My 5 sources

Baum, Charles L. "The Long-Term Effects of Early and Recent Maternal Employment on a

            Child's Academic Achievement." Journal of Family Issues 25.1 (2004): 29-60. Print.

This article mainly talks about the children who are being raised in households that have mothers who work compared with a generation ago. This article is also recent and almost similar to my other source with author Han that discuss that working mothers and academic achievement are related. This study shows that in early stages it does not have much of an effect but in high school there seems to be a significant decrease in grades. I will use this in my essay by stating the similarties between this article and Han’s.

Beyer, Sylvia. "Maternal Employment and Children's Academic Achievement:

Parenting Styles as Mediating Variable." Developmental Review 15.2 (1995):

 212-53. Print

This article examines previous research on how maternal employment can affect parenting styles which affect the child’s academic achievement. This study goes in depth about how parental styles affect the child especially with a single parent who is working. I will use this study in my essay because it talks about academic achievement that shows working mothers versus non-working mothers. Although this study is a little old, having previous research and recent research to show similarties will strengthen my argument.

Bogenschneider, K., and L. Steinberg. "Maternal Employment and Adolescents' Academic

Achievement: A Developmental Analysis." Sociology of Education 67.1 (1994): 60-77.

 Print.

This article talks about or rather argues whether maternal employment affects school achieivement among high school students. This study is good to use because it is similar to my other source by authoer Han who both argue that maternal employment affect high school students. Although Han argues that elementary,middle and high school students are being affected by single mothers in the workforce, this study examines just high school students which is good because it gives more evidence to my argumentation.

Goldberg, Wendy A., Ellen Greenberger, and Stacy K. Nagel. "Employment and Achievement:

 Mothers' Work Involvement in Relation to Children's Achievement Behaviors and

            Mothers' Parenting Behaviors." Child development 67.4 (1996): 1512-27. Print.

This article examines research that shows that working mothers are affecting children’s academic achievement. This article is that it goes against what I am saying about working mothers. This article says that in a research study, working mothers affected girls academic achievement in positive way but with boys it was negative. I could argue with this research study that it is possible that girls see their mothers as role models because they are working and helping to support the family.

Han, Wen-Jui. "Maternal Work Schedules and Child Outcomes: Evidence from the National

 Survey of American Families." Children and Youth Services Review 28.9 (2006): 1039-

59. Print.

This article is fairly recent and it investigates and shows an association between maternal nonstandard work schedules and some research on academic achievement. This study is a good use because it shows different ages such as elementary, middle and high school. I will use this study in my essay because not only does it show research about single parenting is affecting academic achievement but it shows it at different ages. Author Han argues that these patterns are continuning to grow.

Writing Towards a Thesis exercise

In some of my sources that I had used in my annotated bibliography, my topic has developed quite well since I have been working on my final research essay. For starters, I had a completely different topic then what I have currently. My topic previously was that divorced parents lead to a increase in underage pregnancies. What I found through some of the research was that there were not that many sources that had explained that divorced parents did not lead to the increase in underage pregnancies. What I had wanted was a source that did not agree with my my other sources but it was difficult to find. The sources that had come up as well were sources that did not give me a whole lot of information regarding the influence of divorced parents and teen pregnancy but rather just divorce or just teen pregnancy. Now my topic is that working mothers have both a positive and negative influence on academic achievement in children and in adolescence. I argue that there should be more academic after school programs that help students with working mothers achieve higher academic achievement. What I had discovered was that working mothers can play as a role model and children especially girls who have working mothers have slightly higher test and IQ scores then other students their age. I also found that there was in decrease in academic achievement in both children and adolescence. What I think then and now are almost completely the same. I knew before hand that there had to be some positives and negatives of working mothers and their children's academic achievement.

For the past couple decades, there have been ongoing debates with mothers who have children who work in paid employment. One of the many hot debates that is still going on today is the affect of working mothers on their child’s academic achievement. For many years researchers have been studying the correlation between a working mother and their child’s academic achievement. Studies range from elementary school to teen adolescence. Sources that I have found not only include studies of all ages but state that working mothers have both a positive and negative influence on a child’s academic achievement. In conclusion to my research I believe that there should be more after school academic programs that help children whose mothers are in the workforce achieve higher academic achievement. In my research paper I will not only discuss the relationship that working mothers and the affect of their academic achievement have together but I will also propose a solution that may help children who have a decrease in their academic achievement because their mothers are in the workforce.


If someone were to say "so what" I would respond by saying that this is important because there is a continuous pattern that proves that children are having decreased academic achievement because of thier mothers in the workforce. I would also say that this might be a deciding factor if you decide you don't or do want to be the breadwinner of the family and have your wife stay home and help the child if needed. This of course would be intended towards a guy.

