Research Paper Progress: Favorite Paragraph

Prof Jenn asked us to post our favorite paragraph from our research paper thus far. While it was tough to decide which is most appropriate, I thought the following was a decent glimpse into what I am writing about:

Our current medical system is a soup of concepts and methods which vary based on age, pay-grade, employment status, and citizenship. In 2013, The Affordable Care Act presented the idea of a UHC to our country, with a lack of support. The goal, for 44 million people to enroll in health coverage, brought results of only approximately 4.2 million enrolled. Lisa Szczepanski, MD, of Kaiser Permanente Boulder, believes that universal health care is “a health care system that provides quality care to all individuals regardless of their ability to pay”. When wondering the reason why there could still be 38 million uninsured, research showed that the average healthy citizen pays more than $150 per month for a mid-level health plan (NBC Washington). Thus, the Affordable Care Act is a great start in recognizing health care as a necessity for all, but not so “affordable” after all.

yeah, why? image via 

-AA

Solo Blog Review #2

Since I missed out on a group effort Monday, this is my review of the blog: bloggin4eng121.blogspot.com on my own!

To me, this is a clean, well-put together website. Some may think it is boring and lacks color, but I prefer the text to be clear, organized and with fewer distractions. Of the other blogs in our class I looked at, this one appealed to me most.

What made this specific group draw my attention? They post on a regular basis, with few missing posts. Each new post has a clear headline with contributing authors immediately beneath. I think I like that better than at the end. There are few grammatical errors and the content is well built and not sloppy. Every post has an image which is appropriately sited.

The overall structure of the page is organized and easy to navigate. The contributors are easily visible as are the archived posts. I do wish there was a short tagline, image, or "about-me" to introduce me to the authors, but other than that I enjoy the design.

The writing of the posts is also entertaining. The use of exclamation points, structure, appropriate punctuation, and quotations shows that each author takes their time in their posts. The book reviews clearly show they read the content.

Criticism is light here, but there is one author who doesn't have any individual posts, only group posts. They could be doing reviews and other assignments on hard copy or has trouble using the website, but it is one down-side of the blog.

this blog reminds me of fresh air || image via

The clean lines, and lack of chaos of this image is like that of Bloggin4Eng121's blog. It is easy to focus on, you get the point, and it is appealing to the eye. The colors are pleasant and it is definitely a photograph uploaded digitally. You can almost feel the breeze and smell the grass!

-aa

Review of wordexplosions.blogspot.com

Wordexplosions.blogspot.com is one of the many class blogs in Jenn Zuko's English 121 class. The blogs purpose is to be used to post class work so that class mates peers can read each others works and benefit from the input that the other students may have. While the blog fulfills the requirements set for it in terms of content as a class blog, the variable layout and clashing nature of the default view is distracting and detracts from the overall experience.
When you first pull up the website to said blog you may be surprised. This is most definitely not your average blog. Instead of your standard vertical orientation, the authors have decided to create a flip card layout. This would be fine if the authors had not also included seven other designs. This is not a sufficient design because each post changes depending on the orientation you choose. For example, some of the flip cards are left blank and without a title when in fact they do have titles when viewed in classic.
The blog itself leaves the reader questioning which format was indeed intended to be viewed. The layout severely ruins the readers view of the blog and cuts into its quality. The blog as a whole is not all that bad but the content clarity and organization drags the all over quality of the blog itself down.
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(The visual is an example of one of the many templates that blogger offers. The one pictured above is called snapshot.)

Quality Criteria Blog Review

The Ratings of Wordexplosion.blogspot.com

Continuity of Focus: 10 - There are no posts that are tangential to its purpose as a class blog.
Content Clarity: 6 - Not all posts have titles or visuals, content is fairly clear otherwise.
Organisation: 8 - Due to the multiple views the authors have enabled for their blog, the organisation of the website can be somewhat muddled.
Design: 8 - While there are many views available, the fact that the authors did not choose a view themselves muddles the intent of the authors insofar as design is concerned.
Amount of Relevant Info: 10 - As a class blog used in the posting of assignments, all information and articles posted are relevant to that purpose.

