In-Class Lab 11/19

Both of our articles and Spriggs made their positions clear not only in the introduction but also in the conclusion. The writers of our articles determined the importance of the argument by invocating Paris attacks and 9/11, while Spriggs instead invoked what could happen. Our articles also explicitly state their positions when they explain how they believe that taking certain steps will help prevent terrorism. Spriggs used anecdotal evidence more than our articles, citing her families farmer friend. She also responded to varying views more often, such as how buying local can have negative environmental effects. All of them mentioned articles and statistics from other reputable news sources in order to support their stance, such as Spriggs citation of CNN. Spriggs first paragraph talks about how Americans can eat fruit that naturally would not be in season which by turn of causes consequences to local farms and the worldwide environment, our other articles acted similarly for their own stances, one of them claiming that lax gun control laws contribute to hundreds of deaths every year. Spriggs was also better at showing how things have changed over time, such as how the number of cows a farm milks has increased drastically from industrialized farms, something that other articles mostly neglected, instead focusing on more recent times. Sprigss also appealed to the values of the readers by citing how local farms create 10% more jobs than large ones, our articles appealed to the viewers values by mentioning the expensive toll of the Iraq and Afghanistan war, in terms of life and wealth.  The author of our articles also uses the ignorance of the general public concerning the word "terrorism" to springboard his own stance and condescension towards detractors in opinion to develop a tone of authority while Spriggs developed a tone of authority through proving her competence, not by capitalizing on condescension.

Writer's Blog Post: On Buying Local Pg 92

1. Katherine Spriggs, the author of On Buying Local, has lead me to believe that her position supporting buying locally grown produce is an important one. She does this by bringing up issues that involve the environment of the whole world. Examples of these include the receding amounts of fossil fuels, global warming, and pollution. Each of these problems affect every person that lives on the earth, including me, leading me to care about her argument. To make her reasons more reliable, she also include statistics and cites her sources. An example of this is when she says, “According to a CNN article published in 2000, the United States manufactures more than 1.5 billion pounds of pesticides each year that can pollute water, soil and air.” In saying this, she relates to modern society’s “go green” movement, creating even more context for me to relate to and care about.

2. Spriggs addresses multiple counter arguments in her essay. The first brings to our attention that it is not possible to grow every kind of food in all of the various environments of the world, and is linked to the argument that trying to grow foods in their unnatural habitat will hurt the environment more than importing it from elsewhere. To respond to these arguments, Spriggs calmly gives a clarification to her stance, saying that we should "focus on buying as much as possible from nearby farmers." The next argument states, "that buying locally will be detrimental to the environment because small farms are not as efficient  in their use of resources as large farms." To counter act this, the author explains that, though large farms may produce more, faster, of one type of crop than small farms, small farms are more advantageous with all of their crops. Spriggs continues to explain the truth in her position when she conquers the next argument. This argument says that there could be harmful world wide effects, such as job loss, if we revert to buying locally grown goods. She explains the truthfulness of the job loss situation, but then responds to it by offering the equally good consequence of furthering The United States' stance and appearance on supporting environment awareness. The last argument that she takes care of is that of economy. Though she accepts the fact that naturally grown food can be a little bit more expensive in some circumstances, she retorts with a challenging statement about how it is the use of underpaid immigrants that most often results in the cheaper produce. This statement in and of itself is likely to clamp the arguer's lips shut and turn his audience against him. She also states that the immediate community of the locally grown, small farm, produce is likely to increase in economic stability, as they will be hiring local workers, and therefore increasing the local money pool. She provides statisics such as "20 percent higher local retail sales," to support her response. 

3. An especially effective part in her essay is the all the way from the bottom of page ninety-six, through the top of page ninety-nine. Throughout this whole section, Spriggs is addressing and refuting argument after argument that are stated against her claim. The fact that she is able to eloquently explain each of these, proves her authority to speak on the topic.  She does this by providing reliable evidence, such as statistics. Additionally, she appeals to the beliefs and values of the readers as in this example, "Labor is cheap in third world countries, and large U.S. farms are notorious for hiring immigrant laborers. It is hard to justify the exploitations of such artificially cheap labor." This automatically turns the audience's support to Spriggs, as it proves the opposition to be dishonest.

4.  The pictures in Spiggs essay create even more of an appeal to her argument. The photos of the large and static looking farms creates a feeling of intimidation. the tightly packed rows of repetitious plants creates a feeling of nausea. The image of the long line of semi truck brings to people's attention the gross rip there veggies have been on, making the produce less appealing. The picture of the winter squash however is full of color and corrdinates with the truck in the background. The author uses these images to create support for her argument.

