Reflection

Analytic Reflection

            Over the course of this semester I have learned the ins and outs of rhetorical velocity through public discourse. These few months have been very insightful and engaging. We have learned about the most significant genre's and their philosophies. The classes provided us with opportunities to refine our skills in critical thinking and practice developing oral and written arguments that respond to the complex situations we tend to face in our daily society, both in politics and in the wider public sphere. The most essential portion of this course is the community based post and readings that contribute to our learning of the material. These joint works helped many of consider how our skills may be applied to resolving issues of the use of discourse arising within the society. The interdisciplinary readings, writings, and short assignments taught us how to discover the connections among disciplines. The course actually encouraged and we learned to developed strategies for synthesizing the knowledge we acquired during our study in this course. The six required projects let us emphasizes fluency and coherence with our written expressions. I immediately took a liking to the advanced writing class after I read the syllabus knew that we would have to produce essays using an analytic approach. I'm interested in receiving critical analysis in my writings concerning stasis or argumentation. The ability to incorporate rhetoric in my writing helped me to explore ideas, observations and experiences. I intellectually admired when we got to share our blog presentations with peers. This course without question developed my appreciation and understanding of literature. I embraced the challenge of exploring a variety of issues. The sometimes lengthy lectures on social, historical, geographical, ethnic, political, and discussion of literary texts proved to be very informative. These texts varied by genre, historical period, and or country of origin. Still, my goal of the course fine tuning my skills that are crucial and necessary to understanding how literary forms produce meaning. At times carrying out the reading study process was frustrating. I stuck with it though because I figured that it was mandatory in order for me to benefit more from this course it. That’s why I’m glad that we were often asked to provide a writing sample reflecting on what we read.  Plus in class discussions of how we did it and how we used what we were taught in our class. I noticed the practical experience to be gained by taking this course serious. Reflective writing gave us the chance think about what is happening in society more deeply and to learn through experience and certain instances. From day one we were granted the opportunity to discover how what we would be taught in class could potentially help with your real world academic tasks. Writing thoughts down made it easier to think about them and make connections between what I might be thinking compared to what I was being taught. Ironically those original written reflections also served as a source of reference and evidence in to this day. I learned that the purpose of reflective writing was to help me learn from a particular practical experience in public discourse. I was further more equipped with the ability to make connections between rhetorical velocity theory and its practices. Reflecting back on this semester, I was able to make sense of what I did and why so I was able to do it better next time. Without me reflecting upon this experience it may quickly be forgotten or its learning potential could even be lost. It is from the feelings and thoughts emerging from these reflections that generalizations or concepts are often generated. Also I won’t take for granted that generalizations can consequently allow new situations to be handled in a very effective manner. This course typically focused on the power and prevalence of propaganda or rhetoric in the media and American society.  We also studied how it affects our opinions and decision making when writing public arguments or persuasive pieces. My favorite interest was how we studied the art of persuasion through fallacies, different editing techniques, learning how to construct a wiki article and write a white paper.


                                                           Works Cited
Donald Lazere, and Paradigm Publishers. "The Citizen's Guide to Argumentative Rhetoric." Reading and Writing for Civic Literacy (n.d.): 244-49. Print.

Eberly, Rosa A. "Becoming a Citizen Critic: Where Rhetoric Meets the Road."

The Elements of Reasoning. By Edward P.J. Corbett. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, n.d. 121-38. Print.

"Marshall McLuhan." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

"Maya Angelou." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

"Michelle Citron." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Feb. 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.

Editing Analysis

For the smaller task of this short assignment I chose an article that needed to be clarified in simpler terms for a wider audience. To me this is one of my immediate natural strengths because my writing is of the described as such. My goal was to decipher all the inappropriate jargon and determine the material that was actually necessary to allow the article to be more universally received. So I broke down the article word for word until it seemed satisfactory in laments terms. For the larger task of the second portion on the assignment I chose a different approach, to summarize an article by shedding a brighter light of the subject. Since the article was based on the life story of an original pioneer I was drawn to it. During the process of this assignment the one article that came to mind was, Lazere “Avoiding Oversimplification”. Donald Lazere's article contains a plethora of information mainly dealing with fallacies, and more specifically with oversimplification. His position provided a guideline for me to abide by for not distorting the articles with to much saturation of the original language and wording. Though this seems to be something that is trivial and insignificant, it's really quite important.

