Birth Control Essay, Research Paper

In beginning my research, which was surfing the web for information on sexuality, I began with the topic of “birth control.” I found birth control to be intriguing because it had a wide range of possible choices to choose from. In beginning to search for this topic, one of the first pieces of information that I located was the statistic of, “without use of any birth control method, for every 100 fertile women, 60-80 females will become pregnant during the course of a year in which intercourse occurs regularly. For girls ages 15-19, this statistic is about 90 percent.”(http://www.all.org/issues/bc05.htm). This particular statistic, that I found, was very interesting due to the fact that I didn’t know that the percentage was so high in being able to impregnate a female.

On my way to discovering this website, on the birth control topic, I came across many porn sites with graphic pictures of naked women. It was interesting to see how looking for information on only sexuality can happen to link you to porn sites, that have nothing to do with the actual information.

I then had gone through about five porn sites when I would finally go to askjeeves.com and type in the question, “Which birth control method is most efficient during sexual intercourse?” Going to the websites that www.askjeeves.com linked me to; I stumbled onto the topic of emergency contraceptives. This topic seemed more interesting to me and I decided to look more into it. On this particular site, I found information on the morning after pill and the male/ female condoms.

My reaction to all this information was that I learned more about the morning after pill and the different contraceptives that can be used during sexual intercourse. I found the information of the morning after pill, which I did not know much about, to be interesting. It was amazing to learn that a woman can overdose on birth control pills, the morning after having sexual intercourse, and kill the unborn fetus. I had always assumed that once a male’s sperm enters a woman’s vulva that it would impregnate the woman. It was relieving to know that there is a pill in the market that would stop the women from becoming pregnant after sexual intercourse, if she was in fear of being pregnant.

Other information that I learned about was that the male condom is the most widely used contraceptive and the most efficient. Used correctly, condoms by themselves are 88-92 percent effective in preventing pregnancy. There is also a female condom that has come on the market, although it is excessively expensive. Since the female condom is relatively new, many women have not yet had experience with it, and its popularity is not yet determined.

In all, I had felt comfortable writing about this topic because it is not strange for people to want to know more about having safe intercourse. The different methods that can be applied in preventing pregnancy are inspiring and needs to be evaluated. Every couple needs to choose and take responsibility on what birth control method to use, and also realize the pros and cons of using that method in order to prevent a pregnancy. Not everyone knows the side effects of using the pill, condom, foam, etc. I felt that reading this information gave me great insight on how to be responsible, when deciding to use the right contraceptives. Different contraceptives do have higher risks than others. I didn’t realize the extent of how higher the percentage is to use the one method compared to the other.

Part Two:

All the information that I managed to locate was accurate due to the fact that the website at www.askjeeves.com on emergency contraception, which dealt with the morning after pill and the male/female condoms, had similar information compared to many other websites. The website on the morning after pill, which was an accurate source on aol’s keyword located at the website http://www.all.org/issues/bc05.htm had sources listed such as; A Consumer’s Guide to the Pill and Other Drugs by pharmacist/researcher John Wilks; Infant Homicides Through Contraceptives by pharmacist Bogomir Kuhar; Medical consultant Stephen Spaulding, M.D. Dr. Spaulding is a board-certified family practitioner whose writings have appeared in a variety of medical journals, his credentials definitely back up our website information. The other website I browsed to verify this particular website also had their sources listed. The website http://www.nccbuscc.org/prolife/publicat had listed the information of: according to the FDA, “emergency contraceptive pills … act by delaying or inhibiting ovulation, and/or altering tubule transport of sperm and/or ova (thereby inhibiting fertilization), and/or altering the endometrium (thereby inhibiting implantation).” (FDA, Federal Register Notice, Vol. 62, No. 37, Feb. 25, 1997) This website verified, what the morning after pill was, listed where the source of that information came from, and proved my original website to be legit.

Also part of verifying if the information I located on the websites was accurate, I decided to use a primary source. This primary source was a non-reference book. This non-reference book held information that helps not contradict what I had found on the Internet. The book, The Contraceptive Handbook, by Beverly Winikoff held 248 pages of facts on different contraceptives. It explained the usage, what it could do for you, and which contraceptive was more effective when using.

I don’t believe the information I found could be biased due to the fact that it is not taking sides but merely explaining the facts, such as showing statistics, usage, and the different methods to prevent pregnancy. In doing this research on this topic I learned the different techniques on the devices girls could use to prevent pregnancies. I also learned how to find information on the Internet for certain topics that I wanted to research. Another important thing I learned was that it is not easy retrieving information on sexual topics, because of all the porn sites it sends you into and some of which they don’t let you get out of easily. When trying to find out if the information is accurate you must always look for the sources the website may have listed for you, which will tell you where they got their information from.

Part 3:

This explanation is written for my brother who is nineteen years old, and also like me knows very little of the information provided by the Internet. The steps on finding information on sex on the Internet are as follows: log onto the Internet then type in www.askjeeves.com; type in the question you are researching on; (which will then give you a list of other relative questions about your topic, and you should select the question that suits you for them to answer). Next, select a question. You will then be brought into a site that has the information you are looking for. To make sure all this information is accurate, I made sure to answer these questions and realize these viewpoints: Is the information cited authentic? If the page claims to be from an established newspaper, journal, organization, institution, agency, is it the real one? Check if the domain name corresponds to the source. Most companies and institutions own their own name. Is it dated? Current, timely? Does the page have overall integrity and reliability as a source? What’s the purpose of the page? Why was it created? Does it inform? Explain? Facts or data? Persuade, promote? Sell? Share, disclose? Rant? Entice? What’s the bias? Every writer wants to prove his point, and will he/she use the data and information that assists him in doing so.

When evaluating information found on the Internet, it is important to examine who is providing the “information” you are viewing, and what might be their point of view or bias. The popularity of the Internet makes it the perfect venue for commercial and sociopolitical publishing that “”sponsors” the page? Might the sponsors have a vested interest in the viewpoint presented? Look for links to “sponsors,” “About us,” “Philosophy,” etc. Advertisers can also be sponsors. Could the points of view be constraint or bent to keep or attract advertisers? Are there links to other viewpoints? Balanced? Annotated? Anything not said that could be said? Perhaps would be said if all points of view were represented? These are questions and ideals to keep in mind when deciding if the information is accurate.

In conclusion, there are many dangers in finding reliable and valid information on the Internet because anyone can create a site with false information. Therefore, when looking for a site makes sure to check the sources and see if they are recognizable or known. One of the most important facts is to learn as much as you can about the author, publisher (owner or host), timeliness, quality, and reliability of a web page. The web is for research; it offers a wealth of content never before available. It is to equip you with the skills to obtain the information about a page so you can either use it properly cited and with appropriate qualifying comments, or decide not to use it. Make sure to evaluate carefully whatever you find on the Web. The burden is on you – the reader – to establish the validity, authorship, timeliness, and integrity of what you find. Documents can easily be copied and falsified or copied with omissions and errors – intentional or accidental.

In the general World Wide Web there are no editors to proofread and “send it back” or “reject it” until it meets the standards of a good paper. Most pages found in general search engines for the web are self-published or published by businesses small and large with motives to get you to buy something or believe a point of view. Even within university and library web sites, there can be many pages that the institution does not try to oversee. The web has absolutely no boundaries. In addition, if you want to use it for serious research you need to cultivate the habit of healthy skepticism, of questioning everything you find on it, with critical thinking.