D#15, WP#4 Final Draft

To Professor Rodrigo, and the rest of the English 102 class,

In this class I learned a lot of new aspects of writing. Some of them were refreshers of what I learned in past classes. On the other hand some things were entirely new concepts to me. While in the past I have had to do research for various classes, this is the first time that I have written a research paper of this type. I also think that I have accomplished my goal, and those goals outlined in the course outcomes and will now show where I accomplished each of those.

The First course outcome, “write for specific rhetorical contexts, including circumstance, purpose, topic, audience and writer, as well as the writing's ethical, political, and cultural implications.” In my blog I feel I best show that I have learned this in my deadline nine, homework assignment number six. Where I did an outline of what information will be shown in my writing project number three. I also think that I best demonstrated that I learned this in my writing project number three when I discus suicide. I found good information on both sides of the topic, which was also from reliable sources. I am not sure where I will use this in the future but I am sure that in some job I will have to give reports and my skills have improved here.

The second course outcome, “organize writing to support a central idea through unity, coherence and logical development appropriate to a specific writing context.” On this course outcome I believe I demonstrated it best in my deadline number six, homework assignment number four. All the articles I found for this annotated bibliography were on the topic of suicide that is caused by stress. In my writing project number one I also demonstrate organization when I relayed my research question that I wanted to do my project on. While there was many branches to the one topic they did revolve the around a central idea. As almost everything in life is research I will be able to use this in the future to better organize everything from shopping lists to vacation plans.

The third course outcome, “use appropriate conventions in writing, including consistent voice, tone, diction, grammar, and mechanics.” The best example that I can give of this outcome from my blog is in deadline ten, homework number seven that was a grammar assignment. In this assignment I corrected a paragraph that I had misused some punctuation. In my writing project number two I had to carefully arrange my bibliographies into correct APA format making sure they were grammatically correct. This has never been my strong point in writing and it will continue to be something I have to struggle with in the future.

The fourth course outcomes, “find, evaluate, select, and synthesize both online and print sources that examine a topic from multiple perspectives.” In my various posts that I put in my blog I think the best example of this is deadline number five, homework assignment four. This was particularly hard to do as it was evaluating books that I only had a limited amount of access to, so evaluating them for their usefulness was even more difficult. Even with the limited information that I was able to finish the evaluation and write a good summary of how the source could be helpful. In my writing I again look at my writing project number two as this entire project was an annotated bibliography that demonstrated I was able to find sources and evaluate them, and shows how I could use them in a writing project. This will be one of the most useful new skills I have learned for the future, as I am now better able to use the technologies at hand to find what I need.

The fifth course outcome, “integrate sources through summarizing, paraphrasing, and quotation from sources to develop and support one's own ideas.” In deadline six the class had to work on summarizing and paraphrasing for homework assignments six and seven. I think that I demonstrated well with both assignments that I learned how to appropriately rephrase or summarize the source to use in my paper. Also in writing project three I used direct quotes with the appropriate APA style citations, as well as paraphrasing sources to work in my project. This in another outcome I will continue to struggle with in the future. I need to watch out in any formal writing so I do not plagiaries other peoples work.

The sixth course outcomes, “identify, select and use an appropriate documentation style to maintain academic integrity.” I had a few problems with my bibliographies in the beginning, as almost every guide you look at has different information on exactly how they should look but in my deadline nine homework number four I think I finally got it correct, or at least the best example that I can think of. In my writing project number three I had multiple occasions where I had to cite one source or another, at first I had problems with this but with the help of my peer reviews I think I got them correct in the end. I am not sure where I will ever need to use this skill in the future but it is good to know that I can if need be.

