Paragraph Coherence

Chat rooms are very effective resources. The chat room can provide a learning enviorment outside of the class room. A lot of classes around campus have the chat rooms set up privately for only the students registered in that class. This is a security device that makes sure people who do not belong to a particular class do not gain access to the room. Private chats can be set up if that intrests the individual using the room. The chat room is a good resource to use inside and outside of the classroom

Dogs are a more suitable and effecstive alternative to weapons. Dogs served as the preffered alternative to excesive force around housing developments off campus for students attending UCLA. The purpose of canines in the police force is to an alternative to excessive and deadly force. It has been concluded by the 6th Circuit Court that, since deaths are rare in police dog cases, deploying dogs cannot be condemned as deadly force,

Cohesive Exercise

Kluger provides evidence for the fact that global warming is occurring and how. * He claims that humans are responsible for the initial start of global warming but there are many other factors which have a much more direct impact on the rising global temperature. Kluger goes on to talk about the melting of main land ice which in the long run could raise the sea level by 23 feet which would put a large chunk of Florida underwater and all of Bangladesh(Kluger 272). @What really caught my attention in this article was about the “feedback loops”. The idea of so many sources that increase the temperature of our earth is alarming. @[In addition to] the fact that just the melting of permafrost could put out between 200 and 800 gigatons of CO2 compared to the 7, the entire human output of CO2. @ [Finally] the piece then goes on to discuss the effects of global warming will have on our planet.
*Lindzen discusses the idea of global warming not being as big of a deal as it should be. @[Also] he talks about those who go against the idea of global warming receive less money and also are ridiculed for their ideas. @ [While] Lindzen does agree that the planet has warmed over the last 100 years he says this is not that important. @[As well as] he refutes the idea that is brought up in the first piece about the increasing temperatures causing more violent storms. He says “less differences in temperature, you have less excitation of extratropical storms, not more”. @[He goes on to] explain an experiment that was done which he believes helps refute the idea of global warming but the scientific community “discredited” it.
*[In my opinion] the article by Kluger was much more effective than that of Lindzen in that it provided much more evidence to the point it is trying to defend. @[While] Lindzen does site some information there is much less than that of Kluger. Kluger provides many examples of the causes of global warming and also the effects that it has on our planet. @[In contrast] it is much better than that of Lindzen in that he provides little explanation to global warming and also the effects

Tiger Burn

I am still new to USC so i have never attended a tiger burn and might never. While tiger burn is tradition that has been going on for years this year in particular is the year the tradition is either put on hold or stoped. This originally is just a way that students can show support for their school and football team. At Clemson there is also a tradition of having cocky's funeral then burning it which this year has also stopped. This is the year that these stoped because of the fire that happened in which several USC students and one clemson student died a few weeks ago. The change in policy can go from having this huge ordeal to remebering those who died and having just a pep rally instead of a huge deal with the tiger burn.

Going Green

Both “Life in the Green Lane” and “Going Nuclear: A Green Makes the Case” refute common ideas that people have about hybrid cars and nuclear energy respectively. Life in the Green Lane talks about the idea that hybrid cars might not be as beneficial to the environment as many think. The idea is discussed while some "hybrid" cars get great gas miles others get little even compared to the dreaded SUVs. It also goes on to talk about how hybrid cars only get great gas mileage in the city while going long distances they actually get worse mpgs. He goes on to suggest that it might be better in some cases to drive a regular gas car that gets good mpgs rather than just go for hybrid. Moore’s article Going Nuclear is an article that argues that nuclear energy is the only good alternative to standard coal energy. He goes on to refute many of the common ideas that are thought to be problematic with nuclear energy. In both of these articles the writer is an expert in their respective field be it a writer for a car magazine or a cofounder of Greenpeace. The fact that they are expert in their field provides support to the fact that they are very knowledgeable on the subject.

