Considering Types

In this blog post I will be explaining which types of argument I am considering for my public argument.

Steen, Jan. "Steen Argument Over A Card Game". 2/29/2009. Public Domain.

For my project I am considering using an evaluative and proposal type argument. I think that an evaluative type of argument would work with my controversy because it would allow me to evaluate the problem at hand. I could evaluate how doctors are having trouble enjoying their jobs and express the reasons why. However, I think that a proposal type argument would fit my controversy much better. There is already a problem at hand, the fact that doctors are miserable in their workplace. I would address this problem and show that it truly is a problem by adding statistics and expert opinion to support my claim. After I addressed the problem, I would then state ways that an unhappy environment in the medical field could be prevented.


Reflection:
Action Plan: Kelly and Jayni both had very nice action plans. They were both very extensive and addressed all of the points that they needed to. I think that they are similar to my action plan in that sense, however I think that our plans do differ in one major aspect. My controversy doesn't require me to give a lot of background information but both Kelly and Jayni would benefit greatly by providing background information, otherwise their arguments would fail.

Considering Types: Jayni and Kelly both were considering using argument types that are much different that mine. I think that the rout that I wish to go is more or less the road less traveled. The proposal type argument seems to be the least popular amongst the students that I looked at. Jayni and Kelly seem to both be looking in the direction of a position type argument.

My Rhetorical Action Plan

In this blog post I will be discussing my rhetorical action plan.

Bulsuk, Karn. "The PDCA Cycle". 11/20/2008. Creative Commons.

Audience

• For the most part my audience should have some level of interest in my subject because it concerns them directly. They already know the basics of becoming a doctor from the research that they have done and through any experiences that they have had.
• My audience values the doctoral profession because the audience themselves wish to enter that profession.
• I think that statistics showing how many current physicians are unhappy with their work will be very effective in creating a standard for argument. I think that it will be most effective if I just state the facts outright
• I think that if I were to include pictures of doctors during work hours that are overwhelmed, stressed, or unhappy will help appeal to the emotions and help persuade my audience.
• The audience is listening to my argument because I believe that many of them are not informed enough to make a decision to enter the medical field. I want to provide a solution to the problem of unhappy doctors by making them reevaluate what they are trying to get into.

Genre

• The function of my genre is to propose a solution to a common problem.
• I could see my genre being used in any source of media that is highly accessed by younger adults, specifically targeting the ones that wish to enter medical school in the near future. I could see my self expressing my argument over a media site such as Youtube. A link to two Youtube videos in the same genre can be found here and here.
• I will definitely be using logos and pathos in my argument by presenting some data that is a potential game changer. This data will appeal to the emotions because it will shock the readers as well as appeal to logic because it is hard evidence supporting my claim.
• If I decide to use visual elements it will be those of doctors that look to be unhappy in their workplace. I will do this to promote an appeal to emotions in my readers.
• I will definitely be using a scientific and formal approach to this project to appeal to my credibility.

Responses/Actions

• Positive

• People are persuaded away from a career that they wouldn't have enjoyed.

•  People will become aware of the problem at hand.

•  Someone of importance supports my argument and offers validity.

• Negative

• People will refute by saying, "Not all doctors are unhappy. "

•  People will ignore my argument and potentially enter the wrong field.

•  "You're not a doctor why should I listen to you?"

Analyzing Purpose

In this blog post I will be analyzing the purpose of the argument that I wish to make.

Chiltepinster. "Mocking Bird Argument". 6/26/2011. Creative Commons.

1. As a result of my public argument, I don't want to merely scare away medical students from med school but rather make them really understand what they're getting into. I want to show that medical school and actually working as a physician may not be the same thing that many people think it is. I want to show that some people are unhappy in their job and that anyone thinking about getting into this profession should really take a look into it and reconsider.

2.Plausible Actions/reactions

• People will reevaluate their thoughts on a medical profession. - This will better the community because there will be less physicians that hate their job, therefore increasing the quality of doctoral work.
• People will make the right decision about entering medical school. - This will better the community because there will be less physicians that hate their job, therefore increasing the quality of doctoral work.
• People will ignore my argument and proceed anyways. - This will hurt the medical field because there will be people entering a job that they may find they don't like. A consequence of this would be bad doctoral work.
• I broaden peoples awareness on the subject. - This can only help the argument. If I broaden the awareness then people will understand the issue at hand on a broader scale.

Not Plausible

• The whole healthcare system is changed.
• I change millions of minds.

4. People who are the most likely to advance my argument and who are most likely to move towards achieving my goal would be physicians. The most relevant voice would be that of physicians that are unhappy in their job. Physicians that regret going into their profession would want to inform prospective students so that they wouldn't make the same mistakes that the current physicians made a couple years ago.

