Not knowing where to look, I searched for a journal that would possibly accept my paper for publication. I looked at a few different journals before I realized where I needed to look — my annotated bibliography. I looked through my anno bib to see what journals I could possibly submit to and found the perfect one. They have thorough outlines and specifications of what their publications and submissions should look like. I’ll need to reformat my manuscript to APA, but the author guidelines covers all of the bases.
Blog #17 April 27, 2010
I warned you, right? This was pretty intense and unbelievably time-consuming, right? Reflect back on the beginning of this course – your fears, anxieties, worries, etc – and discuss how you turned these into strengths throughout this course this semester. What are your future goals as researchers? As writers? What was your proudest moment in this course? What do you think will most stick with you long after this course?
At the beginning of the semester, I was thinking this class would be just like Marlen’s other two classes. Generally, the same principles remain the same; all three of his classes require lots of work for at least the first half of the semester and by the time you’re done you feel more accomplished than ever before. The only thing that changed in comparison to his other two classes was the amount of work. Research writing required SO much more time, attention to detail, and passion about your work. If you lacked any of those things, you probably didn’t last the semester. I’m proud of myself for making it to the end, but there are things I wish I had done differently. Correction. I’ve learned a lot about myself – just like I had in Marlen’s previous classes – and it’s shown me who I aspire to be. I know I’ll be a better student in the fall semester. I said the same thing around this time last year when I was finishing up college writing and again last semester when I was finishing humanities literature. Marlen’s classes have taught me so much more about myself as a student and myself as a whole than any other class I’ve ever taken. I wasn’t sure if I would make it through this class because of the intensity, but staying was a challenge to myself to do it and be able to say that I did, along with proving to myself the ways I can push myself.
As a researcher, I know I’ll always keep an open mind and I will always keep my curiosity for answers to my questions. Whether I’ll write another paper like this again, I’m not so sure. As a writer, I’m challenging myself to write more; start writing in a journal again or be creative and continue my blog. I think I like that idea even more because I enjoy typing more than writing on paper and if I want to keep something private, it’s possible (rather than having a journal sitting around waiting for the wrong person to pick it up). My proudest moment in this course thus far was when I went to the writing center the other day and made so much progress with my paper; the man that went over my paper even complimented my project! I think the amount of motivation I was able to conjure within myself is what will stick with me long after this course is behind me. I’ve stretched my limits and proved to myself how much I’m capable of doing.
Blog #16 April 21, 2010
1) The annotated bibliography was most useful to me during the process of writing my paper because it gave me a good idea of where to find the information I was looking for. It was all organized in one place, which was easy to access at all times.
2) The most helpful feedback was during class when we had “circle time” and talked about how everything was going at that point. It helped me to know that everyone else was feeling the same kind of stress I was, or at least someone if not everyone.
3) The most difficult thing for me during the drafting process was motivating myself to sit down and get it over with. Once I got going, it went by pretty quickly, but this happened every time I needed to complete the next section of my paper. It was a constant battle, but through this process I’ve learned more about myself as a writer. Motivation and concentration are HUGE during the writing process. The easiest thing for me during the drafting process was formatting because there’s one way to do it and all you have to do is follow the rules, whatever the format may be (I was using MLA). Formatting comes easily to me because I’m meticulous when it comes to things like that.
4) At this point, I think my methodology best shows my ability as a writer because it’s the section where I’m given the most freedom. The only outside sources I needed to include were definitions of the types of methods – the rest was simply convincing the reader that I chose the right method for the resources I have.
Blog #15 April 21, 2010
Peer review projects were helpful when editing my own paper because my peers found mistakes I made that I probably wouldn’t have found on my own, but encouraged me where I did well. As I edited my peers’ papers, I pointed out mistakes with grammar, in their works cited, formatting, so on and so forth. It was helpful to me to edit my peers’ papers because it helped me see that they were making similar mistakes to my own or helped me see what I needed to change in my paper.
