How I feel about peer reviews.

How I feel about peer reviews.

At first I was not too sure about peer reviews. I really did not want anyone to read my work, and even though I was curious about the papers the rest of my class mates were writing, I really did not want to give my opinion. I did not want to take the chance of hurting someone’s feelings. I just did not feel comfortable with the whole idea. In Comp I we had to give peer reviews and I really did not want to do it. I felt like I did not know enough to be able to give a good review. Then I realized, it was not how much I knew per se, it was whether or not the paper would make sense to me and be enjoyable to read. As far as somebody else reading my paper, I was really nervous, and did not know what to expect, but I decided it was time for me to get over myself and get with the program. I can now say I am glad I did. I have had a really good experience in both Comp I and Comp II with peer reviews. I am the type of person that can handle constructive criticism, and in both classes I believe that the feedback I have gotten has been very helpful. My only concern still is I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I certainly don’t know all there is to know about writing, and I still feel a little uncertain about giving a peer review, but I would also want someone to point out where I need work. It can only make it better. I only hope in the process what I have to say is not taken the wrong way.

For the most part I am becoming more amiable toward peer reviews, it is still not my most favorite thing, but I am getting used to it. It is something that we all need to get used to, because it is also used in the professional world for annual performance reviews. Times they are a changing, and like it or not I guess I have to change with the times.

The past six weeks.

Wow. Where do I begin? As they say “Time flies when you are having fun.” Well I guess this holds true for me. I am having fun regardless of how hectic my life has been lately. The past six weeks have had so much included in them that they have gone by in a blur. The one constant that I could depend on has been my classes here at Kaplan. I am coming to the end of my 4th term, and loving every minute of it. I believe my classes have helped me keep my sanity. It has been rough not knowing which direction we were going in with my husband’s health. Our special needs daughter who is 12 has also been going through some health issues lately, but we found out this week that our prayers have been answered. My daughter and husband both will be just fine. My husband is 60 % back to normal with his thyroid activity, and my daughter will be back to normal by the time school starts, and I start a new job tomorrow! Yea, I think! Everything is falling into place, and the only thing I can do is say Thank You to all who have prayed with us and for us. Just goes to show a little bit of faith goes a long way! So the past six weeks have been good, bad, ugly, and crazy, but a blessing all the same.

Have a great week everyone!

Andrea

My academic challenges.

After being out of school for 35 years and returning to school, this was an academic challenge in itself. There have been definite adjustments that had to be made. Time management was something that I really had to master. Each term so far has had it's challenges and rewards. First term my husband got laid off from his job and did not find work until January. Second term was the adjustment of my husband going to work and not being home to help pick up the slack with the kids. At the end of my third term my husband was diagnosed with Graves Disease so we had to face that challenge. This term has been adjusting to his radioactive iodine treatments and working from home again. All of this while going to school, homeschooling our three children, and now I will be going back to work. As I type this, it really doesn't sound that bad, at least compared to what other people have had to endure. It has been a challenge, but not anything that we have not been able to handle. I look around and realize how lucky I am to have the opportunity to return to school.

I don't look at my returning to school as a challenge anymore, I look at it as a blessing, and a life saver. I believe through my academic experience I have been able to focus on my school work and forget for a time what problems we have had to face. Through prayer and determination, I have been able to accomplish my goals up to this point. I am uncertain about what academic challenges I will face when I do return to work. I know I will have to go through another time management challenge in order to be able to find time to do my school work, and spend quality time with my family, but again through prayer and determination, all things will fall into place. I have also learned that life is too short to sweat the small stuff!

Andrea

Why I Think We Need to Cite Our Sources

Based on what I have learned about plagiarism, I believe we need to cite everything we use as a source, even if it is something as simple as a definition from the dictionary. If it is not our idea, we must cite it. I think this is only fair. We should not take credit for the work of others. Plagiarism is stealing. When we use information from the work of others, we need to remember they are the creators of the information, not us. They deserve the credit for their hard work. We can only earn respect as a professional if we act ethically and professionally.

I also believe that plagiarism is not being taught in elementary school, middle school, or high school like it should be. There are kids that are entering college that do not have a clue what plagiarism really is. They think plagiarism is simply copying some one's work word for word, but if they re-word it, then it is not plagiarism. I know when I went to school in the dark ages, or in the b.c era (before computers), we were not taught anything at all about plagiarism. In fact we never heard the word mentioned. It was routine to take an encyclopedia and copy what it said for a research paper, or re-word it a little bit so the teacher would not know it was copied word for word. I thought surely things had changed over the years and our young people were being taught better, but I was wrong. I asked my older children 33, 31, 29 and 27 if they were taught anything about plagiarism while they were in school, and not one of them had heard about plagiarism until they reached college. Then I thought well maybe since they were in the transition era of computers coming into schools that it was overlooked, so I asked my two 12 year old daughters and my 11 year old son if they were taught about plagiarism before I started homeschooling them a year and a half ago, but they all said no. In fact the program that I use now, which is a public school virtual program, does not teach anything at all about plagiarism. I have had to go outside of the program and teach them about plagiarism and insist that their papers be done the right way, no copying and no paraphrasing etc. without citing. We have had to learn this together.

I hope this is not a representation of all of the school systems. I hope these are isolated cases. I would be curious to know however, if any one else has had the same experience. Since we are all from different parts of the country, it would be interesting to know if some parts of the country teach about plagiarism to our kids and some parts don't. It would also be interesting to know why it is not being taught everywhere.

Have a great 4th of July everyone!

Andrea