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During Comm 41 this semester, I liked having blogs as the homework assignments. I felt like it allowed for me to write out what I have actually learned rather than my other online class where the homework is only multiple choice. I also enjoyed the group projects. At first I thought the idea of having group projects in an online class was crazy, I ended up learning a lot during the projects. My group worked very well together and we all got along great, which I think helped make them better. While at times the projects were slightly confusing, I still feel like I was able to learn the course concepts better by being able to discuss them with other class members and apply them.
I didn't like that the blogs had to be posted twelve hours apart. Some weeks I was able to do it, but a lot of times I would be forgetful and not remember till last minute. That is mainly my fault, but I feel like I would have much rather of had no time restrictions so I could turn all posts in.
I think something you should try to include in this class is a forum. I think it would have been really helpful to have been able to talk with other classmates about questions or anything pertaining to the course.

What I Have Learned

During the course of the semester I have learned how to better communicate and write using critical thinking. Before this class I knew nothing of fallacies and all the different types of arguments. I now know that a fallacy is a bad argument that is typically unrepairable and that there are different types of fallacies such as structural and content fallacies.
All the concepts I have learned during this course, I feel, have made me a better writer. I can now look through my papers that I have written and see what things I said and understand if parts of it are incorrect. I can spot fallacies, contradictions, and even what types of claims I am using.
Aside from the book learning this class gave me, this course also forced me to learn to have time management. There were times where it was difficult to get all the posts done twelve hours apart, but I feel now that after being forced to manage when I post things, I am better able to manage other time factors in my life.

Mission Critical

Reading through the Mission Critical website I was able to review and learn more about statements and arguments. Since it has been a while since we have talked about statements I focused on reviewing and learning more about them.
   A statement is something that could be true or false. It doesn't need have to be known that it is true or false, it just has to have the possibility of being so. Common types of statements are qualified and specific. Specific statements are ones that give exact figures or implied language. An example would be if somebody were to say, "This was the first year the Giants won the World Series while in San Francisco." The use of the word, "first," implies that it is a specific statement. A non-specific argument would be one that had no specific number cited. An example would be "Approximately 49% of those casting ballots voted for Kennedy." The use of "approximately" makes the argument weaker and harder to disprove.

Casual Argument

The website provided about cause and effect arguing was  a helpful reading on understanding certain arguments that are used to prove that something is someone else's fault. The example given about the car accident is a perfect way of explaining how people such as lawyers use the "cause and effect" argument. While I personally would have put blame on the illegally parked truck because he was the initial cause of the incident. If he hadn't been parked there than the bicyclist wouldn't have swerved which then means the car never would have stomped on their brakes causing the accident. The bicyclist's lawyer used this as the bicyclist's reason, but the other lawyers blamed the person directly in front of them. This is the main concept of "cause and effect." If it the illegally parked car wasn't there than the bike never would have swerved; if the bike never swerved then the car never would have stopped; and if the car never stopped than the second car never would have crashed. The three main points to a casual argument are:
 1.how acceptable or demonstrable the implied comparison is
 2. how likely the case for causation seems to be
 3. how credible the "only significant difference" or "only significant commonality" claim is

This better helped me understand how a cause and effect argument is used and how a casual argument is often not informative enough.

Exercise 6:
An appeal to spite is people reacting to things for their beliefs. Politicians take advantage of this type of appeal because they know that if they can say the right thing then the people will react and vote according to their beliefs and what the politician has said. Here is a piece of a speech that Woodrow Wilson gave on the topic of war:
"Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must
be made with a moderation of counsel and temperateness of judgment befitting our character
and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be
revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication
of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion."
In this portion of the speech Wilson is making it believable that the war will not be for revenge, but for the rights of the people. Saying this will get people to think that this war is only for their own rights and not just to get back at another country. This is also very effective because some people are selfish and if there is something that can be done to benefit them then they will be all for it.

Too Much Emotion

An appeal to emotion is stating that you will do something or believe in something just because you feel a certain way. Emotions are a vital aspect of our lives and we follow how we feel to make decisions. Companies, politicians, and promoters use appeal to emotion to their advantage. They know that if they say certain things then people will respond according to their emotions. The different type of appeals are appealing to fear, appealing to spite, calls in your debts appeals, feel-good argument, and appealing to vanity.
An example of appealing to spite would be if a person didn't help a person out because they once asked for help and they didn't receive it from the person now asking for help. This would be a person holding a grudge and is trying to get even with the other. This type of scenario is something that always bothers me. While somebody may feel the need to get even, I feel that it is necessary to just help somebody out of kindness. It can be frustrating when others won't lend a hand, but the best thing is to do to others as you would want others to do to you.

