Month: December 2017

Self Reflective Statement – PlethoraGaming

Core Value I Understand that writing is a practice which involves a multi-stage, recursive and social process.

Core value I is about showing that we have spent time on writing. To show that we went back to our writing and improved it anyway we can. I have learned that first draft is not what you submit last, there is a lot to improve on in a single paper. I have shown this by rewriting my Causal and Rebuttal Arguments. For example in my causal argument I talked about the value of coaches on teams, this comparison came out as coaches in esports having more burden than sport coaches, which was not my intention. Revising this showed clarification in my writing and communicated the proper meaning I wanted for my argument in sports vs esports.

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

Core value II means to use multiple sources together to essentially show counterpoints or supporting points to other sources to help create a dialogue in our writing. I found myself not doing this, however I found a really good statement that helped me write a paragraph that created a conversation for a counterpoint. In my Rebuttal Argument I used other sources I found to argue the point of getting hurt in esports. I was able to use another article to show that people can get hurt in sports as well, and just like how there are protective gear for sports, there are protective gears for esports players to avoid getting injured. I synthesized these articles to show a conversation of esports and sports are similar in terms of injuries can occur in both.

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

Core Value II shows that I understand who I am writing to. Also to show that I understood my sources properly, and write correctly regarding its topic. I found this to be fairly easy, I was able to identify the audience and its purpose from reading the thesis, however when I was writing it I found it difficult to show who my audience and is. In my Safer Saws I showed up understand of the text, and what purpose it served for the readers. However when I did reread some of my sources I did not understand if they were for or against, it was after rereading it, and understood the author’s perspective that I was able to truly explain what the author meant.

Core Value IV: 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.

Core Value IV is stating that all the sources we used was incorporated to our writing properly. That I did not give false meaning for a source. I found this to be really difficult before I did my Annotated Bibliography because the information for my essays were scrambled around, and really did not have any organization. In my annotated bibliography I was able to give a summary of the articles by pointing out the important statements, and show how I used it in my paper. This helped my organize statements to support my ideas, or show counterpoints to my ideas. Showing how I used it helped me get the proper interpretation of my ideas in my writing.

 

 

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

Core value V shows that I have credited the proper authors, and used the sources properly. Doing this properly shows where we got our ideas from, and being ethical by not stealing their work. This was the easiest because I showed my work cited pages in my annotated bibliography, visual Rhetoric Rewrite, essentially anything that pulled an idea from somewhere else.

 

Reflection-Jonhjelly

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

Core Value I is about rewriting articles and spending time reviewing your work to better them. After completing a years course of writing I have adapted to the fact that  writing is a process, and that it does take time and you must out in the enough in order to get the grade that you so desperately  want. Through out this course I have been reviewing my articles and trying to better them each time. By looking for errors or rearrange the wording so it could make more sense.  In the Definition argument essay I feel like I exhibit this core value because I have review that piece more than twice and I have showed innovative toward writing a better article.

https://rowancounterintuitive.com/2017/11/29/definition-rewrite-jonhjelly/

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

Core value II is about understanding your own work and others works. A writer must understand others works because it can help better their own papers by adding quotes in their papers. This core value applies to me because I had a very hard time introducing articles in my papers. I never was able to make the connection until I understood the material I was reading and was trying to put into my papers. I feel like I showed this core value in my Stone Money article because this piece is where I full understood the articles I was reading. Therefore I was able to cite this source to help better my argument.

https://rowancounterintuitive.com/2017/10/01/money-makes-the-world-go-round/

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

Core Value III is understanding that writing is shaped by the audience, purpose, and context. This means that the audience you write for will shape the kind of paper you will write.  For example when your writing a text to a friend the context will be different from the context of a formal essay to a college professor. This core value applies to me because as I was writing my casual argument I had to watch my wording, and make sure that I didn’t use first person. Therefore I was using material I learned from class and inserted our for your and we for you.

https://rowancounterintuitive.com/2017/11/12/causal-argument-jonhjelly/

Core Value IV: 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.

