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Advice from the class of 1998-1999This file contains "webnotes" written to you by the Senior Sequence students of 1998-1999 . I did not edit the notes in any way. They are roughly grouped into subject areas. Consistently, the main message is to get started early. Selecting and narrowing down a topic early on is crucial to your success. In preparing these webnotes for you each student addressed four points:
Table
of Contents
Bilingual education Lovelace, Lyndsey (Winner of BEST SRP AWARD for 1998-1999) USP 187 January 21, 1999 Webnote to Future SRP Writers 1.) Briefly state topic and subject area. I am researching survival strategies of linguistic minority students in English only classrooms. I am looking at how Proposition 227 (anti-Bilingual education initiative) is affecting elementary school students in Oceanside, CA. 2.) Trace the evolution of your topic. Do so in terms of "units of analysis" and lesssons learned about narrowing your field of inquiry. I began my project looking at bilingual education and how to best facilitate English learning in diverse classroom environments. There were so many different types of programs that I soon realized I would barely be able to scratch the surface if I tried to look at them all. The passage of Proposition 227 in California gave me some interesting fieldwork ideas. I was very interested in how students who did not speak or know any English managed to survive in these sink or swim environments. I began my internship in a third grade classroom of non-English speaking students in Oceanside. I observed them in their English only setting in the classroom and also with their peer outside the classroom and in the playground. Focusing on one class of students made my project doable, and allowed my research to be very specific and more throuhough. I acted as a participant observer in this class since I was hired to provide extra support to the lowest students in the class. 3.) Provide a pathfinder to key resources in your field of study. Since my research was primarily field work, I relied heavily on interviews with individuals at the school site I worked at. For my theoretical framework, I found many useful texts in the library, and relied on sources recommended to me by Professor Bud Mehan, Caren Holtzman, and individuals at the school site. I found ample journal articles on Melvyl. There were several websites I found quite useful—the Department of Education, California Department of Education, and the Los Angeles County Office of Education. 4.) Contribute any other lessons learned that you’d like to share. My best
piece of advice is create a timeline early on and stick to it. Try
to do all the parts of the project in steps, rather than the whole
project at once. If you do it that way, you have time to get things
proof-read and then have to spend minimal time synthesizing it together. Summerbridge The Success of Summerbridge San Diego- An Outreach and Intervention Program; A case study of at-risk students in the San Diego City Schools Key Terms: At-risk, outreach, intervention, year-round, educational achievement My interest in Summerbridge San Diego started over the summer when I worked there as a teacher. So, I started thinking about Summerbridge as my topic for the SRP in June of 1998. As Neuman says in his book <EM>Social Research Methods, </EM>it is important to start with what you know. So I did and it worked. Because of my interest in the program, I wanted to know why this program was working and what made it successful. I wanted to do a comparative study and so I went to the head of the program, Rafael Hernandez, and asked him how I could do this sort of study. I was presented with data from a past intern about Summerbridge kids and their peers in the San Diego City Schools. From there, I developed my question about how the comparison in test scores and GPA can show the academic success of Summerbridge students Rafael Hernandez, Summerbridge San Diego and Dean of Thurgood Marshall College, Bud Mehan, Teacher Education Program Caren Holtzman, Teacher Education Program ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) database on Melvyl Melvyl MAGS (Magazines and Journal Articles Start thinking about your SRP before Fall quarter. It is good to get an idea of what you would like to study before the quarter begins. If you can start your internship before Fall that is even better because you will already be comfortable with what you are doing and you also have a chance to get to know everyone and everything about the job. Go and find everyone at UCSD who knows at least something about your topic or subject area. They will either be able to help you or refer you to someone who can. Violence in Elementary Schools Kevin Wong Topic and subject area. "key terms": elementary schools, violence, students, teachers, disciplinary, & punishments Subject area: The subject of this report covers the issue of violence in elementary schools, and how students and teachers define violence. The project is as case study of a private elementary school, and it examines how teachers and administrators define violence and what is being done to minimize the problem. 2: Evolution of Topic The project stems from my interests in elementary education, and for my concerns for violent behavior in elementary schools. This project focuses on a private school located in the San Fernando Valley, and it observes and studies the aggressive behavior of it's students. Also it investigates how the administrators and teachers define this behavior, and whether or not they see this as violence. Violent behavior places a negative impact on a students education; consequently, many many students education focuses more on discipline and safety rather than education. Narrowing the field has been vital to this project because of the numerous obstacles that education has. For example, data collected will be extremely different when collected at a public school in a low income sector, as opposed to in a private school in a middle class sector. Factors such as ethnicity,economic status, and sectors play an important role in narrowing the field of research for this project. In order for this project to be done correctley, it is vital that I choose the sector and income class that I felt needed research. Lower income public school have already been researched heavily and violence is a defined problem in these school. However, private school which are generally located in middle and upper class income areas have been neglected. It is my desire to examine these private schools because the definition of violence in these areas is defined differently. Therefore, many of these elemenatry schools are able to define violence in such a way that it does not exists in their school. A useful resource for elementary education here at UCSD is the Teachers Education Program. Not only are they able to plug you into a school, they are also helpful in helping you find the right school that suits your projects requirement. However, through personal research it is very easy to find a school that suits your needs.
Especially with elementary students, you need to set the best example for them. Research and observation is very important to the project, but the most important aspect of the project is building good relationships with your students. In order for them to feel trusting and confindent in you, a huge effort must be made in order to get their attention. It is vital that when asking about violence, studends are left with an awareness or how to deal with it in the future. Through research, you are also able to make a difference in their lives because you have the ablility to be a important role model.
UPWARD EDUCATIONAL MOBILITY AMONG THE POOR AND UNDERSERVED KEY TERMS: SOCIAL MOBILITY EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT UNDERSERVED COMMUNITY ADVANCEMENT DESCRIPTION: I wanted to do my project with the individual as the unit of analysis. So I met with Dr Bud Mehan in the sociology department. Following his advice, I was going to document detailed accounts of students lives in the Upward Bound program. Since I also wanted to document the experience of low-income students at the college level, I became associated with the Summer Bridge Program. I want to document the obstacles such students face during their strive for higher education, their goals and values and factors influencing their change over time, and their commitment to serving their own communities in the future before and after graduating from college. KEY RESOURCES:Do gather data for my project, I am working with two compensatory academic programs at UCSD - Upward Bound and Summer Bridge. They provided me with access to low-income and/or first generation college students both at the high school level and college level. Electronic resources have included ERIC database of educational and sociological abstracts.
