Rebuttal Argument- Nreina34

My Worthy Opponent is Wrong

Rebuttal Argument: Police officers are not allowed to make mistakes

A main rebuttal argument to my thesis here is that police officers are not allowed to make mistakes which is in fact, a very controversial topic in today’s society.  But, what most people do not realize is that they are people too, nobody is perfect. There are going to be times in our lives that we make the wrong decision and it is just something that is apart of life.  We learn from our mistakes and gain knowledge from the experiences as we go through life and grow up. Actually, there are rules that back policemen and the people for mistakes made by law enforcement. The Exclusionary Rule is a legal rule tied to the Fourth Amendment in the Constitution.  In an article published by the Legal Information Institute it states, “The decision in Mapp v. Ohio established that the exclusionary rule applies to evidence gained from an unreasonable search or seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment”. This both protects the officer and the defendant by freeing of them of their mistakes from this situation.  The officer would probably be disciplined accordingly for violating a constitutional right and at the end of the day the officer made a mistake and they’ll learn from it.  This also protects the person because they are freed of the possible charges that would have been brought upon them, the law enforcement violated their rights and they were compensated for it.  As you can see, rules are even set in place for the mistakes law enforcement makes because we know that they happen. It is an ignorant statement to say a person can be trained to the extent that they will never make another mistake in their life, police officers are people too and they need to start getting treated like one.

Works Cited

Carlson, David. “Exclusionary Rule.” LII / Legal Information Institute, 22 June 2017, www.law.cornell.edu/wex/exclusionary_rule

Research – picklerick

Reading more nonfiction literature is a fantastic way to sharpen your brain. This sounds obvious, but so many people have the wrong idea when it comes to fiction vs. nonfiction. When one reads informational text, it requires careful attention and effort to be fully comprehended. Whereas when fiction or science fiction is being read, it’s likely being read purely for pleasure.

There are, of course, exceptions to this. Plenty of people may read fiction with excellent focus and attention to detail. The thing is, these people are missing out on the immense amount of knowledge and understanding of the world that nonfiction junkies get to experience. Those who just read books for fun can stick to whatever they want to read, but those who are trying to get real, practical benefits from their reading should always lean toward nonfiction.

Public schooling often fails to teach the proper way to close read text. According to Ness (2011), students are struggling with close reading at an increasing rate. A few factors play into this. Kids in elementary school through high school are often given assignments where they’re asked to independently read and log a brief description of what they read in a reading journal. This sounds like a simple and reliable way to get kids into reading. In reality, though, this form of reading assignment gives adolescents major apprehension towards reading and is often the reason why they are so turned off to reading by the time they get to highschool. When kids feel forced to read, they won’t want to. This is why many schools need to rethink the way they’re teaching kids to read by focusing heavily the basics of close reading.

Caitlin Dakin states, in her thesis paper, “It is essential in today’s educational world that teachers begin to transform their classroom instruction of fiction literature into short informational complex texts to give the students the opportunity to meet the demands of the common core learning standards.” Read what you will, but be aware of how much benefit you are really getting from your reading.

Books are really just another form of media. There may be obvious physical differences between these medias, but at their baselines they are both delivery methods for a story. People often feel as if a hobby of reading is something that has higher acclaim than a hobby of watching TV or movies. Film has its perks though. For example, a screen can deliver language as well as picture, whereas a book will only give you the language. This may make it more difficult to get an idea of the mood of a piece of writing. Whereas, in a movie, you can see the the emotion on the face of each actor and often hear it in the music.

This is not to say reading is worse than film, as there are many benefits to reading as well. Books will often present an internal dialogue of its characters. Whereas, in television, only the exterior motives are shown. Also, reading will improve one’s vocabulary. Anyone who reads often will probably come across words that they do not know very well. This causes them to make inferences about the meanings, thus improving their ability to interpret words.

Both reading and film have wonderful benefits, including improvement of knowledge, empathy, and vocabulary. But too much of anything is bad. There is a growing problem of adults staying sedentary for too long. A study by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) concluded that an average of 60% of adults’ waking hours are spent sedentary (Matthews). This is detrimental to our health because without an active lifestyle, your whole body slows down. In his manuscript, “Too Much sitting: The Population-Health Science of Sedentary Behavior,” Neville Owens suggests, “Canadians who reported spending the majority of their day sitting had significantly poorer long-term mortality outcomes than did those who reported that they spent less time sitting.” It may sound appealing to sit down these medias all day. But it’s always important to watch how much time is spend on these activities.

