Well, it is kind of hard to describe only one interesting thing I learned. Even in the first ten to fifteen minutes of going over current events I found out so many different things. It does not take very long to become informed, it just takes a little bit of effort. Also a lot of the things that we looked at are things that we kind of already knew, but we shed new light on it. One thing in particular is the press sphere we studied. If we ever really thought about it, we probably could of identified influences such as these, but this course really brought it to light.
As far as my writing skills have changed, I do not think they have changed an immense amount. I do believe that I have acquired certain skills that will be rather useful to me. I feel the short and recent blog posts have helped me to learn to write concisely and quickly on certain topics. I always hated doing major research projects in high school and still am not a big fan of writing when I have to for school. I think this course will help me in social situations. I do not think I will have to write huge papers on topics when I grow older and start my career. Finally, an example of how my writing and reading have changed, I think I do have less patience with longer pieces. I think I can get more to the point quicker and formulate ideas faster. I think this also expands to talking with people and other situations such as that. This class has increased my writing speed for the most part.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Final Draft
Stephen Guelda
ENGL 105
Mr. Leake
23 November 2009
Multiple Lives of the Swine Flu
The swine flu has been talked about for months upon months ever since it first started appearing in the United States. There have been more infections and deaths as time has drawn on. It has been in the paper and news for probably about as long as Michael Jackson was when he died. There have been stories ranging from how many people have been infected to the vaccine and then stories about those stories and responding to everything those say. This story has been of interest to people ever since the H1N1 started showing up because it deals with people’s health and safety. It has been developing for months upon months as scientists and researchers have studied more and researchers have been producing vaccines for the swine flu.
The swine flu was discovered and classified as a new strain of flu in April 2009. People started to worry about how it would affect them and the news of course covered it. Many sites urged precaution and caused some panic because people did not know how bad the new virus would be. There had been few studies and not that many people were sick, so they did not necessarily have much of a clue of how it would affect everyone. Some people were saying it would be as bad as the flu pandemic in 1918-1919 which killed somewhere around fifty million people worldwide. So even though no one really had any solid proof of what this strain was capable of people started coming up with their own ideals and debating about how much it would affect everyone.
After the first cases started showing up throughout the United States, it started to get national attention. It had been active in countries such as Mexico for a while before it ever came to the United States, and the government had no desire of the same thing occurring. The government started focusing on preventing the spread of the disease and the procurement of a vaccine that would be able to be produced and distributed quickly. President Obama suggested a plan that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to help research the H1N1 strain, develop a vaccine, and prevent the spread of it through out the United States. People started to realize that this could be a very serious threat to people, and as most normal people would do, they started to question what type of preparation was being done to stem off this virus that could be potentially lethal. Some people panicked and worried that it was going to be a pandemic and tons of people would die. On the other hand many people thought everyone was overreacting and that it would be no worse than even the seasonal flu. Studies started being conducted to determine some of these things, but nothing really definitive had come out yet. Stories continued to come about the swine flu and different people’s reactions to it.
As the virus started becoming more prevalent in a majority of the states in the United States, people really started worrying. People were even starting to die, and many people were starting to panic. People did not see many things going on to help stop this from becoming a pandemic. People wanted answers and started commenting on how they thought the government was doing in preparing for the swine flu. Everyone from blogs to newspapers covered the story, and it even became a topic that many people discussed among their peers. People demanded that vaccine be made and the government came up with an estimate that around a hundred million doses would be ready by mid-October.
As the situation currently stands the vaccine has started being administered across the country, but not nearly as much as the government proposed would be ready at this time. Drive thru clinics with the limited supply of the swine flu shot were set up with the one that happened at the University of Louisville’s Stadium being a prime example. Also people were being administered a nasal spray form of the swine flu vaccine. This by itself became a totally different story as people questioned this new vaccine. The nasal spray vaccine is an active virus, and people started saying that this was going to spread the disease more than stop the spread of it. Many people have said that they will not be getting the vaccine and even health care workers have protested getting it. The government had to defend itself and this turned into stories and counter stories over this new vaccine. All this was happening while people were arguing over methods to speed up the regular vaccine production. The whole process was under heavy scrutiny by many people for not meeting the expectations that they said they would complete.
