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

DL#8 HW#3

1) Thinking About Your Writing: Distinguishing Between Reporting and Arguing

• Self narrative, memo for work, application for scholarship.
• I wrote a self narrative for my comp101 class. I needed to write a summary of each year of my life since kindergarten. The memo for work was to inform the rest of the employees about upcoming events, new information on how to do things, and to remind them how to properly do things. The application for a scholarship was to apply for reimbursed money from my work's company explaining how my classes would help me be a better employee.
• For the self narrative, my audience was my teacher and whoever else reads it. The memo's audience is the other employees I work with. The scholarship application's audience was the Human Resources of HDOS Enterprises and my regional manager.
• Reporting: Memo. I was reporting information from a higher source about new information and upcoming events.
• Arguing: scholarship application. I was arguing why I would be a good candidate to give money for education to.
• Not sure: self-narrative. Since I was just telling my memories of my life, so I wasn't trying to report or argue information. It might be reporting though.

2) Connect To Your Writing: What is Your Rhetorical Situation?

• What are the mental and physical dangers of drinking alcohol?
• The purpose is to inform the audience about the dangers of alcohol. There are some dangers that many people do not know about.
• The audience is anyone and everyone. Most important are teenagers because they are the most naive. A lot of people don't know that alcohol can cause liver problems and even Hepatitis C. I want to inform my audience about the dangers of alcohol besides just drinking and driving.
• I fit into the context in many ways. One is that I myself am a teenager. As a teenager I have seen my peers drink alcohol because they think it is cool and have also seen a few of those people die from alcohol poisoning and doing stupid things when drunk. Another way I fit into the context is that my dad and stepdad are both alcoholics. Since I was a little kid, my dad has been in and out of jail and lost his driving privileges twice. Recently, he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C because of drinking alcohol most of his life. I didn't even know that could happen and I think it is important that people know this, especially people around my age so they can make smart choices now and in the future, Since I've had two people in my family be alcoholics, I see how alcoholism effects families

3) Connecting To Your Writing: Generating Responses to your Research Question

• My research question is: What are the mental and physical dangers of drinking alcohol?
• drinking and driving, poisoning, too intoxicated to make smart choices, Hepatitis C, cirrhosis, memory loss, family violence, depression, anxiety, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
• My purpose is to educate people on the dangers of alcohol. It is not always fun, and if taken in excess can bring problems down the road. People need to know this so they can make educated choices nowand in the future. I'm not saying drinking is bad, because it can be fun in social settings, but a lot of people take it too far. I don't want to cross anythng off because they are all important.
• I think I will use all of my resources except for the one about Prohibition. Some of the sources may be biased, but I will write my paper using facts.
• My audience is the teacher, classmates, and pretty much anyone. Most people know that drinking and driving is bad, but most don't know that it can physically harm your body down the road. I can back up all of my information with facts and statistics.

4) Connecting to Your Writing: Drafting a Thesis Statement.

• What are the mental and physical dangers of drinking alcohol?
• Precise Claim: The mental and physical dangers of alcohol are depression, family violence, drinking and driving, Hepatitis C, cirrhosis, and many others.
• Reasons: Many people who drink alcohol regularly develop depression, become violent when drinking, kill themselves and others when drunk driving, and develop Hepatitis C and cirrhosis.
• Thesis: Many people who drink alcohol regularly develop mental and physical problems.

5) Techno Tips: Playing with Language to Clarfiy Your Thesis

Original: Many people who drink alcohol regularly develop mental and physical problems.

1. Countless people who consume alcohol regularly develop mental and physical problems.
2. Many people who drink alcohol on a regular basis acquire mental and physical problems
3. Many people who drink alcohol on a regular basis acquire emotional and bodily complications.

I like the original one and the firs edited one. I would revise them all to conclude with: Countless people who consume alcohol regularly acquire mental and physical complications.

They all mean the same thing, but changing some of the words makes the sentence sound better and more meaningful. Kind of like the author is smarter, so they have more authority.

DL#8 HW#2

I didn't really have unanswered question after reading either of the drafts. I liked Jessica's because her sources all covered different things. Some were biased and others were not which is good to get different perspectives. I also edited Oscar's draft. I liked how his sources all had facts. I was confused with Oscar's draft because he kept switched tenses. In one sentence he would have both pretense and past-tense words. Maybe he is having trouble with that. Jessica's draft had all the required information, but Oscar didn't explain how he would use all of the sources in his paper.

DL#7 HW#6 Deadline Reflection

This deadline was kind of short for once. I am having trouble catching up because my internet didn't work for the last two deadlines since I was in Mexico. But I've sort of caught up today. The WP#2 helped me to summarize what information I need for my paper and also to get a feel for how the authors felt on the topic. I don't really like doing the annotated bibliographies, but they will help me to do the research and I like how we get points for them. I see why we had the annotation assignments before so we it would be easier to do this writing project.