TITLE: Collaborative Institution Building for the Improvement of Transportation Infrastructure: California-Baja Californian Comprehensive Transportation Development Program Case Study SUBJECT AREA: Transportation KEY TERMS: 1. California-Baja California Comprehensive Transportation Development Program. - Unit of analysis 2. Institution building - Working together for a common goal/ purpose, in which both countries participate and benefit equally. 3. Free Trade Area - The area in which trucks from sister manufacturing plants are allowed to travelto transport materials. (i.e. maquiladoras in Mexico and main manufacturer in the U.S.) 4. Free Trade Zone _ The area within which trucks from the other country are allowed to travel from the international border. Distance from the border differs for every port of entry. 4.2 TOPIC DEVELOPMENT: At the beginning of the Senior sequence I started researching the current status of the "free trade area" and "free trade zone," dealing with the politics of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and transportation infrastructure along the Mexico-U.S. border. However, after discussing it with the TA we concluded that this was too broad and time consuming. At that point, I decided to focus on something more specific and a little more feasible. After talking with my boss and doing some more research at my internship site, Caltrans, I decided to focus on three changes in infrastructure, influenced by NAFTA, along the California- Baja California border. This was still too broad, so I made some modifications, as adviced by Prof. and TA, and shortened project to focus on one aspect/change that resulted from NAFTA. My final project consists of an analysis of the Caltrans Comprehensive Transportation Development Program which was put into effect after NAFTA for collaborative improvement of infrastructure along the border to maximize the benefits of trade. 4.3 MOST HELPFULL SOURCES: 1. Because my topic is so recent, finding scholarly literature was very difficult. At the early stages of my research, my internship site was the most usefull. The Caltrans library and the and the International Border Studies Branch personnel were very helpfull. I started by looking at applied research studies and had regular mettings with my boss as well as my supervisor. 2. Another important source has been Prof. Pezzoli who has been able to guide me and assist me in finding scholarly literature. He also helped me get in contact with other experts on my topic like Dr. Ganster from San Diego State which has been of great help. 3.Current Contents and ABI/Inform are two databases in the Melvyl system that have been really helpfull.
Kevin Khuu 1/21/99 My topic
for my SRP is transportation planning and my subject area of study
is on toll roads. 4.2 Topics to look under: transportation planning, toll roads, congestion, traffic Agencies I find helpful: San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) California Department of Transportation, San Diego District #11
My topic is on marketing techniques of the Metropolitan Transportaion Board and how effective are they with increasing trolley ridership. The subject includes survey analysis, people counting for statistics on ridership, demographical information and marketing strategies. My topic went from very general to much more focused and specific. My terminology in the beginning was sustainable modes of transportation which was much too ambiguous and vague, to simply who rides the trolley and why. This was still too much in the realm of general and I have narrowed my subject again to basically researching effective mechanisms of marketing for the San Diego trolley. This subject alone has many implications that encourages me keep centered on the main topic. I realize that is a general statement, however, it is a positive one because I realize that I have found a rich unit of analysis that will demand me to keep my eyes focused, so to speak, in order to answer my own research question. The most important resources were not at UCSD's library per se that were of direct use for my research. I had to start at the school library and get an idea of who was responsible for attainable pertinent information. I ended up with using the internet, a government agency, word of mouth, and sources with the MTDB. The most important lesson I have learned is to never give up and the answer is always there if I search for it. (If it isn't then I have something to contribute.) The inevitable phone tag, and frustration to obtain pertinent information is an ongoing battle. The best way I have dealt with this is to be as polite as possible and diligent at the same time while the hoop jumping process continues. As a grateful student for the people who have helped me, I am offering a final copy of my senior research project to be given to them. On a less serious note, a sense of humor is always good to not take myself or others so seriously! Good luck to all.
Teresa Li Topic and subject area: The effectiveness of Public transportation in transporting low income people of San Diego. Key terms: Effectiveness, accessibility During the beginning of USP 186, I wanted to do my research on public transportation but I did not know how I wanted to measure effectiveness. The book: Measuring the Effectiveness of Local Government Services: Transportation by Richard Winnie and Harry Hatry really helped me narrow down and specify my research project. This book listed a few ways to measure effectiveness of transportation, such as accessibility, time travel, and safety. I was able to go down the list and determine whether I was able to obtain data for the variable that I wanted to evaluate. At first, I wanted to evaluate public transportation in Solana Beach but then I realized that it was too small of an area to do my research on (there are not many public transportation that goes through Solana Beach either) so I decided to do my research on San Diego, since it is a bigger area and I thought will be easier to locate data for. SANDAG had most of the information that I needed for my research. Also, I was able to get a very detailed land use map from their webpage: www.samdag.cog.ca.us. ArcView in the EIC room of the Geisel library had the transit routes and stops, which I needed for my research.
Brian Lo An Investigation into the Accessibility of Public Transportation for Welfare to Work recipients. The purpose of this project is to reseach the availibility of public transportation for welfare to work recipients in the San Diego county area because it has been found that 75% of welfare to work recipients rely upon public transportation as their only means of transportation. Without an adequate means of transportation efforts to find as well as maintain jobs becomes increasingly difficult. The beginnings of this project began with my desire to understand more about mass transit. After spending an entire summer using incredibly fast and efficient mass transit I began to ask why does't California possess more public transit? In narrowing my topic I began to look at, with the help of my TA, the people who rely upon mass transit the most, the poor. My research led me to an study performed in Syracuse, New York where it was discovered that AFDC recipients tend to use public transit as their only means of transportation and whose travel patterns were found to be almost the opposite of the general population for which the public transit was designed for. These discoveries led me to explore the same issues in San Diego County. With new welfare reform having been enacted the need for efficient public transit is all the more important now. So I decided to merge these two ideas, the poor and public transportation and conduct an investigation into its status here in San Diego. So far I have received studies on travel habits of welfare to work recipients from the Metropolitan Transit Developmet Board and used such websites belonging to the San Diego Association of Governments, the Department of Transportation, and the U.S. Department of Labor. Here are their web addresses: wtw.doleta.gov/ (Dept. of Labor) www.sandag.cog.ca.us (San Diego Association of Governments) www.dot.gov (Department of Transportation)
Allison Rand 1 Subject area = Transportation Topic = Transportation Demand Management in San Diego County TDM is a strategy for reducing traffic congestion by promoting alternatives to solo driving, such as carpools, vanpools, and bicycling. 2 I started out researching the general are of transportation for my SRP. After reading some books and journal articles, I discovered TDM. This was going to be my topic but I soon realized the the unit of analysis was too large. To narrow my topic, I considered focusing on one aspect of TDM (such as carpooling) but that was also too broad of a topic. I eventually narrowed my focus to TDM programs in San Diego because it would be easier to collect local data than national data. I narrowed the topic again to make it stronger. This final narrowing led me to focus on TDM implementation by SANDAG as opposed to implementation by businesses and individuals. 3 Most important resources Melvyl (Internet version) for journal articles on my topic Sandag webpage www.sandag.cog.ca.us/ TDM webpage www.sandag.cog.ca.us/projects/transportation Brian Pessaro - in charge of TDM at SANDAG
