Lesson 14 Prompt: Research Paper Reflection

The prompt for Lesson 15 is : write about what you wish you had done differently while you worked on your paper.

* * * 

If I had an opportunity to write this paper again I would integrate more sources. I feel like citing eight sources for the paper doesn't cover the vast amount of knowledge I acquired in order to write it in the first place. I read countless articles, talked to my peers, talked to coaches and teachers and friends, and poured over newspapers in order to gain enough knowledge on the International Criminal Court, yet that is not reflected in my work because the information I received was general, and considered common knowledge in the world of international judicial practice (thus there is no need for citation, according to Hacker).

Also, I would liked to have consulted more print sources. Aside from brief articles from The Economist, it was challenging to find up-to-date print sources on the international Criminal Court. Without signing up for an expensive international politics magazine, finding sources was challenging.

All in all, however, I am very pleased with the paper I wrote for this class. It was a wonderful journey in writing and reflects my learned abilities. 

-Ace 

Lesson 13 Prompt: Consulting with an Editor

For lesson 13 students were to have another person edit or look over their work. The prompt for lesson 13 is: Write about your experience consulting with someone about your writing. 

* * *

I have always found it fun to have someone else look over writing that I have worked hard to research and write well. Not only does it give someone a chance to see my work other than myself and my teacher, but consulting with another person also drastically improves my writing.

When working on a paper longer than six pages, it becomes very time consuming to edit every word with a fine-tooth comb, and by the time I'm around the eighth or ninth page my comb is often missing several teeth and it's certainly no longer as fine. Of course, I often start on the last page and work backwards later, which solves a great deal, but even after I've been staring at the pages for days I miss things. This is my largest problem when it comes to writing, especially when I'm writing about a subject that I have been studying and researching for months. I lose sight of any logical fallacies, contradictions, and complications in my writing; problems a fresh pair of eyes with little to no knowledge of the paper's subject can spot within minutes. From the large problems, unclear arguments to contradicting arguments, to the small problems, grammatical errors and misused words, I tend to blur them together after working on a paper for a long time. Just having one person read the paper pointed many, many problems out to me. Problems that I was embarrassed as to have missed!

I actually had three people read through my rough draft, not including the instructor for this course. I emailed my paper to one of my parents friends who, while not an avid writer, has a nit-picky eye for detail and small errors. Because I asked her to only focus on the really small things and nothing big-picture, I did not have her send proof of consultation to R. Kline. The second person I emailed my paper to is a friend of mine who debated the topic of the International Criminal Court (my research paper's topic) several months ago and accumulated quite a bit of knowledge on the subject. I asked him to go through the paper briefly and look for any incorrect information, illogical arguments, or weak arguments. He was happy to do this for me, and did not find anything wrong with my arguments. I did not have him send an email to R. Kline because we never really met and discussed the paper, he just let me know my arguments were all strong and correct. The third person I consulted with was my main 'editor' for the rough draft. I printed a copy out for her and we met to discuss general ways to improve the paper. She has quite an eye for detail as well, so she helped me find all the little errors in my paper that could be fixed easily. While she did not know much about the International Criminal Court, she was able to point out several ways to improve my arguments, and several points that were slightly contradictory. I was ever grateful to meet with her and discuss my paper, because her fresh eyes were able to catch many things I missed when I went through it myself.

All the consultations will make it much easier to complete my final paper.

-Ace

Lesson 10 Prompt: Essay Formats

The lesson 10 prompt (which is being posted after lesson 11 only because I thought I had posted 10 before 11 in the first place), was to write about anything the student wished.

I chose to explore standard essay formats that are taught in high school and college (the five paragraph, the seven paragraph, the three paragraph...)

* * *

Perhaps I view writing the way I do because I have been schooled at home through the last six years, and before that, in a non-conventional charter school with an emphasis on individual thinking. I have been allowed the freedom to write whatever I wish in whatever way I wished (most of the time, there were, of course, exceptions). Every semester for the last three years I have written a complete 10 page research paper, but I was allowed to select my topic, and my presentation style (while following most MLA guidelines, of course). Now, as I am taking the first writing course in six years that has a traditional instructor, I am wondering about the purpose of standardizing writing formats.

