Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a crime.  It is the stealing of someone else's words and making them your own.  The reason this is wrong is because if it were legal, then we would have a society that used the words nothing but the words of other people in their speeches and papers.  The concept of originality and creativity would be almost non-existent.  I'll be honest here, if plagiarism were allowed, I probably wouldn't write half of my papers.  I would do a lot of copy and pasting.  Because this is a crime, it causes people to expand their thinking skills and rephrase citations in ways to make them their own.

TIME magazine cover freewrite

I chose to write about the cover of the polar bear standing on the little bit of ice that is left.  It appeals to all people because it makes you feel sad for the polar bear.  With all the ice melting, he will have no where to live and will die.  I feel this is a good cover to get across the point of global warming because it makes you want to stop and do something about it.  Inside the magazine, there are a bunch of articles on global warming and how we people can help prevent it.  

Source template and Searches

For my research assignment, there are many different ways I will find sources and the information I want for my paper.  In order to keep track of the info I use from other sources,  these are some of the things I will make note of:

-The title of the article/book

-The author - if it's published by a specific person/persons or if it's company-run

-The date it was published for bibliography purposes

-The publisher

-Summary of the article so when looking back at notes, I'll know exactly which article is which and where I found what

-any quotes that would help back up my research well

-URL for web searches

WEB SEARCHES

Alex Johnson –author

Title – “Debate on lower drinking age Bubbling up”

Date – August 14, 2007

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20249460/

“Over the strong objection of federal safety officials, a quiet movement to lower the legal drinking age to 18 is taking root as advocates argue that teenagers who are allowed to vote and fight for their country should also be able to enjoy a beer or two.”

 

LIBRARY CATALOGUES

Title – “The effects of raising and lowering the minimum legal drinking age in Virginia, March 1984”

Author – Cheryl Lynn

Published - Charlottesville, Va. : The Council, [1984]

Date – 1984

URL - http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v3=1&ti=1,1&SEQ=20090212102521&Search%5FArg=Drinking%20age&Search%5FCode=GKEY%5E%2A&CNT=100&PID=T6n8nOlXsX7nUPkR67FHkP1-OWgAF7&SID=3

DK pg 35 questions, EIV pg 96 freewrite

Questions of Fact

Who is affected by lowering the drinking age?

Questions of Definition

What does lowering the drinking age really mean?

What are the pros and cons of lowering the drinking age?

Questions of Interpretation

Is lowering the drinking age really a good idea?

Questions of Consequence

What caused this topic to arouse?

What are the effects of lowering the drinking age?

Questions of Value

Is what is at stake worth making the change?

What audience will value the matter of changing the drinking age?

What do other people say about lowering the drinking age?

Questions of Policy

Do all other rules still apply as before if we change the drinking age?

Will there be other laws to come into play if and when we make this change?

Freewrite

My topic for this research paper is lowering the drinking age to 18.  The reason I chose this topic is because it is a very controversial topic and can be viewed in many different ways.  Some people feel really strongly

 about lowering it while others feel really strongly about not lowering it.  Then there are the ones who just don't care.  My thesis statement will be the drinking should be lowered from age 21 to age 18.

For my research, I will definitely use the internet a lot.  The internet contains facts about the subject as well as opinions of people.  It also contains debates on the subject which will be very helpful to use in my paper.  I also plan on using people in general for my research.  I will probably conduct somewhat of a survey to see what most people seem to prefer.  I will probably look up books on the subject and get sources from there or magazine and journal articles as well.

Because I believe that the drinking age should be lowered for many reasons, I may encounter many problems in dealing with people and opinions who don't think it should be lowered.  I need to make sure I have enough research to back up my stance on the topic so that I am ready to debate well on it.

Audience, purpose, context, and google! (pg 27 DK)

Audience:  My audience may care about this topic because it is a very controversial topic as well as a touchy subject to many people.  Normally it pertains to the teenagers and adults right under the age of 21 who feel strongly about lowering the drinking age to 18.  It also pertains to those who feel strongly against this idea (normally the older folks).

Purpose:  I believe I will learn a lot from this topic.  Drinking age is a huge deal to a lot of people in the United States and much can be learned about the debatable topic and the pros and cons that can come from it.  I think that this is a very interesting topic and will interest a large audience.

Context:  This topic is definitely rich enough to write a good, full paper about.  It can be viewed from many different angles and aspects.  Right now, as everyone knows, the drinking age is 21.  But there have been many bills on lowering the drinking age that were never passed.

Google:  Under the Google search, there is a lot of information on the topic as well as a lot of interest.  There are many debates on the issue.  The different webpages I visited suggested other related topics such as lowering it even more so than to age 18.  Or raising it higher than the age it is now...21.  There are many different views on the subject.

Research paper topic

I plan on writing my next research paper on lowering the drinking age.  The reason I choose to write about this topic is because I am very interested in it and I know it is very controversial and can be viewed from many different sides.  I can argue my position on this topic well.  I will be able to find enough research on this topic for like I said, it is very controversial and a touchy subject to many people.  This sort of research does appeal to me because I find it very interesting and love debatable subjects.  I personally believe that the drinking age should be lowered because I don't see how it is right for men (and women), especially back in the day when there was the draft, to be able to be drafted, and nowadays to volunteer to join the military where they can potentially lose their lives.  Yet they cannot have a sip of alcohol.  That doesn't seem right to me.  I have many more points to include about why the drinking age should be lowered as well.