Thursday, March 30, 2006

“We Need the Sun,” by Amy Garrett

Break students into groups and discuss the following questions:

  • What is her thesis? Where in the essay does she state it? How is it different/similar to her starting questions?
  • Create a detailed reverse outline to visualize the paper’s structure. Do this by writing the main point of each paragraph down and then converting it to outline form, listing the main points and then the sub-points that support them. Be as detailed and specific as possible.
  • Cite three examples of instances where Garrett actually does something with her outside sources rather than simply reporting what she found. Explain what she does and how. Does she interpret a source? Evaluate it? Make a connection between two sources? Use it to help assert her argument?
  • How and why does she use the first person in this piece? Is it effective?

Some of My Answers:

Starting questions: Why do people tan?

  • Why do we tan despite medical concerns?
  • Why do people still feel healthy even with a fake tan?
  • Is the sun really as bad for you as experts claim?

Thesis:

While most people like the “look” of tanning, there is a biological basis for our obsession with the sun and bronzed skin. Despite what health experts say, our bodies need sunlight, and we should enjoy it regularly in safe, healthy doses.

Reverse Outline:

  • The human body is hardwired to require healthy doses of sunlight
  • Vitamin D
  • We don’t get enough Vitamin D, and due to evolution, we need it.

(Reinhold Vieth)

  • The sun can provide 100% of this Vitamin D, which we depend on for a variety of reasons. (Vogel)
  • Ultraviolet rays decreases the risk of many cancers.
  • Our bodies use sunlight to naturally ward off depression
  • The sun maintains hormone levels, naturally maintaining a chemical balance in our body. (Da Vid)
  • This helps explain seasonal depression, and why people crave tans in winter.

(Quote from “Light Touch”

  • Instead of encouraging us to get the healthy doses of sunlight that we need, the health industry frightens us away from the sun.
  • It’s profitable for the sunscreen industry to scare us. They tell us to stay indoors, and when we go outside, to cover ourselves in sunscreen which blocks the positive effects.
  • Some say we shouldn’t go out in the sun at all (Alexanra Greely, Bergstresser)
  • Some of this sun bashing is basedon well-known dangers (Greely); however, others question our obsessive use of sun block (Holick)
  • Veiled women in Turkey don’t get enough Vitamin D. (Vogel)
  • Instead of telling us to enjoy the sun but avoid major burns, experts and the sun tanning industry tell us to avoid the sun, risking our health.
  • Resolution: We must find a middle ground, enjoying the sun regularly but in healthy doses, avoiding burns.
  • We must be careful, however, of tanning beds’ increased exposure (Hayes)
  • We should use sunscreen when in the sun all day but not obsess about it. We only need 15 minutes of sun exposure to get the Vitamin D that we need (Holick)
  • We should not fear the sun; we should embrace it.

Monday:

What you think:

What questions did you start with? What did you think when you started?

How have these questions evolved? What do you think now?

What is the most surprising thing you’ve learned so far?

What questions do you still have?

What others think:

What do experts have to say on your topic?’

Which sources did you find particularly persuasive and why?

How did these sources influence what you think on the topic?

What elements of their discussion do you think will be relevant to your paper?

When do you start a draft?

You done some writing before you start writing. You have an idea of what you think.

You have enough material to sustain a 10 page paper

Your focusing questions has helped you choose the information that will be most valuable

Tuesday:

Page 477, “Write a Research Essay”

Methods of development

Question to answer: You might start your paper with a clearly stated thesis that expresses what you’ve discovered, but an alternative to that is starting with your focusing questions, and answering them as you go. This is pretty common in ethnographic research (A Woman’s Place).

You don’t want to get carried away and ask a question in every paragraph, cause it gets a little annoying.

Known to Unknown: Matrix/Terminator stuff. With topics that can’t definitively be answered,