I can't believe it another term gone by and only four more to go. WooooHoooo! I really enjoyed learning how to do a scientific research paper. My advice for anyone else writing their first paper of this sort is to pick a topic you are passionate about. Pick something you really believe in. If you do this, it will be easier for you to narrow your area of reasearch to a more specific area. Either way writing this paper will not be easy, but with a great professor as I had, and the new skills and techniques you will learn, it will be easier. I took a lot away from this class, learning new methods and getting great advice from my professor and classmates. I did not necessarily like all the methods and techniques, nor were they easy to implement or use in my writing, but they were all really great techniques. I learned which ones work best for me and my style of writing. I think that's just it: everyone has their own style of writing and has to try new things to learn what will work best for them so that they can produce the best final product possible. Maybe that's sort of what this blog had to do with too. It's like extra practice writing, and it actually turned out to be a little fun. Good luck to all you future Comp II'ers and your studies.

With this term almost finished and our papers complete, I find myself thoroughly exhausted. I'm not sure that it is only from school itself, but I think just from what life has handed me over these last few weeks. I have become so overwhelmed and am just waiting for some relaxation and me time. Although with 4 kids, me time and relaxation are not something easily achieved. I do, however, feel very accomplished with all that I have done. I know I am not the only one to have done this, but I still feel it is a great achievement. I sometimes have regrets for not completing school when I should have. I had a full ride to Michigan Ann Arbor when I graduated high school in 1994, but I guess life had other things in store for me. I met my husband one month before I was to leave for school and something told me to stay. We shared 13 wonderful years and 3 fabulous children before he passed. Now, 4 years after his passing I find myself back in school and taking on the world once again. I have 4 terms left here at Kaplan to complete my program of study, and I will be starting my clinical studies in July. I am so excited and can hardly wait to start that part of my studies. I have also decided that after completing this area and receiving my AAS, I am going to complete another 5 terms to get my Bachelor of Science in Health Science. If that doesn't leave me satisfied I will keep going. I can hardly wait to see what is in store for me.

I can't believe we are into the 8th week already. I didn't fully understand the reason for us having to do this blog, and I'm still not sure I still do, but it has actually been kind of fun and interesting. I've enjoyed reading about others experiences, schooling, and families, although, was surprised at how negative some were. I try to take everything in life as a learning experience, and although I may not like all my "learning experiences," each one makes me grow. I'm not sure that I plan to keep blogging when this is all over, but I think I just might. If anything it's an outlet for me to express how I feel and what I'm going through and doing. I've gotten nice comments on my posts and I'm always interested in what other people have to say or think. I believe we all learn from each other, so even though I might not always like what people have to say, I'm still open to hear it. If we didn't learn from each other, why do we have teachers, and why are we in school. I'm by no means a dumb woman, but the things I have learned over the last 4 years from other people has made me richer than one could know. This blog has really turned out to be a good thing with some good things coming from it.

Doing this scientific research paper has been quite informative. I knew polygraph test have been criticized for years for their inaccuracy and that they were rarely allowed as evidence in the court room, but the information I've discovered left me more baffled than when I started. I really expected to find, when all my research was done, that the critics might win this one, but in my opinion, the exact opposite is true. I was interested first to learn that the accuracy of the test results on the level of experience and training of the examiner. It is not actually the machine that says whether or not somebody lied. It is the job of the examiner to determine that based on the readings of blood pressure, pulse, etc. I also found it very interesting that while polygraphs are rarely allowed as evidence in a court room, they are very regularly used to hire law enforcement and federal and government employees. It makes no sense that they are good enough for pre-employment screening, but not as evidence. Then as I got further into my research, I discovered the biggest reason polygraphs are not admissible in court is because both sides, the prosecution and defense, have to agree to its admittance as evidence. Obviously that would rarely happen. Judges do have some say so, but usually still with the permission of both sides. That's crazy to me. I think what intrigued me more, is I found information about a study that was done, and that study evaluated how accurate different types of evidence are in a crime. Polygraph tests were #1 on the list for accuracy, followed by handwriting analysis, eye witnesses, and then fingerprints. This was shocking to me. Even after all my research I still have so many questions, but now I have the information I need to petition the DA to push on our case and I'm grateful for that.

