Week 10 Blog

Hello once again to my interested fans and readers. This week saw me manage to complete and upload the final version of my paper to the College Board, thus completing a major chapter in my work for this project. It also saw me begin to greatly intensify the work that I had been putting into completing both the script for my presentation and the actual presentation itself. The completion of my presentation this week meant it would be a busy week of studying the script to achieve that goal. I also began to specifically look back at the opening slides of my presentation to ensure that they matched changes that I made to my final paper, and that these slides were refined enough to keep the audience interested. With the deadline for my presentation fast approaching, it has been a busy week for my project.

The first step that I took this week was to sit down and comprehensively read through my completed paper. I looked for any and all personally identifying information that I could, checking for my name, the name of my teachers and consultants, and for any information on the school itself. I also used this opportunity to do a final run-through of my paper for any grammar or syntax mistakes, as these would greatly detract from the credibility of the paper and the research that I had spent so much time trying to complete. To finish the paper off, I added in sub-headings to each of the major sections that it was composed of to ensure that the readers were in no way confused or unsure of the paper’s organization. With all this completed, I uploaded the paper to the College Board website and began my full-focus work on the presentation.

I first focused on the actual script for the presentation, looking to see if what I would be saying to the audience actually matched up with the slides I had created and the flow of the paper itself. After making a few edits to it, I moved towards examining how well my initial slides matched up to the now final paper and I found that I had to make a number of changes based on the edits that I had made earlier to my literature review and other parts of my paper. Considering that my paper’s organization and flow had changed a fair amount by the time the final was complete, I went back and reorganized the presentation to better match this flow, removing unnecessary information and focusing on making each slide representative of its subject material in the paper. Also, I put more focus on reducing the number of words on each of my slides, as I realized that they were becoming fairly verbose and I was relying too much on the presentation to convey my points instead of my own speaking to explain the research to the audience.

This week saw me end a major chapter in my work for this project, and it saw me take on a different aspect with a wholly new focus and determination. My coming time will only be spent further improving and building off my current presentation.

Regards,

Lazar Vukcevic 

Week 9 Blog

Hello once again interested fans and readers. This week saw me practice presenting my research for the first time and then had me move on to examining the recording of my presentation and the feedback I received from the board of teachers to best improve my presentation. Also, this week saw me look to the presentations of some of my closer friends to get a better idea of the exact way to structure and organize my presentation. I learned a large amount of new information on how to better make my presentation both interesting and appealing to the audience, while still making sure that it was not to verbose or distracting to the actual points I was making. With my presentation redo set for tomorrow morning, it has been a week of intensive edits and corrections for me.

The first step I took this week was to review the video of my presentation to get a thorough understanding of where I could improve on my actual presenting ability. An immediate error that I noticed was that I had a weak memory for the script and that I needed to both edit and more thoroughly review it for my next presentation. In addition to my continuous pausing to remember the lines of my script, I also noticed that I was having problems directing my eyes towards the audience and keeping good posture. I took mental note of this and practiced reading off lines from my script while staring at something specific and standing straight to get more used to it. Another problem that I noticed in the video recording of my presentation was that I had a number of redundant points throughout the actual presentation itself. I began to remedy this by removing unnecessary bullet points, slides, and words that I felt added very little to the presentation.

Another important step that I took this week was to look at the presentations of my friends who did well on their practice runs to get a better idea of how my presentation should flow and what is should look like visually. With Malavika’s permission, I began by looking at her presentation and immediately noticed a number of excellent changes I could make to my own. The first important edit I realized I should make was to add many more photos and visually stimulating images so that the presentation itself was actually stimulating to the audience. Another change I realized I should make was to greatly reduce the word count of my slides, as I was just repeating the things I would be saying to the audience anyway. Finally, a change I realized I should make was to place my research question after my literature review, as this mimicked the structure of the paper and made it easier for the audience to understand by that point in the presentation.

Between trying to improve my presentational skills in person and trying to look at the feedback I received from the faculty, it has been a busy week of editing for me.

Regards,

Lazar Vukcevic 

Week 8 Blog

Hello and happy April fool’s day to my interested fans and readers. This week saw me manage to complete and upload the final version of my paper to the College Board, thus completing a major chapter in my work for this project. It also saw me begin to greatly intensify the work that I had been putting into completing both the script for my presentation and the actual presentation itself. I also began to specifically look back at the opening slides of my presentation to ensure that they matched changes that I made to my final paper, and that these slides were refined enough to keep the audience interested. With the deadline for my presentation fast approaching, it has been a busy week for my project.

