Reseach Journal Entry #7- University 106

This is the link to my Wikipedia post:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_cancer#Epidemiology_and_etiology

18. ^ Braddock, Suzanne W., Jane M. Kercher, John J. Edney, and Melanie M. Clark. Straight talk about breast cancer from diagnosis to recovery: a guide for the whole family. Omaha, Neb: Addicus Books, 1994.

When I first read this assignment I thought it would be super easy. I had an idea of what type of information I could add to the Wikipedia site but once I got looking—it wasn’t so easy. The argumentative essay I am writing is about breast cancer and focusing mainly on the BRCA genes found in women. If the woman has the BRCA2 gene, she is 86% more likely to develop breast cancer in her lifetime, than a woman who doesn’t have the gene. The point I am arguing is whether or not to have the genetic testing done, and what testing positive for the BRCA gene means to the woman. I searched for articles through the Academic Search Premier Database. I found a lot of great articles but couldn’t seem to pinpoint one that I felt would add substance to the Wikipedia site. I had several books from the library that I used for my last paper so I decided to take a gander at the table of contents. Bingo! I found a few small sections about the BRCA genes. I felt as though the statistical information would give the site, which was about breast cancer in general, more data about the BRCA genes.

On the technical side of things, adding a citation to Wikipedia was really easy and virtually painless. However, as I had mentioned before, pinpointing which information was slightly more difficult. The reason I felt it was tricky was because initially I wanted to add to the BRCA gene page. There was so much detailed information, and the other articles I thought would help—would only have been redundant. I was stumped for a little bit, and caught myself not thinking outside the box! I stepped away from my computer and thought about all the ways that one would seek information about the BRCA genes. That’s when it struck me that I could add to the general breast cancer page! The help pages were very thorough, made the process of adding the citation very simple. I honestly never knew that I would be just that easy.

As far as comparing the differences in citing sources in Wikipedia or in an essay, it was somewhat similar but the challenge arose with something that would add high value to the Wikipedia site seemed to be a bit more challenging to me. Perhaps it’s because I have never edited a Wikipedia page before, but it just felt a little foreign to me. I also felt this overwhelming responsibility to add something that people will actually find interesting. When writing an essay, you form the idea about what the focus will be and go from there, so all your sources added together create the whole informative picture. With the Wikipedia site, I felt like I had to have a hard hitting bit of information. This assignment helped me to see how important citing sources are, and also helped me to understand exactly how Wikipedia works.

Research Journal Entry #6- University 106

In the essay I just cited, I found it fairly easy to cite my sources. Last semester was a completely different story though. I have been out of school for ten years, and honestly don’t really ever remember having to cite anything in my high school English class. We were also never required to write a term paper either, which I find extremely unusual now, but that is beside the point. For some reason, working on this most recent paper and citing sources seemed to come naturally to me. Perhaps because I learned last semester or maybe it was because I changed my strategy this time around. Last semester I had a difficult time meshing my sources with the other information in the essay. I felt as though I was trying to force a square peg through a circle shaped opening! I believe the main difference for this essay was how I determined the information that would be a part of my essay.

In the early stages of writing my essay, I went to the library, and found several books that seemed like they might have some valuable information in them. I scanned over them at the library, and decided that five of them would come home with me. As I made the outline for my paper, I knew the main points I would like to focus on and from that, sought out that specific information. Compared to last semester when I went to the library, found books, found information and made that the basis of the paragraph and filled in around it. This time I already had the points I would like to have stronger supporting information, and found the pertinent information. Once I had those several sources, I wrote my paper according to my outline and then sifted through my sources, adding them in where I felt they best belonged. After I was finished with this essay, I went back and read the essay from last semester. What a world of difference this made! The paper this semester seemed to flow so much better and the sources I used had much more relevance to the paper.

The reason it is so important to cite sources in your paper, is because you have information that may be scientific or someone else’s point of view. When you cite those sources, it shows that you have reached out and done a thorough job in your research. I believe it adds validity to your paper that you otherwise wouldn’t have without citing sources. It is required to cite sources for academic papers so you have an authoritative paper and also so you don’t plagiarize by using someone else’s words or ideas without giving them credit.

Research Journal Entry 5- University 106

The reference resource that I decided upon was under the “Acronyms & Abbreviations”. Once I navigated to that page, I went on to the page where there were three acronym searching sites. They were Abbreviations and Acronyms of the U.S. Government, All that JAS (Journal Abbreviation Sources) and Acronym Finder. I decided to focus on the Acronym Finder. The type of information on this site is a resource that helps to find the definitions of over 750,000 acronyms, abbreviations or initialism. It also has the search option to find over 850,000 US and Canadian postal codes. Once you input an acronym you need defined, it pulls up all the possible results. There is also an option to filter the returned results into categories like; Information Technology, Military & Government, Science & Medicine, Organizations & School Etc, Business & Finance, Slang, Chat & Pop Culture or all definitions. The search tool also has the option to input a word, and then it will give a list of abbreviations. The results are all links that upon selecting them, it defines the word. Along the left side of the results has a ranking system. At the top of the page, where you input the word or acronym, there is an option to select “abbreviation”, “word in meaning” or “location”.

I used a couple of different strategies to learn more about some breast cancer acronyms. In some of my research I kept seeing a particular acronym- DCIS. I had looked it up at one point but it didn’t give the definition, it only defined the acronym. Another strategy was to input the general term of “breast cancer”. When I saw some of the acronyms it jogged my memory and I searched more terms I had come across, that I had found early in my research. Many of the acronyms looked familiar but searching it helped me to find, and define some of the terms I was unsure of. I believe that it will help to enhance my research projects.

This search resource will be helpful in many ways. Using this resource in my ethnography will give my paper a rich and authoritative stance. Know and utilizing the discourse within my community really helped me when I interviewed the breast cancer survivors. I was able to focus on what they were discussing during their support groups rather than wondering what in the world they were talking about. I could fully understand their acronym, even when they were using acronyms. There are so many acronyms in medical terminology, and to know the abbreviations or acronyms mean that I can dig deep into the community.

The entire reference resource page contains so much information! I’m excited to use this in upcoming projects in other classes.