Counterintuitive Spring 2024

GOAL 1: I used a multi-stage, recursive, and social process for my writing and took into consideration feedback from my instructor, classmates, and other readers. 

When it comes to writing, there is always room for improvement. I have learned this before and Professor Hodges always did a great job reiterating that writing can always be bettered. Throughout the whole semester, he always provided his students with loads of feedback. Although some people may have seen it as him criticizing our work, it was always positive criticism because he wanted to help us better our work. His feedback always allowed me to make my assignments better.

GOAL 2: I read source materials closely and analyzed them critically to learn how and why texts create meaning.

A big part of writing comes from reading other written work and understanding what it says. After picking a topic, the next step is reading up on it and gaining as much knowledge as possible on the topic. This is important because without information on a topic, it would be extremely difficult to write a research paper on it. It was helpful to read up on the  chosen topic to make it easier for me to write about. There is always information out there to read about different topics and further knowledge.

GOAL 3: I wrote with a particular audience in mind, allowing my purpose to shape the language and methods I used not just to communicate information but to persuade readers. 

I wrote with an audience in mind because I made sure to cover the background of my topic and explain what was going on for people who might not know what exactly was going on. This informed people and then I was able to talk about it and give my thoughts on it. I was formal about my writing, keeping in mind anyone could be reading it.

GOAL 4: I demonstrated my information literacy by synthesizing my own experience with new insights and information from a range of outside sources to produce new material.

Relating my life and experiences to my topic was pretty difficult. It is definitely easier and better to write about things that I can relate to. It can also make writing more interesting if you can include personal experiences or things like that. I am sure someway or somehow I could have thought of something to relate my topic with my life, but my topic made it very difficult.

GOAL 5: My writing is ethical. Writing about meaningful topics, I have engaged responsibly with them and represented my ideas and the ideas of others honestly, fairly, and logically. 

I definitely think I wrote about a meaningful topic and the way I presented the information was responsible. Some topics can be sensitive to readers and I was always careful of what I said and how I said it. I was honest with my own ideas, but I was careful as well. Representing others ideas is very important because it needs to be done properly. Representing ideas the right way is key to writing a research paper because in order to get the point across, it needs to be done correctly. I was definitely smart and careful with my own ideas, as well as other peoples ideas.

Self Reflective

Goal 1: I used a multi-stage, recursive, and social process for my writing and took into consideration feedback from my instructor, classmates, and other readers. In this class, we were thought that writing a good paper takes more than one draft. It is a multistage and recursive process, to better illustrate this I remember at the beginning of the semester when the teacher ripped a paper into pieces and kept one piece; then said this is how the first draft should look after the revision. He gave feedbacks almost longer than the original paper itself in order to give me a a picture of where my paper stands. We also had to read each other papers and leave comments under it, this happen twice and the second time; he encouraged students to be very blunt and help other classmates on where improvement is most needed. By the end of the semester, everyone understood that writing takes more than one step.

GOAL 2: I read source materials closely and analyzed them critically to learn how and why texts create meaning. We had to do multiple research on credible websites and articles, to find a subject already written by other students and professional to help with our arguments. These sources and articles had clear explanations and evidence to support our writing. It made the Writing easier and smoother to go navigate throughout different points in the papers. All the articles and Books read were organized in a document with all the sources used in the Research Position paper and other good sources that couldn’t make their way into the paper.

GOAL 3: I wrote with a particular audience in mind, allowing my purpose to shape the language and methods I used not just to communicate information but to persuade readers. Before starting the class, the word counterintuitive wasn’t familiar to me and I googled it right after I saw the website. The definition said that it wasn’t something unusual to common sense, this made me think and I told my sense my audience will probably hate the things my teacher might extract out of me. So right at the moment I knew that I will have an audience that will immediately reject what I had to say, and another that might take interest; therefore I worked the entire semester to get both audiences to understand what I mean in my paper, and that I had their side in mind too.