I commented on:
Jessica https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6558461562694940043&postID=9042665778287640517

Jason https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5173914237908133197&postID=7478962212376959

Kelesia https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7065969429572983940&postID=3041253091825189831

DL#7 HW#3

Reading chapter 11 didn't really have an effect on WP#2. I think this was because I felt that I was just summarizing the sources and taking note of how I would use them in my paper. It will definitely help when writing the paper because then I will add tables, graphs, etc. Maybe I did the WP#2 wrong? If I did please let me know.

DL#7 HW#4 draft WP#2

Amanda Griffiths
ENG102 ss2
Rodrigo
16 July 2007
WP#2 draft

The topic I am researching is alcohol abuse in the forms of mental and physical. Although most people will agree that alcohol in excess has many dangers and consequences, not everybody knows that alcohol can damage the body outside of drunk driving crashes. Many families are torn apart because a spouse has a drinking problem, which leads to violence and anger in the home. Also, alcoholism creates physical problems later on in life. People need to learn at an early age that alcohol is not just fun and games; the reality is that if you abuse alcohol someday you will have to face consequences.
* Peele, Stanton; DeGrandpre, Richard. (2004). The Genetic Influence on Alcoholism is Exaggerated. My Genes Made Me Do It, Psychology Today. July/August 1995. Retrieved July 16, 2007 from http://find.galegroup.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/ovrc/retrieve.do?subjectParam=Locale%2528en%252C%252C%2529%253AFQE%253D%2528su%252CNone%252C12%2529%2522Alcoholism%2522%2524&contentSet=GSRC&sort=Relevance&tabID=T010&sgCurrentPosition=0&subjectAction=DISPLAY_SUBJECTS&prodId=OVRC&searchId=R1¤tPosition=5&userGroupName=mcc_mesa&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&sgHitCountType=None&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28SU%2CNone%2C12%29%22Alcoholism%22%24&inPS=true&searchType=BasicSearchForm&displaySubject=&docId=EJ3010217246&docType=GSRC.

Studies about genetics in recent years have briefly concluded that diseases like cancer and other genetic basis such as homosexuality, obesity, alcoholism and schizophrenia can be detected early on. Many scientists believe there is more hype than reality because there is no further research explaining these discoveries. Other scientists have tried scientific trials to experiment if disorders are inherited, but the correlation is not succesfully repeated. In 1990 there was a study done for an alcoholism gene. A gene of the dopamine receptor was found by two scientists, Kenneth Blum and Ernest Noble, that responded in 70% of alcoholics and 20% of non-alcoholics. A test was later done at Yale University discrediting this research because 18% of non-alcoholics, 18% of severe alcoholics, and 18% of problem drinkers all had the gene. However, studies have shown that if you are told you may be an alcoholic because a parent is, the person will drink more. This research will help me in developing the answer to my research question and how alcohol abuse starts. The author's perspective is that it is hard to tell if someone will develop alcoholism, obesity, cancer, etc. just from looking at genetics.

*Clark, Charles S. (1992, March 13). Underage Drinking. CQ Researcher Online. Volume 2 Number 10. Retrieved July 7, 2007 from http://library.cqpress.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1992031300&type=hitlist&num=1&.

This source explains how Spring Break has turned a relaxing break for students into a drinking frenzy. Places like Rocky Point, Florida beaches, and Lake Havasu promote heavy drinking to college students. Recently however, some Spring Break hot spots have been turning this frenzy into a safe partying place. The Department of Health and Human Services has noted that "traffic fatalities remain the No. 1 killer of youths ages 16 to 24, with alcohol involved in half the 3,361 teen highway fatalities in 1990." (Clark). "Children who are exposed to alcohol ads are likely to have beliefs about beer consumption that are more in line with a commercial reality (e.g. fun and good times) than a public health reality (e.g. caution and risk)." This research will help to explain why it is important to tell kids at an early age that drinking too much is not good for you. Some students look at college as a time for partying, not just learning.

*Nathan, Peter E. et al. Understanding Alcohol Use Disorders and Their Treatment. American Psychological Association Help Center. Retrieved July 7, 2007 from http://www.apahelpcenter.org/articles/article.php?id=45.

It was exactly what I was looking for. It pinpoints how casual drinking can easily turn into dependency, why people turn to drinking to cope with issues, and fully defines the term alcohol dependent. It went on to describe the many causes of alcohol-related disorders and how it effects the people around the person. Also, the article explained how a psychologist can help an alcoholic. "Short-term effects include memory loss, hangovers, and blackouts. Long-term problems associated with heavy drinking include stomach ailments, heart problems, cancer, brain damage, serious memory loss, and liver cirrhosis. Heavy drinkers also markedly increase their chances of dying from automobile accidents, homicide, and suicide." (Nathan) It also explained how to tell if you or someone you know has a drinking problem. I will use this in my research on short-term and long-term effects of alcohol, how a psychologist can help, and the emotional side that effects families.

