Analyzing Message in "Extremely Hopefully and Incredibly Freaked Out: How We Feel About Designer Babies."

Using information from A Students Guide about rhetorical analysis, I am going to analyze the messages that the author, Nick Stockton, is conveying through the text. 

1. These are two of most relevant things Stockton is trying to convey.

• move the readers to feel a certain way
• express an idea or opinion

Stockton is trying to simultaneously invoke fear and hope, and provoke thought in his readers. Hope for the possible medical advances that can be made in getting rid of incurable hereditary diseases, but fearful of the potential to completely alter the genetic makeup of a baby before it is born. Within these emotions and mentalities, he has his own specific opinion. He displays his feelings about genetic editing and the trend of designer babies through rhetoric. 

2. All of the ideas applied to Stockton and the text, so I chose two more of the ideas that he is trying to include in his message. 

• reflect on a topic
• advocate for change

Stockton incorporates past events and looks at them to compare and contrast them against the current issue of genetic editing. In this sense he is trying to reflect on the issue by looking at similar controversies and events n the field. Then, seeing patterns in actions taken regarding these similar ethically controversial topics, he argues for change. Stockton does not want to see that more poor legislation is applied to genetic editing due to uniformed public and government. He argues this occurred with embryonic stem cell research. 

3. A nuance of Stockton's message is that he is criticizing certain events that have taken place in the field of genetic/cellular research. He hopes that these actions he sees as mistakes to not get repeated in the future. Also, this same critical tone applies when Stockton is saying that the public needs to be better educated. He is implying a lot about the general public with this attitude. Lastly, Stockton shows that he is very curious and apprehensive about how this issue with take form in the future. This topic is not being argued to a great extent yet, but once the technology is accessible debate will ensue. 

Brett Jordan. "Message on a Bottle." 28 May 2008 via Flickr. Creative Commons. 

Analyzing My Own Assumptions

In this post I will analyze the article, Extremely Hopeful and Incredibly Freaked Out: How We Feel About Designer Babies, on its relationship to my own cultural assumptions.

1. What cultural or social values, beliefs, etc., do we share with the society or culture in which the text was written? Why have they endured?

I value scientific research, I want to go into the field myself, so I am in favor of any type of research to help cure any kind of disease. This is the basis of designer babies, editing DNA to be able to eradicate hereditary diseases from fertilized eggs so that babies aren't born with these debilitating and most times incurable diseases. Scientists hope that genetic editing is the solution to several incurable hereditary diseases and I share this same hope. This effort to find cures for diseases has always been supported. Most people want to extend the lives of humans and save people from dying with diseases. 

2. What cultural or social values, beliefs, etc., do we not share? Why not?

I completely disagree with the belief that the genetic editing should be used to select traits in embryos and all for parents to genetically design their babies. Not only is this unethical, but there are consequences about messing with evolution, gene pools, and overall diversity. Some people are okay with the idea of changing the DNA of their babies and choosing traits and characteristics. A lot of people strive for perfection and being the best, but I think this is an unrealistic expectation. I'm afraid that this technology with be used for the right purpose at first, and then ultimately be abused. 

3. If the text is written in a culture distant or different from our own, what social values, beliefs, etc., connect to or reflect our won culture? What social values, beliefs, etc., can we not see in our culture?
This text is written in the same culture that I share. 

4. If the text is written in our culture but in a different historical time, how have the social values, beliefs, etc., developed or changed over time?
This text was published recently in the last several months and reflects today's societal culture very well.

Dr. Random Factor. "Flag Map of the United States." 12 Sept. 2012 via Wikipedia Commons. Creative Commons.

Reflection:
After reading Lauren and Jenny's posts I saw a lot of similarities among our three posts. The most striking similarity was that all of our texts had the same culture beliefs and values that are present in our culture today. This makes sense because we are looking at issues that are more current. I really like Lauren's approach to the last question and how she compared the culture of the past to the current day. This will work well with my text because it was written this year, but I can analyze the culture in the mid-90's to compare. Also, because Lauren and Jenny are both writing about education, it was interesting to see that their cultural values and beliefs on the subject were very similar. 

Analyzing My Text's Cultural Setting

I have chosen a new article to analyze because it is a source that provides a more opinionated and argumentative basis. This article is called Extremely Hopefully and Incredibly Freaked Out: How We Feel About Designer Babies.  

"Mood Swing." 1 Oct. 2012 via Wikipedia 
Commons. Creative Commons.

Author:
-Nick Stockton
-lives in San Francisco, California

Article:
-published May 4th, 2015 on Slate
-Slate is based in NYC, other office in Washington DC

Important dates in article: 

-April 18, 2105- Chinese scientist edit genes of first fertilized egg

-April 29, 2015- National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced they would not fund for scientists playing with human DNA. 

