1. 1. I write essays by thinking the paper through as I go along. Instead of making an outline on paper, I mentally prepare each paragraph in my mind and include all of the thoughts and points I needed. This allows me to include my own style into what I write, and it makes it less formulaic. I could utilize better managing my time in order to produce the best work I can. Also, I rarely go back and revise my work, and I know there are a few mistakes that Microsoft misses.

2. 2. It provides all of the information in general all at once, which would lower my stress levels in showing me that there’s not that much to do. Other than that, I do not use outlines to prepare myself, I feel my brain does well enough, and until I’m shown otherwise, outlines will remain omitted from my writing process.

3. 3. What should I cut? Sometimes I tend to be too wordy. I see it as my style; others see it as a sign of amateur writing ability. Have I avoided sexist language? I forget sometimes to not refer to a neutral subject as he and I need to be more aware of sexism in what I write. Have I used the active voice most of the time? I include this one because I see it so often in other student’s writing and would like to reiterate the importance of this rule. The passive voice is something that can kill a sentence if the writer uses it either too much or improperly.

4. 4. An exploratory paper is exactly what the name implies. It takes a topic and covers it from multiple angles in order to explore it thoroughly. It explains numerous opinions and stands on the topic to allow for a position/policy paper that attempts to answer the questions What should we do to fix this? or How can we improve this?

5. 5. In peer reviewing a student could exchange their paper with either a single other student or a group to really get a wide range of review. Peer reviews are helpful because they allow the writer to see how their audience might react to the paper. Also, the reviewers often catch mistakes that the writer missed completely, and once corrected, allows the paper to be as good as possible.

Body image is something that has always been linked with the era's cultural beliefs. In the Classical Period, namely in Greece, beauty was a full-formed woman, not disproportionate in any aspect, or a proportional man. Whereas, today, this is obviously not the case for the average person. Evidence of this can be seen on magazine covers, on television, and even in music. Models, who are supposed to be people who would look best in a certain clothing, are often in much better shape than those who will be buying the clothes. Some people see this and wish that their own bodies resembled these models. This is an example of how peoples' body-images are affected directly by cultural surroundings.
Even within subgroups of cultures body-image changes. African-Americans and Caucasian American often have different views on what makes a good body type, and it's not a case within skin color. Caucasian Europeans or Africans may have completely differing opinions on the preferred body-image than their cousins across the Atlantic may have. This, also is an example of how cultures, not race, construct body-image.
Within a certain culture, say, American culture, body-image is not only linked to cultural ideals but to economics as well. This is what Michael Rosenwald tries to say in his article titled Why America Has to Be Fat. He gives reasons as to why the economy has allowed and will continue to allow obesity in America. The way our culture and economics intertwine is conducive to a body-image crisis among the people while it sustains the opposite image through economics.

Annotated Bibliography

Bhattacharjee, Sudip, et. al. “Impact of Legal Threats on Online Music Sharing Activity: An Analysis of Music Industry Legal Actions.” The Journal of Law and Economics, Apr. 2006. Vol. XLIX.

This source is from an economics journal that studied how users who pirate and/or download music illegally would react to legal threats from large corporations like the RIAA. This will be useful for my argument so that I can explore if the RIAA’s intervention in pirating music actually stops or slows the illegal activity. It provides empirical evidence for this.

Chiang, Eric P. and Djeto Assane. “Determinants of Music Copyright Violations on the University Campus.” Journal of Cultural Economics, 9 June 2007. Vol. 31: 187-204.

This article focuses on the RIAA’s efforts to halt illegal music sharing on university campuses. It examines college students because they are both the main source of piracy and revenue for the record industry. Also, this is an important source because my audience are people who are either professors or students.

Gopal, Ram D., Sudip Bhattacharjee, and Lawrence G. Sanders. “Do Artists Benefit from Online

Music Sharing?” Journal of Business, 2006. vol. 79. no. 3.

If music artists actually benefited from online music sharing, than why is the music industry so adamant about stopping it? This is a crucial point, and this article provides some evidence of its validity. There is also evidence that more unique artists gain popularity and reputation due to music sharing. It uses advanced statistical analysis of record sales and illegal music sharing and piracy.

Grodzinsky, Frances S. and Herman T. Tavani. “P2P Networks and the Verizon v. RIAA Case: Implications for Personal Privacy and Intellectual Property.” Ethics and Information Technology, 2005. Vol. 7: 243-245.

