TOW #23 (Written text)- "Babies cry at night to prevent siblings, scientist suggests"

Reading/ Writing Goals- Read an article on a topic that does not particularly interest me, but might be a topic that may show up on the exam. Choose rhetorical devices that are essential to the author's argument/purpose.

            Around the world, people invest hundreds of billions of dollars annually on scientific research in various fields, but what for? Whether people feel that it is necessary to invest so much money in science or not, scientists’ main goal is to find answers to the many questions people have regarding the natural world. Nowadays, you can find scientific research that has been conducted on nearly every topic known to man, even those that seem to have no use or importance. Recently, a neuroscience writer named Laura Sanders wrote an article published Science News analyzing the behaviors of babies. Using hypothetical reasoning and specific diction, Sanders argues that babies likely cry at night not because they are hungry or are looking for comfort from their parents, but to prevent their mothers from conceiving another child.

            Everyone knows that newborn babies are often a hassle, as they constantly cry, wake up in the middle of night, and require constant attention. Typically, people believe this is so because they are so young and cannot care for themselves, but Sanders argues otherwise. According to Sanders, babies are so demanding, especially at night, in order to gain their mother’s attention and occupy her so she is unable to have any more children. In the article, she supports this claim by offering up multiple hypotheses and reasoning to back them up. Although, her main source of reasoning is that babies naturally know, through genetic evolution, that the more attention they receive from their parents, the more likely they are to survive. Therefore, if a mother was to have a second child, the first child would receive much less attention and care than they would as an only child. Though this hypothesis seems reasonably, it is ultimately ineffective because it lacks experimental evidence and results that are required in science to prove a claim to be true. So far, Sanders only has hypothetical evidence to base her reasoning off, and therefore can not successfully make the claim that babies cry at night to prevent having siblings.

            Likely because Sanders lacks such evidence to make her claim, she relies diction that characterizes babies as much smarter and more aware of their actions than they actually are. In the article, Sanders claims that babies desire to prevent another sibling is a “devious intention” and that babies are “nighttime nursing liaisons.” Sanders depicts babies as “devious” because her argument states that babies somehow have it programmed in their genome at birth to prevent their mother from having another child. Obviously a baby cannot prevent this from happening in a more direct manner, so they resort to other underhanded tactics, such as waking up and crying at night, to prevent sex. Also, Sanders argues that babies are liaisons determined to break up sexual relations between their mother and father. Once again, I believe this is unlikely because babies can simply not survive on their own and have no other way to get attention than to cry. Sanders cannot suggest that babies are this devious and smart to develop close liaisons with their mother solely to distract them.

In conclusion, I believe this article is a great example of the diversity within the field of science, yet Laura Sanders does not effectively achieve her purpose. She cannot rely on hypothetical evidence and such diction to claim that babies act the way they do to prevent the birth of siblings.

TOW #23 (Visual Text)- WWF Deforestation

Goals- Choose an image with a deeper meaning and/or an analogy or metaphor of some sort. Also, write so that the analysis flows together with mature syntax so it does not seem like a list of the necessary information.

Aside from pollution and global warming, one of the single most destructive human forces is deforestation. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), 15 square kilometers of rain forest are destroyed every minute to provide the world with wood and a variety of other resources available among the trees. Although, this process of deforestation comes at a huge cost. Without adequate space left in rain forests, thousands of species of animals are subject to habitat loss. Animals no longer have the space and resources needed to survive, therefore leading to the extinction of many species. The purpose of this image created by the WWF is to urge humans as a whole to limit the destruction of habitats across the world, specifically in rain forests, which they effectively achieve by portraying a well-known character in popular culture.

