Beckett's American Literature Blog

  Prompt: What challenges did your group face while selecting and analyzing sources, and how did you overcome them? Be specific about how your group communicated and worked through disagreements. Prompt Response:  The most challenging part of choosing our sources was definitely deciding how we would evaluate each of them. We found it difficult to actually measure how good a source was compared to the others, which is why we did the more easy source types first (image and data). We got through this by going back to our topic and seeing how much relatable information within a source resonated with it. Summary: I did not have American Lit today due to the weird schedule. Reflection:  I think that working with other can be challenging at times as everyone thinks in their own unique ways. However, I think that by pushing through this is a great way to better understand those around you as well as how people are in general.

  Prompt:  Reflect on your research topic and identify the most compelling issue connected to it. Clearly explain what the issue is and discuss why you find it particularly interesting or important. Support your response with specific details from your research. Prompt Response:  The most compelling issue attached to my topic to me is the effects of social media on the mental health of young people. It explores how social media can create feelings of isolation for teens as well as ruin their sense of self. This is important as so many young children use social media nowadays, and if it has all of these extremely negative effects we should at least know how to mitigate them. For examples, studies show that users of Instagram have reportedly higher rates of both depression and anxiety, which also lead to increased instances of suicidal ideation. Summary: Today in class we continued to work on our research project. Reflection:  I feel that we got a sizable amount of our...

Prompt: How has completing the annotated bibliography changed or clarified your understanding of your research topic? Discuss how your sources connect to one another and how they are shaping your argument moving forward. Prompt Response:  I think that by completing the bibliography has allowed me to understand my research topic more, as I had to do more than just briefly skim the document to know exactly what it was saying. Most of my sources are for the argument that social media and or technology is bad for the youth, while the minority of them say that not enough (valid) research has been done to prove it. This is giving me ideas of how to structure my paper, as I can implement counterarguments and rebuttals to further the point I'm trying to get across. Summary: Today in class we finished our annotated bibliographies. Reflection:  I found the process of creating the bibliography to be tedious, but at the same time I understand why it was necessary. Hopefully when I have to...

  Prompt: Which part of the annotated bibliography (summary, reflection, or evaluation) was the most challenging for you, and why? Explain how that challenge helped you grow as a researcher and how it will help you when writing your research paper. Prompt Response:  I'd say the most challenging part of the annotated bibliography was the summary, as it's hard to encapsulate a very large source within three sentences. This challenge helped me grow as a researcher in the way that it got me into a rhythm of sorts, allowing me to be a more efficient writer. This will help me write my research paper much faster, which will be quite useful. Summary:  Today in class we started our annotated bibliographies. Reflection:  I got five of my ten sources completed in class today. I found it to be challenging at first as sometimes I couldn't find the right words to write my summaries.

Prompt: As you gathered sources, you were expected to find multiple perspectives on your topic. What differences did you notice between your sources? Explain how these differences helped you better understand the complexity of your issue. Prompt Response:  My issue of personal technology, social media, AI, and teen mental health had two main sides. The first was that social media and AI had a plethora of consequences that left teens addicted and depressed. The second was that social media provided an outlet for social connection and a space where like minds could come together. These two differences allowed me to realize that technology in and of itself always has positives and negatives that cannot be separated from one another. Summary: Today in class we continued working on our research sources. Reflection:  I got quite a lot done today in class having finished all of my sources. To be honest it was much easier than I thought it was going to be...  

Prompt: Think about your experience using GALILEO to find sources. How was this different from how you have searched for information in the past? Explain how using specific search strategies and evaluating sources impacted the quality of what you found. Prompt Response: Using Galileo to find sources is not very different from how I used to find sources. This is due to the fact that I find it equally difficult to find a good source that is specific enough for my research. However, I will say that Galileo offers more high quality sources than those found on Google. Using search strategies, like using key words, and evaluating my sources allowed me to specify exactly what I wanted to find, which was quite useful. Summary: Today in class we started looking for our sources and posting them in a Google drive. Reflection:  I think that researching like this is definitely more reliable but less easy and convenient when compared to Google. If quality information was not only available to ev...