* Data/Statistical Tables. (July 2006). National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism from the National Institutes of Health. Retrieved July 7, 2007 from http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/Resources/DatabaseResources/QuickFacts/default.htm.

This website gives all kinds of statistics of alcohol abuse including alcohol consumption and health problems, economic costs, fatal traffic crashes, and many more. There are also graphs and tables that I can use for visuals. The information is more biased towards the dangers of drinking because it doesn't include statistics on how alcohol can help people.

* Fiellin, David A. MD, O'Connor, Patrick G. MD. (2007, June 26). Alcohol Abuse. Arizona Health Information- ACP Pier: The Physicians' Information and Education Resource. Retrieved July 16, 2007 from <http://libproxy.nau.edu:2107/Document/Document.aspx?DocId=209&FxId=92&Scroll=1&Index=0&SessionId=9FD770NNEOFXEHKH>

This article was a guideline for doctors to use when identifying alcohol abuse. This resource goes through the steps of detecting and identifying alcohol abuse and then rehab through medicine and nonmedicine. The author stated that "because alcohol use disorders tend to be chronic, relapsing, and progressive, it is advisable to prevent their development in abstinent and low-risk drinkers through advice about safe drinking limits" and "physician advice may prevent abstinent and low-risk drinkers from increasing their alcohol consumption to at-risk levels." This is a very smart idea. People need to know what a good limit of drinking is so they don't drink too much at a given time because this may lead to dependency. The first step to alcoholism is increased levels of drinking in one day to achieve the same effect as before. The next step is possible hospitalization and then treatment using drugs and psychological help. Help after treatment is necessary to maintain abstinence from alcohol. I will use this research in my paper to explain how to treat alcoholism.

* National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2006). Drinking and Your Pregnancy. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. NIH Publication No. 96-4101. Retrieved July 16, 2007 from http://libproxy.nau.edu:4183/publications/DrinkingPregnancy_HTML/pregnancy.htm.

This source has information on the effects of drinking while pregnant. There is a disorder that babies are born with when there mother drinks when the baby is in the fetus, called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Not every baby whose mother drank alcohol will get this, but there is a high risk. The baby may be born small, have problems eating, drinking, seeing and hearing, have learning disabilities, have trouble paying attention, and many other problems that will never go away. Not many people know about this aand mothers especially need this information because it would be devastating to have a baby born with problems that you personally caused. The author did a good job explaing what a mother needs to know about not drinking alcohol and places to call for help. This is just one of the dangers of drinking alcohol that I will use in my paper.

* Thornton, Mark. (1991, July 17). Policy Analysis: Alcohol Prohibition Was a Failure. Cato Institute. No. 157. Retrieved July 16, 2007 from http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-157.html.

This source was very interesting. It explained the prohibition on alcohol in the twenties and how it was a bad idea. Alcohol use increased instead of decreased because people were told not to. This helped to negatively pave the way to how alcohol is looked at in our society today. The goverment also spent more money to put people caught drinking alcohol in jail, and for more police officers to enforce the laws. The author's perspective is not that drinking is bad, but that it was a bad idea to make it illegal because of the after effects. More people had a drinking problem after the Pohibition than before. I will use this in my paper to explain how the government sort of made alcohol the problem it is today.

* Lieber, Charles S. (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 explained how Hepatitis C, alcohol related, is formed. It is the leading cause of fibrosis and cirrhosis and is a major cause of death in the United States. Hepatitis C is a slow killer and most people don't find out they have it until it has gotten worse. It also explains the unattractive symptoms that Hepatitis C includes. The author gave just the facts with an unbiased tone. I will use this as a danger of drinking to answer my research question.

DL#7 HW#1

Reading chapter 11 from the handbook helped me visualize my paper better. I didn't realize we could use color and different styles than just black and white. It helps to know that I can use graphs and other visuals in my paper for more clarification.

DL#6 HW#4 Annotated Bibliography

Fiellin, David A. MD, O'Connor, Patrick G. MD. (2007, June 26). Alcohol Abuse. Arizona Health Information- ACP Pier: The Physicians' Information and Education Resource. Retrieved July 16, 2007 from <http://libproxy.nau.edu:2107/Document/Document.aspx?DocId=209&FxId=92&Scroll=1&Index=0&SessionId=9FD770NNEOFXEHKH>.