CHP 7 Question 4

Both “Climate of Fear” by Lindzen and “Be Worried Very Worried” by Kluger discuss aspects of global warming. While both articles are about global warming they differ greatly on there points of view.
Kluger provides evidence for the fact that it is occurring and how. He claims that humans are responsible for the initial start of global warming but there are many other factors which have a much more direct impact on the rising global temperature. Kluger goes on to talk about the melting of main land ice which in the long run could raise the sea level by 23 feet which would put a large chunk of Florida underwater and all of Bangladesh(Kluger 272). What really caught my attention in this article was about the “feedback loops”. The idea of so many sources that increase the temperature of our earth is alarming. The fact that just the melting of permafrost could put out between 200 and 800 gigatons of CO2 compared to the 7, the entire human output of CO2. The piece then goes on to discuss the effects of global warming will have on our planet.
Lindzen discusses the idea of global warming not being as big of a deal as it should be. He talks about those who go against the idea of global warming receive less money and also are ridiculed for there ideas. While Lindzen does agree that the planet has warmed over the last 100 years he says this is not that important. He refutes the idea that is brought up in the first piece about the increasing temperatures causing more violent storms. He says “less differences in temperature, you have less excitation of extratropical storms, not more”. He goes on to explain an experiment that was done which he believes helps refute the idea of global warming but the scientific community “discredited” it.
In my opinion the article by Kluger was much more effective than that of Lindzen in that it provided much more evidence to the point it is trying to defend. While Lindzen does site some information there is much less than that of Kluger. Kluger provides many examples of the causes of global warming and also the effects that it has on our planet which is much better than that of Lindzen in that he provides little explanation to global warming and also the effects.

Topic Proposal for Policy/Proposal Paper

In today’s society death is considered a taboo subject in that no one wants to talk about it and that people love to avoid. This however is not true of many of the people that are getting ready to die. They are often open to death and in many case wish for death to come faster to put them out of the pain. I am proposing a plan for assisted suicide and euthanasia to be legal and for doctors to be able to practice these without worry of charges being brought against them. My policy will be that these practices should be legal, accepted, and practiced among doctors. I think more information on the history of cases and legislation could come in handy but other than that I have most of my information.

Point IV

The three points of my exploratory paper are the ideas of murder, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. It discusses what constitutes each of these ideas. Currently the most favored position is that assisted suicide and euthanasia are considered murder and are illegal in most areas. This is because it is usually considered a doctors job to save not to kill or let die which some might consider murder. Although this is the view of most places some favor the idea of legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia. In my opinion the perspective that needs to be dominant is that of those who favor the idea of assisted suicide and euthanasia not being considered murder and should be legal because of the fact that the patients are asking for this service from there doctors. This could be enforced as a policy by allowing certain types of assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Campus Issue

The issue i chose was dealt with the ticket distribution for the clemson game. I feel that a move to the first come first serve processes that is used for every other home game except for the clemson game. This would allow the people that are more dedicated to going to the football games more likely to get to go. It would allow the people willing to camp out for tickets a better chance at recieving a ticket. With the system that is currently in place these dedicated fans could end up without tickets.
The clemson game tickets were not distibuted this way because it would require much more effort on the part of the school. It would unfortunately cause a long line that could very easily reach all the way to longstreet theater. This line would need constant monitoring and it would be very stessful to those involved. It is overall easier for the university to do a lottery in which only those that recieve tickets must wait in line.

Carolina Reader

The central claim in the Achenbach piece is that the F- word is part of adulthood and is a necessary explicative that is needed to get certain feelings over. He says that certain substitutes would just provide the same effect. Swearing off swearing however is in opposition to this in that the author believes curse words should be substituted with other less vulgar responses. His article mainly focuses on the arena of sports in which cursing is a very common practice. The articles are different in that the first one provides more evidence and the other one is more comical.

