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Monday, September 16, 2013
Causal Writing--due October 3
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Presler 7
Author Garret Kramer recently wrote an article for the Huffington Post called "Why Athletes Cheat: The Overlooked Answer." In the writing, Kramer primarily focuses on the issue of professional athletes using performance-enhancing drugs to get an edge on the competition. He suggests, contrary to popular belief, that athletes cheat not because of perceived external pressures to perform at the highest level, but because they don't understand that occasional feelings of self-doubt, anxiety, and insecurity are normal and naturally occurring. Thus, the players who cheat simply do not understand the self-induced, ephemeral nature of thoughts of inadequacy, whereas honest players realize that nothing "out there" can, of its own volition, ruin their lives and careers. Convincingly, Kramer states, "From a naturally clear head, honesty is easy for everyone. From a head filled with thought, people feel bound up -- and, again, those who attribute this bound-up feeling to their life situations (and not the variability of their thinking) will act deceitfully. Why, for example, do threats of suspensions seem to work for some players and not for others? Because threats do not cause players to abide by the rules. Players readily abide by the rules when their heads are clear; they struggle to do so when their heads are cluttered -- no matter how many games or how much money the league threatens to take away."
Kramer's article struck a chord for me because it utterly refuted the theory that social pressures somehow induce dishonesty in professional athletes--a hypothesis that is both selfish and misguided. Eleanor Roosevelt quipped, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." The cheaters, according to Kramer, unconsciously provide this consent; they justify poor results by blaming the spotlight, the physical demands of sport, and the pressure of exorbitant contracts. Consequently, they turn to steroids or other banned substances to compensate for their lack of mental stamina and toughness. Kramer ties the article together with a direct, definitive statement that everyone's feelings come from inside, and nowhere else. Therefore, the time has come to stop giving cheating athletes a crutch by standing idly by as they spew halfhearted apologies and actually blame external forces for their transgressions. By all means, offer second chances to the cheaters, but first make them prove true remorse and accept full responsibility for their mistakes. If all athletes take Garret Kramer's words to heart, professional sports will become healthier and more wholesome for everyone involved.
Stensrud 5
ABC News reported on an article in 2007 titled, “Why Do Celebs Get So Crazy?” With the recent outbreak of concerning celebrity behaviors, I thought this topic was necessary to look into. The article, written by Phillip Bloch, begins with references to literature (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) that masterfully pulls in all sorts of different interest groups to read his article. He begins by showing examples of ridiculous past celebrity behavior, and compares each celebrity’s good side with their downfalls. In the beginning of the column, he shows disagreement with their behaviors, but that tone soon switches to understanding. Phillip Bloch stated “Unconscious, crazy behavior isn't only limited to these pop culture idols.” this tells the readers that although they are wealthy and famous, we might not all be that different.
After switching emotions himself, he sufficiently list’s a series of causes that could potentially drive these star-struck celebrities to madness. “Celebrities seem to be oh-so in command of their own destiny but what the viewing public doesn't see behind the scenes is that they are puppets being pulled left and right and manipulated by the media and the fans that are overzealously enamored by the false glitter of stardom.” After reading this, a fan could simply understand that their glamorous life is not all the media portrays it to be. He goes on to discuss the flaws in film studios, and networks, and even blames celebrities managers for allowing them the title of “diva”. Stars at a young age feel pressured, and struggle with their own body image ("you're too old, too fat, too young."), which causes them to lash out and be rebellious going against the norm. Without precisely stating it, the author subliminally blames fans, spectators, magazine readers, gossipers, for these celebrity antics. Although millions of dollars difference, maybe celebrities and everyday people aren’t as unalike as they seem.
Holmes 2
The Huffington post wrote a particularly interesting article last Saturday involving gay rights and Gambian president Yahya Jammeh. This article was basically a summary of a press conference where the Gambian president spoke. In this conference, he adressed his strict policies on homosexuality. He stated that, "Homosexualtiy in all its forms and manifestations which, though very evil, antihuman as well as anti-Allah, is being promoted as a human right by some powers. " Jammeh has also made claims that homosexuality is "more deadly than all natural disaters put togther." There may be many reasons as for why the Gambian president feels so strongly about this topic, but the main one is religion. Jammeh is a muslim, and homosexualtiy is "anti-Allah." To show his dedication to this belief, he has made same-sex sexual activity illegal in the country, as well as threated to decaptitate any individual who practices this if they do not leave the country.
This article really shocked me. To think that any person, let alone the leader of a country, is so stronlgy against something so trivial as who they are attracted to is utterly ridiculous. The writer does an incredible job at explaining this bizarre phenomenon by using many quotes from the press conference itself. You can tell the writer sides on the side of the gay rights activists primarily because of his portrayal of Jemmah in a negative light. He further discredits Jammeh by adressing the president's claim that he can cure AIDS with an herbal body rub and bananas. By discrediting Yahya Jammeh and providing perhaps unintelligent quotes by him, the writer not only writes about how Jammeh is wrong, but writes about his own views. The writer provides many causes as to why Jammeh rules the way that he does with the main reason being relgion. He makes the president seem a little less like a president, and more like a dictator.
Brockey 1
Starting the first minute of tomorrow, October 1, 12:01 am, if our elected officials serving in the house of representatives do not agree with each other on a budget for our nation we will be in the midst of a government shutdown. Because of our elected officials being near a perfect split in the house, and having all those Democrats and Republicans elected being radicals the odds of our government not being shut down are very slim. While searching online at “USA Today's” website I found not the reason why our government is being shut down or why our representatives can not agree but why people are afraid of the actions taken (or not taken) in the next day. “More than 40% of federal workers across the nation face furlough if the government shuts down starting Tuesday.” These were the exact word by the article and 40% may not seem like much in school where anything below 65% is failing, but 40% is nearly half of all employees for the government. Furlough, for those that do not know, is a temporary unpaid leave due to the economic needs of a company or in this case the economic needs of the nation. So 2 in every 5 workers for the government will be laid off until the House can get a budget created.
The article by John Bacon is more used to voice the fear in people who depend on the money for income and school. In this way we can discover the cause of why so many people are scared for the government and the far reaching affects of the problems created by the countering political parties. “;Eighty percent of us normally earn $30,000 a year or less,' [Cyndi Luttrell] says. 'We have mortgages, kids, student loans...” Fortunate for most Americans, that are not out of work, only 8% of jobs are government connected. The affects will not, therefore, be as far reaching as the articles attempts to make them sound but still people's lives will be shocked.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/30/government-shutdown-real-people/2896399/
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_percentage_of_Americans_are_government_employed
Van Egdom 5
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1194194/Has-historian-finally-real-reason-Hitlers-obsessive-hatred-Jews.html
Allan Hall, a journalist for Daily Mail, wrote an article entitled, “Has historian finally discovered real reason for Hitler's obsessive hatred of Jews?” The article talks about Ralf-George Reuth’s book that gives a definitive reason for Hitler’s rationale behind the Holocaust and animosity for Jews. Reuth explains that numerous people and events, such as World War I, Karl Marx, Thomas Mann, and the Russian Revolution influenced Hitler. Over the years, people have given a wide range of possible reasons for Hitler’s hatred. People hypothesize that Hitler had some Jewish blood or that his mother’s death was due to a Jewish doctor. Neither of these hypotheses have any valid evidence to show for their argument.
Reuth argues that Hitler was jealous of the Jews owning everything in Germany; they owned most banks, stocks, and newspapers. Once Germany lost World War I, some Germans started rumors that blamed the Jewish for their poverty. Hitler must of heard these rumors and bought into the hype. Karl Marx exemplified everything that Hitler was against. Hitler knew Marx was born into a Jewish family and Thomas Mann equated the revolution with Jews, so Hitler equated these evildoings with the Jews.
Hall presents a conclusive explanation for the most evil man that ever lived. Hitler’s motivations and reasoning have been questioned ever since World War II ended. Hall gives a diverse range of rationales that culminated in the millions of deaths from one corrupt man. He overwhelmed me with historical references from around the world that made me unable to refute his logic. His causes are pristine and give clarity to a mystery. Hitler’s monstrosities have been a conundrum to everybody, but especially historians. They have been unable to come up with plausible motivations, but Reuth is on to something. Hall is a master causal writer, because he thinks of everything. He leaves nothing to the imagination. He convinced me and proved to me that he was right and knew what he was talking. Hitler’s motivation has always been a mystery, but Hall’s writing provides an unquestionable explanation.
Anderson 1
Dr. Keith Ablow wrote an article for Fox News titled, “Why cell phone addiction is now on the rehab menu.” He begins his article with an unfamiliar word to the general public that was coined by researchers in 2008. This word is nomophobia, which is the anxiety people have when they don’t have access to their mobile device. This phenomenon is becoming more and more popular as the technology continues to get bigger and better. Dr. Ablow has statistics in his article that says out of 1000 people, the amount of people that fear losing their phones is up to 66%. Putting these statistics in his article helped bring attention to how much of a problem this really is. He gives examples that also could be symptoms, like never turning off your cell phone ever and not even being able to go to the restroom without taking your phone along. These examples help to show someone if they could be affected by this addiction. He then goes to tell about how this can change the mood and the interaction they have with interpersonal contact. Ablow states, “That can mean less outdoor activity, less conversation, less intimacy and less reliance on one’s own fund of knowledge and ability to structure time and tasks.” Dr. Ablow gives information on Morning side Recovery Center and how they are adding this type of addiction to their program at the center. They see it as a real threat to society that needs to be kept under control. This addiction could be dangerous to ones determination and the relationships they have with others. It is also thought that this addiction could make them more vulnerable to other serious addictions that could cause harm to their health, which is why they would like to conquer this problem before it gets to out of hand.
Marais 7
Author Henrietta L. Leonard wrote an article in 2007 for The Dana Guide called " Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder." In this paper Leonard starts out by saying "recurrent thoughts and rituals can be a part of normal, daily life" and as he continues through the paragraph he states that for some adults and children, however, such obsessions and compulsions can reach a level that causes marked distress, consumes large amounts of time because they have recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses, or imaginings that are intrusive and inappropriate. These people who have this anxiety disorder have OCD. You can get this disorder at any age but one third to one half of adults with OCD report that this illness began when they were children. Only fifteen percent have this onset after the age of thirty five.
When you get half way done with the article it explains obsession and compulsion. A person can just have one or the other or both. Majority of the time a person's obsessions and compulsions are characterized by anxiety or fear that something bad might happen. Which I found extremely interesting do to the fact that my brothers ex girlfriend had more of a compulsions or ritual repetitive behavior causing her to have common compulsions like washing the dishes after they were already clean , cleaning, checking, counting, repeating, arranging, touching, and hoarding.
In general, people with OCD recognize that their anxious thoughts and rituals are unreasonable and excessive, but they feel helpless about stopping them. Thus, while they may have irrational or bizarre thoughts related to their symptoms, they are in touch with reality. OCD is not a psychotic disorder.
Clark 1
“Why Marriages Fail” is an article written by Steve Diehl to effectively help explain why marriages are more commonly beginning to fail. Diehl catches the reader’s attention in the opening section of the paper by showing how powerful and important relationships are in people’s lives. The relationship of an individual’s parents may also affect the environment they grow up in and also the relationships they maintain later in life. “…you know that a failing marriage is so painful, debilitating and destructive that ignoring it is not an option.” A failing marriage has an effect on many people, not just the ones going through the issue; the stress can be brought out and affect those at work, children, and extended family.
The reasons for marriages failing for decades were based mainly upon three struggles: financial problems, intimacy problems, and in-law problems. The author states that those issues are clearly not the only reason for failing marriages, but also may include problems like: health problems, death, self-centeredness, past relationships, and the ignorance and/or misunderstanding of fundamental distinctions. I agree with the leading factors of the failing marriages, but I also believe that people have the ability to work it out and push through the difficult times, but they give up too easily. Both individuals play a part in relationships and the reasons for the relationships failing is not dependent on one of them, but both of them. One of them may feel the marriage is starting to go downhill, but they need at least one of them to take action to help work the marriage out and fight through the difficulties. Diehl relates a relationship to a game of tennis. “The players are constantly reacting and adjusting to what the other player is doing.” This situation also shows that people are always reacting to what another is doing, while the other reacts to what they are doing. We start to develop patterns and particular ways to treat another, while also relating that when things are not going the way an individual wants, they should try to change the way the other is “playing.” I think that he presents the topic to a very relatable situation, but not all people know how tennis is played and may not be able to connect with the situation as well as someone who understands the game. Some patterns may be healthy, while others are not so healthy; threatening, yelling and belittling the other person leads to downfalls in marriages, just like in a game of tennis.
Concluding everything the author wrote about, marriages fail due to the stresses of life becoming overwhelming and start to affect the weaknesses on the inside of the individual. Diehl concludes that the predictable reasons for many marriages are: selfishness, brokenness, and ignorance. People stop trying to maintain and flourish their relationship and starting fighting with the one person they should constantly be working on their relationship with. Some people are set out to belittle their spouse and destroy the marriage; some relationships just are not able to be fixed. The situation may just need one person to be the bigger and better person to step up and take action to turn the relationship in the right direction to be reconstructed. Many people give up to easy when times start to break them down, but that is when they should be the strongest and push extra hard to make sure the relationship maintains the importance it should.
http://www.seeoursite.org/friends/SDPage.htm
http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/surgery/abortion/overview.html
Murtha 5
The New York Times wrote an article in 2010 titled, “Abortion- Sugrical.” The writer focuses on when the abortion need to take place, the riskes, and reason why someone might be having an abortion. He or she is explaining to the audience that it does not always have to be the reason of not wanting a child or being involved in a “mistake” but they point out that sometimes the an abotion in need because the mother is unsafe carrying the baby. Other unfortunate reasons for abotions are miscarriages. Not always is an abotion a way out but sometimes it can be the most heart breaking thing a mother has to do. The reason why I picked abotion is because it is a highly talked about topic in todays world. You can find discusions about it in politics, church, and occationally at school.
Not only did the author list reasons for having an abotion but they also list risks of an abortion. A women may undergo a number of risks during the procedure and often times even after . But one of the number one problems dealing with abotion is the nightmare that comes after. The realization that you have lost a child may not effect you right away, but at some point in your life it is proven that abortions have a very emotional aspect to them.
When you hear the word abortion the majoriy of people immediately think, mistake. Before this article I did. I have always thought that an abotion is the easy way out of a bad situation but you never think of the women that have to give up their baby due to health issues. Now I have been able to see another side of the surgury and realize that maybe I need to understand the circumstances before I talk about abortions again.
Lien 7
Depression: Beyond Serotonin, written by Hara Estroff Marano is an extremely well example of a causal writing. In this article she demonstrates what forms depressions and what is the source of it. Marano clearly establishes that depression is not just formed in the mind, or a “mental illness”, but that the mind and brain are one and they continuously work together. It is stated that it is impossible to base the disease on merely nuerotransmitters but rather that depression is a neurodegenerative disorder. Depression distrupts the structure and function of brain cells, destroys the nurve cell connections, and may even completely destroy brain cells. Marano also states that depression is highly related to stress at a young age, fifty percent of early life stress enables people for later depression in life. She also states that so many individuals believe that depression is cause by a chemical inbalance in the brain. Yes, depression is caused by this but it is not the only factor. Many factors in the brain that people are not recognizing cause depression. For example, there is a section of your brain that color codes certain events into either positive or negative events, if this part of you brain is not performing correctly, this may lead to depression. She also states that the prefrontal cortex or PFC is an area of the brain that controls emotions. The right controls negative emotions while the left controls positive emotions. If the left part of the PFC powers down and quits working, then people may be supseptible to depression.
I feel that this was a very good example of a causal writing because she stated many different facts that supported her main idea of what causes depression other than a chemical inbalance. She also stated her opinion to let the reader know how she felt on the subject, she felt that there are many other important key factors related to depression other than just a serotonin imbalance. I feel that by searching the web and finding examples of causal writings that this will help me in my future causal writing of my own.
Jorgenson 5
Carrie Arnold wrote in Weird & Wild about the phenomenon of Prasinohaema skinks having green blood. It has been proven that not only is their blood green, so are their bones and the tissue of the body. Biologist and explorer Christopher Austin tried to figure out what it was that caused this strange occurrence. When it was studied, Austin found that these skinks had high levels of the bile pigment biliverdin. This is what is suspected to be the cause of this strange coloring in the body of the skink. What the scientists are unaware of is why this is the case.
Biliverdin is a molecule that is formed by the breaking down, in the liver, of hemoglobin. This green pigmented compound in most vertebrates is excreted with the rest of the waste into the intestines. It is so strange because for other organisms high levels of this are unhealthy if not fatal. When the liver is damaged and people are jaundiced, it is the biliverdin that makes the yellowish hue to their skin.
“It’s surprising because at these concentrations of bile pigments in the blood, [the skinks] should be completely jaundiced, if not dead,” Austin said.