I found this source from NAU's Cline Library database. I searched around and found this resource, which kind of looks like doctors' notes on how to identify alcohol abuse in patients. This resource goes through the steps of detecting and identifying alcohol abuse and then rehab through medicine and nonmedicine.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2006). Drinking and Your Pregnancy. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. NIH Publication No. 96-4101. Retrieved July 16, 2007 from http://libproxy.nau.edu:4183/publications/DrinkingPregnancy_HTML/pregnancy.htm.

I found this from following a link from a resource from NAU's Cline Library. It is from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism which I have gotten information from before. This resource has information on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, a disorder that many babies are born with if their mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. There is also a list of places to call if you have trouble stopping drinking while pregnant and for more info on FAS.

Thornton, Mark. (1991, July 17). Policy Analysis: Alcohol Prohibition Was a Failure. Cato Institute. No. 157. Retrieved July 16, 2007 from http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-157.html.

I found this source from Google. Once Prohibition started, more people started drinking alcohol and alcoholism was more prevelent. This showed that outlawing alcohol was a bad idea. I will use this information as an opposing side to my topic. Illegalizing something doesn't mean it will stop.

DL#6 HW#3 Writing Project Reflection

The outline for WP#1 helped me a ton. For the rough draft of the project I responded to the different points provided. I think I did a good job completing this project. I am proud that I got my point across; alcohol can be dangerous if used too much. I am concerned that my topic might be too widespread and not narrow enough. I tried to narrow the topic to just keeping it at the dangers of alcohol because before my topic also included how alcoholism affects other people. I worked on not using contractions. I tend to write how I talk so I need to improve on my writing sounding more educated. I do want voice in my paper, but I don't want to sound like a high school student is writing it. What I did to avoid this was reread it afterwards outloud to check for mistakes, word misusage, and word flow.

DL#6 HW#1

Chapter 5 and the readings from the handbook for this deadline were very useful. The information refreshed my memory and will also help me when searching through information and research. It will help me to avoid plagiarising when I don't even know I am and when summarizing large amounts of info.

DL#5 HW#3

Reviewing other peers' papers made me realize that I need to better organize my paper. Mine might be too vague as of right now. I enjoyed reading the different topics people will be writing about. I didn't edit everybodies, but I did edit Alexis's, Daniel's, and a little bit on Tegan's. Jason Bloom and Jessica Williams edited my paper. I kind of feel that tey over analyzed it and edited it too much. My ideas aren't supposed to be changed around and extra ideas added. I do need to make sure that I don't over-generalize issues. Jessica commented that our research paper needs to be controversial. However, I do believe my topic is controversial and we are just supposed to research something we are interested in. In Turnitin.com, the program did not highlight anything in my paper.

DL#4 HW#3

Research Proposal
Overview:
The research proposal I am interested in is how alcohol turns into abuse. I will look into how a person can turn casual drinking into dependency and what can happen after that. There are many different types of dangers that alcohol can bring that affect different people. I will research how alcohol affects the innocent and the people who are abusing it. I am interested in this because it seems that too many people are dependent on alcohol. I also chose this topic because it touches close to home and almost everyone deals with alcohol abuse sometime in their life.
Focused Research Question:
What are the dangers of drinking alcohol and when does it turn into abuse? I will research past my own family experiences and the obvious on what happens when people drink alcohol. How does it affect themself and others around them?
Controversial Discussion:
This topic is controversial because almost every person can relate. Everyone drinks alcohol sometime in their life and almost everyone knows someone with a problem. Everyone knows that drinking and driving is bad, but they all don't know what it can do to the body over time. If alcohol can cause deadly diseases just like other substances, the information needs to be widely spread.
Reflection on Experience:
My whole life I have known someone who is an alcoholic. As a child my dad was in and out of jail for drunk driving and my mom was always honest about why he was there. To this day my dad has never stopped drinking even though he has had his drivers license taken away twice. My parents got divorced when I was four years old because of his drinking habits. He would spend his whole paycheck on alcohol and countless other money. A few years later my mom married another alcoholic. The difference between the new husband was that after he was arrested once for drunk driving he quite for good. Now that I am older I understand what alcohol has done to my dad's life. A few months ago he was diagnosed with Hepatitis-C, the one that is caused from a diminshing liver. I know he will never quite drinking and he is killing himself by it everyday. It has hurt his family so much and he has two young sons (three and seven years old) who don't know a thing about his problem.
I just graduated high school and have friends who treat alcohol like they can't have fun without alcohol. I'm not exactly sure why there is such an attraction with underage drinking, but I think being underage has a lot to do with it. I think this attraction will only bring trouble down the road. By the time teens turn 21 they will already be used to drinking alcohol, and will go crazy since they can now legally drink.
Purpose:
My purpose in researching this topic is to learn how alcohol can damage the body and also hurt others. By writing on this topic I hope to educate my audience on the dangers of alcohol that can harm the body and others.
Perspective and Opinion:
I believe I know a lot of the dangers of drinking alcohol such as hurting/killing innocent people and themself by drunk driving, dependency, cirrhosis, Hep-C, poisoning, and birth defects. My opinion is that teens around my age view drinking as forbidden so they want it even more instead of just waiting until they are 21. Since many of the people in that group have that mindset they feel they needtodrink at every social gathering, yet aren't prepared for the consequences. I believe I have quite a bit of experience on how alcohol affects the family of alcoholics.
Audience:
My direct audience is the teacher and the students. My indirect audience is basically everyone, specifically teenagers. Everyone needs to know of the dangers of alcohol because sometime in their life they will experience alcohol abuse. Teenagers especially need to know of the dangers so they are aware and can make the right decisions.
Analysis of wants and needs of audience:
I think my audience wants to know how alcohol can affect a person's body long after drinking. What diseases can they get from drinking alcohol? Is each person different and how long must a person be drinking to get a disease? Is it healthy to drink while pregnant? I think teenagers want to know what will happen if they ever get caught drinking alcohol underage? What if they were driving while drunk? The audience also wants to read an interesting paper that they will retain information from, but not be bored while reading.
Analysis of limitations, opportunities and challenges:
There really isn't an opposing side. I've never heard anyone say it is okay to drink while drunk, or say alcohol isn't dangerous from time to time. There is tons of information out there about why alcohol is bad so I don't think I will have trouble finding enough research. I will have the opportunity to understand more on why it is hard for alcoholics to just stop drinking because that is something I do not understand.
Research Plan and Timeline:
Obviously I only have four weeks to complete this, but I don't really work well with planning things out. Since we have deadlines to work with I will just work on the parts that need to be done for that day. I feel better when I jus sit down and write, instead of planning outlines, even though I may feel overwhelmed. I have an idea of how I want the paper to be organized and will reseach that information as it fits into my paper. First I want to explain the diffent types of diseases and disorders, like cirrhosis and birth defects. Then I will go on to explain how alcohol abuse affects family and friends.