Free Write

One event that changed my position on a subject was when i was trying to decide what college to go to i had several conversations with people that were at that time were in college. I originally thought that i would go to UGA because thats where most of my friends went but after speaking to a few people from UGA and other schools i decided i wanted more of a change than that. This change in opinion came from the students i talked to that had attended a school in which they knew no one and they said they got more out of there college experience. Those that attended UGA felt much less of a change in there life and some regreted the fact they attended a college with all of their friends. This caused me to not want to attend UGA because of how similar it was to high school and how i knew a large number of people that go there.

“The Fat Girls Guide to Life” and “The Big, Fat American Kid”

The article “The Fat Girls Guide to Life” is a piece that voices an opinion on the body image of girls. The author considers her self as a “fat girl” which is the idea which is discussed in this article. She brings much of her own personal experience which provides a good basis for her point. If she had not lived what she is speaking about it would be much more difficult to take her comments as legitimate. The ethos of this piece means that since she has this experience so she is an expert on this subject. Her target audience could be girls that are overweight or anyone that has made fun of someone for being overweight. The audience could be overweight girls because it talks how you should accept who you are and not worry as much about what other people think. The audience could be those that have ever insulted a girl because of her weight. The author goes on in the selection to tell a story about how she was made fun of because of her weight. She talks about how it blew her away how rude and insensitive people can be and this could be used to try and change someone that is reading the paper.
The other piece “The Big, Fat American Kid Crisis… And 10 Things We Should Do About It” is a piece about how American children are getting fatter. The first part of the piece describes the problem and gives some statistics to provide evidence for this. After describing the problem the author list and describes 10 ways that America could go about fixing the problem. The 10 things that are listed are things that seem not very difficult but could go a long way in decreasing the amount of children that become fat or obese. The way these 10 things are just listed in the paper is very straightforward and to the point. She presents the name of each idea then goes on to describe the problem and a way to fix it. She does a great job at making each and every point seem very easy to do even though some of the points would be very difficult to accomplish. She provides reasons why to do this and why it should be done. These points seem doable because she presents them as easy steps to better living. She makes each of these steps seem easy despite the fact that several of these cannot be done easily at all or will not be done because of other reasons which of course the author conveniently leaves out. Overall though she does an excellent job at providing ways that Americas children can become healthier and lose those extra pounds.

Questions for the Reviewer

My main claim is that there are several definitions of killing dealing mainly with physician assisted suicide and euthanasia. Does my paper do a good enough job at defining these and providing information on the subject? Would my paper benefit from the addition of more information or more argumentative info?

Freewrite

Why does Halloween seem like it really comes back when you enter college. In high school people did not care about Halloween it was just another school day. Some people might watch a scary movie or hand out candy but less people actually dress up for the day. These same people that didn't dress up in high school are the ones going all out on the costumes in college. There are also more people that go out on Halloween instead of staying in. For some it seems that it is just an excuse to go out on a week night but it seems other just get into the Halloween spirit more.

