What have I learned?

I've learned how to do good research in this class. I've also learned how to write better, using more complete sentences. I've also learned that procrastination is bad.

Reactions to Movie

I thought the movie was well done overall, although some of the messaging was objectionable and the ending was poorly resolved.

The comedy was very good. Jack Black's acting was exceptional, and the supporting characters did not detract from the movie.

Some of the messages were bad. They portrayed Dewey Finn's decision as being good because it ended good, while it was wrong to lie in order to get money.

Revision issues

My intro was hastily worked up, so it needs work. I have a problem with lengthy sentences, so I need to work on that. A couple of my peer reviews mentioned a short story as being good for an attention-getter. I would love it if I knew of a short story to talk about. But I don't. *sigh*

First draft

This is really hard. I've got two and a half pages and I can't think of anything else to write. Maybe I should read more of my sources. ;)

Logical Fallacies

So my sister and I are in the car, it's kind of warm out and she wants all 4 windows down while we drive. That sucks, cuz the air goes all over the place and whips around and it's loud. I want 2 windows on one side down cuz then the air goes in a nice circle and it's a lot quieter. She says, "Well, you want consistency, but I want freedom!" False Dillema. It implies that freedom cannot be obtained without inconsistency. She gives two options when in fact there are many.

Works Cited Entries

When I set up Works Cited stuff, my biggest problem is in the paper itself. I tend to miss sources in the paper, so I don't underline them. I think I've got a handle on MLA as far as the order of all the stuff in the citations, but I need to work on figuring out what to put in the citations.

AAAGHH! I haven't blogged in forever. All right, lots of catch-up. I figured media bias would suck, cuz everybody knows that the media is biased and there isn't any really good argument to come up with regarding that topic.
So, I chose the media's effect on children. This is somewhat uncontested, but I think I can make a pretty good argument.
The best source I've had is the Kaiser Family Foundation. I've heard of this group, and I'm pretty sure they're well-respected as a solid source of information. And there's plenty of information on the KFF website. Their reports are available for free on the website, and all the information you could ever want is up there, as well as way more that could make you sick, and some that you'll just zone out on. That's heaven for me! I probably need to back off a bit on KFF, just so that I can get a balance of sources.
I was going to check out a book called Viewing Violence by Madeline Levine. It's in the Ridgewater Library, along with another book by Levine and a book called the Encyclopedia of Children and the Media. I think I might want to read those, so I hope it's not too late.
I typed up my Lit Survey draft the morning it was supposed to be turned in. Obviously, that made it kind of sucky. I think I'll be able to make it into a good one, though, if I give myself enough time.
I like my sources. Half of them are from academic peer-reviewed journals. Three are from the KFF, and three are from magazines: Health, Electronic Media, and Television Week.
I intend to rely mostly on the academic journals, like Impact of Media on Children and Adolescents: a 10-year review of the Study by Susan Villani. I hope to read these through and through.
KFF will provid most of my stats. They have about ten pages of pure stats on each paper, so I will have plenty of statistics to work on. However, KFF seems to be more oriented toward how much media kids watch, rather than how they are affected by the media they see. I may want to dig deeper into the KFF website to find more relevant info, or use other sources for my stats.
The three magazine articles are mainly stats on kid's media use. I think I may just throw them out, or not cite them at all. KFF should cover everything that they cover.