Reflective – clementine

Posted on November 30, 2020 by clementine102

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

I met this goal by asking for feedback on my definition essay I wrote in October. When I first started writing about my argument, I did not know how to make my essays flow. Recently, I looked back on this essay to see how I could improve my rewrite and I was appalled by my work! I requested feedback from Professor Hodges for the definition essay so that I would be open to what he had to say and I have implemented his advice into my rewrite. He told me that I needed to stay on topic and to remove every concept that was unnecessary to my original argument. My reaction to my old writing piece made me realize that I have developed my writing skills exponentially.

https://rucomp2.com/2020/10/12/definition-clementine-2/

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

In my research position paper, I had to do extensive reading on the phycological aspect in mothers after having an abortion. There was not many sources on this topic, but I found one source that was a gold mine. The article by PloS one had lots of concepts and ideas that I needed to put together on my own. The article was about a study done on woman with their decision making on abortion. I narrowed their thirty page concept down to a paragraph. I used the results and some of the authors input to create an analogy that still aligned with my argument and their argument at the same time. Correctly implementing their ideas to mine was very critical for my research position paper.

https://rucomp2.com/2020/11/18/research-clementine/

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

In my rebuttal rewrite paper, I demonstrate my awareness to who my audience is. Overtime, I started to get an idea that it would be mostly woman reading my paper who are questioning on having an abortion. Whenever I made a claim, I thought about how my readers’ would react to my claims, and in the next sentence, I debunk what I think they are already thinking. I use this technique of mine countless of times so that they have no choice to keep reading. My knowledge of knowing my audience is very powerful because my paper is more persuasive to them. I strategically placed my arguments against my own rhetorical rebuttals so that my readers would feel more connected to what I have to say.

https://rucomp2.com/2020/11/30/rebuttal-rewrite-clementine/

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

My bibliography desriptions clearly show the variety of references I used in my paper. I have located sources from credible doctors, credible news reports, reliable institutions, and universities. With all of the statistics in these sources, I have extracted concepts and ideas of my own that support my argument. I also used sources that don’t directly relate to my own argument but oddly, I made them support my argument without twisting information. I have also not directly quoted sources but analyzed the sources’ information with my own words. I present information to my audience and correctly wrap the information with my own ideas. The descriptions in my bibliography allow the readers to see that I have incorporated my own ideas to the research that I have made.

https://rucomp2.com/2020/11/16/bibliography-clementine/

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

I absolutely hate when writers twist information that other researchers have conducted so that it can benefit them. I think it is so unethical and shows so much disrespect to the original writer. I make sure in my research position paper that I explain my references the way the authors would want people to explain their work to others. I think this is the ethical writing rule every respected writer should follow. I made sure that I properly cited my sources in my paper so I would not take any credit for their work whatsoever. I also made sure that at least one reference point is mentioned in my paper instead of stating all of the information for a singular source. I can strongly say that I tried my absolute best in respecting other writers and researchers work in my argument piece.

https://rucomp2.com/2020/11/18/research-clementine/

Posted in clementine, Portfolio Clementine, Reflective | Leave a comment

Self-Reflective Statement:Hailthegreat8

Posted on November 30, 2020 by hailthegreat8

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

I think I have met the core values this semester. I have asked for feedback from professor David Hodges on most of my assignments; my research papers is the one he gave the most crucial input. Professor David Hodges showed me how to cite my sources correctly, improve my thesis, and improve my sentence structure. He gave me a better understanding of what I needed to fix to improve my paper. I was confused when I started writing my research paper, and I didn’t know what I was doing, but thanks to my Professor, I believe I made my essay the best it can be.

Reseach–https://rucomp2.com/2020/11/19/research-hailthegreat8/

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

I believe I have met the core value. I know I haven’t mastered the art yet, but the assignment stone money should show how I was doing initially. The assignment was pretty confusing; I had to read the article and listen to the audio multiple times to get a general understanding of everything, but I believe I explained everything and completed the assignment even though it was difficult for me. I think my writing has improved since then.

Stone Money–https://rucomp2.com/2020/09/24/stone-money-hailthegreat8/

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

I believe I have met the requirement for this core value. In the first Visual rhetoric assignment I worked on at the beginning of the semester, I was confused and didn’t detail what was going on in the video. I also messed up and talked about the sounds I heard in the video. I found out later that I wasn’t supposed to describe the sounds when professor David Hodges left feedback. This assignment was a lesson for me. I need to pay closer attention to the direction my professor lays out. I did far better on my Visual Rhetoric rewrite because of the professor’s feedback. I went into more detail about the video; I described every little detail and looking more in the video; for example, at the beginning of the video, I explained everything I saw, the food, the surrounding, the objects I saw in the background, the facial expression and much more.

