DL#9 HW#7 Deadline Reflection

This took me an extra day, but I finished it all. There aren't many people to leave comments for because only a few are caught up. The activities in chapter 8 helped me to organize my paper and think of what my audience will want to read. The cluster diagram really helped me to see my ideas on paper. The thought the outline would be different though. When I am closer to writing, I will make an outline of how the paper will look and how I will organize the sections.

I commented on two Toulmin outlines:
Jessica https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6558461562694940043&postID=814797845208466088
Kelesia https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7065969429572983940&postID=3299103434569230343

DL#9 HW#6

Claim: Alcohol has many dangers, both mental and physical.

Reason #1: Alcoholics may have mental issues.

• Evidence #1: Drinking excessively turns into dependence. The more a person drinks, the more they will need each time they drink to feel drunk.
• Backing: One source shows that light drinkers are more prone to health conditions than heavy and moderate drinkers, but heavy and moderate drinkers have more of the conditions all together.
• Evidence #2: Parents and spouses who drink at home cause family abuse.
• Backing: According to the NIAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) at least half of all Americans have one close relative with a drinking problem.
• Backing: Spouses and children of alcoholics have more chance of suffering physical and sexual abuse, family violence, and psychological problems.
• Backing: Relatives and friends of alcohol abusers are more likely to be killed or injured in alcohol-related accidents or assaults.
• Evidence #3: Depression, memory loss, and anxiety can all develop in alcohol abusers and alcoholics.
• Backing: Research shows that 70% of alcoholics have had depression sometime while they have been a drinker. Even when people stopped drinking, they got depression.
• Backing: 20-25% of all drinkers developed anxiety at some point.
• Objection: If I drink alcohol occasionally only at social gatherings will I ever get mental issues?
• Rebuttal: It depends on the person and how much you drink each time. A moderate amount is five servings or less a week.

Reason #2: Alcoholics and alcohol abusers may have physical problems.

• Warrant: Thousands of alcohol drinkers die each year from physical problems.
• Evidence #1: Driving while drunk kills many each day.
• Backing: Over the last 3 decades, an average of 40% of fatal car crashes have been alcohol related.
• Evidence #2: Mothers who drink alcohol while pregnant risk having a baby born with birth defects.
• Backing: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a disorder that babies are born with that is caused by alcohol in their system before they were born.
• Evidence #3: Excessive drinking causes Hepititis-C, which can then lead to cirrhosis of the liver.
• Backing: Alcohol eats at the liver over time because it is a drug. Hepititis-C is an inflammation of the liver and if it cannot restore it's tissue, it starts to deteriorate which is cirrhosis.
• Opposition: Can other people develop these problems even if they don't drink?
• Rebuttal: Yes. Anyone can be in a car crash, birth defects, and deterioration of the liver. Alcohol use just makes these problems more likely to occur.

DL#9 HW#5

1) Thinking About your Writing: Addressing your Audience's Wants and Needs

1. My audience is teenagers and adults. The implied audience is the teacher and other students.
2. I would think that teenagers and adults value their health and future. Everyone would like information that will help them in some way.
3. The audience will expect data and statistics, which is required in this research topic. The audience will probably like personal experiences, especially teenagers because it makes the topic seem more real.
4. Most people already have opinions that either alcohol is fun or is dangerous. Most teenagers don't know all of the dangers of drinking alcohol and the long-term effects of heavy drinking. However, most people will agree that alcohol isn't good for you.

2) Connecting To Your Writing: Developing Evaluation Criteria

1. My audience for this research paper is teenagers and adults. The teacher and class members are also part of the audience. They want to know exaclty why alcohol is bad and what it can do to them and they need to know this because it is beneficial to their health and well-being.
2. The purpose of this research paper is to spread knowledge that alcohol is not always fun. Too many people die from drunk driving crashes and alcohol-related illnesses. Personal experiences and statistics need to be used.
3. This research paper won't take too much time. I already know what I want to write and have a basic idea of how I'm going to organize it. The information I have is contemporary because the sources are up to date with very recent dates. The issues my topic deals with are recent and still happening. Statistics needs to be recent for the most current information.
4. I have continued to narrow my topic by limiting it to mental and physical dangers of alcohol. I have found most of the information I need about the many different dangers.
5. Others elements I want to cover are why prohibition started and ended because it will explain why our society treats alcohol the way it does.
6. I can't write too much about Prohibition because it will take away from the dangers of alcohol.

