Author: randalsh

The introduction to rhetorical appeals change the way I thought about Waking up and Taking charge because it made me think more in depth about how the author is trying to convince me of their claim. It made me think about if her claim was valid, reasonable, and believable. It made me analyze her way of convincing me and think more in depth about her claim.

Espinal, Rafael. “Government must Lead on Plastic Pollution.” USA Today, 2018, pp. 07.

Ashraf, Syed T. “Beating Plastic Pollution.” Pakistan Observer, 2018.

Wright, Stephanie L., and Frank J. Kelly. “Plastic and Human Health: A Micro Issue?” Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 51, no. 12, 2017, pp. 6634-6647

“Plastic Alternatives may Worsen Marine Pollution, MPs Warn; Committee Says UK should Reduce use of Plastics rather than Replace it with Other Materials.” The Guardian (London, England), 2019.

Elejalde-Ruiz, Alexia. “Sustainable Packaging Search Going Mainstream: Water in Aluminum Bottles, Straw-Less Lids, Reusable Cups among Innovations.” Chicago Tribune, 2020.

Tembhekar, Chittaranjan. “Biodegradable Packaging Alternatives Come at a Cost.” The Times of India, 2018.

“Biodegradable Packaging: Worldwide Market is Projected to Exceed $113 Billion by 2023 – Paper-Based Packaging Solutions to Dominate.” NASDAQ OMX’s News Release Distribution Channel, 2018.

O’Sullivan, Kevin. “Public at Risk from Microbeads, Warns EPA: Study Coincides with Discovery of Biodegradable Alternative to Plastic.” Irish Times, 2017.

• Arguments are research writing
• Do not misuse sources or plagiarism
• First choose a topic but then write about an issue within that topic
• learn about current issues from news channels, accredited websites, library databases, magazines, newspapers, and discussions with others
• keep an informal research log on what you did during each search session
• keep a list of your sources
• Use points of things you can observe in your life
• use personal experiences
• take surveys
• interview experts on the topic
• read monograph books, reference books, and anthologies for more information and facts
• articles in scholarly journals, articles in magazines, and newspapers provide up to date information
• online materials like websites, blogs, and groups provide easy to access information from accredited places but you have to make sure it is a reliable source
• try different terms and phrases while searching your topic to pull up different results
• use your college’s online library resources for scholarly information

Topic: Environmental issues like pollution

Issue: plastic use leading to pollution

Sources:

Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_pollution

Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth’s environment that adversely affects wildlife, wildlife habitat, and humans.^[1][2] Plastics that act as pollutants are categorized into micro-, meso-, or macro debris, based on size.^[3] Plastics are inexpensive and durable, and as a result levels of plastic production by humans are high.^[4] However, the chemical structure of most plastics renders them resistant to many natural processes of degradation and as a result they are slow to degrade.^[5] Together, these two factors have led to a high prominence of plastic pollution in the environment.

Plastic pollution can afflict land, waterways and oceans. It is estimated that 1.1 to 8.8 million tonnes of plastic waste enters the ocean from coastal communities each year.^[6] Living organisms, particularly marine animals, can be harmed either by mechanical effects, such as entanglement in plastic objects, problems related to ingestion of plastic waste, or through exposure to chemicals within plastics that interfere with their physiology. Effects on humans include disruption of various hormonal mechanisms.

As of 2018, about 380 million tonnes of plastic is produced worldwide each year. From the 1950s up to 2018, an estimated 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced worldwide, of which an estimated 9% has been recycled and another 12% has been incinerated.^[7] This large amount of plastic waste enters the environment, with studies suggesting that the bodies of 90% of seabirds contain plastic debris.^[8][9] In some areas there have been significant efforts to reduce the prominence of free range plastic pollution, through reducing plastic consumption, litter cleanup, and promoting plastic recycling.^[10][11]

Some researchers suggest that by 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in the oceans by weight.^[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_shopping_bag

Plastic shopping bags, carrier bags, or plastic grocery bags are a type of plastic bag used as shopping bags and made from various kinds of plastic. In use by consumers worldwide since the 1960s,^[1] these bags are sometimes called single-use bags, referring to carrying items from a store to a home. However, reuse for storage or trash is common, and modern plastic shopping bags are increasingly recyclable or biodegradable.^{[citation needed]} In recent decades, numerous countries have introduced legislation restricting the sale of plastic bags, in a bid to reduce littering and plastic pollution.^[2][3][4][5] Some reusable shopping bags^[6] are made of plastic film, fibers, or fabric.

