Book chosen from the library: Vietnam the (last) war the U.S. lost

Step 1

3.1) I chose this book because as I chose multiple other books the covers were plain with nothing but the title of the book. This book however had a picture with two soldiers in cover and an explosion in the background.
3.2) This book has one author by the name of Joe Allen
3.3) Vietnam the (last) war the U.S. lost
3.4) Haymarket Books
3.5) The book was printed in Chicago, IL in 2008

Step 2

This book written by Joe Allen is about the Vietnam war in regards to how people saw the war unfold and their feelings towards the war. He states a reason for writing this book is because he realizes that most people of generations after the Vietnam war do not know the real reasons behind the war effort, and this book informs it's readers of these reasons. Here is a quote by Joe Allen "Yet for the generation of Americans who have come of age in the three decades since the last U.S. troops left Vietnam, the history of the war is practically forgotten." With those words being said that is Allen's goal of the book to inform people of the great struggle the Vietnam war presented on this country and many others.

Presentation on Subject Guides

Subject Guides: Brandon Doege & Abdulaziz, Binjumhur

• Useful for researching majors

• Useful for choosing a topic for a research paper regarding certain subjects

•  Allows access to reliable sources that have already been chosen by the librarians

Seven Topics on Research Assistence: Subject Guides

Topic/Link chosen: Subject Guides

What this link is useful for is taking your subject that has been chosen for let’s say a research paper and giving you access to reliable resources regarding certain subjects. For example; Art, Biology, Chemistry, and philosophy. This tool would help you find valuable information on a subject you have already chosen, or it could help with choosing a research topic in a subject that you find interesting. This is a useful tool for research papers because the librarians have already done the work for you in finding reliable sources regarding certain subjects. I have done a research paper in a previous class and I believe finding reliable sources was the most difficult part of the paper. So with that being said this tool would be beneficial to anyone looking to write a research paper that needs reliable sources or to find a research topic in a certain subject if the topic for the paper has not already been chosen.

Sumary of part 3: Presentation

 Summary

• How Conor described the United States after being gone for a year

•  What Conor did with his time back in the US

• News from Nepal

•  The email from Viva Bell

•  New Generation Nepal

Analysis

• helps to create the contrast in the author’s experience and by extension
• The reason behind starting Conor's Non-profit organization
• What was necessary 

Part 3 review

 Group 3: Alhajri, Faisal M, Almnasef, Ahmed, Alsufair, Hussain Adel, Shi, Mengzhen, and Brandon Doege


Upon returning to New Jersey after Conor's year long journey around the world. He was greeted first by his mother at the airport, and then soon after arriving home friends of Conor were inviting him out on the town. He had seen anyone for so long and had been gone for so long he has a lot to catch up on with his friends. Conor described home as "everything, everywhere, seemed squeaky clean. Everyone in the city dressed in clothes that positively gleamed, in collared shirts, gorgeously pressed and starched. Nobody wore the same clothes even two days in a row, let alone two months in a row" (Conor Grennan Little Princes pg 98). As Conor was enjoying his days back in the United States he did not forget about Nepal. He did not want to be a volunteer who disappeared back into his everyday life, so Conor sent emails frequently to Farid and Hari at the Little Princes orphanage.

Once Conor was back in New Jersey for a few weeks he started a job hunt. He had decided it was that time in his life to get a job, settle down with someone, and start a life. Conor was distracted however by the news from Nepal. Apparently after leaving Nepal the government situation had worsened and protesters were taken to the streets. At the height of the protesting, King Gyanendra on April 24, 2006 announced the reinstatement of the democratically elected parliament. Conor was excited for Nepal and thought the children at Little Princes now had a brighter future in front of them.

Soon after the cease-fire in Nepal, Conor received an email that would change everything he had decided to do with his life since he had been back in the United States. The email was from Viva Bell who was one of the leaders of the Umbrella Foundation. The email said that it had taken the team from the Umbrella Foundation three weeks to get across town to rescue the seven children because of the curfew put on the city by the government. Viva stated that they had found the house without trouble because of Conor's directions given to them. Upon arrival they found Nuraj's mother and her son but the seven children were nowhere to be found. They were soon informed that Golkka had heard the children were to be rescued and he had taken the children around forty-eight hours before the volunteers had arrived. Conor soon became haunted by the words he had said to the children before he left Nepal. He told them that "somebody was coming for them, somebody who they could trust" - (Conor Grennan, Little Princes, pg 101).