Visual Rhetoric Rewrite–https://rucomp2.com/2020/11/30/visual-rhetoric-rewrite-2/

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

The best example I have that meets the requirement is my research paper. The topic I decided to pick was challenging because I didn’t know what I was going to explain, but after discussing it more with my professor, I understood what I was going to write about. I researched more about my topic and found facts and people’s experiences on this topic, and I put everything I researched together to write my paper. Professor David Hodges gave me feedback also to help me improve my writing more.

Reseach–https://rucomp2.com/2020/11/19/research-hailthegreat8/

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation.

I think my best work that fits with this core is my annotated bibliography. When I was doing this assignment, I had to explain all my sources correctly and cite every website correctly. I needed to make sure that the background was informative and understandable; on my “How I used it,” I showed what I learned from my cite to explain my topic clearly. My professor’s feedback also helped me improve my annotated bibliography.

Annotated Bibliography–https://rucomp2.com/2020/11/16/annotated-bibliography-hailthegreat8/

Posted in Bibliography, hailthegreat8, Portfolio HailTheGreat8 | Leave a comment

Rebuttal Rewrite – clementine

Posted on November 30, 2020 by clementine102

Consequences of Giving Birth to Unwanted Children

The goal for most woman, in fact all people, is to have a satisfactory life. We can also say that we would do anything it takes, if is laid out before us, to improve or increase the status of our life. For some pregnant woman who know they can’t support their baby, think that having abortion will improve their quality of life. The effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome and many other mental health issues on woman who have had an abortion in their third trimester have clearly proven that having a third trimester abortion is not satisfactory. Since third trimester abortions are proven to have a substantial impact on mothers’ mental health, many people would encourage the alternative of giving birth, but giving birth to an unwanted baby is a terrible burden to the mother, but the unwanted child suffers tremendously more. 

            Unintended pregnancies have been a leading factor to mother’s neglecting wanting to bear a child. A study done in the report by Doctor Logan and many other doctors resulted in finding that the rate of unintended pregnancy has been increasing since 1994. More and more unwanted children are being born which is very concerning. Surprisingly, giving birth to an unwanted child affects the child physically. More research done by these doctors have shown that children born from unintended pregnancies have poorer physical health than those whose births were intended. They found that children from unintended pregnancies are more likely to have poor health. The children are also preformed to be not too active or not active enough at age four, compared with children from intended pregnancies. Additionally, unwanted children whose mothers attempted twice to have an abortion are more likely to be overweight at age 9 than those whose mothers accepted the pregnancy. These physical consequences on the child are pretty substantial, especially if the child has poor health. If a woman can’t support health expenses, she will feel as though she is neglecting the child even more. 

            Along with physical consequences of being an unwanted child, there is also behavioral outcomes if the mother gives birth to the child and keeps it. Most younger unwanted children do not suffer behavioral consequences since they are unaware that they were/are even unwanted. The age an unwanted child suffers from behaviorally is adolescence. Baydar concluded that unwanted children in their adolescence suffer serious delinquency. The behavioral state of an unwanted child mainly depends on the mother-child relationship with many other factors.

The mother-child relationship plays a key role in how the child will develop behaviorally. In the article “Unwanted Childbearing, Health, and Mother-Child Relationships,” their research indicates that wanted children have better relationships with their mothers throughout childhood and even into adulthood than children who were unwanted by their mothers. Mothers who had an unwanted pregnancy spank their children more frequently and Doctor Logan found one study that concluded unwanted children are more likely to be a victim of physical abuse as well. The negative relationship between unintended births and mother-child relationships continues into adulthood. Unwanted children felt that their mother’s affection was not enough because they know the pre-destined relationship the mother had in mind when she was pregnant with them. Overall, this research concludes that unwanted children are susceptible to lower quality relationships between their mothers. There was another research done by Najman Hayatbakhsh who studied 4,765 unwanted pregnancy children’s behavior up to when they turned 14. In this study, Hayatbakhsh monitored anxiety, depression, aggression, externalizing, delinquency, attention problems, withdrawal problems, cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, and many more. He found that the highest issues in these children at 14 were externalizing, cigarette smoking, and alcohol drinking. All of the issues listed were still high but the three that he highlighted were the most prevalent. This shows that having an unwanted pregnancy doesn’t just affect the child phytologically and physically, it also affects them behaviorally. 

Along with the unwanted child suffering, an unwanted child being born into a family affects the whole family negatively. Barber suggests that the mother would suffer from depression, perceive time pressures that prevent them from spending time with all of their children, and experience lower quality spousal relationships. We all know that having parental issues affects the whole home no matter what which ultimately will lead their intended pregnancy children to feel unwanted. Having parental issues could also result in divorce which would in turn bring distress to the children, especially the unwanted children. 

Arriving at the decision to go through with an unwanted pregnancy is a hard decision in itself. Once the unwanted child is born, it is intertwined into the mother’s life. Giving birth to an unwanted child might be very inconvenient for the mother’s career path or lifestyle, but the mother’s lifestyle is not an excuse to be neglectful to their child. Giving birth to an unwanted child lets a hard life walk right into the child’s door. With this information, it is easy to conclude that the unwanted child will suffer from physical, mental, and behavioral battles.

