I-Search Draft

I-Search Paper

I. What I Know

            Ever since I was about 8 years old, I knew very well that professional sports was my passion. It didn’t seem to matter what sport it was. If there was a game, I was into it. When I was younger, I always told people that I was a Mets, Giants, Knicks, Rangers fan. Well, now that I am much older, I have really let go of hockey and basketball while becoming fascinated with baseball. Even though my aspirations of becoming a baseball player were shot down very early in life, I have always looked for another way into the sport. A career in journalism may give me the opportunity to find the “back door” into Major League Baseball. It is kind of funny that the people I now look up to have changed in the past few years. The best players in the game used to be ones I admired such as Mike Piazza, Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds. But now, some of my idols include Buster Olney, Tin Kurkjian and Jon Heyman. Now, these are not household names to the masses. That is because these men are the best journalists Major League Baseball has to offer and I would do anything to be in their position.

            However, even though all of these top journalists are in a very respectable position now, it doesn’t mean that they always were. In the world of journalism, one has to pay his dues in order to move up to the top. While it may be everyone’s dream to cover the big teams and report the big stories, one has to do the dirty work and report on the stories that are rather undesirable to a degree. But the passion of the career is what will keep a young journalist going all the way to the top. Also, while covering a topic you love and interviewing people essential to the field may seem glamorous, journalists are put under constant pressure. Deadlines are critical in this field and the constant pressure to produce stories in a timely fashion can be very difficult.

            But all in all, I believe that the most important part about a career is enjoying what you do. There are millions of people in the United States who wake up every day and dread going to work because they hate their job. I will not be one of those people. If this means putting in all of the hard work to meet my goal, so be it.

II. What I Want To Know

           

            Although I feel that I am pretty familiar with journalism and its new mediums due to advancement in technology, there is still much to learn. I obviously chose this field of work because it is a dream career of mine, and also because it is the major that I have declared now. The first and most important thing I would like to find out is how exactly a person gets themselves heavily involved in sports journalism, especially one coming straight out of college. Journalists seem to act as people who are self employed, reporting stories by themselves. Is that the case? The first step is obviously getting a job in the field. But where exactly do you work and whom do you work for? This is probably my biggest question mark as my research advances through the preliminary stages.

            Another important aspect of journalism I would like to uncover is the different qualifications and uses of contemporary mediums of journalism today. Back in the day, reporting would mostly be done in the newspapers and on the radio. While these mediums of journalism are still very popular today, many new styles are emerging at an exponential rate. Television, Internet and social media are growing in popularity and an extreme pace this very moment. I am aware that the journalist today must be “fluent” in almost all mediums to be successful, which is why I would like to explore the differences of each aspect.

III. First Hand Research

This is a report of the Mets vs. Rockies game done by myself following my visit to Citi Field on 4/11/11.

Met fans who came out to the half-empty Citi Field Monday night were treated to yet another frustrating evening in which their team basically gave the game away for the second time in this short season. Pitching was the major question mark coming into the season due to offseason surgery that has set ace Johan Santana back until at least the All-Star Break, and pitching was the Achilles heel of the Mets tonight against the Rockies.

            The Mets started off on the right foot for once, scoring in the first inning and jumping out to a 4-2 lead after 4 innings. Things were looking good to the fans and the team who desperately need to get off to a hot start to the season. Even though starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey labored through 5 and 1/3 innings, throwing over 100 pitches, it seemed like the Mets had the advantage and the momentum. But all of this went out the window when manager Terry Collins pulled Pelfrey in the middle of the 6^th inning and brought in Ryota Igarashi in an important spot in the game. This was a questionable call to begin with because it was Igarashi’s first game of the season, as he was called up that very day from AAA. Igarashi let his manager down, walking the first batter he faced and then surrendering an RBI single to up and coming star Carlos Gonzalez.

            The game remained tied until the 8^th inning, when the Rockies best player, Troy Tulowitzki, hit a 3 run home run off of newly anointed 8^th inning man Bobby Parnell. Tulowitzki’s shot left the ballpark in a hurry, and deflated the Mets hopes of winning the game. Parnell had the velocity on his fastball, mostly touching the upper 90’s. But the problem was that his fastball had almost no movement on it, which makes it incredibly easy to hit (for a professional of course).

            However, the Mets resorted some hope in the naturally pessimistic fans by staging an attempted comeback in the bottom of the 8^th. David Wright hit a vintage home run to lead off the inning. An opposite field blast measured at 390 feet, displaying his natural opposite field power. Carlos Beltran then followed up with a double and was consequently drove in by the red hot Ike Davis. But that was all the scoring the Mets could muster. Closer Huston Street came in and retired the side in order, recording the save and ending the game with a final score o 7-6.

            In a game which the Mets hit plenty, it was the pitching that was the downfall. Mike Pelfrey looked much better as opposed to his first two starts of the season, but struggled to keep his pitch count down and was therefore taken out of the game early. The already shaky bullpen then conceded the game to the Rockies who deserved to win the game. Troy Tulowitzki showed why he is one of the best players in the game, making plays with both his bat and glove. While the Mets put up a late fight, it was just not enough. This basically sums up the Mets last 4 seasons, close, but just not enough.