One main issue that people looked at with the vaccine was rather or not to receive the vaccine. There are many different reasons why people decided they were or were not going to get the vaccine. One big issue as mentioned above was the different types of vaccine. The nasal spray form was put under a lot of scrutiny because it uses an active form of the virus. Another reason that people were questioning it was because they were wondering if the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the possible negative side effects of the vaccine. One person thinks not. Dr. Russell Blaylock mentions many statistics about how the vaccine is a waste of time. In an article that he wrote in November, Blaylock covers facts such as the death rates, the contagiousness, and the severity of the actual flu virus. He also covers such things as the vaccine testing. He says that the vaccine was only tested for a week, so it is not proven safe, and he mentions on how the swine flu is really not that serious a deal(Blaylock). The possible consequences are devastating as well. Many vaccines have been linked to cause different major conditions in certain patients. He lists some examples such as Gardasil that has been linked to possibly cause a dementia like illness in children. Blaylock says the media and the CDC are building up the vaccine and are being fear mongers to sell the vaccine to further themselves. He says it is all a big hoax to make money, and he strongly advises against spending money for something that has a slight chance of hurting you a lot more than it helps you.
This is completely opposite from what sites such as those made by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control and the New York Times have to say. They are still saying everyone should take the vaccine to be completely safe (CDC). They are saying it is still a major threat to the nation even though activity seems to be going down in many places. In fact on the CDC’s website it says that major swine flu activity is only being recorded in twenty five of the fifty states in the United States. The vaccine is still being administered through out the United States as clinics are popping up in places such as schools, universities, and doctors offices. The severity is not at all what people may have expected with the beginning estimates being that there would be hundreds of thousands in the hospital and the Intensive Care Unit, but one can never be too safe when it comes to his or her health. Who are you supposed to believe? They both have facts to back up their research. Both sets of facts may be right too. This is where the story develops within the audience personally.
Even now this story has not ended. There is no telling where this story will go in the time ahead. Even the most prominent newspaper, The New York Times, has an overview of the swine flu over time and a swine flu navigator (The New York Times). The swine flu is still popping up all around the world and for the most part has spread to every state in the United States. There have been over one thousand deaths and tens of thousands of infections in the United States attributed to the swine flu alone and this number is only going to increase as time goes on. People have been saying that the swine flu has been through the first wave, and many people are expecting a second wave when winter hits. All of these speculations lead to more stories, and whether or not a second wave of the H1N1 flu hits will determine whether or not this story will live on and there will be even more stories. This story will live on through the upcoming months as the flu season draws closer and depending on how widespread the consequences are it may even live on in history.
Works Cited
"Swine Flu (H1N1)." The New York Times. 11 Nov. 2009. Web. 23 Nov. 2009.
Blaylock, Dr. Russell. "Swine Flu -- One of the Most Massive Cover-ups in American History." Web.
CDC. "General Information About 2009 H1N1 Vaccines." Web.
ENGL 105
Mr. Leake
23 November 2009
Multiple Lives of the Swine Flu
The swine flu has been talked about for months upon months ever since it first started appearing in the United States. There have been more infections and deaths as time has drawn on. It has been in the paper and news for probably about as long as Michael Jackson was when he died. There have been stories ranging from how many people have been infected to the vaccine and then stories about those stories and responding to everything those say. This story has been of interest to people ever since the H1N1 started showing up because it deals with people’s health and safety. It has been developing for months upon months as scientists and researchers have studied more and researchers have been producing vaccines for the swine flu.
The swine flu was discovered and classified as a new strain of flu in April 2009. People started to worry about how it would affect them and the news of course covered it. Many sites urged precaution and caused some panic because people did not know how bad the new virus would be. There had been few studies and not that many people were sick, so they did not necessarily have much of a clue of how it would affect everyone. Some people were saying it would be as bad as the flu pandemic in 1918-1919 which killed somewhere around fifty million people worldwide. So even though no one really had any solid proof of what this strain was capable of people started coming up with their own ideals and debating about how much it would affect everyone.
After the first cases started showing up throughout the United States, it started to get national attention. It had been active in countries such as Mexico for a while before it ever came to the United States, and the government had no desire of the same thing occurring. The government started focusing on preventing the spread of the disease and the procurement of a vaccine that would be able to be produced and distributed quickly. President Obama suggested a plan that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to help research the H1N1 strain, develop a vaccine, and prevent the spread of it through out the United States. People started to realize that this could be a very serious threat to people, and as most normal people would do, they started to question what type of preparation was being done to stem off this virus that could be potentially lethal. Some people panicked and worried that it was going to be a pandemic and tons of people would die. On the other hand many people thought everyone was overreacting and that it would be no worse than even the seasonal flu. Studies started being conducted to determine some of these things, but nothing really definitive had come out yet. Stories continued to come about the swine flu and different people’s reactions to it.
