Plagiarism

Plagiarism is something that has been drilled in our head since the early years in middle school. However that fact has not stopped people from plagiarizing. The worst type of plagiarism is when it isn’t intended and is the result of being misinformed. Plagiarism is commonly the result of not correctly citing sources. Even when getting help from another person, or if it is mostly not your idea, one must cite the source. It is not wise for one to simply copy, not because it will get you in trouble but because it takes away from your learning. Finding out that citation is important is bummer because although straight copying was not allowed by my previous teachers, I was never taught how to correctly cite sources. However, I am doing my best in implementing what I’ve learned thus far in my writing class. The punishments for plagiarising have large repercussions on later academics. Even when using your notes as your basis, you must be able to prove it to the professor at a moments notice, incase there’s suspicion of foul play. All these precautions are going to be an important part of my college and academic career.

Librarian and Career Center

The librarian was very interesting last week. I was amazed at how much schooling one must go through to become a librarian. I also was unaware that we have specialized librarians for our research field. I’m also glad that she informed us of the correct way to search for articles. I will look more into the schools search engine when looking for research. The process it takes to publish an academic article makes it a much more credible and reliable source compared to something like a news article. It is also important to correctly cite and give credit to your source. Her life was very privileged. As a person who enjoys learning about new cultures and customs, living her life would be a dream. I’m not saying I lived a bad life but I would love to experience some of the things she has. 

Going to the career center was yet another opportunity to find out about one of the many resources available on campus. Knowing that we have a vast amount of job opportunities is a great relief. The handout hub was full of great information about internships. I will definitely be coming back more often in my upper class years, but as for now I will be looking more into my career choices as a computer engineer using their career library or I can use their computer lab/ website. Its also good to know that there are programs such as gaucho link that make us more appealing to hire.

The Fair

I was surprised at the variety of majors that offered insight at the event. I was especially looking forward to getting information about my major ,computer engineering. Hearing of all the people trying to get into the school of engineering motivates me to work hard to stay in the major. I was glad to see that they had the new GEAR booklet available, which contains information related to all the different engineering majors. I’m also glad I was able to learn about the technology management certificate/programs offered alongside engineering majors. I really want to own my own company/invent a new product, so participating in such program would give me the skills necessary to do so. I also visited the ROTC booth. I have always been interested in doing this program because it will help me use the knowledge I’m gaining in college in real world applications. Its good to know that they offer a strong program here on campus. At first I was looking into the AFROTC but after better understanding the challenges in that program such as commuting to UCLA at least once a week I think I will be better suited to looking into the ROTC program here. I also did the 2 minute pushup challenge and was able to get a shirt from it. I’m interested in doing the honor’s program here at UCSB especially since I want to go to grad school so I was able to learn about the requirements, an overall preview of the programs and its benefits.
The Student Resource Building brought back the memories of orientation but it also gave me a glimpse of all the programs available at UCSB. I will definitely be going there often for my higher level math courses as well as for help on the many papers I will have to write. I find it odd that the disabled help program was located on the second floor, seems like it wasn't very well thought out. Other than that, im glad to know that so many resources are available on the wonderful campus.

Intro

Hello fellow Gauchos! My name is Luis and I come from Lake Elsinore, a city just within the boundaries of Riverside County. I spent the greater half of my life in the neighboring city of Corona. I moved from that town to the city of Riverside where my parents bought their first home. Unfortunately like many others the recession cost us our home within a time span of 3 years, which is when we moved to Lake Elsinore. The years quickly flew by and before I knew it I was a Junior, looking for somewhere to continue my education which is when I stumbled upon (insert endless positive adjectives) UCSB on a field trip for AVID. Senior year rolled around and so did the applications.I applied to many colleges but UCSB was definitely my top choice, and to my luck they were the last ones to send admission notifications. I still remember waiting for 2:30 to roll around to check my portal.

Fast forward a couple months to orientation. Orientation only made me more impatient to attend UCSB. I had such a great time meeting so many people and talking to some of my future professors, I knew I had made the correct decision. I decided to do FSSP because my goal is to graduate in 3 years or do the 5 Years B.S./M.S. as a Computer Engineer.

Thus far FSSP has been the best time of my life. I have enjoyed every class and not to mention the dining commons. I have yet to meet someone who I don’t like and I never hope I do. Like many others here I’m just looking to have a great time while getting a world class education. If FSSP is only a preview of the next couple of years, I can’t wait to see what's in store.