Dialoging with Davy

Today I had to do another dialogue with Dave.  This time about what my thoughts were after writing this paper.

Dave                                                                             Me

Hey you, I think you can't really say that one opinion is better than another one. Don't you agree?	Not at all. I think that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but some opinions are better than others. You could hold the opinion that copper is stronger than steel, you could even live that way, but in the end your opinion would be wrong. Or look at development projects and plans to help needy countries. Some people hold the opinion that our approaches will work, or that we need to try harder with the approaches already being used. Obviously these approaches are not working, and we need a different plan. The people who hold the opinion hold an inferior opinion because their approach is not working.
There's all this stuff in the book about research as a process of discovery. What did you discover?	I discovered that deforestation is a problem that has gotten out of hand. Through my research I found that although there are many problems and many people trying to solve them, most writers and aid groups ignore people on the individual scale. This ignoring causes great holes in their aid process, making it much less effective. If you want to solve a problem you must not ignore any of it.
What do you figure was the most challenging problem you had to solve while working on this research project? How did you solve it?	The most challenging problem I faced was trying to present my information and stay within the word limit. I tried to solve this problem narrowing my topic from negative effects of deforestation to the reasons why deforestation has gotten so out-of-hand. Unfortunately I still have not found the balance between saying what I feel would be good and including all the aspects my professor would like included, so I still have to many words.
After all this work, what do you take away from this experience? What have you learned that you can use?	I have learned two things. One, I have learned how to research using websites searches and database. Two, I have learned a better way of viewing developing countries, their governments and cultures. Something that will definitely come in handy to me as I interact with foreigners and other cultures.

Chainsaw Revision

Today's assignment involved literally cutting down my paper. I took scissors (sadly not a chainsaw) and cut my paper apart paragraph by paragraph, then I sorted the paragraphs by their relevance to my paper's thesis. When I learned what we were doing for our assignment I was happy because I knew that it would help me to know what I should remove from the paper. I discovered that although most of my paper was relevant to my thesis there was quite a bit that was just interesting facts I had found. My paper looks much different now, in fact most of one of the sections is gone. Even still I had many more paragraphs in my keep pile than not. Over all I learned that taking time to view each section apart from the others is a very helpful activity, it helped me to see the actual relevance of each part. I also found that it is really hard to decide what should go and what should stay; after all, I only included information I thought relevant.  Now, deciding to get rid of some was like admitting I had been wrong, necessary but difficult.

Colorful Insights Into My Own Paper

 For today's assignment I had to go through and mark my draft with two different colors of highlighter, one for other peoples voices and one for my own voice then analyze the marked up copy.

I discovered that for me orange (my voice) dominated the paper. I certainly keep command and control of my essay at all times, only at the end do I ever turn over more than a quarter of the page to other peoples ideas. There are areas where I tend to rattle on for a long time without including what others say, but in general my use of sources is well tailored to fit my paper and I maintain the balance needed.

The assignment was a good way for me to see just how my draft comes across to others. When I was reading through it in order to highlight it I was forced to see it almost as someone else's paper, which has helped me gain new insight into how to improve on my draft.

Leading Lines

The next step to writing my first draft is writing an introduction, or lead, for my paper. To do this I followed step one of exercise 4.3 in The Curious Researcher. This required me to write three leads based on the types of leads presented in the book:

1. Why are there so many people who seem to get riled up about deforestation? How much harm does it really do? What can be done to deal with the issues associated with deforestation? Such questions have occurred to many people at one time or another, but the answers are often hard to discover. Most of the information on the topic seems to be just another radical environmentalist ranting about the evils of humanity. Those sources that aren't ranting are often confusing, or try to be so academic that no one can understand them. After all, what is the relevance of economic indicators of agroforestry techniques in Legal Amazonia? I encountered much of this myself initially, turning me off to the reality of deforestation and making me skeptical of what seemed to be exaggerated doomsday reports. It turns out that deforestation is a problem, but the implications are more complex than just global warming and killing some tree frogs.

2. Deforestation is a major problem in today's world. Such a major problem that much of the worlds' forests are depleted beyond the point of no return. The major deforestation occurring in modern times takes place mostly in developing countries, who are ill-equipped to deal with the issues associated with it. In the past, other countries have also gone through a period of deforestation in their history, but all of them have dealt with it in time to prevent complete destruction. This paper will attempt to show why the developing countries of the past were able to deal with the problem, while modern developing countries are not. From the conclusions of this explanation the paper will then attempt to give a reasonable way of dealing with deforestation.

