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.

Google 101

There are lots of new things I have learned during google 101. I have learned to use ~, + or -, related: that will help to bring more sources. Now, I know that if I use .gov or .edu it will bring me up the government and educational related sources. I have learned that there are tools that help translate languages and we can also search the news from other countries. With the use of "~" we can search the term related to our topics. The image tool where we could upload the photo and search for it was really amazing. I know now how to use scholar sources as well.
This has completely changed my opinion about google and online sources. Now, I know that we can get good sources if we know how to use the various tools during research.We can get many sources or just limit it. Also, it provides variety of sources which can be useful while narrowing down.
Ofcourse, I will mostly use these tools for my school work and researches but I will use it in everyday or real life situations as it has informations for almost everything.

Are Blogs a legitimate forms of Scholarship or News?

I think the blogs depending on the topic, facts and writer credential may or may not be the legitimate forms of scholarship or news. As people from all over the world have access to the blogs the informations and sources are not limited to only one part of the world. Most of the time the writers have very few or basic knowledge or just an opinion about certain topics. But sometimes the academic blogs created by scholars and professionals can be good and factual source of informations.
The blog I found for my research project is http://linguisticsoman.blogspot.com/2011/12/innovative-way-to-save-endangered.html which is I believe a legitimate form of news. In the beginning it starts like any other blog with general informations with little facts but at the end of the blog there is a youtube video that serves as an evident for this blog being legitimate and reliable.

Work cited:
Linguist Omani. (2011, Dec 2). An innovative way to save an endangered language: Possible in Oman?
Retrieved from http://linguisticsoman.blogspot.com/2011/12/innovative-way-to-save-endangered.html

Semester Research Questions

When reviewing the research questions, I could answer the questions 1,2,3,4 and 6 right now with the informations I have gathered so far. But I am still seeking for more informations and sources. For questions 5,7 and 8 I have not yet found the proper resources to address these question so I am currently working on it.

Research Reflection

1. Although, I have very little knowledge about the LGBT population. The one population of this group that interests me in specific is bisexual group.I would like to learn about this group of people over the course of this semester.
2. I assume that bisexual people have romantic or sexual and emotional attraction towards both men and women.
3. I have learned this from movies, internet, books, magazines and from society.
4. I think the most difficult challenge would be to understand what causes them to be bisexual, is it something more emotional, psychological or biological, does hormones play a role in such behaviors, does one can like both male and female at the same time?

Academic Search Premier and a Subject Specific Database

1. While doing a research on my topic I found relevant results on both of the database so I chose to use both the  database for my research.
2. However, PsycINFO gave more relevant results and Academic Search Premier gave more specific results for my topic.
3. I was able to narrow down my results in Academic Search Premier by using ("native  and american"or indian or tribes) and (language or communicate* or oral) and (child* or youth or adolescen*). For PsycINFOR I used the same search string ("native and american" or indian or tribe) and ( language or communicate* or oral) and (child* or youth or adolescen*). I also used advanced search for both database to narrow down my topic but Academic Search Premier gave me more specific results than PsycINFO.
4. My first string worked well and I found good results.
5. The relevant articles I was able to find on Academic Search Premier was 497 and PsycINFO was 6126.
6. On Academic Search Premier there was 247 in full text and there were some with "FindIt" options but I was not sure how to count it and see if it needed required ILL request, on this I needed help for further research. On PsycINFO there was 1100 in full text and almost all of them had "FindIt" option.
7. Since working with database my research has not changed at all because I have found specific topics related to my research.
8. The biggest challenge for me while composing my topic was not being sure of question itself whether it was directed towards the population or other factors and also narrowing down the topic. I think I can overcome those challenges by preparing myself before doing any research questions or strings and asking myself what, why and how? Then, following all the steps that I have learned so far in IM 204 class.

Academic Serach Premier

Academic Search Premier is a very useful site because of the various resources and tools it has for a research. It is very easy to use and functions well. It helps to narrow down the topic by providing multiple key words options. It also gives an opportunity to learn from the researches done by the people with similar interest from around the world.
I have never used Academic Search Premier for any classes before. I am using it for the first time for this IM class and find it really helpful.
I haven't used any other database to do reserach for another class because I don't have to do much of a research work for my other classes.
I do not have any fears about using this database to do research because I find it very easy and convenient to use and has lots of informations for my topic.

Encyclopeida Vs Wikipedia

Encylopedia and Wikipedia are both useful sources of information. Where encylopedia is the literary work which is authoritative and definative, wikipedia is the source of  information contributed to by readers all over the world. However, both these sources have few pros and cons. A pro of using an encylopedia is that it is accurate and reliable because it is created by experts and scholars. A con is that it consumes time and sometimes the information could be out dated. On the other hand, wikipedia is the center of the online encylopedia which makes it quick and easy to access. The informations are more clear and easy to understand. The cons of wikipedia is that there information is accurate on average as anyone can edit it. People with no knowledge or little about the specific topic can write their views which makes the information less reliable. But I think wikipedia is the easier way to find the informations if you know how to use it properly. Most of the time long articles with links are the accurate ones.
I would like to use both encylopedia and wikipedia for my research. By doing so, I can compare the various aspects of both the sources like depth of information, accuracy, related informations, etc.

Research Topic

The topic that I have chosen for my research project during the semester is prisoners with developmental disabilities. As we were to choose the topic that we know little or nothing about, I am looking for a general background information before being more specific about my topic. To search for my book I went to the SCSU homepage and clicked on the library. Then I chose the book and video and searched for prison and disabilities on the search box. I found total of 32 results but when I narrowed my search to books only I got 25 results.Then I wrote down the call number and the location and found a book. I was successful to find a book of my topic on my first try. I did not find any electronic books available on my topic. I would be interested in reading an EBook because I have never read one and also I do have a smart phone that allows me to read an Ebook. I was not quite successful while searching about my topic on Great River Regional Library. I could not find anything related to my topic on my first try so I tried other keywords and I got 0 results. I would prefer using the Miller Center website as it is lot easier and better.

what is critical thinking?

For me critical thinking is all about and much of a independent thinking that is rational, biased, partial and quality of thoughts that we produce and build.
Critical thinking is also seeing things open mindedly and outside of box with many possible answers and thoughts to one question but also requires to accept that answer which could be different than what is originally thought.

What do you assume to be true about ?

The human population I would like to address here is prisoners. I always had a certain assumption that if you commit a crime then you go to jail and you should be freed again when you have changed and become a better person or atleast trying to become one. But I assume the prison system does not works that way.With  the  increase in prison population every year there is also increase in crime rates. So, I don't understand why the prison or legal system is so complicated and why law always provides the prisoners to escape and commit a crime again.
The amount of money that government spends on these inmates could be utilized on better things like health and education. Most of the time the system itself is initiating the crime by providing all these facilities inside the prison. So the question, "is the prison system trying to reduce its population or initiating it?" is contradictory.

About me

Hello !!!! everyone in IM 204 class. I am Sonia Thapa and my major is pre-nursing. I am a sophomore here at St Cloud State. I am from Nepal and been here in United States for almost four years now. As, my blog title states I am very much of a thinker and also like to imagine things alot but I am also aware of the reality and I believe I am a good listener as all my friends say. So, looking forward for an exciting semester and a lot of new friends.

Thanks,