Thursday, September 27, 2007

Deadline #5 HW#4

Jost, K. (2004, July 23). Sports and drugs. CQ Researcher, 14, 613-636. Retrieved September 28, 2007, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2004072300.

This article is excellent and was found using CQ researcher. It not only has pro/con opinions on steroids/supplements in sports but has information on particularly popular drugs used by athletes.


Bodybuilding, Drugs and Risk
Contributor: Monaghan, Lee F.(Author)
Publisher: RoutledgeDate: 2001
http://site.ebrary.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/lib/mesa/Top?channelName=mesa&cpage=1&f00=text&frm=smp.x&hitsPerPage=10&id=10017783&layout=document&p00=Steroids&sortBy=score&sortOrder=desc

This source was found using Ebrary. This ebook lists numerous steroids/steroid accessory drugs with their benefits/consequences. Although this source does not pertain to baseball, the information on the drugs will apply to my research paper.


Sport, Health, and Drugs
http://site.ebrary.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/lib/mesa/Top?channelName=mesa&cpage=5&docID=10054079&f00=text&frm=smp.x&hitsPerPage=10&layout=document&p00=steroids&sortBy=score&sortOrder=desc

This book is also another Ebrary book and others another insight to sports doping among athletes today.

Deadline #5 HW#6

I posted on Kathy's blog and Paulette's blog. Kathy was on par with me in the fact that the chapters in the Bedford Researcher provide good ideas for a survey, which I think is a great way to ascertain one's audience. I particularly enjoy Paulette's research topic as it is one that pertains to her everyday life. Although this process is entirely new to me, I am actually enjoying this new concept to me which is peer reviewing. I have a lot more to do with my research, but I feel with the myriad of information we have access to my research paper will go smoothly.

Deadline #5 HW#5

Since my paper has to do with supplements/steroids in baseball, the easiest place for me to conduct field research would be an actual baseball team. I'm not sure if MCC's baseball team would allow me to ask questions about the topic but if I could, it would be greatly beneficial. If I were to ask questions, which would obviously be a toucy subject, I would ask the players if they know of anyone in their past/present that has used steroids/preformance enhancers. An interview with the manager would also be beneficial, but I'm sure might not be quite appropriate as any incriminating information would be detrimental to the manager/team. As far as what I would be looking for If I couldn't conduct an interview, I'd look for the only things that could be obvious by eye, muscular structure and spectacular feats (i.e. homeruns and strikeouts.)

Deadline #5 HW# 3

I revised two classmate's research proposals, Justin and Stephann. Both drafts, like mine were written in the first person which apparently is definitely a mistake. My draft was reviewed by Paulette and Stephann and they both concluded I didn't use the spellchecker/grammar option by Microsoft Word. There is an explanation for this though, as I don't have word and I didn't take the time to type my proposal in the library, rather on my computer at home that only has a notepad. Besides my grammar/spelling issues it is apparent to me that I need to specify certain conditions/terminology pertaining to baseball as not everyone is as learned about the sport as I am. I realize I needed to spend more time correcting my own proposal as most of my mistakes were obvious. As far as turnitin.com and my originality review, which was covered in class, I learned that turnitin.com only highlighted terms that I used, such as HGH (human growth hormone.) This does not need to be revised as it is the name of a supplement that is pertinent to my research paper.

Deadline #5 HW#2 Peer Reviews

I reviewed Justin Winter's draft and Stephann Perizak's draft. Both are edited and the review sheet in class was filled out.

Deadline #5 HW#1

Well to be honest, I found this week's reading material quite bland. Chapter 6 was essentially covered on our trip to the library a few weeks back, the info is just written on paper. Chapter 7 was at least new material, i.e. how to conduct an interview for your research and how to write a useful survey for your research. The main thing I got from Chapter 7 though was in how you form your survey questions, the most importantly being make sure your surveys are very direct so that there is little or no questions pertaing to what is being asked. The paradigm site can be useful for grammatical questions but that is why I thought we had the Bedford Researcher? The other site was just stressing the fact that peer reviewing is essential in mastering your ability to write a research paper, or any other paper in that regard.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Deadline #4 HW#6

Well let me first say, it sucks to be a procrastinator. Having waited up until the past weekend to buy the books wasn't smart, forgetting to post comments on every one's pages wasn't the best idea, and not having the completed annotated bibliography takes the cake for stupidity. I encourage you all not get behind as I am just coming to terms with the amount of work we have for this class (albeit it is fairly straightforward). I posted in 5 different blogs mainly about the proposal:

Justin's Blog Deadline 4 HW 3
Paulette's Blog Deadline 4 HW 3
Kathy's Blog Deadline 4 HW 3
Stephann's Blog Deadline 4 HW 3
Heather's Blog Deadline 4 HW 1

