Paper Problems

The hardest thing I have had to do while doing this paper is finding the time to get everyone together to get them to answer my interview questions. All my subjects have fulltime jobs and finding the time to get them together for any length of time has been a headache. I have tried twice this week and every time we got about a quarter of the way through the interview or the movie and they had to leave due to being called in. If I had more time I would have found friends that have more of a steady job schedule.

I was worried about having good open ended questions but as I got going with the interviews I liked my questions. They might not be good for everyone because you have to take what they tell you and ask questions based on their answers. I got them talking and had a good conservation with them about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Since I picked a popular movie and book I had multiple friends wanting to be interviewed, but only a select few who could come during the same time I could, so it narrowed it down pretty easily.

Trying to keep the integrity of the interviewee’s answers is another issue I have been having trouble with. Basically I can take what they say and I can “make” them say what I want depending on context. I sent my paper to one of the interviewees to make sure I had what they said correct, and I got a phone call saying I analyzed their words incorrectly. I took what they said and basically took it out of context allowing stripping the words of their original meaning. I am going to have to take what they said in context so I can keep their words, there’s.

College > High School ..... papers

In high school papers that were written more on a book or play, and not mainly about research or scholarly information. High school professors wanted to break the bad habits of putting opinions in everything, “I didn’t like the book because I…” sounds very childish.  Having the opportunity to use “I” in a paper seems like I’m breaking all the rules. For four years using “I” was frowned upon and trying to get myself back into when and where it is appropriate to use it is like trying to relearn everything I have already learned.  This paper has definitely helped me understand when it is appropriate due to all the examples the author used.

This paper helped me figure out when and when not to use “I” because with all the papers thus far has had “I” eliminated. The hardest part is second guessing myself when I do use “I” because it looks so out of place now in my papers.  Having to determine when to add in an “I” to make the sentence flow is going to be the toughest part of using it in qualitative research. Qualitative research needs to be done objectively not subjectively due to the fact that it needs to be without cause. If you put an “I” for everything that happened the research would take a back seat to what was concluded.  The use of “I” will help if you were summarizing multiple papers or research to keep the names and findings straight. The author makes a good statement “By putting themselves in the picture, Kraemer and Marquez acknowledge themselves as variables in their own study—a key aspect of any scientific methodology, and especially those which involve human subjects and use interviews to collect data.” Because trying to make a connection between topics and trying to keep your topic’s straight the use of “I” is beneficial.

The use of “I” in a research paper would be torturous due to the fact that using “I” is not formal and puts too much emphasis on who is doing the research. When conducting research human bias and opinion needs to be eliminated from the paper because the findings need to stand alone without the backing of the researcher. Just because a researcher says something or finds something doesn’t always mean that it’s the truth. If a researcher goes into the research with a mindset on finding “X” then they will find any way possible to find “X” but when they go into the experiment with an open mind, the real research comes out.  As the author says that” They want to make sure that you don’t rely on personal experiences or perspectives where you should be providing concrete, researched support for your arguments.”

I have actually taken page 189 and saved it on when and when not to use “I” as a quick reference guide. Having it handy will help me understand when I can use “I” and when the author needs to find another way of stating something.

If it says it online it must be true!

Young people are looking online for everything these days, such as medical advice to dating advice to movies or video games. Young people’s increasing percent of finding advice online has increased from 31% to 53% in just two short years. “conducted a study in 2002 that found that 53 percent of all adults sometimes use the internet to look for health care information (Taylor, 2002).” and “An independent US study conducted in 1999 found that 31 percent of respondents under the age of 60 had sought health information on the web (Brodie et al., 2000)” The problem with this research is it doesn’t tell what or how they use the internet as the author states “While these figures are suggestive of a sea change in the way people are thinking about and managing their health, they give us little sense of the specific ways in which people are actually using the web.” Because the internet has a multitude of means of gaing information, and a multitude of different information can be considered medical. From what vitamins to take to how to cure cancer, the internet has a wide range of information. If 58% of young people looked up medical information and that information was about how to maximize their tanning sessions and not about serious medical advice the percent of young people who looked up meaningful information could be much lower.

The other huge issue that is coming into the light is the lack of essential medical advice either online or in print. Newspapers have stopped writing about it and magazines have included health issues along with financial or relationship help. Being healthy should be a priority for everyone not just something you read about next to the stocks or CD’s you should purchase, or how one day you’re going to save for your retirement. Placing health information next to those items gives yet another way to put off loosing that other ten pounds or even begin losing weight.

