Author: mpaztoledo

Research Essay Revision Outline

I plan on revising my research essay because, although, I think most of the essay is fine I think there could be more information added to it. I will do so by:

  • 1.) Reading the full paper/ make self correction
  • 2.) Have a friend peer review it
  • 3.) Research more potential information
  • 4.) Add more details
  • 5.) Go through the steps of the handouts passed out in class and make sure all the focuses are there
  • 6.) Re-read the final essay
  • 7.) Post the revised version

Cover Letter (draft)

Looking back to my first blog about communication has changed my thoughts a bit. I saw communication more as a technology-based communication. People do not interact with each other like they did decades ago. Technology advancing is not only has made the world easier but has also ruined a life-needed skill. People used to only be able to communicate through face-to-face interaction, written letters, or phone calls. Now a days, people can communicate around the world by just pressing a few buttons on a keyboard, posting a picture on a website, even video calling. As the semester has moved along, I see communication as a skill. Communicating today is not easy. Young kids have only lived to see the technology world and not the world that existed before them. Cyber bullying is now more popular than bullying itself. I am not in any way saying bullying is good; my point is that what was once a face-to-face problem is now a cyber problem. It is easier to find who a bully is when it’s obvious through student-to-student interaction. But, when electronics are involved, kids can easily make up a fake profile to bully, making it difficult to solve the problem. Kids are hiding behind their computer screen rather than interacting with other kids. I also see communication as beautiful creation. If books, journals and documentary TV shows did not exist we would not be as smart and informed as we are today. We read as a pleasure but also, to inform ourselves. This year I read the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, it was an intense, sad and informative book. I could not stop reading it until I finished it. What I learned from that book could not have been possible if communication was not created and evolved over time. Communication is such a broad subject and can be seen as both negative and positive.

My favorite posts would have to be the consumer essay and the research essay.  The consumer essay is one of my favorites because it allowed me to learn about myself as a consumer. Being a college student, living a day-to-day life sometimes distracts you from realizing your actions and how much you really consume. Before the consumerism unit, I considered myself a moderate consumer. I did not think that I was a frivolous spender and often bought goods without thinking. This unit has made me see all the stuff that I do have. I realized that I do not really need a lot of clothes or shoes or makeup to be happy. There are a lot of things in my room that I can live without. I now shop more consciously and ask myself, “Do I really need to buy this,” before buying anything. It has not only saved me room and money, but it has also taught me to live a better consumer-smart life. My other favorite blog post was the research essay. I did my research on sexual awareness, specifically on unplanned adolescent pregnancies and lack of sexual education in high school aged teenagers. It is a subject that interests me and I have been personally affected by it. My mother got pregnant at seventeen and had my brother at eighteen. Recently, my best friend from high school found out that she was pregnant. I have at least seven other acquaintances from high school that are either pregnant or are already mothers. Most of those pregnancies were a result of improper use of birth control or no use of birth control at all. This devastates me as an observer and as a friend. This research assignment seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn more about this subject and what is being done to prevent unplanned pregnancies from happening. It did not even seem like an assignment to me due to the fact that it was on something of interest. I like writing about what interests me, which is what I liked about this course. Dr. LeAnn Hunt let us choose what we wanted to write about, guiding us along the way, allowing us to write about subjects that interests us.

My least favorite post would have to be the primary research one. It was difficult for me to find primary research on my topic. I do not find looking for primary research enjoyable. Although, I understand why it is an important component to a research paper, it is not always an easy task to accomplish. I also did not like the annotated bibliography post because to me it was a pointless task. I did use those sources in my paper but the annotated part I did not. For each source, I did not like writing a paragraph about what the article was about and another paragraph about how I was going to use that source for my paper. The two paragraphs that I wrote did not help with my actual paper. I referenced the sources in my final paper but did not end up using what was typed in the annotated bibliography.