Analyzing Context

In this blog post I will be analyzing the context of my controversy.

Dugdale, Dave. "Analyzing Financial Data". 10/20/2010. Public Domain.

1. The key schools of thought and perspectives in my public debate are that doctors are not getting treated in a way that they used to and how they believe that they should be treated differently.

2. The major disagreements in my public debate are that doctors should still be meeting the standard of quality of work that they used to but the doctors feel that this is impossible with the amount of work and patients they receive.

3. Some possible common ground would be an agreement that the doctors are being overworked and that they need to be given less work and the patients need to be distributed amongst more doctors.

4. Some idealogical differences are ones that deal with cultural differences. There are not similar problems that occur in other parts of the world that have better healthcare. The American culture and bad healthcare is prompting this problem.

5. There is not much that the audience can do in this situation. The audience are patients of the doctors and cannot do much to change this controversy unless they all unite to demand changes in the healthcare system.

6. The perspectives of the doctors is what is important in supporting my own arguments because i wish to argue that doctors are not happy in their jobs.

7. Perspectives of physicians that really enjoy their line of work will be the greatest threat to my argument because it will provide expert opinion and facts to argue against my argument.


Reflection:
Morgan and Jayni both had context that was somewhat similar to that of mine. Morgan and my arguments are similar in that they are highly opinionated but are still backed up by facts so that its not just one word over the other. Jay's argument differed from mine because of the amount of common ground on each side of the debate that there is. My controversy differed because there is very little common ground.

Audience and Genre

In this blog post I will be identifying two targeted groups of individuals that could be the audience for my third project.

"HK Ocean Park Audience". 4/11/2007. GNU Free Documentation License.

Audience
I think that there are two clear audiences for my writing. The first would be patients. The patients are clearly being effected by the way that doctors are being treated. The doctors have little time to spend with the patients because they are overbooked with work which also effects the patients. The second audience would be any prospective medical students. The article offers insight to what physicians have to do and why they do not like it so it definitely appeals to these students.

Publication Locations

• For Patients

For patients I would choose to publish in place that they would search to find out information about the healthcare system or in a place where they would search to see if they should see a doctor, such as WebMD, HealthFinder, Family Doctor and iHealthSpot.

• For prospective Medical Students

For medical students I would publish in a place where they might be looking frequently. Reddit offers forums that have people discuss the medical field, which would be a great place to target my audience. Other places would be MayoClinic, a website comprised of thousands of physicians that post things related to the medical profession. Finally I could publish in sites that are directly directed at medical students such as Student Doctor Network or Medscape.

Extended Annotated Bibliography

In this post I will be presenting you with a bibliography for 4-6 sources that provide answers to some of my questions that I recently came up with.

Papertrix. "Bibliography". 8/28/2005. Creative Commons.

Here is a link to my Extended Annotated Bibliography.

Narrowing My Focus

In this post I will be exploring some further questions that I have about my article, "Why Doctors Are Sick of Their Profession".

Denelson83. "Circle-question-purple". 12/16/2012. GNU Free Documentation License.

How can this controversy be resolved?
It's hard to tell exactly. This is mainly a question of opinion so everyones opinion would be different, but the main problem associated with this controversy is the fact that the doctors are being overworked. This could be a product of the healthcare system that we have in place in the United States but a simple fix to this controversy would be to lower the amount of work that the doctors are receiving. This would reduce the stress that they are having during work and allow them to give much more attention to their patients and ultimately increase their moral.

Where does this controversy mainly take place?
This controversy takes place within the health care system in the United States. The USA doesn't have the best health care system in the world, in fact its not that great at all. According to The Patient Factor the US ranks 37th overall in best health care systems worldwide. There are many things wrong with our health care. The controversy being expressed in my article is a direct result of the poor system in the US.

Questions About Controversy

In this post I will be coming up with some potential questions that I have about a controversy in my field. I will be using the article from project 2, "Why Doctors Are Sick of Their Profession" as a basis for project 3.

Neutrality. "Question mark (black on white)". 6/13/2005. Public Domain.

Who

• Other than doctors who feels this way about their job?
• Other than patients who is the audience of this controversy?
• Who doesn't feel that same way about their job?
• Who else is expressing their opinions on this controversy?
• Who is not involved in this controversy but should be?

What 

• What should doctors do about their profession?
• What options to physicians have if they are not enjoying their jobs?
• What culture promotes this unhappy environment?
• What exactly is causing the unhappiness in the profession?
• What should unhappy patients do about this?

Where

• Where does this controversy mainly take place?
• Where in the world would this controversy not be a problem?
• Where in the world is this controversy the most problematic?
• Where is this the most problematic, culturally?
• In what culture has this become the most problematic?