The seventh course outcome, “use feedback obtained through peer review, instructor comments, and/or other sources to revise writing.” This is the part of the class that I thought I would have the most problems with. I know my writing skills are not the greatest, nor are my skills at evaluating others writing. I do on the other hand think I used the information obtained from others as demonstrated in my deadline eleven homework one. I used not only the guidelines set by the assignment but the suggestions of my peers and professor to revise my paper and was much happier with the results. The first peer review was the most helpful for me though in my writing project number one. The suggestions by others helped round out my topic and form it into a more manageable subject. I would be apprehensive of using this in the future because my writing skills are not all that great it is hard to judge if the suggestions are ok to follow or not.

The eight course outcome, “assess one's own writing strengths and identify strategies for improvement through instructor conference, portfolio review, written evaluation, and/or other methods.” This is another area I have problems with, assessing myself, not only in writing but in all aspects. I think with this class that has improved, and with the multiple rewrites on papers it became easier to evaluate myself with each. This shows best in my blog in deadline number ten, homework number four and five where I had to evaluate and correct my own paragraphs. Also in my writing project one I had to assess and review my topic many times before refining it to a narrow enough scope to write on.

The last course outcome, “generate, format, and edit writing using appropriate technologies.” As I said in the beginning of class I am not the biggest fan of these types of things (blogs) but as class went on and I got more used to the writing I did find it got easier to use. I also liked the use of Google documents for a way others can evaluate work, as it was a convenient way to do it so everyone could see what others were doing. Turnitin.com was also a very helpful site as it let us know if we maintained the integrity of our writing, as not to be plagiarizing anyone else’s work.

In conclusion I think I met all the course outcomes and learned something new with every assignment. While it was a little difficult to make some of the deadlines as life got in the way, I always managed to catch up in the end. The writing assignments I submitted through this class show more than anything how much I have learned as I have incorporated almost every lesson into at least one of each of the assignments. Lastly the blog I have created in the progression of the class is what I am most proud of as I put a lot of effort into it and many hours were spent on that site reading others blogs learning from and commenting with my peers.

Shawn Ivanovitch

D#15, WP#3 Final Draft

• I have a tendency to second guess myself, especially when it comes to writing. While I am happy with the final project, I still constantly think what can I go back and change. I guess if there was something I need to work on, judging by this project, is having more confidence in my writing. I will admit the peer review process helped with this a lot but even with that I was happy the instructor also responded and gave some suggestions to better my paper. This is also directly related to course outcome number eight, in that the peer review process did help me assess my own writing.
  

School-time Stress

Stress is something that most people have to cope with on a daily basis, but school seems to add another level of stress that most college students, especially freshmen, have to handle. There are many types of stress that are unique to school, such as bullies and homework. While having to cope with these daily causes of stress some younger college students have to be able to also learn to handle many outside sources, such as work, that many people already out of school have also. Positive ways to manage stress can range from easy techniques, for example breathing exercises, which require minimal effort to extreme techniques, such as moving to a new school, which may be needed to relieve severe stress. Unfortunately, students have dealt with stress in the past with negative to tragic results, like the Virginia Tech or Columbine massacres, that not only hurt the student under stress but others around them. College students and professors alike should learn to recognize the signs of their classmates and colleagues being overstressed because there are many different ways to cope with stress.

According to the American College Health Association they state “stress as the number-one impediment to academic performance” (Abrams, 2007), in their national college health assessment. The main academic cause of stress to college students is the feeling of being overwhelmed due to increased class work (Ross, 1999 p2), this is due to daunting deadlines and more homework than the student thinks they can handle. There is also a helpless feeling associated with the workload the student is under like no matter how hard he or she tries there is no end to the homework. Another cause of stress, partly associated with homework, is sometimes plans have to be changed due to the student may need to meet deadlines leading to a feeling of being alone (University, 2005). Students can also be pressured by a high academic demand; either by themselves or their parents, leading to stress due to getting grades on their work that is below standard. As the school year moves on it can at times seem like there is no end in sight causing more anxiety as it seems the winter or summer break will never arrive (Abrams, 2007). With this though another deadline presents in the form of final exams, with some of these exams being a large part of the final grade a student can achieve in the given class. All of these sources of stress seem to build up and cause increasing frustration, but there are some positive ways to handle this stress.

