Friday, January 31, 2014
Unit 2: Respond To A Reading
In this past weeks readings the one that I thought was the most helpful was from The Craft of Research: Chapter 4 From Questions to a Problem. I have been feeling a little skeptical towards writing a research paper for a college class. But one quote that I found the most helpful was on page 64 "They want you to formulate a question that you think is worth answering, so that down the road, you'll know how to find a problem that others think is worth solving. Until you can do that, you risk the worst response a researcher can get: not I don't agree, but I don't care." I found this to be really interesting because it is so true. Someone can give the best argument in the world backed up with evidence and support but if they can't convince the audience to care, then what is the point? One example that really showed me how to do this was on page 56 "the hole in the ozone layer is growing. So what? A bigger hole exposes us to more ultraviolet light. So what? Too much ultraviolet light can cause skin cancer." This really showed me how to expand what I am trying to say and to be more specific with my details because that is what sells the audience and will convince them that they should care about what you are researching.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Distinguishing my argument from Pollan's
A. How many perspectives do you engage? I think I engage two perspectives. I agree with Pollan about how we need to be more organic and how companies try to trick us to think that they are organic but I also agree with the fact that times have changed and it might to be possible for us to achieve Pollan's definition of organic.
B. What other perspectives might you include? Besides my perspective and Pollan's perspective, I include the perspective of reality and possibility.
C. How do you distinguish your views from the other views you summarize? I distinguish my views from the other views because I describe what they're saying and then I specifically say my views in return.
D. Do you use clear voice-signaling phrases? At first I use phrases that make sense to me but I always make sure I have somebody else read my paper as well to make sure I didn't just write a bunch of nonsense down that only I would understand.
E. What options are available to you for clarifying who is saying what? The easiest way to clarify who is saying what is to give credit to who you are quoting so you don't get mixed up between whose opinion is who's but that often gets boring after awhile. You can embed their name in your own sentence or by using voice-identifying devices.
F. Which of these options is best suited for this particular text? I think for this text it would be best to use voice-identifying devices because there are many difference sentence structures that you can use so your paper doesn't get boring. For example, you can use "My view, however", "On the contrary", "Someone argues", and so on.
B. What other perspectives might you include? Besides my perspective and Pollan's perspective, I include the perspective of reality and possibility.
C. How do you distinguish your views from the other views you summarize? I distinguish my views from the other views because I describe what they're saying and then I specifically say my views in return.
D. Do you use clear voice-signaling phrases? At first I use phrases that make sense to me but I always make sure I have somebody else read my paper as well to make sure I didn't just write a bunch of nonsense down that only I would understand.
E. What options are available to you for clarifying who is saying what? The easiest way to clarify who is saying what is to give credit to who you are quoting so you don't get mixed up between whose opinion is who's but that often gets boring after awhile. You can embed their name in your own sentence or by using voice-identifying devices.
F. Which of these options is best suited for this particular text? I think for this text it would be best to use voice-identifying devices because there are many difference sentence structures that you can use so your paper doesn't get boring. For example, you can use "My view, however", "On the contrary", "Someone argues", and so on.
Peer Response
My past experience with peer response was that at first, I didn't like doing it very much. I often took the critique personally and would look badly at my own writing. But this past semester I have come to enjoy having peer responses because my classmates are able to see and notice things in my paper that I over look. It's always good to get someone else's opinion because something may make sense to you, but that doesn't mean that it makes sense to everyone else. This Friday, I hope to actually get a lot of feedback from my partner because I feel as though my paper isn't very strong yet and feel as though it needs a lot of work still.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Intro, Thesis, Outline.
Thesis: All of these things go into the ethos, logos, and pathos of Whole Foods products. This also then goes into analyzing our own expectations of the food and prices and then realizing what is actually possible in today's world.
Intro:
Organic foods have been a hot topic for quite
some time now, but how can we know if a company is really telling us the truth
about their practices? Looking at the article “Big Organic” by Michael Pollan,
my eyes were truly opened to the controversial topic. Pollan illuminates his view
on the matter by giving examples of different “organic” products, going back
through the history of how the products came to be, and by showing how
companies give their products a story to appeal to the consumer. All of these
things go into the ethos, logos, and pathos of Whole Foods products. This also then goes into analyzing our own expectations of the food and prices and then realizing what is actually possible in today's world.