He hypothesizes that the lizard has come to use this in way of protection. It could be that it is used as a defense towards Plasmodium. Plasmodium is a parasite known to cause malaria in humans. This parasite is also capable of giving malaria to birds and reptiles. He believes that the presence of the beliverdin at such toxic levels is capable of repelling the parasite. The saturation of this in the skinks blood stream could make it increasingly difficult for the Plasmodium parasite to infect the Prasinohaema skinks and transfer malaria. It could also be that with the skinks blood blending in to the color of their green skin, it makes it less obvious if and when they receive a serious injury. It would keep from drawing attention to the predators that they are injured and weak.
The author shares the findings of Austin about the biliverdin in the blood of the skinks as to being the reason and cause of the discolored blood and tissues. She also notes Austin’s hypothesized reasonings into why the biliverdin is present in toxic levels in the blood of the skink. As well as nothing the proper reasoning behind the phenomenon, Arnold informs readers that this coloring is not due to a trick of the imagination nor to an added coloring.
Dreyer 2
In the midst of exploring the topic I will explain the causes of for my causal essay—why people seem to be so obsessed with celebrity’s lives—I discovered an article entitled “Oscar Psychology: Why Celebrities Fascinate Us” by Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer in 2012. Celebrity obsession is everywhere and whether people insist they can control their obsession, Stephanie states that one reason we are so fixated on those who are famous is nature and society. The evolution of humans has shown that we continually look to those who are on top. In today’s society, that would be celebrities. It is natural to pay close attention to the dominant species—what they are doing, wearing, saying, and even who they are dating. Relationships between celebrities surely don’t affect the lives of the average person, but the social connection of feeling like we have a relationship with them or know personal details of their lives are what draw us to this obsession. Stephanie also points out that people tend to be connected to a specific celebrity when they are dealing with a hardship or tragedy in their lives. Clinging to these false associations give the person a sense of identity, someone who they feel may know what they are going through.
This article really hit some of the causes of celebrity obsession that I feel I have never previously thought about. She does a great job mentioning history and evolution to show that even in the 1800s, people were obsessed with what the royal family was doing and looked to them as someone to follow. The same thing is true today. I have recently asked myself, why does it matter what the royal family named their baby? Or, why is it so interesting that certain celebrities are having marital problems or are pregnant? The truth is, these types of situations happen to average people every day, but society pays way more attention to those who are famous. The author of this article points out that these obsessions give a person a sense of identity. This is very interesting. When you ponder about the quivering self-identities of fragile teenagers, it makes sense that identifying with a certain star—for example, Justin Bieber—gives them a sense of belonging and acceptance. This captivation usually lasts for only a temporary amount of time. When the individual feels they have found out who they are the need to associate themselves with a celebrity dies away. Theses phases can come and go, bringing about new emotions in those who continue to possess this attraction. Stephanie shows the reader that celebrity fascination has social roots throughout evolution and explains some really interesting causes about self-identity that I would not have thought of.
http://www.livescience.com/18649-oscar-psychology-celebrity-worship.html
Pearce 1
My example of causal writing is titled “When You’re A Naked Mole Rat, Why Stop At One Weapon Against Aging?” by Carl Zimmer. I found this example of causal writing on the National Geographic website. The existing phenomenon that is being explained in this article is why naked mole rats live for so long compared to their relatives. Naked mole rats can live for 30 years while a relative of theirs (mice) can only live two years. One reason that this occurs is because there are no documented cases of a naked mole rat having cancer. This is because the mole rats have a protein in their tissues that prevents cells from multiplying out of control, which is what cancer is. Other than not getting cancer, the naked mole rats have some other ways of living longer as well. One of these ways is that they are “very careful about making proteins.” The naked mole rats have a mutation for a gene that is called 28S which allows them the make two RNA strands instead of one (which is what all other organisms do). This mutation allows the naked mole rats to build proteins with less mistakes than mice. Scientists at the University of Rochester did an experiment which proved this to be true. The scientists found that the naked mole rats make between four to ten times fewer mistakes than their mice cousins. Despite this better accuracy the naked mole rats can still make proteins as fast as the mice do, so the better accuracy has nothing to do with the speed of making proteins. These scientists from the University of Rochester are not sure how this mutation allows naked mole rats to build more effective proteins. They can’t even be 100% positive that this mutation is the reason for the better accuracy in naked mole rat proteins but it does provide a possible explanation for why naked mole rats live for so long and for why they haven’t been found with cancer.
West 5
The causal writing a chose to research is snoring. I chose this topic because my father snores and has sleep apnea, and has to use a machine that stifles his snoring. The machine blows constant air through tubes into his nose, stopping his snoring. I have always wondered why people snore, and what other remedies, other than a sleep apnea machine, there are.
Lynn A. D'Andrea, a sleep specialist at the University of Michigan Medical School explains with many reasons why people snore. She wrote that sound is produced by vibrating structures of the upper airway produce sound during inhalation. This vibrating occurs because of the relaxation of the upper airway during sleep, and the decrease in the size and space of the airway structures. She goes on to not only explain why, but back it up by studies she and others have partaken in. She gives statistics like what percent of all men and women snore, and furthermore, breaks male and females into age groups.
Snoring is worse than most people think; it is not an illness, but it can be a symptom of obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a disorder characterized by snoring, labored breathing, or repetitive pauses or gasps in a person’s breathing during sleep. There are many risk factors that Lynn A. D’Andrea states: weight gain, alcohol consumption, allergies, nasal obstruction, use of muscle relaxants or sedatives, and smoking are all factors she includes in her writing. These factors can occur because snoring stresses the body, and can make people more irritable and tired. Snoring remedies vary in extremity from nasal surgeries to as simple as an external band attached outside of the nose. Ms. D’Andrea explains these risk factors and remedies with examples of each, and proven facts through studies.
Ellis 2
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ironshrink/201109/why-people-commit-suicide
Out of my own curiosity I searched for an article on the causes of suicide. On the Psychology Today website I found an article about this topic by Shawn T. Smith, Psy.D. which he begins directly pointing out the awkwardness of discussing why people commit suicide. Smith continues his writing by explaining why we do not understand suicide. He uses a procatalepsis: “Why don't they understand that things will improve?” Then he explains the opposing suicidal’s point of view. Smith places the types of suicide into three categories for us to understand: depressed, psychotic, manipulative. The Depressed see no purpose to their life and feel alone of unwanted. The Psycotic are the suicidal that have a brain dysfunction, genetic disease or even medication reactions that gives them thoughts of suicide over stress or loneliness. With these people a diagnosis is important because it provides suicidal with the answers they desperately need. The Manipulative suicidal are the people who want to die but are going to leave as much pain behind as possible. They want to hurt the people that hurt them. They especially the people target those who are bullies. As an author, smith does not go into much detail on these three types as his readers are not Psychologist and are not going to spend their time diagnosing a friend who is contemplating suicide. Instead, he details into what a suicidal is thinking. “There is a certain kind of thinking that fuels suicide, and for most of us it is a terribly difficult idea to sit with: suicide is problem-solving behavior.” The simple goal of suicide is to eliminate pain. Death seems an effective way to solve their problem. He then explains that arguing with a suicidal can actually provoke them. Telling someone “suicide doesn’t fix anything” just is another argument that that they have again been proven wrong. I found this article informative as well as the answer to my questions, and I have come to a new understanding of the suicidal.
Arens 2
My causal essay is going to be about why women of all ages sleep around or cheat. Philly.com has an article written by Faye Flam about how self esteem may be linked to why women sleep around. She was first brought upon this topic by a reader who was wondering whether there was an evolutionary explanation for sleeping around. She researched many different sources to get some information about self esteem and how it is connected to sex. The first person is Bobbi Low, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Michigan. Low determined that women use short-term sex to boost self-esteem because they may enjoy a confidence boost after a fling. Low also states that Natural selection favors pickiness in women to choose their man in sake of accidentally being "knocked up". Human sexual psychology isn't hardwired but is shaped more by culture and other environmental factors. David Buss an evolutionary psychologist from the University of Texas agrees that environment matters. Sexual actions tend to be increased when there are more women around. Big cities cause for women to sleep around more because it can be kept more of a secret. Some engage in short term sex because they wan't a long term relationship but it didn't work out (most high school lovers). Other women do it to boost their confidence, especially in a bad relationship. Many psychologists have researched that those women in a bad relationship need a self-esteem boost to boost their confidence and get out of that bad relationship and move on. Evidence has proven that it often works. In conclusion this causal writing explains that yes indeed self esteem is a reason for some women to sleep around.
Heidbrink 1
http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/sleep/dreams/5-reasons-why-you-dream.htm
The topic that I chose for my causal essay is dreaming. I chose dreaming because it has always been fascinating and mysterious to me, especially lucid dreaming and its side effects. The article I reviewed, "Five Reasons Why You Dream" by Victoria Plummer examines the psychological causes of dreaming, along with its benefits.
Plummer gathered the five most widely accepted theories for the causes of dreams and she effectively synthesized them into an entertaining and fascinating article. Her theories don't go without support though; she includes ideas from famous scientists and psychologists to support her theories. For instance, when she describes wish fulfillment as a cause of dreams, she brings up Sigmund Freud's book, "The Interpretation of Dreams" and she uses Freud's ideas of desires to end self-repression to support her own idea of how dreaming makes us feel more self accomplished. Another way that Plummer effectively explains the causes of dreaming is through her establishment of verisimilitude. Everybody has dreamed at least once before, and Plummer knows it. She uses common dreams or themes in dreams that we have all experienced and she goes on to describe the causes of those certain dreams. For instance, she describes dreams as a way to compensate for feelings experienced while awake. So, according to her, fantastic dreams of being in wonderland or wild dreams of flying (both common dreams) are really positive influences on our brain to compensate for an overload of negative feelings encountered during the day. Plummer also uses a few causes of dreams that are completely new to me, such as using dreaming as a coping mechanism. She states that dreams subliminally help us make choices and cope with events that occurred earlier, or may occur in the future. As I read on, I realized that she is on to something. I have dreamed about car accidents and other traumatic events and I also think that these may serve a purpose in our waking lives: teaching us how to cope with stressful events. Plummer used these three strategies to expertly weave an article that is both fascinating and informative.
Zach Bingen
The New York Times recently published an article written by a man named Adam Grant, a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. The article was titled “Why Men Need Women.” In the article, the author clearly conveys his opinion that generosity is an invaluable quality for men to possess, and brings up the question “What makes some men be generous and others be selfish.” According to the studies cited in the article, the simple answer is the presence of a female in his life, no matter the age. One such study that stood out to me was one in which six hundred participants were given two options of how to share a set amount of money with a stranger that they would never meet again. One option, a selfish one, was to keep twenty-five dollars and give ten dollars to the stranger while the other, a generous one, was to give up five dollars so that their partner could gain twenty, for a total of thirty dollars. Surprisingly, more people chose the second option and, even more interestingly, most of the givers had at least two siblings and were 40% more likely to have sisters than non-givers. Sometimes sisters are not enough, however. In fact, the most influential individuals in a man’s life are his wife and daughters, especially when it comes to generosity. Bill Gates, for example, had two sisters but still was not planning on getting involved in philanthropy until after he became rich beyond his wildest dreams. That all promptly changed when two more women entered his life, a wife and a daughter. Now, Gates is one of the most generous charitable givers in not only the United States but also the entire world. Had his wife and daughter not come along, who knows where the world’s charities would be at. In this respect, the article essentially states that women, whether directly or indirectly, make the world a better place through the permeation of generosity throughout society and are undoubtedly needed by men for reasons other than merely sustaining the world’s population or providing companionship.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/opinion/sunday/why-men-need-women.html?pagewanted=all
Author Seth Stephens-Davidwitz wrote a recent article for the New York Times entitled "How Googling Unmasks Child Abuse." As I began to examine the author's article, I came across a statistic explaining Nevada's victims of abuse/neglect rate rose well over fifty percent during 2006-2009; stunned, yet horrified, I continued reading with frequent chills running through my body. Stephens-Davidowitz accuses the Great Depression for a significant increase in not only, child abuse and neglect, but also maltreatment.
"The maltreatment of children is yet another cost of the Great Recession, one that will be felt long after the economy fully recovers." Child abuse proves itself unethical by providing the countless evidence to wander across a child's fragile body. When will the madness of unrighteousness parenting come to an end? The author silently questions a child's parents when he discovers the victims concerns reach Google-- instead of their so called "mommy" or "daddy". He states: "I examined a heart-wrenching category of searches: those likely to have been made by recent victims of abuse who were old enough to use Google. These searches included '"My dad hit me"' or '"Why did my father beat me?"' I also examined a more common class of Google queries: those that include the words '"child abuse"' or '"child neglect."' In some sense, this Google data is like a survey of how many people suspected child maltreatment at a given time. If you see something that worries you, you may well ask Google about '"child abuse signs"' or '"child abuse effects."' Child abuse has deliberately reached out and stolen lives from innocent, helpless, and loveable children.
Martinmaas Pd. 2
The causal essay I am going to write about is why do marriages fail and lead to a divorce. I tried searching for a similar essay online and came across an essay titled “What Causes Divorce? and how to Prevent It” on Psychology Today’s website. In the article, it uses computers as an analogy to love and marriage. It correlates software with “loveware.” The author writes about the qualities in a relationship including chemistry, respect, enjoyment, acceptance, trust, and empathy. He then begins to talk about after the honeymoon and how all these qualities are no longer in place. Chemistry soon disappears because neither spouse is holding back on burps or flatulence and respect soon turns to interrupting one another and being curt. When respect and chemistry are no longer there, it is hard to get a smile from each other so enjoyment is out of the picture as well. The author then continues to explain how all the other qualities slowly disappear and how the only thing left is hatred or bitterness. Even though in the title it says ways to prevent divorce, the author didn’t discuss it in this article. He linked another one of his articles about how to prevent a divorce but I decided not to read it right now. I might go back to the prevention article when writing my own essay. I really enjoyed reading this article though because it is what I intend to write about it. The author wrote about divorce in a fun way by using an analogy to compare love and computers. The article was entertaining and was easy to understand. I liked how he set it up so that if chemistry was no longer there then respect wasn’t either and so on. It was like each quality lead to the downfall of another and soon there was nothing. I also enjoyed how he added in his own little remarks which made the essay more humorous.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/just-listen/201011/what-causes-divorce-and-how-prevent-it
Swanson 1
The link to the website of my example of a casual writing is below
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/question572.htm
This article is written by Melanie Radzicki McManus, and in this article talks about what causes us to yawn. Radzicki McManus talks about when we first start to yawn and what makes our body do such a thing. She also includes what your body does while you yawn. Even though she states that there has been very little research on why we yawn, she list and describes of four common theories of yawning. The first theory was the physiological theory. Our body has a buildup of carbon dioxide and we yawn to draw in more oxygen to remove said carbon dioxide. Another theory was the evolution theory. In this theory, she explains it to come from our ancestors yawning to show their teeth and actually intimidating others. Another thought was that yawning developed from early man to be used as a signal to change activities and find something else to do. The boredom theory is a theory that explains why don't we yawn before we compete in athletics are when dogs yawn before they attack an animal. Though we tend to yawn when we are tired, this theory still doesn't say much about the time before activity. The brain-cooling theory was the fourth theory. Researches say that many people yawn because they need to cool off their brain since their brain is getting warmer than usual and yawning causes it to cool off.
After reading this article, some of her reasons of why we yawn seems very true. Other reasons though, don't seem like they make much sense. Normally, when people see someone else yawn, they believe that the yawner is tired or possibly bored of something. Others see yawners just trying to get rid of carbon dioxide out of their lungs.
Gacke 2
As I was researching causal essays, I came across a rather interesting article that stimulated my curiosity. “Imaginary Friends: Any in Your House?” is an article that discusses the causes of children creating imaginary friends. The author, Susan Newman, begins her article with an intriguing anecdote, describing her memory of her older brother’s imaginary friend George. Following the short narrative, she introduces the reason for her topic: she brings up a piece of writing she recently read claiming that an only-child is more likely to spend most of his or her time with imaginary friends. Troubled by the statement, Newman decided to research the topic, miraculously discovering that being an only-child indeed is not a proved cause of kids making up imaginary friends.
Highly contrasting with the conceived notion that lonely kids often are the ones inventing their own friends, it has been researched that the cause of make-believe friends actually deals with the rich vocabulary and broad creativity of a child. Kids who get along well with classmates and kids who are advanced in creativity and intelligence are more likely to play with imaginary friends. However, another cause of imaginary friends may also deal with a child’s need for assistance, such as with a life change or family problem. Depending on an invisible friend can help children handle their emotions, whether that emotion consists of fear, anger, happiness, or sorrow. Disproving the only-child theory even more, the presence of imaginary friends tends to show up after the birth of a second child. This is most likely caused by the lack of attention the first-born receives from his or her parents.
