Analyzing My Own Assumptions

Using what I have learned from my text, I can now speak about how I view the culture that is examined in the article.

1. What cultural values or beliefs do we share with the culture in which the text was written? 

• The culture that surrounds the article is familiar to us, but maybe the scenario that sparked the article is not. Not everyone knows who Adrain Peterson is or about his child abuse trials. 
•  Physical punishment is commonplace, even in this day and age, so many people in our culture and society can personally relate to the controversy. 
• Personal opinions aside, I think everyone can understand how spanking would make a child fear, rather than respect, their parent, and how this could be detrimental to their health and maturation. 
• I grew up in a household where spanking was used, and that is part of why I am against it so strongly. I never felt like it was abuse of any sort, but it did make me fear my dad instead of respect him, and that is still affecting our relationship to this day. 

Image by BK. "Regina Brett Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable".
Uploaded 7/15/14 via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic license. 

2. What cultural or social beliefs do we not share?

• Almost everyone is appalled by the idea of hitting a child with a tree branch. However, that is an extreme example of physical punishment. Less people would be horrified with spanking; maybe they would be persuaded otherwise after reading the evidence and studies. 
• It is baffling to me how Peterson was freed of all charges. His actions absolutely constitute as abuse, and yet somehow, the jury decided that he was not guilty.

Questions 3 and 4 combined

• This topic is neither distant or different from our culture, because it is occurring in our culture.
•  However, this controversy began decades ago. Spanking has always been a form of punishment. Some parents are in favor, others are opposed, and that's how it used to be until scientists and psychologist began to question the affects it may have on children. 
• I know for sure that neither I nor my future husband will use physical punishment against our future children. There are many other ways of disciplining a child, all of which I believe are more effective than spanking. 

Reflection: 

Dylan did a good job of directly mentioning the opinions stated in the article, and then responding with his own views and opinions. He also had some difficulty with the last two questions since both of our controversies, or the event that inspired them, are fairly recent.

Savannah presented both sides' arguments before stating her own beliefs. Even though I don't know much about this topic, I was able to understand why she feels the way that she does and see what evidence she has used to form her opinions.

Analyzing My Text's Cultural Setting

My article was published in September of 2014 from New York City. The author, Jessica Samakow, is from the East Coast, and lives in NYC.

The piece is about a controversy that has been debated for decades, but her article was inspired by the Adrian Peterson abuse case, which broke in the summer of 2014.


1. What values, ideas, norms, beliefs, laws of the culture play a role in this text?

• Most parents don't want to be criticized for how they choose to parent, and that viewpoint plays a large role in this controversy. Parents want to teach their children the difference between right and wrong and help them become good people. 
• While abuse is illegal, it is often unclear what counts as abuse in certain situations. Peterson's was deemed innocent in two separate child abuse cases. Even then, his teammates said that they believed he was just "disciplining a child". 

Image by Milosevic, Milos. "sensitive noise / obvious 2".
Uploaded 10/10/10 via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

2. Does the text address these cultural values directly or indirectly?

• The author directly addresses these values in the beginning of the article by mentioning the claim most people use that, "I was spanked, and I turned out okay." She mentions how people who were spanked as a child view spanking differently than those who weren't; that is, people who were spanked interestingly tend to be more supportive and in favor of spanking. 
• She also addresses the claims indirectly by using scientific findings and research to prove that spanking, is in fat, harmful to children. 

3. What is the relationship of the text to the values?

• The author is critical of the idea that hitting a child could ever not be considered abuse. 
• She also is critical that physical punishment helps teach a child right from wrong; she says that spanking teaches children to fear their parent(s) rather than what behaviors are wrong.
• She wants to stress how detrimental spanking can be to children's mental wellbeing. When people realize this, maybe they will change their beliefs and viewpoints on the issue.  

Cultural Analysis of "What Science Says About Using Physical Force To Punish A Child"

I found my article on Huffington Post.

I chose three words that are central to the piece: behavior, punishment/discipline, and abuse. The word abuse is only mentioned once, but I feel that it's central to the argument that is being presented.

The main idea behind the article is that physical punishment has negative effects on children. Studies have shown that corporal punishment can lead to kids having mental and personality disorders.

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Freewrite: 

It's a well accepted fact of life that children will sometimes need to be disciplined. They are just figuring out their places in the world, and they'll break the rules or do something that is unacceptable. The way to do this is for children to respect and trust their parents, not fear them.

Abuse is somewhat of a taboo topic in our culture. The author, in mentioning it in this piece, strengthens her argument. While no one wants to look at spanking a child as abuse, experts have shown that it can have similar effects later in life.

Discipline is essential to help children learn proper ways of behavior, but when the matter of punishment crosses into an area where it could be considered abuse, that's where things get controversial and heated.

Evaluation of Rhetorical Situations

For this blog post, I found three sources that interest me and relate to my major (psychology).

1. LA Police Unit Intervenes To Get Mentally Ill Treatment, Not Jail Time

• Author/Speaker
• Stephanie O'Niell wrote this article. She is a pretty well known journalist; she got her degree in law from Loyola Law School. Her job now is with the Southern California Public Radio. She lives in Southern California, and has been on Twitter since October of 2011. 
• She is a good authority to be speaking about jail, because her degree is in law. Her long career in journalism also helps support her credibility. 

