Blog assignment #6

Find one example of a paraphrase and one example of a quotation in the essay. Why did the writer choose to present their research material in this way? How does the research contribute to the overall meaning of the essay?

Arak Anthology- p73-76, Synesthesia by Elizabeth Glinka

Paraphrase(p74): Throughout the 19th century, synethesia was not a prominently recognized in the medical or scientific communities; however, as Europe experienced an artistic and scientific renaissance, its latent presence became more prominent. Sir Francis Galton rediscovered the sensory applications linked to synethesia (Ramachandran and Hubbard 148).
Quotation(p73): Researchers believed John Locke, a 17th century political philosopher, first referenced synesthesia in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, when he stated, “a studious blind man who…bragged one day that he now understood what scarlet signified…It was like the sound of thrumpet”(qtd. In Cytowic 52).

The writer used many quotations in her essay because those sentences from the sources were particularly vivid or striking and they made her point clearly. She used paraphrases when she wanted to summarize and write about the information from the source with her own word. In this way, she was able to make a strong connection between her view and the material as well. Writers also can use paraphrases when a source sounds very old-fashioned because it is published long time ago or when the sentences they are planning to use are from different sources and they want to combine them with their own word. Furthermore, especially when the readers are doubtful or not sure of the writer’s opinion, paraphrases and quotations can support the writer’s opinion with reliable sources.
These two ways to present writers’ research materials have many purposes. They contribute to the overall meaning of the essay by providing support for claims and add credibility to the essay. They also give many examples and attract the readers using these interesting and realistic instances. Paraphrasing and using quotations expand the depth of the essay by referring to works that lead up the point that the writer is now focusing on; it eventually enhance the overall essay. The writer often connects paraphrases and quotations. His/her paraphrases mixed with appropriate quotations play an important role to give the readers specific and dependable materials throughout the essay and make the whole essay strongly-built.

Blog Assignment #5

Think of any instance you can of the winners writing the history. What would the same history look like if the losers wrote the history?

Something sweet, something that many people like, and something that maybe we cannot be pleased to eat without. What do you think it is? The answer is sugar, white gold, according to British colonists.
Surprisingly, what we see and have in our daily lives, sugar, has a good example of the winners’ history. We often hear someone saying the major role of sugar when it comes to the modern capitalism. Sugar was considered as the most important of the overseas commodities that accounted for a third of Europe's entire economy. Sugar enabled some countries to accumulate their wealth. There was European sugar in the 15th century, but the quantities were small and it was hard to transport. Around that time, Columbus found America, the “New World”, and let sugar cane be planted to grow in the Caribbean. The history said this was the starting point of the “sweet” modern capitalism.
However, what this history omitted here is the losers’ point of view on this same subject. While winners said the beginning of marvelous industry took place at this point, it was an origin of long and painful slavery for Africans. They would describe this history a lot differently. Instead of emphasizing Europeans fine skills and their effects on modern society, Africans would focus on white people's immoral behaviors—trade slaves. Since sugar was not enough for the growing consumption, the early settlers realized they were lacking sufficient manpower to plant, harvest and process the crop. So what Columbus did was to open the slave trade to land into the Caribbean islands, where they cultivated and grew sugar taken from the American Indians. Eventually, the sugar became abundant and cheap. However, it was because of the white people's theft of America, from the American Indians. They stole the entire continent from the Indians. In short, the “losers” would describe the history of sugar as the beginning of the colonialism and slavery.
We should remember the history can be changed depending on the writers. Since the history is very subject, to observe historical events objectively, we need to at least compare two or more different historical documents written by different recorders. In this way, we will be able to come close to the historical truth.