Core Value IV is using other resources to help backup your original idea. This means that it is imperative to use other resources when writing an article. This will make your argument stronger and more reliable. It can also give you more ideas and other angles on where your statement can go. This core value can be applied because in my stone money I used varies articles to help better my statement in that particular piece. I included articles that talked about the bitcoin and how it had no real value in the world. This helped further my position on the topic of the real cause of money. This gave my paper a more solid corner stone.

https://rowancounterintuitive.com/2017/10/01/money-makes-the-world-go-round/

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

Core Value V is about understanding that you must never still work from a fellow classmate. You must understand the importances of writing your own work and never take ideas from others. I feel that I exhibit this core value in my Definition argument because I used my own words and found source that represented my original ideas. Never did I use someone else ideas as my own. I would paraphrase others quotes to help better my argument and I would always cite them to make sure they get the credit they deserve in their help in making my paper better. I talked about the microchip and how the boss would like to enforce this because it could help better improve productivity. When finding sources I looked for articles that had this topic and paraphrased what I found in the article from certain workers and how they felt about the microchip idea.

https://rowancounterintuitive.com/2017/11/29/definition-rewrite-jonhjelly/

 

Reflective–todayistheday

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

Posting my work onto the class’s shared blog I expose my work to my classmates and my professor.  With sharing my work, I gauge a reaction from my classmates and professor.  Asking for feedback from my professor and considering the comments made, I adjust and edit my work to better my assignment. Engaging in this social process and making my work available for viewing I am choosing to open my work to others so that I can reconstruct my assignment based on considered commentary. In my assignment, Stone Money post I asked for feedback because I wasn’t sure how to fix my paper.  One of the most helpful comments from my professor was that I shouldn’t use rhetorical questions. They are loaded guns and you shouldn’t trust your reader with them. In my Stone Money rewrite, I edit my paper and make sure to delete my rhetorical questions. Instead of questions, I used powerful sentences that convince rather than question the reader.  Asking for review showed I needed help with my writing. My Professor gave several helpful recommendations to better my writing, I then applied them to my assignment, editing my paper, to improve my writing.

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

Introducing a source’s ideas into your own flow of ideas is crucial to ensure effectiveness. For our semester paper it is necessary to have sources that strengthen our claim, but it is important to weave them into our paper seamlessly.  A source’s idea, hand and hand, with my own is important to demonstrate a claim that is connected with multiple illustrations of proof. In my assignment, Rebuttal Argument, I quote McBain and Andrews to describe their view on orca captivity.  I quote them several times within my argument to prove their ideas.  I work the quotes in when they fit within my own ideas, so that they blend together.

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

To write a strong argument it is necessary to pinpoint the audience I speaking to and write my argument with them in focus. In my writing I tend to be too fast paced and speed past details crucial to my audience’s understanding.  I assume rather than clarify.  In my assignment, Causal Argument, I explain Free Willy and the sequence of events it created.  I understood it was necessary for the effectiveness of my argument to provide my readers with as much information as possible.  At first I chose not to explain the movie Free Willy because I assumed everyone has seen it.  But then I realized it is a smarter choice to explain the movie just in case someone hasn’t seen it or needed a refresher.  I don’t want to lose any readers to my neglect to explain things.

Core Value IV: 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.

A strong visual drives the argument home. In class we were given several lessons on how to provide as many details as we could to paint a picture to ensure clarity of the scene. With my semester paper I think it is crucial to provide the best visual for my intended audience. In my assignment, Definition Argument, in my second to last paragraph I detail the chain of events by describing the sequence. ” We watch as children hug fluffy Shamu’s to their chests, holding it close to their heart.  That is when they we bite down onto the brilliantly appealing bait.  We are hooked.  Their lure is embedded into our mouth, pulling us closer toward their open greedy gates, like open arms waiting for an embrace. “ By using imagery I entice readers to continue to the next sentence and that is the goal for every sentence.