The well-intentioned strategy of allowing students to choose their own reading material most often fails. To pad their grades, unambitious students choose easy-readers below their achieved comprehension level, while go-getters overreach, sacrificing the comprehension they need. As Mark Pennington puts the case in his article on the Pennington Publishing Blog, “Students often choose books with reading levels far below or far above own their reading levels and so do not experience optimal reading growth.” One approach to this issue is for teachers who want students to enjoy reading to let them select their own material from a list of grade-appropriate choices. This gives the students moderate choice without risk of jeopardizing learning. To encourage them to read what they enjoy, teachers can permit students to nominate new material for the list.

A better way to help these kids develop their reading skills is to assign them books that the teachers have already read. This ensures the teacher’s ability to guide their students down the right path. Another way to aid students is to teach them how to close read. Close reading is a form of reading in which the reader carefully analyzes a text in order to gain maximum comprehension from it. It shows kids how to truly read a text, rather than just skimming through it. It is an essential skill for all people, and should be juiced in classrooms of all levels for its benefits.

The best way to teach these students how to properly close read is to assign them short, nonfiction texts that challenge their ability to analyze, comprehend, and make inferences. Both the teacher and the student should analyze a reading passage and examine it for details, some of which include understanding how the text works, the author’s message, providing text evidence to support thoughts and predictions the reader is developing, and making connections between the reader and the text itself (Shanahan, 2012). As long as these methods are carried out properly, students will have the reading skills necessary to make them more successful and intelligent.

References

Amanda Christy Brown and Katherine Schulten. (2012, December 13). Fiction or Nonfiction? Considering the Common Core’s Emphasis on Informational Text. Retrieved March 02, 2018, from https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/fiction-or-nonfiction-considering-the-common-cores-emphasis-on-informational-text/

Bartlett, B. (2014, June 20). 4 Bad Side Effects of Reading Fiction According to the 19th Century. Retrieved March 02, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/beth-bartlett/4-bad-side-effects-of-rea_b_5513451.html

Dakin, C. (2013). The Effects of Comprehension Through Close Reading (Unpublished masters thesis). St. John Fisher College.
https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1238&context=education_ETD_masters

Goodwin, B., & Miller, K. (n.d.). Research Says / Nonfiction Reading Promotes Student Success. Retrieved April 17, 2018, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec12/vol70/num04/Nonfiction-Reading-Promotes-Student-Success.aspx

Is fiction good for you? How researchers are trying to find out. (2016, July 19). Retrieved April 17, 2018, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160719131334.htm

Matthews, C. E., Chen, K. Y., Freedson, P. S., Buchowski, M. S., Beech, B. M., Pate, R. R., & Troiano, R. P. (2008). Amount of Time Spent in Sedentary Behaviors in the United States, 2003-2004. American Journal of Epidemiology, 167(7), 875-881. doi:10.1093/aje/kwm390

 

 

Owen, N., Healy, G. N., Matthews, C. E., & Dunstan, D. W. (2010). Too Much Sitting. Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews,38(3), 105-113. doi:10.1097/jes.0b013e3181e373a2
Pennington Publishing Blog. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2018, from http://blog.penningtonpublishing.com/reading/why-sustained-silent-reading-ssr-doesnt-work/
Shanahan, T. (2012). What is close reading? Retrieved from
http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/2012/06/what-is-close-reading.html

Strauss, V. (2014, September 08). Why kids should choose their own books to read in school. Retrieved March 17, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/09/08/why-kids-should-choose-their-own-books-to-read-in-school/?utm_term=.a1d60b23343c

Definition Rewrite – picklerick

Books are really just another form of media. There may be obvious physical differences between these medias, but at their baselines they are both delivery methods for a story. People often feel as if a hobby of reading is something that has higher acclaim than a hobby of watching TV or movies. Film has its perks though. For example, a screen can deliver language as well as picture, whereas a book will only give you the language. This may make it more difficult to get an idea of the mood of a piece of writing. Whereas, in a movie, you can see the the emotion on the face of each actor and often hear it in the music.

This is not to say reading is worse than film, as there are many benefits to reading as well. Books will often present an internal dialogue of its characters. Whereas, in television, only the exterior motives are shown. Also, reading will improve one’s vocabulary. Anyone who reads often will probably come across words that they do not know very well. This causes them to make inferences about the meanings, thus improving their ability to interpret words.

Both reading and film have wonderful benefits, including improvement of knowledge, empathy, and vocabulary. But too much of anything is bad. There is a growing problem of adults staying sedentary for too long. A study by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) concluded that an average of 60% of adults’ waking hours are spent sedentary (Matthews). This is detrimental to our health because without an active lifestyle, your whole body slows down. In his manuscript, “Too Much sitting: The Population-Health Science of Sedentary Behavior,” Neville Owens suggests, “Canadians who reported spending the majority of their day sitting had significantly poorer long-term mortality outcomes than did those who reported that they spent less time sitting.” It may sound appealing to sit down these medias all day. But it’s always important to watch how much time is spend on these activities.