Short Assignment 5

Part One

Compare and contrast the following author biographies, using the list of criteria below to help you make the comparison. While at first glance each set of biographies may appear to be very similar to one another, try to note differences, with an eye towards making sense of those differences. If the different ways they are represented would actually affect how you use them differently in a research project, then take the time to explain why.

Biographies to compare:

Marshall McLuhan in Wikipedia with Michelle Citron in Wikipedia

    Structure of article: The Citron article was introduced with a brief description of her early life of where she was born and academic attainments. Then the article discussed her current career and the contributions she made to the film industry as a feminist. Next the article included two charts which pointed out her filmography and multimedia. The article ended with a brief bibliography of her memoirs then concluded with a references section. The McLuhan article was also introduced with a brief summary of who he was. Next there was an extensive description of his upbringing and early life story that detailed his rise. The article then included an introduction to his major accomplishments and a summary that detailed each of his individual publications. This article concluded with by establishing and informing on his legacy.

    Kinds of information contained: Citron- Early life, Career, Filmography, Multimedia, Bibliography and References. McLuhan- Life and career, Major works, Key concepts, Legacy Works cited, Further reading and External links.

    Kinds of information linked to: Citron- Linked to the different universities she attended and the McLuhan- linked to various researches done on him and by him.

    References: Citron- This article referenced books and scholarly material. McLuhan- This article used a works cited format that linked to other Wikipedia articles.

    Tone of writing: Citron- the tone of writing in this article was brief and straight forward; it also left room for more information to be added especially since she is still alive and active in her career. McLuhan- The tone of this article was more autobiographic and complete detailed his life and works accomplished form his birth until his death.  

    Illustrations: Citron- Charts of works. McLuhan-Picture of a street sigh named after him and one of his famous triad diagrams.

    Credentials of author: Michelle Citron is a film, video and multimedia artist, scholar and author. Herbert Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian philosopher of communication theory.

    Lists of works: Citron- Filmography/ Multimedia.  McLuhan- Major publications/ Key concepts

    Anything else important? McLuhan- Legacy, this section asserted the significance and influence of his life works.

Henry Sidgwick in Wikipedia with Henry Sidgwick in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The Sidgwick article in Wikipedia only included a brief biography and another short section of his works and concluded with a list of his publications. The Encyclopedia article introduced who he was and his significance and articulated more in depth his life and background. Then there was lengthy section devoted to his Methods of Ethics and Philosophy, which was very informative and descriptive. Then the article recalled the controversies brought on by Sidgwick’s Epistemology. The article also pointed out his views on religion and Parapsychology, and then detailed his thought on economics and education. The references from the Encyclopedia article were mostly on Sidgwick’s own published works. The Wikipedia article referenced other articles submitted on Wikipedia. 

Part Two

Featured Article: Cold Feet

  

The verifiability of this featured article was credible and based on fact and audience reaction to the show’s popularity. It was obvious that it covered material that was very much relevant and helped to facilitate it to readers. The summary and style of the article was a connection between those who were familiar with the show and those who may have never heard of it. This summary’s style was conducing to the type of show it was and detailed the series and the production of it. While the US sitcom Friends was enjoying enormous worldwide success, the UK had its own thirty and older couple based hit on its hands. Cold Feet, comedy drama that ran between 1998 and 2003, it’s still so fondly remembered today and producers are trying to bring it back.

