RJA #15b: Reflection on What You Learned

One thing I learned in this class that I will use in the future is how to write an MLA style paper. Before this class I felt like I was a horrible writer and I wouldn't of been able to write a 3600 word paper. One other thing I learned in this class was tricks and tools to use when trying to cite and as well as trying to write a work cited page.

RJA #15a: Word Cloud

Research Journal Assignment #14

1."Anabolic steroids." ESPN.com N.p., 6 Sept. 2007. Web. 19 Nov. 2009.

This article is featured on Espn.com. The author is unknown. This article is about the controversy of the use anabolic steroids by athletes. The article also gives a brief summary about what anabolic steroids, how they are taken, and what the do to the athlete's body.

2. Araton, Henry. "A Yankees Marriage Not Made in Heaven." The New York Times N.p., 8 Feb. 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2009.


This article was featured in the New York times, it was written by Henry Araton. The author of the article illustrated the contractual marriage between the New York Yankees and Alex Rodriquez and how it is dysfunctional. After A-rod was given an incredible amount of money by the Yankees; the news broke on Alex's steroid use making the Yankees look like suckers because of the wealthy contract they gave Alex.


3. Association Against Steroid Abuse Steroidabuse.com, n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2009

Steroidabuse.com is a website geared to teach and inform people of the use and abuse of steroids. The website also has any news relevant to steroids. The website does not have any visible authors or editors.

4. Baseball's Steroid Era News, List, Timelines, Quotes, Statistics N.p., 19 Aug. 2006. Web. 21 Nov. 2009.

This webiste entitled Baseball's Steriod Era News, Lists, Timelines, Quotes, Statistics has a wide variety of links and articles that do with Major League Baseball and performance enhancing drugs. The website has many features that do with players who used PEDs and also a timeline of when PEDs started.


5. "Canseco details steroid use." MSNBC N.p., 22 Feb. 2005. Web. 21 Nov. 2009.


This article has no known author, it is from MSNBC.com. This article is about Jose Canseco's book, "Juiced". In this article. Jose Canseco gives a thorough view of what baseball players and himself go through when they use steroids.

6. "Canseco: Steroids made baseball career possible." USA Today N.p., 13 Feb. 2005. Web. 21 Nov. 2009.

This article was found on USATODAY.com, it has no author or editor. In this article Jose Canseco talks about his friendship with Mark McGwire. He also explains that through the use of steroids he was able to play professional baseball, and if he had not used steroids he wouldn't of been able to play baseball.

Performance Enhancing Drugs In Major League Baseball

Presentation

Performance Enhancing Drugs In Major League Baseball

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RJA #13b: Annotated Bibliography, Part 1

1. Mccloskey, John., and Julian Bailes, M.D. When Winning Costs Too Much. Lunham: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2005.

This book written by John Mccloskey and Julian Bailes, illustrates problems with professional athletes/student athletes and the pressure to perform. The book touches on subjects that athletes deal with. For example, steroid use to get an edge on competition and what types of substances are used. The book highlights some athletes who used performance enhancing drugs in the Olympics, football, baseball, and bicycling. One athlete they touch up is Barry Bonds and his steroid scandals.

2. Mitchell, George J. Report to The Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation Into The Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball. N.p.: Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, 2007. Print.

This report was written for Bud Selig, the commissioner of major league baseball. The report was written by George Mitchell. The report is about an investigation of the MLB and performance enhancing drugs. In this report Mitchell does an in depth investigation on allegations, accusations, and records of players who have or are thought to be using PED. He also researches the effects that PED have on athletes.

3. Roberts, Selena, and David Epstein. "Sources tell SI Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003." Sports Illustrated 7 Feb. 2009: 14 pars. Web. 16 Nov. 2009.

This article from the New York Times is about Alex Rodriquez and his use of steroids in 2003 when he tested positive. The article was written by Selena Roberts. Other topics in this article for example, the random testing in the MLB, mitchell report, and certain policies the MLB had in place for offenders who used performance enhancing drugs.

4. Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Performance-enhancing drugs and your teen athlete." Mayoclinic.com N.p., 3 Jan. 2009. Web. 16 Nov. 2009.

This article entitled: "Performance-enhancing drugs and your teen athlete" explains what certain types of PED are and also the side affects it has on people. The article also explains what performance enhancing drugs can do to teenagers. The article was written by the Mayo Clinic staff.

