Evaluating an online source (BONUS Entry)



Michlifen, Ifrane (Minitry of Tourism) ©

    The online source I choose to evaluate is: www.tourisme.gov.ma, the government official website of the Moroccan Ministry of Morocco.

1.     First Impressions and find ability

 - The URL of the website is short and simple. The homepage is quick to download; thus, surfing the other pages doesn’t take a long time downloading the content. The website is presented and designed in way that makes it look clear, readable and easy to understand. When accessing to the website, no plug-in or addition application is needed to download. The user doesn’t have to log in to access the information on the website because it is a governmental website that is designed by “Argaze”, and created to provide information and actualities to citizens; thus, it should be accessible easily. We can find contact details (Call Center, e-mails, etc.)  in some pages of the website, which improves the credibility of the publication and their validity.

2.    Navigation and browser compatibility

- The website of the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism is east to use and had a site map that makes it easy to understand and easy to navigate. The navigational links are constantly visible throughout the website. Most of the given links are still working and I believe that the website is regularly checked and updated. Moreover, the website is compatible with all the popular browsers (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Google Chrome...).

3.    Content and attractors

- The website of the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism contains useful information related to tourism in Morocco. The responsible for the pages are qualified Ministry staffs. Each entry is dated and accurate. The website uses valuable animation, graphics, and sound. In addition, the website is available in three languages (English, French, and Arabic) which make it an international website that could present the Moroccan tourism to the rest of the world.

=> Finally, we can conclude that the website of the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism is a good example of online sources that we can use to gather necessary information related to tourism in Morocco.

Logo of the Ministry of Tourism ©

Conclusion (6th Entry)

To conclude, doing this research paper was such an amazing experience. As it was expected, we encountered some difficulties in our team work such as: 

 

o   The decisions of the meeting times were not as easy as they seem to be;

o   We have been working on a topic then we changed it to a new topic after a week of research;

o   We spent a lot of time reading chapters from books and articles than we did not use at the end in our research paper.  

o   We had to discuss every single think we added in our research paper so that we both agree on the content on our research.

o   We had to discuss every single think we added in our research paper so that we both agree on the content on our research.

Ø  The conclusion of our research paper was:

            The overall goal of this research paper is to give a sense of what are some mechanisms leading to achieving sustainable tourism in a country. This term means in short a tourism that, given the suitable environment, prospers in terms of number and do not constitute a treat to the cultural and environmental domain of the host country. This study focuses mainly on Morocco as a potential main actor of the worldwide touristic scene for the next ten years. Regarding the ambitious goal of Morocco with a short-term goal becoming the 20th world destination in 2020, traditional mass tourism, based roughly on building more touristic accommodation at the expense of nature and cultural heritage of the country, turns irrelevant before such a huge number of tourists. Sustainable tourism seems to be the alternative for at the same time, achieving a high financial profit and protecting the environmental and cultural legacy of Morocco. This country represents indeed an excellent living example of an inner touristic policy aiming to make the transition from mass tourism to a more sustainable form of tourism. The major line around which the “Vision 2020” rotates is the idea of building a new structure of governance based on regionalization regarding the approach of tourism in Morocco. Multiple regional comities will be appointed to keep track of local initiatives to develop tourism in the region. This new approach is believed to be more effective and to valorize the cultural patrimony of regions across Morocco. Such an effort of making sustainable tourism in Moroccan policy illustrates perfectly the effort of a category of third world countries playing the new card of sustainability in order to develop economy through tourism.

Yassine Gaimes ©

Annotated Bibliography (5th Entry)

        
           Here we are. After going through the amazing research process for the first, we are finally done with our research paper!
From the very least beginning until the end, we have been paraphrasing others' ideas and quoting them. Thanks to the sources we have found and used, our research paper was an opportunity for us to learn more about sustainable tourism and the touristic strategies that Morocco is working on. In this blog entry, I would like to give the authors whose ideas were used in our research their credits. Here is the annotated bibliography of our research using the MLA style:

-       Apostolopoulos, Yorghos. Mediterranean Tourism. 2nd ed. Oxfordshire: Routledge, 2001. 226-235. Print.

