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.