References 

Logan, C., Ph. D., Holocombe, E., Manlove, J., Ph. D., & Ryan, S., Ph. D. (2007). The Consequences of Unintended Childbearing (pp. 1-5-6, Rep.). Child Trends. doi:12/1/20

Baydar, N. (1995). Consequences for Children of Their Birth Planning Status. Family Planning Perspectives, 27(6), 228-245. doi:10.2307/2136174

  Barber, Axinn. “Unwanted Childbearing, Health, and Mother-Child Relationships.” Journal of health and social behavior 40.3 (1999): 231–257. Web.

  Hayatbakhsh, Najman. “A Longitudinal Study of Child Mental Health and Problem Behaviours at 14 Years of Age Following Unplanned Pregnancy.” Psychiatry research 185.1 (2010): 200–204. Web.

Posted in clementine, Portfolio Clementine, Rebuttal Rewrite | Leave a comment

Reflective-shadowswife

Posted on November 30, 2020 by shadowswife

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

This core value had a significant impact on all of my assignments. The feedback that I was given provided me with constructive criticism to help me analytically assess my work. One example of how this core value applies to me is my visual rhetoric assignment. There were a few things in the assignment I did not do correctly that I have completely missed. The feedback that I received from my professor pointed me in the right direction to understand what I need to correct and how to properly expand on my ideas and provide some examples to make them more clear. I was a bit disheartened with the amount of feedback I received for each assignment, but I know that not everything can be perfect and there is always room for improvement.

Original: https://rucomp2.com/2020/10/19/visual-rhetoric-shadowswife/

Rewrite: https://rucomp2.com/2020/11/11/visual-rewrite-shadowswife/

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities.

I believe that this core value resonated with the rebuttal argument the most. I evaluated oppositions towards my argument and tried to interpret the author’s opinion in order to address it. It helped me better understand what has value in culture and determine what is ethically bad or good when incorporating one’s culture based on examples. One example that was commonly used was Kylie Jenner’s cornrow controversy and how it was interpreted differently amongst users. Many believed that she was respecting culture while others thought she was exploiting it. Although, I found it to be more difficult to distinguish the difference between each of the authors’ oppositions on cultural appropriation because their arguments were very similar. It was small details in their arguments that better helped me figure out how each opposing side contrasts.

Original: https://rucomp2.com/2020/11/08/rebuttal-essay-shadowswife/#comment-3383

Rewrite: https://rucomp2.com/2020/12/03/rebuttal-rewrite-shadowswife/

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

This core value is also showcased in the rebuttal essay. I had to take a deep assessment of the information provided on both sides. I wanted to be certain that I provided in an objective manner the spirit of what the authors wanted to relay. The rebuttal essay pushed me to examine whether I had sufficient examples to demonstrate an objective and equitable argument for both sides. I was able to show both sides of the argument and provide examples of what something is supposed to be and how people can interpret it differently. Another challenge in this essay was that as I did the research, I already felt strongly about a certain side so staying objective towards both sides was difficult. Some examples would be how people believe that cultural appropriation is cultural appreciation or the argument that the use of a culture is all for a business.

Original: https://rucomp2.com/2020/11/08/rebuttal-essay-shadowswife/#comment-3383

Rewrite: https://rucomp2.com/2020/12/03/rebuttal-rewrite-shadowswife/

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

This core value gave me a lot of difficulty with my essays. However, I believe the annotated bibliography is more involved with this core value. I needed to select research that identified major topics that are relevant to my hypothesis. I struggled a lot with finding decent resources that were scholarly and properly analyze my research and cite it appropriately. I had to look through a large amount of websites and digital files to find the kind of information that could support my arguments. However, what made me very nervous about the research was how the majority of my search results were from popular sites. Eventually, I managed to find articles that provide good information and examples for both cultural appropriation and appreciation. I was also able to evaluate persuasive types of writing.

Bibliography: https://rucomp2.com/2020/11/16/bibliography-shadowswife/#comment-3734

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation.

I believe that my definition essay best resonates with this core value. After I was given the feedback from my professor, I was a bit distressed with how I made the one mistake I was trying to avoid when it comes to writing an essay. I misinterpreted how I am supposed to properly cite my work which led me to do the exact opposite by accident. I went back to this essay and attempted to properly cite each of the participants. In addition, I tried to provide the arguments responsibly so that way they were objective and in the author’s voice. This led me to become more cautious about citing my work properly by making it my first priority when I am about to incorporate it.

