Prospectus on Plagiarism

Listing 3 negative aspects:

• the author's standpoint/position on the topic is not clearly outlined
• various different aspects of plagiarism are not clearly defined
• what are possible solutions for instructors to detect and to effectively punish students using plagiarism to get by

If Black English Isn't A Language, What is?

What exactly amounts to language? The author James Baldwin, an African-American writer has a very reasonable stand on what language is all about. Being part of the Civil Rights Movement and having lived in other parts of the world, where languages can have a far more divisive instead of unifying role he gives a very logical argument about language. “Language, incontestably, reveals the speaker” is his key aspect around which he has structured his argument.
His example about France and the French language, spoken in various parts of the globe, logically supports his argument of people being defined by and defining a language. In this example he breaks language down in its many parts, such as control, means of confronting life, political instrument and as a “crucial key to identity”. With that, he points out that language can be a uniting or divorcing force among the people who seem to speak this language. When he says language reveals private identity, I totally have to agree with him, since it feels like I am in the exact situation day-in and day-out. I cannot open my mouth and speak English WITHOUT people recognizing that I am not a native speaker. Like Baldwin puts it, I confess my parents, my youth and my social background right away.
Additionally, he describes Black English as a language separately from White English being developed during the earlier American history of slavery. In his mind Black English is to be seen as a monoculture existing apart from White English which was being out of the WHITE ignorance.
After all, he argues his point very consistently avoiding logical fallacies and providing the reader with lots of descriptive examples to support his claim.

MLA Citation and Evaluation

Romanowski, Michael H. "Common Arguments about the Strengths and Limitations of
Home Schooling." Clearing House 75.2 (Nov. 2001): 79. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 7 Mar. 2008 http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=6514595&site=ehost-live.

Evaluation
I have selected an article issued in the Clearing House Education 75 from November 2001. This article, written by Michael H. Romanowski, Associate Professor of Education at the Ohio Northern University describes very detailed the negative and positive aspects of home schooling “put forth by advocates and critics of home schooling regarding the perceived strengths and limitations of this unique form of education”. (Romanowski 2001)
The author, Michael H. Romanowski, is a very knowledgeable person in the field of education of adolescents and young adults since he has not only taught a variety of different students from different social and ethnic backgrounds but has also published several articles about numerous issues and topics in this field. Although the article I have chosen is from the year of 2001, the content still has a considerable purpose for the topic of my short argument paper about home schooling in the context of higher education. The explicit purpose of this source is to demonstrate the argument of home schooling by itself and to point out possible advantages and challenges home-schooled students may have to face. Personally, Romanowski’s article added information in support of my counterarguments against home schooling as an educational foundation of proficiency in higher education. For instance, he made some very useful claims about the socialization issue of home-schooled students.
Particularly with regard to further research, I should find out more about Michael H. Romanowski and his publications since he has a lot to say about educational matters and movements in our society.

The Right to Fail from William Zinsser

Initially I would like to state that I agree with Zinsser on the fact that the word “drop-out” is only used for people under 21 which I believe is a little discriminating because people beyond this age can fail as well and as bad as we young people can.
A very important question everyone has to ask him or herself at some point in his life is “what is success and what success means individually”. For me, success has a lot to do with happiness, freedom and personal and professional fulfillment. However, there is always the fear of failing. This fear is created by the ONE right our society does not grant us, “the right to fail” without severe social and personal consequences since society solely refers success to material wealth and well-being.
With regards to my personal experiences, I am quite familiar with the fear to fail. A good example happened right after high-school. Since I did not go to college right after high-school as I did not feel emotionally and physically ready, I felt like being a total “let-down” for my parents, having them pointing out, they even do it to this day, that “it would have been better to enter college right away”. When Zinsser says “Who is to say, then, if there is any right path to the top, or even to say what the top consists of?” he points out that there are many possibilities to reach one’s individual goals and everybody should have the right to determine their path in order to achieve them. The socially-accepted path is not necessarily the right one for one person since we are all unique individuals. Additionally, I like the fact that he raises the question about “the top” and what the top should be. For me, the “top” is to graduate from NAU and have a assistant management position at a major business hotel and keep my relationship with my boyfriend of 3 years. My parents, however, have much bigger plans for me. They want me to be the GM of a leading hotel, traveling the world not having any emotional ties to anyone. Consequently, I am constantly trying to do the “right” thing, trying to please them, not to appear as a failure, and simultaneously trying to achieve what I consider the right thing to be. I guess, this illustrates pretty good 2 entirely different definitions of the “top”. I know my parents would never openly classify me as a failure, should I “fail” and not do what’s right in their eyes, but I would intuitively know, that I did something wrong. Another aspect of his essay is that success and failure are very close knit and both lie in the eye of the beholder. I totally agree with him, but I also have to say that it is sometimes quite hard to realize this truth and then, even more difficult, having to face your parents or other people close to you who most of the time totally DISAGREE with your decisions and actions.
The very last statement he makes “Maybe we are learning again to cherish the right of every person to succeed on his own terms and to fail as often as necessary along the way” is very powerful, as he points out that every person should have the freedom and the right to fail as often as necessary on their individual way to success. Personally, I think it can be particularly healthy to fail since you learn to cherish success even more.

