Blog 14 is in the missed work page…I just hate things out of order…but everything is there.
Blog 17
In the beginning of the semester I had complete fears on how I was going to finish this class. Like I noted in my final reflective letter I am not a person who sticks to everything quite easily. I get bored and want to try something new while the old just gets left behind without any completion whatsoever. Just the fact that I knew that all of my other peers were going through the same situation to the point where they at least embraced some of the same anxieties, I was able to pull through and push to the end. When knowing that I am not alone, I am able to conquer all.
My future goal as a researcher is to continue the research that I have begun. I mean honestly this paper is just the beginning to something even more fulfilling and I plan on researching more deeply over the summer. I also plan on using this as my starting point with linguistics. I mean I now know what I want to do as my life career and this paper gives me a jump start. I plan on using this research as an example for myself with future research as well as using this current research towards future conferences.
The proudest moment for me with this coarse is just actually getting through everything and completing a real research paper. I really never wrote worthwhile papers in the past even though I know I have the potential. I know that I am a good writer I just needed the motivation and this class gave me that start finally. The basics of how to form a research paper is what is going to stick with me the most from the coarse. It has benefited me in the long run and has been a great example.
Blog 16
The assignment that was most useful towards my process of creating my research paper was when all of the students had to make a bubble chart. With this chart each student had to have a topic in the center. From that center , other ideas would branch off and help guide the ideas that wrapped around the topic centered. This helped me see where I needed to direct my work and what I truly wanted to do for my research paper in the long run.
The most helpful feedback that I had received during all of the peer review was of the last peer review #4. It was a blind peer review and whoever had edited my paper explained that my paper was very well written, but I needed to elaborate further on my topic. Granted I was planning to anyways, but it really helped to solidify the fact that I need more base for research. With a better base I would be able to get my ideas of my research across to others more easily.
The most difficult during the drafting process was analyzing my paper from an outward perspective. Looking at my paper as if I was another reader. I mean the idea itself sounds crazy, but it took me a long time to really view my paper in someone else voice. Though it took me some time to accomplish, it certainly helped me see the mistakes I had made in my writing. The easiest part behind the drafting when I first made my draft. I mean I just threw all of my ideas out there and was so happy that I finally got all of my shit out there ready to be used and prepared for a journal someday in the future.
I feel that my final essay best exemplifies my writing in the Literature Review. At first I had just thrown my ideas out there onto the paper, but once rereading everything I was able to connect the dots. I feel that within my literature review I fully demonstrate my understanding of my topic as well as the capability I have to further and deepen my research for conferences, etc.
Blog 15
Being able to do the peer review projects really helped me understand how the way I talk can become confusing. I usually speak out loud whenever I write something but that does not always help me catch my mistakes. Having someone else read what I had written really helps me see the mistakes I have made and gives me good advice when revising my paper. With my own peers reading what I had written I gain confidence in knowing that I am not the only one who makes the mistakes that I have made in my writing. Beyond that having them read what I had written really helps me see if my topic is interesting and should be looked at among students of my own age. I mean I can talk about my beliefs all the time, but this helps me see if it is really needed to be actually researched or I need to look further into the research in another direction.
Blog 13
When combining the three papers that I had written thus far, well it was hard to really make everything flow together. I had to read the paper and try to figure out what really needed to go where. I mean here I had three papers that seemed to fit together by themselves nicely and I had to fit everything else together to make the three papers as one. I had to just go through the paper as I would with any other paper and try to reword the last couple of paragraphs so that each of the papers fit together. the main thing that needs editing right now is just me going over everything and trying to make the paper suitable for the audience that I am making this paper for. Beyond that nothing doesn’t needs to be worked out too much.
Blog 12
My method is going to be a survey where I will distribute the survey throughout the campus dorms or at least by e-mail through facebook and through i-mail. My participants are going to be of college students throughout the IUP campus since my research has been on how the term ‘sex addict’ affects college students. the number of participants is going to vary since I am going to be distributing the survey among the campus. I really do not need many students to analyze for my research. I think the most that I am going to analyze is going to be 5 students. The gender of the participants does not really matter for this particular method, but for future research this would be something that should be looked at when it comes to the participants.
