Research Papers /:

The hardest part about research for me has been whether or not a source is reliable and citing my sources the correct way. Library Research I think focused a lot on plagiarism to the point where I am a mixture of both being afraid to plagiarize and I've become more cautious about the stuff I’ve found for my research papers. The class was pretty helpful but sometimes I think that it was hard for the class to determine the difference in some of the situations because they were so tricky. I guess if you have any doubt about whether or not a source is reliable you probably shouldn't use it. Plagiarism has been such a huge issue now and I think that it is important that we all take a class at my age or even a younger age because once you get to college they do not mess around and your entire college career and future is down the drain. I am still pretty confused common knowledge stuff because the example was something about George Washington's birthday being common knowledge but I didn't even know his birthday. I am also confused because if we have to cite everything that we learn then am I supposed to cite all of my teachers or even my Kindergarten teacher that taught me how to write. I do understand the point of giving credit to the person that deserves it but I believe that their idea probably originally came from something someone said that's how opinions are formed.  

Technology

I believe that we I am a part of a generation that depends on technology, we have progressed so much, but I wonder at what cost. I contribute to this problem, it's so much easier for me to text my family and friends or to Facebook them rather than go visit or sit down and have a conversation with them. I live during an era that has become quite lazy in the sense that the obesity rate is increasing and the fact that most teenagers spend majority of their time on the Internet. In reply to the comment, "Since everything is on the Internet, I don't need books . . . right?" I disagree, books are filled with knowledge. I think that research is easier when going through books because you don't have to constantly worry about whether or not the source is credible. People are allowed to put whatever they want on the Internet, with books there is a publishing process and many people have probably reviewed the book thousands of times. I think that books will always be around because we need them to study and we need them to research different subjects. There are even books on the internet but there are ways like on Wikipedia where people are allowed to change things, and something could be a really good story but one minor detail and it ruins all of your research and you are unable to use that source. I love technology but I wish we didn't rely on it so heavily.