Analyzation of Rhetorical Devices of a Food Related TED Talk

I chose to analyze the food related TED talk on Leather and meat without killing animals. The speaker, Andras Forgacs, effectively used rhetorical devices to argue his point that leathers and meat can be bio-fabricated to reduce the amount of animals being killed each year. Pathos is a main device that the speaker uses to persuade the audience in his favor. He states that animals are not just resources, they and live beings that are being killed everyday to meet our personal needs. By using this new process to make leather and meat no harms will come to the animals and they will be able to live a full life.  He also attacks the secrecy behind the slaughter factors and the abuse the animals receive. He explains that the new bio-fabrication process of using cells to create leather and meat will be in the public eye, unafraid of their opinions because there is nothing to hide. The speech is full of logos as he proves that creating the leather and meat from cells will result in humane and sustainable process. While he knows that it will be difficult for people to adjust to eating meat that is fabricated by cells, he pushes for the creation of level to be the gateway of the new process. Even when he first heard of the idea he believed it was insane, but if human tissues and organs can be created from cells, we should be able to do the same with animals. He also shows the point that with this process man can control the properties of the leather. Such properties include the thickness, the elasticity, the durability, and the transparency of the leather. The final point in his argument gave the most reason for attempting the new idea. He provided examples of leather fresh from the lab. He provides proof to his audience that an idea that they might view as insane is not only possible, but has successfully been carried out. Forhacs’s use of these rhetorical devices makes his argument extremely effective. The audience’s emotions cause them to want to provide an alternative process to prevent the unnecessary deaths of animals and stop the abuse they receive in the slaughterhouses. It is something that can be seen in full use in the future. We will look back at the old techniques and be embarrassed that we did not change our ways sooner.

Persuasive Letter

Paul Adam, a Pediatric Gastroenterologist, is a specialist in the area of gluten-free diets. He states that people suffering from celiac disease must follow a gluten-free diet because it is the only treatment as of now. Removing gluten from ones diet has made the symptoms of celiac disease fade away in most all cases. While we know that a gluten-free diet helps people with celiac disease, are there any benefits that come to athletes by following this fad diet.  Adam is unsure of the benefits that athletes would receive from following this diet plan. An athlete’s performance will not be affected by following a gluten-free diet. Only athletes with celiac disease will see positive side affects. If athletes saw any change in their performance after adapting to the gluten-free diet it was only because they had celiac disease, or they developed healthier eating habits and consumed less sugar. Athletes without gluten sensitivity should not follow this new fad diet because it can potentially be dangerous if not followed correctly. Athletes can become mal nourished due to the lack of carbohydrates and other important nutrients. As a dedicated athlete, why risk everything you have worked your whole life to obtain to experiment with a diet that could ruin your entire career. Anytime an athlete wants to change their eating habits to benefit health or performance, one should always do it under supervision of a nutritionist or a staff member. Research can be used as evidence to support that a gluten-free diet will not benefit athletes. Nutrition and athlete performance specialist, John Smith has been studying this topic for many years now. His research includes scientific background on gluten, celiac disease, and the diet itself, and observations on athletes who implemented the gluten-free diet into their training routine. Smith also states that there will be no performance enhancement for athletes who partake in this eating style. All research done to support athletes and the gluten-free diet is all speculation and hardly has any concrete evidence. With all signs pointing towards the ineffectiveness of the gluten-free diet on an athlete’s performance, there is no reason to change one’s eating habits. All in all the, this fad diet is not something that everyone should be implementing into their eating habits. People with a sensitivity to gluten are the only people who should remove gluten from their diets because it is the only known treatment of celiac disease.

