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