shitty first draft

When lamott uses the word "shitty" in this essay she is trying to get the point across that she just sits down and writes. Whatever comes to her she just puts it down. She talks about by doing this you may have 5 pages of complete nonsense but there may be something somewhere in there that is important to what you want to write in your next draft. I think this is what you try and get us to do when you tell us to just write, not to over think what we are doing.

I am guessing by not being a good writing without even trying to make it my "shitty" draft it probably turns out that way. I usually have a hard time beginning my writing but once I have I just continue to write. I usually take my first draft and re-read it and I usually find stuff that doesn't need to be in it or think of stuff to add to it.

To improve my drafts I will basically take the feedback that I have received throughout this course to improve my original draft.

data analysis

For gathering data I wanted to talk to people who have been exposed to the issue of illegal steroid use in sports. Obviously for this I wanted to discuss the issue with athletes, thinking that they would have input about the issue that other people would not have. The majority of steroid use is with athletes and this would give me the opportunity to ask the question why?

Jake, a lifelong athlete and collegiate baseball star in Western Pennsylvania, granted me my first interview. Jake has never used steroids or even been exposed to them but being an athlete has obviously heard of them. Being an athlete for practically all of his life he has been educated in the risks involved with taking steroids and has a very strong opinion on people who take them. I asked him how he would feel if a teammate of his was using illegal steroids. I asked him if his feeling would change about the individual and if he would feel that that athlete has not only cheated himself but the rest of his team. Jake answered
" Yes I would feel different about him because at some point he will get tested throughout the season and that he would think that he has cheated because he has used an illegal substance to give him and edge over the other players rather than using his natural ability."

This is an issue that I don't think is addressed enough when collegiate and professional athletes are caught using illegal substances. It does take a toll on the rest of the team, the staff, organization and possibly even the town or city. The individual who uses steroids is not only cheating himself but also the rest of his team.

An issue that is talked about more often than others is how schools and organizations are not cracking down hard enough with their drug testing policies. It seems to me that when a high school and institution decides to implement a drug testing policy it is such big news that it will make headlines in newspapers and on television. I went on to ask Jake if he felt that his Univeristy needs to changed their current drug testing policy and he answered
"No, I feel that the drug policy here is legit."

apa

1. The National Institute for environmental sciences claimed saccharin was a potential cancer causing agent
2. Adams, M. J. (2000). U.S. report adds to list of carcinogens

i search

Being that my entire academic life is based on sports I picked the topic of illegal steroid use in sports. I have seen a rapid growth in the use of illegal steroids starting at the professional level all the way down to the high school level and possible even to Jr. high levels. My research paper is based on trying to figure out why athletes and especially young athlete would decide to take illegal steroids when they are aware of the dangers that are associated with them. Every article based on illegal steroids is basically the same. It is either some professor discussing the dangers on steroids, trying to convince high schools and institutions to place more emphasis on drug testing or a former professional player talking about why he used steroids during their career. I will interview both athletes and non athletes, some who have used steroids and others who have seen people use steroids in an attempt to figure out the question of why?

I have seen athletes who have used steroids at a very young age in an attempt to get a leg up on the competition and it worked, for a little. They were that star high school athlete and seemed to be on their way to playing at the college level. However with this drug you have to continue to use it or the gains that you received will quickly diminish. The individuals who continued to use ran in to many problems that quickly put their college dreams to a halt. The ones that quit using lost that edge that they had. This issue of steroid use has always been of interest to me because I never knew why they would decide to "cheat" their way to being a star athlete.

paraphrase

When writing research papers, students often tend to "overuse direct quotations".(p.46-47) Instead of the majority of the research paper being direct quotations, only about 10% should be.

in class blogging

If i could i would like to totally abolish all illegal steroid use from sports. This has been a growing problem in all areas of sports and no one can seem to find a way to fix this problem. I hope that people in positions of power will find it necessary to make changes in order to fix this issue.

I liked the chapter about the law of the few. I think that this chapter has been looked at in a negative way of how a few people can make something that is bad or wrong but i think it should be looked at in a way to help fix problems. In my instance with steroid use a few star athletes who people look up to need to get together and find a way to fix this issue in an attempt to stop younger athletes from beginning steroid use.

I think the third question goes back to my answer on the second. A few people need to find a way to get rid of this steroid issue. It may take some athletes that people, especially young athletes look up to to convince them of the dangers involved.

tipping point

My group did our presentation on that chapter about suicide. i really enjoyed how Gladwell did this chapter. There were some chapters in the book that were not as interesting but I did enjoy this one. He first discusses the suicide rates on the island of Micronesia. For some time there was never reported cases of suicide until a famous man killed himself. After that you began to see a steady rise in the suicide rates and the death of the first man is linked to them all. For some people seeing a famous person die can give other people the sense that it is alright to do that type of thing. Gladwell also used the example of famous people in the USA like Marilyn Monroe. When she killed herself you say a rise in the states of suicide rates. Gladwell used the power of the media to influence this rise. if it wasnt for the media portraying her death as they did the suicide rates may not have risen. He did a very good job on this chapter and made it very easy for us to do our presentation on this.