Blog #14 April 6, 2010
Marlen’s Articles
Results
- Presented so the reader can understand them
- Organize with appropriate information; separate discussion of results into its own section
- Recognize trends
- Make them as meaningful as possible
Discussions
- Interpret results thoroughly
- Explain results
- Make connection back to the intro via questions or hypothesis
- Answer original questions as best you can
- Use first person
- Refer to other studies
- Address new understanding of the initial question
Conclusions
- Frame thoughts and bridge ideas
- Explain importance of info
- Make the reader feel glad they read your article
- Synthesize, don’t summarize
- Include insight
- Memorable quote from the paper
Blog #13 April 5, 2010
I combined the papers as we went through the class, rather than creating them separately, so I already had the first three sections combined. i don’t believe there is one single thing that needs editing at this point. There are, however, a few things that need editing. To solve these problems, I plan to take my paper to the writing center to get help revising it.
Blog #12 March 21, 2010
Participants
Who will your research subjects be?
My research subjects will be U.S. college students who I’m Facebook friends with by messaging the survey to them.
How will you find them?
I’ll find them by scrolling through my friends list.
How many will you need?
I’ll need 5-10 participants.
Are there any potential dangers to your participants in undertaking this research?
No.
How will you protect your participants from harm and safeguard their privacy?
I’ll inform them that there are no dangers to completing the survey and tell them what the survey is about.
What questions do you have about methods and data collection at this time and how will you answer them?
None at the moment, but if I come across any then I’ll ask my classmates and course assistants or refer to my annotated bibliography.
Blog #11 February 25, 2010
Writing up Research: Method and Research Design
- Goes through sections of purpose, common problems, examples of different types of research, examples of method sections, and writing your own method section
- Purpose Section: Answers questions: How was the data collected or generated? How was it analyzed?
- Common Problems Section: irrelevant detail, unnecessary explanation of basic procedures, and problem blindness.
- Examples of different types of research Section: analysis, case study, comparison, correlation-prediction, evaluation, design-demonstration, experiment, survey-questionnaire, status, theory construction, and trend analysis.
- Examples of Method Sections
- Writing your own method section: know the purpose of the method section, keep notes of what you did and why and what happened, remember who your audience is and don’t include unnecessary details, don’t used the words “I” and “we”, use passive voice instead, be consistent with verb tenses
Writing the Experimental Report: Methods, Results, and Discussion
- “Provides a detailed overview of how you conducted your research.”
- Sub-sections: participants, apparatus and materials, procedure
- Participants: Who participated? Include demographics. Use the word participant to describe who participated, not subject.
- Apparatus and Materials: “The apparatus is any equipment used during data collection (such as computers or eye-tracking devices). Materials include scripts, surveys, or software used for data collection (not data analysis). It is sometimes necessary to provide specific examples of materials or prompts, depending on the nature of your study.”
- Procedure: Step-by-step of experiment including: “A description of the experimental design and how participants were assigned conditions. Identification of your independent variable(s) (IV), dependent variable(s) (DV), and control variables. Give your variables clear, meaningful names so that your readers are not confused. Important Instructions to participants. A step-by-step listing of chronological order of what participants did during the experiment.”
“Purdue OWL.” Welcome to the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL). Web. 21 Mar. 2010. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/670/04/>.
Blog #10 February 25, 2010
| CRITERIA | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Comments |
| Formatting – MLA/APA headers, titles, indentation, etc.
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3 | Not sure about MLA/APA/CMS formatting for a news article. Headings are present. | |||||
| Introduction – sufficiently forecasted the remainder of the essay
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2 | Describes who the author of the blog post, but doesn’t explain the subject matter. | |||||
| Conclusion – sufficiently wrapped up the author’s thoughts; connected to intro.
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4 | Wraps up the article, but could be more specific. | |||||
| In-text Citations – at least 2 and properly formatted | 1 | Quotations not cited, no page numbers, needs more support. | |||||
| Works Cited/References – only work actually cited in the paper is included; properly formatted.
|
0 | Nonexistent. | |||||
| Grammar/Mechanics – language choice; punctuation; spelling, etc.
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4 | Punctuation not used correctly; for example, the colon and parentheses. Used general words like “society” and “think”. | |||||
| Pre- & Post-writing paragraphs – did the author sufficiently describe goals and how to meet them? Did author sufficiently explain how goals were met?
|
0 | Nonexistent | |||||
| Flow – transitions between paragraphs; all sentences in a paragraph related; no run-on or fragmented sentences.
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3 | Organization of paragraphs and transition between paragraphs needs work. | |||||
| Hooked and maintained reader interest.
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3 | Needs more detail in the intro to hook the reader. | |||||
| Genre – Met the needs of the intended genre.
