Assignment 8

The magazine article:

Ashburn, E. (2007, Sept 28). A Race to Rescue Native Tongues. The Chronicle. 54(5), B15.

The journal article:

Marjane, A. (2000). Honoring Native Languages, Defeating the Shame. 11, 3(8)
Retrieved from Academic Search Premier.

Both the articles are very informative and provides facts about native language and extinction. They both provide evidence and support with data.
The difference however was on writing and details. The magazine article was not very professional like scholarly journal article. There were lots of advertisement on the magazine article and the information provided were more general than in depth. The magazine article was easy to read and used simple terms in compare to the journal article.

Assignment 5

After reading a bit about my population, some of my assumption has changed and some are same. Now, I know that all the Sioux Native American do not live in Minnesota. They also live in South and North Dakota, Wisconsin and Nebraska. They are also not the largest tribe in Minnesota. After reading,  I am more aware of the problems these population face in the mainstream society and the struggle they are doing to save their culture, language and tradition.

The question  that I have about this population is, what is the main challenge for this population in order to save their culture and language in today's society.

I have found a lot of good information and facts to support my research project. I have located some good news article and journal article to help in my further research but have not yet found a good book regarding my research. So I 'll keep on looking for more resources.

Statistical Information

I found two resources about my topic that gave some statistical informations. I found a government document that reported 96% of tribal community or school district are interested in enhancing or expanding its current Dakota or Ojibwe language program while 4% are not. 62% said to teach basic Dakota language is the goal of their  program whereas 38% said the goal is to create speakers of the Dakota language. The study was conducted by Indian Affairs Council of State of Minnesota. The study has been done to revitalize the Dakota and Ojibwe language in Minnesota.

Indian Affairs Council. (2011, Feb 15). Dakota and Ojibwe Language Revitalization in Minnesota (Chapter 172-H. F. 1231, Article 4, Sec 9) Minnesota: U.S. Government Printinf Office.

http://www.indianaffairs.state.mn.us/documents/2011%20Dakota%20and%20Ojibwe%20Language%20Report%20to%20the%20Legislature-final.pdf

The sholarly journal article document that I found also addressed the same issue of revitalizing the laguage and the effecting teaching strategies. This was a survey done in different tribal schools and other public schools.

Sorknes, H., & Kelting-Gibson, L.. (2007). EFFECTIVE TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR ENGAGING NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENTS. Journal of Intercultural Disciplines, 7, 108-122.  Retrieved April 24, 2012, from Ethnic NewsWatch (ENW).

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&sid=1&srchmode=2&vinst=PROD&fmt=6&startpage=-1&clientid=32215&vname=PQD&RQT=309&did=1637930591&scaling=FULL&ts=1335296144&vtype=PQD&rqt=309&TS=1335296149&clientId=32215

Intellectual Property

I have never heard of intellecutal property before. But if I had to guess I would say it has something to do with own's property that one creates but not sure what type of property it exactly refers to.
But according to WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), Intellectual Property (IP) refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works and symbols, names, images and designs used in commerce. From the definition itself I can say that it is not limited to just one definition and category but is very tangible. 
The examples of intellectual property from academic and or everyday life can be trademarks, copyrights including novels, poems, films, art work, etc.
The concept of intellectual property can change when it can be manipulated by not giving credits to the original creator and when the original work are violated by editing or adding own thoughts.

Urvashi Vaid Presentation

My expectations prior to attending the Urvashi Vaid presentation was that there will be lots of information about the gay marriage and struggle. I was also looking forward to know the problems LGBT people face most in terms of marriage. I was not quite sure about what to expect though I had little knowledge about the topic from the email.
The information was presented in both speech and  conversational manner. There were lots of examples from real life, stories, experiences, facts from her books, laws, etc. Some of the informations I heard were new and different from what I have believed in the past. One concerned she made which I never thought was that after the marriage law is achieved what is left for the LGBT activist?
The one thing I learned was that out of 50 states only 6 states are now leagalized in gay marriage. I was not sure about the exact number.
Yes the personal, professional and academic background made the speaker an authority on the topic becasue Urvashi Vaid is an attorney who has been a leader in the LGBT movements. She is also an author many books regarding LGBT rights and movements and is a LGBT activist for almost three decades now.
One thing I can take away from from this presentation is that there are lots of struggles and issues LGBT community faces besides marriage. There are other factors like race, culture, gender, etc that are important but often missed while addressing the problems and solutions.

Original Research

I have never done any kind of original research before. As based upon my own experience, I believe the library research and original research are totally different from each other on various aspects. Library research is doing research or gathering knowledge about certain topics that has been done by someone else whereas, original research is something based upon the ideas, knowledge, issues, research, etc that is done by oneself. Library research supports or guides original research in a way that it stores and provides the vast resources and informations to the people seeking knowledge about certain topics. It gives an idea and guides the person on knowing the subject matter deeply, the issues that are being addressed, datas and facts, etc. The pros of library research could be that it provides various options to choose from and they are easily accessible by everyone. The con is that the informations may be outdated and are always not available. The pros of original research could be that it is more accurate and qualitative as various steps are followed to perform it like survey, interviews, etc. The con is that it takes more time to complete and has to maintain the standard.Critical thinking skills that are involved in both types of research are reasoning, interpretation, evaluation, analysis, context and reflection. The most important critical thinking skill for library research among all is interpretation and evaluation. As we are researching for the topics that are originally researched by someone else, it is very important to know what they are trying to say and understand it.Also when we do the library research we have various resources to choose from so we should be able to evaluate and choose the right one. For the original research I think the most important critical thinking skill is reasoning, analysis and reflection. When a person is doing the original research they should be able to provide a good reasoning to what, why, how and whom? Also, they should be able to anaylze their own work and ideas and finally it should have their reflection.

Checking In

The successs that I am having with my semester research project is that I was able to find good sources and able to answer almost all the questions besides the few that I am working on. Besides that all the new things that I learn and the techniques are going to be useful for future research.
Challenging part has been finding a good sources and to make a power point. I still have to put all my work together in a power point and make it presentable.