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.