Category: A07: White Paper

1. Working Hypothesis 1

Hypothesis: Altering the gun laws depending on the different states and their boundary lines would benefit citizens across the U.S. and aid police officers, as well as state officials in correctly convicting people for gun related crimes.

1a. Working Hypothesis 2

Hypothesis: Refining gun laws would improve living conditions for citizens within America and make police officers convictions of people for gun related crimes more accurate by not charging people for misunderstanding circumstances.

2. Topics for Smaller Papers

Definition/Classification Argument

Neighboring States have a great impact on each other because when a state has stricter gun laws, they use the neighboring state to break the gun laws. For example studies have revealed that in Chicago, Illinois the guns related to some gun crimes have been from the neighboring state of Missouri.

Being wrongfully convicted of gun related crimes such as possession of a fire arm, even with a license or registration for seed fire arm occurs too often. For example there have been cases where people have been convicted in New Jersey for possession of a fire arm, yet they have a registration and license for the gun but rather it being a New Jersey license it’s a license from a different state such as Pennsylvania or Texas.

Cause/Effect Argument

States that do not cooperate with not only their neighboring states but as well as other states around the U.S. causes people to be wrongfully convicted of gun related charges and gun trafficking. Due to their lack of efforts to not cooperate it makes things much more harder for people to coexist because of they were to cooperate, much of the crimes related to guns could be solved with states working together.

Rebuttal Argument

States have their own right to choose their particular laws that only apply to their states because that is their right and the states already have come to an agreement by passing a law that states certain states will acknowledge license and registration for a fire arm from certain other states.

3. Current State of the Research Paper

I would describe the state of my research paper as progressing forward because I want to keep gathering more and more sources to help support my thesis as well as help form my different paragraphs by using the different paragraphs to transition from each other and form my paper correctly. I still have some work to do though because I’m not satisfied with my work so far, the grammar, tone a lot of things could be better to produce my best work and I will continue to make changes and piece things together and rearrange things until they all fit together.

Content Description

• Sources
  • Childhood Obesity Statistics
  • Childhood Obesity Causes and Consequences
  • Sugary Drinks and Childhood Obesity
  • Sugar-sweetened Beverages Initiatives
  • Consumption of Sugar Drinks in the US (2005-2008)
  • Evaluating Sugary Drink Nutrition and Marketing to Youth
  • Intake of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages & Weight Gain
  •  Food Away from Home, Sugary-Sweetened Drink Consumption & Juvenile Obesity
  • Mass Media’s Influence on Knowledge, Attitudes, & Behaviors about Sugary Drinks and Obesity
  • Reducing Consumption of Sugar-sweetened Beverages to Reduce the Risk of Childhood Obesity
  • Childhood Obesity: The Link to Drinks
  • How much is too much?
  • Benefits of Sports Drinks
• Working Thesis
• Arguments
  • Ideas
  • Definition Argument
  • Casual Argument
  • Rebuttal Argument
• Final Research Paper Outline

Sources

Source 1

Childhood Obesity Statistics from CDC

Citation: ”Childhood Obesity Facts.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 Nov. 2016. Web. 30 Nov. 2016

Summary: The Center for Disease Control released statistics based on Childhood Obesity in 2011-2014.

Facts from the CDC

• The prevalence of obesity has remained fairly stable at about 17% and affects about 12.7 million children and adolescents.
• Overall, obesity prevalence among children whose adult head of household completed college was approximately half that of those whose adult head of household did not complete high school (9% vs 19% among girls; 11% vs 21% among boys) in 1999–2010.
• Obesity prevalence was the highest among children in families with an income-to-poverty ratio of 100% or less (household income that is at or below the poverty threshold), followed by those in families with an income-to-poverty ratio of 101%–130%, and then found to be lower in children in families with an income-to-poverty ratio of 131% or larger (greater household income).

Source 2

Childhood Obesity Causes & Consequences

Citation: “Childhood Obesity Causes & Consequences.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 June 2015. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

Summary: This article talks about behavior and community involvement in childhood obesity. When it comes to the communities involvement a lot of causes are based around food. At the end of the article it discusses health risks of childhood obesity.