This is a qualitative paper because he is stating his findings of research he did. He states “In this article I discuss the findings of my study of young people, health and the internet in the context of these broader concerns over lay people’s potentially increased access to medical information via the web.” Doing his own research on what type of media is used to get medical information and the fact that the media is disappearing is qualitative research, and he sources other qualitative papers to help prove his research. The use of “I” is also a giveaway because he is doing the research and giving his knowledge of the matter.

Over Analyzing, it's overrated!

So far this semester I have learned a lot about how to over analyze everything and go places even the marketing specialists haven’t even thought of. I have come to realize that I cannot just see an advertisement anymore without intensely over analyzing it for everything. I can’t just drive and see a billboard or check out in peace, this class has taught me to over analyze everything. I have also realized that most everything you read online is an opinion that doesn’t have any sources.

Most of the learning that has done this semester thus far has really been on the surface just enough to change the short term mainly due to the fact that all that is being done is to complete the assignment at hand.  

I can say that I have brought up during a conservation with friends the random facts about advertisements and the fact that most articles online are false. They find some of my knowledge interesting but that can only go but so far. If I try to bring up any Poultry knowledge most people don’t have the stomach for or just don’t want to hear about where there food comes from, it doesn’t matter if it organic or traditional, the methods are relatively the same.

The information that is taught in school usually cannot be uses outside of class unless the conservation is with another person with similar interests. Take Poultry Science for example, I have learned a ton of information about poultry and how they are processed and raised but this information will be lost on another who doesn’t have the same interests as myself. Most conversations I have with friends are about hobbies or something interesting that isn’t usually controversial. We try to stray away from politics’ or anything that can be debated for hours with nothing being successfully achieved.

Communication to others can be translated outside of class to others, but the main issue is that the environment needed to convey school knowledge is not found outside the classroom. Try bringing up something that is only halfway interesting during dinner or at the bar with friends and you might get about five minutes until they switch topics to something more appropriate.

My opinion can beat up your opinion!

Martin Robbins, beginning his article with “In this paragraph”, he is attempting to take a more of a casual tone than he would if he was going to write more of a scholarly article. He also has a lot of smaller paragraphs with very little information. He also puts words in parentheses which is not formal writing.

What I found to be the most ironic is that most if not all popular articles are this way in some shape of form. Robbins is being funny but he is touching on a very real issue we are having with most of the news today. Every news channel has a little bit different way the story unfolded; Fox News is a little different than CNN which is a little different than BBC. The only news we can truly trust is the scientific article but even those might have a perceived opinion.

I have to agree with Robbins with just about everything he wrote about, especially with the shifting of blame when writing. Authors of popular literature try to make the scientists have their opinion. This happens all too common with popular articles trying to be more scientific when all they are ever going to be is a summary with a little opinion sprinkled on the top with no links to the original article. Having a catchy picture that captures something interesting somewhat near the topic being written about adds character because readers love a good picture. A picture is something one can click on an instantly see something that they may or may not enjoy. If the picture is something they like or find funny they have a higher chance of actually reading what’s on the page.

The Average Experts

The problem Mark Liberman is confronting is the fact that statistics can be manipulated in so many ways to say so many different viewpoints. The fact that a study that clearly states that fish oil or Omega-3 fatty acid pills show no significant increase in concentration in the average school child. The problem escalades when the same publishing company published two articles that contradict one another using the same article as a reference.

Liberman’s article shines a light on the fact that this happens all the time when it comes to popular articles when they try to dumb down scholarly articles. We can learn from this blog post that not to trust everything we read online when it is not a scholarly article. When being translated from scientific to laymen’s terms some content is lost and some is translated completely wrong. When reading a newspaper article the read has to take what the author says with a grain of salt and read the original article to create your own opinion on the matter.

In Liberman’s blog post he uses a few research articles to get his point across that fish oil and Omega-3 fatty acids in no way increase brain function in any measurable means. He cites trustworthy authors such as the one the original article uses to refute the newspaper article.

