Definition Paragraph:

This essay will cover the topic of success for college students. Therefore, success in this essay refers to the student's retention and their academic performance. Traditional predictors are disgusted greatly in the scholarly article referred to, as well as in this essay. By using the term traditional predictors it is meant to stand for what normally is a good indicator on a student’s success in college. Emotional intelligence, which is explained in depth throughout the article, refers to a students’ ability to use their emotions rather than their cognition when solving problems. Cognitive abilities refers to the ability to utilize what is learned or attained, also known as common sense, to rule their academic life. The traditional student that is discussed in the study, as well as both in the scholarly article and this essay, refer to a student that graduates from a higher education institution within six years with a bachelor’s degree.

Scholarly Article Summary

In the scholarly article, "Non-Cognitive Predictors Of Student Success In College" the main topic discussed is the success rate of college students. Every one in two students will receive a bachelor degree within six years of enrollment in a university. Many researchers believed that the precursor to success in college as well as life was a students’ high school GPA and an ACT or SAT score. However, in the study done by Larry Sparkman proves differently. Many studies done throughout the years has also semi disproved this theory. Tinito (1993) believed one must be integrated in the university both academically and socially, and must achieve a level of commitment to their career, academic goal, and the institution in order to be successful in college as well as life. The success rate of college students can be defined as a students’ retention and their academic performance. Many studies done in the past show that life success is contributed more to emotional intelligence rather than cognitive abilities (IQ). The emotional intelligence of an individual increases with age and education attainment. The IQ of an individual is not a strong predictor of performance at work nor life. In Sparkman’s study the emotional intelligence of an individual was based on these fifteen things: self regard, emotional self awareness, assertiveness, independence, self actualization, empathy, social responsibility, interpersonal relationship, reality testing, flexibility, problem solving, stress tolerance, impulse control, optimism, and happiness. The finding in the study suggests that students that attain these qualities are more likely to graduate within six years of enrollment at an institution. He also found in his study that white females who are not dating who live on campus their first semester and one or both parents have a four-year degree are the most likely to succeed. Sparkman’s study is viable proof that regardless how intelligent one is, if they cannot put their emotions and dedication into going to school and getting a degree they are more likely to drop out or graduate later than the traditional student.

Scholarly Article Link

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=108&sid=0b79d993-fdf3-4156-a782-abfefda6fee1%40sessionmgr115&bdata=JmxvZ2luLmFzcCZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=79547321

Scholarly Article

In the scholarly article, "Non-Cognitive Predictors Of Student Success In College" (2012),  Larry Sparkman claims that the variables of Empathy, Social Responsibility, Flexibility, and Impulse Control help determine the graduation rate amongst students in universities. Sparkman supports this claim by testing participants that were traditional students who initially enrolled as freshmen for the fall semester of 2002 and attended freshman orientation the weekend prior to the beginning of classes. In this study, emotional intelligence was operationalized as 15 components: self-regard, emotional self-awareness, assertiveness, independence, self-actualization, empathy, social responsibility, interpersonal relationship, reality testing, flexibility, problem solving, stress tolerance, impulse control, optimism, and happiness. His purpose is to provide evidence that emotional intelligence is imperative in order to graduate from a university within four years. With the plethora of data as well as the language utilized within the article, Sparkman appears to be writing to a well-educated audience with interest in the success rate of college students.

TED Video 10/31/12

All individuals vary whether it’s their personal appearance or personal opinions. However, the main thing that sets all individuals apart is their identity. Identity can be defined as the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. In the TED video the identity of people is discussed. The speaker, Bryan Stevenson, in this video discussed the role of identity in society and how in reverse society affects the identity of people. Bryan emphasized multiple times that poverty is one of the main causes for identities to changes as well as lead to crime rates to increase. Bryan suggested that building ones’ character from learning from the past one will one day be able to look past the determining factor of race. He believes that ethics also help play a role in identity by using ones’ truths, morals, and beige able to reconciliate to mold a better person. Also, having the characteristic of being courageous will help one look past the media and what has been instilled in them through segregation and history books one can change their identity for the better. It has been noted in poverty stricken areas the crime rate is extremely high. Bryan poses the question, is this due to biasness of whites and blacks, and the fact that many people believe the color of one’s skin is more superior than the identity underneath the skin. By creating a new identity for yourself you will be able to see things I a new light that you would have never seen before. All of the things speaker, Bryan Stevenson, talked about all relates back to one thing and that are that identity is associated with inequality. The inequality towards African Americans results in the ill punishment of them in the legal system. With Bryan’s personal experience working with adult and juvenile African Americans in the prison system he is able to speak accurately on how punishment is solely based on race. The TED video today showed that by changing our identities as well as perspectives on things, discrimination of African Americans as well as the flawed prison system can be changed.

