Treasure hunting! Treasure hunting isn’t an everyday adventure or event, but it is in many ways related to research. Research is something everyone does every day without even realizing it. It's in our everyday lives, from searching for something on the internet, calling on the phone, or driving in a car. Research is normally fixated to one specific topic or inquiry and explored further from there. With that concluded, we were asked to annotate an essay about how the media affects teenage rebellion. After reading and analyzing the essay, I found that the author used many crucial features one must use to for-fill a research paper; however, they didn't source material or cite quotes correctly and they didn't write the essay with correct grammar, which takes credibility away from the sheer facts and meaningful information.
Some features used in this essay are found in the author's sources. They support their essay with arguments and informal facts or opinions, such as "The media, and not parents or peers, are affecting the choice of teenagers in this circumstance. Commercials, campaigns, and even billboards are now appealing to both young and older audiences because in the media they know how to change their approach to appeal to multiple generations". This is a bold statement, one that could be true, or just an opinion. With that being said, how is one supposed to agree or disagree with or on this topic with no specific listed sources? They have a works cited and some quotes, but the quotations are formatted wrong and instantly lose credibility when reading it over. Such quotes are as follows, McClish is along the same lines as them because he argues, too, that rebellion is not always to be considered bad. He says rebellion provides "a space where we can question stated truths, bring forth awareness, and gain new ways of knowing about ourselves and appreciating our communities". In no-way did they introduce this "McClish" or what their credibility is and that can be misleading and confusing.
The style of writing the author used is something I wasn't fond of or expected. They didn't use correct grammar or citations, which hurt them in the overall meaningfulness of the essay. Research papers are done to explore, support, or be factual to its audience or groups. I would characterize the style of writing as mediocre at best. Yes, the essay is written in a decent format, but the punctuation with commas and periods are not college material. I did find it surprising because this essay actually wasn’t bad. I feel like they attacked the media more than they could justify, but overall how it was formatted and written, it was good.
Jason, I know our discussion is "over with", so I will not get much into those details (at least for now), other than to say to keep thinking about all that we discussed in class.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of your assignment, please take extra care to make sure that you have included all the elements. :)