Senior Project Online Source #3

“Specific Page Title or Article Title”	Social networking and your self-esteem
Primary Contributor to the Website (if given) (author, editor, producer, etc)	Author: Ashley at Nourishing the Soul
Title of the Entire Website (not www. )	Nourishing the Soul
Publisher or Sponsoring Organization of the website (if given)	Not Applicable
Date Page was Last Revised	29 September 2010
Date You Read It	2 February 2012
<URL address> (ALL of it)	http://www.nourishing-the-soul.com/2010/09/social-networking-self-esteem/

FIVE FACTS FROM THE SOURCE (Embedded):

The article begins with the question that asks, “have you ever considered the threat of these sites to your self-esteem” (Ashley)?

When there is nothing else to do with your time, most people are, “transporting [themselves] away from the realities of [their] own situation and allowing [them] to immerse [themselves] in snippets about [their] ‘friends’ (Ashley).

After a few hours of realizing how much time she has spent on her laptop, Ashley found that, “facebook was my [her] feel like crap” (Ashley).

Although individuals choose how much time they spend on social networking sites, “social networking sites are not themselves to solely blame” (Ashley).

No matter how much, “these sites continue to wear you down instead of lift you up, it may be time to close twitter and go spend time in (gasp!) the real world” (Ashley).

Summary of Source (Three-Four Sentences of the Who, What, Where, Why, and How in your own words. NO OPINION):

Nourishing the Soul is an organization for people to write about how they feel the world has affected them in anyway. In this particular article, Ashley talks about how the internet and social networking sites have impacted her self-esteem as well as decreasing the amount of time she spends with her husband. 

Credibility of Source:
Author or Site: Who is the author? What training have they had? If there is no author, examine the site. What is the purpose of the site? Who funds the site?

The Author: Ashley, the one who is impacted by this situation talks about her own personal experience instead of gathering up studies to show how much social networking sites affect people’s self-esteem.

Site: Nourishing the Soul is an organization that helps people with body image problems and how it impacts their life in any way. They come together to help mostly woman on their image and how to better shape their lives instead of focusing on the media of women.

Attachment: Does the author or site have anything to gain from writing this, or is it simply informative? For example, is it a cigarette business posting an article about the benefit of cigarettes, or is it a scientific community unaffiliated with the cigarette business? 
Because the author had personal experience with her self-esteem due to social networking  sites, the author helps others out there and tries to better shape the way they see themselves.  

Bias: Do you detect a bias (a favoring of either side) in the author's writing? Due to the personal experience of this author, Ashley only talks about the negative effects that Social Networking sites have on individuals. She does not completely put down social networking sites but she puts the blame on the individual instead.  

Senior Project Online Source #2

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

“Specific Page Title or Article Title”	Family under the microscope
V Primary Contributor to the Website (if given) (author, editor, producer, etc)	Oliver James
Title of the Entire Website (not www.)	The Guardian
Publisher or Sponsoring Organization of the website (if given)	N/A
Date Page was Last Revised	29 May 2009
Date You Read It	3 February 2012
<URL address> (ALL of it)	http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/may/30/children-low-esteem-internet

FIVE FACTS FROM THE SOURCE (Embedded):

Social networking sites like Facebook create a problem, “for several decades, [which] have shown that we have more friends but fewer intimates” (James).

Being able to create a profile where individuals are able to post pictures, personality and looks, “[create] winners and losers” revealing that this is the main, “problem for some children” (James).

Self-photographs that individuals post up only give other individuals the right to “rate” them, “but, mainly negative comments severely diminished that of the 7% of users” (James).

Teenagers who feel like an outcast in their school, “try to use networks to upgrade themselves, personally and socially” but, “unfortunately, they often did not succeed” (James).

When at a very young age, most people rely on the, “who’s in who’s out” statement that defines which crowd of people they fit most in. (James).

Summary of Source (Three-Four Sentences of the Who, What, Where, Why, and How in your own words. NO OPINION):

Oliver James describes how young adults to the age of twenty one are affected by how social networking sites decrease self-esteem. Oliver James cites psychologist and states his studies that make the article more reliable. The author chooses to give the advice to parents to help lower the amount of time their children use on the computer. He also ends the article to warn parents about how today’s society crashes and diminishes the self-confidence of teenagers.  

Credibility of Source:
Author or Site: Who is the author? What training have they had? If there is no author, examine the site. What is the purpose of the site? Who funds the site?

Olive James, the author of this article continually cites psychologist and also talks about the studies that have been made to help support his position.

Attachment: Does the author or site have anything to gain from writing this, or is it simply informative? For example, is it a cigarette business posting an article about the benefit of cigarettes, or is it a scientific community unaffiliated with the cigarette business?

Oliver James seems like he wants to help warn parents about the usage of social networking sites of their kids and make sure that their kids are not so much affected on how society views and seperates people into “cool” and “not-cool’ crowds.  

Bias: Do you detect a bias (a favoring of either side) in the author's writing?

