Political Science
As I grow in interest in the field of political science research, the next logical place to look is at research journals. I found what I believe to be a leading journal for new research.
The American Journal of Political Science is, to my understanding, the scholarly journal for the political science field. The AJPS mission states that they are “committed to significant advances in knowledge and understanding of citizenship, governance, and politics, and to the public value of political science research” (About, 2013). It is published by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing. Contributors are those that submit to the review process. The Journal is disseminated to members of the Midwest Political Science Association. Professionals within the field of Political Science, primarily those with Doctorates, maintain the readership. They read it to stay on point of a constant growing field of research.
I personally have not read the Journal, but as I grow in interest in political science research it will most likely become something that I become very familiar with.
Employment Projections for Lawyers
After I finish my undergraduate degree, my hope is to move forward to Law School. Law School is an intense task, and one has to be sure that they have a plan of attack to be successful in this field.
According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics there will be about a 10.1% increase from 2010 to 2012, my projected year to graduate law school is 2017. The field is growing, but not at an outstanding pace.
To ensure that I will be apart of this 10.1%, I have to gain admission, and complete, law school first. I have a few things going in my direction; I’m a minority, disabled, veteran, from the mid-west. Along with these factors, I’m working to improve my LSAT score, my GPA, and school and community involvement. The other factor I’m working towards is my networking. I’m an outgoing person, so networking with notable alumni from schools I seek to attend, professionals in the field, and good standing with Professors will also, hopefully, help my admission into law school.
Reference: United States Department of Labor. (2010). National Employment Matrix, Lawyers. Retrieved from http://data.bls.gov/oep/nioem
Library Research
Each semester I usually have to sit through an hour long presentation on how the Library and it’s resources can benefit me, twice. This semester was no different. I’m not posing this as a bad thing though. Each time it happens, second year students and beyond usually moan about already doing it. The thing I’ve learned is that each time, I learn something new. The most recent was for a Professional Writing Skills class. This one exposed me to how easy it is access local media documents. The idea is, no matter how many times you do something there is always something new to learn.
A few tips to keep in mind
Throughout my academic career I have written many papers. Most of these papers were under the assumption that they would never be under the scrutiny of public eyes. Venturing into a blog brought about issues that I haven’t encountered, such as how to keep reader attention. While researching this information, I was introduced to Micheal Agger’s (2008) post on Slate called “Lazy Eyes.” He writes about the very issues that incorporate keeping reader attention and presenting online writing in a technical manner. A few of the tips he presents that I feel will be helpful –
Narrow down sections into individual thoughts.
Maintain a short word total, but connect supplementary material.
Properly exploit tags.
Hopefully these few tips, out of his many, will prove successful for this venture into blogging.
Reference.
Agger, Micheal (2008, June 13). Lazy Eyes. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/the_browser/2008/06/lazy_eyes.html