Programming is one of my academic interests. It will do everything follow commands that you input in your program.If your input is right, the output will be right as the question want. If your input is wrong, the output will be right but it isn't as the question want because output come from your input. It is very challenging. I usually use c++ for programming because I think it is easier than other.
Science is my academic interests, too. I like astronomy the most but I don't like biology. Astronomy is about star, planet, galaxy, universe. It is very interesting for me because universe has many thing and something nobody knows. When I see sky at night I saw a lot of stars. It is very beautiful. I like reading books about astronomy. It is so fun that I can't stop reading.
Saturday, 19 January 2019
A's academic interest
There are a lot of interests relating to academic subjects that inspire people for their life and hobby. I have several interests in academic subjects.
The first one of my interest is engineering in which I graduated. Engineering helps us to invent many stuffs based on scientific knowledge to make our life better, more convenient and comfortable. We can leave Thailand for Hong Kong with 3-hour flight whereas the distance between both cities is over 2000 km. We can connect someone we love in a few seconds via internet. My major work concerns robotics design based on medical purposes. I have opportunities to work on new ideas everyday relating to my interest. I do love how the way of engineering shapes me.
The second interest is astronomy. Nowadays, we cannot refuse that space technology is much developed until we sent spaceships to discover and explore places far away from our home. We still set up space station to experiment how it affects to human life. Sattlelites are deployed every month to improve communications. I hope someday in the future we can receive information about that we do not live alone in the universe.
The first one of my interest is engineering in which I graduated. Engineering helps us to invent many stuffs based on scientific knowledge to make our life better, more convenient and comfortable. We can leave Thailand for Hong Kong with 3-hour flight whereas the distance between both cities is over 2000 km. We can connect someone we love in a few seconds via internet. My major work concerns robotics design based on medical purposes. I have opportunities to work on new ideas everyday relating to my interest. I do love how the way of engineering shapes me.
The second interest is astronomy. Nowadays, we cannot refuse that space technology is much developed until we sent spaceships to discover and explore places far away from our home. We still set up space station to experiment how it affects to human life. Sattlelites are deployed every month to improve communications. I hope someday in the future we can receive information about that we do not live alone in the universe.
Mind's academic interests
People would have their own interest in many part of there life. One of them is the academic interest which mostly related to people's career or working life. I also have a few academic interests.
My most interested is an Artificial Intelligence which is a program of Computer Science faculty. I have not joined it yet but I aim to. There are some reasons that I feel interested in this program. First, I think the Artificial Intelligent is extremely helpful for the business. It will be able to replace the human's work, especially the routine or boring work. Business can glow up quickly, by just add more machines. The company does not need to hire a lot of people which would take longer time than buying more machine. In addition, The human resource team can take their time to do some other useful tasks, and we might be able to reduce the human resource team size which would absolutely effect the company cost. The employer just need to pay for the machine cost which is seriously cheaper than the worker cost. Also, the employers do not need to deal with their staff's problem. Second, In the employee's point of view. It is better to just let the machine do the routine and boring work. They can step up to work on more challenging task which would make them feel exited about their work every day. Finally, these innovative tools will make our life more comfortable. For example, the smart home gadget which is a device that people can use to control the electronic equipment in their home. There is a useful function in the device calling the bot. It is an Artificial Intelligence product which is c to be able to understand what people say. People can talk to the device; then it will response you or manage the electronic equipments in your home based on your command.
In addition, another interest is an Entrepreneurship which is a very helpful program for me, since I would like to have my own business. The main concept of the program is how to be a good business owner, especially the small business. It is really good to learn how to develop, run and maintain the business. The program is not only about starting the business, but also about thinking creatively and ambitiously, which means that this program is also useful for the people in the organization who do not want to have their own business. In the organization, this program will be mainly about basis of management which would be able to replace the old-fashioned business. In my opinion, having only technical skills is not enough to create a business. This kind of management techniques will fulfill another part of the company. My previous CEO used to suggest me to join this program. He told me that his friend graduated from this program and had a successful working life in an organization. So, I think this program is really useful for my working life.
Wan's academic interests
I am interested in many fields, for example, history, economics, renewable energy, business, startups, social enterprise, economic development and economic policy.
I would like to introduce my first interest is economics. I studied economics during 2010-2014. What I have been knowing about this field prior to the study is just about supply and demand. However, the subject has covered wide range of topics such as political economics, development economics, financial economics or even natural resource economics. My professors inspired me a lot since most of them graduated from well-known schools in the US and UK. The strong point that makes economics differed from other subjects in humanity is quantitative analysis which requires tremendous mathematics skill. However, since I am not that into mathematics, so I decided not to pursue Master degree in Economics. Rather, I put my interest to be more on business side and social enterprise which is somehow related to economics as well.
