warm-up question

Warm-up question:

If you get rich by  doing anything on Earth what would it be?

inquiry essay intro/ brainstorm

An Inquiry on the Sleep Deprivation of a College Student

I have been effected by lack of sleep since I have been here so I have decided to do my paper on this. To do this inquiry essay correctly, I need to perform an experiment. To do this, I am going to go to other classes of other majors and see how many other people suffer from lack of sleep (sleeping in class). I will also see how many people on my hall stay up into crazy hours of the night or take part in things like alcohol or tobacco and see if those habits have an effect on sleep. I have written my intro below.  

Intro:

While in high school, I never found myself too busy to sleep. I would wake twenty minutes before school started, do all of my work during my classes, and be asleep by 1030 every night. Since I have been enrolled at Virginia Tech, I haven’t gone to sleep before midnight due to the massive workload and an active social life. Combining this tragedy with classes starting at 8 AM, office hours, and extracurricular activities, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get the seven hours of sleep required by the brain. A seemingly simple solution to this problem is a midday nap, or maybe going to bed earlier and pushing the workload back until the next day. Some students turn to energy drinks, while others skip classes to catch up on sleep in order to combat the problem. These solutions may seem to work temporarily but have long term effects that can really ruin the student’s life. They can do this by harming their permanent health, and hurting their chances in the future by allowing their grades to suffer.

Future student

Dear future students,

First of all, congrats on making it this far. If you’re a first semester student of Sean Conaway, congrats on getting into Tech, it’s great. If you have him second semester, congrats on not failing out because trust me I know it can be hard. What you can expect will be pretty normal classroom activities and assignments. In the beginning of class for the first couple of weeks he does some icebreaker questions that are pretty fun to do and I got a laugh out of them. Almost every class there is a blog post assigned for homework. He gives the option of them not being due the next class, but instead they are all due at the end of the semester. I chose option 2 and I a regretting it because along with studying for finals, I am also writing 12 blog posts in the last week. Sean’s class is a fun one to be in because he keeps you involved. For each of the 3 papers that are due during the year, they get a little harder as the year gets on. He offers a writing day the class period before the paper is due. This writing day is optional but if you go in he can help with your paper and it’s just a quiet place to get some writing done-definitely attend this class. These were the most helpful parts of the class. The end of the year presentation was kind of nerve-racking for me because I didn’t really prepare so I would definitely do that. Overall, I would expect an engaging class with a great teacher. He is a cool guy and easy to talk to. Like I said, doing the blogs and other assignments on time is pretty crucial to doing well in his class, but that is the case with all of your classes so you’ve just got to manage your time well. Good luck and go Hokies.

Parker

iGod

iGod

Nicholas Carr writes an article about a very real fear of the American people and people around the world. To get a grasp on what this question, one needs to look on the next to last page of the article where Carr adds a list of multiple questions. The questions involve the future of technology and artificial intelligence. Questions like: “Will it alter the way we conceive ourselves and our relationship to the world?” Thoughts like this swirl around the population which create fear among the population, which makes improving technology tougher. Even though artificial intelligence is a tough topic to wrap your head around, Carr adds analogies and other stories to help the reader better understand it. An example of this is when he talks about the supercomputer off of 2001: A Space Odyssey. He uses the mishaps of that supercomputer and ensure that something like that wouldn’t happen in today’s world. All of this helps the reader understand what scientists’ end goal may be, and provide some sort of comfort to the less intelligent. He references books like “The Religion of Technology,” and “Machines Who Think,” to help build his article’s credibility. Even to someone who knows nothing about the topic, titles like that make iGod seem more reputable. So, he appeals to pathos by creating understandable references, and he appeals to ethos by referencing relevant articles, but how does he appeal to logos? With a topic like the future of technology, just the material itself can appeal to logos. Consumers that aren’t well versed in the topic may read this and not understand, or be scared, but the combination of ethos and pathos help form an appeal to logos. They do this by making the article more human-like, which provides it with some logic. Carr writes later in the article about the computers and how they aren’t as dangerous as some people may think, which helps the appeal to logos. Saying things like, “Computers have been getting better and better at providing answers- but only to questions that programmers are able to ask.” This single quote both documents the progression of technology, but also helps lessen the fear of the reader. 