As a result of taking this course, I feel like I am a better writer. My writing skills have evolved from standard high school vocabulary to college level thinking and wording. High school essays were always prompted and we were forced to write about reading or subjects that we did not care for. When Dr. Hunt told us to write about anything we wanted, I felt lost. I was not used to having that freedom and did not know how to approach the assignment. As the semester moved on, I learned about my personal interests in certain subjects. This has allowed me to explore my way of thinking while improving my writing skills. Through assignments, like the invention mob and creating an ad, I learned who I was as a thinker and an inventor. The invention mob allowed my teammates and I to invent an idea that could potentially work. We chose to collect data through student surveys and photos to spread ways college students can relieve their stress without drinking, smoking, or doing drugs.  The project allowed us to start from scratch and evolve little by little as we came up with more ideas. The ad assignment also allowed me to invent and think. I had to design an ad by myself that included my own slogan and my own photograph. This task was a challenge for me because I am not creative in any way. Throughout the process of the ad, I thought of what I wanted to advertise and invented an idea of a picture that I later captured. All in all, I have learned a lot about myself in this class. Not only did I learn about what type of writer, thinker, and inventor that I am but also learned a lot about what interests me.

Invention Mob: Stress is Poison!

College is an enjoyable and great experience but it is also a very stressful stage during one’s life. Endless amounts of work and studying make it seem impossible to graduate. With a good balance of work and fun college students can survive the 4+ years. Many students around campus smoke weed or cigarettes, and/or drink alcohol. The goal of our project was to show students around campus different activities they could do to de-stress that did not involve negative, harmful methods. The objective of our StressProject was to find different ways students de-stress around campus and potentially show students alternate way to relieve their stressful lives. We wanted to learn from our schoolmates and show others to the many methods that could be helpful with dealing with stress without harming their health. Our overall project was successful but was not exactly what we had in mind when we came up with the idea. Throughout the process of the project we came across some problems and were forced to change our project while keeping the same theme. In the end we obtained all the data we needed and learned from other students on our campus. But, most importantly, the project taught us that a few group of students could make differences around campus and influence our peers for the better.

We initiated the project by making a WordPress blog page for our group that showed our purpose, persuasion, process, and product of our project. Pictures of ourselves or of our friends were the first contributions to our project and were posted on our WrodPress blog. Our next step was to get pictures of people we did not know. To do this, we set up a Facebook page and added Washington State University students. We asked students to submit photos of themselves doing whatever it is that de-stresses them. We then were going to use the pictures to make a slide show of the top five ways college students de-stress. The top five pictures were going to be chosen by how many times the same/ similar pictures were posted. We got fifteen contributions from the Facebook page. As stated before, our final project was going to be the presentation of the top five ways to de-stress. The problem was that the pictures that were submitted were varied and only a couple of them were repeated and we wanted more “random” students to participate. Our group got together and discussed potential ways we could involve more students and get real data. We came up with producing a survey that contained all the activities in the pictures provided as options and we added “other” as an extra option. We conducted the survey to about seventy-five random students in a criminal justice class. With the results we were able to statistically come up with the top fives ways college students de-stress at Washington State University. We used the data collected to produce a pie chart that represented the top six options on the survey with their percentage values. We also wanted to use the pictures that were contributed to our project by making a collage of all the pictures. Our final products were the following visuals:

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        As a group we decided to use the survey and Facebook method as oppose to asking students at the Compton Union Building because everyone uses Facebook and thought that the information about our project would spread faster. Using our Facebook page was a good method but not a great one. We did not collect a lot of data through the page. We only collected photos from fifteen different students, which does not compare to our huge student body. For our project to succeed we needed sufficient data from more students around campus. It would be impossible to ask every student on campus but we needed more than twenty people to participate. Asking random students at the Compton Union Building would also have been difficult because some students would reuse to take our survey or would not answer honestly. We wanted to get at least one hundred students to participate in our project. By asking students in a criminal justice class we were sure that at least more than half the class would answer honestly. It was also easier for them to take the survey because, one, it was during class time so they did not have to take extra time out of their busy day to answer it, and two, everyone else in the classroom was taking the survey making everyone comfortable to answer it. Students tend to do what their friends do. Asking the class to take the survey was efficient and beneficial data was collected. If we would have asked random students at the Compton Union Building we would have had collected some data but not even close to how much we got from conducting the survey to the criminal justice class. The class had a little over one hundred students but some answers were inappropriate so we were left with about seventy-five surveys to work with, which was sufficient enough.

