SWA #16 - Annotated Bibliography

Cherlin, Andrew. “The Deinstitutionalization of American Marriage.” Journal of Marriage and

Family 66.4 (2004): Print

         This article discusses the author’s opinion that American marriages have gone through a process of deinstitutionalization. He attributes the cause of this phenomenon to the “increasing number and complexity of cohabiting unions and the emergence of same sex marriages.” For my paper, I would obviously focus on the side of his argument that says same sex marriages contribute to the value and meaning of marriages. In her writing, Cherlin is definitely biased, as he should be since he is trying to prove his point. From this article, I learned a lot about this perspective on the issue of same sex marriages and it is definitely a point of view I can incorporate into my essay.

Gaines, Susan N., Garand, James C. “Moral, Equality, or Locality: Analyzing the Determinants of Support for Same-sex Marriages.” Political Research Quarterly 63.3 (2010): Print

This article talks about the different variables that affect people’s attitudes towards same sex marriages. In their research, they found that morals and religion are two of the biggest factors that influence people on the subject of marriage equality. They also found several other details and statistics, and they used census data to garner some of their facts. I didn’t find there to be a lot of bias in this article, mostly because it was a research type of paper. They were simply reporting what they found. For my paper, I would use this to discuss some of the perspectives that support gay marriage and find details as to why this is the case. From reading this piece, I learned a lot about the different things people take into consideration before taking a stance on the issue of same-sex marriage.

SWA #15 - Research Reflection

Marriage Equality:

            On this issue I found of a variety of resources through the Gamecock Power Search. The articles that the searches I did presented included a research on the success of same-sex marriages and how proponents of the concept got it legalized in Canada back in 2005. Other articles included thoughts on why same-sex marriages contribute to the deinstitutionalization of marriage itself. Overall I think I would be able to find many perspectives on this issue to write a sound essay, as it is highly contested and there’s a lot of research on it. Therefore, this is the issue I am leaning towards.

Violence in Video Games Leading to Violence in Youth:

            It was a lot harder to find articles on this issue than I thought it would be. The keyword searches I was using were not producing the results in the area I was looking for. However, I did find some articles on the idea and research for the issue based on longitudinal studies of youth. I think it would be easier to find non-scholarly opinions on this issue. There are also limited perspectives on how violence in video games affects youth, so I may run into trouble there.

Benefits of Single Sex Learning Environments Over Co-ed:

            I was able to find an ample amount of information on this topic. Articles ranged from broad research on the affects of single sex schooling on both boys and girls to how math classes versus language classes were affected. There was also discussion of if single sex classes were all that was needed, or if the entire school needed to be a single sex. A lot of articles discussed the level of success these types of learning environments had in foreign countries too. I think this is another topic that I would be able to find solid information on.

SWA #13 - 02/19/12 - Reseach Issues

Issue #1:

(a)   Marriage Equality

(b)  This issue is a very controversial and touchy subject to some people. The reasons behind this are that there are religious values brought up, which is controversial within itself, and many people have very strong, unyielding opinions on the subject.

(c)   My current stance on the issue is that if two people love each other, they should be able to get married. So I am a supporter because I don’t think gay relationships are any different fundamentally than the relationships you and I may be in.

(d)  I would like to learn the reasons that make some people so passionately against this issue and I’d like to research how successful gay marriages are in comparison to straight.

Issue #2:

(a)   Are students more successful in a single sex learning environment?

(b)  It is controversial because it is difficult to prove if one is definitely better than the other and people have strong opinions about the implications of such learning environments.

(c)   I think that co-ed schools are more socially beneficial than single sex schools and I’m not sure any potential educational advantages of single sex education cancel out the social implications.

(d)  I would like to learn what arguers for single sex education point to in order to advance their argument and if people who are raised through this type of education are statistically smarter or have more opportunities than those who don’t.

Issue #3:

(a)   Does violence in video games lead to violent behavior in the real world?

(b)  This issue is controversial because a lot of parents hate to see their kids performing this type of behavior virtually and they fear it will translate into their kids’ lives. However, it is extremely unlikely that those who play video games will be willing to give up the violence in them for the sake of their mental health.