When

• When was this controversy first brought up?
• When will it be resolved?
• When will new research be conducted?
• When will being a doctor be a "good" job again?
• When when did doctors first become upset?

How

• How can this controversy be resolved?
• How will new statistics be found?
• How can they enjoy their jobs again?
• How has this been publicized?
• How is the general population reacting to this controversy?

Reflection on Project 2

In this post I will be reflecting on my essay from project 2.

Prabhu B. "Tso kiagar lake Ladakh". 7/19/2007. Creative Commons.

1. I specifically revised the whole introduction and the conclusion. I did so while following the the guidelines for writing conclusions and introductions from the textbook. I also slightly revised the body paragraphs by rearranging them so that the ideas link better. And of course I did my best to fix all grammar and spelling issues.
2. I changed my thesis around because I felt that it didn't address the rubric as well as it could have. I made sure that I added in the words ethos, pathos and logos. I wanted to make sure that my essay would make arguments that addressed the thesis exactly. I did my best to rearrange the essay so that it is more organized and so that the ideas flowed better throughout the entire paper.
3. After reading my peer review and reading the essay prompt I realized that I should probably be more specific and include the words ethos, pathos and logos. 
4. I think that they only add to my credibility because it shows that I have more knowledge of rhetoric if I include names to specific rhetorical strategies.
5. I think that rearranging my essay so that it is more organized and flows better makes it easier for my audience.
6. I tried to make sure that my sentences were structured well and that all of the grammar was correct. I tried to structure my tone so that it made me appear the most credible to my audience.
7. I tried to structure my sentences so that it would appeal mostly to my audience. I think that after I did this it made it easier for my audience to understand my purpose.
8. I definitely had to reconsider the conventions for the genre that I was writing in. The whole time I was writing I tried to make sure that I was writing within the conventions and the project rubric.
9. Reflection helps me as a writer because it brings out the true writer within me. It made me realize some things that I did that I didn't realize I did before I reflected.

Reflection:

Jayni, Nick and I all seemed to do the most revision to the same areas of our essays. All of us revised the introduction and the conclusion the most. Along with Jayni, I feel that these are some of the hardest parts of an essay to write because they provide the first and lasting impressions. I revised these parts so heavily to make sure that they completely address the rubric for this project.

Project 2 Final Draft

Here is a link to my final essay.

Punctuation, Part 2

In this blog post I will be discussing three different punctuation topics and then providing examples of them in my essay.

Whytock, Ken. "Punctuation Saved Grangma's Life". 3/3/2014. Creative Commons.

After reviewing three new punctuation topics I didn't really find anything that was that exciting. I know in general when and when to not use a particular punctuation point. However, I did learn that you should avoid using the dash because if it is overused it can create a choppy effect in your writing.

Here are two punctuation errors from my essay draft.

• "...was a physics student from the University of California Berkeley and is currently a practicing cardiologist..."

I found that in this particular sentence I need to add a comma after the word "Berkeley" to keep with the conjunction rules for writing. I also need to add a dash in-between California and Berkeley.

• "He uses quotes such as, “What happens when doctors are unhappy? They have unhappy patients.” to directly address the problem..."

I noticed that in this excerpt, the quote that I use ends with a period when it should end with a comma or an ellipsis.

Revised Conclusion

In this blog post I will be throwing out my old conclusion and rewriting it completely. I will be using the Rules For Writers textbook as a guide for how to construct a successful conclusion.

Center for Scientific review. "Scientific Review". 8/22/2005. Public Domain.

I feel that my new conclusion is much more effective because it goes beyond simply summarizing the points that I made earlier in my essay. Using the textbook as a guide I developed my conclusion off the question "So what?". I also like the way that I incorporated some evidence to support my claim about why it is important. I also think that the quote I used at the end helps address the larger issues of the article.



My Old Conclusion
Dr. Sandeep Jauhar uses several different rhetorical strategies in his article about the struggles of being a doctor in this day and age. He implements a particular tone in his writing to appeal to a certain audience that he has in mind. He creates the attitude of his piece by carefully choosing his diction. By doing so he creates validity in his claims and manipulates the reader into believing his claims are true. He then implements the use of statistics in his writing to appeal to the readers logic and emotions. His article was ultimately effective in presenting his claim that doctoring is no longer the same job that it used to be. He wants to get to the deeper meaning that people should do something that they truly love. Becoming a physician once provided him that joy but recently has digressed from what he really liked. many people will still pursue the medical profession because of the payout but as it was once said, "Do something you love and you will never work a day in your life".


