A topic I could see myself writing an academic paper on is “How does US culture effect its consumption levels as compared with the rest of the world?” I have done some research into this topic already and I find it fascinating. Fist off, the topic is very current and dynamic. When I need to find research information about current issues I always start online.. This would be as opposed to a history paper where the only use for the internet I would really need is how to find historical texts in a library. To back up the thesis or hypothesis that I would base my research around I would start with some factual information and current trends. I would start with my favorite search engine, www.Google.com and I would type in key words such as US Culture, Consumption, Global Consumption, etc. I would even throw in some key words about population growth and stress because it directly effects consumption levels.

What Google found for me were several federal websites such as www.eia.doe.gov, (which is the US web site for the Energy Information Administration), www.globalissues.org, and various United Nations online web sources for topics about water supply and other population issues. The first and last web sources I would feel very comfortable using because they are from already credited sources (The United Nations should not need much introduction nor should the US Government). Now to show that I had done research that was not influenced solely by governmental soucres I would consider information from websites such as www.globalissues.org, which is written by a somewhat non governmental and independent source. I chose the global issues site because of the wide verity of topics and the fact the author established himself well as a creditable source (mainly just an independent source).

As far as establishing the sources to a professor and my evaluation of the creditability of them, I would use some of the advice from Wood and Smith where they described the cautions one needs to take when consulting an online source such as; reading the websites “About” and “Investor Information” links and reviewing the credentials of the author (p. 115). Now I know Wood and Smith were referring to taking precautions about seeking therapeutic advice online but this “dotCOMsense” advice can and should be used carefully evaluate any source found online.

Postman makes a clever analogy comparing societies defenses against too much information as acting like a biological immune system does:

“All societies have institutions and techniques that function as does a biological immune system. Their purpose is to maintain a balance between the old and the new, between novelty and tradition, between meaning and conceptual disorder, and the do so by “destroying” unwanted information” (p. 73)

To further add to that biological analogy, the internet, at the rate of growth and complexity it has ascended to and the amount of useless and bogus information available, has become the bubonic plague to our societies “immune system”. As a society, as professors, and especially as academic and professional researchers we need to tackle the information provided online with literal HAZ MAT suits. We need to take extra precautions and protect ourselves from this plagued information. We must do this not only for ourselves, to save us the embarrassment and loss of creditability, but for the growth and preservation of the academic community. We must do this to uphold the high standards of academic achievement. If we carelessly let this plagued information seep into our research it diminishes the quality of our knowledge, the creditability of ourselves and our institution and makes our efforts senseless.

 

SOURCES FOR PURPOSED RESEARCH PAPER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EIA – Short-Term Energy Outlook 

 

http://www.globalissues.org/issue/235/consumption-and-consumerism

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=29797&Cr=&Cr1

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