This is a more constitutionally legal-oriented article in that it asks if the RIAA is ethically capable of overseeing the activities of illegal music sharers. It describes a case where the RIAA demanded that Verizon, an internet service provider (ISP), hand over the IP addresses of its users who were suspected of online music piracy. Verizon argued that what the RIAA was doing was infringing on the first amendment rights of users. It also reviews how music can be shared via peer-to-peer networks and programs.

Lyman, Jay. “RIAA Sues 482 Alleged File-Traders.” E-Commerce Times. 26 June 2004. 24 October 2007 <http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/34701.html>.

This news article shows that the RIAA has, at the time, made lawsuits against 482 subjects in one day. However, the article claims that with more lawsuits with which the RIAA does not follow through, the more people are going to take them less seriously. Or, if users do take them seriously, they will only retreat farther back into anonymity and find other methods of sharing music to counter the RIAA’s efforts.

McLeod, Kembrew. “MP3s Are Killing Home Taping: The Rise of Internet Distribution and Its Challenge to the Major Label Music Monopoly.” Popular Music and Society, Vol. 28, No. 4, October 2005: 521–531.

This article puts forth the idea that illegal music sharing online can actually help up-and-coming artists looking to spread their music worldwide. It also describes how many artists do not earn profit from record sales for quite some time, despite large contracts and booming sales. It explains how less and less focus is shifting away from large labels with the emergence of independent labels.

Oberholzer, Felix and Koleman Strumpf. “The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales.” Journal of Political Economy, March 2007. Vol. 115 no. 1.

This revolutionary study found that the effects of illegal music sharing are actually nearly negligible. It argues that listeners could just as easily not buy the music if it were not so readily available. Also, it claims that file sharing as a whole actually serves to increase overall music consumption. The RIAA blame the loss of total sales from 2000 to 2002 directly on piracy. This article disproves this claim allowing me to argue that the RIAA has no purpose in suing music downloaders other than to earn more money.

Styvén, Maria. “The Intangibility of Music in the Internet Age.” Popular Music in Society, Feb. 2007. Vol. 30, No. 1: 53-74.

This article focuses on the marketing of music online and the issue of intangibility. Intangibility, according to the article, presents a problem for marketers and for consumers because music is an intangible good, music providers are becoming more service-like and less goods-like.

The Degradation in the Quality of Popular Music Today

Every time I turn on the radio to a popular music station, I immediately hear either a simple hip-hop tune full of references to sex, drugs, or violence, all of which are delivered via a hook, or I hear an, again, simple rock song that is musically formulaic and lyrically cliché. What is baffling is that these types of music continue to be the most popular among listeners despite being critically berated. How is it that low quality music makes its way onto the airwaves and is accepted by the public?

My exploratory paper will argue that even though the majority of today’s popular music is musically simple or inferior, young adults listen to and still enjoy it. I will use evidence from music professionals to prove that much of the popular music today is musically and lyrically substandard. Then I will use various statistical studies to explore as to why it continues to dominate the airwaves. I will examine some popular music and analyze them to provide some examples of this cliché music.

I intend to have my audience be everyone who listens to music. If someone does not listen to any music, they would be neutral.

Reflection on my post (not so) secret.

My secret was pretty simple. I wanted to convey that I was not going to pay my bill for the school. They sent me the bill and it immediately became buried under papers on my desk. I chose the phrasing 'Why do they bill me thinking I'm going to pay??' to create humor. The reader would assume that perhaps I am irresponsible with money or contemptuous of the Financial Services of South Carolina, from which the bill arrived.
However, the reason that I am not going to pay is not that I hate USC, it's because I have no money. The reason I find it absurd for me to pay a bill is because my parents are the one's paying for all things college. It is well documented that college students are poorer than dirt, so why bill them?. They should be billing our parents. I am not going to pay because I have no way of doing so. It's that simple.

No Ghosts

In this secret, the anonymous sender is, or claims to be, a "spiritual medium". These people have often been the focus of controversy because of the nature of their work. This sender completely exposes themselves and other mediums as fakes and liars. This is an explicit claim. What is implied here is that people should stop believing these "mediums" and stop wasting their time on someone who will lie to them.
The sender wants the whole world to know about his/her experiences as a liar/spiritual medium. The intended audience is anyone who has ever questioned the authenticity of such "professionals."
The photo in the background is a ouija board, which is supposed to allow the user to tap into supernatural energy to answer questions or communicate with dead. This is an extremely appropriate background since most people regard the ouija board to be child's play. What the sender did was equate the profession of these "mediums" to a child's board game.