Rules for Writers: Chapter 48

We evaluate arguments for logic and fairness. Some arguments can be unfair or fallacious; meaning untrue, misleading, or deceptive. It is also known has hasty generalization because it is based on insufficient evidence. Stereotyping is also considered hasty generalization because we tend to use our own opinion from noticeable evidence. Some arguments can be both fallacious and unfair together.

We must distinguish between a reasonable and fallacious argument to maintain the logic and fairness to the case. Therefore we test inductive reasoning, which does not give us the complete truth but a probable conclusion supported by evidence found. Analogies can be drawn out to point out the similarities of the point of the argument whether it’s reasonable or unreasonable. We must then weigh out the options and suggest as many alternatives that can be provided to fairly argue a case.

There are many different strategies to create an argument. Whether it’s fallacious or unfair, it may still sound logic and reasonable. This is why it is important to research and provide evidence. You must also prepare for the opposing views that may not look at the situation the same way. As for me, I am good at being reasonable, but I still lose in an argument because I don’t have the proper evidence to support myself. The other opponent can come up with something fallacious, but I wouldn’t know if the generalization was hasty because it seemed to be supported with factual evidence.

"Happy Endings, Obituary, Oompah Lompah"

What’s the significance of Shirley Temple? What meaning does she hold for Lovey?

     Lovey watched Shirley Temple movies with Jerry every Sunday before church, although they never get the chance to see the ending so they would make up their own ending during Sunday school. “Shirley Temple sob-talked the best, and I used to wish I was just like her, with perfect blond ringlets and pink cheeks and pout lips, bright eyes and a happy ending every Sunday and crying’ cause of being happy, I mean real happy, so someone watching can cry too.” (Yamanaka 4.) Lovey admired the character of Shirley Temple. It was almost like she envied her because all her movies had happy endings. It would make her cry.

     Lovey had an image of her own happy ending. She would come up with a sad story or scene about her and Jerry lost in New York and an ending with tears of joy. They both felt like they weren’t good enough for the same kind of love Shirley had in all her movies. Both Lovey and Jerry perhaps didn’t feel that same kind of love from their family and it’s probably why they looked up to Shirley’s movies, which exaggerates a lot of emotions in the ending with tears of joy. Something you wouldn’t often see in reality. The type of happiness Lovey wanted in her reality.

     When I was younger, I use to watch all of Shirley Temple’s movie collection. Something about her character would catch my attention; an innocent little girl with short spiral curls, pouty lips, and alluring bright eyes. Even if I watched all her movies a thousand times, I would still continue to watch it like it was the first time, waiting to see what was going to happen next. To me it never got old. I think in some ways, just like Lovey and Jerry, I loved watching her movies because of her happy endings and tears of joy. They were the type of movies that deserved a good cry. Shirley Temple movies were the only classic movies that had a young child so talented, it’s unforgettable.

Rules for Writers: Chapter 47

     An argument in an essay will require some research before it becomes a debatable issue. Collecting sources will help to familiarize yourself with the topic so that you know what your aims are and why you are trying to convince the reader. The purpose is to get your point across the reader so that they know you understand the subject, and are looking for a solution to solve a problem.

     There are three different types of tone to the argument; it is aggressive, passive, or assertive tone. Aggressive tone will make your argument sound forceful. Passive tone usually doesn’t make a statement clear, the message given is an either/or. Assertive is more likely the best option because you want to present your argument to be directly on point and still respect others. The best way to consider the tone should depend on how controversial the subject is and how you want to take a stand.

     In the introduction, your thesis statement should present how you will take a stand in regards to your debatable issue. “Do not assume that your audience already agrees with you; instead, envision skeptical readers who, like a panel of jurors, will make up their minds after listening to all sides of the argument.” (Diana Hacker 360.) This is a great tip to keep your mind open about the argument. You never know how many people will agree or disagree with you. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It’s best to think of an opposing point of view so that you can be fair-minded and are providing views on both sides.