GOAL 4: I demonstrated my information literacy by synthesizing my own experience with new insights and information from a range of outside sources to produce new material. I used my own insight because the subject I chose directly relates to not only me but my generation. I took the information I found online and compared them to my experience, which helped me come up with an idea on how I incorporate both to make a paper that’s my own. My own insights took a lot on one of my small paper and one other was mainly based on outside sources, therefore I had enough material to combine.

GOAL 5: My writing is ethical. Writing about meaningful topics, I have engaged responsibly with them and represented my ideas and the ideas of others honestly, fairly, and logically. Despite all the sources used in the papers, I made sure everything included in my paper is either mine or cited. This class was different from any writing class I had in the past, I had excitement and wanted to make something I’m proud of and can share it with some of my friends. I used all the sources to make my own points and made the paper original, in other words if anyone reads it there wouldn’t be a mistake that it’s my own work.

The Problem Isn’t Pain

Today, many terminally ill patients are searching for a way to end the suffering and agony that controls every facet of their lives. The recent controversial answer has been physician assisted suicide, or “death with dignity.” Death with dignity allows for a terminally ill patient to end their lives before their ailment reaches a more serious, even more debilitating state. Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and end stage cancer are all terminal diseases that cannot easily be stopped. Death with dignity is a completely humane process and has a overwhelmingly positive effect for all involved. Unfortunately, some believe that physician assisted dying is morally wrong.

Mary E. Harned, the author of The Dangers of Assisted Suicide, and staff counselor of the Americans United for Live organization is one of those people. Harned provides us with two definitions: physician assisted suicide, “specifically involves the help of a physician in performing the act of suicide. Such assistance usually entails the prescribing or dispensing of controlled substances in lethal quantities that hasten death.” While euthanasia “involves the killing of one person by or with the physical assistance”

Those who support death with dignity simply believe that suffering isn’t humane, and something should be implemented to prevent end of life suffering. Even accepted and successful movements, such as Animal Rights Activists believe in this simple principle as well. Very telling is her belief that the reason people choose a death with dignity is because the pain is too much to handle. It’s fair to say that nearly everybody knows that even the most severe pain can be relieved by drugs. Doctors can prescribe anyone with pain some sort of medication to ease the pain, but those painkillers don’t change the fact that the patient still has stage four lung cancer and is going to die within the next two weeks anyway. The reason so many people turn to death with dignity is so that in their dying minutes they are not so heavily sedated by painkillers that they can’t even function, or hooked up to five different life support machines as they lie lifeless on a hospice bed, but so that they can have some sense of dignity,  feel surrounded with compassion from family members, and end the suffering that comes with their ailment. A sense of control is extremely important for somebody who, if not given complete control of their end of life choices, will have no power and control over it at all. The power to end ones life if death is extremely close to begin with is imperative to showing our compassion and understanding.

The strongest counter-argument is that Physician Assisted Suicide is something that will be abused by doctors. Perhaps that is a valid fear in today’s corrupt society, but there is nothing here that can be abused. If a people want to end their lives, that in no way advances the best interest of doctors or healthcare professionals. It actually takes revenue away from them, by hastening death one would also hasten, and lessen the hospital bills. So, why is letting this important decision of terminally ill patients to end their lives go opposed? Laws are in place that enforce everyone to have some sort of healthcare. If our nation can successfully do that, we can successfully create a sound set of laws that allow for a dying patient to hasten their death.

Works Cited

“Assisted Suicide: 1. America.” BMJ: British Medical Journal 303.6800 (1991): 431. Web.http://www.aul.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dangers-assisted-suicide.pdf

The Gray Area of Life

When the highlight of a terminally ill patients day is a lull in the suffering, death is a salvation. However, today we refuse to give patients experiencing unimaginable amounts of pain, suffering, and loss of dignity the right to end their lives. Stephen Hawking addressed the topic saying, “We don’t let animals suffer, so why humans?” If we as a society feel so strongly about putting animals out of their misery, why not our loved ones? It could be said that animals, in this regard, are treated with more compassion than humans.