There is somewhat of a bias in this article due to the idea that Oliver James only lists the negative side of how Facebook lowers self-esteem in young adults.  

References: Does the author cite references in the writing? If so, do these add or take away from the credibility?

The author cites the psychologist Enrich Fromm and talks about the two studies that have been experiemented on and how the studies further support his position of self-esteem. This made the author a very credible and reliable source. The Guardian is a US and England Newspaper website that informs individuals across the two countries about news that is traveling around the world today.   

Use of Source: How will you use this source in your project?
This source was more reliable because Oliver James cites many sources that make his position stand stronger. I will be using this source to try and make my senior paper have a strong opinion.

Senior Project Online Source #1

“Specific Page Title or Article Title”	"Facebook users 'are insecure, narcissistic and have low self-esteem'"
Primary Contributor to the Website (if given) (author, editor, producer, etc)	Mail Foreign Service
Title of the Entire Website (not www. )	MailOnline
Publisher or Sponsoring Organization of the website (if given)	Associated Newspapers Ltd
Date Page was Last Revised	9 September 2010
Date You Read It	28 January 2012
<URL address> (ALL of it)	http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1310230/Facebook-users-narcissistic-insecure-low-self-esteem.html

FIVE FACTS FROM THE SOURCE (Embedded):

Because of its frequent use, it was found that, "Using Facebeook is the online equivalent of staring at yourself in the mirror"(MFS).

It was found that the facebook not only creates promotion to themselves but, "People who constantly check Facebook may be lacking in self-esteem" (MFS).

Self-esteem was not the only problem Facebook has created but when weighed the possibilities of narcissism, "Those who scored higher on the narcissism test checked their Facebook pages more often each day than those who did not" (MFS).

When asking users whether or not their accounts are often used, "people get sort of defensive about it.. because it's a label that you don't want to be slapped with" (MFS).

Due to, "more than 500 million users world wide..the word's biggest social networking website" teenagers begin to fall into trap of becoming self absorbed and drowned with low self-esteem (MFS).

Summary of Source (Three-Four Sentences of the Who, What, Where, Why, and How in your own words. NO OPINION):


MFS analyzes how Facebook has dramatically changed a user's life within a few moments. The psychological sources that have cited talks about how users are becoming more narcissistic and insecure about themselves. Although it may only be a site to keep close contact with friends, more users begin to drown themselves in the wasteful minutes or hours they spend on facebook. When tested to see the percentage of grades falling due to Facebook, the result totaled up to a 20% decrease in school grades. 


Credibility of Source:
Author or Site: Who is the author? What training have they had? If there is no author, examine the site. What is the purpose of the site? Who funds the site?



Author: The author of this website is MFS or Mail Foreign Service who serves the part of writing articles only for the website MailOnline. 


Site: MailOnline provides information for entertainment, and knowledge of regular news sites have. MailOnline is published by Associated Newspaper Ltd. 


Attachment: Does the author or site have anything to gain from writing this, or is it simply informative? For example, is it a cigarette business posting an article about the benefit of cigarettes, or is it a scientific community unaffiliated with the cigarette business?


The author of this site only writes this article to inform the overly use of Facebook and how it distracts. 


Bias: Do you detect a bias (a favoring of either side) in the author's writing?


There is a bias in this article because the author only points out the negative sides of having a Facebook accounts instead of listing both negative and positive. 


References: Does the author cite references in the writing? If so, do these add or take away from the credibility?

Citing the journal of Cyberpsychology makes the site a bit more credible and the polls taken also helps the article credible. 


Use of Source: How will you use this source in your project?


I will use this article to cite my sources in my paper and presentation.

Senior Project Proposal

Senior Project Proposal

Proposed Topic in the form of an  Essential Question: 

Are social networking sites lowering the self esteem of teenagers?

Rationale for Choice

What about this topic appeals to you? Why did you choose it?

Most teenagers today are fascinated by this social networking website because of the way it can increase a person's popularity but what others do not know is that the social networking sites actually decreases a person's self confidence with the hatred that can be placed on a blogger's website. 

What do you already know about this subject?

A year ago I was also a member and an "addict" on Tumblr's website. It took a lot of my time which lowered my chances of doing homework, and staying up extra hours to finish up my school work. Not only has it effected my schoolwork but it also has made me feel degraded than the rest of those addicts on these social networking sites.

What are you hoping to learn about the subject?

I am interested in learning if social networking sites have only effected a small group of people or if this site has a real impact on bloggers, especially teenagers. 

What are you most interested in regarding the topic?

I'd like to see if either i'm way to sensitive with my feelings, or if others have truly been hurt or effected by the things they see or read on the internet.                                                                                                                                                

What potential risks or challenges do you foresee for your project?

Because my topic is not as popular as others, I feel as if I will find no research that will help back up my position on this topic. Although it is not as popular as other topics I still desire to take this as my topic and research further if possible. Also, as for community service hours, is there any way I can take this topic and find community service hours?