1. What values, ideas, norms, beliefs, even laws of the culture play an important role in the text?

• Ethical values play a role in this text, as they do in any science technology that is unnatural. People are afraid of the consequences of genetic editing and if the technology will be misused, but they are also hopeful that the technology with get rid of many heritable diseases. The text places an important role on the public in that it needs to be a norm that the public is fully educated on the technology and aware of the consequences. 

2. Does the text address these cultural values, beliefs, etc., directly or indirectly?

• The text addresses the ethical concern indirectly, because the general public is not considering ethics as a major concern of the genetic editing. The concern is what effect changes to one's genes with have on future generations, and if the editing is a sure process. The fear and hope that the text expresses is done directly. For example, the Stockton writes, "Precisely engineered prodigy have been a big fear," and "... the hope of eradicating thousands of diseases." The norm that the text directly addresses are that the public is well-informed at that the researchers have done the necessary work. Stockton states,"The public needs to be educated on consequences... [the citizens and government] will make their rules about gene editing without thinking things through."

3. What is the relationship of the text to the values, beliefs, etc.?

• The text is looking to encourage people to have the emotions of fear and hope as this new technology takes shape. The author communicates the importance of being educated about the topic so that the right steps and procedures are taken to address genetic editing. The author is critical of people that only get information from news and social media because it is very unreliable. Lastly, Stockton emphasizes the importance of genetic editing not being properly recognized to policy makers who don't have scientific knowledge. 

Cultural Analysis of "Designer Babies" Ethical?

In this post I will be analyzing the cultural aspects of the article "Designer Babies" Ethical?. 

Cultural Words

• false expectations- Parents that choose to select traits and pay the costly expense of the procedure might not even be satisfied with the results. This shows our culture has high expectations and wants perfection. 
• cash business- The doctors say they want to provide the technology because they have access to it. But, people argue that only the rich can afford these procedures. This will further the gap between classes because only those wealthy enough can pay for the technology. 
• better traits- This is very subjective; the opinion of what are better traits varies from person to person. This is what makes the issue clouded, people consider different traits to be better and want to be able to select for these traits. Also, what traits the public deems better tells a lot about the culture of our society. 

Thesis/ Main Idea

• THESIS: "The extent to which we design our babies and who's going to call the shots... on whether the technology gets used to do it."
• MAIN IDEA: The technology is available and almost ready to use for practice. People are discussing whether or not we should really go through with providing this technology to the public, and if it is really necessary.  

Digimint. "Times Square." 18 Sep. 2001 via Wikipedia Commons. Creative Commons.

Evaluation of Rhetorical Situations

In this post I am going to evaluate 3 different examples of public speech regarding the topic designer babies. 

"Designer babies trend: ethical or over the line?"

• Author/Speaker- Two very credible women were interviewed for the Fox News video clip covering the topic of designer babies. Lauren Streicher, MD obstetrics/ gynecology, works at Northwestern University medical school. I was able to corroborate the credentials of Dr. Steicher online on a gynecologist specialist website. Apart from being a leader in her field, she has appeared on many media outlets discussing aspects of women's health. Naomi Schafer Riley, New York columnist. I was also able to corroborate Naomi Riley's credentials as a columnist on the New York Post website where all of her other articles are available. You can also follow her on Twitter. 
• Audience- The intended audience is anyone who follows social media trends. This news segment began with a story about how Kim Kardashian-West chose the sex of her new baby to be a boy. People following celebrities might be interested in this video and topic because of the brand names they brought into it. Also, the video is very short so the audience wants a quick summary of the main points of the controversy. 
• Context- The video was broadcasted July 6, 2015 showing how current this debate is. Also, the video is contextualized with the release of the news that Kim Kardashian-West revealed they chose the sex of their baby to be a boy. 

"Designer Babies" Ethical?

• Author/Speaker- This article was published online by CBS news and interviews several different people about their ideas on designer babies. The most quoted speaker is Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg. I corroborated through the site The Fertility Institute that Dr. Stienberg M.D. is the director of reproductive endocrinology. His experience in the field makes him a credible speaker on the subject of designer babies. 
• Audience- The audience of this article is anyone who wants a brief summary of the debate that is ensuing about designer babies. The article pulls from several sources and includes lots of options to show the controversy in all lights. 
• Context- This article was published March 6, 2009 after the news was aired on television. The fact that this article is almost 7 years old makes the statements and opinions questionable because they could have changed as more information about designer babies has been released.

"Our Turn. Would engineering designer babies be unethical?"

• Author/Speaker- Three high school seniors all write a piece stating their opinion on the controversy; Ashley Monroe, a senior at Paw Paw High School, Larissa Weld, a senior at Galesburg-Augusta High School, and Chris Henneman, a senior at Three Rivers High School. Because they are high schoolers, the credibility cannot be established very well.
• Audience- The audience is for other students and faculty aware of their pieces being published to learn about the debate they are speaking on. This site is not available to the mass media, but people that look closely will be able to find it. This piece differs form most published articles because it strictly gives opinion and not just a summary of the controversy. 
• Context- These pieces were published online in 2010, so the date is a little old. However, the opinions are still applicable to the debate because the same issue regarding ethics continues to be disputed over. 