p. 419 blog, inquiry or not?

p. 419 blog

Personally, I couldn’t really tell if this is an inquiry essay because of many reasons. For starters, it seems like a lot of personal anecdotes and stories. Saying this, I enjoyed reading the article because it was like a fictional story that you would read for a book report in high school. The beginning of the story provided no facts or quotes from other articles to back up her assertions up. She says, “We can’t go places because of gangs…We can’t go to the mall…I just hate it.” This may be true, but there is no factual evidence that backs up her story. As the story continues however, she adds quotes from the “New Yorker” to support her thoughts on racism. One of her sources though, was the black entertainment television channel, which is a very liberal channel so it is a biased source. The second half of the article seems much more like an inquiry because it adds conversations and facts from the other side of the political spectrum. You can tell this when she says, “I don’t want to sound racist but it is the black kids a lot of the times that have the attitudes and are always talking back to teachers.” So, in my opinion, if the article was split into two halves, the first half would be just a fictional story or personal tale. The second half adds some reputable sources along with personal anecdotes to provide for a fairly decent inquiry essay. 

Brooklyn Gang

Brooklyn Gang

Since the assignment was to read this article and make the blog post good, I am slightly confused on what to do. But, I am going to write on how this article, The Brooklyn Gang, is a pretty good inquiry essay despite its extreme bias. One of the reasons I think this article provides a great example of an inquiry essay is because while it is an informative article, it seems more like a story you would read in a book. The beginning of the article helps to set the scene, grab the attention of the reader, but not reveal too much about the article. As the article continues, the story begins to unfold and instead of the author just writing descriptively about the event, he acts more like a narrator. He does this by writing in first person, and allowing the reader to keep up with what is happening by giving a play by play description of what he sees. The author pays attention to each little detail, like the weather or street names, which allows the reader to put themselves in the author’s shoes. These methods the author uses make the story very easy to read, similar to a novel maybe, but it’s actually a very accurate representation to what the Occupy Portland movement was really going through. The only real problem I have with this article is that it is extremely one-sided. The author speaks of his hatred towards republicans, which is totally fine, but when he tells the reader about the interaction between the policeman and frail boy, the author is seemingly sympathetic towards the boy, but says nothing about what the policeman may be going through. If he had done that, the inquiry article, in my eyes, would’ve been an even more accurate representation of what was really happening in that time rather than just what one side of the battle. 

black holes

Black holes

For me personally, anytime someone speaks about space, all my mind can do is race at 1000 miles per hour. The thought that there is an infinite amount of space outside of our world is just mind-boggling. Having said this, the author already had an advantage when writing this article: the idea of the unknown. I don’t know much about space or black holes or math or physics, but reading this article still kept me interested until the very last word. The author did a tremendous job of intertwining scientific terms with common words that the average reader could understand. Using similes and metaphors like “The vast majority of physicists say, yes, black holes exist, but they are the ultimate Fort Knox,” allows the reader to compare an unfathomable concept. Making the story interesting was only half of the battle though. In order for this article to seem credible, the author had to provide facts that were true, which this author does well. Statements like, “The black hole at the center of the Milky Way, 26,000 light-years away, is named Sagittarius A*. Sgr A*—that’s the standard abbreviation; its surname is pronounced A-star—is currently a tranquil black hole, a picky eater. Other galaxies contain star-shredding, planet-devouring Godzillas called quasars,” is a perfect example of the combination of scientific syntax and common vocabulary. Personally, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with the article as I was glued to the screen from beginning to end.