A counter-intuitive way to think about life is closeness to death. Usually we think life as the length someone has been alive, but what about how near somebody is to dying. A healthy ninety-year-old man, in this scenario, is younger than a thirty-year -old man with stage four lung cancer. The ninety-year-old man, given his health, and coherence at this age, is going to live for perhaps another decade. The thirty-year-old only has a month or two to live, so he is closer to death in theory. The ninety-year-old lived a longer life, but his life is not going to die within the foreseeable future, the thirty-year-old has no chance. By this token, why are we more willing to allow an elderly person fitting the conventional definition of old age die without being kept alive by machines than a younger individual who is on his death bed as well? It is not exactly a deliberate attempt to make someone suffer, rather than it is a way of keeping someone in this world, at least in body, not so much in mind or emotion.

If a patient lies in a hospital bed completely unresponsive regardless of age, he isn’t alive, he’s just there. An image of the man he was before, the man who lies in that bed was once able to feel joy, sorrow, fear, and any other emotion conceivable. The man who could also share memories of family gatherings, his eldest son’s wedding, the birth of his first grandchild, and the man who could smile, embrace his loved ones, and crack jokes. Having the capacity to feel, touch, experience, that is what life is. Imagine life without these things, what is it then? It’s not anything worth being a part of.  Our loved one laying on that bed isn’t who he was before he fell into this condition, he’s just there to fool our eyes into believing he is still capable of our naive determination of life.

Usually if a person is left to die of their terminal disease, it ends in them being in a vegetative state, or a state where very limited brain activity is present. Those in vegetative states cannot open their eyes, speak, move, respond, or eat by themselves. According to Merck “a vegetative state is suggested by characteristic findings (eg, no purposeful activity or comprehension) plus signs of an intact reticular formation.” This means the person is not aware of anything that is happening. It is absurd to let someone suffer until they are put in that kind of state. That is not life.

Works Cited

“Stephen Hawking Backs Assisted Suicide For The Terminally Ill.” NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 04 May 2015. <http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/09/17/223475856/steven-hawking-backs-assisted-suicide-for-the-terminally-ill&gt>

“Vegetative State and Minimally Conscious State.” – Coma and Impaired Consciousness. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2015. <http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/neurologic-disorders/coma-and-impaired-consciousness/vegetative-state-and-minimally-conscious-state&gt>

GOAL 1: I used a multi-stage, recursive, and social process for my writing and took into consideration feedback from my instructor, classmates, and other readers.

This writing class was completely different than what I usually picture a writing class to be. In the past, I had never had a composition class that was all online. The entire class used a blog to post all of our pieces and essays. Anyone could read anyone else’s writing, adding a lot more pressure on the writer. I would use classmates’ work as a reference on how to start my pieces. The feedback provided by Professor Hodges was extremely helpful, yet very time consuming. For most of the feedback it was very detailed, having proofread every sentence of the writing. I did use the feedback on some of my pieces, however I did not get to all of them to revise. I also enjoyed the activities where the classmates would revise and proofread some of the pieces in class and thought it was extremely helpful for everyone.

 GOAL 2: I read source materials closely and analyzed them critically to learn how and why texts create meaning.

Composition II is not just about perfecting my writing; it also emphasizes analyzing different pieces of writing. Professor Hodges would assign us class activities to analyze articles, videos, and classmates’ writing. One activity was a video we were instructed to watch in class and analyze every second of the video. He would stop it between different scenes and would make the class participate and describe what the scene was about. For one of our assignments, the Moving Image I had picked a video clip which discussed and portrayed women’s heart disease. Originally, I just took down some notes about what I had seen throughout the video clip. As a rewrite, Visual Rewrite , I had completely turned those notes into detailed paragraphs, which delved deeper into the video and really took a look at the different symbols and what they represented.