Review of Rhetorical Appeals

Rhetorical Appeals are used in persuasive writing to aid in ones argument. Three main types of rhetorical appeals are ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos adds to the speaker’s credibility. An example would be quoting a well-known doctor which credibility when writing on a medical topic. In my advertisement below the example of ethos is using Steve Jobs as the creator of the VHS player. Logos is appealing to the reader’s reason or logic. Examples of logos would be adding statistics or evidence in your writing. The example of logos in the VHS article is stating that research shows that the technology is the best there is. Pathos is appealing to the reader’s emotion. An example of this is the ASPCA commercial that target the audiences emotions. An example of pathos in the advertisement is the bond that the VHS player creates between family and friends. Calling all movie watchers! Forget watching all of yours movies on CD’s the vintage VHS players are back in style. Do not be the only one left out of this hot new trend. This VHS player has a new sleek style that everyone is talking about. Research has proven that the technology used in this VHS player is the best out there. Steve Jobs has been working on this project for many years in secret and is very proud of the results. When you get this VHS player you also get the Hunger Games tape collection. This VHS player will make you feel like you are in the games. Jobs described it as the most realistic environment one will ever receive from watching a tape. This will provide better family night activities and a thrilling experience when hanging out with friends. The VHS player is meant to enhance the bonds between loved ones and friends. Steve Jobs continues to improve us all with each one of his new inventions. You better act fast because this VHS player and collection of tapes will be gone as soon as they hit the market. If you miss out on this deal who knows how long until the next one comes around.

Review of Annotated Bibliography

            The purpose of an annotated bibliography is to review the information in the sources that you will be using in your research argument. Summarizing the information in the sources will allow you to be familiar with the information and easily figure out what information can be found in what source. When persuasively arguing a position on a controversial topic one needs to understand the history of the issue along with opinions from both sides of the argument before beginning. Annotated Bibliographies ensures that when researching for your topic you cover all the information that would best benefit your argument on the topic. When doing an annotated bibliography one might discover that there is not enough information to create a strong argument on the topic and would suggest you to change your topic. They can also assist in organizing all of your research for the paper. Instead of just having random notes and website links an annotated bibliography gives you a summary of the information under the name of the source. This will allow you to easily access the information and possibly limit time on finding the same information or rereading the source ever time because the information you are looking for could be in the summary. Annotated bibliographies also help make sure you actually read your source and know the information. Without doing ones students can just pick one sentence out of the source and cite it without truly knowing what the entire source is saying. There could be more information that could be beneficial to your argument that you look over because you did not actually read the source. Furthermore, reading the source shows that you know the topic thoroughly and can successfully argue a persuasive position on an important, controversial topic. All in all, annotated bibliographies allow you to review the information you know, organize your research and store it by topics. They are a way to show your teacher and or someone reading your paper that you have done thorough research and the information is credible. Anybody can use annotated bibliographies. The more one focuses on a specific topic the more they may use them and compile them to keep a record of the information. For examples, scholars would have a larger database of annotated bibliographies than a freshman in college would.

Review of Sources

The source that best agrees with my argument that a gluten-free diet will not affect an athlete’s performance is the one titled “Gluten-Free Diets are Only Necessary for Those With Gluten Intolerance.” This source best agrees with my argument because it gives support to my side making it have better credibility. I also like how the source gave its information. It talks about gluten-free being a fad diet and while some people say that going gluten free has some how benefitted there health, there is not a lot or if any research to back up the statements. The source that best disagrees with my argument is called “Gluten-Free Diets are good for Everyone’s Health.” This source disagrees with my argument because it says that a gluten-free diet will benefit anyone and everyone. Even though it does not specifically address the how taking gluten out of ones diet affects the performance of an athlete by saying that it benefits everyone it would also boost an athlete’s performance in a positive manner. My favorite source is the one about the elite collegiate volleyball player with the celiac disease. This source gives an example of the true reason for the gluten-free diet. Celiac disease is when one is intolerable to gluten and that must cut it out of their diet. This example interests me more than the example of the cyclist because I am a collegiate volleyball player and I can relate to her situation better. The gluten-free diet will affect her athletic performance because when gluten was incorporated to her diet she suffered from symptoms such as fatigue on and off of the court. Once gluten was removed from the athlete’s diet her abnormal behaviors started to disappear and her fatigue got better and better.  I believe that these sources will work for my paper. It was difficult finding sources on how a gluten-free diet affects an athlete’s performance, but I feel that the ones I obtained were credible. I feel that as I write my paper I will need more information on a few specific things especially from on the relationship between gluten and athletes therefore I will find a few more sources as I write.