Image by Ape Lad. "Laugh-Out-Loud Cats #58." Uploaded 7/12/07 via Flickr.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license. 

• Audience
• This article was written for NPR, so the majority of readers are more liberal-leaning. The article is in support of the police departments getting involved on a more personal level with potential criminals; because conservatives tend to be more hands-off, they would probably not be as supportive. 
• Context
• The article was published in July of 2015, so it is a recent article. The article is written in what is almost a blog format; it has short paragraphs, white space, cited images, and a prominent title. 
• O'Niell uses LA as an example of how police should be treating mental illness, and she hopes to help her audience see how beneficial this new system is. Some of her other articles are also about instances where health and law come together. One of her recent articles is titled,"Assisted Suicide Bill in California Hits Major Setback". 

2. Being Transgender Is No Longer a Disorder

• Author/Speaker
• J. Bryan Lowder is Slate's LGBTQ and culture writer. He has been on Twitter since December of 2008, but I couldn't find anything about his education or background. He lives in New York City. 
• Audience
• Slate is a publication that is geared more towards the younger generations, but that doesn't mean that its articles aren't applicable to those over fifty. 
• Due to the nature of the article, most people reading it would be LGBTQ supportive. His blatant celebration of this momentous decision by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) would most likely offend people who are transphobic. 

Image by Dombrowski, Quinn. "Pride Flag". Uploaded 10/7/12 via Flickr.
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license. 

• Context
• This article was posted in July of 2012, right after the APA announced that gender identity disorder, now called gender dysphoria, would no longer be considered a disorder.  This article is written in more of a news article format; it has longer paragraphs and only one image at the beginning, but it does use hyperlinks. 
• The article alludes to the previous decision by the APA in the 1970s when homosexuality was removed from the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). 
• The majority of Lowder's other articles for Slate are also related to LGBTQ culture and rights. He has an article titled, "What Will Happen After Marriage Equality?" 

3. What Science Says About Using Physical Force To Punish A Child

• Author/Speaker
• Jessica Samakow is now the Senior Editor of the Huffington Post, but she was previously the Editor for HuffPost Parents. This establishes her as fairly credible, because she has had a lot to do with parenting issues and controversies in the past. 
• Samakow lives in NYC, and she has been on Twitter since November of 2010. I couldn't establish her education background. 

Image by BK. "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."
Uploaded 5/7/14 via Flickr. Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license. 

• Audience
• Huffington Post is a liberal media source, so the article is intended for more left-leaning readers. The article also talks about Adrian Peterson, a football player, so readers with knowledge of the controversy surrounding him will have more background on the article. 
• Context
• This article was posted in September of 2014 right after the news of Adrian Peterson using physical violence to punish his son broke. The article has short paragraphs, and even has sub-headings, so it looks like a blog post. 
• A recent article of hers is titled, "The Haunting Realities of Postpartum Depression, Illustrated."

Reflection:

Jayni used two of the same news sources as I did: NPR and Slate. However, she used a scholarly journal as one of her sources. That provided a more intellectual perspective on a contemporary controversy, but it might be a little to dense/difficult for this project.

Nick found three sources that are all somewhat biased, but can all be understood even if the reader doesn't have extensive knowledge on the topic. Because rhetoric is usually based on an individual's opinions and views, it is difficult to find completely neutral articles.

I think that my analysis was a good start. Until I choose which controversy I'm going to use for this project, I won't know exactly what type of source I need to look for. Especially for rhetorical sources, I don't know if a scholarly article would be useful, because they are often neutral or too difficult to comprehend and simplify for the purpose of this project. 

Developing a Research Question

There are almost endless controversies occurring in the field of psychology. With the nature of the field, most of these questions are based in ethics and morals. These controversies are often difficult to resolve, thus creating fascinating conversations and arguments.

I came up with a few questions that I might want to explore further through Project 2.
(The text in blue is why I am interested in each topic)

1. How do modern forms of technology affect the ways that therapists and their clients communicate? 

• Other questions that fall under this category are
• Should texting, emailing, Facebook messaging, and Skype calls count as billable appointments, or should therapists always be reachable to their clients free of charge? 
• Should therapists be held accountable if someone, in the middle of a psychological emergency, cannot reach their counselor, and as a result, follows through with self-harm?
• Is it ethical for therapists to be Facebook friends with their current or past clients?
• Before the days of modern forms of communication, psychologists could only be reached during scheduled appointments. They rarely provided their personal phone numbers, and as a result, they were not available if a client needed help in an emergency.

In today's world, everyone is expected to be reachable at all times. I am interested in how this relates to the expectations between psychologists and their clients. 

2. Have the viewpoints on sexuality and gender dysphoria changed recently in the eyes of psychologists? If so, should these changes be reflected in the DSM?

• Homosexuality was removed as a mental disorder from the DSM in 1986, but is still viewed as such by many people. People are even less accepting of gender identity issues than they are of homosexuality. 

