SWA #7

The advertisement I picked out is one for a shoe brand. This advertisement is directed towards younger people because it looks like a shoe brand for teenagers or younger. I do not think this advertisement does a good job of showing what it is supposed to be for because it has so much going on on the page that it is hard to look at what it wants the reader to see. When I looked at the advertisement, the only reason I knew what it was trying to sell is because it had a shoe at the bottom of the page with the name brand. The advertisement does not do a good job trying to get the reader to go after its product.

SWA #6

Realistic Idealists by Alex Williams (2005)

central claim: "...a generation whose sense of community involvement was born four years agon on Sept. 11, 2001." "Not only are more students participating, educators say, the scale of ambition seems to be continually increasing."
(pg. 59)

The author of this passage gives example after example to support this central claim. From Westside High School in Houston raising more than $16,000 for American Red Cross after Katrina to individuals like Michael Swirnow in Maryland who raised $88,000 for Habitat for Humanity to simply "give back" to the less forunate. The central claim is basically stating that many more students are getting involved in community service, especially after the horrible incidents like Katrina, the Tsunami in Asia, and September 11.
The author bases his warrants off of the fact that after every major event individuals and high schools have come together to make spectacular changes to the situations at hand. Opposing views are not well supported because of all of the efforts after the tragedies. The author tells of how some think all of the community service is simply a strategy to get into schools now. If it was a strategy, why would students not do this before all of these horrible things happened? it does not make sense to blame all of the help on this because of the circumstances it came after.
I agree with the author on this issue. I think there is a tremendous amount of help increase, mostly because it is a time when our nation truely needed it. A lot of students and high schools have really stepped up to help. My high school did fund raisers and food drives after Katrina hit to help out the victims. Therefore, I completely agree with this point of view that it has changed for the better.


Ugly, the American by James Poniewozik (pg. 154)

central claim: "And because, as our pop culture shows, Americans' attitude toward foreigners is more complex than the build-a-fencers would make it."
(pg. 154)

This author discusses the views Americans take on foreigners as well as the foreigners view on Americans. The author's main example is the hit television show Ugly Betty. In this show a young foreign girl, who is not attractive, works her way up through hard work and good values. She provides a fresh outside perspective to the magazine she works for because of her being a foreigner. The Americans view foreigners as a way of entertainment but when it comes to real life Americans do not embrace them.
In the text the author says, "That's what makes our pop culture so vital: from TV tomusic to fashion, it is constantly transfused by foreigners who are able to out-American Americans." This statement shows that foreigners have a fresh eye on our country and can show us things we could not see before and in turn they entertain us. This is focused around the central claim because the author gives examples of the different ways foreigners show us things about ourselves as a nation.
I agree with this author on the fact that American do put views on foreigners but are not afraid to use them for entertainment. The only foreigners we embrace are those who stand out and make a name for themselves.

Rehtorical Analysis

"PAY ATTENTION" (pg 365)

Central claim: "This thing I have is neurobiological; it has nothing to do with my attitude." (pg. 365)

My claim: "This article is written as an informative piece telling people that ADD is not something people can help so deal with it and accept that people have it." (pg. 1)

My revised claim: This article does make a good point for those who do not have ADD, do not assume people with it are disruptors or purposefully dont pay attention. A lot of the time it can not be helped.

My conclusion: : "She chose to take what she has and maike it part of who she is and has written about it in such a strong way that it leaves the reader thinking that we should view ADD differently than how the public perceives it."

Chosen Article and Outline

PAY ATTENTION! by Stephanie Brush (pg. 365)

I finally chose this article because the topic interested me because it is not generally talked about a whole lot. It is different and I like topics that come from people who are personnally involved in the topic they are writing about. I thought because I was so interested it would be easy to write an analysis on this article.



outline:

P1. Introduction

• Title and author
• Showing how to use T.R.A.C.E

P2. Type of Text

• Sarcastic/Funny tone (the way the author makes fun of herself)
• A laid back attitude
• The examples given of the comments she gets about her ADD

P3. Type of Reader

• People who do not have ADD to show that it is not something that is intentional and is hard to control.
• Maybe a little to people who do have it to show that there is nothing wrong with them because they have this.

P4. Type of Author

• Female who has ADD
• Writing to express what it is like to have ADD

P5. Type of Constraints

• ADD is more of something you are and not something you have.
• ADD is nothing to do with attitude and it is not "fair" to tell someone who has it that they have a problem with their attitude or they simply do not pay attention to what is going on.

P6. Type of Exigence

• Hopes to help people get a better perspective on the issue.
• To show from personnal experience what it is really like

P7. Personal Response

• I agree with the author. This is not something that can be helped a lot of times and when people are medicated it sometimes takes away from the persons personality. There is no need to be judgemental on something someone can not help.