SWA #8

For most large pieces of writing I usually start by creating a rough outline which consists usually of a web type diagram. After I do this I usually just sit down in one sitting and type my rough draft revising it as I go and after this I read through it. The idea of revising my paper after I am completely done with it is probably a better idea than trying to edit it as I go along. The idea of writing the paper then looking at it as a whole to determine the organization of the paper would be very beneficial to me. I feel that often I have the right information but I just present it in the wrong way.
Outlining ideas before you start writing can be very beneficial for organizing your ideas. It allows you to get your ideas onto paper in a less formal setting. It gives you the chance to just write not worrying about the less important pieces of the paper as much as the content of what you are writing. Outlines also provide a guide for you when writing which allows the writing of the first draft to be less stressful and take less time.
One specific suggestion to help revise a paper is the idea of is it clear or not. This is very important to writing a paper, if you can not understand it neither can the reader. This can be used in my specific case in that often I am unclear when writing so if I took more time to make sure I understand what I wrote then my paper would be more clear and easier to understand. Another suggestion for revision is the idea of is there enough variety. Variety in papers makes the paper more interesting. By varying my sentence types and the arrangement of my paragraphs I can easily improve my paper. By including more complex sentences and shorter and longer paragraph the paper would benefit. One final suggestion for revision is the idea of following the grammatical rules. Often times grammar is a subject that has been on the back burner with the introduction of spell check. While spell check does check spelling and basic grammar it cannot check more advanced grammar. There are many things that affect writing especially tense, pronoun references and also subject verb agreement. By fixing these my paper will be much improved.
Exploratory essay allows you to investigate various angles of an argument or a statement by analyzing all sides of the argument which makes a paper that is well rounded on all sides. My paper in particular is about the differences of assisted suicide, euthanasia, and killing. It will explore what constitutes each one of these topics. It paves the way for the position paper in that it allows me to learn about all sides of the issue and then to create an opinion on the issue. This opinion will be based on the information collected in the paper.
Peer revision is where you have another person of similar age review and provide suggestions on your paper. It can be done where small groups of students read each individual paper and respond on it or where the group discusses the papers individually. The teacher can be part of the action or it could be where two students exchange papers and take them home which gives them more opportunity to provide comments. I like when the papers are discussed as a group because it provides more peoples points of view. Peer review is good because it gives you an alternate viewpoint. They could see something that you might not have or they could know a better way to revise a certain part.

Body Image

Body image is culturally constructed by a couple of factors. The first being that men want to find they most atractive female. This causes females to want to have that perfect model like body. Women also want to find an atractive male. They might however find a certain trait attractive or they might just follow the way that our culture has made being skinier and better looking more desirale. This can be seen through the media and the fact that most if not all models are thin and good looking although a small portion of America is that.
Body image is culturally constructed also by the idea of that since such a large portion of America it is seen as okay. Since it seen this way people are less likely to try harder to try and reverse this. While this does exsist many people do try and resort to methods like bulimia and anorexia to try and achieve the "perfect body type". While some might see the pressure many just give in and stop trying which leads to the "American body type" being overweight.

Annotated Bibliography

Braddock III, Clarence H., and Mark R. Tonelli. "Physician Assisted Suicide." Ethics in Medicine. Oct. 2001. University of Washington. 20 Oct. 2007 .

Physician-Assisted Suicide is a piece by Clarence H Braddock III and Mark R. Tonelli that discusses the idea of physician assisted suicide and how it is different from euthanasia. It provides argument on both sides of the issue of assisted suicide. It deals a lot with the ethics of this situation and it also poses a few questions and answers like what does the medical profession think of PAS and what does the general public think of it. The article is from Washington Universities website on ethics which means they are concerned on the ethics of it and not a certain position so, it is objective. It overall will be a useful source.

Ertelt, Steven. "Poll Claims Americans Back Assisted Suicide, Votes and Others Say No." Life News. 2 Feb. 2006. 21 Oct. 2007 .

Poll Claims Americans Back Assisted Suicide, Votes and Others Say No is an article that provides some statistics on assisted suicide and euthanasia. It gives public opinion polls and also voting records of a few votes that have been held. It comes from Life News so it is probably aimed at those who are against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia. The public opinion polls say that people are in favor of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia while the voting record is far from that.

Russell, Bruce. "Still a Live Issue." Philosophy and Public Affairs 7 (1978): 278-281. JSTOR. The University of South Carolina, Columbia. 20 Oct. 2007 .

Still a Live Issue is a piece by Bruce Russell in which he discuses the issue of passive euthanasia and active euthanasia. Later in this piece he discuses the difference between killing and letting die. Russell favors the idea that anyone that has a moral sense there shouldn’t be a difference. This is obviously a personal opinion and can be used to site information on the subject. Passive euthanasia is compared to letting die and active euthanasia is compared to killing. While I disagree it can be used to provide an alternative opinion.

Foot, Philippa. "Killing, Letting Die, and Euthanasia: a Reply to Holly Smith Goldman." Analysis 41 (1981): 159-160. JSTOR. The University of South Carolina, Columbia. 21 Oct. 2007 .