After sitting in his bedroom staring at the email for over an hour Conor glanced at his notebook next to the computer that had information on his job search. He tore the pages out and made a new page that contained the names of the seven children and that was is next objective. To save the seven children whom he felt he betrayed. Conor started by informing Farid of the situation with an email. Farid and Conor spent whole days brainstorming on how they would go about saving the children. They decided they somehow needed to raise money to give them a chance in providing the children with a safe place to live. The process started with Conor creating a nonprofit organization. This took many man hours because Conor had no idea how to even start. He needed to have a mission for this organization. After a few more days of brainstorming Conor decided on the mission for his nonprofit organization. His mission would be to find the families of the trafficked children in Nepal. He would start with the children of Little Princes then hopefully find the other seven children in the process. His organization was soon taking shape and he called it Next Generation Nepal. Once Conor raised enough money for his organization. He started using all his contacts he had and was soon back in Nepal to fulfill his nonprofit organizations goal of finding the families of trafficked children and his own personal goal of finding the seven children.

Analysis

            As already alluded, this chapter helps to create the contrast in the author’s experience and by extension helps to give weight to the level of sacrifice that the author made when he decided to stay in Nepal and help the ‘orphans’ reunite with their parents. From the mother’s and friend’s reactions when they finally get to meet Grennan, it is evident that the author was loved very much back at home. The author’s description of the food back at home also proves that he had missed a lot during his time away from home. The author’s friends rush to hook him up with a mate also shows the changes in his social life. Furthermore, the author’s hurry to find a new job and his admission that he was broke shows the break in his career. All these happening serves one purpose: proving that the author selfness. It is interesting to note the kind of comfort that he, the author had decided to sacrifice in order to navigate the dangerous juggles of Nepal in order to keep his promise of reuniting the children at the orphanage with their parents. This chapter, above all, brings to the fore the fact that Grennan had performed his own expectation and the expectations of his own family and friends. At this point we see a man who had all the best that life could offer and who had set out just to have more fun and adventure but who is transformed into a selfless savior. 

Help with introducing quoted and paraphrased material

 Group 3: Brandon Doege, Chuyan Gao, Alhajri Hazza

 A teacher comments that your paper does not flow well. What do you do?

Transitions:

• transitions are phrases or words used to connect one idea to the next
• transitions are used by the author to help the reader progress from one significant idea to the next
• transitions also show the relationship within a paragraph (or within a sentence) between the main idea and the support the author gives for those ideas
• different transitions do different things
• Examples of transition words
• Actually, Additionally, Also, Lastly, Furthermore, First, Second, Third, Finally

https://www.msu.edu/~jdowell/135/transw.html

Parallel Structure:

• Parallel structure means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. This can happen at the word, phrase, or clause level. The usual way to join parallel structures is with the use of coordinating conjunctions such as "and" or "or."

How do I fix Parallel Structure?

• Skim your paper, pausing at the words "and" and "or." Check on each side of these words to see whether the items joined are parallel. If not, make them parallel.
• If you have several items in a list, put them in a column to see if they are parallel.
• Listen to the sound of the items in a list or the items being compared. Do you hear the same kinds of sounds? For example, is there a series of "-ing" words beginning each item? Or do your hear a rhythm being repeated? If something is breaking that rhythm or repetition of sound, check to see if it needs to be made parallel. 

 http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/623/1/

Dangling and misplaced modifiers:

Definition:

• A dangling modifier is a word or phrase that modifies a word not clearly stated in the sentence. A modifier describes, clarifies, or gives more detail about a concept

Strategies for dangling and misplaced modifiers

• Name the appropriate or logical doer of the action as the subject of the main clause

• Having arrived late for practice, a written excuse was needed. 
• Who arrived late? This sentence says that the written excuse arrived late. To revise, decide who actually arrived late. The possible revision might look like this:  
• Having arrived late for practice, the team captain needed a written excuse. 
• The main clause now names the person (the captain) who did the action in the modifying phrase (arrived late).

• Change the phrase that dangles into a complete introductory clause by naming the doer of the action in that clause

• Without knowing his name, it was difficult to introduce him. 
• Who didn't know his name? This sentence says that "it" didn't know his name. To revise, decide who was trying to introduce him. The revision might look something like this: 
• Because Maria did not know his name, it was difficult to introduce him.
• The phrase is now a complete introductory clause; it does not modify any other part of the sentence, so is not considered "dangling."

• Combine the phrase and main clause into one

• To improve his results, the experiment was done again. 
• Who wanted to improve results? This sentence says that the experiment was trying to improve its own results. To revise, combine the phrase and the main clause into one sentence. The revision might look something like this:   
  
  • He improved his results by doing the experiment again. 
     

 http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/597/1/

Fixing wordiness with concise writing:

Definition:

• The goal of concise writing is to use the most effective words. Concise writing does not always have the fewest words, but it always uses the strongest ones. Writers often fill sentences with weak or unnecessary words that can be deleted or replaced

 Strategies for eliminating wordiness

•  Replace several vague words with more powerful and specific words.
•  Interrogate every word in a sentence

• Check every word to make sure that it is providing something important and unique to a sentence

•  Combine Sentences
• Some information does not require a full sentence, and can easily be inserted into another sentence without losing any of its value

 http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/572/01/

Vocabulary:

• How do you improve your vocabulary?

