How to Write APA Style Successfully

Hello, my name is Rhonda and I am a scholastic overachiever. Having finished two degrees specializing in good writing skills I think I can safely pass on my experiences to you beginners. The writing style I am most familiar with is APA style or the American Psychological Association style of writing. There is another style of writing a little more difficult based out of Chicago but I will not be delving into that. The style I am most familiar with is based on the current edition of The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

One of the first things you want to do with your research is to narrow your topic down because you can go on and on forever and that’s not what the professor’s want. The Professor’s don’t want a lot of B.S. either. Be concise and forthright with your information. Back it up with examples whenever you can and do not be stingy with graphics. Computer savvy only impresses Professor’s and other professionals more so. I will be getting into that area specifically dealing with Power Point presentations a little later. Those presentations as sophisticated as they can get can be the difference between a “B” and an “A” for your grade.

In my findings the written word is very powerful. Simply rephrasing a subject in your own words can present a new light on the subject. Professor’s like to know that their reading what you think personally as opposed to you copying or plagiarizing something out of a book. You’d be surprised how many people would side with you on your opinion of events outside that book you were reading or decided to pick up due to you needing to get through that course. This interaction with classmates only stimulates the study further and enhances discussion boards if applicable at your online school. Today’s collegiate student has numerous sources at their disposal. No longer is the local library necessary to go to but you have online libraries at your school that can help you narrow any topic with numerous website affiliates and articles printed in scholarly magazines and newspaper clippings. The web is your ally. Do not be afraid to use it.

For my older beginners do not be put off by all those fancies logarithms the average person attending school is 34 years old and trying to advance like everyone else in the job market. I’ve had 50 year olds sitting next to me asking me how to take online course and they picked up right away. Learn at your own pace but please keep up with the class. Most schools have computer lab attendants that will show you anything you need to know. I’ve met many a friend right at the computer lab sweating over a paper including a couple of boyfriends which is another story entirely.

For those of you whose strong point is not writing the indelible act of citing your references has come to your rescue. It’s all in how you properly cite your paper. They have numerous pocket APA guides for this activity. Everything from newspaper articles to online articles to books is cited in the guide to get you through the course so do not worry. I’ll tell you a little something now that may raise your eyebrows. At one school the MBA program got to opt out of writing their thesis so hampered were the students in their abilities to write. Granted their finance majors but really to get around it wouldn’t that have been wonderful for everyone. But you’re not everyone are you? You’re the one pulling all those hours in that lab and in that library. I’m not trying to knock anybody. You do have to get through the program. Recently, those who got through their program and got their job offers rescinded like at this other prominent University because of the economic downturn all over the country. How are they supposed to get along, now? Some of them had families? Back on to the subject in which you have to stay on throughout your research. Use your hypothesis or theory to lure readers into your view of things. Grammar and spell check are essential because someone else is reading your stuff. Use it. Use it Use it. I can’t stress it enough because I know you may have meant to say something but it could read as senseless to someone else reading it. Your brain is working quicker than the hand can write it on paper is what I call it. This is the most common mistake for students. Have a second set of eyes read paper as well if can before submitting. I’ve given you some advice on how to pursue your academic career now it is time to buy the APA style guide out of Borders or a Barnes and Noble near you and get started.

My compliments are for the ones that have endured this and have completed their studies and much empathy who still are. I hope to hear from you upon graduation someplace I have been several times. I hope this example of my work will help. The paper is entitle Security vs. Privacy.

Security vs. Privacy 1

National Security vs. Personal Privacy

Rhonda Weston

Security vs. Privacy 2

Abstract

The steady development of documentary systems like computers, credit cards, and cameras did not immediately incite public consciousness or concern. Indeed, the present salience of record keeping as a privacy issue had its origins remarkably recently. In the early part of the twentieth century personal data and its innovative uses caused skirmishes over privacy issues. As new ways of creating, transmitting, and using data on people-bureaucratically or otherwise came into fruition conflicts arose around the propriety of these issues.(McAdam, Douglas, Rule, James., Stearns, Linda., & Uglow, David., 1980)

