Text Structures

         “Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into wars, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves. The families of weaver ants engage in child labor, holding their larvae like shuttles to spin out the thread that sews the leaves together for their fungus gardens. They exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television." 

from "On Societies as Organisms" by Lewsi Thomas

           "The fantastic water clarity of the Mount Gambier sinkholes results from several factors. The holes are fed from aquifers holding rainwater that fel decades— even centuries-- ago, and that has been filtered through miles of limestone. The high level of calcium that limestone adds causes the silty detritus from dead plants and animals to cling together and settle quickly to the bottom. Abundant bottom vegetation in the shallow sinkholes also helps bind the silt. And the rapid turnover of water prohibits stagnation."

from  "Exploring a Sunken Realm in Australia" by Hilary Hauser

          "The rise of rail transport in the nineteenth century forever changed American farming-for better and for worse. Farmers who once raised crops and livestock to sustain just their own families could now make a profit by selling their goods in towns and cities miles away. These new markets improved the living standard of struggling farm families and encouraged them to seek out innovations that would increase their profits. On the downside, the competition fostered by the new markets sometimes created hostility among neighboring farm families where there had once been a spirit of cooperation. Those farmers who couldn't compete with their neighbors left farming forever, facing poverty worse than they had ever known."

by Chris Mileski, student   

          "Scientists sort electric fishes into three categories. The first comprises the strongly electric species like the marine electric rays or the freshwater African electric catfish and South American electric eel. Known since the dawn of history, these deliver a punch strong enough to stun a human. In recent years, biologists have focused on a second category: weakly electric fish in the South American and African rivers that use tiny voltages for communication and navigation. The third group contains sharks, nonelectric rays, and catfish, which do not emit a field but possess sensors that enable them to detect the minute amounts of electricity that leak out of other organisms."

from "Electric Warfare: The Fish That Kill with Thunderbolts" by Anne and Jack Rudloe

         “Austin’s approach to Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and short-term rentals (STRs) presents two distinct strategies for addressing housing affordability and urban development. ADUs are small secondary housing units built on residential lots, intended to increase housing supply and reduce urban sprawl. Supporters argue that ADUs provide affordable rental options, allowing homeowners to create additional living spaces without drastically altering neighborhood character. Additionally, ADUs help optimize land use by adding density in existing urban areas rather than expanding into undeveloped land. However, many of these units are instead used as STRs, which serve a different function. Rather than providing long-term housing, STRs cater to tourists and short-term visitors, often generating higher profits for homeowners. While STR advocates highlight the economic benefits of increased tourism and property income, critics argue that they reduce available housing stock and inflate rental prices, making it harder for locals to find affordable housing. In contrast to ADUs, which are designed to support permanent residents, STRs contribute to transient occupancy, which can impact neighborhood stability. Although both ADUs and STRs influence Austin’s housing market, their effects diverge in terms of accessibility, affordability, and long-term community development.”

* See essay outlines below.

          “One significant difference between traditional computers and quantum computers is their processing power. Traditional computers use binary bits (0s and 1s) to perform calculations sequentially, whereas quantum computers use qubits, which can exist in multiple states simultaneously due to superposition, allowing them to process complex calculations much faster. Another key trait is problem-solving capability. Traditional computers excel at everyday tasks like word processing, web browsing, and standard mathematical calculations, but they struggle with problems requiring massive parallelism, such as molecular simulations or cryptographic decryption—areas where quantum computers have a significant advantage. Finally, hardware requirements set the two apart. Traditional computers rely on silicon-based microchips and conventional cooling systems, while quantum computers require highly specialized environments, such as extreme cooling near absolute zero, to maintain qubit stability. While traditional computers remain the practical choice for most applications, quantum computers represent a groundbreaking shift in computational power, with the potential to revolutionize fields like cryptography, artificial intelligence, and material science.”

* See essay outlines below.

         Art is the intentional expression of human creativity, emotion, and imagination, communicated through various mediums such as painting, music, literature, dance, and sculpture. By definition, art seeks to convey meaning beyond the literal, often reflecting the cultural, social, or personal context of its creator. Like communication, art must involve a sender, a medium, and a receiver—the artist, the form of expression, and the audience—each playing a vital role in the transmission of meaning. True art requires human intention and emotional depth; therefore, works generated solely by artificial intelligence, as well as acts of cruelty such as violence against women, abuse, or vandalism, do not qualify as art. These actions, though sometimes sensationalized or mislabeled, lack the ethical grounding and communicative purpose that define art. At its core, art is defined not only by its form but also by its purpose: to connect, to challenge, and to reveal something deeper about the human experience—without causing unnecessary harm to others. 