Core Value V. 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 will never copy another author’s work or abandon recognizing their ideas and facts without recognition. Respect is key. I respect other authors to credit them for their ideas and will always incorporate citations when authors are quoted. I respect my readers because I want to provide them with a trustworthy source and give them no reason to doubt my sincerity.  I always accurately present information throughout my writing. Not only is claiming someone else’s work as your own or failing to cite, against student policy it is an infraction on moral code. We were taught never to steal and that shouldn’t be ignored in writing.  In my work, Proposal +5, I collect sources and credit each of the sources I intend to use in my paper.  Each source offered ideas and statistics I wouldn’t have without these articles. If not cited in my works cited they are found in my annotated bibliography due to the ideas they provoked.

 

Reflective-Jadden14

Core Value I. 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 course, feedback was provided when asked on all the assignments that were given. The feedback given was very honest and helpful, and led to the formulation of an overall better paper. This can best be seen on my visual rhetoric assignment, as I received feedback on my first draft that later I applied to my Visual Rewrite. I applied the advice given and also the advice given to me during one of my conferences to help better my paper. This feedback helped me to correct my errors and take more in-depth observations that led to a much better revision.

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

Throughout the course, I researched creatine and the controversy surrounding the supplement. I found many articles reporting on how creatine as a supplement provides both bad and good side effects. I studied why there is so much controversy with this supplement, and added many sources to my research paper. This can be best seen in my rebuttal, as I feel I communicated these sources best in that paper. I communicated these sources into my three short papers to create an effective counter argument to my paper. These sources helped strengthen my argument by providing solid evidence and communicating other professional opinions into a strong paper.

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

One of my most prominent pieces that displays an in-depth rhetorical analysis is my visual rhetoric assignment. This assignment was to take a 30-second video and deeply analyze every second and record what was seen. The goal was also to interpret the reasoning for everything noticed in the video, and this assignment helped me better my analysis skills and learning about writing to different audiences. I discovered that the video was directed towards a certain audience trying to convince them to help reach out to the hurricane victims of Harvey. The assignment teached me how to look for underlying symbolism and understand the context of certain arguments. Most importantly I learned that quite a bit can be written from just a 30 second video.

Core Value IV: 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.

During the process of gathering my research paper, I had to find many different sources to both refute and support my argument. These sources would be used in my paper to back up my arguments with evidence and give them credibility. The compilation of these sources and a small summary of each can be seen on my Proposal+5, and demonstrate my ability to find quality evidence and properly support my own ideas. The brief descriptions explain the vital information I got from the paper, and provided within my proposal explain how I used my sources and incorporated them into my paper.

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

A very important part of the writing process is being able to properly cite sources. In all of my papers, I have properly cited my work using either MLA or APA citation, depending on the source. A collection of properly cited sources can be found on my Annotated Bibliography, containing the sources used in my research paper. This collection of sources shows how I used the sources in my paper, and a brief description of the essential content from the article. I know when writing it is my job to uphold my responsibility to not steal other people’s work. I understand that sources must be used carefully, as plagarism is a serious issue with serious consequences.

Self- Reflective statement- branxmad

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

The process of writing is one that requires multiple stages including brainstorming, drafting, prewriting, revising, editing and eventually, submitting. When research is being done on a topic, then that process would also include exploring and discovering perspectives that go along with the chosen topic to develop your own ideas and synthesizing ideas as well. Receiving feedback on a paper can provide insight, later leading to much needed improvements. Becoming familiar with your own writing style is also a good way to improve on your future drafts. In my Stone Money rewrite, I demonstrated this Core Value by doing the research needed to complete the assignment and then revising my first draft so I could turn it into a better, and more stronger rewrite.