Alternative Assignment

I believe that the video for the alternate assignment is very interesting. However, I think that Huckleberry Finn is a great piece of literature that reflects greatly on the time period it was written. Although nigger may be an offensive term in today's era, back when the book was written it was the acceptable term. I believe that the commentator is correct when saying that slave is a job title and isn't a description of a person's ethnicity. By changing the word nigger to slave the essence of the book will be changed and it'll lose its' relevance to why it was written. Just because words inside Huckleberry Finn is offensive does not mean that we should change it. If this is the case then Catcher in the Rye should be taken off the shelves of all book stores because of the offensive manner it contains. Mark Twain used certain words and descriptions in order to make his book relevant and to build a great story that teaches life lessons.

Opinion Free Summary of "At Long Last, Dignity?"

In the article “At Long Last, Dignity” the highly controversal topic of same sex marriage is discussed. The article was published in The New York Times October 8, 2012 by Frank Bruni. The article discusses the issues over same sex marriage in the state of Maine, as well as other states including: Maryland, Washington and Minnesota. The emotions of an 80 year old gay man, Chuck Bennett are abundant in the article. This man discussed many things varying from being forced out of the Navy to buying his dream house alone. The times seem to be changing according to Bennet and he believes that he was born 50 years too soon. Same sex advocates are very optimistic about Maine as well as the other states due to the Presidential support they have as well as a whole community supporting the same sex marriage regardless of sexual preference.

"At Long Last, Dignity?" Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Chart

Ethos-Credibitity

-NY Times Opinion artice

-Frank Bruni

-Chuck Bennet- gay man 80 years old, a college English professor, then a dean

-Navy

-State of Maine

-President Obama

-State of Minnesota

-Gay Advocates

-Gay characters in movies and on TV

-John Osborne

-David Newman

Pathos-Emotion

-President Obama’s history-making statement of support in May

-“You know that old saying, Born 50 years too soon?” he asked me. “I think I do feel something of that.” –Chuck Bennet

-“he bought his dream house on the ocean here 15 years ago with two close friends, because he didn’t want to grow old alone and didn’t expect to meet anyone special, not so late in the game.” –Chuck Bennet

-In the late 1950s, he was forced out of the Navy for being gay.

-Advocates are most optimistic about Maine

-Only assurances that there were other people like him were newspaper stories about men arrested on Fire Island for “obscene” or “depraved” behavior.

-He felt the need to be secretive about his sexuality and kept work colleagues at a distance. His parents died without knowing he was gay

-He later joined efforts to end the ban on gays in the military, giving money to the cause

-“The likelihood of winning was so, so far-fetched.”

tormented by the straight world’s norms, which excluded him-David Newman, 71, lives with Chuck

-“It recognizes their dignity. His dignity.”

-“I’m inclined to look back not in anger, as John Osborne once said, but with some degree of sadness,” he said. “Everyone could have been happier. Everyone could have been more fulfilled if they hadn’t been burdened with this prejudice.”

Logos-Stats

-Maine-one of four states with same-sexmarriage on ballot for Nov. 6

-Minnesota, the vote is on an amendment to the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage

-Maine, Maryland and Washington, the vote is to permit it, and thus to join the six states where it’s already legal, thanks to legislatures or courts

-That right means that gay people are equal to straight people

NY Times Article

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/opinion/bruni-at-long-last-dignity.html?ref=columnists
"At Long Last, Dignity?"

