Vieni a BYU imparare!!!

Persuasive Brochure
Our group decided to make our brochure on the foreign language strengths that BYU has. BYU ranks highly in the nation for their languages departments. It is also number one in the nation for Study Abroad. The main reason why we chose this to go in our brochure is Ashley, and Sarah are bothe in the process of applying for Study Abroad so they were both really excited about this subject and have some knowledge on it. Rawleigh also thought it would be cool because he’s been on a mission and is one of the several RM’s on campus that can speak a foreign language. I know that BYU has a good program on it so I was ok with doing it also.
I’m not exactly sure how to best tailor it to the selected audience (non LDS HS students looking to where they would like to attend college). We’ll show all of the stats that show that the program here at BYU is really good and also show them the advantages of coming to BYU to learn a language, such as the fact that we have the most diverse selection of languages offered, and many students on campus speak the languages so it will be able to be used more than just in the classroom. We’ll also explain reasons why they will want to know foreign languages in their everyday life as they continue after their education here at BYU. An example of this would be the fact that employers look highly on language diversity and it makes one a more targetable employee.
We’ll also be focusing on BYU’s study abroad program. I have heard that it is number one in the nation. As I continue to research I will find more things to contribute to my argument here. Who wouldn’t want to travel and see some of the most beautiful sites that our world has to offer, while getting an education and having fun? For students who are already interested in doing study abroad before they choose a school that they want to attend, this might help persuade them to come to BYU.
My last argument here is that several foreign teens have aspirations to attend college. As the United States is still the worlds power, some might want to attend here. If they speak a foreign language, or if they simply don’t speak English this might be a good place for them to attend school. It will be easier to communicate with people at a school that has a lot of foreign language background rather than a traditional state school where most of the students have taken their required two years of foreign language to graduate from HS and that’s it. Also maybe their specific language would be something that they would like to excel in. Not many schools have majors in several foreign languages like BYU does.

Chapter OCHO! (that would be 8)

Style and Organization
There were several parts of writing listed in this chapter that we can use to make our writing better. Most of it is technical stuff that takes practice to get better at it. These things are style, clarity, coherence, conciseness, delivery, punctuation, usage and voice.
All of these things are very important to language and how our writing is read/ how we get messages across. Of them I think probably the two most important are punctuation and voice. The punctuation makes it so that the reader knows what’s going on. It’s a set of rules to make sure that things are delivered correctly. Voice gives the writing a little personality and makes the reading fun. Many of these include other parts of the language in them. So by getting one of these areas really well done, most of the time you are also incorporating many of the other parts of language that make it good. For example, voice includes word choice, sentence structure, sentence length. Style includes voice, coherence, clarity, and conciseness.
In my own personal writing I’ve always been told that I have really strong voice. I’ve never been really sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, being from Utah and not always having the best grammar. As for now and after reading this chapter in the book, I’ll just assume it’s a good thing as it is one of the important parts of writing. On the other hand something in my writing that still could use some work is my punctuation. I’m getting better. English has never been something that has come easy to me so I still am not positive on a lot of the rules. I just try to write simply and incorporate that which I remember. Doing this has worked out decently for me so far, but the fact that I don’t know all the rules still makes me a little nervous. Punctuation is bound to be in my paper. It’s just the skeleton of all writing. I’m going to try to stick with my rule of keeping it simple so that I don’t get in trouble for wrong usage, and also so that it’s simple for the reader to read.
Another thing that I’ll be using in my paper is delivery. This is an important section of language also. This is what we have been studying all semester long in this class. The way we deliver things makes all the difference in the world of how the reader forms their thoughts and whiter they agree with us or not. It’s all about rhetoric and organization. Organization is something that I struggled with at the beginning of writing my paper. It was all over the place and I wasn’t sure how to best fit things to make my argument persuasive. With a little help from Mr. Keeley, and a lot of time and energy on my part, I got my research paper in a better order. I hope that it will be effective.

Bibliography

Works Cited

Butler, Rhett. “Fragmentation reduces biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest &worsens global

warming.” Rhett Butler. Nov. 2006. 26 Nov. 2008.