Because plastic bags are so durable, this makes them a concern for the environment. They will not break down easily and as a result are very harmful to wildlife. Each year millions of discarded plastic shopping bags end up as plastic waste litter in the environment when improperly disposed of.^[17] The same properties that have made plastic bags so commercially successful and ubiquitous—namely their low weight and resistance to degradation—have also contributed to their proliferation in the environment. Due to their durability, plastic bags can take centuries to decompose.^[17] According to The Outline, it can take between 500 – 1,000 years for a plastic shopping bag to break down. The use lifespan of a bag is approximately 12 minutes of use.^[18]

On land, plastic bags are one of the most prevalent types of litter in inhabited areas. Large buildups of plastic bags can clog drainage systems and contribute to flooding, as occurred in Bangladesh in 1988 and 1998^[19] and almost annually in Manila.^[20][21] Littering is often a serious problem in developing countries, where trash collection infrastructure is less developed than in wealthier nations.^[22] According to Sharma, Moser, Vermillion, Doll, and Rajagopalan (2014), they have noted that in the year 2009 only 13% of one trillion single-use plastic bags produced were recycled, the rest were thrown away, which means they end up in landfills and because they are so lightweight end up in the atmosphere blown into the environment. The number of plastic grocery bags disposed of in the U.S. apart from the rest of the world is a number that is difficult to comprehend, this is why it is important that solutions are considered, weighed and measured to address this growing problem. Phasing out plastic bags is a viable option, however, there are many that argue that this puts a strain on businesses and makes it more difficult for the customer to take goods home. There are alternatives such as purchasing cloth grocery bags so that those who don’t agree with using plastic reusable bags can still have a bag that can be used many times over; however, government studies have found that cloth bags have a high carbon footprint.^[23] Many states have used legislation to stop the banning of plastic bags. Plastic bags were found to constitute a significant portion of the floating marine debris in the waters around southern Chile in a study conducted between 2002 and 2005.^[24]

Plastic bags don’t do well in the environment, but several government studies have found them to be an environmentally friendly carryout bag option. According to the Recyc-Quebec, a Canadian government agency, “The conventional plastic bag has several environmental and economic advantages. Thin and light, its production requires little material and energy. It also avoids the production and purchase of garbage/bin liner bags since it benefits from a high reuse rate when reused for this purpose (77.7%).”^[25] Government studies from Denmark^[23] and the United Kingdom,^[26] as well as a study from Clemson University,^[27] came to similar conclusions.

Google Scholar:

•Science direct- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X17301650

Plastics in the marine environment are widely recognized as a global issue.•

Current international strategies and policies to reduce single-use plastics (plastic bags and microbeads) are reviewed.•

Many nations have adopted policies (since 1991) to reduce single-use plastic bags.•

A rising tide of policy strategies to reduce microbeads began in 2014, but are yet to be implemented.•

More research, policy and legislation efforts to reduce single-use plastic marine pollution are recommended.

Science Direct-https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0043135417309272

38 mineral waters were analyzed for microplastics by means of μ-Raman spectroscopy.•

Microplastics were found in every type of water, almost 80% are sized between 5 and 20 μm.•

Statistically significant difference from blank value could only be proven towards returnable bottles.•

The found particles correlated with the materials the bottles/cartons were made of.•

This indicates that plastic packaging emit microparticles, ingested directly by consumers.

Public Health Management and policy- https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/15d7/a3ed3e708e403c7838d474984c91eeab1ec5.pdf

The issues surround the toxicity to human from the single use plastics are primarily due
to their use in packing food stuff. Here drinking water bottles are often the most talked
about sources of toxicity to humans from plastics. Pthalates and Bisphenol A (BPA) are
the two most notorious toxin which leach from plastics into the contained food or water.
Moreover when these single use item are discarded improperly, they often end up in
water bodies where they continue to leach these harmful chemical for an very long time,
on account of being non biodegradable.

Google:

UN Environment Program-

While plastic has many valuable uses, we have become addicted to single-use or disposable plastic — with severe environmental consequences. Around the world, one million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute, while up to 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year. In total, half of all plastic produced is designed to be used only once — and then thrown away. Plastic waste is now so ubiquitous in the natural environment that scientists have even suggested it could serve as a geological indicator of the Anthropocene era.Researchers estimate that more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced since the early 1950s. About 60% of that plastic has ended up in either a landfill or the natural environment.

Marine Safe-

Disposable plastic shopping bags take around 20 years to break down in the ocean – leaving chemicals and toxic particles (microplastics) behind. A bottle that holds one drink and is disposed of immediately after consumption will take an incredible 450 years or more to break down into microplastic. The majority of all marine litter is plastic and comes from use on the land, traveling via wind and river until it reaches the sea. The energy and economic cost of recycling it is immense and less than 10% is recovered, with 50% going into landfill, some being made into durable goods and much of the rest ending up in the ocean¹.