Paper Topic Ideas

For my paper topic I decided to go with how a specific fad diet affects the performance of an athlete. This topic interests me greatly because I am currently a student athlete and I also like to focus on what foods I put into my body. All student athletes might not be the same, but certain foods will affect the way athletes perform. With this theme I plan to isolate a specific fad diet and show how it affects the performance of an athlete. While healthy eating can be key to sustaining good health and boost performance fad diets are not always the most beneficial for athletes. At this time I am still uncertain on which fad diet I want to isolate. Potential fad diets that I am considering are Atkins, Paleo, or gluten free. I plan on looking at the negative side affects that that specific diet has on athlete performance. Others might argue that the diets might positively aid the athletes or not affect them at all. Researching the diet will show what type of foods specifically affects certain aspects of an athlete’s performance. I hope to find multiple examples to reference in my paper that supports my argument. Taking the gluten free diet into consideration, many people would not suggest it for athletes. Athletes need an adequate amount of carbohydrates for energy. If gluten is eliminated from an athlete’s diet they might not be able to correctly refuel or will become deficient in some important nutrients. A gluten free diet is not meant for everyone. Before it became a fad diet its main purpose was to help people who could not tolerate gluten. Now some believe that such diets like the gluten free diet can help boost an athlete’s performance. They think that if the athletes take foods that are high glycemic, refined or processed carbohydrates as a recovery food. By doing this paper I hope that I will learn to understand what that correct thing to eat is to be able to perform my best when I am on the court with out cheating corners. All athletes can benefit from eating the right foods and staying away from fad diets unless they need to medically.

Skills to be Learned Part 1

            Since I am a freshman this year the main challenge will be to make that adjustment from high school to college. In high school I took AP English my junior and senior year. Coming into a college English course I feel more prepared for the writing style than I would have if I had taken regular courses throughout high school. I am familiar with using the MLA format when citing sources. I am also familiar with how to integrate my own ideas with the ideas of others by knowing how to correctly quote, summarize, or paraphrase another’s work. I know how to analyze a work for the rhetorical strategies, but that is one of the things I would like to work on. My teacher familiarized us with the different variety of the strategies, but I did not work on them much in high school therefore there is room for improvement. I need to work on using the correct sources and checking to ensure that they are valid. In high school online sources with .com were allowed so I need to familiarize myself with other college level sources.  Another thing that could use improvement is being able to revise my writing. I am used to having to write for time, but I would always write until the end of the time limit and not give myself enough revision time.  I usually write a decent amount when papers are assigned, but reaching twelve pages will be more difficult. Making sure I get plenty of research will aid in making the paper easier to write and add more length. I need to work on expanding what type of sources I use. I have mostly used Internet sources in the past, but since the Internet is not always reliable I could implement more information from other sources like books and newspapers. Being able to check that my sources are reliable will ensure that all the information in my paper is correct and up to date. Overall I need to work on making sure my papers are up to the college level, revising my papers and using correct sources.

Review of Ted Talks

The Ted Talk watched was, How to Live to be 100+, by Dan Buettner. Dan and a group of colleagues studied what they call the world’s “Blue Zones.” Blue zones are communities where it is common for the elders to reach record-setting ages. Dan shows the similarities in the community’s lifestyles that could assist in the higher ages and better health. I appreciated how he put into perspective that only ten percent of how long you live is determined by ones genes and that the other ninety percent is determined by ones lifestyle. He also discredits known myths such as you have to work hard to live over 100 and that treatments can prevent aging. Normally when you hear about how to live to be 100+ the speaker will tell you how to live your life and it is more of a persuasive approach. Buettner did not suggest how you should live, but he did provide examples of communities where the elders live a lot older than they do in America. He provided the facts about the different lifestyles and then pointed out similarities they all had. Those similarities included; moving naturally, having the right outlook on life, having vocabulary for a sense of purpose, eating wisely, and being connected. I found it interesting that in some of the areas they are born into tribes or other groups that allowed them to immediately have a dozen friends starting at birth. Therefore it is uncommon for them to be isolated like many Americans find them selves to be. It was also found to be helpful to not surround one’s self with unhealthy people. If everyone around you takes after a poor lifestyle you will not be too far behind. I found this video interesting, but it did not spark interest in a potential topic for my researched argument. I will do something alongside of living with a healthy lifestyle, but I am leaning towards how a specific lifestyle will affect a certain thing. I am deciding between how that lifestyle will affect an athletes performance or I am going to determine how specific lifestyles will affect someone with diabetes.