Questions to ask?

I am writing about Illinois State University college students becoming overweight during their first semester. I am writing for ISU college students so the can stay healthy and incoming freshman that will arrive next year. I want to focus on the different reasons why college students become overweight. Some assumptions I have made was that social class, stress, or/and a change in their lifestyles. I  hope to answer if college students actually gain weight during the first semester of college or later on in their college lives. I plan to collect different statistics and doctors views on this particular topic. I will also interview my peers and ask them their opinion about this topic. The conclusion I have drawn is that college students have problems with weight management. I do not know if my conclusion is factual and that is a huge gap in my research.

Response to Overweight ISU Students Questions

My topic raises other questions, such as the effects of belonging to a certain social class and plenty of food  question I can ask the people of Illinois State University (ISU) that eat on campus. I wouldn't say I feel strongly about this topic, but it's definitely a topic I have always been curious about finding information about. I believe there have probably been many other studies that doctors or professors have done on overweight college students. I don't feel that this topic will be an intellectual challenge, but it may lead me to a social issue of what does "looking good" actually mean.

BRAINSTORMING FOR RESEARCH PAPER

While brainstorming for my research topic I came up with three possible subjects. These subjects included Facebook effect on happiness, overweight college students, or reality shows. I decided to narrow my subjects down to one subject, overweight college student. I picked overweight college students because almost all of my peers have a problem with controlling their weight. I also picked this topic because I had the most questions for this topic. Why do most college students gain the "freshman 15”? Does how healthy you eat depend on social class? Do people know how many calories they should consume in a day? Does college students' busy schedule affect the way they eat? Is depression or anxiety the cause of over eating? This topic is significant to everyone in college, but I will be focusing on Illinois State University (ISU) College students because I can interview some of my peers there. I can talk about all the dinning centers on campus and if they have enough healthy options for both meat eaters and vegetarians. I hope that by writing this research paper and answering my questions about overweight ISU students I can prevent them from being unhealthy and overweight.

How I Fell In Love With Post-It Notes and Researcing One in Six Million (Response)

While reading Researching and How I Fell in Love with Post-It Notes by Susana Rodriguez, I found her research strategies somewhat relatable. Rodriguez breaks these research strategies down into tree steps: “Load the Research Guns,” “Fire without Aiming,” and “Walk away from Everything.” Her first step is "loading the guns " she makes sure she has all her supplies such as, pens, highlighters, post-it -notes and a comfortable spot to start her work. The second step includes “fire without aiming” by this she means, reads critically and slowly so it can understood more in depth exactly what is being said in the reading. The last step she does before the actual writing process is "walk away". She “walks away” by running errands or by taking a day or two break to the city.

However, while I follow the same steps as Rodriguez for preparing to write a research paper I do them in a somewhat different order with an additional forth step. My first step includes getting all of my research together; this includes books, scholarly journals, etc. My second step involves grabbing all of my supplies such as highlighters, a notebook, paper, pens, etc. My third step includes finding a quiet place to actively read and take notes on subjects I may want to include in my paper. My fourth and final step is almost the same as Rodriguez's third step, it includes taking a break. On the other hand, instead of running errands or getting out of town I get on Facebook, talk with friends, and eat junk food. Whatever the process to writing a research paper may be, is it is always a challenge.  

The second passage I read, Researching One in Six Million, by Hilary Selznick was an emotional piece. Selznick reminded me that research doesn't have to be boring. When one is able to choose the research topic, the research paper may end up being one of the greatest papers one has ever written. This is mainly because when one is passionate about a topic they want to display it in the best way possible to their audience. I also admired Selznick's determination to follow through with her research despite her mother’s discouragement. Selznick's, story was more than inspiring and she encouraged me to find out the mysteries of my own family history.

My Linguistic Landscape

          The linguistic landscape option that spoke most to my emotions is the death penalty. Not only is it unjust to take anyone's life it relates to my black history. Black people were and have always been the most likely to get the death penalty. This is an issue that most people don't talk about or think about. I want to create a poster that expresses how negatively I feel towards the death penalty.

          I have also done some primary research on the Troy Davis case. Troy Davis received the death penalty with no forensic evidence linking him to the death of a police officer. The death penalty has been the cause of many African Americans deaths, and majority of the time without any evidence just as the Troy Davis case. I hope to create a poster and put it in a location where it is most visible to everyone, such as the center of the Illinois State University's quad. I want to use pictures that tell a story. Therefore, an abundance of words will be unnecessary. The picture should tell the story of why African Americans use to get the death penalty, and what they are still getting the death penalty for today compared to other races. I want to use a contrast of bright and dull colors and use different variety of markers and crayons. I hope that by using more pictures than words and bright and dull colors I will get the attention of many people. I hope by getting the attention of many people the death penalty will stop.

Reading Visual Texts: A Bullet for Your Arsenal by Susana Rodriguez (Response)

Susana Rodriguez does a great job of describing how advertisers and promoters get attention. Rodriguez uses the example of the i pod throughout the chapter to describe the strategies of colors, objects, angles, and locations advertisers use to draw the audience's attention. By using contrasting colors in a certain order the advertisers are more likely to get their audience's attention. Additionally, advertisements place objects in certain way that tell a story that will appeal to their audience. Angles also help to draw in an audience because they can help make the audience draw their attention to certain aspects of the advertisement. Location is also important. Advertisers also take into consideration where they put their advertisements that will be the most visible to their audience.

By reading Rodriguez text I have learned that colors, objects, and placing can tell a story without the addition of words.Pictures display a message. For example, in the text Rodriguez talks about her family portrait at Disney World that showed how happy they were even if they really weren't. The picture showed that they all had a great time at Disney World because the picture displayed a scenic beautiful location and the smiles on their faces represented they were having or had a great time.
 

Grafitti

I'm not sure who drew these pictures. I chose them because I feel that they both display an important message that some people struggle with in their everyday lives.

The first picture resembles planes in the form of a McDonalds' logo heading toward the twin towers that were once in New York until 9/11. Most people have moved on and tried to forget the tragic event of 9/11. However, this artist not only reminds his audience of the visual picture from that day, he writes the words "EAT THIS" he puts it in all capital letters. By putting "EAT THIS" in caps the artist shows that he wants to direct his audiences' attention to the whole art piece, not just the picture. he two words. This artist is straight forward in this art piece and draws something everyone almost internationally recognizes, the McDonalds icon and contrasting it what most are also familiar with, 9/11. By carefully analyzing this piece, I feel that this artist's target audience are the people who have tried to forget or haven't put much thought into that tragic day. The  message  I received from this art piece was that 9/11 was a hard situation swallow/take in.

The second art piece resembles a homless man that would usually hold up a sign saying, "I'm homeless, please give any spare change," however this sign is different it reads, "KEEP YOUR COINS I WANT CHANGE." I think the artist wants his audience to mainly analyze the words of his graffiti and not the picture. In particular this artist plays with the word "change". The artist's target audience is probably the government that don't help the people that have nothing and are on the street. By this man holding up a sign sitting down bundled in jackets one can assume that he would be begging for money, but he is actually begging for something greater than money, change in the world. He is not just begging for himself, he is begging for everyone that wants change in the government. Perceptions of this art work can be changed by anyone because it doesn't say exactly who the audience is or what is exactly meant by "change".