English 102 - Spring 2009

Ohio State Standards for education.

This article discusses Oprah as 20 to 100 times more of a powerful influence than any other media personality. This is interesting to see how popular she really is with our country and how Oprah connects readers and sells books like no one has ever been able to do before. The article brings up her powerful line "Read this book." When she says this people do it! It will be a good article to get information out of about how people are affected.

This article brings up the cultural dynamic that Oprah has created. She has a huge following of every race and has brought many cultures together through reading. She has a large black and also white fan base in women. She has brought all of these people together with the love for reading good books. She is talked about again in this article as being a phenomenon. This is a good point that will be good for my paper because it is a different view. Not only does she send sales of books through the roof, she also brings groups of all different people together on one common ground.

This article is very interesting and useful for my research. It gives a week by week break down of the rankings of the books That Oprah has mentioned on her show. It shows how much it is still a factor in how America reads and what they buy. The 2007 list is very impressive just like when she began talking about books in the 90's. This will be a good thing that I can look at and draw some conclusions on about books and effects.

"This article gives a lot of background information on Oprah Winfrey and why she does the book club. It goes into detail about her past and the struggles she has overcome. Books were always her friends through the troubles and they mean so much to her. Because reading is a big part of Oprah's life she wanted to take her passion and share it with others and help other people by using books. There are many quotes from Oprah and useful background information that will be helpful when writing the paper.

This article shows another side of what Oprah is doing with her power. She had been so successful in making adult books popular and famous so she created a Kids list for books as well. This list is just as popular and the amount of people buying these books is still unbelievable. The article goes into again how easily Oprah can make people buy and read something. It will be helpful to me in my paper because it shows how Oprah is not just influential in one area of reading but all different age groups as well.

This article shows another example of how Oprah has had huge influence over what America is reading. Two new authors like Jacquelyn Mitchard and Wally Lamb, were made famous because of Oprah. Mitchard's book went from 100,000 sales to 900,000 when Oprah talked about it on her show. The new authors are very appreciative and surprised at the effect that Oprah has had on their careers. This is helpful because it gives another view of why she is successful in controlling what our country is reading. She has made nobody authors into successful and famous just by talking about their book on her show.

This article gives good information about the about of books that Oprah Winfrey has made successful. The 48 books that she promoted, at least 650,000 copies of each were sold. The point of this article was to talk about how crazy it is that people can be influenced so greatly by Oprah. It is helpful to me with my paper because it shows how much of a powerful person Oprah is and it cannot be denied! She is undeniably the most influential person on TV.

The authors of this article work to express how huge of a deal Oprah Winfrey is in our reading world. They point out how in the years that Oprah talked about her book club weekly on her show; all of the books were on America's top 150! This is a huge point to support my claim of influence that Oprah has over us. This article was extremely helpful also because there were a lot of graphs that showed the huge relationship between Oprah's announcement and ranking of book. The article gives many more stats and examples of influence and will be very useful to me in my paper.

In this article the authors give Oprah titles like "the saint of book sales" and the "O" effect. They talk about how the authors that Oprah has made successful owe their fame and success to Oprah. This article goes into how powerful Oprah's book club has been on the sales of books over the years. It will be helpful because of the statistics that it includes. The authors give a lot of credit to Oprah and this shows me how influential she really has been.

In this Article Minzesheimer discusses Oprah Winfrey's effect on the popular things to read in America. The best sellers have been influenced hugely over the years. The article discussing J.K. Rowling's influence and Oprah's influence all in the same article. This shows me how relevant Oprah has been in the reading of our country. To be put in the same category as the writer of Harry Potter, she must be making a big effect. The article mentions Oprah as being "publishing's darling" and goes into talking about the Oprah effect. This article gives good background information on the effects Oprah has made in reading over the years.

A psychological article about college students and financial management. The study examines debt and spending habits of students and how that may of occured. Their are statistics of demographics, financial classes, and even personality types and their relationship to debt. Could provide a good viewpoint of sociological and psychology factors for research.

The article states that especially in times of economic trouble, no one can afford to be financially illiterate. The authors focus on the management of debt and college students. Specifically they address credit cards and student loans. They also speak of how certified public accountants are great educators for this problem. A valuable article to relate Accounting classes for students and their financial literacy.

The Author suggests that many of Americans Financial difficulties are brought about as a result of a lack of self-regulation. A lack of financial literacy can hit lower-income families the hardest because of their ability to be exploited. Consumers with lack of financial knowledge find themselves caught up in short term benefits rather than long term benefits. Proper knowledge of strategies would enable many individuals to avoid problems and better prepare themselves for the future by protecting themselves in the present.

Davis' study of the necessity for financial literacy is interesting and examines the cost benefit ananlysis for financial literacy courses. The study is done with Texas PTA parents and their willingness to allocate additional funds for financial classes. Davis addressses the growing problem of American students and their lack of finacial knowledge. Overall a valuable article to examine the publics willingness to provide funding for financial education

A 20 page survey on the impact of financial literacy classes and survey results. The surveyor examines results from every state and uses many detailed questions. His surveys included results by race, gender, and location along with many others. The stastics are starteling and valuable for research on financial literacy.

It is shocking to see the statistic that almost 2/3 of individuals over the age of 50, still in the working environment, have not thought about their retirement. This failure to plan has lead Americans to financial illiteracy. Almost half of people in the workforce are unaware of pension and retirement funds that they as employees qualify for. The author suggests requiring proper planning aid information upon new employee orientation, educational programs as well as a personal incentive for individuals to think and plan for the future.

Synder outlines an initiative by CPAs around the country to promote financial literacy and improve Americans' wellbeing. Examples of the programs include a one-day workshop for high school seniors to discuss subjects such as credit cards, owning a home and buying a car. The goal is to bring real world applications to teach students about financial literacy. The programs also aim to help military personnel and their families when a parent is deployed, or a unique situation arises that impacts their finances. The author effectively demonstrates how CPAs across the country are taking action to aid in the development of healthy financial habits. Unfortunately, there is no information regarding the effectiveness of these programs and more information is needed.

College students today face a difficult time with easy access to a credit card and a lack of financial literacy. The authors' study concluded that the average college student is currently accumulating debt at an increasing rate. They believe the allure and purchasing power of a credit card causes some young adults to forgo their own inhibitions and just spend. This study provides an excellent source of quantitative information in the form of survey responses and charts. The authors break down their survey group into many categories, such as age and sex, to examine debt. The plethora of data allows correlations to be made and therefore a better understanding of college student credit card debt. However, the sample size was only 448 students on five college campuses, and in the future, a larger sample size could provide a more detailed and accurate analysis.

Thaler discusses the "financial literacy crisis" facing most Americans. Today, a record number of Americans are inept when it comes to financial literacy and as a result accumulate large sums of debt and fail to plan for the future. The author explains that Americans get into trouble because current financial systems such as credit cards are not user-friendly. To counter this escalating problem, researchers believe financial programs should be created that provide consumers with basic financial knowledge and assist them in making good choices. Finally, parents must begin teaching financial literacy to their children at a young age and not keep the subject a private matter. Thaler's argument that new financial programs should be created is logical given the current crisis situation he identifies, but he fails to outline a way to do so. Norvilitis, Jill, Michelle Merwin, Timothy Osberg, Patricia Roehling, Paul Young, and Michele Kamas. " Personaility Factors, Money Attitueds, Financial Knowledge, and Credit-Card Debt in College Students." Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 36.6: 1395-1414. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO Roeschh Lib., U of Dayton. 17 March. 2009