(c)   I think that the violence in video games has the potential to influence some people who play them, however I don’t think it affects the majority. It likely only affects those who already have mental issues.

(d)  I would like to learn about the different sides of this argument and if there is actual evidence that video game violence leads to psychological issues.

SWA #12 - 02/17/12 - "A Healthy Consitution" Annotation & Questions

Waters, Alice. A Healthy Constitution. The Nation. 2009. Print

In this article the author is arguing that schools should incorporate food education into the everyday maths and sciences. Waters wants there to be healthier meals, and she wants the students to be involved in the growing of these foods. She believes children consume too much processed food in cafeterias. This in turn will lead to students learning responsibility, sharing, stewardship, and they’ll connect with their peers. The whole idea is that they learn about the process of growing something and then the get to reap the benefits by eating what they grow. Waters is biased in this article because she obviously supports these programs. She herself developed an organization to network food activists and make these edible education programs a reality.

According to Waters, food can be used “to teach values that are central to democracy.” She believes that teaching the Constitution isn’t the only way to instill these types of values into students. Her logic suggests that when these edible education programs are instilled, students will be more “connected to their communities and the land in more powerful ways.” Waters believes that having that sense of connection will further implement democracy based values in students and further educate them. In addition, Waters attempts to connect healthy meals to learning. She does this by suggesting that when students are depended on their responsibility to grow the food, they are educated with responsibility and sharing skills. Furthermore they learn how much farmers depend on land, how much citizens depend on farmers, and how the nation depends on the process. Her evidence for this theory is a few quotes from students who have been in one of these edible education programs. They provide some insight and generally praise the program. However, their words sound very fabricated to me, so I wish she had provided more sound evidence pertaining to why her argument is a good idea. It would have definitely strengthened her point.

SWA #11 - 02/14/12 - Developed Point

Main Point #1:

            Aafjes makes it clear throughout her article on rights based sports programs for women that she knows an ample amount of background information on the programs, which in turn gives her a lot of credibility to the reader. She highlights two of the programs throughout the article to use as a basis for her argument. These are the Woman Win organization and the Safe Spaces program. For example, Aafjes discusses the foundation of the Safe Spaces program and its founder, Nthenya Musyimi, when she writes, “As a child, she had witnessed the injustices women faced in the slums… She realized she could be most effective as a role model, finding that girls who participate in the Safe Spaces program have an increased determination to escape from the slums” (286). The idea that Aafjes knows a lot about the founder of one of these programs and the details of why it was created indicates that Aafjes is very knowledgeable about Safe Spaces. This knowledge guides the reader to believe that she is someone whose opinions he/she can trust. Aafjes further pushes her readers to trust her argument when she discusses the premises of these rights based programs when saying, “Rights-based programs, like those supported by Women Win, are designed to accomplish two major goals: first, to educate each participant about her rights; and, second, to help her build life skills that allow her to pursue the avenues necessary to realize her rights” (288). By outlining the core values of the programs Aafjes attempts to gain support for, the audience gets an assuring feeling that they know what they are investing in. She makes these programs sound very beneficial and necessary, and the fact that she knows the details of their goals further builds the trust between her and her readers. Another section that contributes to Aafjes trustworthiness and the overall quality of her argument is when she wraps up her summarization of the programs by stating that a rights based program “begins with the premise that every person has rights, and then educates and empowers an individual to achieve his or her rights” (288). She goes on to say, “The ultimate goal is to help a young woman escape from poverty, achieve economic independence, and become a fully-developed human being” (289). By going to great lengths and into great detail about the objectives of the programs, it becomes clear to the reader that Aafjes is very passionate about this issue. Knowing this fact, the reader can assume that Aafjes did a great deal of research to realize the necessity of the programs and build that passion. It is much easier for a reader to agree with an argument when the writer takes the time to inform her readers exactly what she is arguing for. This concept simply makes Aafjes’ opinion and argument even more trust worthier in that one can say to themselves that she obviously knows what she is talking about, so her stance on the issue is likely a good one. Aafjes undoubtedly uses her knowledge about the rights based programs she argues people to get behind to build trust with her readers and make her argument more compelling.

