Reading Response #2

"Skeptics May Object"

Exercise 1.

In the mind of most people, ending the war on drugs is not an option. Contrary to my belief, people believe that the money spent on the prevention of drugs isn't money wasted. Many will probably never agree that drugs could be considered safe to take. Some may also argue that drugs cause an increase in crime and violence. Nevertheless, despite increasing amounts of money being spent on prohibition, drugs have become more accessible and cheaper. Our society is wasting money on a lost cause. The answer to this problem is finding a new approach against drug prevention. A successful drug policy must apply a balanced approach of prevention, enforcement, and treatment.

Exercise 2.

I chose to look over an argumentative essay I wrote about raising the legal age to drive from 16 to 18. In my essay I included a counter-argument paragraph. In this paragraph I included many likely objections such as some 16 year olds are mature enough to handle the responsibility and that some 16 year olds have jobs and can't depend on others for a ride. The people making these objections would either be the 16 year old driver or the parents of them. I believe in my paragraph I represented the objections fairly. I gave good examples of each reason. Then, I clearly made my argument that these reasons aren't good enough and why raising the legal driving age is the right decision. To improve this paragraph, I think I could definetly include the language in this chapter to make my arugments more clear and understandable. Including a naysayer definetly strengthens my arguments in this essay. I gave example of why people wouldn't agree with me then showed why their reason where wrong and why my arugment is the right and safe decision.

Reading Response #1

"They Say"

Exercise 1

a. Some people still believe that our groundwater is safe to drink. In fact, however our experiments suggest that there are dangerous levels of chemical X in the Ohio groundwater.

b. You would think that material forces such as, money, technology and engineering drive the future, but it is material forces that drive history.

c. A standard way of doing things is based on the common sense of people. In contrast, proponents of Freudian psychology question these standard notions of "rationality."

d. It is a common belief that women talk more than men, but it has been shown that male students often dominate class discussions.

e. Women seem to always believe that having a boyfriend solves everything, which isn't always true. This film is about the problems of romantic relationships.

f. It has become common today to use templates to make writing easier, but I am afraid that using templates like the ones in this book will stifle my creativity.

Exercise 2

If ever there was an idea custom-made for a Jay Leno monologue, this was it: straight people supporting gay marriages. Isn't that like vegetarians supporting people who eat meat? Whatever happen to making up your mind and choosing one side?

I happen to sympathize with these flip-flopping critics, though. Maybe that's because I am also one of them.

Screen Shot

My difficult composing task was typing my chemistry lab report. As a requirement, the whole report had to be typed. This included all data sheets and graphs. It was hard to figure out how to organize the report and type out all my writtten observations. As I looked at my screen shot, I couldn't believe I created this. I saw a well written report. All my papers and notes were all together and made sense to the reader. Even though it took me a long time to figure out how to compose my report, once I was finished I felt satisfied and proud of what I accomplished.

Composing this on the computer allowed me to create a well organized, detailed report. Compared to my written report, the one I created in digital space was cleaner and sharper looking. All the lines were neat and the words could be read clearly. If mistakes were made I could easily fix the error without great effort. I could go back whenever I wanted and make any changes to the report. In digital space, I could record my observations in a table that the program set up for me and bold words that were more important than others. In digital space, It is alot easier to format a paper.

To better understand digital composing processses you must try them out. First you have to explore the program. There are so many possibilities to format a paper you just have to figure them out. There are even classes you can take to help you learn how to use it. One thing you can do is even look up information on the internet. I did exactly that when figuring out how to do the screen shot. I googled it. It is a great resource. It is to your advantage in this day in age to fully understand digital composing.