Erica Chan Topic: ISO14001 and Systems of Information: The case of the Point Loma Wastewater treatment Plant Key Terms: ISO 14001: a voluntary international standard that frameworks the components of an environmental management system. An environmental management system is an organization-wide system designed to enable the strategic management of environmental issues within a company. Informational Systems Science: a study of how information is collected, organized and stored. My topic has remained isolated to the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant since its inception. (Point Loma is one facility in the Operations and Maintenance Division of the Metropolitan Wastewater Department) However, what I wanted to study within the facility changed from the exploration of "organizational dynamics" with regards to ISO 14001 to systems of information within Point Loma. Even with "systems of information" I needed to ground that term within the boundaries of ISO14001 certification and environmental issues associated with certification. As my data has emerged or been dug up, I find my topic will narrow itself naturally to the period of time that I am witness to the certification process. While the division has planned to aim for certification by mid-March, my research paper will be done by then. My "unit of analysis" has been a very amorphous concept but I found that as I gathered data and realized the natural boundaries of the duration of the project, it became clearer. In the end, I am confident that I will have a practical project that may benefit other companies or corporations who don’t have access to documents that explain the difficulties of certification and how they were handled. Key Resources: Lexis-Nexis through the UCSD library system – current information from practitioners, not very academic with regards to ISO 14001 ISO World Homepage - http://www.iso14000.com/index.html Lessons learned: Ask advice
from many people -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Christina DeBartolo 1) Topic (title): Strengthening Communication Between Community and Industry in Environmental Grassroots Organizing Subject area: Environment Key terms: Industrial pollution Community Right-to-Know Pollution Prevention Non-governmental organization occupational and environmental health 2) Evolution of topic: My topic started out as environmental health. I then began to focus on environmental justice (or environmental racism, which refers to "any policy, practice, or directive that differentially affects (whether intended or unintended) individuals, groups, or communities based on race" (Bullard, in Building Communities, 1997)) which still turned out to be too broad. So, I then narrowed my topic to industrial and hazardous waste issues in low income and minority communities. My main interest was in the involvement of community members in the policy process. I wanted to know how well policy makers take into account and respond to the concerns and demands of the community about the threats of industrial hazards to their health and environment. Once I became involved with my internship at the Environmental Health Coalition (EHC - a non-profit organization) and the San Diego Labor Council, I learned that there is much more involved in the information gathering process before community mobilization plays a role. Community Right-to-know laws make information about what chemicals industries are using available to the public. The EHC's "San Diego Shipyards Pollution Prevention Project" became the field of inquiry for my research. The aspect of the project I focused on is how technical information relating directly to shipyard practices is used to support the case of the EHC and unions against health hazards caused by the industries. 3) Key resources: I started with books - -Building Community: Social Science in Action by Philip Nyden -Environmental Policy in the 1990's (2nd ed.) by Norman J. Vig and Michael E. Kraft -Fear at Work by Richard Kazis websites: (just to name a few) -The Right-to-Know Network (good links) www.rtk.net -Environmental Protection Agency www.epa.gov -Enviromental Defense Fund www.edf.org Journals: -EPA Journal -Environmental Science and Technology -Chemical and Engineering News phone calling-- Started with names given to me through my internship at the Labor Council and continued to collect more contacts from the people I spoke with. Organizations I contacted: -AFL-CIO (Field Mobilization Dept.) -National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health(NIOSH) -Center to Protect Workers Rights -Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 3) Other lessons... When looking for an internship, there were only a few with an environmental emphasis available. I finally went through the Labor Council's internship program (because of my social justice interests) and make contacts with the Environmental Health Coalition that way. So if it doesn't seem like you're finding something that is exactly what you want, try an internship that relates to broader issues that interest you and see if there is a way of focusing it on your specific interests.
Topic: Environmental NGO, specifically the Surfrider Foundation as a case study. Key terms: environment, Surfrider foundation, history As I started the SRP I envisioned doing my research on a particular aspect of the Surfrider Foundation, the creation of a Blue Water Task Force. I wanted to actually test ocean water quality, and use this empirical data in conjunction with a newly formed BWTF in San Mateo County, to bring polluters into the light. As the Sam Mateo chapter head and I found out there was lots of red tape to go around in actually getting the water tested, so this was abandoned (also because getting empirical data was to time consuming and unnecessary) Through talks with Keith, I realized that doing a case history of the Surfrider Foundation was ambitious enough. I first wanted to concentrate on the organization's key victory, a law suit in Humboldt County, but this was not quite right, there wasn't enough analysis. Through both the literature and an interview with Rob Coughlin, discovered a trend towards a more conservative outlook in not only Surfrider but other NGO's after a big victory. I had narrowed my field of inquiry to determine if Surfrider does indeed follow this trend. Resources:(as case study they are all quite specific) interviews with Surfrider Board members http://www.surfrider.org "The Making of a Conservative Environmentalist" by Durnil "forcing the Spring" by Gottleib "Making Waves" the Surfrider journal
AaronThurlow TA: Lida Subject: Environment Topic: Examining Sustainable and Environmental Practices at UCSD Key Terms: Sustainable Development, Environmental Audit, Environmental Management System, Recycling When I first began thinking about the research project required for USP 186 and 187 I knew I wanted to do something within the subject area of the Environment. I narrowed the subject to the discourse of Sustainable Development. After realizing how large a topic Sustainable Development was I narrowed my topic to include Corporate and Public and Private Institutions and their relation to sustainable practices. After figuring out that this was a very broad area to cover I decided to only focus on sustainable practices at UCSD. Due to time constraints I further narrowed this to only focusing in depth on three main topics, Waste Management, Water Resources, and Energy Resources. After deciding to pursue the honors program I broadened my research to include Environmental Management Systems, and the topics of Transportation, and Dining Services. Key Resources: National Wildlife Federation: Campus Ecology CALPIRG: UCSD Environmental Coalition: UCSD Larry Oberti- Environmental Issues Manager Krista Henkels- Waste Management Recycling Coordinator Resources on the Web National Wildlife Federation: Campus Ecology program www.nwf.org/nwf/campus/ The Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future www.ulsf.org College and University Recycling Council http://earthsystems.org/curc/curc.html Education for Sustainability www.2nature.org Brown is Green www.brown.edu/Departments/Brown_Is_Green Tulane University Environmental Audit www.tulane.edu/~greenclb/audit/
Francis Taroc January 21, 1999 Assignment #1 1. Title: "Preservation of Open Space and the Distribution of Wealth: A Hidden Form of Environmental Discrimination in San Diego" Subject Area: Urban/Regional Planning, Environment Key Terms: Open Space-parks, ecological reserves, wilderness Distribution of Wealth-indicators such as income y home ownership Environmental Discrimination-unequal distribution of environmental resources and hazards 2. My initial interest was is urban and regional planning, yet I was unclear as to the specific aspect of that subject area. Pezzoli's Sustainable Development class directed me toward dealing issues of equity, though mostly with intragenerational equity. The class also led me to focus on the environment and access to natural resources. The internship I chose at SANDAG (which incidentally fell through) led me to believe that a study on regional issues was possible. The GIS class at the library afforded me the opportunity to utilize the tools necessary for a detailed mapping project. However, I did not fully arrive at my current topic until well into Fall Quarter(towards the end, if I can recollect). This partially had to do with the fact that I did not believe that a GIS project would be an in-depth enough undertaking for my SRP (and to a degree I still don't). However when I finally combined a social issue (the distribution of wealth) with an environmental one (Open Space preservation) I felt that I had a solid topic and direction for my research. 3. Resources SANDAG-good regional data UCSD Library-Maps, Census Data, GIS 4. I have little to contribute here. My procrastination and indifference (and growing animosity) toward school this year makes it doubtful that anyone can learn from me. Some tips I have, though, are: start working on your project early, go to class, and don't start assignments the morning that they are due.
