Reflection of Multi Modal Assignment

I liked this assignment because it helped me see the importance not only of content in the paper, but in the presentation. If something is not presented professionally, the look of it destroys any progress the content of the paper has made. There is a judgment made before the reader even looks at the text. It can add a lot to the text in terms of being credible, or it can take a lot away. This was a valuable lesson learned by this assignment. It was also one of the easier assignments we have done, more because our team worked really well together. We all had our roles to fill and they were relatively small. But with everyone doing their part, the assignment was done fairly quickly. It was good to learn more about working in a group. I hadn't done too many group projects before. It will be good to see what the presentations are like. I think the most helpful portion of this project was looking at other, example assignments and seeing what was effective. It was good to see patterns of how colors and pictures were used, to learn from both the good ones and from the ones that were not as effective. The more simple, with good pictures, with simple colors, all aligned, seemed to draw attention to the topic but didn't distract the reader by how ridiculous it looked. The presentation, even in the smallest details, plays such a big role in the persuasive ability of the text.

Reflection of the Class

I thought that this class was a really valuable one for the skills learned. I wish I would have taken this class in the beginning of my time at BYU for many reasons. The most important was that because of this class I learned a lot about the research resources we have as BYU students, as well as people who can help us do research. This would be very valuable information and a necessary tool for any student in any class. I also learned about the resources we have to help us succeed on assignments. The writing center is an awesome resource and they really helped me feel good about my final products that I turned in. That was a very good discovery that I made because of this class. I also learned about the writing process and how to write papers the right way, so I'm not stressed out the whole time. It felt good to learn a bit more about writing papers. Before I would just write them and not really have a feel of the process. I would just pound them out. This will definitely help me to be a better writer in the future. I also learned the value of letting other people read your paper. Not just the writing center, but peers. It is also great to read them out loud and get a feel for the tone and sentence structure. I really enjoyed the rhetorical analysis portion of this course and have used is already in other papers.

Reflection of my Issues Paper

I really enjoyed writing my issues paper and putting all the evidence together. I had a hard time in the beginning knowing where I wanted to go. I had all this research and had begun to form an opinion, but I wanted to bring something new. I decided that my opinion was strong enough and unique enough about climate change that I would write about that. I just noticed that the statistics on both sides of the argument didn't directly contradict each other so basically people were arguing over two separate issues that both supported climate change. My first draft of this paper was really rough, but I saw it improve a lot as I saw where I wanted to go with it. I thought it was really important that the arguments be really well outlined in my paper so the reader could get a feel for what is being said and form their own opinions, especially providing a basis for the connection of both arguments to climate change. I was happy with the overall paper even though it was very different from what I had imagined. I think I got my point across in a clear way and presented both sides of the argument fairly. My main point seemed unique and new, which was something I really wanted. I was able to make a new conclusion out of the same research that has been done. It was also a powerful conclusion, as if people truly believe in what I have said, it will change the way we treat climate change. Overall I thought I met all my goals for this paper.

The Climate War- My Reaction

This article was really well written and I got a good idea of the book he was analyzing. It seemed to be a bit without a definite purpose. I guess it could be just to inform, but I would have loved to hear more about ideas from the author on what sort of legislation could be passed. He acknowledges many things that have gone wrong and tactics of those who are against global warming, but he fails to offer any of his ideas. The article kind of leaves the reader hanging and wanting more in that sense. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. It is bad because it doesn't answer all the questions and it makes the reader view the author as a bit of a whiner and not much of a leader. But, leaving the readers wanting more may also inspire the reader to further their knowledge and involvement regarding the issue.

The author clearly was trying to persuade the reader towards believing in global warming and does so in a very obvious way. He doesn't try to hide the fact that he is comparing both sides of the issue to good and evil. He says that those people who have tried to reduce carbon dioxide emissions are heroes and those who are global warming denialists are villains.

I did appreciate the author's acknowledging the book's shortcomings.

The article left me thinking more about legislation and what is being done to reduce emissions. I like the ideas presented about accepting that the economy must function in order for us to develope any sort of technology toward changing energy and to fund the transition. We cannot hurt our economy right now especially by forcing major companies to comply to some emission law. It would cost everyone a lot of money that may not be readily available at the moment. That was a very interesting point.

Overall I thought the article was good. I enjoyed reading it and really learned a lot.