Throughout this course I have written several standard five paragraph essays, and several classical argument essays. Both use a typical three paragraph 'supporting' section to back up each claim. What if you have four claims? Or five? Two? While I am sure that if I felt the need I could write four supporting paragraphs instead of three for this class, yet when I think back on my younger years in school I remember being told that only three would be accepted in several situations. It has led to me wondering if standardizing writing formats has helped or hindered students today?

In some ways, the standardization of these essay formats has made students' jobs easier. We do not have to think about what format and type of organization our paper should fit into. When I go to write an essay I put three supporting paragraphs in, an intro and conclusion. It is almost automatic. Just recently, however, I began to wonder if the five paragraph essay was conducive to all written essays out there. Of course it is not. How could one format work perfectly for thousands of essays?

To me, the essay format should help support the essay, much like a frame supports a photo by framing it, completing it. An essay format should act as a frame for its essay, completing it and helping it to shine. And just as not all frames fit all photos, I would think that not all essays fit the five paragraph format. Perhaps students should be taught, along with the standard formats, ways to fit a format to their topic and presentation style. Gregory Mantsios, author of Class in America—2003, uses a myth/reality question/answer format for his essay, which works wonderfully for its presentation. If he tried to mold the same essay into a five paragraph format, it would be a very different essay, and much less profound.

So perhaps students should occasionally be allowed to write an essay in whatever format their believe will 'frame' their essay the best. Maybe that way is a standard format, but if not, they should be guided and aided into making a new format that better works for their topic.  

-Ace

Lesson 11 Prompt: Summarizing

The Lesson 11 Prompt is: write about your experience summarizing the reading. 

* * *

I chose two articles to summarize for lesson 11, the first an article I found online through the Crimes of War Project, titled “Why the U.S. is so Opposed” by Paul Kahn. The second article was one printed in the March 7-13^th issue of The Economist, titled “Braced for the Aftershock”. Both articles were over three pages in length, using Microsoft Word traditional formatting as a scale.

I included Paul Kahn's article in my working bibliography for lesson 9, and chose to summarize it for lesson 11 because of the challenge it had presented back in lesson 9. “Why the U.S. is so Opposed” is an article written with thought, but very deep thought rooted in philosophy, theory of rule of law, and world values, including those of America. It is a very different article from most written about the ICC, challenging to read because of its subject matter, but also because of the advanced vocabulary and style Kahn writes with. Right off the bat summarizing is challenging for me. Yet Kahn's article was so complex that soon I discovered summarizing it meant I would have to state and explain Kahn's main points in a simpler, more straightforward language. This was the most challenging part of the summary, because Kahn's points were so complex that they truly needed all the lengthly explanations Kahn wrote into his article. Summarizing these explanations for an audience who had not read the original article was a daunting task for me. In the end, my summary is not as concise as I would like it to be, but due to the complexity of the article, I still feel there is little else I can do to further condense it.

The second article I chose for different reasons than the first. “Braced for the Aftershock” is not as long or complex as “Why the U.S. is so Opposed,” but while Kahn's article has a philosophical topic, my second article is writing about one specific event. This means that “Braced for the Aftershock” is much more detailed and precise then Kahn's article. I was interested in the contrast between the two articles I summarized, and indeed, the contrast became apparent. Even though the article from The Economist is shorter than Paul Kahn's article, I took twice as many notes, and ended with an annotation of the article that was slightly longer than that for Kahn's. The details embedded into “Braced for the Aftershock” were necessary to include in the summary, and my job was to find the essence of their meaning. This was challenging to do, simply because there were so many details to sort out. Like my first summary, I would liked to have written a more concise summary of “Braced for the Aftershock,” but short of leaving out important details and connections, there is little I can do.

For both articles I was challenged to write my own evaluation of the article into my summary. I felt that comments about the complexity, evidence used, and neutrality of the article broke up summary flow, and were unnecessary. 

All in all, summarizing both articles was a good exercise to go through, however challenging it was. Summarizing “Braced for the Aftershock” gave me a much clearer picture of what the article was trying to convey, and helped me commit some of the information to memory. However, it's hard to determine how helpful summarizing, outlining, writing down main points, and annotating “Why the U.S. is so Opposed” was. I have a clearly idea of the main point, but it is hard to remember all the complexities of the topic. If I am to include Kahn's article as a reference, I will need to read it several more times to further understand the argument being made. 

