This class was the most writing I have ever done for an english class EVER! With so much writing and work, I thought I would never get it all done. One of my major anxieties throughout the course was just simply keeping up with the blogs. During the snow days that we had canceled classes, I definatly fell behind. I was really alarmed at this point that I wouldn’t be able to get everything back up to speed. Thankfully, I did and pulled through the rest of the way. Another major concern I had was just simply getting used to the word press and marlen website. The course moved really quickly and I was so worried I wouldn’t be able to keep up. Again, I busted my ass in the library and with stern concentration accomplished everything. This class also really helped me improve my studying skills as well as really got my concentrated on school. I’m really grateful for that.

My future goal as a researcher is to continue working on my concepts of Raves throughout my college carrear. I feel that I can encorporate this research into my minor field of Sociology. I plan to really dive deeper into this world of raves. My proudest moments were having both Marlen and my peers just simply telling me that I am a strong writer. That really makes me feel good and makes me believe that I can really pull through the rest of all my courses. This course will stick out alot to me. The main conponent is just being able to study better now and have more concentration and motivation to sit down, go to the library, and work my butt off!! The work ethic really will stick out the most and I truly believe it will help me with the rest of my college carrear.

The most useful assignment I had during this process was the Anotated Bib. This was most helpful cause it was the first step in forcing me to really observe all my articles and sources that I found and decide which articles were helpful to my paper and which ones were just a waste. Using the anno bib also made typing up my paper easier as well as my works citied.

 2) What was the most helpful feedback you received at any stage – why was it helpful?

The most helpful was going to the Writing Center. The guy that reviewed my paper was very helpful and gave me great advice. He showed me what I could add to make things sound better and also fix sentences that didn’t make any sense.

3) What was most difficult for you during the drafting process? Easiest? WHY?

The most difficult process for me in the drafting process was using citations and formatting. When I write something, I just like to freely write it. I hate to think about every little format and grammatical error. I still have editing to do with my paper as far as formatting goes. The easiest part of drafting was writing introductions and conclusions. With these, I could just say what I feel about my topic and write strongly. The intro and conclusion are definalty my strongest parts of my paper as well.

 4) Where does your final essay best show your ability as a writer?.

My final essay shows it’s ability’s best in the language and grammar that I use. I feel that I write rather strongly and go above and beyond what an average writer can. Because of this, I think my paper can be rather relatable to many different types of people on many different types of levels.

I gained alot of insight and ideas from doing my peer review project. I saw how another student put together their paper and the organization that was involved. Editing was somewhat hard. It’s very easy to look for gramatical errors, but to pin point out specific things like flowing together and transitions can be a little more complicated. I felt a bit of relief after the peer revising as well. My paper seemed strong to Kelly. She seemed to enjoy the information and the paper itself seemed to be correct and flow together. That is a major releif to at least know that I’m on the right track. It also helped my pick out specific things that need to be worked on more in my paper and things I need to abreviate on more so. The peer reviews were a MAJOR help in my research writing.

Results

• make results easy and accessible to readers (graph, table)as well as including texts that thoroughly explain the result data
• don’t overload the reader or make the reader re read material… inform on specific parts of the information given
• make sure your way of presenting the material is easy and understandable for the reader and bests suits the information given.
• use parenthese (ex: see table 1) in order to easily direct your reader

Discussions

• interperut your own and new material that is presented in the research.
• Make your points clear instead of disguising them with words
• use bridged sentences instead of restating the information over and over again
• relate your findings to previous research done … reference any outside sources
• Do not introduce new results in your discussion

Conclusions

• help make a transition for the reader back to their daily lives
• last chance to make your statement about what you think and your views on the topic being presented, make a good final impression and summarize all your thoughts.
• pushes beyond the boundaries of your paper
• conclusion makes the reader leave with an idea of your topic at hand
• synthesis the paper and put all the points made in the paper together
• suggest solutions to a problem, broader views, or  a whole new insight.