As the virus started becoming more prevalent in a majority of the states in the United States, people really started worrying. People were even starting to die, and many people were starting to panic. People did not see many things going on to help stop this from becoming a pandemic. People wanted answers and started commenting on how they thought the government was doing in preparing for the swine flu. Everyone from blogs to newspapers covered the story, and it even became a topic that many people discussed among their peers. People demanded that vaccine be made and the government came up with an estimate that around a hundred million doses would be ready by mid-October.
As the situation currently stands the vaccine has started being administered across the country, but not nearly as much as the government proposed would be ready at this time. Drive thru clinics with the limited supply of the swine flu shot were set up with the one that happened at the University of Louisville’s Stadium being a prime example. Also people were being administered a nasal spray form of the swine flu vaccine. This by itself became a totally different story as people questioned this new vaccine. The nasal spray vaccine is an active virus, and people started saying that this was going to spread the disease more than stop the spread of it. Many people have said that they will not be getting the vaccine and even health care workers have protested getting it. The government had to defend itself and this turned into stories and counter stories over this new vaccine. All this was happening while people were arguing over methods to speed up the regular vaccine production. The whole process was under heavy scrutiny by many people for not meeting the expectations that they said they would complete.
One main issue that people looked at with the vaccine was rather or not to receive the vaccine. There are many different reasons why people decided they were or were not going to get the vaccine. One big issue as mentioned above was the different types of vaccine. The nasal spray form was put under a lot of scrutiny because it uses an active form of the virus. Another reason that people were questioning it was because they were wondering if the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the possible negative side effects of the vaccine. One person thinks not. Dr. Russell Blaylock mentions many statistics about how the vaccine is a waste of time. In an article that he wrote in November, Blaylock covers facts such as the death rates, the contagiousness, and the severity of the actual flu virus. He also covers such things as the vaccine testing. He says that the vaccine was only tested for a week, so it is not proven safe, and he mentions on how the swine flu is really not that serious a deal(Blaylock). The possible consequences are devastating as well. Many vaccines have been linked to cause different major conditions in certain patients. He lists some examples such as Gardasil that has been linked to possibly cause a dementia like illness in children. Blaylock says the media and the CDC are building up the vaccine and are being fear mongers to sell the vaccine to further themselves. He says it is all a big hoax to make money, and he strongly advises against spending money for something that has a slight chance of hurting you a lot more than it helps you.
This is completely opposite from what sites such as those made by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control and the New York Times have to say. They are still saying everyone should take the vaccine to be completely safe (CDC). They are saying it is still a major threat to the nation even though activity seems to be going down in many places. In fact on the CDC’s website it says that major swine flu activity is only being recorded in twenty five of the fifty states in the United States. The vaccine is still being administered through out the United States as clinics are popping up in places such as schools, universities, and doctors offices. The severity is not at all what people may have expected with the beginning estimates being that there would be hundreds of thousands in the hospital and the Intensive Care Unit, but one can never be too safe when it comes to his or her health. Who are you supposed to believe? They both have facts to back up their research. Both sets of facts may be right too. This is where the story develops within the audience personally.
Even now this story has not ended. There is no telling where this story will go in the time ahead. Even the most prominent newspaper, The New York Times, has an overview of the swine flu over time and a swine flu navigator (The New York Times). The swine flu is still popping up all around the world and for the most part has spread to every state in the United States. There have been over one thousand deaths and tens of thousands of infections in the United States attributed to the swine flu alone and this number is only going to increase as time goes on. People have been saying that the swine flu has been through the first wave, and many people are expecting a second wave when winter hits. All of these speculations lead to more stories, and whether or not a second wave of the H1N1 flu hits will determine whether or not this story will live on and there will be even more stories. This story will live on through the upcoming months as the flu season draws closer and depending on how widespread the consequences are it may even live on in history.
Works Cited
"Swine Flu (H1N1)." The New York Times. 11 Nov. 2009. Web. 23 Nov. 2009.