Regarding my interest in business, it came from the fact that I think if I studied business, I would get rich which is not true in my case. Business in academia is different from business in reality. However, it still interests me in the sense that business can also drive economic growth and alleviate the poverty. Since then, I decided to shift my focus to be more on social enterprise where I think it can narrow down the gap between the poor and the rice. Moreover, it can create jobs and generate income for small-scale business. One of my most favorite examples comes from soft loan with zero interest provided to poor people in India. This business belongs to one of the foundations and it can expand opportunity for the poor to generate small-scale businesses and live on their own. Hence it is very important to expand this kind of business to help poor people in local community. My next intention is to find out more information regarding the social enterprise opportunity in Thailand in order to create one that impacts the society and alleviate the poverty.
Recently, my interest has just come across the renewable energy (RE). RE helps reduce greenhouse gas emission and combat climate change. It needs to be promoted in Thailand since the pollutant is increasing and climate change started affecting lives of people, especially in agriculture sector. My main concern is how to remove barrier that hinder the accelerated actions in renewable energy sector in Thailand, in particular, bureaucracy and unclear policy. It would be great if Thailand can take examples from international practices such as Europe or Australia how the countries can achieve higher target of RE.
I would like to introduce my first interest is economics. I studied economics during 2010-2014. What I have been knowing about this field prior to the study is just about supply and demand. However, the subject has covered wide range of topics such as political economics, development economics, financial economics or even natural resource economics. My professors inspired me a lot since most of them graduated from well-known schools in the US and UK. The strong point that makes economics differed from other subjects in humanity is quantitative analysis which requires tremendous mathematics skill. However, since I am not that into mathematics, so I decided not to pursue Master degree in Economics. Rather, I put my interest to be more on business side and social enterprise which is somehow related to economics as well.
Regarding my interest in business, it came from the fact that I think if I studied business, I would get rich which is not true in my case. Business in academia is different from business in reality. However, it still interests me in the sense that business can also drive economic growth and alleviate the poverty. Since then, I decided to shift my focus to be more on social enterprise where I think it can narrow down the gap between the poor and the rice. Moreover, it can create jobs and generate income for small-scale business. One of my most favorite examples comes from soft loan with zero interest provided to poor people in India. This business belongs to one of the foundations and it can expand opportunity for the poor to generate small-scale businesses and live on their own. Hence it is very important to expand this kind of business to help poor people in local community. My next intention is to find out more information regarding the social enterprise opportunity in Thailand in order to create one that impacts the society and alleviate the poverty.
Recently, my interest has just come across the renewable energy (RE). RE helps reduce greenhouse gas emission and combat climate change. It needs to be promoted in Thailand since the pollutant is increasing and climate change started affecting lives of people, especially in agriculture sector. My main concern is how to remove barrier that hinder the accelerated actions in renewable energy sector in Thailand, in particular, bureaucracy and unclear policy. It would be great if Thailand can take examples from international practices such as Europe or Australia how the countries can achieve higher target of RE.
Champ's academic interests
Today, I'm going to tell about my academic interest. Firstly, I'm interested in mathematics because math is study about real things. It has their own theories. For examples, one plus one is two. The theories make math become interesting. Also, math's theories always true and can't be disprove and there are many theories in math that no one can prove or some questions that looks simple but no one can solve it.
Secondly, I'm interested in programming because it is challenging. Also, computers always give output that come from your input. And it's always reflex what you are programming. So I think that programming looks like mathematics. In addition, I always feel good after finishing programming.
That's all of my academic interests now. But there might be more in the future.
That's all of my academic interests now. But there might be more in the future.
Ploy(Nattamon)'s academic interests
I have been interested in science for almost 10 years because it can explain what are the reasons why the natural phenomena happen,which sound like reasonable. For example, the rain come from the gathering of mist in the air. When the volume of the mist is much enough, the rain will fall from the cloud. It can be proved by using the new technology that scientist invent. From the interesting of the science, I decided to study in the Engineering Faculty, which relate to the applying and utilizing the science.
For now, I am also interested in the management field. It is the knowledge that I had a very little background, so I think it is my weak point and want to know more about it. This kind of knowledge will be useful for me in my career part. The management could give me the way to let
For now, I am also interested in the management field. It is the knowledge that I had a very little background, so I think it is my weak point and want to know more about it. This kind of knowledge will be useful for me in my career part. The management could give me the way to let
First's academic interests
Renewable energy is now become more important than even. Since it's more environmental friendly than ordinary fuel sources such as oils or coals. Renewable energy is better for our life by producing less pollution :for example dust, carbon dioxide, and carbon dioxide. There are many sources of new kind of energy that play a big role at the moment. For instance wind energy, wave energy, solar power,and nuclear energy. On the other hand, in Thailand, there are just a few of them currently operating and it's far from enough to replace fossil fuel and coal in power plants. Since government couldn't plant the nuclear plants and also failed to built the new coal power plant, Thailand failed to generate enough energy for the country and need to buy electricity from country in Asean.
