4/13

1. Heeding all too well the admonition of Genesis 1:26, man has clearly established dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle and all the earth.
2. In fact, man has gone far toward destroying all members of the animal kingdom, including of course himself.
3. In the last 150 years, man has increased his extermination of mammals alone by fifty-five-fold, and if the killing continues at the present rate man may well destroy all 4062 species of mammals within thirty years.
4. Even today there are 835 endangered species, with more being added each year.
5. In India, where 40000 tigers roamed in 1930, there are now only 2500 left and the lion population, currently estimated at 17,5 has been depleted even more severely.
6. Australia, a land of energetic sports-minded individuals, has treated its animal population no better than India has.
7. Consequently animals like the kangaroo, for which Australia is famous, are fast disappearing as are koala bears Tasmanian wolves and emus.
8. Because Australians were not concerned about their wildlife, in 1930 the government machine-gunned 20000 emus at one time.
9. In the United States too, several species of wildlife have disappeared and many others are close to extinction.
10. The Eastern elk and the passenger pigeon, once so plentiful in this country, are now forever gone.
11. Other animals, such as the alligator, the Southern Bald eagle and the ivory-billed woodpecker, may be fated to join the growing list of species we will see no more.
12. Although alligators are protected by law, men continue to kill them for their skins, only the belly portion of which are used.
13. As long as Americans want their expensive alligator belts handbags and shoes, the poachers will continue to supply the skins.
14. The profit motive, of course, has led to the wholesale slaughter of animals like the alligator and the tiger, but many other animals have been killed for whim or pleasure.

4/13

1. That singer, whoever he is, really knows how to sing the blues.
2. The woman, sitting at the back table, is a well-known restaurant reviewer.
3. When conditions are right, that horse can run just like its father.
4. His four favorite artists are Monet, Renoir, Degas and Manet.
5. Let Warren and Andrea, our most skillful speakers, present our proposal.
6. Long regarded as a leading newspaper, the Washington Post boasts an outstanding staff of reporters.
7. Slowly, slyly and cautiously, Eric slid the wallet across the table.
8. What we need is creative leadership, leadership that will encourage experimentation.
9. During high school he read Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar and Hamlet.
10. Song of Solomon, I believe is the professor’s favorite.
11. I believe that should the eggs break, we will have a mess.
12. Sometimes, I think that people are extremely foolish.
13. I believe that a computer breakdown is a common excuse for late papers.
14. The elephant that stands on the drum is Maggie.15. The elephant, which is a hard worker and a talented performer, is found in most zoos and circuses.

Homework 4/8

Lisa Randall's article "Dangling Particles" went into the issue of how generality can creates misconceptions,especially in science. Randall brings up how the generality of many scientific terms lead to misconceptions that people use to dismiss and idea, like with global warming. People often tend to say how their winters are getting worse so there can't really be global warming, when they theory of global warming really just mean that there are going to be more extreme ranges of temperature. Randall also proposes solutions, which sort of makes this a policy paper. I thought she set it up very well because she set up the issue very well. She didn't propose her solutions until the end after she threw out her evidence either.

I enjoyed Brian Greene's article "Put a Little Science in Your Life" a lot more. It had a lot better approach. It was a really interesting article because it just talked about something that you never really would have thought about until Greene said it. I guess science really does make you think about think about a lot. It stimulates your mind and makes you wonder about things that there is no answer for yet, like the universe and things like that

Explicit Writing

Implicit:
I don’t think you should go out with him. I heard that he doesn’t have a job and that he just broke up with his long-term girlfriend.

Explicit:
You shouldn't go out with him. He doesn't have a job, so he isn't very successful. And he just broke up with his long-term girlfriend so he probably is an emotional wreck.

Implicit:
Race is still an important consideration in American politics today. I recently heard President Bush speak about hate crimes in schools.

Explicit:
Race is still a very important subject in our country still, especially when it comes to hate crimes. In fact, it has become such an important issue that President Bush has been talking recently about the importance of stopping hate crimes in schools.