Research Prospectus

For my research prospectus, my research topic will be that parents who are divorced increase the likelihood of underage pregnancies. Questions that I may ask might be how might this topic relate to a specific academic field?   This topic certainly involves the general field of psychology or sociology.  It delves into how people deal with divorce, especially children and shows that all members of a family that are going through a traumatic experience like this need counseling to deal with their feelings on what led to the divorce as well as how to deal with it and move forward.

A teen pregnancy occurs which can have different outcomes.  The child has an abortion (which there is a huge debate on), the child puts the baby up for adoption (which we are already overloaded with unwanted and unadopted children) or the child keeps the baby and you now have a child raising a child.  This leads to additional welfare costs, frustration on the young parent who has not had an opportunity to grow up and wants to party, is not prepared for the responsibility of caring for a baby, and possible teen marriage which eventually almost never works out which leads to another divorce and everyone is back in the same cycle again.  

This topic is very important to me because not only does it correlate with my major which is Sociology but by bringing awareness to this subject, it is possible that married couples will not be so quick to pull the trigger on the divorce option.  Years ago people worked it out and couples stayed married 30, 40, 50, and 60 years.  It really was “ ‘til death do us part”.  Now, more than half of all marriages end in divorce.  Most of those end within the first seven years.  Hopefully more couples will learn to have more understanding for each other and work things out which will lower the divorce rate, lower the abortion rate and lower the number of teen pregnancies, teen parents and single parents.  It would lower the number of unadopted children and lower the already burdensome strain on welfare.  A debate or problem will it would solve would be for starters, the abortion debate , although ongoing and continuing will not be as prominent because abortion rates would definitely decrease.  It would lower the rates of teen pregnancies, unadopted children, and the amount of people on welfare.  It would lower the divorce rate and possibly raise the graduation rate as the children would be more likely to stay in school, graduate and possibly go to college instead of having to leave school to work and take care of a child.  Then later find out that without an education it is very difficult to get a good enough job to care for a family which leads to frustration and then divorce and the cycle starts again.

"Is Google Making Making Us Stupid" Summary

In today’s society where the Internet is now widely used, we are becoming more aware and relying on the advanced technological supplementation that a computer can offer. In a July/August issue of The Atlantic Monthly, Nicholas Carr elaborates on how the Internet has not only deteriorated our attention span but is also destroying our powers of concentration. He also believes the Internet has become “an immeasurable powerful computing system that is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies.” Carr argues that not only does the Internet shape how we read, but how we think. Throughout his argumentation, he consistently gives credible sources that help support his reasoning for some of his arguments. Carr uses resources as bloggers and a research study conducted by the University College London. He also explains that our brains are operating “like computers” and that the Internet is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies. Also, fearing that the Google search engine may turn into artificial intelligence, A “HAL-like machine that might be connected directly to our brains” as Carr had explained, is wary of the after effects that this may cause for the next generation to come. Although his strategies of argumentation were efficient, I don’t believe that the internet is changing the way we think or read and that it might actually be making us smarter.

My Media Diet

Over the past couple years, I have been introduced via family or friends the world of media and what it can do for me. Not until I turned the age of 18 years old, my family had bought me a computer and luckily also gave me a cell phone. Usually since I didn't have a computer at home, I would only use the computer for school purposes only, via be writing research papers or doing online homework. Ever since my family had given me those two devices, I can say as of today that I can not live without. I feel this is the same with everyone else who owns a labtop/computer and cellphone.
Ever since I turned 18, which seems the turning point of my life in which I started to become obsessed with digital technology, I can say that I honestly feel naked without my cellphone or If I did not own my personal labtop. My media diet usually consists of me waking up and sometimes checking my facebook before I even brush my teeth which is sad. One of my biggest pet peeves was not brushing my teeth before I did anything. Now, I would spend almost 15 minutes at a time on facebook without brushing my teeth first. After I had done brushing my teeth, I spend some time on USA today and read the latest headlines. Before I had turned 18 years old, I would always enjoy reading the newspaper but because of the easy access that the internet allows us to have, I no longer read the newspaper but rather spend my time reading on USA today's newspaper. By the time I hit the bus stop to take bus to my  early afternoon class, I am already texting some of my friends asking whether they are going out for the night or staying in so that I can make my plans for later.
Being a fraternity, sometimes you can have a huge circle of friends so I can easily say that I am constantly texting throughout the day I am the main person most of the time that sets up pre-parties before me and any of my friends decide to go out to the club. I am constantly searching the internet for new music especially dubstep before a workout, there is something about dubstep that just gets me pumped and ready to work out. I always upload my ipod before working out and charge it after I get out. I do  not spend much time watching T.V but when I am not the media use that I would be using would be facebook. Throughout these couple years I have been incorporated into the world of media. I have been seduced by facebook and can no longer go one day without checking it. I should although include more blog websites that I should checkout because some of them I have heard are very interesting.