"Why Men Fail"

The age-old question of which gender is superior rises again during this New York Times article written by David Brooks. "Why Men Fail" is an article that brings to light the lagging performance of males in school as well as in the work force. "Boys earn three-quarters of the D’s and F’s" is a staggering statistic that is proof that boys are falling behind in school and letting females take the driver seat. The credibility of this source helps back the stats as well as the story. Being a female makes this article, more appealing to me, due to the fact that the statistics and the article as well the book "Why Men Fail" support women and show the true strength of women. "She’s just saying women are adapting to today’s economy more flexibly and resiliently than men" this quote shows that women are strong and are willing to make a change in order to be more successful. I believe that this article is made to be a persuasive article to men. The reason I think this is the fact that it keeps hinting that mean are lazy, not resilient and inadaptable to change. I also think this article is a small reminder to all women to show the progress of the female gender. The article "Why Men Fail" is a great persuasive article to provide evidence to the community that men are lagging in responsibilities.

Presidential Debate

The first presidential debate was held this past Wednesday at the University of Denver. The two candidates that debated were Governor Romney and President Obama. Although the debate was very intense, there was a clear winner: Governor Romney. I believe that Governor Romney won because of his aggressive personality and his determination to get his point across. Like a true debate, the candidates truly never answered any questions that were being asked. President Obama throughout the whole debate kept bringing up the fact that Governor Romney had a "5 trillion dollar tax cut" and that seemed to be Obama's only argument. Governor Romney, in my opinion, won the debate due to the fact that he corrected President Obama on everything that was incorrect, never let the proctor ask questions, stayed off topic, brought up the flaws in the past four years that Obama failed to fix, and had a manipulative personality. The debate was not about the truth behind what the candidates were saying but rather how well they got their message across and how convincing they made it sound. In other words, the debate was not about truth but about believing in lies and being confident about it. I believe that Governor Romney won the debate not by the content of his answers or what his plans had to do with this country but rather by his aggressive personality and confidence in his information. I do not think that President Obama lost because he did not try or have enough content in his answers but because of his laid-back personality. The difference in morals as well as personalities is the reason why Governor Romney won the debate over President Obama. The next debate should be very interesting considering the fact that the President got walked all over because of his mellow personality.

"New Rules"

The riveting article "New Rules" published in the New York Times, mainly discusses the extraordinary educational system in Estonia. The pathos in this article strongly relates to the emotions of the United States. Thomas L. Friedman utilizes data as well as quotes from credible sources to build his story. The quote "Work hard and play by the rules" was coined by President Clinton in 1992, and has been used multiple times by President Obama in his speeches to persuade listeners that the open system in America is fair. The logos provided in this article ranged from the unemployment rate in the United States to global school system rankings. In America, the unemployment rate for people with four years of college is 4.1%, with two years college 6.6%, with high school diploma 8.8%, and high school dropouts have an unemployment rate of 12%. The Shanghai school system is ranked number one in the public school system, beating the rest of the world in math, science, and reading (global PISA exam). The fact that children in this school system are learning how to code from age 7 to 16 makes Estonia the number one target, especially for China. "Lifelong learning is the key to the middle class" is a very powerful statement and plays to the pathos of the paper. Citizens in the United States seem to have one goal and that is to have a decent job and make a decent living. Now that goal seems to be achievable only through higher education, yet that will only provide a mediocre life. The final words that still linger in my mind after reading this article are said by futurist Alvin Toffler "Illiteracy will not be defined by those who cannot read and write but by those who cannot learn and relearn." This statement is so influential due to the fact of the ever-changing technological world as well as the workforce adapting to consumer demands.

