tour!

Research projects are perhaps the most academic form of writing. However the research that goes into building the thesis of the paper is often overlooked. Countless hours can be credited specifically to the “research” aspect of the paper in terms of finding facts to back up your topic statements. Hours upon hours of research creates piles and piles of papers which frequently turns into a mess in my experiences. Although research papers require a majority of preparatory work it can be exciting and that stack of papers can be simplified via a few web shortcuts such as pageflakes..

Page flakes is a site which allows you to create a personalized web page based on a compilation of widgets. These widgets can be used in all sorts of ways such as RSS feeds, web page inserts which allow a mini browser strait on the page ( awesome) or simply a sticky pad. My page flake includes all of my research work such as my annotated bibliography created with the help of two other awesome tools (zotero and citeline), my diigo soul mate and useful blogs supporting my thesis.

My page flake also includes two useful widgets under the active searches flake. The Universal news search which is preloaded to politics and genocide and the universal blog search which is set to world leaders. These two flakes are continuously updated and bring fresh events to my research. This tool can be considered the most useful because it adds new research to the list. Being able to find blogs related to my topic is always a great source to utilize and to add peer related depth to my research. This provided a foundation for information that added a different light to the research from books or scholarly articles. For example using the universal Blog search flake I was able to find an article on Islam and the West: lines of demarcation which was an blog post discussing the different cultural settings of the middle east and perhaps the rest of the world against western civilization. Ideas such as radicalized Islam and accusations of war crimes in Darfur add substance to my research. I do see these two little tools to add amazing insight for my research which might end up being easier than I predicted.

My page flake includes multiple RSS feeds, which can be located on the lower left hand column. These flakes I found to be very helpful due to the multitudes of information being “relayed” back to my page flakes. There are many times where research tends to get out of control which surfing the web for relevant information. The RSS feeds that my page incorporates such as AP political news, Obama HQ, NY as well as LA times and CNN world news all eliminate my browser having 10 tabs open. In the RSS section I also included some from my blog roll such as Caterwauld and Coyote blogs which add insight on politics and world leaders via blogspot. This is my favorite part of the page flakes and possibly the resarech because news is constantly being updated. IF I had not included my RSS feeds I wouldn’t be updated on Rush Limbaugh making a mockery of himself as he tries to bash President Obama or Sudans President touring Dafur after his ordered arrest by the international tribunal.





Some interesting websites that I included on the page are This American life, which offers helpful weekly pod casts regarding the political discussion and the state of American politics. I also added the flake of the Democracy Now pod cast, which relates well to the link of this American life. Both pod casts offer backdrop for my research and add a comprehensive understanding of leaders and American foreign policy. What happens from within the country itself is not often revealed but can be seen through the actions of President Obama and his interaction with World Leaders. I also included a web flake to United Human Rights page on Pol Pot and the Cambodian Genocide. In the process of compiling research on world leaders who turn against their own people such as Pol Pot and Talaat Pasha I often related back to the United Human Rights page which did a fabulous job documenting the events and aim at prevention across the globe to genocide.

If you take a look at the right column of my page flake you see a web page link to my annotated bibliography. This bibliography was done with the help of Zotero and Citeline and very useful for my bibliography. Underneath the annotated bibliography a viewer will find two Fun flakes to add character to my research. In that section are included a World clock flake so I can see the time in countries around the world as news pops up. I also have a sticky note tablet as well for the public to be able to add useful notes from my page. What is really cool about this sticky pad is that if the viewer is also a member of page flakes they can copy that notepad onto their page with all of their notes still in tact. Very cool if adding some depth to your research from other relevant page flakes on your topic!

Last but not least my page includes a section dedicated to my diigo soul mate and it to be somewhat of a dedication section for the individual who shares the same bookmarks and interests as I do. This tribute portion of the page includes an RSS feed to her bookmark page as well as a web flake linked to my blog post on my soul mate. My blog is also linked to the page flakes beneath the Soul mate section as a reference for views that are interested in the topics I often have up for discussion. This will allow readers to follow my blog and stay in touch my blog hopefully will someday be included in someone’s research!

Research can often seem overwhelming and difficult to manage. With sites such as page flakes a user such as me have done is able to reduce expected complications significantly.
Web sources of information are not the best substance for research papers however the web does offer an enormous foundation for relevant information. I mean when using Page flakes it is like looking at the thirty different web pages compiled into one… what can be simpler than that!