 GOAL 3: I wrote with a particular audience in mind, allowing my purpose to shape the language and methods I used not just to communicate information but to persuade readers.

Throughout the entire semester, the audiences were my classmates, along with my professor. I knew that I could not just hand in anything piece of writing without putting time and effort into it. My classmates would be reading all my pieces, which would put a lot of pressure on myself because of the competition that was involved. I did like how the blog made each person anonymous, by choosing a username; it somewhat had diminished part of the pressure. By having an audience we have to use persuasion to discuss and claim our side of the argument. The Rebuttal Argument definitely forced us to pick one side of the argument and support it with details and examples. This assignment was awfully difficult for me since I started the assignment agreeing with the topic, then towards the end I did not enjoy it or agree with it. I had to re-do my entire argument along with the definition essay. Rethinking everything I had put forth originally was not easy, however I gave it my all in the end.

 GOAL 4: I demonstrated my information literacy by synthesizing my own experience with new insights and information from a range of outside sources to produce new material.

I found it hard to relate my own experiences and incorporating it into my writing. If I did I think it would be a lot easier to write about my topic and I believe my writing would have improved. I found it impossible to incorporate my own experiences in the research paper since my topic had discussed the Marshmallow Effect. Looking back at it now, I do believe that I could of somehow incorporated my childhood experiences into my paper, although, I did not take the marshmallow test as a child. Therefore, I did find it difficult.  Even though I did not take the Marshmallow Test as a child, I do believe that I would have been one of the children to wait those fifteen minutes in order to receive another tasty treat. I had always been the quiet child, who listen to directions, and do as I was told. Especially as a child, I was not impulsive or rowdy; I would sit myself in the chair and look around the room to see what I can do to distract myself.

 GOAL 5: My writing is ethical. Writing about meaningful topics, I have engaged responsibly with them and represented my ideas and the ideas of others honestly, fairly, and logically.

Writing about more meaningful topics did make me become a better and more improved writer than I had been in the beginning of the course. With every assignment, I had the most trouble starting my pieces and arguments. I remember for most of them, I was mostly neutral with the topics, yet I was forced to pick a side. I am very indecisive, so picking a side was not easy for myself and leaving making my statements somewhat unclear may have left readers unclear on where I stand. I realize that my first drafts are horrible and awkward, yet I did think some of my drafts were better than others, however, Professor Hodges did not agree.  For my Definition Rewrite, I was forced to pick a side and so I explained the meaning of willpower and how if children knew they had willpower, they would rethink their decision before they turn them into actions.  The Critical Thinking assignment, some may have mentioned my writing was confusing because it was unclear on where I stood on PTSD.  It is not until the last paragraph where I specifically mention, “Even though, PTSD is a disorder that cannot be “literally” contagious, it is possible, according to Mclelland, someone can develop these symptoms if they are around someone with them for a while.”

GOAL 1: I used a multi-stage, recursive, and social process for my writing and took into consideration feedback from my instructor, classmates, and other readers. Throughout the semester, especially with my Research Position I took advantage of the constructive criticism I received from my instructor.  I realized that revision is the most important part of constructing an essay that is strong, well organized, and drives a solid argument home. I had a one on one conference with Prof Hodges about my research paper that helped immensely. If I had not asked for help, I would have thought my research paper was solid, and portfolio ready. I don’t think there is any way I could have improved my writing without first learning to accept criticism and apply it to a new draft, which stemmed from last semester when I had Prof Hodges for comp 1.

GOAL 2: I read source materials closely and analyzed them critically to learn how and why texts create meaning. I read source materials closely and analyzed them critically to learn how and why texts create meaning. While completing the annotated bibliography I learned the most about critically analyzing sources to find the best content. Although there were a ton of sources about Physician Assisted Suicide, about half of them didn’t align with my position. In each different text, I concluded that a different point was trying to be made in each of the texts. Weather it was that assisted suicide makes it easier for people to cope with a death, or that physician assisted suicide is growing in popularity, every text has a different point. I learned that I cannot just grab 10 sources and dump them into a bibliography.

