Blog #5

I have reviewed some more articles for my final paper, and as of right now my thesis stays mostly the same but I have tweaked it slightly to be more specific and less redundant: "Due to current developments in technology, cursive will shortly become obsolete". The two additional articles I have chosen to support my thesis are "Handwriting - A Forgotten Skill?" The article is by Jane Medwell and David Wray, and it details several studies that are trying to prove that handwriting should be considered "more than just a motor skill" and that it is an important part of a child's text composition. It examines the situation of current teaching of handwriting in England and considers why handwriting efficiency has been neglected. The paper goes on to identify a variety of studies and experiments related to special needs and psychology which re-evaluate the role of handwriting. These studies suggest that handwriting is “more than just motor skill” and may actually be an important contribution to children's text composition. Existing research into the way handwriting efficiency affects composition indicates that additional research and better handwriting evaluation could aid a children's writing progress and might positively affect the progress of the many children who struggle with writing during their elementary school years. The link to this article is HERE. The other article is entitled "Hooked Up or Just Hooked" by Patrick Tucker. The article explains the impact of technology on the social life of teenagers in the U.S. It also references data from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) which states that teenagers are important consumers of technology goods and content. It is said that the want of teens for new products will grow as they continue to be exposed to a technology driven world. It is also stated that cell phones and computers have become essential to the life of American teenagers. The article also references a report from the Irish State Commission which revealed that text messaging use among teenagers was having a negative effect on their writing and reading skills. The link to this article is: HERE. Both articles deal with my thesis, in slightly different ways. The first one focuses more on why people think the teaching of handwriting is important as well as points of view from people who think it is a dying art...the 2nd article will help support my thesis in that it is detailing how dependent we are on technology and how it is causing handwriting to fall on the back burner.

**You may need to log in to Rider's Libraries database to view the links to my articles. The links to my PREVIOUS 2 articles are HERE and HERE.