This is an issue that I am passionate about. As a supporter of LGBT rights, it is disheartening to me to see how these issues are being viewed in psychology. Even with all of the recent research saying otherwise, many people believe that homosexuality and gender identity questioning are phases or conscious decisions. 

A friend of mine who is transgender was put into therapy as a kid to try to convince her that it was all in her head, and she has had severe depression as a result. Being told that you are crazy for being who you are is absolutely wrong. This should not still be happening in modern society. 

3. What changes need to be made in how the mental health of prisoners is viewed and treated?

•  As a society, we ignore the glaring problems that exist within our prison system. Prison is treated like time-out for criminals: let them sit there and think about what they did, and hopefully, they will be released as reformed, healthy citizens. This hands-off approach is resulting in the highest number of prisoners per capita worldwide, and most first time criminals are arrested soon again being released. 
• If we begin treating the mental issues of prisoners, perhaps they could become functioning, productive members of society being released.

This topic is especially fascinating to me, because I have considered a degree in criminal justice. While I chose psychology instead, I still am passionate about our justice system and how criminals are viewed and treated.

Reflection on Project 1

First, can I say how happy I am to be done with this project! Posting my final product was so satisfying, and I feel so much better knowing that it's done.

Image by MacEntee, Sean. "finish line". Uploaded 5/17/10 via Flickr.
Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

What challenges did you face during the project? How did you deal with them?

The hardest part of this project for me was the editing process. After spending so much time writing and rewriting, I reached the point where I didn't want to look at my QRG ever again. Every time I wanted to give up and just submit it as it was, I would wait until the next day to give myself a break. Usually, when I went back to it, I found new mistakes or had new ideas of how to improve my project, and got more work done.


What successes did you experience on the project and how did they happen?

My biggest success in this project was creating a final project that I'm happy with and proud of. Doing each step in deadlines 2-4 made creating the final project much less painful than it would have been otherwise. Instead of trying to find a quote in the great abyss that is Google, I could just go back to my annotated bibliography, and pull a quote from one of my sources. Having less tedious work to do left me with more energy and time to devote to writing successfully.


What kinds of arguments, rhetorical strategies, design choices and writing practices did you find the most effective for your project? Why?

I mostly used informative, unbiased writing in my QRG. Using the QRG conventions, I merely organized my information. I liked using hyperlinks instead of citations, because readers are much more likely to seek additional information if it is one click away.


What kinds of arguments, rhetorical strategies, design choices and writing practices did you find were not effective for your project? Why?

Since I'm not trying to persuade my readers, I didn't need to use rhetorical strategies or arguments. I also didn't need long, PIE formatted paragraphs. Some of my paragraphs are a single sentence, usually to clarify a point that I made before or to introduce my next point.


How was the writing process for this project similar to other school writing experiences you’ve had in the past?

Like all writing, this boils down to being able to convey a purpose to the intended audience. I've never written in such an informal format before, so that was a new experience for me. I liked being able to organize my project using headings rather than having my organization be based entirely off of transitions and paragraph structures.


How was the writing process for this project different from other school writing experiences you’ve had in the past?

The last big writing project that I had in high school was my senior research paper, where we had to use in-text, MLA citations with a bibliography at the end. This QRG is much more relaxed, and the formatting is more of the author's choice than following a set structure. 


Would any of the skills you practiced for this project be useful in your other coursework? Why or why not?

Any time I do a writing-based project, I feel like I am improving both my writing and my editing skills. Being a good writer is essential in almost every college class. 

I am taking a political history class that focuses on propaganda, and we do a lot with arguments and analyzing whether they are logical or not. Knowing how to analyze a source for credibility will be helpful in both that class and this one. 


Reflection:

I read Savannah and Isabel's Project 1 Reflections. 

Isabel and I both said that this genre needs to be informative and relatively unbiased to be successful in informing readers about our topics. 

Savannah and I both wrote almost every day, and we both did a lot of revising. I was surprised by how much of my time this project took up, but I'm glad I worked so hard, because I am happy with my final product. 

Just as a side note, I am so glad that we did peer revision, because I think my draft improved a lot with the suggestions that I got from my editors. 

Project 1 Final Product

Here is my final QRG!!!!!!!

Clarity, Part 2

For this post, I read four more "clarity" sections from Rules for Writers, and used them to further edit my QRG draft.

1. Active verbs

I've always been taught never to use passive voice, so it's interesting that this book acknowledges that there are instances where using a passive verb could be helpful. However, active verbs tend to be stronger and less wishy-washy.

2. Adding needed words

While this seems fairly obvious, when I'm in the groove of writing, I sometimes forget to add in a word. And in editing, I will delete part of the sentence, and forget to add words that are necessary to make the new sentence complete and correct.

3. Shifts

I usually don't change point of view in the middle of my sentences or papers, but sometimes I will accidentally change verb tense. This happens more frequently when I'm writing a narrative or creative piece rather than persuasive or informative ones.

4. Choose appropriate language

This was probably the most difficult part of writing my QRG. Even though the genre is fairly casual, it's difficult to tell what is too formal. While my topic is on a sensitive topic, I didn't refrain from using the words "rape" and "sexual assault", which are usually rephrased in other forms of writing. In that case, I think it's up to the writer to decide what would be too strong for the intended audience.