Original: https://rucomp2.com/2020/10/12/definition-shawdowswife/

Rewrite: https://rucomp2.com/2020/12/01/definition-rewrite-shadowswife/

Posted in Portfolio ShadowsWife, Reflective, shadowswife | Leave a comment

Reflective – l8tersk8ter

Posted on November 30, 2020 by l8tersk8ter

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

I took advantage of the professors feedback opportunities. After writing first drafts of assignments I used the Feedback Please category and left comments to ask for what specifically I was looking for. I used the feedback that I asked for as well as what was offered outside of my requests to benefit me and improve my writing. I was able to consider outside thinking that I may not have come up with on my own. I also used the Professor Conferences when first creating a hypothesis to help brainstorm. Having the professors input and challenging of my hypothesis helped me narrow down and specify a topic that I wanted to focus on. I kept my mind open throughout the semester that everything I write has the potential to be improved. I demonstrated my responsiveness to feedback in my Definition Rewrite.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities.

I achieved this through analysis of all the journal articles I used in my short arguments. I read through the texts but also delved in deeper to analyze what other authors write and how it can help support the hypothesis I created. I made sure to express other authors thoughts in the context they were written and not manipulate them just to fit my arguments. I demonstrated this value specifically in my Rebuttal Argument. I was able to critically read about a side opposing to my thoughts and opinions and find ways I could refute it to validate my points. I had to thoughtfully consider the other side in order to fully reject it.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

In the Claims assignment I took a single paragraph from an article and analyzed the rhetoric. I was able to break the paragraph up by claims. I had to identify the claim based off what it seemed like the author was trying to say, deciding which type of claim was being made forced me to think about the authors intention, such as who they were trying to influence. I explained my decisions for which claim category I assigned to each sentence and what brought me to that conclusion, as well as it effectiveness in clearly portraying it. In all of my works in general I had to carefully consider what the author of any text I read was trying to say before doing anything with the text (paraphrasing, refuting, evaluating, etc.)

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

When finding sources for my short arguments I had to distinguish between high- and low-quality articles. Not all sources that pertain to a specific topic are reliable. I had to be careful with which sources I decided to use so that I was not using weakly supported information. When I did choose sources that I decided were good, I had to read through them to find the information that would be helpful to me. This is demonstrated in my Bibliography. The background information included was the information from my sources that I found useful. Keeping everything in context, I evaluated only the parts of the articles that I would use in my arguments so that there was not useless information that could lead to confusion.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

In my Research Paper I demonstrated my ethical responsibilities. I included references of all sources that I used in my paper with proper citations and links to the sources. I also used in-text citations to properly credit the paraphrasing to who and where it came from. I stayed true to the sources I was using and as previously stated represented other authors ideas in the context with which they were written. I did not just use the ideas of others but included my own in a conversational way. I reacted to the sources that I read with my thoughts that helped advance my argument. I was considerate of the information that I was using and used it to justify my points without manipulating it to be falsely presented.

Posted in l8tersk8ter, Portfolio L8terSk8ter, Reflective | Leave a comment

Definition Rewrite – gooferious

Posted on November 30, 2020 by gooferious

Mental Illness in Today’s Society

Mental illness is a topic that some people would consider controversial. Some might say that those who suffer from a mental illness are not fit to function in society. Others would say that they are people who have overcame an obstacle that has stunted them in some way. The actual definition of a mental illness reads: a disorder that can cause psychological and behavioral disturbances with varying severities. This explanation while appears frightening in actuality only states that those who suffer from a mental illness are simply living in a different state of mind and thinking. This however is not always bad, as thinking differently can be a pro in today’s society. One would think that someone with a mental illness is crazy or not suitable for certain aspects of life, to that statement the only word I can say is that it’s ignorant. As a society, we should push on the idea that therapy can and should be an option for those who have endured traumatic experiences.

Whether we like to admit it or not, society definitely plays a huge role in how mental illness is depicted. Many people worldwide suffer from some form of mental illness. It’s definitely not uncommon to know someone or be someone who has a mental illness. While it is considered an illness, that doesn’t always incapacitate that person from doing their daily activities and routines. According to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America (ADAA), anxiety disorders affect 40 million adults (aged 18+) in the United States alone. That number would be equal to filling up the city of New York roughly about four times. If 40 million Americans suffer some degree of mental illness, they must function well and hold down jobs for the most part; otherwise, we’d have a hard time holding our society together. Anxiety while it can be considered a defect, does not define a person and it can be treated and overcome with professional help. While this specific disorder is highly treatable, only about 37% of those affected seek help. Other disorders include: Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Specific Phobias, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder and the list goes on. What we can infer is that it’s perfectly common to live in today’s world with a mental illness.

How does one develop a mental disorder you might ask, well it varies from a complex set of factors that include: genetics, brain chemistry, personality & life events. The majority of the time, the cause for a mental disorder usually comes from life events and/or personality. Another thing that isn’t normally discussed is that some people who suffer from a mental illness usually suffer from more than one. Should it be anxiety and depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, depression and bipolar disorder, or even all three! So many people suffer from multiple ones but they are living with it and yet still prospering in life. Having these mental illnesses’ can only further drive a person to want to be successful in life, to prove society wrong and come out on top.

