Wednesday, December 12, 2007

War of 1812 - - Final

Felipe Marquez dh2595
Library Literacy 1210
Mrs. Soules
December 12, 2007
War of 1812

Although the Great American Revolutionary war had ended in the 1783, there was still great hostility between the newly formed government/nation of the United States of America and the Empire of Great Briton. The building of the U.S. government had taken many years to be formed and well structured after having to have served under the empirical British Empire. The early years of the next century, the American government began to decrease in military findings believing that there would be no further use of military conflicts. But in the several years leading up to the engagement of 1812, the American government, people and its military has been threaten by the British Empire. With many years of frustration and hostility between both nations, the U.S. government had no choice then to declare war on the Empire.

Prior to the American declaration of war, the British military forces had been fiercely involved in the war with French dictator Napoleon. Over the years prior to June 1812 the British government began its restrictions on the American government There four reasons to why the Americans declared war on the British Empire. Historians argue that the British Empire, stressed by its ongoing fight with the Brits are linked to the struggle with Napoleon. There seems to be four reasons why the American government declared war with the British Empire and as historians argue is due to:

First, the British began to restrict American-French trading. As was sought as a way to disrupt and impose economic sanctions of both countries. Moreover the British began to see the American maritime naval fleets as a threat. Because of its increasing size, they were becoming the largest in the world. With people and the parliament believed that this could threaten the economy in Britain.

Second, a more feasible reason to declare war on the Britain was due to the imprisonment of American naval sailors. Many years prior to the War of 1812, American ships had been boarded by the British fleets and had been captured. Money would drastically diminish the American economy due to such theft. Moreover, the British fleets would station themselves in American territorial harbors and waters. The British would simply search for contraband and impress naval sailors from American land.

Third, the American government had speculated the British military and government had been supporting the Native American tribes. The British military had involved themselves in the destruction of American military forces; the British had helped the Native Americans in the Ohio-Indiana-Michigan area.

And finally, the controversy in the takeover of Canada had been long believed to have been a quest of the Madison administration. President Madison and his staffed believed that the takeover of Canada would disrupt the British operations in Canada. Although many believed that Canada was merely a place to stage a war front with Britain and set the people of Canada free.

Overall, the war ended with casualties on both sides, the American U.S. Army had failed to successfully invade Canada. The reasons to go to war with Britain factors the either were established or never finalized. In truth the war neither gained nor lost land, but it did in fact gain border lines. The British Royal Navy stopped the impressments of American sailors after the defeat of Napoleon. And the American military had to face the increasing struggle with the Native Americans.

I started out in the CSUEB academic search premier database. Some good information was presented. But I would like to note one special fact, at the beginning of this assignment, having not researched the war in many years, I had the notion the British military had invaded the American land for territorial reasons. As I researched I learned that the American forces had declared war on the British Empire. That being, I began my search with many different sites. I used a World Wide Web such as the wiki on the War of 1812.

After finding some good search on wiki and the Academic Search Premier, this topic is fact and is widely known. I considered going with what I know or researched. The War of 1812, very interesting war had engulfed me in the history of it. I read and picked out the better or more important information. By considering what is more important I was able to consider and evaluate the parts that matter most; the reasons for the war and the consequences of the war. Ultimately, I did nothing to change my strategy because I needed not to. The War of 1812 is a straight forward subject, and one that does not need further examining unless I was writing a history account. By selecting the wiki and the two sources that I found in the academic search premier database I was able to gather what I read and used it knowledge.


Czech, Kenneh P. War of 1812: New facts come to light, but some myths still persist.
Military History; Mar2007, Vol. 24 Issue 1, p69-70, 2p. Academic Search Premier.Retrieved December 12, 2007.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=23935253&site=ehost-live

War of 1812. Wikipedia. Retrieved December 12, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_1812

Wineman, Bradford A. Don’t Give up the ship! Myths of the War of 1812. Military History: Mar/Apr2007, Vol. 87 Issue 2, p123-123, 1/3p. Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=25012944&site=ehost-live

I ensured that the information given was accurate by comparing the information on all three sites and proving that they are real. If I were to continue this project I would certainly find more information on War of 1812 in encyclopedias in libraries or on the web such as MSN encyclopedia. I certainly use the Gale Virtual Reference Library knowing that it will provide great information for this topic. Also, the US Census on the number of Americans that lived in and after the War of 1812 to determine the larger forces America was facing. My questions would formulate the understating of ethics such as:

1. What did the British naval fleet hope to accomplish by blockading and imprisoning American sailors?

2. Could of the takeover of the Canada change current history as we know it?

Saturday, December 8, 2007

A Quarter in a Computer Lab...

