Whether the Weather be: Fog, giving way to afternoon sunshine (54 F)
In The News: June was the warmest month on record globally (Source: CNN)
Events of Note: "Catch-up" day-Unit 2: Responses in threads to fellow classmates.
* I'm changing my blog format 'up' slightly, by utilizing a signature 'short blog' style of mine that I've found works especially well in many of my other blogs. This enables me to give edited highlights, without rambling too much. This also distinguishes everyday happenings and reflections from my other, more serious and thoughtful blogging efforts happening elsewhere.
* For me, Sundays are sometimes 'catch-up' and revision days for my KU online studies. My husband works the majority of weekends (Sundays, included). I limit myself to an hour a day of housework, otherwise it just consumes too much of my life. There's always something needing my attention!.
* Ironically, I likely put more work into my peer responses on DB, than I do on responding to the initial discussion question. Partly, this is because I like to be thoughtful. I ran into a difficult dilemma on one of my DBs, today, though. I saw that a student had copied whole passages word-for-word from the class text, and offered very little by way of their own material (without using quotation marks or page numbers in their citation). Granted, they included the text reference at the end, but still... That bothers me somewhat. Either, they didn't understand APA well enough to be able to use it to their best advantage by incorporating it directly into an original response. Or, they had trouble understanding the question, and so C&P-ing the whole text, was their easier option. There's a whole chapter (Ch. 12) on "Basic Citation Guidelines" in our green KU "The Kaplan Guide to Successful Writing" Handbook. Plus, the Writing Center just issued a whole bunch of new tutorials and handouts on revised APA guidelines-there have been some recent additions and changes recently (as of the end of last Term). It's important to be able to distinguish between your own ideas, and those of other academic writers and researchers, when you're reading others material. I read a lot each day-of both formal and informal writing. So, the clearer the ideas that are being expressed are, the more that I take away from experiences as a reader. Yes, I refer to my class texts in DB, too. As a starting point. After that, I always try to add some relevant secondary resources, based on my own research, as a part of drafting my response. Regardless of the course subject, it's a method that (almost always) works well for me. In the past, I've used MLA (Modern Languages) and Chicago style guides, although I used APA for my Master's level work. My references pages for my thesis had 206 individual full citations!. That puts the relatively small number of citations needed for the Comp II paper into context for me!. I know that not all of my class-mates have had that kind of experience. Still, it's true that the more that you use referencing, the easier that it becomes. An exercise in learning by doing, I guess.
* Since one of my professional research interests in public health is in bio-ethics, I think that I'm going to do my Final Paper for Comp II on the Legal/Ethical Implications of Assisted Fertilization. It's an ethics subject that I haven't written about before, so it should be really interesting. Previously, I've studied medical futility and end-of-life decision-making, and the moral decision-making of health professionals. But, the fertilization topic is a new one. So far, I have some promising research leads. I do need to firm up my research angle/focus though.
* On the adventure front, I'm not entirely not sure if our traditional, annual Summer road-tripping can materlize, this year. Every year since 2005, we've done a major trip. We did our first 3000 mile round-trip when my daughter was three months old. In 2008, we returned to New Zealand. In 2009, we went to NE, via OR, WA, ID, MO, WY, UT and back through by way of a very hot, steamy CO. My daughter has ballet camp for the remainder of the Summer and will be beginning kindergarten in September. Usually by that time, some of the more significant, Mid-West mountain passes can start to ice up fairly impressively. I'm sort of secretly hoping that my husband can secure a new contract out at Moonstone Beach, so that we can all enjoy having more quality recreational time there. In addition, in September, there are medical appointments at Stanford with my Pain Team. I had major, triple reconstructive surgery back in January, this year, and my specialists have been waiting for me to heal sufficiently before starting on a new phase of treatment. Aside from having a set of alarming lab test results, this week, I'm feeling remarkably good. Courage!.
Hope you all have a great, relaxing Sunday!.
See you in the threads!.
