Definition Essay Rewrite – Joe Mleczko

Posted on March 26, 2012 by joeymleczko

Affirmative Action: A Detriment to Society

The time for Affirmative Action has come and gone. In March of 1961, President of the United States, John F. Kennedy signed the Affirmative Action Act. As an attempt to eliminate discrimination in the work place and in places of higher education, the policies that defined affirmative action (and still do) established guidelines for the recruiting process. These guidelines require that decisions on acceptance not be made with regard to race, religion, or gender. For the time that affirmative action was created, it provided the necessary balance that minorities needed to establish themselves as equals among a predominantly white nation.

A component of affirmative action is the quota system that has been implemented by institutions to ensure their cooperation with the new government policies. This system holds that in a place of employment or higher learning, all races be “proportionally” represented. This does not necessarily mean that the number of caucasians must match that of black and hispanic; however, it means there must be adequate numbers of each depending on the population of each minority group in the country. To the creators of affirmative action, if admissions and hiring was color-blind so that race, gender or religion did not determine acceptance, they had successfully given everyone an equal opportunity for a position(s).

Fifty years after the introduction of affirmative action, the “balancing act” is no longer well balanced. The problem of under representation of the majority has offset that balance that existed only in the early life of affirmative action. Now the majority is demanding something to fix the imbalance.

Initially the policies of affirmative action sought to eliminate discrimination, but instead has created discrimination of a different group of people. It is now common to hear the term “reverse discrimination,” which is exactly what it sounds like. Before affirmative action, for example, an employer could very easily reject an applicant for simply being black. Now that employers are required to hire specific numbers of minorities, but there is still a majority looking for the same position, it is possible to see a white person eliminated from the hiring process for not being a minority. Arguing the fairness of reverse discrimination over the fairness of regular discrimination is the tricky part. Which is more unfair?

Perhaps the correct question to be asked is whether affirmative action actually does more good than harm?

Not only has the view of affirmative action changed greatly over the last fifty years, but the United States of America as a whole has changed dramatically. There was well defined need for affirmative action at its time of birth, being at the center of the civil rights movement. Since then, we have seen racism decrease significantly, and it is arguable that without five full decades of affirmative action, the United States could have already been a truly “color blind” nation. Making applicants specify race brings skin color to the surface, where in the absence of affirmative action, it could have been irrelevant. Those that believe the nation would go back to its old ways without affirmative action are ignorant to the changes the country has seen.

Instead, the nation watches as the underrepresented majority misses out on job opportunities and admittance to universities. In an article by Amara Phillip, two such examples are outlined. In 2003 the University of Michigan was sued by multiple white students claiming they were unconstitutionally denied due to being white. In the one case, a well qualified white female sued the law school after being denied solely because there was not enough room for more white females. The Supreme Court upheld that admitting students with regards to grades, test scores, recommendations, and race was well within the legality of affirmative action. Thus, the plaintiff lost her case. In the second case, two white applicants were denied and as a result sued the school for the unconstitutionality of the point system used by the University of Michigan for admittance. This point system assigned a certain number of points to each part of the student’s application, where minority status earned more points than that of majority status. After the application had been fully assessed, students with sufficient points were admitted, and those that did not meet the mark were rejected (Phillip). Fortunately, the Supreme Court ruled that this point system was unconstitutional; however, there is not much difference between the first case and the second.

The minority status is more “point worthy” than majority status because the university is required to fill seats with minorities even if it means denying better-qualified individuals.

Another example of reverse discrimination of those in the majority is outlined in a study done by two Princeton sociologists. The study they preformed revealed a very interesting fact about how elite schools weigh SAT scores for applicants. African Americans who scored above a 1500 (1600-point scale) were awarded an equivalent of 230 SAT points and hispanics were awarded an additional 185 SAT points. The study concluded that this was an attempt to “level the playing field,” but in reality, if a test represents academic ability, receiving extra points makes that person under-qualified for the final number they receive (Espenshade and Chung).

Recruiters use a variety of techniques to favor less-qualified minority students over better-qualified Caucasians, all to satisfy different affirmative action goals. Either admissions hopes to satisfy the government mandates, or they hope to achieve diversity. The reverse discriminatory factor here is simple. Caucasians are less “enticing” because they simply are not a minority.