Being educated in some easy and positive ways to relieve stress should be the goal of most college students. According to Elizabeth Scott M.S., a therapist and life coach who runs stress management workshops, some of them are as simple as taking a power nap, this is also useful because it also improves productivity especially if the student is sleep deprived due to stress. Another method of stress reduction is exercise, as it is a healthy way to calm most people, and easy to work into a busy schedule since riding a stationary bike while studying or something similar is possible. Listening to a music, watching a television program, or reading a book (for enjoyment not school work) are also good ways to cope with the stress and take to help students break tasks into more manageable time frames (Scott, 2007). Another good way to handle the stress of school life is set some priorities and work at a set pace to accomplish tasks in the order of importance. It may sound silly but a good diet also helps manage stress “Pack a nutritious lunch -- don't make breakfast three cups of coffee and two chocolate doo-wahs out of the vending machines -- eat your veggies” (Glesner Fines, 1999), this also improves your over all health. In some more extreme cases of stress when it comes down to a person or place causing the problems it may call for some more drastic solutions, according to Kevin Caruso. Some of these are changing the students schedule as to avoid the cause of stress altogether. Other even more extreme may require the student to change their living arrangement by moving. Finding someone to talk to, such as a friend, family member, or a therapist about what is causing stress is also helpful in some cases (Caruso, 2007). Unfortunately there are also some negative ways students have discovered to handle the stress they are under.

Kevin Caruso also states “Stress isn't inherently bad. It causes you to respond to events, to rise to the challenge, and to better yourself. But too much stress can be catastrophic” (Caruso, 2007). By catastrophic the author is referring to stress leading to suicide. According to Ashley Engar “The second-leading cause of death in college students is suicide (Engar, 2004), this leads many people to believe that the high stress and anxiety causes many college students to attempt suicide. Some people do contest this as directly being related to stress caused by school especially since more college-aged young adults who are not in school commit suicide than those who are in school according to Brown University Psychological Services (Brown, N/A). The reason the number is lower is that school offers a support system for students who are in trouble and they can go to seek help as stated by Stayner Landward (Engar, 2004).

Another negative way to handle stress in recent years has been school violence. These tragic massacres most are prone to point out were just evil acts by evil people and had nothing to do with the stress they were under (Shapiro, 2007). While others point out that if someone would have just taken the time to see the stress these students were under something more could have been done to avoid them (Yang 2007). On the other hand people, such as me, believe it is something more in the middle that causes this, while yes these students were under great stress, is it really enough to cause such a tragic event.

Since no student is effect by stress the same way another student may be it is hard to tell what each person may do under the pressures of school. If college students and their teachers learn to recognize the signs of someone under stress these tragedies could be avoided in the future. Things students should look for in their own live are headaches, feeling over anxious or having problems sleeping. Also things you can look for in others are they being bullied at school and look like they are taking it personally. Do they appear to be alone a lot or looking like they may be lonely (Yang, 2007)? In conclusion if students and teachers alike learn to look for these warning signs or others tragedies like this can be avoided in the future.

Works Cited:

Abrams, M. (2007) Managing stress in school. The Princeton Review. Retrieved July 9, 2007, from <http://www.princetonreview.com/grad/research/articles/life/stress>.

Brown University. (No date given). College suicide: Myths and facts. Brown University Psychological Services. Retrieved July, 20 2007, From <http://www.brown.edu/Student_Services/Psychological_Services/selfhelp/suicide.html>

Caruso, K. (2007). Suicide and stress. Suicide.org. Retrieved July 14, 2007, from <http://www.suicide.org/suicide-and-stress.html>.