3 Questions About MWP Paper

1. Is the thesis statement suppose to contain the key points of both the summary and analysis?

2. Is the essay only suppose to be 4 paragraphs, intro, summary, analysis, and conclusion?

3. Will you be able to edit our papers as well as our peers before the due date?

#muslimrage

I feel that the cover of Newsweek titled "Muslim Rage" does injustice to the Muslim people. I think that this story does not really cover the true story of why Muslims are so enraged. If the magazine possibly explained what the Muslim culture was, what sparked this rage and other things, the article would not be so bias. I believe that this picture captures all the emotions that help provoke a riot. The picture contains emotions of passion, anger, and confusion. The men in the picture seem so dedicated to the cause that it makes the viewer want to be passionate like this for a cause. Although, I do believe the picture and title do not agree with each other, they do play off each other in order to sell magazines. The tweets titled #muslimrage seemed to mock the magazine. For instance, one tweet stated that she was having a "good hair day". I think in these tweets it shows that the location you reside in definitely results in the way you are treated. The Newsweek article and twitter have two completely different views on Muslim rage. Once again I go back to the point that if the religion as well as the Muslims' local issues were highlighted instead of looked upon the tweets as well as viewers opinions would be greatly affected. The "Muslim Rage" title to me sent all the wrong messages, yet it sold to the media and publicized "drama" which is what viewers want to see.

MWP Paragraph

While watching President Obama's video called "Stronger Together" many visual aspects grabbed my attention. The first aspect that grabbed my attention was how many pictures of "average" women were flashed across the screen. These "average" women were captured in their workplace, their ethnicity all varied as well as the jobs. Obama's use of rhetoric, as well as his compassion behind the topic helped reinforce the impression that women's healthcare choices are important to him. By referring to the women as "mothers, sisters, daughters..." makes his speech more relatable for the female listeners. Since the video is short all visual aspects are important. His speech goes hand in hand with the pictures being empathized on the screen. However, more pictures would have been a little more helpful in getting the point across. Obama being shown giving the speech could have been a little less empathized since the speech is about women. The fact that the American Flag is in the background of the speech, reminds viewers this is America, land of the free. The pictures of the women are focused on them while the background is blurry. By blurring the background it empathizes the women's' role in everyday life.  Women are the key points in all of the pictures, which shows that women are important in everyday life helping make things run smoothly. By showing a mother, sister, daughter, wife etc. the pictures pull the heartstrings of the viewers because we all have a woman that is important to us. The pictures also show all the hard work women put into work/life. Soon the words "President Obama is committed to protecting a woman's right to choose" appears on the screen to target women. By using "Committed" as a key word to the phrase, it shows women his undying support for their right to choose and not their employers. The main argument is that women have the right to make their own decision. Together with Obama, as women we will be moving forward. This speech has a very credible source: President Obama. PResident Obama uses pathos in a strategic way by suggesting that women can make their own decisions. By using the terms "wives, sisters, daughters, moms" it hits home for all Americans. Women are half of this country/workforce evoke the emotion of dependability.

MWP Visual Rhetoric Sheet

What visual elements grab your attention first?

·         The pictures of "average" women

·         Women in workforce

·         Different ethnicity

 

What other details reinforce that impression? How?

·         Obama's rhetoric

·         Refers to the women as "mothers, sisters, daughters...."

·         A doctor, teacher, department store worker

 

What is more important? Less important?

·         Video is short- all aspects important

·         pieces go hand in hand

·         Obama's speech matches photos

·         However,  more pictures would have been a little more helpful, less Obama since speech is about women

 

What about color and style? What impact do they have on your impressions?

·         American Flag in background of speech

·         Pictures of women focused on them background blurry

·         Empathizes the womens' role in everyday life

 

How does the image direct the viewer’s eyes and reinforce what is important?

·         Women key point in pictures

·         Important in everyday life

·         Make things run smoothly

·         Mother, sister, daughter, wife etc. pull heartstrings, we all have a woman that's important to us

·         See the hard work women put into work/life

 

What text is included? How does the text relate to the image?

·         "President Obama is committed to protecting a woman's right to choose"

·         Target audience: woman

·         "Committed" key word to phrase, shows women his undying support

·         Woman's right to choose: Healthcare no longer employers decision

 

What argument is being made? Consider: when this was made (kairos), who is the audience, what is the purpose (exigency).

·         Women have the right to make own decisions

·         Their body their decision

·         Moving forward

·         Starts of speech with his main point of speech

 

List details that provide ethos, pathos, logos.

