MWP 3 Article #2

Reviewing Whiteness: Theory, Research, and Possibilities by Meredith Green, Christopher Sonn, and Jabulane Matsebula give an overview on the “Whiteness Complex’ and how it is running rampant in South Africa as well as Australia.  The begin by defining Whiteness as “something that places white people in dominant positions and grants white people unfair privileges, while rendering these positions and privileges invisible to white people” (454) and how it is reproducing at an accelerated rate even though White-Africans no longer hold the majority party.  The apparent purpose of this article is to inform people that “Whiteness” is a real and relevant issue in order to demonstrate that it is the MAIN component in racial inequality in South Africa and if this issue is not addressed then Black-Africans will never truly be equals with White-Africans.  The audience for the journal could be anyone interested in race issues in South Africa.

MWP 3 Article #1

             The journal Business and Human Rights in South America: An Analysis of Antecedents of Human Rights Due Diligence by Ralph Hamann, Peresha Sinha, Farai Kapfudzaruwa, and Christoph Schild presents an analysis of certain South African businesses and what they consider to be human rights in order to demonstrate that race is and has been for a long time been a major factor in business.  The authors begin by defining human rights in the business arena as according to The United Nations.  The main content of this article is an analysis of the Johannesburg Stock Exchanges top 100 companies and their outlook on human rights.  They present this information in order to demonstrate how the South African Government, up until the last 3 years, has has capped businesses on who they can hire and that it was strongly race based-Black-Africans were horribly discriminated against.  The intended audience for this particular journal is anyone that may be interested in the race wars in economics or businesses in South Africa.

Good Reason Chapter 13: Proposal Arguments Presis

                  In the Good Reasons’  text chapter 13:  Proposal Arguments, authors Lester Faigley and Jack Selzer claim that proposal arguments are arguments that identify a problem and offer a main solution, along with several other solutions, but provide facts as too why the main solution is better than the alternatives.  Faigley and Selzer discuss that a proposal argument is a call to action.  They describe the four components when writing a proposal argument: identify and define a problem, state a solution, convince solution is right and will work, and demonstrate that the solution is realistic.  The chapter then moves to demonstrate the six steps in writing a proposal argument and how to use a outline to organize your thoughts—finally, there is a sample proposal argument to give the readers a tangible example of how to information provided can be used to create an effective argument.  The authors’ main purpose is to inform the audience that “the key to a successful proposal is using good reasons to convince readers that if they act, something positive will happen (or something negative will be avoided).” (185). They state this  in order to demonstrate the importance of the proposal argument, and its structure.  The main audience of this particular chapter would be English students learning about the art of writing arguments and also anyone who may be writing a proposal for political, business or other professional reasons—a call to action can be used by anyone! 

Article #4: Not Just one cause of infertility

“Prevalence of infertility in the United States as estimated by the current duration approach and a traditional constructed approach, Fertility and Sterility” by multiple authors₁ estimates “the prevalence of infertility using a current duration approach for comparison with a traditional constructed measure.”  The authors support their estimation by statistics taken from women in the United State bases on sexual activity, contraception used, relationship status, and number of miscarriages.  The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the many factors that can affect infertility in order to show that there is not just one cause to infertility but many.  The audience for this article can include medical professionals and individuals who are inquiring about causes of infertility of women. 

 1. Marie E. Thomas, Alexander C. McLain, Jean Fredo Louis, Rosalind B. King, Ann C. Trumble, Rajeshwari Sundaram, Germaine M. Buck Louis. “Prevalence of infertility in the United States as estimated by the current duration approach and a traditional constructed approach, Fertility and Sterility.” Science Direct. (2013). Web. 12 February 2013.

Article #3: Adoption

“Impact of Adoption on Adopted Persons” by the Child Welfare Information Gateway claims that adopted persons can suffer several issues after adoption.  These claims are supported by possible instances that adopted persons can experience; missing biological parents,  feelings of rejection, identity crisis, and also medical issues due to lack of medical histories and genetic information.  The primary purpose of this article is to prepare adopting families for the possible complications that the adopted persons could suffer and coping techniques for each.  The main audience would be persons considering adoption and families in the process of adoption.