The first step that I took this week was to sit down and comprehensively read through my completed paper. I looked for any and all personally identifying information that I could, checking for my name, the name of my teachers and consultants, and for any information on the school itself. I also used this opportunity to do a final run-through of my paper for any grammar or syntax mistakes, as these would greatly detract from the credibility of the paper and the research that I had spent so much time trying to complete. To finish the paper off, I added in sub-headings to each of the major sections that it was composed of to ensure that the readers were in no way confused or unsure of the paper’s organization. With all this completed, I uploaded the paper to the College Board website and began my full-focus work on the presentation.

I first focused on the actual script for the presentation, looking to see if what I would be saying to the audience actually matched up with the slides I had created and the flow of the paper itself. After making a few edits to it, I moved towards examining how well my initial slides matched up to the now final paper and I found that I had to make a number of changes based on the edits that I had made earlier to my literature review and other parts of my paper. Considering that my paper’s organization and flow had changed a fair amount by the time the final was complete, I went back and reorganized the presentation to better match this flow, removing unnecessary information and focusing on making each slide representative of its subject material in the paper. Also, I put more focus on reducing the number of words on each of my slides, as I realized that they were becoming fairly verbose and I was relying too much on the presentation to convey my points instead of my own speaking to explain the research to the audience.

This week saw me end a major chapter in my work for this project, and it saw me take on a different aspect with a wholly new focus and determination. My coming time will only be spent further improving and building off my current presentation.

Regards,

Lazar Vukcevic 

Week 7 Blog

Hello again interested readers. This week saw me continue my work towards editing my paper to be sure that it is ready for the College Board deadline, and this week also saw me begin to work on the meat of my project’s presentation, including the general script for what I would say during the presentation. I also began mentally preparing myself for the presentation, which entailed me reading my draft copy of the script aloud and focusing on my tone of voice, posture, eye contact, etc. to be sure that my presentation would meet the standard of excellence that the College Board expects. With all of these goals in mind, it has been a fairly busy and productive week for my project.

I began my week by looking at my own previous PowerPoint work from seminar and focusing on what strengths and weaknesses my past presentations exposed. One of the first weaknesses that I was able to note down was my tendency to be fairly verbose with the writing in my slides, making it seem more like I was simply reading information from a script rather than actually presenting it to the audience. Another trend that I noticed from my slideshows was that I was often relying on my slides to remember what specific information I had to convey at certain times. I noted that I would have to practice and more thoroughly rehearse my presentation this time around and that I would have to avoid even considering my slides an asset for myself, but rather using them only to help the audience better appreciate my own arguments, discoveries, etc. Finally, another trend that I kept track of was that I frequently would only go into as much detail as my paper would, but I have realized that for this presentation I will want to discuss more confusing sections more thoroughly so that the audience is clear on my reasoning throughout the work.

During this week, I also spent a large portion of the time working on my presentation script and on my speaking skills to make sure I would be able to provide a presentation worthy of the time and effort that I put into the project. I began by writing a general summary of each of the elements of the paper and then allotted time to each section based on its importance to the research being conducted and its difficulty of understanding for the audience. I also tried to connect the summaries into a semi-professional format and began practicing reading them aloud to myself, noting what inflection and tone to use for various points in the presentation and getting used to discussing the material in a nonchalant manner.

This week saw me enter into a new and determined focus on mastering the art of presenting. Whether it was looking back and noting the weaker points of my previous seminar presentations or just getting comfortable with presenting the information to an audience, my work was entirely directed towards making a presentation that I could be proud of.

Regards,

Lazar Vukcevic 

Week 6 Blog

Hello once again interested fans and readers. While my last blog had me focused on dealing with the discussion section of my paper and trying to find out where my research would fit into the academic conversation, this week had me switch my focus towards examining the different individual sections of my paper and seeing how to best transition between the different sections. I also continued to use papers similar to my own to get a better understanding for the type of organizational style that would best fit the information that I am trying to present to my readers and audience. With all this in mind, it has been a fairly calm week compared to the others.

The first step that I took this week was to examine the biggest portion of my paper: the literature review. I began by reading the lit review over by itself, taking note of the tone and general voice of this section of my paper. I noticed that for this portion of the paper I was generally very expository and a majority of the lit review was an explanation of terms or ideas relevant to the topic that I would be exploring. While this is essentially the purpose of the lit review, this tone did not continue throughout my paper, so I began to look for ways to slightly modify this tone and make this section of the paper more in line with the rest of it. One of the first measures that I took to attempt to correct this action was leaving in any explanations necessary for the audience’s understanding while still removing those that were not necessary to keep only the vital information. Another step that I took to better connect the lit review to the rest of the paper was to modify the final paragraph to lead into my methods section. This helped to provide the paper with a better flow and made it seem like the two sections were actually connected, rather than separate pieces on the same topic.

