Cited Works

Clayton, John, Ashley Fox, James Walker, Paul Kuharsky, and Mike     

Sando. "NFL Power Rankings Week 7 - National Football League

- ESPN." ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. ESPN, 19 Oct.

2011. Web. 20 Oct. 2011.<http://espn.go.com/nfl/powerrankings>.

Staff, Pro Football Reference. "Green Bay Packers Team Encyclopedia

– Pro-Football-Reference.com." Pro-Football-Reference.com - Pro

Football Statistics and History. Pro Football Reference, 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. <http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/gnb/>.

"SuperBowl Winners List, Teams and Scores!" Super Bowl History ::

 Fascinating History of the NFL SuperBowl History! Super Bowl

History Website, 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2011. <http://www.super-

bowl-history.us/superbowl-winners-list.html>.

Staff, NFL.com. "NFL.com History." NFL.com - Official Site of the

National Football League. NFL Enterprises LLC, 2011. Web. 19

Oct. 2011. <http://www.nfl.com/history>.

Approach to Style

I liked that the "An Approach to Style" mentioned rewriting sentences in order to understand how style can change through every word. This seems to be something that has always helped me. I can almost never write a sentence the way I want the first time I actually put it down. Writing with nouns and verbs seems like it gives the paper better imagery and voice. Nouns and verbs are probably the best way to paint a picture of what you are trying to say. Overwriting applies to me because I can drag certain ideas on while trying to explain them. They make a good point that a computer can be dangerous because your fingers can take over and have you end up writing a bunch of nonsense. This also falls under #11 with trying to explain too much.
Writing in a way that comes naturally is obvious to me. I don't think I can write in any other way than the way that naturally comes to me. Critiquing how it comes out may be a better way of explaining this approach. They are all good things to keep in mind when writing and revising because they can all be used and thought of in one way or another.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

   Unproudly, I had never read any of Dr. Kings writings before. While I was reading this actual piece of his work I quickly realized he was a very intelligent man. I felt like he spoke very humbly throughout the entire letter. He sounds like a man with way more years of wisdom then he actually possessed. His tone was in a way that my grandmother would speak to me if she was trying to get a point across to me. I believe he is talking to his fellow black culture, and explaining his reason upon why he still chose to march in protest knowing he would be thrown in jail. As a reader, he never directly tells us the type of criticism he has received, but he mentions in the beginning that he is responding to criticism that he has got for his protest. Even though he may be irritated with the criticism that he has received, he uses a tone that is well mannered and mature. It is impressive how he seems to be handling his time in jail. He seems to know exactly what he is doing as he explains his reasoning for the protest. He talks about why unjust laws need to be broken rather than obeyed. His tone while attempting to explain why is very intelligent. A logical fallacy that I noticed was hasty generalizations. He gives an example of christianity taking 2000 years to come in to effect so expecting the problem of race on blacks to be overcome in 340 years is treated impossible. I think the only part that may have been ineffective about his letter may have been the intelligence of it. Many may have not completely understood exactly what he was trying to say. However, if slowly read and interpreted, I believe his letter was excellent in its intentions. I can use this within my persuasive to help me realize to slowly explain arguments and give examples in order to support them.

Logical Fallacies-Pick 3

SLIPPERY SLOPE: The idea that letting one instance slide may lead to many others in the future. For instance, in the NBA once kids started going straight from high school to the draft, it created a domino effect years later with more and more kids going to the NBA straight out of high school, rather than choosing to go to college. This created a slippery slope because there was no criteria for entering the draft out of high school, and kids began taking advantage of it. It later ruined all eligibility of playing in college with a paid tuition. Yes, there were a few kids that were ready for the jump to the NBA, but more than the majority were not. The NBA created the one year in college rule after several years of seeing players ruin there basketball careers by entering the draft out of high school.

