write in order to get clues as to how they are designed.

The fifth section of this chapter goes into how to make an oral presentation. They have the reader consider what the purpose of the presentation is and what the audience of the presentation will be. They then have the reader begin constructing an outline of what the presentation will contain and go over a few helpful tips for what to do when speaking, such as maintaining eye contact, varying the pitch of your voice, and articulating every word clearly. The last two sections of this chapter follow nearly the same layout for how to design the documents in question (a multimedia presentation and a poster presentation) as the oral presentation, and have you consider what the audience will expect the presentation will looks like.

Chapter 18 of The Bedford Researcher

The eighteenth chapter of The Bedford Researcher, which is titled Understanding Design Principles, is split into two sections. The first section talks about how to design your document effectively. It begins with talking about different design principles, such as balance, emphasis, and placement, and how to use them for best effect. This section then closes with talking about how to design your document for different genres and how your readers will expect different designs depending on the genre, as that affects how easily the reader will be able to find the information in your document.

The second section talks about different elements that can be used in designing a document. This section goes into a number of specific details about what elements that can be changed on your document and how to change the elements mentioned to make the document fit a specific genre, such as how to use photographs and charts for maximum effect. This section also briefly goes over how to align your document, what fonts to use, and how much line spacing you want for your document.  

Chapter 16 of The Bedford Researcher

The sixteenth chapter of The Bedford Researcher, titled Writing With Style, is split into two sections. The first section begins with how to write concisely, specifically by getting rid of unneeded modifiers and introductory phrases that will just make your writing style more clunky as a whole. This section then goes into when to use active and passive voices, as well as how to use an active voice while still remaining passive. Finally, this section finishes up with reminding the reader to choose their words carefully, specifically by making sure that your word choice is formal enough for the audience, the language in your writing is such that the audience would understand, and that there is a variety of words used to say the same thing in your writing.

The second and final section of this chapter talks about how to polish your writing style, and gives a number of things to improve upon. It begins with telling the reader that one of the easier areas to being polishing their style is by varying their sentence structure. The section then goes into creating effective transitions between topics and how to introduce other authors effectively. The section takes a turn here, and begins to talk about how to avoid sexist language (such as referring to a profession as male only) before finishing up the section by basically saying to read everything for examples of what you would and wouldn’t want to write like.

Chapter 15 of The Bedford Researcher

The fifteenth chapter of The Bedford Researcher, titled Using Sources Effectively, is split into three sections. The first section begins talking about how to use sources to complete your purpose as a writer. This section begins by talking about how to introduce an idea into your work, and then lists different ways to analyze those ideas, such as contrasting the idea or providing evidence to prove the ideas merit. After that, this section goes into how to amplify your points and defining different concepts in such a way that is easily understood.

The second section of chapter fifteen talks about how to integrate sources into your draft. This section begins with telling you to clearly define when information in your draft is not your own by providing in-text citations and letting the reader know that what is to come is not your work. This section then goes into how to quote strategically, telling you what different quotes are and how to use them correctly. This section finishes with how to put in non-text quotes (such as pictures) and numerical information.

The final section of this chapter talks about how to document different sources. IT covers the four main documentation system and what they are used for. This section also reminds you to make sure to double check your work to make sure that all the work in your draft is yours, or is labeled when it is not.

Chapter 9 of the Bedford Researcher

The ninth chapter of The Bedford Researcher, titled Searching for Information with Print Resources, is split into three sections. The first section goes briefly into how to look through library shelves to find sources for your topic. This section also suggests using interlibrary loans to get materials you will need for your topic delivered to your library from other libraries. The second section then goes into using the libraries periodicals room to find more sources, specifically by going through the sources used by the periodical’s writer.

The third and final section of this chapter goes into extreme detail for using a library’s reference room to gather sources. It begins this section with having you look through library bibliographies and knowing what the difference is between different bibliographies, such as what a trade bibliography contains versus a general bibliography. This section then goes into how to locate different bibliographies, and looking through indexes to find what sources are used in many different periodicals at once. After that, this section finishes off the chapter by mentioning a number of other areas to check in a library to find more sources, such as handbooks, encyclopedias, and almanacs.

Research Proposal

Introduction

Video games have had plenty of bad press in recent years. Many have said that the only way to get rid of the video game “problem” is to ban all video games out right. However, there are many benefits to playing video games. This project will be looking at those pros and attempt to prove to you that videogames are a beneficial source for teachers to use to improve with their students learning. I will be doing this by asking a number of questions: What do video games help with learning? What are the pros and cons of using video games over traditional methods? Are there benefits you can get from playing video games that aren’t part of a school program? It could be that video games could help the U.S. get back on top for education.

Review of Literature

The sources that I have found so far fall into one of three categories. To begin, I will talk about sources that show a positive correlation between school work and video games. “Mind Games,” by Alan Gershenfeld, from Scientific American, talks about how using video games as an educational tool helps with student learning by increasing their interest in continuing school  as well as how the community on how violent video games affects individuals is split on whether or not playing violent video games effects you long term. Another article, “Gamification in Libraries,” by Eric Phetteplace and Kyle Felker from Reference & User Services Quarterly, talks about how libraries may be improved by using gamification, and thinking about the problem like a video game, to have more patrons who learn more than they normally would. Another article, “Practising Arithmetic Using Educational Video Games With An Interpersonal Computer,” by Vagner Beserra and associates, talks about how arithmetic is taught better when video games were used versus the standard methods of teaching. And finally, “Media And Attention, Cognition, And School Achievement,” by Marie Schmidt and Elizabeth Vandewater, talks about how the kind of material that digital media produce affect how children do in school.

