4/24 Homework

1. What was your research question?

What are Free Trades effect on the U.S. economy?

2. What is your argument/position/thesis? (In other words, how did you answer your research question?)

I am opposed to Free Trade.

4/11 Homework

The pros for each of the digital presentations are that it is stylistically nice to look at.  It helps for the user to organize through material and put their information down.  One of the cons in using it is that it is a little hard to read off the presentation.  After doing all of the examples on the page, I am going to do the digital presentation platform since it is easier to organize your information.  I have already done my bibliography, outline, and digital presentation, so I like some of the presentation tips that they give out. I have already completed my presentation on a PowerPoint, because to me a PowerPoint has always been the easiest and most efficient way of doing things.  But I nevertheless liked seeing a different way of making a presentation, such as using a website or a graphical one.

http://prezi.com/w7humdihohq6/edit/

4/4 Homework

A lot of younger people, especially undergraduate students, do not think that getting information from the web is necessarily plagiarism since they cannot find an author to give credit to the source, such as Wikipedia.  Many young people are used to downloading music, often illegally, so they do not think that grabbing information from the internet should be any different.  A lot of critics believe that this is cutting individualism out and creating laziness.  A survey was done, and it was reported that 40% of 14,000 undergraduate students admitted to plagiarizing at some point before in their college career. 

If you go to a see a standup comedian perform, you might use one of his jokes that he said for presentation or for some other reason.  It’s hard to know whether or not to give credit to the joke because somebody else might of said the same one before 

4/2 Homework

Research Question: What is Free Trades effect on the U.S. economy?

Burfisher, Mary E., Sherman Robinson, and Karen Thierfelder. "The Impact of NAFTA on the United States". Journal of Economic Perspectives, 15(1): (2001) 125–144. 

            This journal gives a detailed analysis about the effects of NAFTA during the 1990s. It also gives a synopsis on whether the deal had any positive implications.  I could use this article to support my claim that NAFTA had a disastrous effect on the labor force.  I could also use some of their data to back up my claim.       

Hananel, Sam. “Membership in Unions continues to decline”. The Washington Times. January 23, 2011. 

            This website gives information based on the relative power of the unions in the U.S. and how they have declined.  I could use this source as evidence that unions have declined dramatically over past few decades as a result of Free Trade.  I could use this source as an argument that unions maintained middle class jobs.

 

3/14 Homework

I searched for new websites that use statistics, because I think that this topic deals with a lot of raw numbers and that is the easiest way to understand my argument against Free Trade.  I went to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, by using the link on one of your blog posts in class.  I have found the website very helpful in terms of finding detailed economic statistics.  This could be a source I could use for my project.  Some of the new materials that I found that could help are the industry and commodity databases under the Producer databases.  There was also an import and export index on their front page that you can access to.  It also has statistics that are broken down by region, which will give researchers even more detailed information.  There is a tool bar that gives you the latest up to date information.     

3/4 Homework

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/spains-jobless-hits-record-million-february-18645416#.UTRqxhX2t2I.reddit

I went to the social network site Reddit and found an article about the unemployment rate of Spain.  It said that the rate increased to 26%.  About 59,444 people lost their jobs in January.  There are now over 5 million people in Spain that are out of work.    It could possibly be a useful search engine for me to use when it comes to Free Trade, even though it is not covered in the news very much anymore.  I could see myself using this website on a regular basis to find updated news and other global events.

I use social media to find out what other people, which I do not see very often, are doing.  I also go just to look up news and other events.  I do not use a wide variety of social networks simply because news usually gets filtered around the web.    

2/26 Homework

This article is about the recent elections in Italy and how there was no clear winner from the results.  About 57% of Italians voted for parties that were against austerity.  The biggest party that won was the five star party which won 25% of the vote.  The current party in power received just 10% of the vote.  This has sent shares world wide tumbling. 

The author I believe makes an argument since he gives three possible options for Italy's government: they can form a national government, Grillo can change his position and form an alliance with Bersani, or there could be a re-election in the next 3-4 months.  The author I believe emotionalize or at least sensationalizes the topic.  I will give a quote from the article, "Already the signs are that this political explosion will reignite the financial crisis".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/debt-crisis-live/9894176/Debt-crisis-Italian-election-impasse-reignites-euro-fears-live.html

2/12 Homework

The research that I have learned so far in this class is a bit more detailed and time consuming than what I am used to doing. I usually just type into Google or sometimes I will go to Wikipedia and follow through the links to find decent information.  I do not usually get a book from the library; I just use an EBook online.  

I learned key search words in class today and that will help with my ongoing research.  I prefer to use Advance Academic research engine over the other search engines that I have learned so far. I like the key concept and synonym part of the engine tool bar, I think they help increase and save the time to looking up a topic.  