My articles I found to reflect Marlen’s

Results

• use figures and tables to present the info more effectivly
• make results completly objective report
• Summarize your findings in texts
• describe your findings thoroughly in text
• Analyze data
• Do not interpret results, include raw data, present repeated data, confuse figyres with tables
• use past tense and put into order
• refer to figs and ” Fig 1″ and “Table 1″
• each figure must be labeled appropriatly

Discussion

• interpret results and support conclusions
• decided on hypothesis and explain instead of claiming “incohesive”
• Draw conclusions based on the information found.. treat the study as finished work
• focus on mechanisms
• offer alternative explanations if they exist
• discuss what questions remain in the research
• refer to work done by specific individuals
• suggest why the results came out as they did

Conclusions

• Conclusion is what the audience remembers best.
• present final analysis, frame thoughts, and bridge readers
• to go beyond a final statement and expand the paper…include insights, warning, reccomendation, hypothesis, make a call to action, look to the future and make a prediction, propose a solution to an issue, offer further study, or consider broader issues
• end strongly!!

I feel that conclusion and introductions are my strongest writing areas in research papers. Therefore, I’m excited to end strong with a good and valid point as well as leave a very lasting impression on my readers that will make them want to know everything about raves.

Works Cited:

     My paper I feel was easily put together and helped my readers understand what I was trying to grasp as well as being concise on the topic and what I want my readers to get out of the paper. I think my audience was very informed on the subject. One comment I got was that the reader never had an interest in raves. But after reading throught my combined 3 papers, she wanted to know more information on the subject. One major change I need to make is clearly defining drugs and drug abreviations such as MDMA. Not everyone will know or understand what the drugs are and the effects of such things. Therefore, I want to put together a little table at the end of my paper where my works citied is that clearly explains the abreviations and the effects of the drugs mentioned. Another editing is working on making my paper flow with transitional words that makes each paragraph flow together better. From here, I want to build more information on my paper, correct gramatical and transitional errors and work on my table for drugs at the end of my paper.

My research subjects will be close friends of mine that have experienced the rave life and whom each have different thoughts and views on what the rave lifestyle is all about.

How will you find them?

I’ve already found them because they are friends I’ve known from the past and whom are still close friends of mine.

How many will you need?

 I will be using 2 or 3 of my close friends and that will definatly be enough to complete a good view on the topic of raves

Are there any potential dangers to your participants in undertaking this research?

There are no dangers to my participants in this research because I am using different names to protect their safety. No one but myself and my participants will acutally know who they are. Therefore, there is no possible danger.

How will you protect your participants from harm and safeguard their privacy?

By giving them different code names I am protecting their safety and privacy.

 What questions do you have about methods and data collection at this time and how will you answer them?

My question is how to easily lay out the data I collect in a manner that will greatly reflect my paper as well as give the reader a vivid picture of what my particpants are saying.

• refers to any review of a collection of materials on a specific topic
• discusses published information in a particular subject area and sometimes even reflects the time period it was written
• gives a summary of the information as well as incorporates new ideas and materials about the subject and can even discuss where the topic stands today and what new research has been done
• it differs from a research paper because of instead focusing on new research, lit reviews summarize old material. It focuses less on the arguement of the paper.
• lit reviews are used to save time on reading the entire article and also keep scientists up to date on new research that has been done.
• Lit revies seek: clarification, narrowing down your topic to specifics, and looking how current your references are.
• When writing a lit review: find a focus, construct a working thesis statement, and organize your thoughts as well as the paper.
• When composing: be selective, use evidence, sparinlgy use quotes, summarize, keep your own voice, and use caution when paraphrasing.
• Make sure to revise before publishing your lit review.

Source:

“Literature Reviews.” The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Web. 02 Mar. 2010. http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/literature_review.html.

Tips on of Conduction Lit Reviews

• be organized around and related to the thesis or research question you are developing
• synthesize results into a summary of what is and what is not known
• identify areas of contraversy in the literature.
• formulate question that need further research
• ask yourself question about how critically you have anazlyzed the information and continue to ask question about your own personal research thesis or questions
• ask yourself question about the sources that are being used in the research paper in order to have the most current and verified information.

Source:

“The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It.” Writing at the University of Toronto. Web. 02 Mar. 2010. http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review.

Works Cited:

“Literature Reviews.” The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Web. 02 Mar. 2010. http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/literature_review.html.

“The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It.” Writing at the University of Toronto. Web. 02 Mar. 2010. http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review.