Susan Newman puts a new perspective on the existence of imaginary friends: they do not signify loneliness or neglect of an only-child, but rather they evolve from exceptionally creative brains. From embodying a person to talk with to representing a unique playmate, fabricating imaginary friends is a common trend among children from all types of family backgrounds, regardless of whether they are children with or without siblings.
Onnen 2
In psychology we are doing a similar project to our causal writing essays. This topic I have chose to research in psychology is different than my causal essay but I chose to use it for this blog task. The topic of this essay is why were are attracted to certain people. Another way to say this would be what causes attraction.
The title of the article I chose to use from my psychology project is "Rules of Attraction" from the Los Angeles Times was written by Julia M. Klein. I found this article using SIRS on our school library website. In many studies from the article it was found that attraction was based on whether a long-term or short-term relationship was expected. This specific study was conducted by Norman P. Li and Douglas T. Kenrick. In a short-term relationship women opted for physical attractiveness, and so did men. In long-term relationship, differences in choices appeared between men and women. The men still preferred attractiveness when it came to choosing a partner. Women chose social status, as well as warmth and trustworthiness when choosing a partner for a long-term relationship. I believe this shows that usually we don't feel attraction based solely on appearance other factors are a part of our decision in the case of long-term partners. Li also said that we find others attractive based on what we have to offer. So a high-class man can aim for a physically attractive women, and women will try and make themselves more attractive to get a high class man. Li also stated that smart and successful women have a harder time finding partners because it seems men want someone smarter to realize their brilliance but not enough to challenge them or find someone better. Based on these studies from Li and Kendrick, I believe that humans can consciously make decisions on who they are attracted too. Some of our attraction may be sub-conscious but for the most part I believe we consciously make the decision to find someone attractive or to try and make ourselves seem more attractive to others.
Schroeder pd. 2
Recently author Andrew J. Cherlin wrote an article for the New York Times called “In the Season of Marriage, a Question. Why Bother?” In this article the author is shocked at how many people are deciding to marry especially knowing the divorce rate and the economy. The author believes that nowadays, people are marrying for different reasons; it is now a status symbol. He states “..marriage represents not only a bundle of rights but also a privileged position.” Marriage is still as significant today as it always has been, but now for different reasons. Now days young couples are waiting until they have a stable job and a nice apartment. It is also becoming more and more socially acceptable to bore a child out of wedlock. Today people are marrying to show their families how well their lives are going even if they are not fully sure on how well the “lifetime marriage” will work out. In the past, the parents of the soon-to-be wedded arranged the formal ceremonies, but not anymore. According to studies, the bride and groom are planning and paying for their big day. The author believes this is shifting the original idea of “uniting two families” to “celebrating specifically the bride and groom.” A topic the author brought up was that people are holding off on getting married because of the economy. As jobs are being moved overseas, young men are having a harder time finding a steady, well-paying job like their fathers had. Keeping this in mind, the young men are choosing to live in cohabiting relationships versus the lifetime commitment of marriage. The author said, “In contrast, more than 90 percent of American women with four-year college degrees wait until after they are married to have children.” The author brings this up saying that this fact goes hand-in-hand with a longer lasting marriage. The author feels that more educated young adults are more likely to wait to get married and have children until they have a steady job and relationship with partner.
Hindbjorgen 1
After searching for great causal writing online, I my eyes soon became glued to an article of journalism about students show up to school sick. The article is entitled “Sick with the flu? Stay home” written by the Iowa State Dailey’s Editorial Board, which my cousin, who keeps me updated with the newest articles, happens to be a part of. This article drew me in because it is discussing a phenomenon that Brandon Valley students are very familiar with. According to the article, students at Iowa State University students are docked, and thus their grades are damaged, if they do not show up to class. This may sound like a fair argument, but what if someone is sick? The writer of this article discusses the detriments and advantages of professors not accepting student absences very thoroughly. By documenting different policies, pertaining to both the professors and the students, the writer is displaying how he or she has become an expert in this specific field. This not only engages me as a reader to look for the faults of the school system, but also strengthen my belief and trust in the article’s authenticity.
The article goes on to support the students who may be sick and choose to miss class. The downfalls of being a student who is sick and attending class do not only affect the suffering students, but also has a negative effect on their peers. By attending class, they may be disruptive with non-ceasing coughing, or even spread the illness creating a class epidemic. Being a sick student attending class can effect their learning process and their rate of healing. Iowa State requires a doctors note to be officially excused from class, however one cannot be obtained by stopping in at their health facility without a scheduled appointment. The article expertly shows the opposing side, suggesting that allowing students to be excused for being sick without a doctors note will let students skip class whenever they want. The author refutes this statement by saying students that would use the “sick” excuse to skip class would only be harming themselves, not ruining the class for the other students or damaging the professor. I found this journalism very informative and intriguing. Covered all the causes and reasons behind a certain circumstance very thoroughly, the article made me consider the policies in place surrounding this subject at our own school.
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/opinion/article_7e178d8c-2ad2-11e3-8bc6-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=story
Spurlin 2
http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/24/can-pro-anorexia-websites-help-heal-some-eating-disorders/
In Maia Szalavitz’s article on time.com entitled “Can Pro-Anorexia Websites Help Heal Some Eating Disorder?” she discusses how big of a problem anorexia is. Blogs on the internet support anorexics are being banned on well-known websites including Pintrest, Yahoo and Tumblr. Some of the poisoning images of “thinspiration” include emaciated models and famous faces with ultra skinny bodies even advice for extreme weight loss can be found. Szalavitz makes it a point that anorexia is “the most deadly of all psychiatric disorders”. People with anorexia parallel to other addictions--when they are not ready to give up their addiction they create a nonjudgmental support for themselves and others. Pro-ana blogs- a place where unconfident, mentally broken girls can express their secrets of dangerous eating habits. In this aspect there are groups of anorexics that support one another to justify their condition. In one study 300 bloggers from a pro-ana website were asked to be interviewed, only 33 of them were willing to do so. This alone proves how those affected by the disorder consciously know they are suffering and scared to admit affliction. Within this support group of physiologically confused young people (all girls) they find solace and comfort that they are not alone since eating disorders tend to be isolated and overt. Szalavitz says:
They go online to vent, and find friends. But at [the] same time they are aware that being a pro-ana blogger might encourage their eating disorder and those of other vulnerable young girls...paradoxically actually adds another area of stress because now they have another thing to be secret about.
Interestingly enough the studies of Szalavitz suggest pro-ana websites do not damage the self-destructive behavior any worse than using a search engine. Because these programs are not run by professionals, it leaves a gap of questions that it may possibly worsen their condition of the users. Yeshua-Katz makes a fine point that “it’s not only beneficial or all bad; it’s a double-edged sword”. There are reasons that pro-ana sites are not being banned across the entire internet: it is nearly technologically impossible to find and stop all harmful sites and if it attainable anyways the majority of thinspiration comes from celebrity gossip on other websites and magazines.
This article showed me another form of anorexic pressures- pro-ana blogs- in which I was not familiar with prior to the article. Reading this brings attention to readers by going deeper than saying girls are obsessed with being foolishly skinny. Instead, the writer explains that sufferers of eating disorders often try to recover by themselves but instead reinforce the pressures to avoid recovery. One possible action to help these girls of pro-ana blogs would be coming out and saying it is okay to look different and all types of bodies can be beautiful.
Fritz 1
In my search for the perfect causal writing I came across an article titled, "How Intense Study May Harm Our Workouts" by Gretchen Reynolds. Within the article Reynolds discusses how it is normally difficult to concentrate after an intense workout, but how hard is it to workout after intense thinking? Fatigue is a complex condition. Exercise science normally concentrates on bodily fatigue; the reduction in our ability to contract muscles and stay in motion. Along with muscles, our minds also fatigue; although the causes of mind fatigue are hard to pin-point. Mind fatigue is normally caused by neurons running low on fuel.
To determine the impact mental fatigue has on exercise, researchers asked 10 young men to visit an exercise labs on many occasions. During each visit the men had monitors and an electrode attached to one leg. The electrode was to zap a small amount of electricity into the muscles, increasing their effort so they reached maximum contractile force at that exact moment.
Along with exercising, during the sessions the men were asked to sit for 90 minutes and watch individual letters flash on a screen while they counted every four and pushed various keys.
After both activities, the men exercised the same leg with a specialized one-legged ergometer to point muscular exhaustion. As thought, the mental fatigue significantly affected the men's endurance. They tired on average 13 percent faster after the computer activity.
In conclusion the researchers findings suggest "that maximal force production is not altered by mental fatigue but endurance performance is altered, and this alteration is closely linked with a higher feeling of perceived exertion," stated by Romuald Lepers. In simpler terms, exercise feels harder when your brain is tired, thus why you quit earlier even though your muscles are fairly fresh.
I found this article very interesting and helpful. As a student with many studies myself, finding the time to work out when you think you are not tired is always a struggle. I will use what i have learned in this piece of journalism in my everyday life!
Quanbeck 5
When researching the effects musical performance has on intelligence, I found an article entitled “Music Makes You Smarter: There’s Lots of Evidence That Playing an Instrument is Good for Your Brain.” The writing provided me with information I need for my essay and evidence to support my claims. I enjoyed reading the article because the writing pertains to a topic I am interested in and relates to the essay I am composing. The article was written well and did not include distracting grammatical or spelling errors as did some other sources I found. I was provided with scientific and hypothetical reasoning as to why music is beneficial to individuals.
Few people would refute the statement that music makes you smarter, yet the facts of the matter aren’t obvious to society’s eyes. The article I selected gave artistic and scientific reasons behind the theory. One particularly convincing point is a statistic that can be found through other online sources. The excerpt, using information provided by The College Board in regards to SAT scores, reads, “Scores up to 52 points higher on the verbal SAT and 37 points higher on the math section are routinely achieved by college-bound high school seniors with backgrounds or experience in musical performance compared to their non-musical peers.” The fact gives validity to the argument that involvement in musical performance makes you smarter by providing clear numbers from a reliable source. In addition to sharing test scores, the article mentions increased IQ levels in children given keyboard lessons. I also appreciate that past experiments lacking legitimacy were mentioned, followed by new tests that reintroduce true facts.
There is evidence that playing music stimulates and enhances multiple areas of the brain, extending beyond the cerebral cortex to the brainstem. Research has been done to show “that music does more than almost any other stimulus to increase connections between the left and right hemispheres of the brain as well as the areas that house emotion and memory.” Having a background in music helps boost moods, as well. Being involved in a band or orchestra is therapeutic. There is a deep complexity to music’s effects on brain activity and human emotions that has been explored, and the consensus that music makes people smarter is difficult to disprove.
http://www.wwbw.com/The-Woodwind---Brasswind---Music-Makes-You-Smarter-g26057t0.wwbw
Beldin 1
(http://www.wiredprof.com/100/sampleessays/causal/causal-analysis1.htm)
While exploring the internet for an great example of a causal essay I discovered an essay entitled, "34 Million Sardines in a Can." I was immediately attracted to this essay due to the strange title. This essay talks about the over populations of the state of California. The author first talks about how many people immigrate to California every year, and the reasons why. He says that the weather is nice but also, more diverse then any other state. To emphasize, he says that people will go to Minnesota and go home just to complain about how our weather is "undesirable." The author then tries to create emotion, by stating that only because of California's over-population hundreds of animals have become endangered. As the demand for more living space becomes higher, they ruin natural habitats for people.
The author says the cause of this over crowding is the theory of the "dangling carrot." He says that California is the prompt place for employment for those in other countries. They come in illegally for work then they have children-who become US citizens-then don't leave. Due to Californias overcrowding the quality of life is going down,people are closer together and spreading diseases easier.
The author says that even though America will never create a law like, China's limit on the number of children allowed. He creates a great causal essay by trying to make let the reader see all the bad happenings with in California, and proving that over-population is a phenomenon. The over-population will lead to less wild life, and less natural resources for the California to produce. I admired how the author was very realistic and didn't sugar coat what he was trying to say. He explained all he wanted and didn't fray from anything the wanted to say about the topic.
McIlravy 2
While browsing the internet, I decided to read about why people cry. The article I found was from The Observer called “Why Do Humans Cry? A New Reading of the Old Sob Story.” It includes ideas and reflects on the thoughts of Charles Darwin. This article explains why people cry, and for what reasons. Darwin was brilliant in many ways; but when it came to explaining the need for humans to weep, he was at a loss. “We must look at weeping as an incidental result, as purposeless as the secretion of tears from a blow outside the eye,” said by Darwin in 1872. Darwin’s thoughts were considered wrong. Scientists have reconsidered the reasons for crying and came up with different ideas. Tears are very symbolic. There are tears of joy, sadness, grieving, happiness, anger, madness, and frustration. Tears are a social signal of distress calls. Ad Vingerhoets, a Dutch psychologist, believes tears signal hopelessness, especially at a young age. Screaming out in pain is a risky way to express feelings. Vingerhoets states that crying is a more appropriate and applicable way to show your feelings. A simple tear can alert others of your pain and suffering. Emotions are often times accompanied with other emotions. Lots of times anger comes along with tears, for no reason. Vingerhoets states that “Tears are less important when you are alone because there is no one to witness them.” To cry in front of any type of loved ones, being friends or family, brings comfort. Knowing that someone is listening improves you mood and can even stop the tears. The feeling of helplessness being acknowledged is all someone needs to support them and make them feel better. Although most tears have meaning, there are some without, such as chopping an onion. It brings tears to your eyes but does not affect how you feel. Tears come for many reasons. Not all can be studied or examined. They just take place within yourself.
A.J. Garrow
Pd. 2
Stommel, Jesse. "HYBRID PEDAGOGY." The Twitter Essay. Hybrid Pedagogy, 6 Jan. 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2013.
In this brief essay, Stommel talks about how texting and social media, mainly twitter, have completely destroyed our grammar. In the first paragraph he digs right into it by talking about how we are solely focused on spell checking and word-processing tools. A great example of this is auto correct on the iPhone, it is sickening how much I use the auto correct feature; for instance, I would type, “i dont really care that much,” but this little machine in my hands turns it to, “I don’t really care that much.” It is truly amazing. Then, Stommel switches it up a little bit by saying this could be a good thing. A good thing? To sum it up he is simply saying that the gibberish that we are speaking now is reinventing the English language. For crying out loud, we have “gonna” in the dictionary now (as I’ve heard). Words that were never said previously are being used erratically. When I was writing my first essay this year, I used “gonna” and “haha,” I was shortening up words from habit. Stommel informs teachers that they need to evolve the ways that you are teaching and mold it around grammar used today; instead of not using fragments, make it a deliberate fragment. He then takes a shot at teachers explaining that students are scared to write academic papers but they do not even hesitate when it comes to composing a tweet, update your Facebook status, or sending a text message. I somewhat agree with him to a certain extent. At the beginning of this class I was terrified! But, I have grown and as you simply get the hang of what you need to accomplish then you can grab it by the horns and take it to a level the teacher hasn’t seen because it is a completely different person.
Zahn 5
In 2008, Carlos Navarro emailed Scientific American and asked the question, "Why do some people sleepwalk?" Neurologist Antonio Oliviero of the National Hospital for Paraplegics in Toledo, Spain explains in the article that sleepwalking arise when ordinary physiological systems are operating during unfitting times. Why the brain issues commands to the muscles during certain phases of sleep is still unknown but these commands are commonly suppressed by other neurological mechanisms. Oliviero continues to say that such sleep disorders that arise are because of genetic or by environmental factors. In the beginning he lists reasons as to why a person might be a sleepwalker, he also explains which phases of sleep this happens in. Later in the article, he includes a research that his team has been working on. As a result of the research, Oliviero and his team know that during normal sleep the chemical gamma-aminobutyric acid acts as an inhibitor that stifles the activity of the brain's motor system. Basically, this chemical causes people to do certain things, such as sleepwalk when they are sleeping. Oliviero also states that sleepwalking can be associated with sleep deprivation, fevers, stress and intake of drugs like sedatives, and stimulants. There are still mysteries to sleepwalking, but learning more about how the brain mechanisms will increase our knowledge and lessen the mystery. Neurologist Antonio Oliviero also says that in the future, scientists will also need to focus on the characteristics of the waking brain along with what is happening while the sleepwalkers are sleeping. I think that Oliviero does a good job explaining why some people sleepwalk. He begins the article with why it happens and some of the causes of it. He then includes his own research and the result of it. Having included his own research, I think it makes the article. Instead of putting other people's work in it and using others' words, he makes it his own article by doing this.