My Revised Conclusion
Jauhar's article was ultimately effective in presenting his claim that doctoring is no longer the same job that it used to be. Through implementing these rhetorical strategies he is able to provide information that can benefit students and help determine the right direction some students should take later in life. Had he not been effective in implementing rhetorical strategies some students would ignore his arguments and proceed to medical school only to find themselves in a place where they don't want to be. Jauhar and 94% of other physicians are examples of why not everyone is suited for the medical field. He presents these arguments successfully so that the many prospective medical students don't make the same mistake as he did. Yet, many people will chase this job because of the paycheck but Jauhar wants to get at the bigger picture that if you "do something you love you will never work a day in your life."

Paragraph Analysis 2

In this post I will be presenting a copy of my draft and will be conducting a paragraph analysis.

Escamilla, Alejandro. "Left-Handed writing With Wristwatch". 5/19/2013. Public Domain.

Here is a link to my Copy for Paragraph Analysis 2.

Reflection:
My essay definitely needs some work, especially in the aspect of how well the entire essay flows. I always have struggled with writing topic sentences so I know that it is one of the weakest parts of the essay. As far as the arguments that I make, I feel that they are pretty sound however they may have some organizational issues and once again don't link together coherently. These aspects can be fixed and I feel that once I fix the topic sentences and organize my claims a little better the essay should flow and work well.

Revised Introduction

In this post I will be revising the introduction from my rhetorical analysis essay draft.

Ala Z. "Keyboard and Pen". 6/7/2007. Public Domain.

I think that my second Introduction is much more successful. One reason that I believe this is because I actually followed the "Tips for Introductions" from the textbook. I think that these tips helped me a lot when creating a new conclusion. I feel that my old conclusion doesn't really address the rubric for project 2. The first introduction addresses the issue presented in my authors article which is wrong. The new introduction addresses the arguments that were used by the author of my article which suits the project 2 rubric much better.


My Old Introduction
Becoming a doctor has always been one of the highest esteemed jobs that one could achieve. For years and years only the most motivate, smartest, top of the class students were able to progress to medical school and become doctors. The requirements are supreme and the dedication is plenty too much, but is the payout worth it? Many would say yes based on the preconceived notions that becoming a physician is a gallant job that pays well but most physicians from the 20th century would disagree. Sandeep Jauhar, MD speaks to a greater audience of prospective medical students about his own experiences in the medical field. Using diction and tone to express his heavily opinionated thoughts Jauhar discusses why becoming a doctor was not a great decision. He backs up his opinions by using statistics and expert opinion to appeal to the readers logical thinking.


My Revised Introduction

What if I told you that becoming a doctor would be the worst decision of your life? There are many different strategies that an author can implement to persuasively convey their argument. They can use diction and tone to appeal to credibility, facts and examples to appeal to emotions and statistics and expert opinions to appeal to logic. It is important to understand the rhetorical strategies that are used to make arguments in certain text for two main reasons. Understanding when and why specific strategies are being used can help you successfully develop your own arguments in the future as well as educate you to allow you to make better decisions about the credibility of the work. This paper will explore the many rhetorical strategies that author Sandeep Jauhar uses in his article, "Why Doctors Are Sick of Their Profession". It will argue that, despite the possibility of bias, Jauhar successfully asserts his credibility and implements specific rhetorical strategies that allow him to create a well organized and strong argument about the reasons why he, along with many other doctors no longer enjoy their job as they once did. Sandeep Jauhar, MD speaks to a greater audience of prospective medical students and patients about his own experiences in the medical field. Using diction and tone to express his heavily opinionated thoughts, Jauhar discusses why becoming a doctor is not a great decision. He backs up his opinions by using statistics and expert opinion to appeal to the readers logical thinking.

Reflection on Project 2 Draft

In this post I will be reflecting on the draft of my rhetorical analysis essay.

Oregon's Mt. Hood Territory. "Mount Hood Reflection in Mirror Lake. Oregon". Unknown Date. Public Domain.

I peer edited Brandon's and Jessica's essays.

• In my essay I do have an identifiable thesis. It points out the specific rhetorical strategies however it fails to mention the specific words ethos, pathos, logos. 

• I decided to break my essay into four main body paragraphs. The first covers the author and his credibility. The second covers the audience. The third covers diction and tone. The fourth covers statistics and expert opinion.

• I think that I did identify and analyze the main important elements of my texts rhetorical situation. No one that edited mentioned that I failed to do so.

• I did discuss why each rhetorical strategy was used. I also discussed the effects that they have on the audience. For example they "shock" the readers.

• I am including evidence from the text. I am mainly pulling quotes straight from the texts and then explaining what strategies are being used and why.