3. Noah and his older sister walk down the dirt road to the beginning of the forest path, their first such walk since having gotten back from America, where they stayed for four years. As they walk, Noah remembers the forest hikes he used to take; how the edge of the forest was like a three hundred foot wall of vegetation and as soon as you entered it twilight enveloped you, how the trees would tower on all sides massive and ancient. Now as he turned onto the path he was disappointed to find that beyond the initial trees there was a large cleared area with nothing but ferns growing, an old field abandoned because of the inefficiency of the slash-and-burn methods used to clear it. After crossing the massive cleared area, the two of them enter the forest, but this forest is not like Noah remembers it. This forest is made of sparse trees with little undergrowth. Further on the forest abruptly stops, opening into a clearing the size of a town. This clearing is almost devoid of standing trees, most of them having been cut down by the loggers who recently went through. As Noah and his sister pick their way across the area they come upon one of the objects of all the destruction, one of the giant rainforest trees. Three hundred feet tall and ten feet in diameter, it is lying on the ground with one fifteen foot section taken out of its trunk to be cut into boards; the rest is left to rot on the forest floor.

Phillip Anderton, long time African missionary and naturalist, used to quote the statistic that eighty percent of the wood cut down by loggers is wasted. A shocking statistic when one realizes the extent to which deforestation has been carried on in some countries. In Haiti only one 1.4 percent of the land is still covered in forests, a figure down from 30 percent early last century (McClintock 2). Many other countries are well on their way to joining Haiti in near total deforestation. Something must be done to slow this damaging rate of destruction.

Interestingly enough, the last lead is the one I wrote before I read the exercise. As I was reading the different types of leads in my textbook I noticed that the example for the scene lead the book used destruction of tropical rainforests as an example topic, and talked about describing what the land looks like after the loggers have left. I must be doing something right!

A Sharper Point

As a beginning to my paper and driving force, a sort of guide to where I am going with my writing, I have crafted a thesis statement based on a template from The Curious Researcher:

In the debate over how to deal with deforestation, I am persuaded that the problem lies in a country's developmental stage, meaning that the only way to relevantly address the problem is to work with individuals.

This thesis is not a final product, but more of the guiding idea for my paper; it is the point to which I hope to persuade my readers to agree.

Dave's Inquiry

As an exercise to determine what sort of paper to write I completed exercise 4.1 in The Curious Researcher. This exercise requires me to take the role of Dave, a random person who is willing to listen to my ideas, and me. Dave is asking questions and I am trying to answer them.



Dave                                                                                                                         Me

What's the big deal about this anyway?	Deforestation is a constant problem that is affecting most of the world in extreme ways. In Haiti the forest has been logged out for so long that only about one percent of the forest is even left. Haiti is not the only place either, many countries are the same or rapidly headed that way. Cambodia for instance has fallen down to only 3.2 percent of the country being forested from over 70 percent. Millions of people are affected by and participate in deforestation.
Why is that important though, I mean what is does deforestation cause that it should be so important to know about?	Deforestation causes all sorts of problems from desertification to soil erosion. In many parts of Africa deforestation has gone on for so long that desertification is rapidly occurring and destroying tons of farm land and other useful soil. In places with mountains the forest is often the only mode of soil retention, and as Haiti is experiencing the erosion kills a land. Forests are also a huge carbon sink, retaining unfathomable amounts of carbon. Many people think that elimination of deforestation could cut the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by nearly a fifth. All that is beside the most important factor; how much local people are affected by destruction of what is often their only source of a livelihood.
Why hasn't anyone stopped it if there are so many problems associated with it?	There have been a number of laws made to try and stop deforestation but most are not effective. Most of these laws are not designed to work in developing countries, and sometimes they do not deal with the real causes of the problems. For instance, in many parts of equatorial Africa a large amount of the deforestation is carried on by local people trying make a livelihood off of the land but the only type of farming they know is slash and burn, which is extremely inefficient. So to suddenly stop the deforestation would be to sentence thousands if not millions to starvation.
What all constitutes deforestation?	Any destruction of forest that changes the topography in a fundamental way. Whether that means clear-cutting or selective logging.
Alright this seems important and interesting, but what is your point?	That deforestation is a problem that no one can ignore, because it is affecting people all over the world and it is cause massive problems to most developing countries. I also want to say thought that there is no easy solution. Any way you look at it, deforestation is to complicated to have an easy fix.