Altmann, Gerd. "Family." 2013 via Pixabay. Creative Commons. 

Reflection:

My sources were did not provide the most sufficient content to be a analyzed, so I think I did my best in developing a post that reflected the articles. Analyzing the author and speaker was easiest for me because I have many tools now to go about finding information to verify there credibility. I approached analyzing the context of the articles similar to my peers by looking at the date of the article published and determining how relevant the information is right now. After reading articles and reading my peer's evaluations I have better ideas of what to look for when finding a public speech article. I read Cynthia and Katherine's blog posts. If I can't find better ones to replace 1 or 2 of mine above, I might have to look at a new topic that provides more rhetorical pieces. 

Developing a Research Question

In this post I'm going to be exploring what ongoing debates and arguments going on in the field of biology. This will help direct me towards the next topic and question for Project 2. 

Current debates and arguments:

• Censoring on evolution in school
• Designer babies
• Climate change
• Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
• abortion
• euthanasia 

Research Questions:

• Why has school curriculum shifted to the censoring of topics like evolution?
• What limits will be placed on the technology of designer babies?
• How do scientists prove that pattern of climate change is actually increasing and not just a natural progression?
• Why is it important that food companies have to label for GMOs?
• What is the government's role in abortion?
• Should doctors have the power to deny someone their right to end their life?

I am very interested in the topic of designer babies because it is a field of biotechnology that is brand new and is just starting to become a debated issue. Also, the benefits of the technology is amazing, but they can easily be abused. I am also very interested in the censoring of evolution in schools. While this is not directly related to my interest of biological research, the controversy is very interesting. This affects the next generation and can create greater implications than were expected. 

Public Domain Pictures. "DNA." 2013 via Pixabay. Creative Commons. 

Project 1

Here is the finished product of my Project 1 QRG, Ethical concerns battle medical advancements; the debate over embryonic stem cell research ensues. I hope you all enjoy reading it!

Magliery, Tom. "Easy Button." June 24, 2006 via Flickr. Creative Commons.

Reflection on Project 1

In this post I will reflection on Project 1. Wow that sounded so boring... I am actually very excited this project is complete!!!! (see picture below)

• Challenges I faced... My biggest challenge was determining how to organize all the information I had gathered during research into an effective and clear QRG. I solved this by writing ideas down on notecards and arranging thoughts from there. I also struggled with writing commentary that was not biased towards one side. I solved this problem by trying to write analysis that expanded on ideas presented by the sources, and not creating my own opinions on one side of the controversy.

• My successes.... I was very successful in having a lot of quote and sources to include throughout my QRG. This is because I spent a lot of time and effort finding good sources during the research period. Also, I was able to find very effective images to include throughout my QRG. I was able to do this by typing in key words that really reflected the message I was trying to convey with my visuals. 

• What aspects of writing were most effective... I found hyperlinks to be very effective and I used many throughout my QRG. Because biological science is not a topic everyone is familiar with, hyperlinks made it possible to direct readers to extra information that I didn't have to go into detail about in my QRG. I really focused on keeping sentences and paragraphs short and concise. I think this helped make my QRG easier to read and look visually pleasing. Lastly the clarity section was most helpful form the Rules for Writers text book. Each section helped my writing tremendously because I struggle with small grammatical errors. 

• What aspects of writing were least effective... Social media sources did not work well with my topic, so I did not include them in my QRG. Also, having to evaluate the credibility was useful, but broke up the flow of ideas in the section. 

• How was this experience similar to past writing experiences... I have never experienced writing a piece like this before because it does not follow conventions of essays. Essays are the only form of writing I did in high school. However, writing a QRG is similar to a research essay. The process of gathering facts and organizing paragraphs by evidence and analysis. It was fun to have more freedom in the format and design. 

• How was this experience different to past writing experiences... This project was different than writing an essay because I did not having to take a side and persuade the audience. This made writing the QRG easier because you weren't concerned about only drawing facts from one side of the argument, you could include it all! Also, I enjoyed being able to add images to writing piece because I am a visual learner. Overall images really enhance the piece. 

• Would the skills used for this project be helpful in other coursework... I learned how to analyze a new genre, and how to find and comply with conventions. This is useful for future writing endeavors where I have to determine the genre of writing and make sure I satisfy the required conventions. Also, rhetorical strategies apply to all types of writing, so it is important to master these strategies now. 

Charma, Melody. "Joyful Girls." Nov. 22, 2010 via flickr. Creative Commons

Reflection:

After reading Lauren and Jenny's posts I learned that we all had a lot of similar experiences while completing project 1. One of these is the fact that finding a lot of sources during research was easy, but the difficult was organizing all of our ideas into a format that made sense for our controversy. We all had different ways of approaching this problem and all ended up with great final product. Also, we agreed that is the first time any of us have written a piece in the using QRG conventions. While skills we learned in high school helped prepare us to write the QRG, it was a completely different genre. I am very excited to have published my final draft, and I am very pleased with how it turned out. 