GOAL 3: I wrote with a particular audience in mind, allowing my purpose to shape the language and methods I used not just to communicate information but to persuade readers.  While writing my Research Position paper, I wrote with a specific audience in mind. I knew that writing a position paper with the supporting audience in mind would not be of any use to me. I wrote my research position in such a way that it could be persuasive to people who were either on the fence about my topic, or against my topic. It’s futile to persuade people who already align their opinions with yours. So I tried my best to make strong, clear points that eventually lead to a strong conclusion about Physician Assisted Suicide.

GOAL 4: I demonstrated my information literacy by synthesizing my own experience with new insights and information from a range of outside sources to produce new material.While writing my Visual Analysis, in a way I used my own knowledge and experience to craft my argument, as well as information I gathered from the PSA source. The technique was to listen to the Ad without sound, and while doing this I gathered all of my insights from visual observation and assumptions, then I went back to watch the Ad with sound. While listening to the ad with sound, it was easier to distinguish which of my assumptions were correct, and which weren’t.

GOAL 5: My writing is ethical. Writing about meaningful topics, I have engaged responsibly with them and represented my ideas and the ideas of others honestly, fairly, and logically. Throughout the semester, I learned the importance of a fair and accurate portrayal of evidence gathered throughout the research process. It is unethical to put words not said by the author into one’s work. The accuracy and fairness of evidence shows the integrity of a writer. Those who portray evidence in a fair manner are those who demonstrate the strongest mastery of writing.  In my Rebuttal Argument I took care to accurately portray what Mary Harned was claiming in her own work. Specifically her argument that pain is the reason so many people revert to PAS. I took the time to represent her opinion fairly because I was actively trying to break her logic. It would have been easy to skew her opinion and make for an easy counter-argument, but representing her opinion responsibly is the more ethical and fair method of doing so.

The True Meaning Behind The MarshMallow Test

Content Description

• What is really tested during this evaluation
• Can this determine a child’s future characteristics
• Is there another simpler meaning behind this study
• Is this study effective
• This test compared to other that can depict information on your child

1.Working Hypothesis 1

This test can depict a child’s characteristics later on in life due to the fact of his or her ability to have self control

1a.Working Hypothesis 2

The marshmallow test actually determines a child’s ability to put trust into a stranger not having anything to do with controlling their impulses

1.Topics For Smaller Paper

Is a Child’s Future on the Line?

How can someone simply depict a child’s future with a Marshmallow Test. Scientist say that this test of self control can mirror the reactions of child’s habits later on in life. If the child is able to hold back his or her urges to eat the treat before being give an additional one will be more substantial to hold down a job or have better grades. This is certainly a good method to test a child’s self control and in future will the child pay his or her bills or go spend the money on clothes or food. The test shows a good example of how the now grown child would act on their on in stressful stations.

Does Trust Have Anything to Do With It?

Trust is a vital resource used by children and adults to determine if someone is actually helping or hurting them. A study shown that children whom come from different backgrounds have different results to this test simply on their understanding of trust. A child might not give a stranger his or her trust when first meeting someone simply because of their background. At a young age children are only used to their neighborhoods and communities. So if a child’s surroundings are bad and lack trust then their results defiantly defiantly going to be different then that of a child with a more safe and secure background.