Reverse discrimination now causes other problems in society, and whether or not hatred is directed at the correct people is irrelevant. According to Ernest van den Haag, racism can actually result from decisions based on affirmative action. If a well qualified person is denied a position so the recruiter can fill a quota with a minority, that rejected person may develop animosity towards the minority, which can lead to hatred (van den Haag). Sadly, the energy fueling that animosity could be used to attempt to change the affirmative action policies, but that is much easier said than done.

Another example of misdirected animosity comes from an article written by authors David Sacks and Peter Thiel, where admissions officers at Stanford have been unfairly labeled as racist for denying caucasians (Sacks and Thiel). These unidentified admissions officers, perhaps black men, perhaps white women, were unfairly accused of racism against caucasians for correctly following mandated affirmative action policies. Not only is rejection because of being caucasian unfair, but so is unjustly labeling someone as a racist for simply following regulations imposed by the government.

Allowing underprivileged people to reach just as high as those that are fortunate, is something that all governments should always promote. Unfortunately, the United States only considers minorities as the underprivileged in regards to affirmative action.

It is certainly upsetting to see a program with such great intentions cause so much controversy. Unfairness is seen everywhere, from those qualified in the majority missing out on opportunities, to the legitimate minority accomplishments that are not taken seriously. Ultimately, a different approach to “leveling the playing field” should be considered. With the greater good of the American people in mind, the brilliant minds that govern this country should provide a better solution for the underprivileged.

Works Cited

Espenshade, Thomas J., and Chang Y. Chung. “The Opportunity Cost of Admission Preferences at Elite Universities*.” Social Science Quarterly 86.2 (2005): 293-305. Print.

PHILLIP, AMARA. “The Diversity Imperative.” Diverse: Issues In Higher Education 28.18 (2011): 16-17. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Mar. 2012.

Sacks, David, and Peter Thiel. “The Case Against Affirmative Action.” The Case Against Affirmative Action. Web. 06 Mar. 2012.

van den Haag, Ernest. “Affirmative Action And Campus Racism.” Academic Questions 2.3 (1989): 66. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Mar. 2012.

Posted in x Definition Essay Rewrite | 1 Comment

Visual Argument – Joe Mleczko

Posted on March 26, 2012 by joeymleczko

Texting and Driving Prevention

  • First Viewing (no sound):
    • The use of a handheld camera makes the opening scene seem as though someone just happened to be filming as someone tripped up the stairs while texting. This makes the viewer think of how common multitasking while texting is.
    • Then a screen of text comes up saying, “Not everyone should text and walk.” Clearly this is very straight forward. If multitasking like walking while texting, the chance of “accident” is greatly increased.
    • Immediately after that screen there is a shot of a phone being held by a girl with the background zooming by as she texts. The sequence from the girl falling on the stairs to the text to this girl texting and driving has a very predictable outcome. This leads the viewer to anticipate an accident to come, but clearly this will be far worse than falling up the stairs.
    • The girl repeatedly looks from the road to her phone, and appears to be laughing with the others in the car. This is an ad about texting and driving, but it could easily be an ad against driving while distracted altogether.
    • Directly after that scene, the camera changes to the view of an older woman and young girl (possibly mother and daughter) crossing the street. Now the viewer knows where this ad is going to end up.
    • In the matter of seconds, the camera goes back to the texting driver, who looks up at the last second, to slam on the brakes. Unfortunately for the walkers, the next long shot of the intersection shows the girl barreling towards them, clearly about to hit them.
      • There are many reactions that I have to this sequence. First, the use of the probable mother and daughter couple about to be hit is intense. Rather than having the girl get in a car accident with another car, or even a telephone pole, the makers use a family. The implications of a newly broken family (missing the mother and daughter) is far more sad than just the girl and her friends being injured or killed. Second, when the long shot comes, the viewer can see that this takes place in a suburban area, and the driver, had she not killed the pedestrians (of course this is an assumption, but I’d say it’s a fair one), would have ran a stop sign anyways. I think this says that if the driver did not kill the pedestrians, there is still a great chances that something of a similar nature would occur.
    • Next, more text comes on the screen saying, “No one should text and drive.” This message is very clear…as in cannot be any clearer.
    • After that text disappears, new text saying, “Stop the texts, Stop the wrecks,” appears. I like this because the use of two colors allows the viewer to associate the similarly colored words together. When looking at it, “the texts” and “the wrecks” stand together, almost saying “the texts = the wrecks.”
    • The final screen provides the viewer with a website where suggestions for stopping texting and driving can be made.
  • Proceeding Views (with sound):
    • To be honest, this ad can be played with no sound every time and get just about the same effect.
    • The opening scene with the girl falling up the stairs while texting does not change much.
    • Everything after is really the same, except when the camera first goes to the girl texting while driving, the viewer can be 100% sure her friends are also distracting her. Also, when she looks up at the last second to see the pedestrians, you can hear that she attempts to brake although clearly not in time.