Although I find this blogging experience quite foreign, I have to admit that it is nice to see every one's blog as it can keep you from going clueless in what you need to do (although if it was a classroom full of me things would be severely delayed ha). Spending a two of the past few days in the library and using the online capabilities at home has been surprisingly advantageous as I thought using the online catalogs would take a long time to learn, but as I have found out the more you practice the easier it becomes. I really liked reading some of the topics including execution and gay marriages as I myself do have stances on both issues whereas on current event issues I tend not to take a stance. I will spend the next few days reading if anyone has found specific online search catalogs like CQ that would benefit me and my paper. Also since as I stated I was delinquent in not formalizing my bibliography I will be working on gathering more sources and posting that soon. See you all in class next week.

Deadline #4 HW#5

http://library.cqpress.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2004072301&type=hitlist

The above link is an article I found online using the CQ researcher. What I like about CQ is the advanced search option. This article isn't solely about supplements in baseball but does have several paragraphs dedicated to baseball. The article is semi current being that it was written in 2004 but I'm sure I can find more up to date articles/information within the up and coming weeks.

Deadline #4 HW#3

In the current age of professional and non-professional sports, athletes are finding ways to enhance their bodies. Steroids and other supplements such as human growth hormone (HGH) have been a major topic in the sports world. Most prominantly baseball has been taking harsh critcism from not only the media but the US government as well. The problem with these sports enhancing drugs is that they are so tempting to be used by athletes has they not only have the ability to strengthen their bodies in numerous ways, but possibly aid them in recoveries and their longevity of their careers. Since I am an avid baseball fan I am posing my research question as, "should sports enhancing supplements, most importantly steroids, be allowed to be controlled by licensed physicians in the current day and age of baseball?"

After the baseball strike in 1994, baseball as seen an influx in offense, resulting in increased revenue for baseball as a whole and more importantly the individual owners of the teams. In 1973, the American League adopted the designated hitter rule (DH), which allowed a hitter to take the place of the pitcher, which in turn increased offensive numbers in the American League. As most sports fans would attest, seeing runs/points/goals scored is more exciting to watch than no offensive output. Therefore there is an implied calling for increased numbers in professional sports, and in the case of baseball that equates to more homeruns, stolenbases, strikeouts and almost any other category logged in the game.

My goal of this research project is to address all the negative conoctations of sports enhancers as well as all of the positives with the hope of concluding in a happy medium of moderated sports enhancers. My audience is intended for sports fans as a whole, but more directly towards baseball advocates. However, since modern medicine has numerous uses for steroids/supplements in the normal world, my audience could include those interested in health professions as well.

Aiding me in my research I will undoubtedly be using numerous sports journals/magazines as well as journals/magazines that are health related as I will need background information on specific supplements/steroids. I plan on focusing on 3 or 4 supplements/steroids to have a good range of pros and cons for the use of each of them. One interesting thing I have to my advantage is that although I am only a blogger for the purpose of this class, I do read numerous sports blogs daily and will be able to ask myself more questions related to my research question with the ability to research on specific events/information. I also plan on digging up interviews with specific ballplayers to further aid me with my arguement.

This research paper will take a large amount of work due to the specificness to the sport of baseball alone, but I feel that will only be a positive as it will be more focused. One thing I will need to pay attention to during this process is the current events in the sports world as steroids/supplements are mentioned almost everyday. I plan on doing most of my research from home using the online capabilities of the library but will try to include as many books that are published on the subject to balance out my sources.

Deadline #4 HW#1

The one thing I really love about being a student is having the access to online journals/books/magazines ect. I can get very confused at times while in the library because of the overwhelming presense of information, so I really appreciate the searching by title/author/publication which you can do online. From chapters 8 and 9 in the bedford researcher I can definitely appreciate the criticism of a source as in the past I found when writing a paper a few years back I had conflicting data and I didn't find it out until the very last minute, resulting in me hand correcting my final draft before class. Needless to say I was docked a letter grade for turning in a "messy" final draft. I am still succeptable to biases and I do need to be aware of that while going into this research paper. The websites weren't necessarily new material to me but they could be helpful for checking any errors I might occur during the semester.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Deadline #3

Right now I'm a bit behind on my blog but I did want to post that I have decided on a topic. Baseball is by far my favorite sport and it is very special to me. However the sport has been submerged in allegations about sports performing substances (i.e. steroids, human growth hormone) and has really brought about a negative image of the sport. Although I am not an advocate of illegal under the counter "doping", I would be in support of doctor perscribed substances for injured/aging players. I'll be researching this weekend and will post more soon.