Research Blog 10: Abstract, Bibliography, and Link to Paper

Abstract:

After careful and extensive research on Greek life on college campuses and the benefits it holds for students, I have developed a main idea for my research topic. The main topic for this research assignment is the link between certain social skills needed to succeed in the workforce and how Greek life correlates to these skills. The main research question for this paper is “Can Greek Life Organizations, on college campuses, have a positive impact on the young men and women once they graduate and search for jobs?” Based on research from multiple sources I have found that Greek life directly correlates to obtaining a job after graduation. The skills needed to thrive in the workforce are enhanced through involvement in Greek letter organizations. I also found that fraternities and sororities look for these certain skills through out the new member recruitment process. Based on these findings Greek organizations do have a positive impact on the young men and women on college campuses. 

Works Cited 

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

Frankel, Kevin. "Self Perpetuating Success of Social Fraternities." The Lamron. 27 Feb. 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

"Fraternity Membership And Labor Market Outcomes." Monthly Labor Review 135.12 (2012): 39-40. Business Source Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

"Fraternity & Sorority Life." Why Go Greek? Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://www.hofstra.edu/StudentAffairs/StudentActivities/greek/greek_whygreek.html>.

Glass, Nicole. "Examining the Benefits of Greek Life." USA TODAY College. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. <http://college.usatoday.com/2012/05/08/examining-the-benefits-of-greek-life/>.

"Greek Life Statistics." The Fraternity Advisor. Greek Advisor. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://thefraternityadvisor.com/greek-life-statistics/>.

Huhman, Heather. "The 10 Unique Soft Skills Employers Desire in New Hires." Entrepreneur. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. <http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234864>.

"Interpersonal Skills Most Important Factor in Career Advancement." IAAP. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. <http://www.iaap-hq.org/resources/interpersonal-skills-most-important-factor-career-advancement>.

Irving, Michael. Personal Interview. 17 Nov. 2014.

Jacobs, Peter. "I Joined A Fraternity And It Was One Of The Best Decisions I Ever Made." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 8 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

Long, L. D. (2012). Unchallenged, professed core values: Do undergraduate fraternity/sorority members actually benefit in the areas of scholarship, leadership, service, and friendship? College Student Affairs Journal, 30(2), 15-30.

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

Sportelli, Natalie. "Buying Into Greek Life: Is It Worth It?." Forbes.Com (2014): 5. Business Source Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14JsyijHHqrs3FWturtbpRBz66RvRv5vRRwANIN3axUU/edit  

Literature Review 5

Long, L. D. (2012). Unchallenged, professed core values: Do undergraduate fraternity/sorority members actually benefit in the areas of scholarship, leadership, service, and friendship? College Student Affairs Journal, 30(2), 15-30.

This article is about the idea the fraternities and sororities enhance the areas of scholarship, leadership, and friendship. The author thought Greek Life didn't play an important role in enhancing these areas but further research disproved the authors ideas. Research proves that if you were in a fraternity or sorority you have better scholarship, leadership, and friendship skills than non greek members do. Greek Life promotes these three things at very high levels so it is not surprising that Greek members excel in these areas because that is what Greek Life taught them. This article is a perfect source of information i can use for my research paper. 

Leadership- the action of leading a group of people or organization 

Service- the action of helping or doing work for someone 

"Much of the research on the academic success of fraternities and sororities was conducted at single institutions"

"Black fraternal organizations might serve as a significant leadership development opportunity for African American students"

"Limited research has explored the social integration of students who join a fraternal organization" 

Overall, this article will help me write my research paper because of the information that is provided. It has great research on how leadership and friendship skills are improved by joining a frat or sorority. You benefit so much out of joining greek life and this article backs it up. Greek life gives u interpersonal skills that you will use and need later on in life. The author does a great job at showing the research he gathered and backing it up. 

Research Blog 9: Argument & Counter-Argument

My argument for this research assignment is Greek Organizations have positive sides to them and not just negative ones. Any time you hear of a fraternity or sorority on the news or the media you hear the words "hazing", "violence", "rape", etc. These are all negative words that make it seem like Greek Life is awful and a bad thing for college students. I want to stress that Greek Organizations contribute a lot to campuses and allows students to be more social and meet new people. Many news articles talk about how greek organizations are not worth joining because of the financial costs and it makes the young college students border line alcoholics. In the article, "The Dark Power Of Fraternities", it talks about how Fraternities are creating bad young men on campus. It states that it makes college students into violent alcoholics. This article brings up all the rape cases and drunk driving cases that happened involving fraternities. This only happens to a certain percentage of college fraternities, not every single one of them. My side of the argument is that there are many frats and sororities with positive things such as involvement on campus and great community service.