Colin Drukker 1 Topic: Electricity Deregulation Subject area: SDG&E (company and customers) Key terms: electricity, deregulation, SDG&E, utility, policy 2 I began looking for an SRP topic, knowing that I would be spending a year abroad in Sydney, Australia. I attempted to find a topic that could be studied in San Diego and Sydney. At the same time, electricity deregulation became a popular topic in daily San Diego newspapers. Before leaving for Australia, I researched electricity deregulation in San Diego and attempted to find information on the topic in Sydney. At first, I thought I had found a perfect opportunity because Sydney was currently undergoing similar deregulation. However, I quickly learned that small minute differences (e.g. government systems, demographic differences, & the time schedule for deregulation) could render a comparative research project impossible. Therefore, I decided to focus my research on electricity deregulation in San Diego. Furthermore, I discovered that even studying one city could be too large a task and narrowed my research to an examination of the effects of electricity deregulation on SDG&E and its customers. 3 * LEXUS/NEXUS -particularly NEXUS (the News counterpart to LEXUS) * SDG&E homepage * San Diego Tribune homepage * CPUC homepage (California Public Utilities Commission) * CPUC info-line 800-253-0500 * Employees at SDG&E would prefer I not give their phone numbers out, however, I found SDG&E to be very friendly in answering any of my questions and in giving me contacts for interviews. 4 No matter how much information you gather, you never think it is enough. Set a time limit for gathering information and then stick to it. Research projects aren't science labs: there are no perfect answers. Therefore, don't expect to be able to gather all the information to make a perfect project. As long as you analyze an adequate amount of information, your project will turn out fine.
ENVIONMENTAL EDUCATION My topic started out under the environmental heading and turned to the education aspect of it after some reading. It took a long time and a lot of reading to narrow it done to a subject that was reasonable for me to manage. I first started with the idea of trying to show a relation between enviornmental education and environmentally responsible behavior. I found a lot of discussion in journals, but for me to make a project out of the topic would have taken far more resources than I had. My final research topic came out of my internship at the San Diego Natural History Museum. The Environmental Science Education Center in the Museum is trying to establish a partnership with San Dieog City Schools to introduce project based learning with a focus on the environment as a method for improving standards and promoting student enthusiasm. My research will identify for the museum whether or not the program they are proposing will meet the needs of the teachers in the district and what they want from the program. This will provide information for the museum on how to construct the program suit the teachers needs and to help insure support of its implementation. The purpose is also to identify schools that have support from both the teachers and the administration allowing for the most optimal situation for implemetation. Formulating the question was by far the hardest thing to do. I found that it wasn't until after I had been to a few meetings that I began to know what I wanted to look at. The most valuable thing to me was working at my internship because it gave me an opportunity to do research that has an important outcome and to have guidance in my particular topic outside of the classroom. I would highly recommend interviewing as soon as possible. You don't have to have your specific research topic in order but by having an interest people will give you direction without even meaning to and so far they have been very willing to talk. The roper survey off Academic Universe was useful in giving statistical information like- (98% of American adults feel that Environmental Education should be taught in schools, Roper:1994). ERIC is great for backgroud information, but the most useful source were people from the Natural History Museum and San Diego City Schools. Good Luck, Sara Melena
1. Topic: Cooperation and Employment Services Key Words: Community Development, Social Capital. 2. My topic went through quite a metamorphosis. I am interested in serving the poor so I wanted to do some sort of Inner City study. I have had some internship experience at a Redevelopment Corp that started a supermarket in the inner city, so I decided to do a study on supermarkets in the inner city. At first I wanted to do research on what the location process for Supermarket companies was. But that seemed a bit difficult. I decided to do a case study on the one Supermarket I knew of. That didn't work out because it didn't seem like much of a contribution to any body of research. Pezzoli wanted us to be grounded in some sort of literature, and I was having a hard time finding one. Ultimately, I decided upon the theoretical framework of Social Capital. I had never heard of it, but Prof. Pezzoli suggested it. So now I was to do the Social Capital involved in the creation of a supermarket. Social capital has to do with interaction and cooperation, so I was now focusing less on the supermarket itself, but more the interaction of the corporations involved, not to mention the community itself. I found that there weren't that many interactions going on, so I decided to throw the market idea away and just stick to organizations serving the poor. One of our TA's Jennifer, suggested that I focus on only one type of organization serving the poor, so I saw what I had access to, and choose employment services. Its long and silly, I know. But now I have a topic. Key resources: A. Keith, Lida, Jennifer and Valerie, B. www.yahoo.com (i found some social capital conference web pages which had tons of research.) C. Reference desk at the Library 3. I have learned a lot. I think that the most important lessons I have learned are to... A. Keep close contact with your TA. Make sure to work consistently and closely with them. B. Don't feel bad if your project isn't too defined. If there is an assignment, don't try to have the perfect topic. Just do what you have to do, and the topic will evolve on its own. C. Research requires more personal motivation. This class can be frustrating when you feel as though your topic isn't good enough. Just do what you can and move on... it will be ok. Don't Panic. ps. I think that this is a great idea. I definitely would have benefited from advice from previous USP 186 students.
No Name A webnote to future SRP writers 1 Topic: Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) Subject area: Community and Economic Development Key terms: CDBG Consolidated Plan Developmental Policy Redistributive Policy 2 My initial plans were to look at how CDBG funds were distributed and allocated throughout San Diego County. After talking to a couple of people and looking at the information that was available to me, I realized that the project that I was attempting to do would require more time than I had. Since most of the information that I had already gathered was for the City of San Diego I decided to make the city my unit of analysis. Narrowing my unit of analysis to the city as opposed to the county also helped me decide on what I wanted my focus to be with CDBG funds. The entire county is full of various CDBG funded projects. This made it very difficult to decide on which projects to focus on. However, in making San Diego my unit of analysis, I was able to focus more on the needs of a specific city (such as housing), and thus look at how CDBG money is being invested to meet those needs. 2 Important Resources 1. James Sison - LISC 2. Rudy Cervantes - San Diego Housing Commission 3. HUD webpage: http://www.hud.gov/cpes/ca/sandieca.html 3 I would like to tell future SRP students to get an early start on their projects. By this I mean that they should start thinking about what they want to study the summer before the sequence begins if not earlier. I was given this exact same advice by a former USP student but I did not listen. I figured that I would choose a topic once I started the sequence. However, the course moves very fast, and if you have not started thinking about what you want to do you will find yourself changing your topic over and over again. This takes a lot of time so do not wait until the last minute!!!
