Blogs

I believe that blogs can be a legitimate source of scholar or news.  I think it all has to do with whether the writing the blog is an authority or not on the topic and if the information they are presenting is factual. http://sportandsteroids.blogspot.com/
This blog is titled The World of Sports and Steroids written by a man named Charles Greier.  He does provide factual information and I consider him to be an authority on the topic from is background.  He is currently acquiring his Masters Degree at Hofstra University and his whole blog revolves around steroid use and he has quite a few posts on the topic so I feel like he knows what he is talking about.
C, Geier. (2006, December 11). The World of Sports and Steroids. Retrieved April 24^th, 2012

Statistics

The peer reviewed journal article I found containing statistal information was titled The Relationship Between Anabolic Androgenic Steroids and Muscle Dysmorphia and written by Lebur Rohman.  In his article, Lebur gives the statistic "Lifetime prevalence of AAS use in USA is 6–7% and increasing rates of use are
being reported from the UK" and cites where he got this information from.  He does does not say how this data was collected or analyzed though.  I'm not sure why not.  I think he chose not to include it because he was just trying to explain how usage has increased.  The main topic of his article is to show that the usage of anabolic steroids plays into the Muscle Dysmorphia Disorder.  The governement document I found containg statistical information was written by Kevin L. Ropp and titled Steroid Substitutes, No-Win Situation For Athletes.  In his document, Ropp refers to a steroid alternative named Gamma Hydroxybutyic Acid (GHA).  He gives and cites the statistic that in November 1990, there were 80 hospitalizations reported from the use of GHA.  Within15 to 60 minutes of taking one-half to three teaspoons of GHA, patients reported they acquired dizziness, drowsiness, unconsciousness, slowed heart beat, and difficulty breathing.  He says that the information came from a national Centers for Disease Control study on patients taking GHA.

 Ropp, K. U.S. Government Printing, (1993). Steroid substitutes, no-win situation for athletes. Retrieved March 8^th, 2012 from FDA U.S. Government Printing website

Rohman, L. (2009). The Relationship Between Anabolic Androgenic Steroids and Muscle Dysmorphia: A Review. Eating Disorders, 17(3). Retrieved March 9^th, 2012

Original Research

I don't believe that I have ever done original research before.  For all my classes in previous smesters and even in high school I've always done library research.  Orginial reaerch is different from library research because it is research that produces ew knowledge rather than showing existing knowledge in a new way.  Library research can guide someone to do original research by providing background information on topic that they are trying to discover new things about.  I think a pro of library research is that the information found is usually factual and accurate.  A con is that someone doesnt get to discover it for themself, they have to take someone else's word for it because they are told it is factual.  For both types of research, I think interpretation and evaluation are included.  I believe the most important for origninal research is evaluation because you need to make sure you really believe in your findings of your research.  For library research, I believe the most important critcal thinking skill is interpretation because you need to make sure you are completely understanding what yu are researching.

Checking In

My semester research project has overall been successful.  Lindsay, my partner, and I work really well together.  We've been successful in finding resources.  The only ones will still need to find are an encyclopedia entry and a documentary on steroid abusers.  We have also been successful in having good start on the Power Point we are using for our presentation.  We just need to add in pictures and colors to make it more interesting.  We also have a few more questions from the questions list to answer.

Urvashi Vaid Presentation

Before attending the Urvashi Vaid presentation, I wasn't very familiar with the topic so I wasn't really sure of what to expect.  Urvashi Vaid opened my eyes very quickly on the topic.  She presented the information though stories and examples, and asked question to expand the audiences thinking on the issues.  She also provided facts and even some jokes, which I really enjoyed.  Something I learned that I've never thought about before is after the marriage law is achieved for LGBT communities, where do the LGBT activist groups go next?  Is that the end point?  This really made me think.  I definitly think Urvashi is and expert on the topic she was presenting.  She has been an LGBT activist for almost three decades and has written many books.  In her presentation, Urvashi brought up a transgender activist named Dean Sparks, who has written a book called "Normal Life".  I'm thinking I could look up Dean and some of his information could help me with my alternative viewpoints paper.

Intellectual Property

I'm not quite sure what intellectual property is, but if I were to guess I would say it has to do something with the inner workings of the mind.  Someone's thought's and ideas would be their intellectual property.  When researching an official definition of what intellectual property, I came across a website called WIPO- World Intellectual Property Organization.  Their definition of intellectual property is "Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce".  One example I can think of would be McDonald's famous quote, "I'm lovin it", or Subway's "Eat fresh".  I think when something is manipulated and shared, it is no longer intellectual property.  for example, at one point in time, I'm guessing the stove top was someone's intellectual property.  Someone came up with the concept, then decided to share it with others.  Throughout the years, the design of the oven has changed and many different companies have started producing them.  There is no longer a patent on the design.

Google 101

In last weeks class, during Google 101, I learned quite a few things about Google that I wasn't aware of before.  The most interesting thing that I learned was a newer feature on Google.  This feature allows you to upload a picture and do a search on it to find out where the picture came from.  I think that this is really neat.   wanted to try it out for myself, so I uploaded a picture of myself and got some interesting results!  Another thing I learned about was using this symbol ~.  I don't think I've ever needed to use this symbol in my life until I learned that when I use it in Google, it will look for sites about the topic, but use related terms.  I will definitely use this in the future when doing research to broaden my search results.  Another thing that i learned was .gov at the end of a URL means that the site is a federal government site.  Google 101 didn't necessarily change my opinion about Google, but instead just expanded my thinking about it and the type of research I can use it for.  This in class exercise was very helpful!