With my participants taking this method there really are not too many dangers. I mean they are not going to be giving any information about themselves to me for this research. The only thing that is expected of the participants is that they are being truthful with the questions that I ask. The only risk that the participants would have is seeing the truth in what they feel or believe. This can cause some problems and can result in answers that are not truthful but beyond that there truly is no danger when it comes to my research method.
The benefit behind my method is that my participants are not going to have to give me any information about themselves. So the questions are going to be done under a complete anonymous basis. I am not going to see them and they have the choice to answer the survey if they feel they have a desire to.
Blog 11
When composing a method for research it is important to note how the method was conducted and the results of the method. It is important to express that the method was relevant to the research. Without giving information of how the method was conducted and the relevancy behind the method, then the reader is not going to understand the true need for the research nor are they going to understand how the method was affected by the style of the method used. Though it is important to express in detail how the method was conducted, experts will be reading over the research and do not need a how-to-explanation of the method (Asian Institute of Technology ‘AIT’).
The main key behind a method is to make sure that the information is very concise. Just as AIT had expressed the need to explain the method, Rice University expresses that this is very essential for a method section. The methods should not consist of great detail of the procedures that were conducted. The procedure should be mentioned, but it should be a synopsis because the methods is mainly about analyzing the results (Caprette, D., 2007).
I certainly find it important to be concise when it comes to writing the methods section, but can be difficult because I personally never know if I am explaining too much or not explaining enough. I do not want to bore my readers with useless information about my procedures, but definitely want to make sure they understand the process in enough detail to express how the results were affected. It is very important to understand who the readers are and understanding this will set a guideline for how the methods should be explained. This in turn makes it easier for the readers as well was the writer.
Caprette, D. (2007). Writing Research Papers. In Experimental Biosciences of Rice University, Retrieved from http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/tools/report/reportform.html#methods
Asian Institute of Technology. Writing Up Research:Method and Research Design. In Language Center, Retrieved from http://www.languages.ait.ac.th/el21meth.htm
Book Test 1
Background
Cold Mountain, which was written by Charles Franzier, wrote a fictional story about a man named Inman who lived during the time of the civil war. Inman had embraced many battles against the North and suffered many traumatic thoughts of the battles that he had experienced. The only reason Inman was able to stop fighting was due to his wounds that he incurred on the neck. Once Inman was hospitalized, he was determined to find the woman that he loved and try to forget about the horrible sights that he had to endure through (Franzier, 1997). Franzier had to do some research on how men during the Civil War were affected by war during their daily lives as well as doing much research on what truly happened during the Civil War itself as history has recorded it. What I found interesting was how the men during the Civil War lived their lives during and after the battles that they had to endure through.
Research
The research question that I had formulated from my reading of the book was, “How did the Civil War affect men who fought and lived to continue to try to live their lives as they once had before the war had begun?” What started this question off was when I had begun to read the book and Inman was talking to a blind man that he ran into. The event occurred as such:
” Without pausing even for salutation Inman said, Who put out your pair of eyes?
The blind man had a friendly smile on his face and he said, Nobody. I never had any.
That took Inman aback, for his imagination had worked in the belief that they had been plucked out in some desperate and bloody dispute, some brute fraction. Every vile deed he had witnessed lately had been at the hand of a human agent, so he had about forgot that there was a whole other order of misfortune (Franzier, 1997, p. 5). “
My assumptions for my question would be that men who had endured through the Civil War had experienced violent rages, traumatic nightmares, and let the war affect their approach to living in a cautious manner. With these assumptions, I assume that these men had experienced this trauma for the rest of their lives and were not able to get rid of the sights of war. I looked at a referred journal talking about the physical, mental, and traumatic experiences that men during the Civil War had endured through. Pizzaro, Prause, and Silver took their information from records that the military had recorded during the Civil War. The age that recruiting had begun during the civil war was from nine years old all the way up to 71. There were 5 separate categories that the men were placed in due to their age, but all of them had to serve in some way possible. The veterans of the Civil War were then classified as such. “”A veteran was classified as having signs of cardiovascular, GI, or nervous disease if he was ever diagnosed as having 1 or more ailments from the upcoming categories in his post-war lifetime. Signs of physical or nervous disease, alone or in combination, diagnosed during any examination over the recruit’s postwar lifetime were coded into one 6-level categorical variable: no disease, cardiac disease only, GI disease only, cardiac and GI disease, nervous disease only, and nervous disease with cardiac and/or GI disease.” What is more fascinating is the vastness of what the diseases had entailed. When it came to cardiac diseases, a former soldier could have an ill-regular heartbeat to heart enlargements. The nervous disease consisted of insomnia, anxiety, illusions paranoia, depression, hysteria, suicidal feelings, and epilepsy (Pizzaro et al., Prause et al., Silver et al,. 2006). The conclusion that I had gathered is that the men during the Civil War experienced much trauma to their physical and mental health. Due to this effect from the war, the men lived a completely different life and had to change their lives due to what the war had caused each individual. There could possibly be the chance of horrid nightmares or violent rages, but what is most important is that the war did change the men’s lives dramatically and to a whole new light.