Research Blog 8: Interview

For my research assignment I am researching the positive affects of Greek Life on young college students. The media is always bringing up the negatives so I decided to focus on the positives because Greek Life is not a bad thing like most media sources portray it as. I decided to interview somebody from the Greek community at Rutgers. I decided to interview, Mike Irving, one of my Brothers who has been on the Executive Board the past two years. He was the former President last year and is currently the Vice President of my fraternity. I chose to interview this person for my research assignment because he is one of the most involved Brothers in our fraternity based on his positions. He has done so much for our fraternity and he loves the Greek Community. I learned from this interview how much Greek Life can change a person. Mike told me that before joining a greek organization that he was not as outgoing and didn't know that many people. Once he joined a fraternity both of those aspects changed. He became a lot more sociable and met so many different people from all over campus. "Greek Life makes big universities feel a lot smaller" (Irving). This statement is very true in a sense that greek life makes the giant student body into a smaller community. I can use this information from the interview in my research paper to back up how Greek Organizations have positive sides.

michael.irving2@gmail.com

Research Blog 7: Your Case

My chief example in my argument is that Greek Life is always being portrayed negatively but there are many positives to being in a fraternity or sorority. Greek members go on to make more money than non greeks, greeks are more involved on campus, and greeks raise the most money for philanthropies on campus. These are all positives that the media never decides to bring up because they only focus on the violence and drinking of fraternities. I have found some research pertaining to the positive effects of being in Greek Life. One stat shows that more greek life members graduate college than non-greek members. Some details that might be useful to know is that greek life helps young college students learn great social skills and how to interact with others. Being social is a huge advantage in the real world and it all stems from greek life. Greek life allows you to meet so many different kinds of people all over campus and even off campus. It opens many doors for you later on in life because of the networking skills you pick up.

Research Blog Post 6

This visual helps me with my research proposal assignment because of the many positive statistics on this image. All of the facts on this picture pertain to the beneficial sides of being in greek life. Executives of major companies are all part of greek life. Many people feel that the greek life members are degenerates and alcoholics. These stats prove the opposite because they are running major companies across the world. I can use these statistics to help write my research proposal and back up my argument of how greek life has positive sides to it. 

Literature Review 4

Lit Review 4

Jacobs, Peter. "I Joined A Fraternity And It Was One Of The Best Decisions I Ever Made." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 8 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

This article is about how going greek in college is the right move to make because of all the benefits its brings you. The author gives reasons such as it helps your grades and it helps you be more social in college. He states that all the negative sides of fraternities are blown out of proportion. There are a lot of positive sides of joining greek life such as the networking opportunities and job possibilities. The author of this article was in a fraternity so he has personal experience of being in a frat. He seems to support all aspects of going greek because it helped him later on in his life.  

Diverse- showing great deal of variety 

Hazing- the imposition of strenuous, often humiliating, tasks as part of a program of rigorous physical training and initiation

"Greeks were more likely to have High than Low GPA's and Independents were more likely to have Low than High GPA's."

“Additionally, Greek students have a much higher graduation rates compared to their peers.”

"College graduation rates are 20% higher among Greeks than non-Greeks."

This article can help me write my research paper because it has some good information to use to back up my research topic. Greek life has many positive aspects to it and this author does a great job at portraying these benefits on going Greek. There are multiple stats in this article that help prove greek life is beneficial to young college students. 

Blog 5: Bibliography

Frankel, Kevin. "Self Perpetuating Success of Social Fraternities." The Lamron. 27 Feb. 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. 

"Fraternity Membership And Labor Market Outcomes." Monthly Labor Review 135.12 (2012): 39-40. Business Source Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

Gormly, Kellie B. "Going Greek? College students consider pros and cons of membership." Pittsburgh Tribune Review (PA) 27 Aug. 2013: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

Jacobs, Peter. "I Joined A Fraternity And It Was One Of The Best Decisions I Ever Made." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 8 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

Sportelli, Natalie. "Buying Into Greek Life: Is It Worth It?." Forbes.Com (2014): 5. Business Source Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

Blog Post 4: Research Proposal

Michael Manhart

Profesor Michael Goeller

Research in Disciplines: College!

10/21/14

Research Proposal 

Working Title: The Positive Sides of Greek Life

Topic:

I plan on focusing on the positive outcomes of being in a Greek Letter Organiz1ation. Greek life is always blown up in the media as being an awful influence on college students. This paper will bring together all the positive sides of being in a fraternity or sorority instead of the negative ones. Some of the positive outcomes of being in a greek organization are the networking opportunities, job possibilities, and the personality you build while being in a fraternity or sorority.

Research Question:

Can Greek Life Organizations, on college campuses, have a positive impact on the young students? If so, how?