With the use of a combination of text (ironic) and hypothetical situations, the viewer clearly understands the danger of multitasking while texting, and more specifically driving while texting.

Posted in X Visual Argument | 1 Comment

Logical Fallacies: The Lecture/Demo

Posted on March 25, 2012 by davidbdale

Brett Lang is writing about the dangers of dietary supplements, which, because they’re not considered drugs, aren’t regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and can be sold without being proven safe. To make his case that such products are hazardous, perhaps even deadly, Brett might make the following argument:

These supplements are virtually unregulated and therefore can be sold even if they have side effects as serious as high blood pressure, increased risk of heart attack, even risk of death, all of which could be prevented if the products were re-classified as drugs and regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

Convincing as this might sound, Brett’s argument (if he made it this way) would make the serious mistake of mistaking one reason for the reason. The argument assumes that because a lack of regulation results in risks, the presence of regulation would eliminate risk. Of course, if lack of regulation were the only reason for the risks, FDA oversight might eliminate them, but we know that even FDA-approved drugs have sometimes serious side effects. Consequences usually result from many causes and eliminating just one cause rarely eliminates the consequence.

Aime Lonsdorf is writing about obesity and the fact that Americans, who used to gauge their fitness using just two measures—weight relative to height—have been obsessing about their Body Mass Indexes (BMI) since the term was coined by the US Surgeon General in 2001. She might be tempted to make the following argument:

The coining of the term Body Mass Index by the Surgeon General in 2001 gave Americans a new way to measure our fitness and ushered in an era of renewed interest in our percentage of body fat. BMI-consciousness motivated us to exercise more and maintain healthier diets so that we have reduced our national average BMI from 41.5 to 28.7.

Again, the argument may sound reasonable, but the fact that BMI has fallen in no way proves that we were more conscious of our BMI numbers. The two numbers share a relationship, but the argument mistakes correlation for causation the same way a person would be in error who concluded that “breakfast causes lunch.” Other numbers than BMI probably improved too despite our ignorance of them.

Tyson Still is writing about the effects of divorce on membership in youth gangs. In particular, he’s researching whether the lack of a positive male role model in the home is a good predictor of a teen joining a gang. He might very well make an argument such as:

The presence of a biological father in the home provides the structure that can keep a teen from seeking parental guidance outside the home, from gang leaders for example. In a typical gang, a startling 50% of the members have experienced a divorce in their lives.

While there is most likely a connection between “fatherlessness” and gang membership, the evidence offered here does not begin to demonstrate what it wants to. “Experiencing a divorce” does not justify the faulty conclusion of “living life without a father,” for starters. Not to mention the meaningless statistic about divorce. The percentage of Boy Scouts who have “experienced a divorce in their lives” might be close to 50% as well.

Tikeena Sturdivant is writing about Adrian Peterson’s remark that he is a “40 million dollar slave.” Though it’s tempting to dismiss Peterson’s analogy, Tikeena is looking for ways in which it is might be valid. In doing so, she might easily make this sort of argument:

On plantations, slaves were “recruited” and used for their physical abilities but denied education. In the NFL, the players, 70% of them black, are drafted by owners, 100% of them white, for their athletic skills alone. And if they get injured, they can be cut without pay.

While it’s hard to argue that football players are the pawns in a game played by wealthy owners, the analogy is so mixed here it’s hard to tell how much of it is relevant to the argument. What’s the NFL equivalent of denying slaves education? And what’s the slavery equivalent of being cut from the team?

Jon Otero is examining the relative dangers of obesity and a drug designed to combat obesity, Qnexa. He has a tricky argument to make, that Qnexa is the best option for obese patients to reduce their weight despite the health risks the drug itself has been shown to create. He might be tempted to avoid the argument altogether by making a claim such as this:

Since for many patients medication to reduce obesity is the only alternative to carrying dangerously high body weight, the important question is how to reduce the risks of Qnexa, and whether to prohibit its use to only those patients who can best tolerate it.

If he did so, Jon would be using the common logical fallacy known as begging the question, by using the conclusion he wants to reach as one of the premises of his argument. He should have to prove that Qnexa is the only option for patients; instead, he only asserts that it is.