James P. McNulty wrote an article titled Commentary: Mental Illness, Society, Stigma, and Research. In said article, McNulty is a middle aged man who suffers from bipolar disorder. McNulty started off his article with a definition of stigma which reads: A mark of disgrace or infamy upon a person or thing. As McNulty grew older, his mood swings would worsen. It would eventually lead up to him unable to work, ending his marriage, losing his business and becoming homeless. The only asset that McNulty still owned was his car, he would eventually be living out of it when he became homeless. After a suicide attempt at the age of 38, McNulty decided to reach out for State help for his bipolar disorder. McNulty was suggested to sell his last owning asset, his four-year old car to increase the chance of being considered as one of the state’s patients. When he asked how he would travel back and forth from work once rehabilitated he was told “Don’t worry about going back to work. People like you don’t go back to work.” This was McNulty’s first experience with stigma regarding his mental illness. Stigma towards people who suffer from mental illnesses have pernicious and deleterious effects. This misconception that McNulty experienced is not precise at all as it is inferencing that those with a mental disorder are forever damaged and cannot be helped. Many changes need to be made to acknowledge those who have a mental illness are not crazy and are simply human beings who struggle a little bit more than usual but can definitely still get the job done. McNulty goes on to speak about seeing an article published in the Daily Trentonian which featured an image of a burning psychiatric hospital with the title “Roasted Nuts”. Jokes like the one presented in the Daily Trentonian are not only disrespectful to hard-working people who overcome their diagnosis, but also clearly inaccurate. Advocacy communities for mental health awareness and professionals alike did not appreciate the desensitized article.

While there are many negative effects that come with having a mental illness, staying positive and finding the good from having a mental illness graciously help. Anna Lente published an article titled 12 Benefits of Having a Mental Illness that lists twelve reasons why those with a mental illness should try to find the good and helpfulness that comes with this burden. The twelve benefits are listed below:

  1. The deep friendship/brotherhood with diverse and beautiful warriors of mental illness
  2. Being able to encourage others
  3. Appreciating small acts of kindness
  4. Appreciating the good days
  5. Knowing who your real friends are
  6. Being ready to handle whatever life throws at them
  7. Inspiring creativity
  8. Teaches those to think creatively to solve problems
  9. Makes life more interesting
  10. That sense of brokenness allows others to be real/open with you
  11. The emotional strength and courage gained by managing a mental illness
  12. Being better equipped to be a counselor

This list proves that even though one is at constant battle within themselves, people who have mental illnesses matter and actually do think of those around them. Being able to find a way to help others while sometimes not being able to help yourself is extremely selfless and inspiring. I only hope to one day be able to extend this form of gratitude upon others when needed and to continue for as long as humanly possible.

References

Facts & Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2020, from https://adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics

Lente, A. (n.d.). 12 Benefits of Having a Mental Illness. Retrieved October 10, 2020, from https://themighty.com/2017/05/benefits-of-having-a-mental-illness/

McNulty, J. P. (n.d.). Commentary: Mental Illness, Society, Stigma, and Research. Retrieved October 10, 2020, from https://bit.ly/2Uybv4w

Posted in Definition Rewrite, gooferious, Portfolio Gooferious | Leave a comment

Causal Rewrite – l8tersk8ter

Posted on November 30, 2020 by l8tersk8ter

Competitive Teams Improve Adolescent Life Skills

Any participation in competitive team activities, but specifically among adolescents, will result in literal winners and losers, but figuratively there are no real losers. Both teams can face setbacks with either outcome but are given the opportunity to learn and improve. Just because the team wins does not mean they had a perfect performance, and if the team loses that does not mean they did awful. They can learn and improve in both their activity specific skills as well as social and general life skills leading to a desirable increase in self-esteem of adolescents. Participation on a competitive team of any kind will benefit adolescents by arming them with social skills and life skills they need to navigate this period of their life.

The percentage of adolescents that are currently not engaged in any extracurricular activities is low, meaning only this small number of students would need to be convinced to become involved in a competitive team activity. In an analysis of adolescent extracurricular activity, Andrew M. Guest and Nick McRee state that around 75% of youths in grades 7 through 12 already participate in at least one extracurricular activity during the school year. Therefore if high schools required students to participate in a competitive team activity then a large percentage of adolescents would already be on board. Even if their current extracurricular is not of competitive nature, it can be assumed since these teenagers are willing to be involved, they will be open to competition based. This means only a small 25% of adolescents in this age range would potentially oppose starting a competitive team activity.

Mark Leary discusses in his chapter on self-esteem importance that psychologists have three main assumptions about aiming for positive self-esteem. The first is that it is universally accepted that people want to enhance self-esteem. Human nature pushes us towards wanting to feel good about ourselves. The second is that it is more desirable to have a high self-esteem, once again wanting to feel good rather than bad. The third is that raising a low self-esteem can improve the well mental wellbeing of a person as a result of a more positive mindset. People that have a high self-esteem have been found to have better social skills, be more adaptive, and have overall more socially acceptable interactions. The development of self-esteem through competitive activities is one way these activities are beneficial to adolescents.

