Introducing Amanda Black

Hi I’m Amanda and I’m a third year student at York. I guess the main thing I want to learn about research is how to do it more efficiently and to get results quicker and with more accuracy. It’s a pain to search for things on the internet using a search engine and end up with links to useless or incorrect information. There are many different subjects I’m interested in studying, such as history, astronomy, and literature. I have never used any type of management software, nor do I even know what Zotero or Refworks even is. Any technology skills I possess are limited to using the internet and Word. Technology just doesn’t agree with me. I have a ton of research experience, since both high school and university call for such. Lately I have been doing history research as I am taking a minor in it. When I don’t have to research anything for school I like to look up research for things that may help with my writing. As mentioned, technology hates me. For the podcast I have absolutely no idea what to do as of now. I have zero experience and frankly am pretty nervous to do so. Luckily though, I have a friend who knows computers and has taken design and audio courses at college and if I get stuck with all the tech stuff, she said she would lend a hand. This is good because with my luck I’d try to edit it, and end up deleting the whole thing. I can’t say it enough, technology hates me. For the topic of the podcast I don’t have any concrete idea yet, but I’m thinking about doing one under the category of either “stuff you missed in history class,” “99% invisible,” or “spark.” Though that last one is a long shot. If I have to start talking about technology I will go on a rant about how it’s ruining society, taking jobs, and destroying human interaction. So really I’m leaning towards the history one. Now I just have to finalize a topic to talk about for 15 minutes, without it turning into a giant rant. This will be difficult.