Jesse Samaritano is arguing to determine whether file sharing is stealing or just a high-tech version of lending your paperback to a friend. In his essay, Jesse describes the argument made by supporters of peer-to-peer networks that facilitate illegal file sharing:

Peer-to-peer networks are useful for legitimate sharing of public domain or personal documents and therefore should not be shut down.

He hasn’t done so yet, but Jesse will likely refute this flimsy argument as an example of substituting the part for the whole. The benefits the networks provide are irrelevant to the fact that they facilitate criminal sharing, the same way the Mafia can’t justify its racketeering operations by pointing out that they give heavily to the orphans’ hospital. We also can’t defend cheating on our taxes by saying: “But I pay so much!”

Ally Hodgson is arguing that marijuana is incorrectly categorized as a Schedule 1 Drug. Marijuana’s “relative abuse potential” is not high, she claims, and neither does it have a high potential for dependence. It would be easy for Ally to make a sloppy argument on this point by saying, for example:

The truth is, every drug, every cleaning product, every household chemical, even common tools such as X-acto knives or razor blades can be abused, so the potential for abuse is no reason to consider any particular drug dangerous.

The claim is reasonable on its face, but it doesn’t address the actual situation. Marijuana wasn’t placed in Schedule 1 because it can be abused. The FDA considers “relative abuse potential,” not “the possibility of abuse.”

Dale Hamstra is writing about the impossibility of walking in a straight line while blindfolded. It’s a fun and fascinating topic that readers might well enjoy, provided he makes the right assumptions up front. It would be easy, though, for Dale himself to make a false first step and end up walking in circles:

It is quite obvious to anyone who gives it a moment’s thought that nobody can walk a straight line blindfolded. The only interesting question is why.

Such an opening would be a blend of faulty assumption and begging the question because it makes a claim for the reader the reader might not readily concede and takes the fun out of what would be entertaining to illustrate. Even if readers would predict a deviation from “straight,” it’s unlikely they would predict the wild spiraling meanderings actual test subjects do.

Cassie Hoffman is investigating the changing landscape of “privacy” in our increasingly digital world. Because the definition of privacy is a moving target, she will need to be very careful to use it consistently or risk making sloppy arguments:

When we post personal information about ourselves online, for example, regardless of how we configure our “privacy settings,” it would be naïve of us to expect Facebook—a company that makes money selling information about its users—to respect our confidentiality.

If her own definition of privacy is too fluid, Cassie might engage in accidental equivocation; in other words, substituting different meanings for privacy in different contexts. In the first meaning, we are entitled to reasonably expect Facebook will comply with its own privacy settings. On the other hand, if what Facebook sells is aggregate data (for example, that users who claim they are twenty-year-old men click a surprising number of ads for retirement housing), such as sale wouldn’t invade anybody’s privacy in a way that individual users could object to.

Eddie Jahn is arguing that certain overlooked statistics are better indicators of a baseball player’s value to a team than the commonly used RBI and batting average numbers that usually command high salaries. Because he’s relying on statistics to prove a statistical conclusion, he’ll need to be certain that the numbers prove what he says they prove:

It has been demonstrated in the majority of World Series games that the pitching staff that posts a better RE24 differential wins every time, whether that staff is favored or the underdog in any game.

Now, a statistic that correlates with winning World Series games a majority of the time might well be something to follow, but it might not help a manager hire a good staff for a simple reason. Another statistic is 100% accurate: the “comparative runs scored” number, or CRS, which says that if your staff gives up more runs than your team scores, you lose.

Tony Shilling is making a complex argument that Marvel Comics Inc. should not sue its own artists for making a few bucks selling commissioned drawings at trade shows of the characters they draw for Marvel. Is there any way around this restriction for the artists who could use the extra cash?:

The same talented artists could make money drawing caricatures of Barack Obama at trade shows and nobody would sue because Obama is not a licensed image or character. So perhaps these cartoonists should sell their work as “caricatures” of Captain Marvel or Deadpool.

The trouble with this false analogy is that there is no living person to caricature. Nobody can bring Obama to life by drawing him, but when the Marvel artist draws Captain Marvel for a kid at a trade show, he almost literally creates the real thing on the page, and that’s not caricature no matter how differently he tries to draw it.