     Along with your argument, you must support your claim with evidence by providing examples, illustrations, statistics, and other facts. Arguments are most supported with statistics and facts because it is information that is based on numeric facts and percentages or information that has been verified. You can also strengthen the source of your argument by paraphrasing or quoting an opinion from an expert because they are more experienced or familiar with the subject alone.

     It is important to cite your sources you use to develop information, and evidence for your argument. This gives credit to the rightful person, books, and other sources. Your work cited page should be at the end of your essay in MLA style. Also, any quotes or paraphrasing should provide author’s name and page numbers to maintain its full credibility.

     If I am ever to create an argument in an essay, I would definitely find my sources through books and online researches. I want to be able to know what I can back myself up with. I will support my evidence base on facts, statistics, and maybe personal experiences. Personal experiences can be use as a great example as well. I think I would use my argument in an assertive manner. I like to understand both views. However, I am someone who also likes to get the point across. I am naturally that kind of person anyways, so why not approach in the same way as I am writing.

Extra Credit: Writing About Literature

Purdue’s Online Writing Lab on “Writing About Literature” is about writing to create a debatable thesis. It is important to invest some time to research about the topic before we can create an argument. The best ways to start your research is through the internet because it provides great sources of biographies, analyses, and summaries. In addition, the library could also be your next source for information pertaining to your topic.

The thesis statement should specify details providing examples from your prospect; the argument should illustrate your point or judgment. Using examples from our reading “Shooting Dad”, a good thesis would be: Sarah and her father have conflicts in their relationship because they are different. We can create a debate on the subject because specific examples and evidence can be given on what, how, and why. A good argument must provide some proof.

When writing is complete, information on where your sources are found should be done in MLA format. The work cited page should be in the last page of the essay. The type of sources that should be listed is titles of books, poems, plays, and internet URL sites. Any quotes or paraphrasing should provide page numbers and the author’s name. Examples of MLA format: (Sarah 433.) this gives credit to the author and where sources are found.

This information opened up ideas for me on how to create a debatable thesis and how to support my argument. I believe that if I can continue to support my thesis, the readers will most likely understand my topic of writing. I want to make sure most questions are answered and supported with evidence. Maybe if I created an outline of the main point for each paragraph, I should ask myself questions about it so that I know what type of evidence to provide.

Essay 2

As I read “Coming Home Again”, Chang-rae Lee’s character reminded me of myself in some ways.  I felt like I was him standing in the kitchen.  Lee’s mother’s role very much reminded me of my own mother as well.  The comparison to this story has nothing to do with sickness and death, but about changes. I have lived in and out of home several times that I formed gaps in my life. I lost quality time with my mother, who’s taught me everything, because I wanted to live far away and attend other schools.

According to Lee, his mother had regretted him leaving because he didn’t get to bond with her throughout her sickness or learn to do things the way she did, for instance cooking.  As for my mother, she agreed to let me move away and not knowing when I would be ready to return. She was worried that I would forget the things I have learned from her and loose the bond we had as a mother and daughter where we spent our days in the kitchen cooking as a family. I could understand that she had responsibilities to teach me and my sisters how to take care and support ourselves if anything should happen. My mother was scared to let us in to the world alone.
          Throughout my teenage years, I use to feel like doing things the way my mother did was like a chore instead of a lesson. She would never quite force anything on me, but she would try to influence me to think and perceive things the way she did. And if I didn’t, sure enough the disappointment in her face made me feel like I just ran over road kill.  It was important to my mother that I stayed close by her side; she wanted to be my teacher.  

After being gone for two years, I decided to return home. I thought that things would still be the same but I had come to realize that there had been some changes. My mother wasn’t quite the same anymore. It was difficult to engage in a conversation while we were cooking in the kitchen, like old times, without her lecturing about something. My mother became stricter than I remembered. I didn’t quite understand what had caused her to be so different. I then continued to observe the way everyone in the house hold goes about their day. I had come to realize that there has been lack of family quality time. And because all my sisters have grown up, they were involved in other things, and my mother was experiencing loneliness.