Image by Scott, Richard. "Decisions". Uploaded 1/9/08 via Flickr.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic.

Reflection:

The purpose of editing for all of these mistakes is to avoid confusing readers. After reviewing these four topics, I went back to my draft to edit for what is probably the 5,000th time.

Both of the mistakes in my paper were pointed out by my peer-editors, so thank you!


"At Oberlin College, the administration attempted to create specific guidelines to help professors decide when to include a trigger warning, but really they just ended up creating ridiculously specific rules that would be impossible both to follow and to enforce."

• Alyssa commented that she thought my use of "ridiculously" was too informal, even for a QRG. Dylan said that it's also too opinionated for a piece that is supposed to be unbiased and informative.

"That’s not to minimize that people should not be forced to relive their horrors, but saying that they all need to be protected is an unnecessary blanket statement."

• Alyssa also pointed out that I forgot the word "be" in this sentence. This most likely happened in editing when I was reforming this sentence, but I also could have been trying to get my thoughts down too quickly.

Overall, my draft doesn't contain many of the "clarity" mistakes, but my editing is obviously not entirely foolproof.

Identifying Basic Grammar Patterns

For this blog post, I took one of the longest paragraphs in my QRG, and analyzed its basic grammar.

Here is the link to the Google doc where I did my grammar analysis.

Image by Lott, Chris. "Laugh Out Loud Cats #331". Uploaded 9/5/13 via Flickr.
Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

In my analysis, I learned that analyzing sentence patterns is more difficult than I guessed it would be. To figure out the basic subject and purpose of each sentence, I had to take out all unnecessary or extraneous words to make the sentences as basic as possible. Once they were at a kindergarten writing level, I could then tell what the basic parts of speech were.

In the QRG format, there is very little use for exclamatory, interrogative, or imperative sentences except maybe in the headings. All of the sentences in my main paragraphs are declarative, because I am trying to inform my readers.

I had the most trouble with identifying the items in section 47 (page 381), so I should spend some time reviewing the types of verbs, subjects, and objects.

Paragraph Anaylsis

I realized while doing the paragraph analysis for my QRG that there are some reoccurring things in my draft that I need to go back and rework. 

While all of my information was relevant and stayed on topic, there were some choppy paragraphs and unconnected sentences that need better transitions or introductions. If the paragraphs flow well, readers can easily follow and understand how I got from each idea to the next. 

Overall, I am happy with the work that I did. As is with most drafts, it just needs a little more work before it will be final product quality. 

Here is the link to my QRG copy. 

Reflection on Project 1 Draft

For my two peer-edits, I read Jayni and Mehruba's QRGs. They both wrote concise but informative drafts, and most of the suggestions I made were local, grammar based edits.

Audience

Who is going to be reading this document? Who am I trying to reach with my argument?

Bottai and my two peer editors (Dylan and Alyssa) are probably going to be the only people reading my QRG. However, I am trying to reach anyone who has an interest in my topic and wants to learn more about it.

What are my readers' values and expectations? Am I meeting those expectations?

My readers are expecting to learn about a contemporary controversy in the field of psychology. I think that I met this expectation, because I wrote about a contemporary controversy. Alyssa commented at the end of my draft that she learned from my QRG, and that it was easy to read. 

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How much information do I need to give my readers?

The purpose of a QRG is to inform readers. The assumption is usually that readers of the genre don't already have a lot of background knowledge on the topic at hand. Fortunately, my controversy doesn't involve much technical language or complex data, so I didn't have to simplify anything. It's possible that someone that is well informed about this topic would be bored by my QRG, but they likely wouldn't feel like their intelligence has been insulted. 

What kind of language is suitable for this audience?

QRGs tend to be fairly casual, but Alyssa pointed out that one phrase I used was almost too casual. Unlike some of the more science-based topics that some of my peers did, the language in my controversy is easy to understand.

What tone should I use with my audience? Did I use that tone consistently?

My tone is generally informative. Because I am trying to provide an unbiased account of the argument(s), I try not to stray into a critical or opinionated tone. I want my readers to decide for themselves which side they are on, rather than feel persuaded to pick my side. 

Context

What are the formatting requirements of the assignment? Do I meet them?

The requirements of this assignment were to discern the conventions of QRGs from the five examples, and integrate those into our own QRGs. I did my best to write in the QRG style, and I think that I effectively used headings, short paragraphs, and white space. I most likely need more images and/or graphics though. 

What are the content requirements of the assignment? Did I meet them?

For my QRG, I included all of the information that I think is necessary to teach my readers about this controversy. That was the most important part of this assignment, besides using the genre conventions. 

Does my draft reflect knowledge or skills gained in class in addition to my own ideas and voice?

I knew nothing about QRGs before we talked about them in class, so I incorporated that knowledge into my draft. I also used what we learned about summarizing the main ideas of a longer written piece down to a single paragraph. However, the writing that I did is definitely my style. It doesn't sound like I regurgitated others' work and writing. 

Have I addressed any of the grammatical issues that were pointed out?