 

References

Owen, N., Healy, G. N., Matthews, C. E., & Dunstan, D. W. (2010). Too Much Sitting. Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, 38(3), 105-113. doi:10.1097/jes.0b013e3181e373a2
Matthews, C. E., Chen, K. Y., Freedson, P. S., Buchowski, M. S., Beech, B. M., Pate, R. R., & Troiano, R. P. (2008). Amount of Time Spent in Sedentary Behaviors in the United States, 2003-2004. American Journal of Epidemiology, 167(7), 875-881. doi:10.1093/aje/kwm390

Definition Rewrite-Dohertyk9

In America alone, another instance of sexual violence occurs every few minutes. Astonishingly, as reported by The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), which was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Approximately 1 in 5 women in the U.S. (19.1% or an estimated 22,992,000 women) experienced rape at some point in life.” This stems from, among other things, a lack of understanding as to what rape is, because no one knows what it is.

In the article, “The Latest: Cosby jury ends Day 1 without a verdict” by the Associated Press, the jury asks the judge what consent is:

The jury returned to a suburban Philadelphia courtroom less than two hours into its deliberations to ask for the legal definition of consent. Judge Steve O’Neill said he wasn’t able to answer it, telling jurors they’ve already been given the definitions of the charges they are considering.

It’s frightening to consider that even judges, the people we put in charge of determining criminal charges, don’t know what consent is. Although rape has existed since the beginning of humanity, and continues to exist worldwide, it does not have a standard, universal definition. Even within one country, and within the same system of government, the definition varies.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics defines rape as,

Forced sexual intercourse including both psychological coercion and physical force. Forced sexual intercourse means vaginal, anal, or oral penetration by the offender(s). This category also includes incidents where the penetration is from a foreign object, such as a bottle. Includes attempted rape, male and female victims, and both heterosexual and same sex rape. Attempted rape includes verbal threats of rape.

The FBI’s definition of rape as defined by the Department of Justice is,

Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website defines “sexual violence,”

 Sexual violence is defined as a sexual act committed against someone without that person’s freely given consent.

These are only a few of the myriad of existing definitions, but they illustrate just how different rape is based on the agency that is considering it. The Bureau of Justice Statistics defines rape to provide a count for the number of instances a crime has occurred. The FBI defines rape to explain under what circumstances a crime has been committed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define rape to provide better assistance to their patients.  It would be difficult to argue that any one of these definitions is wrong, because there is no proof of a “right” definition. It is not the responsibility of simple observers of this phenomenon to provide the “right” definition.

Governments have struggled with the question of how to define rape since their beginning. In around 1780 B.C., laws stated that rape of a virgin was property damage against her father. In 1290, women who became pregnant from rape were not raped. In the 1300s, whether or not a woman was raped was affected by how promiscuous the woman was; a sexually active woman’s charges were less legitimate. After the 1300s, girls younger than 12 could not consent. In 1670, it was concluded that a man can legally rape his wife, because the marriage contract forfeited his wife’s right to consent. In 1814, it was decided once again that rape could be determined by pregnancy. In the 19th century, it was agreed that if the woman did not actively resist her rapist, she was not raped.

More inclusive definitions of rape have been created over time; the FBI’s definition listed above, for example, is an update from a older and less encompassing definition. Yet despite having a myriad of more inclusive definitions, we are still far from perfect in determining what sexual contexts can be characterized by these definitions. This is clear in the case of Bill Cosby’s retrial for the alleged sexual assault of Andrea Constand. The article, “Bill Cosby’s Defense and Its Twisted Argument About Consent,” by Jia Tolentino, states,

Everyone agrees that, on the night in question, Cosby invited Constand over to his home; that he gave her three pills; that he digitally penetrated her without obtaining any sort of affirmative consent; that he left her passed-out body on the couch and went to bed.

This case is demonstrative of the power of terminology; according to the FBI’s definition, this situation is clearly rape: “Penetration, no matter how slight…without the consent of the victim.” Yet the entire argument of Cosby’s defense is not that he did not commit this act, but rather that it was in a “romantic” context, that Constand was lying as to the nature of her and Cosby’s relationship, that there was full consent given in the situation in question. However, regardless of whether or not the relationship was romantic, Constand was unconscious at the time of the penetration and therefore could not give consent, which is rape by all three aforementioned definitions above. The refusal to call the situation what it was according to the definitions of several reputable sources-rape-has allowed Cosby’s defense to formulate an argument that is at best absurd and at worst completely wrong. However, the nature of the definition of rape is that it will always be different based on who is defining it. If the legal system rules that in romantic contexts, penetration of an unconscious partner is in fact consensual, the system has merely created another definition of rape, which cannot be considered wrong, only different. In such a case, if Cosby could prove that his relationship with Constand was “romantic,” he would be innocent of that definition of rape.

