Research Log #1 - Solutionary Project 2020

Date: February 4, 2020

Name: Nixon Lee
Essential Question: Why is building your own furniture a good thing?

Three Points to Prove: #1: Building your own furniture builds character and skill.
#2: Building your own furniture is cost-efficient and energy saving
#3: Building your own furniture solves problems and fill needs.

Point that this Source Proves:

#1 Building own furniture builds character and skill.

Excerpts (These should provide insight into the Point to Prove):

In the article the author encourages us by stating that, “If someone is stepping on us, holding us back, or
ignoring us, nature has a way of dealing with this, so focus on what you can do and do so with a strong sense
of character.”

To express the character of teamwork the author states, “Our hands are meant to be extended in a helpful
way; it is why we have arms and elbows!”

To show more of evidence of the benefit of teamwork the author says to, “Exhibit humility in achievement
and success (giving credit, giving back).”

Analysis (How does this source support the Point to Prove?):

This website provides an abundant amount of information about character building that will change
your perception of yourself entirely. Building your own furniture with a crew, or alone, can build character
and shape you into a better person. Building character teaches you many things like how to be humble and
grateful.
When working on a huge project, you use your character to ask for help and not be stubborn and keep
working solo. He says in his last reason on the list, “Our hands are meant to be extended in a helpful way; it
is why we have arms and elbows!” It also takes character to be grateful for all the work that you and the
group did.
Building your own furniture teaches you the character of not quitting. This relates back to building
furniture because it could be someone constantly moving from one project to another. They shouldn’t give
up on a project because just one piece didn’t fit. It takes character to continuously keep trying.

Work Cited (correct MLA format):

Mertz, Jon. "What Builds Character?" Thin Difference, Thin Difference, 1 May 2017,

www.thindifference.com/2016/01/what-builds-character/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2020.

This is a reputable and reliable article because it was written by Jon Mertz, one of the Top 100 Thought
Leaders in Trustworthy business and highlighted as one of the Leaders to watch in 2015 by the American
Management Association.
 Research Log #2 - Solutionary Project 2020
Date: February 6, 2020
Name: Nixon Lee
Essential Question: Why is building your own furniture a good thing?

Three Points to Prove: #1: Building your own furniture builds character and skill.
#2: Building your own furniture is cost-efficient and energy saving.
#3: Building your own furniture solves problems and fill needs.

Point that this Source Proves: #2 Building your own furniture is cost-efficient and energy saving

Excerpts (These should provide insight into the Point to Prove):

Mohr, saving money, says in her talk that, “If I run my new energy-efficient house forward, compared with
the old, non-energy-efficient house, we make it back in about six years.”

Mohr then follows with a possible scenario: “Now, I probably would have upgraded the old house to be more
energy-efficient, and in that case, it would take me more about 20 years to break even.”

 Talking about energy saving, Mohr states that, “Now, if I hadn't paid attention to embodied energy, it would
have taken us over 50 years to break even compared to the upgraded house.”

Analysis (How does this source support the Point to Prove?):

This Ted talk proves that by building her own home and making it suited to her, she saved quite a lot
of money and energy. Although it wasn’t furniture, she still built something that was low cost. That’s what
building your own furniture is like, saving money, tracking your progress, and being so proud of your
accomplishment you just can’t stop talking about it. She proves in the end how much she saved on using
different materials than the idealistic product and how long it would take to break even with a normal
product. With building your own furniture you can decide what it’s made out of through cost or just design
and save big.
Throughout her talk she discusses how building her home has saved an abundant amount of energy.
By building your own furniture, you are reducing the energy used by movers, shippers, and the people
actually making the furniture. Building your own furniture is cost efficient by having complete control over
everything instead of paying retail price and then the price of having it shipped and delivered. It saves
energy by reducing the amount the work done by several people.

Work Cited (correct MLA format):

Mohr, Catherine. "The Tradeoffs of Building Green." TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, TED, Feb. 2010,
www.ted.com/talks/catherine_mohr_the_tradeoffs_of_building_green/discussion#t-318944.
Accessed 11 Feb. 2020.
This is a reputable and reliable article because TED gets skilled and passionate speakers to give a speech at
their facilities. The speaker is an engineer turned surgeon turned strategist, who is also a VP of Strategy for
Intuitive Surgical in Silicon Valley.
 Research Log #3 - Solutionary Project 2020

Date: February 16, 2020

Name: Nixon Lee
Essential Question: Why is building your own furniture a good thing?

