Craft of Research-Chapter 17

One thing I particularly like about this book is that it gives examples of the points it is trying to make. Chapter 17 does exactly that. The point of this chapter is to make writers understand style. Three examples of the same point are giving all written with different styles. This example is used to point out what effective style is. The aim of an effective style is to convey your points in a clear manner that still keeps the readers interest. One important point this chapter makes is that the information within it should be used when revising not when drafting. If this information were to be used in the drafting process the writer would likely get unnecessarily frustrated. This chapters helps a writer analyze the sentence structure to be sure the writing is clear. For sentences, this chapter teaches us that old information goes first so it logically follows that new, more complex information should go at the end of a sentence.

Craft of Research-Chapter 16

Chapter 16 is all about introductions and conclusions. Before I read this chapter I thought that intros and conclusions were pretty basic but this chapter proved that there is more to consider than I once thought. Right at the beginning of the chapter three examples of introductions are presented then followed by a formula for an introduction. I am a very logical thinker and really like math so when I am given a formula I feel like I can relate to it. The formula context+problem+ response will be very useful for me in creating an introduction. Like the introduction, the conclusion also has guidelines to be followed to create the strongest conclusion possible. Begin by stating your main point, proceed by answering the question "So what?," and then follow that with a statement about any additional research needed. Finally, make your last words powerful. This can be done with a quote or anecdote that drives home your main point. Overall, this chapter is dry but has given me many useful rules and guidelines for writing effective introductions and conclusions.

Craft of Research- Chapters 7 and 8

These chapter discuss how to make a claim and support it effectively. I find it very useful that chapter 7 starts by telling the reader that a claim+reason+evidence=an argument. This is the bare bones structure that will be built upon to make a well supported, relevant argument. To the minimal structure acknowledgement and response must be added. Finally a warrant is used to connect the claim and it's supporting reason. Chapter 8 goes on to talk about evaluating claims. These chapters were contextualized by watching a video about new media literacies. In this video the claim is that new media literacy is essential to keep up in todays world. With the need for new literacies comes the need for judgement. When using online sites like Facebook or twitter, it is essential that we evaluate what we are posting before we post it. This is crucial because potential employers, school administrators, parents, and others can sometimes access what we post.

Project 2-Draft 2

“In Month of Giving, a Healthy Reward” is an article published in the Health section of the New York Times on November 30, 2009. The article was written by Tara Parker-Pope who claims that alternative medicine can be used to reduce or even eliminate the need for conventional medicine. Overall, this article educates the reader about alternative medicine and argues its benefits. Alternative medicine is a controversial issue so Parker-Pope aims persuade readers by to describing a case where alternative medicine was effective and providing statistics to prove a trend of effectiveness. The target audience for this article is readers of the New York Times specifically the Health section where this article appears. This means that the audience would be educated adult readers, most likely over thirty who are interested in health topics. Through this article Parker-Pope aims at persuading her audience to give alternative medicine a try because she argues that it can be very beneficial.

Dictionary.com defines alternative medicine as, “healthcare and treatment practices, including traditional Chinese medicine, chiropractic, folk medicine, and naturopathy, that minimize or eschew the use of surgery and drugs” (Alternative Medicine). This is a broad definition of alternative medicine and the specific type examined in this article is the use of gift giving as alternative medicine. The definition given is helpful because it relates closely with the argument that Parker-Pope makes. Currently alternative medicine is very controversial; some believe that it is not effective or even harmful to the user while others, like Parker-Pope, argue that alternative medicine is beneficial.

Throughout the article, word choice is used as an emotional appeal. In general, the topic evokes a lot of emotion because this is a controversial topic and alternative medicine is often recommended for sufferers of severe illnesses. Cami Walker is the main subject of the article and words like “pain”, “preoccupation”, and “plummeted” are used in the beginning of the article to describe her struggle with multiple sclerosis. These words evoke sadness and sometimes even fear. The author then goes on to describe how a 29 day project of gift giving has turned Walker’s outlook and symptoms around. In the latter part of the article words like “positive”, “greater meaning”, and “antidote” are used to convey a change for the better within Cami. These words are used as pathos to make the reader feel good about what has happened to Cami. The transition from negative words to positive words is very effective. This triggers a correlation in the readers mind between the positive words and the effectiveness of alternative medicine. Readers will relate the happy, positive emotions with the use of alternative medicine.