Besides my work to better transition within the paper, I also began seriously considering different methods of organization for my paper, such as when to employ sub-headings and a better implementation of footnotes. I found that while there is a consensus for the use of Chicago citation by papers in my field, there is very little agreement on specific paper organization and style, leaving the decision up to me. I found that, for the information being presented, the incorporation of footnotes for definitions in the lit review would likely decrease clutter and make the information more manageable to the audience, and I also noticed that while transitions between the sections of my paper are important, a clear indication of the beginning of a new section is also fairly important to maintaining audience clarity and retention.

This week has seen me place a very direct effort into the elements of organization and the transitional points of my paper, and I have quickly realized just how important a well-organized and clear paper is to the reader, even if the information is fairly clear or straight-forward.

Regards,

Lazar Vukcevic 

Week 5 Blog

Hello again followers and interested readers. As of this week I am pleased to announce that the research and result gathering portion of my project has come to an end. The entirety of my work and goals for the project as of now are to edit the existing material that I have created and to continue my research of how to analyze the results that I currently have. The majority of the work that I allotted time for was to research papers similar to my own to better understand how to discuss the results that I ended up with, but I did also take time to look back at my literature review and try to understand where my research would fit in the current academic conversation. With all this in mind, it has been a very busy week.

My first step was to begin searching for my papers similar to my own. One of the papers that I quickly found to be both similar and useful for my analysis was one entitled “Nuclear Proliferation Case Study,” in which the researchers were studying a number of radical nations that were attempting to proliferate their nuclear arsenals, including North Korea, Iran, and a few others. The focus of the study of these countries is to determine the extent of the nuclear programs of these nations and to determine how faithful the nations that signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) have been. The research is similar to my own as the researchers provided ratings for each nation based on the nation’s honesty about the size and scale of its nuclear programs and its adherence to the NPT, if they did sign it. The researchers explained that one of the limitations of their results is that using a rating based system introduces an element of subjectivity to the research, meaning that this will also be a limitation to my own research. Another helpful piece of insight that this source provided me with is that an important element to my own discussion section is an evaluation of the information with present context. The researchers clearly indicate in their discussion how their research of previous data on nuclear weapons in these nations is relevant presently, and they indicate what this research means for the future of the field, an element I had previously not considered.

Besides examining this similar paper for help with my discussion section, I began to review my literature review to understand where my research best fits in the academic conversation. I presently believe that my paper would best fit into the policy discussion that Iran has been the focus of for the U.S. and many other Western nations, as my research directly evaluates the effectiveness of policy and diplomatic action previously carried out by U.S. presidents.

This week has seen me really ramp up my focus on understanding where my work fits into the academic conversation and I have also placed a larger effort on getting a feel for how to write a proper discussion section for my paper.

Regards,

Lazar Vukcevic

Week 4 Blog

Hello again interested readers. This week of research has seen me continue to categorically examine the relationship between the U.S. and Iran during specific presidencies, and I have also been working on researching papers similar to mine to get an idea for the correct way to present and interpret my results. I have begun to record and table my relevant results, and I will also be continuing this process until I have completed my research with the Obama administration, hopefully completing the results section of my paper. With these goals in mind, I have conducted an intensive week of work and research.

I began the week by resuming my research with the Congressional Research Service (CRS), and by actively observing Iran-U.S. relations during the time of the Bush senior administration. The first factor that immediately became apparent when I began my research with Bush was that the hostage-taking that had previously pestered Carter had made a return and was a present issue for the administration. While Iran did not get directly involved, according to a source entitled “The George H.W. Bush Administration,” Iranian allies in Lebanon continued a hostage situation for a significant period of the term. The relations during this first and only term were marked by a clear presence of frustration and rockiness due to persisting issues like this hostage-taking and more.

Another major shock to Iran-U.S. relations during this period was that Iraq had begun a very serious and coordinated invasion of Kuwait for its oil resources and wealth. Iraq’s invasion placed a very serious threat to Iranian interests and made the nation feel extremely pressured by this new military presence, eventually leading to U.S. involvement in the ending of Iraq’s occupation. A source called “The Crimes of Saddam Hussein” focused on how the implication of the Iraqi invasion provided the U.S. and Iran with grounds for peaceful, cooperative relations, and the source explains that Bush’s term in office was actually a period of relative compromise and collaboration for the two nations, at least until the end of the Iraqi occupation.

After finishing my work with the Bush senior administration, I began my research for the results section of my paper, trying to find papers that were similar to my own in terms of subject matter and organization. The first paper that I ended up examining was one that I have had since my lit review, a source titled “The Changing Political Utility of Nuclear Weapons: Nuclear Threats From 1970 to 2010,” where the author examines and records data on nuclear threats that were spoken or indicated publicly. I realized that for my own results section, I could tabulate the information I found on each president separately and then I could simply compare the results for information on the most effective strategy or diplomatic action for dealing with Iran.

This week has seen me both continue my previous work with the CRS and U.S. presidents and has seen me introduce new work with my examination of other results sections.

Regards,
Lazar Vukcevic