Articles: Why and Why Not?

My Amendment by George Saunders (pg. 389)

I read this article because it is an issue that is discussed continuously in our country. I agree mostly with this author's view on same sex marriage because I am completely against it. I think it would be very easy to write on this topic because it is something I believe so firmly about.

PAY ATTENTION! (pg. 365)

I read this article because I was attracted to the section "What's So Funny?". I like comedic articles so I thought this would be an interesting section. I read this specific article because it is about the author who has ADD. The author is writing this article about herself which I find interesting because it makes you understand more about the situation by getting someones standpoint on the issue.

SWA #5

Rhetorical Analysis on Gregg Easterbrook’s Article
The author of this article, “Virginia Tech and Our Impoverished Language for Evil”, is a contributing editor at The New Republic and wrote this article to object against the media and announcers on television “sugar-coating” tragic happenings like the Virginia Tech shooting. The criminals or the crimes they commit are not spoken of for what they really are and in turn make them sound less serious than what they really are. The Virginia Tech example shows how the media and news stations would never call the criminal a “killer” or a “murderer” but instead called him a “shooter” which does not give the correct image of what really happened. The tragic massive homicide is not given that image. Gregg states “Many news reports spoke of the slaughter as if it had been a bad, bad car crash with no one really at fault.” Moral dimension is removed giving the illusion that bad things just happen instead of human wickedness making bad things happen.
With all of the talk about the media, I think this article could mainly have been targeted towards them to let the media know what they are doing. It could also possibly be directed toward the public so that people do not get caught up thinking something is not serious when things like the horrible homicide talked about in the article happen and are detrimental. His arguments are very convincing and I completely agree with his point of view on the issue. The media and television constantly try to make all bad things seem better. In my perspective, I do not understand how a mass murderer cannot be called for what he is when he did one of the most horrible things you can do and yet we cannot be judgmental on it. If that cannot be judged and shown for what it is, what can? The author stated it the best way possible when he said, “Evil exists and must be spoken of as evil, not in euphemism.” Why is there such a problem getting the hard truth about what goes on around us in the world?
The other issue that is discussed in this passage is how the criminal was being justified for what he did. The media and psychologists tried to simply play it off as a confused gunman so that the fact that real evil exists, does not get acknowledged. It is a hard thing to grasp when you have to realize and acknowledge the fact that your own species and race is capable of such heartless antics. Maybe this is the reason people cannot confront the fact that when a person kills another it makes them a murderer and when it is done in a right state of mind, it shows it is done out of pure cold heartlessness.

SWA #4

There are definitely differences between MySpace and Facebook blogs and the rhetorical analysis on David Friedman’s blog. On MySpace and Facebook, the blogs for the most part are used as a way of people expressing themselves and not towards discussing issues. Another difference is how the TRACE system of writing is placed into these two different forms of communication. David Friedman’s blog is directed towards different audiences and is more formal than the other two websites. Also, it is a controversial blog which allows for open discussion and is not much of a personal blog. Even though MySpace and Facebook can be used to talk about important topics they are generally used as more or less “journals”. People tend to use them in different writing styles such as songs, poems, letters, diaries, etc.
There are not many similarities between blogs and MySpace and Facebook. As previously stated, they can both be used to post opinions on any issue, people can read them, and can agree or disagree. If someone on MySpace or Facebook was to write a blog they probably would not use the TRACE system as well as David Friedman.

SWA #3

Megan Brotherton
English 101-56
September 4, 2007
Short Writing Assignment 3

My Argument Style
My style of argument can be derived from both consensual and adversarial. I am like a consensual arguer in that I hate fighting and I would prefer to avoid confrontation but, when I argue, I like to give reasons for my position and I am both logical and emotional when doing so. I think when arguing it is very important to give reasons for why you take the side you do. Those are some of the consensual qualities I have but if I had to choose which type of arguer I was it would be an adversarial arguer because I am not a submissive person. I like to win my arguments and am very aggressive in making my points. While I am giving my reasons for my standpoint, I tend to see things as two-sided. I think sometimes it is necessary to be aggressive in your argument to get your point across especially if it is an issue you are passionate about. The way I prefer to argue is to be aggressive, give your reasons, and get your point across but in the end look for a compromise that can overall make both sides happy.