Annotated Bibliography

As the next part of my English composition course I had to make an annotated bibliography. In English that means a works cited page with brief descriptions of the sources. So as usual here is my work.

Andersen, Lykke E. “The Dynamics of Deforestation and Economic Growth in the Brazilian Amazon.” Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. 2002. Web. 29 March, 2014.

This book is a credible source for my research because it talks extensively about the detailed mechanics of deforestation in the Amazon. The author's credentials include being Chief Economist at the Sustainable Development Department of the Institute for Socio-Economic Research, at the Catholic University of Bolivia. Date-wise this publication is important to include because 2002 is recent enough for the information on Brazilian deforestation to be relevant. The author's main goal in this book is to inform about the economics of land use and deforestation in Brazil. The publishing source for the article generally targets an audience that fits the following description: professionals dealing with economic problems. This audience would be interested in this subject because the author brings a well informed opinion on processes of land use, and would generally agree with this author's perspective on the topic. The author incorporates the following types of evidence: statistical and personal. This evidence builds credibility because it was gathered by professionals over a long period of time, but is also limited because it deals only with economic views. Based on my own opinion experiences, and research, I agree with this author because she is well informed. I think this article is important to include in my essay because it deals with the economic factors to do with deforestation.

Boston, Johnathan. “Hope in the Face of Ecological Disaster.” Stimulus: The New Zealand Journal of Christian Thought and Practice. vol. 20 issue 1, 1 Apr. 2013 4-10 ebscohost. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.

This article is a credible source for my research because it appears in a peer reviewed journal and deals with important aspects of Christian's reactions to the “ecological disaster”. The author's credentials include being Director of the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies in the School of Government at Victoria University of Wellington. Date-wise this publication is important to include because it was written only last year and most all of its information is current. The author's main goal in this article is to teach about a proper Christian response to environmental destruction. The publishing source for this article generally targets an audience that fits the following description: Christian scholars. This audience would be interested because his article outlines what a responsible Christian view on the ecological crisis should be, and would generally both agree and disagree with this author's perspective on the topic. The author incorporates the following types of evidence: Biblical, and statistical. This evidence builds credibility because it shows that he is backed by a Biblical foundation, but is also limited because there seems to be little scientific backing. Based on my own opinion, experiences, and research I both agree and disagree with this author because he gives good reasons for his points on how Christian response, but he seems to assume to much about science and the environment. I think this article is important to include in my essay because it clearly shows what a good Biblical response to environmental disaster should be, and deforestation is often an ecological disaster.

Lesniewska, Feja. “UNFCCC REDD+ COP Decisions: The Cumalative Effects on Forest Related Law Processes.” International Community Law Review. Vol. 15 Issue 1, 2013, 103-121. 19. Martinus Nijhoff publishers. Web. 29 March, 2014.

This article is a credible source for my research because it deals in a very professional way with one of the most important laws dealing with deforestation. The author's credentials include holding the position of Senior Teaching Fellow, at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Date-wise this publication is important to include because it deals with the effects of a recent law and it is only a year old. The author's main goal in this article is to inform about REDD+. The publishing source for this article generally targets an audience that fits the following description: people who must deal regularly with international law. This audience would be interested because REDD+ is a major international law and would generally agree with this author's perspective on the topic. The author incorporates the following types of evidence: statistical and anecdotal. This evidence builds credibility because it shows the effects of the law in undeniable ways, and the evidence seems to not be very complete in its presentation. Based on my own opinion, experiences, and research I agree with this author because he shows the real effects of REDD+. I think this article is important to include in my essay because it deals with the important effects of international law on deforestation.

Sorley, Craig. “Christ, Creation Stewardship, and Missions: How Discipleship Into A Biblical Worldview On Environmental Stewardship Can Transform People And Their Land.” International Bulletin Of Missionary Research. 35.3 (2011): 137-140. ATLA Religion Database. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.