The Ratings of Engcouger.blogspot.com

Continuity of Focus: 10 - There are no posts that are tangential to its purpose as a class blog.
Content Clarity: 8 - Each article has a title and visual, but some articles are broken up into multiple posts, making it more difficult to be certain which title and visual goes with which article
Organisation: 8 - The blog is fairly well organized, with a linear structure that allows easy viewing of articles. However, some articles are fairly long and are not truncated with a link to read more, making it more difficult to navigate the blog.
Design: 7 - The various authors of the blog apparently did not come to a group decision about the structure of their articles, and each is markedly different, detracting from the overall appearance of the blog.
Amount of Relevant Info: 10 - As a class blog used in the posting of assignments, all information and articles posted are relevant to that purpose.

The Ratings of Aka121.blogspot.com 

Continuity of Focus: 10 - There are no posts that are tangential to its purpose as a class blog.
Content Clarity: 9 - Each article has a title and visual where appropriate, and the articles are self contained as a single post each, making them easy to follow.
Organisation: 9 - The blog is well organized, with a linear structure to allow for easy navigation, and the articles are kept to a reasonable length so one is not left scrolling through a single article for an extended period.
Design: 8 - The blog is very simple, but each article appears to adhere to a single standard of appearance, giving the blog as a whole a more well designed feel.
Amount of Relevant Info: 10 - As a class blog used in the posting of assignments, all information and articles posted are relevant to that purpose.

The Ratings of Bloggin4eng121.blogspot.com

Continuity of Focus: 10 - There are no posts that are tangential to its purpose as a class blog.
Content Clarity: 9 - Each article has a title and visual where appropriate, and the articles are self contained as a single post each, making them easy to follow.
Organisation: 9 - The blog is well organized, with a linear structure to allow for easy navigation, and the articles are kept to a reasonable length so one is not left scrolling through a single article for an extended period.
Design: 8 - The blog is very simple, but each article appears to adhere to a single standard of appearance, giving the blog as a whole a more well designed feel.
Amount of Relevant Info: 10 - As a class blog used in the posting of assignments, all information and articles posted are relevant to that purpose.

The Ratings of AIRR234.blogspot.com

Continuity of Focus: 10 - There are no posts that are tangential to its purpose as a class blog.
Content Clarity: 7 - Not all posts have visuals where one would be expected. All posts are titled and content is otherwise fairly clear.
Organisation: 8 - The blog is fairly well organized, with a linear structure that allows easy viewing of articles. However, some articles are fairly long and are not truncated with a link to read more, making it more difficult to navigate the blog.
Design: 6 - Due to the color choices the text can be somewhat difficult to read, and several articles violate standard formatting by being right-justified or otherwise eccentric, detracting from the overall design of the blog.
Amount of Relevant Info: 10 - As a class blog used in the posting of assignments, all information and articles posted are relevant to that purpose.

Nuclear Bogeyman

After going through our group's thesis statements intended for the research paper, we chose the thesis statement intended for use by Corey Chaves. In his paper about the fear-mongering and misinformation behind the blocking of nuclear power proliferation, he posits that "Though most people find the specter of nuclear power to be a terrifying one due to media influence, research suggests that it is actually safer and less polluting than any other form of electrical power generation." We chose this thesis statement because it was the strongest argument and the one thesis statement that was structured for use in an essay rather than simply an idea to use for the construction of a thesis statement.

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Part II: Comparing Two Online Sources

Article: “Monitoring Progress towards Universal Health Coverage at Country and Global Levels”

Quality Impressions: Article is peer-reviewed, and clearly lists its authors and organizations. Similar to the website, ScienceDaily, the lengthy text is summarized at the beginning by an abstract. Though I plan to read the entire article, the abstract is helpful in preparing yourself what the content is to make sure it will be relevant to your research topic. The information is not biased, but rather a statement of the current condition. All references can be cited from the database citation generator and also in the body of the article itself. There is no distracting advertisements. This particular article was published on September 22, 2014 and is absolutely appropriate for printed publication as it was peer reviewed by scholarly professionals for scientific journals.