My peer-editers pointed out a few things that I need to fix in my draft. I am afraid to make those changes though because once I do, it will make their comment go away, and I don't want them to lose points. 

Clarity, Part 1

I chose four topics from Rules for Writers "clarity" section, and then related them back to my own writing.


1. Mixed constructions 

I've never heard this term before, but it is something that appears in writing all the time. For me, at least, this mostly happens when I'm editing. I will change the tense, the subject, or delete the prepositional phrase, and forget to rework the rest of the sentence. Usually, I realize it when I do a final check of my paper, but there have been times where I didn't catch it in time.

Image by McPhee, Nic. "I tend to scribble a lot". Uploaded 1/26/08 via Flickr.
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license. 

2. Variety

I have the opposite problem from a lot of writers in that most of my sentences are long and complex. It's difficult for me to use short sentences, because I usually have a lot to say about the topic.

I use semicolons more than probably any other person my age. They help me differ my sentence structures, and make me seem like a better writer than I am. Usually, I don't have any trouble with using a variety of sentence beginnings. Inverted sentences are probably the easiest way to change things up, especially in personal narrative type pieces when the inclination is to begin every sentence with "I".


3. Wordy sentences

Along with using complex sentences comes the possibility for wordiness (which is incidentally one of my favorite words). The temptation is to write more dense sentences because they sound more intelligent, but really, they are just distracting to read. It's something that I should work on, and the list on pages 157-158 will be super helpful.


4. Misplaced or dangling modifiers

This is probably the most complex chapter listed under the "clarity" section. I've never learned a lot about using modifiers in all of their forms. I should make a conscious effort to check my modifiers when I'm writing and editing to avoid confusing my readers.




Reflection

Jayni and Mehruba both did excellent jobs at explaining their controversies in fairly simple terms. I learned a lot from reading both that I was unaware of before! While they both had some sentences that were choppy or too complex, overall, both had great organization and needed little global editing.

Both QRGs had a few sentences that included the grammar issues that I wrote about for my "Clarity" blog post.

For example, Mehruba had a sentence that was too wordy to the extent that it became a run on sentence. She wrote, "this controversy opened up the issues women in the STEM field in general face and the ideologies previously practiced might be put under serious review to provide more of an equal playing ground for men and women scientists". This is an extremely easy mistake to make, especially when in the midst of writing. However, it's important to look for these things when editing.

Jayni had a sentence with a modifier where it was unclear which object it was referring to. She wrote,"To remediate this problem scientists isolated a gene from flounder’s DNA that allow them to not freeze, since they live in cold water". The use of the word "them" in this sentence is confusing. That's also something that is easier to catch in editing than in the middle of the writing process.

Overall, both Jayni and Mehruba did amazing jobs with their QRGs, and any of the suggestions I made were because as a third party, I'm a fresh set of eyes on the project. I know, for me at least, after writing a paper, I start to miss the mistakes, and instead read it how I know it should be read.

(P.S. I feel really mean calling out specific examples of their mistakes. Please don't think I'm a jerk, it's in the instructions for this blog post!!)

Thoughts on Drafting

While writing the first draft of my QRG, I used some of the information in the Student's Guide. A few of the steps were helpful to me, and some weren't, mostly because they focused on essay writing.

What parts of the book's advice were helpful for writing in this genre? 

While most of the QRG examples did not have an introduction paragraph, I thought that it was the best way to introduce my topic. It also mades it very clear to my readers what my controversy is.

Because I formatted my QRG this way, I included a thesis statement. I've written a LOT of thesis statements in the course of my education, but it's always good to have a reminder of how to make a thesis more effective and less boring.

I've never been taught the PIE method before. It's important not to include too much information in each paragraph, because it makes them hard to read and comprehend. However, the conventions of QRGs require shorter paragraphs to begin with.

Image by Kelly, Sara. "Please wait here until you are useful by Ian Stevenson".
Uploaded on 8/2/13 via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic license. 

What parts of the book's advice was not as helpful?

The PIE method is probably more helpful when writing an essay. In essays, paragraphs can be lengthy, but the QRG genre uses shorter, more concise paragraphs. It's even acceptable to have single-sentence paragraphs, which is frowned upon in essay writing.

Introductions and conclusions are also not as important in a QRG as they are in an essay or other genres. They can be useful if executed right, but they are not necessary in every case.


I read Kelly and Alyssa's posts.
Kelly and I both agree that the PIE format can be used for QRGs. Even though paragraphs should be short, they can still be well structured.
Alyssa said that what she took from the "organization" section of Student's Guide was to write with purpose. I didn't realize the importance of that when I was reading the book on my own.

1. I need to reread my QRG and see if I accurately incorporated the purpose of my project. I should also go back over at the organization section of the Student's Guide. 
2. I'm going to try to figure out if I can reorganize my introduction to fit somewhere into the question and answer format of my QRG. It may be best left separate though. 
3. Because QRGs are supposed to have brief paragraphs, I'm going to make sure that none of them got too wordy or are too dense. If some are, I need to break them up or reorganize them. 