Source 3

Sugary Drinks and Childhood Obesity

Citation: Sugary Drinks and Childhood Obesity. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2009;163(4):400. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2009.16

Summary: This article discusses how sugary drinks can lead to childhood obesity as well as other diseases. It gives examples of what sugary drinks are breaks it down into 4 categories. The article goes over the factors that contribute to this and how they contribute to the cause of other diseases.

Source 4

Sugar-sweetened beverages initiatives can help fight childhood obesity

Citation: Go, A. S., D. Mozaffarian, and V. L. Roger. “Sugar-sweetened beverages initiatives can help fight childhood obesity.” circulation 127 (2013): e6-e245.

Summary: This article discusses an option for lowering sugary drink consumption by taxing it and shows how it will also help the economy. They also define sugary drinks into types of beverages and talk a little bit about why it is so bad for you.

Source 5

Consumption of Sugar Drinks in the US (2005-2008)

Citation: Ogden, Cynthia L., et al. Consumption of sugar drinks in the United States, 2005-2008. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, 2011.

Summary: This article discusses the consumption in kilocalories and the differences of consumption based on age, race, ethnicity, income, location. It also explains how much is consumed and gives a definition for sugar drinks.

Source 6

Evaluating Sugary Drink Nutrition and Marketing to Youth

Citation: Harris, Jennifer L., et al. “Evaluating sugary drink nutrition and marketing to youth.” New Haven, CT: Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity (2011).

Summary:This article discusses childhood obesities direct link to sugary drinks and how many of these companies promote this unhealthy life style. While providing general accurate statements it also provides a great deal of statistics to support The fact that sugary drinks are bad for children and yet marketed directly to them.

Source 7

Intake of Sugar-sweetened beverages & weight gain

Citation: Malik, Vasanti S., Matthias B. Schulze, and Frank B. Hu. “Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain: a systematic review.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 84.2 (2006): 274-288.

Summary: This article takes an in depth look at the correlation of sugary drinks and weight gain. The review uses different investigations and studies to come to the conclusion that the intake of sugar beverages are in conjunction with weight gain and obesity in children and adults. It explains that theses beverages also provide little nutritional value and result in incomplete compensation of energy at subsequent meals. Ultimately the conclusion of the article is that these drinks should be discouraged and there needs to be more efforts to promote consumption of healthier beverages.

Source 8

Food Away from Home, Sugary-Sweetened Drink Consumption & Juvenile Obesity

Citation: Gillis, Linda J., and Oded Bar-Or. “Food away from home, sugar-sweetened drink consumption and juvenile obesity.” Journal of the American College of Nutrition 22.6 (2003): 539-545.

Summary: This article discusses the relationship between people’s diets and their weight. They complete a study in which they found that obese children consume more meat, grains, sugary drinks, and processed food, while also lacking fruits and vegetables in everyday diets. It also talks about the effects that eating out has on the food consumption of children.

Source 9

Mass Media’s Influence on Knowledge, Attitudes, & Behaviors about Sugary Drinks and Obesity

Citation: Boles, Myde, et al. “Ability of a mass media campaign to influence knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about sugary drinks and obesity.” Preventive medicine 67 (2014): S40-S45.

Summary: This article discusses the relationship media has with the way people act. The article shows that when the media shows a group of people how bad sugary drinks, they become more informed and then change behaviors. In this specific study they talk about a study done in Oregon where they informed people about how bad sugary drinks are for you and how this campaign helped the people in the area become more knowledgeable, and how a large portion of these people stated they would change their ways.

Source 10

Reducing Consumption of Sugar-sweetened Beverages to Reduce the Risk of Childhood Obesity

Citation: “Reducing Consumption of Sugar-sweetened Beverages to Reduce the Risk of Childhood Overweight and Obesity.” Reducing Consumption of Sugar-sweetened Beverages to Reduce the Risk of Childhood Overweight and Obesity. World Health Organization, 24 Aug. 2016. Web. 04 Dec. 2016.

Summary: The World Health Organization talks about how sugary drinks are directly linked to obesity. Consumption of these beverages is incredibly high and suggest poor diets. They offer suggestions on how much sugar should be consumed to be considered healthy.