Sam Sarlo has had enough of the War on Drugs and wants it to end. A common tactic of those arguing to end the government’s high profile eradication effort is that its true purpose is to provide politicians an easy campaign issue:

Washington doesn’t really expect to end drug use through law enforcement; no matter how much we spend arresting and prosecuting, we only succeed in putting more nonviolent people in jail, but being “tough on drugs” is a good way to get elected.

This argument is a blend of legitimate evidence and the motive fallacy, which attacks a program not because it’s ineffective but because it serves somebody else’s purpose. Plenty of programs, both useful and useless, get politicians elected. That’s no reason to eliminate the good ones, nor a reason to eliminate the bad ones.

Marty Bell is arguing in favor of illegal steroid use in baseball . . . well, sort of. He’s arguing that steroid use be legal in baseball, thereby eliminating the hazards of buying from illicit sources and self-injection, as well as the complaints that steroid use creates an unfair advantage for users. If everyone can use, personal choice will dictate. He might make this mistake if he’s not careful:

Fans love the long ball, so anything that helps sluggers hit more big home runs is good for the game, the league, the players who want to be popular and sign big contracts for breaking records!

This special use of the bandwagon fallacy puts popular opinion in charge of dangerous medical decisions they have no business judging. A similar argument could be made for more crashes at Nascar events, or for legalized dog fighting. (No, I’m not being fair either, but you see the point.)

Ashley Petit de Mange is arguing that recession is good for marriage, or at least bad for divorce lawyers. Apparently, during recession and high unemployment, the divorce rate declines, perhaps because divorce is so expensive. How she handles other explanations could cause Ashley some trouble if she’s not careful:

The numbers clearly show that when it’s easier to afford, divorce is more popular; and when money is tight, couples find it easier to stay together. The recent decline in the divorce rate cannot be explained by greater commitment between couples facing hard times; it’s just a matter of economics.

This false choice makes the unstated claim that only one explanation is possible. If nothing in the essay demonstrates that miserable couples are staying together and that love is no factor in marriages lasting, then merely showing that the cost of divorce is a factor doesn’t refute at all the possibility that couples pull together when times get tough.

Bill Brooks would like the US government to more clearly define the term “embryonic stem cells” so that the ban against their use in stem cell research can be reversed to the greater enrichment of medical science. Because his argument will cross back and forth over the line between science and morality, he will need to be very careful to avoid engaging in fallacies that mistake the arguer for the argument:

The same people who think it’s acceptable to compel a rape victim to carry to full term and give birth to the product of her attack want to deny Alzheimer and ALS patients a chance at a cure because of the “moral value” they place on a few strands of tissue that happen to result from the interaction between an ovum in a laboratory and a sperm cell.

Whatever the merits of this argument, it tries to poison the well from which is drawn the objection against stem cell research that it kills human life. Whether we like it or not, the same people can have both good and bad ideas, so associating an idea with people who are wrong about something else is no refutation at all.

Jon Gonzoph thinks science has failed to establish a causal link between violent video game-play and actual acts of violence by game-players. Because his essay depends on the quality and the results of controlled experiments with game-players, Jon’s challenge will be to avoid logic errors when drawing conclusions:

The three month study was not at all conclusive, since it failed to show any increase in aggression in the group that had played the game for at least two hours a day for more than three months, compared to control groups that played less-violent games or played violent games less frequently.

The obviously faulty reasoning here is to conclude that a careful experiment which showed no increased aggression was “not conclusive.” A more reasonable explanation is that playing the game every day for three months does not create a more aggressive person.

Tabitha Corrao is examining court-mandated rehab and counseling as an alternative sentence for “drug offenders.” Tabitha’s primary responsibility in her first essay is to avoid equivocation:

It is clear from the evidence that billions of dollars are wasted locking up drug offenders who would be better served by rehabilitation, and less costly to society. Literally millions of prisoners convicted of drug crimes could take advantage of such programs.

This argument very likely uses two definitions for “drug offenders” and “drug crimes.” Casual users convicted of simple possession might well benefit from rehab and return to society more productive. But dealers convicted of murdering other drug dealers are also in jail for “drug crimes.” Do we want to release them to rehab?

Brett Lang seems to be arguing that nutritional supplements can be quite dangerous and that better regulations would protect the public from unscrupulous companies selling useless, even hazardous products. Because supplements are not required to prove their efficacy or safety, Brett will have to guard against non sequiters:

The supplement needs to provide something nutritional that is missing from a person’s diet, be available in a common form such as a tablet, and be clearly labeled as a nutritional supplement. So how does it happen that useless, dangerous, even deadly products can be sold on the shelves of GNC after meeting these requirements?!