Draft of Quick Reference Guide

I am actually super proud of the work that I put into my QRG, but I'm sure it still needs a lot of work. I'm mostly concerned about whether or not I included enough hyperlinks, and if I need more information in a certain section. Also, I'd like to make sure that I didn't leave anything out to help readers get a comprehensive view about what this controversy is all about.

Image by Gosselin, Bret. "Peer Edit Picture" Uploaded 7/13/11 via Flickr.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.  

Don't hesitate to be critical. I'd rather end up with an awesome QRG than have people refrain from pointing out any errors to spare my feelings.


Anyway, here's my QRG!!

Practicing Quoting

I took two quotes from the sources that I found, and wrote a paragraph about each quote. Knowing how to quote effectively is essential to all of the work that we're doing in this class.

The red highlights show my signal phrases.
The green highlights to show where I say why the authors are authorities on the topics.
The blue highlights show where I put the quote into context.
The yellow highlights show where I took out or changed the text to make it fit my needs.

Quote 1

Quote 2

QRGs: the Genre

To figure out what the convention of the genre are, I started with what we did in class on Tuesday. I then looked at the conventions to answer the rest of the questions about how they are used.


1. What are the conventions of the genre? 

All five of the articles use images and graphics to help illustrate their topics. While the more scientific e-cigarette article used mostly graphics, the article on the Sochi olympics used images to describe what parts of the opening ceremony they were analyzing. The Bernie article even uses screenshots of tweets to give the article more real-world context.

The articles all follow a format similar to blogging. The paragraphs are short, and there are subheadings and categories to help increase readability. They also include hyperlinks to help readers get more information on the topic or learn about a different aspect of the controversy.

2. How are those conventions defined by the author's formatting and design choices? 

Each author took the conventions and adapted them. The debt crisis and e-cigarette articles used graphs and other representations of data, the Bernie article used tweets, the Sochi article used images, and the Gamergate article used a mix of images and tweets.

The formatting of the subheadings differs as well. Some are phrased as questions while others are statements or phrases.

3. What does the purpose of a QRG seem to be?

QRGs are good for introducing readers to the topic. None of them expect their readers to be experts in the topic at hand. All of the articles include some sort of mention to the start of the controversy, or at least they introduce the main points and people on either side of the argument.

Because the paragraphs are brief, they are scannable for someone who is interested in learning what the controversy is, but maybe doesn't need to know every single detail of it.

Image by Livia, Christina. "typewriter". Uploaded 3/31/09 via Flickr.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic. 

4. Who is the intended audience?

QRGs aren't scholarly sources, so they are not specifically targeted at someone who is knowledgable about the subject. However, some of the examples go much more in-depth than others. The Sochi article is the most frivolous, and Gamergate isn't as interesting to people who aren't involved with gaming. The other articles are written about current controversial topics that are affecting our everyday lives.

5. How do QRGs use images and why?

While the types of images/graphics differs between the articles, they are all relevant to the topic that is being discussed. Some are used to illustrate the data, and others are used to show the situation. The Greece article has charts to show the concrete evidence of the country's debt and photographs to show the people that are being affected. Images are sometimes used to evoke emotion, and they all help to break up the text.


I read Jessica, Brandon,  and Jayni's posts. We all had similar answers (probably because of the in-class discussion), but we all presented it in different ways. Jessica and I used a paragraph to answer each question, Brandon used bullet points on a couple of his answers, and Jayni kept her information brief and relied heavily on the examples to help support her claims.

Cluster of my Controversy

I used Coggle to make my cluster. I put each question that's listed in the instructions on D2L in a different color. The answer's colors is the same color that the question is in.

Image created by Boone-Roberts, Morgan on 9/8/15 via Coggle. 

Obviously, the text is way too small to read, so I linked the image here.


Kelly also used color coding for her cluster. She put the two side of the argument on opposite sides of the map, and then used color coded information to answer each of the questions.

Alyssa organized her cluster mostly by using lines and positioning. I like it because it didn't have colors that might be potentially distracting, and it looked very clean and organized.

Annotated Bibliography in APA Style

The citation style used in psychology is APA, or American Psychological Association style. I used this style to make an annotated bibliography for my six sources.

The annotated bibliography that I used as an example can be found here. 

I used this page to help me cite the two social media sources.


Ayra also used APA for her bibliography. She did a better job than I did at summarizing her social media sources (I had trouble with how to summarize something that is 140 characters or less). She also stated the intended audience for each source, which I went back and fixed in my own annotations.

Mehruba used ACS style because she's a biochemistry major. The requirements for the source citation seem less strict than APA, where there are rules for each step of the citation. I like that she stated exactly how each of her sources will help her later in Project 1.

Ideology in My Controversy

After evaluating a variety of sources that discuss the controversy of censorship on college campuses, I've found some common ideas, themes, and arguments, or ideologies.

Image by Nelson, Zachary. "Intolerance at UKN 6" taken on 9/13/05 via Flickr.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license. 

1. Who is involved in the controversy?

The two sides in the argument are the students that feel attacked and their supporters, and the majority of professors and their supporters. There are some teachers who are careful not to offend any students, but most of them want to teach their class their way.

If someone is offended by the topics, they either need to talk to the professor personally or find another class (I outright had a professor this semester say if we're easily offended by strongly liberal views to drop his class).