This article is a credible source for my research because it deals with environmental stewardship from the perspective of a respected author. The author's credentials include growing up as an MK and founding Care of Creation Kenya. Date-wise this publication is important to include because it was only published in this decade making the evidence still relevant. The author's main goal in this article is to persuade about the importance of discipleship in dealing with creation stewardship. The publishing source for this article generally targets an audience that fits the following description: anyone looking for reliable scholarly information on missions. This audience would be interested because discipleship and environmental stewardship are important to Christians, especially missions minded ones, and would generally agree with this author's perspective on the topic. The author incorporates the following types of evidence: statistical and anecdotal. This evidence builds credibility because it supports the authors ideas with real life facts and history, but is also limited because it is very one-sided. Based on my own opinion, experiences, and research I agree with this author because I have seen much of the problems he describes myself and I have heard many experts express similar opinions. I think this article is important to include in my essay because it provides a workable solution to the problem of environmental destruction and deforestation.

Ukpong, Justin S. “Christian Mission and the Recreation of the Earth in Power and Faith: A Biblical Perspective.” Mission Studies, 9 no 2 1992, p 134-147. ATLA Religion Database. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

This article is a credible source for my research because it takes the time to deal with ecological problems in a Christian perspective. The author's credentials include being long-time missionary, professor at University of KwaZulu-Natal, and pioneer in New Testament scholarship. Date-wise this publication is important to include because it provides a perspective from an earlier time. The author's main goal in this article is to teach about the all Christian's mission. The publishing source for this article generally targets an audience that fits the following description: missions minded Christians. This audience would be interested because the article deals with what Christians are really called to do, and would generally agree and disagree with this author's perspective on the topic. The author incorporates the following types of evidence: statistical, and analogical. This evidence builds credibility because it gives a solid Biblical and reasonable basis to the author's points, but is also limited because it lacks any personal examples. Based on my own opinion, experiences, and research I agree with this author because he accurately portrays the Church's mission. I think this article is important to include in my essay because it deals briefly with ecological problems in a context of Christian missions.

successive searching

As a part of my English course I had to do this exercise from The Curious Researcher.

The exercise consisted of searching databases on an ever more-focused scale and then putting the results in a bibliographic format.

The first search engine I used was Bing, and after a moderate length of time I found a useful article:

"Forests." Scientific Facts on. GreenFacts Initiative, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. <http://www.greenfacts.org/en/forests/ind

The next place I searched was HotBot and once again found an article without too much trouble:

Agvei, Yvonne. "Forests." Scientific Facts on. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. <http://web.mit.edu/africantech/www/articl

Next I searched Dogpile and the search took a tad longer but I ended up with a good article:

Roberts, James. "How Western Environmental Policies Are Stunting Economic Growth in Developing Countries." The Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. <http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/01/how-western-environmental-policies-are-stunting-economic-growth-in-developing-countries>.

Lastly I used Noodletools.com to find a site and this was by far the hardest to find a relevant article:

Lindsey, Rebecca. "Tropical Deforestation : Feature Articles." Tropical Deforestation : Feature Articles. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014. <http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Deforestation

The process was a very informative process for me because I learned how to use other search engines that I had not used before, but more than that the exercise gave me several good sources.  I was however dismayed at the length of time it took to complete this.

An inquiry into the Deforestation Dilemma

Here is my research topic outlined using exercise 1.5 in The Curious Researcher.

What real effect does deforestation have on a country, a community and an environment? Having grown up in a developing country I have seen a lot of deforestation in person, and I would like to explore in more depth the pros and cons involved in such use of forests. Some of the questions that need to be answered are: What good does deforestation bring? What people are benefiting from this? Who is being harmed by this? And, is such poor management of natural resources a normal part of the progression process that countries go through? I have entered this inquiry with the tentative idea that deforestation is a part of a country's maturing process, and that the countries experiencing the most acute problems are in the same stage of their development that many Western countries experienced during the nineteenth century. I have entered into this research with a reasonable amount of personal experience with the subject of deforestation. Frankly, I must admit that my preconceived ideas about economics and history make me inclined to think that deforestation is not as much a problem as many would like to say it is. Still, I grew up in a rainforest, and have noticed in my own lifetime the changes occurring in the area around my home. In the last ten years I have seen the forest get less dense and begin to shrink; when I was small the trees came to within a hundred feet of our house, and then the three hundred foot tall wall of vegetation just rose abruptly from the ground. Now, the forest is at least three hundred feet away, and there is no more wall, just a sort of gradual fade into short trees and brush that leads eventually to taller trees. As any reader can see, I have my feet planted on both sides of this topic, and I am very interested to find out the truth about deforestation in developing countries.