Several different writing skills were used throughout the process of our invention mob project. We used writing skills to describe our project on our WordPress blog, as well as on our Facebook page. Our WordPress blog contained four tabs, purpose, persuasion, process, and product.  Each tab explained its title and further described each steps taken to accomplish it. We all wrote in each of the tabs, near the conclusion of the project each tab was revised. The process of writing while actively producing a project and then revising once the project is finished has benefitted me and has made me a better writer. It has taught me to write down my ideas and polish it later while adding more material that was not thought of before. While writing often get caught up with my ideas and am more worried about writing them all down than to focus on being grammatically correct. Looking over the work after allows me to catch misspellings and grammatical errors. This project was also a learning experience on how to work with other writers. We worked as a group and wrote as a group. I am used to writing my own work and in my style of writing. My other group members were the same in that perspective. But we all got along great and divided the work evenly. I feel like we blended our entire writings well and was revised in a way that our overall blog was successful. It is something that I have never dealt with before and have learned from it. We all learned from each other and listened to each others ideas to get the written part of the project done.

There were many factors throughout out project that helped us mold our ideas into what the final product became. Our first major factor was our English teacher and our classmates. When we presented our idea to them they critiqued our project and gave us feedback on how we could improve and more efficient ways we could go about it. They also challenged us by asking questions concerning possible problems that we would have never thought about. Without their feedback and comments our project could have failed. Facebook also played a huge role in our project. It allowed us to involve many students and get useful pictures. But Facebook did not obtain us with many contributions, which led us to conducting a survey. The survey allowed us to involve a moderate selection of Washington State University’s student body. It gave us sufficient data to come up with the top five ways students de-stress, which was our main goal at the start of the project. My group collaborated well and we all helped each other as we learned how to make our project successful. The success of our project was the result of all of our hard work, our class’s feedback, and the participation of students.

Our project was a product of trial and error. We had a certain picture in our minds of what the project was going to be which had to be changed due to problems. We expected our Facebook page to be more popular than it was. We thought we would easily get the top five ways students de-stress through students submitting pictures but that did not work because there was too much variety. Those failures led to us coming up with the survey idea. We did not know whether we wanted to go to the Compton Union Building and ask random students to take the survey or instead, have a class take the survey. We went along with having a criminal justice class take the survey, which ultimately saved our project. If it were not for the data collected through the survey our project would have failed. All in all, I think our project succeeded through our group efforts and our collaboration with each other. We thought as a team and questioned every idea we came up with before going through with it. We all equally spread the work and consistently kept in touch when we were not physically together.  I had a great experience with this invention mob; it taught me many new skills that I have never worked with. If I had the chance to do this again in the future I would.

Research Paper- Sexual Awareness

On the day of January 8, 2013, I received a picture message from my best friend. It was a picture of a positive pregnancy test indicating my worst fear, she was pregnant. I was in complete shock when I saw it and could not believe my eyes. She had been at the local Planned Parenthood when she was texting me that early afternoon. I was the first person to know that she was 6 weeks pregnant. From that day forward her life would be completely changed forever. It wasn’t too long before I received another picture, the first ultrasound of my future godchild. This unplanned pregnancy was a result of improper use of contraceptives. Teen pregnancies have affected millions of lives and continue to everyday. Some girls abort their pregnancy while others either keep the child or give him/her up for adoption; nevertheless it is not an easy decision. These hard decision-makings are a result from the improper use of contraceptives or from no use at all. It is beneficial that teenagers today use birth control and condoms, but when they are used improperly they are ineffective. Sexual awareness is the key to educating young teenagers, which will ultimately lead to decreased pregnancy rates.