Extended definition of Art

          "There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor-boats slit the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam. On weekends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city, between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears, repairing the ravages of the night before."

from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

          “They came like dive bombers out of the west. They came by the millions with the rustle of their wings roaring overhead. They came in waves, like the rolls of the sea, descending with a terrifying speed, breaking now and again like a mighty surf. They came with the force of a williwaw and they formed a huge, ominous, dark brown cloud that eclipsed the sun. They dipped and touched earth, hitting objects and people like hailstones. But they were not hail. These were live demons. They popped, snapped, crackled, and roared. They were dark brown, an inch or longer in length, plump in the middle and tapered at the ends. They had transparent wings, slender legs, and two black eyes that flashed with a fierce intelligence."

from "Pioneers to Eternity" by Eugene Boe

         "Like the game itself, a baseball is composed of many layers. One of the delicious joys of childhood is to take apart a baseball and examine the wonders within. You begin by removing the red cotton thread and peeling off the leather cover-which comes from the hide of a Holstein cow and has been tanned, cut, printed, and punched with holes. Beneath the cover is a thin layer of cotton string, followed by several hundred yards of woolen yarn, which makes up the bulk of the ball. Finally, in the middle is a rubber ball, or "pill," which is a little smaller than a golf ball. Slice into the rubber and you'l find the ball's heart —a cork core. The cork is from Portugal, the rubber is from Southeast Asia, the covers are American, and the balls are assembled in Costa Rica." 

from The Way Baseball Works by Dan Gutman

Illustrated Elements

Topic Sentence (TS): Bold Underlined Red Audience Analysis: Orange Italics Evidence (EV): Plain Blue In-text Citations (MLA): Bold Purple Analysis (AN): Italic Green

Hooked on Hooking Up

     In the 2010 Contexts journal article titled "Is Hooking Up Bad for Young Women?" Armstrong, Hamilton, and England attempt to use pathetic appeals, credible sources, and logical reasoning to rebuff contemporary hookup culture, but they ultimately fail to persuade due to self-contradiciton, personal bias, and flawed logic. Contexts is a quarterly magazine that strives to make cutting-edge social research accessible to general readers. As such, their audience primarily consists of undergraduate sociology students and young readers interested in sociology. However, as tenured professors in their forties, Armstrong, Hamilton, and England boldly claim, "Young people today are not having more sex at younger ages than their parents" (23). But they fail to support that argument with valid evidence. Instead, they present a National Health and Social Life Survey study, which shows increased sexual activity in people born after 1942 compared to those born a decade earlier. This argument fails to consider the post-WWII baby boom and the sexual decline of later decades. Next, the authors levy weak and confusing pathetic appeals that contradict their own position. At one point they state, "The costs of bad hookups tend to be less than the costs of bad relationships: bad hookups are isolated events, but bad relationships wreak havoc with whole lives" (Armstrong, et al. 26). This emotionally charged ignoratio elenchi–a conclusion that is irrelevant to the matter at hand–actually contradicts their own argument that relationships are better than hookups for young women. Self-contradictions like this masqurade through the piece like damaged lovers seeking retribution on today’s young women with the newfound ability to “hook up.” Moreover, the inclusion of personal anecdotes of women who have had "bad relationships" fouls the article with jaded, off-topic, and irrelevant viewpoints. Finally, the authors conclude with a hasty generalization that proclaims building traditional courtship among young adults should “go hand-in-hand with efforts to decrease intimate partner violence and to build egalitarian relationships that allow more space for other aspects of life - such as school, work, and friendship" (Armstrong, et al. 27). This glittering generality falsely equates hookup culture with dating violence, which is, by definition, more associated with traditional relationships than momentary hookups. With their failed pathetic appeals, frequent self-contradiciton, obvious personal bias, twisted relics of logic, Armstrong, Hamilton, and England ultimately fail to persuade their audience of aspiring young sociologists to turn away from hookup culture in favor of traditional, long-lived romantic entanglements. (Word Count 395)

Work Cited

Armstrong, Elizabeth A., et al. “Is Hooking up Bad for Young Women?” Contexts, vol. 9, no. 3, 2010, pp. 22–27. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41960773. Accessed 2 Aug. 2023.