Clarity Part 2

The four topics I chose to read about are prefer active verbs, eliminate distracting shifts, provide some variety, and choose appropriate language . I am going to write about what I learned about each topic and how I can apply them to improve my own writing.  

• prefer active verbs- It is important to use active verbs when writing because they emphasize the meaning stronger than other forms like the verb "be" or using passive verbs. In active voice the subjects are doing the verb, whereas in passive voice subjects are receiving the action. This is helpful for my writing because I tend to use passive voice without realizing and need to make sure I revise and stay in active voice.

Here is an example where a sentence used passive verbs, and how it improved by the use of active verbs. 

• PASSIVE: Also, the embryos used for ESC research are obtained from leftover in-vitro fertilization and because they will ultimately be destroyed, should at least be put to use in research facilities.
• ACTIVE:Also, researchers use embryos that they obtain from leftover in-vitro fertilization. Because facilities are going to ultimately destroy these embryos, research facilities should put the embryos to good use.

Changing the verbs to active creates more clarity about who is using the embryos, how they are obtaining them, and why using embryos for research is a better solution.

• eliminate distracting shifts- This section helps a writer avoid shifts in their writing that may confuse the reader or sound bad when reading. Ways to eliminate these shifts are use a consistent point of view, use consistent verb tenses, make verbs consistent in mood and voice, and don't use shifts from indirect to direct quotes. I know that this is a big issue for my writing, especially shifting verb tenses and having awkward transitions between quotes. I am going to use this section the most when revising my draft. 

• provide some variety- This helps make a piece more interesting and not sound so monotonous. Some ways to change sentence variety are by different opening statements, using different sentence structures, or even inverting sentences. Reading a draft out loud makes it easy to catch sentences that sound the same and from here you can apply different techniques to sightly modify them. I have this issue when paragraphs all are structured the same, so I need to include variety so all the paragraphs don't sound the same. 

There is a paragraph in my QRG where the sentences lack variety in opening statements. Half  (3/6) of the sentences start with the phrase "President Obama".

• President Obama recognized the importance of stem cell research and wanted to promote scientific advancements for diseases. 
• President Obama has to speak about the stem cell controversy because he took the issue upon himself. 
• President Obama is helped by a team of two bioethicists

By inverting the sentence or changing the opening statements, this paragraph will sound less mundane and will interest readers more because they won't be reading the words "President Obama" every sentence.

choose appropriate language- The language of QRGs varies depending on the subject or the message the author wants to convey. In mine particular, I am using a more formal tone. I learned that within the genre of formal tone there are different types of formality to consider. Each depends on the type of piece one is writing. Regardless, it is important to stay away form several forms of language no matter what tone your QRG is. These include not using jargon, pretentious language, euphemisms, slang, regional expressions, or sexist language.  

Etienne, Stephen. "Magnifying Glass Macro". Mar. 9, 2009 via flickr. Creative Commons.

Identifying Basic Grammar Patterns

In this post I will analyze my longest paragraph in my QRG and point out several different basic grammar points. These grammar points include parts of speech, sentence patters, subordinate word groups, sentence structures, and sentence purposes. 

 "Grammar Fan." Oct. 31, 2008 via FallingFifth.com. Creative Commons.

Paragraph Analysis

In this post I will talk about what I learned from analyzing the paragraphs in my QRG.

Paragraph Analysis

• Focus on main point- All of my paragraphs did this very well. Sticking to a main point is easy when paragraph lengths are shorter due to the format of QRG's. I did find a couple places where my analysis got off topic, so I need to revise that and make sure it relates to the main point of the paragraph. 

• Develops main point- With all my paragraphs I tried to use the PIE format (when applicable), and this format allows to effectively develop main ideas. I have a couple paragraphs that need to be completed by conducting more research to complete the ideas that I started. Overall, the paragraphs are an appropriate length for a QRG, and it is better to keep paragraphs shorter for this genre to make reading them easier. 

• Organizes itself internally- The paragraphs that discuss the author and their credibility are organized by defining the subject and then drawing a conclusion about that person. This created a well organized paragraph. The other paragraphs use examples and facts followed by analysis (this pattern is sometimes repeated twice) as an organization method. Again, because the paragraphs of a QRG are shorter than average, organization is simple. 

• Links ideas coherently, provides transitions- All of my paragraphs except for the two underdeveloped ones used transitions or techniques to link ideas. However, this is an area that my QRG can be improved the most. Transitions are essential to creating flow between sentences in a paragraph and elevate the overall writing of a piece. 

Lima, Fernando. "Keyboard." September 2013 via pixabay. Creative Commons.

Reflection on Project 1 Draft

In this post I will be reflecting on comments made to my first draft of my QRG. I peer reviewed Jenny and Annelise's first drafts of their QRGs. 