DL#4 HW#1

Today's reading was very helpful. Since I tend to use Google a lot, I liked how chapter 43 gave plenty of other search engines and databases to use instead. I already know how to search libraries and whatnot so chapter 42 was just review, as was the grammar section. Chapter 4's reading gave me a new way of thinking when writing; I need to think about all perspectives when writing an opinion or statement. The peer review guidelines will help me when reviewing and editing other peoples work.

DL#3 HW#8 Deadline Reflection

Today's work took up most of my day; good thing I didn't have to work. I will need to plan out when I will be able to do each deadline's assignments. I feel like I got a lot done though and I have a good direction of what I want to do with this research paper. I read the WP#4 and I am sorta excited for it because it sounds easy yet interesting. I'm glad I took this class right out of high school though, because the information in the handbook is just review from last semester. After completing today's work I now realized that all works of writing are meant to benefit an audience outside of the author and person grading it. Before this, I would write my school papers for my teacher because I wanted her to like it. But instead, writing is for someone else to learn from and think about their own life experiences.

I only had time for one comment on Alexis's blog:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6493157121155563592&postID=7401495767187367792

DL#3 HW#7 Annotated Bibliography

Clark, Charles S. (1992, March 13). Underage Drinking. CQ Researcher Online. Volume 2 Number 10. Retrieved July 7, 2007 from http://library.cqpress.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1992031300&type=hitlist&num=1&.

I found this from the MCC library. This article gave me tons of information that is great for quoting in my paper. Basically it explains how organizations and the government are addressing the underage drinking issue and how they are trying to enforce harsher laws. Many college campuses and spring break hot spots are enforcing stricter rules. This article doesn't really answer questions, just gives me reliable backup for my topic.

Nathan, Peter E. et al. Understanding Alcohol Use Disorders and Their Treatment. American Psychological Association Help Center. Retrieved July 7, 2007 from http://www.apahelpcenter.org/articles/article.php?id=45.

I found this using the always useful Google database. It was exactly what I was looking for. It pinpoints how casual drinking can easily turn into dependency and fully defines the term alcohol dependent. It went on to describe the many causes of alcohol-related disorders and how it effects the people around the person. Also, the article explained how a psychologist can help an alcoholic. It is a respectable source because it comes from a reliable source, the American Psychological Association.

Data/Statistical Tables. (July 2006). National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism from the National Institutes of Health. Retrieved July 7, 2007 from http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/Resources/DatabaseResources/QuickFacts/default.htm.

To find this website, I first looked through the US Department of Commerce database at FedWorld.gov which then led me to the NIAAA site. It just gives all kinds of statistics I will need to backup my research. It is a respectable source because it is an accredited institute of health from the national government.