 

Child Welfare Information Gateway.” Impact of Adoption on Adopted Persons”.  Administration for Children and Families: Fact sheets for Families. (2004). Medline. Web. 12 February 2013.

Article #2: Infertility

American Accreditation Health Care Commission’s article, “Infertility”, states the most basic definition of infertility for men and women.  The definition is backed by medical data from an array of scientific journals, the process of diagnosis and possible treatment are then stated, followed immediately by with prognosis and possible outlooks for the future.  The purpose of this article is to demonstrate a wide description of infertility for both genders in order to give researchers a starting point to branch away from.  The main audience could be any researcher who would like to inquire about infertility and needs a starting point.

American Accreditation Health Care Commission. “Infertility.”  Medline Plus. (2012). Web. 11 February 2013.

Article #1: In Vitro Fertilization

In the article “In Vitro Fertilization”, produced by the Mayo Clinic Foundation (MFMER) presents the definition of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), why it is used, and the risks involved with the procedure.  MFMER starts with defining IVF as "a procedure used to treat fertility problems and assist with the conception of a child. During in vitro fertilization, mature eggs are retrieved from your ovaries and fertilized by sperm in a lab. Then the fertilized egg (embryo) or eggs are implanted in your uterus. One cycle of in vitro fertilization takes about two weeks."  The article then displays the main reasons as to why a female might need to use IVF, what risks there might be, the damages that might result from the procedure, and then a detailed description of IVF preparation, process, and post procedure protocol.  The MFMER main purpose is to provide unbiased information about In Vitro Fertilization in order to help women/couples make an educated decision about IVF.  The primary audience of this article would be infertile couples/women who are considering IVF as an opportunity to conceive a biological child of their own. 

Mayo Clinic Staff. “In Vitro Fertilization.” Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.   (2013).Web. 10 February 2013.

Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome

      

                The article, “Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome and Impact on Health” by Guatam Allahbadia and Rubina Merchant describes Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) as a “multifactorial, heterogeneous, complex genetic, endocrine and metabolic disorder” (19); it also explains PCOS symptoms and causes and the overall effect that it has on a female.  They begin by describing the complexity of the disease and the possible effects that the disease could have on the body (obesity, male pattern hair growth, and low to no fertility) and then they demonstrate the effects using a series of graphs and charts.   The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that PCOS is much more than an endocrine disorder, that reorganization of that fact is invaluable in order to properly treat and manage the symptoms and effects.  This article is written for the medical community, it contains a great deal of medical terminology that not all audiences would understand.

              Gautam N. Allahbadia, Rubina Merchant, Polycystic ovary syndrome and impact on health, Middle East Fertility Society Journal. (2011).  JSTOR. Web. 9 February 2013

Chapter 9 Rhetorical Presis

          

           

               Good Reasons (2012), chapter 9: Causal Arguments, by Faigley and Selzer describes a casual argument, its basic forms, the identification of causes, and complex relationships in reference to causal arguments.  The authors start by identifying the three types of causal arguments, how they flow, and then give a brief example of each; it moves then to the locating of causes and how that can often be difficult because " if a cause is worth writing about, it is likely to be complex." (115).  They then describe the four cause finding methods as described by philosopher John Stuart Mill.  Finally, Faigley and Selzer discuss, in depth, how to build a causal argument and then show a sample to reinforce the lesson.  Their purpose is to ensure that students are well versed and prepared to create an effective argument of their own.  The audience would be the students reading the text but this would also be useful to businesses, politicians, scholars applying for grants, and virtually anyone who needs to make a well written, valid argument.









           Faigley, Lester, and Jack Selzer. Good Reasons: Research and Writing Effective Arguments, Fifth Edition.  Glenview: Pearson Education, 2011. Print.

Chapter 7 Rhetorical Presis

            Good Reasons (2012),chapter 7: Putting Good Reasons into Action, by Lester Faigley and Jack Selzer suggests that good arguments are made up of several argument methods.  They begin the chapter by presenting the reader a hypothetical, yet realistic, situation for the reader to consider an argument.  They do this in order to demonstrate how arguments are composed of multiple approaches and how using a multitude of techniques can be helpful when writing about more complicated topics, "have a purpose in mind, and they use the kinds of arguments [...] most often in combination--as means to an end. Most arguments use multiple approaches and multiple sources of good reasons." (92).  The main audience is the students the material is be presented to but the chapter contains valuable information that could be useful to anyone who may be writing an argumentative paper or persuasive speech about a complex topic.




