Ploy(Waratip)'s academic interests
I have many academic interests ,but there all about environment. I would talk to my academic interests in two section. The first is an innovation for air pollution management because the most of people can't see the air pollution without specific equipment. Air pollution is the worst problem as I know, it's impact on human's body and unclear visions. Nowadays, we got many information from the news and other sources about air pollution that mostly came from industrial development and traffic. Thus, I want to find the way to manage this problem by create an innovation by myself in the way of management technique or build an invention.
Second, global warming is also my academic interests because I think it is a biggest problem in the world as we know that change in extreme weather, the ice is melting faster at the poles, animals become extinct and etc. These causes are related to human activities such as fuel fossil burning, land clearing and etc that release greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. By the way the global warming is still happening so, the best way to stop global warming is in our hands just consume less, waste less but recycle more.
Second, global warming is also my academic interests because I think it is a biggest problem in the world as we know that change in extreme weather, the ice is melting faster at the poles, animals become extinct and etc. These causes are related to human activities such as fuel fossil burning, land clearing and etc that release greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. By the way the global warming is still happening so, the best way to stop global warming is in our hands just consume less, waste less but recycle more.
Peter's academic interests
Although I began studying a science degree at university, my final major as philosophy. This had been a strong interest from my last years at high school, when one of my Catholic brother teachers had introduce me to it. He was also my maths and physics teachers, and I think he thought that I might in danger of deciding that our religion was false or worse. He suggested I read Soren Kierkegaard, a modern Christian philosopher. I did that. But then I was hooked so read a lot more, from Plato through to Kant. This did not help to keep my Catholic faith. At university, my main areas of interest in philosophy were logic and ethics, or moral philosophy, and I continue to be interested in these today.
Logic is the backbone not only of philosophy, but also of mathematics, which was my real passion in high school. I loved it because unlike every subject, mathematics gave us absolutely certain results that were certain. Pythagoras's theorem is provable in ways that no theory of physics is, and the discoveries of historians are even more prone to later correction. I was also passionate about physics in high school, and mathematics and physics, especially theoretical physics, were what I began studying at university. But I then changed to an arts degree so that I could pursue philosophy. I continued with the mathematics throughout my undergraduate career, but instead of sciences, I took up a couple of dead languages. These did not have any obvious career opportunities, but I loved them.
These days, I also like reading economics, psychology and politics, and I often have passing interests in other fields, such as art. For a year or so, I pursued drawing, which was fascinating, but it required more time and effort than I could afford to give it, although I keep thinking it would be worth doing because I found that drawing was kind of like a form of meditation. Music is another academic interest that really died some years ago. I used to play the flute, which I loved, but unfortunately, playing an instrument also takes regular practice, and my other interests won the competition for my time. These days, I enjoy listening to music, but I suspect that if I picked up my old flute, which is still somewhere in my mother's home, I wouldn't be able to produce notes over more than one octave, and that probably wouldn't be very good either.
Logic is the backbone not only of philosophy, but also of mathematics, which was my real passion in high school. I loved it because unlike every subject, mathematics gave us absolutely certain results that were certain. Pythagoras's theorem is provable in ways that no theory of physics is, and the discoveries of historians are even more prone to later correction. I was also passionate about physics in high school, and mathematics and physics, especially theoretical physics, were what I began studying at university. But I then changed to an arts degree so that I could pursue philosophy. I continued with the mathematics throughout my undergraduate career, but instead of sciences, I took up a couple of dead languages. These did not have any obvious career opportunities, but I loved them.
These days, I also like reading economics, psychology and politics, and I often have passing interests in other fields, such as art. For a year or so, I pursued drawing, which was fascinating, but it required more time and effort than I could afford to give it, although I keep thinking it would be worth doing because I found that drawing was kind of like a form of meditation. Music is another academic interest that really died some years ago. I used to play the flute, which I loved, but unfortunately, playing an instrument also takes regular practice, and my other interests won the competition for my time. These days, I enjoy listening to music, but I suspect that if I picked up my old flute, which is still somewhere in my mother's home, I wouldn't be able to produce notes over more than one octave, and that probably wouldn't be very good either.