IV. What I Learned

            After attending the game and watching it with the perspective of a journalist, I understood the importance of maintaining an objective stance. No reader is interested in your opinion; all they care about is what actually happened, how it happened, and why it happened. This is the most crucial part of being a journalist I believe. As much as I wanted to cheer my Mets on and get involved with the crowd, I knew that there were dozens of reporters in attendance as well who were here to report on the game, not to enjoy it. I don’t mean that journalists don’t have any fun, but you have to learn how to control the fun and not let it get in the way of your work. As the game went on, I found it much easier to focus on the details and record notes that would be essential to my post-game report. Potential readers don’t want to hear about how I thought bringing in Igarashi was an awful decision; they want to hear why it was not the correct decision at the time and how a different decision may have changed the game. These are things that must be considered when working as a journalist.

First-Hand Research

For my I-Search paper, my topic for exploration is the major of Broadcast Journalism. This journalism focuses more on modern forms of media such as the internet, television, radio and social networks. For my original research, I chose to go to the Mets vs. Rockies game on April 11th at Citi Field. Although I am a huge Mets fan, I chose to go to the game with the mindset of a journalist instead of a fan. This was a very different experience for me, as I have been to many games in the past few years. As a "journalist", my job was to focus on the specifics of the game and then write a post-game reaction. I also used my Twitter account ( http://www.twitter.com/#!/timberdon ) to tweet about things that went on during the game in real time. What was very different this time around was my emotions. In the past, I would go to games and obviously hope the Mets would win and cheer them on. However, this time I tried to keep as much of an unbiased and objective attitude as possible. In the beginning of the game, I found this difficult because of all of the cheering fans and the whole atmosphere of the stadium. But after the innings went on I found i much easier to sit down and really focus on the important parts of the game. I even had a scorecard and filled it out to its entirety. Another interesting point was how I was following actual journalists on twitter who were at the game as well. For example, Evan Roberts of WFAN was in attendance and tweeted about important events that occurred throughout the game. This helped me also stay on track to focus on the specifics that should be mentioned in the morning paper and on ESPN rather than to other fans around me. Overall, this experience really opened my eyes of how journalists, especially in the sports industry, need to be objective in their work. It took the whole fan experience out of the game. I still enjoyed the game, but in a different way.

Bibliographic References

Briggs, Mark. JournalismNext: a Practical Guide to Digital Reporting and Publishing. Washington, D.C.: CQ, 2010. Print.


Murdoch, Keith. "The News, Delivered On A Slate." The Business Times Singapore. 11 Feb. 2011. Lexis Nexis. Web. 10 Apr. 2011.

Online Article

John-Hall, Annette. "Awakening To The Powerful Potential Of Blogs." The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2 Aug. 2006. Lexis Nexis. Web. 29. Mar. 2011.

This article discusses the true power and future potential of online blogs. Even though many blogs have made headline news recently for churning up news about celebrities, they are far from just another form of a tabloid. Blogs are a new way of building communities over the internet. John-Hall even states that online blogs such as The Huffington Post and Daily Kos are just as nationally acclaimed as The New York Times and The washington Post. This clearly shows how popular and influential blogs are becoming. These sites can affect the opinion of its readers and also gives a chance for the community to respond with their feedback, in the form of comments.
While blogs seem like they are expanding as fast as the universe, they are just one form of many social media outlets rapidly growing in popularity and utility. As a big sports fan, it is very common to see a breaking story come from a journalists Twitter account or from a popular blog. These are both examples of new methods being employed in the field of Journalism. This is extremely interesting because it is now possible to spread news to more of an audience at lightning speed. As someone who is considering majoring in Broadcast Journalism, it is a necessity to be compatible with new forms of technology, as they will only become more and more prominent in the future

Major Interests

Broadcast Journalism

The world of journalism is expanding exponentially with many new forms of communication through the power of technology. Multimedia journalism has become extremely popular as of late, with the growth in online blogs. Now everybody has the opportunity to express their ideas freely and promote them for all to see. Even reporters are using social media, such as Twitter, as a means of reporting stories and breaking news. I am extremely interested in this field, particularly in sports journalism. I would like to explore just exactly how reporters are able to get such access to celebrities, athletes and political figures. I would also like to find out the way journalists start out at the bottom and work their way up to the top of the industry.

Marketing

Ever since 10th grade when I took a Sports Marketing class, I have always been somewhat interested in marketing. Marketers today have to figure out the ways to connect with their consumers, and make them interested in the product. Figuring out what "target market" to go after is a crucial part of the marketing process. Like journalism, if I pursue this major I would probably go the sports industry route with it. In the sports marketing industry, it is the job of the marketers to get fans excited about they team they support. I am interested in the current job prospects for marketers, especially considering the recent economic downturn. I am also interested in what methods marketers use to entice their consumers into buying their product, as opposed to a competitors product

The I-Search Paper

"The I-Search Paper" proposes two very different views regarding the way research papers are created by students. Huntington Lyman, a middle school teacher, suggests that the I-Search method of composing a research paper is worthwhile to students because it is able to spark an interest that may lack in other forms of research. The process of looking up information from encyclopedias and online databases to then just reword the information into a paper is unfulfilling and uninteresting. An interesting topic allows the student to really connect with the work they are doing, making for a more enjoyable and rewarding experience. However, Susan Smith is against this I-Search format of research because it only promotes the egotistical mindset that is already widespread among middle school students. This type of research will not properly prepare students for the rigors of academic college writing.

While both Lyman and Smith both make valid arguments, I personally would have to side with Lyman. I have done many research style papers in middle school and high school and I have dreaded all of them. Instead of connecting to the research, I instead just looked up information from sources and basically jumped through the hoops my teacher presented in front of me to get a good grade. In the end I may have gotten an A, but the actual time spent on the assignment was worthless. I think the I-Search paper will give students a chance to really enjoy their work and grasp the concepts they are exploring.