Prof. Pezzoli, As requested here are links to resources that I have found valuable in my research regarding the effects of CBDG (Community Development Block Grants) on development of rental housing. If I may also make some suggestions. I think that a "alumni link" on the USP web page would be an excellent resource for the major. The alumni link would be organized by graduating class and would simply provide the name, second major or minor (if any), a brief description of what the student has been doing (i.e. graduate school, professional pursuits, awards, etc...), and contact information (i.e. phone, address, e-mail, URL, etc...). Perhaps a link could even be provided to the student's or alumni's resume on Job Track. I envision the alumni link to be a professional network for UCSD USP majors. It would show those in the major: potential career paths, pass on institutional memory of the graduate level application process or job search lessons, and among other things, provide vital professional contacts well before graduation. If a link was provided to the student's or alumni's resume, the USP web site could potentially serve as a magnet for employers seeking employees with the research skills, problem solving ability, and organization that this major instills in its graduates. I would also like to stress the importance of exposing students to the USP 186/187 handbook prior to USP 186. We have discussed this before, but I would like to re-emphasize this point. The handbook is an awesome resource, perhaps making the handbook and USP 186 syllabus available to students in the final weeks of USP 3 would better serve those embarking on the senior sequence. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these matters. Electronic Resources: San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) http://www.sandag.cog.ca.us/ Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) http://www.hud.gov/ National Housing Institute http://www.nhi.org/ National Low Income Housing Coalition http://www.nlihc.org/index.htm Cyurbia http://www.arch.buffalo.edu/pairc/ San Diego Union Tribune/Archives http://www.uniontrib.com/ U.S. Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/
1 Topic: Social inequality/ Community building Title- Building Bridges: Preparing the Way for Sector Employment Intervention by Understanding Barriers to Work in San Diego County Key Terms: Welfare, Poverty, Un/Underemployment, Work Force 2. I began my project by wanting to understand inequality in the form of the wage gap here in San Diego County. Through the course of experience in my internship my topic was refined to include an analysis of a strategy called "Sector Employment Intervention" that helped residents in low-income communities gain access to meaningful employment. This topic proved to be too, broad still so I refined it down to analyzing a portion of the strategy. There were three areas that I chose one more specific area from. It may seem like you're sizing your question down to too small of a topic, when in reality, given our own time constraints, you will find that a "bite-size" project will prove to be plenty enough work to accomplish through the course of the two quarters. 3 All resources in the library are essential to your project! Use the MELVYL and ROGER resources along with the other social science and planning data bases on the UCSD library webpage e.g.EconLit. If you are incorporating GIS into your project, Mark Waggoner is an invaluable and most helpfull resource. Also, SanGIS can be accessed through the SANDAG website. 4 The most important thing to keep in mind is first: DO NOT COMPROMISE ON THE INTERNSHIP THAT YOU CHOOSE! This is crucial! Take your time and work in one that will really benefit your interest of study - it really helps to keep the engines going when you get at the end of your rope! and second: Don't put anything off! This process goes by so very quickly, it would be easy to slack off instead of really producing something that becomes a part of you. GOOD LUCK!
No Name 1 Topic/ title/ key terms Barriers to job creation, job placement, and job retention in San Diego enterprise zones. Barriers: Hindrances that effect the success of the San Diego enterprise program. Job Creation: The new positions or jobs being created in the enterprise zone. Job Placement: Filling positions in businesses located in the enterprise zone by people who live in the zone. Job Retention: The amount or numbers of jobs remaining within an enterprise zone. Enterprise Zones: A specific geographic area in which businesses claim advantages and incentives. The focus is on economic investment where the economy has lagged. 2 Evolution of Topic Enterprise zones and economic development are very broad topics. I was able to narrow it down through constant brain storming. I continued to eliminate aspects that I originally had wanted to study. For example, I thought about researching the relationship between the City of San Diego and the enterprise zones. The social composition of the residents in the zones were also interesting. I wanted to look at levels of income and education. I discovered that by staying within my internship and its resources was the best option. 3 Helpful Resources The resources through my internship were the most helpful. Yet, I also found that the online databases of academic journals to be crucial. My search for sources was made a lot easier by utilizing the online information. I also received a great deal of feedback from my other friends in the class.
Anita Chellaramani WEBNOTE My topic is Enterprise Community/Empowerment Zone Program and its relation to successful job creation. The subject area is Economic Development. Some terms that were helpful to me to do library research are : "empowerment zones", "enterprise communities", and "enterprise zones" (note that these are different from empowerment zones which can get very confusing if you are not paying close attention). The Enterprise Community/Empowerment Zone (EC/EZ) program is relatively new. The initiative was proposed by President Clinton and passed by Congress in 1993. It gives authority to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to select up to 95 rural and urban enterprise communities and nine empowerment zones. The designation of these zones and communities is based on need and community involvement. The program’s main goal is to encourage entrepreneurs to establish business within zones and thereby help revitalize neighborhoods. This research analyzes the EC/EZ program to determine if it has the potential to bring in successful jobs to decayed urban centers. I found it most helpful to use the Melvyl Database system at the library. I also found these sites helpful on the web: 1. http://www.hud.gov/cpd/ezec/ca/sdcaperf.html 2. http://www.hud.gov/ezec/ezecothr.html 3. http://www.hud.gov/ezec/ezecothr.html The person that I found most helpful was Bonnie Contreras who is the Project Administrator for the program at the city of San Diego Economic Development Division. (619) 236.6846 The lessons I learned are to narrow your research down very early in the process. It is easy to fall behind on deadlines due to difficulty in gathering data. I feel that a project which involves "easy access" data is much better because it gives the researcher more time to gather and analyze information.
A Webnote for Future SRP Writers 4.1 Subject Area: Economic Development Topic: Sports Stadiums as Municipal Investments 4.2 My interest in this topic originated from the Mark McGuire craze that swept the nation during the 1998 baseball season, and was enhanced by the passage of Proposition of Proposition C in San Diego last November. I was interested in discovering the effect of a professional sports franchise on a city, both economically and socially. Narrowing the topic down was the tough part. However, in the end I decide to focus on the stadium, itself as the unit of analysis due to the enormous financial investment required by the city to build one. I wanted to see whether the multi-million dollar public investment was offset by economic and/or social benefits to the city. 4.3 A Pathfinder to key resources: The single most important resource for this project was MELVYL, under the heading of Journal and Magazine articles. ROGER was also helpful, as there exist a few, but not many books on the subject. This topic area as a municpal debate is relatively recent, so new articles and scholarly journals are constantly being released. In addition, I learned it is extremely useful to utilize available resources such as professors with expertise in the subject area. Recently, I visited with Dr. Calavita at SDSU and he provided me with extremely useful insight and better direction with my project.
WEBNOTE >>My topic is Enterprise Community/Empowerment Zone Program and its relation to >successful job creation. The subject area is Economic Development. >>Some terms that were helpful to me to do library research are : "empowerment >zones", "enterprise communities", and "enterprise zones" (note that these >are different from empowerment zones which can get very confusing if you are >not paying close attention). >>The Enterprise Community/Empowerment Zone (EC/EZ) program is relatively new. >The initiative was proposed by President Clinton and passed by Congress in >1993. It gives authority to the Department of Housing and Urban Development >(HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to select up to 95 rural >and urban enterprise >communities and nine empowerment zones. The designation of these zones and >communities is based on need and community involvement. The program's main >goal is to encourage entrepreneurs to establish business within zones and >thereby help revitalize neighborhoods. This research analyzes the EC/EZ >program to determine if it has the potential to bring in successful jobs to >decayed urban centers. > >I found it most helpful to use the Melvyl Database system at the library. I >also found these sites helpful on the web: >1. http://www.hud.gov/cpd/ezec/ca/sdcaperf.html >2. http://www.hud.gov/ezec/ezecothr.html >3. http://www.hud.gov/ezec/ezecothr.html > >The person that I found most helpful was Bonnie Contreras who is the Project >Administrator for the program at the city of San Diego Economic Development >Division. >(619) 236.6846 > >The lessons I learned are to narrow your research down very early in the >process. It is easy to fall behind on deadlines due to difficulty in >gathering data. I feel that a project which involves "easy access" data is >much better because it gives the researcher more time to gather and analyze >information.
