Dear Ms.

Hofmann,
Over the semester, we have posted many forums; some on our own, some with in-class
partners. On March 12th, we read from Ballenger about speaking to each other and making
relationships. Brittany wrote the original summarization and I revised it and gave feedback. I only
changed two sentences; her first draft was very well organized. Next, Kyle and I gave feedback on our
classmates Wix and Weebly E-portfolios. Most were very entertaining with cool graphics and interesting
information. Finally, we gave feedback on our peers inquiry projects. Mainly we responded to the
revised conclusions and then talked about how our readings in Ballenger could help us to form better
and more structured conclusions.
I received feedback from my peers on my Weebly portfolio and came to understand that I
actually hadnt understood the entire assignment. I was grateful that we had the chance for peer
revision and feedback because had I turned my E-portfolio in like that I wouldnt have received a good
grade. Another instance I received helpful criticism from my peers was on my first draft of the inquiry
paper. I started off thinking it was a research paper and they helped me rewrite it to where it sounded
more like a formal friend that a robot research paper.
In class we did a lot of writings in our personal notebooks. The first one Ill respond to is the
national parks article. This article was very interesting because Ive been dragged on family vacations all
over the United States including national parks since I was born. I was born in Arizona and grew up
playing at the grand canyon national park.
I visited the grand canyon when I was very little, because I was born in Arizona. I cant remember my
visits because I was so young but if given the chance, Id go back in a heartbeat. Since then weve moved
across the country to I dont have firsthand knowledge, but Ive seen many pictures and would love to go
back. Americas national parks have a hard time attracting visitors because our generation would rather
watch the national geographic special on TV than actually pick up and go. Before us, our parents knew it
was the journey to these parks; stuck in a station wagon with your kids that really mattered.
Next, we had to write on an article that proposed guys have lower standards and that there
werent enough cute guys for the amount of pretty girls. Like the last response, this one too asked our
opinion. Each response we give in class was meant to help us expand our questioning ability. We have
an opinion, now what? I responded to this article with the following
First: LOL. Next, I think women should give them a break. Not every woman is a Victorias Secret model,
so why do they expect men to look like Calvin Klein models? In a nutshell, women need to make sure their
hands are clean before they point fingers. I dont doubt this articles truth, I just dont agree with it. Men
have lower standards and women are stereotypically more judgmental than men.
Finally, the last in class writing I will explain here is Alcohol & Culture. Again, we were asked to
give our opinions on where peoples views on alcohol come from.
Peoples views on alcohol come from their environment. Being raised in a church as opposed to a crack
house can drastically affect your views on the subject. My parents raised me to not know alcohol. Up
until high school, I barely knew the substance. I just knew people who drank more than wine at
communion were going to hell. Unfortunately, that led to bad decisions when I came to college
because I could finally make my own decisions and they ended up not being great ones.
For homework, we had to research popular research topics. Basically anything that was of
interest in the public eye as of right now. I felt this was the easiest assignment of the entire semester
because the readings made it easy to know how to do it.

Next, this assignment asked us to propose our inquiry topic. This assignment forced me to really
look at my topic and ask myself if I could really write on it. I found that after I put effort into this
assignment, I knew I was passionate about this. I am proud that I stuck through this topic even though I
doubted it every class meeting.
Investigative Proposal:
1. What is your inquiry question?
How does college affect the Christian faith in students?
2. A. does it make a difference if the student was raised in a strict household?
B. will the student having on-campus ministry affect their exploration?
C. Why are students exploring now as opposed to other life change periods?
D. Who? Or, what students, boys or girls are affected more?
E. Are there such explorations of faith taking place at Christian colleges?
F. How are loosely-religious students affected?
G. Are peers an influence?
H. Do non-religious student organizations (Greek) affect exploration or loss?
I. Students enter college at different ages. Does that affect it?
J. Why are students not strong in their faith?
3. I know that, from personal experience, faith is tested and others are explored throughout the
transition from high school to college. Just from seeing everyone at UNC Charlotte go through the test, I
can only imagine what goes on at bigger schools. College brings about new experiences and new
temptations and thats not always the best thing for impressionable youth. I chose this subject because it
has meaning to me and because I am interested in seeing if other students are experiencing similar
situations.
