Style Academy Assignments

From the style academy assignments I was introduced to and reminded of flaws in my sentence and paragraph structuring. Our first assignment was to practice combining short individual thoughts into complex or more complete sentences. From this exercise I realized how unprofessional and unedited short choppy sentences appear and sound when reading them aloud. I also recognized how easy it is to create a run-on sentence and so correct punctuation is very significant. The challenge to combine the separated thoughts into seven sentences proved how simple and beneficial to your paper correcting and editing sentences can be. The imitation exercise was a foreign concept to me at first, but then I realized that all writing has a muse or a model to pattern ones writings from. I for one recognize that when writing a talk for church I tend to pattern my talk from the talks spoken in general conference, as far as my terminology and tone of voice are concerned. The assignment in and of itself was more challenging than I had initially anticipated. Trying to keep the structure of the sentence the same but come up with a completely original thought to base it off of was difficult. This made me realize why plagiarism is so dangerous; if someone already said it so well, it’s difficult to come up with a better and original way to put it. I think these exercises are relatable in my own writing because they brought my attention to points of good writing that I hadn’t considered before or do not frequently consider. The concept of attempting to enhance the quality of writing through creating strong and meaningful sentences and through using the skill of imitation to generate creative qualities in a paper is the two meanings of the exercises that I learned. Even from writing this reflection I have been more aware of my sentence structure and punctuation. I also recognized the tone of voice in my head while writing the response which felt somewhat like the writings from a review from a product or article where opinion is backed up with examples and facts.

Entrepreneur Changes Life in Uganda by Turning Waste Into Fuel

Susan Daugherty writes for the National Geographic and in her article discusses a man named Sanga Moses's journey in creating an alternative source of fuel in Uganda.

Generalization- Daugherty assumes that the readers believe that helping to decrease deforestation and recycling is important to the readers.
Analogy-  Sanga compares his ability to attend college and get an education to his sisters situation and he thinks that his sisters only way to make her life better is to get an education and by having to miss school, she was ruining that
Sign- If Sanga's briquettes made of farm waste are used, then the trees are saved and betters the health and educational opportunities of many people
Causality- Sanga Moses was inspired to find a new source of fuel after seeing his sister in distress because she had to miss school to cut and gather wood for their families fire.
Authority- Sanga grew up in that village and therefore experienced the poverty and recognized the deforestation. The writer has credibility because National Geographic has a reputation of being a very reliable source.
Principle- The moral principle is to help the poor and to save the environment in recycling in any way we can. Energy solutions and innovations are important to the world and are a just and moral quest.

Happy New Year! Stanford May Have Just Cured Alzheimer’s

 

Rod D. Martin discusses research done at Stanford University to cure Alzheimer's.

Generalization: Martin assumes that people who read this article know what Alzheimer's is and that if the cure worked on the mice, that it will work on humans.
Analogy- He compares the year 2015's possible wonderful miracle if the research is correct, to be as great as the year 1915's catastrophe
Sign- If the FDA approves the drug, then cancer can be cured
Causality- The blocking of the EP2 protein caused dementia and memory loss to reverse
Authority- Stanford University has a great reputation for excellence and success in science and technology
Principle- Martin believes that the readers should believe that it is right to keep striving for a cure for cancer in order to save human lives

Thesis Proposal for Opinion Editorial

Thesis:

            Everyday women battle oppression throughout several spectrums. In America, women battle equal pay for equal work, prejudice in hiring because they are mothers or are pregnant, women are underrepresented in government and corporate and are viewed as second to men in a patriarchal society. Women in the military experience unthinkable amounts of sexual harassment including thousands of cases of rape a year with minimal if any punishment to the men responsible. But my real hurt goes out to the women in countries like Somaliland, Iraq and Iran where young girls experience the most horrifying and immoral act referred to as female genital mutilation (FGM). Young girls have no say in the matter and are forced to be circumcised. There is a line of ethics and morality that cannot be crossed and when it is, those immoral and damaging practices need to be made known in order to spark change.

