Research proposal ideas's

Working Title: Patriot Act

Submitted By: Devin Wieseckel

Research Question:
Is the Patriot act a violation of our freedom or is the Patriot act necessary for our protection? Why would the Patriot act be a violation of our freedom, How did the Patriot become a law if so many people are agains't it? Why do people believe the patriot act is necessary for our protection? Why and how did the Patriot come to be determined, what instegated the creation of the patriot act?

Introduction
[Write a summary of your research topic, explaining what it is, how it fits into writing studies, why you are interested in it, and why it is a significant topic to address in a research paper for this class.]
The Patriot act is laws that were passed after 9/11, the law was put into place to protect us from terroism. The Patriot Act is laws that say the goverment can intervene with our freedom at any given time. The goverment can perform phone taps, warrantless searches. To sum up the Patriot Act in a few words could be the, the goverment spying at us at any given moment for any given reason. The Patriot act fits into the writing studies in several ways. I am interested in this topic because of several reasons. The first is that our freedom's are being taken away one by one. The goverment disguieses these acts, they say they will help us, when all they really do is limit our freedom. Another example is, we don't have any freedom anymore, the goverment takes away our privacy, they are passing laws on where and when to smoke, the list goes on. I believe freedom and the ten amendments are what defines Americans, our ability to be independant and do what we want. I think the class will find this topic to be of extreme interest. I have talked to several of my peers about this topic and they are completly oblivious to what it is. Some people I have talked to did not even realize laws like these existed. People need to be aware with what rights we have and what rights are being taken from us.


Research Method[Explain how you believe you can go about doing your research to answer your question. What kind of sources do you anticipate using (or have already identified)? What primary research could be done by you to supplement the secondary research written by other people? What types of texts do you envision looking at? What types of theories, concepts, or features might you focus on within these texts?]
I believe a vast majority of my research will be online. I plan to look at goverment websites to recieve the most precise and accurate information. I plan on looking at politicians webpages. I have started doing some research and since this is a fairly new topic there is not a lot of books on this topic. I plan to read old newspapers and blogs which will post how people feel about these acts. The old newspapers and blogs will also tell me how politicians support or disapprove of passing the patriot act. Most of my research will be based on statitics and facts from goverment polls. I also plan on watching debates online of when there were passing the law. I hope to find usefull information on youtube. When I watch these debates I can use the ideas of rhetoric to see how they debated the topic and if they were effective in proving there point. I also would like to search opposing viewpoints to see how they view the patriot act, look at pro's and con's, try and find solid, concrete evidence. I also plan on looking at different media's, possibly some speeches and posters. Once I get my information and perspectives from all sides I plan on organinzing my information and start writing my paper.

Journal entry10

Rhetorical: Was the Patriot Act a violation of our rights?

English Education: Is the FCAT beneficial to students and teachers?

Cultural Studies:  Is the USA and should the USA be considered the "melting Pot"

Discourse Analysis: The techniques editors use to revise and format papers

5 possible topics:

1. Should the english language be the official language of the USA?

2.How does overseas oil dependency influence our economy/ international policies?

3.Should people between the ages of 18 and 20 be allowed to drink adult beverages that contain a lowered alcohol content?

4.What types of regulations of smoking in public places should the legal system impose?

5.Should tobacco companies be held responsible for smoking-related illnesses and deaths?

library research

Topic : Patriot Act : RESOURCE ONE : Database used : ProQuest CentralTitle of periodical or book: Patriot Act has setback in court; Orders for customer data from Internet and phone firms must have a court's OK, judge rulesTitle of article : Los Angeles TimesAuthor : Richard B. SchmittFull text available : yesBibliography : noCitation from bibliography : : RESOURCE TWO : Database used : Proquest CentralTitle of periodical or book : Intelligence and the Patriot ActTitle of article : Vital Speeches of the DayAuthor : George W BushFull text available : yesBibliography : noCitation from bibliography : : RESOURCE THREE : Database used : Proquest CentralTitle of periodical or book : Reclaiming Our Civil Liberties - AgainTitle of article : PeaceworkAuthor : Brian CorrFull text available : yesBibliography : noCitation from bibliography