Security vs. Privacy 3

After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, officials from all over the country started to infringe on American civil liberties. For example, at the Orlando international airport people were being screened by a machine they call the Naked machine. This machine could electronically strip a person by bouncing microwaves and millimeter waves off the human body. This machine projects a three-dimensional sexless image of everyone it scrutinizes. It can detect ceramic and plastic as well as metal unlike the crude metal detectors that had been in use before. The makers of this machine hope to one day put it in schools, at public monuments, federal buildings, and in prisons. This however has come under fire because the travelers privacy would be eroded because they would be exposed even if they didn’t have anything to hide or acted in a suspicious fashion past or present. (Rosen, 2004)

Still critics say that they are so thoroughly searched at airports they wouldn’t mind the extra precautions anyway since if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear. This paper will be about the anxieties of the Naked Crowd in an age of terror; and in this sense, it is also a paper about our anxieties about identity at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Now that we can no longer depend on the traditional markers of identity-such as clothes or family or religion to make judgments about whether or not strangers in the crowd pose threats to our security, fearful citizens are turning instead to technologies of identification and risk management. 9/11 caused a rise in the interest and investment in surveillance type materials. Cameras, integrated databases with personal information like your credit card account has caused an era of confusion and fear to come forth in this country. (Rosen, 2004)

Security vs. Privacy 4

Now you may ask yourself why does someone want to know about my spending habits if I don’t own any guns, not in the military, and have no criminal background? Others have pondered this too to try and reason with an ever untrustworthy government. The sociologist Anthony Giddens has said we live in a “risk culture” (Rosen, 2004)in which individuals, no longer able to rely on customary sources of identity must define themselves each day from an infinite variety of lifestyle choices.(Rosen, 2004)

In an ABC exclusive news report “U.S. lawmakers and their spouses have been detained because their names were on a watch list.” says journalist Justin Rood (Behreandt, 2007). This list is comprised of at least 500,000 thousand names but its intent to thwart terrorism may have been eroded due to the sheer numbers of the people they want to keep under surveillance. A spokesman for the National Counter-terrorism Center has admitted to having such a list. Reporters who have reviewed this list say they have compelling evidence that the federal government can’t even manage to keep a relatively small database under control. Under legislation signed into law by President Bush in 2005 and to be implemented in 2009, the nation will create a federally administered list that is much larger than the list just mentioned and will cover more Americans and their activities. This Act President Bush made law is called the Real ID Act which creates a defacto national ID for all Americans by requiring states to both issue licenses that conform to the office of Homeland Security guidelines that link state driver’s license databases together with the federally administered databases. Some states statutes have objected to this measure because of its enormous funding costs and authoritarian dictates. They have been trying to get this type measure passed since the early 1980s during the Reagan administration. (Rosen, 2004).

Security vs. Privacy 5

Of course at the time it was seen as a religious concern. Ann Beeson a lawyer who works with ACLU (American Civil liberties Union) was one of the first people to challenge section 215 of the Patriot Act that gave the FBI expanded powers in accessing library records, financial records, and business records of individuals in the U.S. She argued that the Patriot Act violated the first, fourth, and fifth amendments. Also it was around Christmas time in 2005 when it was uncovered by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau that there was huge warrant less NSA (National Security Agency) spying program.(Behreandt, 2007)

The White House went on the defense of this program just days after the New York Times story broke. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales led the charge. He was Counsel to the president when he secretly signed that order and had stated the Geneva conventions mandates were now “obsolete”. He defended the program as a necessary tool in the fight against terrorism. “If your talking with Al Qaeda, we want to know what you’re saying,” both Bush and Gonzales have said.(Behreandt, 2007)

In the past the courts have not intervened because President’s do have extended powers during a time of war but some argue that changed when in 1978 FISA was passed. That law was enacted to cabin the president’s authority when using extreme measures of surveillance. FISA did not come under fire for the constitutionality of its existence. At that time the program was so limited. It was communication between only the parties involved now it is coming under such a much wider scope of individuals some of which may have no reason to be getting monitored.