Theoretical Frame:

The list of positive aspects of being in a greek organization can go on forever but i plan on only focusing on the main topics. In the media, greek life is always being represented in bad terms because of alcohol and violence. There are many reports of negative things coming out of greek organizations but there are so many more positive ones. The media never takes into account of all the positive things greek members do for the community and for the school. Greeks are more involved on campus than most other students because they are always doing community service and philanthropy events. They help raise money for children with diseases and help raise money for the school which is never talked about in the media. The media only likes to bring up the negative aspects of greek organizations. Greek life isn't always about partying, violence, and drugs. I am in a fraternity and i know for a fact this is not what we do as a chapter. We love to help out the community by doing volunteer work around New Brunswick and volunteering as various charity events. Many other greek organizations do the same at their schools because greek members are respected young adults who like to help out their community. Also, greek life helps you out after you graduate because of all the connections you have made in you fraternity or sorority. Alumni of greek life make more money on average than a non-greek member. This happens because of the networking opportunities you gain while participating in Greek activities. 

I am interested in this topic because I am in a fraternity on campus at Rutgers University. I always hear negative things stemming from being in a frat or sorority but this is not true. Much more good comes out of going greek than negative. I want to expand on these positive outcomes and explain why Greek organizations are constructive and beneficial to the young students.

Research Plan:

The information and case studies that I am going to look for when researching for this assignment are going to be the ones that show greek life is positive and not negative. Some of these studies include showing that Greek members go on to make more money than non greek members. “In the first, membership leads to higher wages because firms believe that fraternity members possess greater skills and abilities than nonmembers” (Labor Review 5). This quote shows that companies like to higher alumni of greek organizations because they think greeks have better skills and knowledge than non greek members. Other case studies i can bring up in my research paper is that greek members are more involved on campus because of all the community service and philanthropy events. Non-greek members do not participate in these events because they are not driven to do these philanthropic events. The fraternity and sorority members enjoy doing these various events so they do them more often. I have found some other articles that can help back up this idea and all my other ideas. 

Bibliography 

"Fraternity Membership And Labor Market Outcomes." Monthly Labor Review 135.12 (2012): 39-40. Business Source Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

Sportelli, Natalie. "Buying Into Greek Life: Is It Worth It?." Forbes.Com (2014): 5. Business Source Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

Frankel, Kevin. "Self Perpetuating Success of Social Fraternities." The Lamron. 27 Feb. 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

Literature Review 3

The self-perpetuating success of social fraternities

Frankel, Kevin. "Self Perpetuating Success of Social Fraternities." The Lamron. 27 Feb. 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

This article talks about how fraternities are actually successful organizations instead of being deemed as failures. Greek life gets a lot of bad rep from the media because they only focus on the negative aspects such as sexual assault, alcohol, drugs, and hazing. This article states how the stereotypes of greek organizations are based on certain schools. Not every university has a bad greek life filled with all the negative stereotypes. It depends what school you go to and how greek life is run on campus. The author is an alumni of a fraternity and backs up how fraternities are successful. He was in Sigma Alpha Mu when he was in college so he has some background of being in a fraternity. He has personal experience from his fraternity days that show his chapter, just like many others, are filled with great men and go on to become successful because of being in a greek organization. 

Rush- the process of looking at greek organizations on campus and going to different events for each fraternity or sorority. This helps you get into greek life.

Greek culture- the culture of fraternities and sororities on campus. Includes social situations and philanthropy events. 

“Greek culture varies widely from school to school. Geneseo’s fraternities are markedly different from those of private schools or larger state schools, especially in the South, where membership in fraternities is much larger.” (pg 3)

“Fraternities are built on a system of privilege. Much is made of the professional networking opportunities afforded to members of national fraternities and the amount of Fortune 500 companies owned by fraternity members.”(pg 5)

“The concept of fraternity life, regardless of its accuracy, is firmly entrenched in American culture and holds a positive appeal for a large portion of the college-going population.” (pg 11)

The information i found in this article can really help me write my research paper and expand on my research question. My research question is based on the positive sides of greek life and not the negative ones. This article talks about how fraternities and sororities are becoming successful which is something many people find hard to believe. The author was in a fraternity so he gives his personal experience and states that it helped him become the person he is today. 

Literature Review 2

Fraternity Membership and Labor Market Outcomes

"Fraternity Membership And Labor Market Outcomes." Monthly Labor Review 135.12 (2012): 39-40. Business Source Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

This article is about the outcomes of being in a fraternity and how it can help you later on in life. It talks about how fraternity members have a better success rate than non fraternity members because of what they have learned and picked up being in a greek organization. The article talks about how the jobs fraternity members get compared to the non greek students. It also states how fraternity members get better grades, are more involved on campus, and earn higher incomes than the people who do not join greek life. 

The authors of this article gathered their information from multiple sources such as people who graduated from college that were in a greek organizations and companies hiring people straight out of college. These authors obtained enough information to conclude that greek life has an impact on labor market outcomes. 