            The movie Tarzan is one of the most popular Disney movies of all-time and is easily identifiable as the main character, Tarzan, is usually depicted swinging from vines in the rain forest, which he calls home. In this WWF image, Tarzan is clearly picture swinging from a vine, although he has reached the end of the rainforest. Instead of safely reaching another tree, Tarzan appears to be falling onto land recently cleared by several large bulldozers. Despite being a cartoon, this depiction is very affective because people are more likely to care about the deforestation taking place when they see a character, that they all know and love, falling to his death as a result of human’s carelessness and destruction of rain forests. In addition, the WWF states at the bottom “15km² of rain forest disappears every minute,” which was likely added to back up the cartoon with fact and hint that Tarzan and animals living in the rain forests cannot bear the deforestation as it happens so quick and at such a large magnitude.

            Ultimately, I found this image to be very effective at getting people to care and realize the terrible effects deforestation has on the Earth and its inhabitants. I though it was creative and interesting that the WWF depicted Tarzan rather than a more realistic animal because Tarzan likely has much more cultural significance to viewers.

TOW #22 (written text)- "Flight 370: When Facts are Few, Imaginations Run Wild"

            Two long weeks ago, an 80-foot long Boeing 777 airplane carrying 227 passengers and 12 crewmembers mysteriously vanished while flying 30,000 feet above the Indian Ocean. On March 8, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took over from Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaysia heading to Beijing, China. Several hours after takeoff, all communications were cut off with the aircraft as it left Malaysian airspace out over the Indian Ocean. Ever since then, flight 370 has not been seen on radar and seems to have disappeared. For the last two weeks, over a dozen countries have joined in a massive search for the missing aircraft and to this point, nothing has been found. Due to the mysterious nature of the incident, many conspiracy theories have arisen that are offered up in this article by Ann O’Neill with the use of a speculative tone and exemplification.

            When introducing the multiple different conspiracy theories regarding flight 370, O’Neill comes off as satirical, but in reality she is using a more speculative tone. Since the theories are not necessarily based on fact, there is no way that O’Neill can say for sure that one theory is more true than another. In a way, her speculation is the reason this article effective achieves its purpose, which is not really to release information, but to suggest certain theories that may seem wild and unlikely, but may, in fact, be true considering very little is known about flight 370’s disappearance. In addition, O’Neill effectively accomplished this purpose because she provides examples of past incidents to support the different theories. For example, in the “shoot-down theory,” O’Neill proposes that flight 370 was shot down by with missiles because the plane had an electronic failure and was flying unidentified in another country’s airspace. This may seem improbable, but O’Neill points out that this has happened twice in the past 30 years; once in 1988 when the US Navy shot down an Iranian plane that they mistook for a fighter jet, and again in 1983 when Russia shot down a Korean Airlines Flight. With such evidence, this theory, which once seemed irrational, may very well be true if such an electrical failure took place onboard flight 370.

            Overall, Ann O’Neill’s article introducing flight 370 conspiracy theories is effective because if her speculative tone and usage of supporting historical examples.

TOW #21 (Visual text)- Audi S7 advertisement

Over the past few years, Audi has worked very hard and put hundreds of millions of dollars into their marketing campaign in order to gain the top spot in the luxury car market, above competitors such as Mercedes Benz and BMW. Recently, Audi released the “leopcat” advertisement, portraying the new Audi S7 as half-leopard and half-domestic cat. Using primarily juxtaposition, Audi’s “leopcat” advertisement effectively convinces prospective buyers that the Audi S7 is the perfect blend between a sports car and a luxury car. Therefore, it is the best car in the market for people looking for a sporty, yet comfortable vehicle, ultimately convincing people to buy.