Side Notes Gathered
My research question would be,”How did the Civil War affect men who fought and lived to continue to live their lives as they once had before the war had begun?”
My assumptions would be that men who had endured through the Civil War had experienced violent rages, traumatic nightmares, and let the war affect their approach to living in a cautious manner. With these assumptions, I assume that these men had experienced this trauma for the rest of their lives and were not able to get rid of the sights of war.
Quote to use, ” Without pausing even for salutation Inman said, Who put out your pair of eyes?
The blind man had a friendly smile on his face and he said, Nobody. I never had any.
That took Inman aback, for his imagination had worked in the belief that they had been plucked out in some desperate and bloody dispute, some brute fraction. Every vile deed he had witnessed lately had been at the hand of a human agent, so he had about forgot that there was a whole other order of misfortune (Franzier, 1997, p. 5). “
The age that recruition had begun during the civil war was from nine years old all the way up to 71. There were 5 seperate categories that the men were placed in due to their age, but all of them had to serve in some way possible.
“A veteran was classified as having signs of cardiovascular, GI, or nervous disease if he was ever diagnosed as having 1 or more ailments from the upcoming categories in his postwarlifetime. Signs of physical or nervous disease, alone or in combination, diagnosed during any examination over the recruit’s postwar lifetime were coded into one 6-level categorical variable: no disease, cardiac disease only, GI disease only, cardiac and GI disease, nervous disease only, and nervous disease with cardiac and/or GI disease.”
What is more fascinating is the vastness of what the diseases had entailed. When it came to cardiac diseases, a former soldier could have an ill-regular heartbeat to heart enlargements. During the Civil War nervous disease would actually be considered post traumatic stress syndrome in today’s terms. The nervous disease consisted of insomnia, anxiety, illusions paranoia, depression, hysteria, suicidal feelings, and epilepsy.
Blog 9
Disorders of Desire: Addiction and Problems of Intimacy
I. Introduction
A. Due to the wide acceptance of the way the world works, more addictions are arising
and being accepted as natural (Keane, par. 1).
B. With the wide acceptance, a new way to look at addiction is, “ …it is not the objects of addiction that determine the condition, but a particularly intense and rigid relationship between the addict and her substance or activity of choice (Keane, par. 2).”
C. There still is debate if addictions are a category that should be grouped together or if the addictions should be evaluated as separate entities (Keane, par. 3).
D. A sex addict can incur a high withdrawal or tolerance just like an addict with a substance addiction so there is speculation as to if addictions can be placed in a broader category (Keane, par. 4).
E. Sex has different social meanings, but the ideas are obscured by what an addict is (Keane, par. 5).
F. If a person looks at addiction as intimacy and how it shows how humans strive on a connection then without such intimacy their anxieties will bring dependence (Keane, par. 6).
II. Expanding Addiction
A. According to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, addiction is only drug related even though the definition of an addiction says that if addicted there is a physical and psychological effect (Keane, par. 7).
B. People can become addicted to any ordinary activity due to the power of addiction and how it changes the mood of the person (Keane, par. 8).
C. Cultural norms cloud what values there are on life and the addict will pursue their addiction without caring about the cultural importance of life ideals (Keane, par. 9).
D. Addiction is a way to escape feeling and feel good from external things, but if this is the case then we all experience addiction and it is quite normal. Still this is deemed wrong and not a way to live (Keane, par. 10).