Before arriving into this course, I only knew that www.google.com was a database site that I could use to conduct researches for articles. But given the information taught in class about the appropriate strategies in order to find good reliable sources has allowed me to conduct searches using more than one database. I conduct searches more thoroughly in accordance to guidelines that have been expected of us through the syllabus. When discovering different sources and how to annotate them, I can use academic sources to find research articles. These sources (sites) are more reliable and they belong to actual accredited authors. As reading in literature, as students and but more importantly as intellectual people, we have to ensure that research on any level is appropriate and all sources are properly cited. Having knowledge of the cite system, I have developed my ability to comprehend the way sources are cited and how they are noted in our works. I must admit that, with some of the research papers that were due in English class, the CSUEB library databases that are provided have been useful.


As noted earlier in this reflection, I would have used google.com and suffered in finding actual useful articles. For example, earlier this quarter, in English we focused on teenagers who attend high school but acquire part time employment such as McDonalds. In this reference I used Academic Search Premier, LexisNexus, and the course library to find books on the subject. Fortunately for the material we were taught and will continue to develop, I was able to find very useful information. This information was credible with the authors belonging to Universities. Interestingly as noted in class, the internet has been a tool that has made life a lot easier. On an educational stand point, this tool has improved the way people communicate and of course the way we research information. In that sense, I have learned to take advantage of the opportunities that the internet provides us with. I never heard of such databases provided by the CSUEB site but the subject of teen employment is certainly a difficult subject if provided with the incorrect wording. By wording I refer to the information that is typed into the search box as I had difficulty finding information at the beginning. But as we developed the skills taught on using proper phrases and not words, I have been able to find the information that I needed find.

Furthermore, on the topic of successes and failures deal with this subject. Without the experience of fact finding, I had some successes but it took more time to find articles that may not be as useful to those articles that are not as reliable. I think that the subject of teenage employment was a bit difficult but I found great information. I am certainly hopeful on these database that have been provided to us.

Overall, this class has allowed me to experience a new level of technological research guidance. I was always curious about the numbers of the Library of Congress and fortunately, I am able to read some of the information coded on books. Although I will have to gain more knowledge and experience if I am to physically look for a book. I am glad to have learned this information and I am sure that I will be able to use this experience and use it towards my college and life career as long as I am researching articles.

Monday, November 19, 2007

In class, we learned a very important factor of research documents. In class we learned how to cite a document or anything that, as students and future educators, we are suppose to know what is a real source. So we also learned the differences between MLA and APA formats.

Two differences between these two formats are that:
APA covers more detailed information by adding parenthesis. This covers more specific documents, while MLA style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Review and Research

Part II: Documenting Your Research

A description of my research process:

a) Knowing that I can find some related information if I find the correct wording input. I first visited the Academic Search Premier.

b) I traveled to the LexisNexis site as it provided previous information to my topic, but the difficulty behind this site is specific phrases are hard to find. Moreover, as useful information as it is, the documents that LexisNexis provides are world wide therefore making it difficult to find specific American articles.

c) I used terms such as "teen employment", "part time employers", "teen summer jobs"

d) I tried to scan the articles and quickly paraphrase these articles, but I used the evaluative technique in differences in periodicals.

e) I revisited previous research logs and took phrases-key words that allowed me to redefine my search.

Research Sources List:
Hardworking teenagers
The Toronto Star, May 28, 2007 Monday, EDITORIAL; Pg. AA06, 290 words
The summer job grooms teens for adulthood: Volunteering also good
National Post's Financial Post & FP Investing (Canada), June 17, 2006 Saturday, FINANCIAL POST: WEEKEND; Pg. FW8, 665 words, Vera Ovanin, Financial Post
Teens dive into job market
St. Petersburg Times (Florida), April 21, 2006 Friday, NORTH PINELLAS TIMES; Pg. 1, 1000 words, TRACIE REDDICK

I chose these because they deal in specific detailed to my topic. Some of these contain good information but it was hard to find these articles.

