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Dear portfolio reader,

i have learned many things in my writing and its not a lie. in my high school i did not do much writing which is why i think i have great difficulty to write long papers. i always have to struggle to get to five complete pages in all of my assignments in writing. but now especially after writing 102 i feel more confident with my writing and expressing my self on paper. i have also learned the basics of how a paragraph should be structured which makes things much more easier for the ideas to flow and have enough material to write about. i could defiantly use theses skill throughout my life such as arguing a point with a colleague at work. since i am aiming to go into the health care working area i have to do research in order to be more skilled and qualified for the job. research would require me to write about many things throughout the time we send on the research. besides being useful outside of school i could also use the knowledge i acquired on to other courses such as philosophy. i have taken philosophy before and required me to write a persuasive essay, the things i know now would have been very helpful and my grade would have been a big difference. looking back to how i used to write i think to myself what was i doing? I had never done a rhetorical analysis before coming to Stony Brook. I only did a few Rhetorical analysis in my previous writing courses maybe like one or two in order to prepare me for higher level writing.
for me rhetorical analysis is by far much more then just summary and opinion, its the writer understanding the meaning of the essay and proving evidence for his reason of his/her interpretation of the essay. An important part of the rhetorical analysis is the logical and organized way the essay is written to persuade the readers to view things as the reader does. I was horrible at that, again with the inexperience I had it was very noticeable in my first attempts of my essays. But with this course in my essay about “Why We Need to Understand Science” by Carl Sagan which I am very proud off or being my highest grade for an essay and also for the way it is structured along with its context.

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Throughout Carl Sagan’s life he dedicate much of his time to popularize science by writing books, articles and making T.V shows since he believed that science and technology affects everyone’s life and can do many marvales things for the future. He also tried to expose pseudoscience as not being the same as science. His essay “Why We Need to Understand Science” is just one of his many contributions to make people aware of how important science is. Sagan’s essay is a wakeup call to the American society to stop thinking pseudoscience and science are the same and to stop confusing them. It also shows how Americans are far behind other countries in academics

Carl Sagan was born on November ninth 1934 in Brooklyn, New York. He was an astronomer, astrophysicist and author who tried to popularize science. In Sagan early years he showed great academic potential in school that he was awarded a scholarship to attend the University of Chicago. He received a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1955, a master’s degree also in physics in 1956, and a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics in 1960 all in Chicago. Sagan also lectured in Harvard and in Cornell, he also published on many different topics like interplanetary meteorology to the origins of life on Earth. He is also very well known for the series the cosmos that aired on PBS. Sagan’s attitude is friendly, nice and does not intend to insult anyone. He makes it clear in his essay that his intention is to not insult anyone and sounds logical and friendly. Even in his pictures and interviews he is always smiling and seems like a friendly person.

Sagan in his article mentions that people confuse science with pseudoscience. So he begins his article with a personal experience which was with his driver and wanted to ask Sagan questions about science but he just kept asking about pseudoscience. This demonstrates that many people have the wrong perception of science and that are scientifically illiterate. He mentions surveys to prove that what he is saying is true for example the survey that demonstrates that ninety percent of Americans are scientifically illiterate. He is saying facts that are hurtful but true at the same time in order to tell Americans to take action in getting information of the real science instead of pseudoscience.

Sagan also argues that society depends on science and technology but that people have no knowledge of both which is dangerous for the future since science is not just a body of language but also a way of thinking. He also admits that science is just not a cornucopias of good deeds as he says, but also mentions that advances in medicine and agriculture has saved more lives than what was lost in all the wars in history.

Sagan not only points out the flaws but also gives many solutions to this problem for example he compares how the teaching profession is in other countries is to how the Americans do. In other countries teaching is viewed as an admired profession and with better salary so he proposes to invest money on teachers training, their salaries and laboratories. That way children can get more hands on experience and not just getting all their knowledge from the books but by experiencing it. Another way is to motivate people to learn about science for example through television, instead of showing lots of pseudoscience there should be more science.