I believe that if I had stayed and continue to bond with my mother, she wouldn’t have to experience that sort of loneliness. I think the feeling must have made her angry inside, and no one wanted to follow her rules anymore. Before I left, we were pretty close. We would cook together, grocery shop, bargain shop, and so much more. She once told me that I was her only friend because I would do the things she did, go where she went, and always talk to her. The result of me leaving could have been a part of the reason for her changes.

Fortunately things have gotten better. I continued to be the daughter she last remembered before she had sent me off to another city. I knew my mother regretted me leaving. It must have been a great deal of pain to let me reside in another city far from her, not knowing how I would deal with life. It was hard for her the first time when my oldest half sister left us to be miles away and to only come see us once a year. Maybe she felt like me leaving was reliving the moment my sister left.

Considering I am a mother myself, I am already too attached to my son. At this time he is still very young, I feel like I cannot be away from him more than 24 hours without worrying about him or having to call in and check up. It’s a natural thing for a mother to feel this way, it is unconditional love. I could now understand that was probably how my mother was feeling. The way I see it now, imagine how it will be when my son gets much older. I don’t know how I would really feel if I ever let him leave, whether the bond between me and him will change, or if I have taught him well enough before he goes off on his own. Though the time has not yet come, I would like to prepare myself for the future. I will remind him that home is only one call away, and to always keep in touch so that the bond is not lost.

The Insufficiency Of Honesty

Integrity is highly thought to be just another way to describe the word “honesty”, possibly because the word itself may not live up to its meaning without the action of being honest. According to Carter, “one cannot have integrity without being honest, but one can certainly be honest and yet have little integrity”. I agree with this statement because in order to be someone with high integrity, you must not only be honest but you must do what is considered right. Because you may be an honest person, you still must know from right and wrong to have integrity. Yes, it is that you must trust your instinct to the fairness and righteousness, regardless how you feel about your own beliefs. You can be an honest person, especially about your feelings towards something and be committed to your beliefs, but the question is if the action being committed is considered right, fair, and true.  

I have seen many people who have valued the thought of being honest most of the time whether it does any good or harm, as long as they didn’t carry a burden or guilt for lying. However, they sometimes fail to remember if being honest is right. Sometimes people don’t need to tell everything, or disclose information any more than they should. They forget about sparing feelings, even if it was not intentionally, especially if it has to do with responsibilities. 
     For example, you were in class taking a test, and your friend copies off your answers, you know it’s wrong and you studied all night to prepare for this test while your friend didn’t and he will receive as good of a credit for it as you, except without the hard studying. At the end of the class, you tell your teacher that your friend had copied off your test because you knew it was being honest and the right thing to do, but your friend gets in trouble for it, and to top it off this person probably doesn’t want to talk to you anymore. The other option could have been to tell your friend ahead of time prior to taking the test that you are not okay with it. It would save having to tell the teacher about your friend.

I always believed that anybody who often shows trustworthiness and integrity is thought to be a respectable character. They are known to give good answers, be fair, and make right decisions; someone you can rely on for honesty. I do not doubt that it is hard work, I’m sure it is. It just takes a lot of consideration to have correct moral judgment. Benefits of integrity is that it gives the feeling to be satisfied for having done something right, become a good inspirations to others, and gain trust and respect. The consequences of integrity is that you can get into trouble or be punished for it, loose other people’s trust and respect, or feel guilty for getting other people in trouble. In other words, you win some, you lose some.

