In case you have not read my post on kVp, mAs and density (and its comment thread), I want to refine the scope of Topics in Radiography based on a couple of my most recent comments. I have been increasing traffic to this blog a lot lately, and I have also increased the amount of private messages and emails I am receiving. I am glad that these posts came anonymously because I don't wish to point the finger, publicly humiliate or embarrass anyone at all.
There has been a growing number of student responses from across the world, and I am re-learning foreign geography when I look up where some of these students are from. This is all great, and I would like to thank everyone who reads and especially those who leave comments. I want this to be a place where we can openly and freely discuss ideas, ask questions, and learn from one another... but I have to draw the line somewhere.
Though I credit any student who finds information here from an internet search (I use google for my searches), the questions I am receiving are becoming more vague and broad. In other words, I am getting questions like "what should I do my project about?" and "can you help me find a research topic?" I will not answer these questions for you. I don't mind answering specific questions about a topic like "how does increasing kVp increase scatter radiation?". I can even help you brainstorm ideas, but there is a teaching concept called "spoon-feeding" that I do not subscribe to.
This reminds me of something that used to annoy the heck out of me as a child... when my mother used a word that I didn't know the meaning of, I would ask her what it meant. She would always reply "look it up." If I said, "that's okay, never mind," (because I didn't want to get up off the couch) she would make me get up and grab the Webster's Dictionary on the shelf that sat next to my Encyclopedia Brittanica. I would begrudgingly walk, shoulders slumped and pouting, and grab the dictionary, look the word up and go over it with my mom. I hated this! But I did engage in a valued habit after doing this so many times... it taught me that I was empowered with the ability to find out new information, and it gave me a set of tools to accomplish the task. I stopped asking her what words meant when I got a little older and automatically looked them up - self-reliance/independence.
These days, there seems to be a growing void with the amount of information available at anyone's fingertips, and the amount of work people will consider to find information that is not "instantly accessible" on a search engine.
Today, I can look up a word and find its meaning in about 10 seconds with the internet... something that I'm now teaching my mother how to utilize more productively - touche. The point is that if you have the tools to get the job done, you're setting yourself up for failure if you constantly rely on someone else to do the job.
I don't know the scope of your project or research paper, nor do I know the guidelines in which you were given to produce the paper, and to be honest, I don't want to know. It was meant to be an exercise that YOU perform for the improvement of your knowledge and skills in school. If you have trouble understanding the reason for something, please ask me, but don't expect me to locate a source for your research (and no, you should not be using my blog as a sited source for your research).
I truly hope that my readers understand this perspective and respect the integrity of our profession that I am attempting to uphold by posting this. Some people get by all their lives by having someone else do their work for them, but how far can they really get in life, and at least claim credit for it themselves? What kind of Technologist will you become by asking someone to do all of your difficult tasks? Once out of school, and especially in a tough economy, there will not be anyone to do your work for you, go the extra mile for you, get that promotion for you, or take care of your patient for you. We are in a time and place within our profession when it is increasingly important to promote ethical and professional standards, and that has to start in school, where your habits and learning methods are being molded.
All of this being said, I challenge the posters of the comments I mentioned to refine your questions... get the ball rolling and ask more specific questions. I would also like to encourage other readers to respond as well. This blog isn't here so that I can lecture to the public and expect people to sit there quietly and just listen. I want your input and I need dialogue to want to continue posting. There are lines of thought I'm sure I haven't considered and many ideas out there that I certainly will not think of, as I know background and experience of my readers vary widely. As I said in my very first post back in 2007, "I encourage anyone reading to offer advice or simply state what works for you. After all, I have definitely not seen it all, and it seems as if I learn something new every day in the Radiology department."
There has been a growing number of student responses from across the world, and I am re-learning foreign geography when I look up where some of these students are from. This is all great, and I would like to thank everyone who reads and especially those who leave comments. I want this to be a place where we can openly and freely discuss ideas, ask questions, and learn from one another... but I have to draw the line somewhere.
Though I credit any student who finds information here from an internet search (I use google for my searches), the questions I am receiving are becoming more vague and broad. In other words, I am getting questions like "what should I do my project about?" and "can you help me find a research topic?" I will not answer these questions for you. I don't mind answering specific questions about a topic like "how does increasing kVp increase scatter radiation?". I can even help you brainstorm ideas, but there is a teaching concept called "spoon-feeding" that I do not subscribe to.
This reminds me of something that used to annoy the heck out of me as a child... when my mother used a word that I didn't know the meaning of, I would ask her what it meant. She would always reply "look it up." If I said, "that's okay, never mind," (because I didn't want to get up off the couch) she would make me get up and grab the Webster's Dictionary on the shelf that sat next to my Encyclopedia Brittanica. I would begrudgingly walk, shoulders slumped and pouting, and grab the dictionary, look the word up and go over it with my mom. I hated this! But I did engage in a valued habit after doing this so many times... it taught me that I was empowered with the ability to find out new information, and it gave me a set of tools to accomplish the task. I stopped asking her what words meant when I got a little older and automatically looked them up - self-reliance/independence.
These days, there seems to be a growing void with the amount of information available at anyone's fingertips, and the amount of work people will consider to find information that is not "instantly accessible" on a search engine.
Today, I can look up a word and find its meaning in about 10 seconds with the internet... something that I'm now teaching my mother how to utilize more productively - touche. The point is that if you have the tools to get the job done, you're setting yourself up for failure if you constantly rely on someone else to do the job.
I don't know the scope of your project or research paper, nor do I know the guidelines in which you were given to produce the paper, and to be honest, I don't want to know. It was meant to be an exercise that YOU perform for the improvement of your knowledge and skills in school. If you have trouble understanding the reason for something, please ask me, but don't expect me to locate a source for your research (and no, you should not be using my blog as a sited source for your research).
I truly hope that my readers understand this perspective and respect the integrity of our profession that I am attempting to uphold by posting this. Some people get by all their lives by having someone else do their work for them, but how far can they really get in life, and at least claim credit for it themselves? What kind of Technologist will you become by asking someone to do all of your difficult tasks? Once out of school, and especially in a tough economy, there will not be anyone to do your work for you, go the extra mile for you, get that promotion for you, or take care of your patient for you. We are in a time and place within our profession when it is increasingly important to promote ethical and professional standards, and that has to start in school, where your habits and learning methods are being molded.
All of this being said, I challenge the posters of the comments I mentioned to refine your questions... get the ball rolling and ask more specific questions. I would also like to encourage other readers to respond as well. This blog isn't here so that I can lecture to the public and expect people to sit there quietly and just listen. I want your input and I need dialogue to want to continue posting. There are lines of thought I'm sure I haven't considered and many ideas out there that I certainly will not think of, as I know background and experience of my readers vary widely. As I said in my very first post back in 2007, "I encourage anyone reading to offer advice or simply state what works for you. After all, I have definitely not seen it all, and it seems as if I learn something new every day in the Radiology department."