This short article, Letting Die, and Euthanasia: a Reply to Holly Smith Goldman refutes the idea that it is worse to kill someone than to let them die. The example Holly Smith uses is refuted then an example of her own is used. She also discuses the idea of involuntary euthanasia. This article can be used to defend the idea of its worse to kill someone than to let them die.


"Historic Euthanasia Court Cases." Massachusetts Citizens for Life. Massachusetts Citizens for Life. 21 Oct. 2007 .

This article provides a historical background for the many court cases that haven taken place involving active and passive euthanasia. One of the main points I can use from this souse is the idea of the right to die. This idea was that upheld in Bouvia versus Superior Court. Also the idea of going to active euthanasia is shown in the cases. I will use this article to show the laws and how the courts have dealt with the different issues.

Lowe, E.j. "Active and Passive Euthanasia." Royal Institute of Philosophy 55 (1980): 550-551. JSTOR. The University of South Carolina, Columbia. 10 Oct. 2007 .

This article discuses the moral sides to passive and active euthanasia. It talks about two men who either let there wife die or they killed them. The conclusion of the article talks about it is more often active euthanasia that appears more morally preferable. The article will be used to provide information about passive and active euthanasia in a way as to show the moral sides of both. Since it is from a psychological institute it can be used as an unbiased side to the issue.

Dixon, Nicholas. "On the Difference between Physician-Assisted Suicide and Active Euthanasia." The Hastings Center Report 28 (1998): 25-29. JSTOR. The University of South Carolina, Columbia. 19 Nov. 2007 .


This article argues that active euthanasia is more problematic morally than PAS. The author however acknowledges that the case for both are almost identical. He goes on to describe in detail the differences and similarities between the two. This will be beneficial to my paper because it help provide a definitional argument on PAS and active euthanasia.

White, Hillary. ""Right" to Be Dehydrated Key Right to Die Strategy." Life Site. 21 Sept. 2006. 20 Oct. 2007 .

This article discusses the idea of Right to Die. It says that only the patient should have the decision to sustain life or to end life. This article goes on to talk about how people change their opinions greatly when the wording is changed. This is a great article for my paper in that it discuses the effect of wording on people and also the idea of right to die is important for my paper.

Sources

LexisNexis Academic. October 3, 2007. The Scotsman Publications Ltd. October 15, 2007 <http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/auth/checkbrowser.do?ipco unter= 1&cookieState=0&rand=0.7420255463537619&bhcp=1>
LexisNexis Academic. September 18, 2007. The Scotsman Publications Ltd. October 15, 2007 <http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/auth/checkbrowser.do
?ipcounter=1&cookieState=0&rand=0.7420255463537619&bhcp=1>
Ethical Issues in Terminal Health Care. Spring 1994. The Senior Reporter. October 15, 2007 <http://www.cptelecom.net/~ennyman/DAS-4.html>
Should an incurably-ill patient be able to commit physician-assisted suicide. Balanced Politics. October 15, 2007. Suicide.html>
LexisNexis Academic. January 19, 2006. Nationwide News Pty Limited. October 16, 2007 dorisb=21_T2267286375&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey
=29_T2267286389&cisb=22_T2267286388&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=244790&docNo=15>

Topic Proposal for Exploratory Paper

Euthanasia is the according to Merriam-Webster is the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy. Euthanasia is currently against the law in every state except Oregon in which it legal. The idea of euthanasia gives the patient the choice if they wish to continue living or if they decide it is their time to die. Thousands of people across the country are in situations where they have terminal diseases that have no cure such as types of cancer, emphysema, some mental illnesses, liver and kidney failure. Many of these diseases cause intense pain or the sick person to be in a state in which they are not fully functional in society. Many of these people think that it is there time to die but it would be a slow and often painful death which by means of euthanasia could be avoided.
My paper will explore the positives and negatives of euthanasia. This will include the preferred method of euthanization and the regulation of both euthanasia and the idea of assisted suicide which while different is very similar to euthanasia. My paper will also include the history and discuss the impact of legislation on euthanization.
My paper will be targeting anyone that has had experience of someone close to them passing on through a long drawn out ordeal. This is a target audience because they would feel more impacted by the subject than someone who has never experience this situation. I hope to write a paper that is both intriguing and informative on euthanasia.