Rhetorical Anaylsis

The Right to Drink According to Dictionary.com an argument is, “ A statement, reason, or fact for or against a point.” In the article, “Debate on lowering drinking age bubbling up” is an intense controversy over what the legal drinking should be. I have found this topic to be an extreme interest to me, do to the fact that I am a nineteen year old male, registered for selective service and legally obliged to taking actions into my own hands. This is an important issue to anyone, but particularly to those who can fight for there country, but can't legally drink. I have researched several sights and found that MSNBC to have the most accurate and concrete information. I feel that when this article was written the author had a biased opinion. Having read the article several times, I feel that the information being presented is leaning towards lowing the drinking age to age eighteen. Some ideas that support my thoughts are, that David J. Hanson, the alcohol expert at the State College of New York stated, “Just like during national Prohibition, the law has pushed and forced underage drinking and youthful drinking underground, where we have no control over it.” In reality this makes perfect sense. The author wants us to be aware that even though the legal drinking age is twenty-one, several people drink underage and make bad choices. If they government lowers the drinking age to age eighteen, we can control what and how much young adolescents drink. However, the other flip side to this argument Mark Rosenker, the chairman on the Transportation safety board makes a good point insistng that, “Why would we repeal or weaken laws that save lives? It doesn’t make sense.” He means that since the drinking age is at twenty-one people are older and should be more responsible. This is a solid counter point, that the author uses to make sure the drinking age stays at age twenty-one. In theory, with less people drinking on the streets, the less likely for drunk driving accidents. Once the author gives a few key solid points for each side of the argument, he then goes into defining the laws in different states. I personally believe this was a smart decision that the author did. This allows other states to know why they want or do not want to lower the drinking age. I am rather surprised that the drinking age is twenty-one all around, yet each state has different ordinances. The drinking age is a Federal Law In Wisconsin adolescents under the age of twenty-one can enter a bar or drinking environment as long as they have a legal guardian residing over them. I believe that intention of this article was to persuade the readers of the pro's and con's of lowering the drinking age. I think the article is to persuade people because the author gives key points on keeping and lowering the drinking age. This could also be an informative article. The author gives the laws of each state on what is legal and defines pro's and con's of lowering the drinking age. I do not feel this would be an entertaining article, because at no point in the entire passage does the author make a joke or any type of amusement. When the author wrote this article the majority of the article is based on facts and quotes. There was not much original thinking. I feel as if the author regurgitated the information and spit it back in a different viewpoint. Although, I feel that if you are writing a persuasive article, there needs to be solid evidence to enforce your ideas and viewpoints. I did like that the quotes did support the authors ideas, they quotes made sense. I have read several articles were the quotes do not pertain to the article.. I feel that even though the article doesn't have much author insight, I feel that the article was well written. I can tell that the author has good sentence structure and the paragraphs flow. The author has all his ideas in the same paragraph, he has key points in each paragraph followed up by a couple sentences supporting his thoughts. I think that when the author wrote this article he used the ideas of Logo's. I think the article relates to Logo's ideas because he persuades by the use of reasoning. This is Logo's views because the author uses solid evidence that can be backed by facts to persuade you to one side. The author uses quote's which defiantly show reasoning.

Journal 9

The writer is trying to find out "how students' constructs of "self" are reflected in school genres and how their backgrounds, specific academic disciplines, and institutional goals affect those
constructs." I think what this means is how students do in school with different professors and work ethics and how they follow or imitate there professors actions. In a sense, its almost as if the author wants to see how much of an impression the professors make on the students identity.

The author collects this data in several ways, such as she went to St. Augustines college and interviewed students like Amy. She also observed classes and how professors ideas, teachings stuck to students. Dr. Hanson has an affect on Amys words. She uses similar words and ideas that he had used earlier in the class.

Now days self representation is important. Self representation defines who we are, this is done in several ways. Many people represent themesevles with different clothing options, example: you skateboard so you wear vans shoes, or buy Emerica clothing. I see lots of people define themselves with personal characteristics. Many people wear certain colonges of famous people who they like or they might shave there face a certain way. People get piercings and tattoo's that help define who they are or what they believe in.

Journal 8

From the reading Cultural Studies the author is trying to figure out more about music, almost trying to discover the purpose of music. Trying to figure what bands are authentic. He wants to know why some musicians play down the music and almost disgrace music while others praise it. In some sense he wants to know what fuels music. The author quotes many things. I am not sure what page this is but the author mentions the word "real." I think he wants to know what music means to rock and rolls stars and classical musicians. He seems to desire the knowledge of why certain people perform the music they do, what sets them apart from the others. When I look around I see several people trying to establish authenticity. Many people dress they way the would like to present themselves. An example of this would if you dress in a shirt and tie everyday. People would see you as a professional. Another example could be if someone wants to stand out in crowds, they could do crazy things to there hair and wear extremely unusual clothing. This would help make someone stand out in crowds and be there own being. They wouldn't have guidelines. That is the nice thing about America, it allows you to be whoever you want to be.