Phase 8

This last blog phase is supposed to be reflective of the blog assignment. I feel like I learned a lot about my topic and I feel that I learned most if not all of what I was hoping to. I think that focusing the topic was not a drawback at all but rather a complete benefit. I feel that it helped me better learn about the main topic I wanted to research. I think that I will try to focus my topics from now on. This project really showed me how helpful and important that is. I think that this assignment helped me when talking more confidently because it showed me that even though people may think they know a lot on a specific topic, there is always much more to be learned. The most important thing I learned about research was how specific you should get when choosing a topic. I feel like I thought research was much simpilar than I later found out it was. Overall this project was a success and showed me a lot.

Blog Phase 7

"School Prayer." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 14 May 2009. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://www.2facts.com/article/i0100410>. 

This source is called, "Prayer In Schools" and it's what I feel could be my narrowed topic of separation of church and state.  This article was written in 2009 and was posted onto the "Facts On File: Issues & Controversies" Since then this information has not been updated.  The topic does require updated sources because of the on-going problem that this issue is.  But because of our very slow changing government, this article is still up to date with the current status of the issue.  this information does relate to my topic because it is targeting to the topic of prayer in schools and the different measures people have taken to try and solve this issue.  The intended audience is people who have an issue with this topic, and are looking for answers to help solve and compromise this issue.  I looked at other sources before finding this source, but the other sources were very outdated and did not relate too well with this issue.  I would be comfortable citing this source in my research paper.  I could not find a specific author's name when overviewing this article.  The website I found it on was "Facts On File News Service" in the "Issues and Controversies" section.  There is an email on the website.  The URL is a .com, which doesn't necessarily mean that it is an unreliable source.  This information is accurate to what I have already researched and from my previous knowledge about the topic.  There are no spelling, grammar, or typographical errors that I noticed.  The purpose of this information is to inform the readers of the steps that have been taken to solve the issue of prayer in schools.  

I found it to be very interesting that when asked, most Americans support prayer in schools.  We are forced to believe that there has to be a separation of church and state when in reality, this nation was founded on God.  Therefore, it is correct to say that the schools were also founded on God as well.  This is a nation “under God” however, we took the God part out of the equation so what are we left with?  I thought it was also very interesting that Americans believed that since the 1960’s this country has been going downhill with divorce and many other things, so maybe prayer in school would help stabilize and help build back the tradition values of responsibility and respect their children need to be reminded of again. 

An overview of this article is basically that there were many steps taken to try to solve the issue of prayer in schools.  Many people tried coming up with different ways and reasons why prayer should be allowed in schools; unfortunately, none of them worked to the exact degree they were hoping for.  The tried passing the “Silence” issue which would allow a moment of silence each day so the students could have an opportunity to pray if they would like to.  Although they do this today in public school, it is not taken seriously and is not the same because it is not a united togetherness within the classroom.  Some extremes even went to having their class vote on if they wanted to pray in school or not.  This is still obviously an issue today.  

Blog phase 6

"Bishop Knox's Fight for Prayer (sidebar)." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 13 Oct. 1995. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. http://www.2facts.com/article/ib100450.

 

 

 

This article was written in 1994 so it’s not so recent and may not be the best thing to use in my response. The information was not revised or updated. The importance of the article is that it shows me a specific example of something that has happened in the separation of church and state which is eye opening. The Author of the article was not stated so I could not figure out if he was a credible author. I feel that the accuracy of the article is up to par. It does not contradict anything I have read or my own thoughts. I think that the purpose this exists is to inform readers of the never ending struggle of the church and the state.

 

 

This article was an example of a principle who allowed students to do a student lead prayer over the loudspeaker of the school. He was told by the schools attorney that this may be against the law and that he could potentially get fired. He proceeded anyway. The school did suspend the principle without pay but then later was fired. With the strong support of the parents and children he appealed the ruling. Due to the appeal, some places like Mississippi are now allowing Voluntary prayer. That law was later seen as unconstitutional.

 

 

Something that struck me was the fact that he knowingly allowed the students to follow through with this even if it would cost him his job. God must have really placed something on his heart that convicted him to allow the students to do this. I was confused as to why the state of Mississippi created a law that allowed voluntary prayer then quickly found it to be unconstitutional.  I question what would have happened if it were some other religion or if they spoke about something like evolution.

Phase 6

The most challenging part of this blog project so far was finding credible sources on a narrowed topic. After reading your comments im taking more time to evaluate them in depth and answer the CRAAP test more in depth. From reading your comments on phase four I see that i need to go more in depth when I am giving a summary. From your comments from phase 5 I am going to use a source from the library's database.

Phase Five

The article i found is called Religion and School Curriculum. The link is http://www.2facts.com/icof_story.aspx?PIN=i0101720&term=prayer+in+schools. According to the craap test starting with the C which is Currency. This article was issued on May 19th 2008. This article is still up to date. R is relevance to my topic. My topic is prayer in schools (Church and State). This paper specifically relates to my paper and talks about Religion and school curriculum. I studied that specifically and more of the factual information. The first A is for author and the author isn't so solid. Its a mash up of a bunch of articles. The second A is for accuracy and i believe the information is accurate because it seems to match and compares to my other articles. Lastly the P stands for place that the author got his information. He got it from many sources that are reliable.

How to respond to a Source

This quote starts off by taking me back. I was first fooled to believe that they thought plagiarism wasn't a bad thing. Then i realized that they were saying it isn't a bad thing just because its an act of intellectual theft but rather its because both intellectual theft and taking place of learning that its a bad thing. I feel that this person has a pretty solid grasp on what plagiarism is as well as what it takes away from the classroom and the learning of the person plagiarizing. I would assume that this statement is accurate enough to accept it. This is important because there are many different ways of defining plagiarism.

I would ask who the person was who wrote this statement and where they got their information to make such a statement. I would totally agree with this persons perspective but i would ask if they have explored the responses of oposite beliefs on plagiarism. Also, what makes this definition better than someone else's. Comparing this quote to my experiences with plagiarism is pretty easy. I feel that the school system and the beliefs i was raised by are virtually the same. 

(Isserman p.B12-B13)

Isserman, Maurice. "The Chronicle Review." Plagiarism: A Lie of the Mind. Chronicle of Higher Education, vol. 49, May 2, 2003

Phase 4

This source I found is off of google scholar. It was on a site called Social Science Research Network. The link is http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1408586. This site according to the CRAAP test #1 is the currency of the article. This article was written on May 22, 2009. This information is up to date. Number two on the CRAAP test is Relevance. This article is very relevant as it speaks directly about my topic. Number three is the authority or author of the paper. The author of this article was Steven Goldberg who has recently died. He was a law professor at Georgetown University law center and wrote this paper accordingly. Next on the CRAAP test is accuracy and the place where he found his information simply from his brain and his knowledge. The purpose for this information I feel was to inform as well as teach people about the issue of transhumanism and the separation of church and state. The summary of this article is basically that in the future there might be an overwhelming amount of transhuman believers and they could pass something that requires us to learn about transhumanism would this still be crossing the line of church and state because its about the human race and not so much into a religion. He then says that it would become a legal matter that the courts would have to rule upon.