This source had lots of good stuff. It’s focus was on fragmentation in the rainforest (tree islands in crops/pastures). Fragmentation is a big deal and has effects on three of my main points: the environment, Animals, and weather. It had a lot of really good information, that’s why I used it. I’ll use this in my paper by explaining what it is, telling about how it changes content of wood, the effects it has on weather, and summarizing what it means to animals.

Naranjo, Laura. “A Rainforest Divided.” Earth System Science Data Project. Laura Naranjo.

2005. 26 Nov. 2008. http://nasadaacs.eos.nasa.gov/articles/2005/2005_rainforest.html

I used this because it had some good facts that backed up the position that I was trying to take on the effect of the fragmentation, other destruction on the rainforest and the animals residing in it. This source had good facts about animal populations. I used it by stating the problem and backing it up with the information from source and let the readers reach the obvious conclusion by themselves.

Nations, J. D. Tropical rainforests: Endangered environment. New York: Franklin Watts. 1988.

This book had some really good information about what’s unique in the rainforest and how if it’s misused how we won’t be able to enjoy it anymore. I used it by telling about what these things are such as animals and foods. They all have roots in the Amazon and if further destruction continues than we might be destroying these objects as well.

Nunez- Garcia, Fernando., and White, Thomas H. From Cage to Rainforest. Aug. 2003. 29 Nov.

2008. http://www.fws.gov/endangered/bulletin/2003/07-12/16-17.pdf

In my talk with Mr. Keeley about my paper he asked me about my section on animals and said who cares? You need to have something in here that will make us care. I used this website to get more info on birds and how they’re becoming extinct and why that’s a problem. The article summarized this focusing mainly on the Puerto Rican Parrot.

Schaller, D. T. Indigenous ecotourism and sustainable development: The case of

Rio Blanco, Ecuador. Department of Geography. University of Minnesota. 29 Nov. 2008.

<http://www.edu.com/schaller/rioblancosummary.html>

This book is mostly about the effects of globalism on the rainforest, and how it effects the peoples residing in it. I used it in my paper to talk about and give some information on those who dwell in the Amazon. It also had a lovely definition of what a rainforest is so I supplied my paper with that as well. It had some really good stats and information about the effects of globalism.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. “Year of the Frog.” Publication Sept. 2008. 29 Nov. 2008

www.fws.gov/home/feature/2008/frog>

This source was amazing for what I needed it for. I once again needed to back up some information and tell why people should care. It talked about endangered animals in the Amazon and most specifically about frogs and amphibiens in the rainforest. I used this in my amphibian section to explain that they are important and to help readers come to a conclusion that something needed to be done about the situation at hand.

Wallace, S. “Brazils dilemma: Allow widespread and profitable destruction of the

rainforest to continue or intensify conservation efforts.” nationalgeographic.com

26 Nov. 2008. <http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/07101/feature/#toplink>

This is another source that talks about the effects of globalism on the rainforest. It talked about illeagle things that people are doing in the rainforest to make profit. One of these things is building illeagle roads. These roads have been a huge contributer to deforestation and fragmentation. It was a huge support to my argument.

Research paper!? Who does that?

Well this weekend I honestly did nothing for my research project. I was in St. George and broke my right clavicle (collarbone). However while driving in the car I did have a lot of time to think about how this injury is going to affect my ski/snowboard season. Right than I had an epiphany, it will be way easier to right a research paper on ski resorts than on The Amazon Rain Forest. I think I might switch my topic. It is very difficult to type with one hand while on pain meds and this is taking forever so I will tell you more about and my research process in class. Please accept this for now. I am trying. Thanks.

Lions Tigers and The Amazon!?

Amazon Rain Forest

Fact: What is the Amazon Rain Forest? Where is it located? Who lives in it (people and animals)? What is it used for? What materials come from the Amazon? What is being done to the Amazon?

Definition: Clearing of trees/logging? Who is doing it? Why? What is logging called? How do those living in the rain forest effect each other/related?