Name : Anne Barron Topic and Subject Area: Health, specifically the provision of famliy planning services in San Diego County The evolution of my topic was a somewhat choppy experience in the beginning. The intership which I assumed as part of the senior sequence intially gave my the interest in the topic. Working in the administrative offices of Planned Parenthood, I was subjected to a number of possible research topics. I decided that an exploratory study of family planning agencies in San Diego would be the focus of my project. The units of analysis would be the various agencies (including Planned Parenthood and it's affiliates) and the study would look basically at the differences and similarities of the agencies. The mission of the agencies, how and what services they provide, and what restrictions were placed on the provision of services. My project got more specificed and narrowed as I set out to conduct research. A question that I thought wasn't so broad became more broad than I imagined. Visiting various agencies and researching their methods of service provision required me to focus one aspect. Because my project focuses on agencies in San Diego, one of the most helpful resources was the information provided by agencies. Other helpful websites included the National Center for Statistics-which provide population and teenage pregnancy rates specific to San Diego, the Alan Guttamacher Institute website (http://aguttamacher.int.com) and the National Campaign to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy Website, which also provided various links to helpful websites. Also journals such as Family Planning Perspectives, and Population Quarterly, provided examples of similar research projects in a similar field. Lessons: Most of the lessons which I have learned through this process thus far have been gained through the collection of data and sources. In the first quarter of the senior sequence, theories and methods of research where studied, however it was not until the application and utilization of these methods that I really understood the true definition and purpose. sincerely, Anne Barron
Jaclyn Ota Usp187 Assignment #1 The title of my SRP is Access to Quality Health Care by Low-Income Residents of San Diego. The subject area is health care. Key terms: health care, low-income residents, health promotion, and barriers When I figured that I wanted to pursue something related to health care, I had in mind several ideas related to health care. Health care is the broad topic I chose, but now I needed to focus on specifically what aspect of health care I wanted to research. At the time I was taking USP 186, I was also taking another class that dealt with health prevention and health promotion. From other classes I studied, it allowed me to become familiar with issues affecting our society and it sparked an interest in the topic of health care. I incorporated low-income residents into my project because they are a major group of society, which is underserved by the health care system. I was unsure why many low-income residents have problems accessing health care so I pursued this idea. I also read literature on the topic and I became familiar with this area of study and some of the reasons for low-income residents not receiving adequate health care. I began to ask myself why and what questions such as why are the poor so underserved and what are health care providers doing to overcome this problem? In order to narrow this project even further, I decided to concentrate on only San Diego low-income residents. I also needed to be realistic in how I would approach this project so I decided to only concentrate on a few clinics in San Diego and use them as case studies. I would ask them in depth questions and see what they are doing to promote health care and how they are working to eliminate the barriers which make it difficult for the poor to access health care. The main lessons I learned for narrowing my project down was to start off with the big picture and work you way down. It is good to at least have an idea on what you want to do, which is really the hard part. The easier part for me was to narrow my focus down by picking out one specific aspect of the topic, and decide who would my research involve and define the boundaries of the study (i.e.:just focusing on San Diego). The most valuable resources i had for my project was Mark Waggoner who helped my tremendously with GIS. He also was able to help me with several questions I had with analyzing data through GIS and also referred me other references. I think GIS is a very valuable tool I learned and I am pleased that I was able to incorporate it into my project. It is a very valuable visual aid and provides something to look at rather than to just read. I also found the city and county of San Diego to be of help too. I called government agencies related to my topic and they gave me phone numbers that may be of help. It is very tedious and a pain to call numerous people but you just have to. Most of the people were considerate and very helpful in answering my questions. If they were unable to help me, they gave me other places to call.
Health Care: Black, brown, and yellow: How culture effects contraceptive use and level of acceptance. religious background belief systems/ethics/morals culturally sensitive programs language/education cost/access One of the first things I found was that my topic entailed a lot of ambiguous areas that are very difficult to quantify. I had to first define "culture" and operationalize it to fit the purposes of my research. Picking specific areas to emphasize and describing why it is valuable. In addition I had to find something structural to compare, ie. programs that supported the theories I hypothesized. Initially, I wanted to analyze African Americans, Latinos and Asians. These groups are truly a generalization of the many ethnicities encompassed. Nevertheless I did focus on African Americans and Latinos within Southern California in order to limit my target population. In addition I late found that by comparing two programs that are culturally sensitive to one that is not, rates, etc. was pose as a point of reference. The TA's (Lida) and Professor (Pezzoli) are instrumental in this "narrowing down" process. Robert Ashley: Planned Parenthood, Mission Valley M.A.R.C.H. (Males Acting Responsibly in the Community Health) Union Tribune CDC Dr. Michele' Gains: Director of Adolscent Medicine, MLK Hospital C.A.Y.A.C. (California Youth and Adolescent Clinic) The biggest lesson I learned was to communicate everthing, good or bad to TA's. Keep them update and on top of what is going on. They can help. In addition, pacing your time is crucial. One key player in my SRP was Earl's Place and those milky ways with a triple shot of espresso. It packs a mean punch of caffeine that'll keep you going for days!! Also, by all means, don't forget to go to the open house, they have great finger foods there! It was rough, and I felt the bludgeny of it all. And the horor of it was overwhelming, but I'm rejoicing now that its over and actually glad I did it! (not that I had a real option not to..smile)
Adolescent Childbearing The focus of my research proposal was to identify contributing factors as to the underutilization and/or absence of early prenatal care services by adolescent mothers to be. Because there is a significant correlation with low birth weights, and infant mortality among at-risk groups such as teen mothers, significant attention,and research has taken place in order to identify barriers to care and prevent poor infant health outcomes. Furthermore, in light of the financial, emotional and societal consequences of poor health comes to both mother and child, this study can potentially provide awareness to the benefits of aggressive, adequate, affordable, comprehensive care to those at greater risk for potential problems in receiving optimal health care services. Adolescent- refers to the stages between 13-19. For this study all the participants were between the ages of 15 and 18. Early Prenatal Care- refers to services received during the first trimester of pregnancy. Prenatal Care- services which include but are not limited to medical check-ups, emotional support, counseling, education, etc. Because the subject of Adolescent Childbearing and related consequences is such a broad topic dealing with a variety of complicated social, institutional, financial, and historical factors, that influence the behavior of and choices made by teens, narrowing down just what exactly I wanted to contribute was no small feat. In terms of my analysis and the doability of my project, I had to realistically assess all of the limitations and potential failure of such an endeavor. I was concern because I did not have any knowledge as to how to do "research" and what exactly that entailed. I felt that up until this point we were not adequately prepared as USP majors to even undertake something like this. I was interested in this topic through personal experiences of friends and family members as well as living in a community that has been plagued by such problems, I felt it was a noteworthy project to pursue. However, I don't believe that what I first set out to accomplish and what I feel like I've had to produce has made this task any easier. I have spent many a sleepless nights, agonizing over this class and in particular my own feeling of inadequacy where research is concern. I believe that the expectations for this class are not in keeping with the limited exposure to research we have received. I really advocate to all of those who come after me to be prepared to experience some of what I have just highlighted as weaknesses to this program. This major should come with a Warning Label!!! In all seriousness, it will require a tremendous amount of focus, hard-work, determination, and maybe several bottles of antacid medication, this is not for the faint-hearted. One of the most important things in establishing a reasonable familiarity with your study of interest, is to work closely with your intership, and seek out people who are authorities in your field of inquiries, it will make your life a lot easier. UCSD Bio-med libraries and the internet are a good source to get up to date information on any subject. Some of the sites I found helpful: www.cdc.gov www.nem.nin.gov www.stat-usa.gov San Diego has quite a few health organizations and in particula several organizations that deal specifically with Teen Pregancy and other-related issues, among them are: Children Having Children San Diego Black Infant Health Clinic Planned Parenthood San Diego Health and Human Services. One last helpful hint is to make sure that there is good communication between your souces of information and you.