1.Current State of Research Paper

Mainly finished with my research on the Marshmallow test and what it actually resembles to a child’s future. With the help of several credible sources I can now see the difference between this test and others like it. more importantly I realize the true value and meaning behind the results of this test, making my theory that this test most certainly can determine a child future characteristics

We’re All Afraid Of What We Don’t Know

Any new, disruptive technology will have its fair share of critics doing their best to limit its potential. And since Bitcoin is a new concept edging its way into the mainstream, it is not immune to negativity and unfavorable public perception. It is undeniable that the digital currency has its enemies, either real people or perceived notions. And while I do support Bitcoin and many of its causes, I have to admit that the concept has more than its fair share of flaws. The biggest two, in my opinion, being the whole idea of anonymity as well as the volatility from the stock.

The Bitcoin currency is ‘frictionless’. What this means is that there aren’t added costs associated with moving transactions through a mega-bank or credit card processor. These peer-to-peer transactions occur without any second look from a central authority. This sets up opportunities for criminals. The Silk Road, on online black market, operates solely on Bitcoins to sell things like drugs, weapons, etc.

These characteristics, naturally, lead to big risks in bitcoin, and subsequently, big volatility in the price of the digital currency. While bitcoin surged from about $13 in January 2013 to a peak of roughly $1,150 at the end of November 2013, prices were as low as $178 a few weeks ago. Such a wild range in roughly two years should show how speculative bitcoin is.

I think that if you’re looking to Bitcoin as the future of currency, you’re going to have to wait several years. All of the critics are using a criteria based around today’s currencies. (Many of which aren’t successful either) But if we look at Bitcoin as a revolutionary when of thinking, I think we’ll not only have more of an appreciation for it, but it will start to progress even more as well.

Raszl, Ivan. “Bitcoin: Benefits and Risks.” Blog of Ivan Raszl. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://raszl.com/blog/bitcoin-benefits-and-risks&gt;.

The Great Importance Of The Marshmallow Test

Life throws challenges at a single person everyday, but with the help of self-control we can accomplish these problems. There are not a lot of test that can explore a person’s ability to resist temptation, but the Marshmallow test certainly does.  Dr. Walter Mischel states that the results show a child’s strength  to control its impulses when confronted with a stressful situation. By the child not eating the treat and showing techniques to delay gratification, a reflection of how he or she will act later on in life in a stressful, is shown”I was watching this miracle that occurs when our kids … really begin spontaneously to show dramatic changes in their ability to control their impulses,”(Hadad).This seems logical and accurate opposed to other theories from scientists stating “longitudinal studies show is that children who come from an environment where they have learned to be more trusting have better life outcomes”(Elharo). This theory is illogical because children grow up in all different environments that have opposing types of living styles which conflicts with their everyday reasoning. For example a child whom comes from a suburban community might trust others because his environment is small and everyone in his community is trustworthy. While a child from an urban community choses to trust few people because of the lack of trust in his large environment. It all depends on how your child is raised and the influence of its environment when it comes to how easily someone will trust another, not a marshmallow test. This would simply  be the wrong test for trust issues unless you pick children from the same neighborhood or community.

This is important for a parent to know so a child can achieve help to gain  self-control “I realized that I didn’t have a clue about what was going on in my children’s heads that allowed these changes to occur and that’s what I wanted to understand.”(Hadad). With a parent having their child placed into programs that build up his her ability to control their impulses they are easy placing him on better path to succeed in life. Now it is helpful for a parent to realize this problem ,but it is vital for a child to realize also. Once a child can realize how to delay gratification the sooner he or she is  on a better track to succeed. results show the children who had enough self-control to not eat the first treat had higher grades, were not as addictive, and also were able to hold down more jobs compared to the children whom eaten the treat.

Work Cited

Elharo. “A New Interpretation of the Marshmallow Test.” – Less Wrong. N.p., 05 July 2013. Web. 02 Mar. 2015.

Hadad, Chuck. “What the ‘marshmallow Test’ Can Teach You about Your Kids – CNN.com.’ CNN. Cable News Network, 22 Dec.2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2015.

GOAL 1: I used a multi-stage, recursive, and social process for my writing and took into consideration feedback from my instructor, classmates, and other readers.

