Annotated Bibliography

1. Bornmann, J. W. (2009). Becoming soldiers: Army basic training and the negotiation of identity (Order No. 3349632). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304880565). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.rowan.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/304880565?accountid=13605

Background: It is hard for outsiders to grasp the challenge recruits face while going through Basic Combat Training. So to be able to accurately study it, John W. Bornmann joined the United States Army to get firsthand experience as a recruit.  While being able to witness everything with his own eyes, common misconceptions about the military’s training programs were clarified.

How I Used It: Bornmann was able to support some of my claims with his experience at basic training. While we where both proving different points, his experiences aligned very well with the experiences that I went through along with the experience of those I surveyed. So having a second academic source to backup my information was a major benefit to my paper.

2. Davis, T. W. (2006). Effects of stress, coping style, and confidence on basic combat training performance, discipline, and attrition (Order No. 3207963). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304960885). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.rowan.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/304960885?accountid=13605

Background: A general survey was conducted to help better understand how recruits cope with problems they face. Between high stress levels, coping mechanisms and anxiety, recruits feel a wide variety of emotion. Getting to the bottom of it is crucial to understanding how military training works

How I Used It: This source was easily implemented by applying it’s data in support of my argument. This source puts numbers to my claims through studies and surveys. By explaining the poor performance of those with a negative mindset, this source directly fit  in with the argument I was making.

3. Hayden, Joanna. “Self-Efficacy Theory.” Introduction to Health Behavior Theory. Second ed. Burlington: Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2014. 14-21. Print.

Background: The theory of self-efficacy is explained as the belief of one’s own ability to successfully accomplish something.” “Efficacious people set challenging goals and maintain strong commitment to them.”

How I Used It: This theory is one that goes a long with how successful trainees feel throughout their training. Those who set small goals to motivate them and to build their resiliency, ended up successful. This source put a definition to this theory and explained how it worked. This was valuable information to my paper.

4. Personal interview with Daniel Hill

Background: I interviewed a student at Rowan University who is working towards being a medical school student. He is one of the hardest working people that I know yet always finds time to help others. Dan believes in a hard work ethic and is willing to face the difficult road of applying and completing medical school.

How I Used It: I interviewed him to get his opinion as to whether or not medical school should be as difficult as it is. He understands how hard it is and how hard it is to get accepted to and he whole heartedly agrees with it. He knows that it takes strong resiliency skills to be able to make life or death decisions and medical school seeks just that.

5. “How Hard Is Medical School?” Premedly. Premedlife Staff, 29 Feb. 2016. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.

Background: This source explained how hard medical school was. Providing extensive details and first hand experience, it truly got the point across about how difficult medical school is. At one point, this source even related medical school to Navy Seal training.

How I Used It: While I did not reference this source directly in my paper, reading this article actually gave me the idea to relate medical school and military training. I did not fully comprehend how difficult aspiring medical students had it until reading this article and I could relate to that feeling on several different levels. This article gave me the idea to interview someone who was attempting to take on this difficult beast.

6. MacKenzie, Doris Layton., and Gaylene Styve. Armstrong. Correctional Boot Camps: Military Basic Training or a Model for Corrections? Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2004. Print.

Background: This book goes into great detail about how the “bootcamp method” was applied as a way to fix poor behavior or criminal behavior. Focusing on young adults with delinquent behavior, this book describes the program to put them in shape. But does it always work?

How I Used It: I did not directly reference this article but this is what gave me the idea to look for the boot camp method in other areas. Without this reading, I would never have related my argument to medical school.

7. Bartone, Paul T., Robert R. Roland, James J. Picano, and Thomas J. Williams. “Psychological Hardiness Predicts Success in US Army Special Forces Candidates.” International Journal of Selection and Assessment 16.1 (2008): 78-81. International Journal of Selection and Assessment. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Mar. 2008. Web. 4 Apr 2017

Background: This article describes the mental states that is required to make it through U.S. Army Special Forces. Stating that psychological hardiness is crucial for Special Forces soldiers and how they are selected, this article brought out the numbers to explain how strong willed these people needed to be

How It Was Used: While this would have been great to be able to use directly in my paper, I did not have the room! But that said, this article was a great confirmation in how important resiliency is for the United States military; so much so that it is one of the top traits needed for special forces selection.

8. Dyrbye, Liselotte N., Matthew R. Thomas, Jefrey L. Huntington, Karen L. Lawson, Paul J. Novotny, Jeff A. Sloan, and Tait D. Shanafelt. “Personal Life Events and Medical Student Burnout: A Multicenter Study.” Academic Medicine 81.4 (2006): 374-84. Web.

Background: This article summed up the burnout rate of medical school students. Describing difficulties faced by med students along with what causes them to run themselves down.

How It Was Used: This was one of a few articles I read to get a feel about how difficult medical school was. To ensure I was making a legitimate comparison between medical school and the military, I wanted to have my facts straight.

9. Dunn, Laura B., Alana Iglewicz, and Christine Moutier. “A Conceptual Model of Medical Student Well-Being: Promoting Resilience and Preventing Burnout.” SpringerLink. Springer-Verlag, 11 Jan. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2017

Background: This source emphasizes on resilience of med students throughout medical school. It goes on to say that those who lack strong resilience skills wash themselves out of medical school.

How It Was Used: This article made the clear connection of medical school and the military by focusing on resiliency. Considering I was arguing resiliency within the military, this source made the clear connection between med school and the military.

10. Sewell, Gerald F. “Emotional Intelligence: And the Army Leadership Requirements Model.” Military Review. U.S. Army CGSC, 01 Nov. 2009. Web. 1 Apr. 2017.

Background: This source explains how the Army might lack emotional intelligence which in turn encourages its leaders to be too hard on its soldiers. It highlights that while the military is good with providing leaders who can accomplish a mission, it is not got at caring about how the soldiers feel while doing so.

How It Was Used: This is where I saw a general rebuttal to my thesis. I took this thought and explained why the military is hard on it’s soldiers for a specific reason and that if the soldier thinks it is too difficult, they do not belong.

11. Honghua, Xu, and Feng Zenghui. “Employment Self-efficacy: Construction and Initial Validation of a Scale for University Students.” 2010 International Conference on E-Business and E-Government (2010): n. pag. Web.

Background: This source explains how self-efficacy is implanted throughout the military.

How It Was Used: This was a great cross reference for my claim that self-eficacy is crucial for soldiers within military training. I came to this conclusion after reading a health behavior book but this source was able to confirm my claim.

12. Personal Experience

Background: Throughout my experience with the United States Army, I have been subject to lessons that few my age will ever get a chance to learn. The biggest contributor to the lessons I’ve learned is by experience at basic training. It was here that I found the resiliency skills required to not only push through basic training, but all of the major obstacles that I would later encounter. With that, I also got to see how others cope with stress and where they find the strength to get past their toughest obstacles.

How I Used It: I was able to apply my experience by using what I felt and saw as evidence in my research proposal. Basic training provided me in-depth knowledge of a situation that few have the opportunity of experiencing and with this knowledge, I was able to make unique specific conclusions about the toll basic training takes on recruits.

13. Survey I conducted

Background: I surveyed 28 soldiers about the emotions and difficulties they felt while going through basic combat training. The majority said that they felt an influx of emotions throughout the training and used the emotions to their advantage throughout training.

How I Used It: I was able to apply this data to enforce my argument. The survey explained that the majority of those who went through basic training had to find their emotion to give them the motivation to complete training. Along with that, the survey showed that the mass majority faced very difficult times throughout the training painting the picture of how difficult the training actually is.