2. Who are some of the major speakers/writers within these groups? 

Most of the people in this discussion are somehow involved either with politics or education. Some psychologists have gotten involved as well. While the topic is mostly an argument of politics and policies, it's fascinating from a psychological perspective. It'll be interesting in the coming years to see how babying young adults affects them later in life.

3. What type of social/cultural/economic/political power does each group hold?

Students typically have little say in the rules that they are expected to follow, but lots of students speaking out about something generally draws attention. The teachers have more expertise and sway, but a group of upset students can result in change.

Most political and psychological experts who have gotten involved in the controversy tend not to agree with the students. There are some that do agree, however, and that is why this issue is ongoing.

4. What recourses are available to different positions?

The professors and their supporters have data and evidence. The students have personal stories of how trigger topics have hurt them or reminded them of a past traumatic experience. It's a common case of one side appealing to our heads, and another appealing to our hearts. It's yet to be seen in this case which approach will be more effective.

5. What does each group value?

The students value their comfort and sense of security. They are unwilling to entertain a point of view that differs from their own. The professors value a comprehensive education that challenges students to think in new ways and see things from a different perspective.

6. What counts as evidence for the different positions? 

Religion or personal comfort are the main sources of evidence that the students use. The teachers use evidence that learning broadens world views and increases tolerance. Also, the fact that college students are adults factors in; if they can't handle the sensitive topics, they should not be in that particular class.

Image by Masses, Peter. "Censored" taken 5/24/11 via Flickr.
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license. 

7. Is there a power differential between the groups? 

The professors, politicians, and psychologists involved in this controversy all hold more power because they are knowledgable and experienced. The students feel like they have more power because they are passionate and angry. Anger can only get an argument so far when it isn't backed with real facts or evidence. 

8. Is there any acknowledged common ground between the groups?

I think that most teachers will be understanding if a student comes to them to say that they feel uncomfortable. But they can't be expected to tailor their courses so that they don't offend anyone. That would be impossible because everyone is sensitive to different topics. The teachers don't set out trying to offend anyone, but sometimes there is no way around it, depending on their subject matter. 

9. Is there any unacknowledged common ground? 

Both sides are so caught up in their beliefs that they are unwilling to find compromise or a common ground. Professors do care about the wellbeing of their students, but they also have to teach the class that they were hired to teach. 

10. Do the various groups listen to each other? 

The students and the professors are unwilling to entertain the opposing perspective. While acknowledging their common ground is a step in the right direction, it doesn't seem to have led to any progress being made, yet. 

Evaluation of Social Media Sources

I didn't have a twitter before I started this blog post...now I do. College has already corrupted me. 

Anyway, here are two of the social media sources that I found that talk about censorship and trigger warnings on college campuses. 

Source 1

Screenshot taken by Boone-Roberts, Morgan on 9/2/15 via Twitter. 

Credibility: Mr. Aguilar's twitter is linked to what I assume is his blog. I also found his LinkedIn which says that he is the president of the Five Tool Group, an event transportation consulting company. Because of his career, he may rub shoulders with politicians that hire his company to set up venues for events. 

Location: The tweet's author is from Las Vegas. Because this topic is controversial at every college campus across the nation, no location is that much better than another when it comes to being close to the conflict. 

Network: There are actually quite a few Nevada political twitter pages that follow him, which is evidence that he does in fact connect with politicians in his area, at least on some level. 

Content: The tweet itself links to an article published by the New Republic, a liberal political magazine based in D.C.

Contextual Updates: This was his only post on this topic, but his twitter feed is full of political rants and links, but he also comments on some social and psychology topics. 

Age: I couldn't find the exact date where it usually is on the left side of the page, so I just scrolled for a minute. He has been tweeting regularly for more than 6 months, so it's not a recently created account. 

Reliability: While both his tweet and the article it links are biased, they both raise valid points. If adults can't handle sensitive topics, it's their responsibility to avoid those topics. It's not the responsibility of others not to broach those topics. 

Source 2: 

Screenshot taken by Boone-Roberts, Morgan on 9/2/15 via Twitter. 

Credibility: Mr. Cofield's bio says that he is a retired high school English teacher. That automatically gives him a certain level of credibility because he's speaking from experience. I found him on RateMyTeachers for Hoover High School, so he really is a teacher (not sure who would lie about that...).

Location: While his experience is in high school and the controversy is centered around colleges, as an English teacher, he was probably prohibited from teaching certain literature that contained controversial or sensitive topics. 

Network: There are a lot of religious groups that Bob interacts with on twitter, but for the most part, he seems to be a pretty regular guy. 

Content: The article that he links is actually one of the articles that I used for my "Evaluation of General Internet Sources", and as I've already corroborated this source, I know that they are reliable.

Contextual Updates: Bob posts a lot about education, and seems to be very active on twitter considering his, um, more advanced age. This is his most recent tweet, and I can't find anything else that he posted on this particular topic. 

Age: The account was created in October of 2011, so it's not one that I need to be wary of. 

Reliability: His background in education and the article he links to are both good indications of credibility in this topic. 