CRAAP Test Analysis

The CRAAP test stands for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose. These 5 criteria are highly important when looking for reliable and reasonable sources to base your argument on. However, this test can also be utilized for any kind of research paper.
“Currency” asks about the “timeliness” of the information, i.e. how recent the information is as it is critical to have up-to-date information relevant to your topic or issue.
“Relevancy” is a criterion questioning if the information is applicable in the context you would like to use it
“Authority” is another important aspect of researching information. Since nowadays, almost anyone can publish information, in particular on the Internet, it is essential to know the source of information. Talking about the Internet, you have to keep an eye on the URL. If it says .org, .edu or .gov, these sites are more reliable than the .com-sites since the facts given are usually verified and only members and authors of this site are allowed to publish there.
In addition, there is “Accuracy”, meaning the reliability, correctness and truthfulness of the information distributed. This criterion focuses on the source of information, the language and whether or not it contains certain biases and spelling mistakes. And it is fair to say that “Accuracy” and “Authority” are pretty similar.
“Purpose” – the final principle when selecting information from other sources concentrates on the question “why was the information published?” for instance was the information published to entertain, to teach or to persuade the audience.
Finally, when writing an argument paper or any kind of research paper, it is extremely critical to screen the information available properly and not to be distracted by biased and improperly researched information. Additionally, be very careful when using the internet for your research as anyone can use it as a personal platform to spread nonsense.

Article retrieved from Time Magazine (www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1717926.html)

Does experience Matter in a President?
This article is about the argument whether or not experience on the job, i.e. experience as a governor or state legislator and time on the job really makes a better president. The main question the article revolves around is the question of whether or not Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton is the better president to lead this nation. Illustrating this many references to former presidents, such as J.F. Kennedy or Lyndon Johnson are made.
Although this article is well researched and tries to avoid logical fallacies I have discovered at least three which I will point out and explain in the following:
Arguing about the sufficient or insufficient experience of a president, the author makes a very slippery statement “Unfortunately, when a president gets an education, we all pay the tuition”. This statement is characteristic for a “Slippery Slope” fallacy saying that one first step, here the election of a obviously less experienced president, will result automatically in failure and that we all have to suffer from the consequences. In my mind this is not necessarily a very profound way to argue that someone is not capable to be president because most of the time people grow into their responsibilities and thus do a very good job in doing so.
Another logical fallacy I have recognized in this article is in the very last paragraph. This fallacy is the generalization on how “all Americans” cast their vote. It says that they all follow their guts and their heart when casting their vote and so might pass over the “best-credentialed candidates”. I consider this as a very hasty generalization in the way that all Americans are seen as people not capable of critical thinking just following their hearts and guts when casting their vote. This statement mainly denies all Americans the ability to make critical and reasonable decisions.
The final logical fallacy is not that easy to discover in this text as it is consistently pursued throughout the whole text itself – namely the “Either/Or” fallacy. It seems like that there is only one criterion being the sole determinant, i.e. experience. The text basically argues that people have to make a decision if they want to have an experienced or a non-experience president. This observation is too clean-cut and simple for such a complex office as the one of the President of the United States. To make this argument less “Either/Or” – there is only one right answer to this question and all others are wrong, you have to define what experience really is and whether sometimes too much experiences leaves a person with occupational blindness or organizational blindness.

Middle Schoolers reveive the Pill

Whether or not middle school children should be able to receive pills and patches is a very delecate question. The article supports this idea in saying that some children already have and had sex no matter what their parents say or do and that the only way to improve this situation is to safe what is left to safe giving them the opportunity to receive various birthcontrols. Another claim made in support of the distribution of birthcontrol explained in this article is that these services are beneficial mainly for children from lower income families. Since these kids of this Portland middle school mainly come from lower income classes - a societal group being more prone to teen pregnancies, these health services provide them with the kind of gynecological services they otherwise could not afford.

The counter-argument is that NO 11year old should have sex in the first place. This is commonly agreed upon in the article and therefore the counter-argument for middle schoolers being issued contraceptives and patches. It takes a lot more maturity to have sex and deal with the physical and emotional consequences involved instead of just taking one little pill at a certain time every day. However, reality seems to look different with regards to rising teen pregnancy and the need of even having to discuss the fact of 11-14year old children having sex.

The perspective overlooked is the role parents should play in the whole discussion. The article totally leaves out the parents. Whether or not a girl has or has not sex or should take any kind of birth control or not should be dealt with in the family environment. The article does not take parents into the obligation to "give their kids THE TALK" although it is part of their duties of being responsible parents. Additionally, not involving parents in this important discussion is undermining their authority and they need to be a part of their female kids growing up.