Another case, that of former NFL cheerleader Kristan Ware, illustrates this same confusion of terminology that leads to ambiguity in consent. It is never specifically outlined that to be an NFL cheerleader, a girl must be open to sexual objectification, sexual harassment and molestation. Yet the situation of Kristan Ware conveys that our culture expects just that; the article “Another Former N.F.L. Cheerleader Files a Complaint,” by John Branch, states,

Ware said some Dolphins cheerleading coaches mocked her after other cheerleaders learned that she was a virgin, planning to wait for marriage to have sex. At a 2016 rehearsal for a fashion show at which cheerleaders modeled bikinis, Ware claims, she was dressed with angel wings — something Ware believes was a poke at her virginity — and then physically grabbed and verbally harangued by Grogan as she exited the runway.

If this response is expected, accepted even, then the NFL should create its own definition of consent. This new definition would state something similar to, “In accepting the job of cheerleader in the NFL, a female consents to the receipt of all forms of sexual language and sexual touching.”

Granted, the definitions created in this paper would likely never be adopted by any institution, but they serve to demonstrate how even the most clear situations can be skewed with unclear language. Because the legal system has not altered the definition of rape to exclude “romantic contexts,” it should be clear that by the existing scholarly definitions, Cosby has committed rape, yet actors in the criminal justice system still struggle with their determinations. It should also be clear that because the NFL has no contract explicitly stating that cheerleaders consent to “sexual language and sexual touching,” Ware’s case was one of illegal sexual harassment. Unfortunately, the number of definitions of consent and rape in existence serve to further confuse an already difficult concept.

 

References

An Updated Definition of Rape. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/blog/updated-definition-rape

Branch, J. (2018, April 12). Another Former N.F.L. Cheerleader Files a Complaint. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/12/sports/football/nfl-cheerleaders.html

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) – Rape and Sexual Assault. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=317

Definitions|Sexual Violence|Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC. (2018, April 10). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/sexualviolence/definitions.html

Eichelberger, E. (2017, June 25). Men Defining Rape: A History. Retrieved April 16, 2018, from https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/men-defining-rape-history/

NISVS Summary Reports|National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey|Funded Programs|Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC. (2017, September 25). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nisvs/summaryreports.html

The Latest: Cosby jury ends Day 1 without a verdict. (2018, April 25). Retrieved from https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/latest-cosby-courthouse-jury-start-deliberations-54717264

Tolentino, J. (2017, June 14). Bill Cosby’s Defense and Its Twisted Argument About Consent. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/culture/jia-tolentino/bill-cosbys-defense-and-its-twisted-argument-about-consent

 

Rebuttal Rewrite-Dohertyk9

Rape has existed since the beginning of humanity, and continues to exist worldwide. Yet despite having existed for so long, and in so many locations, it does not have a standard, universal definition. Even within the same country, with the same government, the definition varies. There is so much disparity in the definition of consent, and therefore the definition of rape, that no one’s statistics are worthwhile. The statistics cannot be compared for this reason.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would argue that it can accurately and reliably account for 1.3 million incidents of “sexual violence,” which it defines as “a sexual act committed against someone without that person’s freely given consent.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website even outlines a number of specific circumstances that fall under its definition of “sexual violence,” namely:

Completed or attempted forced penetration of a victim, Completed or attempted alcohol/drug-facilitated penetration of a victim, Completed or attempted forced acts in which a victim is made to penetrate a perpetrator or someone else, Completed or attempted alcohol/drug-facilitated acts in which a victim is made to penetrate a perpetrator or someone else, Non-physically forced penetration which occurs after a person is pressured verbally or through intimidation or misuse of authority to consent or acquiesce, Unwanted sexual contact, Non-contact unwanted sexual experiences.

This definition is clear and indisputable; instances of sexual violence can easily be determined on its basis. Statistics can be generated based on the rape counted by this definition.

