Chapter 16 in Lunsford

Comes the most critical and important feature in any academic writing that we take part in. The evidence that we present to support our points are essential to making our pieces a success. Lunsford in this chapter tries to get across his point that there are different aspects of how to not only use evidence but present it in a way that the audience would be able to understand.

Instead of just plopping evidence all over our blogs, (Using blogs as an example since it’s our main work this semester) Lunsford challenges us to thoroughly examine and evaluate the quality of evidence itself before using it to support our points. The contents of firsthand and secondhand evidence -- (Firsthand = involved personally / Secondhand = sources beyond)

• Observations
• Interviews
• Surveys and Questionnaires
• Experiments
• Personal Experience
• Library/Online Sources

The most important part to me covered in chapter sixteen by Lunsford was the material covered on providing evidence with personal experiences. For me personally, I like to include personal experiences frequently in my blogs to draw in my audiences more. The explanation of how to apply personal experiences in academic writing by Lunsford is very detailed and helpful. Lunsford mentions that even though personal experiences “can be especially effective for drawing in listeners or readers” (Lunsford et al. 479), it’s still not enough to stand alone in an argument blog. It was mentioned by Lunsford that the common mistake that writers makes with personal experiences was that it wasn’t really “pertinent to the topic, understandable to the audience, and clearly related to your purpose and claim” (Lunsford et al. 482). To use personal experiences in your blogs, Lunsford advises his audience clearly that a good observation has to be made before applying. In a good observation, one will find out that if it applies to the topic and is related to his/her claim.

Even though I felt relatively skilled in the usage of personal experiences, the advices of Lunsford made me understand how to use personal experiences more effectively in my blogs.

Evaluation of Pan's Labyrinth

A fairy tale is something everyone wants to believe in because it is an escape from the horrendous reality that we have to face everyday. Unfortunately, sometimes it is taken to a next level that is extreme and becomes one where it actually overlaps with reality. When that happens, disaster will strike, and when it does; it will hit hard like a wrecking ball against an egg. And oh yes, the wrecking ball shattered Ofelyia’s so-called fantasy world in Pan’s Labyrinth. The fairy tale murdered Ofelyia in the end.

First of all, if you feel that what Ofelyia went through in her out-of-body experiences with the Faun and others were real… Accurate and detailed evidence will be given to ensure that your minds will be changed.

Reason one: Crisis appears, Fantasy appears

Example one: Mother writhes in pain while traveling to Captain’s house… Insect appears and took her away from her mother.

Example two: Guerillas at battle with Captain Vidal and his comrades… Faun appears and took her away from the dangers of the battle.

Reason two: Del Toro’s interview
“One is the transit of the girl towards her own center, and towards her own, inside reality, which is real. I think that Western cultures make a difference about inner and outer reality, with one having more weight than the other.”

Del Toro admits it himself that the fantasy world of Ofelia is false through this answer in an interview. He implies that Ofelia’s fantasy world only applies to her inner reality meaning that it doesn’t exist in the real world.

Therefore, the real world would catch up with Ofelyia as her fantasy world couldn't protect her in the end. As Ofelyia went through her challenges of trying to prove to the Faun and others that she is good enough to be a princess in another world where her father and mother resides, the phases continually got harder and harder. In the first challenge, Ofelyia took a big risk going into the forest all by herself and that was when the fantasy world had more power over reality. As time progressed, the third one proved to be the most dangerous one as Ofelyia felt empowered enough to drug Captain Vidal and ‘kidnap’ the baby from him. When she got shot in the labyrinth by Captain Vidal, it was proof that the fantasy world cannot be overlapped with reality.

In my opinion, the hidden message behind the movie was that creating a fantasy world is good when trying to escape reality, or in Ofelyia’s case, fascism. However, the movie made clear that an extreme fantasy world won't survive.

(http://www.poemofquotes.com/quotes/movies/pans-labyrinth.php)

Purdue OWL website

Receiving a privilege to assess and learn how to write better through the advices of Purdue University is truly an honor. To be requested to decide whether this Purdue OWL website is good enough for Gallaudet University students to use as a guide is an enormous responbility. Luckily, I feel confident that this website is more than good enough for any university student to use as a guide for their works.

In this blog, evidence will be provided to assure you that this website is perfect with involvement of Toulmin Method of Logic.

