Lesson 8.1: Annotated image

The image I selected for this exercise is the one on page 425 of "Rereeading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing". This is a Czech ad for jeans, of all things, and it's a bizarre one.

As an advertisement for blue jeans, it does make sense. The image shows three men, one of which is holding a woman up by the seat of her pants; literally. Another guy is feeling her pant leg while a third guy is grasping her by the arm.

The strongest argument is that assault of women is okay. Another way this could be interpreted is that stealing jeans off of women is okay, if they are good jeans (no one would market bad jeans)

This image also shows that sex in advertising is not limited to American culture. It is an international problem.

Lesson 8.2: Research Paper Graphic

I chose an article titled "A Clearcut Case of Variable Retention" by Benny Wijdeven. Although it is not the first article I read (actually it's the third), I thought that the image was rather interesting.

Variable retention is about leaving some trees in place to increase the forest's edge, as it is argued that a forest influences more than the area it covers. It also influences the area immediately beyond it, too.

I think the image is ineffective in swaying my matter on the subject because I'm not sure what my opinion is, just yet. My thesis right now is "Is variable retention effective enough to prevent the destruction of forests?".

The article can be found here

http://www.spruceroots.org/Dec04/Tree.html

Lesson 8.3: Research topic thesis

My thesis is "Is variable retention effective enough to prevent the destruction of forests?". I think this is a weak thesis that may be too narrow in its focus. I do think however that it is one that can be researched. Deforestation is a controversial topic, and mankind has been using wood ever since they've been around.

I did score an 8/10 on the exercises on the Hacker website for thesis exercises, and I do see some areas where I might be able to improve this thesis.

lesson 7.4 : Read another student's blog

The blog I read was Sara Butler's, at http://englf111xsarabutler.blogspot.com/ .

I didn't make any comments to her blog. I don't think I'd really have all that much to offer.

Lesson 7.3: Sources

All of my sources are news articles, from different places. Only one of which, I believe, is local. This shows that the problem is a bit bigger in scope than UAF, although Fairbanks is the university I focused on.

Being that they are newspapers also means that they are reputable, or should be. Journalists usually do their research. One source is supporting the opposition and the other two are supporting my thesis.

Lesson 7.2: Swaying the audience

I doubt my audience would be swayed by my reasoning. Universities are a business, and they need to make money. It would be hard to stay in business, and deliver a quality product, and not raise tuition at least a little bit, because inflation does happen.

I actually don't mind tuition hikes, to an extent. They can seem excessive however, because college is a situation where, if you aren't connected, you end up having to incur a lot of debt while not making any money to be able to pay it off, and having been in a position where I was broke for quite awhile, I can definitely understand the stress.

I think the inevitability of tuition hikes means that we, as students, should do our best to get out in time.

lesson 7.1: Audience and Thesis

My audience would be both students and the people who run colleges, as what I am addressing is student tuition hikes, and while I am taking a con stance in this case, I am showing the opposing arguments, as well.

My thesis is "Raising tuition for students will lessen the supply of skilled laborers for the workforce, which will have a negatively affect the economy because it will make it harder for students to pay for college, complete their degrees, and become contributing members to the workforce."

The three supporting clauses I went with were

1) Making college harder to pay for students will require them to go into deeper levels of debt.
2) Higher Education is a priceless opportunity that should be open for all.
3) Keeping tuition costs low will allow for more enrollment, which will allow colleges to have more prestige.

I am really only addressing one with the thesis.

Lesson 6.2: John Stossel video

The video I watched for this assignment was a dialogue between John Stossel and some members of Fox News over the legalization of marijuana and all drugs because the current drug laws are not preventing access to them. Stossel believes that all drugs should be legalized because keeping them illegal isn't working to keep them out of people's hands. Stossel calls it "modern day prohibition", which makes sense on some levels.

The opposition believes that keeping drugs illegal will make it harder for people to gain access to drugs, and that making access to drugs hard for people will save lives. A guy in the video comments that if crack were legal when he was a kid, he wouldn't be where he is right now.