It is obvious to say many teenagers are currently sexually active. What is not well known is if they are being safe by using protection while having sex. Teenagers are naïve and tend to think they are against the odds of getting pregnant. Adolescents are fortunate today to have easy access to contraceptives and have no reason to not take advantage of that. If teens are sexually active they should be using birth control, taken by females, and/or condoms to not only protect themselves from an unwanted/unexpected pregnancy but also from sexually transmitted infections (STIs).  Birth control is a contraceptive that comes in many forms and is not as effective if not used correctly. If taking the pill, it needs to be taken everyday and around the same time. Some girls take them everyday but at different times, others make the huge mistake of taking two at a time if they accidentally skipped a day. Take more pills than as directed at a time can lead to over dosing the body with hormones. Condoms could, at times, break without obvious signs. Just because the girl may be taking birth control does not mean the boy should not be using a condom. Birth control can fail or become defective at anytime. Using birth control and condoms together substantially decreases the risk of getting pregnant and spreading STIs. Teenagers take for granted the possibility of the consequences of having sexual relations. It is so easy to live in the moment without thinking about what could result from these actions.

Not only are teen pregnancies unplanned, they are also a major heath risk. Between the ages of 8-14, girls start going through puberty and changes occur as the body mature (“Kids Health”). A girl can get pregnant when she starts having her period, but just because a girl has the ability to menstruate does not mean her body is ready to go through something so physically, emotionally and economically demanding as a pregnancy. The young girls are not emotionally nor physically mature enough to be responsible for another human being. A girl’s body needs time to develop completely before being able to have a healthy pregnancy. Often times, the young girls pelvic area is too small for a natural birth or her breasts are not fully developed to start lactating. Most importantly, her body is just too small for an embryo to grow into a fetus. At age of sixteen, Leah Messer got pregnant with not one, but two babies. She had twin girls; one was born healthy while the other has developmental issues. On the MTV show, Teen Mom, viewers see Leah’s struggle to find what is wrong with her daughter as well as raising her other daughter. Her doctor mentioned that her daughter’s defects could have been a result of Leah’s 16-year-old body not being mature enough to handle two babies at the same time. Her body was too small to have room for the twins. In a recent article, Doctors Phipps and Nunes talked about risks that teenage pregnancy can cause. They surveyed 300 pregnant adolescent women if they intended to get pregnant, on emotional response, and readiness. Results showed that adolescents who were not emotionally ready had increased odds of inadequate prenatal care, delayed prenatal care, and self-reported depression at the time of the first prenatal doctor visit. They suggested that emotional readiness rather than pregnancy planning had more factors as to the maturity of pregnant adolescents (Phipps, and Nunes 1820-1827). Teen pregnancy is not just a result of a lack of sexual awareness; it also has short and long term consequences. Adolescent girls are not ready to have children at their young age. They are not independent, economically stable and, most of the times not mature enough to start a family. Depression is a huge risk with unplanned pregnancies, as well as inadequate prenatal care, both of which can affect the fetus’s health.

Parent involvement plays a major role in their adolescent’s sex lives. Most often parents feel shy or embarrassed to educate their children about sex or even openly communicate. Parents are, in a way, also naïve about sex. They believe that if they don’t talk about sex to their children it will result in their children not having sex, but that is incorrect. Teenagers and human beings in general, are sexually curious and will have sex at one point or another in their lifetime. It is a natural instinct to pro-create. The lack of communication between the teenagers and their parents can cause spontaneous pregnancies and/or STIs. It is extremely beneficial when parents have educated their children about sex in an environment of openness. Studies have shown that it has enhanced children’s understanding on the subject, including protection. Further, children are likely to follow their parents’ advice and approach them in times of difficulty. Davis researched how parents’ involvement in their children’s sex life has affected them. He and his colleagues found that parents who are more willing to talk to their children about sex often can influence their children’s’ decisions about sexual behavior (Davis, et al 97-106). Parents’ involvement can make a big difference and can potentially reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy.

