Week 2

As I promised I would do this week, I read all of the 24 sources I found last week. I consider this a huge milestone in my paper progress. Normally, I wait until I am actually writing the paper to go pick through my sources for information. This week, I also narrowed my research to two papers I will write the rhetorical analysis on. After narrowing the research for my papers, I was able to formulate a rough outline for the draft. Once I completed the outline, I realized how much simpler writing the paper next week is going to be.

As far as the term paper goes, I haven’t exactly determined the angles I want to cover. I know I want to talk about college tuition, but am unsure in the direction(s) the paper will take. With the research that I have, I have good statistics in tuition increases for public and four year colleges in the past few years, as well as the percent increase since 1990. Another big theme incorporated in many of the research articles I have read, they speculate reasons for tuition increases. One of the main speculations is that the more funding the college receives in federal and state aid, the more the tuition increases. Some say that tuition is merely keeping pace with the inflation rates of everything else. Another major theme of the research I have read is the trend that students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree have about $21,000 in student loan debt. Another popular theme in my reading are suggestions on ways that colleges can still be successful without increasing tuition.

I think I want to narrow my audience to college students, but am not exactly sure how promising that will be. Hopefully after writing the rhetorical analysis, I will have narrowed my topic and have a better idea of what I want to cover for the final paper.

Research Blog-The Beginning....

The sources I am examining at this point for my term paper about college tuition costs are: Townhill.com, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes magazine, The Chicago Fed Letter, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and the U.S. News & World report to name a few.

Today, I had a major research session with an upperclassmen, and he was able to find many sources for me to sort through. Using EBSCO host alone, we were able to find about 25 different articles in a matter of an hour. Because we weren't able to meet until today, and I had class until 9 p.m., I have not had a chance to read through all 25.

Some titles that seem to have amazing points that I am looking for right now. Some titles that I am going to read tonight are: School for Scandal from Forbes, Chicago Fed Letter's The changin value of education, Colleges Seek To Address Affordability; As Tuition Continues to Soar, Some Offer More Grants, Ease Aid Formulas, Lock In Fees by the Wall Street Journal, tje Chronicle of Higher Education's College Too Pricey? Dont Blame Faculty Pay, and Costly Cap and Gown from the U.S. News & World Report.

Right now, I am extremely overwhelmed with research. I think there are two main reasons why. First off, was very stupid when I did my research in weeks past using EBSCOhost. I was looking for the HTML Full Text icon that was there all along. This icon tells you that you can view the source online and you don't need to hunt for the book or journal in print. Secondly, it's Friday morning, and I have less than 24 hours to read the materials, and complete my annotated bibliography draft. In those 24 hours, I have to sleep, shower, go to class, do homework, go to work, and tie up loose ends.

From here, I am going to read all of these papers in the next few days, and start narrowing my topic. I know I am being extremely vague in this blog, but that is due to my lack of time and my slight procrastination.