·         Ethos: President Obama

·         Pathos: Women make decisions, "wives, sisters, daughters, moms", contraceptive  use, women half of this country/workforce, keep moving forward

·         Logos: None

MWP Video

Choices 2.0 Chapter 6

In Chapter six of Joe Hardin's Choices 2.0 he emphasizes that media has in a sense brain washed its' viewers. Hardin provides evidence such as the commercials we see while watching our favorite TV show, driving to work and simply reading the newspaper. The biasness inside the media has a strong effect on the viewer. While writing a paper one must remember to have an open mind and have an even playing field for all views to be expressed. His purpose is to show that although we have our own personal beliefs about things, our readers should be able to view all evidence before making a decision or be influenced by our own biasness. Media is a perfect example of how biasness blinds the audience and hides the truth. Hardin's tone in this chapter is very informative and over protective. He reminds the reader not to believe everything he/she reads or sees. This piece seems to hint that when writing our own personal piece to be open minded, and win the argument by providing enough evidence not but undermining the other view.

"Plagiarism Lines Blur for Studentes in the Digital Age"

In Trip Gabriel's "Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in the Digital Age", he empathizes the fact that many students part of the digital generation do not understand what it really means to plagiarize. Gabriel provides many examples from very prestigious colleges, where students had little to no idea that simply paraphrasing something off the internet was considered plagiarism. His purpose was to show readers that whether or not it seems like you are not plagiarizing the lines are very thin when taking information from a website and making it your own. By stating that, although many students do not know the rules, many students knowingly cheat and plagiarize because they are lazy. The tone of Gabriel was very informative and caring for the students of today's society. The readers of this article can learn from Gabriel that lines are thin and to always cite, because it is better to be safe than sorry.

"It's Just A Ride"

The ever so tightening chain of society chokes and pulls at the true spirit of a human. In the photo, "It's Just A Ride" by Bill hicks was posted on Occupy Arts' Facebook page. At first, the message of this photograph was unclear. The breaking free of the horses could just be glanced upon and not have any thought put behind it. However, the colors, setting, and other visual aspects really grabbed my attention, and allowed me to brainstorm on the true meaning of this photograph. First, the horses escaping from such a beautiful structure really enforce the thought the theme of this photo is escapism. The fact that the carousel is used as part of the focus allows the view to reminisce on their childhood, and remember how simple life use to be. After, my first few minutes analyzing this photo I believe that the main concept of this photograph is that although everything seems to be beautiful and perfection the outside, on the inside the "horses" feel chained to the restriction of what is "beautiful" waiting for the chance to escape from this so called perfect life. The import visual aspects of this photograph, are the colors used, the carousel is full of bright, happy, youthful colors, and the horses as well. The weather is perfect, and the grass is green. However, if you take a closer look the "ropes" or chains of the carousel are actually black and normally they are gold. These have an impression on me by allowing me to see that the horses are escaping the norm, and breaking free from what is expected, and being able to break from the chains and restrictions of society. As I go more in depth in my analysis I realize that this picture is simply a symbolic photograph of today's' society. The carousel is actually the norm of society, the ropes are the chains that keep us inside the norm, and the horses symbolize people breaking free from society. The bench thus symbolizes the obstacles one faces when breaking free. Finally the fact that the horses are identical symbolize the identity that is missing from today's' society. There is no text included in this photograph. I believe that the photo does not need text because it is left up to the viewer to create his or her own thoughts on the piece of art. However, the title does hint at the meaning of life. Many people say life is just a ride, you have to sit back and enjoy the ride, and that is why I think "It's Just A Ride" relates to the journey of life. I believe the main argument being made in this piece of art is that one cannot be contained and trapped by society. It also shows that society "chains" us to the norm in order for citizens to not be different and do what they want. I found this argument after looking at all the details, and finding different meanings for all things in the photograph. The audience of this art is the citizens of society. The main purpose is to break free of restrictions of life and society. The ethos of the photo is Bill Hicks the creator of the piece, and Occupy Art Facebook page. The pathos that I experienced while viewing this photograph varies from feeling restricted to eagerness of what is to come. Logos was nonexistent in this piece due to the fact that it was a photograph.