Writing Assignment #2

Doing an assignment on social organizations was useful because it helped clarify the use of fallacies, reasoning, concealed claims, and use of emotional appeal. While doing this assignment we learned the importance of fallacies and how to not use them when it was easy to by pass the things we were saying. The main thing from this assignment was how to use the things we learned in the book such as reasoning from hypotheses in real life situations. While learning these types of things it is easy to brush it off and think nothing of it, but when focusing on these certain aspects of a social thing then we realize that we do use these things in everyday life. It was also interesting to learn about concealed claims and then use it in the assignment. It was interesting to realize how many social organizations use concealed claims to get their point across without saying it directly. 

Chapter 8

General Claims
General claims can easily be considered as valid, but most of the times they are not. In order to make a general claim good we have to know when to use words such as "all" and "some." All is implying that it is everything single one or thing, with no exceptions. Some implies that it is at least one, but not all. The book uses good examples to say "all," by saying all or every. In order for "all" to be valid it needs to be clear that what is being said implies that every single one is included. An example would be that all toilets flush. This is stating that toilets flush, no exceptions. An example of "some" would be that girl has long hair. This is saying that at least one girl has long hair, but not every girl has long hair.
Contradictory Claims
It is easy to assume that the contradiction of a claim is the opposite, but in same cases that makes the contradictory claim false.  An example of this would be, "all kittens meow" and "all kittens don't meow." This is false and the correct contradictory claim is "some kittens don't meow." To figure out the contradictory of a claim takes common sense. You have to think about what would make more sense than just writing the exact opposite which may make no sense at all.

Mistaking the Person for the Argument

Too often people don't believe an argument because of who said it or who the argument was about. "To refute an argument is to show is it bad. Just as we don't reject a claim because of who said it, we don't refute an argument because of who said it" (Epstein 98).

Jon: I was watching the news last night and it Lindsey Lohan said that drinking and driving is bad.
Rachel: Are you kidding? She is the one who has gotten multiple DUI's.

This is an example of mistaking the person for the argument. While the main argument is that drinking and driving is bad, Rachel only commented on the fact that Lindsey Lohan was the one who said it when she has done that many times. It is important to hear the argument. If a police officer had said that drinking and driving was bad then Rachel may have actually taken in the information as useful because a police officer is more trusting that Lindsey Lohan.

Advertising and the Internet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lW-Yr4RnJw

After watching this video you have to wonder whether is possible or not. There are many weight loss products and the advertisements for them are what make them successful. It is important for a weight loss company to have a convincing advertisement else nobody would buy their product. This product took a new approach that is easily attracted by our younger generation. Since the internet is such a huge part of everyday life and youtube.com has become an extremely popular website this advertisement will get attention. The video seems as if it is a normal person who video blogs describing her experience with this product, but in reality it is an ad created by the company. This video can be very believable because it is easy to believe that this girl actually used the product and had amazing results. Since she seems like a normal person it is easy to want to believe her. A person should know not to believe this video because as everybody knows it takes proper eating and an active lifestyle to lose weight and stay thin not some pill. This is personal knowledge that makes this video hard to believe. If my best friend came to me and personally told me she lost 30 pounds from this product then I would have to decide if I believe her since she is a reliable source, but since I have don't know who the girl in the video is and she could just be a paid actor then I find this advertisement hard to believe.

Repairing Arguments

Cats are boring. All they do is sleep and eat.Which is why dogs make more exciting pets.

 This argument is not good because it doesn't say how dogs would be more exciting. Also, this doesn't clarify anything about kittens who are usually full of energy and like to play just as much as dogs do. This current argument is strong or valid either because the statements may not be true to everybody. Some people may find the calmness of a cat to be just as exciting as the dogs who are hyper. To repair this argument we would first need to make it strong. We can do that by making it a personal argument having the speaker say, "I want an animal that likes to run around and have constant attention. So I would rather have a dog because as cats age they mostly like to lounge around and sleep making them boring."

Complex Arguments

1 I'm on my way to school. 2 I left five minutes late. 3 Traffic is heavy. 4 Therefore, I'll be late for class. 5 So I might as well stop and get breakfast.

Argument? Yes
Conclusion: I might as well stop and get breakfast.
Additional premises needed? I would add this sentence to give the argument more depth. a If I am going to be late for class I might as well be even more late.
Identify any subargument: a supports 5. 1,2,3 support 4.
Good argument? This could be a good argument if the additional premise was true.

Time Pressure in Group Work

In the book, The Essential Guide to Group Communication it discusses ways to help avoid time pressures in group work. The overall planning and leadership styles of a group are effected by how much time they get to work together.