Making a Difference (SkRW3, pp. 79, Developing critical thinking)
What I read
We have just read and checked our understanding of "Making a Difference."
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Our response
Having read the text a couple of times, Bixby and Scanlon now invite us to respond to those idea in a critical thinking exercise.
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Bixby and Scanlon's questions
Comment on the following questions, which are the critical thinking questions on page 79 (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013), and then reply to at least two of your classmates' comments.
- Describe your reaction to William's story. How do you think the attitudes of the people in his village changed after his success?
- What words would you use to describe William's personality? Do you (or someone you know) share of the the same traits? Which ones?
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Reference
- Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing: Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education
Getting into Unit 8 = Drive (SkR&W3, p77, Discussion point)
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Bixby and Scanlon introduce each unit with a discussion activity, that is, an opportunity for us to share our ideas on the topic of the unit in a way that relates it to our own lives, ideas and experiences. Unit 7 of book 3 (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013, p.77) does this.
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My response
Research by academics solidly shows that brainstorming or discussion activities for groups are more effective if participants start by working individually (O'Connell, 2010; Markman, 2017). In fact, experts at Harvard University's School of Management and elsewhere are sure that this can be very effectively done using online tools (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2015). Blogging is one effective way to do this, which is the reason I've turned Bixby and Scanlon's discussion exercise into a quick blogging discussion.
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Bixby and Scanlon's questions
Saying 1
"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win." (Roger Bannister, The Four Minute Mile, 1955)
Saying 2
"Everybody is born with an equal chance to become as unequal as he or she possibly can." (Anonymous, n.d. (no date))Discuss these questions in a comment.
- Explain the meaning of each saying in your own words.
- Do you agree with each quotation?
- Why or why not?
Write full sentences. You will also need to write a few sentences for each of your ideas, giving explanation, examples and other details to clarify and develop your ideas.
You can address the questions in any order. You can write one comment, or if you prefer, two comments, but not three. So that you don't worry about Bixby and Scanlon's numbers too much, I replaced them with bullets.
You have eight minutes. Aim to write two or more paragraphs.
You have eight minutes. Aim to write two or more paragraphs.
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References
- Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing: Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education
- Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2015, April 2). Why brainstorming works better online. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/04/why-brainstorming-works-better-online
- Markman, A. (2017, May 18). Your team is brainstorming all wrong. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2017/05/your-team-is-brainstorming-all-wrong
- O'Connell, A. (2010, February 4). Sometimes, it’s better to brainstorm alone. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2010/02/when-its-better-to-brainstorm
Saturday, 12 January 2019
Welcome to RW2c and to our class blog
What I read
Although I've read a few things in preparation for it, this post has a different purpose. I want to welcome you to your EAP class on Saturday mornings.
So, welcome.
So, welcome.
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My response
Thank you for joining our Saturday class in Reading and Writing for academic purposes. I hope you find the next six weeks useful, productive, also challenging, and perhaps even fun.
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Bixby and Scanlon's questions
As you will see in our book, online discussion makes an appearance early on in Unit 1 (Bixby & Scanlon, 2013, p. 9) and there is a more extensive coverage of this common part of modern university courses on page 66, so I do have a question. Also, in her foreword to students on page 4 (or perhaps page 6 if you have a later print than mine), the series editor, Dorothy E. Zemach, gives some strategies for successful learning, one of which is to "be an independent learner" (in Bixby & Scanlon, 2013). This class blog is one way for us to do this. As Zemach suggests in her comment, it is one way for you to "find and then share information about ... different topics." Some of the topics you will write about here are the unit topics, but I also Zemach's suggestion that "reading for pleasure and using the Internet in English" are important, so your writing here will not be limited to the topics of the units that we study over the next six weeks.
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At the end of the page, they ask us to discuss two different questions:
One more useful tip: When you respond, write as though your readers have not seen the questions you are responding to. This strengthens your writing by making it an coherent, independent piece of work.
- Why are academic writing skills important for an online discussion board (such as our class blog)?
- How do you think an online discussion board might improve your learning in a course?
One more useful tip: When you respond, write as though your readers have not seen the questions you are responding to. This strengthens your writing by making it an coherent, independent piece of work.
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Reference
- Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing, Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education
Friday, 14 December 2018
Popular in Thailand today
What I read
I assume that we are all regular users of Google's search tools, but did you know that you can also search Google's search statistics? Google Trends provides a variety of ways to find out what people around the world are using Google to find out about. For example, the most popular Google searches in Thailand for the last few days have been:
We also learn that searches on "vegetarian" are globally far more popular than searches on "meat eating":
And that Thailand has a conspicuous surge during the second week of October.
