Lesson 8 Prompts: Graphic Chart Analysis and Thesis Exercises.

The prompts addressed in this post are:

Read any article pertaining to your research topic that contains a visual element (a graphic). Explain why the visual is effective or ineffective in swaying  your view on the topic. Make it interesting for the reader who does not already know your thesis.

Is your thesis weak? Hacker can help you figure out what is wrong with your thesis. Is it too broad or too narrow in focus? is it grounded or too speculative to be researched? For practice recognizing good thesis statements, go to http://www.dianahacker.com...

* * *

For my article pertaining to my research topic and containing a visual element, I read an article about the International Criminal Court's unequal geographic representation in its Assembly of States Parties. The ASP, or Assembly, consists of one representative from each member of the ICC, and any alternates or advisors granted to that representative by their own country. Each representative in the ASP gets one vote. The article detailed the geographic representation of the ASP, pointing out that 57.2% of the ASP is comprised of representatives from the Western European and Others Group (WEOG), a regional group in the United Nations. This is compared to the representation of Africa in the ASP, 12.9%, when in fact most of the ICCs efforts have been (and still are) in Africa.

In order to clarify their point, the site (www.ICCnow.org), illustrated a bar graph comparing the geographic representation of the ASP (click here to view the article and the corresponding graphic. The chart I reference in this post is the first in the article). Throwing lots of numbers and statistics in writing at an audience can be daunting. If I tell you that the geographic representation of the ASP is uneven, because 57.2% are WEOG, 7.3% East Europe, 12.9% Africa, 15.6% are GRULAC, and 7.1% are Asia, does the unequal representation argument really hit home? Perhaps for those of you that are numbers people, it does. For the rest of us, the graphic representation of those numbers is very helpful and much more dramatic. Seeing the graphic next to the numbers in this article made me understand very clearly the argument ICCNow is making. It took visually comparing the tall bar to the shorter bar for me to be clear on what the inequalities were.

Is your thesis weak? Hacker can help you figure out what is wrong with your thesis. Is it too broad or too narrow in focus? is it grounded or too speculative to be researched? For practice recognizing good thesis statements, go to http://www.dianahacker.com...

I went online to dianahacker.com and did the 10 thesis statement exercises. While many of the questions were intuitive, I did get a clear picture of what a concise, clear, and pointed thesis statement should be. I believe that my thesis (the United States should not become a member of the Rome Statute's International Criminal Court) is still strong. It is concise, clear, and has a definite view from the start. I may add some more information and make the thesis slightly more specific, possibly providing three brief reasons why the U.S. shouldn't join within that sentence.

My score was10/10: 100%.

Lesson 8 Prompt: Lucky Charms!

In this post I am addressing the prompt:  

Preview, read, and annotate a package of food. What is its strongest argument? Why? Would its packaging prompt you to buy it again? Why?

I analyzed a Lucky Charms® cereal box for this prompt. While my brother already had the box, I took a quick trip to the grocery store just to browse other cereal boxes so I could compare them to Lucky Charms®. Immediately I noticed several things about Lucky Charms®. They are placed on one of the middle shelves, near eye-level for a child, and certainly not out of the way for an adult. Lucky Charms® are also one of the most vibrant and busy boxes on the shelf, with a bright red background and a rainbow-themed design, including the Lucky Charms'® mascot (probably named Lucky, but I'm not sure) who is nationally known to children.

There are two main arguments on the LC® box. One is aimed at children, the other at their parents. The strongest argument for children is the large picture of an hourglass-shaped marshmallow charm that Lucky (we'll assume the name) is reaching for. Inside the hourglass are the words: “Control Time! With The Hourglass Marshmallow Charm.” Perhaps it is a new charm, or a new color of charm. Either way, the picture invokes a child's interest for that charm.