-Ace

Lesson 9 Prompts: Preparing for the Paper

In this entry, I address the following prompts from Lesson 9:

What else do I still need to do? (50 words)

What do I need outside help with? (50-100 words)

Why am I feeling threatened by this research paper? (50-200 words)

* * *

What else do I still need to do?

I feel like I need to organize all of my sources and evidence. I have papers I printed out for a school assignment months ago that I'm referencing (possibly), notes I've taken from online sources, and online sources that I have not printed out. My working bibliography needs to be expanded to include all of this information. I'm worried that I'm going to misplace evidence somewhere or that I'll loose track of evidence I can't afford to loose track of. So my next job is going to be categorizing my evidence and building up my working bibliography to include all my evidence and sources available. 

What do I need outside help with?

I am very confident with my knowledge of the ICC and my thesis. I have researched both sides of the issue very thoroughly, and I don't feel I need outside counseling on my thesis. I am, however, very willing to receive in-person writing counseling from someone. Even though this is an assignment in lesson 13, I would like to meet with someone beforehand as well, just to talk with about general term-paper essay quality.

Why am I feeling threatened by this research paper?

As I am looking at this from the stage where I have not written anything for the paper (not counting the working bibliography), I am very threatened by the size. I do not mean the word count, or the number of pages. I am threatened by the abstract size of the whole project. Also, as this weeks lesson is almost unrelated to my research paper, I am feeling a little out-of-sorts and just ready to get the paper over with. Spending a week writing an essay about effective writing is something I would be happy to do after my research paper is done, but now it's a little distracting. I'm sure that once I begin to draft my outline for the paper, and then the rough draft, I will feel much less threatened by the project. As of now, I feel like a very small person staring up at this enormous mountain, and knowing that I have to climb it in one month. It's a matter of taking the first step. 

-Ace

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

Lesson 6 Prompts: Graphic Argument Analysis

The prompts for this blog were:

On your blog, respond to either photo of President Bush on p. 145 of Writing Arguments by telling what the argument is. Write a thesis statement for the photograph's argument. How did you figure out the claim being made? 

Find another graphic, commercial, or video to analyze. Report on the argument being made. Attach a copy of the graphic element or explain how to find or view the graphic. Write a strong thesis statement for this argument.

* * *

Analysis of Figure 9.2 on page 145 of Writing Arguments, by Ramage et al. 

Caption of photo: President Bush clearing brush from Texas ranch.

Thesis: President Bush is a hardworking, strong, and dutiful person, just like all Americans. 

This photograph emphasizes the non-presidential side of George Bush. It depicts him hard at work hauling brush from a ranch, while wearing typical Western work clothes: white cowboy hat, sunglasses, grungy shirt and pants, an work cloves. The photoshoot seems to try and connect Bush with the everyday working person by 'saying': President Bush works just as hard as you do! It is easy to picture any American in place of Bush in this picture, which works well for the argument being made. 

I arrived at my thesis for the picture by studying all the elements and undertones of it, many of which are mentioned in the above paragraph. I asked myself the questions: what is Bush doing in the picture? Why would he do this for a photoshoot? What about this picture can citizens relate to? Why would citizens instantly make a connection between Bush and themselves because of this picture? Why does the press, or the Bush Administration want people to be able to relate to Bush? Using those questions and the answers I came up with, which were made obvious by the picture/caption, and a bit of knowlede about arguments, I discovered the argument being made and the thesis. 

* * *

Links to two references for the add analyzed in this blog:

Billboard version: [link]

Print version: [link]

Thesis: Converse All Star shoes make you look alternative, popular, and artistic.

Argument being made: this add for Converse All Star shoes uses its models and message to reach its target audience. The models are all alternative and wildly popular musical artists, especially with those who follow rock and alternative music, which are the largest music genres aside from pop. All three artists have a global and humanitarian message which Converse uses to its benefit by using the slogan “three artists, one song.” Converse is trying to convey the message to people that wearing converse shoes is popular and alternative, and many world-changing musician and artists wear them. By wearing Converse shoes, you are part of a large, humanitarian, alternative, and artist group of people.

