Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, who deserves the best grade of them all?

Dear Dr. O’Rourke,

When I first entered this class I saw it as a basic English course that I needed to get out of the way so I could continue on to my higher level courses. It being a Gen. Ed. didn’t motivate me much either, as everyone on the campus would be taking it sooner or later. All in all, I honestly wasn’t expecting much. However, dear old English 106 proved me wrong. What you expected from us was high level work, and I was completely lost at first, having only written prompts to novels my entire senior year of high school. So being asked to write an academic paper that didn’t rely on just a single book made my head spin a bit.
My portfolio reveals my understanding of being able to compile a large amount of information into a single, well synthesized essay. I’ve noticed that my grammar has gotten better as well as my ability to summarize, thanks to the annotated bibliography. I think overall my portfolio reflects what I wanted to write. I admit that it isn’t my style as much as I wish it would be, but being a research paper leaves very little room for passive voice.
I chose this topic because I myself am interested in going into journalism as a minor. What better way to prepare for a field of knowledge than to research all of the little bits and pieces that go in it? Ever since I heard about anonymous sources I’ve always been curious about why they were used. Why couldn’t the people just say their name and be done with it? I learned a lot though from working on my topic of anonymous sources. Going into the paper, I believed that anonymous sourcing shouldn’t be used at all in any circumstance. I didn’t see any benefits from it, just people who were too scared to allow their name to be used. If that was the case, then the person shouldn’t have volunteered information in the first place! Now though, I’ve come to understand why people prefer to remain anonymous. It’s not just a matter of being scared; it could physically threaten them, they could lose respect, lose their job… all for trying to share something with the public. In that sense, their idea of hiding shouldn’t be seen as cowardly, but as courageous for even daring to put forth information at all.
There are so many little facets that I’ve worked hard on for this portfolio. Tracking down valid sources of information for my topic took quite some time, since many articles on the subject wouldn’t be considered scholarly. By that, meaning most of the articles I found were from editors of newspapers reflecting on the use of anonymous sourcing.

Revision Time... Or is it Finish Time?

For my conference I need to do the following on my draft:

1. Finish it xDD

2. Incorportate my own thoughts at the end and write conclusion.

3. Double check quotations and make sure they're cited accurately

Ai yi yi yi yi @.@

What exactly should I write? Well, I guess I should explain what I’m doing this for. I’m in English 106 and doing this as a pre-exercise to writing the paper for stress. Stress, funny topic. I just wrote an entire article complete with an interview from a clinical psychologist for the newspaper. That was stressful. I thought I’d never finish since I’ve got so much to do. I managed to knock some things off y list, but I’ve still got so much! I have to send off the letter for English 230, but to do that I need to go find a stamp. I need to work on my English paper for 106 and study insanely hard for my psych final. I’m on the A-B borderline and I really need that A. D: He said it would all be based off of my final and the term paper; I’m really hoping he likes my paper =p I also need to contact Christy for yearbook stuff and then make up some little phrases for the different academic sections. I have two so far, and art is almost there but I’m having trouble finding another word for memories.

Just tack on all of the babysitting I’m doing for my aunt and uncle and all the driving, plus working on my fanfics (which I honestly haven’t touched in months), trying to go to the gym and then finding time for myself. D: And Dr. Amy said finding time for yourself was very important. And I’ve been finding some time; watching animes and taking little cat naps, but I feel like I’m being buried under a pile of never ending work.

And then today at my job I wasted nearly forty minutes making letters to spell out “Happy Holidays from the Niebuhr Center” because the letters were too ‘blurry’. Whatever. I think they were fine, and at least they were pretty compared to the nasty word art stuff I have to use when I go to work after this.

I’m also really tired right now and I’m not sure why. Tracy gave me two pixie sticks so I should be bouncing around, but I feel like I’m going to fall asleep at any moment. You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to keep my eyes open during psych. It just seemed to go on an on. I was hoping class would be cancelled again, but Dr. Ackles got better so we had sadly had class. It was a bit much to home for two classes in a row cancelled thought, ne?

I bought some chocolate a minute ago to help with a fundraiser. It’s almond ^.^ But it’s really, really small for paying a whole dollar. I think they’re trying to have them sell more so they get more money, but the customer is being cheated. At least it tastes really good. On the subject of food, there was some orange and apple juice plus bagels and stuff at Niebuhr this morning but I couldn’t eat it since it was for some stupid presentation. They were taunting me, leaving it out on the table and then no one came. So I hope there’s still some there because I really want it when I go to work in about an hour. The caf was out of Naked Juice so I couldn’t even buy that as a replacement, although it’s reallllly expensive. You’d think they could cut down on the prices a bit since we’re all broke college students, but no.

And I have to take Sam to her choir practice tonight. I don’t know if that involves brining Jacob with me. I hope not, but I think it does. He better behave in the car tonight. And I hope he just wants to watch a movie because I have a lot of homework to do and I can’t watch him all night long. At least Sam will be with me when we feed him dinner. I just wish they didn’t rely on me so much. They’re screwed when I get a dorm next semester. Who’ll watch Jacob then?