Blaylock, Dr. Russell. "Swine Flu -- One of the Most Massive Cover-ups in American History." Web.
CDC. "General Information About 2009 H1N1 Vaccines." Web.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Final Essay Rough Draft
Stephen Guelda
ENGL 105
Mr. Leake
23 November 2009
Multiple Lives of the Swine Flu
The swine flu has been talked about for months upon months ever since it first started appearing in the United States. There have been more infections and deaths as time has drawn on. It has been in the paper and news for probably about as long as Michael Jackson was when he died. There have been stories ranging from how many people have been infected to the vaccine and then stories about those stories and responding to everything those say. This story has been of interest to people ever since the H1N1 started showing up because it deals with people’s health and safety. It has been developing for months upon months as scientists and researchers have studied more and researchers have been producing vaccines for the swine flu.
The swine flu was discovered and classified as a new strain of flu in April 2009. People started to worry about how it would affect them and the news of course covered it. Many sites urged precaution and caused some panic because people did not know how bad the new virus would be. There had been few studies and not that many people were sick, so they did not necessarily have much of a clue of how it would affect everyone. Some people were saying it would be as bad as the flu pandemic in 1918-1919 which killed somewhere around fifty million people worldwide. So even though no one really had any solid proof of what this strain was capable of people started coming up with their own ideals and debating about how much it would affect everyone.
After the first cases started showing up throughout the United States, it started to get national attention. It had been active in countries such as Mexico for a while before it ever came to the United States, and the government had no desire of the same thing occurring. The government started focusing on preventing the spread of the disease and the procurement of a vaccine that would be able to be produced and distributed quickly. President Obama suggested a plan that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to help research the H1N1 strain, develop a vaccine, and prevent the spread of it through out the United States. People started to realize that this could be a very serious threat to people, and as most normal people would do, they started to question what type of preparation was being done to stem off this virus that could be potentially lethal. Some people panicked and worried that it was going to be a pandemic and tons of people would die. On the other hand many people thought everyone was overreacting and that it would be no worse than even the seasonal flu. Studies started being conducted to determine some of these things, but nothing really definitive had come out yet. Stories continued to come about the swine flu and different people’s reactions to it.
As the virus started becoming more prevalent in a majority of the states in the United States, people really started worrying. People were even starting to die, and many people were starting to panic. People did not see many things going on to help stop this from becoming a pandemic. People wanted answers and started commenting on how they thought the government was doing in preparing for the swine flu. Everyone from blogs to newspapers covered the story, and it even became a topic that many people discussed among their peers. People demanded that vaccine be made and the government came up with an estimate that around a hundred million doses would be ready by mid-October.
As the situation currently stands the vaccine has started being administered across the country, but not nearly as much as the government proposed would be ready. Drive thru clinics with the limited supply of the swine flu shot were set up with the one that happened at the University of Louisville’s Stadium being a prime example. Also people were being administered a nasal spray swine flu vaccine. This by itself became a totally different story as people questioned this new vaccine. The nasal spray vaccine is an active virus, and people started saying that this was going to spread the disease more than stop the spread of it. The government had to defend itself and this turned into stories and counter stories over this new vaccine. All this was happening while people were arguing over methods to speed up the regular vaccine production. The whole process was under heavy scrutiny by many people for not meeting the expectations that they said they would complete.
Even now this story has not ended. There is no telling where this story will go in the time ahead. Even the most prominent newspaper, The New York Times, has an overview of the swine flu overtime and a swine flu navigator. The swine flu is still popping up all around the world and for the most part has spread to every state in the United States. There have been over one thousand deaths and tens of thousands of infections in the United States attributed to the swine flu alone and this number is only going to increase as time goes on. People have been saying that the swine flu has been through the first wave, and many people are expecting a second wave when winter hits. All of these speculations lead to more stories, and whether or not a second wave of the H1N1 flu hits will determine whether or not this story will live on and there will be even more stories. This story will live on through the upcoming months as the flu season draws closer and depending on how widespread the consequences are it may even live on in history.
Works Cited
"Swine Flu (H1N1)." The New York Times. 11 Nov. 2009. Web. 23 Nov. 2009.