These last six weeks have gone by so fast! This last week, however, I thought was gonna kick my butt. Writing the first draft for my scientific research paper has been so hard for me. Not from a research aspect, but from a personal aspect. I'm writing about the use of polygraph tests in law enforcement and why they are not normally allowed in court as evidence. It's been really hard for me to keep my personal beliefs and aspects out of it, especially because in my husband and brother in law's murder case, it is our primary piece of evidence along with two witnesses, and we cannot use the polygraph. It's very frustrating for me. Then to top it off, like everyone else, I have my home life to deal with and with four kids ranging in age from 13 to 2, and doing my own personal investigating on the murder case. I recently have found a non profit organization to help me and they have done so much already. We have recently gotten the Governor to put up reward money in our case, which is a huge step, and because my husband was one of the originals in Jaime Escalante's first class of student's at Garfield High School, we are getting in touch with some of the actors to become activists in our case. I guess really we are just trying to put some heat on the DA and the investigators. This is all on top of the letters I have been writing to the State Attorney General and U.S. Attorney General. All this and school is kicking my butt. I guess that's why I ended up so sick this week. UGH!!!! Maybe I ought to slow down a little, but it's been four years too long and I don't ever want my kids to believe that their dad and uncle are just trophies or bragging rights to a cold hearted murderer.

Wow!!! I can't believe it's already the halfway point of the term. So excited to know that I only one year away from graduation; six months ahead of schedule. I can't believe that at 33 and four kids later I'm back in school getting my degree. I guess when Mike died, I knew change would come, but not like this. I loved my last job, but the harrassment from another employee just became more than I could handle. I still remember the day I got the phone call from Kaplan. I had actually been ignoring their phone calls for almost two months. Then one day I answered it by accident, but now that I think about it, maybe it wasn't an accident. So there i was on the phone and the next thing I knew I was enrolling in school and doing my financial aid application and signing up for classes. Even more mind boggling than that was the term was starting the next day. I remember getting off the phone about 3 hours later and thinking, "what did I just do?" Now I'm almost through my fourth term and only have four terms left. I am halfway through. When I first told my kids I was going back to school they laughed and thought I was too old. Now, they are my biggest supporters. They are so proud of me and even posted pictures of me with my certificates on the social pages. My son tells me all the time how excited he is for me. I've had really good paying jobs over the years without a college degree, but this is different. Having my degree and certification means I'm going to have a career and in a world and economy like today's, nothing tops that. Jobs come and go, but careers are earned. That's not to say that all of this has been easy. After 16 years of being out of school it's hard getting back into a routine again. Homework was supposed to be a thing of the past and now it's a daily thing. What makes it even more weird is doing it all online. Who would of thought?! I love it this way as it makes it easy for me to work around my schedule and my kids' schedule, but I'm a people person and miss interaction with my classmates. Some of my best friends were made in school. Even with these little things I don't get, I am more grateful from the things I am getting by being back in school. I will be even more grateful and feel more accomplished when I graduate and walk in the ceremony. Chicago, here I come!

As I read everyone's blogs, I am amazed to find out how much everybody is against them. I think everyone is looking at it as useless or an invasion of privacy. First let me say, we all learn from each other, and the things you have been through or have to say are at your discretion. However, those things, may be able to help somebody else, you never know. I think these blogs are set up in a way for us to get to know some of our fellow classmates in a way. I do schooling online because I have to, not because it's the way I wanted to. I am very much a people person and love to interact with people and being an online student doesn't allow for that. I think another reason for us having to blog is that whether we realize it or not now, a lot of careers, especially in the healthcare profession require a lot of writing. Doctors, nurses, psychologists, whatever are required to make notes and at times even full reports on patients, their conditions, etc., whether we like it or not. One of you mentioned not letting your child have a blogging page or Facebook account, and then referred to a friend of theirs about a tattoo. The comments and encouragement from their peers are going to be there either way. What would they be saying to them at school? It's really unavoidable unfortunately. It just makes me feel bad getting such a negative vibe from reading everyone's blogs. What would we tell our children if it were reversed? I know I would tell mine to keep a positive attitude and make the best out of the experience, you never know what you will take away from it.