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.