In-Class Lab: Developing YOUR Argument

1. I am trying to change the design of textbooks from being colorless and large, into bright, small and intriguing in appearance.
2. I am ultimately focused on influencing educators, seeing as they choose most of the textbooks their students are required to use.
3. I appeal to their ability to make a living seeing that in order to keep their job, their students must meet a certain level of success, which I believe is influenced by the layout of the students' textbook.
4. My audience should believe me because I speak from a students perspective, or in other words, as a direct recipient.
5. The first reason why this change should be made is that it will create a happy association between the textbook and the student because of the bright and joyful colors. The second reason, is that students will find reading their textbooks less daunting if they are not necessarily shorter in length, but shorter in height. It will create achievable check points at the bottom of each of the short pages for them as they read, creating self confidence and making completing assignments seem much easier.
6. One possible counter argument could be that natural tones and larger pages create a more professional appearance.
7. I could answer the above argument by reminding the audience who they are teaching; Students young and old generally feel more comfortable on a slightly less than formal relationship with their teachers. Such a relationship allows for trust and understanding, components which enhance any setting. Likewise, a vast majority of students will be in the teen to young adult age range, one in which excitement and fun are the key descriptors of existence.
8. The added color may be more expensive.
9. Students will be much more happy with buying a textbook that may be twenty dollars more, about equal to two hours of work for minimum wage, then dreading their school work and getting worse grades then they otherwise would for the length of a whole class.
10. The majority of the student body, including myself, would benefit from this needed change. Though a large number of students may seem to be less than caring about their school work, how can we really determine if they are undeserving this change without knowing the situation that makes them seem like underachievers? There is always the possibility of disability, difficult family situations, or emotional issues, problems that create even more of a need for a uplifting, knowledge promoting textbook.

Writer's Blog Post: Pg 80

In Bret Weinstein’s article, Let’s not get it wrong this time: The terrorists won after 9/11 because we chose to invade Iraq, shred our Constitution, he uses all of the components needed in an effective argument. His position is made clear in his statement we can limit terrorist attacks once we know what terrorism is. He makes this statement while also referencing the opinion those who, “are convinced the word (terrorism) is inherently so vague as to be meaningless.”

                Creating an authoritative tone, Weinstein gives statistics like, “9/11 perpetrators killed about 3,000 people, and did about $13 billion in physical damage to the United States.” Numbers create what appears to be an informed author. He provides good background information explaining the terrorist attack of 9/11, giving the audience a relatable example supporting his claim. He addresses other possible arguments when he says, “There is much we do not know, and there is much we ma[y] never know about ISIS and its objectives.” Lastly, he creates a personal and emotional connection with the audience, making it matter very deeply to them. By mentioning the recent attack in Paris in the first paragraph, Weinstein draws immediate attention and importance to his plea. In addition to this, he brings the feelings of brotherhood through this statement about 9/11 when he says, “For every American that was killed in the attack, we sacrificed more than two on the battle felid.”

In-Class Lab: Disscusion On Homework Videos

They used pathos in the drunk driving accident by showing the position of the car against the telephone pole. That image helped relate to what the family may be feeling, and the reality of how it could happen to anyone comes with that.

          Ethos is found in the point that it can happen to anyone. When the friend explains it, having firsthand experience is eye opening. Videos of the girls as small children shows their innocence and shows that their parents are just as caring as anyone else’s. It applies a reality check and offers that it can happen to anyone at any time no matter how hard you try to protect your kids.

          Verbally they appeal to people’s emotions. Each story pulls a different string. It does this through firsthand stories, demonstrating its use of pathos and ethos.

In-Class Lab: Paper #3 Topic Ideas

Topic Ideas For Paper #3

• soft bristled toothbrushes are much better than hard bristled
• loose running shorts are better, even healthier (for skin) than spandex running pants
• more time in class and less homework results in better grades
• colorful textbooks create more student interest and therefore better grades than neutral color schemes

Drinking And Driving

Two Sisters Tragic Story produced by Chris Conte is a video about a pair of sisters who demonstrated the sad consequences to those directly associated as well as to family and friends that can come from driving under the influence. This video has an overwhelming appeal to the viewers emotions. The image of the inclined car, thrust against the pole, created empathy and heartache in the readers, while warning them of the dangerous affects of doing such a thing. The interviews of her parents and the short clips of their daughters brought the situation to life and the feelings that people really experience in a situation like this one. The picture of the smiling girls made their point that no one is immune to such an accident really prominent. This adheres to the audiences view of their character as well. It shows that no matter how good or well taught an individual is, they can still make bad decisions. It appealed logically to the audience when their friend, who was a participant in the audience specifically talked about her feelings of immunity to the situation. Her first hand witness is a very believable one, as she is in the age group being discussed in the video.