And that Thailand has a conspicuous surge during the second week of October.
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My response
I've known about this cool tool from Google for a while, but haven't really played with it that much. In contrast, you might have noticed the nGram tool that had previously been the last entry on the list of "Useful References" on the right. nGram lets you easily check how often a word or phrase has been found in a vast collection of books over the past 200 years! For example, the use of the word "pizza" has exploded since the 1970s.
nGram seemed to me a bit easier to use than Google Trends, but I suspect that if I play around with it, I'll learn a lot more about how to use Google Trends.
nGram seemed to me a bit easier to use than Google Trends, but I suspect that if I play around with it, I'll learn a lot more about how to use Google Trends.
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My question
Have you ever used either Google's nGram or Google Trends?
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Saturday, 8 December 2018
Disease: reading 2, "Do We Know Too Much?" (SkRW3, pp60-61, Before reading)
Before we read
Write a comment to share your thoughts on these questions that Bixby and Scanlon ask on page 60 (2013).
- What are some of your own genetic traits that you feel come from your mother's side of the family? What about your fathers?
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Reference
- Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing, Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education
Participating in online discussion boards (SkRW3, p66, Study Skills)
What we read
The study skills page that follows Unit 6 of Bixby and Scanlon (2013, p. 66) gets us to think about and gives some tips for participating in online discussion boards, such as our class blog. Although you might not have done this before, it is a common part of reading and writing in a modern academic environment. For example, if you were looking for something more challenging to listen to, you might have checked out Harvard University professor Michael Sandel's lecture series Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? In several of his lectures, Sandel refers to the blog to which his students are expected to contribute regularly as a part of their course. And of course, we have been blogging since day one of this class.
I've already given some reasons why we move some of Skillful's discussion exercises to an online discussion board, and on page 66, Bixby and Scanlon's tips fill this out a bit more.
I've already given some reasons why we move some of Skillful's discussion exercises to an online discussion board, and on page 66, Bixby and Scanlon's tips fill this out a bit more.
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What Bixby and Scanlon do
Following her two questions to get us reflecting on our previous experience and preferences, Cottrell suggests six tips to improve our use of blogs and similar tools in an academic context.
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Bixby and Scanlon's questions
Getting started
First, think for a moment about the two "Getting Started" questions on page 66.- Have you ever used an online discussion board? (Yes, you have, at least in this class.) How did you feel about it?
- Would you prefer a class discussion (which we have also done), or an online discussion? Why?
After you have thought about it for a minute, spend a few minutes writing your responses to these two question. Then publish your comment.
Scenario
Read the scenario and think about what Fatima did right and what she might not have done so well.
Consider it
Next, we will read the six tips in the "Consider It" section. As you read, which tips have I asked you to follow? Which have I revised a bit?
Which of the six tips do you think the most useful for you?
Over to you
Finally, think about the last two questions with which Bixby and Scanlon conclude their discussion on participating in online discussion boards.
Create a new comment to share your response.
- Why are academic writing skills important for an online discussion board? For example our discussion of Stephen Law's thesis in "Carving the Roast Beast.
- How do you think an online discussion board might improve your learning in a course?
- This is not one of Bixby and Scanlon's discussion questions, but do you agree with them participating in online discussions is helpful for academic reading and writing?
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Reference
- Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing: Student's Book 3 (p. 66). London: Macmillan Education
Thursday, 6 December 2018
School kids doing it for themselves
What I read
In "Climate change: Australian students skip school for mass protest" (2018), Frances Mao says that despite the Australian Prime Minister (PM) insisting that his government was already acting on climate change and complaining that he "wanted more learning and less activism in schools," thousands of high school students left classes on Friday, November 30 to join School Strike 4 Climate Action protests across the nation. Inspired by similar student activism in Sweden and recent school student protests against gun violence in the US, the teenage students organized the protests to express their frustration and concern that the Australian government is not acting fast or strongly enough to limit climate change, which they say is too vital to their own futures to wait until they are eligible to vote.
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My response
I couldn't imagine such things happening when I was in high school, but despite the protestations by the prime minister and other politicians against them, it seems to me that the students must have learned a lot of useful skills to be able to successfully organize protests across Australia. The report does not say anything to the contrary, and the photographs suggest that the protests were peaceful, which I think shows that the students have done extremely well. They should get full marks for using the knowledge and skills that they have learned in school to peacefully express their opinion in a very forceful way. And it's hard to argue that they should not be concerned about climate change having serious effects on the world that they are going to inherit from the adults now making decisions. I'm reminded of the suggestion that the voting age be lowered from the current 18 to 16, which might be a good thing. It is not only climate change that will, and arguably already does, affect the lives of young people, including teenagers, today, but a lot of other issues, from education, to drug policy, to taxation, and so on. Your average 16 year old might not be paying taxes yet, but that is not a qualification for voting, nor should it be. Being a citizen of the society should be enough to entitle people to a voice in not only the government of their society, but also its form, and an important way to meet this moral aim is to allow citizens to vote in elections. From the comments that they made to the BBC reporter, Frances Mao, the students also seem well educated and aware of the issues, contrary to the insultingly dismissive comments made by the PM and at least one other politician.