Visual Rhetoric

The ultimate symbol that reminds Americans of freedom is fireworks. Mitt Romney uses this symbol in the opening of his political video, and it draws in the viewers to listen and watch the video. Fireworks seem to have an influence on me because it hints at rising from the ashes, and symbolizes all of the aftermath of war. Keeping with the theme of flames and rising from the ashes Romney then uses the lighting of the torches at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City as the chanting of U.S.A. is highlighted in the background music. As soon as the pictures of the Olympics ends the visual aspect of freedom and the meaning of an American disappears. Soon the screen is filled with family pictures and home videos. By doing this Americans seemed to be put on a back burner, and his family life was overly emphasized. Many of the pictures used in the video were in color, which affected my view by having all the pictures blended together. To me it would seem with more strategy some of the more important pictures were in black and white in order for them to stand out. Not much text was utilized in this video; the only text I noticed was the names of the speakers. If there was any more text, I did not notice it, which could only mean it, was not emphasized enough. The argument being made in this political video is that Mitt Romney is a family man that has good American values. As this message is being stated to the audience victorious music starts to play. His wife, along with a few other officials and Olympian athletes, relay this message throughout the video. The purpose for this argument is to show Americans that Romney is a trustworthy man with family values. This video did not have much ethos or logos it rather focused on family and not anything that affects Americans. In my opinion, this video was not aesthetically pleasing and did not provide good evidence that would lead to him making a good President.

 

Although President Obama already has four years experience as the President, I believe his video portrayed all things that I believe motivate America. For example, the pictures of Hurricane Katrina, 9-11, the death of Osama Bin Ladden, landing on the moon and pictures of the 9-11 memorial. Although not all of these pictures are hopefully they show how strong the American spirit is and how we can prevail out of any situation. The pictures of Americans living their life also grab my attention because it captures the Americans in their true spirit. This video had an equal balance between personal life and business. I believe that this video captures Obama's family life by using family pictures, pictures of him and his wife in the White House, images of his wedding ring, and a picture with Obama and his mom. He also highlighted his political career by using the images of the Americans prevailing as stated above. Obama had a few photos in different colors in his video. However, the one that captured my attention was the final picture of the video. This one has Obama walking outside the White House and it is in black and white. The images reinforce that Obama has had many struggles to overcome in his presidency, although at the end of the day he has made headway in the past four years. I once again in this video did not notice any text rather than the names of the speakers. The argument being made is that Obama has made many accomplishments in his presidency and that he has many plans for the future, he also makes the argument that he truly cares about the Americans safety. The argument was woven throughout the video. Obama's speech was filled with many logos that help boost Obama's credibility. Although, Obama has more experience, I believe that his video was more organized and really said what Americans wanted to hear.

Rhetoric Skills of Michelle Obama and Ann Romney

Michelle Obama and Ann Romney's speeches both pulled at the heart strings of America. By sharing difficult stories of their childhood and the hardworking family they were brought up by show the true American dream. Although, both their speeches were based around hard working Americans that deserve a President that knows what it is to work hard to make something happen, the delivery in my opinion is what swayed me to be more interested in Michelle's speech. In order to be an excellent speaker and gain the attention of the audience one must use rhetoric, along with passion for what they are speaking about. In Ann's speech, she had no ethos whatsoever. Her speech was rather a story that bragged about her husband and ranted about how great of a mother she thought she was. The speech did have a lot of pathos, but these emotions she evoked were from mothers and grandmothers. Her speech was too rehearsed as well as it seemed fake. With Ann's fake laugh and stone looking face I was unable to really make a connection with her as well as her speech she was trying to give. Michelle, on the other hand, seemed to feel at home in front of the podium. Her ability to use rhetoric to gain the attention of the audience was evident in her first few sentences of the speech. She had a glowing smile and a sincere laugh. Michelle was able to effectively use her hands and facial expressions throughout the speech to elevate her point. During Michelle's speech her ethos contained President Obama, the Senate, along with other government officials. She was able to effectively establish logos without seeming to brag. One logos Michelle brought up was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. By reminding the audience of this act she evoked emotion from most of the women since this bill created equal pay for women. Although Michelle's speech contained ethos, pathos, and logos some might criticize both her and Ann for not using as much as they should. However, I believe that as a First Lady a speech should not be all about business and statistics but rather hit the tip of the iceberg of the issue. My biasness did not affect the way theses speeches were viewed. I am politically inclined. I choose not to get involved in politics due to the fact that there will always be criticism. No one is perfect and most importantly one person cannot fix problems that have been here for 50+ years. Due to the fact that I stay away from politics and have not heard any of Mitt Romney or President Obama's speeches I can honestly say my own beliefs did not poison my thoughts of the speeches of Ann and Michelle. With Michelle's heartwarming smile and the personality of a go-getter she made for a much better public speaker than the rehearsed, emotionless Ann Romney.