Three Points to Prove: #1: Building your own furniture builds character and skill.
#2: Building your own furniture is cost-efficient and energy saving.
#3: Building your own furniture solves problems and fill needs.

Point that this Source Proves: #3: Building your own furniture solves problems and fill needs.

Excerpts (These should provide insight into the Point to Prove):

Delaney states in the article that, “Over the past decade, national homelessness experts have come a
consensus about how to end homelessness: by giving the homeless homes.”

He also quotes Robert Marbut by saying, “It should discourage “goodies” in the form of handouts from
citizens and social services, he said, and it should join forces with other nearby municipalities to change their
habit of “enabling” the poor.”

To see Marbut’s success in building a new shelter they state that, “The facility has a $15 million operating
budget and provides shelter for 1,500 people-about 500 of whom sleep outside in a courtyard.”

Analysis (How does this source support the Point to Prove?):

This article proves that building your own furniture for housing solves problems and fill needs
through statistics and opinions. We all agree that ending homelessness doesn’t need to always involve going
out on the streets and handing out things. The easier and simple solution is through shelters. Of course, with
the help of a shelter we can donate items like in our case, homemade furniture. With our furniture they could
move it with them when finding permanent housing or the shelter can keep it permanently for multiple uses.
It solves problems by getting rid of some, unfortunately not all, homeless people on the street and
into beds. Homeless rates are already dropping and it’s almost guaranteed if they get a place to leave their
things and store items on, they would find themselves in a shelter. Shelters lack much furniture for any
homeless to use so building your own furniture and donating would fill their need to furniture so all people
could use it.

Work Cited (correct MLA format):

Delaney, Arthur. "How A Traveling Consultant Helps America Hide The Homeless." HuffPost, HuffPost,
6 Dec. 2017, www.huffpost.com/entry/robert-marbut_n_6738948?1425949972=. Accessed
15 Feb. 2020.

This is a reputable and reliable article because HuffPost reports with emotions and tries to get real people’s
insight on issues and topics which makes them trustworthy.
 Research Log #4 - Solutionary Project 2020
Date: February 20, 2020
Name: Nixon Lee
Essential Question: Why is building your own furniture a good thing?

Three Points to Prove: #1: Building your own furniture builds character and skill.
#2: Building your own furniture is cost-efficient and energy saving.
#3: Building your own furniture solves problems and fill needs.

Point that this Source Proves: #3: Building your own furniture solves problems and fill needs.

Excerpts (These should provide insight into the Point to Prove):

As we learn/ watch more about how saddening homelessness is, Kritlyna Rene Jackson states, “It’s me, myself, and I
in these cold hard streets.”

Ray Ortiz in an interview says, “I’m living a dying dream,” to reassure the audience that homelessness is a sad topic,

Proving the homelessness is a problem everyone is facing, Rory says that, “Normal people that I’ve worked with
before have lived in their cars.”

Stickman approves of building furniture or anything with unorthodox materials by saying, “I’m building it out of just
odd materials, I have no money, I don’t have a job, I’m disabled, I don’t get a check”

Analysis (How does this source support the Point to Prove?):

This documentary has my proven my main point that building your own furniture is a good thing. Throughout
the whole film we see the reporter interview multiple homeless people, and not once do we see them have a table to do
work, eat a meal, or sit down. We learned that some of the people have gotten jobs but still go back to their tents after
work. With the tables we will provide, or they build by themselves, it won’t be much of a transition from the
workplace to “home.” Instead of sitting on curbs and squatting to eat or do papers, they could use the table as a work
surface or even a stool if necessary.
We saw in some scenarios too that some people live in their cars and although it may not seem like it, tables
can still be useful to them. In a car they’re still limited to their lap as a surface to eat and maybe the center console for
writing. With a table they could try build it to be portable so it could semi fit inside the car or so they could take it out
with them when they go out and try take a shower. This feels the need of having no space to lay things down or tto
work on.

