Journal 1-Sammy See

The first article I looked at was titled, “Performance of College Students: Impact of Study Time and Study Habits.” The article talks about how demographics also play into grades when looking at study habits. Some of these demographics include but are not limited to, gender, age, and race. The article also talks about different approaches to studying. For example, surface vs. deep studying. Surface studying being just doing the minimum work needed for a course, and deep being developing more of an understanding of the subject matter. The article also states that it is looking at the relationships that study habits and overall academic performance has. The article looks at many other variables, besides demographics and deep vs. surface studying, like study time, note taking in class, ability to concentrate, ect.

            When I first started research on my topic I was expecting to look at study habits, note taking, effort in class, ect. and their effects on academic performance in one specific class. However after researching and looking at my article I’ve altered my topic to look at the effects on overall academic performance. I think looking at the efforts of the student in the class (deep vs. surface studying) would give me a better understanding of the argument rather than looking at the demographics of the student like the article talks about. However another viewpoint could be that demographics affect academic performance more heavily than study habits. I think looking at the topic in this way would greatly lead to the politics and personal opinions of the writer (<-- not if it is a supported argument.  In fact, one really good way to think critically about your issue and about a source is to question the methodology.  How might it be useful to think about demographics, class status, race, etc.?  What insight would we gain from this that sheer study habits wouldn't tell us?  These more hard-hitting questions are what I'm looking for in terms of critical thinking.) and therefore would not be useful in this class. Because this article mainly focuses on the impact of study time on overall academic performance I think looking at another article that focuses heavily on another variable of studying and comparing the two articles   
(I agree.  A comparative look seems like a good idea.) would give me better of an understanding about the “best way to study” than simply looking at the one viewpoint expressed in this article.

            A new question that came to mind is whether or not age in college plays a part in overall academic performance. More specifically whether typical age college students or older adults tend to get better grades. To answer this I’d have to look at an article that compares the success and the age of students. Another idea I have about researching this topic is looking at time of day of studying. This would be another “study habit” however I feel that it would be one of the most important because there are many studies about how teenagers brains aren’t fully awake until certain times in the morning, and I feel that if a student’s brain isn’t fully awake it doesn’t matter what kind of study habits he/she has. I’m reconsidering looking at the demographics (gender, race) and overall academic success and the connection between them because I think it would make for a highly politically biased paper.

Your journals are coming along nicely, Sammy.  I would like to see a little bit more conceptual work on critical thinking, though.  Also, I'm getting the sense that your paper will go one of two ways:

1) Your question asks, what affects overall academic performance?
    - This could be problematic since the question is purely informational.  All you have to do is find any and all factors that could influence the way a student performs in school.  Moreover, it doesn't lead to sources that are going to argue about something in particular.
2) Your question asks, instead, what factor most affects student performance? 
    - This "most" helps the question along in that it requires your sources to argue a point.  Claiming that demographics as opposed to study time most affects student performance is an arguable point.  I'm not necessarily suggesting that you have to use this question.  What I am saying, though, is that the frame of your question should lead to different arguments that are in stasis.  Let me know if it would help to meet with me about this during my office hours.