As I previously learned in the many years of writing, Professor Hodges restated that writing is not just a one and done deal. Writing takes numerous drafts, revisions, and editing sessions. When all of this is done properly it will be a successful well-written paper. I successfully achieved this goal by requesting feedback on each and every one of my posts, no matter if they were portfolio work or not. The best example of this is my Definition Essay Rewrite. It was not sufficient enough to simply ask for feedback and make those changes. An open line of communication between the professor and student is key. If I was not clear about a comment that was made, I asked for clarification. I took full advantage of the rewriting process in order to make revisions that would make my final paper a strong and well-written piece.

GOAL 2: I read source materials closely and analyzed them critically to learn how and why texts create meaning.

An important stage in every writer’s process is reading and gathering information on the topic they are writing on. This was a crucial part of the course because it was necessary to have as much knowledge of the subject we wrote on as possible. This goal is shown in my Rebuttal paper. In this paper I gathered as much information as I could on both sides of the argument. I analyzed what the opposing sides and the evidence they presented. After I analyzed that I analyzed the side I argued for and prepared a well-written rebuttal with both sides represented. It made my argument stronger when I understood fully both sides of the argument, and then presented a rebuttal proving it is the weaker side.

GOAL 3: I wrote with a particular audience in mind, allowing my purpose to shape the language and methods I used not just to communicate information but to persuade readers.

When writing a lengthy research paper, or any paper at all it is important to have an audience in mind to guide the writing. When writing my paper the audience I had in mind were all the people who attend the circuses and individuals uneducated about the abuse of elephants. By choosing a specific show such as the circus it shaped my paper and made the circus goers the target audience. My paper was powerful and persuasive, the information stated was not meant to be just communicated; but it was meant to move the audience. The purpose of my paper was to change the minds of the circus fans and show them the reality of what goes on. This is best shown in my final Research Position paper. In my paper I used powerful sources, including a former circus employee who explains the bloody horrors that go on behind the circus. By the readers reading these first hand experiences it persuades them to boycott circuses all together.

GOAL 4: I demonstrated my information literacy by synthesizing my own experience with new insights and information from a range of outside sources to produce new material.

It is important as writers to know that something can not just simply be stated. It makes a claim incredibly stronger if there is evidence to back up the claim to prove that it is true. By researching and finding evidence that synthesizes with my own ideas to make each claim stronger I fulfilled this goal. I realized that there were different types of information and different places to find this information, and after that realization I took full advantage of the libraries resources including ProfSearch to find the perfect evidence to back up my claims. This is best shown in my final paper the Research Position Paper. In this paper I have successfully shown the importance of synthesizing my own thoughts with scholarly evidence. Each claim I have is represented by a source that strengthens the claim and is cited correctly.

GOAL 5: My writing is ethical. Writing about meaningful topics, I have engaged responsibly with them and represented my ideas and the ideas of others honestly, fairly, and logically.

In order for a paper to be successful it is crucial that all topics are represented in an honest, fair, and logical way. This course has reiterated the importance of being honest and fair when it comes to analyzing sources that involve our topics. This goal is shown specifically in two papers that I have written throughout the course my Rebuttal Paper and my final paper the Research Position Paper. In my Rebuttal Paper I could have taken the easy way out and made the circus seem entirely hypocritical by taking the company’s explanation of its training techniques out of context. Instead, I took the harder more persuasive path: I let the circus make their best argument for their training tactics. I followed this by a strong rebuttal by demonstrating that rather than the circuses using positive reinforcement they were using torture tactics.  In my Research Position Paper I embodied the honest and logical aspect of the goal. I did this by making sure each and every one of my sources was cited correctly and that they were analyzed in a logical and honest way. I did this by stating the author, where it came from, and its importance before the quote was stated. I introduced before the quote because I learned in the Scenic Views lesson that if it was done after the reader would have already made up their mind about what the quote means.