Quality: How serious is logging? What are the effects of the Amazon on the climate/quality of land in area? Is living in the Amazon honorable? Is logging the Amazon honorable?

Procedure: Laws and regulations on logging? Who has authority and jurisdiction over it? Who is responsible for it? What is the desired future for the Amazon? How long will it last? Will it last?

Shoes

Fact: Where do shoes come from? What are the effects of shoe factories on the environment? How long does it take for shoes to degrade? Are different materials to make shoes more environmental friendly? What are those materials?

Definition: Where are most shoe plants? What is needed to produce and sell shoes? Laws on factories?

Quality: How many shoes do people own? What happens to their shoes after worn?

Procedure: Laws for shoe makers? Recycle opportunities?

Skiing and Snowboarding

Fact: What is skiing?-snowboarding? Does skiing/snowboarding effect the environment and if so how? When did the sports start? Why do people ski/snowboard? Who ski’s or snowboards? What is needed to be done to make snowboarding possible? Resources needed for snowboarding?

Definition: Clearing of trees to snowboard? Materials required for making skis and snowboards? Roads to get to resort? Different kinds of skiing/snowboarding?

Quality: Risks involved with skiing and snowboarding? Animals/people killed from snowboarding? How many animals affected by resorts?-homes? How much land is too much? What makes snowboarding bad? What makes snowboarding good?

Procedure: Opportunity cost? How do people learn about and how to ski/snowboard? Should there be less ski resorts?

Topic: I’m thinking right now about writing on the Amazon Rain Forest. For some reason I have always been fascinated by it and have always had a desire to visit someday. I’ve done some research on it previously for other classes. I think that there is a lot of information here and it most easily/obviously relates to the environment.

Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical Analysis is a huge part of our lives. It’s so much a part of our lives that most of the time it takes conscious thinking to even recognize we are being using it. Rhetoric is everywhere from the commercials we watch, conversations with our parents or others, to school. Developing the skill of rhetorical analysis will help us to not be manipulated by the speaker into seeing what they want us to see.

Advertising is all about rhetoric. Rhetoric is their pathway for their success. As we have learned with one of our previous assignments, you can write a two to three page paper on almost any thirty second commercial. Advertisers have become experienced in what appeals to people and how to target things to make them more appealing to the general public. Without good use of rhetoric companies would have a much more difficult time selling products (both the bogus ones and the legit ones alike) to the public.

In the nineteen years of my young life I have become expert in the art of convincing my mom to see what I want her to see, which has become very convenient when I want things. By knowing my parents backgrounds and the things that are important to them I have learned which parent to ask for certain things from and how to explain the situation to get my desired results. Although this process doesn’t work one hundred percent of the time, I have been fairly successful at getting my way. The method I use to do this is rhetoric. It’s interesting to learn that I was using this skill before I even knew what it was.

Rhetoric is used not only by advertising geniuses or children on their parents but also by peers and teachers in schools everywhere. Teachers find ways to use rhetoric to make sure that you do your assignments or pay attention in class. One way is by telling you stories of how you might use the education that you are gaining that day in the future. They might scare you into paying attention by using pathos to make you think if you don’t learn this concept the rest of your life will be doomed for failure. Peers use rhetoric much in the same way as children use it on their parents to get other peers to do what they want. Crazy that you can’t even escape in the place where you learn how to analyze it.

During this semester in English 150, as we have learned about rhetorical analysis it almost makes me feel guilty. We have learned the techniques of good rhetoric and the three different aspects to appeal (logos, ethos and pathos). We have analyzed the way that people use it on us both good and bad. As one can learn from observing the way Hitler used it, rhetoric is a very powerful thing. Rhetoric is a good thing to be able to analyze but this newly developed skill might just drive me nuts for the rest of my life. I am a very naive person and now instead of just enjoying commercials I find myself trying to figure out how the speaker is trying to scam me. Useful? Yes. Annoying? Time will tell. So, thank you Mr. Keeley for teaching me a skill that will serve a good purpose in my life but just might drive me crazy as well.

