Assignment #9

The important elements that were discussed in chapter eight were clarity, coherence, conciseness, voice, delivery, punctuation, language usage, and layout. Reading about each of these different styles of writing will make my paper and future papers that I write much better. I would always just write and never had these things that were discussed in the back of my mind.

Often times when I think of clarity, I think of if my writing is clear to myself, not the potential reader. I need to make sure that my paper is clear to the audience that will be reading it. A way to do this is to have my paper edited by more than one person. They can give me feedback on if it is making sense to them or not.

I didn’t even know what coherence meant before I read about it. I always just thought that it meant awake or alert. But in regards to writing, it means having my paper make sense. It flows nicely from idea to idea and has nice transitions.

I have always just tried to fill up the amount of assigned pages assigned to write. As hard as it is, conciseness is important when writing. I need to be as powerful as I can in the least amount of space.

The importance of voice never really mattered to me because I didn’t really care. I just did the assignment. However, the more I look at it, it is important that my personality, writing style, and how I want readers to perceive me stays consistent throughout my paper. This means that quotations I use should somewhat be similar to my writing style and that I am able to effectively relate them to what I am saying.

Punctuation is just a way to end and connect sentences right? Wrong. After reading this section, I realized that punctuation really can affect the way a reader reads and feels about a statement. The reason I though of this was because of the examples given in the chapter eight. I need to better pay attention to my punctuation and think how it will potentially affect the reader.

I like how the book said that language use is to be used as linguistic etiquette. In my research paper, I need to be mindful of all types of people. To include everyone, I should use plural words such as them or us.

The book mentions that a good page layout can strongly affect the persuasion of a reader. I need to follow the instructions about the format of the paper so I can be a more persuasive writer.

Assignment #8

The topic I am going to write on is the use of steroids among college athletes. At first, I was just going to write on the use of steroids by all athletes. I thought that it was too broad so I narrowed it down to college athletes. I also feel that I can relate better to this narrowed topic because I am involved with drug tests.

So far I have used the Harold B. Lee Library as well as its website to start my research. I have looked at official NCAA documents pertaining to steroid abuse by college athletes and how the NCAA is trying to prevent the problem. Various articles talking about the subject have given me insight and a better knowledge on the topic that will help me best write this paper. I found an interesting website that has some journals from a college athlete on how he was able to use steroids and pass all of his drug tests. He talks about how far athletes will go so they can become bigger, stronger, and faster. They will do whatever it takes to get around these drug tests. I have also learned about the long lasting effects of steroid abusers and former users testimonies and how they wished they would have never used steroids. They say that they just get caught up in the present and don't look at the consequences down the road for both themselves and their potential families.

This research is just a small part of what I need to do for my research paper but it has given me a good start on the things I will write about. I will begin my outline soon so I can start my paper.

Assignment #7

Food
Fact: Do slaughter houses meet the regulations set by the government? Are they ethical in the way the kill animals?
Definition: What makes food organic? Is it better?
Quality: Does eating organic food make it better?
Procedure: What do we do about these issues?

Baseball
Fact: Do steroids in baseball really enhance the users performance? Or does it just make the user stronger?
Definition: How do steroids work? Do they hurt the user over time?
Quality: Does using steroids make you become an obvious better athlete than your opponents?
Procedure: What do we do about athletes that have used steroids? Should an asterisk be placed next to their names on Major League Baseball records and archives?

Shoes
Fact: Is it unfair that shoe companies pay citizens of countries outside of the United States to make shoes at very cheap wages?
Definition: How much do they get paid? Does this compare to typical American wages?
Quality: Does it matter where the shoes are made? Are they of the same quality?
Procedure: What is being done to prevent this unethical problem?

Video Games
Fact: Do video games take up too much time of peoples' lives? Does it lead to social problems?
Definition: How much time is spent on video games per person? What do different video games do to people?
Quality: Which video games lead to violence? Do the ratings really have an affect on who buys and uses the video game?
Procedure: How is this problem being resolved? Is any action being taken place?

I think I am leaning towards doing an in depth research about steroids in sports. I don't really know how it can tie to the environment, but maybe you and I can come up with a way that it does.

Assignment #6

Frankly, my feelings on rhetorical analysis aren’t that positive. I don’t see why anybody would care on what strategies and appeals to emotion are used to convince the reader and/or audience that the author’s argument is either effective or ineffective. I have never read an actual rhetorical analysis. I don’t see where people need them to judge an author’s argument. I am not saying that rhetoric isn’t used, because that is most definitely not the case as rhetoric is all around us and it is second nature to us that we hardly even recognize it.