Engar, A. (March 26, 2004). Non-Student suicide rates higher than those in college. The Daily Utah Cronicle. Retrieved July 14, 2007, from <http://media.www.dailyutahchronicle.com/media/storage/paper244/news/2004/03/26/News/NonStudent.Suicide.Rates.Higher.Than.Those.In.College-642737.shtml>.

Glasner Fines, B. (1999). Law school and stress. University of Missouri. Retrieved July 9, 2007, from <http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/profiles/glesnerfines/bgf-strs.htm>.

Ross, S. (June 1999). Sources of stress among college students. College Student Journal. Retrieved July 20, 2007, from <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCR/is_2_33/ai_62839434/pg_1>

Scott, E. (June 21, 2007). Top 10 School Stress Relievers for Students. About.com. Retrieved July 9, 2007, from <http://stress.about.com/od/studentstress/tp/school_stress.htm.>

Shapiro, B. (April 25, 2007). Virginia Tech was an act of evil not a “tragedy”. Townhall.com. Retrieved July 23, 2007, from <http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BenShapiro/2007/04/25/virginia_tech_was_an_act_of_evil,_not_a_tragedy>.

University of Cambridge Counciling Services. (Sept. 12, 2005). Reducing the risk of Suicide. University of Cambridge. Retrieved July 14, 2007, from <http://www.counselling.cam.ac.uk/suiciderisk.html>

Yang, B. (2007). A solution for someone like Cho Seung-Hui at Virginia Tech massacre. Health Articles Directory. Retrieved July 15, 2007, from <http://www.know-your-health.com/general-health/a-solution-for-someone-like-cho-seung-hui-at-virginia-tech-massacre.html>.

D#15, WP#2 Final Draft

• With this project again I did leave some room for improvement that unfortunately fell short again due to time constraints. The main change I would have liked to make to this paper would be to give a more even balance to all sides of my research project. I did have some problems finding sources that differed from my views, that towards the end of class I did finally locate what I needed. By doing this it would have helped me achieve the second course outcome of organizing my writing to support a central idea. On the other hand one thing I thought I did well with this project was meet course outcome number four, and did a good job of evaluating and selecting the sources I did chose.
  

Students Under Pressure

I chose to examine the effects of stress on students, and whether this stress leads to suicide or violence. I will also look into causes of stress that most college students are under. I will discus positive ways that college students may chose cope with stress, and also some of the more extreme ways they have dealt with stress. Finally, I will look at some of the negative ways students have dealt with stress in the past, such as suicide, or the recent shooting at Virginia tech, and try to determine if this is purely stress related.

Abrams, M. (2007) Managing stress in school. The Princeton Review. Retrieved July 9, 2007, from http://www.princetonreview.com/grad/research/articles/life/stress.

This article is from the Princeton Review and is about managing stress in schools, while some of the tips were the same as other articles I had found it also had a lot of other good information on more positive ways to deal with stress in every day life. This would fit well in my paper helping to show there are positive ways to handle stress. As the article was written by a therapist on staff at Princeton and has dealt directly with students his view of the topic should be a valuable resource.

Brown University. (No date given). College suicide: Myths and facts. Brown University Psychological Services. Retrieved July, 20 2007, From http://www.brown.edu/Student_Services/Psychological_Services/selfhelp/suicide.html.

In this article Brown University Psychology department has dispelled what they refer to as myths about suicide. In the article they include the one that is my claim that the stresses of school can lead to suicide. It will be a good article to examine for the opposing view. Though no author or publication date is given I believe the article to be reliable due to it was found on the Brown University web site.

Caruso, K. (2007). Suicide and stress. Suicide.org. Retrieved July 14, 2007, from http://www.suicide.org/suicide-and-stress.html

This article talks about some positive if not drastic ways of dealing with stress. It is also a good lesson about how you control your life and not other people. While I do not think the way the author suggests dealing with stress are positive, in some extreme cases maybe it is what some people need to do to avoid something like another Virginia Tech massacre. The author and creator of the site, Kevin Caruso, have also founded other sites just like this. While he is not a therapist he has devoted his time and money to the prevention of suicide.