• I think that I ended my essay well. I tried to "globalize" my essay by adding a well known quote at the end to show that it the argument has more meaning than one might think. 

Punctuation, Part 1

In this blog post I will be reviewing what I have learned about punctuation in the Rules For Writers textbook.

Geralt. "Question". 2014. Public Domain.

Commas
In my writing I believe that I tend to usually leave commas out because I always fear that I will misuse them. Instead I break up the sentence into two and avoid using commas. The problem is that I tend to get shorter sentences which isn't always the most ideal. I learned that my writing could benefit if I started using commas in my sentences, but use them correctly.


Unnecessary Commas
This is part of the reason that I try to avoid the use of commas. I always learned that "when in doubt leave it out". I don't always follow this rule and sometimes it causes me to misuse the comma. After reading this section from the textbook I learned several things about the use of commas. One thing that I learned from the book was how you should not use a comma after a phrase that begins with an inverted sentence.

Semicolon
The semicolon always confused me. I never really knew when to use it because I was always confused as to why you wouldn't just use a period. I can't remember the last time that I used a semicolon in my writing which probably means that I'm not using them when I should. the most important thing that I learned after reading the textbook was that you are supposed to use a semicolon before you use a transitional phrase.

Reflection:
I found it hard to use semicolons because I never know whether or not I should start a new sentence or use a semicolon. In his first sentence, Brandon uses a semicolon. He uses the semicolon and then follows it by a transitional phrase just like the book advises. 

• "The breakthrough in the human DNA code has been declared a human triumph; yet, many perceive this science as the precursor to medical inequality, and in many cases,a race for genetic superiority"

In Mehruba's post she correctly uses a comma. I know that may seem silly but a lot of people misuse commas or use way to many. I find that I tend to not use a lot of commas because I am afraid of misusing them.

• "Without properly using these strategies, both arguments would have quickly fallen apart."

Draft of Rhetorical Analysis

In this post I will be presenting you with the draft of my rhetorical analysis essay on the article "Why Doctors Are Sick of Their Profession".

Willard and Dorothy Straight Collection. "Don't Wait For the Draft Volunteer". 1917. Public Domain.

Here is a link to my Draft.

Practicing Summary & Paraphrase

In this post I will be practicing paraphrasing and practicing summarizing a portion of text that is relevant to my claim. The portion of text comes from my article, "Why Doctors are Sick of Their Profession".

Gandy, Dave. "Summary Icon". 4/1/2015. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unreported.

Original Source

"It could be just a midlife crisis, but it occurs to me that my profession is in a sort of midlife crisis of its own. In the past four decades, American doctors have lost the status they used to enjoy. In the mid-20th century, physicians were the pillars of any community. If you were smart and sincere and ambitious, at the top of your class, there was nothing nobler or more rewarding that you could aspire to become."

My Paraphrased of Original Source

Johanna explains how his profession has lost its values in the last century. people in his profession have lost their "status". He claims that his profession was a "pillar" of any community and how only in the past did the "smart", "sincere" and "ambitious" have their eyes on  becoming a doctor, unlike today.

My Summary of Original Source

The doctoral profession has taken a turn for the worst in the last century. People in this profession don't get quite as much respect and are not quite as rewarded as the used to be. Becoming a doctor used to be held in the highest esteem but these days it has lost its praise.

Project 2 Outline

In this post I will be presenting a detailed outline of my essay which is based off the article, "Why Doctors are Sick of Their Profession".

Toyosaki, Tom. "Wineglass Model for IMRAD Structure". 4/20/2015. Creative Commons Atribution-share Alike 4.0 International.

When I was developing my outline I tried to keep several pointers from the Writing Public Lives advice box. I felt that it was very important to go "to go beyond simply stating the strategy that they address" (Minnix 124). To go beyond just stating the strategy I tried to add a question to be answered in my actually essay that will address the reasons that they used the particular strategy. Next I found it to be particularly important to "back up your focus or supporting arguments"(124). I think that this is essential in writing an essay because it adds credibility and strengthens the argument. I also think it is particularly important to "Draw strong conclusions in your paragraphs" (124). Just presenting the arguments isn't enough, thats why we need conclusions so that we can tie everything together and explain exactly why these arguments are relevant and important.

Introduction

• Background Information

• Here I would talk about the requirements to become a a doctor and the idea that it is one of the noblest jobs you can have. 

• Thesis

• "Sandeep Jauhar, MD speaks to a greater audience of prospective medical students about his own experiences in the medical field. Using diction and tone to express his heavily opinionated thoughts Jauhar discusses why becoming a doctor was not a great decision. He backs up his opinions by using statistics and expert opinion to appeal to the readers logical thinking."

• I think this is a good starting point for my essay. It addresses everything that I want it to so I think it will be a good thesis for my essay. 