I think I’m about done ranting. I’m too tired to rant. I wonder how many words this is. I hope I hit about 300 =p It’s probably more since I think I’m pretty far down the page, but I dun no. Oh, and on gaia I’m holding an auction and no one has bid yet D: Do I have bad luck or is the art just not that great? I dunno, I seem to just never do well with auctions whether they be joint or solo. But I really would like some gold <3 It’d make me very, very happy ^.^

I want more chocolate now xD

Thessssissss and ssssummary on anonymousssss ssssourcessss

Introduction: The introduction will open up with brief reports of stories in which the use of anonymous sources has been used for either good or bad. (Deep Throat, Guantanamo Bay, Valerie Plame, etc.). Following that will be the thesis, as written below.

Thesis: Anonymous sources have always been a constant thorn in the side of journalism as people argue for and against the use of them in media. Based on compiled research it has come to attention that if used carefully and backed up by reliable, named sources, there is no reason why an anonymous source cannot be used, since without them many news stories would never be heard.


Body: The first part of the body will examine the sources that are for the use of anonymous sources. I will touch on the guidelines of how an anonymous source should be used, the impact of what happens when anonymous sources are banned and the trouble they present for the media, and the terminology of ‘background’ that journalists use and the different levels. Also mentioned will be more in depth information on the cases from the introduction, and why they matter in terms of the go ahead for anonymous sources.

In order to keep with the base law of journalism, to show objectivity, I will then demonstrate the other side of the argument against anonymous sources. The information I’ll show will be the statistics of how the public perceives the use of anonymity and how they dislike it, the distrust felt by the use of the anonymous sources, and all of the cases in which anonymity has harmed or hurt someone or something in a way because of the information provided (generally incorrect).

To finish off the body of the paper, I will explain why this matters for the communication and journalism majors, expanding upon the guidelines used in the first part of they body for the set up of anonymous sources. I’ll give my own opinions on the reasons why I think anonymous sources should be used, so long as they are careful about it, and my connection with the topic.

Conclusion: I’ll state the thesis again and then wrap up the paper with a brief summary of the main points of keeping anonymous sources in the mass media. I’ll leave it on the idea of how many cases would not have been solved without the aid of anonymous sources and point out the fact that as long as they (the future journalists) are careful and cautious, they too could write a story that could help many people with the aid of anonymous sources.

Peer Evaluations

The feedback I got was really good, since it said that all of my stuff was right on the mark =p.

The two things I will keep an eye on and fix according to the reviews is run through some of my grammar and check for run-ons and explain the significance in all of the paragraphs, not just a few of them ^.^

Off to see the world....

The main research question that is directing this paper is: What is the current thinking of journalists on the topic of anonymous sources being used in the media? The purpose of this paper is to provide undergraduate students specializing in Communications (as in journalism and news writing) information on how exactly anonymous sources are viewed in the mass media by others like themselves and the main population. Often times it is shown that anonymous sources are useful; that’s why they were invented in the first place after all. However, according to several editors and news writers, anonymous sources aren’t so useful because they tend to expose incorrect information and act as a shield to hide behind.

Throughout the articles I have thus far read, the points made are in controversy with one another with each side arguing for or against anonymous sources. I will cover both sides in my paper to present an objective viewpoint, a must for all journalists, and explain why each side believes what it does, while providing examples of cases in which anonymity has helped or hurt various people. Concluding my paper, I will develop on how anonymous sources does in fact do harm in general, but explain ways of how to still be able to use them sensibly without causing an uproar. I will describe this approach so as to help future Communication majors find a foothold in the vast world of journalism so they might not make the same mistakes countless others before them have.

Look, a hundred dollar bill! Haha, PSYCH! No seriously, this is psych stuff.

Summary of Textbook (Kossyln & Rosenberg, 2007)

According to Kossyln and Rosenberg (2007), there is no easy way to determine if an individual is gifted or not besides referring to the IQ score, which doesn’t necessarily guarantee anything. The term of ‘gifted’ is applied to those who have IQ’s of at least 135, but is more commonly focused on those in the 150-180 range (Kossyln & Rosenberg, 2007, p.277). The way in which people become gifted is not clear, but it is suggested that the trait can come from heredity as well as the environment. Interestingly enough, girls with higher levels of testosterone and boys with lower amounts are seen as more highly gifted than girls and boys with lower and higher amounts respectively, which preludes to the idea that biological factors could incline some people to become gifted (Kossyln & Rosenberg, 2007, p.277).
On a higher extreme of giftedness stand the prodigies. These are children that are exceptionally talented in one area (like music, math, or art), but either average or sometimes not gifted at all in other areas. As some researchers agree, average children do the same processing that gifted children do, however, gifted children are able to do it more effectively because of their cognitive processes (Kossyln & Rosenberg, 2007, p.278). Despite gifted children having many talents and well-sought out qualities (like the drive to complete tasks), there can be a downside to such abilities. Gifted children can be ‘socially awkward’ and thus have high rates of emotional and social problems…double that of non-gifted children. Unbefitting labels, such as ‘geek’ or ‘nerd’ can be placed upon them and many tend to become introverted (Kossyln & Rosenberg, 2007, p.278).
On the bright side, Kossyln and Rosenberg (2007) share that if an individual wasn’t considered gifted as a child, he can still grow up to be one, just as gifted children can grow to be normal adults. After all, Charles Darwin wasn’t gifted as a child, but with the help of mentors later in life he was able to grow into the world of the gifted and join the masses of teeming intelligence (Kossyln & Rosenberg, 2007, p.278).