E. Sex releases serotonin, which brings pleasure. The brain craves this just like it would for a drug once having it (Keane, par. 11).
III. Sexual Addiction: The Pathology of Promiscuous Desire
A. Sex addiction became huge when Hiv/Aids became an epidemic and is deemed “evil” due to our desire of being monogamous (Keane, par. 12).
B. “The sex addict is not simply someone who loves sex, or even has a great deal of sex; rather, he has developed a pathological relationship with a mood-altering experience and has lost control over his behavior. He relies on sex as a relief from pain or stress, and like the drug addict or alcoholic, he will continue his addictive behavior despite serious negative consequences (Keane, par. 13).”
C. Sex addicts can get a high from just preparing for a date, but they will begin to need more and more to satisfy their brain’s desire (Keane, par. 14).
D. There are three ways to determine if a person is a sex addict: Intimacy is construed as risky, partners are treated as objects, and thirdly having sex for just self-esteem or pleasure (Keane, par. 15).
IV. Addiction and Intimacy With the World
A. All objects have a socially acceptable function with normal relationships (Keane, par. 16).
B. Intimacy is very limited with what is considered healthy and sex addiction is threatened by the ideal of a healthy relationship like having a family, a job, and a home (Keane, par. 17).
C. Though a person may recover from sex addiction they are still going to be stuck in the dim path of action and thought (Keane, par. 18).
D. Addiction can be a form of intimacy and does not have to regulate or enhance lives (Keane, par. 19).
E. With norms and roles not as determining, people will look towards love and romance to find stability and self (Keane, par. 20).
F. Intimacy is too narrowly defined and too widely promoted (Keane, par. 21).
G. “Generalized models of addiction, whether based on neurotransmitters or theories of intimacy have the potential to be powerful critical resources. They render irrelevant the very distinctions between normal and abnormal, natural and unnatural which give attributions of addiction their moral and political force (Keane, par. 22).”
Constructing Addiction from Experience and Context: Peele and Brodsky’s Love and Addiction Revisited
I. Love and Addiction
A. Kwee is using this article to view the medical addiction views that Peele has stated in his article Love and Addiction and comparing this to his own idea of how addiction has became to be due to “social structured disorders (Kwee, par. 1).”
B. Kwee is going to use Peele’s thoughts towards addiction and the 12-step process for he feels that Peele best demonstrates how addiction is portrayed culturally (Kwee, par. 2).
C. “…addiction at its core—a spiritual and emotional impoverishment that causes the self to invest in some thing or person to obtain a sense of worth and security (Kwee, par. 3).”
D. Peele’s work was ahead of his time and truly brought about the idea of sex addiction and co-dependency (Kwee, par. 4).
II. Peele’s Position on Addiction
A. An individual who bears characteristics such as attachment, insecurity and hopelessness converge these problems with real life creating the beginning steps towards an addiction or bringing a person to continue to re-use or experience that addiction (Kwee, par. 5).
B. Peele’s stand point was the addiction was not necessarily the drug but from the experiences of the person and the empty shell that they harbored inside (Kwee, par. 6).
III. “Addiction Ideology” and the 12-Steps
A. Peele had viewed addiction as more than just a disease and rejects the idea of the 12-step theory for this brings an approach of a disease addiction rather than from experiences or emptiness (Kwee, par. 7).
B. A system of unmanageable sexual behavior does not exist (Kwee, par. 8).
C. When one is taking upon a patient who is enduring an addiction, it is important for those trying to help to embrace the true understanding of the addiction and not just an assumption to say that the same method works for all addictions (Kwee, par. 9).
D. As Kwee views the twelve steps through an Evangelical standpoint he is able to embrace the steps that will benefit the people that he works with (Kwee, par. 10).
IV. The 12-Steps Understood in Terms of the Christian Faith
A. The twelve steps is a Christian framework and without faith and dependence on God, then the twelve steps is not going to work as desired (Kwee, par. 11).
B. If new addictions continue to arise how is this sex addiction a disease (Kwee, par. 12).
V. Constructing An Addiction: The Case of Sex Addiction
A. Kwee hypothesizes that an addict constructs their addictions due to life experiences and other contexts (Kwee, par. 13).