DL#3 HW#6

My research question is going to be: What are the dangers of drinking alcohol? I want to go in-depth of the obvious dangers such as drunk driving, incarceration, and poisoning, and also the not so obvious ones like premature birth defects and liver/physical diseases. The purpose is to educate people so they can possibly prevent an addiction to alcohol and hurting themselves and others. The audience is wide ranged from young teens to adults, basically anyone that comes in contact with alcohol. I fit in because I am a young adult. As an incoming college freshman, I know I will be faced with the pressure to drink and will see the dangers of alcohol through peers.

I do not understand the second part of this assignment from the syllabus. I just got very confused when it said to analyze the rhetorical situation of WP#1 and how it differs from WP#3. The only thing that I can kind of guess is that WP#1 discusses how the audience can relate to my topic and that WP#3 discusses how I need to fully research answers to any questions that might refute my position. Throughout my research I will need ask questions that someone might ask to counter-argue the topic.

DL#3 HW#5

The group I have chosen to focus on is high school students. They are at the age where they want to feel like they belong and are sometimes pressured to do things. One of those pressures is drinking alcohol. Since they are at a young age, they do not realize the cautions and dangers drinking can bring. It would be in their best interest to learn early on about the dangers of drinking, including what dangers can happen right then and also later on in life.

In my experience, I didn't learn all that much about alcohol in school except for the DARE program. This program did teach about why drinking and driving are bad, but not about alcoholism and how easy it is to become addicted to alcohol. In my freshman year of high school three people died from alcohol poisoning. I believe that if schools spent more time teaching about these dangers, fewer young adults would be dead from alcohol related incidents.

DL#3 HW#4

I think everyone should be concerned with this topic. Every person knows someone with a drinking problem, and most everyone will drink sometime in their life. Everyone needs to know the facts and statistics before they endanger themselves. Teens especially would benefit from reading this research question. Teachers also should read this research question so they can share experience with students. The media is another group that would benefit because it is a primary focus of information for most Americans.

DL#3 HW#3

I have been interested in the effects of alcohol abuse since I've seen more and more people ruining their lives by it. I have seen so many people waste so much money to drink every single day because they are addicted to alcohol, people getting their driver's license taken away for pretty much the rest of their life because of drunk driving, and their are too many people who die from diseases cause by alcohol. My dad and step-dad were both alcoholics. My dad was in and out of jail for DUIs a few times when I was younger and has never had a driver's license in my lifetime. REcently he was diagnosed with hep-C in the liver. This was from drinking so much over the years and now his body is starting to react. My stepdad was arrested one time and quite drinking after that. I believe a person has to want to stop drinking and get out of denial before they can help themselves with any kind of treatment though.

I was surprised after looking at the statistics of alcohol related deaths compared to illegal drugs. Alcohol kills about twice as much people than deaths from cocain, meth, and heroine combined.

By researching this topic more in-depth, I want the audience to understand that although alcohol can bring fun, it is often taken too far and doesn't become fun anymore.

DL#3 HW#2

Ch. 3: Writing a Research Question

Who is affected by the abuse of alcohol?
What are the dangers of drinking alcohol?
When does alcohol abuse become a problem to a person's life?
Where can people go to for specific treatment of alcoholism?
How does our society promote drinking?
Why are some people more susceptible to becoming alcoholics than others?
Should alcohol be looked at more as a deadly drug?
Would the problem be not as huge if there was never a Prohibition?

I am writing for a large audience. Everyone needs to learn of the dangers of drinking when they are young teens, and the information needs to be reinforced past that. If someone does have a problem, they need to know what they can do about it and where to go for treatment, as well as their family because they are just as much involved. Another question that needs to be looked at is: Why is alcohol legal when it kills more people than the illegal drugs? Not many people look at alcohol in that way, but it needs to be addressed. Other countries don't have the problems with dependency of alcohol like America does either.

DL#3 HW#2 Reading Reflection

This morning's reading was a good refresher. There were many good points in the handbook on how to peer edit and revise, and useful checklists to go back to. The rhetorical situation Flash was pretty interesting as well.
I commented on Jessica's blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6558461562694940043&postID=633482855435570646

DL2 Deadline Reflection

Wow, this was a lot of work for one day. I started at 11 this morning and it is now 3 pm. I am ready to start writing my paper though! I know what I want to get across through my paper, my audience, and an idea of outlining the information. Although I felt that the work today was a bit redundant.

