Home
Click to Open,
Click again to close
all of these buttons!
Author IntroductionIntroductory Writing PaperResearch Summary
About the Author & Essays
Author Introduction
Who am I?
Colin Dallimore

I am IT consultant from Paola, KS and currently living in Emporia, KS with my wife, Callie. I am studying at ESU as a nursing major and pursuing my license in Nurse Practitioning. For UL100, my goals are to earn an A to keep my GPA up for entrance into the nursing program as well as learn how to more effectively search a database.
Introductory Writing Paper
                                        
                                           Granting Sick Children’s Wishes

          In 1980, a seven year old boy, Chris Greicius, really wanted to catch bad guys; however, his dream of becoming an officer would probably never come true because he would likely die from leukemia. As Chris’ life was nearing its end, Agent Tommy Austen told a co-worker about Chris and his desire to “‘catch bad guys’ with Austin (Make-A-Wish).” Due to some kind hearted people Chris rode in a helicopter, visited the Arizona Department of Safety Headquarters, and became “Arizona’s first and only honorary DPS officer (Make-A-Wish).” before he passed away on May 3rd.

          The same people who made Chris’ dream come true started an organization that grants wishes to children with life threatening diseases known as the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Those in charge began fundraising to pay for these children to have their wish granted. Today, “the organization grants wishes through its 61 chapters located throughout the US…” and “…also operates in 45 other countries around the world… (Wikipedia).” Because of the Make-A-Wish foundation, 226,000 children in the United States alone had their wishes come true (Make-A-Wish).

          I plan to become a nurse practitioner specializing in pediatric oncology where I will see children struggle daily with life threatening diseases. I have a passion for this organization because in many cases there will be no positive change in the condition of the children I will treat. In those cases, I will have no good news to give the dying child and his or her family; all I will be able to do is watch over them and make sure they are comfortable as they pass. Because of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, I will be able to give these children some good news to help them feel better before they pass on.

                                                        Works Cited

“How It All Started.” Make-A-Wish. “http://wish.org/about-us/our-story/how-it-          started.” Web. 24 August 2015.

“Make-A-Wish Foundation.” Wikipedia. “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make-A-          Wish_Foundation.” Web. 24 August 2015.
Research Summary
                                                            
                                                              Part One

          Overall, the research process went much better than I had suspected. Information on childhood Leukemia was easily accessible, so I was able to gather a lot of information on my topic. The hardest part of the research process by far was creating the annotated bibliography. Evaluating the five sources proved to be a challenge. In contrast, the easiest part of the overall research process was selecting my topic. I knew as soon as the project was assigned that I would research childhood Leukemia, as pediatric oncology is a career I am interested in. 

          This project has changed how I evaluate and use the information I find online. Throughout the research process and this course I have learned to check where a source is coming from to verify it’s credibility. This ensures quality and legitimate information and avoids hearsay or opinion.


                                                               Part Two

          During this course I learned an abundance of information on childhood Leukemia. I discovered how childhood Leukemia is being treated and how modern medicine is advancing to find better forms of treatment. In regards to finding and evaluating the information on childhood Leukemia, I have learned how to better search a database with the use of database shortcuts as well as how to find credible sources.

          Over all, I found the UL100 course to be an effective course for students with no previous experience with research and evaluation. Many effective research skills and tips were covered over the semester. Specifically, a useful tool we learned about was the Information Cycle. The knowledge of the Information Cycle can help to encourage me on future research papers not to give up on a topic when books covering a current event do not exist. Often times, when an event is current, no books on the specific event have been published yet, and a book covering a broader view of the subject must be used.

          Although this course was very informative, a change that I would recommend for the course would be less repetition. For example some handout assignments felt repetitive, or too similar to previous handout assignments.

          One vital piece of advice I would pass along to a student who has not taken UL100 is to double-check the credibility of an article. To do this, you can verify that the article has sources; you can see if articles with supporting information exist, and you can look at the qualifications of the author(s). This can be applied to academic articles and non-academic articles alike.