Prospectus

• I think that the paper would flow a little better if the third paragraph was switched with the second.
• Although it does breifly describe that plagiarism is "academic dishonesty" it does not specifically define plagiarism.
• Does the writer have ideas of how instructors should catch plagiarism? What should the conseques be?

If Black Isn't A Language, What Is?

In Balwin's essay he discusses language and its broad meaning. Language can have many different ways in which it can be defined or looked at. Baldwin explains that language is a part is part of what makes a person who they are and how other people may see that person. A person can be judged by their language and how that person chooses to use their language. People change their language and their word choice based on their environment or the people they are speaking to. For instance, one usually will not use the casual language while speaking to an authority figure that they would use while talking to a close long time friend.

He also talks about how people can speak the same language (such as English) but not always necessarily be able to understand what is being said by someone else. For example, in the essay he compares white and black languages. Neither would be the same without the other. However, at the same time the different ways that the languages are used by these two groups are not always understood fully by the other group. A lot of the language barriers within the same language have a lot to do with cultural barriers, and different interpretaions for the words being used.

Baldwin draws in the reader by not just filling the reader's mind with information but by giving statements that make the reader think about the subject of "what is language" in depth. He also makes a great point by arguing that the "white language" would not be the same without the influence contrbuted by the "black language".

The Right to Fail

Success means something different to each person. However, what society tells us that success is going to college, getting a degree, and being wealthy. This does define success for many people, although it does not mean success to each person. Success may be going to colloge, entering the armed forces, going to a trade school, to some people success could simply be graduating high school. I know a lot of people who do not particularly like school so they do not continuing their schooling with a four year universtiy. However, I do know that in a lot of cases these people do continue to work hard and still strive for success and achieve success.

I think that success all depends on the goals of each individual. I also think that success should be measured by the feelings of satifaction and accomplishment of the person. Success is whether or not a person is happy and feels exceptionally good about themselves and what they do.

Goals and ideas about success can change over time. Some people keep the same goals from the time they are children until the time the get older and accomlpish their goals. Thereafter, they will usually have more goals that they are reaching for. There are also people who think they know what their idea of success is, but this idea changes for them over time. Sometime people may have a goal in mind, and in trying to achieve that goal may fail.

I agree with Zinsser. He proposes the idea that it is okay to fail. Failing is a part of life and it is part of what makes a person grow and discover more of who they are and what they are meant to do. True failure, in my opinion, is not trying your best. If one has a goal and tries their very best to accomplish this goal, and they end up not acheiving their goal it is okay as long asthey gave their best attempt.The true definition of success should consist of working hard and obtaining contentment and self worth.

CRAAP

I feel that the article about how felines react to bearded men completly fails the CRAAP test. First of all, there is no significance to the topic at all, unless you are planning on getting a cat and you are a bearded man. Even then, this would not be a reliable source if one were looking for any kind of professonal information. Each of the dates from the sources shows that this article is very old and is hardly updated. The affiliations and sources also display that there is little or no authority within this article. This article also contains very little accuracy; there is no real evidence to support their theories, it has not been refered, and I have had no personal experience with such an issue, nor has anyone I have ever come into contact with. The only possible purpose of this paper is for teh audience to get a laugh.

Middle Schoolers on the Pill

The issue at hand in this article is that it could be a future possibility that middle school girls be put on the birth control pill or patch, that is if they come from lower income families and are not able to afford it on their own. One arrguement for this issue is that if these girls are choosing to have sex and they are not able to pay for the proper protection then the school must step in to help with this apparently growing problem. This side presses the point that some of these girls are older than most, and also that no matter what parents try to instill in their children they are basically going to do whatever they want to anyways. They want to make sure that the public knows that they will not be simply giving the girls the birth control , but that they will need to go through a counciling process first.

There are also many who are more than willing to defend an opposing veiw of the situation. One of the strongest agruements state that 11 year olds should not even be considering having sex at their age, let alone actaully having it. Someone of that age is probably barely physically and (probably not quite)emotionally mature enough to take on this responsibility that should be limited to much older individuals. Girls in this age range are probably not even mature enough to really understand their hormones and how these methods of birth control are supposed to work.

The side of the story that may be the most shocking is the side that they do not even address at all: the parents perspective. The parents would surley be unhappy if they knew that the school could possibly be telling their child that it is okay for their children to be having sex at their young age. A school is a place in which the parents should be able to trust with their childrens' health and safety, but it is also a place that parents should be inform of their students' actions as well. Parents in general need to know what their children are doing at nearly every stage of their schooling, at least while their children are still very young. With a subject as sensitive and delicate as this one the parents' point of view is a vital one to be taken into consideration.