The add has mainly been printed in music and pop culture magazines, such as Blender and Rolling Stone so the target  audience is people who are interested in music and probably know each of the three artists featured in the add. Converse is counting on their audience to be familiar with the artists in order to have a convincing argument towards buying their shoes. 

-Ace

Lesson 5 Prompt: What I Learned About...

The prompts addressed in this post are:

What questions do you have about anything that other students might respond to?

What have you learned about the textbooks we are using for this course?

What have you learned about the instructor?

*  *  *  *  *

What questions do you have about anything that other students might respond to?

I am often confused about the assignments and do not understand them (they are in desperate need of editing and revising). Asking fellow students may clear up my misunderstandings, if that is what they are.

I also wonder how the other students are enjoying learning about the argument-specific part of this course. We have spent a lot of time studying, reading, and writing arguments, and I wonder how other students are enjoying it, as I am already comfortable writing them and now I'm just learning how to write different styles of them and applying them to audiences. Do other students feel a connection to their every-day lives with their new argument-writing skills?

What have you learned about the textbooks we are using for this course?

I find Hacker's Writing Reference to be an exceptional reference book. It is clear, concise, and easy to find things in. I find it very useful to preview the chapters and pick out the headers for each section, because many sections do not directly pertain to me, such as how to reference a forum or email. Ramage's book, Writing Arguments, is also very well written. I especially like that there are many, many examples of what they ask you to do in the book. While I think Ramage supplies information that is not completely necessary, such as the history of the Socratics and Sophists, I don't mind reading the supplemental material because Ifind it very interesting. Occasionally I need to skim through her paragraphs to pick out the core of what is being said, so I don't get lost in all the supplemental writing.

What have you learned about the instructor?

Romina Kline has been interesting to work with. In all honesty, I am slightly disappointed with how hard it is to get her to clarify what the assignment instructions are telling me to do. The responses I have received were not very helpful, and pretty much just restated the instructions. I do appreciate her straightforwardness, even though I find her grading to be very harsh. That is what really makes me work hard on all my lessons, and check them over ten times before submitting them. Kline references Hacker a lot in her comments, and while I love the Hacker book for it's simplicity, I would not mind getting some personal reasons and/or feedback from Kline herself. 

-Ace

Lesson 5 Prompt: Pre-Writing Techniques

This post covers the two prompts that deal with pre-writing, idea-generating techniques: 

Which of the techniques for generating ideas for essays has been most valuable to you? Why? Give an example.

Which technique would you choose not to use again? Why?

*  *  *  *  *

Which of the techniques for generating ideas has been the most valuable to you? Why? Give an example.

The  most valuable pre-writing task for me has been freewriting. A lot of the time I write essays as a free write, and then edit in evidence and switch paragraphs around during the revision process. Because I am fairly well-versed in writing arguments, I can free write a basic one and then edit it to make it a solid essay. The free write gets my brain working quickly for about half an hour or until I've completed the necessary number of words. Because it's technically just an idea-generating task, if it's not working the way I want the essay to work then I don't have to use anything but the ideas when I begin to work on the real essay. The freewriting for the first outline in Lesson 5 worked well for me. If I were to turn that into an essay it would need some major work, but the content is all there. I am working on Lesson 6 at the moment, and I attempted something different with my freewrite. I tried to get all the content out there, but leave all the connecting sentences and the reasoning out of it. Thus Lesson 6's freewrite is very short and choppy, but I'm finding it very easy to plug all the ideas into a simple argument formula.

Which technique would you choose not to use again?

I do not find the journalist's questions thought provoking or idea-generating at all. Perhaps it was just the topic I was using for it, which really didn't cater to that form of pre-writing, but I found it to be very tedious and I felt like I was limited by the who, what, where, why, and how questions. I used a topic that I am fairly knowledgeable with, so I wasn't prompted to do more research with the questions, especially because I asked the questions, so they were already coming from all the previous ideas I had about the topic. Basically, with the journalist's questions I felt like I was writing things down just to fill space on a page, but that I was only writing things down that I already knew. I generated no fresh ideas and if I were to write an essay on that topic I would have to use another method of pre-writing.

The next post will address an additional three topics.

-Ace

Lesson 4 Prompts: Revising and Reading

In this entry I address three prompts for lesson 4 that address revising and editing written work.