I think it's healthy to see the young taking a stand for something that they believe in, and standing up to the old who refuse, or simply fail, to understand and act in ways that are not only sensible but also morally better. University students have for long been politically active in such things; I remember the massive protests that helped to end the Vietnam war back in the 1960s, along with protests that drew attention to other mistakes that their elders were making. the article did not discuss them, but I suspect that the adult parents of the students who skipped classes to join the protests must also have agreed to that, so at least some Australian adults must be supporting the students' efforts for the sake of their own and their nation's future.
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My question
Is the Australian Prime Minister right that high school students should not be involved in political activism?
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Reference
- Mao, F. (2018, November 30). Climate change: Australian students skip school for mass protest. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-46380418
Saturday, 1 December 2018
Is Law right? Must we give up pork, fish, and duck?
What we read
We have just read Stephen Law's introduction to his essay "Carving the Roast Beast" (2018). In this essay, Law presents most of the ideas in the dialogue form that was begun by in his Academy, from which we get the English word academic, by Plato about 2,400 years ago, and which remained popular in academic work until recently, being the choice of the scientist Galileo Galilei, and remaining popular with such recent philosophers as the great essayist David Hume.
I chose this essay because, although not written in the usual style of academic essays today, it is by an academic, and follows the usual organization of an academic essay: there is an introduction in which the writer states his thesis, which we have seen; a body, whose job is to support that thesis; and a conclusion to end the essay by smoothly leading readers out from the thesis that has now been supported.
Law's short essay also provides excellent examples of the use of examples, reasons and explanations to support a thesis, which is what the writing task for Unit 6 of Skillful asks us to do on page 65.
I chose this essay because, although not written in the usual style of academic essays today, it is by an academic, and follows the usual organization of an academic essay: there is an introduction in which the writer states his thesis, which we have seen; a body, whose job is to support that thesis; and a conclusion to end the essay by smoothly leading readers out from the thesis that has now been supported.
Law's short essay also provides excellent examples of the use of examples, reasons and explanations to support a thesis, which is what the writing task for Unit 6 of Skillful asks us to do on page 65.
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Our response
We have now also done a quick survey to find out our initial responses to Law's thesis that eating meat is morally wrong. Before reading the body of his essay, in which we expect him to support his thesis, it is helpful to briefly discuss not only whether we agree or disagree with him, but what our reasons for this are.
In a comment, explain why you agree or disagree with Stephen Law's thesis. If you thought that whether it is morally acceptable to eat meat depends on something, this is also your chance to tell us what you think it depends on.
In case you were wondering, I did not choose this essay because I agree with Law. On the contrary, I think he's wrong, but my disagreement is not a good reason for you to disagree with him. As you will see when you read it over the coming week, his essay is very well written, and has a lot to teach us about academic writing, even though its style is unusual for academic work today.
In a comment, explain why you agree or disagree with Stephen Law's thesis. If you thought that whether it is morally acceptable to eat meat depends on something, this is also your chance to tell us what you think it depends on.
In case you were wondering, I did not choose this essay because I agree with Law. On the contrary, I think he's wrong, but my disagreement is not a good reason for you to disagree with him. As you will see when you read it over the coming week, his essay is very well written, and has a lot to teach us about academic writing, even though its style is unusual for academic work today.
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Reference
- Law, S. (2018). Carving the Roast Beast [MS Word edition for use at AUA]. Retrieved from https://1drv.ms/w/s!AvLRvG3dUEtbw3Fm4_Mn-_T6Be_S
Getting into Unit 6 = Disease (SkR&W3, p57, Discussion point)
What we read
As usual, Bixby and Scanlon introduce "Disease" with a large photograph and some questions to get us thinking about the coming topic and ideas in Unit 6 of Skillful (2013, p. 57).
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Bixby and Scanlon's questions
Discuss these questions in a comment.
- How have medical technology and treatment changed since your grandparents were young? What about your parents? How have they changed in your own lifetime?
- What are some interesting or amazing uses of technology in modern medicine? Give as many examples as you can.
- What types of medical advances do you think, or hope (fear?), the future will bring?
