: Conflicting Viewpoints Essay – Part I
Prewriting
Due Week 2 and worth 30 points

When looking for information about a particular issue, how often do you try to resist biases toward your own point of view? This assignment asks you to engage in this aspect of critical thinking by playing the “Believing Game.” The Believing Game is about making the effort to “believe” – or at least consider – the reasons for an opposing view on an issue.

The assignment is divided into two (2) parts.
In Part I of the assignment (due Week 2), you will first read a book excerpt about critical thinking processes: “The Believing Game and How to Make Conflicting Opinions More Fruitful” at http://www.procon.org/sourcefiles/believinggame.pdf. Next, you will review the Procon.org Website in order to gather information. Then, you will engage in prewriting to examine your thoughts.
Note: In Part II of the assignment (due Week 4), you will write an essay geared towards synthesizing your ideas.

Part I – Prewriting: Follow the instructions below for this prewriting activity.  Use complete sentences and adhere to standard rules of English grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and spelling.
1. Select one (1) of the approved topics from the www.procon.org Website and state your position on the issue.
2. From the Procon.org Website, identify three (3) premises (reasons) listed under either the Pro or Con section – whichever section opposes your position.
3.For each of the three (3) premises (reasons) that oppose your position on the issue, answer these “believing” questions suggested by Elbow:

1. What’s interesting or helpful about this view?
2. What would I notice if I believed this view?
3. In what sense or under what conditions might this idea be true?”

The paper should follow guidelines for clear and organized writing:

• Include an introductory paragraph and concluding paragraph.
• Address main ideas in body paragraphs with a topic sentence and supporting sentences.
• Adhere to standard rules of English grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and spelling.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA Style format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Identify the informal fallacies, assumptions, and biases involved in manipulative appeals and abuses of language.
• Create written work utilizing the concepts of critical thinking.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in critical thinking skills and informal logic

Assignment 2: LASA 1: Course Project Task I

Argument Paper Section 1

Your local town is addressing the following issues in its law-making:

1. Should people under 18 be subjected to legal curfews or restricted driving privileges?

2. Should libraries be required to install filtering software or otherwise censor the materials that they provide?

3. Should insurance companies in your state be required to pay for breast reconstruction, birth control pills, or Viagra?

4. Should the use of camera phones be banned in local gymnasiums or other locations?

As an active citizen, you ask to research and present to the town’s citizens one of the above issues. The governing body has agreed and asks that your presentation be specifically designed to show citizens of the community how and why one of the issues above is controversial and how to be educated consumers of information regarding this issue. They ask this because the citizens will be voting on these issues in future elections and the governing body wants its citizens to be properly educated on these topics.

In your presentation, make sure you include the following:

Remember, you are giving a presentation to an audience that does not know much, if anything, about your topic.

• Explain the issue, including definitions of common terms involved in the issue and why this issue is controversial.
• Identify and describe three to four different conclusions that are drawn when arguments related to the issue are made.
• Summarize the kinds of evidence typically used for each constructed argument related to the issue. Be sure to discuss the reasons these kinds of evidence are used and/or are most effective.
• Analyze how each of the different conclusions regarding the topic use particular evidence to support their claims, paying particular attention to analyzing how the conclusions rely on different facts, different sources of evidence, or different reasoning from other conclusions. In other words, explain why certain groups would use a particular type of evidence while an opposing group would use a different type of evidence, or how two groups can represent that same data in two completely different ways.
• Utilize at least three different sources and properly cite them throughout the presentation.

The presentation should be 8 to 10 slides long, and each slide should have complete, formally written slide notes (proper grammar, APA formatting, and academic tone) for record-keeping purposes and in the event there are citizens who are deaf or hard-of-hearing at your presentation. The slide notes must include proper APA citation of sources, proper paragraphing, and proper grammar and tone. Visually, the slides should be easy to read. A properly APA-formatted reference page must be the last slide of your presentation. See the rubric for more specific requirements of the presentation.

FOLLOW DIRECTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Forum Goal: Choose a Topic for Essay #2 and explain why you chose it

Part 1: After you have read the APUS plagiarism policy, please visit the following library sites.

You will write about this new topic in the first part of the Week 3 forum.

Once you state your topic, use the example in the Lesson as a guide, and then work to answer these questions in the rest of this post:

1. Why did you pick this topic?
2. What do I already know about it?
3. What is my goal in acquiring new information through my research?
4. What information will I want to share with my reader?

Remember, you must use references for all essays in this class! 

Part 2: Next, post your thesis statement for Essay 2 here as a one-sentence thesis statement. Please bold it and identify it, so that we can all tell what it is.

Make sure you are writing one sentence only, and that you are not using a question. For example, “Should children wear uniforms in public schools?” is not a thesis sentence. To be a thesis sentence, the sentence must take a stand and be a declarative sentence. 