Student: Julia Yeh Note on narrowing down topic: I began with my interest in New Urbanism. I did some research into available literature and spoke with Professor Nico Calavita (SDSU) about it. My topic at the time was on the sustainability of existing New Urbanist communities however I was not able to find more than 2 articles on that topic. So I decided to switch my topic to the process by which the New Urbanist methodology is the popular form of development in a region. This was still too broad so I focused on the politics of planning New Urbanism (in San Diego) and more specifically on the interaction between stakeholders in the process of instituting changes in Chula VIsta's zoning ordinance and general plan. Advice for future USP students: 1. Pick a topic that you feel passionate about 2. Start early in doing internships. I started my first one a year before the senior sequence. The earlier the better because it gives you a better understanding of the field and a better focus on what planning issues you would like to investigate more into. 3. Try to tie your paper topic to your internship because it makes the entire SRP experience more rewarding and possibly a bit easier. 4. During the SRP process, try to talk to as many people/professors/TA as possible. I've found this to be very helpful.
Keith--a little something for a website that, when created is going to make waves in the urban planning field:) A. My subject for my senior research project is land use planning within the City of San Diego. More specifically, I am focusing on the lack of industrial land in San Diego, and why this is a current trend. My title (for lack of a more creative one at this point) is "Diminishing Industrial Land in the City of San Diego: Why is this a Current Trend?" Industrial Land: Industrial land, as defined within zoning laws, is land designated for production-based manufacturing, as well as non-manufacturing industries including telecommunications, bio-medical/biotech., electronics, defense and space manufacturing, software, and financial and business services. Diminishing: According to the City's land use data, industrial land is decreasing by over 500 acres per year. San Diego's average vacancy rate for all communities has declined from 17% in 1990 to 7.5% in 1997. B. I started my internship with the dept of Planning and Development Review the summer before my senior year. As part of the update of our General Plan for the City of San Diego, we were looking at the lack of industrial land in the city. I am interested in land use and decided to coordinate this effort at work with my research project for school. Through my attendance at industrial land subcomittee meetings at SANDAG and with the city, I became more familiar and interested with the topic and decided to focus my project on variables affecting the amount of industrial land we are utilizing. I found that with my project topic, the more I discovered about it, the more I became interested in it. Although data was a little difficult to obtain, I focused my units of analysis on the communities within the City of San Diego since these are the areas that are included within the General Plan. I really have enjoyed that my topic is so recent, because I feel my contribution can be used in the process of updating the General Plan. (Each city by law must have a General Plan which is a document that provides guidelines for how that city is planning to accomodate expected growth in the future.) SOURCES: C.1) The City of San Diego's Dept. of Planning and Development Review: The planners here provided me with data on population trends and land designated for industrial, residential, and commercial uses for planned communities for different time periods. (The general phone number for this dept is 235-2000) 2) I received zoning information from the Planning Commission for San Diego I utilized the documents such as the General Plan for our city and the Mayor's Economic Report. 3) SANDAG' website at sandag.cog.ca.us is extremely helpful, especially if one plans to utilize GIS in his project. Their Existing and Planned land use designations can be downloaded right from their website and used in GIS and Arcview form. 4) Mark Waggoner with the research dept. at UCSD is an extremely helpful resource for GIS. The GIS course he offers is extremely beneficial. D. FOR GIS USERS: One problem I encountered with my research is assuming this wealth of data is out there, ready and waiting to be plugged into GIS and interpreted. There is data out there, but it may not be in the form of unit of analysis you need. Meet with a GIS expert early and determine what you can do with the program, and what you cant. You dont want to be stuck with great data you cannot input into the program.
La Mesa Village Plaza-The Redevelopment Wave of the Future? My project is a case study of the La Mesa Village Plaza, a mixed land use redevlopment project in downtown La Mesa. When I first began the project I was interested in examining redevelopment but had not selected a specific place to focus on. At first I considered examining a section of University Ave. in La Mesa and determining its redevlopment potential, but this seemed like an overly difficult project for the amount of time we have. I eventually chose the La Mesa Village Plaza as the site for my examination. Originally I had planned to do surveys of residents and store owners as well as trolley riders and patrons of the businesses in the area to assess their satisfaction with the project. However after some consideration I decided to examine the project from a different angle, which leads to the focus of my current project. I am examening the process of developing the La Mesa Village Plaza project, the difficulties and challenges encountered with this tye of development in general as well as with the specific project. I am conducting interviews with the City of La Mesa's Department of Redevelopment and with SANDAG, as well as speaking to shop owners. My SPR will document the trials and tribulations of this specific project from the beginning to its current state. I have found the documents I have obtained throught the City of La Mesa to be some of the most helpful. Robin Keightley- the Director of Redevelopment with the City of La Mesa has been an invaluable resource. I have found many articles in the San Diego Union Tribune on the project. Although I hve not been able to find any journal articles on the project I have found articles on similar developments in the Journal of Science and Engineering. Lessons Learned- Start early, get to know the reference librarians, and try not to take on too much. I think most students were really ambitious in choosing thier topic but we all soon came to realize how short ten weeks is. -I hope this is what you wanted I will be happy to make any needed changes and would like to revise it before it is put on the web site. -Rachel Kennedy
The title for my SRP is: "Exposing the Unholy Alliance: City Councils, Developers, & Land Use Planning" The subject area of my SRP is on city council government and how they make planning decisions. Land-use issues are mainly played out behind closed doors of city hall. My internship supervisor put me in contact with some city councilmembers whom he knew to be in the minority opinion with respect to land issues in their city governments. These councilmembers could be generalized as environmentalists and slow-growthers. The city councils they worked on were pro-growth and very tied to business interests. I interviewed two of these councilmembers to find out the dynamics of their situations--like if they were treated fairly, if they we able to get anything done on council, etc. My topic changed a ton over the past quarter and a half. The hardest thing about picking a topic is making it clear in your head exactly what the topic is. Many times a would complete assignments (like drafting proposals) about my topic, without really understanding what my topic was. First, it was "The Silencing of Minority Councilmembers." Then it was "The Power of the Majority on Vote Outcomes in City Council--What Can the Permanent Minority Do?" Next it was "Making Local Government Accountable for the Residents' Welfare." And on to "How Clever Politicians Make a Difference in City Council Government." Then, "How City Councils Deal with Land-Use" and finally to the more refined, "Exposing the Unholy Alliance: City Councils, Developers, and Land-Use Planning." Yes, my topic consistently dealt with city council government; but, I think it changed so much because I never made up my mind on exactly what about city government I wanted to study. You need to do that, and early on. Instead, I let the data lead me through the research project. For instance, if I found something on "vote outcomes," my new topic was "city council and vote outcomes." You get the picture. You need to decide what it is specifically you want to investigate and go find the data on that. Not all the data you find is important, and certainly not all of it should pertain to your topic. Find the info that does and try to stay on track. Lessons: #1 (and most importantly) Figure out early on exactly what it is you want to study, this will help you avoid all the topic shifts I went through. #2 Make sure you are studying something that really interests you--2 quarters is a long time! #3 If you are conducting interviews for your SRP, give yourself plenty of time to get in contact with these people and set the interview up. It took me over a month to set up just two interviews. Good luck... Joseph Capobianco
