Week 8 literature review

In writing the literature review I did find that it was very helpful in how I will be able to write research papers in the future. It gave me the guidance to review sources and see if they are what I would really need in researching a topic. I did have some questions left unanswered regarding my topic. It also did raise more diversity in the direction I could go with my research. There were a lot of aspects if my topic that I had not thought about or considered. I think overall the way this class is set up and the ultimate goal of the literature review really expands the students research capabilities. I honestly did not know what was expected from a research paper, or how to really compose one prior to this course.

Week 7 annotated bibliography

In developing my annotated bibliography this week I found it helpful to use the Craap test with each one of my sources. Comparing the sources to the Craap test made it easy to weed out exactly what would and what would not be helpful to my topic. I found that a few soures I had thought of using really didn't present with being from a reliable source. Also one of the sources seemed to just barely touch on what I would be needing it for. Overall I was pretty shocked at how easy it was to finds articles etc. on my topic. What was the greater challenge was reliable sources. This course has helped me to develop skills for better research. I took a few classes here at Brandman prior to this course and it was difficult to find sources seeing as I wasn't exactly taught where to find them. Thanks for guiding me!

Week 6 - Plagiarism

I thought for the most part that I knew pretty much what would be considered plagiarism. I had not realized that you could even plagiarize yourself. The extent of what is considered plagiarism and proper citing techniques were quite overwhelming when I first began classes at Brandman. Something I noticed after I learned more about plagiarism was just how often it occurs and people don't realize it. I see plenty of people plagiarize on social media. People use song lyrics or quotes frequently on Facebook and other social media without citing them. I'm sure that most people don't realize they are plagiarising when they do it. Plagiarism on the whole seems like a pretty difficult situation to avoid if people are unaware they are doing it.

Week 5 Empirical research

The effect of social network sites on adolescents' social and academic development: Current theories and controversies-Ahn-2011-Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology - Wiley Online Library.  (n. d.). Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi21540/full  

 I  found the above journal on Google Scholar. I attempted the Brandman Library but to no avail. This article touches on a lot of things that I was hoping to find information on in my research. The article is about the effects of social media on the adolescent. It discusses how it may effect learning, relationships, and development. I had only been focusing on the negative effects of social media without thinking that there are positive effects too. The positive effect I learned about was learning. Although it can have a negative, it offers many positives. We are learning a great deal with social networking just in this course. Look blogging! Social networking. I'm hoping that with further research I can find more positives that social media can offer.

Week Four: Finding Articles

My research topic question is, what are the negative effects of social media on children and adolescents? This week in my research I found an article that brought to my attention some negative effects that I had not thought about. One of these negative effects was obesity. I thought, well probably because spending a lot of time using our devices for social media makes us less active. That is part of the reason, but what this article brought up was because of the increased amounts of advertising being viewed on social media for things such as fast food. The longer we spend time on it, the more advertising we see. Another issue was increased use of tobacco and alcohol for the same reason, exposure to more ads. For alcohol the advertising is everywhere in social media. There's product ads first and foremost. What I had not thought about were the posts of people at parties or out having fun with pictures of drinks in their hands. They are just helping advertise for these companies. I'm glad I chose this as my topic. I'm really hoping it helps prepare me for a career as an MFT, as well as soon having three teenagers!

Week 3: Finding books

The book I chose this week was published by the MacArthur Foundation just a few months ago. The book is titled, Family and Digital Media. I learned a bit more about searching the Leatherby Libraries this week, but still find it a frustrating source to use. As I was researching this week I was reminded of the Google play store on my phone. I searched the play store and found the book I chose this week and downloaded it to my phone. This was after searching Leatherby Libraries and Google and coming up with nothing. A source I was introduced to this week after researching on my own was Google Scholar. I found this through some of my classmates discussion board posts. My research this week lead me to more of a specific area to focus on with my topic. My topic is, negative effects of social media. I realized that this was a broad area and I was able to narrow it down by relating it to kids and adolescents. I hope to learn a lot about what is effecting them about social media, and how. Since I am pursuing a career in marriage and family therapy, I feel this knowledge will be helpful to me. I also will soon have three adolescents on my hands at home and this will also help me in my own parenting. Hopefully I'll be prepared when I get there.

This is my 5th term at Brandman.  I chose psychology as my major,  but criminal justice was a close second. My career goals are to in some way work in both fields. I've always been drawn to a job as a criminal profiler. I haven't quite narrowed down what I want to do.


 The Literary Competency Standards are important in a couple ways. I myself struggle with technology, especially in the school setting. This is all very new to me and sometimes I feel like I can't keep up, so learning how to use technology will be helpful to me. Secondly,  it's important we know the correct use, rules and guidelines for using these types of technology. I know I'm pretty naive when it comes to this area.