Week 3 ~ Researching & Understanding

Hi everyone, welcome back to my research blog! 

These past few weeks have been filled with research, research and more research and finding out so many new things about researching in general. Last week we were asked to use some of the online research tools that the University provides for its students, as well as, a regular outside research tool (i.e. Google/Google Scholar). After making many attempts in the Universities tools I hit a wall and started to grow frustrated with the site and with myself. I have done countless research papers for other classes and could not for the life of me figure out why I was getting no where. This is when I switched over to Goggle Scholar and found results quickly. However Goggle Scholar can be tricky sometimes because you may have a great find but you can’t access the whole book with paying for it. After finding a book I felt could be useful for my paper I searched for it in regular Google and was able to access the whole book without limitations, and found this to be a HUGE success after looking for what seemed like hours! Over this past week I have had the chance to review last weeks searches and to think about them, and I feel that the errors were on my side, I believe I am trying to find information out for a topic that may be a little too direct. And due that reason I feel that I will be reevaluating my topic in the week ahead and maybe looking down a different path for my research paper then I had originally planned. Overall doing the research has been very helpful and informative to see what information is out there regarding topics that are interesting to me and that could be helpful to my future career, and although I grew a frustrated at a point it helped me grow and learn to take a step back, look closer at what I was doing, and make changes where they were needed.

Week Two Blog Post

Hi everyone! First I want to thank everyone for stoping by and reading my first weeks post. And I would like to apologize for not getting this post up sooner, to say this week has been crazy is an understatement. But enough of that now onto the assignment for them week!

I first started my research for the week two assignment in the Brandman Library, and then branched out to some of the other recommended search engines. After trying every search way I know (i.e. keyword, journals only, dates, etc) and I was unable to find any sources geared towards my topic. This is what lead me to search Google Scholar looking for any kind of of resources. After a few minutes of searching I found a wealth of information for my topic and was a little overwhelmed by all the different options I had to look through. However with that being said I found that the more I research my topic the more excited I get keep looking to become more knowledgeable in the area not just for my paper but for my future career as a teacher. 

When it comes to my topic, Effectiveness of Special Education, I want to really focus on why we have special education and what it is meant to do. I know that may sound like a very broad area but I want to look at special education from the beginning...I want to see what made this country decided to offer education to those with special needs. I want to look at what the purpose of special education started out as and what the purpose was/is to the state(s) and what the purpose of it is to the educators who teach it. I also want to look into how special education has evolved over time. I have a lot passion for this subject and I really just want to provide my reader with as much information about my topic as possible.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 
~Melissa~ 

Week One Assignment

Hi everyone, welcome to my research blog! My name is Melissa and I am currently enrolled in LBSU 302 (Information Fluency and Academic Integrity) at Brandman University. I have been attending Brandman for a little over a year and will be finished this August! I am currently working on finishing my Bachelors Degree in Liberal Studies with an emphasis in multiple subject teaching. I am looking forward to working as a elementary school teacher and have plans to work towards a Masters Degree in Special Education. I hope to one day use my education, experience and knowledge to open up a school for children with special needs that will prepare them for entering a mainstream classroom.

When it comes to my career path there a many different aspects I would love to further pursue. However with that being said I would really love to research the different types of special education that are available and how effective they are in helping students. Along with looking into the topic I just talked about, I hope to learn how to better use the Internet and online libraries to help with any research projects I am working on. I feel that by being able to know more then just the basics in online research I will benefit me beyond my college career by allowing my knowledge to be passed onto students I am teaching.