"First World Problems Read by Third World People"

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=10151692702876258&set=vb.295429577163605&type=2&theater

This video is called "First World Problems Read by Third World People," It's by the organization Water is Life and it's trying to get people to donate money to help bring clean water to those in need. The video shows poeople from third world countries reading "problems" that first world countries often complain about, such as "I hate when my leather seats aren't heated." I think the author is trying to argue that we should help people in need because they have way bigger problems than "I hate when I tell them no pickles and they still give me pickles" or "I hate when my neighbor blocks his wifi." Having people from third world countries read the problems makes our problems look so silly compared to their's. That's how the author emotionalizes the video, by having poor kids and people read the problems while they're standing in their horrible living conditions, because that makes people feel sorry for the people and want to donate money to their cause. I think the video has a good cause behind it, but if I had to pick a rhetorical device that the author uses I would say either appeals to emotion or false cause. Overall, I think this video is more rhetorical writing (trying to persuade us to do something) than argumentative writing, though.

"Presearch"

       “Presearch” helped me to come to the topic I’m at now: labor conditions in export processing zones. I started off wanting to research why America’s life expectancy has went down compared to other developed countries, but my “presearch” revealed that there was way too much information on that subject and too many aspects to approach. Background searching in Galileo and the UWG Library Catalogue helped me to narrow down my topic more and to see what information there was available on my topic. It also helped me find more keywords to use in my research. I still have to narrow my current topic down a lot, and Professor Walsh’s feedback on the topic selection worksheet helped with that. I’ve decided to either focus on women in export processing zones or compare China, which has benefitted from EPZs, and Namibia, which has very bad working conditions and hasn’t seen much growth from EPZs. Even those seem broad, though, so I’ll probably still have to narrow it down some more.

       I checked out Women in the Global Factory by Annette Fuentes & Barbara Ehrenreich from the library. Call number HD6223.F841983

A new kind of research!

       The research process we’re using in class is a lot different than how I usually approach research, mainly because I usually use Google for most of my research. Since I’m just a freshman, I’ve only had to write a couple papers so far that I had to have scholarly resources for, and even then I just used academic source complete. Before this class I didn’t know about all the subject specific guides and databases, and I think those will help a lot with research in the future. I also didn’t know I could narrow down my search so finely (only academic journals, only from certain times, etc…), so that will help, too. I’m also not used to having to use specific keywords in my research because the couple times I’ve used Galileo I’ve only had to use an author and the title of their book, or I just use Google, but for this research question I’m actually having to pick out keywords and refine my search.

       The online library is still confusing to me; I’m still not totally comfortable using the UWG Library Catalogue, Galileo, or the Research and Citation Guides. I think we’re doing a good job covering it all in class, though, and I’m sure it’ll get easier with practice.

A new kind of research!

       The research process we’re using in class is a lot different than how I usually approach research, mainly because I usually use Google for most of my research. Since I’m just a freshman, I’ve only had to write a couple papers so far that I had to have scholarly resources for, and even then I just used academic source complete. Before this class I didn’t know about all the subject specific guides and databases, and I think those will help a lot with research in the future. I also didn’t know I could narrow down my search so finely (only academic journals, only from certain times, etc…), so that will help, too. I’m also not used to having to use specific keywords in my research because the couple times I’ve used Galileo I’ve only had to use an author and the title of their book, or I just use Google, but for this research question I’m actually having to pick out keywords and refine my search.

       The online library is still confusing to me; I’m still not totally comfortable using the UWG Library Catalogue, Galileo, or the Research and Citation Guides. I think we’re doing a good job covering it all in class, though, and I’m sure it’ll get easier with practice.

Special Collections

         I really enjoyed the lady from Special Collections that came to talk to us in class today. She was very informative and I learned a lot (since I didn’t know anything about Special Collections to begin with!). For my research topic for this class I’m not sure if there’s anything in Special Collections that I’ll need, but for classes such as my history class I’m excited to start making use of the Special Collections. In my history class we talk a lot about the different wars that have taken place and a lot about civil rights and slavery, and I think it would be neat to see what kinds of letters, pictures, pamphlets, newspapers, and other documents Special Collections has from those periods. What’s better than a first-hand source?? That’s one really cool thing about Special Collections: it holds sources from actual people and events. Books and articles are good sources, but the things held in Special Collections sound much more interesting. Even if it’s not for a class it’s just for me in my spare time I would love to go check out the Special Collections and see what it has to offer.