Audience:

• Who will be reading my QRG, who am I trying to reach? My audience is classmates, my english professor, any students interested in the topic of embryonic stem cell research, and students who have science majors.

• What are their values and expectations, am I meeting them? My audience expects to be interested and informed by my QRG. No one in the audience wants to be bored by a long article, or confused by the content. I am revising my draft to make sure I write clearly and concisely. 

• How much information or context do I need to give my audience (without insulting their expertise)? Many students may be aware of stem cells, but lack knowledge about the details and applications in research. I will keep my background knowledge section brief, and expand on the ideas even I wasn't aware of prior to conducting the research. These ideas pertain more to the controversy like events and people speaking about the topic.

• What kind of language is suitable? Mostly formal language is appropriate because I want to come off as credible and provide knowledgeable information. Some informal language is allowed to keep the reader engaged and make the text entertaining. I will revise my diction to make sure I act upon my own suggestions. 

• What tone should I use, and should this tone be consistent throughout the draft? I should use an informative tone. I want to provide information about all sides of the controversy and not come off as biased. I have to show that I am passionate about what I'm writing about without incorporating too much emotion in my tone. This tone will be consistent throughout my draft, to keep the article organized and flow from one idea to the next. 

Context:

• What are the formatting requirements for the QRG, do I meet them? Formatting for a QRG must include a title, cited images, subheadings, short paragraphs, white space, and hyperlinks. I include all of these in my QRG. I need to improve on creating a unique design style that will follow the formatting of the QRG, but also make mine stand out. 

• What are the content requirements for the assignment, do I meet them? According to the rubric, content that must be included in the QRG includes the following: relevant background information and contextual detail, major figures involved in controversy, what genres of media these figures are commenting in, what the figures are saying along with their beliefs and values, credibility of these figures, where the controversy is going. As I re-read this list I know I can improve my QRG in some of these areas mentioned above, specifically the beliefs and values of the figures. 

• Does my draft reflect both skills gained in class and my own ideas? My draft includes evidence from research and my own analysis of the information provided. By using the PIE format, I can balance these two things. The skills gained in class also apply to formatting, and my own ideas contribute to how I personalize the design. 

• Have I addressed grammatical issues? I have addressed the grammatical critiques given my one of my peer reviews, and hope to fix more grammar issues when I get more peers to edit my draft. This is one of my weakest areas and I will need the most help with grammar. 

Branham, Lori. "Reflecting". 7 April 2010 via flickr. Creative Commons.  

Clarity: Part 1

The four topics I chose to read about are balance parallel ideas, repair misplaced and dangling modifiers, emphasize key ideas, and tighten wordy sentences . I am going to write about what I learned about each topic and how I can apply them to improve my own writing. All of these topics will definitely improve the clarity of my writing. 

• Balance parallel ideas- It is important to use parallel grammatical form to make sentences flow better and not sound awkward to the reader. This can be done by balancing single words with words, phrases with phrases, and clauses with clauses. In order to create balanced structures adding words and proper conjunctions is important. My sentences tend to sound awkward sometimes and implementing parallelism in my writing will help

• Repair misplaced and dangling modifiers- The most important thing I learned in this section is to place modifiers before the word they modify. This makes the modifier clear about what subject it is describing, and there is no confusion by the readers. This also helps sentences flow and sound less awkward. When sentences get long and lengthy it is important to make sure the order of subjects and modifiers is coherent.

• Emphasize key ideas- When discussing two ideas equally in a sentence you should use coordination. When expressing that two ideas with a different emphasis, place the main idea in the independent clause and the minor idea in the subordinate clause. It is important to not create run on sentences when doing this, but you also don't want every sentence to sound choppy. It is important to find a good balance of sentence structures that all succeed at conveying the important ideas. 

• Tighten wordy sentences- This is the one aspect of writing I struggle with the most because I always use too many words to write what I want to say. Some tips I learned to improve this are eliminate redundancies/ repetitions, shorten phrases, and simplify sentence structure. 

Chapnick, Samantha. "Boy-Butterfly-magnigying-glass". October 6, 2009 via flickr.  Creative Commons. 

Reflection:

I learned that short and concise sentences don't just break up sentence structures and sound better, but it also adds to the visual appeal of the QRG. One of Jenny's introductory paragraphs is a great example of this.

• "Similar to many other popular issues, Common Core involves a wide variety of people. Politicians, educators, government officials, parents and students--what do they have in common? The Core."

A great way to balance parallel ideas is to use phrases that have the same number of words in them. This effortlessly connects ideas together in a way that sounds natural. Jenny did a great job of this in her QRG.

• "Over-exaggeration, name-calling and strong statements are at a peak, perhaps due to the upcoming primary elections and presidential debates."

Lastly, Annelise used a great format to emphasize key ideas that was different than discussed in the book. She used bullet points to point out the important facts to both sides of the argument. This was effective because it was clear, organized, and broke up the monotony of the paragraphs (Bullet points do not show in example).