While Parker-Pope uses pathos effectively she adds depth to her argument with logos. After she has made the appeal to the reader’s emotions, Parker-Pope proceeds to make various logical appeals. She calls to reference many studies that have been done showing the effectiveness of alternative medicine on improving morale and lessening symptoms. One such study used volunteering as the alternate form of medicine. This study showed that during the span of examination, those involved in the study were 44% less likely to die. A correlation was also found in a study mentioned in this article between self-centeredness and heart disease severity. Subjects who talked about themselves more performed worse on treadmill test and showed more severe heart symptoms (Parker-Pope). By pointing these studies out, the author is showing the reader that others believe her point of view as well. She is giving her audience the solid evidence on which her argument is based. Readers will see these statistics and want to experience that favorable outcome seen in the studies. 

While the content of the studies was convincing they can be backed up with credibility as well. Many of the studies were performed at recognizable, highly acclaimed universities. A study was conducted at Boston College which is seen as a credible conductor of studies and a widely known university. Other studies referenced in this article appeared in various academic journals like Psychology Today and Psychosomatic Medicine. Studies published in academic journals like these have to be convincing to be published. The fact that all of the studies referenced in this article come from credible sources show that there is trustworthy, factual basis for the argument and it is not just an appeal to the emotions. Not only do the articles come from reliable sources but all of the sources are linked within the article. While reading this article, one can click on the links within the text to see for themselves the facts that are presented. This shows that the author is not trying to skew any of the studies or statistics presented in the article.

While the author develops the ethos, pathos, and logos of the argument well, she lacks reference to the opposition. There are a lot of people who believe alternative medicine is not useful and even harmful and it would have made a more convincing argument to refute the opposition. A rebuttal to the opposition is not wholly lacking, however. There is a quote from Walker that addresses the opposition, “My first reaction was that I thought it was an insane idea. But it has given me a more positive outlook on life. It’s about stepping outside of your own story long enough to make a connection with someone else” (Parker-Pope). By having Walker admit that the idea of alternative medicine was “an insane idea,” Parker-Pope is addressing the fact that there are many skeptics of non-conventional medicine. There are many opposing view to alternative medicine so for a negation of the opposition to be nearly nonexistent is inexcusable.  

Overall, ethos, pathos, and logos are present in good proportion in this article. The author does a great job of backing up the emotional appeals she makes with solid facts from trustworthy sources. All of the studies presented in this article are from credible and even impressive sources. While the author lacks a refute to the opposition, she still managed to craft a well balanced argument that is very convincing and shows many benefits to alternative medicine. In the end, many readers will be convinced that alternative medicine can reduce or eliminate the need for conventional medicine.

Works Cited

Alternative Medicine. Dictionary.com, 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2010.

Parker-Pope, Tara “In Month of Giving, a Healthy Reward.” New York Times. New York Times, 30 Nov. 2009. Web. 6 Oct. 2010.

Craft of Research-Chapter 4

Chapter 4 discusses problems and the difference between practical and research problems. Using that chapter can help a write come up with a research problem and then discover why the reader should care about the problem. I like the distinction the chapter made between applied and pure research. Pure research refers to understanding and only trying to foster that understanding for other researchers or readers. Applied research on the other hand refers to doing, putting the research into action. Applied research looks at a practical application of the research.

Craft of Research-Chapter 3

This chapter was pretty interesting and it gave a lot of useful tips for developing a research topic. I like that gave a process for how to narrow a topic. A lot of times in the past I have picked topics for research papers and have been overwhelmed because they were too broad. The questions that this chapter gives to ask about your topic are very useful and I think they will be great tools to help me narrow a research topic. Another thing I really liked is the section on working from an indirect question to the significance. Again the tips and question given are very helpful for this process. In the end you should end up with an outline that states your topic, asks an indirect question, and then answers "So what?" This outline will set you up for the rest of your research paper.

