Post-Reflection Blog (#9)

The Salvation Army is very important to the people it serves, because they depend on the services they provide - perhaps not only for survival, but also to better themselves. While charity shouldn't be necessary for these people to get by, it is necessary in our society; however, the Salvation Army makes it their responsibility to serve those in need, and that is a wonderful mission. The only changes I would suggest to the Salvation Army would be what they would do anyway, and that is to evolve over time to meet the changing needs of the people they serve.

I definitely have a more sympathy and a better understanding for the problems that the people of Canton experience. I did not really realize what "welfare reform" meant, or that so many factors can truly affect this way of life, such as literacy, financial understanding, and parenting skills. This only makes me more aware of the importance of raising my own kids someday.

I don't think I took many risks during this experience, as I was only doing research and not enacting any programs. However, I still think I was challenged after the first few searches to be a little more creative in my other searches so that I didn't always come up with the same results. I also think I grew in my research abilities, and in my knowledge of how nonprofits work.

The best experience about this project was just the overall knowledge that we might be doing something to benefit those in need. The only way I would approach this project differently would be to be more organized: I would print the articles and add them to the portfolio as I did the research, and I would also read the abstracts more closely to ensure the articles' relevance.

This project made me realize that a career in research or at a library would be great for me. I learned new searching techniques, and found that I picked up on them pretty well. I've always wanted to help people somehow in my future career, but this experience made me realize that I could probably thrive in a nonprofit organization, and perhaps make it thrive as well.

Blog #7

I'm really glad we were able to catch up with Major Boynton last class. I think it cleared up a lot of questions we had about how to organize our sources, and how things are already done at the Salvation Army. It was also probably reassuring for the Major to know that we are on track, and that we'll be providing the Salvation Army with useful information that will make it all worth our time and effort.

I also would like to start thinking of our research as more helpful to the Salvation Army in the context of what they already know. We as students probably wouldn't be able to do much with these sources, but these experienced professionals will know how to really utilize the information that only we would be able to provide for them. It's really a win-win for everyone. We get this amazing experience, and the Salvation Army gets information on how they can continue to help the impoverished people of Canton.

Blog #6

The information that I'm learning in this class will probably be relevant for my job, especially if I work in a public library. I also would've used this in my other classes if I'd taken this class earlier in my college career.

I think I could also use information on how to tell if a website is credible in my life outside of academics and my career. For example, if I try to find a recipe for dishwasher detergent, I could use CRAAP to decide which recipe is best.

Blog #5

I'm excited to learn more about literacy programs. I think if the Salvation Army comes up with one with our help, I would definitely be interested in helping to carry it out (if I have enough time). Reading makes me very happy, and I'd love to share that joy with other people.

I think we are starting to encounter difficulties in finding new articles. I keep noticing that I am re-adding articles that were already in my folder. Either I'm running out of articles (doubtful) or I need to come up with some more creative searches (much more likely).

Blog #4

There's nothing I don't like about this class, except perhaps how hard it can be to remember the assignments. That's mostly my own personal problem,though, (since this is my only class) and is easily fixed if I just complete assignments after class so I don't have to worry about them later. 

I'm learning a lot about the need to search for specific items. For example, I don't get many useful results if I search "welfare reform" and "nonprofit." Instead, I need to search for specific problems underneath the umbrella subject of welfare reform, such as adult literacy, parenting, and financial literacy.

Post #3

I've found that I'm using the things I learn about research in this class for every class I'm in this semester!

I also had a moment of success and happiness when I earned two bonus points for correctly sorting the different types of sources. Knowing how to sort these sources is just a reminder that this research may seem like a daunting task now, but when it's broken up into several small, workable projects, it becomes much easier.

Blog #1

Hi! I'm Theresa Tozzi. I'm a senior, and I'm graduating in December. I like to spend my time reading, watching Netflix,  and chilling with my fiancé, Nic.

I suppose I'm bringing some experience to the table, since this is my last semester and I've written about a thousand academic papers over the past few years, and I used the library's research databases for many of them.

One thing I'm concerned about is that we have more research about youth violence than we do about welfare reform. I think we might have to be more creative when searching for articles about the latter, so that we can find more  articles and studies that are relevant and useful for the Salvation Army.

My goal for this course is to get  experience in a different field. I've never done research for a nonprofit, so I think this is a great opportunity for me to get career experience while still feeling like I can make a difference in the Canton community.