The Climate War -Summary

Martin Lewis analyzes Eric Pooley's book, The Climate War, in the article "Contesting climate: The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Earth." The main points analyzed are the contents and importance of the ideas in the book, as well as the criticism of the author's tone and characterization of people. He starts by explaining how the issue of global warming has taken a backseat to the economic issues occurring. There is a definite need to safeguard the planet, but the economy and industry must be maintained in order to have revenue to fund any sort of transition and discovery of new energy sources. He says that some sort of legislature must be passed, and the pro-environment, pro- business Americans have the potential to rally enough support to pass some sort of legislation. There have been attempts to pass laws. The key organization was the Environmental Defense Fund, own by Fred Krupp. James rogers of Duke Energy was one of the leaders in cleaner energy technologies. The author compares these men to heroes, and then states that there must be villains. The villains are those who deny global warming. They seek to derail the efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. They have proposed useless, manipulative legislations that would make money. After one proposal to auction off licenses to electricity companies to have a certain emission level, it was decided that this would in turn increase the money spent by those companies, and electricity rates would increase. A resolution was then agreed upon that any legislation passed could not increase gas or energy prices. The author of the article then criticized Pooley, the author of the book, for the way he introduces people. Those how disagree with him are shown in a negative light and he disrespects many people. He also doesn't acknowledge counterarguments. The article concludes with the authors opinion that the book is very important to informing people about what is being done to pass legislation, while being a bit biased and unfair towards global warming denialists.

Source Citation:

Lewis, Martin W. "Contesting climate: The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Earth." Issues in Science and Technology 27.2 (2011): 91+. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 9 Mar. 2011.

Document URL
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/AcademicJournalsDetailsPage/AcademicJournalsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Journals&prodId=OVIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CA246949288&mode=view&userGroupName=byuprovo&jsid=dc6bc7a27fc7c20a1b9a32f1558262ef

Global Warming is a Myth by Ed Hiserodt

I read this article about how global warming is a scam. It was very well written and had a very confident, rebellious tone. He almost already assumes the audience believes him and proceeds to make a mockery of the issue. He gives the example of making someone stand trial for murder when the person he is accused of murdering is still alive, and even in the court room. It makes the accusers and judge seem foolish. He applies this to climate change, not only discounting global warming and extreme climate change and the people who think it is true, and the government, but implying that they are downright foolish. I include the government in that because they are the ones who have to judge if it is real or not so they can act accordingly.

I thought that, for his purpose, is writing style was perfect. He basically used all of the most popular arguments for climate change and talked about them, citing other examples to show how he was right. He cited authorities and used examples as well. His arguments were good, but the tone made the reader feel like the author was just destroying the argument.

As for my opinion, I felt like the facts he presented didn't relate as well to the facts that we normally hear about global warming. He talked about record lows, but didn't say that the average temperature has changed. In fact, he supported my personal opinion that climate change has more to do with extreme weather than just global warming. The record lows show the extremes that are occurring. I am sure there are statistics that can be shown to emphasize the record highs as well that took place. Statistics on this issue are hard to trust, as they are contradictory and I feel like the author's manipulate their audience by saying something that may mean something different than what the reader thinks.

I did think his use of quotes by scientists and even a Nobel Peace price winning physicist was good. That did play a role in convincing me. I still stand true to my position that climate change is real, but this article did open my mind a bit more towards the other side of the argument. It re-enforced my opinion about climate extremes.

My 10 Topoi

1. Contradiction- Global Warming is either true or it is a myth.

2. Definition by class or category- Global warming is something that could threaten the health of our planet and the quality of life of those who live here in the near future.

3. Division of Whole into parts- Climate change will affect the population of the earth in many ways, with the overall temperatures affecting the quality of life of humans, the way and location that different species live, and the spread of diseases in places they would not normally be able to spread to.

4. Division into essence and accidents- Climate change is due to the greenhouse affect; all the other extremes are due to the this.

5. Antecedent and Consequence- Climate change will cause more extremes in weather around the planet, which will cause change for all those who live on it. The reason it is frightening is because we can't predict exactly what those changes will be.

6. Authority- According to an awarding winning, Ph. D environmental physical chemist, Warming fears are the "worst scientific scandal in...history...When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists."

7. Authority- The winner of a Nobel peace prize for physics, Ivar Giavar said, "I am a skeptic... Global warming has become a new religion."

8. Testimonial- In 1970, a group of New Orleans schoolchildren took a 185-mile trip to Jackson, Mississippi to experience something they had never seen before: snow. In 2009, they didn't have to bother as Southern Louisiana was blanketed with four inches of snow, the first major snow in 45 years and only 2 inches shy of the all-time record of 6 inches set in 1895. It was also the earliest snow ever recorded.

9. Statistics- Record low temperatures have been recorded across the globe, and during the last decade, summers have gotten cooler and winters more harsh.

10. Statistics- Average temperature in the Arctic increased at nearly twice the global rate during the past 10o years.