EID Chapter 15

America, in many ways, symbolizes the metaphor of a melting pot or a salad bowl, a country where many different cultures from around the world cross over the border and settle to make one, multicultural nation.  Many people from other countries come to America in order to accommodate for a better lifestyle.  The conveninece favors America with the advancement of travel and technology.  Global American icons, including McDonald's and Coca Cola, are huge, economical contributions to other countries as well as cars and other technology imported from those countries.  Thomas L. Friedman, a columninst from the New York Times, argued in the article "America's Dream Team" the benefits of various ethnical backgrounds in America.  Each person from a different background has different strengths and weaknesses that contribute to society.  He later gave an example of the possiblity of him coming up with an idea and using other countries' resources to construct that idea into something tangible and useful.  Instead of trying to draw borders to prevent immigration, he argues that America should welcome them with open arms because they could be a postive difference for the next generation of our country.
America simultaneously struggles with the idea of becoming a huge melting pot for other cultures.  Recently, the state of Arizona received a lot of backlash for passing a new law allowing them to distinguish potential illegal immigrants by their race.  The NBA's Phoenix Suns were against the new law and to show their support, the team wore official jerseys affectionately displaying the official team name in Spanish - "Los Suns" during a playoff game.  The game was around the time of Cinco de Mayo, but many believed the team were making a political statement.  Nevertheless, this issue shows that although America has made great strides to become more of a huge melting pot for other countries, it still continues to struggle with certain issues that separates the two worlds.

EID: Chapter 14

Our position in the world shape us to over-analyze certain situations and events to the point where it can burst into a huge story.  We live in a society that heavily criticizes people for certain actions.  For example, the article about the bank clerk who took a snapshot of the controversial photo during the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing back in April 1995.  The pictured showed a fireman cradling a presumably deceased infant in his arms with a feeling of compassion.  The photograph was ultimately sold to the Associated Press and streamed across the world.  Many people disagreed that the photo should have been on the front cover of newspapers.  The irony of the situation is the man was not a professional photographer.  He took the picture with a cheap, disposable camera and developed the picture at a local conveninent shop.  He never believed his photo would become circulated throughout the entire world and spark a huge debate on whether or not the snapshot of the presumably deceased infant was humane.  Our world has shaped us to think about certain issues as an issue toward humanity.

Writing A Good Research Argument Using Outlines

Writing a good research argument requires lots of dedicated time and organization.  An outline is a good way to begin collecting and organizing your thoughts and data on paper such as including subheads to make your transitions between arguments stronger and much more effective.  As you turn your attention toward the written portion of the body, you must consider for whom which side you want to argue.  Once you decide on where you stand on the issue, you must integrate your sources correctly avoiding plagiarism.  There are three ways to this process.  They include summarizing, paraphrasing, and direct quotation.  A summary involves condensing your sources into a brief summary, such as a plot, into your own words which usually occurs in the introduction.  Paraphrasing reiterates a portion of a particular idea from one of your sources in a different way than previously written and may vary in length.  Using direct quotations involves taking a specific saying or writing from one of your sources and integrating them within the body of your argument.  These are three basic methods that you can alternate among each other to develop a strong and effective argument in your research paper.

Drafting your research argument is an ongoing process and each writer can draft his paper using different strategies that fit his style of writing.  The key to writing a good paper is to literally write something down on the paper itself.  That does not necessarily mean to start with the introduction.  You can begin writing your paper almost anywhere in the body and build your argument based on what you have written down on paper, whether it be in the middle or even at the end.  The key is to actually have something written down on paper to get your ideas flowing and momentum going.  Writing a good paper requires sacrificing a huge amount of time and energy.  Even the greatest writers experience the occasional writer's block and become fatigued.  Writing is an exercise of the brain; occasionally, it will become very strenuous and exhausting.  To avoid numerous writer's blocks, the best thing is to take intermediate breaks during the process to allow the brain to recuperate and regather your ideas and opinions.  Taking a break every now and then will help rekindle some of that fire of enthusiasm that may be lacking from this long, ongoing process.

Waiting for Superman

The movie Waiting for "Superman" is a documentary analyzing the failure of the American public school system while following a select group of students hoping to be selected into a school by a random lottery drawing.  Throughout the trailer, the film mostly uses pathos to appeal to the viewer.  It begins portraying different interviews with elementary and middle school students wanting to be teachers and doctors to help make the world a better place for the next generation.  The scene shifts to important figures in the education system and their frustration with the education system.  The statistics in the trailer point out that the United States ranks 25th and 21st among thirty developed countries in the subjects of mathematics and science with America being the top ranking in only one category: confidence.  Every kid in America has a dream and wants to achieve that goal whatever it may be with no excuses whatsoever.  The statistics also show the likelihood of kids not graduating from high school and going on to live successfully are very slim and highly unlikely, putting the pressure on students to succeed.  The only chance of the kids getting into a good school is by a random lottery drawing with limited spaces available.  As each number is being chosen, the camera shifts to the kids and their parents' frustration and disappointment of not being chosen.  When the final number is about to be called, the camera quickly shifts from the anticipation and anxiety of the kids' faces to the movie title which persuades the viewer to support the movie and find out who was the lucky student to get chosen to attend the school.