Craft of Research-Chapter 2

This chapter was very informative, relate-able, and easy to read. In this chapter, identifying your audience is discussed. I love that it is apparent that these authors identified their audience. As a college student, I feel that  this book is written for me and it is unique that the authors talk directly to me, the reader, by using the pronoun "you." This chapter looks to discover roles for both the reader and the writer. I particularly like how this chapter addresses the fact that many students just try to throw facts into a paper to show their teacher they have done research and hopefully get a good grade. It is helpful that we are given three different possible roles that we, as the writer, can take on with our research paper. I like that the first role makes a distinction between facts and interesting facts. If the writer presents their information as new and interesting, that automatically makes the paper more inviting to the reader and that is important.

Everything's an Argument-Chapter 6

Chapter 6 of Everything's an Argument is not the most exciting of chapters but it does a good job of distinguishing between academic and non academic arguments and is relevant to what we are doing in class. The examples given in the first part of this chapter were very effective. I like how there were examples of academic and non academic argument all pertaining to the same topic: migraines. After the chapter distinguished between types of arguments it went on to talk about developing arguments. This section elaborated on how to formulate a topic and an argument as well as how to effectively incorporate the research we have gathered. Overall this chapter gives useful information about academic arguments and how to use research effectively.

Craft of Research-Prologue and Chapter 1

The Craft of Research book, so far, is not as enjoyable to read as Everything's an Argument but that does not mean it doesn't give useful information. I thought the most useful part of this reading was the reasons to write up research. I know that when I have done research in the past, I am always tempted to just not write the information down but add it straight to my paper. This section gives great reasons for why to write research down.Craft of Research gives three reasons to write down research: to understand, to remember, and to test thinking. The third reason I thought was the most useful. As I mentioned before I am sometimes tempted to just throw a piece of research into a paper with out writing it down but that is not the most effective method. By writing the information down it will give me time to think about how to build on the information I have gather and use the information in the most effective way within my paper.

Rhetorical Essay Assignment

I read an article titled Breast Cancer and Oral Contraception by Ruben Obregon. This article talks about the possible link between oral contraceptives and breast cancer. After reading this article, it is apparent that the writer is trying to convince his audience to be more critical of their medications and notice the certain controversial associations of some major foundations. Overall the writer creates an argument that is heavy in pathos but lacks sufficient ethos and logos thus making the argument weak.

Based on the topic of this article the audience would mainly be women and specifically those women who use or have used oral contraceptives. The main type of appeal used in this article was an appeal to the emotions, pathos. Words like carcinogen, cancer, and risk are often used in this text and are words that appeal to a reader’s emotions in a negative way. These words create fear within a reader and this fear can often persuade a reader to take action. Without having hard evidence these words alone don’t mean much but can still persuade a reader to take action.

While this article used plenty of pathos it lacked logos along with ethos. After reading the article, there is no clear sense of the authority the author has on this topic. Did he do studies on the topic, is he an oncologist? The reader gets no background knowledge of the author that would lead the reader to believe he is knowledgeable or trustworthy on this topic. I would like to know what credentials the author has that could make him an authority on the subject.

The logos in this article, like ethos, is underdeveloped. In the third paragraph the author refers to two studies done that found a correlation between the use of oral contraceptives and breast cancer but the content of these studies is vague. Nothing is ever said about how the studies were conducted or the specific, statistical results of the studies. As a reader I would like statistical evidence from these studies. I want to know the occurrence rate of oral contraceptives leading to breast cancer and how many types of oral contraceptives have been found to lead to breast cancer. 

Even though this article lacks ethos and logical appeal, it does a good job of addressing the opposition. The author presents the idea that breast cancer is generally treatable and few people die from breast cancer caused by oral contraceptives. The author then refutes this by saying that even one person lost to breast cancer caused by oral contraceptives is one person too many. Additionally, the author brings up the opposition's point that the number of women who will develop contraceptive related cancer is insignificant. The author proceeds to point out that treatment is in no way insignificant so the number of women who develop cancer should not be overlooked. 

In the end, Obregon develops a mediocre argument that lacks credibility and hard evidence. The reader does not get a sense of the author’s connection to the topic or his credentials relating to the topic. Additionally, the argument lacks statistics and other descriptive facts. Studies were presented in this argument however their details were vague. Overall, the argument is weak but if the author shares his qualifications and adds statistical evidence the argument has the potential to be very powerful.