https://rowancounterintuitive.com/2017/12/10/stone-money-rewrite-branxmad/

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

The second Core Value is about not only being able to understand your own work, but the work of others as well. Putting the work into a different perspective, then adding in your own ideas can greatly help to achieve that goal. For the Visual Rhetoric assignment, the class was instructed to watch a 30 second advertisement and then describe what was happening in detail, without being able to hear what was being said. That allowed me to focus on the details in each frame of the video, analyze the scenario and make my own inference. As a result, I was able to better understand the message of the video that was intended for it’s viewers.

https://rowancounterintuitive.com/2017/12/03/visual-rhetoric-rewrite-branxmad/

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

With the third Core Value, my work demonstrates that I have rhetorically analyzed and understand the purpose, audience and contexts. Although I had trouble with this particular assignment, I demonstrated this in my Rebuttal Argument by understanding why the author disagrees with the stance that I’ve taken in the argument.

https://rowancounterintuitive.com/2017/12/06/rebuttal-argument-branxmad/

Core Value IV: 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.

For Core Value number 4, being able to find resources to support your ideas is an essential part of the writing process. For my research paper that was assigned in class, I was required to find different cites to assist me with my topic. I located my sources by searching through Google, and looking for scholarly articles through the Rowan Library to assist me and support my stance in the argument. I was able to evaluate the sources that I found, and by writing a brief description for each one, it gave me a better understanding of exactly what I was researching. The Proposal +5 assignment has greatly helped me accomplish this Core Value and will help me with future research papers that I’ll have to do.

https://rowancounterintuitive.com/2017/10/22/proposal-5-branxmad/

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

Finally for the last Core Value, I understand that crediting sources I’ve used in my work is important and gives the original author their much deserved respect. Using another writer’s ideas, research and information that they have provided must be followed by proper citation. All the papers that I write, I make sure that I cite my sources accordingly on a “Works Cited” page. However, for my annotated bibliography, I gathered all the resources I used for my research paper and described how I used each sources with a citation following each description. This was meant to give credit to other’s work that I used and to also provide my readers with a brief insight on how I combined my ideas with those of another.

https://rowancounterintuitive.com/2017/11/28/bibliography-branxmad/

Visual Rhetoric rewrite- branxmad

0:00-0:01- The Ad starts off showing a family SUV parked in the driveway of a suburban home and all the doors on the car close simultaneously.

0:02-0:04- The scene switches to the inside of the car. There are two young boys, possibly brothers, sitting next to each other in the second row of the family’s truck and fighting over a bag of chips. The visual goes into slow motion then switches over to an older girl in the third row of the car, who is assumed to be the older sister, listening to music through her headphones while banging on the seats with her two drumsticks and blowing a bubble with the gum in her mouth. She appears to be in her own world, not paying attention to the  fight her brothers are in just one row ahead of her.

0:05- Now, the father, who is also the driver, is being focused on. He appears to have an impatient look on his face as his children are in the background making a lot of noise and playing around.

0:06- 0:09- With the film still in slow motion, the scene first goes back to the daughter in the third row looking out the window with a fully blown bubble of gum coming out of her mouth. Next shows the two brothers again in the middle row still yelling at each other over the single back of chips. Then, to the mother in the passenger seat as she opens her mouth to scold her children. At these three seconds, you can hear the sounds in the background quickly growing more intense, indicating that this scene is leading up to the climax of the advertisement.

0:10-0:13-  The rearview mirror is now in focus and the father’s eye looking into the back seat. Here, the daughter is shown yet again. The big wad of gum that she blew into a perfect sized bubble bursts back onto her lips causing a dramatic popping sound. The big bag of chips that the brothers were fighting over rips apart and the contents of the bag go flying all around the car.

0:14-0:16- Back up to the driver’s seat, the father looks into the camera, gripping the steering wheel and takes a long, deep breath. He is patiently waiting for the kids to settle down.

0:17- The two boys in the middle row are now in each other’s faces over the ruined bag and the sister is suddenly taken out of her daydream with a surprised look on her face. They all freeze and together, quickly their attention goes to the front of the car. The two boys, with guilty faces.

