RR#4

          The author, Barbara Ehrenreich, does a research about whether single mothers that are living in America right now can survive solely on what they make in their minimum wage jobs.  Because of the Welfare reform going on, she decides to survive on minimum wage in three different cities in America.  First she lives in Key West where she works at two different restaurants and a housekeeper at the same time.  She lives in a trailer and an efficiency, and there learns that there are hidden costs to being poor.  She learns that if you can't afford a security deposit for an apartment, then you will have to live in a hotel which is very costly.  She also learns that if you have only one room, you can't save money on cheap or healthier foods.  If you have no health insurance, health bills can be very costly and significant.  
          The next town that she moves to is in Maine because it has an almost all white minimum wage work force.  She works at a nursing home on the weekends and also works for a cleaning service during the week while she was living in a cottage.  In Maine, she learns that almost nobody is willing to give assistance to the poor no matter how much she tries, rude people give her no help and ignore her.
          The last place that Ehrenreich moves to is in Minnesota where she believes that the rent and wages will be better there.  She decides to work at Wal-Mart while living in Minnesota.  Housing is extremely hard to find and she eventually moves into a hotel, but that is also super hard for her budget, but the safest place for her to live.  She applies to several stores and learns how long and hard it is as well as the worries of drug testing and application process.
          My reaction to the book is that it really is crazy to see how bad some people live life and how hard it is to get a job and be able to take care of a family.  It is even harder for single mothers because some jobs are more sexist and won't hire some women.  It gives me a real look into how hard life is for the less fortunate and that I really want to finish college and schooling so that I can get a good job.

RR#3

     The reading for the reading response #3 was over chapter four and five.  Chapter four was mostly about finding resources through secondary research.  We look at conducting research and looking for the different information that you need to find as well as finding resources and where you should find reliable resources at.  It also gives you the three types of resources, which are static, syndicated, and dynamic resources.  Static is like books, web sites, and audio and video files.  Syndicated resources are periodicals, podcasts, and blogs.  Dynamic resources are email lists, social networks, and other online communities.  Last of all chapter four talks about developing a research plan.  Chapter five focuses more on conducting primary research.  Primary research is research you receive from observations, interviews, and surveys where you mostly collect information to find out your answer to your research.  Chapter five also talks about the ethical considerations and the interpretation of data when collecting your research.
     The reading really helped me to see what primary and secondary research were and what they focused on.  I learned a little about it in English 103, but we did not focus on it much or really get into it.  The reading showed me how to perform primary research and the different ways of conducting interviews, observations, and surveys.  This will help with the research I use for my immersion learning project and finding information for my project.  The reading will also help me to find reliable resources that are believable and very true.

Extra #1

I thought class was very interesting today. I enjoyed hearing about everyone's topics and some that were very interesting.  The video we watched also really got to me and I thought about how hard it would be to actually be in a wheel chair for thirty days.  I mean Ray Crockett was a beast at football when he played and i thought it would be so easy for him to be able to make it the thirty days without any problems.  It was really cool to see how some of those people have gone through so much pain yet most of them are more happy with their lives then those that don't have any disabilities.  I know personally that I don't think that I would be able to make it a month in a wheelchair and not being able to do all the things that I am so used to.  I feel like I would just be in everyone's way and that I wouldn't get to be as independent.  Overall I thought the video was great and it really showed me that people with disabilities are just the same as everyone else.

RR#2

       Chapter two focuses on research and the writing process.  It talks about the different types of writing processes like invention, researching, editing, publishing, and proofreading are a few. It also describes different types of research processes like identifying your topic, assessing what you know, locate and documenting resources, analyzing resources, and presenting the answer to your research.  It also gives disciplinary approaches to your research.  Chapter three focuses mainly on identifying a topic for your research paper.  It talks about analyzing the writing situation, exploring different types of topics that you can choose from, and other ideas with topic finding.  It also talks about the starting of a research proposal and the features and some examples of research proposals.

      After reading the chapter two and three from Wadsworth, I got a better feeling of what the research process would like like in English 104.  The reading helps me to really understand how the research process should go and that it is not just a straight line of lists to do.  I usually just do a set list for research but this helped me to realize that there are many different ways and that it will help me to better my research.  It also helped me to really find a way to pick a topic and not think about what topic I might want or worry about it for too long.

Post #1 1/11/11

    A time that I really got into and enjoyed doing some research was when I was looking into what kind of job I wanted for my future.  I was looking at both athletic trainer and physical therapist as possible job opportunities.  I enjoy sports and also enjoy helping people, so it was a tough decision to choose which one I really wanted to do.  I researched the pros and cons of both jobs and realized that they both would be something that I would enjoy doing.  The jobs are very similar, but athletic trainers work with athletes only, while physical therapists work with anyone who has been seriously injured.  Physical Therapists also can start their own practices and the future outlook for them is very high because of the Baby Boomer Era getting older and many of them will need therapy for different things.  PT's also make about twice as much as most athletic trainers make and have a wider variety of jobs available.  The reason that this research was so interesting to me is because it gave me a look at a couple of jobs that I'm very interest in.  I also learned new information about the two job prospects that I was interested in and found out which job i prefer over the other.