RJA #13a: Field Research Report

For my field research I did a survey of 10 people that I work with. I asked 5 questions. The questions I asked were:

1. Do you think using performance enhancing drugs is a form of cheating? 8 out 10 said yes
2. Do you think most major league baseball players use performance enhancing drugs? 6 out of 10 said yes
3. Do performance enhancing drugs cause harm physically or emotionally? 7 out of 10 said yes
4. Do you know what performance enhancing drugs are? 8 out of 10 said yes
5. Did your perspective change when the MLB was exposed for having hundreds of players were found to use performance enhancing drugs? 6 out 10 said yes

RJA #12c: Introduction Check

Justino- http://stinoeng.blogspot.com/2009/11/rja-11a.html#comment-form

Sofia- http://sofiaf1020.blogspot.com/2009/10/eng-1020-rja-11a-introduction.html#comment-form

RJA #12b: Presentation Plan

My Presentation Plan includes:

• Title page
• My thesis statement
• definition of performance enhancing drugs
• affects due to using performance enhancing drugs
• conclusion

RJA #12a: Progress Report

What I have Accomplished:

• Thesis, Introduction
• outline for my paper
• sources that i am going to use
• visual aid, pie chart show percentage of users, and a poll that i did asking if using performance enhancing drugs, cheating?

Things I need to do:

• I need to get writing my paper
• i only have 3 pages i need 9 more
• My plan is to type at least two pages a day so i can finish my paper with some time to spare before the draft is due.

RJA #11c: Thesis Statement Check

1. Nick- http://nhlyeti303.blogspot.com/2009/10/rja-10.html#comment-form
2. Joelle- http://jalves1.blogspot.com/2009/10/research-journal-assignment-10a.html#comment-form

RJA #11b: Visual Aids

1. A graph on how many MLB have tested positive for illegal performance enhancing drugs
2. The poll that i did asking strangers if they think using performance enhancing drugs is a form of cheating
3. A pie chart of players who use and admit using performance enhancing drugs
4. A picture of players who have used illegal PED. (Jose Canseco, Mark Mcgwire)
5. A timeline from the beginning of the use of PED in the MLB.

RJA #11a: Introduction

Imagine being one of most respected and admired baseball player of all time. You are respected because it is believed that you are one of the few major league baseball players to have naturally tuned skills and never used performance enhancing drugs. Than one day, thanks to a survey, your name appears on a report which was supposed to be confidential, that states that you have used illegal performance enhancing drugs. “That was when baseball granted players immunity while it conducted survey testing with the hope that the number of cheats would be infinitesimal and that the whole sordid performance-enhancement problem would go away” (Araton). Thanks to a book written by Jose Canseco which names players who used steroids the government becomes involved and investigates players who tested positive. Your name is one of those who received immunity. Once it is out that you are a cheater and user The media begins to bash your credibility and call you a fraud, you lose fans and respect from your peers, and you bring shame to America’s pastime for lying and putting up a front about how clean cut you are.
This story is what Alex Rodriguez went through in the beginning of the year 2007. Alex was once considered to be, “possibly the most naturally gifted player ever to step onto a major league field. And his work ethic is off the charts” (Araton). 2007 was the first time America and the world heard about players who were using performance enhancing drugs through government investigations. Alex Rodriguez was one of the players who were granted immunity in 2003 when he was tested for performance enhancing drugs which was arguably his best season. Four years later and the truth came out; Alex has lost much of his respect through the baseball community and America and is considered a cheat and a fraud.
Performance enhancing drugs should not be acceptable in Major League Baseball because they resemble steroids, in that they are characterized as a weaker form of them. Even though, performance enhancing drugs are a lesser form of steroids, both supplements can potentially harm the athlete’s physical and emotional health in the long run and in most cases are considered a form of cheating. Through the use of chemicals to promote strength and stamina, the game of baseball is being tainted due to the unnatural enhancement of the athletes. With that said, performance enhancing drugs should not be tolerated in Major League Baseball.

RJA #10b: Argument

Research question: Why are performance enhancing drugs acceptable in Major league baseball but steroids are not?