Body paragraph 1 (may split into two paragraphs)

• Author

• Here I want to present some information regarding the author. He has written two books and is currently a practicing physician. A little more information would help determine his credibility.

• "Dr. Jauhar is director of the Heart Failure Program at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center. This essay is adapted from his new book, "Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician," published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux." 

• Audience

• I want to make sure that the reader of my essay knows who this article was directed to.
• Quotes pulled directly from article supporting who the article is directed to. 
• Who is this article directed at? 

• Purpose

• Why is the author writing this article?

• Conclude

• End this paragraph by addressing how an argument can be much stronger if you design it specifically for the right audience. I would also include how these appeal to Credibility (Ethos).

Body Paragraph 2

• Diction

• Here I would talk about the key words the Author used throughout the article.
• Negative word choice to make the reader feel a negative vibe. 
• How does this relate to the point he is trying to get across? 

• Tone

• Here I would talk about the negative tone that the author implements to persuade the audience.
• How does this relate to the authors purpose? 

• Conclude

• I would end the paragraph by talking about how the author is able to manipulate the reader by carefully choosing his wording as well as setting the tone of the paper. Also I would talk about how these devices appeal to the emotions (Pathos).

Body paragraph 3

• Statistics

• Present the authors opinion and validate it with statistics

•  Example: Doctors don't like their jobs.

• "In a survey of 12,000 physicians, only 6% described their morale as positive."

• Expert Opinion

• Author brings in other opinions
• How does that make his argument stronger?
•  Brings in the opinions of other doctors

• "I wouldn't do it again, and it has nothing to do with the money. I get too little respect from patients..." 

• Conclude

• I would end this paragraph with something about how the addition of statistics and expert opinions strengthens his argument. I would also end with how this appeals to logic (Logos) and emotions (Pathos).

Conclusion

• Jauhar's successful use of mostly all of the rhetorical strategies in his paper.
• Becoming a physician is not for everyone.
• People think that it is the best job and will pursue it at all costs even if they do not truly enjoy what they are doing because of the money.
• Globalize my argument in some way.
• Make a closing note that becoming a physician is not for everyone. 

• "Do something you love and you will never work a day in your life"

Reflection:
Savanna's post was very good. Her outline was much more organized than mine however I don't think that that necessarily makes her strategy better than mine. I think that for me I prefer to construct my essay freely and decide the direction that I want to go as the words flow onto the paper. I think that in my case an outline helps but I tried to stay away from an overly organized and strict version of an outline to allow myself some freedom when I decide to draft my essay. Dylan's outline was a little more similar to mine. His was more vague than Savannah's was and I relate better to his style. I prefer to be vague in my outlines to give me creative freedom so I'm glad that I am not the only one who writes in the same way.

Draft Thesis Statements

In this post I will be creating two rhetorical analysis thesis statements on my article, "Why Doctors are Sick of Their Profession".

Koslowski, Roger. "Typeface-Thesis". 12/2006. GNU Free Documentation License.

Author
Sandeep Jauhar is the author of this article. He is a doctor who writes about his own accounts and experiences in his field. He is also the author of two books.

Audience
The audience of this article could be very broad however I believe that he is mainly targeting people who wish to enter the medical field in the future. 

Purpose
He is trying to disprove how the preconceived notion that becoming a doctor is one of the noblest jobs in our society.

Ethos Appeal
Word choice
Tone

Pathos Appeal
Repetition of key words
Statistics

Logos Appeal
Statistics
Expert opinion


Thesis

"Sandeep Jauhar, MD speaks to a greater audience of prospective medical students about his own experiences in the medical field. Using diction and tone to express his heavily opinionated thoughts Jauhar discusses why becoming a doctor was not a great decision. He backs up his opinions by using statistics and expert opinion to appeal to the readers logical thinking."

• I think that it would be easy to transition into writing an essay based of this thesis. I feel like there is certainly a lot that I could write about that relates back to this thesis. My only concern is that the thesis sounds choppy. I found that it was hard to create a working thesis that contained all the information I wanted to present all in one flowing sentence. I had to split up the thesis into 3 different sentences and I don't know if this is necessarily a bad thing or not.

"Sandeep Jauhar, MD words his own opinions on accounts in his profession using diction and tone to enhance the effect. He supports his opinions with logic by providing statistics and expert opinions on the subject. He does all of this to target young prospective doctors to persuade and inform them that becoming a doctor is not what they may think it is."

• I think it would be easy to write off of this thesis because I can easily bring in some of the rhetorical strategies that Jauhar used throughout the article because I have mentioned them in the thesis.

