Research Essay

I have reinstalled my computer system recently. And unfortunately I lost all my songs in the iTunes. Then I learnt that I could not download the music free from the internet here in U.S.; While I can download all the music free in China. I can not live without music, I used to do my homework while listening to the music. But I do not want to pay that money. So I'm curious about such questions like: how to download music here in U.S.? Is music free on the internet a good thing. why it charges to download music on the internet? Only to protect intellectual property rights? Are there any good opportunities for some on line business to offer free and legal music in order to attract more ads or to be more famous(since I'm a marketing major)? So I want to explore something like that.  

reading response two

The two essays of Garrett Brown and Jay Holmquist are discovery essays rather than traditional research papers. Brown's discovery essay "Why Do People Tan" started with such questions: is it stupid to be tan and why it's a fashion for white people to be tan. With these questions in her mind, rather than with the answers she already knew, she suspended the judgement and began the process of investigating the sunbathing and such resources. She described some of the current persuasive findings, such as the survey conducted by Seventeen magazine, when she wanted to analysis that people want to "feel active". She also encounter articles criticized people who spent time in the sun to get a tan would got saggy skin or even cancer. This essay ended with a tentative thesis-the sun is really our friend, rather than began with the thesis as research paper often did. In "An Experience in Acronyms", Holmquist began his essay with a scene in a rave rather than with a thesis statement. He then posed his inquiry that whether taking such party drugs were safe or not. He suspended his judgement and did the research. At last, he made his final thesis that drugs were dangerous by showing the scene-his friend's heart stopped 3 times due to drug use, which led him quit drugs and raves.

The overall controlling idea of "Why Do People Tan" is that whether get a tan is good or not for people. This is a very interesting topic and has always been discussed. She learnt from the survey conducted by Seventeen magazine and the fashion column that people feel and look better to be tan. She cited that "2/3 of the teens say they look better with a tan and feel healthier, more sophisticated and 50% say they look more athletic."(Page 460). She also read the articles "The Rural South These Days Has More Tanning Salons Than John Deeres" and "No Tan Is a Safe Tan", which were against spending time in the sun to get a tan. At last she stood in the middle ground but preferred that "sun is really our friend"(Page 460). She not only skillfully used the resources, but also included her own voice. She asked "Is the fashion industry that powerful?"(Page 460) when she tried to answer the question-what else make people want a tan. She also express her feeling very well by summarizing what she had read: It struck me as I read the last line of this sardonic critique of society that I don't necessarily wonder why people tan.

The overall controlling idea of "An Experience in Acronyms" is whether taking party drugs is dangerous or not. Drug use has been discussed many times and we all familiar with that. Holmquist first described separately how LSD, MDMA, and GHB work and their "benefits" by citing many scientific terminologies and findings such as "MDMA affects the serotonin and dopamine centers of the brain"(Page B26), and using his own experience like "I'm able to move objects around with the power with my mind; I once changed the rotation the earth"(Page B25). Then he proved the side effects of these three drugs with scientific studies such as the recent study by Dance Safe, and other people's examples such as that one of his friend Chris. In the end, he drew the conclusion that the party drugs are dangerous. He skillfully organized the resources as he combined them very well to serve what he wanted to say, such as in these sentences, he quoted that, "The sense of touch is heightened to such a degree that energy pulses through you if someone else just grazes you (McDowell,1999). Massages are a common sight at raves as others try to raise the level of the high. Rubbing the neck, ears, face, and hands are the most common, Hugging and cuddling are associated with the effects of the drug (Pederson, 1999)."(Page B26). There he also gave credit to the other writers' thinking by citing where were the materials from. 

When it comes to my own approach to the Essay 2, I think I may first pick a topic which has been commonly discussed but most importantly, I'm curious about, as Ballenger suggested in page 432. Then I will try to research the resources from memories or experience, observation, interviews, and reading. I will stand on the shoulders from others who have already said something about my topic by finding proofs of or oppositions to my original thinking and at last, stick to or change my original thought by exploring more. I will try to employ the skills of using and citing sources explained in Chapter 13. In a word, I'm quite excited about writing my first English Research Essay.  

reading response one

Hogg's "I'm a believer" and Black's "The Joy of Mud" are two typical and successful personal essays that share many same features of the form Ballenger talks about.

Both of the two essays are written in first person, it is easily to detect because they use "I": "I believe this was some kind of privileged access I had.", "I feel solid and more connected to the living," They are the actresses of their own story.

The subjects of the two essays are very commonplace. Hogg tells us a story about her obsession with Davy, a band's leading singer, for many years since her childhood. Black talks about her one day's experience of helping Hawaiian to harvest their food with her friend and some Hawaiian people in a very beautiful valley in Hawaii. I do have something in common with both writers. I had my favorite singer and liked him for many years since I was 11, I glorified and "created" him to be a hero for a long time and not until recently do I find out that despite that he is authentic and gracious on the stage or in his books. I still do not know who he really is. I also know something about harvest since there are nearly 1 billion peasants in China and I have helped to harvest in a remote country so I can relate myself to Hogg's experience about harvest. When talking about "rootless", I think I'm quite "rootless" now. Living in a new country I'm not belonged to which is faraway from my hometown. Sometimes I do separate myself with the other people because I feel insecure and lonely.

Both of them use narrative method to develop their essays. They also use very vivid sentences. Hogg states "Micky's hair would not behave," the contrast strongly convinced me that Davy is more handsome. Black draws a nice picture "The forest is a lush wall on all sides, and the mountains are crowned with clouds overhead" to show the beautiful scenery she explored.

I find out that the thesis of he two are implicit and emerge in the end. Hogg tells her story in a chronological order from her childhood to her 27 when she meets Davy, has picture taken with him, and realizes him. In the last few paragraphs, she expressees "I accept, finally, that this person I know so well I really don't know at all, and I, the daydream believer, am just a fan.", "Davy just played his role as a singer." such feelings leaves much to be thought about. In "The Joy of Mud", Black begins her story in one summer morning. And she mimics the dialectical process successfully. She always deviates form what happens now to her past and portraits herself used to be a "bicultural and bred on mobility" girl, who spends most of her adolescence in Hawaii but wait impatiently to escape. For instance, she buried herself in "novels set in faraway times and places" and studied French instead of Hawaii's pidgin English. She felt rootless all the time, and was pride of that. But in this morning, during which she pulls out the weeds in the lo'i with her feet in the Waiahole mud, and then rinses the corms and steams them for lunch, she finds out that she is increasingly absorbed in this wet world, "aches with a kind of goofy happiness", and feels blissful...she feels surprised that after 16 years of being in the place she never cared for, she suddenly explores her love with this place.  She shifts back and forth like this from the present to her memory many times and in the end she expresses her willingness to stay in Hawaii and accepts Hawaii as her home, "Maybe it's the one that will eventually lead me home."