• Make it a priority to learn new words
•  Decide to learn one new word every day or two

•  Make your vocabulary practical
•  Start by learning the words that can express what’s most important to you

•  Find the right word for you and use it
•  When you’re writing something, use a thesaurus frequently

 http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-improve-your-vocabulary-steadily/

Book Review of "Little Princes"

The book starts with a man named Coner Grennan who decides to take a break from working and go on a trip around the world. He started his year long journey in Nepal where Coner would volunteer at an orphanage for two months. Upon arrival in Kathmandu, Nepal he was surprised by the military that seemed to be everywhere watching over the people. Coner would soon realize that this military protection was needed because at the time the Nepali government was in a power struggle with the Maoist rebels. Coner took part in a week long volunteer orientation before arriving at his volunteer destination. Once he walked through the blue gates of Little Princes Orphanage he was greeted by the group of kids who would change Coner's life forever.

Coner struggled at first making the transition to life in Nepal but soon became comfortable with the situation he was in. During his two months at Little Princes Coner was expected to care for these kids. He was nervous at first because he had never really worked with kids before, but over the course of these two months he became attached to these kids and treated them as his own. Coner's last night at Little Princes he was having trouble saying good bye, and the kids kept asking him when he was going to be back. He told them he would return in one year.

After Coner's year long journey he found himself back in the United States remembering all the kids smiling faces and at that moment he decided to keep his promise and return to Nepal. Coner returned to Little Princes and enjoyed his stay even more then the first time. This time however he met more children who had been affected by child trafficking going on in Nepal, and he knew he had to help them. He first attempted at getting the seven children he met into Little Princes, but they were already at full capacity. He then found a place located in Kathmandu who was willing to take in the children. Around this time is when Coner had to return back to the United States. Coner left Nepal behind thinking that those seven children were going to be taken care of and were safe, and when he received and email informing him that they were not safe. Coner was devastated. He responded by making a promise he would rescue these children, and he created his own non-profit organization for children in Kathmandu. He then went back to Nepal and bought his own orphanage and began rescuing orphaned children. He also did something else that no one had done before. Coner would not only care for the children, but he also attempted at finding their parents who the children had not seen for years.

In my opinion this book captured Coner's emotions towards his experiences very well. Throughout the whole book I seemed to be captured by the words, because of the great impact they had on my own emotions. I could relate to all of Coner's decisions made whether it was his decision to go back after his year of traveling the world, starting his own orphanage home, or making his risky journey to Humla for the first time. The emotion presented in the text was outstanding. I would definitely recommend this book to others. Not simply because it is a good book but it helps you realize what is going on in this crazy world. Before reading this book I had no idea of all the tragedy that has taken place in Nepal. I began to have another look on how privileged we are in the United States and that there are still countries in this world who are not modernized to the level of larger countries and face hardships every day to a level Americans could never imagine.

Reasons behind Coner Grennan going to Nepal

Initially Coner Grennan was choosing to make this year long trip around the world because he had been working at the same job for eight years and decided he was at that point in his life to experience what is out in this vast world. He had many volunteering options available, but Coner didn't want a normal volunteering experience. He chose volunteering in Nepal to take care of orphans because he wanted his family and friends to be impressed by his volunteering choice, and in a round about way Coner wanted to use is experience as bragging rights.

After spending two months with the children at Little Princes Orphanage. Coner now had other reasons why he told the children he was going to back in one year. Guilt was one reason why Coner felt he needed to come back. He now had a good relationship with the children and felt guilty to just walk out on them. Coner did not have any children, but now he felt that he had eighteen children whom he was responsible for.

When comparing Coners initial reasons with his reasons for returning in one year they are opposite. His initial reasoning for volunteering was to be able to say "yeah I did this" what have you done? He had a kind of self centered look to the idea, but after two months his reasons changed drastically. Coner became attached to the children at the orphanage, and upon them asking when he will be back. He could not lie nor completely walk out on them, so he promised he would be back.

Who Am I? Evaluation Post

Justin D Rudd- 8 points

Faisal F Alshammari- 7 points

Victoria A Peterson-7 points

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtX7Mu2oZj5kdHplRFpZeTFDNDVKQzFqeVUwVFI2TFE&usp=sharing