• SIDE 1
• Women in the industry that have been mistreated or want to see more gender diversity
• Women activists
• Women entrepreneurs
  
  

Thoughts on Drafting

In this post I will reflect on the drafting process that is explained in "A Student's Guide..." and determine which aspects of their drafting advice I found helpful or not while drafting my QRG. 

The section, drafting a thesis statement, was a good review of points to consider when creating a thesis statement. I didn't find this section as helpful because in a QRG there is no clear defined thesis statement, the thesis statement is a combination of the title and introduction. 

The section about writing paragraphs in PIE format was a different way of showing how to organize a body paragraph. I found this new approach helpful because it allowed me to break up my paragraphs in a clean way that look aesthetic and followed the QRG convention of short and concise paragraphs. 

I always struggle with how to open and close a essay (or in this case a QRG), so the section on writing and introduction and conclusion were very helpful. They broke down each one with points that should be addressed and it made writing my introduction and conclusion to my QRG much easier. 

Organization is key to any form of writing. It never hurts to review ways to improve the organization of one's writing, so the advice given was very helpful. 

Altmann, Gerd. "Thoughts". January 2015 via pixabay. CCO Public Domain. 

Reflection:

I learned from Addie's post that most of the steps to drafting have to be modified at least a little to fit the genre and conventions of a QRG. Because A Student's Guide is directed more towards essay conventions, we have to take what we read in that book with a grain of salt. Not everything is going to apply to writing our QRG's but a lot of the information is still relevant and helpful. 

I read Sam's post and agreed with almost everything he had to say about the different drafting processes. However, he wrote that transitions aren't necessary in a QRG. I think that transitions are useful in any type of writing because they help connect and let ideas flow, and add to an overall better organized piece. 

Things I need to work on in my draft:

1. I need to look back at my draft and make sure I implement transitions where they are necessary. 
2. I need to make sure my introduction gives background on the topic as well as engage the readers to make them interested in reading the rest of the QRG. 
3. I need to shorten some of my sections to make sure it is scannable and not too lengthy. 

Draft of Quick Reference Guide

This is my first draft (emphasize on draft) of my quick reference guide (QRG) on the controversy of embryonic stem cell research. This draft mostly is me getting my ideas down on paper, so formatting wise I do not have citations, hyperlinks, or images yet. I have broken down my QRG into sections based off of questions you- as the audience- may have. I know science can be a little boring sometimes, so I hope that isn't the case while reading my QRG!

"Free stock photo of hand, laptop, notebook." Dec. 2, 2013 via pexels. CCO Public Domain

Practicing Quoting

This is a paragraph that I wrote to practice incorporating quotes. The quotes were taken from sources listed in my annotated bibliography. This paragraph talk about one of the most important events relating to the stem cell research controversy. 

Bear, Rachel. "Google Docs Paragraph." 2015 Sept. 10 via Google Docs. 

QRGs: The Genre

Schwarts, Buky. "The Internet Messenger".15 June 2013 via Holon. Creative Commons License. 

In the post I am going to talk about conventions of a quick reference guide (QRG). In order to do this I am going to look at 5 different QRGs and answer questions by comparing the different sources. 

Here are links to access the different QRGs discussed in this blog. 

1. E-Cigarettes
2. Gamergate
3. Greece's Debt
4. Sochi Olympics 
5. Bernie and Race

• What are some conventions of the QRGs? Title, images, subheadings, short paragraphs, hyperlinks, introduction.

• How are the conventions defined by the author's formatting?

1. The title is a larger font size than any other word in the article, the font is bolded, and the title is a short phrase that grabs the reader's attention. The title is the first thing a reader sees and it needs to be impactful to get him/her to read the rest of the article. 
2. Images provide visual information that deepens the understanding of the article. The image can provide cultural prospectives, create an emotional impact, and help the reader connect to the article. 
3. Subheadings help inform the reader about what information the following paragraph(s) will contain. In most of the QRGs the subheadings posed questions that were answered in the subsequent paragraphs. This allows the reader to scan for information they want, invoke ideas about the topic, or connect to the article for having similar questions. 
4. Short paragraphs make the article easier to scan for important information. The spaces between paragraphs make the article visually pleasing and overall easier to read. 
5. Hyperlinks act as informal citations for information discussed in the article. Including hyperlinks helps the author build credibility and show that they did the research to talk about the topic. The topic of the article may be too big to fit in a single blog, so hyperlinks direct readers towards more information on the topic, simplifying the author's job.
6. An introduction is important because it acts as a summary of the article and lets the reader know what they will be reading about.  

• What is the purpose of the QRGs? The purpose of the QRGs is to inform people about an issue that they may have little or no knowledge about. They are telling a complex story in the most efficient way possible. A QRG gives explores all information of the event and allows the reader to make their own opinion of it. 

• Who is the intended audience for the different QRGs? Every QRG has the intention to reach a very broad audience, but in reality the audiences are more narrow. (the numbers correspond with the numbered article links above.)