At least as they are reported to us in the argument above, nothing in the requirements obligates the maker to test a nutritional supplement for effectiveness or safety. So it does not follow (the Latin for that is non sequiter) that we have any right to expect efficacy or safety. Nor should we be surprised when the product has neither.

Joe Mleczko is arguing that it’s time to abolish Affirmative Action. There are countless ways to go wrong in this argument, but the type we haven’t shown yet as an example is the slippery slope, so I’ll try that one out here:

The Act was certainly a legitimate and well-intentioned program to reverse hiring and admissions injustices present in employment and higher education when it was enacted. Those injustices have been largely now successfully reversed. The danger of continuing the program is that in addition to “proportionally representing “ race, ethnicity, and gender in their hiring practices, employers will soon be required to hire a “quota-ful” of homosexuals, Muslims, atheists, geriatrics, and people with all kinds of developmental disabilities that make them unfit for any sort of work.

We can trust Joe not to make ugly arguments, I’m quite sure, but the slippery slope is insidious and can find its way into your own arguments very easily. Learn to recognize and avoid it.

Did I miss anyone? I’ll be happy to provide you specific advice about actual logical fallacies you may have committed. Just leave a Comment/Reply on any post you want reviewed.

Posted in David Hodges, In Class Exercise, Logical Fallacies, Professor Posts | Leave a comment

Visual Argument- Brett Lang

Posted on March 25, 2012 by langer278

Hands only CPR

  • The person uses sign language with subtitles the whole time.
  • The person talks about how important hands only CPR is the whole time by using a language that only uses hands to show the comparison of something your hands alone can do.
  • It demonstrates how hands are so great they can speak a whole language without using one’s mouth.
  • This shows the capabilities of people’s hands and gives them a showing of power and great strength in having hands to use.
  • After doing this it talks about how the most important thing hands can do is save a person’s life. It gives a person that sense of great capabilities with their hands while building up to show that someone could save another’s life and be a hero.
  • The video shows something amazing someone’s hands could do, but acts like it’s not as important as if the hands could do CPR. This gives a strong support and view of hands only CPR as being very important and great to know.
  • The visual aide does exactly what the commercial is supposed to do and demonstrates hands as being powerful, life saving, and with multiple capabilities to convince people to learn hands only CPR and demonstrate its importance.
  • The black shirt with a black background hides most of the girls body. They also cut off most of the face of the girl as well with darkness. This creates a larger focus on the hands and arms of the woman. This brings more importance to what the commercial is about. It doesn’t matter what the lady looks like, or what she is wearing, it’s her hands that are important.
  • The darkness over the face can also represent a view that anybody’s face could be on that body and know how to do hands only CPR. It sells the fact that the viewer can know hands only CPR and be a life safer. It creates a strong view that puts importance on the hands and arms, which are involved in hands only CPR. As it does that it gives a view that the person watching the commercial could be the face of that lady and know the skill of hands only CPR. It sells to the viewer that it is easy to do while doing a very important public service in saving people’s lives all around the world.
Posted in X Visual Argument | 1 Comment

Sources 6-10 Brett Lang

Posted on March 25, 2012 by langer278

Metabolife 356

Background: The site talks about the contents of the product metabolife 356, which is the specific Ephedra based product I use to talk about. It also gives a lot of information on use and description of it.

How intend to use: I have already used this website in my definition essay as my source for information on its ingredients. I also intend to use it for other small information about the use of the product.

Inappropriate Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Discharge Following Consumption of a Dietary Weight Loss Supplement

Background: It gives information on how the metabolife 356 affected a woman’s heart and the Ephedra product caused such terrible damage to her and needed a constant defibrillator.

How intend to use: I’m going to use the information as a basis and example of the effects of the metabolife 356 ephedra base drug. I can also use it to show how fast it could cause your heart to race and the effects of the drug on someone’s body.

Ephedra-Containing Dietary Supplements in the US versus Ephedra as a Chinese Medicine

Background: It talks about the usage of Ephedra in the dietary supplement and as used in Chinese medicine.

How intend to use: The website shows a different way Ephedra has been used in the way of Chinese medicine. It also talks about the usage of it as a dietary supplement and its dangers, which gives me more information on that.

