Research Paper Prospectus

For my research paper I’ve chosen to analyze some of the unique characteristics of how people communicate over the Internet. Specifically, I intend to discuss how the way in which people communicate on the internet is unique in itself, as well as how it is both good and bad. The Internet is unique in that it seemingly possesses it’s own “language,” so to speak, and it can be quite confusing to those who are unfamiliar with the lingo. Through the use of anagrams, “l33t-speak,” emoticons, shorthand, slang, and other tricks, the Internet has become a source of a very diverse selection of communication styles. And while these styles may offer some benefit, there is also great detriment to the way in which people communicate on the Internet. Grammar has practically been thrown out the window, words are no longer spelled as they should be, and most surfers of web sites don’t see any reason to care, it seems. Oh yes, the internet has given us many great things, but it has also created a wave of grammatical laziness that, while inconsequential to most, threatens to make its way into other parts of our life and ultimately cause problems. This risk, however, is not a social problem but rather a personal one; it’s purely on a person-to-person basis. In my paper I seek to analyze this issue, give my opinions of why individuals should strive to uphold proper – or at least decent – grammar, and discuss some of the ways being lazy with electronic communications can affect both the offender and the receivers of such communications.

Sample Source:

Goldsborough, Reid. "Learning the lingo of the electronic age." Reading Today 21.1 (August-Sept 2003): 11(1). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. USC Aiken Library. 28 Feb. 2007

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Altered Prospectus with focus on sentence rhythm:

For my research paper I’ve chosen to analyze some of the characteristics of how people communicate over the Internet, which I find particularly unique. Specifically, I intend to discuss how the way in which people communicate on the internet is unique in itself, as well as how it is both good and bad. The Internet is unique in that it seemingly possesses it’s own “language,” so to speak, which can be quite confusing to those who are unfamiliar with the lingo. Through the use of anagrams, “l33t-speak,” emoticons, shorthand, slang, and other tricks, the Internet has become a source of a very diverse selection of communication styles. And while these styles may offer some benefit, there is also great detriment to the way in which people communicate on the Internet. Grammar has practically been thrown out the window, words are no longer spelled as they should be, and it seems as if most web surfers don't see any reason to care. The internet has given us many great things, oh yes, but it has also created a wave of grammatical laziness that, while inconsequential to most, threatens to make its way into other parts of our life and ultimately cause problems. This risk, however, is not a social problem but rather a personal one; it’s purely on a person-to-person basis. I seek to analyze this issue in my paper and give my opinions of why individuals should strive to uphold proper – or at least decent – grammar. Additionally, I'll discuss some of the ways being lazy with electronic communications can affect both the offender and the receivers of such communications.

Blog Assignment #4 (2/19)

Management is still taught in most business schools as a bundle of techniques, such as budgeting and personnel relations. To be sure, management, like any other work, has it's own tools and it's own techniques. But just as the essence of medicine is not urinalysis - important though that is - the essence of management is not techniques and procedures. The essence of management is to make knowledge productive. Management, in other words, is a social function. And in it's practice, management is truly a liberal art.
The old communities - family, village, parish, and so one - have all but disappeared in the knowledge society. Their place has largely been taken by the new unit of social integration: the organization. Where community was fate, organization is voluntary membership. Where community claimed the entire person, organization is a means to a person's ends; a tool. For 200 years a hot debate has been raging, especially in the West; are communities organic or are they simply extensions of the people of which they are made? Nobody would claim that the new organization is organic. It is clearly an artifact, a creation of man, a social technology.

The charter school movement is not yet big. Just 11 states, beginning with Minnesota in 1991, have passed laws permitting the creation of autonomous public schools like Northland; a dozen more have similar laws in the works. Most states have restricted the number of these schools - 100 in California, 25 in Massachusetts - in an attempt to appease teacher's unions and other opponents. Nevertheless, the charter movement is being heralded as the latest and best hope for a public education system that has failed to delivery for too many children and cannot compete internationally.
A handful of other places - notably Baltimore, Maryland and Hartford, Connecticut - are experimenting with a far more radical way to circumvent bureaucracy: hiring a for-profit company to run the schools.

Blog Assignment #3 (2/7) - 1st Paper Paragraph Draft

"Once my comparison research was done, I was surprised to find my paper was remarkable similar to the professional article that I chose in the criteria given. The closest similarities I noticed were the paragraph length. For longest, shortest, and average paragraph length, my totals were only one paragraph less or more than the professional article. Additionally, my average sentence length was 23 words, very close to the professional article, of which the average sentence length was 19 words."