Source 11

Childhood Obesity: The Link to Drinks

Citation: McKinlay, Rodrick D. “Obesity Action Coalition » Childhood Obesity: The Link to Drinks.” Childhood Obesity: The Link to Drinks Comments. Obesity Action Coalition, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2016.

Summary: This article talks about the effect sugary drinks have on childhood obesity. It discusses how much is consumed and the effect caffeine has as well. It ends by talking about parents roles on changing this problem by adapting a healthier lifestyle as well to role model how to be healthier for the children.

Source 12

How Much is Too Much?

Citation: Johnson. “How much is too much?” Research. SugarScience.org, 30 Mar. 2014. Web. 5 Dec. 2016.

Summary: In this article they discuss the concern for how much sugar Americans intake against what Americans are actually consuming using lots of facts and statistics.

Source 13

Benefits of Sports Drinks Like Gatorade and Powerade

Citation: Cespedes, Andrea. “Benefits of Sports Drinks Like Gatorade and Powerade.” Leaf Group, 09 June 2015. Web. 04 Dec. 2016

Summary:

Source 14

Citation:

Summary:

 

Working Thesis

1. By putting an age restriction on sugary drinks for children under 18 will make a significant positive effect on decreasing the percentage of childhood obesity and increase overall health of children.
2. Childhood Obesity is a Nationwide epidemic that can be reduced by eliminating the unlimited access to sugary drinks by creating an age restriction on purchase.
3. Childhood obesity is a nationwide epidemic that cannot be solved completely but can begin to be reduce by eliminating the unlimited access to sugary drinks and decrease the percentage of sugar intake by creating an age restriction on the ability to purchase the products, which will ultimately decreasing the percentage of childhood obesity.

 

Arguments

Ideas

• Explain what Sugary Drinks consist of
• Explain why sugary drinks are bad for you
• Explain the effects of sugary drinks causing childhood obesity
• Go through other ideas on how to solve the problem
• Compare proposal/thesis to cigarettes
• Evaluate major companies and their marketing

Definition

Childhood obesity is a nationwide epidemic throughout the United States. While there are many leading factors when it comes to what causes Childhood obesity one of the largest causes is from the consumption of sugary drinks. According to the CDC, “80% of youth consume sugar sweetened beverages,” but what they do not mention is what exactly a sugary drink consists of, posing the question for readers of what is a sugary drink ?

For most people when the thought of sugary drinks comes to mind the though of soda and energy drinks are what constitutes as a sugar drink, however it is actually so much more. According to the National Cancer Center, “sugary drinks consist of fruit drinks, soda, energy drinks, sport drinks, and sweetened waters” (Ogden, 5). The American Heart Association also gives a list of what is included in sugary drinks, including sweetened teas to the list as well (Go, 1).In the Advice for Patients section of the Arch Pediatric Medical Journal they give examples of some of the types of sugar drinks and examples to go with it. For the type of drink classified under fruitades they gave examples such as Gatorade and lemonade, for fruit juices they give examples like Kool-Aid and Fruit Punch, for Soda they give the example of Coke, Pepsi and 7Up, and for Energy Drinks they give the examples of Monster or Red Bull (Arch, 1). The drinks mentioned above are a lot of times considered to be healthy or good for you, and are in many American homes. The problem is that sugary drinks are the largest source of added sugars in a youth’s diet and also the main source of calorie intake (Harris, 2). What this means is that when a child drinks a soda they are taking in a lot of calories at one time, often more than a body needs which then is not processed properly and becomes fat.

The largest problem that Americans face with determining if a drink is considered bad for you before even looking to see the sugar content is due to the fact that many sugary drinks have positive health claims attached to help hide the fact that they are packed with sugar (Harris, 2). One of the most common poor drink purchases are sports drinks, such as Gatorade. On the Gatorade label it has the word Performance in large print as well as the phrases thirst quencher and natural flavors. Gatorade is also know as an electrolyte sports drink, and kids see many different athletes supporting these products families are lead to assume this is good for their child. What they don’t know is that Gatorade is packed with 35 grams of sugar in a 20oz bottle. Just think 35 grams of sugar is equal to 8.75 teaspoons of sugar, and that’s a lot of sugar in a bottle.