Compare: The biggest difference between the website I chose and this scholastic article from a database is that, the website is a collection of responses and summaries of scientific articles versus a single peer-reviewed genuine article. Of course, the ScienceDaily site links through and cites all source articles, and you are able to read part of them, but unlike the academic database, you cannot always read the full original text. Another contrast between the two is that the academic article is written in a bit more of depth, and scientific terms for a group of professionals in the same field whereas the bits on ScienceDaily are written for all persons with internet access. The group of authors writing in regards to universal health care in this particular article are experts in their field as it states their organization beneath their title: “Ties Boerma1*, Patrick Eozenou2, David Evans1, Tim Evans2, Marie-Paule Kieny, Adam Wagstaff2 [followed by] 1 World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2 World Bank Group, Washington, D.C., United States of America” (Monitoring Progress).

Scholarly Owl via

Works Cited

Boerma, Ties, et al. "Monitoring Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage At Country And 
Global Levels." Plos Medicine 11.9 (2014): 1-8. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.

Exercise: In-Print Articles

Author Noah Caldwell writes about the importance of wildfire preparedness, specifically in the home. Noah is a graduate of McGill University & the managing editor of Yellow Scene Magazine in Boulder, CO (LinkedIn). His reputation among the journalist world is good, having written for more than 5 publications in the past 4 years and now being an Editing Manager, a trustworthy writer. Noah was also an environmental educator at ECHO Lake Aquarium Science Center and often writes regarding environmental and agricultural issues.

There is nothing written sourcing the article as a scholarly publication, however it was found in Yellow Scene Magazine, so it is not self-published. This article was published in April of 2014. This magazine is not a scientific journal subject to peer review, therefore the audience intended was that of a popular audience.

Comparing Caldwell's Pulling Our Weight to a scholarly approach: Understanding the Role of Planners in Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation written by Menka Bihari, Elisabeth M. Hamin, and Robert L. Ryan of Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Both author's obviously are making a point of reasons why, how, and when to implement wildfire preparedness on your home. However, Caldwell's writing has a more emotional tone, filled with passion as he says "overhauling Boulder’s wildfire vulnerabilities on a larger scale can’t come soon enough, given the county’s demographic changes and an increased risk of fire" (Pulling Our Weigt pg 1). The authors of the university article word the same thesis in a much different tone, one of strict research and statement "This study explores planners’ role in wildfire mitigation and how they can facilitate collaborative efforts for wildfire preparedness between the varied stakeholders in an at-risk region (Introduction, ISRN Forestry).

Both articles are important documents regarding the safety of lives, homes, and property. The voice behind the text varies, as does the audience and community which it involves. Yellow Scene Magazine is circulated throughout Colorado, but the published ISRN journal is available and speaks for all land in the United States. Though, no matter who's backyard, what state, or even country the fire burns in, the underlying issue remains the same. "Sometimes we don’t focus enough on what we have in common. But everyone wants the same thing—public safety" a quote by Andrew Notbohm in the Yellow Scene publication is the key take-away point from both documents.



Works Cited
Caldwell, Noah. "Pulling Our Weight" Yellow Scene Magazine. <http://yellowscene.com/2014/04/25/pulling-our-weight/3/> 10/8/2014. Web

Linked In. <http://www.linkedin.com/pub/noah-caldwell/68/63b/312> 10/8/2014. Web.

Bihari, Hamin, Ryan. "Introduction" Understanding the Role of Planners in Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation. . <http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2012/253028/> 10/8/2014. Web.

PART I: Evaluating & Reviewing a Web Site

The website I chose to review was ScienceDaily. The first thing noticed when the page loads is a ton of information, text, and links which can be a little overwhelming to a first time visitor. The site is full of stories, articles, ideas, and research relevant to the scientific world. Beneath the organized header sorting the articles by topic is "Today's Science News, Wednesday, October 8th, 2014" and directly beneath that, "Featured Research" on the left and "from universities, journals, and other organizations" on the right. It is clear from the very top that this site has credible information and plans to cite all of their information, the url domain .com, is not very relevant to the credibility.

