Extra credit post about revision

I believe revision is one of the most important parts of writing and is absolutely essential to the writing process as a whole. The revision process has definitely changed the way I look at my writing. When I initially start writing the first draft of a paper, it is nowhere near perfect. It is the process of going through the paper over and over again and making both minor and drastic changes that allows me to truly write the paper I know I am capable of. Each time I go through and revise a piece of my writing, I become more familiar with my own personal style.
While I believe personal revision is a fundamental part of the writing process, I also believe that peer revision is equally important. I find it extremely beneficial to have someone other than myself go through my paper because my peers catch mistakes and make suggestions that I never would have thought of or caught. Having my peers edit my paper allows me view my writing from a different perspective which makes for a very well rounded paper. All in all, my experiences with personal revision, coupled with peer revision, have allowed me to grow stronger as a writer and really see my own personal writing style develop

Paper Four Article Summaries

For my research topic for paper four, I am choosing to write about the dangers of tanning beds and the effect they have on appearance in our society. The first article I found is titled “Frequent Tanning Bed Use, Weight Concerns, and Other Health Risk Behaviors in Adolescent Females.” I found this article especially useful because it not only talks about the health dangers associated with tanning beds, but examines why girls have such a strong desire to use the beds despite the dangers and how the media plays a role, particularly in America. An interesting quote I found that illustrates this idea further is “Frequent tanning bed use among adolescent females is associated with a range of health risk behaviors. This effect may be mediated by peer influence and a desire to look like other females in the media” (O’Riordan, Field, Geller, Brooks, Aweh, Colditz and Frasier, 679). This article also contains a variety of statistics about tanning bed use among adolescent girls, which will be extremely useful for appealing to logos in my research paper.

The second article I found is titled “Radiation. Tanning Trippers Get UV High.” This article is much different from the first article I found, but I found it very interesting. It talks about how tanning in a bed releases feel-good endorphins, causing those who regularly go tanning to become addicted to it like a drug. I think this information would be useful for my paper because it explains one reason why tanning appeals to so many people. This article even talks about how people who stop going tanning experience withdrawal symptoms similar to that of someone who is being weaned off of an opioid drug, just another reason why artificial tanning is dangerous. Like the first article, this article also contains good statistics that would be useful for appealing to logos in my research paper. A quote I found particularly useful in this article further explains the potential addiction artificial tanning is capable of. According to Burton, “Feldman’s team thought that blocking this potential endorphin rush might cause such people to lose some of their tanning enthusiasm; what they didn’t expect was for some to develop withdrawal symptoms” (Burton, A403). I found this extremely interesting, and I know this information will provide good support for my fourth paper.

Works Cited
O'Riordan, David L., Alison E. Field, Alan C. Geller, Daniel R. Brooks, Gideon Aweh,
Graham A. Colditz, and Lindsay A. Frazier. "Frequent Tanning Bed Use, Weight
Concerns, and Other Health Risk Behaviors in Adolescent Females (United
States)." Cancer Causes & Control 17.5 (Jun., 2006): 679-86. JSTOR. Web. 12
Apr. 2010. .

Burton, Adrian. "Radiation. Tanning Trippers Get UV High." Environmental Health
Perspectives 114.7 (Jul., 2006): A403. JSTOR. Web. 12 Apr. 2010.
.

Works Cited for Tim Wise Article

Cook, David. "By The Color of Their Skin: Tim Wise on The Myth of a Postracial America." The Sun July &

Aug. 2009: 4-12. Print.

Barack Obama Racial Picture

Tim Wise Article

When asking a group of people for their own meaning of racism one can receive various responses. The same can be said of privilege, this is so because of people’s differences. In the way that someone is raised and their background will affect how they treat and react to others. After reading an interview with Tim Wise (by the color of their skin: Tim Wise in the Myth of a Postracial America) one can apply their definition to their way of life. When defining racism a judgment against a race biased on a pre conceived idea. This is dangerous because people will treat differences the only way they have learned how, giving some privilege over others. Racism and privilege go hand and hand, for example: “We also know that job applicants with “white-sounding” names are 50 percent more likely to get called back than those with “black-sounding” names, even if both have the same qualifications.” (Page 6) Tim Wise’s words show that just because a person has a name that sounds different they will not be considered in a serious role. That is a fault of most people, coming up with a result before trying to solve the question. Over time the definition of racism and privilege has changed and can be seen in American culture and life today.
Racism is defined by means of criticizing an ethnic group. This term can also be defined as a race being more superior to any other ethnic group. I have dealt with racism in my life and it turns out be racial slurs that are said to one another. Privilege can be granted to an individual by means of gratitude, but with the term racism, the word seems to be brought up in a different meaning. Race is constructed differently among many other people, however people may be born differently, but there are no genetic markers in defining race. In America, race can be defined by a person’s nationality and I define privilege as a special right; an advantage to a person. According to Cook, “[The] justice department data tells us that black and Latino males are two to three times more likely to be stopped by police and searched for drugs, even though white men are up to four times more likely to have drugs on them” (6). So therefore, racism is being applied to the Latino and black males by means of discrimination. I have been discriminated in my life by the color of my skin and it can be very hard not to say anything back. Much of my work for paper three has concluded the ethics of eating and how it is affects among race. I have read many articles about Barack Obama and how he is not a good president. People judge him by the color of his skin and I find it to be racist when a picture of Barack Obama is being portrayed as a donkey in a food stamp with black stereotypes such as chicken, ribs, kool-aid, and watermelon. The information that I explained above ties into a lot of my information in paper three and how people view race in the ethics of eating.
Rascism is a word that evokes powerful feelings. This is true especially in America, where racism has a long, and rather dismal history. According to Tim Wise, racism and privilege are directly related. In American society today, this correlation is apparent even amongst the nation’s most prestigious leaders. As Wise states, “Privilege also takes the form of less pressure to perform” (page 5). He further explains this statement by asking if Obama, our nation’s first black president, happened to make the same grammar mistakes in his speeches as previous president Bush did, would he be considered less qualified for the job? This is a question many Americans should ask themselves. Wise also proclaims that “we can make peace with the past by recognizing that good people can still do great evil…once we come to realize that, we become a lot less smug about our own goodness and more aware of the evil we participate in every day” (page 9). I find this applies to my own life, as even I find myself guilty of falling for racial stereotypes.
No matter what a person's ethnic background is, racism means something different to everyone. The idea of privilege will never change, for it has been embedded so deeply in American society that it will always be in the back of everyone's mind. This article showed that even good people are capable of "evil thoughts".