1. The intended audience is for anyone that wants to know more about if e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes, regardless if they are a smoker or not. 
2. The article is intended for people that aren't gamers and that aren't aware of the the new social/cultural scandal. 
3. This article is intended for people that are aware of Greece's Debt and want to learn more about the crisis, and the current point of it. 
4. The intended audience of this article is people that watched the Sochi Olympics opening ceremony. The article critiques all of the strange and confusing things that occurred during the event. 

• How/why do the QRGs use visuals? The QRGs use visuals because they make the article more visually appealing and entice readers. Visuals help connect ideas made in the QRG and overall help readers emotionally connect to the topic. 

Reflection:

Katherine and I had listed almost the exact same conventions for QRG's. The only thing I disagreed with of her conventions is that not all subtitles pose questions. This was a theme of many of the QRG examples but I don't think every QRG has that convention. Hannah summarized the purpose of QRG the best. I approached this question individually for each QRG example, but the purpose is more universal and should apply to every QRG as a genre. I might need to rethink that section of my post. Cynthia made a really good point that every author has their own style of how they convey the conventions of a QRG. This makes me want to focus on incorporating a creative side to my QRG and push beyond the basic conventions. 

Cluster of My Controversy

To provide a visual for my research on the stem cell research controversy I made a cluster. The main branches are the different groups and sides to the argument. Each smaller branch provides more detail  and ideals of each group. Branches that are closer together connect ideas that are similar or may overlap. Here is a picture of my cluster, and the link to access the cluster on Coggle. 

Bear, Rachel. "Screenshot of Stem Cell Controversy Cluster". 2015 Sept. 8 via Coggle.

Reflection:

Addie also used Coggle to create her cluster which made hers very aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Her differed from mine because each branch was a different color, and this made it a little difficult to follow her ideas and see how they were connected. I liked how she used varied sentences from 1 word to a complete idea. On the other hand, Scott used Google Docs for his cluster which does not have the same clean finished look that Coggle does. His was very simple and to the point, but could have used some elaboration in connecting different ideas. 

Annotated Bibliography in CSE Style

Because my controversy is in the field of biology, I will be using the Council of Science Editors (CSE) outlines for my citations, annotations, and reference page (Note: CSE is interchangeable with CBE). I will also be using APA style for the social media sources, and MLA for the video source. 

References

Associated Press. "Obama Ends Funding Ban for Stem Cell Research." YouTube. YouTube, 9 Mar. 2009. Web. 7 Sept. 2015. www.youtube.com/watch?v=63UqPVcCq4
This is a direct source of Obama's press conference when he announced his decision to use execute action to lift the ban on Stem Cell Research. Obama addresses both sides of the stem cell controversy, but explains that the best approach for science and medical research is to allow stem cell research. The quotes serve as a personal account of why Obama changed Bush's stem cell policy that had been in place since 2001. This video is the perfect source to extract direct quotes made by Obama and implement them in my research paper to support Obama's policy change. 

Gideon, Eric. July 29, 2015. Stem Cell Treatment Controversy. Retrieved from: plus.google.com/posts/HYQtphtFRlo

Gideon's post talk about the pros and cons of stem cell treatment. The controversy is talked about in generic terms and says that is debate will never reach a conclusion because both sides of the argument will stay firm in their belief. Other posts on Gideon's page summarize other treatments using stem cell research, so I determined that he is a proponent of the medical technology. This information is great evidence in favor of the stem cell research controversy and and be used to prove the positive medical affects of stem cell treatment.  

Kiessling, Anna A. President Obama's Executive Order and Stem Cell Research [Internet]. The Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation; [cited 2015 Sept. 5]. Available from: www.bedfordresearch.org
The purpose of Kiessling's article "President Obama's Executive Order and Stem Cell Research is to communicate how the governments role in stem cell research has shifted. Kiessling begins with explaining the policies that are currently in place, and then discussing the history of government involvement and what that looked like in the past. Overall, research companies are pleased with the new policy that creates more opportunities for them, but private funding is still a necessity. This article illustrates the change in policy in 2009 from Bush to Obama very well. I plan to use this information to compare the stem cell debate before and after this policy change.

Kiyan, Bigloo. 2012. Aggregation of powers: Stem cell research and the scope of presidential power examined through the lens of executive order jurisprudence. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. [cited 2015 Sept. 5]; In PsycARTICLES [Internet]. American Psychological association [2015]. Available from: psycnet.apa.org.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu
In Kiyan's article, the main purpose is to discuss the legitimacy of Obama's use of executive order to pass the new policy regarding stem cell research. This article begins by analyzing background information on stem cell research, then discussing whether or not Executive Order 13,505 complies constitutionally. Piece by piece this article looks at every aspect of the new policy and concludes that this was proper use of executive order. This article is supporting the Obama's new stem cell research policy, and I will use the statistics from this article to support that argument that is in favor of the stem cell research.