Smoking Bans

Smoking in Restaurants
Which places it is acceptable to smoke in
Smoking in GA public places
Smoking in Columbia City limits
Smoking laws in other countries
Effects of secondhand smoke
Effect of smoking laws of the tobacco industry
Effects of smoke in restaurants atmosphere
US laws on cigarettes and the tobacco industry
Effects of cigarettes on other industries

Post Secret Card

My post secret card consists of the sentence I smoke because I think it makes me look cool on a black background with a picture of a cigarette in the middle. The text of the card is printed in a font to make the words seem almost handwritten. This was done to create the idea of it being personal. With the message I was trying to get the point across that the writer was only smoking to look “cool” even though campaigns are constantly saying that smoking is not cool and you should not do anything just to look “cool”. I chose the black background because smoking is usually considered a bad thing and black is the most suitable color. The presence of a cigarette is to display the image being discussed and to provide something other than a plain black background. Everyone seemed to get the idea pretty well because it is a fairly simple post secret card. The class reacted pretty much as would have expected them to on this particular card.

Post Secret

I am commenting on the post secret about the person locking themselves out of their room to see the security officer. The text of the message reads "I locked myself out on purpose (because the security officer is cute)". The explicit claim is that the person likes the security guard and wants to be around the security guard more often. The implicit claim is that people want to be around people they think are attractive and sometimes you have to do crazy things to accomplish this. This is most likely a college student or an apartment tenant. The audience is anyone that reads the card. It is targeted specifically towards anyone who has done something outrageous to see a person they liked. The visual component show the reader that this is real and not just made up. It is printed on the student’s copy of the lockout receipt.

Response #2

“Realistic Ideas” is a piece that explores why young people are doing far more community service than in the past. The main claim in this piece is that our generation is doing community service to help others in need not just to benefit themselves in the college admission process. This is most accurately shown by the use of statistics. The amounts of community service work has increased and the presence of many huge disasters in our world today. A great example of this is the use the example of the student that completes 500 hours of service. A student would not commit this type of time to something they did not feel strongly about. Again the opposite side of the argument was rarely even mentioned in the article.

Response #1

In My Plan to Save Network TV the author provides a humorous solution to the problem of advertising for older viewers of television. Charlie Hauck suggest that all television viewers over the age of 49 should not be allowed to watch the four major television networks. The target audience of TV networks is that of people between the ages of 18 and 49. This is because people in this group have a greater disposable income and are more likely to buy interesting products. The central claim can be summarized into “Mature viewers are threatening the well being of network television.” While this piece is obviously intended to be humorous it does however present a valid case for this outrageous plan. Many facts and opinions are used the most important being the fact the author thinks that older viewers are not important. In my opinion it does not refute the other side of the argument very well or even at all.

Claim

Essay- Going Nuclear:A Green Makes the Case

Central Claim- "Nuclear energy is the only large-scale, cost-effective energy source that can reduce these emissions while continuing to satisfy a growing demand for power" (p. 308)

My Central Claim- Patrick Moore does an outstanding job at defending the use of nuclear power throughout this piece.

My revised claim- Patrick Moore's piece Going Nuclear does a great job at supporting nuclear power through the use of many useful statistics.

My Conclussion- Patrick Moore does an outstanding job at defending the use of nuclear power throughout this piece.

Prep for Rhetorical Analysis

Eat this now grabbed my attention. It is about the way the US is overrun by food. I think this is a good article to write a rhetorical analysis for because it is a very prevalent issue in my life. The article has many points which can be examined and the trace method can be easily applied.