Introduction: The use of ecstasy and other club drugs has been very popular through the 90′s and had a rapid increase before the millennim. Although the use of ecstasy has been declining among high school and college age kids, it seems to persist in the subculture of ravers. Author shows to use many references and stats from surveys about the use of club drugs.

Paragraph 1: Ecstasy has most been related to the ravers. Since the start of raves, much research has been done to find out more about the new age “rave scene”. The author uses 6 different cited sources in the form of MLA which is very helpful. The author mostly reinterates what he stated in the introduction in this paragraph. He doesn’t give to much new information.

Paragraph 2: Raves have grown from an “underground” association to more of a mainstream event that attracts people other than the rave subculture.  This paragraph is very informative because of the details of the history of raves. The author uses sources from a National reference.

Paragraph 3: The author states the purpose of the paper. The purpose being is to identify the epidemic subculture and to clearly state and classify the different types of ravers. Another purpose is to understand the types of ravers in a way to better prevent the use of club drugs and give parents a better understanding of this scene. The author again uses and cites a handful of valuable resources.

Paragraph 4: This is the methods paragraph where the author discusses the methods used in conducting the study on ravers. The author states of using 36 participants and what guidelines they had when conducting the study.

Paragraph 5: The author describes how the data was collected and how they constructed the study. The past 2 paragraphs were needed and informative in order to fully understand how the data was used and observed.

Paragraph 6: This paragraph explains the analysis of the data and how the study was all put together in the end. Its also explains how the author used some of the participants in citation form so the reader can understand where the statements are coming from.

Paragraph 7: The author explains the races, ages, and sexual orientation of the participants in the study as well as informative statistics in the study that help to clear things up.

Paragraph 8: This paragraph begins the section targeting the drug use at raves. The author gives statistics about he use of ecstasy including how often, how much, and current use of the drug. No citations in this paragraph were used.

Paragraph 9: The author goes into details about the use of alcohol and marijuana in conjunction with ecstasy or even by itself. The paragraph again gave statistics about the uses as well a couple particpant responses and other references that were cited.

Paragraph 10: This paragraph was very short and gave few statistics on the lifetime uses of hallucinatory drugs and current use of them.

Paragraph 11: This was the last paragraph in the drug use section of the article. This last paragraph touched on how the use of harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin were rather uncommon and made up a very small percent of ravers. Statistics were then used to support the statistics stated.

Paragraph 12: This paragraph is the begining of the section of the paper that talks about the local rave subculture. This paragraph explains the different slang terms and even dressing codes of ravers from the midwestern as compared to other areas of the U.S. References from the participants are again used and cited.

Paragraph 13: Details about the different subcultures of ravers starts to go into further analysis. Chemi-kids are most described as tourists. The author doesn’t go into much detail about the subject but more so just summarizes it. Few sources are used in this paragraph.

Paragraph 14: A picture is shown in the article of a circle that illustrates the categories of ravers. This paragraph completly describes the circle and how it works. The paragraph also goes into detail of how to be accetped into the rave subculture. No citations were used but a reference to a participant and a quote was given. I like the idea of the drawing. The author definatly shows that he wants the reader to clearly understand how this subculture works and shows it by making this drawing. This shows to have a good understanding of the concept,.

Paragraph 15: The author again makes references to the drawing and how it works. He also describes how the subgroups can move from one group to another as well as befriend others in different groups. He explains the arrows in the circular drawing and how it moves. No references but the summary helped to identify with the different sub-groups. This was another very informative paragraph.

Paragraph 16: This paragraph starts into a section described as perceived homogeneity. This section wasn’t exactly broken down into exact paragraphs but I’ll do what I can to summarize what I assume as a paragraph. This paragraph gives an account of a man named Henry that does not consider himself to be a raver and explains what the rave scene is like for him.

Paragraph 17: This is the second paragraph of this section and gives the account of what a raver named Johnathan says about the rave scene. This section was helpful in using these accounts but had not citations.

Pargraph 18 : This is the begining of a section known as Chemi- Kids. The author defines what a Chemi-kid is and gives an account from a participant.

Paragraph 19: Two accounts from participants are given. Both summarize chemi-kids as being not welcome to raves and only there for the purpose to buy and sell ecstasy and other drugs. This is informative to better understand each sub group which is needed in my paper.