After you type your thesis statement, discuss how you arrived at that one sentence. What process of thought led to that sentence? Did you conduct research on your topic before coming up with your thesis statement? Have you taken a stand in your thesis statement? Do you think that when you do more research on your topic, your stand might change? Did you start with one thesis and evolve into another?

(It is expected, in academic writing, that you may need to change your thesis statement as you work on your essay. You may believe one thing, only to find through research that your initial beliefs must be adjusted. Or, you may have to change your topic somewhat due to available research.)

Quote:

1.     “In the case of the teacher fired for drinking, she didn’t have any parents or any students as friends on her Facebook but she still got fired because somebody that she was friends with forwarded that information to a parent or a principal.” (“Why social media can be a minefield for teachers “ Sep 09, 2015)

2.     “a young teacher was fired from her job in Georgia because an irate parent got hold of a picture of her with two drinks — and actually led to her being fired by the principal.”(“Why social media can be a minefield for teachers “ 09/09/2015)

3.     The NLESD has a policy on social media use by teachers, which says that personal accounts should not be used for any sort of school business, and that as a rule teachers shouldn’t post anything related to their jobs or students on a site like Facebook.(“Why social media can be a minefield for teachers “ 09/09/2015)

4.     “Nearly nine of 10 — 87 percent — of teachers have not incorporated social media into their classrooms, according to a new survey conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of the University of Phoenix. The survey also found that more teachers, 62 percent, said they are reluctant to incorporate social media in their classrooms than in 2013, when 55 percent reported such hesitation. Only 44 percent of teachers surveyed said that social media can enhance a student’s educational experience.” (“Research: 9 in 10 Teachers Don’t Use Social Media in the Classroom” 09/02/15)

5.     “The main reason I’d like to try to avoid social media use is a moral one. Kids today are addicted to technology; school can, and should, remain the one safe haven where they can unplug and just be present.” (“Should teachers be using social media in the classroom?” 10/1/2014)

6.     “But I think we should keep social media where it belongs: in the realm of that which is social. While I continue to keep up with friends on Facebook, my teenage students will continue to hang out with their friends on the medium of their choosing.”(“Should teachers be using social media in the classroom?” 10/1/2014)

7.     “Facebook is still yours, for you and your friends (all of your friends) to connect with each other and share information.” (“Welcome to Facebook, everyone.” 09/26/2006

8.     8. “Ben Marder, author of the report and early career fellow in marketing at the Business School, said: “Facebook used to be like a great party for all your friends where you can dance, drink and flirt. But now with your Mum, Dad and boss there the party becomes an anxious event full of potential social landmines.”” (“More Facebook Friends Means More Stress, Says Report” Nov. 26, 2012)

9.     9. “in Las Vegas, at the computer security conference Black Hat, Alessandro Acquisti, an associate professor of information technology and public policy at the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University, showed how a photograph of a person can be used to find his or her date of birth, social security number, and other information by using facial recognition technology to match the image to a profile on Facebook and other websites.” (“When Social Media Mining Gets It Wrong” Aug 9, 2011)

10.  “in relation to privacy protection, social media companies generally offer users control over what they share but in practice, while they have a very good idea of the audiences for any user’s content they don’t use this knowledge to help posters visualise their audiences.” (“Sharing Our Lives Online Risks and Exposure in Social Media” p.156)

Sick Role Model

When a person becomes sick, he or she may demonstrate a variety of behaviors. Some people like to be left alone while others may seek assistance. Some people will act well even when they are sick. They may even feel guilty for not being able to do their work or take responsibilities.

What are the four aspects of the sick role model (Parsons 1951)? According to Parsons, medicine is an institution for the social control of deviant behavior. Do you agree or disagree with this view? Why or why not?

What is the patient-physician relationship according to Cockerham? Which two sociological examples of the sick role, as evidenced by existing research, do you think are most appropriate? Justify your answers with appropriate research and reasoning.

Parsons, T. (1951). The social system. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press.

Complementary and Alternative medicine (CAM) —An analysis

“CAM therapies have been in existence for hundreds of years. While many of these therapies are commonly used in non-Western societies their popularity is increasing steadily. In fact, large numbers of American consumers are using CAM currently in an effort to pre-empt disease and disability or to promote health and a sense of well-being.”

(Source: Kirschstein, R. I., Acting Director, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health, AMSA, 2008.)

How effective do you think CAM is in comparison to clinical treatment and diagnosis? Justify your answer. Identify and discuss at least 10 types of treatments offered by CAM practitioners. Analyze and present at least one case that shows the positive effect of CAM and one that shows the negative effect. What is the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) role in CAM research? Justify your answers with appropriate research and reasoning  Please indicate all referances and have less than 25% with turnitin