The text that I have selected to analyze for this blog post is a medical article titled “The Emotional Causes of Cancer”. In this article, author Wendy Myers breaks down the ways individuals can obtain cancer through high-stress level. With this, Myers includes an ample amount of outside scholarly sources such as medical reports and studies in order to support her claim. In order to show her passion for her field of work, she also provides a 6 phase cycle of how one can develop cancer through stress. As for my final project, my goal is to research the role emotional health has on cancer risk and beginning with stress is a major key to my hopeful success on this project.
In chapter 19 of The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science, there were a few key techniques Montgomery incorporated that not only stood out to me, but I also noticed that Myers may have used as well. In chapter 19, the first technique that Montgomery points out is the importance of having a strong opening sentence or as he refers to it “the lead”. According to Montgomery, the two first lines within your writing should do two things: deliver the main (intended) message and create interest for the reader to follow (Montgomery, 297). When reading Myers Emotional Causes of Cancer article, the first sentence stating “Cancer absolutely has emotional roots” stood out to me. Being a college student and knowing that I stress every day over school work made me curious and interested to keep reading. I think this is a useful skill as it worked on myself, and I do intend on stealing this technique for my final project. A second technique that I’d like to point out from chapter 19 comes within the body paragraph, or as others refer to as the bulk of your report. The second technique is that the main body of your text needs to include logic to make it flow and cohere (Montgomery, 301). While including logic to support your argument and research, you’re also giving the reader a reason to remain interested and continue reading. In Myers’ medial piece, she does an outstanding job of separating her research findings from her informative/logistic drive research, as this gives the reader the impression that there is a smooth flow and organization style to her writing. Going into depth further into the article, Myers actually includes statistics in her findings section, which link back to providing logistics to ensure a flow as Montgomery stated. With these two moves that Montgomery discusses, I feel that I will be able to not only keep my reader interested, but also form a connection with them. As Montgomery discussed, using simple language and making sure your work contains a passionate flow can take you a long way, and I intend specifically to try this while composing my final deliverable on my final project.
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For this blog, the article I choose to analyze an article titled “CTE found in 99% of studied brains from deceased NFL players. The reason I choose this is article was because I actually volunteer portions of my summer to research this specific type of disease as I possess a strong passion of making the game of football safer. For those who don’t know what Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is, it is a progressive disease found in most athlete’s brains due to repetitive brain traumas. With these blows to the head, an abnormal protein forms in the shape of a plate within the brain, slowly killing brain cells over time. At first, I wasn’t sure if that would be considered a “scientific article” but after conducting further research, the study of the brain and mind can be considered cognitive science.
Within this article, author Daniella Emanuel discusses in detail the danger and risk that people are taking when they step onto a football field, as they are putting their lives in jeopardy. To grab the reader’s attention, Emanuel incorporates an appeal of logos as she adds statistics to support her claims. In the seventh paragraph of her article, she states “Out of 202 deceased former football players total, a combination of high school college and professional players, CTE was neuropathologically diagnosed in 177. The disease was identified in 110 out of 111 former NFL players” (Emanuel, 2017). As the article proceeds, Emanuel stresses the importance to seek help and avoid causing lifelong damage. One line that stood out to me was when she stressed the fact that football is an overall choice, but people need to consider the harm they could potentially be doing if they don’t be careful. One technique that Daniella Emanuel used that reflected the styles I analyzed in Montgomery’s Guide to Communicating Science was her ability to provide accurate and specific information that is not only interesting, but it grabs the reader’s attention. With this technique, emphasis is added onto the logical approach an author takes, but also stresses the importance to provide a conclusion to the overall argument the author presented. For example, as Emanuel provides background knowledge, facts and a statement for seeking help, she offers next steps that could not only save people, but the ability to seek clinical help. A second technique that caught my attention from Montgomery’s reading that Emanuel also incorporated by was using smooth transitions into new paragraphs to add a sense of flow to the article. As I mentioned before, Emanuel uses a specific structure of introduction, facts, knowledge, and additional resources to not only tell a story but to give the reader a better understand of what she is trying to explain. With this logical approach, Emanuel makes sure to lead herself into the next paragraph, and reintroduce that idea in the opening sentence of the paragraph. One example would be after she discusses questions raised, she goes into seeking help by immediately states studies have shown. With this, she is appealing to credibility which strengths her ethos and also ensures the flow of transition. One move I might steal that I didn’t discuss above was Montgomery’s ability to propose multiple questions through the article. With this approach, I found myself thinking deeper about the topic at hand which I really liked, so if I incorporate this technique in my final project, I hope the same effect would occur with my audience. The beginning of Caesar’s Last Breath, author Sam Kean opens up by describing in detail the gasses among our earth that ultimately make up the earth’s atmosphere. By opening up with such a broad topic, Kean digs deep and thoroughly explains each layer of the atmosphere in order to persuade and convince his reader of his claim. As the reader, I have to admit I am not too sure who Kean’s audience is. To take an educated guess, I believe Kean intends to reach anyone who is interested in the topic of what earth is composed on internally. The reason that I seem to be confused about his target audience at first was before I opened the book, I assumed this was based for a scientific audience who has an interest in the earth and the evolution of air. However, after rereading the first section and developing an understanding of Kean’s style, I realized that Kean is writing to everyone as his overall purpose is for people to be interested in what he is writing and to write to persuade the reader to continue reading. I was able to tell this as Kean almost displayed a passion through his writing that I picked up on. For example, when reading Kean’s section about air, he went into such excruciating detail that it was almost strange; now looking back, it wasn’t strange, it was an author showing true interest in what he was writing about.
One way Kean effectively told his story was by using explanations and examples throughout Making Air: Our First Four Atmospheres. As I mentioned above, the context contained a plethora of rich information, and also had some appeals of logos as Kean incorporated statistics to enhance his theme. Secondly, Kean arranges his piece in a specific way in which I believe can be directly linked to why his style was so effective. After closing the introduction, he went right into his story, where he went on about his passionate topic and overloaded the reader with facts and terms that he felt were important. After this, Kean provided explanations and support for what he talked about in his story, which can be extremely influential as he is providing support after he has presented his claim over and over. One move that I might steal from Kean in terms of my own final project is to take a small aspect what I’m researching, and completely overload the reader with facts and research to support my claim. In terms of Kean and as I mentioned above, he goes on to discuss air in rich detail only to tie it back into what makes up the earth. Also, I like the style Kean uses, specifically telling a story. In my final project, as Gloria Gemma has a heartwarming story behind their message, I may tell the story of how the organization came to be if I were to present this to anyone other than the nonprofit themselves. One potential question that I would ask Kean is what motivated/influenced him to go into such detail about the four layers of the earth outside of pure interest? As you can tell that he is interested in this field, I’m wondering if he has any outside experience with this topic. |
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April 2018
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