Lennon’s Responses

Activities for Chapter 3

1                  1.  Select one database to complete the rest of this exercise.

-ERIC (Educational Resource Information Center)

2                  2.  Search the database using a simple phrase that describes your topic.  How many    

                         citations for the literature did the search produce?

-Safety on college campuses

-540 results

3                  3. Retrieve two or three records from your search and locate the lists of descriptors. 

                        Compare the lists and note the areas of commonality as well as differences.

Record 1. Personal Safety Practices, Beliefs and Attitudes of Academic Faculty on a Small University Campus: Comparison of Males and Females (Part 1)

Record 2. Institutional Response to Ohio's Campus Safety Initiatives: A Post-Virginia Tech Analysis

Record 3. Proceedings of the University Symposium on Personal Safety (Albany, New York, April 29-30, 1986).

     - With the three records found, I noticed that the similar descriptors were “campus and safety.”       The differences noticed was in the way the descriptors were placed together and the use of different words for the same meaning, for example instead of “college” the words “university” or “institution” was used.  The context in which the descriptors were placed led to articles on various areas of safety on campus, safety practices used, and basic safety awareness.

a.       Write down the exact wording of three descriptors that relate to your intended topic. Choose descriptors that reflect your personal interest in the topic.

-(1) how can students remain safe on college campuses

-(2) what are the main safety issues on college campuses

-(3) are campuses providing enough safety measures on campus

b.      Compared to the simple phrase you used when you started, do you think these descriptors are more specific or more general? Why?

-I think the last three descriptors are a little less general because specific questions are asked.  I do think the descriptors can be narrowed down either further as some of the articles are read and the interest in a more specific issue takes flight, for example the safety issue of sexual assaults.

4. If you used the connector AND, did it result in more or fewer sources? Why do you think this happened? If you used the connector OR, did it result in more or fewer sources? Why do you think this happened?

      -I used the connector “AND” for the phrase of “safety for students” AND “on campus,” which 

       resulted in fewer articles – 505.  I believe this occurred because the request was a little more    

       specific with the words that were grouped together and searched the sources a little more in 

       depth.

                  5. If necessary, narrow the search until you have between 50 and 150 sources, and    

                      print out the search results.

-Upon narrowing the search, several sub-categories under campus safety emerged such as: hate crimes, gun violence, and sex offenses.  For the selection of sex crimes and student safety on campus the following 8 references were noted from the citation list of the narrowed search:

Article 1: Annual report and crime summary, 1992. (1992). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/62833074?accountid=6579

Article 2: Monitoring of student right to know and campus security act of 1990. report to accompany H. res. 470. house of representatives, 104th congress, 2d session (1996). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/62593026?accountid=6579

Article 3: Bennett-Johnson, E. (1997). An introduction to the developmental student and antisocial behaviors on the college and university campus. Educational Research Quarterly, 21(1), 39-43. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/62501352?accountid=6579

Article 4: Blobaum, A., & Hunecke, M. (2005). Perceived danger in urban public space. the impacts of physical features and personal factors. Environment and Behavior, 37(4), 465-486. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/62150034?accountid=6579

Article 5: Gold, B. K. (1980). Public relations 2 class safety survey. research study number 80-7. (). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/63697171?accountid=6579

Article 6: Robers, S., Zhang, A., & Morgan, R. E. (2015). Indicators of school crime and safety: 2014. NCES 2015-072/NCJ 248036 National Center for Education Statistics. , P.O. Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/1720057604?accountid=6579

Article 6: Santucci, K. B., & Gable, R. K. (1998). Student perceptions of campus safety at a large rural university. (). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/62555143?accountid=6579

Article 7: Stover, D. (2005). When a sex-offender enrolls in your school. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 71(2), 13-17. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/870284276?accountid=6579

Lennon’s Responses 

Activities for Chapter 4

1.      Obtain copies of two articles from this list, and look over each of the articles.

a.       Did the authors include a summary of the contents of the literature review at or near the beginning?  If so, highlight or mark the summary for future reference.

-yes

b.      Did the authors use subheadings?

-yes

c.       Scan the paragraph(s) immediately preceding the heading “Method.”  Did the authors describe their hypothesis, research questions, research purposes?

-yes

d.      Without rereading, any of the text of the article, write a brief statement describing what each article is about.

-Many of the articles are dated, but for the most part each contain information relating to summaries focusing on safety related issues on campus.  The first article (same order from Chapter 3 activities) is about student safety awareness.  The second article is about focused on theft and violence on campus and the mentality students had towards safety on campus. The third article focused on students having a right to know about safety issues on campus.  The fourth article spoke on the various types of crime on campuses and the right students had to know about the safety issues.  The fifth article also spoke about various criminal acts that affect campus safety.  The sixth article is about the issues of safety and the direct affect it has on students.  The seventh article is about dealing with offenders on campus and the eighth article is about the concern and effects of criminal issues on students.

2.      Based on your overview of all the articles on your list, make predictions of some of the likely categories and subcategories for your review.  Reread the printed list of sources and try to group them by these categories.  Then, using these categories and subcategories, create an outline for describing your topic.

Identifying Various Safety Issues	Safety Awareness	Safety Issues and effect on Students	Solutions to Address Safety Concerns
Article 3	Article 1	Article 2	Article 7
Article 4		Article 5
		Article 6
		Article 8

3.      Carefully review your outline and select the articles you will reread first.  Within each category, start with the most recent studies.  You now have your initial reading list.

-With the identified list, I would want to first read about what the various concerns are on campus regarding safety issues and then I would want to know if students are even aware of such concerns and make them aware.  Then I would want to identify what students view as safety concerns and then read about how those safety issues are being addressed so as to finally determine if everything is being done to protect and provide the most safety measures to students as possible.