"three-signal setting”- used to determine three kinds of equilibrium. This helps determine if fraternity members are making more money than others. 

labor market outcomes- this key term was used often in the article and it is used to describe how greek life affects the labor market. research has shown greek life has an impact on labor market outcomes. 

“Popov and Bernhardt conclude from their analysis that under certain conditions, fraternity or sorority membership does have an effect on labor market outcomes--even when they "assume away" any correlation between productivity and socializing skills in order to focus on the decision-making and filtering process among students, fraternities, and employers.” (pg 5)

“College "Greek"-style fraternities have been an important part of U.S. campus life since the nation's founding. Although they have always represented a minority of the students at colleges and universities, fraternities and their members have wielded considerable influence--both on campus and off.” (pg 1)

“In the first, membership leads to higher wages because firms believe that fraternity members possess greater skills and abilities than nonmembers.” (pg 5)

This article can help me come up with my research question because it has a lot of facts pertaining to fraternity membership and the positive outcomes. Most people think fraternities are all about partying and not caring in school but these people couldn't be more wrong. Greek organizations do positive things on campus such as raise money for the school and philanthropies. This article goes into depth about how greek life has an impact on the outcomes of the labor market. 

Literature Review 1

Buying Into Greek Life: Is it Worth It?

Sportelli, Natalie. "Buying Into Greek Life: Is It Worth It?." Forbes.Com (2014): 5. Business Source Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

This scholarly article talks about if it is worth it to go greek based on the cost of being in a fraternity or sorority. The author gives multiple different examples of schools and how much greek life dues cost around there. Some are three figure numbers and some are five figured numbers which can be a burden for many students taking out loans. This article gives some thoughts on whether joining greek life is worth the price and the author doesn't seem to think it is worth it because of the high cost. The author believes that fraternities and sororities cost too much money for it to be worth joining. She gathers her information on cost of greek life from parents and former college students. 

“Going Greek”- this key term is used to describe joining a fraternity or sorority. “Going Greek” means joining a frat or sorority. 

Membership Dues- this key term is used to describe the amount of money you have to pay to be part of a greek organization

"Greek life will continue to be part of the college experience.” (Sportelli 10)

"I think [Greek] experience remains relevant across time, we've seen it develop from the past and see students joining in the future," (Sportelli 10)

"Students may work part time jobs or pay their own way but the financial responsibility usually falls on parents,” (Sportelli 8)

This article can help me write my research paper because it has some interesting facts on greek life costs and how it affects the students. The author goes into detail about different prices of greek organizations on different campuses. This can help me back up my argument on how greek life is worth it even though it can be expensive. 

Blog Post 3: Privatization

Privatization is always going to be present in our society if we do not do anything to stop it. After writing the analytic essay on privatization it helped me realized that privatization is something that does not benefit us in any way. Student debt is a rising problem in our society which is caused by privatization. People believe that taking out massive loans to attend expensive private schools is the only way to make money. These people privatized themselves to think this. Also privatization starts in public education. Poor students can not afford the same resources that wealthier students do. These poor students need to isolate themselves so they can work hard and pay for everything on their own. This idea is present in the reading "Paying for the Party." The less wealthy girls on the floor became the social isolates because they focused only on school work and worked part time to pay their bills. It was very hard for these girls to make friends because they privatized themselves. Privatization is relevant in my research topic because people privatize themselves to think that frats and sororities are negative and they do not look at the positive sides of Greek Life.

Blog Post 2: Scouting the Territory

After researching my topic even more over the past two weeks I have found more information to help back up my point of view for the paper. My topic has to do with the positive outcomes of being in a fraternity or sorority instead of focusing on the negative ones. Any time you here about a frat or sorority in the media it is always being talked about negatively. They never focus on the good things greek life contributes to the university or college. I found some statistics about how Greek life helps out on campus and is not always doing bad things. One problem i have faced is finding enough articles backing up the positive aspects of frats and sororities. The majority of articles are about hazing, sexual assault, drugs, violence, etc. I have found these two articles that will help me out backing up my opinion for my research paper.

http://thelamron.com/2014/02/27/self-perpetuating-success-social-fraternities/

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?sid=9873acef-d4aa-4543-a243-ea8753217373%40sessionmgr110&vid=0&hid=123&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=buh&AN=88864853

Blog Post 1: Research Topic

For my research paper I will be researching the affects Greek life has on students and why Greek life is beneficial to most college students. Greek life always gets bad reputation dealing with hazing, alcohol/drug abuse, and other stereotypes of fraternity or sorority members. As a member of Rutgers Greek life I know all of these stereotypes are false and being in a fraternity helps you become more mature and hard working. It will be interesting finding out more research on the idea of Greek life being helpful instead of hurt