Peltier 1
Lately in government we have been talking about the government shutdown, while looking up some facts about this I found an article I feel is a great example of a causal piece of writing. This article is called “Why the Anger?” The author Robert Reich does a great job of pointing out reason why we have just as much anger as previous generations that may have a more valid reason for the anger. He shows differences such as the Great Depression and WWII that are no longer going on yet the people of the country are as anger now as they were then. He explains the differences leading to the great anger whether it is young mothers streaming into paid work, everyone working longer hours, or borrowing against the rising values of their homes. Anger only increases in all of these situations.
He explains that while partaking in a government debate the host told him to become angrier. When he responded that he felt there was no need for the anger, in the debate the response was, “‘You have to,” she said, ‘viewers are surfing through hundreds of channels and will stop for a gladiator contest’”. He feels people have lost the mindset of being tied together, which is present in the older generations. Seeing they had a great sense of being dependent on one another, they saw “how much they owed each other as members of the same society”. People used to care more about others. You would see people coming together more often in order to help a neighbor in need, whether it was shoveling a drive way or picking up there mail. Today having neighbors who you can ask for help and know they will do what they can to help you is rare depending on where you live. Those who live in small communities and in the country may still hold the belief of helping others but that belief dwindles once you start getting closer into the bigger cities where their only focus is their life.
Robert does a wonderful job of intriguing a reader with the title. Not only does the title capture the attention of a reader but also the introduction paragraph calls to question reasons why the anger may be increasing. Showing the importance in the change. Also tying in a personal connection and experience with the anger that has been become ever present in today's society, Robert enhanced his article, adding a connection the reader can draw to the article. Then pulling in events that Americans should know about in history he makes connections to feelings people have on these events to create a connection to the reasons anger is not necessary today.
I will defiantly try to incorporate these great tactics into my essay. I know that they would make it better to read and more affective on portraying my topic.
Reich, Robert. "Why the Anger?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Aug. 2013. Web. 02 Oct. 2013.
Smith2
In National Geographic a story about floods was written, and I think they did an excellent job! The writer did a phenomenal job at explaining why this natural disaster accrues. As they began the story they explained exactly what a flood was. They then proceeded to explain why flooding is happening more common in the past years. They go very in depth with this topic. The idea that humans are a large reason why flooding is becoming very common is one of the main focal points in the story. The writer also explained how there are many different ways floods happen. This individual gave excellent examples of different places around the world. He also wrote about how in other areas they are thankful for the flooding; because it left rich sediment, and that it has allowed for their excellent agricultural land. They also wrote about the different types of floods: flash floods, floodplains, floodwaters, etc... The individual that wrote this also explained what people are trying to do to limit the damage done by all the flooding. He also has facts that back up his points. He uses the amount that people spend to prevent, or to pay for damage done. He also has a statistic that says 140 people die each year because of flooding. This is a very hard hitting fact. This was used excellently. They chose a statistic that is very eye catching and gets the point across. I believe that if you didn't know what was causing flooding around the world that if you read this story you would have a strong understanding of what flooding is all about. There were many examples to help the reader understand, and even ways that the reader could help protect themselves against flooding. As you read through this story you get a feeling that the person who wrote the story had great evidence and knowledge to back their points up.
Smith 5
("ADMC HD Common Year Writing: Problem and Solution." ADMC HD Common Year Writing: Problem and Solution. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2013)
When Americans hear the word obesity, the words “fat”, “unhealthy”, and “overweight” come to mind. This disease is vastly visible and also a significant fear within the home of an “average American.” The essay “Obesity: paying a heavy price” portrays the aspects of what obesity is, why it occurs, whom it affects, and the lack of awareness about good eating habits. The author compares three main topics in which are the main causes of why obesity is a popular occurrence. Poor food choice, lack of exercise, and the lack of awareness, are all equally a large explanation of the origin of this popular predicament. Another aspect to look at is the foundation of this issue, which obviously begins with children. Mothers tend to give their children an abundant amount food, without enough guidance. It is becoming very rare to see children participating in activities that involve the outdoors, compared to the trendy view of children and teens watching TV and playing video games inside. Technology has a very large influence on society and controls most of our time, which is incredibly limited and valuable. The world in which we live in is full of advertisements; confusing and misleading to false information about healthy eating. Obesity not only leads to low self-esteem, but also serious health problems, which can all be cured by a few small changes.
Two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese (Flegal et al., 2012). Approximately one-fourth of American 2-5 year olds are overweight or obese (Ogden et al., 2012). This topic is obviously a necessary issue to become aware of. You, your children, or possibly even your children’s children are at risk to become overweight, all because of the pure laziness to take a few precautionary steps to prevent this disease. This causal article has allowed my mind to explore a few reasons to why and how this world wide problem can be prevented. Why pay the price.
Erin Buse pd 2
http://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/29/science/guilt-or-why-it-s-good-to-feel-bad.html
When looking for inspiration from the New York Times, I stumbled across "GUILT: WHY IT'S GOOD TO FEEL BAD." This blatantly causal essay enlightened me, as I hope my blog post enriches your life a tad.
The article begins by refuting the common idea that guilt is a useless emotion. Claiming guilt is the very emotion that connects all our emotions various psychoanalysts and psychologists set out to prove the world that guilt, is what makes humans great. Not all expects agree on the origin of one's guilt--some claiming it is innate, others claiming it is brought about in one's upbringing. In regards to one's upbringing, Dr. Lewis sites his studies regarding level of guilt. He found that children with a abusive upbringing connected the abuse as the "model of correct behavior," and therefor said child would feel less remorse for hitting a classmate on the playground than a child brought up in a non-abusive household that enforced both disappointment and punishment. The child brought up in the abusive household did not know he should feel enough guilt to halt his actions because his parents continued to beat him. Some experts in the article say this child misinterpreted his guilt as anger, while others say he does not feel as such as intense tang of guilt as a child raised in a non-abusive household.
Whatever the cause of the guilt--guilt drives humans. It causes us to seek forgiveness and regain our good names. But according to some experts, we should seek punishment. According to Dr. Gaylin, '"Guilty fear is relived when the threat of punishment disappears. True guilt seeks, indeed embraces, punishment."' That combination of sixteen words is immensely powerful, in fact, it made me stop and reflect for a considerable fifteen minutes. I reflected on how I consider myself as having a consistently guilty conscience, but I never, minus a few rare exceptions SEEK punishment. Therefore I must always feel guilty fear. The article explains guilty fear with the example of a speeding motorcyclist. He does not feel any remorse for breaking the law, until he sees the flashing police lights racing behind him. My life has not been filled with guilt, but guilty fear. And that is, simply sad.
The article shows how guilt is not merely a useless emotion, but a necessary connector of all our emotions. Before reading this article I gravely underestimated the power of guilt, even the guilty fear found in my life, but now, I know guilt is what separates humans from other species, because guilt brings compassion. Compassion brings understanding. And understanding brings intelligence.
In December of 2008, Christopher Hitchens wrote an article (that can be found at http://beta.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2008/12/tis_the_season_to_be_incredulous.html) scorning the whole idea of Christmas. Hitchens, or “The Hitch”, often made controversial claims about things so obvious that they’re overlooked. When Hitchens brings them up, however, he uses (mostly) irrefutable logic in describing a topic that makes the reader think of the topic in an entirely new way. It’s as if he takes a wholly banal idea, strips it down, applies his logic, and the idea often becomes a polar opposite of what it was originally thought to be. Hitch’s specialty is in taking the seemingly harmless things about everyday life, and after applying his rigorous criticism, the previously innocuous becomes something sinister.
In this article, as mentioned before, Hitch shows contempt towards the month leading up to Christmas and the holiday itself. He claims that, around Christmas time, America turns into “ the cultural and commercial equivalent of a one-party state.” He complains about the incessant Christian symbols nearly everywhere, and about how the celebration of one person’s birthday by millions of people is exactly the same as what totalitarian regimes do to subdue their residents. But the part about Christmas that concerns him the most is that seemingly all of America comes together in claiming that Christianity is the right religion, that there is no doubt that this single Bronze-age philosophy is the sole way to live a good life. Because Hitchens is an antitheist, which means he doesn’t think there is a supernatural creator and he’s glad that there isn’t, he generally despises all claims that there can be no morality without a God. What horrifies Hitchens especially about Christmas, then, is the idea that America is, by nature, a Christian country. Hitchens abhors all religion-based government, and would turn over in his grave if America became this way. Through his clear, passionate, incisive writing, Christopher Hitchens explains how a seemingly harmless phenomenon could someday be something much more sinister.
Polasky 5
Author Eric Wilson from the New York Times wrote an article in 2010 entitled “Why Does This
Pair of Pants Cost $550?” In the article, Wilson explored the factors to be taken into
consideration when paying paying up to $780 for a simple pair of khaki trousers. Wilson
cleverly looks through the lenses of both the buyer and designer perspective. David A. Aaker,
the vice chairman for a brand consulting firm strongly believes that the price of designer
clothing has nothing to do with the cost of making it. He declares, “It’s all about who else is
wearing them, who is designing them, and who is selling them.” Designers, on the other hand,
claim their pricey pants are due to the quality placed into each pair. Because of this high
quality, fabric is $24 a yard plus a $3 a yard transporting fee. Also, much assembly of the
pants is accomplished by employees who hand sew at $13 an hour without adding benefit
costs. They double the labor and fabric price of $110 to make a profit, raising the cost of the
pants to $220. After retailers factor the pants by 2.5, the total will equal $550. Though the
price of clothes such as these are quite ridiculous, many people continue to buy them for
them for their status, quality, or both. Wilson leaves the article open-ended to allow his
readers the freedom to decide which view they agree most with.
When I began the rigorous journey of attempting to turn a lackluster topic into something
original, I found myself rather awestruck by how the author of the article managed to make a
cliche question an insight of high fashion. I was rather intrigued with how much time, effort,
money, and quality was placed into a designer’s clothing. Always, I assumed it was similar to
how cheaper clothes were constructed and then the designer would add a sky-rocket sticker
price. Though I still believe designer clothes are a waste of money, especially when
something close to the same look is one-twentieth of the cost, my appreciation for the talent of
fashion design and how much work is put into a masterpiece has grown exponentially.
Jackson 1
My causal essay was on what causes autism. I found an extremely interesting article by the author Arshya Vahabzadeh entitled “What Causes Autism Spectrum Disorder?” This article was part of Huffpost Healthy Living. The author goes into detail about what other health professionals are claiming could be the cause of autism. There appears to be a new theory every day about the causes of autism. These can range from air pollution to a lack of folic acid. So many risk factors can come to play in this debacle.
The main reason he feels autism is so hard to pinpoint is because of all the different types of autism. No two cases of autism are the same, hence the “Spectrum” disorder. With autism ranging from simply being antisocial to full-blown Down syndrome, it is impertinent that you realize the varying degrees of autism. Autism can also be paired with another mental illness. The most common is ADHD, which accounts for 1/3 of all autistic cases. With the pairing of the two, the exact cause of the disorder becomes twice as difficult. Even large-scale genetic studies are only able to explain twenty percent of autism cases. There is not simply one gene that would be involved with this disorder but numerous genes. Since autism is determined just like other mental illnesses, simply by a psychiatrist, it makes it extremely difficult to diagnose the exact symptoms and effects of a certain autism case.
Throughout the whole article, the author simply suggests there is no cause yet to be found on autism. His main focus was how to better understand the different types of autism and what symptoms are parts of these specific types. This way, you can more closely understand what would need to happen in order to cause this disorder. He goes through the many different suggestions, but explains why these suggestions are not full-proof and need to continually be researched until a correct solution is found. He does, however, give hope that there will soon be a cause.
Kruse 7
Adam Goldberg wrote an article for the Huffington Post about how the federal government’s shutdown is affecting everyone. The article is entitled, “11 Reasons Why A Government Shutdown Is Terrible For You,” and can be found at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/30/reasons-government-shutdown-terrible_n_4019301.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
I have not yet had the thought that the federal government shutdown would affect me at all, so I was immediately intrigued. For those of us whose parents do not work for the government, everything is moving along normally, or so it seems. To begin with, he first says that many federal workers may be furloughed, or told not to come to work and will not be paid. This only affects those of us whose parents or other family members are federal workers. Employees will also unlikely receive back pay, or pay that was withheld at one time and later distributed. The CDC, or Center for Disease Control, is shut down, too. This means that the new strains of sickness are not currently being monitored, and it will be harder to get a step ahead of disease. At this time of year, especially, it is rather important that we all stay healthy. Most routine FDA inspections will be shut down, posing health threats within our food. Two big money issues include raising the deficit and panic in the stock market. Most people have money invested in the stock market, and if prices go down people will become worried about how their stocks are performing. And of course, we are all disappointed with the national debt to begin with, but the federal shutdown is wasting even more money. National parks and museums are also shut down, which disappoints many people who have traveled from all over the world to visit certain places.
All in all, Mister Goldberg certainly has me convinced that this shutdown could affect all of us more than anticipated, just with the few example he gives.
Kline 5
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/going-long-going-short/?ref=opinion
Grant Faulkner recently wrote an article in the New York Times called “Going Long. Going Short.” In this article Faulkner discusses his writing habits and a somewhat foreign technique that he calls Flash Fiction. He proves the point that more is not always best by sharing his story of how he came across the writing technique. Faulkner explains that it had always been his dream to write the “great American novel” like so many authors had done before him. However, when his friend started writing a memoir of 100 100-word essays it inspired Faulkner to try something a little different. He explains that on almost every writing critique, the comments asked him to expand more, delve more, and describe more more more. So, naturally, he had always tried to do more. It was not until attempting to write these extremely short stories that realized how much better it can be to allow the reader to put their own spin on his story. By leaving out large sections and seriously cutting the detail back, a mystery is created which can be just as intriguing to the reader this day in age as a long, laborious novel might be.
I chose this article as a prime example of causal writing because the author describes a number of phenomenons and ways they can be solved or assuaged. First he highlights the fact that writing critiques quickly become futile as they can be summed up in one word-- “more”. He also hints at the growing dependence on technology and how it's causing shorter attention spans. People are not as likely to sit down to read a large Goliath of a novel as they were 100 or even 50 years ago. Both phenomenons, he concludes, are solved by intentionally writing less. Critics won't know what to say as it is clear that the intention was to make it short, thus, challenging the minds and creativity of other writers. Additionally, more readers can be reached as they are more willing to read 100 words than 100 000.
Johnson 1
In an article titled “Why Men Cheat” in Esquire Magazine the author delves into the causes and emotional motivations most men, including himself, have to cheat. The anonymous author explains how easy it is for him to cheat—on his wife—by following simple guidelines. Cheating on his wife gives him freedom: to say what he wants, do what he wants, act how he wants. He states he can be more open in a 45 minute affair than in 45 years with his wife. A cause of cheating to him is that men need to, physically and emotionally, it does not mean they are incapable of love or even opposed to it. The author relates cheating and relationships to tests: marriage and affair. An affair tests limits and risk while marriage tests attentiveness and depth. “If you cheat, you must believe this much: that fated love is a lie, and monogamous love a deception.” I thought an article about the causes for cheating would be out of anger or to fuel an ego but this author takes it deeper and more logical. The reasons he gives are human and understandable while the superficial perception of cheating is dirty and despicable. It comes down to basic principles. Men, and women, cheat, their causes are diverse in nature but emotional at heart. I am not personally condoning cheating because I am myself an emotional being but it is a realistic part of life and a situation to cope with when the time comes. I would say this article was deceptively effective. In no way did I presume clicking on a magazine link would lead me to see a different light of a dark human trait. I expected an article written by a woman complaining about her husband and how she was a victim and all men are the same…and so on. But this point of view was factual and understanding.
http://www.esquire.com/features/reasons-why-men-cheat-0410
In the article "The Afro as a Natural Expression of Self," the author Ruth La Ferla explains the newest reoccurring hairstyle: the afro. The afro has been making innumerable appearances on world-known celebrities. Perhaps this occurrence is happening due to certain celebs bringing back this retro hairstyle. For example, Obama commented on Dante de Blasio's anti-gravity hairstyle at a democratic fundraiser as being similar to his hairdo from 1978. This tress of choice may suggest one's trendsetting abilities through this rebellious hairstyle from the 70's. Either way, hair is a form of expressing oneself. The 'fro from the 70's was portrayed as a "badge of revolt," but in today's generation it seems to be a much "kinder, gentler 'natural' pretty much short of its militancy." Over the years, the afro has transformed its look from radical, "going against the grain" look, to all-natural in today's world. This could be due to the recently acquired knowledge on hair treatment and the dangers hair dyes possess. Whatever the look, it makes a statement; similar to the statement the cover of the September issue of "O" created by showing Oprah Winfrey with a nearly 3.5 pound wig on, entitled "Let's talk about HAIR!" However the look may be portrayed, it's apparent the afro is making a huge come-back.