While there is many different types of drinks out there, they can almost always be classified as sugary or not. By making people more aware of what is bad for children, families will be able to make more informed choices when shopping for beverages and hopefully that will help with the childhood obesity epidemic that sweeps our country.

Causal

Childhood obesity is one the countries biggest health problems of the 21st century, and there is truly no cure. In an article produced by the American Society for Nutrition they discuss how obesity is the reflection of the interactions of different factors such as, genetics, cultures, environments, socioeconomic status and behaviors. These factors are play a role in the reasons why people eat what they eat, specifically the consumption of sugar. For most Americans their main source of added sugars comes from their intake of sugary drinks. Consumption of these sugary drinks are incredibly high and is linked to being one of the leading causes in childhood obesity nationwide.

Sugary drinks are available everywhere from stores to schools to vending machines, making it nearly impossible for children not to get their hands on it. Due to easy access to sugar drinks such as sodas, fruit juices and sports drinks, the consumption of these drinks continually increase everyday. In an article written by Roderick McKinley he states that the average American consumes 1.6 cans of soda a day, resulting in them consuming more than 500 cans of soda in one year. Think about one 12 ounce can of Coca-Cola, that can of soda contains 39 grams of sugar. According to an article published by Sugar Science “the average amount of added sugar a child should consume in one day is 18.5 grams,  however this may vary based on age but will never be more than 25 grams.” If a child consumes just one can of Coca-Cola a day they have already doubled their sugar intake for the day. What is most concerning is the calories being consumed by just drinking these beverages. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend “the total intake of discretional calories, including sugars and fats, should range between 5-15% per day, yet most American children consume about 16% of their intake from added sugars alone, not including fats or any other foods.” While many Americans are shocked to find out these statistics they also don’t always understand where these added sugars are coming from, and do not seem to realize that they come from the drinks they are consuming.

These sugary drinks are often consumed without much thought into the fact that the person consuming the drink is drinking large amounts of sugar as well as drinking a large percentage of calories, not to mention doing so very quickly. What becomes the problem is that many people consume more of this than their body needs. In an advice column published by the Arch Pediatric Medical Journal they state that these drinks are all consumed before a person’s body can realize they have consumed it which in turn is before the body has time to realize it is full in the same way a body would when eating solid food.  The World Health Organization also adds to this by stating “these drinks have little nutritional value and do not provide the same feeling of fullness as solid food does,” making it so they continue to consume more even though their body has had enough. The more people consume sugary drinks the more sugar they have in their system exceeding the amount they need to be able to produce energy. Because of the over consumption the body breaks down only what it needs for energy and the rest is stored as fat. Over many years of consuming too much sugar and the body storing excess as fat, especially after starting at a young age, the fat continues to add up ultimately resulting in the person becoming obese. In a study conducted by the American College of Nutrition they found that “Obese children consume significantly more servings of fats and sugary beverages than non-obese children in a study done between the two groups.” This study helps to prove that the correlation between obesity and sugary drinks is in fact a direct cause to this nationwide epidemic known as childhood obesity.

Childhood Obesity may never be cured as it has so many different causes, however it can be reduced even just a little. The CDC currently states that childhood obesity affects about 12.7 million children. This amount of children could be reduced if the reduction of sugary drink consumption goes down as well. While it will not reduce the consumption of sugary drinks and its affects on childhood obesity by a lot, if parents become more educated and adopt healthy habits themselves, such as cutting back intake of soda, they will begin to influence their children and the children around them to do the same. As these educated parents, influence their children there is hope that in future generations obesity declines and is only a small percentage of the united states as those children will become parents and be able to provide the healthiest nutritional options and knowledge for their future children as possible.

Rebuttal

 Final Research Paper Outline

• Introduction to Childhood Obesity
• Thesis
• Define sugary drinks and explain what they consist of (Definition)
• Explain the connection between the two (Causal)
• Media’s affect on the ignorance of sugar consumption through beverages (Rebuttal)
• Different things that have been tried to help prevent this problem (general advertisement, taxing proposal)
• Compare my idea to put age limit on this to the age restriction on cigarettes

 

 

White Paper

Content Descriptions

• Statistics supporting a higher percentage of people being pulled over being minorities
• What race the officers are that pull over these minorities
• Discrimination defined and analyzed
• The Philando Castile killing
• Dallas revolt and killing of police officers

1. Working Hypothesis 1

It is inexcusable to think that as far as we have come as a nation, that members of society are still heavily discriminated against.