The Nonsense of Global Warming: Practice

Author: Paul Johnson

Audience: Readers of Forbes Magazine, those with economic/business interests, and America

Message: Global Warming doesn’t exist and is un-ethical, “Greens” are foolish

The article “The Nonsense of Global Warming” written by Paul Johnson does a very good job at using rhetoric to try and convince his audience. Johnson uses several techniques such as ethos, pathos, and logos.

Paul Johnson has ethos located all over this article. Even from the very beginning this skill is used by him being the author: Paul Johnson, eminent British historian and author. All though he is not an expert in the field of science or the environment and has no credence to write an editorial about something such as global warming, because he is an “eminent British historian” he holds ethos. Another way that he uses ethos is by his use of referring to famous scientists and philosophers such as Albert Einstein, Karl Marx, and Sir Karl Popper. He says in this article “I wish the great philosopher Sir Karl Popper were alive to denounce the unscientific nature of global warming.” Sir Karl Popper is a pretty famous respected scientist. I like how he assumes that if Popper was alive that he would agree with him. He has absolutely no way to know if Popper would indeed agree or not he just submits that he would.

This article is also heavily loaded with Logos. One way that his use of logos popped out to me is when referring to Albert Einstein’s Law of Relativity. He refers to how once Einstein had said that if an aspect of his theory did prove itself scientifically than the theory was incorrect. It isn’t something that can be readjusted to accommodate. Later he goes on to denote Sigmund Freud-father of psychology and Karl Marx, their theories, and examples of how they are incorrect. His logic here was “The idea that human beings have changed and are changing the basic climate system of the Earth through their industrial activities and burning of fossil fuels--the essence of the Greens' theory of global warming--has about as much basis in science as Marxism and Freudianism. Global warming, like Marxism, is a political theory of actions, demanding compliance with its rules.” Another way that Johnson successfully uses logos is in the very first paragraph of the article where Johnson terms the summer of 2008 as one of the “nastiest” summers he can remember. Where he is getting with this is that although the summer of 2008 had horrible weather, it isn’t because of global warming. He even refers to a summer back in 1816 to try to prove his point. He is also successful with the allusion of Frankenstein. The story Frankenstein is about a man created monster that was made and meant for good but end tragically bad. This allusion refers to Global Warming, how it is a man made monster that can’t do anything but end bad.

The use of well written skilled literature can have a remarkable ability to play on our emotions and perception of things. Johnson makes an appeal to the audience trying to demonstrate stupidity and lack of education of “Greens” by giving examples such as how their answer to everything is global warming. He even gives instances where they contradict themselves, asking the cause for drought and flooding and their response to both-global warming. If he can make one think that “Greens” are stupid he can denote their cause and raise acceptance of his views. He also makes an appeal to pride and beauty by talking about windmills. He calls windmills “hideous things, ruining the landscape and making an infernal noise.” Nobody likes ugly things, and if he can convince them that aspects of “green” are ugly than perhaps they won’t support it. With the windmills he also talks about how they are a thing of the past, silly and outdated. He appeals that the construction of windmills is a disgrace to humanity.

Johnson is a skilled author and was successfully able to put the field of science onto his playing field of literature to convince an audience of his message that Global Warming isn’t real, that it is something stupid created to generate money. For some he might be successful but it’s important to look at ethos, logos, and pathos to make sure we keep in check what he is really saying and it validity.

EARTHQUAKE! article...

The article titled “Are You "Ready To Ride It Out?" An Earthquake, That Is: Simple Preparative Steps Can Make Earthquakes Less Disastrous and Less Traumatic for Children” is the one I have chosen to write about. This particular article talks about preparation mainly as families and communities to be ready for an earthquake. It asks the reader questions about what they know about the local school’s earthquake preparedness plans. Next it informs us of what we can do to help be ready and prepared to help make sure we and our children are safe.

I’ve always been interested by natural disasters and when we were assigned to read about the environment I decided that this topic would probably best keep my attention and interest. I chose this article because it is a little less lengthy than most of the other ones that came up and it also does a good job at using most forms of rhetoric (pathos, kronos, ethos). The voice it uses is also very easy to understand. It’s written to the people for the use of the people, unlike other articles I found that were meant to be read mainly by scientists and experts.