ScienceDaily's editors are Dan & Michele Hogan. They started the site in 1995 and still operate it today. These folks are passionate about their content and readers and welcome feedback with an address and contact information easily accessible. Their statement "with over 65,000 research articles, 15,000 images, 2,500 encyclopedia entries, 1,500 book reviews, and hundreds of educational videos, there is something for everyone on ScienceDaily (About Science Daily)." showcases their pride in the content credibility of the website. Dan & Michele are not the only people working hard on this source of knowledge, there are over 2,000 contributing organizations worldwide (Editorial Staff) writing articles describing new scientific breakthroughs, research, and news. Every image, story, article, and statistic is sourced in all APA, MLA, and Chicago formats at the end of each entry.

The website is updated on a daily basis, hence the name, ScienceDaily. The copyright is also up to date of the current year, 2014. All material is given on three levels of detail. The first level of detail, a brief headline linking to the article page. Second level of detail, a short article summary, generally 1-3 paragraphs in length for those who want the basic idea of the new research and in "lamens" terms. Last, the third level, the full article, which varies in length and includes images. Amidst the material are ads (because the browser I am using does not have ad-blocker), but they are not relevant to the content and not influential to me at all.

Overall, ScienceDaily seems to be a credible site and source for information. The sourcing to universities, journals, and organizations is admirable. I appreciate this site for promoting the importance of an un-biased approach to things that matter, but are often easily missed in a flurry of news headlines involving celebrity scandal, commercials, and political propaganda. This site is dedicated to bringing science to the internet community.

-aa

Works Cited

"Editorial Staff", ScienceDaily <http://www.sciencedaily.com/staff.htm> 08 Oct 2014 Web.

Hogan, Dan & Michele. "About Science Daily", ScienceDaily      <http://www.sciencedaily.com/about.htm> 08 Oct 2014 Web.

Chapter 13 reading response

In this chapter We learned about Argumentation and Persuasion. The one thing that really stuck out to me is the Toulmin model. It is explained in our text book that you can think of the argumentation - persuasion process as the claim, the support, and the assumption. This is my favorite way to write body paragraphs for my essays. I believe that the most important thing to take away from this chapter is how to organize your arguments. One thing the book brings up that I had never thought of was to organize your ideas in a progressive order so that you finish with your most compelling argument.
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P.S. Sorry for the lateness of this post. I have been very sick and have had family issues to deal with over the last week or so.

Joint Reading Response

Hi Blogger Friends & Classmates-

I apologize for the delay in this post, I was sick & at the doctor's all day yesterday. Coincidentally, our ENG 121 class was cancelled, which I am thankful for since I planned to miss class! It is strange how things work out like that.

Anyway, the comic Prof Jenn had us read was really entertaining and I wish more lessons were in this format. I've never been good at arguing. I bend easily and end up "trying to see where the other person is coming from", which ends up with me talking in circles and getting frustrated. The quote "A good argument is actually like a good conversation" was a particularly interesting point in that I suppose you should touch on both sides of the subject because these topics aren't being debated for one black & white reason but rather two ideas as a whole: complex and layered with results and consequences.
The critical parts of good arguments based on evidence pictograph is a nice visual tool when attempting to make an initial argument.
WHAT: facts
HOW: circumstances
WHO: relationships
WHY: reasons
Then, you use your evidence to deduct an interpretation and analysis, which is where you finally get to take sides and defend your statement in an educated, organized, and professional manner.

Logos- Logic, Ethos- Experience, Pathos-Persuasion via

The textbook says "Argumentation is a big part of college writing. To show that you have thoughtfully considered information from a text or a lecture, you will be asked not merely to restate it but to analyze it, consider different points of view draw your own conclusions, and present it and defend these conclusions" (p574) & let me say this is so true! More than 85% of my classes have required a research paper or end of semester review defending what you have learned. And every time, it is highlighted on the syllabus on the first day, forgotten about, and then turned into a stressful scramble trying to argue you learned something. My hope with this class is to finally understand the basic method for writing argumentatively as a showcase of knowledge or belief rather than some mis-interpreted defense against the fire-breathing dragon at the end of the semester guarding the castle where your grades lie.
-aa