Implicit:
Argumentative essays are meant to show your views and opinions and sway your reader to the side you have taken. My essay took an obvious side but it just listed why capital punishment should be abolished.

Explicit:
Argumentative essays are supposed to share your views and opinions and persuade your readers to share the same side as you. But in my essay I just listed facts about why capital punishment should be abolished instead of expressing my views and persuading the audience to my side

In Class Writing

Our notion that only poets and novelists have to write is unrealistic. In fact many of us foolishly object to taking courses in writing. College students going into business think their secretaries will do their writing for them. This attitude shows a naive faith in the competency of their secretaries. Furthermore, young business people seldom have private secretaries. Again, students going into the technical or scientific fields may think that writing is something they seldom have to do. Yet, practicing engineers and scientists say they spend half of their time writing memos and reports. Besides, a person in any field who can express ideas clearly is sure to succeed.

Topic Proposal for Policy Paper

For my Policy Paper I plan to argue for the necessity of keeping the death penalty in place. It has been in issue up for debate in many states throughout the United States and I want to go into the details for the importance of keeping it in place. I might even be able to extend to the global level depending on the amount of information I can gather.
There are two main sides to the issue of the death penalty. The opposition to it argues that it is not only a cruel punishment, but also is not effective in deterring criminals from committing those criminals that commit crimes that warrant the death penalty from doing so. They think that life in prison is a viable alternative to the death penalty. However those in support argue that solution to be ineffective. They feel like the death penalty does in fact deter criminals from committing such crimes. Supporters also that it is the only way to hold people truly accountable for the crimes that they commit. The two sides don’t seem to be anywhere close to deciding the issue, so until it is the decision has been left to the individual states.
Ideally they could come to some sort of consensus that keeps the death penalty in place. If they were make the restrictions on the death penalty a little more stringent then they could hopefully agree and pass a bill that makes the death penalty legal in every single state.
The justification for my proposal will hopefully come from websites that have figures and data in support of the death penalty. Also quotes from key figures in the debate will be helpful as well. Through those my goal is that the justification for the death penalty will be one of simple reasoning; if a person commits such an appalling crime the death penalty should always be there as a possible sentence.
I’m going to be basing my proposal from many of the ideas that were brought up in my exploratory paper by the supporters of the death penalty. I should hopefully be able to use all of the sources that I used for that portion of the exploratory paper in this paper.
My main concern about the paper is going to be finding new sources that are reliable. There are plenty of unreliable sources in favor of the death penalty out there, but is going to be a lot of work to go through and sort out the good and the bad.

Campus Issue

Something that I feel USC needs to change is the attendance policy. Before there used to be no rules regarding class attendance, but now students can be bumped down letter grades or fail a class for poor attendance. I am not saying that students should not attend class, however if they are able to pass the classes without going to them than why should they have to go? Students at this age should have the maturity to make their own decisions, and if they feel they can excel academically without attendance then they should not be penalized.
However I completely understand the university's stance on their attendance policy. They pay the teachers salaries for them to teach students, so how can they teach if there are not students in the classroom? Also students that go to class tend to do better, so making attendance mandatory is about one of the only things that the university can really do to help ensure student success.

In-Class Writing 3/23

Last year when I wrote my research paper, I had a very different view on illegal immigration. I believed that every single illegal alien living in this country to should be kicked out and sent back to their countries. However as I began researching the subject I started to realize that my stance was perhaps a little too harsh. I came to find out that it is often times the illegal aliens that are the ones that do the jobs that many in the United States deem themselves "too good" to do. They come to this country in hopes of making their lives better for not only themselves, but their families as well. By the end of the paper I had changes my stance a great deal, and now believe that if they begin paying taxes and are not being a cancer to our society they should be allowed to stay in the country.

SWA#11

When it comes to articles, I believe the most important part of credibility is where the article comes from. Credible sources, such as newspapers, will seldomly allow pieces that lack a level of credibility to be put into circulation. They usually tend to not be as biased as say the Shelly The Republcan blog. A lot of credibilty can come from a moderately written article; people tend to believe it more because the information is not completely slanted one way or the other. The source plays a big role in bias because of that, they need to make sure that they remain a reliable source of information to their readers. Because of that they need to keep their credibility, which is why the source of an article is very often the most important part about the credibility of an article.