fake news

Fake news

This article uses ethos, pathos, and logos to its full potential. Starting with ethos, the author raises the credibility of the men in the article throughout the whole thing. The author actually makes the characters in the article seem incredible by letting the reader know how unexperienced they all are. He does this for example by saying “Boris is 18 years old, a lean, slouching youth with gray eyes, hair mowed close to his skull, and the rudiments of a beard. When he isn’t smoking a cigarette, he’s lighting one.” This shows he is just some normal kid, making the most of his situation. The author does this with the rest of the characters mentioned to make them seem somewhat less intelligent. To use pathos, the author does the same thing as he did for ethos. He makes each character seem more like a human. An example of this is later in the story while describing Boris, when he says “He listens to a lot of gangsta rap: the Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, Wu-Tang Clan; after watching Notorious, the 2009 biopic of B.I.G., he decided he would like to visit Brooklyn, a New York City borough he imagines overrun more by gangsters than hipsters.” This tactic appeals to the human element because mostly everyone that reads this article has listened to or heard of those rappers and know about the hipsters in New York. He appeals to logos by adding the part at the end about how the “clans” of fake news creators were caught and shut down. This appeals to logos because as intellectuals read this, they wonder how people like this are allowed to continue to profit off of lies. The “so what” of this is a common thought of many people reading this article: where does fake news come from? I often wonder how it is allowed to get all the way to mainstream media like Facebook and twitter but this article answered that for me. 

What are you presenting on?

What am I presenting and why?

I chose to present on my researched article. I did this for a few reasons. First and foremost, it was a better paper in my opinion so I knew there would be more information to pull from to talk about. Since I am trying to become an agricultural engineer, it made sense to present on the agricultural paper. I also felt/feel much more comfortable talking about things I am knowledgeable about so I figured it’d be easier to talk about agriculture than I do about a study done about sleep deprivation of college students. The changes I made from the text to the presentation was basically dumbing down complex information and making the information presented a little more entertaining way. I tried to add pictures to nearly every slide because to someone that isn’t well versed in agriculture my presentation could be a little boring. I tried to include pictures that related to the topic of the slide so the others watching can have a better understanding of what I was talking about it. Some of the challenges I would face will be keeping the interest of my listeners because while I love agriculture, the common student may not be interested. Overall, I’m happy with how it went.

What helped my writing

What helped the most with my writing this year?

Personally, I have never really had any confidence in my writing. This year that problem has been somewhat resolved. The multiple writing assignments per week (blogs) made me more comfortable writing casually and the 3 papers helped with the more professional writing. I really liked the process of which we wrote the final paper where you as the teacher set due dates for each section of the assignment because it helped me stay on top of it and not fall behind. The writing days you provided were also very helpful because I could get help or just have a nice place to write. Probably the most helpful thing that I did this year was the ability to choose my own topic on major papers. This allowed me to become comfortable with my topic and truly write to the best of my ability. It also helped me in my knowledge of the topic because I could research something I enjoy so I had fun doing it. Overall, I would say that everything we did in the class really benefitted me as a writer. 

hook 2

The main focus of this researched article is related to the innovation of technology in the agriculture corridor. In order to properly understand the topic, research was gathered across many regions, including peer reviewed articles and conversations with farmers to get their opinions on technology. One of the largest innovations in agriculture, while widely unknown, is the forthcoming of no-till farming. For thousands of years the traditional practice of farming included plowing the land, planning the seed, then harvesting the crop. With “no-till” farming, however, the plowing is eliminated. Even though this method is different than what farmers have always done, some farmers in Southeastern Virginia discovered this process actually benefits the soil, and the environment. One may ask the question: “How does not tilling your land help the crops?” Well, author Jonathan Rauch of The Atlantic observed this in those Southeastern Virginia fields mentioned above: “Insects and roots and microorganisms had given the soil an elaborate architecture, which held the earth in place and made it a sponge for water. That was why erosion and runoff had been reduced to practically nil. Crops thrived because worms were doing the ploughing. Crop residue that was left on the ground, rather than ploughed under as usual, provided nourishment for the soil's biota and, as it decayed, enriched the soil. The farmer saved the fuel he would have used driving back and forth with a heavy plough. That saved money, and of course it also saved energy and reduced pollution. On top of all that, crop yields were better than with conventional methods. (Rauch, 2003).” The mitigation of storm water runoff (water filled with sediments and pesticides/insecticides that gets into the local waterways) plays a major role in keeping the drinking water clean, which is as important as producing food for the world to eat. The fuel saved by the farmer benefits the environment because that makes less carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Lastly, the crop yield is higher with no-till farming, which serves as a self-explanatory benefit to society. Overall, to better the agriculture corridor and help battle the changing climate, no-till farming needs to become more of a widespread practice rather than just a local method.  