Levine, Aaron D. 2011. Policy Uncertainty and the Conduct of Stem Cell Research. Cell Stem Cell. 132-135. [cited 2015 Sept. 5]; In Science Direct [Internet]. Elsevier B.V. [2015]. Available from: www.sciencedirect.com.exzproxy1.library.arizona.edu
The main idea of Levine's article is that scientists that study human embryo stem cells (hECS) have experienced several policy changes in funding and regulations of the past couple decades that have a negative impact on these research companies and the economy. These implications reach out to other scientists not studying hECS as well as in other countries. More importantly, the article discusses the legal challenges made to the Obama Administration for the new policy and how those played out. This article has a lot of subject and facts in opposition toward the policy changes that occurred in 2009. I will be able to use this article to refute the Obama stem cell policy.

Medical ethics in the Obama White House. 2015. [Internet]. WorldPress.com: The Twenty Eleven Theme; [cited 2015 Sept. 7]. Available from: gibowekiv.wordpress.com
This article talks about Obama's team of bioethicists that helped advise the President through making the decision about changing the stem cell research policy. The purpose of this article is to inform the public that Obama's decision was based off of expert knowledge. Even though these bioethicists are credible, both are proponents of stem cell research, and this bias could create issues in the future. This article gives insight behind the Obama stem cell policy change and can be used as evidence in my research paper to support Obama's decision. 

Murugan, Varnee. 2009. Embryonic Stem Cell Research: A Decade of Debate from Bush to Obama [Internet]. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine: NCBI; [cited 2015 Sept. 5]. Available from: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Murgugan's article focus on the history of stem cell research starting with Bush's policy in 2001 and continuing through 2009 and Obama's policy. However, Murugan brings a new perspective with information regarding the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH lays down the laws in which government policy must abide by, but what is interesting is that a lot of private funding can create caveats around the NIH. This creates some implications because the guidelines referring to ethical treatment of stem cells are not being followed by research companies that are privately funded. This article contains factual evidence that can be used to argue that the stem cell debate is primarily an issue of funding. This will help my argument of inconsistencies within the practices of stem cell research and unethical treatment of embryos.

O'Connell, David. Sept. 2, 2015. Fetal stem cells and the sports heroes they revitalized. Retrieved from: plus.google.com/posts/JDza6IL58hi
In O'Connell's post the purpose is to advocate the treatment of sports injuries through stem cells by the company Stemedica Cell Technologies. Unlike other research companies, Stemedica defines their stem cells as adult and not fetal. This differentiation is proven by evidence in their research, and the company does this to avoid controversy over embryonic stem cell research. O'Connell goes about comparing the two procedures to prove why adult stem cell use is more ethical and just as functional. The facts in this post can be used to argue against the embryonic stem cell controversy, and show how companies exist outside the government policies.

Rovner, Julie. 2013. Cloning, Stem Cells Long Mired IN Legislative Gridlock [Internet]. NPR; [cited 2015 Sept. 7]. Available from: www.npr.org/sections/health-shots
This article covers the topics of human cloning, stem cell research, and FDA involvement. The purpose of the article is to show that stem cell research has laws that protect the harming of embryos, whereas human cloning is not legally banned. The similarity of these topics is the involvement of the abortion controversy. FDA has a part in stem cell research when it becomes an issue of putting stem cells in people, and when to draw the line on cloning. This article talks about stem cell research from two new perspectives, cloning and the FDA. Facts from this article can be used to refute or prove the decision to broaden the area of stem cell research. 

Stein, Rob. 2012. Controversy Over Stem-Cell Research Keeps Charities on Sidelines [Internet]. NPR; [Cited 2015 Sept. 7] Available from: www.npr.org/sections/health-shots
This article talks about how several large charities have not shown any interest in donating to support stem cell research. Stein says that this is very surprising because the stem cell research could help the issues that these charities are fighting for, and to not take advantage of the resource seems absurd. The reason behind not supporting stem cell research is charities fear they will lose donors that their charity relies on due because of ethical beliefs held by donors that conflict with stem cell research. This topic provides new insight on the stem cell research controversy and this article can be used to argue against stem cell research. 

Fixedandfrailing. "Citations 2". 2007 via flickr. Creative Commons License. 

Reflection:

I read through Jessi's annotated bibliography which was in MLA format. I am very familiar with MLA because like everyone else I used it all of high school. Everything about her bibliography was perfect except one of the sources only had a website url for its citation and that confused me. I suggested using CSE for her citations because her major is science related, but because the 

controversy isn't not heavily reliant on science sources, I can see why she used MLA instead.

I couldn't find another bibliography that used CSE, so I chose Lauren's annotated bibliography because I'm not familiar with APA. The citations were done properly but the summaries were a short and lacked the explanation of how she planned to incorporate the information into her research paper. I noticed that there is less information required in an APA citation compared to a CSE citation. This makes it easier to read and is more efficient because it only presents the important information.