Jeremy Klemic USP 187 January, 28, 1999 e-mail assignment Title: Disneyland: Stressing the User Link in the Design Chain My topic originated through my interest in urban design. I had planned on comparing Disneyland to urban models in an effort to point positive aspects of the Disney planning process. This topic turned out to me much more than I could accomplish in the time frame given. I also had difficulty placing my subject into a pre-existing category. This continued until theories behind the New Urbanism movement provided me with an acceptable social backdrop. Disney’s planning process seemed to embody many of the New Urbanism ideals. A problem still resided however, I needed to find data sources. The first step to solving this dilemma consisted of defining what I needed to look for. Since I was interested in the planning/design process I first broke this process down into parts. The part that intrigued me the most was user input into the final product. Disney planners, and New Urbanists as well, find user input to play an integral part in their planning. My task became to describe the importance placed upon user feedback in the design process, while establishing a correlation between the New Urbanist theories and Disney’s practice. The most important sources for my research has been actual book written about New Urbanism, the Disney design process, and city planning. I also found a vast amount of archival evidence concerning guest feedback. Much of this is considered proprietary information, however. Another excellent source of information has been journal articles, many of which were found under the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals. One of the most important lessons that I learned is that communication with professor Pezzoli and Jennifer, my TA, is extremely important. Meetings with them have been crucial in the development of my topic. Only through these discussions was a narrower field of focus discovered. Keywords: New Urbanism, Urban Planning and Design Architecture, User programming
Johnny Tran USP Senior Sequence 1-23-99 Pezzoli/Kuhn Web Note 4.1 Briefly list your topic and subject area. Examining the United States Citizenship Examination as a Possible Educational Tool Key words: Naturalization Citizenship Civic Test Citizenship theory and purpose 4.2 Write a full paragraph that traces the evolution of your topic. Do so in terms of "units of analysis: and lessons learned about narrowing your field of inquiry. I first wanted to critique the US naturalization process as a whole. I later found the naturalization process to be too large a task to examine all at once. I decided to narrow my research to the naturalization examination itself. I further advanced my specification of my topic by choosing to do a content analysis of the test with interviews from INS officials to supplement it. 4.3 Provide a pathfinder to key resources in your field of study. Specifically, list what you found to be the most important human, agency, print and electronic resources for completing you study. Useful sources of information are located in journals and magazines because critiques of the US citizenship examination are rare in scholarly journals and writings. Using government documents from the INS will also guide your search. The most useful organization to contact are the local INS office and naturalization services like the International Rescue Committee. 4.4 Contribute any other lessons learned that you’d like to share. Much of the literature on citizenship and naturalization revolves around the theory of citizenship. Although theory is incorporated into my work, I was not questioning citizenship theory, but rather the process. Be very careful in your readings as it is easy to stray from your original intent.
Refugee Women and Self-Sufficiency Paper Title: East African Refugee Women in San Diego - Negotiating New Lives Key Words: Refugee women, Sudanese-Somali-Eritrean-Ethiopian, self-sufficiency, resettlement, barriers. I decided to investigate the lives of refugee women as I was a volunteer ESL tutor at the First Things First program, a mother-preschool program designed to better meet the needs of refugee women in San Diego. At first it was difficult to decide what aspect that I wanted to address about the lives of refugee women since there were so many things that I could have focused my research on. But then I was hired by the refugee resettlement agency that I was volunteering for to be a Community Orientation Specialist, thus writing newsletters and coordinating workshops for the four major populations that our agency serves. The goal for resettlement providers is to help refugees become self-sufficient and self-reliant. I felt that self-sufficiency was defined very vaguely and it didn't seem to take into account the special needs of refugee women, as they are usually the last to access services critical to their integration in a new society. Through my observations of and interactions with the women, it was apparent that self-sufficiency meant more than just finding the first job available, as CalWorks would have it, it meant being able to do everyday activities on her own, outside the domain of her apartment and in a manner that promoted her self-esteem and confidence to function in the urban context. Sources: First Things First mother-preschool program of the International Rescue Committee, Refugee Women by Susan Forbes Martin. It also helped that I worked for IRC as every conversation that I had with coworkers and contacts from other agencies allowed me to develop a better understanding of the needs of refugees, in particular women.
Katherine Cheng SRP WEBNOTE 4.1 Title & Key Terms: The Impact of Race on Courtroom Sentencing Key terms: Race, Courtroom, Length of Sentencing, Crime, and Drugs. 4.2 Topic: My study examines the impact of race on the sentencing of adult males convicted of drug crimes. The independent variable is the race of the defendant. The dependent variable is the length of sentencing. The controlled variables are male adult drug convicts. My study hypothesizes that racism is the primary cause for sentencing disparities. It also acknowledges that the severity of crime variable and the class differential variable can lead to sentencing disparities across racial lines. Thus, I test the impact of race by holding criminal severity and economic class constant. The aim of my study is to provide courtroom judges and attorneys with a self-awareness of racial sentencing disparities and to urge constituents to advocate a policy for change through minimizing the judicial power of discretion. There is a vast array of statistical information available on the topic of crime and drugs. 4.3 Key Resources: WebSites that lead to other WebSites on crime: <www.opj.usdoj.gov/bjs/> <www.informsandiego.com/stat> <www.sandag.cog.ca.us/> <www.ncjrs.org/drgshome.htm> Main Telephone #’s for crime statistical information, they will connect you to other sources: Justice Statistics Clearinghouse sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics: (800)732-3277 Justice Research and Statistical Association:(202)842-9330 4.4 Lessons Learned: The research I conducted on racial discrimination in courtroom sentencing was very straight to the point. I chose to conduct both a quantitative study and a qualitative study. There is an over abundance of statistical information on crime and drugs in literature, textbooks, the Internet, and various crime agencies. Therefore, even if you have the books, WebSites, and phone numbers, it is advisable that you know exactly what you are looking for and the time period you are researching before you begin your search. It is also advisable that you make sure the exact data you need is available before starting your proposal.
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Urban Studies & Planning 186/187
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