Reflection:

Morgan's post had two really well constructed thesis. I think that she will not have a lot of trouble constructing her essay based off of either of the theses that she provided. I think that her construction was similar to that of mine which is a good sign that I am heading the right direction and am not on my own. Jayni talked about how she was able to meet all the requirements needed for the rhetoric situation however she struggled to see the direction her essay would head and what she would be writing about. I think that my theses do a good job of pointing my essay in the direction that I want to go and because of this I feel like I won't have much trouble writing a couple pages.

Analyzing My Audience

In this blog post I will be analyzing my audience for the paper that I wish to write. A link to my article can be found here.

Splintercellguy. "Audience Frontier Fiesta". 8/1/2013. Public Domain.

Who am I writing for? What are the audiences beliefs and assumptions?

I am writing my paper mainly for other students who wish to get involved in the medical career. My audience is concerned about the future of their field. They would believe that becoming a doctor is a great choice and a very rewarding job.


What position might they take on this issue? How will I need to respond to this position?

The audience might take the position that there is no way a doctor can not enjoy his job once he receives his paycheck. I would respond by saying that money is proven to have no relationship with level of happiness.


What will they want to know?

The audience will want to know all that they can about the medical field. After reading this article I was surprised to find out a lot of things that I didn't know about my profession. I must provide the audience with enough information to allow them to create their own opinion on the subject.


How might they react to my argument?

I think that my a lot of my audience would have a shocked reaction. I think this because some of them might have known they wanted to be in the health field for a very long time to find out that no one in the field enjoys what they do. I also think that there are some people that will choose to ignore the fact at hand. Because of this I think that I will get a split reaction from my audience.


How am I trying to relate to or connect to my audience?

To connect to my audience I would share similar beliefs that many people and I hold. I would then begin to show exactly why those beliefs are flawed.


Are there specific words, ideas, or modes of presentation that will help me relate to them in this way?

The best way that I can relate to them is through the appeal to logic and emotion using that statistics that were presented in my article


Reflection:
Morgan's post was very interesting because she believes that almost all of her audience will agree with and side with her argument. I agree with her prediction because these days physical punishment is widely unaccepted. Jayni had answers that differed from mine as well. She predicts that her audience will have a positive reaction, whereas I believe that my audience will have a majority of negative reactions.

I think that my topic doesn't really require a lot of background information. The article is pretty straight forward and I can assume that everyone know what a doctor is and what they do.

I think that my responses are pretty equal to that of my peers, therefore I feel that I don't need anymore further evaluation.

Cluster of "Why Doctors are Sick of Their Profession"

In this post I will be creating a cluster on my article, "Why Doctors are Sick of Their Profession".

Arbeit, Eigene. "Cluster zu Clustering". 11/11/2009. Public Domain.

In this cluster I have addressed many different strategies and ideologies that the author implements in his article "Why Doctors are Sick of Their Profession". I talked about the key rhetorical strategies used by the author in the text. I addressed the specifics of the texts rhetorical situation. Lastly I talked about the cultural values embedded in the text.

A link to my cluster can be found here.

Analyzing Rhetorical Strategies in "Why Doctors are Sick of Their Profession"

In this post I will analyze rhetorical strategies used in "Why Doctors Are Sick of Their Profession".

Branson, Bill. "Doctor Consults with Patient". November 1990. Public Domain.

Appeals to Credibility or Character

Which items on the bulleted list of "Appeals to Credibility and Character (Ethos)" on page 182 can you recognize in your text?

The author uses tone and word choice in the article.

How and why would the author(s) use these strategies?

The author would use this to make the reader feel a certain way and possibly make them agree with him.

How do these strategies affect the audience’s perception of the author's/authors' credibility and character?

The tone and the authors word choice would only help the authors credibility because it makes their opinion seem stronger.

How does the use of these strategies impact the effectiveness of the text’s overall message?

The tone and word choice of this article definitely impacts the overall message of the text. The word choice helps mend the article in a certain way so that it manipulates the reader into agreeing with him because his argument is so strong.

Does/do the author(s) seem to have any biases or assumptions that might impact their credibility?

The author is a practicing physician so he is speaking from personal experience. However their could be bias associated with his own experience in the field that could effect his credibility. 

Appeals to Emotion 

Which items on the bulleted list of "Appeals to Emotion (Pathos)" on pages 182-3 can you recognize in your text?

The author uses repetition of key words and statistics to appeal to the readers emotions.

What emotional responses is the author attempting to create?
What is the actual result?

The author is trying to create a negative emotion in his readers. A lot of people see being a doctor as one of the best jobs but the author uses statistics showing that doctors are not happy doing their jobs. I know that when I read this article I felt bummed out because I realized that maybe becoming involved in the medical world isn't right for me.