In the library I was looking at articles that it would find and bring up, but most of them just weren’t what I was searching for. I decided to refer back to my own knowledge of research instead of my newly developed spiffy library skills and use Google to search for an article. After typing in the search in Google I was able to find this article within the first two pages of articles it brought up. So I went to Google, typed “earthquake preparedness editorial” in the search box, clicked on advanced search, browsed through the links it brought up, went to the second page and found this article.

While we were at the library I had a tendency to get frustrated with the computer and the search engines that we were using. I’m just not use to using those types of search engines. Although the library class time was useful in learning how to use those tools and I now could do it if I had to, I would still rather use other engines such as Google first, which is what I did. It was useful and good to get the information and knowledge that we did in the library it’s just not my style.

The commercial I decided to use starts out with a German Coast Guard officer training a newcomer. It shows the instructor giving the trainee instructions and showing him how to use the different tools. Soon after the instructor leaves there is a call on the radio that says “mayday mayday we are sinking, I report we are sinking.” The German officer responds “This is the German Coast Guard, what are you sinking about?” A white screen than appears that says “want to improve your English?” And then lists a company called Berlitz.
The speaker is Berlitz English Company. The audience is people who want to learn better English. And the message is give us your service to learn how to speak better English.
Pathos- Some of the emotions that this commercial can bring out are humor, nervousness, insecurity, pity, and fear. I thought that this commercial is really funny. The fact that it is funny would help make it stick out in people’s memory. When in a position where you need an English Company you might remember Berlitz English Company because the commercial sticks out in mind. While I was watching this commercial I felt pity for both the young officer and for those sinking. I can relate to the officer thinking about the first day of work at a new job and the first time you’re “alone” without the trainer. It’s a scary experience. He comes off as unsure as to what to do so he just responds to what he thinks that the “caller” is saying to him. On the other hand you have the caller who is in a scary situation. When you call for help because you’re sinking and might die you would hope that the person that you call can understand you. Otherwise tragedy might strike. This commercial might also conjure fear into somebody with poor English. Nobody would ever want to be stuck in a situation where somebody’s life is in your hands and you can’t help them because you’re English isn’t up to par. It might make them think shoot, I better get better at English just in case I’m ever in a situation like that.
Logos- The logic behind this is to go to Berlitz and learn how to speak English better so that you will never be in a situation where you don’t understand somebody, or get made fun of. The guy in the commercial wasn’t really anything special or anyone of significance just like most of the people in the world. If this could happen to him it could happen to us too right?
Ethos- They instead of showing authority by good things that you want to be like they portrayed the opposite. The officer in the commercial instead of being confident and helpful was the opposite. Although he worked for the Coast Guard where usually you have to be pretty smart he still was lacking the things to make him in a desirable circumstance. If he as somebody who works for Coast Guard could get mixed up it could happen to many other smart people. Aka- even if you are educated and have a good job you might want to invest in bettering your English.
I think that this commercial was effective. It made me laugh, and it brought across the point well.

What a kickin Timeline!!! (Assignment dos)