1a. Working Hypothesis 2

We have come extremely far as a nation up to this point, but it is truly saddening knowing that discrimination is still a prominent factor in society today.
2. Topics for Smaller Papers

Definition/Classification Argument

• Discrimination defined covers a broad, vast variety of factors outside of simply race. It is important to fully understand the meaning because on a more narrow scale, young black males are more likely to get pulled over than adult black males due to certain stigmas.

Cause/Effect Argument

• Continuing to discriminate toward African Americans in particular, and getting violent, leads to revolts or retaliations such as the one in Dallas recently. Those who felt disrespected or discriminated against stood their ground and shot and killed police officers. The fatalities on both sides prove this social issue’s significance.

Rebuttal Argument

• In today’s day and age, more often than not it is just assumed that when a person of color is pulled over, stereotypes or discrimination/racism factored into the traffic stop. But it is essential to know that black officers pull over black people too. As well as that, white officers also pull over white people. Therefore, the opposite race is not always specifically out to get you because of how you look.

3. Current State of the Research Paper

At this point in my research, I am satisfied with the direction my paper is heading. It is a hot topic in our society today, so to shed some light on facts and statistics to educate any reader is my goal. I have a lot of content to work with and I am even educating myself in the process. More sources are still needed, but as of right now I am on track and where I want to be with this paper.

Hypothesis: If someone told you that there were a surgery that could make an athlete come back not only to their own strength before the injury but even stronger, what would you think?

Benefits we see from this surgery:

1. Baseball injury, torn UCL ligament in a players elbow
2. Causes players to have a ligament from other part in body removed and wrapped around to increase strength
3. Long recovery but makes the players arm stronger then it was before the injury happened
4. Should we start thinking about performing the surgery before an injury even occurs?
5. This could amplify the game itself and make people change the ways they play

 

1.Working Hypothesis

In baseball, pitchers are forced to throw a ball at a inhuman direction which causes tremendous stress on the arm which could make the ligament holding just the lower arm bones to upper arm bones to tear leaving them sitting out for part of their careers which could be prevented with a single surgery.

2.Topics for smaller paper:

1)Definition/ Classification Argument:

•  Sports injuries and how they can ruin players careers
• how we can help prevent these injuries
• different recovery times for different athletes injuries

2) Cause/Effect

• The causes of all these injuries have many reasons that we can prevent but a certain injury in which is the scariest in baseball can we stopped early if we start to get this surgery done before the injury even happens.

3) Rebuttal Argument

• People will think that if they believe there really is a surgery that not only brings an athlete back to their normal self but even stronger, why would we not have this done to every player before they start there main careers.

3.Current State of Research Paper

I believe that researching this topic is making me understand more about how we could really prevent this.  From looking up sources from the Elbow injury that happens at a rate to the surgery itself and recovery time is really giving me a good idea.  Being i am a baseball player myself is making this paper a lot more understandable for me and making it much more fun to write also.

 

 

Hypothesis- Professional sports should help against our ongoing fight with obesity.  Professional sporting events should offer and promote healthier alternatives to options such as hotdogs, and soft drinks etc.

When going to a Professional sports games most spectators anticipate having a cheat meal or choosing to eat something like a hot dog, pretzel, slice of pizza with a beer or a sugary soft drink.  By promoting deals for options like this professional sports concession stands are not stepping up trying to make a stand on an ongoing obesity issue America and other countries world wide face.

Benefits of healthy alternatives being added to menus:

• Eating a diet rich in vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet may reduce risk for heart disease, including heart attack and stroke.
• Eating a diet rich in some vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet may protect against certain types of cancers.
• Eating vegetables and fruits rich in potassium as part of an overall healthy diet may lower blood pressure, and may also reduce the risk of developing kidney stones and help to decrease bone loss.
• Healthier options will ultimately lower the increasingly high obesity rate.