SWA #10 - 02/14/12 - Essay Outline

Thesis: In her article “Sports: A Powerful Strategy to Advance Women’s Rights,” Astrid Aafjes argues that people should recognize the need and invest in sports based programs to help women and teach them their rights. She tries to convince her readers by first establishing her credibility with her vast knowledge of these programs and their goals and also by appealing to her readers’ emotions with staggering statistics.

Main Point #1: Aafjes makes it clear throughout the first half of her article that she knows a lot about these types of programs which in turn gives her a lot of credibility to the reader.

·      Talks about the founder of Safe Spaces, why it was created, and what it does (quotes on pgs. 286-287)

·      Gives a ton of information on the Women Win program including specific program goals (quotes on pgs. 287-288, 291)

·      Information on areas where these programs work and the facts about these areas that make them needed (quotes on pgs. 288-289)

Main Point #2: Aafjes also uses a vast array of alarming statistics to appeal to the readers’ emotions as a method of convincing them of the necessity of these rights based programs.

·      Stats on the lack of financial and economic knowledge of girls in India (quotes on pg. 289)

·      Stats on how prevalent violence is in Kenya, Egypt, and Uganda which demonstrates the need for an outlet for these girls (quotes pg. 290)

·      Stats on girls’ confusion over sexual and reproductive health (quotes pg. 290)

Conclusion: In the conclusion I’m going reiterate my thesis, bring up the overall goal of Aafjes article, and discuss how motivated she made me to do something to help out these programs. Also, I’ll talk about how the fact that Aafjes is a woman affects her argument and any relevant omissions the article had.

SWA #9 - 02/12/12 - Food Health

The central claim to Ethan Huff’s article “Factory food artificially cheap, bad for your health,” is that instead of the FDA instilling more regulations over factory farming, we should instead shift our focus to going back to an agricultural system that is friendly to the land, safer, and encourages more local farming. A few of the reasons Huff goes over are that this needs to happen in order to stop food recalls caused by factory farming. Also, he says this practice is not only mistreating the animals, but also making our food potentially toxic instead of nutrient filled. Huff additionally talks about how these large factory farms need to stop doing what they’re doing because the runoff is polluting the local water and killing aqua life. The values in this article are that we need good quality food, the treatment of animals is important, and we also need to protect the environment from the harm factory farming causes. A few unstated assumptions that are in Huff’s article are that the quality of the meat is superior to what the cost of it may be and that animals that are being prepared to be slaughtered deserved to be treated humanely while still alive.

SWA #8 - 02/12/12 - Fear Factories

1.     In his “Fear Factories” article, Matthew Scully builds and supports his case as a conservative cause by saying it is our obligation as human beings to treat these factory animals with decency. It’s not necessarily an issue of whether or not animals have actual rights. He argues and persuades this audience by pointing out the immoral light that will be shined on humans if we continue to ignore the abuses these animals are going through.

2.     In Scully’s quote talking about reason and morality in humans in relation to how we treat animals, he is talking about how these qualities should always guide how we treat animals. He says if anything but reason and morality guide us then we aren’t actually doing anything good for the animals or humanity. I agree with him in that we should treat animals with the utmost respect and if that means we should call it being guided by reason and morality, then so be it. The animals just need to be treated fairly and not maliciously.

3.     Scully definitely addresses and anticipates arguments that could be presented against him. He says that many feel as though humans are obligated to take care of animals and treat them well; however, the animals themselves are not entitled to distinct rights. He refutes that by saying that this idea is essentially humans talking in circles because having an obligation and giving the animal rights should, in theory, end up with the same result. Scully writes, “Either way, we are required to do and not to do the same things. And either way, somewhere down the logical line, the entitlement would have to arise from a recognition of the inherent dignity of a living creature” (355). He’s pointing out that no matter how one looks at it, the animals need to be taken care of. Something needs to be done about the mistreatments occurring.

Paper Concerns

My concerns are whether I had too many simple sentences in the discussion of the ad characteristics. Also, I may have been repetitive. And then just in general if everything flowed together well and if I supported my thesis well.