Work Cited (correct MLA format):

Biagiotti, Lisa. "YouTube." YouTube, L.A. Times', 25 Mar. 2016,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUsJcPc8g0A. Accessed 20 Feb. 2020.

This is a reputable and reliable article because it was uploaded by L.A. Times’ which has won the Pulitzer Prize and
has workers who work hard and get all the necessary information.
 Research Log #5 - Solutionary Project 2020
Date: March 1, 2020
Name: Nixon Lee
Essential Question: Why is building your own furniture a good thing?

Three Points to Prove: #1: Building your own furniture builds character and skill.
#2: Building your own furniture is cost-efficient and energy saving.
#3: Building your own furniture solves problems and fill needs.

Point that this Source Proves: #1: Building your own furniture builds character and skill.

Excerpts (These should provide insight into the Point to Prove):

Proving that that characteristic of being a team player is important the article states, “For community collaboration and
research to be sustainable, testable mechanisms to build successful collaborations to be identified.”

As further evidence of teamwork being the key a paragraph says, “When researchers and community partners
experience a secure attachment with one another they can more easily take risks, assume appropriate responsibility for
problematic situations, and be more self-reflective and willing to seek help in changing behavior or attitudes.”

Scientific proof shows how productive teamwork can be by stating in the article, “Attachment theory posits that
throughout the life course, humans are able to be productive when they are confident that there are others who can
provide support and protection.”

Analysis (How does this source support the Point to Prove?):

The article proves my point that building your own furniture builds character and skill through teamwork. In
order to build anything, you must first be open to working with others. As the saying goes, teamwork makes the
dreamwork. Once you begin to work well with others, your productivity increases quite a bunch and the end goal is
much more rewarding. A team player is a good characteristic because it shows that you’re not in it for the recognition
once the product is finished.
Not only do you need have a team to work on the building, but you also need to be close to them. The
teamwork you should accomplish shouldn’t be forced on but rather out of will. In the end building your own furniture
or anything in general builds teamwork and team bonding resulting in amazing furniture or whatever you build.

Work Cited (correct MLA format):

Rappaport, Nancy, et al. “Staying at the Table: Building Sustainable Community–research Partnerships.” Journal of
Community Psychology, vol. 36, no. 6, Aug. 2008, pp. 693–701. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/jcop.20249.

This is a reputable and reliable article because it was written and edited by 3 authors who have the academic
credentials and have gone through several drafts to give out the best article they could provide.
 Research Log #6 - Solutionary Project 2020
Date: March 7, 2020
Name: Nixon Lee
Essential Question: Why is building your own furniture a good thing?

Three Points to Prove: #1: Building your own furniture builds character and skill.
#2: Building your own furniture is cost-efficient and energy saving.
#3: Building your own furniture solves problems and fill needs.

Point that this Source Proves: #2: Building your own furniture is cost-efficient and energy saving

Excerpts (These should provide insight into the Point to Prove):

The video states that, “wood can be used in various building applications because of many benefits and
positive attributes of wood,” proving that the pallet wood we will use to make our tables can be used for
other purposes

As a component of the tables that we will make ourselves, wood is described in the video is, “A versatile and
often cost-effective building material, wood can enable developers to build more quickly and more cheaply.

Showing more depth on why using wood for our table build is important, the video states, “Wood building
materials are also good for the environment. They are renewable, biodegradable, recyclable and they store
carbon, resulting in a smaller environmental footprint than other building materials.”

Analysis (How does this source support the Point to Prove?):

The online video provides evidence that building our own furniture is cost efficient and energy saving
through multiple reasons. It proves that the wood we will use from used pallets, is a great material to make
our table out of. Not only are we solving the homelessness issue, but we are also reusing material that will
also help save the environment. With the pallets being used, and most times them being burned afterwards,
the cost of pallets should be little to none. The only cost just being the screws and varnish.
Choosing wood as building material to build your own furniture is energy saving because the wood is
easy to find compared to other materials. It won’t be hard to find pallet wood or pallets in general since we
all have seen pallets just laying around by Costco or shipping docks.

Work Cited (correct MLA format):

NaturalResourcesCa. "YouTube." YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqwtkzC0imE.

Accessed 7 Mar. 2020.

This is a reputable and reliable article because the creators who produced the online video states that the
Government of Canada supports the research and development of wood-based construction.