It is important that groups can communicate in any given time frame. The book gives an example of a group having to complete a task in 5 minutes and the loudest person took lead and gave direction to the group, but when the group was given unlimited time they were able to all have an opinion and complete the task successfully and better in only twelve minutes. 

There are a few ways groups can manage their time. Groups could take a poll, a leader can make time limits on each members time, and lastly the group could make no decisions at all. For a group to work well together it is best that back up questions are asked to all ideas brought up by each member. Groups should use the consensus method allowing a fair chance to all ideas.

Strong vs. Valid Arguments

"A strong argument with true premises is sometimes better than a valid one with the same conclusion" (Epstein, 48).
   It is better to have a strong argument because it gives the argument depth while a valid one may beg for question. An example of a strong argument is; "Every girl I have seen or talked to wearing a pink sorority shirt is in a sorority. Therefore, any girl wearing that shirt is in a sorority." This argument is strong because it gives to reason to believe the conclusion is true. It makes sense to believe that girls in the pink shirts are in a sorority because it is known that they are the only people who have them. The conclusion is plausible, but there is the chance that it is false because a roommate or sibling who isn't in a sorority borrowed it.
An example of a valid argument is; "Sororities are the only ones who distribute the pink shirts. Therefore, all girls in pink shirts are in a sorority."
   A strong argument and valid argument are dependent on what the conclusion is trying to prove.

What makes an argument plausible?

Arguments come in many different forms. They can be either weak or strong, or true or false. Many arguments aren't strong because they don't have anything to back them. The example given in the book Critical Thinking about God writing the Bible is a perfect example. The person arguing didn't give any support causing the argument to come to an end with no clear conclusion. In order for an argument to be considered good it needs to pass one of these three tests; the premises are plausible, the premises are more plausible than the conclusion, and the argument is valid or strong.
An example of a valid argument is:
"My dad rides his bike to work everyday. His bike was at the house when I got home. My dad didn't go to work today." While this argument is plausible it is set up to be weak. The first premise may be true, but it is no more true than that third. This is what makes the argument weak. Although my dads bike was home it may be because he carpooled or took the bus. In order for this argument to pass the three tests it would need more supporting evidence. In addition to his bike being home I would need to include that his work backpack was by the door and there was food cooking in the kitchen. This makes the argument more plausible, but it can still be considered weak.
Arguments need to be clear and have supporting backup to make it strong and plausible. Without that the argument tells us nothing.

Descriptive and Perscriptive Claims

Descriptive claims are statements that are saying what is while prescriptive claims state what should be. When somebody uses a descriptive claim they are just stating a value judgment. They are stating what is good or bad in a vague sentence. An example of this is, "underage drinking is wrong." This is stating that drinking at an age under twenty one is wrong, but it doesn't state how the situation should be. If the statement was "the law for underage drinking needs to be more strict in the fact that many places don't as for an ID." This sentence is more prescriptive and describes what should be.
Prescriptive claims give something to debate about. It allows for two different views on a subject while a descriptive claim does not.

Am I Being Too Vague?

While I was in class the other day I overheard somebody say, "this classroom is too hot." Being in the classroom myself I understood what was meant of this statement. This classroom was in the building that unfortunately has no air conditioning and it was a ninety degree day outside. If somebody who wasn't in the class could have many questions to make the statement more clear such as; where is your classroom? Is the heater on in the room? Are people moving around making it warmer? Why don't you just turn on the AC?
Even though this sentence seems straight forward it can still bring up many questions like those making it a vague statement. We use vague statements all the time (even this was vague). It is so common to be vague because it gets to the point quicker than explaining everything that factors in to the situation.

Subjective and Objective Claims

After my roommate came back from class she insisted that, "it is so cold outside." After she said this I took put on a sweatshirt and headed out for my class, but when I got outside it wasn't cold at all. I felt that although it was windy, the temperature was warm and my sweatshirt was unnecessary. Her opinion on the temperature outside was different than mine making this a subjective claim. Her opinion on the temperature was different than mine, but can't be determined as neither true or false.
An objective claim is a statement that can be proven true or false. The one that comes to mind is, "my house number is 60 1/2." Besides the crazy looks I get after saying this, it is a true fact. House numbers are something that are permanent and unless I was lying about where I live, 60 1/2 can be proven true as my house number.

Discussion Week 1

Dear Fellow Classmates,

 My name is Ruby and I am a second year student here at SJSU. I was born and raised in a small town in Sonoma County. I have always been a sports player and for the past five years lacrosse has become my addiction. I am majoring in Hospitality Management and my dream is to become a cruise ship director. I have not had any communication studies experience so I am excited to learn things about communication that I don't know now. I hope this course will better my communication skills and also getting me to think of things in a more critical way. This is the first online class I have taken and although I am already slightly confused I hope it will be an exciting way to learn.