Journal #4

Today in class we got in our group and went over each of our topics and what we thought of each others papers. We split into pairs so each of us could grade the others paper. I looked over Pat's research paper which is over alcoholism and how college students abuse it. He spoke about how college students drink due to the stress that college brings. I have the 3 book sources that i need for my paper and I'm about halfway done. Once i interview my friend that is on the football team to find out what really goes on at practice, i think my paper will become a lot more interesting.

Journal #3

I've decided to do my research paper over collegiate sports. I'm not quite sure what kind of angle I'm going to take on this topic. I'm either going to go into the controversies that have gone on inside the college sports nation, such as a playoff system in NCAA College Football, or I may go into how college sports are different than high school sports. I have several friends that i can interview who played a sport in high school, but when they came here to Ball State they stopped doing what they loved. I also have one friend who is actually on the football team, he is not on scholarship, he's someone who worked very hard to make the team here and knows what really goes on during practices. I'm looking for several good sources to base my paper off of and am starting my rough draft. Who knows, i may try to tie both of those topics into one research paper.

Journal #2

I've narrowed down my search for the research paper to two topics. I'm not sure if either of these are good things to try to research but I'm thinking of giving it a shot. My first one i thought of was the differences between high school sports and Division 1 sports. I want to know how much of a jump, if any, it is for athletes here at Ball State, or at any Division 1 school for that matter. One of my good friends is on the football team here and i think I'd be interesting to interview him about what practices are really like. I wonder how different they are from high school. My second i was thinking of doing is the differences in students here at Ball State that came from a large high school, and ones you came from small ones. Whether the adjustment for students already in a large school made it easier to adjust to such a big campus. At least for me, coming from a smaller school it was a big adjustment, I'd interview other students who went to a school like mine and see if it was the same for them. I have other questions i plan on asking in my interviews along with the ones i expressed here.

Journal #1

The syllabus presented to us in class i thought was pretty easy to understand. The rules and expectation are presented clearly. I like the grading policy because it is simple. The attendance policy is harsh, but i feel that it will benefit me because it will hold me accountable for my grade, by not missing any class time. I like how our course schedule is laid out all for us so we know what to expect as the class goes throughout the next semester. Having everything laid out each day ahead of time will help me keep up on preparing myself for each of the four projects that are expected from us. Overall the syllabus will definitely benefit me.