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4 | Targeted audience is properly approached, but information needs to be presented properly. | |||||
| TOTAL = 24/50 | Add’l comments: This shitty first draft needs to be revised. The author wasn’t very passionate about this article and it shows. | ||||||
Blog #9 February 23, 2010
Jazz for Success: Alternative Music Therapy to Enhance Student Development in College
Introduction
Paragraph One: The general ideas of a college student’s transition to college are presented.
Paragraph Two: The issue of balancing emotions in a college student’s first year is lightly presented.
Paragraph Three: This paragraph presents how colleges and universities assist first-year students with balancing their feelings at orientation.
Paragraph Four: This paragraph discusses the negative side of college and university assistance information at orientation.
Jazz Music as Therapy
Paragraph One: This paragraph presents the idea of “the integration of easy-listening background music with formal presentations or lectures on college life”(1).
Paragraph Two: This paragraph discusses the importance of music in spiritual practices.
Paragraph Three: This paragraph discusses The Mozart Effect by Campbell (2001).
Paragraph Four: This paragraph discusses Healing Sound: The Power of Harmonics by Goldman (2002).
Paragraph Five: This paragraph discusses Sonic Alchemy: Conversations with Leading Sound Practitioners by Leeds (1999).
Paragraph Six: The understandings the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has of the effects of music.
Paragraph Seven: This paragraph discusses combining traditional methods of developmental programs with modern methods.
Paragraph Eight: This paragraph discusses what Jazz for Success is intended to do.
The Selection of a Music Format
Paragraph Nine: This paragraph discusses what the first author of this paper wanted to include in this study as far as music goes.
Paragraph Ten: This paragraph discusses the authors’ decision to use a smooth jazz format.
Paragraph Eleven: This paragraph discusses the authors’ decision of what music to use.
Paragraph Twelve: This paragraph discusses Blood Drum Spirit.
Identifying Developmental Issues to Accompany the Music
Paragraph Thirteen: This paragraph discusses interviews held at UMass Dartmouth “with 20 upperclass student leaders”.
Paragraph Fourteen: This paragraph discusses the intention to interview faculty.
Paragraph Fifteen: This paragraph discusses the faculty interviewed.
Paragraph Sixteen: This paragraph discusses track one of Jazz for Success.
Paragraph Seventeen: This paragraph discusses track two of Jazz for Success.
Paragraph Eighteen: This paragraph discusses track three of Jazz for Success.
Paragraph Nineteen: This paragraph discusses track four of Jazz for Success.
Issues and Challenges in CD Production
Paragraph Twenty: This paragraph discusses the fact that each college student is different and that Jazz for Success wouldn’t appeal to every student and what students would get out of listening to Jazz for Success.
Paragraph Twenty One: This paragraph discusses the running time of Jazz for Success and that each student wouldn’t “listen to the entire CD during a set period of time”, but also that students can listen at any time and decide what to do with the information.
Distribution and Use of Jazz for Success
Paragraph Twenty Two: This paragraph discusses the distribution of Jazz for Success and the excitement among faculty to include it in their curriculum.
Conclusion
Paragraph Twenty Three: This paragraph discusses the fact that “the music listening preferences of most people, including college students, are closely linked to their identity development and the various social, economic, and technological forces that shape the environment in which they live (Towell, 2000).”
Paragraph Twenty Four: This paragraph discusses the authors’ current explorations.
Paragraph Twenty Five: This paragraph discusses the digital era of 2008 and the expectations it has to respond to it.
1)What is the difference between the introduction and the lit review?
The introduction gets the reader’s interest and provides general background information to show the reader what will be discussed. The literature review is detailed and shows others’ works done in comparison to the information the author has presented. The literature review shows accreditation to the writer and the introduction gets the reader to enjoy and understand the article.
2)In what ways did the authors attempt to hook the reader’s interest?
The authors attempted to hook the reader’s interest by providing general information about the first-year college student’s emotional experience and by informing the reader of the negative possibilities of college and university assistance during orientation.