But the clarity of the definition isn’t the problem; the problem is that there are many more definitions than this one by the CDC. Each definition is just as likely to be reliable when compared to itself, but equally unreliable when compared to others. Any data that sums up rape and draws conclusions using a variety of different sources is inaccurate, because the different sources are not even counting the same thing. CDC’s “sexual violence” is different than the FBI’s “forcible rape,” or simply “rape,” which is also different from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ “Forced sexual intercourse.” An additional problem arises when people attempt to count the CDC’s 1.3 million incidents of “sexual violence” as rape and compare it as such; the CDC includes in its definition instances of “unwanted sexual contact” that may not require penetration, which makes it astronomically different than the BJS’s and the FBI’s definitions. Wikipedia explains the problem in its own terms even as it reports rape data in its article titled “Rape Statistics,”

Inconsistent definitions of rape, different rates of reporting, recording, prosecution and conviction for rape create controversial statistical disparities, and lead to accusations that many rape statistics are unreliable or misleading. In some jurisdictions, male-female rape is the only form of rape counted in the statistics. Countries may not define forced sex on a spouse as “rape.”

The disparity in definitions often results from differences among agencies. The CDC is concerned with defining rape as it relates to public health, while the FBI is concerned with defining rape in relation to crime. If patients report rape to the CDC seeking medical attention, the CDC is unlikely to discount the patients’ claims of rape. Thus, the number of counted instances of sexual violence may be higher simply because the patients may consider a broader definition of rape, which the CDC inadvertently adopts by accepting patients’ claims. The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) asks very specific questions related to rape that suggest a narrower consideration of circumstances that constitute rape. The BJS’s National Crime Victimization Survey 1 asks its participants,

Have you been forced or coerced to engage in unwanted sexual activity by:

(a) Someone you didn’t know before
(b) A casual acquaintance
OR
(c) Someone you know well

The survey does not include the BJS’s definition of rape, or any examples of situations that would fall under its category of “forced or coerced,” “unwanted sexual activity.” Participants may underreport their instances of rape simply because they do not understand what situations fall under this category. The BJS is concerned with counting rape only to understand how many instances of crime are unreported, not to charge a person with the crime or to improve the victim’s health. This led to the simplified, “forced or coerced to engage in unwanted sexual activity” definition in its survey. This is radically different from its specific, official definition on its website:

Forced sexual intercourse including both psychological coercion and physical force. Forced sexual intercourse means vaginal, anal, or oral penetration by the offender(s). This category also includes incidents where the penetration is from a foreign object, such as a bottle. Includes attempted rape, male and female victims, and both heterosexual and same sex rape. Attempted rape includes verbal threats of rape.

Because agencies that define rape have entirely different considerations in their definitions, they utilize different terminology, account for different numbers, and come up with different statistics. Attempting to summarize data from several different agencies will only result in inaccurate data.

References

An Updated Definition of Rape. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/blog/updated-definition-rape

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) – Rape and Sexual Assault. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=317

Definitions|Sexual Violence|Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC. (2018, April 10). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/sexualviolence/definitions.html

NCVS 1 [survey]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ncvs104.pdf

Rape statistics. (2018, April 14). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_statistics

Reflective- DudeInTheBack

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

When I receive feedback from my professors on something that I thought was a semi flawless assignment, I usually would imagine hearing all positive things. Most of my teachers in my past usually would only comment positive suggestions only when something in my paper was really wrong. This unfortunately has blinded me from the amount of feedback I actually needed. The social and interactive practices I have with my professor in Comp. II, is the extensive feedback I receive on posts along with feedback in the conference meetings. While discussing my Definition Argument position with my professor, he made my thoughts clearer on what should be my main focus argument. I was split between two directions I could take on this topic; comparing Adderall to Meth and saying they’re practically the same, or argue the dangerous effect of prescribing Adderall to children. He directed me towards arguing the negatives of prescribing, since I was more passionate and filled with positions about the prescription effect itself.  Eventually, I explored and discovered a lot about the effects of prescription, making my argument stronger.

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

Using textual evidence to back up an idea in a writing was always hard for me. The aspect I struggle with is having to find sources, analyze them, and be able to fit them in an assignment correctly. While researching for my stone money assignment, I actually had a very easy time analyzing the given sources and placing them into my paper. The reason for this was due to how interesting and clear subject matter. After reading about the Island of Yap,  listening to the NPR broadcast “How Fake Money Saved Brazil,” and learning about bitcoin, I wanted to use what I learned in my writing to prove my idea. I The outside information I had perfectly correlated with my topic of money’s complexity, which made the process of incorporating outside information in my assignment much easier. If the information I find is strong, relevant, and clear to me, now I know that it I easy to utilize, rather than a cumbersome task.