The evidence made me think a little about all the newspaper article I have read that I believed without questioning the accuracy of the statements being made. If I believe in one way of thinking and I find something that goes along with how I feel or think I am going to go ahead and not question it, but if it is something I don’t believe in or think is bogus, I’m going to do a little more research. This article made the public believe in this completely bogus statement by the increase of fish oil pill purchases. Fish oil is a byproduct from the fishing industry which is typically used in animal feeds but not in large quantities due to the fishy taste the animals retain if above a certain amount. This leaves a majority of the oil left over to do something with, so they try to sell it as a supplement to boost the bottom line. Whenever a company can sell a unusable byproduct, it’s a good day.

The real solution is a tough one because as the article display’s, people believe that fish oil can actually increase concentration which is a cheap way to get an average child to get better grades and thus eventually get into a  better college which is the overall goal of most parents. Article’s like this one mentioned in Liberman’s blog post are way too popular, with the internet full of article’s that have no research behind them and the general public eating it up, it’s going to be a hard obstacle to conquer.  

The way I propose to decrease the issue we are having of misguided newspaper article is for the research team to publish a dumb downed version of the findings. Having the research team to write a little 2 page summary of the findings in a way that the average person can understand what was found would eliminate most if not all of the popular article’s floating around that are full of false hopes just like the one mentioned in Liberman’s post. What better way than to get the information straight from the horse’s mouth.

I know this will be hard to implement due to the fact that most researchers have a hard time not describing their complex findings in a simple to read summary. Every researcher is so immersed in their topic they have a hard time talking to the average Joe about it.

...and I approve this message!

I thought the peer review process was very informative, with the ability to get a second look at my paper was very beneficial. I over looked many spelling and grammatical errors when I read through my paper after finishing the rough draft. Having my peer’s review it takes a little off of the professor because they’re the ones who are going to read them anyways, no need to get them worn out before they begin. This also helps you see what others are doing differently than yourself or find similarities.

I’m not the best candidate to review someone’s paper because I tend to nitpick, and loose the purpose of what I’m doing. I tend to focus on the small stuff like using different synonyms to make the sentence flow better rather than focus on the key points and letting the author decide whether or not to use certain words or not.

When I get a paper back from being peer reviewed I always take the comments with a grain of salt. I reread my paper from the very beginning and try to add in any comments or suggestions to see if they add any value to the paper. Usually I take the comments and suggestions and use them in the final draft. I figure that if one of my peer’s can find it the professor can definitely find the mistakes.

Peers are great for finding sentences or paragraphs that are completely off topic or are just plain stupid because they are usually reading them pretty quickly compared to a professor and if something seems not to make sense they let you know.

I know I have an issue with my tenses; I go from present to past and back in the same sentence sometimes. The most helpful critique someone can give me is the ones that aren’t so obvious.

I enjoy peer reviewing papers!

An Analysis Of An Analysis

A rhetorical analysis is when you analyze something using Pathos, Ethos or Logos. They are basically rational or logical appeals, emotional appeals and ethical appeals. A rhetorical analysis doesn’t have to have all of the appeals; it’s just a starting point. The point is to have criteria to analyze something instead of stating “I don’t like the ad because I don’t like the color yellow”. This allows you to look beyond the “normal” reasons and into what the ad is really trying to get at.

In my rhetorical analysis I want to organize my reasons from strongest to weakest with a strong conclusion to bring my paper back from my weakest point. I will include how the ad hits on as many elements of the rhetorical triangle as possible. Also I will include a picture of the ad; I believe this is necessary for any rhetorical analysis because the reader needs to see it before reading about it. I read the previous post before I looked up the picture and the picture made the paper make more sense. I know the picture isn’t MLA but I think it’s almost needed. I am going to search for an ad that effect me negatively because I know I can find more about the ad if you don’t like it. If you like something it’s easy to come up with the same ole, same ole reasons, but if you don’t like something more creative ideas come out.

I found the paper very well put together but overall I believe that the author has too many emotions swirling around in the paper. By citing their close relationship with the tragedy that happened on 9/11 puts their emotions over the top. I thought the paper was too emotional to get their point across.

It seems like the creators of the ad accomplished what they were trying to achieve. They got this author along with most of the readers into this WWF is a terrible society notion. They were trying to bring light to the subject of wildlife conservation. They got the reader’s attention even if it was negative but I bet a few years from now everyone who saw that would recall it. They succeeded by playing off of your emotions.