Effects of Fast Food on the body:

• Food is fuel for your body eating highly processed food in moderation is not necessarily that bad but in binge servings can be dangerous
• Majority of fast food contains large amounts of carbohydrates, added sugar, unhealthy fats, and salt or sodium.
• These foods are often high in calories yet offer little or no nutritional value.

Another rising issue is child obesity.  It seems that children would rather watch or play sports virtually compared to actually going outside or playing for a team.  If we begin to preach the importance of eating healthier not only at school, and home, but also when we don’t really want too like at a tailgate or when you are inside making a decision at a concession stand in a stadium at an event.

Working Hypothesis: Not only is prices at professional sports games highly priced, but also can negatively affect your health.

Working Hypothesis 2:  Adding cheaper, and healthier options to the menu of professional sports games can have a positive impact.

Cause/Effect:

• If healthier options are added to concession stands more people might try to make eating healthier a habit.
• Eating junk food is a bad tradition that people across the world look forward too.

Definition/Class

• I need to better talk about how professional sporting events have ignored the worlds obesity issue.

3. I feel that my thesis, claims, and sources are strong.  With many new revisions and feedback I believe that my paper can be bolstered up nicely and my essay will be easily understood and my argument will be easily understood by my audience.

Practice Opening

The unforgivable acts of police brutality, should sometimes be forgiven. Outrage sparked from cop killings is misdirected, and in turn makes matters worse. It’s easy to point fingers and call police racist, but is it their fault? Under various circumstances, any human being is capable of committing acts of violence. Mainstream media’s constant portrayal of “good” and “bad” people, conditions people into developing a bias towards certain groups of people. Whether or not said bias is realized, it can very well influence a person’s actions in everyday life. Since police officers are still normal humans, it’s reasonable to assume that their inherent bias can one day come to fruition. Movements like “Black Lives Matter” only shed light on a piece of a larger problem, that law enforcement needs to be rebuilt.

http://www.dailywire.com/news/7264/5-statistics-you-need-know-about-cops-killing-aaron-bandler#

Statistically speaking, cops don’t kill blacks as much as they kill other races. In 2015, 50% of police shootings were white, while 26% were black. The fact that more than half of the population is white while 13% is black might initially show racist treatment, but according to the 2009 statistics of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this isn’t true. Those statistics showed that blacks were charged with 62% of robberies, 57% of murders, and 45% of assaults in 75% of the counties in the country. More crimes in minority communities results in more police altercations and possibilities of lethal force. 4% of black homicides were from police officers, less than that of the 12% of white and Hispanics. Though an unarmed black man is statistically more likely to be killed by a cop, it may not necessarily be whole story. Minority officers are 3.3 times more likely to open fire at a crime scene than a white officer. Blacks have statistically killed more cops than cops have killed blacks.

This article seems slightly bias fueled. May not be used as a source.

http://blueprint.ucla.edu/feature/police-racism-search-for-answers/

Different police departments handle police shootings differently. Until recently, asking departments to find reliable data to quantify ALL police shootings analyze them was a near impossible task. Emotionally charged accusations had no real basis to actually conclude whether or not police shootings were in fact racist. In a 2008 study published by the Journal of Personal and Social Psychology, it was found that people in the US implicitly associate black people with apes. Another study, “Across the Thin Blue Line: Police Officers and Racial Bias in the Decision to Shoot,” showed that officers in larger cities/areas with more minorities were more likely to show black bias.

https://www.rawstory.com/2016/07/a-former-officer-explains-why-racist-police-violence-occurs-even-when-cops-arent-racist/

The system is set up to make minorities look a certain way. Big cities are primarily populated with minorities, especially blacks. Mainstream media, specifically news stations, are based within cities and cover the news of urban neighborhoods. That doesn’t mean crimes don’t happen in suburban or primarily white neighborhoods. Unconsciously, Americans are conditioned to associate crime with minorities. This can potentially affect any person, including cops, regardless of that cops race. Since police essentially operate as a “pattern matching machine”, this can easily result in a false sense of danger when they associate “criminal” to the minority at hand. It may not be the result of intentional racist, but it is indeed still racism.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-whitehead/just-shoot-the-mindset-re_b_5432716.html%3E