0:18- In the passenger seat, the mother is turned around looking back with wide eyes and tight lips, she mouths the word “Now!”

0:19-0:22- Frightened, all three of the kids quickly stop what they’re doing and turn to grab their seat belts and fasten themselves in.

0:23- With the scene now back in regular motion, the focus goes back to the father who looks and smiles at his wife, a look of relief.

0:24-0:26- Now the camera is zoomed out and focusing on both parents, with a view of the kids in the back. The mother brushes a chip from the bursted bag off her shoulder and turns back to face front. The father’s smile turns into a sign of relief as he adjusts his hands onto the steering wheel. All the children in the back are now finally behaving, buckled in and ready for the ride.

0:27- The SUV is now pulling out of the driveway in which it was parked.

0:28-0:30- The family SUV is now driving off down the street as the words appear on the screen and a man’s voice reads, “Don’t give up until they buckle up”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gvyyvfe2k8

Reflective- alaska

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

I was never a good writer, so this class challenged me. I do think that making improvements on my writing helps to get a better idea on what the final assignment should look like. For example, rewriting my definition argument helped me explain what I wanted to say more and fix some grammar problems. In this class I learned how to fix my grammar problems and how to not use you all the time or at all. Also asking for feedback is a good way to go. In this class it helped me see that rewriting is a good thing to do so you can get the best of your writing out. I used this core value in my white paper to help improve the works for my research paper and arguments.

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

In some writing either for school or work using outside sources are a good way to help with arguments. In my safer saws assignment, I used different sources to find claims in each one. I had to read plenty of articles to get what authors are trying to say and figure out the claims they have made that I thought was important. This wasn’t an easy task because the claims aren’t just in plain sight and you have to really look into what the author is saying. Making claims is hard because you have to figure out what the author is saying without them really saying it, so this core value helped me with the different sources I have used throughout my assignments. 

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

Throughout my writing I figured out that I needed to keep in mind that I need have an audience and purpose in my texts. The contexts used in my writing needs to be used correctly and cited correctly too. This is shown in my white paper because I went back and worked on my arguments and tried to improve them by adding some key points that would bring in my audience and show the purpose of my work. Also, in my white paper I used sources to help explain my purpose of my work. Using sources can help improve your argument and show how much proof there is for one topic. 

Core Value IV: 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 believe my proposal +5 is a good example for me doing this core value because I gather sources and a little information. I used google scholar and Rowan’s library because it helped me locate sources that could really help me throughout writing a paper. Using these sites because I believe I will be needing them in the future and I think it is better that I learn how to use them now instead in the future when I need them right away. They also help because when siting my sources, I can just link the source and the article will be there for the reader and it will be free.

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

It is very important to cite sources that is used in the work because otherwise it looks like plagiarism. In my white paper I wrote down all the sources I have used and gave the author the right citation they should have. Also, if you don’t use citations the reader wont know where you got the information from and might think it is fake. Sources are very useful for papers because some of them give facts that are real and show real numbers for what you are arguing about. In the future I will use sources to help me show my argument and I will cite them correctly according to my professors liking. 

Reflective- Flyerfan1974

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

In this class I learned to really think in depth about a claim or concept. For example in my visual rhetoric assignment, each second of the video is analyzed and described in great detail. I didn’t just illustrate what was happening, but I tried to figure out what could of happened. For example, when there was a screen full of coal and ashes, I made predictions and explored what could have happened. I could only use what was in the background.

Another example of making examples would be when I was completing my annotated bibliography assignment. I would discover very strong points that made my research paper more complex. For example when writing the background on one source I discovered the connection between helmets and deaths between the years on 1955 and 1965.

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

When writing my research paper I had to put my ideas together from my definition, casual, and rebuttal arguments. When going though my research paper each idea followed each other like train cars following each other. Some ideas from my rebuttal actually fit in better with my definition argument. Vise versa for my causal argument and definition argument.