Warm-Up 3/16

Out of the three Carolina Reader articles I believe that the "Plan for Homeless Gets Mixed Reactions" was the most rhetorically appealing. It appeals to the logic of the readers very effectively. It represents the logic of the both sides for the possible move equally effectively by giving the reasons for and against the move. Any reader could understand why the side would or wouldn't be opposed to the move. The article appeals to the emotions because both sides realize the importance of the problem of the homeless in Columbia and how important it is to fix it. They share their feeling about how dire an issue it is, but just not the same ideas on how to go about and fix it. I think because of the justifications of that both sides give along with the emotions that they express to give the readers a better understanding about the issue of the homeless in Columbia.

In-Class Writing 3/2

The main argument in "The Controversy behind Barbie" is whether or not Barbie is a positive or negative role model for young girls. There are those who believe that Barbie portrays negative female stereotypes and that Barbie is responsible for the poor body image that girls have. And then there are the others that say Barbie is a good role model because she is able to do everything.
The audience is mainly intended to be women, especially those that have had a Barbie. The rhetoric appeals are intended to make them feel one way or another about Barbie.
It seems like feminists hold the first viewpoint because of the way they try and over-analyze a doll and blame all negative female stereotypes on Barbie. The second position seems to be Mattell because it makes Barbie seem like the perfect role model that can inspire girls to do anything they want to do. And the third view seems to be that of logical people. They realize that Barbie does portray some negative stereotypes, but yet is not responsible for all of the negative images of females.
The author is for the third position. She explains how she believes that Barbie does in some way teach girls to look up to the material things, but she also feels Barbie is a scapegoat that gets blamed for more than she should.

Warm-Up 3/2

The most interesting piece of information that I found while researching for Paper #3 was that it is legal to grow marijuana in certain counties in Northern California. In fact it accounts for almost two-thirds of their economy because they grow it and sell it to the government. I found that interesting because that is very different from the rest of the country and I wouldn't have expected the government to buy it back.

Exploratory Paper

The issue that I plan on researching for my paper is the legalization of marijuana in the United States. In almost every single part of the United States it is illegal to possess, grow or smoke marijuana. However in some places you can possess small amounts of it in certain places. It is also allowed to be used with prescription by cancer patients. In northern California growing medical marijuana is legal, in fact it accounts for almost two-thirds of their economy. Yet the federal government has yet to put in laws that would legalize Marijuana nationally in the United States, even though our neighbors in Canada have.
Legalizing marijuana appeals to a very wide audience. Even though it is illegal, marijuana is one of the most commonly used drugs in the U.S. It is not restricted to certain age groups, marijuana users range from the middle school students to grandparents. The marijuana users would like it to be legalized to get rid of the current punishments that are associated with getting caught using marijuana. These proponents feel as though there is no need for the government to put constraints on marijuana because it is not a drug that kills people as opposed to cocaine and heroin. However there are still very many who believe that marijuana should stay illegal because it is a hallucinogen drug that is mind altering. Opponents feel that if marijuana is allowed to be legalized then the flood gates could open up for other drugs as well.
There are three main positions in the issue on legalizing marijuana. They are the supporters for legalizing all drugs, who feel that the government should not limit what they chose to do with their own lives. Supporters for legalizing all drugs think that they should regulate what they put into their bodies, not the government. Then there is the middle, supporters who just want marijuana legalized. They believe that marijuana is not harmful and should be allowed to be smoked as freely as tobacco. And finally there is the side that doesn’t want to legalize marijuana at all. Not only do they feel like marijuana should not be legalized because of the fact that it is a hallucinogen, but also because it could open the flood gates to other drugs to be legalized as well.
I personally am interested because the legalization of marijuana is one of the issues that I feel affects my peers and I the most. I favor the government to legalize all drugs. If they did that than they could tax them to help the economy, but also because I feel like it should be the individuals decision to what they put into their bodies.