Describes the development and the evolution of the Mediterranean tourism regarding socioeconomic and cultural changes. Few information were used from its chapter 15 “Moroccan Tourism” (p.226-235) written by Jacques Barbier, an expert in tourism. The used information was related to the negative impact of tourism on local communities such as emigration, imitation of tourists… 

-          Eric S. Ross, John A. Shoup, Driss Maghraoui and Abdelkrim Marzouk. Assessing Tourism in Essauira. Ifrane-Morocco. Akhawayn University in Ifrane. 2002. Print.

This book was published in 2002 by Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, its writers are who are highly qualified professors who are appreciated by their coworkers and AUI’ students. Actually, I had the chance to be in one the writers’ class in the Anthropology class. What attracted us in this book are the several sources from which the authors got the information and especially the provided definition of sustainable tourism that we needed in our research paper.

-          Hunter, F. Robert. "Manufacturing Exotica: Edith Wharton and Tourism in French Morocco, 1917-20." Middle Eastern Studies 46.1 (2010): 59-77. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 1 July 2011.

This is a peer reviewed academic journal article. It was published in 2010. It was    a very useful source for our research especially when relating the history of tourism in Morocco. However, unfortunately, we think that this article is not well organized because it contains a lot of words without numbering the sections; this slightly complicates the reading and the understanding of the content.

-       Iraqi, Fahd. "2020 entre vision et mirage." TELQUEL. 7 January 2011: 44-46. Print.

Iraqi is journalist who write economic article; thus, the article used in this research relates the impacts of “Vision 2020” on Morocco especially regarding Economy. The author of this article took his information from the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism, which makes the information more reliable. In addition, TELQUEL is a weekly magazine; it is known by its critical editorial line towards the Moroccan government.  

-          Morocco Tourism Report 2011, November 2010 accessible via http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/1445428/.

This is the official website of the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism that provide  important and recent information about the touristic plans and the strategies that Morocco is working on and relates any update regularly as a part of a transparency with Moroccans who  are interested in following the actuality in the Moroccan tourism industry. This website helped us find information about “Vision 2020” that relies on sustainable tourism and its expected impacts on Morocco.

-       Mowforth, Martin and Ian, Munt. Tourism and sustainability: new tourism in the third world. 2^nd ed. 2003. London: Routledge, 2003. Print.

Argues the support of underdeveloped countries such as Morocco on sustainability as a mean to escape from underdevelopment. This source was used mainly in the introduction to give a background information about Morocco as a Third World country and sustainability in tourism.

-       World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), 2001, 2009, and 2010.

Provides exact and reliable world tourism statistics based on professional criteria in the field of tourism. It was mainly used to give information about the ranking of Morocco among the worldwide touristic destination in 2001 and 2010, as well as its ranking in Africa and Middle East in 2009.

Yassine Gaimes ©



Plagiarism Vs. Paraphrasing (4th Entry)

Credits to: Onosaka yuha ©

I still remember my first day of class at AUI. That was the day where I first heard the word plagiarism in my grammar class with Mr. Brian Seilstad; he has given us a commitment to sign where it was written: “If I’m caught plagiarizing I will automatically fail this course, and I understand that a report will be sent to the L.C Director as well”. Since then, I understood the ethics of being a student at the university and the loyalty of the academic honesty.

The best way to avoid plagiarism is to write our own ideas in our own words; nevertheless, if we want to use others ‘ideas that is still possible thanks to paraphrasing. In order to use others ‘ideas, we have to give credits to the authors by quoting them and not changing their ideas but just expressing them in a different way. We should know that even paraphrased sources must be cited. However, in some specialized fields such as science, law or business, it can be considered acceptable if the used ideas are not well paraphrased because the technical terms are considered as common knowledge.

Plagiarism is originally derived from the Latin word plagiarius (‘i.e kidnapper’); it’s undoubtedly the most common expression of academic fraud. Plagiarism is taking someone’s ideas without giving him credits to his work. It is manifested by copying a passage directly from an article, a book, an online source… without using quotation marks and clearly citing the credits in parenthetical documentation in the paper itself and on the reference page. Furthermore, even paraphrasing can be considered as  plagiarism when taking someone’s ideas and  expressing them in our own words but not respecting the paraphrasing rules, such as not using quotation marks appropriately or forgetting to cite the name of the author between parenthesis at the end. Fortunately, Plagiarism can easily be checked using some plagia-checkers such as Turnitin.com that has a huge database which guarantee to the authors who make effort writing the authenticity of their work.