4. I modified my inquiry question already, from Does college test students faith to How does the
transition from high school to college affect the loss or exploration of faith. I have found many articles
on each topic, but the one I found most useful came from Inside Higher ED. This article talks about
location of the college; for example, the particular one studied was in New York, a culturally accepting
environment. This habitat created a place for spiritually sound students to branch out and explore new
areas of faith.
The last assignment was an extended bibliography. I felt I did my best work on this assignment.
By this time I had a firm grasp on where I wanted to take my essay and I was very proud of my collection
of sources. Extended Inquiry Bibliography
Source 1:
Reno, R.R. "Keeping Your Faith in College." First Things. (2014): n. page. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
After reviewing the data found in Keeping Your Faith in College, I have a better understanding of how
students faith is shifting in college. Collectively, this article explains that so many students do not
understand that their faith is leaving because new things are taking its place instead. Partying and other
activities are now easily accessible without the protection and guidance of mom and dad and are causing
students to make it out on Saturday night but not to Sunday morning.
This article was very helpful in explaining the shift from high school to college and how students
are losing their faith. Surprisingly, it brings up education as a reason for a loss of morality and faith. As if
learning more and more about the universe is somehow related to escaping faith. I found this article to
be interesting because I had never thought about increasing education as a cause for the loss of morality
and faith in the transition from high school to college.
Even though it came from a Catholic website, and I was focusing on the Baptist side of
Christianity, I know it is a credible source. It contains a place for subscriptions, many comments from
other viewers, and books available for purchase. It is not just a blog of an opinionated lunatic, but a
detailed look into the lives of students struggling with this problem.
Source 2:
Smietana, Bob. "College Students Divided on God, Spritually." USA Today. 26 Sep 2013: n. page. Web.
23 Mar. 2014. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/26/college-students-
god-religion/2875627/>.
This article describes the scientific side of secular and non-secular students. It is very detail
oriented and has personal stories from the chaplain at Vanderbilt, Northern Iowa, and other schools. It
describes how most students used to classify themselves as Christians or some sort of Christianity-related
religion, and now almost half deny any affiliation with any type of religion or spirituality. This article is
helpful because it talks about how most students growing up, attended church regularly. The newfound
freedom is a major cause of lack of religion.
I found this article supportive because it confirms my original hypothesis of freedom causing a
lack of religion. Students today find it easier to sleep in than go to church or worship. It is relatable,
relevant and significant because it basically calls out those students who claim to be something they
arent. A contributor to the article said we want to give them something to believe in. It fully explains
that too much of anything is not always a good thing.
This article is credited because it has contributors from all different universities and is an
established magazine company. USA Today is a nationally known website and news provider, they
remain unbiased and a reliable news source.
Source 3:
Biggs, Donald A. "Moral Judgment Development of College Students." Springer Link. n.d. 91-102. Print.
This source was especially helpful because it discussed four different impacts of college
experience, attribution beliefs and attitudes about punitiveness, educational and academic
characteristics, and freshmen level of moral judgment development on the level of moral development of
upper-division students. The study also noted the relationship between moral judgment and personal
responsibility. For students showing lower moral judgment, it directly related to their beliefs on personal
responsibility.
I found this source useful because it simply explained morality as it directly relates to judgment
and how that is affected in college. I think this study is exactly what students need to see how bad their
decisions are and how that directly affects them and their personal and academic lives.
This source seems credible because it gives factual evidence of a study conducted by many
psychologists, including Kohlberg and Rest. Contributing authors came from SUNY and the University of
Minnesota. I think these are significant factors because if major universities are willing to contribute to
such a study and article, it is probably not falsified.