3)What are the a) purpose/objective, b) significance/importance, c) main research question, d) methods, e) results, and f) final conclusions/recommendations for future research and where in your outlines from item 1 above can each of these be found?
a) The purpose/objective of this article is to inform the reader that first-year college students can have it easier than others and to explore a specific method students can use to improve their experience during the first year of college. Found in paragraph 3.
b) The significance/importance of this article is to provide an alternate method to first-year college students to develop. Found in paragraph 2.
c) The main research question is not clearly stated, but it’s implied that the authors want to know how to “reduce negative emotions among first-year college students”(1).
d) The method the authors used for this article was by interview. Found in paragraph 4.
e) The results this article showed that their “approach would help students make a smooth transition into the university”(5). Found in paragraph 23.
f) The final conclusions/recommendations for future research are found in paragraphs 20-21 & 23-25.
An Exploratory Study of the Concept of Meaningfulness in Music
Background
Paragraph One: This paragraph discusses the issue of the selection of music when it comes to music therapy.
Paragraph Two: Personal attachment to music and its importance in music therapy is discussed in this paragraph.
Paragraph Three: This paragraph defines the word meaningful when it’s applied to a person’s musical preferences.
Paragraph Four: This paragraph goes into detail about the definition and each part of the definition’s connection to a person’s life.
Paragraph Five: This paragraph discusses the sense of purpose.
Paragraph Six: This paragraph discusses worthiness.
Paragraph Seven: This paragraph discusses meaningfulness.
Paragraph Eight: This paragraph discusses other authors’ definitions of meaningfulness.
Paragraph Nine: This paragraph discusses meaningfulness in relation to music therapy.
Paragraph Ten: This paragraph discusses how this study explored meaningfulness in music.
Paragraph Eleven: This paragraph discusses their methods.
Paragraph Twelve: This paragraph discusses the participants in their study.
Paragraph Thirteen: This paragraph discusses other studies and their methods.
Paragraph Fourteen: This paragraph discusses the design of questionnaire statements.
Paragraph Fifteen: This paragraph further discusses the design of questionnaire statements.
Paragraph Sixteen: This paragraph discusses what statements were intended to cover.
Paragraph Seventeen: This paragraph discusses the aspects of music listening.
Paragraph Eighteen: This paragraph discusses the initial process of the procedure.
Paragraph Nineteen: This paragraph covers the listening lessons each participant scheduled.
Paragraph Twenty: This paragraph discusses the “assessment of overall meaningfulness” statement.
Paragraph Twenty One: This paragraph discusses the data that was gathered.
Paragraph Twenty Two: This paragraph discusses the results of the t-test analysis.
Paragraph Twenty Three: This paragraph discusses the results and how they correlated with their key concerns.
Paragraph Twenty Four: This paragraph shows how their results supports literature.
Paragraph Twenty Six: This paragraph discusses the scores and measurements of the study.
Paragraph Twenty Seven: This paragraph discusses the correlation of “the statement concerned with the value and importance” with the overall assessment of meaningfulness (Craig 8).
Paragraph Twenty Eight: This paragraph discusses personal associations with music.
Paragraph Twenty Nine: This paragraph discusses the reflection of music on one’s personality.
Paragraph Thirty: This paragraph discusses “the statement regarding the pleasure and enjoyment of the piece”(Craig 9).
Paragraph Thirty One: This paragraph discusses the “more thorough understanding of meaningfulness”(Craig 9).
Paragraph Thirty Two: This paragraph addresses the author’s acknowledgments.
1)What is the difference between the introduction and the lit review?
The introduction gets the reader’s interest and provides general background information to show the reader what will be discussed. The literature review is detailed and shows others’ works done in comparison to the information the author has presented. The literature review shows accreditation to the writer and the introduction gets the reader to enjoy and understand the article.
2)In what ways did the authors attempt to hook the reader’s interest?
The author attempted to hook the reader’s interest by starting off with background information on the subject they’re researching.
3)What are the a) purpose/objective, b) significance/importance, c) main research question, d) methods, e) results, and f) final conclusions/recommendations for future research and where in your outlines from item 1 above can each of these be found?
a) The purpose/objective of this study is to study the selection of music used in music therapy. This can be found in paragraph one.
b) The significance/importance of this study is to find meaning in the music the participant listens to to make the experience of music therapy more effective and efficient. This can be found in paragraph three.
c) The main research question is not clearly stated in question format, but is stated in paragraph one that “A common issue in the fields of music therapy and education is the selection of music to foster increased participation and engagement in therapeutic or educational activities.” (Craig 1).
d) Methods used in this study are by questionnaire and can be found in paragraph eleven.
e) Results are found in paragraph twenty one.
f) The final conclusions/recommendations for future research are found in the discussion section on page seven.