If someone who read this and agreed with the WWF ad would be turned off completely and more than likely not finish it. The author has such a commanding emotion I thought that it was over powering.

The other issue I would change if I had to be picky is to reformat the flow of the paper. I would move my strongest point first and end with my weakest point so my strong conclusion could make the paper flow better. Other than those little issues I thought the paper was very good.

In my own paper I hope to find an ad that affects me as much as this author but with a little less emotion added in. The ad I want is something I can relate to and talk about but able to keep from going overboard on the emotion.

 

IS NOT

An Eye for an I ?!

Not using “I” in your papers, especially opinion papers allow the reader to indulge his or her self into the reasons without really knowing. By making more generalized statements the reader should not feel as though they are being talked to, rather given facts. If you say “I” all the time you’re putting your opinion on everything but if you say “the” it makes the statement seem more believable.

Going through high school English and writing papers without using “I” was very difficult, especially when you were describing yourself. Coming to college and being “allowed” to use “I” has really shaped my writing. If the high school me would understand why “I” is important would make better writers out of all of us.

I try to use “I” in papers when I am trying to get a point across about how I feel, or I did research. I know “I” is over used but I believe if students and professors can come to an agreement about the usage, writing could be easier.

I can think back when my teacher told me not to use “I” in the paper and I turned in a paper with no “I” in it anywhere. He returned it and laughed and made me put them back in. I just hate being restricted while writing; I believe I should be able to write how I want.

I really gotta go! Oh Crap Which One?!?!?!?!

I find this post very interesting. I never knew that bathroom signs could be so difficult. I also found most of the signs very humorous, especially the one with the sticks that look like the instruments used while in the bathroom.

 

I think that people put too much emphasis on gender, whether it’s for bathroom signs or how boys and girls should act. People care way too much about what everyone else is doing. If you didn’t worry about or judge Mike for dressing up in drag every Tuesday, your life could be fulfilled with more productive projects. Having two bathrooms is plenty, I know there are individuals that are transgender that might disagree but I don’t see a problem with having them use which ever bathroom they want and either sit down or stand up. Just pick the one that makes you feel more comfortable and stop analyzing the bathroom signs.  

I think the reason why we have such an issue with negativity of individuals that act or dress like the opposite gender is because we still have so many closed minded people. If that person’s actions don’t affect me I’m alright with it. I think the reason why so many people dress like the opposite sex these days is to get a raise out of people. I knew/know so many teenagers that all they want is attention. Like when walking into the Waffle House they want everyone to look at them. I do have a few friends and coworkers that happen to be gay and they like to dress up in drag and go to clubs and I think it’s great they can do that.

Gender performance these days is at an all time high. When someone has a baby they always have pink for the girls and blue for boys. Even up until they’re in high school, boys typically have longer or no curfew while girls have earlier curfews with more consequences for breaking them. Girls are supposed to like “chick flicks” and Opera, while boys are supposed to play sports and get dirty. Everyone knows someone who is either a male or female that doesn’t follow the stereotype. I have some guy friends that would rather get a manicure than work in the yard and gal friends that would rather watch the ball game than go shopping.

The bathroom signs are just a generic sign that helps the majority of the population find a place to relieve themselves. If you don’t follow the norm then find the one that best suits you and proceed with you mission. Don’t make this more complicated than it has to be.

We almost need what we can't and can do while on the toilet!

The F-22 Raptor has nothing on this!

This ad does not portray the Logos analysis very well, due to the fact that this motorcycle cannot break the sound barrier. The Pathos analysis helps make the audience feel as though the motorcycle is fast and make you want to harness that power. This allows the audience to be transformed into a dream where they can break the sound barrier. The Ethos analysis is not portrayed because the ad is not realistic and thus not reliable.
The message of the ad is to show that the Yamaha R1 is fast by showing the motorcycle breaking the sound barrier like a fighter jet. Having the caption “Yamaha R1: Beyond any barrier” helps to also portray the motorcycle as having no limits. I believe this ad has captured everything motorcyclists want in an ad; it has a great product as well as eye catching pictures. I also believe the ad is effective at attracting the target audience of males from the age of 18 to 25. Seeing the bike “break” the sound barrier makes the target market feel emotionally that they want that speed. Flipping through a magazine full or ads this one stands out because at first you don’t know what to make of it. This makes you stop and try to figure out what’s actually happening.