Tingle 2
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/fashion/the-afro-as-a-natural-expression-of-self.html?ref=fashion&_r=0
Larson 7
I am going to be doing my essay over crime causation. I found an article from Globe University. They answer a lot of questions about why people engage in crime. Some examples they use on why people tend to do criminal act is that it is a lot easier to steal money than it is to work for it. They begin to talk about how most of today’s society has “barriers” that will keep them from doing criminal acts. When asking the question “Why do people engage in crime?” you will have to ask yourself “Why do people not engage in criminal acts?” This helps to better understand the topic. After reading this article I have become very familiar with direct control, stake in conformity, and internal control. Direct control is when someone such as a parent or a teacher watches over someone to make sure they stay out of trouble. Stake in conformity is the criminal’s willingness to listen to what they are being told and do what they are being told. Finally, internal control is a function of their beliefs regarding crime and their level of self-control.
Read more: Crime Causation: Sociological Theories - Control Theory - People, Direct, Self, and Engaging - JRank Articles http://law.jrank.org/pages/816/Crime-Causation-Sociological-Theories-Control-theory.html#ixzz2gg9YpUMe
Paul 2
In the article “Young Women vs. Self-Esteem” written by Leslie Rubkinkowski, for The Pittsburg Press, she did a significant job explaining the reasons for teenage girls being self-conscious. This article starts off with an eye opening survey result conducted by the American Association of University Woman (AAUW), stating that only 29 percent of high school girls like the way they are. The writer focuses on why girls are more likely to have self-esteem issues than boys. She explains that this feeling of being inferior is caused in several circumstances. One of these would be how young girls see their parents interact; in the majority of households the father makes the decision, drives, controls the money, and etcetera. When young girls see this they assume that the man is superior to the woman. Another is at school, Leslie Rubkinkowski mentions a former teacher, Bryant, who says it is often easier for teacher to pay more attention to boys than to girls, due to personality and behavior traits. Along with that is appearance. “Guys expect it from you,” states Paula Wood who is 18 and a senior. Assumptions like this along with the help of magazines and other media create a distorted view on body image. I thought age was the most surprising factor that this writer mentioned, other research done by AAUW showed that between elementary school and high school young girls’ self-confidence dropped substantially.
I knew many girls my age—even me at times—were self-conscious; however, I never realized the diverse causes. I chose this topic for not only my next essay, but also my psychology DaVinci project because it is a phenomenon that is occurring at my current age and is starting to be a more serious issue. I find this topic interesting because of the several factors that go into it; also so I could research and find out why this problem occurs. I chose this article out of the ten I printed for the psychology project, because of the statistic and accurate information that creatively explained the causes of teenage girls’ self-esteem complications.
http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SSD0037-0-6321&artno=0000005171
Staab 5
The Phenomenon of the Floating Orbs of light. For hundreds of years people have seen mysterious floating orbs of light all over the world but none have been able to explain the causes of them. Brian Handwerk writes a well written article explaining how Brazilian scientists have been able to re-create these floating orbs. He describes in great detail on what the orbs are like. In the lab he describes them as "rolling around on the floor, bouncing off objects, and burning whatever they touch." As Handwerk writes he tells the readers that these orbs have been seen for hundreds of years, but no one has been able to explain them till now. To prove that he knew what he was writing about he brought in stats. "Between 1 in 30 and 1 in 150 people report having seen natural ball lighting." He also informs us that these orbs are commonly spotted during a thunderstorm. Handwerk also tells us that theories have been proposed to explain the phenomenon. He then gives us a few examples of the phenomenon. "...when lightning strikes a surfaces, a vapor is formed. This silicon vapor may condense into particles that combine with oxygen in the air to slowly burn with the chemical energy of oxidation." He let's us know that there is scientific proof behind this mystery, and that it is not some wives tale. Handwerk doesn't leave out the most important part. The testing for proof. He tells us that scientists have been working for two years to test the experiment. He gives us details on the experiment, enough to give a reader information about it, but not enough to bore a reader. After he gives information about one theory, he gives us a few more. He tells readers that there are more ways to recreate the orbs besides using silicon. He also explains that it could be materials around where the orb has been seen that has caused it.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070122-ball-lightning_2.html
Grage 2
http://elitedaily.com/dating/sex/the-five-reasons-why-nice-guys-finish-last/
David Wygant, the author of "Why Do Nice Guys Finish Last?" explains to his readers exactly why nice guys do indeed finish last. He discusses that these men are the "nice guys" not the "great guys"; telling us that these men think they have to do what their desirable woman wants them to do, when all she wants them to do is be interesting. Women want men to be individual and stand up for their own values. They want a man who can make their own decisions and be a leader in a relationship. The “nice guys” rarely show these qualities. These guys tend to agree with everything women say; thinking that that is what they want to hear when all they truly want is your opinion—respect your values. They believe that they can’t get woman; settling for what they think they can get instead of pursuing the woman that they admire most. “Nice guys” tend to beg their way into the relationships that they do acquire. This lets the woman know that they have absolute power over this relationship. If you tend to hear “I just want to be friends.” You are most likely doing something wrong.
One argument that I did not realize prior to this article is that women search for men that can catch additional woman but desire to be with them instead. It makes them feel extraordinary that they can obtain a man that is desirable to other woman; complimenting themselves for achieving a man that has selected them instead of the others interested. Social status does play a big toll in how people choose their partners. People may not admit it but they are not as likely to choose someone who is not accepted by their friend group. People care about what other people think, it is a competition for woman while they are younger to find the most desired guy and make him hers.
The causal piece of journalism I decided to examine was a short article written by Alexandra Sifferlin titled, “Why Your Brain Isn’t Fooled By Sugar Stand-Ins.” The article is based on a study published in The Journal of Physiology, and it examines the brain chemistry and the psychological reasons why artificial sweeteners do not do the job. The author clearly demonstrates why this phenomenon exists, using several reputable sources and explaining the results of experiments in a scientific yet understandable way. She uses results found by researchers at Yale University School of Medicine, showing how our brain knows that artificial sweeteners are imposters, and how consumers of artificial sweeteners will not receive the satisfaction they are craving. An experiment done on mice showed how although both sweeteners tasted the same, the mice preferred the real stuff, especially when their blood sugar dropped. When the real sugar metabolizes, levels of dopamine rise, satisfying the mice and signaling to the body that the needs have been met. This same reaction does not occur with the artificial sugar. Somehow the mice are able to sense that the sugar substitute does not have the same effects. The researchers concluded that humans likely have similar reactions. Sifferlin also discussed the direct psychological effect on people, particularly dieters who choose these sugar-free options. Although they may think they are satisfied at the time, the substitutes likely do not satisfy the original source of want, the metabolism. This could cause dieters to crave even more later. They also may believe that by “saving” on calories earlier, it is ok for them to eat heavy sugars like ice cream later. The author concludes that perhaps it would be better for dieters to mix some real sugar in with their diet sugar. Although the article has a persuasive conclusion, it is almost purely causal and effectively explains why sugar stand-ins do not satisfy.
Tom Borg recently posted an article on www.beyond .com on “Why People Resist Change,” he says:
“One of the hardest things for any individual to do, let alone their organization or company, is to change. Often times people will say they want to change, but will find every excuse possible to delay or prevent the very change they desire. They will have the best intentions, but when it comes to investing the money or the energy to follow through, they fall woefully short. One company I had done some consulting with discussed the importance of expanding their market and increasing their sales. They had watched their gross sales shrink by twenty percent over the last three years and all indications showed the fourth year would follow the same pattern. After discussing their options for action, the owner declined taking any action by giving the excuse he didn’t think his people would approve of spending the money during the tough economic times they were experiencing. This is a little like the example of the person who drank because he was depressed. When he was asked why he was depressed, his response was, “because I drink.” The situation is not going to get any better until a different course of action is taken. Many times the first thing that must happen in order for you to change is your mindset. Until that happens, the situation will only stay the same or get worse.”
This article struck me because it is simple yet makes a valid point. The author talks about a problem that is common in today’s society since nearly all of us have dealt with someone resistant to change at one point or another. To lend himself some credibility, he speaks to personal experience in the business world and working with the problem firsthand. He then parallels this example to everyday life, making them more understandable to the average reader. Many of us can relate to this problem in our own lives as we often desire to make changes in our lives, but lack the nerve to face that change head on. While not only addressing that the problem exists, the author discusses why, and speaks about the fear people have of the unknown. He also points a vicious cycle this problem creates, that helps to explain why the problem is so hard to overcome. The only solution, he says, is to change your mindset altogether and break free from the hold of fear and doubt. Overall, Tom uses a logical thought process, combined with real world examples, to accurately address a problem that is all too common in our world.
Mutschelknaus 2
The article I read was about why humans hate to feel guilty. “Blame Game: Why We Hate to Feel Guilty,” written by Alexandra Sifferlin for time.com, talks about how we feel less responsible for our actions when we do something that causes negative consequences than when others do. Also, she says that we see interactions during things that cause negative consequences completely different than we do when it has positive results. Contrary to popular belief, the “blame game” is nothing new and has been around for a long time. Recently, the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London research has found that we are not wanting to escape blame, but rather do not feel it is our fault. They performed an experiment where 34 participants randomly pressed buttons that produced positive, negative, and neutral sounds. Participants then had to estimate the time between when the pushed the button and when they heard the sound. The study concluded that there was a longer lag time for negative sounds than for positive. “The most important implication is that just because you don’t feel responsible, doesn’t mean you’re actually not,” says study author Patrick Haggard. From this study, findings suggest maybe more people need to recognize negative situations may actually be our fault.
I found this article intriguing because, having younger siblings, I either frequently get blamed for events by them or I blame my siblings. The feeling of guilt is very unpleasant and for most human beings that is true. I did not know before this article that humans feel less responsible for things that cause negative consequences and in retrospect, it is true. I can recall many times I feel less responsible for my actions when the consequences were more severe when I did something to my siblings. Knowing the study, I now will have the though in my head after a negative situation that maybe it is my fault.
Jeanie Larche Davis, the author of an article posted on WebMD entitled “Teenagers: Why do they Rebel?” explains why teenagers rebel, specifically towards their parents. In this article Davis explains the motives and intentions behind a teenagers rebellious behavior. She brought in two experts to help her explain the reasoning. The information she presents to us is reliable because she states the sources she received outside information from, and since both are experts in this category it is trustworthy. She uses information from David Elkind, a professor of child development at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and Amy Bobrow, a professor in the Child Study Center at New York University School of Medicine. He provides information on the brain and development that most people are unfamiliar with. Younger children are oblivious to the flaws in their parents because the prefrontal cortex is underdeveloped, and therefore these children are unable to make judgments or ideals by themselves. Adolescents soon begin to see a more realistic version of everything once that prefrontal cortex develops. At this point though Elkind says that teens begin to compare their parents to their friend’s parents, or media parents. From the brain being underdeveloped, Davis mentions how that affects the teenager’s social life and actions. Body piercings, tattoos, and music are known as todays, what Davis calls “markers of adolescence.” Elkind provided the information that in the past kids were not expected to be faced with such strong peer pressure of drugs and alcohol until they were 17 or 18, but today you see kids being in these situations at the age of 13 and 14. And since this is an age where the brain is still not fully developed more kids are making poor choices, so therefore the numbers of how many kids seem to rebel are going up. In the end of the article Davis puts in a direct quote from Bodrow saying “the bottom line is communication—and not just at times of disapproval, make sure you communicate with your child when you’re proud.” He points out how it’s important to have a balance in that way so kids don’t see it as a “why are you always nagging me, always on my back” type of situation.
I though Davis did a good job putting together her article because she used a lot of credible resources. She provided background information on her topic so anyone who reads it can understand it. She also contradicted herself to say that no, not all teenagers do rebel. She gave out statistics with numbers of how many have taken part in certain types of rebellious acts. However she could have used more of her own words. For most of the article it seemed as though the two professors had more to say about the topic than she did.
Lusk 5
Jeanie Larche Davis, the author of an article posted on WebMD entitled “Teenagers: Why do they Rebel?” explains why teenagers rebel, specifically towards their parents. In this article Davis explains the motives and intentions behind a teenagers rebellious behavior. She brought in two experts to help her explain the reasoning. The information she presents to us is reliable because she states the sources she received outside information from, and since both are experts in this category it is trustworthy. She uses information from David Elkind, a professor of child development at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and Amy Bobrow, a professor in the Child Study Center at New York University School of Medicine. He provides information on the brain and development that most people are unfamiliar with. Younger children are oblivious to the flaws in their parents because the prefrontal cortex is underdeveloped, and therefore these children are unable to make judgments or ideals by themselves. Adolescents soon begin to see a more realistic version of everything once that prefrontal cortex develops. At this point though Elkind says that teens begin to compare their parents to their friend’s parents, or media parents. From the brain being underdeveloped, Davis mentions how that affects the teenager’s social life and actions. Body piercings, tattoos, and music are known as todays, what Davis calls “markers of adolescence.” Elkind provided the information that in the past kids were not expected to be faced with such strong peer pressure of drugs and alcohol until they were 17 or 18, but today you see kids being in these situations at the age of 13 and 14. And since this is an age where the brain is still not fully developed more kids are making poor choices, so therefore the numbers of how many kids seem to rebel are going up. In the end of the article Davis puts in a direct quote from Bodrow saying “the bottom line is communication—and not just at times of disapproval, make sure you communicate with your child when you’re proud.” He points out how it’s important to have a balance in that way so kids don’t see it as a “why are you always nagging me, always on my back” type of situation.
I though Davis did a good job putting together her article because she used a lot of credible resources. She provided background information on her topic so anyone who reads it can understand it. She also contradicted herself to say that no, not all teenagers do rebel. She gave out statistics with numbers of how many have taken part in certain types of rebellious acts. However she could have used more of her own words. For most of the article it seemed as though the two professors had more to say about the topic than she did.
Jackson 5
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/09/28/the-way-you-walk-is-tied-to-a-hole-in-your-skull/
The National Geographic website had an article titled “ Why Do Humans Walk on Two Legs?” by Brian Switek. This caught my eye as a causal essay which turned out to be pretty good, although he says that “not everyone has agreed” referring to his main point in why humans walk, which is that the hole in your skull tells why. Switek writes that the foramen magnum, which is the scientific term for the hole in your skull where your soft tissues and spinal cord connect to the skull, position on the head is what determines how you walk. To get his point more credit he tells how Raymond Dart, a paleoanthropologist, used the position of the hole of the “Taung child’s” skull to tell that it was an early human. Along with Dart, Switek lists many other sources such as Journal of Human Evolution, Michel Brunet, Gabrielle Russo, and Christopher Kirk. Russo and Kirk actually go against what Switek is trying to prove by saying, “Past attempts to link foramen magnum position with bipedalism specifically have also been complicated by the fact that H. sapiens is the only habitually bipedal living primate species.” Russo and Kirk studied non-human primates and other animals such as marsupials, and rodents to compare their foremen magnum to humans to get a better understanding and comparison. Skitek states a specific example from their research that wallabies and kangaroos, which are marsupials, tend to have some similarities between the foremen magnum in them as in many bipedal species such as humans. Opposed to what Switek says, Russo and Kirk agree that the position and alignment of the trunk to the rest of the body has to do on the way one walks. In conclusion Switek seems to say that the research is getting farther but we aren’t quite there to conclude that the foremen magnum is a factor is the way an organism walks. He uses many sources and theories against his own to give you a broader picture and explain what professionals think on his topic.
In Brain Switek's "The Way You Walk is Tied to a Hole in Your Skull", Switek looks at the evolutionary reasons we are able to walk on two feet.
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/09/28/the-way-you-walk-is-tied-to-a-hole-in-your-skull/
Mapping our evolutionary lineage will always be a hot topic within the scientific community. The more and more “links” we remove from the “chain”, the closer we get to discovering the origins of an even more defining feature; bipedalism. Many hypothesize that bipedalism, or the ability to walk upright on two feet, may be linked to the position of the spinal column. The spinal column exists the base of the skull through a large opening known as the foramen magnum. Because many ancestral primate skeletons are incomplete, or otherwise unidentifiable aside from the skull; the foramen magnum serves as a good reference point when gaging general body posture.
Because humans are the only habitually bipedal primates in living existence, scientists look to the skeletal features of other animals displaying some degree of bipedalism such as kangaroos and walabees. Other animals with upward holding postures such as lemurs and lories were also examined. By comparing the foramen magnum position of these animals against their quadrapedal cousins, a general inferrence can be reached that animals with upward trunk posture or some degree of bipedalism typically have their foramen magnums distal from the base of their skull.
It can be difficult to say whether the trend discovered definitively shows a link between the position of the foramen magnum and a bipedal striding posture in humans as their are very few apes to compare against humans, none of them living. However, based on these findings, it is clear that the positioning of our foramens is unique and its position will continue to be used as a reference point when adding members to the evolutionary family tree and investigating the origins of our two footed gate.