The Gallaudet University Writing Rubric includes precisely five things and interestingly enough the Purdue OWL website covers those too -

Assignment Formatting and Citing -
As stated in the GU writing rubric, it's mandatory to have all sources cited in proper style that follow its assigned prompt directions. As I looked through the website, this link, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/, explained how to cite correctly. GU students would benefit from this and write better in their pieces.

Written English Conventions -
Creating fluent sentences that makes the audience more drawn to your material is waht every writer wants to accomplish. Under the 'Teaching Writing' in the Purdue OWL website, it covers exactly that.

Critical Thinking -
This is more of a broad topic and it can be found all over the website... It depends on what you are looking for, if you wanted to know how to analyze properly, it has a guide... if you wanted to find out how to support your points convincingly, it has a guide.. Get my drift? It has everything for you.

Organization of Ideas -
As mentioned in the GU writing rubric, it's extremely important to have a good introduction which has to include a darn good thesis statement. If you wanted to write a thesis statement of that level, you need to go no further because this link (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/01) explains letter by letter how to create one that would make your readers drop everything and keep on reading your piece until the end.

Author's Persona, Tone, and Audience Awareness -
It's all there in the website under Grammar and Mechanics... It teaches yo how to carefully pick the right words and organize them in sentences in a way that only the best writers would.

So instead of nodding my head on this website in approval, I explained word by word why this website should be used by GU students at all times. It has everything... more than just those five topics I covered above. There's only one thing left to say... Kudos to Purdue University.

Pan's Labryinth

This title came by me often and was highly recommended by some of my friends but I never gathered the time to watch it. Now, an opportunity appeared and I could watch it in school with my classmates. And watch it, I did.

So many thoughts fill my mind when trying to explain my impressions of the movie itself for it was so powerful and had so many meanings behind the movie. I have never seen a movie that had so many meanings and questions that with some friends you could have a three hour long conversation figuring out what the hell this and that meant.

The characters in Pan’s Labyrinth couldn’t have panned out any better; I loved the Captain and Ophelia the most. The Captain was so ruthless and determined that his way would work and no one would step in his path to glory. Ophelia was the queen of disobedience and was challenged to some difficult tasks throughout the movie. I was appalled to how the Captain had no pity and didn’t cringe at the things that he did. I wondered if the Captain could sleep during at nights. On the other side, I rooted for Ophelia during the movie as I willed her to complete the impossible tasks. When she had to go through the Pale Man, I nearly jumped into the movie because I wanted to help her escape from the hands-eyes man.

There were so many parallels with other sources that the audience couldn’t possibly miss. I’ll name the one that impacted me the most during the movie. The one I would like to mention is the parallel lines between the girl and the Adam-Eve story in the Bible. Ophelia ignored the advices of fairies to not eat the berries because it would awaken and enrage the Pale Man. The same thing happened in the Adam-Eve story as Adam couldn’t resist eating a fruit even though God had told him it was forbidden. In the end, both got punished as Adam got an Adam’s apple while Ophelia almost failed her mission because the fairies died, however she got lucky when the Faun gave her a second chance. Both neglected when they shouldn’t have and they paid a price for it. Sometimes, disobedience is not the answer to things.

It was the first time in my life that during a movie; I became so unnerved and annoyed. It was because of the cinematography. The colors and lightings really played a big part in the movie and its meaning. In the beginning of the movie, bright colors were presented but right after Ophelia ventured into the tree with the overweight frog in it, the movie immediately went dark all way right to the end. It reminded me of the movie, Lord of the Rings, but no I realized that Lord of the Rings had breaks from the dark part when it talked about other characters, this movie didn’t have any breaks. I felt that this element of the movie impacted me the most.

This will be a movie that I will watch repeatedly for ages to come. The reason for that is I know that every time I watch it, I will change my opinions on the movie and find different meanings. The next step for me is to buy a Pan’s Labyrinth movie and watch it again immediately.

Rhetorical Analysis Attempt #2

For 72 seconds, everyone in America was in exhilaration and joy as the brave crew of seven people was inching closer and closer into the space. Those seven people encountered countless tests and passed all of them with flying colors. All had aspiring dreams to become a prophecy walking on our Earth being one of the few people to ever experience the invigorating sights of our space. But no, disaster and tragedy struck the Challenger crew. On the ill-fated 73rd second of their trip, the O-Ring failure caused aerodynamic forces to break up the orbiter… And seven lives were immediately ruined along with their families, friends, and followers.