Evaluation of Scholarly Sources

I managed to find two scholarly sources that relate to my topic of censorship and trigger warnings and how they're affecting college campuses.

Source 1

After searching on JSTOR for way too long, I finally settled on an article about censorship and online privacy. 

Purpose: The purpose of this journal is to discuss the things that threaten our online liberties and freedoms. Privacy is a huge topic today in political and government based debates because individuals feel that their rights are being taken away. This relates to my topic because college students are being denied the right to learn what they want, and are being restricted so as not to offend those who may be sensitive to a particular topic. 

Publishing: This article was in "Rights" magazine, which is published by the American Bar Association. That means that this is published primarily for current and future lawyers. 

Citations: The article cites a lot of other law-based sources such as the Communications Decency Act and the Department of Justice. 

Author: Ann Beeson is a social justice lawyer who currently works for The Center for Public Policy Priorities in Texas. She is known by some as one of the best lawyers in the nation, so she is well qualified to be writing articles on censorship from a legal perspective. 

Audience: The intended audience, judging by where the article was published, is anyone in the field of law. The reader is expected to have more than a basic knowledge of law; they should be somewhat of an expert in the field. 

Found: I searched on the JSTOR website with the keywords "offensive content AND college". 

Photo by Fager, Ken. "Citation Needed". Posted 6/25/10 via Flickr.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Source 2

I found my second article on APA's PsycNET database. 

Purpose: The purpose is to inform people about the "harm thesis". This is the idea that words really do hurt, and can leave lasting impacts on people. The article focuses more on foul language rather than slurs, colloquial language, or trigger words.

Publishing: This article was published in "Psychology, Public Policy, and Law". This publication tries to relate psychology to law so as to inform lawyers of the most relevant knowledge in the field. 

Citations: I can't access the full text of the journal to see the citations, but the author most likely cites other psychology journals on the topic of the "harm thesis".

Author: Timothy Jay is a profesor at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. He has a doctorate in Cognitive Psychology, and another article that he wrote is entitled, "The Science of Swearing" (why didn't I choose that as my topic!). 

Audience: The intended audience here is lawyers who may have cases that relate to harmful language. It's interesting that both articles that I found are on different topics, yet both relate to and are intended for lawyers. 

Found: I used Google Scholar and searched "'College' AND 'offensive content'". This led me to an article connected to PsycNET. 

Evaluation of General Sources

After quite a few Google searches went nowhere, I decided to pick a topic that I know is currently controversial in the field of psychology. From a search for "censoring trigger topics in college", I found two reliable sources.

Source 1

URL: My first source is The Atlantic, which is a .com source. The Atlantic is a magazine that focuses on literary and cultural topics. It is considered to be a high-quality, reliable source. The article I chose is titled, "The Coddling of the American Mind". 

Author: The article has two authors: Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. Both authors are easy to find on Twitter and Wikipedia. 

Lukianoff is the CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, so he obviously has first hand experience with education. His twitter page connects to an amazon page where readers can buy his book, "Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of the American Debate". 

Haidt is a social psychologist and professor of business ethics at NYU's Sturn School of Business. A list of books that he has written includes, "The Righteous Mind" and "The Happiness Hypothesis". 

Last Update: This article is published as part of the September 2015 edition of The Atlantic, so I'd say that this article is as current and applicable as it possible could be.  

Purpose: This article's intention is mostly to inform readers. While there is a bias, it is not so overwhelming that it doesn't consider the merits of the other side of the argument. 

Graphics: There are excerpts have been pulled from the article in larger font and pictures scattered through the article. The purpose of these is just to break up the monotony of the text. 

Position on the Subject: The article is against the censorship of "trigger topics" in colleges. However, it presents both sides, so the bias is not blatant. Because the magazine focuses a lot on topics relating to education, they want to inform their readers of this controversy, but aren't necessarily out to persuade them one way or another. 

Links: All of the links in the article send readers to other Atlantic articles by different authors about similar topics. 

Photo by Hunter, Mark. "Focus" taken 4/22/10 via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

Source 2

URL: My second article, titled "In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas",  is from the New York Times, one of the most reliable sources for information in a general internet search. 

Author: Judith Shelvitz is a journalist who focuses on cultural critiques and criticisms. She is an op-ed writer for the Times, and is easy to find on Twitter, Wikipedia, and Facebook. She has also written for New York Magazine, The New Yorker, and The New Republic. 

Last Updated: This article was posted on March 21, 2015 and, as far as I can tell, has not been updated. 

Purpose: "In College" serves to inform its readers of this ongoing debate. Again, the bias is not glaringly evident on first reading, so it's main purpose isn't to persuade. 

Graphics: There are only two graphics in this article, and both are just to break up the physical structure of the article. They are relevant enough not to be distracting, but aren't essential to comprehending the information. 

Position on the Subject: This article isn't strongly biased in either direction. Instead, the author provides quotes from both sides. As evidenced by the title, this author is against restricting certain topics in a college setting, but she considers both sides's arguments to be valuable. 

Links: The links in this article send readers to a variety of outside sources. They all relate to the topic at hand or lead readers to more resources. She even links in articles that oppose her opinion, such as this one from Slate.com.