Secondary Research Morgan Birchfield

My paper is about finding beauty in war. The secondary research I chose was about the different opinions of war. This gave me a better understanding that not all people think the same of war. I can now write a more rounded paper because I know both sides of the argument. This site gets it's credibility because it contains a work cited. The author uses these cites to conduct his own opinion so he is knowledgable on the subject. This passage was written in August of 2007. These site is from first person point of view from people who had experienced the war first hand. I was searching for public opinions so it's hard to find an unbiased work. The author talks about the different problems and accomplishments of the war.

Sauerwein, Daniel. "Military History." Military History. N.p., 12 Aug. 2007. Web. 25 Feb. 2013

http://militaryhistoryblog.wordpress.com/2007/08/12/the-vietnam-war-from-all-sides-americans-and-vietnamese-reflect-on-their-mistakes-and-on-each-other/

Secondary Research: PTSD

I chose to do my secondary research on PTSD as a complementary source for information on the effects of traumatic experiences on the psychological health of veterans of the Vietnam War. The article is titled Findings from the National Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Study, posted in January of 2007, and focuses on the findings of the comprehensive study mentioned in the title, abbreviated as (NWRS). Being associated with the Department of Veterans Affairs gives this article credibility as a source. Jennifer L. Price, PhD, also has credibility as a source, having worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs as a project manager of a case study and as a consultant for the National Center for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. She is also a licensed clinical psychologist and currently a professor and Department Chair for the Department of Psychology at Georgetown College in Kentucky.
http://www.georgetowncollege.edu/psy/files/2011/07/Price-vitae-2011.pdf

Dr. Prince's article provides us with significant statistics on the range of soldiers that are afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the varying circumstances that lead to increased frequencies of PTSD. Prince writes, "...an estimated 15.2% of male and 8.5% of female Vietnam theater Veterans met criteria for current PTSD. Those with high levels of war-zone exposure had significantly higher rates, with 35.8% of men and 17.5% of women meeting criteria for current PTSD" (qtd. in Schlenger et al., 1992).

The study also addresses non-PTSD symptoms that are less severe but more prevalent, including: alcohol abuse/dependency, depression, anxiety, antisocial personality disorders, and readjustment difficulties (occupational instability, marital and familial strife).

Overall it seems to be a very good study that is full of statistics that might be useful in making an argument for the overall impact of PTSD and other trauma related issues on veterans of the Vietnam War.

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/pages/vietnam-vets-study.asp

Secondary Research for Eassy

My essay mainly consisted of detailing the accounts of Tim O'Brien himself. It took a lot in him to tell his horrific stories to millions of people. I talk about how he is sharing his difficult experiences and the events that he encountered on a war some said they were not sure why they were fighting . I did some extra secondary research to relate to my essay. In this case I found another war veteran coming out to share what he had experienced in the war. I chose this to emphasize the courage it takes some people to come out and talk about difficult stuff like Tim O'Brien did.

http://websrv-gr.server.gvsu.edu/gvnow/index.htm?articleId=17AE198F-C80D-08F3-49AACE857C82790B

One of the main reasons why i picked this source is because of the website it was published in and the date. This article or story was published by The Grand Valley State university. This university is known for its work with the military including veterans. They have a whole network dedicated to them. And just recently (2011) they were recognized by the Military Advanced Education as a top military friendly network and college. Their information and dedication to veterans gives me more insight into more recent stories about veterans  and it helps me connect with stories of Tim O'Brien. This is talking about a combat veteran named Jim Hodges coming out to share his story in the war with people back home. "Hodges presentation 'Eye of the warrior is a captivating story about war's struggles". This sounds a lot like Tim O'Brien sharing his war stories as well. Also, this article was published or posted on June 08, 2010 so it current enough.

Secondary Research For Essay

The main theme of my Interpretive Essay is the effect encountering death has on all of the soldiers.  I go on to narrow down the focus of my topic to the impact death has on O'Brien, post-war.  In order to get some more info I did some research on other Vietnam War Veteran's stories.  This is where i got the info.

http://gazettextra.com/news/2008/mar/14/retelling-vietnam-veterans-recount-war-stories/

Gina Duwe is the author of this article.  Duwe is a credible source because she has many other articles published by GazetteXtra.com and she is a paid reporter for the website.  I looked into other sources of info at GazetteXtra.com just to be sure they were a valid source and because of all the info they possess they do seem credible.  The article was written March 14, 2008 which I believe makes it credible as long as it is really about a Vietnam veteran.  In the article Duwe was interviewing multiple Vietnam veterans about their experiences in the war.  The veteran i felt was most influential  was Tom McCaslin.  Tom describes a story about his first encounter with the Viet Cong, “He came right towards me, and I said, ‘S---, this is the first time I’ve ever seen the enemy,’” he said. “So I shot, and luckily I killed him" (Duwe 1).  This was an important part of the interview because Tom goes on to say that he hardly ever talks about his war stories but he feels they needed to be told, which is a lot like O'Brien. 

Interpretive questions list. Post questions HERE!

Students, please post your three best interpretive questions so far for the novel The Things They Carried.

Simply include your questions underneath this post by using the Comments feature and that way we will have all our brainstorming questions available in one place here on the blog.

The idea is to share ideas for Essay Two and find a question or thesis idea that we are interested in and think we can write about with good evidence and interpretation for Essay Two.

Interpretive questions to blog, and MLA exercise online

Good morning all.

Please do these two things.

First, post your three best interpretive questions so far for the novel to our blog.

Second, complete the writing exercises below.  Follow the link, and you also have this material as a handout.

lGo to http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/pocket6e/#t_697475http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/pocket6e/#t_697475____

 

lYou will need to sign in as a student to access the exercises.  My address is lohre.1@osu.edu so you can sign up.

 

lUnder Electronic Research Exercises, complete Exercises 28-1(Thesis Statements) and 30-1(Integrating Sources in MLA style).

Ain't Scared of Your Jails

This video was interesting to me. It is incredible that a simple decision to fight back changed the course of history. I have learned a lot about the civil rights in the past and it never fails to catch my attention. These people protested in a simple way and by doing so, they got the reaction they were hoping for, at least after countless arrests and beatings. From the research I also did on Diana Nash, I was reminded of sit-ins. The protestors sat like they normally would but simply sitting where they were not "supposed" to caused such a commotion. The ignorant non-supporters of civil rights lacked maturity and that was clearly seen when they responded with such hatred to such a peaceful, non-violent protest. To see the beatings people had to endure broke my heart. The majority of the protestors were left nameless and they never got the recognition they deserved.