The self-perception of success is what can help raise the self-esteem of adolescents despite the overall outcome of their teams event. According to a case study by Pedersen and Seidman on self-esteem development of adolescent girls, when the teen girls got involved in sports their self-evaluations increased to a more positive nature. In the case study they had the girls take assessments that measured their personal view of themselves overall before and after being involved. It was hypothesized and proven that the self-perception of success in a team sport can be connected to the global self-esteem of adolescent girls. The most important part of the findings is that self-perceived success pushes self-esteem in the right direction. This does not always mean success in the competitive match but could also be micro successes in personal goals. For example, answering more questions right during academic club than they did last time. Even if the teen still gets some wrong, they are happy with the improvement and success they are able to achieve. Or if they are struggling to improve, they can learn to change their mindset to be easy on themselves and acknowledge they are trying their best. Afterall, no one can excel at every task they take on. The positive self-evaluations in the study led to an increase in general positive self-esteem. Simple pride in ones actions can positively influence the way someone feels about themselves, and eventually lead to a confidence that will help them thrive.

Guest and McRee, in their study of extracurriculars, warn of the potential for any possible benefits of competitive teamwork to completely disappear if the activities are not properly constructed. An important way to avoid overpowering of the negative is by the proper guidance of coaches, club leaders and even parents or other family members. These influential adults in the adolescents’ lives need to be encouraging and willing to teach the life lessons that are available. Most importantly, school administration requiring the competitive team involvement need to carefully select the coaches and teams leaders. These positions should be filled with those that can maximize the benefits and positive outcomes of the participation. Constant tearing down of players and participants by poorly chosen coaches and leaders will harm the adolescents mentally instead of helping them.

An example of a well-appointed coach is seen in the case study of youth learning life skills through high school sport involvement written by Nicholas Holt, et al. This study followed a boys high school soccer team, players and coaches, through their academics and athletics to see if their sport participation benefited them in their day-to-day life. The head coach in this study valued the philosophy of developing personal relationships with the players. He was not just a coach there to do a job but took on the role of a mentor that all coaches should strive to be. He found it important to teach his players that even when one cannot change a situation, they can change their attitude about the situation. It is this concept that turns failure into success. While the game or match may go in the books as a loss, the lessons learned from the setbacks are positive outcomes in the midst of disappointment. A coach focused on teaching how to find the positives in that situation is important to teaching the valuable lesson needed of not dwelling in defeat. Very few people make it through life without experiencing a setback or some type of adversity. When this happens there is always the option to give up and succumb to the failure. If these adolescents are taught through competition how to cope properly and move forward from disappointment then in the future, they will be more likely to keep pushing towards success.

References

Guest, Andrew M., and Nick McRee. “A School-Level Analysis of Adolescent Extracurricular Activity, Delinquency, and Depression: The Importance of Situational Context.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence, vol. 38, no. 1, 2008, pp. 51–62., doi:10.1007/s10964-008-9279-6.

Holt, Nicholas L., et al. “Do Youth Learn Life Skills through Their Involvement in High School Sport? A Case Study.” Canadian Journal of Education, vol. 31, no. 2, May 2008, pp. 281–304. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=508035517&site=ehost-live.

Leary, Mark R. “The Social and Psychological Importance of Self-Esteem.” The Social Psychology of Emotional and Behavioral Problems: Interfaces of Social and Clinical Psychology., American Psychological Association, 1999, pp. 197–221. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/10320-007

Pedersen, Sara, and Edward Seidman. “Team Sports Achievement and Self-Esteem Development Among Urban Adolescent Girls.” Psychology of Women Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 4, 2004, pp. 412–422., doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2004.00158.x.

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Definition Rewrite – l8tersk8ter

Posted on November 30, 2020 by l8tersk8ter

Adolescents as a Vulnerable Population

Adolescents are in a period of life that is unavoidable and runs risk of shaping their futures in a negative way. While there are a plethora of experiences adolescents encounter during this period of time, one of the most common milestones is the high school experience. According to the Education Data Organization on school enrollment statistics, as of 2018 there were 15.8 million students enrolled in secondary/high school, with the rate of enrollment trending up. While that does not include every teenager in the nation, almost 16 million is a significantly notable number of teenagers in schools. Focusing on this population of adolescents that are enrolled in a school, attention can be brought to mental vulnerability of this age group. Teenagers are a population of people that are very unique from their preceding and succeeding age groups. They have vast differences from the children they are growing up from being and the adults they are growing into. Their minds are developing and new life experiences can influence them strongly. They are at high risk of mental issues if not properly guided, which is why they can be considered a vulnerable population.