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

Being able to analyze the purpose of a visual or a point of view an author has is pertinent in understanding where they are coming from. This assessment of purpose can come from many things, like the tone of the speakers voice, the grammar and phrases someone uses in an argument, even compelling visuals in an ad. et cetera. In my Visual Rewrite, I demonstrated my value of analyzing a visual argument made by the American Lung Association. I came to the conclusion of their argument based on the visual metaphors that were deployed. Things like the mounds of tobacco, and the main character of the commercial climbing up these mountains made the message of the company very clear. There is a lot of detail that goes into a visual, and each little detail does a lot to an argument by either helping or hurting it.

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

The creation and growth of my White Paper can be credited to all of the academic information that I have acquired from my sources while researching my topic. In this document you will find all of the sources I have found through researching about Adderall. Along with the sources, is short descriptions, or summaries of the source. I can look back Whether the source helps my case, or has a differing idea than my position, I still put it in there.  I even included an illustration of a picture of meth’s chemical makeup side by side with Adderall’s chemical makeup, showing their similarities. The ability to locate academic sources, analyze them, and make that information augment an argument is pertinent for persuasion.

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

I always make sure to cite my work correctly. In fact, If I, or any other student does it incorrectly, we could get in serious trouble. Academic integrity is a big issue at Rowan, and not complying can cost you a grade. Taking an idea from another person and not crediting them is an example of how you will disobey the academic integrity law. In my Rebuttal, I cited an “Analog Classroom Assessment” study of 30 children with ADHD, the effects of different dosages (5mg, 10mg, 15mg, 20mg), and a placebo to show how the drug performed. After writing, I put the full information about the article, and my other citations in my reference section. In other works like my Visual Rewrite, I even linked the original video to my assignment.

Course Evaluations, Please

Please help the Writing Arts Department determine my fitness for instruction by completing a brief evaluation of your experiences in this course.

Without identifying who, the administration has informed me that three students from this course so far have completed their evaluations. The rest have been emailed a reminder. You may take time in class today to complete the brief survey.

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Causal Argument Rewrite- paTricKStar123

The lives of our future leaders are at stake!

College is a place we come to enhance our education, to learn more about ourselves, and to choose our career paths. None of that happens without stress. While most students want on-campus housing to gain the experience of living on our own, dorm life can be a stressful and intimidating environment. Yes, it’s fun and exciting to leave family, friends, and arrive at college knowing only a handful of people, but it also subjects us to a normal life process known as “challenge stress” or “eustress.” Unlike distress stress that can be debilitating, eustress pushes students beyond our fears to reach our goals, encouraging us to bring new ideas to our ever-growing world, like how to get along with a roommate we don’t like.

On the other hand for students who are unprepared to meet these challenges that quickly arrive with growing up and going to college; these challenges can be draining. “According to a 2013 American Psychological Association survey, about one-third of college students have experienced depression within the past year and had difficulty functioning because of it” (Pedrelli, at et. 2015). Mental illness has been the topic of interest for years. Especially now, that hundreds of thousands of students are being affected worldwide. Depression and anxiety are one of the most common mental illnesses you can see on campus. Among the mental disorders, students have reported bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, substance abuse or addiction, and “other addictions.” The main reason for the numbers to not be decreasing is lack of advertising and their methods for treatment.

Correspondingly, Colleges fail in helping because they rarely promote their services. How can you expect students to ask for help when universities show their services only at the beginning of orientation. Furthermore, the way they go about trying to educate and help students is all wrong.As stated by Medical Care Research and Review, “Perceived public stigma was considerably higher than personal stigma.” Nobody wants to seem different and feel judged so making these services seem not welcoming will cause most students to hesitate to go. Additionally, these services single out students in a way because the only people interested are those who need help. What health services can do is set up incentives such as food and gear for going to meetings. This way more students will want to come, and others won’t feel singled out when approaching for information.

The traditional colleges offer mental health counseling but only say things about counseling during the orientation after that nothing else. Universities fail to tell students how they can cope with stress and don’t explain how you can distinguish between Eustress and Distress. Instead, they warn you about substances you may encounter and give numbers for services to call but the problem is many Students are nervous and don’t want to feel weird about talking to another person about problems. As a student who has attended both a traditional and community college, I can say there is a huge difference. My community college failed even to promote these services. In a recent study, the American College Counseling Association Community College Task Force (2010) found that 95% of community colleges have no contracted on-site psychiatry services, compared to 58.8% of traditional universities (Gallagher, 2012). Which proves my point 95% of community colleges don’t offer any psychiatry services, this is outrageous when we know there is a problem. Even so, Traditional universities only provide 58.8 %; for the tens of thousands paid every semester this is plain sad. These undergraduates deserve to have what they paid for.