It all started when I was reading one of our assignments in the Supplementary Guide. It was talking about writing an Opinion Essay and gave the example in the book. After I read this I started thinking about possible subjects that I might want to write my essay on. Although I didn’t think a lot about it yet, it did make it so that during the day I would observe things and look for things that bother me. When we started talking about subjects in class I still had no idea what I wanted to write my paper on. My group asked me questions about stuff that I’m interested in trying to help me find a subject. By the end of class we had come up with the iea of child obesity and with a couple key things I could hit to write a paper on it. Although it’s a decent topic, I didn’t really care to write a paper on it. Let’s face it, an opinion essay on child obesity isn’t going to make a difference in the way that anybody thinks or make any changes.
The next day I went mountain biking with my brother and some of his friends. In the car they were asking me about school and classes. I brought up the fact that I had to write an opinion essay. After telling them what I was planning on writing on I decided that it was a stupid subject and started looking for new ideas. We started talking about the lack of bike racks on BYU campus, which gave me my new topic.
Later I was sitting around the kitchen table of my apartment with some of my roommates. We started talking about school and I told them about my paper. They all put in there two words of encouragement and seemed excited about my topic- (They all ride their bikes to campus too.). We talked about the subject for a while and they helped me brainstorm some ideas of places I could go with this paper and topic. I wrote them down and was prepared to go to town with this paper. Using the open discussion trick, shown to us by Mr. Keeley on the Google home page, I informed my group that I had changed my topic and asked for any suggestions from them.
I completed my first assignment and posted my outline for the essay. Having this outline was really helpful while I was writing my paper’s rough draft. I was able to just cut and paste a lot of it into my paper. I also conducted some research by asking the Human Resources Department about complaints around campus and observing bike racks all over campus during the week. With these three things it wasn’t hard to write my paper. I just had to find the time to sit at my computer and pound it all out.
Sarah and Rawleigh were able to review my paper and give me some suggestions. Ashley hasn’t quite gotten it back to me yet. There reviews were helpful in giving me some insight of places I can expound on and grammar errors. The meeting with Mr. Keeley was also very helpful as he also made some suggestions of where I can take my paper and how I need to answer a few questions to make it more convincing to readers. I was grateful for all of their insights and it should make it easier to complete my paper. Now all I need to do is format it correctly, and add in some more information to make my paper more convincing and full.
This paper has been a more enjoyable one to write than some of the past English assignments I’ve been given. It’s always nice to be able to write about something that you want to write about. This is the first college paper I’ve had to write, at least for an English class, and I’ve impressed myself at how much I remember on how to write correctly as far as format and grammar are concerned. – English is definitely not one of my strengths. It’s been really helpful in teaching me about rhetoric and what it is. It’s been helpful in teaching me how to better appeal to all audiences and strengths of papers; i.e: kairos, kronos, pathos. Everything in class was helpful and I didn’t have problems while writing so I don’t think I would have wasted time covering anything else as far as this paper is concerned.

Opinion Essay

My new topic: BYU needs more bike racks on campus.

I would like to submit that there are not enough bike racks to accommodate the bikes ridden to BYU campus.

This is an appropriate topic because gas prices have skyrocketed all across America. The gas prices have been especially harsh in Utah, with gas prices averaging twenty-five cents higher than any other state right now in the Continental US; including California! As a way to avoid unreasonable gas prices and to also prevent pollution many have chosen to ride a bike to BYU campus instead of drive. Due to the number of people riding their bikes to campus it has become a task to find a bike rack with adequate space to park your bike.

Thesis: Putting more bike racks on BYU campus would be a good thing because it would help provide incentive for students to ride their bikes, help prevent damage to bikes, and contribute to relieving the parking issues BYU has.

Outline

1. Intro- All bike racks on BYU campus- aside from the one just outside of the Maeser bldg. (how inconvenient)- are completely full with many people "stacking" bikes. There are a few designated bike parking areas around campus. Two solutions. Either create more parking areas, or add more bike racks to already existing areas. Riding bikes is also a healthy activity that is good for students.

2. Bike stacking makes it impossible to get your bike off the rack and a task to put new bikes on. When you have three bikes to a two foot "bike parking" space it makes it very difficult to put a bike in or take a bike out. There are so many in such a small space because it's the only place left to jam your bike and have it be locked to something stationary. Not only is there potential to damage your own and others bikes but next you have to slyly maneuver the lock to make sure you haven’t locked somebody else’s bike along with yours.

3. By putting more bike racks on campus there might be a greater incentive for people to ride their bikes to school. Parking has been a huge problem on BYU’s list for the last couple of years. With more people riding bikes it could really help with the parking problem.

4. Gas prices are ridiculous leading to more bikes. (Like any of us have money to spend on gas!)

5. "Go Green" fad has helped spike number of people riding bikes. (Help prevent pollution)

7. Conclusion- Happy solution- put more bike racks on campus. Less hastle in parking your bike leads to happy students.

Thursday was fun

chicken