Are these emotions effective or ineffective for this particular audience and rhetorical situation?

I think that they are pretty effective. They were effective on me and I consider myself part of the intended audience.

How do these emotional appeals affect the credibility of the author(s) or the logic of the text?

I think that the statistics that the author used only help his credibility. There is nothing more concrete than providing cold hard facts. He is basically presenting his ideas and backing it up with logic, that can be hard to disagree with.

Appeals to Logic

Which items on the bulleted list of "Appeals to Logic or Rational Decision Making (Logos)" on page 183 can you recognize in your text?

The use of statistics and expert opinions are used in this text to appeal to logic.

What response is the author attempting to create by employing these strategies?
What is the actual result?

The author is trying to create a sense of reality in his writing. If you told someone that being a doctor sucks, they probably wouldn't believe you. What the author of this article does is make a claim and then make that claim a reality by proving it with supporting statistics. He also brings in a separate opinion from another doctor who doesn't enjoy his occupation. The author gets results from this approach because it is hard to reason with logic and expert opinions.

Are these strategies effective or ineffective for this particular audience and rhetorical situation?

These strategies are very effective because they present logic and like I said earlier it can be hard to argue against logic. After I read this article it did have an impact on me especially when he showed just how many doctors had low moral. 

Reflection:
Morgan's article had to do a lot with statistics as well as mine. I found that statistics appealed to both logic and emotions. The facts were very logical and are often the most shocking part. Isabel and I differed because my article used statistics to appeal to the emotions where as hers did not.

Analyzing Message in "Why Doctors Are Sick of Their Profession"

In this post I will be analyzing the message in the article "Why Doctors Are Sick of Their Profession".

Fae. "Doctor Explains X-ray to Patient". 9/30/2008. Public Domain.

Relevant Bullet Points

The most relevant points from the authors purpose are "express an idea" and "move the readers to feel a certain way". The author really did express an idea in his article. He expressed how maybe doctoring isn't for everyone and maybe its not as great as its hyped up to be. He also succeeded in moving the reader to feel a certain way. After reading this article I defiantly will reevaluate my thoughts on becoming a doctor.


Irrelevant Bullet Points

This article is not really advocating for a change. Although the author would most likely want his job to change for the better, he realizes that there is not one way that will make it better. Instead of offering a change he presents his opinions and expresses the problems that he has.

Layers in the Message

There are no layers to the message in this article. The author is very straight forward, expressing his beliefs and opinions on the subject and backing it up with information and statistics.

Analyzing My Own Assumptions

In this post below I will be analyzing my own assumptions of the article "Why Doctors Are Sick of Their Profession".

National Cancer Institute. "Doctor Consults with Patient". 8/3/2005. Public Domain.

What cultural values, beliefs, etc. do you share with the culture in which the text was written. Why have they endured?
I agree a lot with the problem that was addressed in this article. The author believes that you should be happy in life if you work hard for what you want. He then talks about how he worked so hard to become a doctor because it was a noble title that he thought he would enjoy, yet the corrupt hospital system in the U.S. makes it very hard for him to enjoy his job.

What values or beliefs do you not share? Why not?
Although I do agree that you should be rewarded for hard work, I do not agree that you should pursue a profession because it is "noble" of because it pays well, which I believe the author did in a sense.

If text was written in another culture, what beliefs or values connect to your own culture? What is different from your culture?
I think that a doctor is one of the highest esteemed jobs worldwide. Among all cultures, doctors are held above most because of the amount and rigor of schooling that they have to undergo to become an MD. I believe that doctors that come from other culture or countries are treated differently than they are in the U.S.. Medical care systems in other parts of the world seem to operate at a better level than that of the U.S. which makes me believe that this issue would not present in other parts of the world.

If the text is written in your culture but in a different historical time, how have the values or beliefs changed over time?
In my opinion, I believe that this would never have been an issue in the past. Hospitals and medical care are not running as efficiently as they could be and because of that it is creating a lot of problems for patients, doctors and anyone associated. I think that hospitals used to run at a better rate than the do now and were putting a lot less stress on the doctors than they are now. I see it as a broke system that is forcing a hard time on all of the doctors, unlike it used to.

Reflection:
Savannah's post talked about the idea of genetically modifying babies to carry certain desirable traits. She expressed her belief that only mother nature should decide the characteristics of newborns. I commented on her post agreeing with her on this point because I believe that altering genes in any way could cause problems far greater than we would know how to solve. I also commented on Morgan's post. She expressed her opinion on the use of physical abuse in parenting. She believes that physical abuse should not be used. I left a comment agreeing with her because I believe that there are other parenting techniques out there that produce a better result in the long term.