Next, Universities need to work on their approach to educating these young adults. Recent studies found mindfulness to help combat stress and strengthen emotional health. While mindfulness can be difficult to achieve at first, it is not impossible with practice. This alternative coping method is relatively new, and results vary from person to person. “The basic premise underlying mindfulness practices is that experiencing the present moment nonjudgmentally and openly can effectively counter the effects of stressors, it can help students remain focused and calm” (Hofmann et al. 2010). The way mindfulness can help is for students who used negative coping methods such as self-harm, substance and alcohol abuse, or even have bad reoccurring thoughts, it can allow you to change your personality and curve your impulses. “This suggests that for individuals who observe in a non-reactive manner, observation may relate to lower levels of substance use.” This doesn’t have to be for those who are seeking help which is great because no one is singled out. Second, it allows for students to be able to learn these skill and use it virtually anytime.

Lastly, we cannot afford not to have this health program on campus because it is dire not only for the university itself but undergrads. Over the years accumulation of stories surface of college students, committing suicide, overdosing, getting alcohol poisoning, and some even hurting others. For the universities sake as well as its students; things need to change to help reduce these tragedies. Not only can this help its undergrads but save the university from financial lawsuits and reputation. A more recently written article by
Eugene V. Beresin, M.D., who is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School states more than 1,000 suicides take place on college campuses each year which turns out to be about two to three per day. Dr. Beresin writes in his research about how schools should increase their access to mental health counseling as well as having foster community counseling and support forum to try to reduce the stigma that occurs with receiving help. With students suffering and losing their lives over this condition, they can’t control. I don’t understand why no one wants to help. Statistics show that “80-90% of college students who die by suicide were not receiving help from college counseling centers” (Beresin, 2017). The excuses and claims made by critics are put to rest after this cold hard fact. It is as simple as taking the initiative.

To summarize as a whole, we need to speak up to improve our universities goal of helping its students. The rising increase from year’s statistics shows that students with mental illness are dangerously increasing. Throughout the years these students have suffered and deserve to be help. We pay thousands of dollars to go to a university in the hope of bettering our education, so it is their responsibility of holding us in a safe environment to do so. That being said, the education system should do everything in their power to help create a stable, safe environment for all students. By improving their mental health services on campus, they will give students an opportunity to achieve their dreams for the future. These undergrads have plenty of weight on their shoulders, dealing with this disease, let’s help them stay on track.
References

Beresin, E. (2017, February 27). The College Mental Health Crisis: Focus on Suicide.

Bowen, S. (03/2014). Relationship between dispositional mindfulness and substance use: Findings from a clinical sampleElsevier.10.1016/j.addbeh.2013.10.026

Hofmann, S. G., Sawyer, A. T., Witt, A. A., & Oh, D. (2010). The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic review. Journal Of Consulting And Clinical Psychology, 78(2), 169-183. doi:10.1037/a0018555

Katz, D. (2013). Community college student mental health: A comparative analysis (Order No. 3572817). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1434835907).

Moise, G. (2014). Good stress or bad stress? relationships between stress appraisals and strains in health care practitioners (Order No. 3630437). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1563382680).

Pedrelli, P., Nyer, M., Yeung, A., Zulauf, C., & Wilens, T. (2015). College Students: Mental Health Problems and Treatment Considerations. Academic Psychiatry : The Journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry, 39(5), 503–511.

Reflective – picklerick

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

I feel that my work throughout this Comp. II course has definitely been an interactive and social process. With each piece of feedback and each revision, I have acquired an increased sense of improvement for my work. My professor, Dr. Hodges, provided me with thorough feedback on my Causal Argument essay. His feedback included critique on my reference section, which I was then able to fix. It also included advice on how to change my approach to the topic. My approach started out very linear, and with this advice, I realized I needed to take a different path. I feel like my work made some great improvements by the second draft (the Causal Argument Rewrite). I basically changed my approach from “reading fiction is bad for you” to “reading more nonfiction is a great way to sharpen your brain.”  After then showing my revision to a friend, I was able to fix some wording and grammatical issues.

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

I have experience with reading text critically to analyze it. This is apparent in my Safer Saws assignment, where I analyzed the claims made by five separate people about a table saw called the SawStop. The saw is special because the blade stops before your hand can touch it.  Each claim I analyzed had a different view of the saw. For example, an article written about a competitor saw (the Whirlwind) saw the SawStop as an inferior product. I was able to analyze the type of claim made by this article and whether or not it is reasonable, logical, and persuasive. I also feel like I learned a lot about close reading through my Research Paper. This is because I happened to write a lot about close reading in my paper, thus informing me more on the topic.