Answer/thesis/claim: Performance enhancing drugs should not be acceptable in Major League Baseball because they resemble steroids, in that they are characterized as a weaker form of them. Even though, performance enhancing drugs are a lesser form of steroids, both supplements can potentially harm the athletes physical and emotional health in the long run and in most cases are considered a form of cheating. Through the use of chemicals to promote strength and stamina, the game of baseball is being tainted due to the unnatural enhancement of the athletes. With that said, performance enhancing drugs should not be tolerated in Major League Baseball.

Ethos: adding stats, examples, to my logos

Pathos: applying emotion by sharing a personal story or an effective image that persuade my audience to my argument.

Logos: stating my reasons and following by my ethos which is my supporting evidence

Reason 1: Harmful physically and emotionally
warrant: Performance enhancing drugs are harmful and shouldnt be acceptable.
Evidence 1: Jose Canseco's life experience with drugs
warrant:
Reason 2: Form of cheating
warrant: performance enhancing drugs make atheletes stronger, better stamina
Evidence 2:

RJA #10a: Thesis Statement

Research question: Why are performance enhancing drugs acceptable in Major league baseball but steroids are not?


Precise claim: Performance enhancing drugs should not be acceptable in Major League Baseball.


Reasons/blueprint: Performance enhancing drugs are a weaker form of steroids, that in the long run will affect athletes physical health and emotional health. Using performance enhancing drugs is a form of cheating and is tainting the game of baseball due to the unnatural enhancing of the athletes through use of chemicals to promote strength and stamina.


Complete thesis statement: Performance enhancing drugs should not be acceptable in Major League Baseball because they resemble steroids, in that they are characterized as a weaker form of them. Even though, performance enhancing drugs are a lesser form of steroids, both supplements can potentially harm the athletes physical and emotional health in the long run and in most cases are considered a form of cheating. Through the use of chemicals to promote strength and stamina, the game of baseball is being tainted due to the unnatural enhancement of the athletes. With that said, performance enhancing drugs should not be tolerated in Major League Baseball.

RJA #9: Evaluation of Sources

1. Mitchell, George J. REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER OF BASEBALL OF AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO THE ILLEGAL USE OF STEROIDS AND OTHER
PERFORMANCE ENHANCING SUBSTANCES BY PLAYERS IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL. 13 Dec. 2007 <http://files.mlb.com/mitchrpt.pdf>.

2. Mccloskey, John., and Julian Bailes, M.D. When Winning Costs Too Much. Lunham: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2005.

3. McCallum, Jack. "The Real Dope." Sports Illustrated March 2008. 19 Oct. 2009 <http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/magazine/03/11/steroids1/index.html>

4. Epstein, David. "The ABC's of HGH." Sports Illustrated March 2008. 19 Oct. 2009 <http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/magazine/03/11/hgh/>

5. Millar AP. Should Drug Testing be Banned. The Doping Journal Vol. 4, 1 (2007) Available at: http://dopingjournal.org/content/4/1/ <http://dopingjournal.org/content/4/1/dopingj042007-01.html>

6. Anabolic steroids. 6 Sept. 2007. Espn., 19 Oct. 2009 <http://espn.go.com/special/s/drugsandsports/steroids.html>

RJA #8c: Multimedia

Resource searched or tool used: Blinkx
Keywords used: steroid use in the NFL
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches): +steroid use in the NFL-
Date of search: 9/12/09
Number of hits: 24,000
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5): 3.5

RJA #8b: Social Media

Resource searched or tool used: Technorati
Keywords used: steroid use in the NFL
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches): +steroid use in the NFL-
Date of search: 9/12/09
Number of hits: 72
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5): 3

Resource searched or tool used: iResearch Reporter
Keywords used: performance enhancing drugs use in the NFL
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches): +performance enhancing drugs use in the NFL-
Date of search: 9/12/9
Number of hits: 3
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5): 3

RJA #8a: Websites

Resource searched or tool used: Zakta
Keywords used: Performance enhancing drugs
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches): +Performance enhancing drugs-
Date of search: 9/12/09
Number of hits: 10
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5): 4

Resource searched or tool used: Cacti Search
Keywords used: Steroids in the NFL
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches): +Steroids in the NFL-
Date of search: 9/12/09
Number of hits: 19
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5): 4