DL2 Annotated Bibliography 2

http://alcoholism.about.com/od/alerts/Alcohol_Alerts_from_the_NIAAA.htm
I found this entry through the Google search engine. It will help when looking up facts and statistics.

http://find.galegroup.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/ovrc/retrieve.do?subjectParam=Locale%2528en%252C%252C%2529%253AFQE%253D%2528su%252CNone%252C12%2529%2522Alcoholism%2522%2524&contentSet=GSRC&sort=Relevance&tabID=T010&sgCurrentPosition=0&subjectAction=DISPLAY_SUBJECTS&prodId=OVRC&searchId=R2¤tPosition=11&userGroupName=mcc_mesa&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&sgHitCountType=None&qrySerId=Locale(en%2C%2C)%3AFQE%3D(SU%2CNone%2C12)%22Alcoholism%22%24&inPS=true&searchType=BasicSearchForm&displaySubject=&docId=EJ3010276203&docType=GSRC
I found this entry through looking around the MCC library directory. It is an article about how doctors characterize alcoholism as a disease. The author of the article believes that it is more of a personal problem, like over-eating, and is better characterized as a compulsive disorder. This is helpful for me because it shows one side of defining alcoholism.

DL2 Ch.1 Techno Tips

I registered with Bloglines to find information about alcoholism from doctors. I found a blog: http://www.revolutionhealth.com/blogs/valjonesmd/alcohol-use--abuse-i-5517 from a doctor answering questions of alcoholism by explaining the facts. It is very informative. The doctor talks about how our culture is partially to blame and how it can be fixed, both personally and nationally.

DL2 Ch.3 Connecting to Your Writing: Focusing Your Research Topic

Abuses of Alcohol

Many people don't even realize when they have become an alcoholic. I have friends who like to drink. Most do it on occasion, but others are addicted. The ones who are addicted don't see themselves as alcoholics, but in my eyes, and others around them, they definately are. It is a problem when you drink every single day until the point of passed-out drunk. This is an everyday conversation.

Everyone I talk to agrees that alcohol kills, but most don't know the physical points to the topic.

Diseases-heart disease, birth defects, hepatitis, cirrhosis, damage to the inner body

mental-depression, anxiety, psychological problems

misc.-drunk driving, aggression, crime, family abuse

DL2 HW7 "Finding Something To Say"

Before this class started I had already picked a topic for research. I have chosen the abuses of alcohol. I brainstormed ideas of current events that have pros and cons. The next step was to get rid of the topics that could not be discussed or answered using Who, Why, What, Where, When, and How. Of the choices left, I chose the one that interested me the most and also knew about.

DL2 Ch.3 Connecting to Your Writing: What's Important To You?

The main things people I am surrounded by talk about are the current events going on locally and globally. Usually it depends on the setting of where I am and who I am talking to. If I am at work, we talk about what's going on like our Talent Show coming up or how to increase sales. When I was at school we talked about graduation, summer, and our plans for college.
The raising of minimum wage has left many people with questions. Why did it need to be raised so high? Before minimum wage increased, my job started higher ($7/hr) than most places which was nice because I was making more money. Now that wages increased, everyone who was paid lower than $6.75 now gets paid more. That is not fair to the people who were getting paid higher because now inflation has also went up. My co-workers and myself feel that our money doesn't go as far now. At the first of the year, our company announced that they might increase the starting rate because they wanted to pay their employees higher than the standard. This never happened. We recently talked to our regional manager and asked if the company would ever raise the starting wage and the answer was "not likely". Since minimum wage only increased in Arizona, the company, which is based out of California, decided that they do not make enough revenue from sales in Arizona. Basically, they aren't too concerned with our problem.

DL2 Ch.3 Connecting to Your Writing: Analyzing the Rhetorical Situation

Time

• Purpose: In our culture, a majority of people enjoy drinking alcohol and most of them take it too far. The largest killer of Americans is alcohol and a disease called Alcoholism. Most people learn of the consequences from an early age, but take it lightly. More people need to be educated on the effects of alcohol mentally, physically, and emotionally.
• Audience: Overdoses, poisoning, and death from alcohol occur in all age groups from adolescense to elderly, and in all ethnicities and genders. The audience needs to research statistics, consequences, illnesses, etc. about drinking alcohol. Also, the audience needs to know their personal limit if and when drinking.
• Context: I am motivated on the topic of the abuse of alcohol because I have seen too many people negatively effected by it. My dad is an alcoholic and I have seen it ruin his life. He recently was dignosed with Hep-C caused from too much alcohol and his liver has many problems. Too many people think it is okay to drink and drive, yet they almost always get pulled over and get DUI's. Alcohol related diseases are a huge killer of Americans and most people don't even know about them.

Space

• Purpose: To educate people about the effects of abusing alcohol. Many people would benefit from this topic, especially people my age (18) and people younger and older. People under 21 think drinking alcohol looks cool because they are underage yet do not consider the facts and statistics. In our society, teens become addicted to alcohol before they are even old enough to drink and that is a problem.
• Audience: The audience can learn and spread knowledge to impact this issue.
• Context: The resources I have are firsthand experience from my dad. His long time use of alcohol shows the long term side effects that show up later in life. I will also use the internet for more information.