Klamm 2
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/09/28/the-way-you-walk-is-tied-to-a-hole-in-your-skull/
On my search for an effective causal essay I tried to find an article about the causes of something we think is common place and take for granted. I found an article on why we walk on two legs something common place with a surprising cause. The article I found on the National Geographic website, written by Brian Switek, is called, “The Way You Walk is Tied to a Hole in Your Skull.” It is a very thorough examination of why we have developed into becoming bipedal primates while many other apes have not. Switek’s explains that a hole in our skull called the Foramen Magnum or “great hole” may be the reason why we walk on two legs. This hole is where our spinal cord runs through. The position of the foramen magnum tells us the relation of the head to the spine. The author goes onto explain that this is a popular theory but is not universally accepted. He then tries to provide more evidence on why the foramen magnum is important in bipedal walking by examining other bipedal mammals and their close quadrupedal relatives. The evidence showed that bipedal primates, marsupials and rodents all had a more forward positioned opening than their quadrupedal siblings. This supports his thesis by saying not only do humans have a more forward positioned opening than other apes, mammals with the same situation have more forward positioned openings as well. This article is particularly effective in explaining why a hole in our skull is important at all and does have a purpose. He shows us that foramen magnum placement seems to make a major difference in mammal’s ability to be bi or quadrupedal. He gives reasons why this may not be a deciding factor of bipedalness which only strengthens his argument because he is able to refute this claim. Over all, this article is a very impressive example of causal writing
Berg 2
Author Brian Handwerk, writing for the National Geographic News, wrote an article about why leap year is necessary nowadays. This article is titled, “Leap Year 2012: Why We Need February 29”. In this article, he goes on to explain the origins of leap year and the different forms it was used in different parts of the world. The Earth orbits the Sun every 365.242 days, and that is not an easy number to create a calendar around. The earliest calendars were mainly based on lunar months (an average of 29.5 days per month) but each year they made contained only 354 days instead of 365.242 days. Because the years did not match the alignment of the seasons as the years went on. Instead of celebrating the harvest holiday during the harvest, it was push to when the seeds were being planted. That is one example that he listed to further gain our interest.
The Mayans were on a completely different calendar, actually, they had two calendar years that were carefully designed to synchronize in 52-year cycles. However, they were not concerned with matching holidays and seasons but instead were more concerned with keeping time unbroken. They felt that “to break continuity would be to break order”. Their solar year consisted of 365 days and was central to the agricultural cycle. But their ritual year was only 260 days and was critical for determining auspicious dates and holidays. They had placed their priority on marking time’s passage through additional calendar systems (one is known as the Long Count which unfolded on a cycle of more than 5,000 years long).
Similar to the Mayans, the Chinese use more than one calendar. Their solar calendar included a whole leap month and their lunar calendar (which is still used today) determines the dates of special festivals including Chinese New Year.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/02/120229-leap-year-day-february-29-calendar-cultures-science/#close-modal
Smith, 1
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/psychology-of-dreams.html
Psychology of Dreams, by Manali Oak masterfully explains the phenomenon of dreaming. Dreams are a crazy thing to comprehend and that is why I was driven to research this topic. It is a challenge to be an expert on the idea of dreaming because, like stated in the article, theories and presumptions about dreaming do exist but the real purpose of a dream is still unknown. The author handily gives you five reasons (in a bullet-format) why everyone may dream about a certain thing and from there on, he reaches much depth of dreaming. Following his essence of dreaming, he then leads the article with theories supporting ideas why people dream.
The article indirectly explains that the physiology of dreams that are capable of going beyond then what the human mind can perceive. Cited in the article, Manali Oak enlightens the multiple series of concepts of why humans dream and how it can work: Hidden desires may be concealed in a dream. When in the state of a dream, thoughts may be altered and reminiscences are being reorganized. Also, relatively, dreams revise your mental scheme of things. Out of majority of your dreams, it is most common to observe dreams visual or by hearing them. Furthermore, the meaning of your dreams depends on what you associate the images to.
Manali Oak also commences the keenness of the founding father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. The designated paragraph foretells Mr. Sigmund Freud’s explanation and interpretation of the meaning of dreams. Sigmund Freud anticipated that dreams are the expression of one’s unconscious wishes, whereas nightmares are a way for the brain to throw out distressful experiences. Manali Oak made this causal writing is informative yet informal. The explanations are supported with logical causes making the phenomenon of dreaming a better understanding to appreciate.
Alex Oddy
Period 1
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/why-exercise-makes-us-feel-good/?_r=0
Gretchen Reynolds of the New York times wrote an article titled, “Why Exercise Makes us Feel Good” In this article she explains the reasons that exercise in regular intervals tends to make people feel good. Gretchen starts off her article by talking about how a good majority of people undoubtedly agree that exercise makes people happier and calmer. She then provides a basis to this argument by explaining studies of people around the world, verifying her point, that exercise does indeed have a positive effect on a human’s mental health. She does this part of her post well, using solid data as a basis for her entire article. Then, she goes into detail about an experiment conducted on mice that also backs up her initial thoughts, but also shows why. The experiment was a test of two groups of mice, one group that exercised regularly and another that did not, and how they reacted to the exercise. During the experiment, tests were done on the mice’s brains to see exactly what the difference was between the two groups neurologically. The experiment concludes that animals/humans that exercise use neurons in the part of the brain that controls the animal’s emotions a lot more, causing them to have less anxiety and depression. Her whole article is rather science based and I think that this is a good thing due to the fact that an idea based on science is rather difficult to be disproven. She uses simple, but solid examples and experiments as a basis for her data and conclusion which makes her conclusion a lot more believable and easily understandable. The journalist also used a topic that was rather relatable by most people making it more interesting to the general audience.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-cumming/why-is-america-so-content_b_134325.html
Allan Cumming: “Why is America So Content with Mediocrity?”
The well-educated views that this Republican displays is outright and precise as he details the lies and false information pleas that presidential candidates feed the oblivious American. Supplying details about how advanced America is, how good a force America is, and how America is the best at anything, Cummings shows how the 2008 elections were held together with a weak curiosity and a strong trust that seems almost unwarranted in retrospect. “Its poor downtrodden, unhealthy, under-educated and depressed workforce cannot surely believe it towers above all others in some sort of World Worker Idol type way?” is a question raised and later chopped down by stating that many American bosses are going out of country to find and replace their current workforce for more sufficient employees.
The clever disguise that the American government has suffocated the general public with is guilty of patriotic and noble remarks relating to near poles with what America is realistically exhibiting. Mr. Cummings is irate at how Americans hold themselves to a greater stature than the rest of the world and wishes to invade onto other lands that are superior in the amount of oil, minerals, and usable resources that we need here, on nearly transparent or completely absent justification. “Protecting” the world is seen through the author’s eyes as overstepping boundaries, controlling key areas, and ignoring the genocide that our military force would have issues combating as the attackers are ill-trained beyond surprise tactics and would be nearly fearless due to drug abuse and brain-washing techniques that corrupted government officials forced upon them. Cummings also went on to say: “This country is a mess. It is entering a depression. It is waging two wars. It has an administration so blatantly corrupt that the world is baulking at its arrogance.” Which only proves that he is realistic on how he depicts America and how she is in serious trouble due to the mediocrity that her citizens hold the government of maintaining.
RR 1
The prompt asks me to report on a fantastic piece of causal writing, and although I did not “excavate all around online” I believe I have the truly best article. This article is one of the oldest pieces of history and is a great explanation for, well the most important of things, our existence. This book was written by Moses and I will only be discussing the first two chapters of the history book that I call Genesis.
I believe this book was masterfully written, scribed by Moses, but authored by God, The Holy Star Breather himself, in what he said to Moses. The Book does not teach a new and unknown lesson to most of us, but it does well to explain the first uncaused cause, that before us was God and He spoke us into existence. The first line of this history book explains almost any question we have about the origin of where we come from; what caused us. It states that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. Need I go on, yes, because I am at a meager 189 words at the present and I am to demonstrate my academic adequacy; but all kidding aside I do believe that I have highlighted the most beautiful causal essay ever written, and that is all that should be required. A simple sentence that changed everything.
To this day I have heard nothing more profound, more pertinent to our lives than this verse. The Bible as a whole has more wisdom in it than most me care to know, and some of my peers essays have been on topics that were outlined and explained in the very book that our society has come to loath. So really, why are we here? Why do we do what we do? And even why do we love who we love are found in this glorious book, making it the ultimate authority on causality.
Colossians 1:16-17 - For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.
Dykstra 7
This past summer, the New York Times featured a phenomenal example of causal writing entitled "Why Smokers Still Smoke" by Eyal Ert and Eldad Yechiam. The authors begin by refuting two arguments that may commonly be used to explain why people smoke. They state that smokers are, in fact, just as well informed about the health risks of smoking as nonsmokers. The authors go on to discuss why one may think that smokers are simply risk takers, and then prove why this is incorrect. To do this, the authors conducted two studies on gambling comparing smokers and nonsmokers. They found that smokers and nonsmokers both tend to take similar risks. However, the first study included results that seem to show that smokers have poorer self-control than nonsmokers. The second study focused on this topic, and its results supported this hypothesis. Because of this, the authors concluded that although their results are only subtly different from commonly accepted beliefs about why smokers smoke, they still believe these findings could be used to help fight smoking. The authors suggest that employers and those concerned for smokers should make it as inconvenient as possible for smokers to smoke, as this may deter them from their nasty habit.
This article is so marvelous because it features all of the elements of a great causal essay. The authors cited two scientific studies that prove the causes of the phenomenon they desired to explain. They also refute two ideas that are commonly used to explain smokers' behavior. The conclusion is clearly stated, and even ideas of how to use this information to help people are provided. This is a truly persuasive article; the authors have thoroughly convinced me that they are correct. I believe that this is a fascinating, relevant, and well thought-out causal essay.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/opinion/sunday/why-smokers-still-smoke.html?_r=0
Pruett 7
http://www.empoweringparents.com/Why-Do-Kids-Children-Teens-Bully-and-How-to-Stop-Bullies.php#
While skimming through articles on the internet, I noticed a particularily enticing and relative one.
"The Secret Life of Bullies: Why They Do It—and How to Stop Them" is an essay written by James Lehman which addresses the causes of bullying. First and foremost, he makes sure to acknowledge the fact that bullying is something that happens throughout life, not just in school. Abusive parents, bosses, or even friends bully millions of people every day to get what they desire. Lehman later brings an incredibly important piece foward into the light: "bullying is done to solve social skills the 'easy way.'" It is much easier to suppress somebody as compared to working things out in a civil fashion with them. Lehman also brings forth the point that kids who do not join a social group are most often those who are targeted. Those who stand up to this bully are then bullied themselves, which is why so much goes unreported or unhelped every day. The worst part, unfortunately, is that most bullies don't even perceive themselves to be bullies. Calling names and teasing is something that comes natural for them, and while it may not seem offensive to those who say it, it can do a ton of damage on the receiving end of the spectrum.
Upon first reading this, I had some doubts as to what the author was addressing. However, after re-reading and thinking it over for a while, I believe he is right. "Even the smallest joke," Lehman says, "can be taken in the wrong way." This article was delivered in a fantastic way; I myself am now wondering if I am a bully. To analyze and take the approach that the author did about this issue is nothing short of courageous. Most people turn a blind eye to bullying, hoping that their guilty conscience will be soothed by simply ignoring it. Lehman brings it to the attention of everyone, writing to deter bullying. The emotions and second guessing that are risen from reading this essay lets you know that the author truly has accomplished his mission.
Long 5
In “The Eight Reasons that People Cheat on Their Partners” written by Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D., she explains the reasons behind the infidelity that happens in marriages. Infidelity is obviously one of the higher rates behind divorces. However, Susan Krauss states that many happily married couples admit to infidelity and never get divorced. In a survey conducted by Loras College psychologist Julia Omarzu and colleagues, people who had engaged in a marital affair were asked about their emotional experiences during the affair. Many of these affairs were on-going and not just one night stands, some lasting more than one year while others as long as five years. The people who had the affairs were likely to contact each other using cell phones, meeting at hotels, work, or in cars. The reasons why these people engaged in the relationships is because they wished to be more involved sexually, were not emotionally satisfied or wanted to gain additional emotional connection. Very frequently does one partner fall in love with a new partner. Two additional categories appeared in an online study. One was “revenge sex”. People who seek an affair for this reason try to get back at their own partner who had already cheated on them. For many people this may seem understandable. Another category is “sensation seeking”. Partners are curious or become bored so they try to see what else is out there. There is not one predominant gender in the field of infidelity. Men and women are both likely to cheat. Male or female can feel that emotional intimacy they are missing from their relationship and are likely to seek it in an affair. Within the survey there was a question asking how the partner felt after the affair. Though a substantial number had felt no guilt, majority felt guilt and anxiety.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201209/the-eight-reasons-people-cheat-their-partners
Sternburg 1
http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2009/05/28/what-is-the-cause-of-excess-co/
In the article “What is the cause of excess costs in US health care” the author, Mark Hoofnagle clearly and concisely explains the problems that burden our health care system. Hoofnagle attributes the high costs to a number of causes: lack of universal health care, profit driven pharmaceutical companies, inefficient healthcare administration, overpayment of doctors, defensive medicine, and lack of electronic medical records. The fact that he lists more than one factor is the first clue that this is a terrific example of causal writing. I find that in almost every case, phenomenon or events have multiple causes. Many times the causes are intricate and confusing and people pick and choose the “prettiest” ones to simplify the situation. I enjoy this article because the author understands that there is no simple solution to the health care crisis.
The rest of the article is no less impressive. What really stands out to me is the clarity of the writing. First of all, the author is clear and to the point the whole time; he completely avoids fluffing up the article with irrelevant points. Another aspect of the article that makes it an effective example of causal writing is the focus on facts. As one would expect the author maintains an objectively scientific voice throughout the writing. I find this to be important because opinions are irrelevant when dealing with the causes of phenomenon. I would not like to read a novel with a dry and to the point diction but for nonfiction it is key. Also the author acknowledges his limited experience and relies heavily on a study to prove his points. The article is filled with statistics, graphs, and quotes that Hoofnagle uses to back up his argument. Lastly I appreciated the thoroughness of the explanations. After giving a brief summary of his main points the author then dedicated a section for each and discussed the causes in more depth.
Ask 5
Allen G. Johnson is a Author who writes on a plethora of topics, but mostly social and governmental issues. In his very long causal essay, Why is there poverty?" he explains the causes of poverty in the United States. He uses statistics, which give him credibility. At one point in the beginning he says that one out of every six Americans live in poverty. (which is less than $20,000 per year.) He then goes to blaming in on capitalism. He says that in a capitalistic society, the elite are encouraged to accumulate wealth, and like Bill Gates, are even made famous for their monstrous hoarding of wealth. He then explains that this leaves a small slice of the cake for the rest of us. He uses an analogy by saying it's like a game of musical chairs, once the music stops, somebody is left out. He goes on to say that another reason why poverty exists is because of our companies wanting to run as efficient as possible. Many companies keep wages low, don't allow overtime, and sometimes ship jobs overseas to cheaper labor. (Nike and China) Which is accurate too. My grandpa as a buddy in Seattle that makes chairs out of nice types of wood. If he makes it in America, after all the wages, taxes, and shipping, it can be on his docks for like $180 a chair, while if he sends it over to China, he can get it back for $87 a chair. Overall I think this guy did a great job in explaining why we have poverty in the United States, he seemed very credible, and with good reason, because his essay was like twenty pages long. I suggest anybody who is interested to skim through it.
Anna Fruehwirth
Pd. 7
For the causal essay prompt we were assigned to do this week, I decided to pick an essay examining why vast amounts of people want to live in California and the potential effects this surplus population can bring. The writer decided upon three main categories for the reasons why people move to California: the weather, the entertainment industry, and the job market. They explained that there is a wide variety of climates found in California, including “snow-capped mountains,” “valleys and deserts,” “breezy coastal beaches,” and “lush, rainy wine country.” I also thought that it was funny that they brought up our close neighbor, Minnesota, as a comparison. After the climate, they mentioned entertainment and how there is almost always a sporting activity that can be done year-round. The author said that this drew in people who “do not consider themselves a ‘couch-potato’”. Other forms of entertainment included were amusement parks, museums, shopping districts, and the television and motion picture industry. Their last point was the strong job market in California, saying illegal immigrants from poorer nations would sneak in to find work and California’s lenient immigration policy exacerbates the problem.
Once they were done explaining the reasons for California’s overpopulation, they discussed the potential harmful effects it could bring. They talked about destruction of habitat for construction, the population density leading to longer commutes and higher housing prices, overcrowding of schools, and congested roadways. They also used some statistics that compared California to the rest of the nation, which I thought was a good idea. A source they cited was “Negative Population Growth,” an online journal with articles on overpopulation in individual states as well as the nation as a whole. They pulled a block quote out of that article from the California Legislative Analyst’s Office that supports their argument, and I thought the citation at the end was a good example.