The next group of sources I will talk about are sources that link video games to beneficial attributes to the body and mind of an individual. “Playing An Action Video Game Reduces Gender Differences In Spatial Cognition,” by Feng Jing, Ian Spence, and Jay Pratt, talks about how playing action video games helps female minds with understanding spatial thinking to such a degree that there was no difference in how male and females think about different spatial problems. Meanwhile, another article, “Positive Association Of Video Game Playing With Left Frontal Cortical Thickness In Adolescents,” by Simone Kühn and associates, talks about how playing video games as a young child increases the child's ability to think and reason, especially when it come to strategically planning. An article by Isabela Granic, Adam Lobel, and Rutger Engels, “The Benefits Of Playing Video Games”, talks on the benefits to playing video games as a whole, looking at all of the areas of the brain that video games affect and how they are affecting them. Another article, “Reasons For Playing Casual Video Games And Perceived Benefits Among Adults 18 To 80 Years Old,” by Susan Whitbourne, Stacy Ellenberg, and Kyoko Akimoto, talks about how people of different ages get different perceived benefits from playing the same game, such as improved memory.  

Finally, this last group of sources are just those that don’t fit into the other two categories. “Three Questions About the Internet of Things and Children,” by Andrew Manches, Pauline Duncan, Lydia Plowman, and Shari Shabeti, talks about how the increase in different forms of digital media is affecting how children are growing and learning. Another article, “Deciding to Defect,” by Brad Sheese and William Graziano, talks about how playing violent video games reduces the ability, of those who participated in the study, to be able to work well with others.

Plan to Collect Information

In addition to the sources that have been collect up to this point, I will be looking for more sources through the online databases provided by Olympic College to add to the amount of information that I already have. I will also be looking through different online sources that will provide me with more relevant information about this topic so that I will have a comprehensive understanding of my topic.

Project Timeline

This coming week, I will be finishing collecting enough sources for my annotated bibliography, which must be in by the 11th of February. After that has been turned in, I will begin the literature review on the 12th and work on that till the 17th, by which time it will be ready to hand in on the 18th. From the 19th to 3rd of March, I will be working on a draft of my paper, as well as a rationale and abstract. From the 5th till the 12th of March, I will be working on polishing the essay so that on the 13th, I will be able to turn it in.

Works Cited

Sheese, Brad E., and William G. Graziano. "Deciding To Defect. The Effects Of Video-Game Violence On Cooperative Behavior." Psychological Science (2005): 354-57. Print.

Feng, Jing, Ian Spence, and Jay Pratt. "Playing An Action Video Game Reduces Gender Differences In Spatial Cognition." Psychological Science (2007): 850-55. Print.

Marie Evans Schmidt, and Elizabeth A. Vandewater. "Media And Attention, Cognition, And School Achievement." The Future of Children (2008): 63-85. Print.

Kühn, Simone, et al. "Positive Association Of Video Game Playing With Left Frontal Cortical Thickness In Adolescents." Plos ONE 9.3 (2014): 1-6.Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.

Beserra, Vagner, et al. "Practising Arithmetic Using Educational Video Games With An Interpersonal Computer." Journal Of Educational Technology & Society 17.3 (2014): 343-358. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Jan. 2015.

Phetteplace, Eric, and Kyle Felker. "Gamification In Libraries." Reference & User Services Quarterly 54.2 (2014): 19-23. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Jan. 2015.

Manches, Andrew, et al. "Three Questions About The Internet Of Things And Children." Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning 59.1 (2015): 76-83.Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Jan. 2015.

Gershenfeld, Alan. "Mind Games." Scientific American 310.2 (2014): 54-59. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Jan. 2015.

Granic, Isabela, Adam Lobel, and Rutger C. M. E. Engels. "The Benefits Of Playing Video Games." American Psychologist 69.1 (2014): 66-78. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Jan. 2015.

Whitbourne, Susan Krauss, Stacy Ellenberg, and Kyoko Akimoto. "Reasons For Playing Casual Video Games And Perceived Benefits Among Adults 18 To 80 Years Old."Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking 16.12 (2013): 892-897. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Jan. 2015.

Chapter 3 of The Bedford Researcher

The third chapter of The Bedford Researcher, titled Developing Your Research Question and Proposal, is divided into two halves. The first half of the chapter goes into details about how to develop a research question. It begins by telling you (as the reader) to reflect on your writing style and to then generate some potential research questions, giving some different ideas for questions to ask, such as what assumptions have been made, what information is known about a topic, and what has been done about this topic in the past. Then, this section has you begin crafting questions that reflect the writing situation you are in, and after making those questions, has you select and refine what questions you are asking based on what you are trying to write about.

The second half of this chapter goes into how to make a research proposal. This section begins with having you identify the topic and different issues posed by your research question, and then write down a summary of what you find. Then, this section goes into having you specify how you will collect your information for your project, having you identify relevant types of sources, appropriate search tools, and research methods. After this, the section has you develop a project timeline, make a working bibliography, and then has you clarify the original proposal so that it is easier to understand what the project is about, what challenges will arise, and gives a budget for how much it will cost to complete this project.