Did you ask anyone else to make recommendations about your revising process? Why or why not?

How did previewing sections of a book (rather than simply reading them) help you to understand the material? (If you are not practicing previewing the written material it will show in your work.)

Which of the suggested tasks from Writing Arguments did you find most helpful in pre-writing your revision? Why?

-----------------

Did you ask anyone else to make recommendations about your revising process? Why or why not?

I spoke with a friend of mine who is on the high school debate team, and asked him what the best way to turn my essay into an argument would be. He said that I really needed to take the term 'global revision' to heart, because my current essay 1) didn't make a claim, 2) was too specific to me to back up with solid evidence, and 3) was too informal to make into an argument without lots of work. 

I asked my friend because I wasn't sure if I really should scrap just about everything in my essay in order to turn it into a claim or not. He said that I really didn't have an option!

How did previewing sections of a book (rather than simply reading them) help you to understand the material? (If you are not practicing previewing the written material it will show in your work.)

Previewing sections of a book, before reading it, lets a reader know what to expect. This helps them make connections between what they are reading now, and what they know they will be reading in the future. Just as re-reading material helps by firming everything up, the connections a reader can make from present material to future material also helps the reader understand the material. 

I skimmed each section for all the headlines, and all the paragraph subjects. I took notice of when the example papers and paragraphs were, so I knew that I could connect those specific ideas with a correct way to perform them. Previewing the material answered almost all the questions that arose when I went back and read all the material through and through. 

Which of the suggested tasks from Writing Arguments did you find most helpful in pre-writing your revision? Why?

I found that the the believing and doubting game was the most helpful in pre-writing for my essay. In my essay I did not make claim that I could support with evidence, it was just a recount of one of my experiences without much argument to it. So I took the main idea, that debating was helpful to me, and  made the term more specific: debating is beneficial to students because it strengthens life skills. Using that as my claim, I wrote a paragraph where I believed it, and a paragraph where I doubted it. 

The believing paragraph was easy to write because I personally believe the claim, but it made my reasons for believing it much more clear. I was able to answer questions like “why do I believe that debating is good?”, “why is it good?”, and “what specific skills does debate improve/create?” Once I knew exactly what I believed about debate, I began writing a paragraph that criticized it.

This paragraph was more of a challenge to write, because like I said earlier, I believe the claim I'm making. However, I was able to find certain areas of debate that I actually don't like, such as the time involved, and the emphasis on winning and losing. The doubting paragraph was a counter argument to the believing paragraph, and the claim. If I had enough space (if I could have added another paragraph), I would have brought up a small argument why debate isn't as great as the claim makes it out to be.

-Ace

Lesson 4 Prompts: Written Arguments

The lesson 4 prompts I address in this entry are:

Which genre of argument would you most likely write on your own? Why?

What is the goal of argument?

In the next entry I will address another three prompts focusing on revising written work.

Which genre of argument would you most likely write on your own? Why?

The argument genres I most often use are personal correspondence, blogs, visual arguments, and speeches. While I often write arguments as personal correspondence, including informal e-mails and formal letters, the genre of argument I write more than any is a speech. 

I am a fairly strong public speaker, and often give board presentations and persuasive speeches, so I am very comfortable writing speeches. Because I have been writing and performing speeches, in and outside of competition, for three years, I have come to learn what is most effective in a speech and what does not work. I would prefer to give a speech on a topic rather than write a paper on it because speeches are much more personal, and have the advantage of immediate audience that a paper does not have. Vocal inflection, gestures, and posture can have a subconscious effect on an audience that a paper can not provide. 

What is the goal of argument?

The goal of argument is to:

1)inform yourself on a topic (research)

2) inform your opponent

3) persuade them to see your side of things.

 In an argument, it is more important to inform your opponent and help them to see your point than to make them agree with you. If a person is set on a certain belief, it will take more than an argument and another person telling them what to believe for them to change their mind. If a person can manage to persuade another not to agree with the person's claim, but rather to see the person's point, the argument has been successful and the arguers have done a good job. Often times, both arguers will present a claim, and in turn both arguers should end up acknowledging the other person's claim, whether they are persuaded to truly believe it or not is not relevant.

-Ace

Evaluation of Evidence

In the next blog entries I will be addressing five additional prompts. The prompt I address in this entry is:

Write an evaluation of the supporting evidence you found for your claim.