Resource searched or tool used: Search Monster
Keywords used: steroids in the NFL
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches): + steroids in the NFL-
Date of search: 9/12/09
Number of hits: 10
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5): 1

Resource searched or tool used: IncyWincy
Keywords used: steroids in the NFL
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches): +Steroids in the NFL-
Date of search: 9/12/09
Number of hits: 7,637
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5): 2

Internet Research Project

For my internet research tool I was given Keotag. The link for keotag is http://keotag.com/. Keotag is a search engine that helps you search keywords through other search engines. You enter a Keyword for the first step, than for step 2 you pick a website/blog/search engine (delicious, twitter, google, windows live search, technorati), and finally for step 3 keotag will produce links to websites that pertain to your topic. A couple of strengths is that it produces many types of links that are related to what your keywords, and it searches differnet types of search engines. The thing I did not like is that It limits its searches only to a couple of links, it brings up links that are questionable on their credability. I was not able to find an advanced search function, one option you can use is that you can search for tags that pertain to your keyword.

RJA #7c: Field Research Plan

For my field research i plan to conduct a survey. I plan to survey people that I work with and also people that I meet at the gym. I plan to do my survey sometime during the next two weeks, I just have to choose and finalize my questions that I plan to have for my survey.

These are a couple of questions I might ask:

1. Do you think steroid use in The NFL and MLB be allowed?
2. Is steroid or performance enhancing drug use, cheating?
3. Are performance enhancing drugs being accepted now more than before?
4. Have you used any performance enhancing drugs?
5. What sport do you thing has the higher performance drug use, MLB or NFL?

RJA #7b: Internet Research Tool Test

• Resource searched: Keotag


• Keywords used: Performance enhancing drugs in the NFL


• Search Strategies used: +performance enhancing Drugs in NFL-


• Date of search: 10/01/09


• Number of hits: 15


• relevance of hits (1-5): 2.5

RJA #7a: Internet Research Tools

The Internet research tools that I use the most are Google and Yahoo!. I use these search engines because they are easy to use and are easy to access from anywhere. One thing that i like about these search engines are that they produce many links. One thing I dislike about these search engines are that sometimes they produce hits that aren't relevant to what I'm looking for.

1. http://www.google.com/
2. http://www.yahoo.com/

RJA #6c: Protopage

Here is link to my Protopage:

http://www.protopage.com/elvis1020

RJA #6b: Search Strings

+steroids-
+performance enhancing drugs-
(steroids* OR performance enhancing drugs*)AND (supple* OR vitamins* OR horomone*)AND (MLB* NEAR NFL*)

RJA #6a: Periodical Articles

I used the Dictionary of open access journals. I accessed the website September 24, 2009. Both articles that I found are from the same journal. I used the keywords: steroid and performance enhancing drugs.

1. http://dopingjournal.org/content/4/1/dopingj042007-01.html

• Anthony P Millar
• Should Drug Testing be Banned?
• Doping Journal
• Volume 4 Issue 1
• April 19, 2007
• No page number available

2. http://dopingjournal.org/content/1/2/dopingj092004-01.html

• Jacquelin Magnay
• BALCO drugs shopping list revealed
• Doping Journal
• Volume 1 issue 2
• June 24, 2004
• No page number available

RJA #5c: Search String Check

http://nhlyeti303.blogspot.com/2009/09/rja-4b-writing-search-strings.html#comment-form

http://sofiaf1020.blogspot.com/2009/09/rja-4b-writing-search-strings.html#comment-form

RJA #5b: Books

• Author: John McCloskey, Julian Bailes, M.D.
• Title: When Winning Costs Too Much steroids, Supplements, and Scandal in today's sports
• Place of Publication: Lanham, MD
• Name of publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
• Date of publication: 2005

Keywords that i used where: steroids, supplements, and Professional sports. I searched and found this book through prospector on September 10, 2009. I got a couple of hits that were relevant for my topic, the relevance of hits scale would be about a 4. This book seemed appropriate for what I'm writing my paper on.