The show was created by Mike Bullen and it was centered on the lives of three Manchester couples. Fay Ripley and John Thomson were the married couple initially struggling to conceive, she was desperate and he was reluctant. Robert Bathurst and Hermione Norris were the typical middle class married couple, he a successful and snobby management consultant who maintains a cold front towards his bored housewife. Finally, the easy favorites of the trio of couples were James Nesbitt and Helen Baxendale whose characters got together in the first episode. Nesbitt, as Adam charmed the nation with his cheeky Irish wit while Baxendale’s alluring yet spritely Rachel had a similar effect. It was their ups and downs in particular that captivated fans. They were the Ross and Rachel from the American Show “Friends” of Cold Feet.

Each week, eight million viewers would regularly tune in to see what their favorite northern characters were up to. When Adam and Rachel got married 9.1 million joined them. When Rachel died at the end of the series, 10.4 million watched.

It’s a success which hasn’t achieved since in that tricky format of romantic comedy drama. To win over men as well as women with romance is no easy task. But Cold Feet managed it by being moving and funny also complex but utterly absorbing. Much like Friends, the show had characters that viewers both male and female could identify with, while being brilliantly written at the same time.

Assignment 4

What kind of sources does the article you are assessing use?

This article used sports databases and collected records as sources. It also pointed out to books magazines and newspaper clippings as references as well.

Are any other sources unreliable or not well-respected? Why do you think so? Are there any you are unsure of? Why?

            Each source is reliable and has credibility because the dates and the history that was represented and achieved by the significance of the facts in this article

Check five individual facts in the article against the sources. Are the facts reported correctly in Wikipedia? If not, what is incorrectly reported?

            Black Aces: Yes, the first all-black line in professional hockey.

            1946: Yes, McIntyre became the first Black Canadian to play professional baseball.

            1997: Yes, Elected to baseball hall of fame

            Career high in goals: Yes, 36

            Attendance record in France: Yes, 20,612 spectators

Do you think the information in this article is generally reliable based on your analysis of the sources? Why or why not?

            Yes this article is absolutely reliable based on my analysis and knowledge of black sports pioneers. I also did some fact checking through the ESPN and Major League Baseball databases.  

I chose to research the article on Manny McIntyre, who was a professional athlete that played both ice hockey and baseball. This was a very inspirational piece to me and my culture. It was also interesting being that I am a sports fanatic and always looking to find out something new. Born Vincent Churchill, he was a member of the “Black Aces”, the first all-black line in professional hockey, with brothers Ossie and Herb Carnegie. They played together in various leagues including one season in France where they became a big draw and helped set an attendance record for French ice hockey. In 1946, McIntyre became the first Black Canadian to play professional baseball, as a shortstop for the Sherbrook Canadians, a farm team of the St. Louis Cardinals. He played in multiple leagues, and was elected to the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. McIntyre was born near Fredericton, New Brunswick. As a child he began playing both ice hockey and baseball. He played Shinny, a form of pick-up hockey, on frozen ponds with wooden pucks. McIntyre played in the Porcupine Mines Senior Hockey League, where he was first teamed with brothers Ossie and Herb Carnegie. They formed the first recorded all black line in hockey history.

The trio became known as the “Black Aces”. The trio gained notoriety in North America and moved to France to play for Racing Club de Paris, becoming the first professional black players to play in Europe. The Black Aces became a big draw while playing in Europe attracting large crowds for each of their games. This included a game against the British National team which drew 20,612 spectators, which set an ice hockey attendance record in France. When the season ended they were offered a contract to stay in with the team, but chose to return to North America joining the Sherbrook Saints of the Quebec Senior Hockey League for the 1948–49 seasons. Upon joining the QSHL they became the first all-black line in professional history. For the 1949–50 seasons McIntyre moved to the Moncton Hawks of the Maritime Major Hockey League. He set a career high in goals with 36. In 1950 he was traded to the Saint John Beavers, where he moved from a winger to defense. According to the Society for International Hockey Research McIntyre compiled 187 goals, 278 assists, for 465 points in 468 games played during his career.