The Severity of Toxic Reactions to Ephedra: Comparisons to Other Botanical Products and National Trends from 1993–2002

Background: The website talks about the dangers from the botanical Ephedra. It talks about how it was examined and tested. It also gives information on the severity of its use and exposure in a dietary supplement.

How I intend to use: I intend to take the information and incorporate it into explaining its very severe dangers and showing how its exposure in a supplement form is very dangerous to someone’s health.

Metabolife-356

Background: It gives more information on the supplement. It also talks about the different ingredients and backgrounds on them, along with usage of the dietary supplement.

How intend to use: I intend to take the information and talk more about the metabolife and its effects. I can also use the background information on certain ingredients in the product more too.

Posted in Sources 6-10 | Leave a comment

sources 6-10 Aime lonsdorf

Posted on March 25, 2012 by aimelonsdorf

1. “About Body Mass Index for Children and Teens.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13 Sept. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/childrens_bmi/about_childrens_bmi.html>

The article clearly defines the BMI system and obesity in children and adults. For children, the BMI system is gender specific. It measures how fat, or obese a child is based on their weight and height. Although the body mass index does not directly measure fat, it is a reliable source to indicate how over or underweight a child is. A doctor can calculate a child’s BMI by placing his or her height or weight on a growth chart; a growth chart is able to calculate a child’s weight range in regards to other children his or her age across the US.

I intend to use this source to define how obesity can be measured in children. I have already used this source in my definition essay.

  1. Taubes, Gary. “Is Sugar Toxic?” NY Times Online. Web. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?pagewanted=all>.

The source defines sugar as the most toxic thing a person can put into his or her body. Sugar produces excess empty calories that can lead to multiple medical disorders such as heart failure and diabetes and also is a key factor in obesity. Although there are good sugars, “salable sugars” such as the ones found at the dinner table, should be omitted from every day meals.

I intend to use this source to defend my argument as to why sugar should be omitted from every day life. In my definitional argument i used this to demonstrate that sugar is a food that has already been demonized by modern society.

3.http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/fat-acceptance

Many people are learning to live a healthy lifestyle by eating right and exercising but not always striving for thin. The article discusses being happy with the body you are given. The article talks about the negative effects on the current “health craze” on a persons body and how it directly correlates with eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia. It is counterintuitive to the entire point that my paper is trying to make.

I used this source in my White Paper to to talk about a counterintuitive note about how being skinny is not always “in.”

4.http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Morbidly+obese

Defined in the article are the definitions of obesity and morbid obesity. “Obesity is an abnormal accumulation of body fat, usually 20% or more over an individual’s ideal body weight. Obesity is associated with increased risk of illness, disability, and death. The branch of medicine that deals with the study and treatment of obesity is known as bariatrics. As obesity has become a major health problem in the United States, bariatrics has become a separate medical and surgical specialty.” The article then progresses to discuss the treatments for obesity and how it is much simpleir than people commonly think. The article states that it is simply a mindset: you need to believe that you can get through being overweight in order to do so; the author of the article claims that a healthy mind is a happy body. Other treatments include moeration and various other common techniques.

I intend to use this article to further my development of the treatments for obesity and how we can help moderate it. I will discuss the treatment techniques and utilize the definitions.

5.http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html

More than one-third of U.S. adults are obese; approximately 17% of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese. Within the the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States and rates remain high. In 2010, no state had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%. Thirty-six states had a prevalence of 25% or more; 12 of these states (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia) had a prevalence of 30% or more.

The article discusses obesity statistics and i intend to use them to emphasis the dangers of obesity and how prominent it is in our society. Using this source will help make my essays seem more realistic and help emphasize the facts about obesity; i will look more reliable when reporting on the essay.

 

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Visual Argument ~ Tony Shilling

Posted on March 25, 2012 by tonyshilling

In response to the PSA: Weapon, I have illustrated what I believe to the be the point the Ad Council is attempting to drive home.

Posted in X Visual Argument | 2 Comments

A11: Definition Essay Rewrite

Posted on March 23, 2012 by davidbdale

Your Definition Essay Rewrite is due TUE MAR 27. To make sure you have a rewrite showing responsiveness to feedback for your Portfolio, you’ll rewrite your Definition Argument and your Rebuttal Argument. You will not revise your Causal Argument.