hook 1

Growing up in a middle-income family where both of my parents had steady jobs, I never had to worry about where my next meal came from. Unfortunately for a good portion of the world, that question has no answer. At the current state of the world’s population, agriculture is not equipped to feed everyone. While this is a tough reality to comprehend, it is an issue that needs to be addressed. The population of Earth is rapidly and constantly growing, but agriculture is thought of as “background noise” because most people don’t care where their food comes from, as long as they can obtain it. Another problem facing agriculture is the variant climate of the world. With temperature increasing, farming will become more difficult, thus producing food for the population to grow will also increase in difficulty. In order to combat these troubles, the future of agriculture is going to need to change. To accomplish this daunting feat, I have researched what adaptations have been made recently, and where experts and farmers expect it to go in the future. Another equally important task will be to educate the youth of America to prepare them for the tasks that lie ahead of them. If these demands of the world are met, then the future of the Earth will still exist. However, if no adaptations to the rising population and changing weather are made, people across the globe will starve and we will be in trouble. 

Lobster

Assignment 9

Parker Wallace

Starting with the very beginning of the article, the author wrote in the tone of a casual conversation instead of an article referencing studies like Unitasker. He does this by using language and sentence structure one would use in a face to face interaction. An example of this comes when he mentions the web address of the festival and when he uses incomplete sentences. This differs from the beginning of the Unitasker because he begins with an anecdote then uses studies and other stories to prove his points. Another way the two articles differ is what type of article they are writing. The Unitasker is an informative article written based on facts in order to tell the reader multitasking is not an efficient tactic to use while accomplishing tasks. The article about the Maine Lobster Festival is more of an advertisement. In order to observe this the reader must consider the audience. The audience of the Unitasker seems to be middle aged adults because it warns of multitasking while at work and in the car. The author tells the reader the dangers of being distracted and the benefits of focusing. The article regarding the lobster festival appeals to an audience of all ages, listing the different activities offered that children and their parents can take part in. I couldn’t particularly pick out any questions in the lobster article but the Unitasker proposed the question: What are the benefits of focusing on one task at a time? While there are no clear questions in the lobster article the answers are abundant. With all the facts about the festival, mostly any question asked by the reader would be answered by reading it. The Unitasker goes on to answer its primary question throughout the story. While the articles have many differences, they are similar in some aspects. Both authors use tones and syntaxes that allow the articles to be easily read, similar to a dinner conversation. This tactic is used among most authors because it allows them to appeal to most readers and get their points across very smoothly. 

unitasker

Assignment 8

Parker Wallace

Talking about this short story, “Unitasker,” as a dinner conversation isn’t extremely difficult because I have often wondered how much time in my life I have wasted because I was distracted. This type of analysis is called Dinner Conversation because the way we analyze it is similar to how a conversation at the dinner table goes. At my table growing up we would talk about our day, ask questions, and talk about plans for the rest of the week. Unitasker does this in a way by providing many personal anecdotes and context to the topic, and builds on assertions in order to make the author’s point stronger. Beginning on the first two pages when he talks about the time he crashed his car because he was distracted, A. J. Jacobs uses a personal anecdote to tell his story about his connection with being distracted by constant multitasking. He builds off of the statement “Consider this: multitasking almost killed me, (147)” throughout the story citing studies and other anecdotes to strengthen his case against multitasking. I personally agree with his argument that multitasking is a subconscious thing all humans do too much. He later references a study made on multitasking and the effects it has on the brain. The study shows that doing a simple task like sorting cards is tougher with a simple distraction like music. This basic distraction strains the brain enough to make the person have to think very hard which has a negative effect on your brain. Jacobs later claims that “multitasking rots your skull (155).” His claims are relatively hyperbolic, but the facts and anecdotes he uses to support the claims bring them back into reality. A major part of dinner conversation involves bring the story back around, and A. J. Jacobs does a great job of this. In the beginning of the story he references his son Zane, and tells the reader he isn’t paying attention to anything going on around him, and attempting to unitask. The end of the story is another anecdote about him not looking at his phone or the news, but simply putting coins into a piggy bank with his son, Zane.  