Engar, A. (March 26, 2004). Non-Student suicide rates higher than those in college. The Daily Utah Cronicle. Retrieved July 14, 2007, from http://media.www.dailyutahchronicle.com/media/storage/paper244/news/2004/03/26/News/NonStudent.Suicide.Rates.Higher.Than.Those.In.College-642737.shtml.

This article talks about how school does cause a lot of stress for young adults. The article also states that the suicide rate is lower than that of young adults not in school due to schools also offer a support system for students. It also points out that, after accidents, suicide is the number two killer of college age young adults. Even though it shows more non-students are more likely to fall to the pressures of life. It will be a very useful source in an argument that school is not the main cause of the stress that young adults are under. While the author of this source is a college student and therefore bias on that side of the argument, she has also interviewed staff members, such as the dean of students, for their perspective on the topic of stress.

Glasner Fines, B. (1999). Law school and stress. University of Missouri. Retrieved July 9, 2007, from http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/profiles/glesnerfines/bgf-strs.htm.

This is not so much an article but it is a speech given by a college professor about stress in law school. While I am not looking specifically at law school in my paper I think some of the key points still apply. Seeing how she is a professor and has direct access to students I think this does give her somewhat an authority on the topic as she can see the results first hand.

Scott, E. (June 21, 2007). Top 10 school stress relievers for students. About.com. Retrieved July 9, 2007, from http://stress.about.com/od/studentstress/tp/school_stress.htm.

This article is from a free newsletter, about.com, about 10 ways students can reduce or relieve stress I think these tips are very handy and something every student should know. Some of the ways to reduce stress are also easy to do and do not take to much time out of every day life making it easy to schedule in to even the busiest persons life. The author of this article, Elizabeth Scott M.S., is a life coach and therapist who has a masters degree in psychology, and has spent several years helping people cope with stress.

Shapiro, B. (April 25, 2007). Virginia Tech was an act of evil not a “tragedy”. Townhall.com. Retrieved July 23, 2007, from http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BenShapiro/2007/04/25/virginia_tech_was_an_act_of_evil,_not_a_tragedy.

This article is on the other side of my topic, it talks about how stress may not have been a factor in the Virginia tech shooting. It also talks about how sometimes an evil act is just that sometimes and there is nothing more to it. The author of this article, Ben Shapiro, does not have any medical degrees but his insights are interesting. He is also a best selling author who has a book about universities in America.

University of Cambridge Counseling Services. (Sept. 12, 2005). Reducing the risk of suicide. University of Cambridge. Retrieved July 14, 2007, from http://www.counselling.cam.ac.uk/suiciderisk.html

This article is more about the signs of students as they may be thinking of suicide and how stress is a factor at times. It is a very good article on how to spot the warning signs of stress not only in yourself, but in the people around you. I think the author wants to show that some of these signs can be very public in the way they present themselves. This is a useful article as it shows that maybe if someone had noticed what those students who caused the massacres were under they could have been avoided. While a specific author is not mentioned for the article it is from the counseling services at a major university.

Waldman, H. (July 2004). What to do if you don't like school. Kids Health. Retrieved July 9, 2007, http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/grow/school_stuff/hate_school.html.

This article I will note is for younger kids but I think the lesson learned is universal. The author talks about what to do if you don't like school. The article also gives some more signs that a student may be under a lot of stress. As I said above it is for younger kids but I think it will be helpful for my paper due to the information provided. The author of this article is an elementary school teacher and while I am not sure if I can use this article or not yet her perspective on the topic is still interesting.

Yang, B. (2007). A solution for someone like Cho Seung-Hui at Virginia Tech massacre. Health Articles Directory. Retrieved July 15, 2007, from http://www.know-your-health.com/general-health/a-solution-for-someone-like-cho-seung-hui-at-virginia-tech-massacre.html.