Rhetorical Analysis of Breaking Bad

Recently there have been many ways that science has been promoted even though it is sometimes taken to the extreme. An example can be breaking bad created by Vince Gilligan which the protagonist is Walter White a fifty year old over qualified high school chemistry teacher that finds out he has terminal lung cancer. So he starts making crystal meth hoping to leave behind enough money so that  his son and pregnant wife can live a good life when he is gone. Walter  is a chemistry genius and after teaming up with Jesse, a ex-student of his he once flunked. Both of them drive an old R.V. Into the desert and create the purest, most wanted meth that local dealers have ever known.

  The show is not for kids since it demonstrates bad ways to use science like disposing a body with acids and taking a persons life with gases. So the intended audience would be mature like from eighteen and up. Sagan said ” science and technology is not just a cornucopias of good deeds”. it does not show science in a good way but if used correctly one can do many marvoules things with it, for example in the show Mr. White and Jesse were stranded in the dessert because the battery of the R.V died but then Mr. White created one with the materials they had in the R.V.

 It creates an interest in the audience to find out what else science can do, which in this case is chemistry. Throughout the show there are many times where they mention compounds and how one thing can react to the other promoting chemistry. The show also uses images like elements of the periodic table in the opening of the show and when they pass the names of the cast and creators of it.

 

http://www.rsc.org/Education/EiC/TheMole/breaking-bad-chemistry-science.asp

Sagan’s “Why we need to understand science”

Carl Sagan was born on November ninth 1934 in Brooklyn, New York. He was an astronomer, astrophysicist and author who tried to popularize science. In Sagan early years he showed great academic potential in school that he was awarded a scholarship to attend the University of Chicago. He received a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1955, a master’s degree also in physics in 1956 , and a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics in 1960 all in Chicago. Sagan also lectured in Harvard and in Cornell, he also published on many different topics like interplanetary meteorology to the origins of life on Earth. He is also very well known for the series the cosmos that aired on PBS. http://www.giffordlectures.org/Author.asp?AuthorID=233

In ‘why we need to understand science’Sagan claims that science is important and necessary, but that at that time (1989) most Americans were scientifically illiterate . He mentions that people confuse science with pseudoscience and gives a personal experience about his driver that keep asking him questions of pseudoscience. Sagan argues that society depends on science and technology but that people of no knowledge of both which is dangerous for the future.He also states that Americans are far below in academics compared to other countries for example Korea, Britain, and Japan. To support his arguments Sagan gives many academic statistics from other countries and compares it to Americans.

Sagan gives many solutions to this problem for example he compares how the teaching profession is in other countries is to  how the Americans do. in other countries teaching is viewed as an admired profession and with better salary so he proposes to invest money on teachers training, their salaries and laboratories. so that children get more hands on experience and not just getting all their knowledge from the books. Another way is to motivate people to learn about science for example through television, instead of showing lots of pseudoscience there should be more science.

I think Sagan was right during his time and in some ways he still is, but there has been progress since this essay came out. He gives many reasons why science is important and that Americans are missing out on many things that science can and will do. During this time now there is a science and technology section in newspaper and in the news on television. There are many scholarships and help for students who have the potential and show that they want to continue to go to college and come out of poverty to do something in life.

edwin

My name is Edwin Cruz , i am eighteen years old and in my first year of college. I live with my mom and two younger brothers I am from Staten Island but my parents are from mexico. I have been to mexico twice. One time i only went to visit my grandparents and site seeing. the second time i stayed there for two years since my parents decided to move and i agreed. Then we came back with just my mother and brothers and started again.

My reading habits are simple I like to read fiction and fantasy, for example Harry Potter and the Outsiders. But recently i have been reading more informative and modern papers about technology and science. Writing has never been a strong point for me especially if I have to write as an assignment. I enjoy writing more when it is just for myself since no one else will say if it is right or wrong.