3) Clustering

I drew a cluster diagram of my topic on a piece of paper. I put the question in the middle and extended satellites as the answers to the question. On a couple of the satellites I further extended answers to those topics. I really liked this activity because it helped me to see my topic on paper and this diagram will help me organize my paper better.

4) Finding Additional Resources

1. I am concerned that I don't have enough information on the mental dangers. I have a lot of information on the physical aspect, but only depression, anger, and family abuse for the mental aspect.
2. I asked my mom to look at my cluster diagram and she said the same thing, that I have more physical dangers than mental. She also added that alcohol helps people go into debt.
3. I also asked a friend to look at my diagram and he didn't really have much feedback. He agreed that I didn't have much on the mental dangers, but didn't think there were any more than what I have.

DL#9 HW#4 Annotated Bibliography

Lieber, C. (2001) Alcohol and Hepatitis C. Alcohol Research and Health. Retrieved on July 7, 2007, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CXH/is_4_25/ai_84926096.

This source explains how alcohol-related Hepatitis C is formed. It is a major cause of death in the United States. This source also explains the symptoms that Hepatitis C includes. Hepatitis C is a slow killer and most people don't find out they have it until it has gotten worse. I will use this as a long-term effect of drinking alcohol to answer my research question.

Levine, H. & Reinarman C. (2004), Alcohol prohibition and drug prohibition. Lessons from alcohol policy for drug policy. Amsterdam: CEDRO. Retrieved on July 22, 2007, from http://www.cedro-uva.org/lib/levine.alcohol.html.

I found this source from Google. I was having trouble finding sources from databases on this topic. The first part of the source goes into detail about how Prohibition was created and also the failures of Prohibition. I won't need the second part of the source because it talks about drug prohibition. I will use this information to explain why Prohibition started and ended. I think I will use this as part of the introduction paragraph.

Gossman, G. (2007, July 2). Delirium Tremens. EMedicine from WebMD. Retrieved on July 22, 2007, from http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic123.htm.

I found this source from Google. I think it is a reliable source because it is from WebMD. This source is about delirium tremens, or severe withdrawal from alcohol. Symptoms may arise when a severe alcoholic has stopped drinking alcohol. I will use this source to explain a long-term danger of drinking alcohol.

DL#9 HW#3 Writing Project Reflection

To complete this project, I used the annotated bibliographies I previously researched for past assignments. I then analyzed them to briefly summarize them, understand what the author's perspective was and how it would help me to answer my research question. If I was to complete this writing process again, I would search for more resources to have more to pick from. For the next writing project, I will start an outline of how I want my paper to be organized. I am proud that the sources I used for this project were all different. They all had to do with alcohol abuse, but gave a different view of why alcohol should be limited. In Turnitin.com, the report came back wih 29%. This was the first time Turnitin came back with results for any of the assignments I've turned in so I didn't use it to edit the rough draft. I tried to improve on writing with a bias for this project. I don't want to sound that all drinking is bad, but instead rely on facts. I think I did a good job of that, but it is still kind of hard to avoid. I'm not quite sure what the course outcomes are but this project will definately help me with organizing an outline for WP#3. I finally understand how to correctly cite sources. I am used to using MLA format, not APA and it is kind of different.

DL#9 HW#1

This was quite a bit of reading, but that's okay since it was well needed. The handbook will help me to organize an outline, which I'm not too good at. Chapter 8 helped me to analyze my research and see if any of the information is outdated. I don't think any of it is though. The "Classical and Contemporary Arrangement" website was very informative and will help me organize my paper.

DL#8 HW#5

I kind of like doing the peer reviews. It allows me to see other peoples' writing styles and also their views on controversial issues. I thought the five activities from chapter 7 were kind of redundant since most of them asked some of the same questions. It did help me to change my thesis statement and research question though. I didn't do the grammar assignment. I tried to understand it but it is very confusing and I feel sick so I'm just going to skip it. Other than that, this deadline was quick, which I like because I'm short on time.

I commented on:
Tomoko https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3852952449052242174&postID=2911589955684721814
Oscar https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7787602031825194497&postID=4755892216919011022
Jessica https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6558461562694940043&postID=2411449673151715666