EOL Chapter 7: Avoiding Plagiarism and Documenting Sources

Plagiarism involves stealing the ideas or inventions from the original author without citing or referencing the source, whether intentional or unintentional, and can result in serious offense for the violater.  Before accidentally committing plagiarism, one must consider his sources as if they were the people themselves whoms ideas they belong to.  Another critical element to avoiding this crime involves effective note taking during the research process.  If one comes across an interesting idea or quote during the process, always record the data in a research log with some sort of notation to refer back on how the source might be incorporated into the argument in the final paper.

Plagiarism can result from many diferent reasons such as an abundance of information and sources, fatigue, or overall unorganization of notes and carelessness.  No matter what the reason may be, the consequences are very harsh; and in many institutions, such an act, at the very least, would result in failing the course to ultimately more serious actions such as expulsion from the university.

A person must always remember to never take the art of plagiarism lightly, as committing such a crime is quite the opposite.  Always use good notes for documentation and refer back to the sources to make sure all various types of documents are cited correctly.  Writing a research paper can be strenuous and become overwhelming sometimes, but good organizational tools help to minimize some of that stress.

In the interview led by Terence Smith, the media analysts are in the midst of covering the war in Afghanistan when all of a sudden the viewer hears the sound of sirens warning of a possible missile-born gas attack while the reporting becomes muffled and difficult to hear.  Smith argues that technology is no protection against the real dangers of war and gives examples of journalists and news correspondents who have either been killed or have gone missing.  These reports become even more extremely dangerous when enormous groups of reporters are assigned to travel with specific combat units.  When these reporters and television cameramen are out there in the field covering the war,what the viewers see is only a slice or portion of the war and not the war in its totality.  Professor Robert Thompson of Syracuse University aruges the advantages and disadvantages of the danger of high-tech coverage and embedding of reporters in the battefield by stating that the danger lies when the group of reporters follow the troops into combat, they instantly become the target along with their fellow Americans.  Simultaneously, Thompson expresses his admiration of the spectacular coverage of the war and states that these images are so overwhelming because they have never been seen before.  Smith concludes this argument by stating after months of reporting from Baghdad CNN's correspondet Nick Robertson adn his crew were expelled this weekend by Iraqi authorities.

Meanwhile, in an interview with George Ritzer, the professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, the interviewer asks Ritzer a series of questions as to why and how our society has developed into a "McDonaldized" society where our culture has become simplified.  Ritzer answers the questions based on observation as well as personal experiences arguing that our society has become so scripted and so routined that humanity can no longer be creative and develop their own ideas.  Instead, they are trained to become like robots soon to be replaced by true, mechanical robots who are literally programmed that way.  The interview concludes when Ritzer answers a question if he eats at McDonald's by saying,"Only when I'm in the iron cage and it's the only alternative."  Both cases of these interviews develop an argument that gives examples of the harm and potential damage against our society and culture both physically and emotionally. 

The arguments discussed in the text express different opinions about stereotypical issues in our modern day culture.  One chapter in particular was Chapter 13: Playing Against Stereotypes.  Throughout the chapter, the text primarily focuses on the many different stereotypes such as race and gender that are present in the sports and entertainment industry.  Todd Boyd, a professor of Critical Studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, lets his opinion be known in an article from one of his books " "Doin' Me': Frin Tiybgm Black, Rich, and Famous."  Boyd's perspective pinpoints the issue of race in professional basketball and hip hop culture.  When it comes to "spittin' a rhyme" or making a jumpshot, Boyd argues that black musicians and athletes have to live up to certain standards in the White society because they haven't grown up in that type of environment.  Therefore, black athletes and rappers obtain the right to express themselves a certain way and shouldn't be force to live their lives according to someone else's standards because the latter is less intimidating.
Another interesting debate sparked from women playing professional sports.  A non-profit organization produced a film entitled "Transcript: Playing Unfair" designed to provide analysis of the role of gender in sports by integrating short clips from media footage with commentary by three scholars, two females and one male.  The two females argue that the media exploits the female athlete while the male contributes this to the natural tendency of equating athleticism, strenth, and physical power with men.  The WNBA was able to take this negative idea and put a positive spin to it by using this ideas of image and beauty to promote their league and attract more viewers and spectators.   So the author in the texts form a range of perspectives to form their various opinions.