When writing my paper, I was all burned out because I thought it was going to be extremely difficult. But when Mr. Keeley suggested that I find a quote that uses rhetoric and then I simply ask myself the question on why this quotation is effective at convincing my audience that the argument is successful. This made my paper that much easier to write. I would go over my paper asking myself that why question and that would not only help me lengthen my paper as well as give it a more in depth analysis. At the end, my paper was longer than the requirements and I had to edit parts out that either weren’t as strong or that didn’t apply best to the argument.

Some things that I gained from this assignment that I more than likely wouldn’t have learned elsewhere was recognizing what exactly rhetoric is and how it is used to convince various audiences on different persuasive topics. I was able to use this skill to write my paper.

This assignment has helped me recognize all of the rhetoric that is going on in the world. With the election coming up, various parties are trying to persuade the audience (or potential voters) who are the best candidates for leading and guiding our country. This also applies in ads, whether they be on the television, internet, or anywhere else people are trying to sell products to potential consumers. If I want a job, I need to do my best to persuade my employer that I am the best person for the job and I need to appeal to certain emotions the person that is interviewing me to sell myself. By studying the most effective ways of rhetoric, I have a better chance at landing a job that I am interested in and would love to have. I also see rhetoric often used in the media. If a news station like a university more than another, they will promote them on commercials or even on their newscasts. This is seen in Utah with KSL and ABC 4. KSL likes Brigham Young University while ABC 4 is most interested in the University of Utah. This persuades viewers to like the university that is being advertised more by their favorite news station.

However, all in all I thought that this assignment wasn’t that helpful to me. I think that another assignment could better help me throughout my college years. But I am glad to have finished it and looking head to the research paper or whatever assignment is coming up next.

Assignment #5

Environmental issues have always a very large part of society. People’s views are different and many confrontations have occurred because of these varying looks on things. Some people want the environment to go untouched while others could care less what resources are used, just as long as they get what they need when they want. The article “Arctic Eyewitness; When will we realize we can’t drill our way to cheap gas?” talks about one environmental issue that is currently in discussion. Is it ok to drill in The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge located in Alaska? The article discusses why it is not ok to do such a thing. The author by the name of Mary Essen is effective in his effort to convince his audience that the valued land in Alaska is definitely not ok to drill for oil.

Although the article that Essen wrote was published in a Buffalo, New York newspaper, I am going to say that his targeted audience is the American people, mainly oil users and potential voters. His main message is that drilling for oil in this precious land of Alaska because it harms the environment and the drilling will not help gas prices go down because the gas industry is a global economy and drilling in one part of the world, will not help the gas prices go down.

Mary Essen uses his ethos to help his argument be more valid and his attempt to convince the population that this drilling should be stopped. He has done lots of research regarding this topic and you know that by reading the article. He knows lots of information and facts about the issue that better supports his argument. He talks about Exxon Valdez and how oil spills harm the environment and that the Exxon Valdez spill in particular, can kill thousands of animals and destroy the habitat that many of these animals live in. He makes note of President George W. Bush’s unpopularity by saying, “What’s changed is that artificially high gas prices have made it easier for oil companies and the Bush administration to manipulate the Americans into supporting an energy policy that will lead to even greater oil industry profits.” He is looking down on President Bush’s administration by making it sound like he knows what is best for the American people and what president Bush is doing is completely wrong.

Essen talks about deity and how the Indian people view the land that is being drilled upon as the “sacred place where life begins.” This points out that God knows about this place and it should be treated with respect because it is a sacred place. Marty Essen relates his personal experience to the reader to help convince that he knows what he is talking about. He personally went to the location and spent time there and to see of its beauty. He and his wife were able to canoe down rivers on the The article makes the reader feel guilty and shameful for wanting lower gas prices and not for not really paying attention about the causes and effects that it would have on the environment. It also appeals to emotion by giving a very detailed description of the land that is being used for oil. Upon their arrival to the drilling sight, Essen describes, “A sickening brown haze told us we were nearing Prudhoe Bay.” This immediately put a vivid image in my mind that this beautiful land is being ruined by this nasty brown cloud of smoke. Nobody wants a thing of beauty to be destroyed by something that can potentially be stopped.

location and had the opportunity to admire the wild life that lives in the area.

Marty Essen appeals to emotion in many different ways. He makes the point, mentioned above, that drilling in Alaska will not drop the gas prices because gasoline is involved in a global economy. He says, “We can’t drill our way to cheap gas. We can, however, with only a minor conservation effort, save more oil than we’d ever pump out of the Arctic Refuge. And if we put a full effort into weaning ourselves off oil, we won’t be passing the problem on to future generations.” This points out that it will effect the future of America.

Essen also talks about that this may affect the wildlife near you. In this important land, Essen exclaims, “More than 50 species of migrating birds hatch their chicks. Many of those birds will migrate to a park, forest of body of water near you.” This personally relates to many people that have birds around where they live. They will want them to continue to stick around and the drilling in Alaska could potentially cause that to not happen anymore.