CRA review

Assignment 7

Parker Wallace

                Before reading my paper, it is very evident it is not long enough. After reading the sample essays I see that in order to accurately get my points across and be precisely comparative, my paper needs to be extended by quite a bit. For the small amount I do have, I think it has some ups and downs. To begin, I think my intro grabbed the attention of the reader and contained necessary information. With a topic like mass shootings, the topic doesn’t need much spice to entice the reader. I outlined each side of the argument and I show how each will be compared later in the paper. My thesis statement is not clearly stated in the introduction, but it is present in the conclusion so I don’t know that I need to change that. Looking at the sample papers made me realize I need to have a title, so in the first paragraph that would be the only thing I change. Moving on to later in the paper, I truly think the sources I used are very valuable to the paper because they show extreme thoughts on both ends of the political spectrum and the last source used is a peer reviewed article that isn’t really biased and disproves ideas given by both parties following shootings. I could incorporate more sources to make the paper longer and strengthen my arguments against both sides. I don’t do a lot of comparing the two sides, just describing the view given by both sides. Since this is a comparative rhetorical analysis paper, I should probably compare the two. It is evident to me that I am very repetitive in describing the opinions of the conservatives and liberals, which is something else I should change. I like my conclusion and I wouldn’t change much in it. It brings together the paper pretty well and includes the thesis statement for the paper. Overall, I can improve my paper by adding some length to it. I can do this by adding sources and comparing the sides of the fight against each other better. 

CRA intro

Assignment 6
Parker Wallace

Nowadays, mass shootings and killings seem increasingly normal each time they occur. With the recent election, gun control has been a major topic of debate, and some people think taking away the second amendment would decrease or end all shootings. While these shootings are tragic and horrific, many observations can be taken on society’s reactions to the catastrophe. Traditionally, the liberal left calls for tighter gun control and policy to be made to keep the shootings from happening again. The conservative right normally goes on the defensive claiming gun control doesn’t fix crazy people and tries to keep the second amendment intact. If the country acted on the thoughts of strictly liberals or strictly conservatives we would be in shambles, so to succeed, policymakers need to act wisely after these shootings and work together to end them.

CRA source 1

Assignment 5
Parker Wallace

Donohue, John. "Ban guns, end shootings? How evidence stacks up." CNN. Cable News Network, 27 Aug. 2017. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.

           The author infers that if guns were banned, or the second amendment was altered, that mass shootings and gun violence would decrease. The author uses sources like the NRA and the National Crime Victimization Survey. He obtains a conclusion that the U.S. should model their gun control laws after other sovereign states to limit mass shootings.

The author is appealing to government officials and the media. I know this because he talks about what politicians should do and he is informing the media of the tragedies occurring in our country. His purpose is to ultimately get legislatures to change the policy on guns. He does this by showing the positive effects of limiting gun possession in other countries and the negative effects of no strict laws in the U.S. He is under some restraints because he is reporting to the media so he has some sort of government regulation, while it isn’t much.

            The title to the article does a pretty good job of summing up what I am looking for in an article, because it is a liberally written article, discussing the dangers of guns. I will also look at the conservative counterpart of CNN, Fox News, and use their article to control the bias of my paper.

CRA source 2

Assignment 4
Parker Wallace

Fox, J. A., and M. J. Delateur. "Mass Shootings in America: Moving Beyond Newtown."   Homicide Studies 18.1 (2013): 125-45. Web.

Summary: This article examines a variety of myths and misconceptions about multiple homicide and mass shooters, pointing out some of the difficult realities in trying to avert these murderous rampages. This article is peer reviewed, and references over 40 other peer reviewed articles in it. The author concludes, “Eliminating the risk of mass murder would involve extreme steps that we are unable or unwilling to take—abolishing the Second Amendment, achieving full employment, restoring our sense of community, and rounding up anyone who looks or acts at all suspicious. Mass murder just may be a price we must pay for living in a society where personal freedom is so highly valued.”