As seen on the left side of the advertisement, the new Audi S7 is described as a leopard. Commonly known as a quick, speedy big cat, the leopard is arguably the ruling predator of the jungle. By comparing the car to the leopard, Audi is inferring that the S7 is a fast and powerful sports car that is unmatched by its competitors. In addition, an image of a domestic cat sits juxtaposed next to the leopard to portray the luxurious and comfortable side of the vehicle. By comparing the S7 to a cat, Audi argues that it is also a family friendly vehicle. Cats are friendly house pets that many adults and children love, so why wouldn’t people love driving in the new Audi. Also, Audi assists the juxtaposition between the two great qualities of the S7, by stating “8 cylinders when you need it” and “4 cylinders when you don’t.” Most people that would buy an Audi would most likely not need a powerful V8 engine, so it is important to point out the fact that a more efficient and practical 4-cylinder engine is available. In city, a 4 cylinder engine is all anyone would ever need, but on a highway, it is appealing to many people to have a fast V8 engine to get from place to place in a hurry.

Overall, I felt this was an effective advertisement made by Audi. They did a great job of appealing to a wide variety of customers by highlighting the fact that the new Audi S7 is fast enough for sports car lovers, yet family friendly and comfortable.

TOW #20 (written text)- "Win at Home and Draw Away"

Reading Goal: Read and analyze a text that is challenging, and something other than an article on a popular news page. Also, read about a topic that I may not necessarily enjoy, but one that could definitely appear on the AP exam.

Writing Goal: Go more in-depth with my analysis so it goes full circle and relates back to the purpose of the text. Also, choose rhetorical devices that are essential to the argument of the essay, not just whatever I can find easily.

Throughout the world of sports, there is an apparent edge that playing in front of your supporting fans gives teams, called home field advantage. Yet, many sports analysts and statisticians have long wondered what actually gives teams this edge over their opponents when playing at home. Do supporting fans really have the power to change the outcome of a game? A group of statisticians, consisting of Alina Bialkowski, Patrick Lucey, Peter Carr, Yisong Yue and Iain Matthews, answered this question in their essay “Win at Home and Draw Away,” which has been nominated as one of the top essays at the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. In the essay, the co-authors effectively use an experimental writing structure and supplemental images to prove that the 20 soccer teams that play in the English Premier League are more likely to win at home because they play far more aggressive and offensive-minded when playing in front of their home supporters.

            Throughout the well-crafted essay, it is clear that the group of authors closely followed a scientific design, logically ordering their experimental evidence and results. In the introduction of the piece, they first state the problem, or in this case, what gives home teams an advantage over their visiting counterparts. Shortly after, they introduce their hypothesis, which says: “home teams had significantly more possession in the forward-third which correlated with more shots and goals” as a result of, “1) the formation the team played, and 2) the manner in which they executed it” (1). Finally in the body of the essay, the statisticians analyze gameplay evidence from the 20 EPL teams in order to prove their hypothesis and make a conclusion. By using this structure, readers are easily able to follow the thought process of the five statisticians that contributed to the essay. The evidence given by the authors flows in a logical, analytical order and is supported with an array of statistics, which are explained in a way so the reader easily understands them. Such evidence and statistics are proven by experiments, and, therefore, cannot be argued by the reader. In the end, a concise conclusion takes into account the experimental and makes it clear that increased aggression and offensive play are the main contributors to better play at home.

            To further prove their hypothesis, the authors include multiple images, charts, and graphs that visually aid readers understanding of the experimental results. Many readers, specifically ones like myself who are not qualified enough to attend this conference, may not understand the authors’ use of complex statistical processes such as “Expectation-Maximization” (4) and the “Hungarian algorithm” (4). So, the authors display results and statistical processes using images and charts that are easily understood by someone not so well versed in the world of statistics. In addition, they make sure to create individual graphs for each team in the EPL, which assist their conclusions because they clarify the differences between the results of home and away matches.

            With the use of a logical experimental structure and relevant graphs and charts, the writers of “Win at Home and Draw Away” masterfully demonstrated that winning on one’s home field is attributed to the increased offensive aggression when playing in front of supporting fans. As lacrosse season starts this week, I know I will find myself thinking about this essay, and, hopefully, find it as motivation to play hard both home and away.

article- http://www.sloansportsconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014_SSAC_Win-at-Home-Draw-Away.pdf