Chapter 3: Choices 2.0

In chapter three of Joe Hardin's Choices 2.0 he emphasizes the point that writing is a structure and must be done in steps. Hardin provides many scenarios where structure is key to building a plausible story or a riveting article. For example, Hardin repeats multiple throughout the chapter that support, and evidence provide a backbone or rather a structure that a reader can grasp and formulate questions from. His purpose to the reader is to show that there is a meaningful reason for analyzing and creating a backbone for the text itself. By stating that if your opinion or thought in the text is well thought out and has a structure then many people will learn from your text as well as formulate opinions about the topic. With Hardin's use of rhetoric, he was able to set a meaningful, educational tone that will help show readers what he feels can create a meaningful piece of writing. With his uses of variation in examples he is able to create a he knows best tone, and that the readers should trust him.

"Web Means the End of Forgetting"

"Web Means the End of Forgetting" published in the New York Times by Jeffrey Rosen brings to light a problem of the modern age. The author utilizes ethos, logos, and pathos to make his argument stronger and more relevant to today's society. He states in the article that a Facebook user creates about 70 pieces of content monthly. With this statistic, Rosen made me more interested due to the fact that I use Facebook daily, and thus making me a statistic. Through his use of logos, the statistics were able to help strengthen his point that the web does not forget. For example, 75% of U.S. job recruiters look at Facebook pages in the course of hiring someone. 70% of these recruiters have rejected job candidates due to the material on their social networks. Although this seems like a violation of the first amendment, in my opinion it is not. If you can post something on Facebook with the intentions of your friends seeing it, then your employer has the right to see it as well. What you post on a social network can give a person an insight in the type of person you are and how you act on a daily basis. Many people do not realize what they post can be quite deadly to their future. Many kids I know willingly post pictures of themselves drinking underage, or post statuses such as "let's get faded tonight". Although, some kids may think this is cool frankly it isn't. Posting things like this can ruin your life since once something is on the internet it cannot be taken back. The story about the teacher whose degree was taken away from her really pulls my heartstring, but then yet again I think of how she could have approached the situation differently and then don't feel so bad. The credible sources used in this article only support the fact that the internet is unforgivable. Rosen took advantage of ethos, logos, and pathos and made this a successful article that was interesting and hit close to home for many of its' readers.

Choices 2.0 Chapter 2

In chapter two of Joe Hardin's Choices 2.0 he suggests how to successfully right an interesting paper than many people will be interested in. Hardin provides strong evidence and personal advice to show what an interesting paper will do to its' readers. For example, if the reader is uninterested to being with in your topic you have to become very elaborate and creative to draw in their attention in order for them to even give thought to your paper. His purpose to the reader is to show that no one is bad at writing; however, there are bad writing techniques. By suggesting, that everyone is capable of writing a great paper just with a different technique his whole second chapter is put into a nutshell. His tone is very supportive by saying there are ways to fix writing techniques he gains the interest of readers by showing such a nurturing, helpful side. With Hardin's quick to get to the point yet supportive tone he successfully makes this chapter a persuasive piece to all writers who have lost hope in their writing technique.