Paragraph 20: A new participant reaction was given. This was also negative when speaking about Chemi-kids. No newer information. Just information repeated differently in a new voice.

Paragraph 21: This paragraph gives the details of the participant named Henry. It goes into the extensive amount of drugs he used and his current status with drugs. I feel this paragraph was somewhat misplaced and should of been put in a different part of the paper.

Paragraph 22: This paragraph gives another participant account and again bashes the chemi-kids as being preppy. The author I feel didn’t have to break up all these paragraphs about chemi-kids and could of made it alot smaller. Alot of the information seemed repeated.

Paragraph 23: This paragraph summarized the Chemi-kids section. This gives a cited source and another participant view and summarizes by saying chemi-kids bascially suck and are degenerating the culture of ravers.

Paragraph 24: This paragraph starts a section about the types of ravers. It starts off by exploring the musical side and views of the music by participants.

Paragraph 25: The divison of the subgroups that ARE ravers begins to be broken down into paragraphs. The subgroups are clearly stated and are italicized at the begining of each paragraph.

Paragraph 26: Non-affilated party kids are the first described. Key concept; generic, plain, straight, evolve into different groups, go from happy E users to angry meth users. Author gives a very informative description.

Paragraph 27: Candy Kids are the next described in detail. Key concept; newbies (1-2  years), 13- 16 years old, “the” ravers, bright colors and crazy jewelry, eat ecstasy, wears bright colors and huge pants, uses glow sticks, wears flourescents, all about being happy.

Paragraph 28: Further detail about Candy Kids goes on. Describes the uses and functions of the jewelry refered to as “candy”.

Paragraph 29:  This describes the philosophy of “PLUR”. The author uses a few references that are cited.

Paragraph 30:  Candy kids are known as the new-age hippies. Key concepts: carers, helpers, all about peace and love, never fighting. The author uses a very vivid participant account with Candy kids.

Paragraph 31: The account of a participant named Suzy is given as well as her past with drugs and view on other drugs. This seems to be more in place than the last participant/drug reflection being that Suzy was is a Candy Kid.

Paragraph 32:Reflection of the participant Suzy and her current status with raves and drugs. Author does a very good job in detailing the commonly used participants that are used throughout the paper.

Paragraph 33: Paragraph begins into the Junglist types of ravers. Key concepts; hates candy kids, other side of raves.

Paragraph 34: Further depiction of Junglisht. Key concepts; mean, older brother picking on little brother, the more adolescent of the scene, hate the commercializtion.

Paragraph 35: Associations with jungle kids are made through music, different clothing, and shedding the beads of candy kids. The author uses a variety of participant reviews to help detail this paragraph. Key terms; shady, cynical, stealing, lying, break dancers, fake drugs.

Paragraph 36: This paragraph goes more into depth on the dress of junglist’s and has a participant account from a man named Johnathan.

Paragraph 37: A new perspective from a man named Carl and the perspective from Johnathan detail the drug use of Junglist which is heavy into Meth and Ketamine. The ecstasy use is low. Also account for Junglist’s being known as the assholes of the rave culture.

Paragraph 38: This paragraph gives more info on Junglist’s and has another account from a kid named Kyle. Same basic information. Again, the author could easily paraphrase all this into one big paragraph. The author repeats himself alot.

Paragraph 39: Gives details about a participant named Jason who is a Junglist. Details about his drug history and present drug state are in the paragraph.

Paragraph 40: Summarizes the Junglist’s of the raves and their future. This paragraph leads into the next section.

Paragraph 41: This begins to talk about the group known as old school ravers. Key concepts; parents of raves, ‘ been there done that’ philosophy. This paragraph also explains the dress and a participant named Jason gives accounts of his information on this subgroup.

Paragraph 42: Randy, another participant, describes the concepts of the raves and how the culture is dying and being more commercialized because a lack of old school ravers. The author uses several references.

Paragraph 43: Summarizes and puts together all the typology of the subgroups. Expresses the lack of old school ravers in the schene. I feel this paragraph is un-needed.

