New Precis for Paper #3

This article, "Exploring game experiences and game leadership in massively multiplayer online role-playing games" written by YeiBeech Jang and SeoungHo Ryu discusses the leadership opportunities and exploration that MMORPGs provide to gamers through rich social experiences with the game community, team play, and others. Jang and Ryu explore this through nearly 800 only gamers with results showing that joining a game community and playing in teams may help players build their leadership experience, in game suggesting that there is a positive relationship between in-game and offline leadership. The importance of this article is to prove how MMORPGs offer a useful place where people can grow their leadership skills for both in-game and offline. This article was written with the intent for professionals to read, as suggested by the high comprehension level and well structured sentences that include citations and the like.

Precis on Scholarly Article Regarding Sea Slugs

This article, "Slugs' last meals: molecular identification of sequestered chloroplasts from different algal origins in Sacoglossa (Opisthobranchia, Gastropoda)" by Handeler, Katharina (2010) explores how "Some sacoglossan sea slugs have become famous for their unique capability to extract and incorporate functional chloroplasts from algal food organisms (mainly Ulvophyceae) into their gut cells." Handeler discusses how "The functional incorporation of the so-called kleptoplasts allows the slugs to rely on photosynthetic products for weeks to months, enabling them to survive long periods of food shortage over most of their life-span." The purpose of this article is to emphasize the importance of slugs and their ability to last a long time. When examining the way this article was constructed, you can see that it is designed for professionals to read.

TED Video Summary

This video, given by a the speaker Brian Simmons, was about "The Power of Identity." This man, a lawyer, does a thorough job of explaining how feelings shape people's lives. He delves into the emotions of his listeners, saying that living poor and innocent is harder than living rich and guilty. He tells us how we, as Americans, have a hard time talking about our problems. His argument  mainly seeming to be about race, he logistically appeals to us, stating that a black man is 22 times more likely to get the death sentence  His argument was to move people to agree with his three, seemingly, main points: Wants to end death penalty, Wants to decrease prison population, and wants to have justice in the court system. He tells us that in order to be fully human, we must care about identity. To close the speech, he tells a story and to keep our eyes on the price.

Alternative Assignment

This video was very interesting to me. I am not much for Comedy Central, so this was my first time having ever seen anything like this. The simple idea of changing the word "nigger" to "slave" in Mark Twain books is just outstanding and unbelievable. Having never read any Mark Twain novels, I would not be able to say that I know exactly how much he uses the word but I do know it should be left alone. Many people in the past have been known to try and change history in their benefit. People like Hitler! I personally do not think this is right, ever. Even though the word nigger may be frowned upon, it does not mean that it should be erased from history. Many things that are frowned upon haven't been erased. For this reason, I dislike that idea. Beside that, I laughed at the video and found that the writers were very talented at picking words.

Column Work: Analyzing Rhetorical Strategies

The ethos that Collins uses within the article is very prominent throughout. During the entirety of the column, she continually quotes well known sources as well as referencing some as well. For example, she makes the point to quote Obama as to raise her ethos and make her seem more knowledgeable  Despite the fact she leaves the experts unnamed, she even uses them to back up one of her points. This all works very well for the average reader, who most often does not care to check into their sources and enjoys reading surface details such as that included.

The pathos that Collins includes is scattered throughout the article well. She poses rhetorical questions such as "was there ever before a presidential candidate who could sound that enthusiastic while vowing to defund Big Bird?" in order to trigger emotional appeals to those who support PBS. Equally, she enhances her writing with hints of opinion to propagate feelings from the reader. As a very well thought-out writer, she knows the effectiveness of her opinion in small doses. She comes off as unbiased at first, but then starts to stir feelings with little pieces of her opinion.

The logos used was not so much in the form of numbers as it is in other documents, but more in the form of sources and facts presented. "Witness the large proportion of Ohio Republicans who told a pollster that they thought Mitt Romney was the person most responsible for killing Osama bin Laden" she says in reference to the overwhelming amount of very committed people.

Column Work- Summary

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/04/opinion/collins-the-season-of-debates.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0

"The Seasons of Debate," an opinion article by the well known opinion columnist and former editor of the Editorials part of NYTimes Gail Collins. It discusses the beginning of the "debate era", introducing Romney's character while presenting himself at the debate. It goes into detail about Obama's mannerisms and some of the ideals that the candidates referenced. She then poses the question: "Do debates really matter?" Answering her own question, she introduces some ethos into the argument, stating that the experts say no. Delving further into the topic, she states that "the committed are already committed" and that it's about the "voters with failure to commit." Addressing the reader as "you", she touches upon important rhetorical points such as the pathos of calling "you" an interested citizen, and that "you" have been through a lot, then stating some facts that "you" may have been through. She closes the article with a reference to John Noble Wilford's article in the past NYTimes, proving some ethos.

Column Work- Ethos Pathos Logos

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/04/opinion/collins-the-season-of-debates.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0

Ethos: 

Quoting Obama: 
“At some point, I think the American people have to ask themselves: Is the reason that Governor Romney is keeping all these plans-to-replace secret because they’re too good? Is it because that somehow middle-class families are going to benefit too much from them?” Obama retorted. 

Mentioning CNN: 
"CNN managed to corral some of them to register their responses to the debate’s every jab and parry."

Mentioning known sources:
"Did you read John Noble Wilford’s article in The Times about the discovery of the remains of a dinosaur the size of a house cat?"

Pathos:

"...was there ever before a presidential candidate who could sound that enthusiastic while vowing to defund Big Bird?"

"The president thinks these debates are ridiculous, and he may well be right. But, truly, it would have been a better idea to keep the thought to himself."

Logos:

"Witness the large proportion of Ohio Republicans who told a pollster that they thought Mitt Romney was the person most responsible for killing Osama bin Laden."

"No candidate wants to repeat the saga of Rick Lazio, who ran against Hillary Clinton for the United States Senate in New York in 2000."