Amanda’s Journals

I’m thinking my research paper is going to be about the war in Iraq. This isn’t my final decision, but what I am leaning towards. If I don’t chose the war as my topic I will probably go with juvenile delinquency and expand on my profile paper. I am leaning towards the war because I feel like there are a lot of aspects I am not very informed of. I would also like to research this topic because it hits close to my heart and something I greatly care about because of the people who are being most effected by it. My three questions would be:

1. What are the soldiers’ feelings about being in Iraq? I could accomplish this answer by e-mailing friends or relatives who are at war right now.

2. What would the benefits be of allowing more money for Iraq?

3. What will the aftermath be like for U.S. soldiers?

I think my research paper will most be concerned with soldiers and their feelings about the war. I am not sure if this is too broad of a subject or not. I am going to try and narrow done the topic and find more specifics to concentrate on.

I think the Rogerian model is an interesting approach to writing and communicating. If people communicated with eachother in a way like the Rogerian model, a lot of people would be better off. I don’t understand if the Rogerian model is set in stone. Do I have to follow the model as it is set up in the essay? Does the opposition opinion always have to come first? Would the paper be thrown off if I reveresed the order? How do I know how to find middle ground or examples of it? I am thinking that I am going to have a harder time with finding the middle ground. If a person has a strong opinion about the subject they are writing about should they consider something different?

If I could interview one person who is not a relative of mine who has passed away it would be my friend, Paul Butterfield. I would want to interview Paul because he committed suicide in 2004. I never quite understood his reasoning for wanting to do such a thing. He always seemed like a happy guy, but it could have been him hiding his sadness. I would want to be informed of his reasoning for doing such a thing, had he been considering committing suicide for awhile, and if he felt like he did the right thing. My three biggest questions would be as follows:1. If Paul could go back in time would he still have done the same thing?2. Did Paul consider how the people he was leaving behind would feel?3. If one person could have reached out to him and just listened, could he have worked out his psychological problems?

Chapter 6 is based on news stories which directly is related to the first paper assignment we have received in class. There were many interesting and helpful pointers in the chapter. The section entitled Understanding News Stories was probably the most helpful to me. I have no previous experience in journalism, which makes me nervous about the news story assignment.

Another helpful source in Chapter 6 was Research Paths. This whole section helped me understand the process of writing a news story. Interviewing has never been my best element of the writing process. I feel as if I always think of better questions after the interview has already been conducted. Also, I sometimes feel as if I pick the wrong details to place into what I’m writing.

All in all writing this news story will be interesting. I hope my final product is much better than what I am expecting it to be.

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