B. Due to the market of “sexual purity” there is huge question if certain sexual desires are part of an addiction (Kwee, par. 14).
C. As example, certain cultures accept drinking and there is more self-control compared to others who do not condone much drinking or have many limits on drinking (Kwee, par. 15).
D. There is the possibility that over worrying about being a sexual fiend can cause the addiction (Kwee, par. 16).
E. Such broad assumptions show how ideals get construed cross-culturally and in turn frighten those from what would be considered natural (Kwee, par. 17).
F. Without being informed correctly of the right information, a person can drive themselves to the early stages of an addiction (Kwee, par. 18).
G. When it comes to homosexuality, it is considered an disorder that can be overturned with the proper sexual ideals and restrictions (Kwee, par. 19).
H. With many views that other sexual relationships beyond heterosexuality is wrong and unwanted, can bring a person that embraces such relationships to use sexual addiction language and not feel in control of their life (Kwee, par. 20).
I. Some people believe that being Homosexual is a sex addiction (Kwee, par. 21).
J. Sexual stereotypes and belief of humans desiring only one method of sexual relations causes fear and denial to belief that being homosexual, bi or otherwise is a sex addiction (Kwee, par. 22).
There is a definite difference between the lit review and the introduction of both these pieces. The introduction of the articles that I had read through gave a summary of the research that the authors had done, but the lit review looks further into the research. When looking at the research that Kwee had done, he took an article, re-examined it and went further into what the author’s of the piece he had researched were trying to express compared to his own research. Keane used her introduction to bring the audience in by giving information on some assumptions of what a sex addict has been viewed as. She laid out a base and then presented what she wanted to discover through the research that she had undertaken. Kwee on the other hand used the article he researched and heightened the author. He showed how “legendary” the author was and then explained his approach to why he was reviewing the article for his research.
The purpose of Keane’s research was to point out the many contradictions of how sex addiction was defined and what an addiction is beyond medical terms. This is found in the introduction outline. The significance that Keane was trying to make, or at least what it seemed to me, was that addiction goes just beyond a medical term and a simple minded concept just like anything else does in this world. This is outlined in expanding addiction. The main question seems to be how sex became an addiction, what defines an addiction and how this compares to the intimacy of sex. This comes from the main title and the introduction. The main method was just research of the history of sex. This is found in the pathology of promiscuous desire outline. The results produced a heightened fret when HIV/AIDS became an epidemic and sex was more apparent, which is also found in the pathology of promiscuous desire outline. As sex became something to be worried about, then someone was to be cautious to not sleep around with just everyone and if they did they were deemed as a sex addict. The conclusion is that addictions can be powerful if used to better ones self rather than fear the addiction. If addiction can be such a benefit then there should be no fear of sex and a sex addiction.
Kwee’s purpose was to look over Peele’s research of Love and Addiction and further Peele’s research with his own through his Christian ideals. This is found in the Love and Addiction outline. By doing this, Kwee was able to point out the flaws in the twelve step system for it to be summed for all addictions and the different types of addictions that are not diseases but culturally induced addictions. This is found in Addiction Ideology outline. The main question that Kwee was answering seemed to be, “Could addictions be due to contexts and experiences as well and if so how does this affect the twelve step approach that is assumed for all addictions?” This is found in the Love and Addiction outline. Kwee used Peele’s article as a base and the twelve step process to help with his method behind his research. This is found in Peele’s position and Addiction Ideology outlines. His results were that addictions were not just diseases and depending on a person’s background and what type of addicted person they are dealing with should determine what process of helping that person with their “addiction” rather than one process across the board. This is found in the twelve steps understood and constructing an addiction outlines. The conclusion I feel that Kwee was trying to get at was that addictions go beyond just a disease. They can be created culturally and contextually and if this is the way addictions can occur then the approach to help a person “solve” an addiction is to work with that addiction rather than using one set method. This is shown in Constructing an Addiction outline.
Keane, H. (2004). Disorders of Desire: Addiction and problems of Intimacy. Journal of Medical Humanities, 25(3), 189-204.
Kwee, A. (2007). Constructing Addiction from Experience and Context: Peele and Brodsky’s Love and Addiction Revisited. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 14, 221-237.