Write two or three paragraphs to address the questions in any order. Remember, it's response writing where we want your ideas written down in sentences as quickly as possible. Think for a minute or two, and then write. Then write your next idea, and the next one. And repeat.
For clarity, write as though your readers have not seen the questions. Your writing should make sense as an independent piece of work.
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Reference
- Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing: Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education
Saturday, 24 November 2018
Living in a material world
What I read
The BBC News article "Americans find meaning in money more than friends or religion" (2018) reports the results of two surveys that the Pew Research Center released just before Thanksgiving. The surveys, both done last year, used different methods to invite Americans to say what gives meaning to their lives. Although family was rated first in both and religion relatively low, other results were very different depending on whether responded by writing in their own words or chose set responses to 15 options. In the first case, career and money were rated as most important, while in the second, high importance was given to "being outdoors [and] spending time with friends,” both of which were ranked lower in the open-ended survey.
After choosing my source, reading it a couple of times (three or four actually), choosing what to include in my summary and in what order, the above paragraph went through six reviews and revisions, with the word count changing as follows: 156 → 139 → 133 → 113 → 117 → 121. The first version was much too long: it would have earned a failing grade. After small changes, I made a more radical revision in version 4, which allowed me to add a few more words again.
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My response
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| In the beginning, with Pawit |
The results of the surveys, especially the one where people were asked to simply write their own responses interested me enough that I followed the link in the BBC News article to their source, the results that were published by the Pew Research Center, which naturally gives a lot more detail, for example, that although religion rates relatively lowly for all respondents, for some groups in the population, it is very important at giving meaning to their lives, which is what I would have expected. The biggest surprise for me was that so many people rated money and jobs more highly than friends or religion. That was not what I expected. Also interesting, even a little surprising, was how very different the results were when the same thing was asked in different ways. It shows how important the design of a survey is if you want to get meaningful results.
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| Not the end ... Dessert also came |
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My question
What things most give meaning to your life?
(This question was easy. I just copied the open-ended survey question that Pew Research asked people to respond to.)
(This question was easy. I just copied the open-ended survey question that Pew Research asked people to respond to.)
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Reference
- Americans find meaning in money more than friends or religion. (2018, November 22). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46306037
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Actually, I don't like Madonna or her music that much, but this bit of nostalgia seemed appropriate. It was very popular back in 1985 when I was living in Sydney an age ago.
We have looked at a few basics in using blogger, but feel welcome to try out the other options that are available.
However, the paragraph formatting is correct, so please do not change that. Having a consistent, simple appearance for the paragraph formatting makes it much easier for readers.
Friday, 23 November 2018
The value of saving lives
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| Click to view images full size. |
In "Should we pay people for donating blood?" (2018), Padraig Belton suggests that a compromise which reimburses donors for their time and inconvenience rather than for their blood plasma might solve the controversy over whether providers of plasma, the pale liquid that holds our red blood cells, should be paid for it. Plasma is used to treat a wide range of diseases, from immune deficiency to burns, with demand for this internationally traded product increasing rapidly, which has led some economists to support paying providers in order to maintain the necessary supply, while others, including the World Health Organization (WHO), argue that in order to maintain a “safe, sustainable blood supply,” it should be given freely not turned into a for-profit business transaction that might take advantage of poorer people.
As counted by Google's Word count tool, this summary paragraph is 130 words, which is just within the maximum of 130 words. If I had had more time, I would have tried to shorten it a bit more. It is two sentences, which is safely within the allowed four sentence maximum. The first sentence begins by telling readers the source of the ideas, as required to avoid being guilty of plagiarism (see page 36 of Skillful RW3), and there is one short quotation of four words that I copied and pasted from the source that I chose to summarize, while all of the rest states the ideas from the source in my words. It is academic writing.
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My response
Although I think both sides have good arguments to support their competing opinions, I tend to favour allowing profits to be made from giving blood. This might offend some people, who think we should do it because it's the right thing to save lives, but I'm not sure that their argument is strong enough. I don't disagree, with the argument that we should act from moral motives rather greed for money, but being morally right is not a good enough reason to use the law to force people to do something. For example, if we agree that it's morally right to look after our own bodies, does that mean that the government can make up laws to ban eating chocolate cake, which we know to be unhealthy since it contributes to all the diseases that come from excess sugar consumption. Of course, people who favour banning drugs like marijuana, heroin or yaa baa will probably agree that chocolate cake should be banned because it's unhealthy, just as they might also support bans on cigarettes and the deadly drug alcohol, but they are wrong. People have a right to determine for themselves how they live their own lives, and even if they do things that harm themselves, including getting drunk or giving themselves diabetes and heart disease from chocolate cake, their wishes must be respected except when they directly harm other people.