Another example would be stone money, I first wrote my stone money with a lot of information and it did not flow together nicely. After some feedback and a lot of thinking I was able to make it all come together nicely in my stone money rewrite. Each idea has to flow together and it worked out nicely with stone money. I also had the same experience on my safer saws assignment.

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

In my safer saws  assignment I had to read 10 articles and write based on certain people point of views. I had to really think about it, what are these peoples interest? Who would benefit from this? Where do these people stand? In my writing I illustrate the writing of an inventor who’s life work has been completely stolen. I had to see myself in Steve Gass’s shoes and determine how I felt if as a college student my 3000 word research paper had been ripped off.

In my rebuttal argument, I needed to determine why the opposing party disagreed with me. I needed to determine their purpose, then address the causes that made them disagree with my work. I analyzed why the opposers felt this way.

Core Value IV: 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.

In my research paper I introduced a counterintuitive idea that people cannot wrap their heads around, making football safer by removing the helmets. It was very hard to explain this idea to people, but I was able to do it. In my definition argument I defined this idea, and when researching it I was helped by many brilliant sources. I found examples of my counterintuitive idea and discovered that is it a phenomenon studied by many researchers. I also found examples on studies that gave hard evidence when proving the idea. The study was recent, and gave actual numbers when describing their result. My whole thesis was hard to explain in words, but my sources and examples helped me paint a picture for the reader.

Core Value V. 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 every piece I wrote, I always clearly explained my information and cited it. I never use information that is not my own, plagiarism is stealing. These people who wrote these long articles online and in books must have spend a lot of time to make them so great, it is morally and ethically wrong to deprive them of their recognition. My research paper contained 10 sources and I always gave an indirect citation to my sources. Many of these papers really help me understand my thesis better, and help me prove it, I would never stab the authors in the back. I always though citation needed to be parentheses with the authors name, but I discovered that indirect citation makes the sentences flow so nicely.

Rebuttal Rewrite – theintern

“Every business lies about its ethics” there are many reasons reasons why companies do so. For example Enron was once a successful company but down the roads they suffered a horrible loss that later on became one of the biggest scandals of wall street history. Enron was at their peak of success but what really got them from a little of $20 to over $90 of stock share was their lack of ethics. Enron was a fast growing American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before this scandal was beginning the company was worth a decent amount of 13.3 billon dollars in 1996 but the ethic lies didn’t start until 1998 when Fastow was promoted. In 2000, the company skyrocketed to $100.8 billion dollars which is highly impossible for a company to be making in just around 4 years.

Enron was founded in 1985 but then in 2001 they were finally caught by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for knowingly manipulating accounting rules and masking the enormous losses and liabilities of the company. When a company does not establish rules of ethics that company like Enron will no more be in business. If Enron were to play by the rules their company would have still been in business and so would have Arthur Andersen. Enron lied about being ethical we could tell by the profits that Enron was making within a small span of time. Once the company Enron knew that they had made committed too much fraud they tried to cover it up with bringing Arthur Andersen, one of the big five accounting firms in the world. Enron convinced Arthur Andersen to money launder their money but since their profit margins were too high the SEC became very suspicious of this amount of money Enron was profiting. In the business world no one is forced into committing these crimes; Arthur Andersen had the choice to decline the offer from Enron to help them with money laundering but because they had no ethics they joined alliances with Enron. Once Enron fell apart they brought Arthur Andersen down too. Enron went bankrupt because of all the dues and imprisonment of the CEOs and Arthur Andersen was destroyed with the bad reputation that no company wanted them to do check their books.