Reasoning:

1.      Immoral

-violation of the human rights of girls and women

-Excused as a religious and cultural practice

-The social pressure to conform to what others do and have been doing is a strong motivation to perpetuate the practice.

-Has been outlawed but laws are not enforced

-The practice also violates a person's rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death.

2.      No Health Benefits for girls and women

-Women face Infections

-can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infertility as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.

3.      Continued oppression to women

- It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women.

-FGM is associated with cultural ideals of femininity and modesty, which include the notion that girls are “clean” and "beautiful" after removal of body parts that are considered "male" or "unclean".

- FGM is often considered a necessary part of raising a girl properly, and a way to prepare her for adulthood and marriage.

 

Conclusions:

-In December 2012, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the elimination of female genital mutilation.

- but practicing communities themselves must decide to abandon FGM

-strengthening the health sector response: guidelines, training and policy to ensure that health professionals can provide medical care and counselling to girls and women living with FGM;

-knowledge about the causes and consequences of the practice, how to eliminate it, and how to care for those who have experienced FGM;

-increasing advocacy: developing publications and advocacy tools for international, regional and local efforts to end FGM within a generation.

Opinion Editorials

After analyzing the three opinion editorials I found the wrestling editorial to be the most interesting and persuasive. From the triangles we created, I found the authors purpose to be to convince the audience that weight loss tactics in wrestling are dangerous and life threatening and she be better regulated by the NCAA.  Also, the author was a former college wrestler and so that held great ethos with his argument. Pathos was surely felt by the readers through the stories of the deaths of the college wrestlers and his own experiences through wrestling.

The opinion editorial "Kiss-less campus" was my least favorite of the articles. The young freshman student had a very condescending opinion for being so, as she claimed, unexperienced when it comes to relationships. Her lack of ethos created less credibility to her argument and therefore lacked persuasion. Although many people experience PDA and have varying opinions, her argument did not persuade me to side with her.

Wrestling's Dirty Secret

I couldn't pull up the article from the link on the schedule or the homepage and so I just searched the article and found the site. If anyone else experienced the technical difficulties, hope this helps :)

http://www.si.com/vault/1997/12/29/236718/wrestlings-dirty-secret-the-ncaa-should-be-called-on-the-mat-after-three-collegians-died-trying-to-shed-pounds

FGM

          Last semester I was in a women’s studies course where I was educated on many topics foreign to me on women’s rights, suffrage and oppression. I never considered myself a feminist but I was then forced to take a step back and understand that being a feminist means that you support feminism. The definition of feminism is the belief that women and men should have equal rights and opportunities and if that is the true definition I am basing my support off of then yes, I am a supporter of feminism. These classes forced me to think about my feelings as I learned of the horrible truths of women’s history but not only in the past, but current issues that brought me to tears. In America, women battle equal pay for equal work, prejudice in hiring because they are mothers or are pregnant, women are underrepresented in government and corporate and are viewed as second to men in a patriarchal society. Women in the military experience unthinkable amounts of sexual harassment including thousands of cases of rape a year with minimal if any punishment to the men responsible. But my real hurt went out to the women in countries like Somaliland, Iraq and Iran where young girls are sold into arranged marriages at the ages of 11 or younger in some cases. These girls come with a dowry to the husband’s family and if it is not paid in a timely manner, girls are strapped down and burned in an event termed dowry death. When these young girls have children, many of their bodies cannot withstand the labor and die during childbirth or of infection. The most horrifying and immoral act I became educated on was female genital mutilation. In a time frame of infancy to 15, girls are subjected to the pain of a destructive operation in which the female genitals are partially or entirely removed and then stitched together leaving a small opening for urination, menstration & intercourse. This is seen as a religious practice and a way to keep girls chaste and inhibit their sexual feelings. Young girls have no say in the matter and are forced to be circumcised. These young girls then must lay motionless for approximately 5 days, in their waste,  to allow their incisions to heal. Most countries have outlawed these practices but the laws are poorly enforced and so FGM is still widely practice and forced upon young children. There is a line of ethics and morality that even in the name of religion cannot be crossed and when it is, we as a nation must put an end to those immoral and damaging practices.