DL2 Annotated Bibliography

The Real ID idea is very interesting. Illegal immigration is a huge problem in our country, especially in AZ. Making it harder for illegals to obtain identification and driver's licenses is the right thing to do. Researching this topic would be interesting to see how government officials will do this effectively. I would narrow it further to see how this would effect everyone, including the law-abiding citizens.

Real ID
http://library.cqpress.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2007050400&

The Democrats in Congress article was very interesting. Since Democrats currently take up a majority of Congress, they have started investigating the wrong-doings of the White House. The information that has come up shows that the attorney general scandal would have been hidden if democrats didn't investigate. Being a liberal/democrat myself, this would be an interesting topic to research and learn about. I would narrow it to include things the White House and Pres. Bush have done to go against what congress is shooting for.

Democrats in Congress
http://library.cqpress.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2007060800&

After reading the short article of East Timorese Vote for Parliament, I clicked on the article United Nations & Global Security. This article was about how the UN can bring peace for today. It is interesting to read about how the UN and the US can successfully bring peace to the world. The article states that the United States failed to notify the UN when first attacking Iraq after Sept. 11. It would be interesting to research how the UN will be able to adapt to new changes in the world since the ways of war are extremely changed since WW2 when it was created.

The United Nations & Global Security
http://library.cqpress.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2004022700&

DL2 HW2

I had some of the same problems as other students, but figured most of them out on my own. I left two comments.
One for Ryan http://rhetomatic.blogspot.com/: That is really weird how your blog types very slow; mine doesn't have any problems. I don't have experience with ENG 102, but the ENG 101 class was pretty time demanding. After reading the syllabus and due dates, I'm thinking this is going to be a fast-paced class. Good luck!

and one for Jason http://jcbloomeng102.blogspot.com/: I had trouble with this at first, but it is actually really easy! All you have to do is copy the part you need to sign (on the toolbar on top press "Select" next to the hand icon and highlight the student agreement section. Right-click and press Copy to Clipboard) Then, in Google Docs press New, then press Document. Paste the Student Agreement into the document. Sign the bottom and press Save, then Share. Make sure to share it with the teacher. I think that's about it. Hope this helps you!

DL2 HW1 Reading Reflection

After reading chapters 1 and 3 and the chapters in the handbook, I didn't really learn anything new. This is quite a bit of reading that I was not expecting though. I didn't realize how much research is used for just about everything. I enjoyed the Kairotic moment story about Haley; it is always a huge relief when a hard assignment becomes much easier. I already have a topic in mind for the research paper, but the information about how to choose a topic was helpful.

Chapter 1: Why Research: Thinking about Your Writing: Reflecting on Prior Research

1. Recently, I was planning a weekend trip to California with a couple friends. I needed to conduct research so we would not get lost, had a place to sleep, and to budget how much money we would need. How much money will we need for gas, hotel, food, etc? Where exactly are we going and what are we going to once there?

2. The research was a group effort including the other three people coming and myself. We all got together to discuss the details so would could all come to an agreement.

3. First we agreed on what we would do and where we were going. One of the people coming had tickets to Universal Studios so we decided to get a hotel nearby. We got a map and then researched a nearby beach because we agreed on going to the beach. We estimated how many miles it would take to get there and how many more miles we would drive while in California. After figuring out my car's gas mileage and the average gas prices, we multiplied all the numbers to find out how much gas mony to divide between the four of us. We also called around for cheap hotel prices and divided that between eachother. We used the internet for most of our research.

4. We came to the conclusion of having to fill up on gas about four times, which planned out to be around $30 for each person. My friend knew of a nice motel that was a mile from the beach and was also cheap, costing $20 a person for one room. We also decided to figure out where we would eat as we traveled.

5. Time was definately a factor since we were leaving Friday afternoon and coming back early Sunday morning. If we had more time, we would have stayed at the beach longer and spent more time at Universal Studios. We got lost many times driving around Los Angeles because the map we bought was hard to understand. I was pretty satisfied on the decisions we made though.

4.

Questions & Concerns

I am confused with the deadlines. I looked at the deadline list and it doesn't say when the writing prompts are due. Could you post a list of the dates the assignments are due>

Introduction

I'm Amanda and I just graduated from Mesquite High. I'm 18 years old and have lived in Gilbert, AZ my whole life. Currently I am an assistant manager at Hot Dog On a Stick and have worked there for over two years. In the fall I am moving to Flagstaff to go to NAU. I plan on majoring in accounting and also maybe hotel and business management. By taking this class, I expect to improve my writing skills and also see if I have the work ethic to finish this class without actually going to class.