Source four:
Davey , Linda and Joseph. The conscience of the campus : case studies in moral reasoning among
toda'ys college students. Westport, Conneticutt : Praeger, 2001. Print.
The Conscience of the Campus revealed how students felt on specific topics. For example, drugs,
alcohol, and even more specific: the legalization of marijuana. Most students felt that it was their right
to smoke whatever they pleased, while some pointed out that a lack of faith and morality are whats
giving them these expectations.
I found this article to be extremely relevant because the author actually points out the fact that
religion, or lack thereof, is the reason for this problem. Drugs and alcohol come with the transition from
high school to college, and without mom and dad to protect judgment, students fall victim to all sorts of
illegal substances.
This is a credible source because I found it in the Atkins library. It has very established authors,
insight from students across the United States, and real statistical analysis of results. It is also published
by a very accredited author. He has written many other published works and I find his work to be very
significant.


Source five:
Gardener, Lion F. "Fostering Students Moral Development." Essays on Teaching Excellence. n. page.
Print.
<http://academic.udayton.edu/FacDev/Newsletters/EssaysforTeachingExcellence/PODvol11/
v11n5.htm>.
This article talks again about Kohlberg and Rests stages of moral development. However, new
evidence is brought into light. This studys findings indicate that the more involved in campus life a
student is, the more likely they are to continue growing in their faith. While high school graduates who
did not attend college are stuck in the pre-conventional stages. It does not show much significant change
from high school to college, but enough to matter.
I found this to be extremely helpful, because it contrasts what other studies have stated. It shows
that even high school seniors and juniors in college are stuck in the pre-conventional stages of moral
reasoning and that a transition from high school to college really doesnt have a big impact unless
personal circumstances require it.
This is a credible source because it has many significant contributors, from Harvard, and across
the US. It is important to have many different sides to a view to remain unbiased and this article does
just that. Originally, the work is done through Rutgers University by a previously published author, Lion F.
Gardener.
I wrote this in the course evaluation and Ill write it again. I only found our course reading to be
helpful one time and it was in one of our very first assignments I actually mentioned above. The
assignment at the beginning of the semester when we were all deciding what to write about; that was
the most helpful its been all semester. I found it rather repetitive during the other instances and quite
honestly didnt use it much. Maybe it worked for some people, but I just couldnt connect to it.
If I was to teach this class, I would emphasize the right to an opinion. A lot of our in class
writings forced us to have an opinion and sometimes I dont really have an opinion. Some people are go
with the flow and thats exactly how I am. Sometimes, I think that students should be allowed to have a
silent opinion. Im not saying anything we did in class was controversially offensive, but Id personally like
to not have an opinion on alcohol and culture in a classroom setting, Id keep it out of the classroom.
When creating my portfolio, I thought about using very calming colors and pictures because of
my topic. I wanted it to be easily accessible to any audience and I think Ive made that happen. I
received feedback from Kyle that it was too girly to begin with so I changed the color from pink to light
baby blue. I faced many challenges with this portfolio because I have never done one before. I couldnt
figure out any of the directions so I had to have another student explain it to me. I took a step back from
being stubborn and let a classmate explain it to me and it went by a lot quicker. If I had to do another E-
portfolio, I would definitely start a lot sooner and focus more on the actual assignments than the set-up
of it.
Looking back, my questions I had for myself were
1. How do I keep a continuous flow in my writing of the research paper?
2. What are good, official sites for research?
3. How can I improve the research Ive already done?
A goal I can work toward is giving 100% on all future assignments.
I kept a continuous flow in my research paper by picking which sources meshed well together and then I
put them in that order.
I learned that the library search engine is usually the best place for information and that google isnt
always trustworthy.
I improved on my research by widening my search. I expanded my topic halfway through the research
period and broadened my research and it improved my topic immensely.
Two new questions I have for myself are:
1) How can you learn from this experience?
2) What is the difference between a research paper and an essay?