finding and using sources

Choosing sources for my papers in english 101, or any class for that matter, is a process that I put a lot of thought and time into to make sure they complement my paper flawlessly. The first thing I do when I know I have to use sources in a paper is begin searching online journal databases such as jstor and ebsco for articles that relate to my topic. Depending on the topic, I find that some information is easier to find than other information, so I really try and be specific when I enter my search terms to save time and make the initial process of finding sources easier. Luckily, so far I have found researching information for many of the food topics in english 101 is pretty easy because things such as the controversy over organic foods and the industrial food industry are a hot topic right now with the The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

The first thing I usually notice about a source is the title, if it catches my eye and seems relevant, I skim the source for information that may be helpful in my paper. I also believe it is very important to look at the author and even the publisher of the source so I can determine if it is credible or not. I choose to use the sources that are both credible and offer a good amount of information that would be helpful in my paper. I pull out quotes from the source and place them where I know they could further support some of my own points and make me seem more credible as a writer, showing that I really did my research. I always make sure to give a good lead into the quote by using a template, and never leave a quote hanging in my paper by not explaining it.

I believe I could improve my method for finding sources by trying to not just use online journal sources. While online journal databases are definitely a good place to find credible sources for a paper, books are another good option, and a goal I have for my next paper is to try and use at least one scholarly book as a source.

Source for paper 3

Mail, Daily. "Kellogg's Will Use Laser to Burn Logo on to Individual Corn Flakes to
Stamp out Fakes." October 13, 2009. Website Article. March 8, 2010.

I believe the article “Kellogg's will use Laser to Burn Logo on to Individual Corn Flakes to Stamp Out Fakes” by Daily Mail Reporter would be a strong source to use in paper three. This article is significant because it explains how Kellogg’s is planning to use a laser to burn their logo on to the corn flakes so everyone will know that they are genuine Kellogg’s flakes. Kellogg’s has become concerned with all of the generic brands making cereals that imitate their unique flakes, and the company wants to make sure everyone knows they only make flakes for Kellogg’s and no one else.
Paper three deals with the ethics of eating and food, and I believe the Kellogg’s counterfeit flake situation is a perfect example of what is ethical and what is not in the food industry. The flakes are being modified, and although the article claims using a laser to burn a logo on to the flakes is perfectly safe, it would still strike me as funny to be eating cereal flakes that have a burned logo. This situation can be compared to the situation in the Norman Borlaug article, where it is questioned as to whether using genetically modified food to feed starving populations in third world countries is really ethical. In addition, I also find myself wondering if it is ethical and even necessary to even put the logo on individual flakes, the logo is already on the box and the flakes come in the box, isn’t that enough proof? As this article shows, ethical problems can arise in any system, specifically a cereal company, providing good support for the analysis of ethical eating in paper three.

Norman Borlaug Article

I found the article “Ending World Hunger. The Promise of Biotechnology and the Threat of Antiscience Zealotry” by Norman E. Borlaug to be full of many intriguing concepts. I find the whole idea of genetically modifying foods to be fascinating. Creating hybrid crops has the potential to make the nutritional qualities in food greater (such as raising the protein level in corn), eliminate the need for harmful pesticides, and grow mass quantities of crops that can withstand the extreme heat and cold in summer and winter. Although I initially found the concept of genetically modifying plants to be unsafe and impure, as I read on I found out that mother nature has been creating hybrid plants for years, farmers are only helping the process along that has been around since the beginning of time.
I found the most intriguing, and most controversial, part of this article to be the fact that genetically modified crops could be used to help those countries struggling with starvation. Although some argue the countries will disapprove of the genetically modified food, it seems like it is a perfectly safe and genius idea to put a damper on world hunger. And unlike those countries wealthy enough to be picky about their food, a third-world country would be happy to have any food at all. Therefore, I agree with Borlaug that the technology used to genetically modify foods should continue to be developed and expanded.