POLARIZATION: For instance all bullies in school continue to beat up kids and pick on people throughout their lives. Bullies have a reputation of picking on smaller, unsocial kids throughout there elementary days. We have this perception in our heads about bullies so that everytime a kid is picked on by another, we use the word bullying. We often hear a teacher say, "stop bullying" him around or something along those lines.

BANDWAGON APPEALS: We see ESPN do this a lot. Every time a team wins, they jump on the bandwagon for that team until they lose. It often happens in sports in nearly every instance. The Boston Red Sox were nearly a forgotten team (like the cubs) until 2004 when they won their first World Series Championship in almost 100 years. Since then, fans for the Red Sox have nearly quadrupled. They have created a brand that competes with the New York Yankees. This never seemed possible before they won a couple championships in a few years. It created a big competition between the Yankees and Red sox. Whoever hated the Yankees automatically became Red Sox fans so they could cheer against the Yankees. The Red Sox are big rivals with the Yankees, so it was easy to jump on the Red Sox bandwagon.

Picking A Topic

I really liked the idea of picking a sports team and arguing why they may have the best chance at the championship within their respectable league. Therefore, I am going to pick the Green Bay Packers and argue why they have the best chance at winning the Super Bowl this year.

I will have many arguments on this subject. One that immediately comes to mind is that the Packers had nearly ten starters on injured reserve last year when they also won the Super Bowl. These guys are back and hungry because they probably don't feel like they were apart of that championship run. Also, they have already started off this year 5-0 and have a lot of momentum going for them.

My primary argument will probably be because they have quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He is hands down, the best quarterback in the league right now, and I will prove why. I will argue why quarterback is the most  important position in the NFL and why a team needs, not only a good quarterback, but a great one to win the super bowl.

This seems really fun and interesting to me, and I will look at a lot of different sides as well as the teams to win the super bowl in the past in order to compare them to the Packers.

Making A Case

   It was fairly difficult to think of a time that I had to make a case for something. I guess I have never really thought of the idea of persuading someone. I am sure I do it more than what I realize. The most common situation where I have to make a case for something is when I gamble on sports. I never put a lot of money on the games, but I love to put small wagers on them in order to make it more interesting. In this case, I normally have to persuade my dad since we do it together. We have to look at who the teams have played and decide on how the matchup may play out. A lot of the time, we normally have the same likes and dislikes. When that happens, it comes down to persuading yourself into a decision that you think will be right. Trying to think of all the circumstances is something that has to be done before coming to a conclusion on a bet. Research is important when gambling on sports in order to get a feel for the two teams that are playing. I listen to what my dad has to say and consider all his thoughts and then return my thoughts back to him. Persuading him into a pick that I like but he doesn't can sometimes be difficult. When you lose, you always feel like you could have done more research and made a better pick. However sometimes, the game just doesn't play out in your favor and there is not much you can do. Normally, I don't want luck to get involved but as anyone knows, gambling sometimes involves some luck. Gambling on sports is different then sitting at a blackjack table or slot machine where it is completely one hundred percent luck. Trying to persuade yourself or others on a pick can be difficult but that is why you have to prepare facts and information that may apply to the game that is going to take place. Like I said, this was a hard thing to think of, and this was what I came up with.

Muddiest Point

After reading the Persuasive Paper assignment, I don't think I see anything I misunderstand about the paper. It will be a more testy paper for me to organize and argue since I will be trying to persuade my audience into a particular product or organization. I thought for awhile last night about what I thought I wanted to argue and sell. I think I want to try and sell why the Apple iPad is a better and more convenient tablet than the rest of the others that are currently on the market. I think my main argument will be the compatability that it has with iTunes, which ultimately makes it the easiest device to use.
    I believe the hardest part of the assignment will be doing the research, and weighing out the positives and negatives between each device. After finding those, it will be important to organize the arguments into smooth transitions throughout the paper. Once the research is done then I think the smooth parts of the paper will come as I begin to organize all my information in to a persuasive matter.