Essay: http://www.wiredprof.com/100/sampleessays/causal/causal-analysis1.htm
I read an article about why hotels are not making a killing on fees like the airlines. I decided to look at this causal piece of writing because it was something that I do not come across and think about. I found it on time.com. The author, Brad, talks about the things that we are aware of first. He says that the airlines have been piling on fees for years. Then he added some facts to back it up; they have collected more than six billion dollars in baggage and reservation change fees last year. The extra fees that they have to pay at hotels are not bringing in nearly as much revenue. He explains that the people at hotels are not trapped there. In an airplane you are trapped there because you do not want to have to lose your baggage or have to switch plains. You are trying to get to the one place you are flying to. When you are at a hotel it is not seen as such a necessity to have room service or pay for any extra conveniences. When you are on the plan you cannot just go to the gas station to get a drink; you are stuck on the plane.
He makes another point about how hotels are in a more competitive field. People who are looking for a place to stay for one night are going to look at the cheapest but most reasonable place to stay. They have many more options, so sometimes the hotels feel the need to add in the "extras" that cause people to stay there. In order for hotels to keep up, they raise the room rates because that is the one thing that every customer has to pay for.
In his causal article he also adds in many percents and numbers. I think that this helps emphasize his points. It helps draw readers attention in by facts and it makes him seem like he knows what he is talking about. I found this article helpful because it has many of the tactics I hope to use in my essay.
McGee 5
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/magazine/why-are-there-still-so-few-women-in-science.html?hp&_r=0.
Eileen Pollack recently wrote an article called, “Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?” She is sure to state that the reason is not because of their lack of ability at all. She did a study at Yale and her results were quite surprising. They chose a male and female to apply to six major research institutions and the institutes were much more likely to give the job to the male. If they happened to hire the female her salary was set about $4,000 lower than the males. She also states, “Only one-fifth of physics Ph.D.’s in this country are awarded to women, and only about half of those women are American; of all the physics professors in the United States, only 14 percent are women.” Eileen was one of the first women to graduate from Yale with a bachelor in science, so this deeply concerns her. She places the blame on their being no push for women to go into sciences. She claims many professors actually discouraged her to get a degree in science because, “girls never go into science and math.”
The reason I chose this topic is because I find it simply amazing. I am a woman and I want to get my degree in math. I have actually had this conversation with a few college professors when I have gone on college visits. They say women can now get some amazing scholarships because they are searching for women to go into the science and math fields. I have heard that it is uncommon for women to go into a math or science field but it didn’t even occur to me that women are discouraged for being women. I really enjoyed reading this article because it opened my eyes even more to a subject that is interesting and applies to me.
Henderson7
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/cause_effect.htm
In Dewey Cheatham's composition, he brings up the same topic that I intend to write about. Why is soccer popular in Europe but not in the United States? I have chosen this same topic for my causal essay. In his essay he explains how big soccer remains in the country of America. He gives statistics about the number of views between the World Series, Super Bowl and World Cup. All of his stats are from the year 1998 but not much has changes since then. More will people will watch the 2014 FIFA World Cup this summer than the Super Bowl or World Series. The composer then moves onto explaining why soccer is not as popular, he considers the idea of advertisement. In soccer, times outs do not exist. A soccer game has a match time of ninety minutes, and none of the ninety minutes contains a commercials. The only time a commercial can be shown is during half time. For football, basketball and baseball, commercials may appear every five minutes. When my class discussed this subject, we agreed on the matter of the levels of advertisement and no one sponsors soccer because they can't contain commercials. For football, the Super Bowl is known for its hilarious commercials. Another topic brought up by the writer, also brought up by the class, relates to the amount of violence in football compared to soccer. American's seem to like the action packed violent games rather than the calm tactical game such as soccer. The one hundred percent all the time type of play is what attracts the audience. In soccer, the only time this type of situation only happens in the last minutes of the game when a desperate goal is needed. The last topic the writer comes up with is the differences of size of field, I disagree with his thoughts because a football field is not much smaller than a soccer field. For basketball, the game is played on a small court with ten people but for soccer, the game is played on a 115 by 74 yard field with twenty-two players. Instead of field differences I think he could have gone into more detail with the violent sports exciting Americans. Soccer is not liked because it is slow, boring and somewhat hard to understand. Americans like the obvious, fast, violent, and easy to understand games. This essay attracted me instantly because it is about the sport I love and it easily entertained me.
Zell 7
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/feature/wp/2013/05/16/do-no-harm-retired-nfl-players-endure-a-lifetime-of-hurt/
In relation to my essay topic of quitting, I recently found an article explaining the retirement and extended repercussions of NFL players and their injuries. One of the main points outlined in the writing is the fact that these athletes must live the duration of their lives in varying degrees of pain. The three authors used a few extremely effective techniques, some that we are required to use in our causal essays. One of the first strategies they employ is the use of quotes from individual athletes. It is powerful to see the names of players we watched every Sunday talk about not being able to walk long distances or even play ball with their children. A survey was also conducted, and I believe this to be one of the most useful ways to portray information. Hearing stats like, “Nine in ten former NFL players reported suffering concussions while playing…” is a rather strong message itself. The authors did a great job delivering the message of the danger and physical abuse these players went through for years. A picture is even used to display the most common location of injuries to quarterbacks and all other positions. It makes me wonder how we can know the likely location and reason for the injury and why we have yet to make regulations to stop it. I understand this is one of the main conversations in the league, the restrictions on tackles. Love them or hate them, some regulation is obviously needed, especially after reading about Don Majkowski’s case. The ex-quarterback has undergone a staggering twenty surgeries related to his career in the NFL. The authors really evoke sympathy here when they mention how he cannot hold a job, stand for long periods, or how he describes his movement as “walking on a pirate peg leg”. The article also goes on to describe some common misconceptions and problems that arise with the treatment of these injuries. The ending also mentions, once again, concussions. This form of head trauma causes severe controversy on the safety of this American game. All in all, this article does a fantastic job explaining the prevalence of injuries to the retirement of these Sunday studs, and I hope that my causal essay can have the same effect.
Antrim 5
Christian Nordqvist wrote an article over depression. In this article there is a section that tells about what causes depression. When looking at an MRI of a brain from a person with depression and one without depression, the difference is astonishing. In the brain of a person with depression it shows that the areas that deal with thinking, sleep, mood, appetite and behavior do not work to a normal function like a typical brain does. Knowing that this article is not up to date, I can tell you from reading other articles that we do know now what causes depression in the brain. This article says that a traumatic experience may begin depression. It can also be passed down from generation to generation though genetics. It is higher for someone to obtain depression if a close family member struggles with depression as well. There can be many reasons that someone my get depressed. Studies have shown that it is mainly experiences in someone’s life that may begin the process of depression. In our brain we have nerve cells. Connected to the nerve cells are things called axons. Axons are connected to different nerve cells throughout the brain. A non depressed person these axons work normally and send messages the way they should. In a depressed brain they can choose weather to send these messages or not. The signals and messages are sent with chemicals in the cell. When depressed you loose some of those chemicals which makes it hard to send messages when you have almost nothing to send them with. This causes a person to be sad and unenthusiastic about much. A person will loose their willingness to do much. Some even loose the willingness to live. To change this some take antidepressant pills. In these pills they contain what the brain thinks is the chemicals it needs to send its signals and messages it needs. Hopefully the brain will learn how to send messages on its own and a person will no longer be depressed.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/8933.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJKSfRKBzw0
Ginger 7
Having just woken up from a nap I feel very little interest in analyzing an article so I decided to review a video essay if you will. The video I chose was by Vsauce, a channel that asks many philosophical questions to get the mind spinning, on clapping. As for the video itself, it has a nice presentation drawing it’s viewer in short fun-facts about clapping and clapping world records. The question begins after the speaker says that clapping is not only a percussive instrument but also a social form of approval. He then continues to define the scientific makeup of a clap such as the energy required to make the sound, the frequency that is delivered, and the average amount of claps per second. It is then summed up to say that there are very few variations of clapping, so why do we choose to make such a messy, unorganized cluster of sound instead of vocal approval? A theory is then expressed that clapping is a way of showing an overwhelming amount of approval far too intense for words. You can think of it as being in the situation of an audience or a spectator who is so impressed that there is literally a loss for words so instead clapping ensues; however, it is a natural movement which we are often pressured into doing. Another theory on why we clap lies on whether or not our opinions are in favor of certain presentations; in most cases where it is not or neutral we usually conform to the bigger group as clapping becomes the basis for indifference. When throwing the mix of whistling or wooting into applause, these then become the real forms of approval because a clap is virtually impossible to track while the sound of someone’s voice is not. This video does well in keeping the viewer’s attention by constantly introducing new factors and touching base with pop culture comparisons, and this was just a brief description of what some of the video had to offer. Vsauce is an excellent source for finding plenty of explanations of phenomenons to let your mind wander and I suggest checking out the video here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD037VSAG2I
Holiway 7
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/opinion/sunday/why-men-need-women.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
For the causal essay for this week’s blog, I chose an article entitled Why Men Need Women, published by the NY Times. In this article the author provides us with studies from prestigious schools, and professors. Also, each paragraph seems to be broken down into a new reason, or explaining the reason previous. To draw attention from several different audience types, he mentioned names like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, men who we all seem to know. I also believe he really hopes women will read this article and force their husbands to read it. It mainly shows how a woman’s “softness” rubs off on men and can make them more generous. Women want their husbands to think they wear the pants in the family, all the while they know they control the household with everything they do. However, some women could take offense to this article. While it promotes men needing women, it says they really only need us in order to attain our gentleness, kindness, love of helping others, and our fragileness. What woman of the 21st century wants to be told she’s fragile? I can tell you almost no women would find that a compliment. We want to be tough, and handle anything that comes our way. In order to curb that frustration, at the end of the article he mentions how more businesses would benefit by having women in top management positions. He brings in a study showing the profit increases of companies that have women at the top of their companies, since they bring wonderful innovation. His last paragraph really shows how he tries to support women and their importance. He says, “It’s often said that behind every great man stands a great woman. In light of the profound influence that women can have on men’s generosity, it might be more accurate to say that in front of every great man walks a great woman. If we’re wise, we’ll follow her lead.” I think he really draws women into thinking that men need them, and we all love feeling needed. He also does a wonderful job luring men into believing the best way to gain a “soft” side, is to indeed have a woman by his side.
Baum 5
http://rowancomp2.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/causal-essay-mental-illness/
After searching the internet for an interesting phenomenon I decided I would choose one explaining the causes of suicide and what triggers it. Suicide is a tragedy that has become unfortunately common among teens. In the article the author states suicide is the third leading cause of death among young adults between the ages 15-24. Being a teenager is not an easy task. Cooper University Hospital expresses that "Strong feelings of stress, confusion, fear, and uncertainty, as well as pressure to succeed, and the ability to think about things in new ways influence a teenager’s problem solving and decision-making abilities." I was familiar with the common causes of suicide such as, depression, substance abuse, physical abuse, stress, bullying, break-ups, or divorce among parents. I however, was not familiar with the leading influence and that is mental illness.
The author expertly justifies the causes by quoting credible sources and by offering his personal feelings. I had no idea that suicide victims are often times victim to mental illness. Examples of some mental disorders include depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. In fact, about 90% of people that attempted to or did commit suicide were traced back to mental illnesses. The author also makes a point by stating that teens are cautious of getting help because they do not want to be made fun of. It is heartbreaking knowing so many teens feel this way in the United States. The author even communicates what the signs of certain mental illnesses are in case a reader knows someone who could suffer from one. The author uses sources like the National Institute of Mental Health to help explain the signs. "According to NAMI, some symptoms that teens who are suffering from these disorders include extreme personality changes, loss of interest in things that they used to enjoy, a major change in their appetite, difficulty sleeping or constantly sleeping, fatigue, withdraw from family and friends, neglect of their self appearance, severe anxiety, or a dramatic drop in their school grades." The fraction of the article that stuck with me the most is that we could save lives if we only knew more about mental illnesses. Many mental illnesses can be treated. Suicide is an horrid action that can be prevented if more individuals knew the causes and signs.
Berberich 2
Joel Lovell, an editor for the New York Times magazine, wrote an article called, ‘Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?’ “The new study goes a long way toward providing hard evidence of a continuing bias against women in the sciences. Only one-fifth of physics Ph.D.’s in this country are awarded to women, and only about half of those women are American; of all the physics professors in the United States, only 14 percent are women.” In this paragraph Lovell explains the major shortages of women in the science felids; he then switches to the perspective of a woman, and she explains the difficulty she had accumulated in reaching the decision to become a scientist. She talks about the difficulty in deciding what she wanted to become and how long she put off her dream until her realization. The article also proceeds to mention numerous professors who talk about why the science felid is just beginning to accumulate more women as scientist. Some say women feel insecure with the competition they are faced with in learning about the procedures. “… a culture in which success in graduate school is a matter of isolation, competition and ridiculously long hours in the lab; a culture in which female scientists are hired less frequently than men, earn less money and are allotted fewer resources.”
This document took me completely by surprise! I was completely unaware there was a shortage of women in the Science field. I also had no idea that women felt so insecure about approaching the science field. Now that I know there is a shortage of women, I may possibly pursue something in this career myself. I feel it is time for women to climb out of their shell and start a new generation of women becoming something they would not have originally become. I also believe that it is time for women to not be afraid of what they can become with the process it would take to get there. “Face it,” one of the women said, “grad school is a hazing for anyone, male or female. But if there are enough women in your class, you can help each other get through.” However, if women are wanted to be taken seriously, men have to take them seriously as well. I found a match lighting inside of me because of the results I found out about men vs. women in the science field. “Or about men not taking you seriously because you dress like a girl. I figure if you’re not going to take my science seriously because of how I look, that’s your problem.” Furthermore, for women to become more womanly and more serious about their career, people need to begin taking themselves and others seriously. They need to strive to be the person they have always wanted to be.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/magazine/why-are-there-still-so-few-women-in-science.html?pagewanted=10&_r=1&hp
Grothe 2
http://cdac.info/portfolio-view/underlying-causes-of-teen-drug-abuse/
The topic that I chose for the causal essay is the causes of drug abuse among teens. I've always found this topic to be interesting, because I've been curious of why they feel they should be doing drugs in the first place. This article stated many causes that could possibly lead an adolescent to abuse drugs. The writer/author explained how, in most cases, it's mainly because of the parents that this happens, which I completely agree with. Without the proper guidance of a parent or guardian, the teen is much more likely to tamper with different kinds of drugs. It could be ones that their friends give them, or even prescription pills that the parents have.
Although this article in particular doesn't really seem like an essay, it was probably the closest thing I could find in a timely fashion. They still get the point across, however, that drug abuse among teens stems from sub-par parenting, or even just the lack of parenting. In one such case, both parents could be gone, whether it be for work, or some other cause, which could lead to the teen using and abusing different types of drugs.
The author does state many ways in which these causes can be prevented. Although it sounds bad, they somewhat imply that parents need to tighten their leashes on their children. I only say it sounds bad, of course, because I personally would not enjoy this, being a teen and all that. Besides that, parents should also regularly check the pills and alcohol they have lying around to see if any of it is missing, which would make it obvious that the teen is misusing them. Overall though, this was a very interesting article. It presented the causes and how to deal with them in a very neat and organized manner.
Hall 5
NY Times author, Eldad Yechiam, writes an outstanding causal article showing why smokers continue to smoke, given how hazardous it is to their health. In this article, “Why Smokers Still Smoke”, he brings up a common assumption that most smokers partake in this activity because they are risk takers. Eldad then goes on to prove that it is not risk taking that drives smokers’ risky behavior; it is a weakness for activities that are profitable most of the time yet hazardous eventually. Through multiple tests, Eldad explains that smokers exhibit poor self-control in immediate temptation. It is hard for them to refuse an offer that provides a wonderful beginning even though the final product is not what they intend. In this article they are considered as myopic people who are so consumed in the immediate satisfaction of a cigarette, that even though, fully aware of the potential harm and danger, they ignore the detrimental effects it may produce. Something I found interesting in this article happened within a money experiment. In this assessment, 100 smokers and 100 nonsmokers were asked to pick between two decks of cards. Within deck number one, nine out ten cards produced a gain of 100 dollars, while the remaining one produces a disastrous loss of 1,250 dollars. Deck number two is less immediately satisfying – the losses are smaller at 250 dollars but more frequent. As the game progressed, it showed that smokers are three times more likely to choose deck number one than nonsmokers. Thus proving Eldad’s point that smokers could not resist the short-term pleasure despite the long-term fallout. After reading this article it is more noticeable to me why they continue to “light up”. It extends beyond the main assumptions that many people have to further prove his point. I now have a better understanding of why people may choose to smoke.