Why the readers might ask is Enron so important, well it is important to know that businesses lie about ethics especially a well known company that was located on Wall Street and was one of a few companies that Forbes magazine could brag to the United States. Sure there are other companies that have committed an unrightfully act of ethics for instance we have Wells Fargo & company which is an American International banking and financial services holding company located around the whole United States. Recently about one year ago Wells Fargo had a big scandal for phony accounts. As a well trusted bank that many people thought had ethical employees was not true. CNN covered the story saying that 5,300 Wells Fargo employees fired over 2 million phony accounts. These employees secretly opened unauthorized accounts under many of their customers to meet their sales target and receive bonuses. Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan knew that these phony accounts were being made but because of his business ethics he did not stop his employees. I understand that Wells Fargo needs to make profits and meet their margins but having an unethical way of making money its just heartbreaking that people don’t care about others and just themselves. Tim Sloan is the one to blame for all this commotion; he even got rich off of these 3.5 million phony accounts that would charge fees to clients for having another open but unknown account. Elizabeth Warren suggested he’d be fired but instead congress let him remain where he is but gave him a big fine of $185 million dollars along with $5 million refund to customers.

Corporations find ethics to be a drain on profits; but every corporation claims to promote strong business ethics. Many businesses have rules of Corporate Social Responsibility that states we must be committed employers, be an outstanding partner to customers, be an environmentally friendly player and service civil society. These are the four pillars every business must stand by but for the most part corporations have the rules to promote but will never follow through because profits don’t come as fluidity like being unethical. Businesses promote that they are truly ethical but how can we believe and trust big time companies when their fraud crime scandals were announced to the business world. Forbes releases a list of most ethical businesses every year which does help a customer if we want the best service without any surprise fees. Most companies that are usually more trustworthy are those that are small businesses because what they want is to make their customers satisfied with the little they have to offer. If we were to trust a company I’d say it would have to be a small one because all the big companies get away with almost anything just like Enron did for 12 years. My point proven, the bigger the companies are the the more unethical they become. Big companies have so many clients that if they lose one they still have others to attend and more so other companies will keep coming to make business relations with other big and superior companies.

If we take a look inside small businesses we tend to see exactly what they provide and have to offer unlike other big businesses that have many hidden fees and tactics. According to a journal by Heledd Jenkins she illustrated and discovered that given the significant scale of small business in nearly every economy, their aggregate achievements have a major effect worldwide. Researchers are now also recognizing the importance of business ethics and social responsibility as they apply to small firms. Take a look at Hasbro Inc, its a small manufacturing toy business that ensures great quality products for younger children and takes ethics very serious because they would rather be worried about the child’s safety than the gross income they are receiving and thats why Hasbro Inc is one of the companies to be selected in Forbes article “Most Ethical Companies 2017”

Works Cited

That’s exactly what happened to Wells Fargo customers nationwide. “5,300 Wells Fargo Employees Fired over 2 Million Phony Accounts.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network.

Kauflin, Jeff. “The World’s Most Ethical Companies 2017.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 14 Mar. 2017.

Ackman, Dan. “Enron The Incredible.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 06 June 2013.

Jenkins, Heledd. “Small Business Champions for Corporate Social Responsibility.“SpringerLink. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 02 Sept. 2006. Web. 03

 

Causal Rewrite – theintern

Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility for the win

People don’t realize but their so called “ethics” change once they get exposure to the business world. Morals ethics are different from business ethics. Moral ethics are the principles or habits taught by our parents/guardians to understand and state what is the right and wrong choice to make or do. While business ethics falls under different standards; it is mostly the rules of conduct that a company gives to their employees which usually affect their morals because sometimes we are unwilling to do the tasks of what the company we work for ask us to do. We ask ourselves why do we follow these unethical rules the reason is why we want to keep our jobs and keep supporting our families. The effects of telling the company we work for that we will not follow these unethical rules will end in either getting fired or told that there will be changes but most likely lose the job.