Another essay I read was Dropping the F-Bomb. This obviously grabbed my attention because of its title. It is about the F-word it origins and its use in life today. I do not think this would be a good article to write about because of its humor and its content.

Another article I read was "Ugly, The American" by James Poniewozik is an article that discusses the effects of TV on immigration issues. It would be very difficult to write an essay on this article because of the content of the article.

Outline
Intro- Trace
Talk about society in America dealing with food
Talk about change in Attitude that needs to happen
Talk about changes in the food industry that need to happen
Conclussion

SWA #5

“Shootings” by Adam Gopnik is an example of a rhetorical argument used in society. “Shootings” was written shortly after the disaster at Virginia Tech this past spring for the New Yorker magazine. This article provides the reader with personal suggestions of what should be done in the United States to help limit these types of tragedies. The main idea of this piece is that gun regulation should become stricter. Gopnik argues that if the gun control laws had made it more difficult for Cho to obtain these weapons the outcome would not have been as grave in Blacksburg.
The targeted audience for this piece was the readers of the New Yorker magazine. While this is a very large target audience some of the audience can be swayed one way or another depending on the writing. Gopnik writes it so as to be emotionally moving and to provide logical ideas.
Adam Gopnik is the author of this piece. He obviously feels very strongly about the situation that occurred at V.T. He also does not mind challenging the people that run the government and how the situation was handled. One constraint that Gopnik might experience could be his personal experience. If Gopnik had a friend or family member involved he might feel much more strongly about the situation than if he was less involved. Another constraint could be being involved with a group that is pro gun control. This would cause Gopnik to push that idea more than other solutions. The exigence in this piece was the tragedy of the V.T. shooting that Gopnik believes might not have been as bad if gun control was stricter. Before reading this article I considered the selling of guns in the US to be very strict but after reading this I know otherwise. Gopnik managed to convince me that run control should be stricter so that more shootings do not occur with the ease of which this one seemed to happen.

SWA #4

It seems at least at first glance that both David Friedman’s “Ideas” and my Facebook account have little in common. They are both texts that are available to people through the internet. “Ideas” is a blog through the website blogger.com while my facebook account is through the social network facebook.com. With a facebook you have only little control of the appearance of the text while with blogs you have much more personal control of the appearance of the text and the appearance of the layout. In both these websites you can control an extent of the content on the site like the main blog point and you can delete posts if you don’t want it there. With “Idea” Friedman uses no pictures or videos to emphasize his points while on facebook I have added pictures video and have joined groups to show certain things. An example of this is the joining of a group called USC Class of 2011 to let people know where you go to school and when you plan on graduating. If Friedman had added a video to emphasize his point it would be similar.
The targeted audience of both forums is the reader of the website. The main audience of my facebook would be my friends to see what is going on with me while the audience of “Ideas” is anyone that agrees with Friedman’s idea on a particular day. Facebook can be used to convince people of how “cool” a person is. “Ideas” can be used to convince people of a certain idea relating to a topic.
The author of “Ideas” is David Friedman. Friedman is academic economist who teaches at a law school and has never taken a course for credit in either field. This qualifies him to give intelligent ideas on many things involving economics and law which include many different topics. Facebook is a site where people can write about themselves. Thus the author of my facebook would be me a college freshman at USC. I am the expert on my life so I can make my facebook the most personal. In “Ideas” some constraints are that the reader will agree with Friedman. Another constraint could be that the reader is intelligent enough to comprehend the writing. One constraint of facebook is that the person reading the article wants to know me or wants to contact me. Facebook does not contain an exigence. The exigence of “Ideas” is the reasoning behind his argument.