Paragraph 44:  Old school raver Randy recaps on his drug use in order to categorize the subgroup. He used every possible drug at least once and his current status is unknown. This is a needed paragraph that helps put into picture each subgroup.

Paragraph 45: Participant Jason reviews his drug status in raves and also his drug habits and turning down the idea of an old school raver and getting out of the drug scene.

Paragraph 46: This begins the conclusion of the study. The author summarizes and emphasizes on how small of a participant basis they had.

Paragraph 47: The author emphasizes how the typology is not completly cut and dry but gives a much better clarification into the subgroups of ravers.

Paragraph 48: Summarizing and clarifying the specific groups and showing ways to use this study in an intervention for ravers. Very short paragraph.

Paragraph 49: The author states that this study helps find the philosophies and the lifestyles of the ravers. He then states that this is key in helping prevent drug abuse because parents and the media can’t target ravers when they don’t truthfully comprehend and understand their ways of thinking and lifestyle.

Paragraph 50: Uses at participant to help express the anger that the ravers feel when portrayed by the media because they only bring up the facts of drug use and orgy’s. The author uses this very strong statement well in order to sum up the paper.

Paragraph 51: This is the last paragraph in the paper. The author ends by saying that their is no way to properly handle the growing epidemic of ravers until people understand the idea, philosophies, and messages the ravers are trying to get across. After this, the authors lists the references used as well as the other participants and other contributions made into this study.

What is the difference between the introduction and the lit review?

The introduction has more of an attraction in words that gets the reader ready to dive into the material. The vocabulary is more generated towards the attitude of the paper. The lit review is less of an attraction and exciting thing and more of a laid back, description of the article. While the introduction looks to give and information while attracted the reader, the lit review is all for the information and being more specific and statistical.

In what ways did the authors attempt to hook the reader’s interest?

The author used vivid detailing about the subject in order to prepare the reader for the rest of the article. When hooking the reader, it’s all about appealing to the reader and giving descriptive words and facts that will spark interest and keep the reader wanting more and more.

What are the a) purpose/objective, b) significance/importance, c) main research question, d) methods, e) results, and f) final conclusions/recommendations for future research and where in your outlines from item 1 above can each of these be found?

a) The purpose of this paper was to inform the reader of the lifestyles of rave life and give a more in depth look that goes past the drug abuse. The purpose was also to give a better understanding so people can help with the drug abuse that takes place at raves.

b) The importance of this paper was to give valid research using participants that actually are involved with the rave scene and give their opinions honestly about the lifestyle as well as the drug abuse.

c) The main research question was ‘what entails the lifestyles of a raver and what can be done about the drug problem at raves?’

d) The methods were finding valid participants and doing studies, questionaires and interviews that would seap into their lives.

e) The results better clarified each uniquie subgroup in the raves as well as targetting which group used what drug and also got the opinions and perspectives on the philosophies of ravers that could better target the drug abuse and prevention.

f) The final conclusion of the article and the study was that parents and anti-drug advocates need to be more aware of what the subculture is about in order to prevent and derail the use and intervention of drug abuse. The items above can mainly be found in my outline where I explore the individual subgroups of the rave culture. Further reseach could help draw away substance abuse and keep raves to a musical and peaceful enviornment.

Source:

 McCaughan JA, Carlson RG, Falck RS, Siegal HA, Substance Use & Misuse [Subst Use Misuse], ISSN: 1082-6084, 2005; Vol. 40 (9-10), pp. 1503-23; PMID: 16048830

Raves: A Review of the Culture, the Drugs, & the Prevention of Harm

Paragraph 1:This is the introduction of the article. The article starts with a coroner’s detailing of a death of a man from collapsing at a rave. The article starts with an attracting fact that leads you to read more. The author summarizes by stating how people need to understand the culture of raves in order to understand the drug problem. Canadian account rather than American.

Paragraph 2: Gives a brief history and definition of raves as well as the drugs and atmosphere involved. The author does an excellent job at giving a quick, yet informative summary.

Paragraph 3: The author suggests how their isn’t much information on raves when done exclusivly but, their is alot of information on ecstasy that then relates to raves. The author gives references that do give articles on both topics.

Paragraph 4: This article talks about the extended research that is done on drug prevention as well as where to find these references at the end of his article.