Talking about punishments, plagiarism as any kind of cheating may result in severe academic penalties such as university dismissal or class failure or semester off depending on the academic honesty rules of each institution.

         Finally, to avoid involuntary plagiarism while working in a research and writing, we have to keep careful notes that constantly distinguish three types of material: our ideas, our summaries, conclusions and paraphrases of others’ ideas and facts, with their exact source phrasing (Modern Language Association, 2003) .

Works Cited Guidelines

• For more information about works cited pages, see your handbook.
• For more documentation samples, see “MLA and APA Documentation” on the drop down menu at http://lrc.nwfsc.edu. Click on “How to Write MLA Documentation of Electronic Sources.”  See the Adobe files halfway down the screen for examples of various online databases.
• The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University also has additional help at http://owl. english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/.

"Originality is undetected plagiarism."
William Ralph Inge



by Chibi BlackDoom©



by djRimzi©



       

            by xgracefulphoenixx©

Evaluating a Book (3rd Entry)

 

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island."
Walt Disney



Evaluating a book is not an easy task, and the methods of this evaluation may vary depending on the language, the culture, or the intellectual habits of each reader.  

After going through the article “How to Read a Book” written by “Paul N. Edwards” and first published in 2000 then revised in 2005 by the School of Information in the University of Michigan, I tried to understand each described step of the cited process carefully to not misunderstand any step. As it is mentioned at the end of the article, and as Paul N. Edwards’s experience shows, the techniques stated in the article should be practiced for a considerable amount of time before the reader get used to. However, even though reading in the passive way (reading the whole book from the beginning until the end…) is the most popular way of reading, I think that it’s never too late if we want to change our way of reading and to adapt an effective new way that will make us get the most out of non-fiction reading (textbooks, manuals, journal articles, academic studies…)

ð  To sum up, here is a summary for the reading techniques cited by Paul N. Edwards:

1.     Decide how much time you will spend reading the book (depending on the number of pages and the level of its language.

2.     Have a strategy and an aim (Why reading the book? And How to do so?)

3.     Question about the content of the book, in order to not get bored.

4.     Read the book three times: (Manage the reading time by dividing it into 10 time slots)

4.1.   Overview (1/10 Total Time): Read quickly, mark the phrases that seem important, generate questions.

4.2.    Detail (6/10 Total Time): Read carefully and critically, Focus on the beginning and the end of the chapter, Try to answer the generated questions from the 1^st reading.

4.3.   Notes (3/10): Make notes about the ideas you got from the two previous readings, Write down the conclusions and the evidences using software such
as
Endnote.

5.     Focus on the parts that contain a lot of information (Table of contents, Index, Abstract, Conclusion, Pictures…)

6.     Mark the most important part of your reading with a personal
text
markup
language (PTML).

7.     Gather some information about the author and the publisher to know the intellectual context.

8.     Take break while reading, and try to question your unconscious mind about what you have learned and what you still have to learn.

9.     Finally, talk to your friends and your professors about what you have read to rehearse.

Credits: TheMorbidHobbiest © 

Evaluating a Jounal Article (2nd Entry)

-The full MLA reference of the article is: MCKENNA, JOHN. "Rabat attracts renewables interest." MEED: Middle East Economic Digest 55.8 (2011): 38-39. Business Source Complete. EBSCO. Web. 19 June 2011.

The author of this article McKenna John has published many articles in the MEED (Middle East Economic Digest) related to sustainable energy in the Middle East. His article “Hydro plans slow to materialise”¹ reports on the slow progress of Iran's plans to develop its hydropower sector with the Bakhtiari Dam and Hydroelectric Power Plant; likewise, his article “Riyadh's feedstock dilemma.”² informs that Saudi Arabia is planning to expand its energy generating capacity extensively to meet the growing demand of electricity. This article was published by MEED (Middle East Economic Digest) the leading source of business intelligence. First launched in 1957, MEED delivers weekly exclusive detailed features, (Trade Publication) comprehensive analysis of business and political events and market-leading special reports on core project sectors such as construction and oil and gas, as well as on emerging sectors such as aviation and telecoms.