Both sides definitely have valid points. I believe drugs should be legalized, because the economic benefits far outweigh the concerns to health and safety. Honestly, making drugs illegal hasn't made it any harder to acquire them. Walk around Anchorage for any length of time and you will find someone who will offer you a hit of coke, marijuana, or whatever. Talk about drugs to people long enough, and someone will offer you some. Drugs are everywhere, and they aren't going away.

Prohibition for alcohol didn't work, either. All it did was give rise to powerful gangsters like Al Capone, and this is what making other drugs illegal is doing today.

The video can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teLEp7KCcTE

Lesson 6.1: Internet Chat Rooms

Internet chat rooms are a dangerous place for little kids to go to because of the anonymity of the internet and the predators that are present everywhere. I figured this was the argument partly because of the letter to the editor I read about whales needing silence to not become beached, and because chatrooms can be very dangerous for the naive.

I am of the generation that grew up with the internet (Not to be confused with the generation that was born with the internet). I've been on a computer since the age of 3, and I have been to chatrooms as a kid. The exchange of personal information is common there. Most of it is harmless, but there are predators out there who take advantage of the nonchalant manner in which we share personal information with strangers online.

One need to look no further than Dateline NBC's "To Catch A Predator" to understand that this is really the case. Kids are naive, and their need for an authority figure early in life can lead them to take commands from people that they really shouldn't take commands from.

Another thing about chatrooms is that a lot of them are unmoderated. They can also be very busy. When you have lots of people talking at once, it can become overwhelming, and a kid who is exploring the internat and all it has to offer may be tempted to cross boundaries he or she is not supposed to cross, and the results can be disasterous.

Lesson 5.5: Writing Techniques

I would say that the most useful technique I have found is the use of pro-con clauses. With pro-con clauses, you can brainstorm different ideas for supporting or disagreeing with an argument. These pro-con clauses can be (at least, I believe they can be) combined into a thesis statement. They can also be used seperately, to give supporting data to a thesis.

An early example of this, is in the first lesson, when I was trying to figure out ideas for why joining a fire department was a good thing, I'm pretty sure (it's been awhile) that I did a pro-con clause, selected about three reasons why, and combined them into one thesis statement, and provided my own supporting details there.

I have been tending to take the pro-clause in an argument, because I like to think positively rather than negatively.

Lesson 5.4: What I've learned about myself

I have learned that I am capable of being a good writer and getting back up even in the face of adversity. My thumbdrive crashed recently and I lost about two lessons of Anthropology and half of lesson 5 from English, all of which I had to redo, and all of which I honestly didn't feel like redoing. Dropping out of English was an idea at this point, but I presevered, got the lessond done, and moved on to do the journal entries, which I am doing now.

I've learned about myself that I am much stronger than I think.

Lesson 5.3: What I have learned from the textbooks

I have learned several things from the textbook, such as a process for how to form an argument, to what an argument is, to several other things. I have learned that there is a certain way to cite references, and that citations are needed when quoting someone. I have also learned various nuances of the MLA format.

I have also learned that, while I am a good writer, I can always become better, because there are certain techniques for getting ideas, such as free-writing, clustering, or idea mapping. I have learned ideas on how to flesh out ideas, so that they are more than just a sentence, and to form a thesis statement and be able to support said thesis.

Lesson 5.2: My instructor's expectations

I have learned that my instructor expects me to be timely, responsible, and cite things correctly. I have also learned that she expects me to get an A, because she knows that I definitely have potential to do so. I have also learned that if I run into difficulty, that it is my responsibility to get back on track, which I am at this point.

Lesson 5.1: A problem other students might be having

One problem I think other students are having is this assignment. I think students are having a problem with it because I know I was. The assignments are confusing, and we had three of them. The amount of pre-writing that we need to do is quite a bit, and each assignment was quite involved. a lot more than what we have done up until this point.

Still, the assignment is done, and I think now that it is, the other assignments will be a lot easier to accomplish.