Now that I think about it more, the idea that we should act from selfless, morally superior motives is not only morally suspect, I think the WHO is wrong. When we compare the success of communist nations with that of capitalist nations, it is the capitalists that are doing much better at supplying goods and services to more and more people. Who, after all, would choose to live in despotic China under the dictator Mao if they could instead live in the free and open society of the US, where life is not only freer, but vastly richer. It was only after Mao died and a better leader took power in China that that unhappy nation began to grow economically as greater liberty was allowed to its citizens. We see the same in the South American nation of Venezuala, which was destroyed by socialist policies while it's market oriented neighbours thrive. I am sure that Thailand would also do much better if there was less government interference in business and the personal lives of Thai citizens.
This response to the ideas from my chosen source is two paragraphs, which is the minimum. Our response should me at least twice the length of the summary paragraph. Although, as see in the examples on page 9 of Skillful RW3, the style is fairly formal as appropriate to an academic context, avoiding the kind of language that would be OK on Facebook or in an email to friends, it is not an academic essay. It is OK to jump from one topic to another, and personal reflection is perfectly OK. This is a personal response to the ideas in something we have read.
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My question
Should the law be used to settle disagreements about what people choose to do with their own bodies?
Although you might want to write it as a couple of sentences, only ask one question to prompt your readers, us, to respond to. And we might ignore your question if a different response comes to mind. Again, our purpose here is not to write an academic essay.
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Reference
- Belton, P. (2018, November 15). Should we pay people for donating blood? Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46197271
- The reference citation for the source is written in APA style. Copy my examples for BBC News articles. Later, we will practice writing APA style reference citations for other sources.
Mmm ... art
What I read
According to "Hockney painting breaks auction record for living artist" (2018), the reputation as a great modern artist of 81 year old David Hockney, whose work has become so well-known that it is even laughed at in cartoons, has been confirmed by the sale of his 1972 painting Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) for $90.3 million US dollars at auction, which set a new record for a living artist. It is said to be "one of the great masterpieces of the modern era" by auctioneer Christies, who sold the work, which depicts two figures, one swimming in a pool with the other looking down at him, and is known to be based on two photographs.
This summary paragraph is 119 words in three sentences, which is safely within the word and sentence limits.
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My response
Hockney has long been an artist whose work I admire, so it was a pleasant surprise to see this recognition of his talent. Still, it's hard to believe that a painting, any painting could really be worth quite that much, and other works have commanded even higher prices in recent years. I largely agree with the art market's relative valuation of works of art. For example, Picasso's work now attracts prices of over $100 million, and I think they really are better than both Hockney and old masters like da Vinci, whose Mona Lisa, for example, whilst very good, is not nearly as great a work of art as man of Picasso's masterpieces. I think that the Mona Lisa is famous more for its place in history than for artistic excellence. And sometimes the art market makes mistakes: I don't think that Andy Warhol's work is really all that great, just radical and controversial. Being controversial is no bad thing, but it is not the same as artistic greatness.
But then what does make a piece of art great? What is art? These questions have been around for at least two thousand years, and I don't think I have any final answer. I think it is in part to do with arranging the elements in a strong composition that gets everything in the right place to best connect them, which is also something we worry about when we write, where coherence (logical organization) and cohesion (connections between ideas within and between sentences) helps readers to easily follow the ideas that we are trying to communicate. But the best philosophers have been arguing for millennia about these questions. I think we make progress, but just as with science, it's perhaps safer not to claim to have finally got the perfect answers that will never be proved false or otherwise not good enough.
In the meantime, I'll continue to love Picasso and Hockney. I also like da Vinci, even though he isn't as great an artist as the later masters, who were less limited by trying to make accurate copies of reality.
But then what does make a piece of art great? What is art? These questions have been around for at least two thousand years, and I don't think I have any final answer. I think it is in part to do with arranging the elements in a strong composition that gets everything in the right place to best connect them, which is also something we worry about when we write, where coherence (logical organization) and cohesion (connections between ideas within and between sentences) helps readers to easily follow the ideas that we are trying to communicate. But the best philosophers have been arguing for millennia about these questions. I think we make progress, but just as with science, it's perhaps safer not to claim to have finally got the perfect answers that will never be proved false or otherwise not good enough. In the meantime, I'll continue to love Picasso and Hockney. I also like da Vinci, even though he isn't as great an artist as the later masters, who were less limited by trying to make accurate copies of reality.
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My question
Can any piece of canvas, metal, or other art really be worth $90 million dollars?
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Reference
- Hockney painting breaks auction record for living artist. (2018, November 16). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-46232870
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