SWA #2

Matt Miller’s article “Is Persuasion Dead?” explains how the art of persuasion seems to have vanished and that it seems almost impossible to convince someone of something they do not already believe. Miller starts off by asking if persuasion is dead and if it is, does it even matter. He gives the example of politics and how when speeches are given, they are not given to persuade any more but to win people and that number one selling books are there to back up what people who bought them already believed to begin with. Both of the examples show that he believes there is no longer an ability to persuade someone with a standpoint, to believe something else. He suggests that to be able to govern successfully in politics, it requires the influencing of how people think, therefore, since the habits of persuasion have been lost, the ability to be a leader is faltering as well. Miller’s article mainly contends that politicians have killed the art of persuasion and that people, who have a common belief or standpoint, tend to stay together and are not open to change but only to honor the other side’s opinion. Also, open-mindedness could be a way to get people to listen again and be persuaded by other, even though it could have been a big reason to the reason why people cannot be persuaded.
Miller’s entire article is about how persuasion needs to arise again and people need to be more open-minded. His statements in some cases are accurate. For instance in the election when the speeches are made, most people have their minds made up which side they take no matter what the candidates have to say. The speeches only push people more over on the side they are already on. However, Miller contradicts his paper in entirety when he starts being close-minded on George Bush’s Social Security plan. It could be taken in this part of the article that he is saying if something has many odds stacked against it, something should not be put into action or used to persuade people into something. He states, “And why, even if George Bush’s Social Security plan had been well conceived, the odds were always stacked against ambitious reform. I’m not the only one amid this mess wonders if he shouldn’t be looking for another line of work.” In doing this he becomes like the people he as so readily judged the whole paper by being on a side and holding his point of view, not wanting to change. He is being close-minded and not looking into what is done. If someone were to apply this to other things in elections, it could have some bad effects. For example, if it was looked into and there were more Democrats than Republicans then someone might say, “Well the odds are against the Republicans, why have an election at all?” People may have been persuaded into standing behind Bush’s plan when they heard what it was for or had experienced its benefits. Basically it boils down to if something does not look likely to succeed, why try? And that is not supportive to his paper.
In my experience, I would have to somewhat agree with his point of persuasion in politics. While growing up, I constantly heard adults speak their opinion on the president and political leaders pertaining to what the leaders were doing with their authority. Whenever the opposing side would give its speech, the adults I heard views from, would never consider any of the opposing team’s ideas but only somehow make it all look bad. They had their views and were sticking to them. However, the speeches were never really given to persuade anyone, who was not already of that party, to switch over but to simply further draw in the ones with that particular point of view already. So, maybe it is not necessarily the peoples fault for not being persuaded but maybe the ones who are trying to persuade.

SWA #1

Problems and Solutions with College Students’ Writing

In professor Skube’s passage, he has several concerns for today’s college students. All of his concerns; vocabulary, sentence structure, abilities to write at a high school level, and grammar, are all originated from the assumption that students do not read near enough and because the students do not read they are less able to understand the language when they do read. In the passage, Skube makes it clear that “students are hard-pressed to string together coherent sentences” and even be able to tell the difference between different parts of speech. All of these things show in the conversations with the students and in their writing.
In spite of all the inabilities in composition of college school students, these students got A’s and their GPA’s above a 3.5 in high school. Skube’s belief is that the students graduating from high school are not college material and in many cases not even good high school material. There is more and more emphasis on exit exams and SAT scores now because of the inability to trust GPA’s. These scores show more familiarity with the language as well as quickness to understand what is being portrayed through a passage and vocabulary.
In my experience as a student, I think professor Skube’s point is fairly accurate. Most students in high school do not learn how to read and write at a college level by the time they graduate. I myself did better in the class and had a better GPA than my SAT scores. The requirements for writing in college are not emphasized a great deal in high school and students do not read unless it is forced upon them. When students in my classes have been asked to define a word in a sentence, if it was not a commonly used word in the hallways of school they did not know the definition or even where to start with defining the word. Students should have been taught more strategies of reading and writing to be able to understand concepts and not just glance over words on a page.
In professor Hagstettes’ passage, he explains the concepts of aggressive reading. These concepts could be directed towards professor Skube’s targeted students in several ways and help them understand how to read and what they are reading. The biggest piece to understanding how to read is to not passively read, but to focus on truly absorbing the material. This is mainly confirming that the student understand everything they have read and followed the author through the entire material. Hagstette states to “never simply read right past elements you do not fully understand….your job as an aggressive reader is to decode the vocabulary and allusions you encounter.” I think this could be the biggest help to Skube’s targeted students as well as the initiative to question the material and challenge a writer’s argument so you better understand the underlying point the writer tries to make.
Skube’s passage is basically pointing out the problems of college students’ ability to have college level conversations, write college level papers, and use extensive vocabulary. Hagstettes’s view on how to help students read and write better is to aggressively read. Sit down with a book and understand it, do not just passively read it and take it for what it looks like. Take a dictionary and look up what you do not understand. Challenge everything and dig deeper into the message that is being sent through the passage you are reading.