Security vs. Privacy 6

Surveillance is considered a sensitive subject with lawmakers. Take for instance, attending a public event. It used to be quite casual with just one police officer directing traffic at a baseball game and then maybe only 2 guards at either entrance to a museum. But in recent years, like at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games security was so tight fisted that they had the coaches, athletes, volunteers, and sponsors fill out questionnaires for screening. Those who passed received coded badges which were checked by guards at every entrance. There were 150 cameras and monitoring equipment at various areas where the games were being held. Despite that someone planted a bomb and killed someone and injured many others. It is these type worst case scenarios that had the Department of Defense’s little known Office of Special Events management as part of that picture. The subsequent FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) investigation that did not produce an adequate suspect only fueled lawsuits for the city.

And it is known that they want to start you off young. It is the conditioning of children to accept surveillance as part of normal life that is promoting the most fear. Schools have installed cameras to watch students because weapons had become such an issue. Some schools have gone as far as having everyone including the students to have picture ID. This ID badge gets them used to having one for the rest of their lives. Of course the reason for all this is because it’s in the student s best interest. Many people find this atmosphere oppressive so few principals have had any one person recording everything or watching the screens all the time. To this date cameras have not been installed in locker rooms or restrooms where people normally expect privacy. This strict discipline for children underlies that children have less rights than adults.(Lesce, 1998)

Security vs. Privacy 7

They do not know when their rights are being violated. Now, their has been some ridiculous examples like bringing a toy gun to school or having a butter knife in your lunch pail that kids have been suspended for unjustifiably but that all again falls under the students best interest too.(Lesce, 1998)

Compared to other countries like Great Britain whose surveillance mode is total. Americans still like to think they still have their privacy. Great Britain is supposed to be one of our most democratic NATO Allies yet they enacted these surveillance plans long before we did. As long ago as the year 1975 merchants set up cameras covertly for fear of public disapproval. Then the government stepped in and said they could. There are approximately 120 British public areas such as parks, streets, shopping centers and underground walkways being observed with cameras. Of course things like riots, strikes, and IRA (Irish Republican Army) bombings in London softened the public’s attitude towards having such mass surveillance of people in the 1980s.(Lesce, 1998)

In Holland the atmosphere has become oppressive with cameras even in bars, buses, and taxis. Yes it seems the government is obsessed with surveillance of its citizens there. We are becoming a “Surveillance Society.” (Lesce, 1998)

One of the most important reasons all this is being enacted is to bring about a sense of intimidation. It is frightening to the ordinary citizen but to some more dangerous affluent people it is nothing to them. Another reason is that it is big business to watch people. Take for instance, the retail industry which loses an estimated 27 billion dollars a year to employee pilferage, shoplifting and accidents so when you shop you’re watched.

Security vs. Privacy 8

Some forms of surveillance are more obvious than others. Little shiny or black domes in the ceilings that contain cameras and then you never know if it’s watching you or not.(Lesce, 1998)

Then Attorney General Ashcroft spearheaded a campaign after the 9/11attacks that has singled out people due to their racial identity in this country as potential terrorist suspects. History is repeating itself because we did this to the Japanese during World War II. Now the government has found another form of repression by turning that emergency in to another type of red scare like in the McCarthy Era. Ashcroft says that his men which are the FBI are acting only in a preventive way when they use surveillance but this same group has been known to secretly detain people in prisons like in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The USA Patriot Act has even dealt immigrants a critical blow when trying to gain U.S. citizenship with proceedings like they had no kind of civil liberties. Donald Rumsfeld then Secretary of Defense denied all charges of wrongdoing or that the people he detained at Guantanamo Bay had prisoner of war status. Measures that violate American civil liberties are inherently divisive for this nation. Most people think that if Americans are in anyway involved with a situation they should be treated like an American citizen even abroad. No such philosophy exudes with lawmakers and enforcers in Washington D.C. or elsewhere. Granted the magnitude of 9/11 was reverberating at the time because no newspaper other form of media outlet opposed the Patriot Act but we did not see the long range effects it would have on rights of U.S. citizens going forward. In fact Attorney General Ashcroft has portrayed the efforts to protect civil liberties as support for terrorist cells.(Brown, 2003)