The police force has become more like a military force. Life hasn’t gotten so bad that such force is needed, yet innocent situations are treated like acts of war. Search warrants become possible fatalities at the hands of SWAT. SWAT teams are being deployed more than ever, as much as 5 times a day. This mindset has made its way to everyday police officers. Some see themselves as soldiers after targets, using force if they see fit. Why should an officer’s life be considered more valuable than another person? Hesitation only invites the possibility of harm to the officer. More times than not, these killings are justified, and the police aren’t held responsible.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/police-shootings-studies-racial-bias_us_5796f2d8e4b02d5d5ed2b4aa

Studies that conclude that there is no racial bias in police shootings aren’t to be fully trusted. There is no actual database that correlates with such findings, so it is foolish to make that assumption. That doesn’t mean that the studies themselves are useless. They’re part of a bigger and developing story that is only now being studied. Some people may not be able to see the difference between the two, which leads to further false assumptions. It’s important that assumptions are not taken as facts, as this only delays finding real answers. Studies may show that blacks are convicted of crimes more than other races, but that doesn’t necessarily tackle the question of whether or not blacks are targeted more for those crimes. While not all cops are purposely racist, it’s true that all Americans have some level of unconscious racism.

Working Hypothesis 1

Police may be racist, but not all are operating based on said racism. This doesn’t mean that we should give some a pass and prosecute others. The issue of racism is still the problem and something must be done.

Working Hypothesis 2

Police are specifically taught to have an elevated level of racism through training. Training coupled with militarized policing, results in blacks being killed

Take one use of stem cells and argue the advantageous aspects of it.

Reason: (growing new organs for people using stem cells.)

 

Thesis: The advantageous stem cells can be found from more things than an aborted fetus.

 

 

New sources:

http://www.eurostemcell.org/commentanalysis/eight-tiny-organs-grown-scientists

• On July 20th 2015, Scientists from the MRC Centre for regenerative medicine claimed to have regrown damaged livers in mice.
• Tiny/ partial organs help replace animals as test subjects in animals.
• Tiny organs also help demonstrate that growing organs can be possible on a larger scale.
• Tiny organs often called proto-organs have some of the organ’s functions not all.
• 8 Tiny organs that have been grown: Itty-bitty intestines, little livers, compact kidneys, small skin, tiny thymi, teeny tickers (heart), small scale stomachs, and Bijou brains.
• itty-bitt intestines:
  • study was done at Cincinnati children’s hospital medical center
  • plenipotent stem  cells were induced to grow human intestinal tissue.
  • Connected tissue to kidney of a mouse to give it blood supply to grow grow and have nourishment.
  • This technique can help study/ treat gastrointestinal disease in the foreseeable future.

• little livers:
  • MRC Centre for regenerative medicine
  • used liver stem cells (hepatic progenitor cells) to grow livers or mice with damaged ones.
  • Extracted these stem cells from healthy mice and placed into the unhealthy ones.
  • after 3 months, the cells grew enough to partially restore the function/ look of the liver back to normal.
  • gives hope for using this in the future of humans.

• compact kidneys:
  • Center for regenerative medicine in the us.
  • Kidneys were grown and transplanted into rats.
  • stripped kidney in rat into what is described as a “scaffold-like structure”.
  • New kidney was regrown.
  • new organ was transplanted in and filtered blood and produced urine successfully.

 

 

5 original Sources

“Stem Cell Research – Pros and Cons.” Stem Cell Research – Pros and Cons. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2016.

Nguyen, Sarahle. “Should Aborted Fetuses Be Used for Research?” Prezi.com. N.p., 27 Oct. 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

Phillips, By Theresa. “Stem Cell Research: Weighing Both Sides of the Debate.” The Balance. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2016.

Wolfe, Alie. “Stem Cells for Medical Use.” Prezi.com. N.p., 09 May 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

Hypothesis 1

America has an Justice System that is manipulated to be unjust against people of color, which leads to massincarserations of African Americans and overpopulated prisons.

America has been a free country since 1776 but African Americans were slaves from 1619-1865 and only gained equal rights in the 1960’s.