Outline:
Paragraph A: Intro
Paragraph B: Analyzing Ethos
1. Article [a]
3. Article [b]
Paragraph C: Analyzing Logos
1. Article [a]
3. Article [b]
Paragraph D: Analyzing Pathos
1. Article [a]
3. Article [b]
Paragraph E: Analyzing expectations/prices
1. Article [a]
3. Article [b]
Paragraph F: Analyzing Reality
1. Article [a]
3. Article [b]
Paragraph G: Conclusion
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Pollan Review
After reading Pollan's article, I have honestly taken into consideration what I buy at the grocery store because how can we really know what is truly organic and what is not? The part that really got to me is when Pollan expressed his thoughts on organic TV dinners, "perhaps by sitting down to enjoy one of the microwaveable organic TV dinners (four words I never expected to see conjoined) stacked in the frozen food case. How's that for having it both ways?". For companies to put that on their frozen food products obviously makes it sound better and it completely goes over the customer's head. I might just be super oblivious but I had never noticed how contradictive that is for a product to be labeled an "organic TV dinner" if anything a TV dinner is the opposite. Companies really do try to mislead you into buying their products. Another example is when he talks about the different types of "organic" milk. The first milk label said that the milk is ultrapasteurized which extends shelf life of the product, the second milk label said that the milk had gone through normal pasteurization methods making it more organic than the last one, and the third milk label said it was not pasteurized at all and was 100% organic. How will we ever really know which one is the most organic and which companies are selling the real deal? I agree with what Pollan has argued throughout his article.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Pollan Summary
Big Organic is an article that basically describes the ongoing wonder of what is truly organic when it comes to the products we buy at the store. Pollan first starts off by comparing labels of products from Whole Foods and describes shopping there as a literal experience. He states that his eggs were from "cage free vegetarian hens" and that his organic broiler even had a name "Rosie". Then he states that he found milks competing with each other about which one is more organic. The first milk label said that the milk is ultrapasteurized which extends shelf life of the product, the second milk label said that the milk had gone through normal pasteurization methods making it more organic than the last one, and the third milk label said it was not pasteurized at all and was 100% organic. This makes Pollan wonder what is actually organic.
The next part of the article is about how even if a company promotes a clean and healthy environment, does not mean that they actually help they environment. Pollan gives the example of a patch of grass covered in garbage. Pollan then describes that it is impossible for an industry such as whole foods to maintain the simple and agricultural foundation on which it was built while industrializing to mass produce their organic products. This issue is supplemented by the high demand for fresh, healthy, food at low prices. He realizes that what is on the label may not be true, but it's purpose is to give him the inspiration to imagine where he wants his food to come from, which makes him more willing to purchase that product.
The next part of the article is about how even if a company promotes a clean and healthy environment, does not mean that they actually help they environment. Pollan gives the example of a patch of grass covered in garbage. Pollan then describes that it is impossible for an industry such as whole foods to maintain the simple and agricultural foundation on which it was built while industrializing to mass produce their organic products. This issue is supplemented by the high demand for fresh, healthy, food at low prices. He realizes that what is on the label may not be true, but it's purpose is to give him the inspiration to imagine where he wants his food to come from, which makes him more willing to purchase that product.
Friday, January 10, 2014
"Greenwashing" Advertisements
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTNzuXZyI28
I would rate this commercial about a 2 or 3. Yes, Audi is trying to make a difference in the world by being more "green" however they don't tell you anything they are doing to become more green. The instances in the commercial don't even deal with cars, it deals with water bottles, waste, paper/plastic, and light bulbs. I think the commercial is very good and funny and gets the message across but it doesn't say what the company is actually doing to improve themselves and the environment by being more green.
I would rate this commercial about a 2 or 3. Yes, Audi is trying to make a difference in the world by being more "green" however they don't tell you anything they are doing to become more green. The instances in the commercial don't even deal with cars, it deals with water bottles, waste, paper/plastic, and light bulbs. I think the commercial is very good and funny and gets the message across but it doesn't say what the company is actually doing to improve themselves and the environment by being more green.
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