The lack of awareness is not just from lack of communication between teenagers and their parent’s, but also from the social media. The social media impacts everyone’s lives one way or another. Young teenagers are far more susceptible to “brain wash” compared to educated adults. Teenage girls seeing teen moms on the cover of major entertainment magazines only portray teenage pregnancy as glamorous (McKay). They put out the message that teen pregnancies need to decrease with shows like 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom. These shows were meant to show what a struggle it is to have a baby at a young age in hopes of young people viewing it and protect themselves more, but the plan backfired. It wasn’t long until the teen moms in the show began appearing on magazine covers like People and In-Touch. These “normal” girls weren’t normal anymore they were becoming celebrities.  What does this teach young girls? That getting pregnant young and appearing on TV makes you rich and famous? Instead of worrying about their own children, two of the girls on the show were more worried about their appearances. Farrah Abraham, mother of Sophia, had a breast augmentation as well as a nose job and a chin implant. On a recent episode of Teen Mom 2, Janelle Evans, mother of Jace, decided on getting a breast augmentation because of insecurity reasons.  If these girls weren’t on the show they wouldn’t be able to afford these medical procedures and possibly worry about their children more than their appearances.

Many often look down upon seen clinics like Planned Parenthood. People see the clinic as an encouragement to have sex rather than preventing it. But in reality, the clinic is, for many, the last resort they have to get birth control and STI testings. It is a non-profit organization that provides reproductive health and mother and child services. Young girls from 18 and under can get free birth control; as well as for girls who are 17 and older can get abortions without notifying their parents, which has been a controversy for many years. Although the clinic has some non-supporters, it does not compare to how many millions of women have benefitted from their services.

In conclusion, sexual awareness is the key to stopping unplanned pregnancies from happening. Although contraceptives are easily accessible, they are not always used properly. Before women get birth control they need to be explained the proper way to use them and what the risks are if used improperly. Men should be taught to use condoms whether their partner is on birth control or not. Not only will they be protecting themselves from an unplanned pregnancy but also from sexual transmitted infections.  With the spread of awareness there would be little to none unplanned pregnancies.

Annotated Bibliography

Davis, K. C., Evans, W., & Kamyab, K. (2013). Effectiveness of a National Media Campaign to Promote Parent–Child Communication About Sex. Health Education & Behavior, 40(1), 97-106. doi:10.1177/1090198112440009

This article talked about the Parents Speak Up National Campaign (PSUNC). It talked abut data proving hoe effective the campaign was. It showed that the campaign wasn’t as effective as planned but was a god starting point to bring awareness to parents. It also mentioned that parents that are more willing to talk to their children about sex often can influence their children’s’ decisions about sexual behavior. They also found that mothers are more aware of PSUNC and are more active in talking about sex with their children. They hope to find a way to increase father involvement through additional research.

This article can benefit my research extensively because it provides actual research that supports the idea of involved parents leads to better sexual behavior choices. Parents’ involvement can make a big difference and can potentially reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy. Although the campaign in not nationally known, it could potentially spread awareness to many.

Phipps, M., & Nunes, A. (2012). Assessing Pregnancy Intention and Associated Risks in Pregnant Adolescents. Maternal & Child Health Journal, 16(9), 1820-1827. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10995-011-0928-0

Phipps and Nunes talked about risks that teenage pregnancy can cause. They questioned 300 pregnant adolescent women if they intended to get pregnant, on emotional response, and readiness. Results showed that adolescents who were not emotionally ready had increased odds of inadequate prenatal care, delayed prenatal care, and self-reported depression at the time of the first prenatal doctor visit. They suggested that emotional readiness rather than pregnancy planning had more factors as to the maturity of pregnant adolescents.

Teen pregnancy is not just a result of the lack of sexual awareness; it also has short and long term consequences. Adolescent girls are not ready to have children at their young age. They are not independent and, most of the times not mature enough to start a family. Depression is a risk with unplanned pregnancies, as well as inadequate prenatal care, both of which can affect the fetus’s health.

McKay, Hollie. “Tabloids Glamorizing Teen Pregnancy By Putting Teen Moms on Covers?.” FOX News 10 September 2010, n. pag. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. <http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/09/10/tabloids-promoting-teen-pregnancy-constantly-putting-teen-moms-cover/&gt;.

