Blog Homework 3.14

Matthew Nickerson

LIBR1101

Blog Homework 3/14

                For this blog assignment I went on Google and searched for “Vegetarian Groups”. The first result that popped up was the “Vegetarian Resource Group” (VRG) which specialized in informing people on recipes as well as statistics and data on vegetarian lifestyles. Due to the fact that it was the first result from Google shows the relevance to people and how important and dynamic this group must be to people all over the world. VRG has an incredible site with categorical organization along the sidelines that are very helpful. Categories such as press releases, recipes, nutrition, ingredient information, and business information will be things I could very well include into my presentation.

                The great part about the VRG is not only the organization of the site itself, but the amount of information the site contains. Databases such as Galileo will be helpful in scholarly research, but other websites may be just as useful in the end in regards to my project. The nutritional facts that are provided are going to be essential in my project as convincing people about eating healthier using statistics will be just as important as conveying the topic in general.

Blog Homework 3/5

Matthew Nickerson       

LIBR1101

Blog Homework 3/5

In using these new sites I found two that were appealing in helping me along with my topic. The site “Reddit.com” allowed me to find some very useful articles right off the bat with a comprehensive library of user promoted articles. It was helpful because most of the results were due to votes by people on the site to promote better quality articles as well as well written pieces. Reddit allowed me to find news articles in regards to the title “Health” and listed some very clear and concise articles from nutrition all the way down to a story about a cured child of HIV, although the last one did not relate to my topic, it is still relevant in the sake of healthcare. Not only can you search through categories, but can also search through subreddit catageories that can take you from a major category such as “health” and direct you to subreddits such as “ADHD” and “Vegetarian” allowing users to go from category to subcategories of those categories.

Twitter is a great social media tool due to the brief nature of “tweeting”. Tweeting allows a user to put a few characters in a line and have that information accessible to millions of people across the globe. In regards to my topic, doctors and health professionals such as “Julian Michaels” or authors of vegetarian books may be useful in promoting better information. Twitter makes things public and accessible which is good for celebrities to get things out as well as products from businesses. If I was interested in including something from “Kashi” or “Whole Foods” in my paper, I could find information from their twitter page that may help me out in my resources.

I personally only use Facebook due to communication. I use very little social media as I see it mainly as a distraction and only wastes peoples time if there not using it in the right way. I tried using twitter personally but did not enjoy. I could see the benefits of a celebrity or business using twitter, but personal tweets by random people and seeing a timeline full of hundreds to possibly thousands of tweets every day is not in my interest. Twitter is a great social media tool, but It can be extremely distracting and can also lead people to be misinformed through the fact that you are not able to put over a certain amount of characters in the tweet box. 

Blog Homework 2/26

Matthew Nickerson
LIBR 1101
2.25.13
Blog Homework (2.26.13)

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-02/many-reasons-chair-killing-you?src=SOC&dom=fb

In this article, the argument is that many people are not getting enough excercise in their daily working lifestyle. This is a truth that can be seen in the American society as obesity is becoming a huge problem. It is an argument because although their is evidence, the author is using opinions and facts to explain the seven deadly ways sitting can kill you. One of the biggest indicators emotions and word relationships can be seen to relate to audiences are the ease of relating to the topic. Some of these things are word usage and phrase usage that relates the topics to a persons everyday lifestyle and habits.

The article really does not have any logical fallacies. It is very clear and concise about the topic at hand with some pictures and statistics that relate the topics more to a global numbers. The article was very informative to me and the title also pulled me into viewing it off of a friends page. Health is my interest and statistics interest me so i was prone to click on a link with a catchy title.

Blog Homework 2.14.13

Matthew Nickerson

LIBR1101

Blog Homework 2.14.13

I believe that I have just narrowed my search topic down a little bit more narrow and better for anybody to understand. I believe that my final topic is going to be “The health benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle”. I was going to do it on specific diets in accordance to regional areas such as the southeast United States and Asia and compare each other. Each class period I am finding more helpful resources and databases that can help me with my search routines. Due to the fact that my topic deals with health, it is pretty relevant in today’s society.

  “Foods for health”

Call Number: HE20.3202:F73/3  PubDate:1985

Located: Government Documents Compact Shelving (Main Floor)

This is one of the of the books I found in the west Georgia library that I could potentially use for research and incorporate into my project as well.

Blog Homework (2/12)

Matthew Nickerson

LIBR1101

Blog Homework (2/12)

                I believe the difference between my past research and this research is the heavy use of databases. In the past, book sources and other encyclopedias were used in reference to English papers and the citations I needed for ENG 1101 and ENG 1102. It was easy to find a book in the library and reference what was seen in the book from the topic at hand. Databases make it that much easier to find resources and references in the subjects and categories and receive multiple sources for the same topic. Since my topic is on “health foods”, rather than getting one source from a book; I have many databases under “health/medicine” or “nutrition” that can show me thousands of results. Books are shown as well as professional journals and scholastic resources such as those articles published in universities and institutions.

                I would not say that I am having difficulty, although some of the maneuvering around databases can be hectic and time consuming; if not done right. One thing I would have also liked talking about was “sources and citations”, but I am sure that is to come in the near future of this class. Everything seems to be going well for my research project and I happen to be getting many results with my topic. Pleased with everything thus far.  Interested to see what is to come in the next classes

2/7 Blog Assignment

Matthew Nickerson

LIBR1101

2/7 Blog Assignment

                Currently, I am not engaged in a class that would require extraneous use of the “Special Collections” department of the universities library. These items would be useful in a study in an English class as “social” and “cultural” perspective is important in understanding the historical value. The context of climate and environment can allow a student to analyze the importance of dated material. Items in the collections can be dated and this means that proper care of the material is highly necessary. Preserving these items could be essential to students in distinguished degree fields in the university.

                Philosophy majors interested in a track of pre-law could benefit from this collection. Understanding material such as law and the history behind it could lead you back a few hundred years as law has progressed and developed into what it is. Having resources such as historical footnotes describe serious cases such as “Plessey V. Ferguson” that have impacted human life as we know it and needs to be preserved so that future law students have knowledge of past cases in realistic details. I could see some of business classes having us use resources such as the special collections to bring quality to our research such as the marketing of past products. Knowledge of the past is an essential part of academic study as our past has shaped our future in many ways giving us insight into struggles and triumphs throughout societies.

Blog Homework 1/31

Matthew Nickerson

Blog Homework (1/31)

LIBR 1101

                I believe that my topic will concern “the benefits of a healthy diet”. I enjoy letting people know the importance of their diets. As knowledge is more available due to the internet it still seems that people still do not eat properly and barely read labels. Some of the keywords that popped up where “medical care”,”prevention”, “health and hygiene”, and “Law and legislation” came up in my search topics. A primary source I could use for this topic would include a journal article reporting “New” research or finds as well as diary’s or primary journals from doctors as well as holistic experts.

                Research for this topic should be relatively easy as health and healthcare is currently a very hot topic. The universal healthcare bill that is being brought up in congress relates to diets and health directly. Preventative care is the best care to help you physically and financially in the future. Healthy minds and bodies birth healthy activities.