It is important to first understand the concept of a vulnerable population. In the article “Defining and Measuring Vulnerability in Young People,” the authors state that the literal definition of vulnerability means the state or condition of being weak or poorly defended. Basically, the people that fall into these categories of vulnerable populations are susceptible to adversity. There is a high chance that a problem will arise among these people as opposed to among the people that are not included in a vulnerable population. Holly R. Farley in her assessment of adolescent mental health identifies that the most commonly considered vulnerable populations are ethnic minorities, low SES, the LGBTQ+ community, and people with disabilities, all circumstances out of the individuals control. In the case of adolescents, the population they are grouped with is definitely not a choice considering no one can decide what age they would like to be. A person will inevitably go through their teenage years whether they want to or not.

One of the vulnerabilities teenagers as a population face is to mental health illnesses. According to Farley’s assessment of mental health, a big reason adolescents are a vulnerable population is because they are in a prime developmental stage. Most teenagers experience the feeling of being awkwardly stuck in the middle of childhood and adulthood. They are becoming too old to be treated like a child but are not yet old enough to be treated like an adult. This is their transition stage from one level of maturity to the next and it is accompanied by a lot of pressure. The teenagers have gained more responsibilities than they previously had both in school and at home. On top of that the intensity of school has increased and suddenly they have to learn organization and time management. There is no longer someone holding their hand and guiding them the way they were used to.

Another risk factor to mental health during this developmental stage is the social pressures. In the article about defining and measuring vulnerability the authors Shah, Dheeraj, et al. allude specifically to the vulnerability of young people as being found among those more exposed to risks than their surrounding peers. Some teenagers may find their place quicker or already have an established friend group that they have to rely on in any social situations that may arise. But the risk is higher for the teenagers that have to try to establish themselves and those friendships, whether it be they just never really had close friends or they are at a school that none of their friends attend. These adolescents can be pressured into doing things that they do not actually want to do as an attempt to fit in and have friends. They are easily shaped by the environment around them as they try to conform to what they think they are supposed to be. This also is tied with the next risk factor because of their potential choices of bad behavior to fit in.

Teenagers are vulnerable not only to their environment, but also to themselves. While the decisions they make can be attributed to the social pressures they experience, at the end of the day they do have free will and choose to make decisions. Some of the influencing factors that Farley lists are the want to fit in and exploration of sexual identity. Their longing to fit in is probably the biggest inducer of self-destruction. They could go to the extreme and get involved with substances like drugs and alcohol or could engage in minor delinquencies like cracking jokes in class at the expense of their reputation and success. While trying to explore their sexuality they could become involved in situations they are not quite ready for in order to combat feeling like an outsider when “everyone else is doing it.” They could also face challenges of coming to terms with a sexual preference that they may not feel is accepted but that they ultimately do not have a choice to decide. This could lead them to doing things to avoid this feelings or having to deal with rejection if they do not fit a societal norm (although in this age all sexualities are more of a norm). Without guidance, these teenagers can dig themselves in holes too deep to get out of and become sent on the wrong path.

A prominent mental health illnesses the adolescents are vulnerable to is depression. Farley provides statistics that of the 12% of the US population that is made up of adolescents, 30% are reporting symptoms of depression each year. A striking statistic is that suicide is the second leading cause of death between ages 10-24, a range that starts just short of adolescence and goes just a few years past. These high rates of illness can be due to the fact that these teenage years are a time of physical and emotional changes, as previously discussed. Another large mental health issue is anxiety, which could be generalized or attributed to social interactions. The illness could inhibit the ability to make friends or to get involved, which are important factors to the healthy development of adolescents. The vulnerability of teenagers can lead to the development of these mental illnesses if they are not giving the resources and opportunities to avoid the negative outcomes of adolescence.

References

Bustamante, Jaleesa. K-12 Enrollment Statistics [2020]: Totals by Grade Level + More. 6 Sept. 2019, educationdata.org/k12-enrollment-statistics.

Farley, Holly R. “Assessing Mental Health in Vulnerable Adolescents.” Nursing, vol. 50, no. 10, 2020, pp. 48–53., doi:10.1097/01.nurse.0000697168.39814.93.

Shah, Dheeraj, et al. “Defining and Measuring Vulnerability in Young People.” Indian Journal of Community Medicine, vol. 40, no. 3, 2015, p. 193., doi:10.4103/0970-0218.158868.

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Visual Rewrite—HailtheGreat8

Posted on November 30, 2020 by hailthegreat8

0:01-0:03 The video begins with the camera zoomed in on a half-eaten plate with a fork and a knife on top of it. It seems someone is eating breakfast dinner. The food looks good. There is a half glass of milk behind the plate and bowls on the table, and I believe a blue napkin behind the milk. The camera then cuts to a man with a nice haircut in a blue suit with a tie picking up a piece of his food. He’s probably eating after returning from work because of how his suit looks undone, tie, and wrinkled his clothes are. He then starts looking upstairs. His facial expression makes it seem that he’s a little annoyed about what’s going on up there. You then see a fridge with multiple pictures taped on it. It appears that a child drew those pictures. You can also see background tissue papers, bananas, a trash can, and a sink. He is eating his food in the kitchen.