Paragraph 5: This is the first paragraph in the rave culture section. This was a brief paragraph that detailed the main components of rave culture.

Paragraph 6: This paragraph briefly describes the music that is displayed at raves as well as details on the genres, artist’s and availability of the music.

Paragraph 7: This paragraph describes the locations and enviornment of the typical rave. The author again does great at being descriptive yet brief.

Paragraph 8: This paragraph details what the ravers do in order to prepare for raves as well as the costs, dress and ages. The author does great at citing using number at the end of paraphrasing and have the references at the end of the article. \

Paragraph 9: This paragraph begins into the drug section of the article. This paragraph summarizes the drugs that are popular at raves as well as the unpopular ones.

Paragraph 10: This paragraph goes into great medical describtion of the drug GHB. ( Also, on this page of the article their is a large table that gives fantastic description of drugs in every detail.)

Paragraph 11:  This paragraph goes into a more dangerous speaking of GHB and describes how it is used and the dangers of it.

Paragraph 12: This talks about this scienfic and medical defintion’s of Ketamine as well as the medical history.

Paragraph 13: This paragraph sums up Ketamine and also touches on the history of Ketamine in raves as well as the indications of overdosing.

Paragraph 14: This paragraph gives the medical effects and description of Ecstasy as well as the medical ingredients. It also gives a brief history.

Paragraph 15: This paragraph touches on Ecstasy related death and almost scares the reader out of taking Ecstasy because of how easily someone can die from just one tablet. The author also gives ways to care for it. (Noting on this page their are two tables that give information on safety at raves and treating Ecstasy overdose.)

Paragraph 16: This final paragraph on Ecstasy sums up the dangers as well as giving a vivid picture of what Ecstasy looks like as well as how risky it is because of the ingredients being unknown. The author gives a good symbolism saying that taking E is like playing Russian Roulette.

Paragraph 17: This paragraph sums up E and lets the reader know what ravers are doing to help prevent the overdose and death of it.

Paragraph 18: The author starts to talk about how other countries tried to prevent raves but most attempts completly failed and even sparked more raves.

Paragraph 19: This article talks about the steps that are being done to help ensure safety at raves rather than abolishing them altogether.  ( two more graphs on drug definitions and help lines are on this page as well as a picture of anti-drug advocates.)

Paragraph 20: This is the conclusion paragraph. The author states that the raver life doesn’t last to long and rather than out-lawing raves, people need to take steps to better advice people on the dangers and health risks involved with raves. A reference listing is followed at the end of the article.

What is the difference between the introduction and the lit review?

The introduction starts off with grasping facts about a coroner’s experience with a death a rave. The author uses this chilling fact to draw attention to the article. The lit review does not have a fact like that but is moreso a quick summary of the article all together.

In what ways did the authors attempt to hook the reader’s interest?

Again, the author used real facts to draw attention to the dangers of drugs as well as raves.

What are the a) purpose/objective, b) significance/importance, c) main research question, d) methods, e) results, and f) final conclusions/recommendations for future research and where in your outlines from item 1 above can each of these be found?

a) The purpose of this paper is to relate the drugs to the raves and draw attention on how to take care of individuals that overdose on specific drugs at these raves.

b) The importance of this paper is for ravers to be more educated on the medical uses and ingredients in these drugs and give factual details rather than just accounts from ravers.

c) The main research question is “How can we prevent overdoses at raves instead of putting down raves and out-lawing them?”.

d) The method used is using medical facts from doctors and physicians as well as putting together tables and graphs that correctly label these drugs, their street names, and all possible side effects. This method better informs both logical readers as well as readers who attend raves and party on with these drugs.

e) The results gave educated information on treatment and prevention of dangerous mixes and signs of bad drugs that can put someone’s life in danger.

f) The final conclusion shows how to better associate with ravers and relating to them in order to promote drug prevention rather than being forceful and taking the raves away. In my outline, this information can be used in the drug section so I can better define these drugs and also put awareness into possible overdoses and legal definitions.

Source:

Weir E, CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal = Journal De L’association Medicale Canadienne [CMAJ], ISSN: 0820-3946, 2000 Jun 27; Vol. 162 (13), pp. 1843-8; PMID: 10906922