read a little, live a lot

As I mentally prepare my reading list for the months before October term begins, I consider what type of reading I want to partake of.

Academic texts, a no brainer of course I must read this dreaded stuff, and make notes and arguments, and reference correctly and get what studies have been found to back up my arguments,

BBC News and other independent but reliable sources, yes I would like to stay connected with present day affairs and political impacts. The Metro, seeing as I don't read the celebrity tabloids and political inclined papers such as the SUN (Conservative), Guardian (Labour) (please see BBC News analysis of paper politics), the Metro is concise with it's stories and covers a wide variety including strange stories that local councils have to deal with.

Blogs have a wonderful ability of giving a view through an individuals eyes, which is fascinating regardless of what is happening and why, it's about how it impacts the common man and what us civilians live with daily.

Novels okay these are NOT going to benefit your reference list or your research arguments, BUT, they will benefit you. As the linked article explains (Why Readers are the Best People to Fall in Love With), readers are a dying but vital breed of people who know what it's like to touch a thousands lives, emotions, concepts and realities. Yes, a lot of novels are nonsense, but it is imaginative nonsense! And I truly believe that taking time regularly to read something completely opposite to academic will awaken integrity and the creative side of me.

And don't forget to reflect, as taking notes from academic sources are important so as not to lose what you have concluded, so is keeping a notepad or journal to documenting the findings and development of your own mind. I know I intend to.

TopRead of the Term!

goes to … (a drum role pulease!)

Gangs as Alternative Transitional Structures, a journal article in primary research by Jewelle Gibbs

Gibbs, J. T. (2000) 'Gangs as alternative transitional structures: Adaptations to racial and social marginality in Los Angeles and London' Journal of Multicultural Social Work, 8 (1-2), p. 71-99

I used this in my latest Research Approaches module assignment, and in my own mind it's the most interesting journal I've read so far. Not perfect (but as I am learning, no research every is) I still found it to explore fascinating themes as to why youth and individuals become enticed into gang membership, and what it really means to them. Not just dodgy gangs of unruly and disorganised youth, to some it represented a place to go and people that would accept you, not to mention the emotional and social needs of those maturing into adulthood and have no where else to find it without being labelled and excluded. A great read, but I realise I can only understand it now that I have some comprehension to academic jargon. Ah well, here's to writing some of my own interesting academic findings in plain English.

The Research Approaches Module of year 2 has not been to everyone's liking, I however have found it quite fun to play researcher for the last few months, especially with the approaching dissertation of my final year coming up. The module sees introductions into computer research programs like SSPS and NVivo, and how to analyse both qualitative and quantitative data. Assignment 2 (where I used this article extensively) had me writing a critics review of the article, analysing how one would do their own research - which incidentally the proposal of which is coming up in the final assignment of this module. Oh joy!