0:04-0:08  The camera now shows where the man is at. He is in the kitchen; you can see the fridge and other objects behind him; you can also see another room on the right of him. It appears to be the living room. This is the man on the screen house. You see him eating his food; he is most likely eating dinner; you can’t tell what time it is because of their no clock, and they’re no window on the screen, but you can tell by his loose tie on his suit and his rolled-up sleeve, he came back from work. The man then starts moving, trying to get back into a comfortable position. His facial expression tells me he is still a little annoyed about what’s happing upstairs in his house; you don’t know what or who is upstairs. He suddenly jumps a bit from his seat; something startled him. Then he starts looking up again; you see his eyes start moving left and right while looking up. He’s thinking about what the person is doing upstairs.

0:09-0:15 The camera focuses on the man with the blue suit and the background kitchen. His head is slightly turned to the right as he continues to look up. His facial expression seems like he’s mad or worried about what’s going on upstairs. The camera then cuts to a hallway; you see a white wall on the left you can still so the man in the blue suit and the kitchen, you see that he’s sitting on a brown table there are four chairs, and across him, you see food laid out for someone, with the camera angle like this you see more of the kitchen there an oven and multiple spices on the cabinet, you also see pictures hanged upon the white wall. The man continues to look up, and you see him speak a couple of words because his mouth moves. 

 0:16-0:23 The camera starts to zoom in while the words “Never Stop Being A Dad” slowly appears as the color white on the screen. The man continues to look up, and he then looks down on the table; then “Never Stop Being A Dad” disappears from the screen while the camera continues to zoom in. The man looks to the right of himself, grabs his phone, unlocks it, and looks at it. The camera suddenly cuts to the screen of his cellphone. You see that he received a text from someone labeled “J” on his phone at 7:44 pm that confirms he’s been eating dinner this whole time. You also see previous text messages from “J.” He received a message at 2:22 pm and then sends a message to “J” at 7:24 pm; the text he sent is a little blurry. You don’t see the whole text; you only see “On my” we finally find out that he was eating dinner this entire time, not breakfast, as I thought during the beginning of the video. The text he got is a heart emoji with “U2” next to it while the camera still stays focused on the phone.

0:24-0:37 The camera then cuts to the man’s face, he shakes his head a little, and you see a small smile on his face while he puts his cellphone back on the table, then the words “Dedication” pops up fast on the screen in the color white. He picks up a piece of his food, closes his eyes and places it in his mouth, and starts chewing. Then an eagle in a circle and “ACF” pictures appear on the bottom left; the website “fatherhood.gov” appears in the middle, and an image with a family and the word “ad Council” appears on the right. The man continues to chew his food, looks up, and the video freezes until the end of the time at 0:37.

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Reflective-Sonnypetro

Posted on November 30, 2020 by sonnypetro29

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

Throughout the semester there has been a few times where I met this core value, the main one I can think of has to be my rebuttal paper. After posting it and asking for feedback from professor Hodges, he left me with feedback that would help me set myself up for success. He told me what I was doing right and what I needed to pay more attention to. He told me that I need to clarify my point a view so that I could catch the attention of the reader in the first paragraph. Professor Hodges gave me insightful feedback and I used his feedback to help me guide my research and make the best paper possible. Without Professor Hodges harsh but very fair feedback I believe that I used this core value well.

Rebuttal- Sonnypetro

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

I would have to say that Stone Money has been one of the readings that I analyzed the most throughout the year. The Podcast was an hour long and really got me thinking and it pushed me to think of things differently. I always saw money as one thing but after analyzing this pieces and putting words on the paper I believe that my work demonstrates the core value of critically reading and synthesizing ideas from other communities.

Stone Money- Sonnypetro29

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

I believe that I was able to show the third core value well in my visual rhetoric assignment. When given a short 30 second video with no sound I was able to analyze it and give the readers the ability to know what was happening without having to watch the video with sound. No matter how small a piece of the video was I included a lot of detail so the reader would not be confused in any way. Given this assignment it allowed me to learn more and focus on smaller details that really captures what’s going on.

Visual rewrite- Sonnypetro29

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

I would say the best example I have for this core value is my research paper. After visiting many sources and gathering a lot of information, I was able to narrow down my research paper and really evaluate what each source was giving me and how it would play into my work. I used different sources to help build a solid argument for my paper and without using this core value well my paper would be nowhere near where it is today.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

I used the fifth core value in my annotated Bibliography. When writing papers you come across many different articles and books that other people wrote, when you liked something in that article and you want to use to help better your argument you have to use proper sourcing. With the annoyed Bibliography it gives the sources and different summaries of the article and how we used it. Without the Annotated bibliography my work would not be credited to me and it would not be fair to the person who wrote the article. Without proper citation your work will not be yours. That’s why I stayed true to the fifth core value.

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