Literature Review #4

Wallace, Walter L. "Faculty and Fraternities: Organizational Influences on Student Acheivement." Administrative Science Quarterly: n. pag. Print. 

This scholarly article is shows the data and explanations gathered when the author, Walter L. Wallace, asked the question of how much Greek-letter organizations influence the academics of their members.  Through tables, graphs, and much analysis, Wallace shows the positive and the negative outcomes of the subjects of his study.  His leading argument highlights the distinct differences between Greek structured college experiences and non-Greek structured college experiences.  

This article was published in Administrative Science Quarterly, an academic peer-reviewed journal that publishes studies, essays, and dissertations mostly in regards to organizational studies.  It was established in 1999 and is still publishing volumes today.  It has published many educated scholars and is a reliable source because of its legitimacy in the academic world and it's wide array of published writers.

The information in this study that stood out to me was the data gathered through questionnaires given to a range of over 1,000 students at a given university.  All is important because it is clear and concise numbers.  The writer demonstrates transparency as he shows all of his given data and compares all of the information he gathered in well-organized tables and charts.  

“fraternity membership reduced most negative relations between peer-oriented social values and grade achievement” (661).  This quote is important because Wallace studied the positive impact that fraternities had on the students involved in his research.  This is also a good quote for my argument because shows a reduction of negative relations from two aspects of membership: social and academic.  

“a student whose expertise may be restricted to one particular activity, say getting high grades, is relieved from personally seeking well-rounded prestige in a variety of fields, say athletics, romancing, politicking, and others, in which he is not skilled, by his membership in a well- rounded organization” (666). This quote is also important for my argument because it shows that fraternities create well-rounded students who excel in an array of traits that non-members would not possess. 
This study is important to my argument because it is unbiased, it includes information coming from both Greek-letter organization members and students who have opted not to join Greek-letter organizations.  It is also scholarly because the author, Walter L. Wallace, is a professor of sociology and has performed research and surveys on this topic.  I can also use some of his tables within my paper to help strengthen my argument and give visual aid to my final thesis.  

Literature Review #3

DeSantis, Alan D. Inside Greek U: Fraternities, Sororities, and the Pursuit of of Pleasure, Power, and Prestige. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. 

I have just requested to have this book delivered to the Alexander Library from another campus and I am eager to read it.  The author, Alan D. DeSantis, was in a fraternity himself and investigates many subjects regarding membership, specifically gender roles and how joining Greek life alters members' post-collegiate plans.  DeSantis did a lot of investigation that included interviews, focus groups, gathering of statistics, and recalling his own personal experiences.  

As mentioned, DeSantis is a fraternity man himself so he can share his own collegiate experiences.  He is also a professor at the University of Kentucky, so he is exposed to the modern-day fraternity habits as well.  He performed extensive research (enough to write an entire book!) and is knowledgeable about this topic. 

Since I have not received the book yet, I have not been able to browse the chapters; however, in the title, the word "prestige" stands out to me.  My own personal definition of prestige would be finding success in a career and earning a large sum of money.  Finding promotions and making a large income could also be included in achieving a prestigious lifestyle.  

“…while Greeks constitute an average of only 8.5 percent of American college students, they produce from among their ranks a staggering number of American leaders.” (7) This quote could be beneficial to my argument because it shows the existing proof that Greek alum hold leadership roles in the American society.  

“Of the over twelve hundred students I teach each year in my Introduction to Communication Theory course, a mass lecture, it is the sorority women who are always the most active and interesting participants in class” (106).  This quote could also benefit my argument because it shows the strong academic drive that sorority women possess.  Considering they all share this trait, it can be said that their organizations are the ones that influenced them to want to excel in the academic front.
I think this book will definitely help me write my paper because it gives multiple perspectives on many different topics.  Therefore, I can broaden my arguments and bring up many subjects that are relevant to my paper.  It is also reliable, so I know I will make the best argument I can because the writing is so strong.  

Research Blogs #4 and #5

Alexis Moran

201- College!

Prof. Michael Goeller

March 6, 2014

Starting a Career: Greek vs Non-Greek

The topic for my final paper has come a long way for me since the beginning of this semester.  From the start, Greek life has always been my top interest because it is something extremely unique just to college.  Finding an academic and analytic subject within the topic was a challenge.  After looking through a few scholarly research archives, I’ve formulated a thesis that I will be able to investigate in multiple ways.  Greek life impacts many collegians lives in more ways than one.  One specific way is through preparing members for the future.  Their preparations include striving for academic excellence, creating strong career networks, and implementing time management.  I am going to research the differences between building a career as a Greek life alum with building a career as a graduate uninvolved in Greek life.  I will enter the discussion describing some of the experiences others have reported while being involved in Greek life in college.  As I continue on, I will look at the foundations that fraternities and sororities set for their members academically throughout their college years that could give them an advantage or disadvantage post-graduation.  Then I would like to research the successes or misfortunes that both Greeks and non-Greeks have experienced on their job hunts and seek out some possible evidence as to why or why not which group receives the results they wind up with.  

My main research question is: How do fraternities and sororities prepare their members for future careers in ways that differ from collegians uninvolved in Greek life?  This question is sufficient because it compares two different groups, those involved in Greek life and those who chose to not be involved.  Because it is two clear groups, there will be differences that are easy to discriminate from each other, making each argument stronger on both sides. It is important in a research paper to argue both sides and here there is no grey area where people do not fit into either category.  It is clear cut: a Greek college graduate or a non-Greek college graduate.   I think this research question is manageable because it is specific.  Finding articles, books, and other sources will be easier because I can eliminate less specific sources that will be irrelevant to my topic.  I also like this topic because I can perform in-person interviews with alumni or collegiate seniors applying for jobs.  They will be a reliable source because I can choose which questions I can ask to my subjects and I can work with the answers I receive.  

