new post.

I think i'm, as i figured would happen as the research went on, that I'm going to amend somethings.
A more refined topic to why the articles of confederacy failed and the birth of the constitution. at this point i'm feeling that perhaps I don't need the is the constitution still relevant today.. that might be.. too much. But then again, this could change during the writing process. The writing process itself will tell me what I need and don't need. Even if I still don't really beleive or understand how that works.

Week 5, Post 2. (now that's more original.)

Periodicals

From EBSCO:
This actually sounds like something I would read that wouldn't be for an assignment!

Cohen, Robert. "Was the Constitution pro-Slavery? The Changing View of Frederick Douglass." Social Education 72.5 (Sep. 2008): 246-250. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation].
22 Sep. 2008 .

Also from EBSCO: (Search Articles AND of AND confederation) + CONFEDERATION, 1783-1789, page one, 9th listing.

Swindler, William F. "Our First Constitution: The Articles of Confederation." American Bar Association Journal 67.2 (Feb. 1981): 166. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 25 Sep. 2008 .

Week 5, Post 1. (need more creative post titles!)

I actually used an article in my last post, so here is a book:

From Prospector:

Locke, Jefferson, and the justices : foundations and failures of the US government / by George M. Stephens ; preface by Newt Gingrich. Stephens, George M. New York, Algora Pub, 2002 Referance Works:


Referance Works:

From Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia via EBSCO

Works Cited

"MADISON, James." (n.d.). Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 25 Sep. 2008 .

Works Cited

"CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES." (n.d.). Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 25 Sep. 2008 .

WEEK 4, POST 2.

From the Red Rocks Library:

Freedom: A History Of US

Author Joy Hakim.

Oxford University Press, 2003.

From EBSCO:

Ferrarini, Tawni Hunt, and Mark C. Schug.. "HIstory Matters: An Institutional Approach Examination of the U.S. Constitution." Social Education 71.2 (Mar. 2007): 57-60. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. 22 Sep. 2008 .

From Jeffco:

The U. S. Constitution A to Z.

Robert L. Maddex

CQ Press, 2002.

Jeffco-Belmar Library

Week 4, Post 1.

("American Constitution" OR "US Constitution") +History -"Bill Of Rights"

+History of the +("U.S." OR US OR "United States" OR American) +Constitution

"Articles Of Confederation" AND "John Locke"
James Madison AND "Father Of The Constitution"

WEEK3, POST 3

My basic question is this: 

How the Constitution was created out of the failures of the Articles of Confederation using the ideas of John Locke and is it still relevant today?

Keywords:

Constitution

Bill of Rights

Law

Government

ordinace

physical makeup

the nature of something

establishing 

Created

made

thought

mandated

outcome

Failures

not working

default

deliquency

oversight

crash

Relevant

applicable

material

Basic LOG

Government > Law > Constitutional > Constitutions > United States > Constitution of the United States > Bill of Rights >

So far from using this, I've started with The Yahoo Directory, Dictionary.com, Merriam-Webster.  I feel like I came up with some good word choices, like oversight, which I didn't think of before. The Yahoo Directory seemed to work well for helping to find a Ladder of Generalization as well as some helpful links to, mostly (obviously) government sites.

WEEK 3, POST 2.

The problem with my research topic is that Colorado doesn't have a sufficient Colonial History Museum. This is mostly due to the fact that Colorado isn't a Colonial state. The Colorado History Museum might be a place to start, but again, that really won't do much for me.

Another suggestion given to me was to actually go to the Capitol building to perhaps, interview or set up an interview with somebody about the constitutional impact on Colorado, or their thoughts... Maybe a senator, or something, but that probably would be an out of reach goal, especially considering that this is sort of a big election year (maybe). 

Another Idea, is The Government's website. I'm sure I'd be able to email somebody at some point about it.  Again, somebody that would be easily attainable.

WEEK 3, POST 1

At this point I'm not quite sure if I need to modify my topic. Of course that doesn't really mean anything. It just depends on what mindset I'm in. Some points it seems like I need more, other points it feels like I've already got too much, and I need to trim it down a bit. At the very least, I do know now that I am not going to focus much of my topic on the Bill Of Rights, specifically, because another student is doing that topic for his report. I don't wish to make things redundant.  Ironically, as I have written the first part of this a few days ago, and the second part, well.. now, the other student, Matt, who is doing the Bill Of Rights, has given me some suggestions as to help.  In actuality, his ideas are good, and might give more structure to the overall topic.  I think I need to work on setting up a formal outline pretty soon. 

In class Post

The following might work for my field research...

History Museum visual research

An interview with a Political Science teacher

An interview with someone familiar with the Topic from a history museum.

An interview with one of the founders.. no that won't work....

A Survey of people on weather or not they approve of the US constitution.

WEEK 2, POST 2!

1) Ten (or more) Questions

How much of John Locke's original Ideas did the founder's use or change?

Why was their a need for the Constitution?

Would the Articles of Confederation eventually work?

Should the Constitution be changed, is it still relevant?

When Exactly did the need arise, to change the Constitution?

Who uses the word Preamble?

If Locke's idea's were so important, then why were things changed?

What about the constitution post bill of rights?

Is this ten yet?

2) I think that my best idea for a report is to go in with The History, touching upon what was taken from Locke, why it was needed, a brief overview of the constitution post-bill of rights, and then perhaps something on it's relevancy today.

3)Now, I need to take what i've written and re-write it in a way that someone that isn't me (ie, someone whose brain works in fractured non sequential nonsense) can understand. Here goes:

What is the Constitution, why did we need it, where did it come from and why is it still relevant today? More or less. That's pretty good.

4) If I need to I have things to take out or add. I took out the whole Post Bill of Rights adjustment to the Constitution, if I need to I can add it back in. I think the topic is pretty much full as it is. Of course the actual research and then the writing process itself will actually tell me the direction that I should be heading in. One of those subconscious things where the writing actually guides you along..

5) I think all some of the links i've already found will help with the more revised topic.

Week 2, Post 1

To begin to explore my topic, I decided to start with the little notebook Constitution Book I have. Since I couldn't remember what the name of that particular book was I was able to, with the help of Google, locate the Web Site ConstitutionFacts.com. The book in question is The US Constitution and Fascinating Facts About It, which is ironically a book published by the aforementioned site. The USCFFA (as it shall be referred to from here out) book was something that I am actually known to, from time to time, carry around in my pocket in case of an emergency. Seriously.

I've also checked out the Wikipedia Constitution page, even though i'm ethically against using Wikipedia for research, Wikipedia does give a general overview of a topic (even if it is either extremely biased or extremely false) and good links. Then I checked out the House of Representatives home page which features all of the documents of the Constitution. At this point the turns start coming in to decided which direction to take the report.