McKay emphasizes on the unwanted attention that is put on teen moms from the MTV channel shows 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom. Instead of the show spreading awareness it’s if as though the show has glamorized teen pregnancies. It is showing young girls that having a baby on camera can bring you fame and fortune. McKay stated that putting teen moms on magazine cover send the wrong message to young teen girls. Seeing teen moms on covers where big time celebrities, like Angelina Jolie, are usually in place lets teen moms seem like celebrities.

This article can be very beneficial to my research because it discusses how the lack of awareness is not just from lack of communication between teenagers and their parent’s, but also from the social media. The social media impacts everyone’s lives on way or another. Young teenagers are far more susceptible to “brain wash” compared to educated adults. Teenage girls seeing teen moms on the cover of major entertainment magazines only portrays teenage pregnancy as glamorous.

Sexual Awareness (draft)

Teen pregnancies have affected many lives. Some girls abort their pregnancy while others either keep the child or give him/her up for adoption; nevertheless it is not an easy decision. These hard decision-makings are a result from improper use of contraceptives. It is good that teenagers today use birth control and condoms, but when they are used improper they are no good. Sexual awareness is the key to educate young teenagers and decrease pregnancy rates.

It is safe to say many teenagers are currently sexually active. What is not well known is if they are using protection while having sex. Teenagers are naïve and tend to think they are against the odds of getting pregnant. We are fortunate today to have easy access to contraceptives and should have no reason to not take advantage of that. If teens are sexually active they should be using birth control and/or condoms to not only protect themselves from pregnancy but also from sexually transmitted infection.  Birth control is not as effective if not used correctly. If taking the pill, they need to be taken everyday at the around the same time. Some girls take them everyday but at different times, others make the huge mistake of taking two at a time if they accidentally skipped a day. Condoms could, at times, break without obvious signs. Just because the girl may be taking birth control does not mean the boy should not be using a condom. Birth control can fail at anytime. Using birth control and condoms substantially decreases the risk of getting pregnant Teenagers take for granted the possibility of the consequences of having sexual relations. They live in the moment without thinking what could result from their actions.

This subject is something that I can particularly connect with. On the day of January 8, 2013, I received a picture message from my best friend. It was a picture of a positive pregnancy test. I was in complete shock when I saw it and could not believe it. She was at the local Planned Parenthood and she was texting me that early afternoon. I was the first to know that she was 6 weeks pregnant. From that day forward her life will be completely changed forever. It wasn’t too long before I received the first ultrasound picture of my future godchild. This unplanned pregnancy was a result of improper use of contraceptives. Sexual awareness can decrease the risks that teenagers take everyday and ultimately stop a situation like that of my friends.

In conclusion, sexual awareness is the key to stopping unplanned pregnancies from happening. Although contraceptives have easily accessible, they are not always used properly. Before women get birth control they need to be explained the proper way to use them and what the risks are if used improper. Men should be taught to use condoms whether their partner is on birth control or not. Not only will they be protecting themselves from an unplanned pregnancy but also from sexual transmitted infections.  With the spread of awareness there would be little to no unplanned pregnancies.

Brainstorming on Primary Research

Primary research is at times the hardest type of research to collect because most of the time you are not experiencing the event yourself. When it comes to primary research I tend to base my facts of newspaper articles, reliable statistics, and journal entries.  It is easier for many to use secondary and tertiary research because they are more accessible and there are almost endless amounts of resources.

My TED talk will be about teen pregnancy and the lack of teenage sexual awareness. I want to make people more aware of the consequences of teenage pregnancies. The glamourized version of what they see on television, like Teen Mom and Teen Mom 2, isn’t close to how reality is for actual teen mothers. My inspiration for this topic was my best friend, who’s like a sister to me, she found out a couple of months ago that she is pregnant. Needless to say we were both shocked, but what bothered me the most was the story of how she thought she got pregnant. It made me realize how unaware most teens are with how to use birth control properly. As my primary research, I plan to look into some statistics concerned with teen pregnancy rates. I plan on conducting interviews with my best friend and other friends that are already in parenthood.  Conducting surveys will not help me much so I do not think I’ll be using that kind of primary research. I already have a list of observations that I noted while I was back at home and spent time with my best friend.