ENGL 105
Mr. Leake
23 November 2009
Multiple Lives of the Swine Flu
The swine flu has been talked about for months upon months ever since it first started appearing in the United States. There have been more infections and deaths as time has drawn on. It has been in the paper and news for probably about as long as Michael Jackson was when he died. There have been stories ranging from how many people have been infected to the vaccine and then stories about those stories and responding to everything those say. This story has been of interest to people ever since the H1N1 started showing up because it deals with people’s health and safety. It has been developing for months upon months as scientists and researchers have studied more and researchers have been producing vaccines for the swine flu.
The swine flu was discovered and classified as a new strain of flu in April 2009. People started to worry about how it would affect them and the news of course covered it. Many sites urged precaution and caused some panic because people did not know how bad the new virus would be. There had been few studies and not that many people were sick, so they did not necessarily have much of a clue of how it would affect everyone. Some people were saying it would be as bad as the flu pandemic in 1918-1919 which killed somewhere around fifty million people worldwide. So even though no one really had any solid proof of what this strain was capable of people started coming up with their own ideals and debating about how much it would affect everyone.
After the first cases started showing up throughout the United States, it started to get national attention. It had been active in countries such as Mexico for a while before it ever came to the United States, and the government had no desire of the same thing occurring. The government started focusing on preventing the spread of the disease and the procurement of a vaccine that would be able to be produced and distributed quickly. President Obama suggested a plan that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to help research the H1N1 strain, develop a vaccine, and prevent the spread of it through out the United States. People started to realize that this could be a very serious threat to people, and as most normal people would do, they started to question what type of preparation was being done to stem off this virus that could be potentially lethal. Some people panicked and worried that it was going to be a pandemic and tons of people would die. On the other hand many people thought everyone was overreacting and that it would be no worse than even the seasonal flu. Studies started being conducted to determine some of these things, but nothing really definitive had come out yet. Stories continued to come about the swine flu and different people’s reactions to it.
As the virus started becoming more prevalent in a majority of the states in the United States, people really started worrying. People were even starting to die, and many people were starting to panic. People did not see many things going on to help stop this from becoming a pandemic. People wanted answers and started commenting on how they thought the government was doing in preparing for the swine flu. Everyone from blogs to newspapers covered the story, and it even became a topic that many people discussed among their peers. People demanded that vaccine be made and the government came up with an estimate that around a hundred million doses would be ready by mid-October.
As the situation currently stands the vaccine has started being administered across the country, but not nearly as much as the government proposed would be ready. Drive thru clinics with the limited supply of the swine flu shot were set up with the one that happened at the University of Louisville’s Stadium being a prime example. Also people were being administered a nasal spray swine flu vaccine. This by itself became a totally different story as people questioned this new vaccine. The nasal spray vaccine is an active virus, and people started saying that this was going to spread the disease more than stop the spread of it. The government had to defend itself and this turned into stories and counter stories over this new vaccine. All this was happening while people were arguing over methods to speed up the regular vaccine production. The whole process was under heavy scrutiny by many people for not meeting the expectations that they said they would complete.
Even now this story has not ended. There is no telling where this story will go in the time ahead. Even the most prominent newspaper, The New York Times, has an overview of the swine flu overtime and a swine flu navigator. The swine flu is still popping up all around the world and for the most part has spread to every state in the United States. There have been over one thousand deaths and tens of thousands of infections in the United States attributed to the swine flu alone and this number is only going to increase as time goes on. People have been saying that the swine flu has been through the first wave, and many people are expecting a second wave when winter hits. All of these speculations lead to more stories, and whether or not a second wave of the H1N1 flu hits will determine whether or not this story will live on and there will be even more stories. This story will live on through the upcoming months as the flu season draws closer and depending on how widespread the consequences are it may even live on in history.
Works Cited
"Swine Flu (H1N1)." The New York Times. 11 Nov. 2009. Web. 23 Nov. 2009.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Taking an Approach...a little bit late
This chapter is definitely one of the most challenging in the book so far. Forwarding and Countering were simple concepts compared to this chapter. However, the more complex something is usually means it has much more applications than something that may be constrained or constricted. I believe this applies to Taking an Approach. The applications of taking an approach can be applied to anything, not only writing texts. As we talked about in class, even businesses and movie producers and other things use this to improve things or sell more item. Some of the things Harris discusses in this chapter are "Acknowledging Influences," "Turning an Approach on Itself," and "Reflexivity."