Practice Opening 1

After slavery, African Americans where deemed to be second class citizens. Around 1877 many states adopted segregation laws called Jim Crow Laws. These laws made it illegal for African Americans to integrate into the “White” society. Blacks weren’t allowed to attend the same school’s, drink from the same water fountains, or even use the same bathrooms as whites. If they were caught doing so they could be thrown in jail or even killed. Jim Crow Laws ended in the mid-1960’s, after the Civil Right’s movement. The government needed a new way to somehow deprive African American’s of their right’s. In 1968 the Richard Nixon campaign knew he couldn’t make it illegal to be black, so he declared a War On Drugs. He associated Hippies with Marijuana and African American’s with heroin. The Nixon Campaign felt that Black people and hippies were their enemies simply because hippies were against the war and Black people were fighting for right’s. He then criminalized both heroin and marijuana extremely to control both populations. All of this was in effort to get America to reelect Nixon. After the War on Drugs was introduced the prison population sky rocketed.

Practice Opening  2

America is known for being a free country, but we have the largest prison population in the world. We account for 25 percent of the worlds prison population. In the National Anthem there is a line that says “For land of the free and the home of the brave”.  If we account for 25 percent of the worlds prison population how can we call our country free.

Proposal Summery

America has problems with enequality that many Americans ignore. Most Americans will not be effected by the enequalities such as laws created to arrest many African Americans so they chose to ignore them. Some people might neglect that laws were created to incarserate African Americans spicificly but its 100 percent true. African Americans were slaves in this country for 400 years so freedom takes on a new meaning to some black people. African Americans have the highest prison population in the country.

Sources

Jim Crow

Bill Clinton 3 Strikes

Richard Nixon War On Drugs

Prison Population after War on Drugs

Historic Prison Population

Stop and Frisk Sources

Bill of Rights

NYCLU

Cornell University Law

Police Oath

Hypotheses
1) Classes about religion and politics should be made mandatory in public school curriculum in order to better prepare students to be able to speak knowledgeably on the subject and have progressive conversations on such topics.

1a) Religion and politics should not be taught in an educational setting because it’s nearly impossible for the instructor to deliver the information objectively without interjecting his or her own thoughts on the matter which may sway the opinions and the perception of the presented information by the student.

Topics for Smaller Papers
-clarify the differences between teaching religion and teaching about religion
-discuss how the events of 9/11 altered the general view on eastern minority religious in the US
-teaching religion is nearly impossible to do without showing bias. who will this affect the malleable minds of children from religious families?

Purposeful Summary
Even with increased diversity in schools across the nation, America’s public education system fails to properly educate students on the many religions represented in our communities. In fact, in many places, it fails to educate them on the matter at all. Some teachers believe it’s become more controversial than sex-ed. To combat the problem, a small group of school teachers in Modesto, California developed a world religions curriculum for every 9th-grade class in the district. Modesto now requires that every 9th-grader in the district enroll in a semester-long world religions course.

Many oppose this with the argument that a public school can’t teach religion. The loop-hole is that they aren’t teaching a religion, they’re teaching about religion. As long as they don’t show preference to one over another, they stay within state guidelines.

The course opens with a review of First Amendment Rights and the teachers place special emphasis on respect in the class room and creating an open environment. They also learn the proper way to pose a question. The course is highly structured and regulated. Every school reads the same text and watches the same videos which prevents teachers from sliding in their own opinions.

This program is the first of its kind in America so the progress and effects were well tracked by investigators. Students were interviewed immediately before and after the course and again 6 months after the course ended. The over all consensus is that students were more accepting and open to not only different religious stances but other cultures and lifestyles as well. They also felt more and more willing to protect the rights of people of other faiths. Another huge finding was that students who began the course with religious convictions really weren’t swayed in their own beliefs. The fear of many parents is that their family’s faith would be undermined.

This all happened in the school year preceding 9/11. While harassment of muslim students across the country skyrocketed, Across the country, reports of schoolyard harassment against Muslim students escalated in the months immediately following 9-11, “In Modesto, not a single act of harassment was reported against a Muslim student during the 2001-2002 school year.”

http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-32-fall-2007/feature/one-nation-many-gods

Current State of Research Paper
I recently changed the topic of my research paper which is why my white paper isn’t as thorough as I’d like but I’m far more confident in my ability to spend a considerable amount of time on this topic than my original topic.