Writer's Block

Teachers often allow quite a bit of variety in topic choices for research papers, and this can be very nice. Unfortunately for many of us, choosing what to dig into from the huge variety of material available is daunting, even petrifying.  I have this problem quite often, I remember in eleventh grade trying for weeks to decide on what topic I would write about, but always being uncertain.  Finally I sat down with a notebook and pencil and put down by category what I could write about.  It worked!  With my thoughts down on paper, I was able to eliminate most choices until I finally decided to research the Huns.  

I have now discovered that this process has a name.  It is called "building an interest inventory" (Ballenger 25).  Here is an example of an interest inventory that I made for my English Comp class.

Places:                                                        Trends:

Acapulco                                                    The move away from missionary newsletters

Cambodia                                                   Getting married later in life

Heaven                                                       Artificial hearts that don't create a pulse

England                                                       Health food

Newzealand                                               “Organic” farms

Yap                                                            Anti-vaccine movement

The Mariana Trench                                    You-tube

Calcutta                                                      College

Moscow                                                     The move toward smaller cars

Northernmost Japanese Island                     Starbucks

Transylvania                                                Bottled water

Glacier National Park                                  School Vouchers

Moravia

Kentucky

Akron, Ohio

Brazil

Guadalupe

Cush

Mt. McKinley

Rhodes

Palestine

Turkestan

History:                                                            Hobbies:

Norman invasion of England                             Reading

Norwegian discovery of America                      Medieval Combat Reenactment

Early American civilizations                              Studying History

Architecture                                                      Hunting

Indo-European Languages                                Sketching

The Forty Years' War                                        Inventing board games

The Huns                                                          Biking

The Lusitanians                                                 Debating

Roman Invasions                                              Pen and paper RPGs (role playing games)

Civil Wars                                                        Tabletop strategy games

The evolution of modern missions                      Working out

Missionaries' effect on a country

Angor Watt                                                      Jobs:

Chinese Cannons                                              Mechanic

The Punic wars                                                 Plumber

Vandals                                                            Technician

Bishops of Hippo                                              Salesman

Petra                                                                 Physician's Assistant

Bonnie Prince Charlie                                        Farmer

The Netherlands' Revolution                              Manager

The War of the League of Augsburg                  Performing artist

                                                                         Secretary

                                                                         Accountant

Questions:

Artificial hearts that do not create a pulse:

Why are pulse-less hearts used?

How do they benefit the user in comparison to regular artificial hearts?

How could they be harmful to users?

What might be the effects on the body's rhythm?

Why would someone choose not to get one?

How will these hearts affect the medical industry?

How do doctors react to these machines?

How could these hearts be produced on a large scale?

What do the inventors say about them?

How much do they cost?

Why would people want one over a different type of artificial heart?

Can these hearts deal with physical exertion?

Works Cited

Ballenger, Bruce.  The Curios Researcher.  7th ed.  Boston:  Longman, 2007. Print.

Organizing Thoughts by Quick Writing

 Quick writing is a method of collecting ones thoughts on a topic. Many subjects can seem to complex to try and figure out what our opinion is, and that is why quick writing can help. Quick writing is the term used to describe a time of constant writing on a subject of a brief period of time, in order to stimulate thinking. It is a great exercise, to go through every once in a while especially when one's thoughts seem disorganized.

The purpose is not to sound good or elegant, or even get a lot written, as you can see from this assignment I did for my English Comp course, based on the first exercise in, The Curious Researcher.

Part One:

Being objective is extremely important to good research writing. If the author of a research paper does not keep all of their paper objective than the paper can easily seem irrelevant. A few examples of this are, Phillip Nitschke in his article Euthanasia Hope you never Need it But be Glad it is There. Nitschke ignores other view points and only presents his ideas without any fairly represented objections. This takes away from the paper he wrote, and makes readers get annoyed with him easily.

Part Two:

There IS a big difference between facts and opinions, and I must say many people do not seem to notice it. Many people say that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and then use that to say no one is ever right about anything. These people are correct in their first statement but they are completely wrong in their second statement. The difference between fact and opinion is that facts are undeniable bits of information, and opinions are things that one person believes and another person does not. So everyone has the right to their own opinion because opinions are flexible, but no one has a right to their own facts because facts are truth.

As you can see there does not seem to be a lot of focus, or even a point to the ramblings I produced, but the very act of writing on these subjects has allowed me to focus my thoughts in a new way. Basically quick writing is an exercise that can seem unorganized or pointless, but can be used as a personal means of organizing your thoughts into something you can coherently analyze.