Homework 2/7

      Special collections could be an integral part of many presentations that deal with history, since it deals with past artifacts.  Using sources outside of Academia such as letters, photographs, diaries, and other physical objects brings a personal touch to what you’re presenting.  I knew the library contains artifacts but I did not know that contain that many.  I enjoyed the presentation.     

For my research on free trade, I could give photographs of rust belt cities that became industrialized over the past 3 decades particularly Detroit, M and Gary, Indiana.  I could also give pictures of sweatshops in Asia and Mexico as well as the amount of smog in the air due to the low regulatory standards in these regions.  I could interview a former factory to get an insight to how his life was like during and after the plant closed down if that would be considered a ‘special collection’. 

Homework 1/30

The topic that I have chosen, and have picked all along, is Free Trade as an economic policy in America.  In my economics class that I am currently taking, we are discussing Free Trade and its consequences on the Trade deficit and blue collar workers wages.  My professor, despite many of the costs, seemed to support free trade and that it is a good thing because it increases the quantity of trade between countries, though I believe more so in others. I will have to look at the World Trade Organization to find out more information about this topic.  

As for a primary source, I could use articles from The Economists magazine, which has articles about this phenomenon every month.  I used "NAFTA", "Trade deficit", and "Free Trade" as some of my keywords and found several helpful links.  I could use graphs that help explain some of the details.     

Homework 1/29

I might use scholarly journals, magazines, books, or even newspapers to find the type of information that I need.  We did the source engine Galileo in class, so I believe that could easily aid in my search for information.   I know now that I can ask the librarian or an assistant to help me in my field of research if I need any.

 As for what type of discipline would be interested in my field of research, I would think Sociologists would have an interest in my topic given the fact it deals with people and their relationship with society from deindustrializing.  Another discipline that would be interested in my field of topic would be statisticians.  Some organizations that would be interested in my topic would be the World Trade Organization.  Others would be The Federal Reserve Bank, financial watchers, and other ordinary people that don't want to see their jobs outsourced. 

Homework 1/24

    
I prefer to use Google in doing my searches on the Internet.  I could use words that are similar to my chosen topic, which deals with the effects of Free Trade on the Economy.  I could choose words such as "Trade balance", "trade deficit", and "NAFTA" I could use Credo Reference and even Wikipedia to help find legitimate sources.  I could narrow my research question and ask for specific items.  

I will ask some of the main questions to any topic such as the; who, what, where, when, and why when I am researching my question.  I won’t ask a 5-minute search question that can be found on Google, or a quick yes or no question, trivial type questions, or a asking for an opinion that cannot be supported.  I will ask questions that acquire abstract enough to require analysis and that is broad enough that you can actually find information.  

Homework 1/17

One of the topics that I am researching, and that is in my field of study, is Free Trade.  The debate about global trade has become more important in recent years given the U.S. trade deficit.  I could look at the argument about Free Trade from both sides of the aisle.  I could look into the trade policy the U.S. has had over the past two centuries. I could look into the effects Free Trade has had on industrial manufacturing and blue collar wages.

The other topic I could research on is the effect television has on society.  I could search and see if television has had any effect on the development on the brain.  I could compare several different parameters and statistics such as SAT scores before and after, crime rates before and after, drug use before and after etc.  I could calculate the number of hours the average person watches television.                 

1/15 Homework

In one eaxample of a large transaction, I had to purchase books through Amazon for my classes and they totaled about $200.  The website offered me several discounts I could get if I signed up for this or that.  For instance, it offered Free shipping and handling if I became a member and bought only books from an affiliate from Amazon.  I asked my dad about it and he said it wasn't worth it.  I agreed because I don't buy very many things from Amazon, but at at the same time I thought they might have been useful in case I need to buy more books for school.

After I bought the books, I would get emails from the company advertising books that were similar in the field that I had purchased from as well as coupons and other discounts.  It would also give weekly updates of my book order and how close they were to arriving to my house.     

Homework 1/10

The favorite part of the Library would be the computers.  The computers come with high speed Internet access and there are plenty of them for you to find at least one of them to use.  If you need to find a book, magazine, or any other article, you just need to simply search online.  I also like the different variety of books themselves that are offered.  Using the Library is the easiest and quickest way to access to information.       

My least favorite part of the library would be the noise level in the first floor and the limited space compared with other libraries in the University system.  By that, I would mean that other libraries have more square feet, books, and computers.  I guess I would still be confused about how to operate the Galileo system.  I am not sure about all of the steps that are needed to access the information that I need.

about me

My name is Josh Lenze and I am studying Economics with a minor in mathematics at West Georgia.  After school--which I plan to graduate this Spring-- I will either find a entry level position job at a company or, if not, join the army.  The one thing that surprised me was how obsolete books were becoming.