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

I feel that when I first wrote my Rebuttal Argument essay, I didn’t fully take into account the audience and context. I aimed to make the essay about how I think teachers should rethink the way they teach reading to kids in elementary through high school. With the help of prof. Hodges, though, I was able to state my claims much more effectively in my Rebuttal Rewrite essay. I acknowledged that my target audience was grade school teachers and restated my claims in a manner that would be more well-received by them. My tone in the original essay was more harsh toward this audience, using phrases such as, “teachers have the wrong idea.” After revisions, my tone was lighter and more logical, using phrases like, “Grade school teachers often have a difficult time expressing the joy of reading to their students.”

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

The Visual Rhetoric assignment was great practice for using illustrations in writing. I gave a thorough analysis of a thirty-six second Ad Council video. I did this by pausing the video every few seconds, taking in what I just saw, and putting it into words. This improved my ability to describe a scene in such a way that if someone hadn’t seen the video they could still visualize it with ease. Throughout this semester, I have discovered many sources that I have incorporated in my writing. In my Whitepaper, I provide a master list that contains all the sources I used in my Research Paper. For each source, I give a brief explanation of the content of the article and describe what the article proves. This was a great way to organize my sources and keep my research feeling more clean.

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

I always make sure to cite my sources properly when using a quote or paraphrase from them. This can be shown in my Rebuttal Argument essay. I found an article from the Pennington Publishing Blog that describes why students don’t get much out out reading assignments when they chose their own books. I used the quote in my essay and made sure to attribute Mark Pennington in the essay. I also used proper italicization for the title of the blog. It is unfair when people take information from others without proper attribution, and downright wrong to steal someone’s exact wording. This highlights how important it is to credit sources properly. All the sources I used can also be found in my Whitepaper, along with a description of what each source contains and what they prove.

Reflective- LBirch

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

This class has given me the opportunity to learn about topics and material that I would not always think about in everyday life. All essays written in this course used Core Value One by receiving help from Professor Hodges. This class also gave me the chance to write multiple versions of each essay based on the comments given by Professor Hodges. When writing the definition argument essay, the professor gave me in-depth feedback on the first and second drafts. Another example would be for the Safer Saws assignment, the class discussed multiple videos and articles that were read and given. This taught me to look at claims and possibly find evidence they may have. As the class continues, I will be able to use this core value to improve my writing and research.

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

By using Core Value Two, I learned to interpret the meaning of an argument and the message the writer may be sending. All sources used in my essays were read and closely analyzed in order to understand the information presented. Some information seemed questionable or did not have evidence to be reliable. In the PTSD claims assignment, the one source used was viewed and read to clarify the real meaning of each claim. I learned to look beyond what was actually written in order to understand the argument the author presented. Multiple sources were read, and some were not used in any essays because they did not have the valuable information needed. As various sources of information were viewed, whether they were in books or online articles, a vast amount of content was analyzed to give me needed information on a topic I was not knowledgeable in.

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

A very early piece of work that was done to analyze the purpose texts was the summaries assignment. The texts read in this assignment were two counterintuitive arguments that had different meanings. Each was looked at in a different way, but the writers for both had their own side to a topic. For example, the author of the free heroin article has their side on this topic. This author showed the side of why institutions giving heroin users free heroin would be valuable. On the opposite side, an article about this may argue why it would not be valuable. I also read an article for this assignment about end of life care and how it was counterintuitive. This author argued spending money on end of life care was worth it, and should not be something you debate to spend on. With this assignment, I learned there may be many different sides to one story.

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

In my visual rhetoric assignment, I needed to show my understanding of a PSA video without any audio. Visual cues and ideas are used to demonstrate the meaning of this video. The evidence I used was only based on the visuals of each frame of the video, and I showed I supported my ideas by writing based on what I saw. For example, the room in the video seemed strange; a stuffed raccoon was on the table, odd ceramic statues were around the room, etc. I used this evidence to determine the tone of the video and what the person may be saying. Another example of this core value being used was in my rebuttal essay. The sources read and used for this article supported my argument that smoke detectors actually cause fires. The sources used in this essay show evidence of how this could possibly happen and times fires did start because of them. Finding sources seemed challenging at first. After time, evidence started to accumulate that supported my argument and helped support my own ideas better.

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

The white paper that was started at the beginning of the semester compiles all of my sources and articles used throughout the class. Credit is given to the authors of each source and is cited with all correct information. In all essays written this semester, citations were needed in order to appropriately use this information and materials. I summarize what the authors state, but continuously credit where I get my information from. Throughout my research paper, all information used received in-text citations, and also in a Reference section in the end. No text read should be used in one’s own writing without the appropriate citations (website received from, author’s name, date published, and date used).