Millions of tonnes of plastic floats in the ocean in giant islands of plastic trash. Unknown quantities have broken down into tiny toxic microplastic particles that act in the same way as micro beads, attracting and binding other pollutants and making themselves more toxic in the process. While it floats and degrades, the plastic leaches marine-toxic chemicals into the water.

The effects of plastic bags and bottle caps on seabirds, turtles, seals, whales and other species is graphically illustrated by their deaths from starvation after mistakenly consuming the plastic or from getting tangled up in it.

Youtube-

I. Introductory Paragraph

A. Summary of author’s essay

B. Claim: In the Essay “Waking up and Taking Charge” by Anya Kamenetz, the author gives a very effective message that major changes to student debt can occur through student organization and united action.

II. Middle Paragraphs

A. Cover paragraphs 1-5

1. Opens with paragraph “down to earth” wording to lure in the reader
2. Calling young people to action making them feel empowered
3. Gives example from Yale showing results are possible with her proposition

B. Cover paragraphs 6-11

1. Gives a proposition where to start the movement
2. Calls for effective change in Congress
3. Gives an easy first step of bringing the topic of student debt more public to warn others
4. Gives a proposition that laws be made to protect young adults from credit card debt and signing up for something they will regret

C. Cover paragraphs 12-22

1. Calls for students to be more active in making their needs heard
2. Gives examples from students in UK and Canada who were successful to back her call to action
3. Gives an example of America’s Student Organization and how weak it is
4. Gives examples of protests that were not successful in California and New York

D. Cover paragraphs 23-29

1. Gives an example of a successful action committee, VA21
2. Encourages students to join a PAC like VA21
3. Comes from the opposing side by admitting that VA21 would not be likely to confront unfair credit card marketing

III. Ending Paragraph on Rhetorical Appeals

A. Author uses persuasion as a rhetorical appeal

B. Add quotes where the author uses reason, character, emotion, and style

C. Final conclusion

Rough Draft:

Introductory paragraph-

The Essay, “Waking Up and Taking Charge” by Anya Kamenetz, is about the ever increasing student debt and what students should do to fix it. The essay starts off calling young adults to make a movement against unfair education costs which leads to crippling college debt. Students at Yale University took a stand by sitting in the admissions office insisting that change be made to the requirements for tuition which resulted in Yale requiring no tuition from lower income families. The author offers this occasion as an example demonstrating the effectiveness of unified student action. She emphasizes that for the larger problems facing young adults with education, only a large movement would work against the government. Financial aid should lower the amount that students can borrow, and the topic of risky unsafe student loans should be more public and recognized. Congress should take on the issue of high annual interest rates and colleges should limit student’s exposure to the credit card companies who try to get students to sign up for their credit card in the hauls on campus. Students need to start standing up for the issues that directly affect them like students in other countries do. College students in the United Kingdom and Canada have lobbied together against high school fees and have prevailed so American students should follow suit. The author states that students should join a PAC like VA21 which taking actions in a united way for fairer college costs. In the Essay “Waking up and Taking Charge” by Anya Kamenetz, the author gives a very effective and believable message that major changes to student debt can occur through student organization and united action.    

I. Introductory Paragraph

A. Summary of author’s essay

B. Claim: In the Essay “Waking up and Taking Charge” by Anya Kamenetz, the author gives a very effective message that major changes to student debt can occur through student organization and united action.

II. Middle Paragraphs

A. Cover paragraphs 1-5

1. Opens with paragraph “down to earth” wording to lure in the reader
2. Calling young people to action making them feel empowered
3. Gives example from Yale showing results are possible with her proposition

B. Cover paragraphs 6-11

1. Gives a proposition where to start the movement
2. Calls for effective change in Congress
3. Gives an easy first step of bringing the topic of student debt more public to warn others
4. Gives a proposition that laws be made to protect young adults from credit card debt and signing up for something they will regret

C. Cover paragraphs 12-22

1. Calls for students to be more active in making their needs heard
2. Gives examples from students in UK and Canada who were successful to back her call to action
3. Gives an example of America’s Student Organization and how weak it is
4. Gives examples of protests that were not successful in California and New York

D. Cover paragraphs 23-29

1. Gives an example of a successful action committee, VA21
2. Encourages students to join a PAC like VA21
3. Comes from the opposing side by admitting that VA21 would not be likely to confront unfair credit card marketing

III. Ending Paragraph on Rhetorical Appeals

A. Author uses persuasion as a rhetorical appeal

B. Quotes where the author uses reason, character, emotion, and style

C. Conclusion

Rough Draft:

Introductory paragraph-

The Essay, “Waking Up and Taking Charge” by Anya Kamenetz, is about the ever increasing student debt and what students should do to fix it. The essay starts off calling young adults to make a movement against unfair education costs which leads to crippling college debt. Students at Yale University took a stand by sitting in the admissions office insisting that change be made to the requirements for tuition which resulted in Yale requiring no tuition from lower income families. The author offers this occasion as an example demonstrating the effectiveness of unified student action. She emphasizes that for the larger problems facing young adults with education, only a large movement would work against the government. Financial aid should lower the amount that students can borrow, and the topic of risky unsafe student loans should be more public and recognized. Congress should take on the issue of high annual interest rates and colleges should limit student’s exposure to the credit card companies who try to get students to sign up for their credit card in the hauls on campus. Students need to start standing up for the issues that directly affect them like students in other countries do. College students in the United Kingdom and Canada have lobbied together against high school fees and have prevailed so American students should follow suit. The author states that students should join a PAC like VA21 which taking actions in a united way for fairer college costs. In the Essay “Waking up and Taking Charge” by Anya Kamenetz, the author gives a very effective and believable message that major changes to student debt can occur through student organization and united action.    

• Claim: young adults need to take action against increasing prices for college education by joining a PAC. She states an exception to her claim in a sarcastic way at the beginning of the essay in paragraph 2. This would be also using character and emotion as a form of appeal because she is stating it in a very sarcastic or funny way.
• Reason: standing up against those who make the changes in college education price is an effective way to make change.
• Evidence: the students who sat in the admissions office at Yale got them to change their policies
• Reason: students should organize a state by state movement
• Evidence: each state is different so students should organize the best movement particular to their specific needs
• Reason: students should join a PAC to have one united voice for their beliefs
• Evidence: VA21 has taken many actions and they are starting to be taken seriously
• A warrant to her reasons is that she believes that taking physical action by joining a group is the only way make change.
• A rebuttal she states is that people may not want to side with VA21 because they are receiving donations from different banks, therefore; they won’t take action against unfair credit card marketing.

Both “Waking up and taking charge” and “College debt” have the same topic which is solving college debt but both essays go about persuading you in in very different ways. Kamenetz’s proposal is for college students to join a PAC but Archer says that one should either go to trade school or not go to college at all. Kamentz seems well- informed and more knowledgeable than Archer on the topic because as we discussed in class “She is an education correspondent, writer, and researcher who only writes about education” while Archer does not. Both Kamentz’s and Archer’s proposals are very controversial because they are pretty polarizing. Kamentz tries to get the reader join a PAC but not everyone agrees with PACs because “They’re not voters or citizens but they have a big hand in the outcomes of elections.” However, Archer tries to get young adults to go to trade school but some would say that trade school doesn’t give you as high of quality of an education as a college would so therefore it is inferior. Both writers are using persuasion as an aim of argument because both want the reader to take action. As Jake stated in class Kamentz wants, “More readers to join her cause” which is the same as Archer’s goal. Finally, are the writers reasonable reasoners? For Kamentz, I would say yes because she meets all the critera needed, however; she seems pretty one sided and not self- critical. For Archer, I would say that he is not a reasonable reasoner because he is very dead set in his opinion and does not state any counter arguments which means he does not cover all the criteria.

8. The author is using reason as a form of appeal by stating solid evidence and listing the effective methods used by students in other places of the world.

9. The aim of argument in this essay is persuasion because the author is trying to not only convince you of something, but to act on it which is to join a PAC.

10. I think the author does meet the criteria fro responsible reasoning because the author is well informed, seems as though she is open to constructive criticism, considers the audience, and understands the argument’s contexts.

• 1. The author uses character as a form of appeal on page 403 paragraph 1 when he talked about when he was in a university.

• 2. The author’s aim of argument he uses is persuading because he wants to inspire change and action. He wants young adults to really consider the path they will take for education and wants to call the government and colleges to take the steps need for more affordable education. He tries to steer young adults away from college and toward other more affordable education like trade schools.

• 3. I would say that the author is not a reasonable reasoner solely because he seems like he is not open to criticism from others. All other points he meets. He is well informed, argues with the audience in mind, and he knows the arguments context.
• 4. I do trust Archer’s solution because he offers solid evidence, is mostly a reasonable reasoner, and is clearly knowledgeable and passionate on this topic.

1. The shared topic is the growing cost of college and college debt.
2. The essays specific issues is the costs of college.
3. Yes, she knows what she is talking about.
4. Her proposal is controversial because not everyone likes PACs.
5. PACs would agree with it.
6. The heads of the college would disagree because they are making money and don’t want to change.
7. Claim: wants us to join a PAC for political change Reason: helps them leverage their numbers against congress Evidence: pg. 411 paragraph 25.