Monday's Blog Activity

I chose part B of the blog activity for today, which was to conduct a focused reseach session and comment on it afterwards. I went to the library and got on one of the computers and searched through journals and websites about Wal-Mart. I spent about an hour and a half researching my topic and made good progress. The Google search tools we learned last week were very helpful in my online searches. I was able to find out a lot of information about Wal-Mart in America, and Wal-Mart in China and how the two relate to each other with regards to the effects each of them cause. So far, I have found that Wal-Mart in America as been more invasive and has caused more problems than it has in China. I think this is because it has not been in China for very long and does not have as many stores in China.

New Research Topic

My new research topic is: How do the effects of having Wal-Marts in China differ from the effect Wal-Marts have in America?

In Class Exercise 3

During the 20 minutes alloted for research, I looked at a few websites containing information about my subject. I throughly read all of the information contained in these sites, and made sure that the sites were not biased. I feel like the information I obtained was very helpful, and the way I went about doing research was effective and efficient. I think that this was a good exercise, and I feel like I am going about my research in a more sophisticated way than I did before enrolling in this class. The process I used and the information I obtained were both beneficial to my research and my goal for this assignment. With more research, I think that this should turn out to be a good experience.

In Class Exercise 1

My topic area is the option of using Ethanol as an alternative to gasoline for America.

A primary research question is; Do the benefits of using ethanol exceed the problems it might cause with regards to the economy and the environment?

2 sub questions are; Is President Bush in support of using ethanol?
Are the 2008 candidates for president in support of using ethanol?

Kulthau’s Theory

The initial stages of Kulthau’s theory include initiation, selection, and exploration. These are steps everyone who does research goes through, even if they are unaware of doing so. Currently, I have completed the initiation and selection stages since I have already decided my topic and found some resources and articles that contain information on my research subject. I am still working on the exploration stage because I have found a lot of information, and I am currently sorting through what is good, what is not so good, and what exactly I need for the particular research subject.