SWA #7

Library databases hold articles dating all the way back to many years ago from all sorts of magazines and other media. You can often find exactly what you are looking for by typing in a key word into the search, and articles relating to that key word will come up to help you. It lists all of the sources and has the author, publisher, date, etc. all right there. However you will need a password to access the database because it’s a paid subscription that the university pays for. The worldwide web can offer many more sources, however many of them are not viable sources. Anyone can post something onto the web, and it is free to access for people.
A bibliography lists all of the sources in alphabetical order that relate to the topic being written about that one referenced when writing the paper. It tells the basic information like the title author and publisher, as well as the date accessed. An annotated bibliography gives the specifics of the information from the articles that might be used in the research paper. When it comes time to write the paper an annotated bibliography can help a lot because it has all of the key information that you picked out from the article right there. All that all you have to do is pick out the information from right there and work it into the paper.
Credible sources often come from a recognized organization that has a domain name that is reputable, not something that a random person could have picked out and placed on Wikipedia. Often times it also helps if that article has been reproduced in print because it has a credible sponsor if so, like a paper or magazine. It also helps when the source is not slanted one way because it will appeal to a greater audience. Often times the extreme sources tend to be unreliable. Current sources are also better because the information is more up to date and has the tendency to be more true than older sources on the same topic.
A research plan allows you to organize how you plan to approach the paper. It makes the paper have more order and structure instead of wandering off. The sources and information that you plan to use are all laid out and your quotes and important information have been explained. You can use it to address the specific areas of your paper that you find important and necessary to address.
Plagiarism is when one uses another authors information or ideas in their paper as their own without giving credit to the original author. It is very simple to avoid plagiarism. Almost anytime there are quotations in your paper it needs to be cited from the source it came from. Also when you use information that come from one of the sources in the bibliography that will need to be cited.

2/16/2009

i really wasn't trying to accomplish too much with my card. I really was just trying to get the assignment done, while adding a little bit of humor to the assignment. With my card I just wanted to create a sense of the feeling of waking up with no recollection of what happened the night before. I thought it would be something that would get a laugh or two that many of my peers would be able to. I used the background with all of the questions to represent the unknown of what might have happened. The text was my handwriting because I thought it made it more personal. And the blue question marks and the blue pen just happened to be a coincidence because that background was blue and the only color pen I had was blue. My final product was something that I thought was pretty good, if I Could have I would have maybe like to have some different color question marks, but I couldn't find it on Google and didn't want to look around so it was fine.

SWA #6

The change in the Macintosh advertisement approach from the 1994 Performa commercial to the more recent Macintosh Love commercial is quite substantial. The main claim from the Performa commercial in 1994 was all about trying to convince the audience on how simple using Macintosh’s was for the everyday person. It compared the operating system to a person’s thought process to make it seem very user friendly, while showing how difficult a operating a PC could be for the users. The commercial also backs up its claim by trying to convince users about the durability and performance that comes with the Macintosh Performa. There really are not any unstated assumptions in this commercial, just that Macintosh’s are better than PC’s. It is trying to spread that message to the target audience of anybody getting ready to or thinking about purchasing a computer. However the Macintosh Love commercial is quite a different in terms of advertising approach. The Mac Love commercial isn’t close to the other commercial really; it starts off by saying “I Love You” in many different languages and playing a song that sings “you love has passed me by, you took me surprise… you took away everything I had”. It then says how millions of PC users were infected with the “love virus” last year, but the Mac OS operating system did not allow for the virus to spread. This has a much more obvious unstated assumption in the advertisement, such as the fact that Macintosh’s much more immune to computer viruses than PC’s. It also has a wider target audience as well because not only does it appeal to people thinking about new computers, but also to people who were infected with the virus and might want to get a computer where they have a less likely chance of catching a harmful virus again. The styles in the ads had much to do with the times they were made in. When the Performa commercial was made in 1994 many people still were relatively unknowledgeable about computers, so the commercial tried to ease the concerns about their product by making it seem like their product is relatively easy to use and well worth the investment for years to come. But as time moved on and computers became more and more advanced, so did other things like viruses. People don’t want to have their thousand dollar computers crash with a virus, so the Mac Love commercial tries to target that. By making the Macs seem more immune to viruses than PCs they can hopefully persuade more people into purchasing their products. The style in the advertisements are just a reflection of the time that they were made, trying to appeal to the audience in the best possible way for the time period.