In order to lessen the blow of the saddening incident of the Challenger Seven, Ronald Reagan hastily followed up with a claim that would forever be enriched in Americans who was deeply impacted by the event. I felt that Reagan accomplished in trying to make Americans know that even though the Challenger Seven died, America will stand strong and keep trying.

In supporting his claim, President Reagan opened up his address in a way that was almost perfect because he dismissed his original piece that he was supposed to present that night and instead turned his attention to the Challenger Seven. By doing so, the tactic of emotional appeal was used to make his audience feel like he truly cares about what has happened.

Also, the position that Reagan was in at that time, the President of the U.S.A., obviously solidified his credibility among the readers. With the audience’s respect, Reagan didn’t abuse it as he carefully mended his audience’s emotions with strong support and empathy that the Challenger Seven would never be forgotten. With that, Reagan’s persuasion argument became stronger three times.

I feel strongly that if not for the organization in the speech of Reagan, his message would not have been as powerful as it was. As I read through Reagan’s piece over and over again, I discovered that each sequence of his piece targeted different audience every time. In his introduction paragraph, all Americans were targeted as he brilliantly stated, “This is truly a national loss.” In the second paragraph, the same audience was targeted, except this time, background was provided about the three previous astronauts who like the Challenger Seven died trying to explore their own world. In the third paragraph, it is where it gets sensitive, as Reagan directed the family members of the Challenger Seven, “Your loved ones were daring and brave…” He knew how to pull the right chords and make the seven families feel like their loved ones died doing what they loved. In the next several paragraphs, children, NASA, and religion were involved; how Reagan organized his piece is what made his message stand out.

WE WILL NOT STOP EXPLORING OUR WORLD. That was the message I felt that Reagan tried to show beneath his lines of empathy and pity. As he powerfully indicated that Americans will not give up on exploring, “Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.” I felt that this piece could not have been written any better.






Websites used:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganchallenger.htm

Rhetorical Analysis

For 72 seconds, everyone in America was in exhilaration and joy as the brave crew of seven people was inching closer and closer into the space. Those seven people encountered countless tests and passed all of them with flying colors. All had aspiring dreams to become a prophecy walking on our Earth being one of the few people to ever experience the invigorating sights of our space. But no, disaster and tragedy struck the Challenger crew. On the ill-fated 73rd second of their trip, the O-Ring failure caused aerodynamic forces to break up the orbiter… And seven lives were immediately ruined along with their families, friends, and followers.

With the saddening incident of the Challenger Seven, Ronald Reagan hastily followed up with a piece that would forever be enriched in Americans who was deeply impacted by the event. The way that President Reagan opened up his address was almost perfect because he dismissed his original piece that he was supposed to present that night and instead turned his attention to the Challenger Seven. By doing so, the tactic of emotional appeal was used to make his audience feel like he truly cares about what has happened. Also, the position that Reagan was in at that time, the President of the U.S.A., obviously solidified his credibility among the readers.

I feel strongly that if not for the organization in the speech of Reagan, his message would not have been as powerful as it was. As I read through Reagan’s piece over and over again, I discovered that each sequence of his piece targeted different audience every time. In his introduction paragraph, all Americans were targeted as he brilliantly stated, “This is truly a national loss.” In the second paragraph, the same audience was targeted, except this time, background was provided about the three previous astronauts who like the Challenger Seven died trying to explore their own world. In the third paragraph, it is where it gets sensitive, as Reagan directed the family members of the Challenger Seven, “Your loved ones were daring and brave…” He knew how to pull the right chords and make the seven families feel like their loved ones died doing what they loved. In the next several paragraphs, children, NASA, and religion were involved; how Reagan organized his piece is what made his message stand out.

WE WILL NOT STOP EXPLORING OUR WORLD. That was the message I felt that Reagan tried to show beneath his lines of empathy and pity. As he powerfully indicated that Americans will not give up on exploring, “Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.” I felt that this piece could not have been written any better.

Websites used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganchallenger.htm

List of This I believe

• Everyone should always be granted a second chance excluding barbaric standards.
• Never judge anyone only by their looks.
• Don't become someone that the public would want you to be, instead be someone that you can look at the mirror everyday with some sense of pride.
• Family always comes first no matter what.
• Never do something that you would regret the next morning.
• Treat others like how you would want to be treated.
• Respecting elders.
• Being active in any activities.
• Don't be a follower.
• Taking advantage of your abilities in anything to full extent.