Assignment 12: Legitimacy of Blogs

Similar to any online magazine or newspaper article, I think it all depends on a persons personal judgment on the blog and what the text offers the reader.  If the blog offers only opinion based information with no credentials or references to support the claims than no that blog is probably not legitimate.  I have seen blog pages consisting only of personal thoughts or life experiences, like a diary, and I have read blog posts that are a link on a news page and have no opinion but a further explored or update on a topic in the news. 

The blog that I chose was from the Huffington Post in the United Kingdoms.  I would consider this blog a legitimate new source because just at first glance the author offers a link to his credentials and full biography.  Through out the article he offers links to campaigns and letters he discusses for his readers to further their knowledge on the subjects he touches on.  He also lists references for the audience to refer to.  If the blog offers a professional, nonbiased along with credited “article” then I would label it as a scholarly or news worthy blog source. There are many that lack to meet these standards and that is why I think people have to decide for themselves where to draw the line between legitimacy of a blog post.

Tatchell, P. (2012). Catholic archbishops have mislead people on gay marriage. Retrieved 3/2012, 2012, from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/peter-tatchell/gay-marriage-catholic-archbishops-have-mislead-people_b_1343156.html

Assignment 10: Research Reflection

1. What “LGBT population” do you think you should learn more about over the course of this semester?  Why?

The topic I have chosen to learn with in the LGBT this semester is same-sex marriage movement in England.  I am interested to learn more on this topic because I have learned so much on the local status of same-sex marriage here in the states and feel uninformed on the global aspect on the worldwide movement.

2. What do you assume to be true about this population?

Being home to some of the strongest Catholic influences, England, I would think would have very strong viewpoints falling either fully for or against the legalization of same-sex marriage.  I am aware that some parts of Europe have already passed laws legalizing marriage rights but am not sure on any specifics about the campaigns in action by the Catholic Church in England against legalization.

3. Where did you learn this from?

My parent’s are active in keeping up to date on news about the Catholic Church’s and the views on same-sex marriage.  I hear tons of information on the topic from the latest Fox News, CNN or EWTN (Global Catholic Network) coverage; though, I hear the endless opinions from my parent’s I feel like a pro at filtering fact from bias and that explains why the “what do you assume to be true about this population” is so short.  I am aware of how much information I hear I assume to be far from factual.  College students seem to be extremely uninformed so, I hope to change that so I can build up knowledge to shape my opinions.

4. What do you think will be the most difficult challenge that you will have in doing research on the population or issue that you have selected?

This topic is a very large.  I think it will be difficult to narrow my topic down to just one focus point out of the many.  I think the alternative and international news sources will be the easiest to find but for the mainstream I think I have some challenges due to the bias on the topic. Who knows though what I’ll find out!