I think every piece "Takes an Approach" even if they do not try to. Every author has their own style that they tend to use even if they realize it or not. I think you could link this to your personality a little bit as well. Writing is just a way you express yourself using written words. There are so many different ways to express yourself and each way has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, Hedge's writing style was very bold and harsh. This can get a point across to people fiercely, but it can also turn people away quite easily. Whereas if you take a milder approach you might not inspire people with as much emotion, but you might have more people agree with you. So when you try to examine what you lose or gain by taking an approach it can be difficult because there are so many variables. Ultimately, it depends on how you take your approach that determines what is lost or gained. Without an approach you do not have anything.
I think every piece "Takes an Approach" even if they do not try to. Every author has their own style that they tend to use even if they realize it or not. I think you could link this to your personality a little bit as well. Writing is just a way you express yourself using written words. There are so many different ways to express yourself and each way has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, Hedge's writing style was very bold and harsh. This can get a point across to people fiercely, but it can also turn people away quite easily. Whereas if you take a milder approach you might not inspire people with as much emotion, but you might have more people agree with you. So when you try to examine what you lose or gain by taking an approach it can be difficult because there are so many variables. Ultimately, it depends on how you take your approach that determines what is lost or gained. Without an approach you do not have anything.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Making my Blog Better
Hedge's once again comes out fighting in his article as he tries to explain how democracy is failing and that news is being turned into entertainment by corporations. He starts out by saying how the journalism industry is failing, and he states the facts that the stocks of many newspapers are falling. He does have links this time, but Hedges does not put the links to these facts unfortunately. What is the point? I don't know either. I agree that the newspapers stock prices were falling and could also see where it could be interpreted that newspaper companies were failing, but I would like to think that these facts may not have been taken in context. During that time not only newspaper companies were struggling with low profits, but also many other companies were struggling as well. This article was written around the time the economic recession started, and I believe after the article was written it was more noticeable that everything was going downhill. They may have been one of the first ones to get hit, but many stocks dropped as everyone well knows. Hedges believes that no one cares about the real facts anymore and says that the internet along with massive corporations are slowly destroying traditional media such as newspapers. Once again Hedges sounds like someone who is a little too afraid of change.
Now on to the second piece. Clive Thompson has a radically different opinion compared to Hedges. Thompson somehow believes that the internet is actually making us more literate. Hedges might blow a gasket if he saw this one. He uses scientific studies from Stanford university to go against the numerous amount of people who think that our new internet habits are destroying are reading and writing habits. The study shows that in the world today people are writing extensively outside of school and job related writing. We are definitely a different generation and will have some differences, but Thompson and Lunsford(the person who conducted Stanford's study) believe that it will benefit us in the long run. Thompson's article is much less assertive than Hedge's and makes you feel like if you do not agree with his view you still might live. People are afraid of the unknown. Yes the writing and reading habits of our new generations are changing, but it does not necessarily have to be for the worse. We are sailing uncharted waters and may come up with new discoveries comparable to the discovering of the Americas. Just think of all the people that were criticized for challenging current ideas, and then look at where we are today because of them. This new age may be the same way.
Pretty much the only thing I changed was the wording of my opinions to make them more compatible with the process of "countering" and "forwarding." I just used some of the "Yes, but.." and "Yes, and.." phrases to maybe make my argument better. Mainly i focused on countering in my article because it deals with two opposing views. I probably could have worked a little more on the non-critical aspect though.
Now on to the second piece. Clive Thompson has a radically different opinion compared to Hedges. Thompson somehow believes that the internet is actually making us more literate. Hedges might blow a gasket if he saw this one. He uses scientific studies from Stanford university to go against the numerous amount of people who think that our new internet habits are destroying are reading and writing habits. The study shows that in the world today people are writing extensively outside of school and job related writing. We are definitely a different generation and will have some differences, but Thompson and Lunsford(the person who conducted Stanford's study) believe that it will benefit us in the long run. Thompson's article is much less assertive than Hedge's and makes you feel like if you do not agree with his view you still might live. People are afraid of the unknown. Yes the writing and reading habits of our new generations are changing, but it does not necessarily have to be for the worse. We are sailing uncharted waters and may come up with new discoveries comparable to the discovering of the Americas. Just think of all the people that were criticized for challenging current ideas, and then look at where we are today because of them. This new age may be the same way.