Rules for Writers: Chapter 4

      A paragraph is a unit or a group of sentences that supports a main idea. The way a paragraph is created all depends on what the writer wants to do, either narrate, describe, process, classify, illustrate, or use other reasons to create a paragraph.
To narrate means to tell a story chronologically from start to finish. Describing is specifying details of person, place, thing, or senses. Processing is chronologically explain how something is made or done. Classification is to group items into categories. And So on there is always a reason how a writer wants to use the paragraph.
Paragraphs should be well developed, and organize. It should not be too short nor too long. It frustrates reader by putting effort to maintain their attention or interest in the reading. It is best to try to keep a paragraph between one to two hundred words or at least five sentences long.
When writing an essay there should always be an introduction and a conclusion. Topic sentence normally comes first in the paragraph before continuing with other ideas. Readers expect to learn the main point early in the paragraph because it generally gives them the idea what they will be reading about.
      Developing the main idea all depends on the writer‘s purpose for their audience. The point should be clear to readers, and relate to each other. The following paragraph should have facts supporting specific details for the topic sentence. New paragraphs are usually created when the writer wants to add new ideas, or connected ideas stating new facts.
Paragraphs should be coherent, meaning it should be logic, consistent, and similar in length; sticking together forming its unification. Sentences that are unnecessary can ruin the unity of a paragraph and should either be deleted or moved into another paragraph.


There are so many ways to start a paragraph. It all depends on the subject and what the reason is for, either describe or narrate a story. Every paragraph will have its reason for the readers attention. When I create a paragraph I would like to give details or ideas that the reader should know. I think that everyone should ask themselves as they write “what does the reader need to know?” or “what examples can be provided?” I think it will avoid useless facts that are unnecessary to the readers.

"Shooting Dad"

What is the significance of the title?


Sarah and her father argued and disagreed a lot with each other because they had many differences, one was that they believed in separate political parties; she never mentioned who was the Democrat and who was the Republican although it was pretty obvious.
Sarah’s father was a gunsmith, with an obsession and passion for firearm. He spent years inventing and building guns. Sarah did not agree nor liked the idea of guns or any kind of firearms for that matter. She had realized that when she was six years old when one day her father had taken both her and her twin sister Amy, who calls herself “the loneliest twin in history”(21), to the backyard to shoot a pistol. Sarah didn’t experience it too well, at least not as well as Amy who was also much more like her father. Since that day, Sarah decided that she did not like guns or any sort of firearms.
One day Sarah’s father finished building a cannon that took him two years. It was considered his most “ambitious project”(22) he’s ever done compared to all the other guns he built. It was a replica of the Big Horn Gun, as Sarah mentioned, which has a whole special meaning and significance to the American history and the family history according to her father when he speaks of her great-grandfather John Vowell. 
Sarah decided she wanted to go out to Montana to watch her father shoot off the cannon. It was strange to him to hear that she wanted to go because she had never taken interest in his work before. As they spent the day out in the mountains, Sarah realized how much she was just like her father despite their differences, she described them both “smart-alecky loners with goofy projects and weird equipments".(439) 
Her father had an idea of what he wanted done to his ashes after he dies. Sarah had volunteered to be the one to do it. The Idea was to burn his ashes, pack it into paper bags, go to the mountains on opening day of the hunting season together with the family along dragging the cannon, plunge his bags of ashes into the barrel, point into the hills and shoot his remains so he could take his last hunting trip. 


Sarah Vowell wrote this unique story about her childhood. As I read the story, I found it very intriguing and eager to find out why Sarah had titled her story “Shooting Dad”. At first I thought it could be that Sarah and her father argued so much because of their differences, and waiting to see if she may have shot her father, but the end totally made sense as to why she had given its title. Because of the title, it held my attention as I read the story, waiting to see if her father was going to be shot. It simply was about her father wanting his ashes shot out of the cannon when he dies. It shows how much he had loved firearms. Guns was basically his life. Especially to want his remains spread into the hills to make him feel like he is hunting for the last time. It's funny because my husband has told me to do exactly just that if he should pass. He loves outdoor sports, especially hunting because of the adrenaline feeling when he shoots his shotgun.