McIntyre's baseball career was similar to his hockey career as he moved from league to league with regularity. He began playing with Fredericton Capitals of the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League, before moving on to Nova Scotia. Playing as a shortstop McIntyre set a career high .385 batting average in 1943 playing for the Halifax Shipyards. The following season he helped the Shipyards win a Halifax Defense Baseball League championship. McIntyre played for Trois-Rivieres team in the Quebec Provincial League in 1945. For the 1946 season he signed a contract with the Sherbrook Canadians a farm team of the St. Louis Cardinals, thereby becoming the first Black Canadian to sign a professional baseball contract. He later became the first Black Canadian to play professional baseball as he hit .310 with one home run and two doubles in 30 games, collecting 40 hits in 129 at-bats for Sherbrook. After his playing career McIntyre worked at the Dorval International Airport. He was elected into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. McIntyre died on June 13, 2011 Candiac, Quebec at the age of 92.

Argumentative

In her article, Rebecca Jones maid interesting claims about what an argument is and how these debates or disagreements tend to come about. Jones explored the various styles of arguments and introduced multiple perspectives into what determines them. Ethos is mentioned to describe the ethical element of an argument. This element is what allows for there to be rules, regulations and different genre's of arguments. She also established that pathos is used to sway the audience through their emotions. The pathos is he punch line that captivates of disappoints the audience, these are the true intentions concerning the basis of the argument. Logos is the logical explanation for the argument and points out the credibility of discussion. It is the proof and serves as evidence to validate the positions presented. Arguing demands reasons or cite evidence in support of an idea, action, or theory. Typically with the aim of persuading others to share one's view and persuade someone to do or not to do something by giving reasons. The position of a argument starts with a desire to make your position known about an issue you care about, feel invested in, or find intellectually stimulating. The speaker's sense of exigency, or motivated curiosity, drives the need to learn more about the issue. A speaker has to embrace the fact that they're are not necessarily arguing their point to the audience, but to convincing the audience that the argument is in fact and more correct.

A position argument states a claim that reasonable people hold substantially different opinions about. For example, people might use words indicating value judgments about the issue


Claim: The basic standpoint presented by a writer/speaker.This is often the thesis of which the argument is built: Football is now the number one sport in America and its popularity has also reached beyond American borders.

Data: The evidence which supports the claim. Data is the descriptive detail the confirms the credibility of the argument: For the last five years Football has been the highest grossing sport in America.

Warrant: The justification for connecting particular data to a particular claim. The warrant also makes clear the assumptions underlying the argument. This gives the reasoning for the stasis and is essential to the flow of the argument. The Super Bowl is the most watch sporting events on television.

Backing: Additional information required if the warrant is not clearly supported. The baking is the buffer information the further stresses the objective. The 2013 Super bowl had more rating than the summer Olympic games.

Rebuttal: Conditions or standpoints that point out flaws in the claim or alternative positions. The Rebuttal offers the audience a perspective of the opposition. Baseball is still officially referred to as America's past time.

Recovery

Over the years there have been many cases of alcoholic abuse and misuse from drunken drivers and even youth who find themselves as victims at events because of their uncontrollable levels of intoxication. Just recently over the last few months there have been majors reports in the national media of the negative effects concerning what too much consumption of alcohol can lead to. The first was the tragic incident of Jovan Belcher, a professional football player in the NFL who alcohol level was twice the legal limit when he fatally shot his girl friend nine times before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide. Then a couple weeks later another NFL player Josh Brent was arrested on manslaughter charges for driving while intoxicated and getting into a severe car wreck that left his passenger dead, who was also under the influence and one of his teammates.

Most people are sure that they can control themselves and handle being drunk so there is no need to quit alcohol consumption. There are many things that will effect a person’s ability to remain sober or just drink on occasion. However, if you are serious about stopping your abuse of the alcoholic beverages and you would like to do this as soon as possible then there are a few things that you are going to need to keep in mind. The more that you know about quitting the more you are going to be able to work on being successful. Consider the following tips and ideas as my advice to those who may struggle with solutions to derail the habit and take back control of their lives.