In the business world we won’t hear too much about business ethics, though another term we do hear is corporate social responsibility which is somewhat like ethics just a more narrowly concern about the company’s obligations. CSR plays an important role in every firm or company in the United States. CSR and business ethics go hand in hand if either of them are tampered with or in another terms, people change the rules and make it their own so their business would prosper. Word gets out when businesses do not perform well and lack in any of the four axes such as being a committed employer, build relationships with our customers, serve civil society, being an environmentally friendly player. I believe that the CSR is like an insurance for business ethics, CSR is there to provide people with guidance on how to act within the firm with everybody. However if CSR starts to lack no customer will seek guidance from that firm/company again because of how their service lacked. This effects the business tremendously for example if customers stop recommending others to come to our firm we can not make profit and worse run of out business. That is why having the right kind of ethics is important and should always be looked upon and checked every now and then.

According to a study made my Peter Arlow a journalist who wants to find out which group of people would be more likely to cheat and be negative orientated towards social responsibility. He made tests with the following information: first off he included the major whether they were business majors or non business majors, second he included the sex male or female, third their age either under the age of 24 or equal/over the age of 24. Arlow decided to conduct this test with surveys and then using t tests and correlations to figure out which group was more reliant to follow the rules. Overall the nonbusiness majors scored higher on all five ethical dimensions. Each ethical dimension were based on (Aldag and Jackson, 1977): (1) Traditional Orientation – sees efficient production as the key social responsibility and profit maximization as the corporate goal. (2) Negative Orientation Toward Alleged Social Responsibility – sees social responsibility as a gimmick and a cover for mismanagement. (3) Demander Orientation – calls for diversion of shareholder resources to society in general. (4) Constrainer Orientation – favors tightened control of government over business. (5) Negative Orientation Toward Adequacy of Corporate Social Efforts – sees current corporate social effort in a negative light and sees negative consequences of a lack of social effort. This data was determined under all five of these dimensions of social responsibility and then followed through to which was one would be the most adequate to choose from depending on the score. These were the measurements to access business ethics based on the work of Miesing and Preble (1985): (1) Machiavellianism – moral actions are justified to serve some purpose, (2) Objectivism – the focus is on rational self-interest and avoiding ethical judgements based on feelings, (3) Social Darwinism – accepts percepts of “survival of the fittest, and the strong are morally superior, (4) Ethical relativism – ethical judgements are based on social convention and that which is sanctioned by group norms at a given time and place, (5) Universalism – rules of behavior are absolutes, and apply equally to all places and times. Within the process there were two measurements to be measured it was the business ethics and social responsibility.

As for the results Arlow figured out that business students may not be as self centered, selfish and opportunistic as the stereotypical view of individuals. Within the business ethics of Meising and Preble the two were Machiavellianism and Darwinsim. Which meant that these business students are willing to do business but with a purpose however they would do anything to get to the top, survival of the fittest. When the business and nonbusiness students were compared using the social responsibility measure of Aldag and Jackson there was a significant difference found on the dimensions of Negative Orientation Toward Social Responsibility and the Demander Orientation. These results suggest that nonbusiness students are more negative toward current efforts at social responsibility, seeing it as a cover for mismanagement, and the lack of upholding and keeping any company they work well connected.

Sex wise the data showed that females were less likely to do commit fraud or do anything that would be considered as unethical. The results say that females would want to keep the company from falling and keep it balanced but the males seemed like they didn’t care if the company would collapse as long as they would make profit and have something to live from. That’s why females are considered more passionate and considerate other than males.

While the age group of higher than the age 24 were considered to show a greater negative orientation because of their lives being more ahead of the other people. Older people are considered the most target audience to commit any type of business crime because of them considered to have a family to take care of without a great income it would totally be impossible to maintain a family.

The people who were surveyed mostly students are determined to be influenced by peers from the exposure of the larger socio-cultural norms than by education in specific disciplines.

Work Cited

“Ethics vs Morals.” Ethics vs Morals – Difference and Comparison

“How Corporate Social Responsibility Pays Off.” Long Range Planning, Pergamon, 26 Feb. 1999.

Arlow, Peter. “Personal Characteristics in College Students’ Evaluations of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.” Journal of Business Ethics 10.1 (1991): 63. ProQuest.