            Faigley, Lester, and Jack Selzer. Good Reasons: Research and Writing Effective Arguments, Fifth Edition.  Glenview: Pearson Education, 2011. Print.

10 Questions

10 Questions that You Want to Know

1. What is Poly Cystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD)?

2. Is PCOD curable/treatable?

3. Why does PCOD cause

infertility for women?

4. What are other causes of infertility for women?

5. What can cause infertility in a man?

6. What is In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)?

7. What are the health risks involved with IVF?

8. What percentage of the world's population is currently available for adoption?

9. How many children are currently available for adoption in the United States?

10. What alternatives are there for infertile families other than IVF and adoption?

The Right to Information

            After reading, “Priced to Sell” by Malcolm Gladwell, I got to thinking about information, especially educational information (i.e. Academic Journals), and whether or not that information should be free.  I have ultimately come to the conclusion that information should be free, I believe that it is imperative to the future of the world the people, our children in particular, should have access to the information and be free to roam though all the information—the more tools that we all have the better off we are when writing or even making decisions.  There is a reason that the poor are typically ill educated; when a family or person is barely making ends meet, they are not likely to spend what precious money they do have on costly academic journals.  This is also related to the grotesque amount of money that these “Databases” charge Universities for student access to the journals.  I believe that wikis are a doubled edged sword, when done correctly and respected by users the information can be quite helpful and give researches a baseline for their research on the flip side of that, certain users abuse the advantages of wikis in acts of what I consider to be cyber terrorism and purposefully change the information to false statements.  The databases control all the power as to how much to charge for subscriptions and who to allow access to—Some are non profit and collect money enough to keep the database running but then there others who charged outrageous fees to schools and individuals and are making money off of the schools; that money, instead of filing the pockets of the CEO’s could be put to better use, such as donating new text books to low income school districts, sponsoring local libraries and giving then free access for students to the databases, or even giving scholarships to outstanding students whose families just can’t afford college.  In general, the databases are power hungry money mongers who hoard the information and only allow access to people/establishments that can pay the hefty price when then information should be free and readily available to everyone.  I think this would help our education crisis in a big way!

The Rhetorical Precis

      

               

                In her article, “The Rhetorical Précis”, Margaret K. Woodworth suggests that her technique, the rhetorical précis, is super important for teachers to use in all English classes.  She begins by quoting several reliable sources, from universities and studies, stating that summarizing “helps students learn to abstract the main ideas in a unit of discourse” (Woodworth 156) but then goes on to state that summarizing is not enough as students get older and that is where rhetorical précis comes into play.  The apparent purpose of this article is to describe in depth what a rhetorical précis is, what the uses are, its application, and teaching strategies for implementing the rhetorical précis in a classroom in order to demonstrate the invaluable positive effects of its use in all aspects of English and to the students.  In general, Woodworth seems to be specifically speaking to English educator; this is evident by the language that she uses—referring to the students benefit frequently along with teaching strategies and classroom implementation.

Woodworth, Margaret K. “The Rhetorical Précis”.  Rhetorical Review 7.1(1988): 156-164. JSTOR. Web.  20 Jan.2013.

Aaron Swartz

In Kevin Poulsen’s article, “Aaron Swartz, Coder and Activist, Dead at 26” (2013), he stresses that Aaron Swartz was an invaluable member of the technological community, who’s suicide was both untimely and caused by the government’s overzealous pursuit of criminal charges against him.  Poulsen supports his claims about Swartz with quotes from interviews with family members, close friends, and co-workers and then dives right into accusations made by several different entities including, JSTOR and MIT.  The purpose of his article is to demonstrate how the world has lost a great mind and a “half-century” of knowledge with the death of Aaron Swartz and that while he was openly depressed, the predominant factor in his untimely suicide was the government’s harsh charges being brought against him.  Poulsen’s audience appears to be a younger, more technological generation, along with anyone who shared Aaron’s beliefs in a freer internet and “a more democratic, open, and accountable political system”.