I used two articles on why a person should debate as sources in my essay. Both sources were persuasive articles written by debate societies (the Amos J. Peaslee Debate Society, and the Erasmus Debating Society), trying to convince non-debaters to begin debate. 

Both articles are persuasive articles, and only offer one perspective on debate: the good side. Both articles focused mainly on the three skills that I included in my essay: public speaking skills, research skills, and reasoning skills. There evidence was not based off of studies, but I determined it to be factual because they were writing with their experiences as support. Because both are a debate society, it is implied that they belong to, or are in charge of, a large group of debate programs, or debaters. It would be reasonable to assume they are backing up their claims with their experiences dealing with debaters over periods of time. 

The articles' audience is most likely aimed at future debate students who are checking out the society's program to decide whether they want to join or not. I see no reason why another person would read the article, with exception to students like me who are using it a source. Both articles are aimed specifically at those who may wish to debate within their society or team.

The article by the Erasmus Debating Society was slightly more formal in style than the Amos J. Peaslee Debate Society's article was, which leads me to think that the Amos J. Peaslee Debate Society is directing their instruction towards general college students, while the Erasmus Debating Society may be direction instruction towards students more serious about debate—communications majors, political science majors, etc. This holds up because The AJPDS is the debate society for Swarthmore college, where any student can join the team.

I had found good sources with statistics of improvement (such as grades, literacy, and graduation levels) for debaters or schools that offered debate, but they did not apply to my essay well enough to actually include them.

-Ace

Lesson 3 Prompt: Process and Product of Arguments

Addressing the last two questions for lesson 3:

What is worth arguing about?

Why and how is argument both a process and a product?

What is worth arguing about?

It is my opinion that all things of controversy are worth arguing about, as long as there are willing participants. As long as there is disagreement, there is room for argument. Of course, this is only my personal opinion, and I'm sure there are differing ones out there. 

I adore arguing, for the educational aspects of it, as well as the entertainment it provides. Curious as to what other people's answers to this question would be, I asked a few of my friends. Many of them agreed with my answer, and then we began exploring other answers. Is it really worth arguing if apples should be engineered to be blue instead of red or green? Is it really worth arguing about superman being better than batman? My friends and I came to a collective agreement that it would be worth arguing even the silliest things if: a) the person you are arguing with disagrees with you along some lines, b) you, and the person you are arguing with are enthusiastic and willing, and c) both arguers are in the right mindset. 

If you have a, b, and c, it is my opinion that anything of disagreement is worth arguing for or against.

Why and how is argument both a process and a product?

Argument is two things: process, and product. Without process, all that is left is the product. Under those guidelines, an argument is not possible. Without a product, there is no collective agreement, no goal for the argument. It is possible to have an argument where there is no product, or no agreement or compromise, but there would be little purpose to the whole affair. Without either a process or a product, there is no true argument.

The process of an argument is the journey arguers take, it is the beginning, middle, and end of the argument. There is a product only because there is a process. Within a process, arguers can provide evidence for their case, support their case with logic and reason, and hopefully culminate to one main point, or goal of the argument. 

The goal that each arguer has for an argument would be the product of the argument if that person's goal prevailed against the other arguers goals. Often, the product of an argument will be a mixture of the goals involved in the argument. Products are not always satisfactory to each person involved in the argument. Socratic arguments attempt complete satisfaction, and the goal of a Socratic seminar is to find overall truth. Finding overall truth is an ideal goal, but realistically it is hard to obtain, especially because not all arguments lead to one overall truth. This is Sophist philosophy, that there are multiple 'overall truths' within one argument. A product will multiple right answers is, in my opinion, more common in current times than arguments with one correct truth.

-Ace

Prompt: Nuclear Power, Argument, and Opinion

Posts for lesson 3 in the UAF academic writing course.  I address five prompts in this post and the following: 

Write about a controversy in the news

How does one demonstrate their belief in an opinion?

Why is a written argument a good way to defend an opinion?

What is worth arguing about?

Why and how is argument both a process and a product?

