OPAC Search Experience

1. The topic I have chosen for my research project is polygamy. I narrowed my topic to finding out why polygamists feel that it should be legalized in the U.S.
2. I am looking for both background information and information that is more narrowed on my topic.
3. I surprisingly was successful on my first try but I only believe that I was because my topic is not as popular and does not have many books at the library. I believe this because I only searched the word polygamy but came up with 50 results which is not an overwhelming search. I found the book I wanted the 3rd book down on the list.
4. When I searched for an Ebook it took a lot more tries to find one that would work for my topic than it did for a regular book. I found a book Alternative Relationship Life Styles and it was about polygamy in the U.S. which fit my topic. I would not mind reading an Ebook as long as it was a good book for my topic but I also would want a print book because I find it easier to read or at least then I can switch off from a print book and an Ebook.
5. I find it a little difficult to read a book from a computer screen, I think my attention just cannot focus as much on a computer screen as opposed to a print book.
6. I have an Ipod Touch that I could read an Ebook on but I definitely would rather read one on an Ipad or a regular computer because the screen is very small, which I need to zoom in on the text and means I have to scroll to see the whole width of the text.
7. I first just searched the word polygamy and came up with 72 titles but as I started scrolling down the page to look at my results, I saw that there were many DVDs that came up, which I did not like and I know that under the Miller Center Library the categories between books and videos are split up. I found that the Miller Center OPAC search had a lot more options and was easier to find a book on what I wanted.

What Do You Seem to Be True About Polygamists?

When I was asked to pick a certain vulnerable population that I should learn more about, I thought it is going to be very hard to just pick one population because I feel as if I could still at least learn something about every vulnerable population that I could think of. Also, my decision was more difficult since it was a population designated for the rest of this course, which made me keep doubting which population I should choose and I wanted to think out of the box for my population, one that isn't heard all that often, at least to me. After all, I chose a population that was very interesting to me and that had a lot of debate over it, polygamy. All that I "know" or think that I know about polygamists is that they believe it is completely alright to have more than one wife or husband but from what I heard is usually wives. I also have heard that usually it is the Mormon religion that demonstrates this and I have heard a lot of Mormon commercials on television saying that "they are just like us" and I really do not know anything about them but think it is interesting that they have a commercial to join their religion. Another thing that I have heard about polygamy is I have heard of the show Sister Wives, which is a reality show following a family that has multiple wives, which when I think of it I think it sounds morally wrong and very odd but I want to learn more about their point of view and why they think it is alright. The most difficult challenge I believe I will have while doing this research is to be able to have an open mind, I know my opinion that it is odd and wrong will want to interfere with polygamist's own opinions but I cannot let it get in the way of me learning.

What is Critical Thinking?

My definition of critical thinking is a way of thinking that is very in-depth with careful reasoning and analyzes every part of the situation, problem and/or question. It is a type of thinking that is looking beyond what you know and researching the possibilities. After researching a definition for critical thinking, I found that getting a definition from a dictionary was a very reliable source. Stated from the website Dictionary.com, disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/critical+thinking).  The source did not recommend a specific process that one must engage in to think critically. 

I definitely think that critical thinking and IM 204 Research Strategies have a big connection because throughout this course we will be using a lot of critical thinking, whether it is writing our papers or writing in our blogs. We will use critical thinking because we need to apply the qualities of critical thinking to our assignments, such as we need to be open-minded, which we needed in already in our first assignment about the vulnerable population and we will be using it the whole course. We will certainly have to include evidence for our papers and blogs because this class is about researching, which is finding sources to support our statements. Also researching about our topics uses critical reasoning because it opens our minds to other viewpoints and reasoning what we believe is right or a solution.