RJA #5a: Finding Reference Articles

• Searched at: Infoplease.com
• Search Strategies: Advanced search “AND”
• Date of search: September 17, 2009
• Keywords used and relevance (1-5):

-Steroids- 120 hits, relevance (3)

-Performance Enhacing drugs- 120 hits, relevance (4)

- Steroid AND Performance Enhancing Drugs- 120 hits, relevance (4)

Online Reference: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/doping1.html

Date last accessed: September 19, 2009

Authors: Gerry Brown

Title of the article: A Dangerous Edge In search of competitive glory, athletes worldwide are jeopardizing their sports, their health — even their lives

- The article explains how athletes have been trying to get an edge over their competitors for years. This article seems that it will be helpful for writing my paper.

RJA #4c: Checking Research Questions

http://nhlyeti303.blogspot.com/2009/09/rja-3c-developing-research-question.html#comment-form

http://eng1020clark.blogspot.com/2009/09/rja-3.html#comment-form

RJA #4a: Generating Keywords

Why are certain steroids and sport enhancing drugs illegal in the MLB and NFL while others aren't?

FOrms: Sport enhancing drugs- supplements, vitamins, steroidal
FOrms: Steroids- hormones, anavar, sustanon
RElated: Sport enhancing drugs- supplements
RElated: Steroids- hormones, anabolic steroids

ST: steroids: sport enhancing drugs, hormones, HGH, anabolic steroids, supplements

LOG: steroid hormone, sex hormone, organic compound

RJA# 4b: Writing Search Strings

These are my keywords I generated for my search strings.

+steroids-

+sport enhancing drugs-

(steroids* OR sport enhancing drugs*)

AND (supple* OR vitamins* OR horomon*)

AND (MLB* NEAR NFL*)

RJA #3c: Developing Research Question

1. Who decides what makes steroids/ sport enhancing drugs legal or illegal in the MLB or NFL?
What are the guidelines for use of sport enhancing drugs?
When do the Heads of the MLB and NFL ban certain steroids?
Why should the use of drugs be allowed?
2.
3. I am writing to my professor and as well as to college students. I think there interests vary from watching movies to working out to cars, basically anything and everything. My purpose in writing this is to present an argument whether sport enhancing drugs or steroids should be allowed in 2 specific professional sports.
4.
What makes certain sport enhancing drugs allowed and others not? What makes a sport enhancing drug become a steroid? Many people might not know but many steroids were once allowed sport enhancing drugs.

RJA #3b: Narrowing Research Topic

I feel like I might have to narrow my topic maybe to two professional sports instead of all professional sports. I think I can strengthen my paper by writing about why some sport enhancing drugs are allowed and others aren't and if they should even be permitted in just TWO professional sports. I'm Thinking that I might use Major League Baseball and the National Football, seeing that those two sports have the most problems with steroid use.

RJA #3a: Exploring Research Topic

After reading chapter three I have a better idea on how to narrow my topic. The textbook gave me great tools on how to ask questions about the topic and how to write a research question about my topic.

I found 4 websites that may help me with my paper. Here is the link to my Delicious account:
http://delicious.com/erubio5

RJA #2b Research Topic

The topic for my paper that choose is Why certain steroids or sport enhancing drugs are allowed in professional sports and others and are not, and what makes them those substances acceptable, and if they should even be allowed. I choose this topic because i am interested in knowing what makes a steroid acceptable and what doesn't and also what type of guidelines professional sports use to make a such decisions.
I know a couple of things pertaining to my topic. I know what sports have the most problems with steroid use. The major sports that use steroids the most is baseball and football. I understand that use of enhancement drugs can and ultimately will affect your health in the long run.
There are many things i do not know about my topic. Here are a couple of things i am hoping to learn from my topic: guidelines on how enhancement drugs are decided upon for professional sports, how to know when a supplement can be label a sport enhancing drug, and also why have professional sports allowed its players to use these drugs.

RJA #2a Possible Topics

Here are a couple of possible topics that I might write my paper on:

• Steroids, supplements, & sport enhancing drugs.- why and what make some legal or illegal in professional sports. (NFL, MLB, NBA)


• technology and how they effect society for the good and bad.

I am going to chose the topic of what makes certain sport enhancing drugs legal and others illegal by professional sports.

RJA #2C Delicious Account

This is my url for my delicious account: http://delicious.com/tags/erubio5.

Research Assignment #1 Areas of Academic Interest

• history- American/Chicano
• ancient myan/astec culture
• sports- pro-baseball(mlb)
• social work
• political science