News controversy:

Nuclear power: should the U.S. build more reactors or not? Nuclear power costs 5.71 cents per kilowatt hour (Department of Energy), compared to gas which is priced at 3.9 to 4.4 cents per kW hour, and coal, which is priced at 4.8 to 5.5 cents per kW hour (Cold Energy LLC, 2008). Even compared to renewable power generation such as hydro, geothermal, wind, and solar, gas is still the cheapest form of power we have available to us at this time.

However, the oil that gas needs to act as a power source is non-renewable, and already running out. We cannot expect to keep burning so much gas and have it last for thousands of years into the future. Not only are oil and gas supplies running out, but the burning of gas is greatly contributing to the greenhouse gases, which contribute in some part to global warming.

Coal is only slightly more expensive than gas, approximately one cent more per kW hour, but won't burn clean. It is seen that coal provides the world with more pollution then all other power supplies combined; 30,000 people die annually due to coal pollution (Abt Associates, 2000). Because of environmental regulations, it is becoming difficult to build coal plants around the world.

Nuclear power has drawbacks as well. Plants are expensive to build, approximately $12 million to $18 million (Climate Progress, 2008), and even more expensive to de-commission, approximately $300 million per plant in the U.S (nuclearinfo.net, 2008). There is no 100% safe way to store nuclear waste, plants could be a target for terrorism, and radiation affects not only plant workers, but people in the area. Nuclear accidents such as that in Three Mile Island (in which thousands died) are catastrophic; I don't believe another power source should be worth that risk. 

That's not to say I'm not a proponent of alternative energy; I don't think gas or coal are doing us any good right now, what with global warming and environmental concerns, and the decreasing supply of oil. Being less dependent on foreign oil sounds great right now, it's just a matter of finding an alternative source for energy. Nuclear energy could supply this need, if it is refined to the point where it is cost-effective, and safe.

How does one demonstrate their belief in an opinion?

A person can demonstrate belief in either their own opinions, or someone else's. People demonstrate belief in many, many different ways. Through their own speech, through words, or pictures, or actions. In a person's lifetime, it will be a combination of all these things. 

From the Oxford English Dictionary, 'belief' is an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists. 'Opinion' is a view or judgment about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.  

This would mean that belief in an opinion is the acceptance that that opinion is true, even if the opinion is not based on fact. It could merely be an idea, a brief 'I think' statement, but people can still believe it. Some of the most influential opinions come from influences in a person's family or circle of friends, and also the opinions of idols, such as actors, musicians, religious symbols, and political symbols.

Political campaigns are one example of a statement of opinions. The candidate has opinions based on something, whether it is fact or the past or personal experiences, and they try to persuade people to believe in these opinions by advertisements, debates, and public speeches. In return, people demonstrate their belief (and trust) with a vote. 

Why is a written argument a good way to defend an opinion?

Written arguments have several advantages to other options for arguments, such as speech, art, or actions.  Written arguments are often more complete and thought-out than other arguments because the author has time to fully construct his or her stance on an issue, research all sides of it, and then present it in a complete format, unlike the other forms of arguments (speech, art, actions). After an initial argument is formed and written, it is changeable and not set in stone. The author can revise and edit, or simply begin again with more information and evidence, or a completely new take on the original opinion they were defending. 

When writing in the defense of an opinion, it is possible to generally predict who the audience will be, or who will be reading your argument. For example, if an argument is written in support of nuclear power, the audience will be others in support of nuclear power, people who are not sure if they are supporting or rejecting nuclear power, and those who are simply doing research on nuclear power, whether for their own information and curiosity, or for their personal argument. Choosing material for your argument can be easier if you know your audience.

Using knowledge of the audience and 'conversation' being joined, it is easier to determine which writing form a personal argument should take. Business papers, letter to the editor or other newspaper editorials, research paper or other school-related argument, peer-reviewed journals, magazine articles, or blogs are only a few options available for written arguments. The ways to get other forms of argument publicized are much more limited than written arguments. 

I will address the two remaining prompts in a later post (tomorrow, most likely).

-Ace

First Post

Just trying to get everything set up correctly. We'll see if this works. 

No thoughts I'm dying to share with everybody at this point, so: until next time!

-Ace

[This blog has been created for the sole purpose of an academic writing course through UAF. All posts after this initial one will focus on writing assignments or activities the course involves. No personal feelings on matters other than writing will be given, unless they apply to an assignment]