Likes/Dislikes of Research Paper

It has been a long time since I have written a research paper. I only remember writing one in high school and I don't recall what it was about. I enjoyed my topic of Gun Control because it is something that I have a strong opinion about. It was fun to read all the different articles and opinions and statistics about the topic. I didn't really enjoy the structure that we had to write the paper in. I don't like to have to follow directions on how to technically set up my paper with headers and cover pages. I also really hate making bibliographies, I am not confident about the set up of mine, but i gave it my best shot. Overall, writing this paper was a learning experience.

What I Want to Know

What I want to know about writing an argument essay is how to transition from paragraph to paragraph. I have my first daft done and I have added to it since but I feel that I still need better transitions. I think I can do a decent job of fixing it, but I won't be totally confident unless I was shown some examples.

My gun control audience

I am writing about gun control. Gun control is unnecessary in my mind. So my paper is going to be written to try to convince the undecided person to also not agree with gun control. My audience could be personafied as a male or female between the ages of 18 and 24. I am talking to this age group because that is the age group that I can identify with the best. This person would have at least a high school education and be aware of current events and our nations history. They would not have much experience with guns and do not hunt. The reason for this is because people that grow up around guns are usually against gun control and I am trying to convince the undecided person to be anti-gun control. This person would be of conservative or moderate political beliefs about the economy and foreign affairs. The reason for this is because I personally don't relate well to liberally minded individuals. They would be a prideful independent person because these kind of people are the ones that take in the information around them and make informed decisions and those are the people that I feel I could relate to best.

Most Recent Argument

My most recent argument was about a week ago. I was in my room and my roomate came running in and told me he needed me to argue with this kid about the state of our economy. I watch the news everyday and try to stay up on politics and our economy so I followed him. Ron was trying to say that we were going to be in a depression and that our economy was screwed and that the financial crisis was not because of economic speculation. I let him shoot his argument at me first and he seemed to be very uninformed. Then I just showed him how the market has been going crazy because of people shorting stocks and the banks tightening up the credit because nobody knows where the mortgage investment money is right now. He went from being offensive and confident to saying things to me like "yeah well America is screwed and mass anarchy is going to happen." I just laughed and walked away because he was uninformed about the topic.

Straw Man Fallacy

We all use fallacies every day without even realizing it. At least I dont realize it when I do use them. The one that I tend to use a lot especially with my mom is the Straw Man Argument. I use this when she tells me something and I am trying to change her mind. I used to use it to get her to let me do something that she didn't want me to do. Now I use it when we argue about politics or underage drinking or whatever else we argue about. I think I use it in a sarcastic way a lot of the time too.

Personal Essay

What I liked most about writing my personal essay was how it made me realize how that experience changed my life. While writing the paper I really had to bring myself back a couple of years and analyze the decisions I made. Doing this really helps you learn about yourself and will better me for the future.

The bad part of the essay was how it took up so much of my time this weekend. I had a lot of homework so the Monday deadline stressed me out a little bit. I liked it better when the rhetorical analysis papers were due on Wednesday because I only have one class on Tuesday so I can work on it all day. Weekends tend to get a little crazy too, so sometimes its hard for me to focus on my work for long periods of time.

Jonny's Mom

My most vivid experience of being culturely different was the first time I sat down and talked to my best friend Jon's mom. Her name is Sherri and throughout the years we have got to know each other very well. Sherri loves to cook for us so when she would I would sit in her kitchen and talk to her. She would ask me about school and girls and what not, she always was so amazed by how the girls act in America. Sherri was born in Iran and was taught to cook and clean. She was arranged to marry Jon's dad when she was 19 years old. They soon after moved to America. So Sherri never experienced the freedom that children and young adults experience in the western culture. When I would tell her about the girls that I hung out with or the parties that Jon and I would go to she would just be in awe. She would laugh about it and joke with us but I could tell she didn't like how open the girls were allowed to be with the boys in American culture. I could always feel that she was uncomfortable when those conversations came up.