The Literature!

Hello Readers,

I will be writing about my research process for my Position paper, the topic I have chosen is: The New Zealand government should adopt a policy of subsiding healthy food by taxing unhealthy food. Before I get into this I will give you all a paragraph about me and my history regarding education and researching, this way you get a better understanding of who I am as we go through this journey.

I’ll be honest that from the age of 16, when I left school, I truly believed I wasn’t an academic person. I felt that reading and writing, beyond the use of social media, wasn’t for me. After having my son, I realized I needed to do more, I moved back from Australia and made the decision to study. I was extremely nervous about studying as I had honestly not written nor read something more than an email or a Facebook post since leaving school to early. This was compounded when my first introduction to university study was a long and difficult semester, there were many late nights and early mornings as I struggled to grasp concepts of researching, reading and writing at a level that is acceptable for university.

Because of the above I used my break to find resources and tools to help improve myself in this area. The following paragraphs explains what I have done and it was all learnt from this paper, the Massey University online seminars and fellow students.

Firstly, I took my topic and reworded it into a question, Should the New Zealand government adopt a policy of subsiding healthy food by taxing unhealthy food? By doing this it allowed me to be more specific in looking for answers and information. It also brought about subsidiary questions. For example, have similar policies been applied elsewhere and with what results?  

Secondly, after having identified the questions, I took all my main terms from my question and listed all my possible search words. Some examples from my list are healthy, unhealthy, obesity, tax*, sugar, fat, incentives, plus many more. This helped me to be effective and use my time better when searching online.

Thirdly, I used the Massey University online library for the bulk of my search. I used the list I had created to form different search options bringing up more sources. I then went through and read the abstract and discussion/conclusions of each source, if I found them useful I saved them through Endnote. Upon having a good pile of possible sources, I went through them a little deeper and picked the ones I truly needed. One of the things I learnt from this was to use the reference list of the papers I had found as they were valid sources on the same topic, they also took me to various places such as government sites, newspaper articles and an online medical article site.

The above process has helped me to form a position and made me think critically about the information available. My position has changed slightly from before I began the research but is now one I can confidently stand by.

Ryan.

Introduction: Week One

Hello Readers, 

My name is Ryan Bainbridge and I am 28 years old. I have a partner of 9 years and we have 2 children together, Elias 3 years old and Eva-Anita 6 months old. We live in Ohau, just south of Levin, on a farm where I work part time. My partner works from home whilst studying Te Reo Maori.

I left school at 16 years old and continued to work the every day labouring jobs, though I do regret this decision now it has instilled a drive in me to better myself and to follow a passion of mine through further education. My passion is sport, fitness, and health in every aspect. I play football socially, I also coach a college boy first 11 football team and I help organize and maintain a summer 5-a-side football competition for the local community. I am hoping to be able to turn this passion into a successful career within the sport or health industries following my time at Massey. 

I originally started my study at Massey doing a Bachelor in Sport Management, I have now changed to a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise. Through recent conversations with career advisors and fellow students, I was introduced to the idea of a Bachelor Of Science majoring in Sport and Exercise and/or Human Nutrition. It was this reason that I have decided to take part in the Communication in the Sciences paper.

I know that writing on an academic level is a weakness of mine, it was the common pitfall for my last semester as I lost marks and was often faulted on assignments. Furthermore, public speaking is a definite weakness. I am not confident at all talking in front of large groups or being the centre of attention. This being said I know these are skills needed in the work place and I plan on improving these over the semester. 

One of my biggest strengths is my ability to get along with people, I am generally not shy and can work with everyone. A group situation suits me as I am a social person and enjoy working alongside others as well as enjoying helping and/or teaching others. I generally see the best in people and like to see others succeed, often putting others needs over my own. I also feel my want to not only pass but to truly understand and learn from this paper to be a strength.

I hope that over the next 12 weeks of the semester you will be able to see improvements through my weekly blogging and will enjoy my learning journey as it progresses. I am always keen to hear from others and willing to learn from anyone, so please comment if you think it will help or if you would like to add to the conversation or argument. 

Thanks, 
Ryan.