The strongest argument for parents is the bold statement on the front of the box: Good Source of CALCIUM & VITAMIN D and Whole Grain Guaranteed. On the side of the box there is a panel explaining why calcium and vitamin D are important in a child's diet, and what the specifications for 'whole grain' are.

According to the front of the box and the side panel, Lucky Charms® appears to be a very good choice for breakfast cereal. I feel obligated to point out that there's a lot of fine print involved (this doesn't necessarily relate to the prompt, it's more a rebuttal for the arguments LC® provide advocating their cereal). One serving of LC® provides only 10% of the recommended daily values for calcium and vitamin D. Actually, the milk you drink with the LC® provides more of these two vitamins than the cereal itself does. When reading the ingredients list, the second ingredient is marshmallows (which contain sugar, corn syrup, and artificial flavors), the third is sugar, and the fifth is corn syrup. There are 11g of sugar per serving of LC®. If you do the math (approx. 16 servings per box, approx. 453g of cereal total, approx. 27g per serving), sugar comprises 38% of the entire box of cereal, and 40% per serving.

Centering back on the prompt, would I buy this food item again based on its packaging? Strictly making my decision off the box and not the fine print, yes, I would. Lucky Charms® has an excellently appealing appearance, complete with fun and simple puzzles on the back of the box that work towards some prize on luckycharms.com. I love the colorful design and the cute, persistently happy mascot. Besides, with 176g of sugar, they taste pretty good too!

Lesson 7 Prompts: Essay Analysis

...Been a while...

This post is going to cover all the lesson 7 prompts, as they are easiest grouped together. Prompts will be:

Who is the audience for your essay? What is the thesis of essay?

Can the audience be swayed by your claim and reasons? Why or why not?

What value do your sources have to your audience?

Read another student's blog. Indicate whose you read. Did you make any comments on that blog?

* * * 

Who is the audience for your essay? What is the thesis of essay?

My thesis for this essay is: until large-scale tests are revised to include such factors as nervousness and educational background, alternative measures like recommendations, resumes, and interviews should be examined just as thoroughly, if not more so than test results.

My audience for this essay is made up of people who are either neutral or slightly in support of standardized testing. Thus they are slightly resistant to the ideas I am proposing in my essay. To facilitate both my audience and make my argument as effective as possible I chose to formate my essay in classical argument form.

Can the audience be swayed by your claim and reasons? Why or why not?

I believe that I could persuade an audience to at least see the reason in my arguments. If I can not persuade them to agree with what I am saying, I am confident the essay will lessen their hostility towards the thesis. They will be at least slightly swayed towards my point of view because the essay provides factual information, and what isn't taken from a source is defined with clear logic. My thesis does not propose to eliminate standardized test scores from the selection process of students, it merely states that alternatives should be valued just as much. For any supporter of test scores I am not advocating to do away with scores, so my thesis presents the issue from a very mild and neutral standpoint.  

What value do your sources have to your audience?

Three of four of the sources I name in my essay are individuals who have put time and effort into researching the issue of standardized testing's effects on students. One is an author who has written many books on the subject and has done lots of research both against and in support of testing, and another is an individual who presents valid arguments for both sides of the debate on his website. The last is a man who, like my first source, has written several books on education and testing. He writes from a philosophical and moralistic viewpoint, and his information is to the point and understandable to all readers.

My third source is probably one that a hostile audience will not appreciate, because it is called the Nation Center for Fair Testing. While they are biased against standardized testing because of it's possible unfairness, I selected comments and evidence from the articles that seemed the most factual and researched.

Read another student's blog. Indicate whose you read. Did you make any comments on that blog?

I read a student named Kathy's blog. I enjoyed reading it, and was very inspired by her progress and thorough comments. I could easily see that she was trying to learn as much from the class as she possibly could. It was great to read a blog that really outlined the course. Starting from the first post through the last I got a third-person perspective on the class. It was especially nice to be able to read the comments from lessons I have not completed yet. A resource for sure! I did not, however, comment on the blog.

-Ace