In each source, I found statistical numbers, facts and opinions on the idea that directly involves into student development as an adult in the work force.

I identified information the type of periodical, and most of the types I found them to be scholarly/research. These articles are well developed by educators and have taken time to be researched.

I found that there is an increase of student workers, more importantly during the summer time. The summer period, research has documented that teens rush and decide to keep such jobs for their own benefit. Some teens want summer jobs to earn cash for cars, clothes and CDs. Others want to learn job skills they can parlay into rewarding careers.

A discussion of how...

Is it possible that low paying jobs seek teenagers?
Do minorities teenagers have a bigger presence in the work force?

Another database that I can use which would allow me to get a greater in depth knowledge is the Google Scholar. This site allows for more articles although some articles can be fake or pointless. Therefore, I will have to become cautious and use the information learned from the class to find mature and scholarly articles.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Refining My Search

1.Using the HAYSTAC function provided by the CSUEB library catalog, under words and titles I searched "teenagers part time employment." I acquired one source using this title.

a) Greenberger, Ellen: When teenagers work: the psychological and social costs of adolescent employment.

2.
Greenberger, Ellen: When teenagers work: the psychological and social costs of adolescent employment. CSUEB library. 11/07/2007
Stockey, Merrel Richard. "A comparison of the effectiveness of group-counseling, individual-counseling, and employment among adolescent boys with adjustment problems."BF637.C6 S7. CSUEB library.11/07/2007

3. As I continue to learn the several useful forms of database and library searching I find that my searches are becoming more and more successful. Unfortunately, due to the difficulty of my topic I can only find certain pieces to the puzzle. Although this is true, I do find important and useful information. I continue to encounter different sources in which I can conduct my searches, recently is the understanding of call numbers and getting to know how to find a book at the direct source.

Monday, November 5, 2007

The Usage and Power of the Catalog

We class we discussed the usage of the Hayward Catalog by analyzing the purpose for search phrases such as "Words", "Subject Headings", and "Call Numbers". The reason for these is to find books or articles in such nature inside the library. We learned how to read the call number codes, and we out on a scavenger hunt to find our related topics.

b) Words used in order to find articles give titles and subjects to find related topics but do not necessarily focus on the topic. It can be seen that it reacts in a fashion that a search engine would. Subject Headings are works that have specific names and or titles. They work in unison to words but are more specific and narrowing down the topic.

c) The advantage of using these strategies are enormous especially when trying to find a specific book at your school. It is important to read these call numbers when trying to get a book and you want to find it yourself. On the other hand, using words can be difficult cause there are too many words that can describe other words and phrases totally unrelated to your subject.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

A More in Depth Search...

Focusing on available part time jobs for teenagers, I will discover the attraction between part time employers such as McDonald's and teenagers. What leads teenagers to work for employers with low wages, the

b) Other phrases such as:
McDonald's
McDonald's and teenagers
Part time jobs for teenagers

c) Checking databases, I found a few good sites. he majority of the very minimal searches that I have encountered are based upon trade/professional enquirers. I found out that students normally drop out of high school because of the opportunities that money provides. On the other hand, students rate drops because of spending time at work and focusing less on school work. For some people, there are no choices, therefore they have to drop out to support themselves and family. The difficulty behind the topic that I have chosen is that, the wording can cause fewer searches. But by over concentrating on specific areas the increase in teenagers with part time jobs, I can come to see overall reasons for the to chose this line of work. But I did find a very good article that was professionally written by university professors.


d) Bibliographic searches:
-Singh, Kusum, Chang, Mido, Dika, Sandra. Effects of part-time work on school achievement during high school. Journal of Educational Research, Vol 101(1), Sep-Oct 2007. pp. 12-22. Academic Search Premier. Nov. 1, 2007.
-Greenhouse, Steve. Still Jumping in the work pool. The New York Times. 2007, Aug 12. LexisNexis Academic. Nov.1, 2007.
-Jan, Tracy. "4-year diploma rate lags in Hub; Nearly half in high school don't finish on time; Study identifies pupils at risk". The Boston Global. 2007, Sept. 27. LexisNexis Academic. Nov. 1, 2007.

My next step would be to visit sites such as the San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, LA Times, etc. I believe that there will be certain information that can lead me to find or expand on the overall topic.