Security vs. Privacy 9

The War on Terrorism as the Bush Administration has labeled it is the final crackdown on civil rights and liberties both here and abroad. Within days of 9/11 law enforcement agencies in 135 counties united to form a “Global civilian front in the war on terrorism.”(Brown, 2003)A worldwide police force is need to ultimately collect and scrutinize the financial, medical, employment, and travel records of virtually everyone on the planet. Bush, son of a former CIA director (Central Intelligence Agency) President George Bush Sr. announced his New World order with candor when on October 14 Congress ratified a resolution authorizing future presidents to “use all necessary and appropriate force against nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided in the terrorist attacks.”(Brown, 2003)

That word “appropriate” sticks out in that resolution doesn’t it. Because it now seems that with the illegal wiretapping that surfaced not to long after that was passed and against of all people law abiding American citizens it seems the President is crossing the line into things that do not concern him. Perhaps like in the days of the Nixon Presidency he is spying on his colleagues who want to usurp his power. Without the courts and constant media scrutiny that Watergate caused however it never would have gave way to the fact this American culture is succumbing to paranoia. The peaceful demonstrations that took place all over the country at that time because of the Vietnam War and now because of the growing dissent for the Iraq War mirror crucial problems with maintaining American liberties domestic and foreign. Something lawmakers have had to grapple with for some time but again history repeats itself because of unreasonable fears and doubts that are lawmakers can protect us.(Redden, 2000)

Security vs. Privacy 10

History teaches that new powers will be abused. Faced with the choice between national security and the Bill of Rights, previous Presidents repeatedly chose to curtail freedoms of law-abiding citizens. It was even rumored by a house representative that he hadn’t read the Patriot Act bill before it was passed. It was an understanding on the floor that the bill wasn’t even printed before the vote so it was definitely not available for people to pick out the ways it undermines the U.S. Constitution all these lawmakers have sworn to uphold when they take their oaths of office.(Redden, 2000)

Congress has gone as far as upholding this domestic terrorism policy in efforts to make the person or persons who are responsible and the people who helped them suffer even if the assistance is minor like lodging them or something. Penalties can be severe.

The firewalls that were erected 25 years ago during Watergate were blown away with 9/11’s aftermath. Now prison officials can monitor conversations between lawyers and foreigners suspected of terrorism, detain people indefinitely without notice and try these same prisoner out of the reach of military courts.(Redden, 2000)

The Abu Ghraib prison story is a prime example of the abuses some of these prisoners face. Blindfolded, beaten, and interrogated for hours by armed military guards who have no conscience for what they were doing. In fact one of them, a woman just went along with it to please her boyfriend another guard at the prison. Foolishly however someone leaked pictures of this problem to the media and the officers were reprimanded but what about in other places Americans have prisons at.(Romero & Templeton-Raston, 2007)

Security vs. Privacy 11

They say there are as many prisons in Europe and elsewhere. El-Masri an occupant of the jail

said Macedonian officials handed him over to CIA agents who handcuffed, blindfolded, and tortured him for months without so much as reading him formal charges.. They realized they had the wrong man because they were after someone else yet still these same agents let him go on a hillside in the dead of night in a completely different country, Albania of all places. The government ignored its own edict at the Geneva Convention years before during World War I and II to never infringe on another country’s citizens rights but we just looked the other way. It took an experienced attorney like Ann Beeson to make the White House respond to the accusations and to right there wrongs. The system still can work for people, all people.(Romero & Templeton-Raston, 2007)

Security vs. Privacy 12

REFERENCES

Behreandt, Dennis. (2007).Pushing National IDS. The New American Periodical,11-16.

Brown, Cynthia.(2003) Lost Liberties Ashcroft and The Assault On Personal Freedom. The New Press.

Lesce, Tony. (1998) They’re Watching You! The Age of Surveillance. Loompanics Unlimited.

Mcadam, Douglas, Rule, James, Stearns, Linda & Uglow David. The Politics of Privacy Planning for Personal Data Systems as Powerful Technologies.(1980) Elsevier North Holland Inc.

Redden, Jim. (2000) Snitch Culture…How Citizens Are Turned Into The Eyes And Ears Of The State. Ferral House.

Romero, Anthony D. & Templeton-Raston, Dina. In Defense of Our America The fight For Civil Liberties In The Age of Terror.(2007) Harper Collins.

Rosen, Jeffrey. The Naked Crowd Reclaiming Security and Freedom In An Anxious Age.(2004) Random House.