The Gaming Video

Dr. Jane McGonigal had made several valid points in her speech that support he overall argument that the world needs more gamers in order to “save the world”. McGonigal utilizes ethos, pathos, and logos in order to gain the attention of her audience. By using as much logos as she does she was able to bring to light many statistics that a person that does not play video games would not know. By using these statistics she was able to put actual numbers in the minds of her audience and potential gamers. Her credibility or ethos of her speech was very lacking. I only found that she had two credible sources: Economists Edward Castronava and Carnegie University. Although, she as the speaker a\was a very credible source due to the fact that she received her PhD for doing studies on this topic of gaming. Jan's argument is filled with much emotion and appeals to her audiences' pathos side. By giving the gamer qualities such as being optimistic, building a social fabric, and being productive she brings this figure to life. I believe she does this in order to give the audience a sense of confidence and connection, which would help her persuade the audience to believe in her cause. The actual picture of the gamer also strengthens her argument. It strengthens her argument because this face shows concentration, during her speech she uses this as leverage to show that videogames build concentration and the hunt to win which would entail world problems to decrease due to this characteristic. McGonigal's speech was filled with a majority of these statistics. Although, statistics are very helpful, these statistics are purely stats in an imaginary world and could not relate to the real world. I completely disagree with her speech. The real world is set up for successes and failure, without failure one cannot learn anything. Through trial and error humans learn and develop skills they would not have possessed if they did not try and fail. In the game world, one cannot fail, it is nearly impossible to fail at anything in a fictional world. I leave you with this thought about failure, and how without failure no problems of the world can ever be fixed " Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success ." -Dale Carnegie

In his article "WRITERS ON WRITING; To See Your Story Clearly, Start by Pulling the Wool Over Your Own Eyes" (2000), Kent Haruf asserts that many writers' ideas and themes of novels are sometimes blurred by outside distractions. Haruf supports his claim about these distractions by using other authors that use unorthodox ways of writing novels. For example, "Eudora Welty has said that she straight-pinned pieces of her stories together on the dining room table, as though she were pinning together parts of a dress". His purpose is to show readers that there is no correct way to write a novel. By letting the brain wander without outside distractions or what is commonly accepted in writing is when spontaneous, creative, and very meaningful stories are created. Haruf seems to encourage the reader by showing that the most successful authors have unorthodox ways and that not everything needs to be done in a straight cut manner. His tone is very welcoming and helps the reader see it is okay to have a different means of doing things.

INTRODUCTION

 

Joe Marshall Hardin, Educational, Choices 2.0 Situations for College Writing, (2010)  suggests that all students learn differently and through their own style of learning will soon be capable of being a notable writer. The author develops his thesis by using several examples to show that all people regardless of their occupation learn differently. Hardin then later goes on to target the younger more technological generation by stating that this generation has learned a whole other language just through e-mailing and texting. By doing this, he implies that by learning such a distinctive language that one can learn grammar in an innovative way rather than bookwork. Hardin wants to motivate the younger generation by suggesting that learning grammar or writing papers does not have to be a chore but rather a way to use your imagination and create a wonderful world. In order for his purpose to be successful, he suggests multiple things that are not part of the norm of grammar teaching such as peer review.   The author mainly intends to attract the attention of young adults or anyone willing to work on bettering their writing skills. The author intends to create a nurturing and motivational relationship with the reader. By stating things such as "you have to pay more attention to what works for you" builds the relationship with the reader by showing the Hardin has the readers' best interests in mind.

 

CHAPTER 1

Joe Marshall Hardin, Educational, Choices 2.0 Situations for College Writing, (2010) claims that students are skipping the most crucial parts of the writing process: prewriting and revising that is the reason why most students believe they are unsuccessful writers. The author supports this theory by using Aristotle and the beliefs that he followed. By using the three types of rhetoric, he is able to show the crucial steps in writing. The author brings up logos, ethos, and pathos in order to show how one can successfully build a simple sentence into an elaborate statement by considering these three things. Hardin's intended audience for this chapter is a younger generation as he brings up social networks that normally target younger generations. He continues to build his nurturing relationship with the reader as he suggests ways to fix the problems with the generations "writers block". He also starts to build trust with the reader as he always suggests there is a way to fix everything.