SWA #3

It seems that the consensual style of argument describes my style of argument better than the adversarial type of argument. Though my argument style might be closer to the consensual style of argument I still in some cases can use the adversarial type of argument. I believe that my consensual argument type comes from my upbringing and my life experiences. I was raised to where religion played a large part in my life and I have gone to church for my entire life. Religion I believe helps promote the consensual style because the idea of not wanting conflict is usually an idea found in religion. Also religion can contribute to this type of argument by the favoring of the community over the individual.
Also I believe that through my upbringing I gained my ability to stay nonaggressive in most situations. This is partly of how I grew up with a younger sibling and was forced at times to be nonaggressive. This was a good skill that my parents instilled into me as a young child. My parents also taught me to see many sides of an issue. They told me to not just see pro and con which in the end was beneficial. It allowed me to stay more open to new ideas and proposals. Also lastly I think my avoidance of conflict and my dislike of fighting is something that just happened through the course of my life. Through this analysis I believe that my argument style is more likely aimed to compromise an argument than fight just for my side. This is done to gain a middle ground more than an extreme on either side. In some cases that I feel very strong for or against I might not be as willing to compromise on the subject but in most cases I can compromise. Also when I argue I often times use personal example and emotions to help get my point across. I can though use concrete ideas and reasoning to help gain support for my position of an argument.

SWA #2

In today’s society it is very difficult to consider yourself a moderate in political arenas. If you present yourself as a moderate you are considered a person that cannot make up their mind. Both sides want you to come to their side of the spectrum even though it might depend on the issue or you might not be on one particular side on the issue. This occurs largely with the issue of abortion, Parker express her opinion but it is neither pro-life nor advocating abortion.
Parker in this writing points out how difficult it is to be in the public eye. The pressure seems like it would be immense. You would constantly be being pushed and pulled to one side of the spectrum. For this I applaud those involved with politics that manage to stay with a moderate position and not be swayed by the super conservatives and the super liberal sides of each issue. While these two sides exist most people lie between the far left and the far right in the moderate range. I consider myself a moderate and “independents are the fastest growing group of voters across the country” this is especially true for voters around my age. 50% of all voters consider themselves a moderate which leaves only about 25% for each end of the spectrum. Being a moderate is sometimes difficult because while you might see the conservative view on one subject while on another topic you might side with the liberals. Being in the public light would make this even more difficult having your every opinion scrutinized and questioned. “Extremists and ideological purists on either side of the political aisle condemn compromise” this idea leads to either the issue is considered irrelevant or gridlock is reached. People involved in politics must be able to see both sides of an issue even if they do not agree with them. Compromise is a vital part of the political process without it nothing would ever be done.

SWA #1

Michael Skube explains in Writing Off Reading how more often than in the past more and more college students are arriving unprepared for the writing aspect of college. While GPAs keep rising the knowledge of the English language is decreasing. Many college students cannot name more than a few authors and often times have trouble understanding the vocabulary used in the novel. His claims in my mind seem accurate although in many cases while students might not be reading novels and short stories they are reading web pages and magazines which contribute to our knowledge and comprehension of the English language. The truth is that less and less college age students read books but you cannot contribute the decrease in understanding to this, being that there is almost limitless amounts of information available to every college and high school aged student via the internet. While novels and wonderful poetry are available online students avoid them because there are less entertaining than most other works of writing online, they usually stick to blogs, news, and sports. The idea of aggressive reading can greatly help the college aged student. The idea that you must get uncomfortable to read could help in that they would be more focused on the reading and less focused on the reality show in the background. This is a major problem for lots of students in that most students where they read with music or a TV going. This is alright for some types of reading but not for readings that are for school and require a certain level of attentiveness. Most students read too passively, they do not take the time to comprehend difficult material. If students would take the time to analyze and comprehend material they might understand more and gain more from it. Another way that students can gain more from reading is by questioning everything in a book. By doing this students will internalize the idea and thus gain a greater understanding. If a student doesn’t understand something they should do it again. While this is a very basic concept it is also very hard for students to do it. If students could just follow the guide of aggressive reading than the rate at which student gain knowledge would improve dramatically. If the “A” students could add aggressive reading to there skill set the quality of writing would increase greatly.