To read more visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/opinion/sunday/why-smokers-still-smoke.html
Swenson 7
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200308/procrastination-ten-things-know
In my search for an online causal article, I took it upon myself to keep an open eye for an article that fit my personality. Using Google, I discovered a website containing an essay over procrastination. This essay hit the hard points of why people procrastinate, what are ways to spot procrastinators, and what do procrastinators do in comparison to those who don’t wait until the last second to complete a task. In the article, a psychologist makes a list of ten things to know about procrastinators. An effective instrument of writing he used was how he made things personal. Reading articles that pertain to oneself is much more entertaining than not. One statement that captured my attention was a quote from Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at De Paul University in Chicago. Dr. Ferrari stated that “Procrastinators actively look for distractions, particularly ones that don't take a lot of commitment on their part. Checking e-mail is almost perfect for this purpose. They distract themselves as a way of regulating their emotions such as fear of failure.” This example on its own easily pertains to me, an avid procrastinator, as well as many other procrastinators simply because it focuses on a procrastinator’s worst nightmare. Distractions. In today’s world of excessive technology, it is uncomfortably easy to become distracted by our personal devices. Every time we receive a tweet or text, an email or status update, there is a little buzz or beep that is designed to grab ones attention away from their original duty. Since it is hard for many to completely remove themselves from the outside social world for more than a few minutes, technology rests as one of the most commonly blamed reasons for distraction. The writer does an exceptional job at explaining this phenomenon by making a list of examples which are all different from each other, but all pertain closely to the topic. He also puts statements about procrastinators into simple language that most everybody can understand, thus making it more likely to catch somebody’s eyes.
Ode 5
The article I chose to read is an article about how baseball was once America’s past time and now is an ignored sport by many. The author, Jonathan Mahler, is a writer for the New York Times. He writes about how and why baseball has taken a backseat to more popular sports like the National Football League and the National Basketball Association. Baseball has even been past by college football and college basketball.
One of the biggest statistics that stuck out to is the amount of viewers that television has provided. The seven smallest television audiences have watched the World Series over the past eight years. This statistic really shows the irrelevance that baseball has in most Americans’ mind. Americans want to see violence, speed, and allows fans to be loud. Being loud is what Mahler says gets fans excited and wound up to enjoy the game. This is especially evident in football. Football sometimes relies on the crowd’s noise to defeat their adversary.
Mahler also recognizes the celebrity status of professional football players and basketball players to baseball players. Professional football players and basketball players are made to look like heroes much more than baseball players ever had. Mahler states the Harvard Business School studies LeBron James. It makes sense since he is projected to be the first billionaire athlete. James does not make all his money through his basketball paycheck either. He makes the majority of his money through endorsements. Baseball players would not even come close to the amount of money LeBron James makes in a year. Some might have a higher salary, but James makes so much in endorsements to make his outrageous bucks. This all comes back to the fact that football and basketball players are looked higher upon in the eye of America.
Another reason baseball has faded is pop culture. Mahler notices that football and basketball are widely supported by guys like Lil Wayne and Jay-Z. Baseball has no one with the status of those celebrities to get people interested in baseball.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/opinion/sunday/is-the-game-over.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
Woessner 5
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/10/01/161766321/nail-biting-mental-disorder-or-just-a-bad-habit
While searching the internet for interesting topics to check out, I came across one that fits me well. I chose the topic of “why people bite their nails”. In “Nail Biting: Mental Disorder Or Just A Bad Habit?” Amy Standen stated that people who bite their nails are called “pathological groomers”. She explained some of the reasons on why people bite their nails -- the most common being a nervous habit, but it also can be caused by many other things. Amy remembered the first time she started to bite her nails. She was six years old and she saw her mom getting ready for work while biting her nails. Amy thought to herself “How cool! How grown up! I think I’ll try it.” She said she never stopped and it was embarrassing to the point where she would wrap her fingers all the way around her wine glass, so that her nails faced her chest. Amy stopped biting her nails nearly 30 years later, because of the fear that her daughter would see her biting them and she too would start to bite her own nails. When comparing nail-biters to OCD patients, the OCD patients did not want to be doing the stuff they obsess over, where the nail-biters enjoy what they do. They say it is rewarding and it feels good when you get the right nail, a kind of funny reward.
Sometimes, people bite their nails without even realizing it or thinking about it. Some people bite their nails when they are reading, watching TV, or talking on the phone. Nail-biting has also been associated with relieving some stress in some cases. Some people have been found to bite their nails when they are excited, bored, or just when they are in a period of inactivity.
Knudtson 7
The Causal essay I am reviewing is over the reasons why most of the registered voters in America do not vote.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-psychology-behind-political-debate/201112/why-dont-people-vote
The reason Americans registered voters do not vote has been a question that has been studied for decades and recently the United States Census Bureau uncovered this phenomenal question. This is a phenomenal question because without voting, The United States of America would not be a democracy! So then, why is that American do not vote when it comes to getting out there and casting their ballot? This causal essay states that a lot of nonvoters are either not interested, or do not like the candidates. These two reasons account for a fourth of the Americans that do not vote. R. Michael Alvarez uses percentages and surveys to get his point across, a lot of Americans do not vote and need to. A few other reasons he gives are the non voters cannot make it because they are far too busy and have conflicting schedules, or they cannot make it to the polls because they have an illness or disability. The other reasons for registered voters not doing as they should is more logical. These are reasons in which they try to vote but cannot! They might have logistics problems of which they have problems with the registation process, their mode of transportation or even having a convenient polling station. The last bit of voters did not vote in the election because of weather problems. . .
. . .weather you tried or not, R. Michael Alvarez believes that you need to vote, and I second that.
The author also makes many relatable questions including, Does this matter for how elections are decided? And why aren't people registered to vote?
Williams 2
The article entitled "Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?" written by Eileen Pollack in the New York Times gives reasons and examples on why science continues to male dominate. One reason she gave was that women are seen as inferior among many people, including professors, bosses, and other important figures. Women gained equal rights through the government, but that doesn't mean they are seen as equal in everyone's eyes. Pollack gave examples from her own past in college with professors that would grade papers with a "boys curve" and a "girls curve". She believed these male professors saw boys as better and tended to mock and ridicule females in the classes. While Pollack studied in college during the 80's, she had a meet up with some girls from prestigious schools and asked them about their own experiences. She received response like "boys won't date a girl if he finds out she is a physics major" or "girls tend to shy away from asking questions as to not be mocked or made into a fool in front of the class." This shows that the encouragement from professors and leaders are causing girls to have less self confidence and struggle between social acceptance and keeping good grades with school work. Pollack predicts that women are not found in science as much as they should be due to American social ideas. She gives examples of the many opportunities for girls around the world to compete among others, including men, and shows statistics pointing to Americans holding back or not having the same amount of females participating in these advanced areas of opportunity. The fact that women are seen less in science has nothing to do with males being smarter or better than females, but it has to do with the way people view the capability of the gender.
Nitz 7
I’ve written this blog post a few times and then changed my mind. But after I did some lengthier searching I found an article, which seems to be a superb example of causal writing.
Here is the link: http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/why-we-cry-the-truth-about-tearing-up?page=3
Kathleen Doheny goes into detail in “Why We Cry: The Truth About Tearing Up” (notice, the title even has a colon in it) to explain the psychological and physiological causes of crying. She makes her article able to stand strong with numerous quotes from surveys, reputable universities, doctors, and professors. A casual hook makes readers place themselves inside the writing. The author uses the pronoun you while describing in vivid imagery the beginning of waterworks. Breaking the column into easy-to-understand sections, Doheny next expounds on the emotional triggers of tears. Crying can be a release of bad feelings, as a study of 200 Dutch women points out. A majority of the women felt better, less anxious and stressed, after letting themselves have a moment of vulnerability. This coincides with the biological standpoint on crying, which can be explained as a method to release stress hormones and toxins. Later, Doheny illustrates how crying be perform a social function as well. Some choose to seek pity, attention, or a reward by using tears as a manipulative device─ people who cry to get something they want, or perhaps not to get something.
The stigma that comes with crying is also discussed; it’s more acceptable for women to cry than men. While that is changing, women are more prone to dwell on past pain and to display emotions, thus leading to more female tears. However, both guys and gals to avoid crying, due to the awkwardness that occurs after. Tears change the level of intimacy of a situation, which makes most feel uncomfortable.
Excellent sentence fluency, credible information, and well placed transitions make this piece of causal writing so effective.
Schultz 5
http://www.livescience.com/34461-red-tide.html
On March 11, 2013, Marc Lallanilla, the Assistant Editor for Life's Little Mysteries wrote an article called “What Causes a Red Tide?” He goes on to explain that there are three types of algae that are responsible for this phenomenon that is killing off fish and wildlife and is also harmful to humans. He tells us that a red tide occurs when the population of certain kinds of algae known as dinoflagellates multiplies exponentially, creating what scientists call an "algal bloom." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says when millions of these microscopic algae reproduce and cluster in one area of the ocean, they can change the color of the water. A rusty shade of red is usually seen, all though the colors can range from pink or orange to brown or yellow.
Because I grew up in Florida we heard of these algae blooms when they would happen along the Gulf of Mexico. It would sometimes shut down beaches because of the dead fish and wildlife that would wash up onto the beaches. Also, because of the wave action the toxins can release into the air, causing respiratory problems among people near the shoreline, especially those with asthma, emphysema or other respiratory illnesses. Those were sad days. When we first started hearing about the blooms and the effects it could have on the fish and wildlife that eat the toxic fish and then how it could affect us it was pretty scary. Each year the blooms are getting bigger and are lasting longer in Florida and around the world. Scientists feel that global warming may have something to do with the increase of these algal blooms.
The author does a great job of explaining what the red tide is, how it’s produced and how it affects not only sea animals and wildlife along the beaches but how it sadly affects us as well.
Tellinghusien 7
The causal essay that I discovered and analyzed is on why men cheat in marriages.
http://men.webmd.com/features/why-men-cheat?page=2
Over the past decade the divorce rate has increased at an alarmingly high rate. This is often times accredited to infidelity of the relationship through adultery. The main part of this essay is the data that a marriage counselor collected in a survey of 200 husbands, ones that have cheated, are cheating, or have not cheated on their spouses. The results opened my eyes on some of the truths behind the stereotypes of men who cheat. I have always held the idea that only heartless jerks who don't care about anything but sex cheated. Actually, 8 percent of the men in the survey who cheated said that they did so because of sex, and 12 percent did so because of physical attraction. The counselor talks about this. In reality, men have just as much of an emotional connection in their relationships as any female does. Men are "supposed" to be emotionless according to a society standard, they however, are not. 48 percent of the cheaters surveyed listed their main reason for looking elsewhere was because of emotional dissatisfaction in the marriage. On occasion, some of the problems are easy fixes too. 66 percent of these men even admitted to feeling guilty during and after their affair, indicating nothing out of spite.
Now that we can Identify this problem, the marriage counselor, M. Gary Neuman, provides help for these areas, and ways a couple can better their marriage and avoid the small speed bumps that can cause a marriage to spiral into the ditch.
Rohrbach 5
The Causal essay I found was on the population of California. It immediately caught my attention due to the humorous title, “34 Million Sardines in a Can”. To best judge this essay, I considered the following topics: History, Economy, Psychology, Emotions, and Sociology. The author brought up some very interesting points, the first being the weather in California. California contains a wide variety of climates, from the snow-capped mountains of Northern California to the deserts of Southern California. The point here is that whatever weather we prefer, we can find it there. The second point that the author had brought up was the multiple forms of entertainment. Due to the variety of weather, residents could go skiing one day, and surfing the next. The state is home to several major theme parks, and sporting events. On top of that, it is home of the motion picture industry. These things lure in people from all over, looking for an experience. The author then goes on talking into consideration the job market. The aerospace book created thousands of new jobs in the 1990’s. The writer pulls statistics such as; California on its own has the 6th largest economy in the world. Lastly the essay covers the issue of illegal immigration. California holds a very liberal immigration policy, increasing the number of aliens they let in on student and work visas. These immigrants then stay in the area, long after their visas have expired. I found this essay to be an excellent beginning for a casual essay. However, I do think the author missed several points that could have greatly enhanced the paper. An event from history, such as the California Gold Rush, would have fit nicely here. Overall, it was a great essay, it brought up points, that I myself never thought of and it was an interesting read.
Drugs are a dangerous habit that kill and ruin countless lives. This is why I have chosen this compelling essay about why humans feel the need to use drugs. Drugfreeworld.org is a website dedicated to the perseverance of a drug free nation. Drug use has plagued many families, this article explores core reasons people feel the need to ruin their health and destroy their lives. The first reason this article pursues is social acceptance. In school it remains the priority of all students to adhere to the trends of their fellow students. Drugs help kids find acceptance by joining the rebel crowd. I find this the most ignorant and repulsive reason for self-defecation. For people to destroy themselves for “friendship”. The author also keys in on this topic as one of his most compelling topics. This goes with another cause, feeling grown up. Also a high level of absurdity is associated with feeling grown up. I do not believe adults do drugs. Despite their age drug users have the maturity level of children. An adult must think of others before themselves, and drug addicts are the most selfish. To add onto the compiling reasons, troubled individuals find themselves using drugs to escape their reality. Contrary to their perception of how life works, drugs only hinder your experience on this earth.
The author uses these reasons as ammunition in his causal machine gun. He relays that a combination of these reasons cause teens and young adults to rely on drugs. He explains that drugs can only do harm and the recurring use of them seriously harms the body. This explains why drugfreeworld.org was created. The goal of this awareness, to make sure the adolescence of the future do not fall victim to the evils of addiction.
While searching the Internet for some different causal writings I stumbled upon a work by Jorge Robles which discuses the causes and ultimately the effects of stereotypes within our society in “Stereotypes: A Big Problem in Our Modern Society.”
Teenagers today do almost anything they can to try and break the stereotypical reputations that constantly follow them like a dark (or bright if you prefer) shadow. Which raises the question: why do stereotypes exist in the first place? It’s quite simple actually, as humans we like to classify anything and everything. We are creatures that crave organization and assimilation. Naturally, we classify and organize ourselves. Not all of our classifications are positive and some flat out portray the horrific qualities we possess as humans.
This article—along with others discuss how stereotypes help to make our world more complex. We use categories to speed up our information intake, instead of discovering all there is to a person, we quickly label them to avoid the wasteful time of actually getting to know them. Some stereotypes make decision-making and predicting another’s behavior easier. If we label a group of people are the “geeks” we can quickly see they are more advanced intellectually and may try to use them to get a good grade in a class or to retain knowledge we didn’t previously have.
I also stumbled upon another article, avoiding the consumption of assumption, by Chuck Gallozzi. In this article he explains the following:
“Why do we resort to or accept the labeling of others? Here are some reasons. a) It is easier and requires less effort to assume something is true than to look up the facts. b) If we’re uncertain of the facts, we’d rather go along with others than admit our ignorance. c) It may be a hollow attempt to raise our stature by trivializing, ridiculing, and demonizing others. d) It may be due to carelessness and bad habits. e) We may fear and be suspicious of others. f) We may lack critical thinking skills. g) We may have been brought up with prejudice. h) We may use labels to control others. i) Whether we agree with them or not, we may accept labels to remain part of the ‘in’ crowd. j) We may not be assertive enough to come to the defense of others.”
All in all, the causes of stereotypes are quite simple—it’s out nature. As humans we like to simplify and quicken the way we interpret things. We don’t like to take the time to evaluate, so we would rather simply group people, events, qualities, etc. Although these actions may not always be positive but it’s easy. I look forward to doing more research into this topic for my essay.
Kramer 2
Gingles 7
http://psychology.about.com/od/statesofconsciousness/p/dream-theories.htm
I found an article that excites me, as it greatly compares to my classification essay. The article’s main points are about dreams; more specifically, why we dream. The author immediately grabs your attention with a quote that is intelligent enough to make your ask questions and wonder. She then takes the tone of the article back to earth with the simplest question: “What are dreams?” It causes the reader to take a moment and discover the actual definition behind what they are researching. She quickly and intelligently answers the question, then moves on to the question at hand. This is where the essay begins to take form. She continues by posing a few different theories. “Some researchers suggest that dreams serve no real purpose, while others believe that dreaming is essential to mental, emotional and physical well-being.” Then, she uses a transition and starts to address the bigger dream theories out there. One such theory that she researches and writes about is the Freudian theory, which says that dreams are a representation of our subconscious desires. She expands on the idea and explains just exactly what Mr. Freud was talking about and gives quotes from his book to back his theory. She briefly touches on manifest and latent content to show two different types of dreams. While Freud’s theory is more psychological, the next theory is focused on the scientific aspect of it. It talks about what chemicals in our body cause us to dream. It is called the activation-synthesis model of dreaming. Again the author gives credit to the ones who originally discovered and did the actual work needed to understand this theory. She closes by summing up more, less important theories of dreams. She also includes about eight cited sources and other links that could be helpful in researching further upon this topic.
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