         The benefits of regular exercise extend far beyond physical fitness, as it also significantly boosts mental well-being. For instance, studies have shown that engaging in physical activity releases endorphins, which are chemicals in the brain that act as natural mood lifters. Many people report feeling happier and more relaxed after a workout, which helps alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression. Additionally, exercise improves cognitive function by increasing blood flow to the brain. This enhancement in brain function can lead to better concentration and sharper memory, which is especially beneficial for students and professionals. Furthermore, group exercises, such as joining a yoga class or a local running club, provide opportunities for social interaction, helping to reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation. These examples illustrate how incorporating regular exercise into one’s routine can lead to a more balanced and fulfilling life.

         "I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to the north, to find persons who could speak of the singing, among slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness. It is impossible to conceive of a greater mistake. Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears. At least, such is my experience. I have often sung to drown my sorrow, but seldom to express my happiness. Crying for joy, and singing for joy, were alike uncommon to me while in the jaws of slavery. The singing of a man cast away upon a desolate island might be as appropriately considered as evidence of contentment and happiness, as the singing of a slave; the songs of the one and of the other are prompted by the same emotion."

from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, by Frederick Douglass.

         "The first of the herd began to swing past them in a pall of yellow dust, rangy slatribbed cattle with horns that grew agoggle and no two alike and small thin mules coalblack that shouldered one another and reared their malletshaped heads above the backs of the others and then more cattle and finally the first of the herders riding up the outer side and keeping the stock between themselves and the mounted company. Behind them came a herd of several hundred ponies. The sergeant looked for Candelario. He kept backing along the ranks but he could not find him. He nudged his horse through the column and moved up the far side. The lattermost of the drovers were now coming through the dust and the captain was gesturing and shouting. The ponies had begun to veer off from the herd and the drovers were beating their way toward this armed company met with on the plain. Already you could see through the dust on the ponies' hides the painted chevrons and the hands and rising suns and birds and fish of every device like the shade of old work through sizing on a canvas and now too you could hear above the pounding of the unshod hooves the piping of the quena, flutes niade from human bones, and some among the company had begun to saw back on their mounts and some to mill in confusion when up from the offside of those ponies there rose a fabled horde of mounted lancers and archers bearing shields bedight with bits of broken mirrorglass that cast a thousand unpieced suns against the eyes of their enemies. A legion of horribles, hundreds in number, half naked or clad in costumes attic or biblical or wardrobed out of a fevered dream with the skins of animals and silk finery and pieces of uniform still tracked with the blood of prior owners, coats of slain dragoons, frogged and braided cavalry jackets, one in a stovepipe hat and one with an umbrella and one in white stockings and a bloodstained wedding veil and some in headgear of cranefeathers or rawhide helmets that bore the horns of bull or buffalo and one in a pigeontailed coat worn backards and otherwise naked and one in the armor of a Spanish conquistador, the breastplate and pauldrons deeply dented with old blows of mace or sabre done in another country by men whose very bones were dust and many with their braids spliced up with the hair of other beasts until they trailed upon the ground and their horses' ears and tails worked with bits of brightly colored cloth and one whose horse's whole head was painted crimson red and all the horsemen's faces gaudy and grotesque with daubings like a company of mounted clowns, death hilarious, all howling in a barbarous tongue and riding down upon them like a horde from a hell more horrible yet than the brimstone land of Christian reckoning, screeching and yammering and clothed in smoke like those vaporous beings in regions beyond right knowing where the eye wanders and the lip jerks and drools." 

"Attacked by Comanches," from Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy 

"It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: 'All right, then, I’ll go to hell'—and tore it up. It was awful thoughts, and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming. I shoved the whole thing out of my head, and said I would take up wickedness again, which was in my line, being brung up to it, and the other warn’t. And for a starter, I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again; and if I could think up anything worse, I would do that, too; because as long as I was in, and in for good, I might as well go the whole hog."

from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

          "Begin by taking up a suitable stance, with one foot slightly in front of the other and the rod pointing down the line. Then begin a smooth, steady draw, raising your rod hand to just above shoulder height and lifting the rod to the 10:30 or 11:00 position. This steady draw allows a loop of line to form between the rod top and the water. While the line is still moving, raise the rod slightly, then punch it rapidly forward and down. The rod is now flexed and under maximum compression, and the line follows its path, bellying out slightly behind you and coming of the water close to your feet. As you power the rod down through the 3:00 position, the belly of line wil roll forward. Follow through smoothly so that the line unfolds and straightens above the water."

from The Dorling Kindersley Encyclopedia of Fishing