Pretty much the only thing I changed was the wording of my opinions to make them more compatible with the process of "countering" and "forwarding." I just used some of the "Yes, but.." and "Yes, and.." phrases to maybe make my argument better. Mainly i focused on countering in my article because it deals with two opposing views. I probably could have worked a little more on the non-critical aspect though.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Countering
Harris' description of countering is similar to his definition of forwarding. I believe they achieve the same purpose, but they use almost opposite techniques to achieve their goals. The purpose of countering is to advance arguments and your own ideas by using other people's pieces of works. Instead of looking at terms and ideas that are explained well that could be used for your advantage, you look at terms and ideas that could be explained more thoroughly and in a way debate against those and use those for your own means. One point that Harris emphasizes is important for countering is to make sure you are not just putting down other writers. There is not as much point to just proving people wrong and showing people that they are wrong. By delving deeper into the issue and looking at why it is flawed and looking at alternatives, you can begin to make new conclusions that might be useful. Plus bashing other readers tends to make people a lot of enemies and not respect your ideals even if they are insightful. I think a prime example is Chris Hedges.
There is an article about the Fort Hood Shooting that uses countering fairly well. The initial thoughts were that the man accused of the shootings was a terrorist carrying out the mission of a suicide bomber. However, in the article, it explains how that may be true, but it offers evidence that proves that may not be the reason and why they think so. They leave the possibility open for the original verdict, but propose an alternative that may be true. Countering is an effective tool that writers can use for making their paper better. So long as you do not focus too much on the other paper as your own.
There is an article about the Fort Hood Shooting that uses countering fairly well. The initial thoughts were that the man accused of the shootings was a terrorist carrying out the mission of a suicide bomber. However, in the article, it explains how that may be true, but it offers evidence that proves that may not be the reason and why they think so. They leave the possibility open for the original verdict, but propose an alternative that may be true. Countering is an effective tool that writers can use for making their paper better. So long as you do not focus too much on the other paper as your own.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Harris' Forwarding
What is the first thing most people think of when they think of forwarding?? I do not really know for sure, but I would guess it would be the email feature where you can send an exact copy of emails and such to other people you know. Harris completely goes off this model and describes in detail the entire process of what he believes is forwarding. He defines forwarding as having four distinct processes through which you can accomplish forwarding. The four processes are Illustrating, Authorizing, Borrowing,and Extending. Pretty much "forwarding" as explained by Harris includes taking ideas, opinions, passages, phrases, etc. from a work and using it to develop your own ideals or to expand on them. I would explain more, but I have a feeling that might be a waste of my time considering that everyone has already read it and probably has a idea about all of it.
Depending on what type of forwarding you choose to apply to your work will decide what is altered, changed, lost, or stays the same. If you "illustrate", pretty much everything stays the same. It just furthers your argument a little bit more and may give it more backing or authority. If you borrow or authorize something you are working with, you may alter the original concepts that the author conveys in his work. Regardless of what type of forwarding you use, any forwarding should make your argument or opinion stronger. The main things that are lost or altered are the original authors ideals and opinions.
One example of forwarding occurs in an article in the Daily Dish. It is describing how Republicans are pushing away all the moderates and has many forms of forwarding. First off there is a picture at the very start of the article providing evidence to the argument. Then in the actual article it has a quote from a Senator where they are using his ideal for their article. Then one example of forwarding that pretty much every author who writes on the internet nowadays is the hyperlink. This allows authors to not only cite info from people, but also it allows them to go back and get their own interpretation on the info that is given. Forwarding is a process used by many; you just have to find it.
Depending on what type of forwarding you choose to apply to your work will decide what is altered, changed, lost, or stays the same. If you "illustrate", pretty much everything stays the same. It just furthers your argument a little bit more and may give it more backing or authority. If you borrow or authorize something you are working with, you may alter the original concepts that the author conveys in his work. Regardless of what type of forwarding you use, any forwarding should make your argument or opinion stronger. The main things that are lost or altered are the original authors ideals and opinions.
One example of forwarding occurs in an article in the Daily Dish. It is describing how Republicans are pushing away all the moderates and has many forms of forwarding. First off there is a picture at the very start of the article providing evidence to the argument. Then in the actual article it has a quote from a Senator where they are using his ideal for their article. Then one example of forwarding that pretty much every author who writes on the internet nowadays is the hyperlink. This allows authors to not only cite info from people, but also it allows them to go back and get their own interpretation on the info that is given. Forwarding is a process used by many; you just have to find it.
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