Marty Essen is successful in using his sense of reasoning that the drilling in the Alaskan land in the sense that it is not necessary because it will not change the gas prices. His timing in writing the article is important because gas prices are a very large national issue. He is logical in his analogy between the size of the drilling factory and the cob webs in a house. Two different measurements are taken when explaining the size of the drilling area. They are 4,240 acres and 640,000 acres. Essen explains, “Imagine you come home from vacation and find cobwebs in every room, stretching from chair to chair and from wall to wall. You consult two friends - - an oil company lobbyist and an environmentalist. They lobbyist says, “The webs are thin. Let them me. You’ll still have most of the house to yourself.” The environmentalist says, “My dear friend, you have a spider problem!”” This is a logical explanation on the measurement of the oil field.

In conclusion, Essen used ethos, pathos, and logos in an effective way to convince the reader that drilling on this precious Alaskan territory can be harmful to the environment. He calls for action using a sense of patriotism. After reading the article, readers will walk away with a different outlook on gas prices and that drilling for more oil will not effect the price of gas in America.

Assignment #4

The article that I found was one concerning the extensive population growth in America. It focused on myths about overpopulation as well as facts and falsities about the subject. It talked about why there is overpopulation and the largest reason for it was people who have immigrated here and have children that they are unable to comfortably take care of.

I chose this article through the advanced search in the EBSCO database. I was looking for articles published within the past six months and were not too scientific and hard to understand. This was a friendly article to me because there were many simple illustrations, graphs, and charts that helped me understand facts about overpopulation.

The process I used was pretty simple. It was explained to me by the librarian in the tutorial given in class. I went onto the Harold B. Lee Library web page, chose the EBSCO database, went into the advanced search section and typed in the specific criteria that I wanted to have come up in my article.

The library instruction session was extremely helpful to me because I never knew that those resources were available to me. I will use them for many papers in my future. The scholarly journals were extremely helpful and in my other classes, we need to cite similar journals that I will be able to find through the helpful information that was taught to me in those two class periods.

Assignment #3

The advertisement I chose was a commercial aired during the baseball playoffs on TBS. It was an under armour commercial and it started by showing many professional athletes training with all of this high tech equipment. They were of course decked out in under armour gear and the camera zoomed in close at the various clothing and equipment they were wearing showing off the under armour logo (i.e. shoes, cleats, skull caps, tight fit under shirts, shorts, etc.). All of the athletes then assembled under a skyscraper and an enormous football player went to the top of the building and gave a speech in his low raspy football player voice. It pumped the rest of the athletes up to do better and his last line was, "we are the best, we are under armour, the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuture is ours!!!!" Then the congregation jumped up and down and went crazy.

The speaker was the under armour company. The message was to buy under armour gear and equipment.

The target audience was athletes looking to buy sports apparel and equipment and other athletes who are using a different brand of sporting goods and clothing to switch over to under armour. They targeted this audience because the people they used in the commercial are professional athletes themselves and are sponsored by under armour. They made it look appealing because all of the athletes are huge and ripped. They made them look sweaty to enhance their muscles and to show that the best athletes wear and use under armour stuff. The under armour company wouldn't target people who aren't athletes because there is no need for them to use under armour equipment.

Ethos- I think the ethos was done very well in this ad. The person who talked was a very well known professional football player for the Baltimore Ravens named Ray Lewis. Any person who is interested in sports knows of him and when he spoke people recognized that he endorses under armour. Because he is so ripped, the skin tight apparel made him look so sweet. This caught the audiences eye because they would think that if they wear under armour apparel too, they will look like him and be able to show their muscles off. Nike makes similar products but under armour has cool designs on the outside which sets under armour apart from nike. The audience notices this and it looks cool. At the end of the commercial, Ray Lewis gives a speech saying that under armour is the future. If he says it, shouldn't we wear it?

Pathos- Many emotions were felt while watching this advertisement. The music was hard core metal that would pump you up before an athletic event. This emotion of a somewhat adrenaline rush made me want to get up and go do something physical. It got my heart going and kept me interested in what was coming up. When the athletes were training in abnormal ways, such as running with chains attached to tires, doing pull ups on electrical wires, and other ways, an emotion felt was aggresiveness. You wanted to be them and do what they are doing and take what they have. Their opportunities, their body, their job, and all of their equipment.

Logos- Uder armour used simple logic when making this commercial. Some things they used was that if professional athletes use under armour gear, shouldn't the normal athlete? It is obvious that if they are going to use under armour, it makes them better and in order to improve your personal game, it is important to do everything like the pros. One simple thing is to wear what they wear. That is simple logic and it persuades people to buy under armour gear.

This ad was extremely effective for the intended audience. It used quality ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade me to want to purchase under armour products to better my game.