One of the first things that you are going to need to keep in mind is that you have to actually acknowledge and accept that there is a problem. Then one must be willing to embrace the possibility of getting into an impatient or rehabilitation center. This will be the best place for you to start because you will be able to work on getting clean and getting off of the alcohol. In most withdrawal will be very intense and tends to make it very difficult to stay away from those liver killing beverages. Therefore, it is essential to want to get into a center where you are going to be able to first learn about your addiction and be aware that you will have around the clock assistance working through any withdrawal symptoms.

Next, you might have heard that you are going to need to find new friends or firmly establishing your new position to them and letting your actions speak for themselves. This is very necessary and it should not be taken for granted. You will not want to continue running around with the same individuals that you once did because you are going to be tempted to continue abusing with them. Of course you don't have to become a loner but it is crucial to realize how far you have come and which friends truly have your best interest in mind. If not this will only make you feel bad and set you back in relation to your new found sobriety.

One of the hardest things to do is that you will also need to make sure that you are not using any type of drugs at all. The reason is because this means that you are not going to be able to replace one with another. No matter how recreational the drug my seem or what drug you have used before, you will need to make sure that you are not even putting yourself in a situation were you are subjected to any substance that has the ability to alter your mind or your thinking. Yes, it will be very difficult to remain positive and focused on your goal of sobriety if you are consuming anything because your body is still in the recovering stages.

Finally, it is mandatory towards a prolonged sobriety that last the test of time for you to make sure that you are finding positive support systems and to remain in very positive atmospheres as well. This means that you are going to need to find a new place to hang out and you will want to make sure that the individuals you are spending time with are going to support and encourage your desire to remain sober. If these positive people are not your friends and family members then you must gather the strength to let them go and communicate with them for a distance, while making sure that you are searching for new ones.

                                                                        Works Cited
Antai-Otong, Deborah. "For CE Credit: Helping the Patient Recover." The American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 95, No. 8 (Aug., 1995), pp. 22-30


Cain, Kelly. "Personal Stories: Identity Acquisition and Self-Understanding in Alcoholics Anonymous." Vol. 19, No. 2 (Jun., 1991), pp. 210-253

Wechsler, Henry. "Correlates to College Student Binge Drinking." 

Pump Faking

There are those overachievers like Jonah Lehrer who fear they’ve been promoted beyond their levels of competence. So they cheat to stay there and typically cave under the pressure of performing consistently on the big stage. Jonah Lehrer's most incriminating quote was, “I'm vaguely aware that people wrote books before Google existed, but I have no idea how.” In those words he essentially admitted his ignorance of journalism. In my opinion,  for one thing self-plagiarism is not the same as plagiarism, Lehrer is unlikely to demand that The New Yorker retract his own stories. Still, it’s not a victimless crime. Lehrer’s readers deserve to know whether the stuff he’s representing as new material was previously published. Regardless, his New Yorker editors surely won’t appreciate that he’s been passing off old copy as brand new. 

Lehrer, clearly found it all too easy to Google himself and the material he found what most of us do. He recycled it, again and again in different publications. When his own words seemed inadequate to make a point in his blogs, he borrowed the ideas of other writers as if they were his own. And when if that wasn’t sufficient enough for him he would simply just make up words. Some people, such as myself may ask what’s the big deal in the wake of this controversy. Also, why was it wrong for Lehrer to recycle his own work from one publication to another via Google? After analysing from a scholarly perspective I have accepted two reasons of the misused information's impact. 

First, readers expect the words they are reading are written specifically for them unless they are informed otherwise. To give them words written for another publication cheats them. This compares to the same way that a college student is considered a cheat who submits the same paper to satisfy the requirements of different classes. The second reason this is wrong is legalistic, but important copyright laws. Virtually every issue of every newspaper and magazine published is copyrighted by the publisher, typically a corporation. The articles belong to the publisher, not the writer. For a writer to recycle those words in another publication amounts to plagiarism and the misuse of discourse. It can be concluded that Lehrer isn’t a journalist. Yes, the publications where his work appeared employed journalists. And what he wrote most of the time looked like journalism. Regardless, he didn’t learn the most fundamental lessons of journalism And despite his years of elite education.