The author is writing to people concerned about the state of the country succeeding a tragedy. I know this because he discusses what goes on with policymaking and other factors of preventing these shootings after the shootings happen. The author’s purpose is to disprove myths about solutions to the mass shooting problems and I know that because he explicitly says that in the article. He references many other sources to give his article more credibility. He doesn’t have many restraints because he is just a journalist and is writing a relatively unbiased article so it doesn’t affect the article very much.

CRA subject discussion

Parker Wallace
Assignment 3

Subject: Why do people blame guns when mass shootings occur?

Why? I am an owner of multiple guns, so it gets under my skin when people blame guns for shootings. It is simply wrong and I want to write on why it is wrong and what would happen if guns were banned.

How broad? I hope to have a wide range of research, looking at many different shootings and how people reacted politically after these shootings.

Discourse: I will look at articles on both ends of the political spectrum in order to see both arguments and to remain unbiased. If I were to just look at articles by CNN or Fox News my research would be biased severely and I wouldn't have an accurate report.

Why women aren't welcome on the internet

Assignment 2

Parker Wallace

            To start, the beginning of this article was so vulgar it was nearly unreadable. Having said that, it acted as an extremely effective attention grabber. Starting articles can prove difficult sometimes because if the author isn’t successful most readers will stop reading before the end of the first page. However, Amanda Hess grabs the reader and entices them and draws them in to read the rest of the article. Amanda also uses this heinous first page to appeal to the readers’ emotions. She does this by using fear and by telling a personal story. She makes herself seem personable by telling us her job, and what her normal day is. Amanda also builds her story’s credibility by referencing a study by the Pew research center (368). She continues to tell personal horror stories and mentions Winston Churchill to add to her credibility.

            While this article does portray the dangers of being a female journalist on social media, it does not depict the social media struggles of the opposing sex. This sort of sexism is widely accepted because of how well the author depicts her issues. Most readers would feel bad for her and have sympathy towards her. Even though I am sympathetic, it is also scares me that nobody mentions the slashing men take online. Now I’m sure once you read that, you think I am some raging misogynist but I am just looking for equality in all aspects. Hess also seems to put down men when she mentions them. She does this indirectly by portraying them as having no heart and not caring about the struggles and threats she faces.

            I found the title of this article to be confusing and ironic. At first, I anticipated the article to be about a woman causing havoc or making scenes for no reason. As I read on, I realized that this was not the case, and instead the title was used for tactical irony. After finishing the article, I read the title in more of a sarcastic tone, and it made sense. In conclusion, I think this was a well written article that was emotionally appealing, but was a bit sexist.  

Lonliness of the interconnected

Assignment 1

Parker Wallace

            In the short story, The Loneliness of the interconnected, the author, Charles Seife, uses ethos, pathos, and logos to obtain credibility, appeal to the readers’ emotions, and to seem logical. Beginning before the start of the story, Seife inserts a quote by Cass Sunstein. This gives the article credibility by using a variety of people and sources to get the author’s point across. He makes further use of this tactic by referencing phycologist Leon Festinger multiple times throughout the story. Along with building the article’s credibility by using a scientist and doctor as a reference, this tactic also makes use of logos. When the reader sees a doctor is speaking on a subject, they tend to listen and believe it based on his credentials, which provide a logical insight on the topic.  Seife makes use of pathos on page 357 by referencing a study that focused on a housewife. This appeals to the reader’s emotions by mentioning a character that is easily relatable to. As a male, I can’t relate to her as a woman, but I can relate to her by her occupation and social status as I am a middle-class individual. He later references a high school student and YouTube Phenom. As the reader, the author appeals to my emotions because I’ve been in high school and publicly embarrassed before, so I feel for the kid. Nearly the entire article appeals to logic because of all the facts presented. This strategy goes along with ethos because while the facts appeal to the readers’ logic, the references to doctors also gives the article high credibility. In conclusion, the author uses ethos, pathos, and logos very strategically. These tactics aid him in relaying factual arguments to the reader while coming across as very intelligent and appealing to their emotions.