Revised Schedule:

  • 1000 words THU MAR 08 Definition Argument (or Evaluation Argument)
  • Rewrite Definition Argument TUE MAR 27
  • 1000 words TUE APR 03 Rebuttal Argument
  • Rewrite Rebuttal Argument TUE APR 10
  • 1000 words THU APR 12 Causal Argument
  • 3000 words THU APR 19 Research Position Paper

Works Cited
As discussed in class, please use hybrid citations for your Works Cited. Use MLA format for the publication and date details, and link your spelled-out title to the article itself. Check the links yourself to be sure they lead back to a page we can all access (even if it’s the page in the databases that “launches” the actual document).

I’ve posted a Sample Works Cited and linked it to the Resources category and the A08: Definition Essay category in the sidebar.

ASSIGNMENT SPECIFICS

  • Be sure to respond to your instructor’s feedback. Style changes and grammar corrections are fine, but you’ll need to make substantial changes to your essay as well to improve your grade.
  • “No change” rewrites might even be graded lower than the original.
  • Include a “hybrid” Works Cited.
  • Title your post Definition Rewrite—Author Name.
  • Publish your definition essay in the A11: Definition Essay Rewrite category.

GRADE DETAILS

  • DUE TUE MAR 27 before class.
  • Customary late penalties. (0-24 hours 10%) (24-48 hours 20%) (48+ hours, 0 grade)
  • Shorter Arguments grade category (20%)
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A10: Sources 6-10

Posted on March 23, 2012 by davidbdale

I have little to say about this assignment, which should make you happy. Its purpose is to provide a little early pressure to gather your best resources before the inevitable end-of-semester crunch. If your first five sources are still valuable to you, and you find good material in sources six to ten, you’ll be much further along in your research project than most of us are with more than a month to go before the ultimate deadline!

Remember, you’re not obligated to keep these sources if your research takes a turn. Present them to me here in good faith, please, but if you don’t need them in the end (and if you replace them with sources more interesting, more valuable, or more credible), I won’t mind at all that you’ve dumped them.

ASSIGNMENT SPECIFICS

Identify and link to 5 new sources. Especially if you’re light on academic sources, beef up your credibility by Academic Search Premier (or any of the library’s database) to find your new material. Eventually, whatever you do now, you’ll need a majority of academic sources.

Post your sources in the A10: Sources 6-10 Category.

GRADE DETAILS

DUE THU MAR 22 before class.
Customary late penalties. (0-24 hours 10%) (24-48 hours 20%) (48+ hours, 0 grade)
Research Process grade category (10%)

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Sources 6-10 – Bill Brooks

Posted on March 22, 2012 by billbrooks175

Sources 6-10

6. Derivation, propagation and controlled differentiation of human embryonic stem cells in suspension.

This article provides information on how stem cells are obtained from the embryo and also the methods by which they are utilized.  It also gives a lot of useful information on the process that embryonic cells take to release their full potential.

How I intend to use it: I will use this article to depict the science behind stem cells in order to give the reader a better background of the techniques used in this field.

7. Photographic Framing in the Stem Cell Debate

This article views the stem cell debate in moral and political terms.  By using eye tracking software in addition to polls and surveys this article breaks down the political issues and how a politician is able to sway public opinion in his favor by altering the wording

How I intend to use it: I will use this article to show how unjust the political world can be, and how a lifesaving science fell victim to the political machine.  I can use this article to move away from the scientific side of things in order to address the reasons why it is illegal and why public opinion remains the way it does.

8. National risk signatures and human embryonic stem cell research in mainland China

Although this article is based around the practices in mainland China, there is a lot of useful information that can pertain to any country.  This article breaks down the risks associated with this type of stem cell research from moral to physical and everything in between.  It also touches on bioethics which asks the question “should this be done?” as opposed to just asking how it is done.

How I intend to use this:  This article will be crucial when describing the risks of using this technology versus not using it.  For example, there is a section in this article dedicated to the risks associated with falling behind in the medical community if a country does not utilize all available technologies and practices.

9. Beyond the ‘Embryo Question’

This focus of this article is on the bioethics of stem cell research and more importantly on the ethical issues concerning the donation of human tissues for use in research.  It also has a subsection about the “value and waste” in tissue donation.

How I intend to use it: this article will be very useful in determining and examining the ethics surrounding stem cell research without the aspect of politics.  Examining ethics and politics separately will ensure no bias is placed on the information.

10. Biology. Eighth ed. Boston: Benjamin Cummings, 2011.

I will use specific sections of this biology book to describe different aspects of cell development, gestation periods, and the embryo itself.  The information in the book will help me to address the scientific side of stem cell research but also the moral and political aspect as well.

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