Blog Post #1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9ut9tvqOHY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbzdFLfdi6I&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYiGpVGTU2U

Some of the best advertising comes out every February for the Super Bowl, where companies pay ridiculous amounts of money for advertisements. However with the economy the way it is this year, it seemed irresponsible for companies to be paying so much for advertisements when millions are left unemployed. Miller High Life, a popular beer, took advantage of this in their advertising. They ran a 30 commercial earlier before the Super Bowl to get their point across, and then from there on out they ran short 1 second clips of their advertising spokesman just saying “High Life”. It really worked which was the funny thing because it had the one thing that every Super Bowl commercial at least attempts, humor. It was funny to see a guy flash up on the television and just yell out “High Life”, while other companies were putting together 30 second ads that sometimes were not even funny. It made its mark on the audience, which was really anyone watching the game and enjoys beer. The claim was clearly stated because all that it really said in the one second clips was “High Life”. There was nothing else to the commercials really.

Blog Post #2

The card that says “I cried for Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode III… but not for the tsunami victims” shares the anonymous author’s apparent guilt about the situation. The explicit claim is stating that the author felt more sorrow for a fictional character than he or she did for the thousands of people that died in the tsunami. However it seems as though they are implying that they feel remorse for it, maybe even a little embarrassed that they can show such emotion for a fictional character, but not the real people that were going through struggle. The author is clearly somebody that feels like they have a guilty conscience for their actions, which the anonymous audience helps. Because the audience doesn’t know exactly who is writing this the author can get something off their conscience without having to worry about people that they know finding out. There isn’t textual support to really support that, other than the fact that PostSecret is meant to be a place where people can submit their deepest secrets with complete anonymity. The visual component doesn’t really do much for the card. It just sort of shows that the author cares more about outer space and Star Wars, because there is more of the outer space picture, than about the tsunami, because there is less of the water in the card.

2/9

Visual arguments tend to draw in the audience faster than written arguments. It allows for the audience to gain emotion or opinion about what the author is trying to convey in a few moments rather than having be explained over a few pages. But most importantly it allows for viewers to have different views on one image, much more open for interpretation than written arguments tend to be.

Essay Author and Title:
“If You Run a Red Light, Will Everyone Know?” by Brad Stone


Central Argument of the Essay:
(p. 348) That people’s personal criminal records (or lack thereof) are too easily accessed on the web.



My Central Claim about the nature/effectiveness of the argument in the essay:
I found the argument to be quite effective. I found the way that Stone ended the essay to have great effect by saying how CriminalSearches.com creators feel that the site is like a seatbelt, and then throwing in the fact that both of them had clean records.



This is how the author manipulated the rhetorical appeals:

* The logos appeal:
A very logical appeal because many people were probably unaware of the site and how anybody can access it and see any sort of criminal record that they might have

* The ethos appeal:
Stone appealed to his audience because he seemed to be like the average person who seemed pessimistic about the website and the potential harm that could come with the site, despite the good it is trying to do.

* The pathos appeal:
Appealed to the audiences emotions because I would like to think that nobody would want their name out on this site if they had done something in their past that might warrant their name to appear on it.



My conclusion about the nature/effectiveness of the argument in the essay:
I found the article to be quite appealing because of the nature of the topic. I wouldn’t want my personal record being on the internet for the whole world to see, and that’s how Stone chose to approach the issue in his writing. He seemed like the average person who didn’t want his record out on the internet either, instead of looking down on anyone who might have been on the site like some writers might have chosen to style their writing. Stone’s concerns were much like his audience’s, which made the effect on the readers much more profound.