This article directly discuses some of the reasons the massacre happened may have been the stress that Cho was under. It is also the first article I found giving a direct link between the stress as the cause of violence. The author of this article is an MD who specializing in mind and body so I feel has some authority on the subject matter.

These articles all share a similar topic but all take a very unique view on it. I think after finding the diverse views of these authors it will serve to make my paper more complete in showing all views of the effects of stress. While I would like to still find more information on an opposing view to what I already understand I am happy with the articles I have found.

D#15, WP#1 Final Draft

• In my final copy of WP#1 I was happy with the results, but I still do note some room for improvement. the first thing I would revise if I had it to do over again, I would have chose a topic I had a little more knowledge in. The other major change I would have made for this is I would have planed my time a little better, as I got a late start in class I was playing catchup through most of it. These changes would have helped me achieve the first course outcome better as having more knowledge of the topic would have given me more insight of my audiance and also of the implications of the paper.
  

College Stress Research Proposal

For my research project I have chose to look at what forms of stress college students are under and if this stress is the cause of violence or suicide on college campuses. I will provide the details of my findings while looking at this topic from all sides of the argument. I will also look into the school shooting at Virginia Tech, and try to determine if this tragedy was related to stress. I am interested in this topic as I am now a college student having gone back to school, and I also have children in school.

Therefore the research question I am attempting to answer it. What is the result of stress on students and does it lead to violence? I will look at the recent and past shootings at schools, such as the Virginia Tech massacre or the Columbine shooting, to see if stress was a factor and try to determine if anyone has proven or if it can be proven stress was a factor. Since I feel stress was a factor I will also attempt to find information supporting the opposing view that these tragedies were not related to the stress the students were under.

I think this is a controversial topic because not much is really known about why these tragic events happen in schools. I will attempt to ascertain through my research what view of these tragedies people have formed, and to examine those views to see if a consensus can be made as to a reason for such events.

As a parent I do have experience with this, while not directly related, having to explain situations like these to my children when they happen. I also have experience with the stresses of homework and assignment deadlines on my children. If that was not enough already I have had to deal with my children being bullied at school, and know first hand the stress that brings them in their every day lives. I have also picked my children up from school after lockdowns, situations at school that required them to be locked inside a classroom, due to someone or thing outside being a direct danger to them. In one case with my eldest child it was due to the police chased a man on campus with a gun, all of these cases have stressed them greatly. I am also a student myself, as I have gone back to school, and I also have deadlines to meet. Finally on top of that my normal day to day work it all adds up.

The audience I am trying to reach with this paper is people starting college for the first time. I want to appeal to this audience because I think that it is in the first semesters of college that the reality of the situation sets in. This is the first time in most peoples lives where they are volunteering to go to school, and they have the ability to set their own schedule. It is because of that that people have a tendency to “bite off more than they can chew” or, like me, take more classes than they could handle and get a little overwhelmed by the work involved. What I hope these first time students get from this paper is the ability to recognize when they or their peers may be feeling overwhelmed and get help, or offer a helping hand.

While the class overall has a five week time line I do have to balance my time between homework assignments and the writing project. I plan on doing that by incorporating as much as I can of my paper into my day to day work. I have already started with a strong outline of where I want my paper to go. I will follow this outline and do the needed research step by step. First I will look in to specific causes of stress in college, especially for students starting college for the first time. Second I will examine positive ways to cope with stress in college life. Third I will look into if stress is a direct of college students committing suicide or acts of violence towards their professors and classmates. Finally I will put the information I have gathered together into my finished writing project and hope I receive a good grade for it.

D#14, HW#2, Peer Review Reflection

Oscar reviewed my paper this time around, he pointed out some grammar errors that I made and gave some good suggestions on how I can improve my paper. While I looked through others papers I did notice some places I could improve on my cover letter. For example I did not really touch on where I could use these skills in the future. Also I should consider putting the course outcome in quotes if I plan on using the exact text in my writing.