To analyze case studies and facts, I will mostly compare and contrast the results I find from my sources in order to verify the difference between truth and opinion.  I will also be able to categorize the relevancy of my sources by organizing my quotes into lists and seeing which source I gathered the most information from.  This source will probably be my primary driving force that will support my overall argument- once I finish my research.  

My plan of action is to look in education archives first.  I have a tendency to be hyper-organized so I would love to be able to research supporting arguments in the order that I will write them in the paper.  If I look in education based searches,  I’ll be able to find research in regards to academics during college.  There could be possible articles on Greeks excelling in specific majors or schools.  I might also look for minimum GPA requirements for Greek life at  certain universities and compare it to the average GPA of the entire university.   I was also considering looking in a business source for post-college research.  I would look for possible statistics or articles about personal endeavors of graduates who have been accepted to or denied of jobs and the reasoning that goes along with it.  Statistics could include percentages of Greeks vs non-Greeks hired at specific companies.  I also want to make sure that taking Greek life into consideration is the only difference between candidates.  However, it could be interesting to consider that a student did better academically in college because of the ideals introduced to him or her in his or her organization.  I just want to investigate how much Greek life can affect a member academically and professionally.   I could then analyze a specific company and look for qualitative reasonings behind the quantitative results.  As I continue on my research, I’m sure I’ll develop new plans of action that will help me strengthen my argument and complete my paper.  

Working Bibliography:

"Greek Life at Southern Miss: Good Grades, Giving, Growth." Daily Times Leader: n. pag. Global NewsBank. Web. 3 Mar. 2014. <http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_topdoc=1&p_docnum=1&p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_product=AWNB&p_text_direct-0=document_id=(%20146F69E4E3CC2B58%20)&p_docid=146F69E4E3CC2B58&p_theme=aggdocs&p_queryname=146F69E4E3CC2B58&f_penurl=yes&p_nbid=L4BL4BBHMTM5Mzg4OTIyMi40NzMzMDg6MTo5OkVCU0NPODE1Mg&&p_multi=DTLB>.

Grubb, Farley. "Does Going Greek Impair Undergraduate Academic Success?" The American Journal of

   Economics and Sociology: n. pag. Print.

Klopfer, Lisa. "Inside Greek U: Fraternities, Sororities, and the Pursuit of Pleasure, Power, and

   Prestige." Library Journal: n. pag. Print.

Robbins, Alexandra. Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities. New York: Hyperion, 2004. Print.

Warren, Lorraine, and Robert Smith. "Fraternity, Legitimacy and (His)Story: The Collective

   Presentation of Entrepreneur Stories as Excess." Tamara Journal: n. pag. http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&sid=966f1530-6d31-4354-9120-bb277eb0777a%40sessionmgr4003&hid=T4202

Literature Review #2

"Greek Life at Southern Miss: Good Grades, Giving, Growth." Daily Times Leader: n. pag. Global NewsBank. Web. 3 Mar. 2014. <http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/ 

     InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_topdoc=1&p_docnum=1&p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_product=AWNB&p_text_direct-0=document_ 

     id=(%20146F69E4E3CC2B58%20)&p_docid=146F69E4E3CC2B58&p_theme=aggdocs&p_queryname=146F69E4E3CC2B58&f_o 

     penurl=yes&p_nbid=L4BL4BBHMTM5Mzg4OTIyMi40NzMzMDg6MTo5OkVCU0NPODE1Mg&&p_multi=DTLB>.

This article is mainly describing the nature of the University of Southern Mississippi's Greek Life and discussing some of the academic goals they have set and accomplishments they have made.  They bring up strong statistics about all of the organizations as a whole and discuss beneficial programs that they offer to help the students keep their grades as impressive as they are.  

The Daily Times Leader is a local newspaper that serves the areas around the University of Southern Mississippi.  Although there is no specific author credited on the article, the newspaper itself is reliable because it is close to the campus, so traveling there for research and interviews is accessible.  

The key phrase in this article is "overall culture of achievement".  This is the plan that Southern Miss Greek Life has implemented in order to maximize the academic success of its members, in addition to other values such as service and retention.  

"'We're focused on success in three areas - academics, community service and retention, as well as growth,' Schutts said." This could help my argument because strong academic emphasis results in a more successful future when seeking employment.  

"'We're elated that our fraternities and sororities are thriving in unprecedented fashion,' said Southern Miss Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Joe Paul. 'Every positive indicator of a healthy Greek system is up -grades, recruiting, retention and philanthropy. A healthy Greek system helps retain students who will most likely continue to be engaged in their communities and with the university for a lifetime.'" This is beneficial to my argument because the advisor has seen their successes himself and describes ways that it could benefit them in the future.  

"The lessons he's learned are ones he and his fraternity brothers will carry with them in life and work, Nelson said. 'We have tremendous autonomy to run our organizations, so we learn how to manage finances, work together and with other Greeks on campus to achieve goals that benefit not only our fraternity, but the university and others who need our help. Those kinds of experiences prepare you for life after graduation.'" This quote is basically arguing my thesis for me.  Nelson, who was the President of the Interfraternity Council at Southern Miss, explains that he experienced obligations that prepared him for post-college life.  

This article is important to my argument because it has statistics, direct quotes, and information about the success of Southern Miss Greeks in academic areas and others.  It explains that they have been prepared for professional life by their duties and responsibilities as members of Greek organizations.