The text "Rabat attracts renewables interest." was published in 2/25/2011. In our research paper, we will use this text for current information.  The intended audience of this text is researchers, scholars or experts in the field with an important amount of knowledge in the field.

The purpose of the article "Rabat attracts renewables interest" is to report the future plans of Morocco concerning generating 40% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

The author gets his information from MEED Projects; MEED Projects is a premium online subscriber service that tracks projects over US$50m across the Middle East and North Africa.There is no bibiliography and no footnotes. The author refers to primary material.

Now that we have assessed the source of the article "Rabat attracts renewables interest" in more detail, I think that it is a useful source that provides us with important and recent information in the field of business and economy. This article will help us discuss the impact of sustainable energy on the Moroccan economy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.     MCKENNA, JOHN. "Hydro plans slow to materialise." MEED: Middle East Economic Digest 55.12 (2011): 26-27. Business Source Complete. EBSCO. Web. 19 June 2011.

2.     MCKENNA, JOHN. "Riyadh's feedstock dilemma." MEED: Middle East Economic Digest 55.15 (2011): 40-41. Business Source Complete. EBSCO. Web. 19 June 2011.

My Research Topic (1st entry)

Morocco's Ministry of Tourism  ©

         This blog is basically created to write down some reflections about my Information Literacy class and especially the research paper that represents 25% of the total grade. Because we are in a summer semester, I am running against time so the only choice I have is to make wise and fast steps to move forward hoping to earn an “A” and most importantly gain an interresting experience in my academic life as well.

As a first entry regarding my research paper, I will try to let you know briefly about the topic I chose and the reasons why I chose it.

Choosing a topic for a research paper seems easy, but I think that it’s the most crucial step in writing a research paper. After hours of hesitation, and after talking to some friends that have already done research papers in their past courses, I wrote down several topics that I was interested in such as “Nano-Technology in Morocco”,” The impact of video games on teenagers”, and “Soccer Professionalism in the Moroccan Championship”.. Finally, I ended up choosing “Sustainable Energy in Morocco” as the topic of my research paper, but after about one week my teammate and did not find enough new and reliable sources because this is a brand new field in Morocco. Consequently, and after talking to our professors we agreed on "Sustainable Tourism in Morocco" as a topic of our research for the following reasons: 

After the phosphate industry, tourism is the second largest foreign exchange earner in Morocco. Because of its strategic location close to Europe, its beautiful landscapes, its tradition, history and culture, Morocco has been attracting an increasing number a tourists. The Moroccan government invests a lot a of money in tourism to promote the tourism industry. Moreover, sustainable tourism is the involvement of local communities in the tourism activities. After searching in the library's electronic databases, we found some interesting journals & books that may help us discuss sustainable tourism in Morocco and its impacts on local communities.To conclude this first entry, I hope that with the help of our instructors Ms. Cheryl & Dr. Minnie through the semester, we will learn how to a good research paper; and by the end of the semester we will be able to do a great job with which we will earn our “A”!! ^^

  Our thesis statement is:
     

           - The purpose of this study is to increase reader’s knowledge of sustainable tourismin Morocco (the plans that Morocco has opted to improve its socio-economic situation,  the impacts of these plans on local communities. To accomplish this goal, first of all, an introduction of the history of tourism in Morocco is presented. Secondly, a definition of sustainability in tourism is described be reporting the plans. In conclusion, the positive and negative impacts of the new tourism on Morocco, its customs, and its local communities are highlighted.

The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.

John F. Kennedy

Ouzoud Waterfalls
 captured by Yassine Gaimes ©

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My first blog was hosted in Skyrock.com, I used to generally upload pictures and videos but rarely articles; however, it was a good blogging experience. The main purpose of my current blog (i.e the blog you are visiting right now ^^) is to share my ideas and my thoughts in different fields mainly the ones that interrest me the most.

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