Are we psychic?

For many years, people have considered the possiblity that humans are psychic at least to some extent. In one paper written by a Cornell psychology professor, he propose the ideas that humans have a precognitive, or psychic, ability. However, he believes this ability only allows a for a marginal improvement over chance, improving odds from 50 percent to somewhere between 51.7 and 53 percent.

A proposal is a type of writing in which a problem is presented followed by a potential solution to the problem. In the paper written by the psychology professor, although it is not a typical proposal, it does provide an answer, or solution, to the question of whether or not people have some sort of psychic ability.

This case exemplifies how common a proposal style of writing is. In modern writing in the workplace as well as in other cases, it is very common for a report or paper to attempt to solve a problem. Whether that problem is not knowing the answer to a question such as if humans are psychic or if it is a solution to how reduce harm to the environment, proposals are extremely useful and increasingly common in today's real world workplace scenarios.

Is precognition real? Are the results of the experiment possible to reproduce? These are questions that the psychology professor is aiming to solve. Just like any normal proposal, he aims to give a solution to the question that people have asked for many years.

In conclusion, proposals act as a very important method of writing that convey ideas and potential solutions. Over time, more and more proposals will be created in attempt to solve many more problems. Hopefully, over time we will no longer have to wonder about solutions to many problems. That way, we will no longer have to ask one lingering question. Are we psychic?

Refer to the original article here:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/11/12/5456572-can-science-prove-were-psychic

Investors Keep a Close Eye on November Elections

With the November elections approaching, investors will be paying close attention to the outcome. For the past several months, the stock market has rallied based on information that the November elections are likely to elect Republicans, which is expected to bolster big business, resulting in a better stock market.

In this article, the author has the purpose of raising awareness that the stock market may not be as stable as we think. The author was using a technique related to logos, appealing to the logic of the reader. This reasoning makes the reader believe it is likely that we could actually be in for a ride when it comes to the stock market by using examples.

Examples of this use of logic include referencing the fact that many investors expect Republicans to gain control of the House. Therefore, if they did not win the House, he reasons that as a result of the unexpected happening, the stock market will become increasingly unstable.

As a result of that instability, a reader using their logical reasoning could come to the conclusion that consumer confidence in the economy could decline, therefore resulting in a sharp drop in the stock market. All this could potentially take place without anything actually being done wrong by the Democratic party, so despite the performance of either party, the market could become become unstable.

Thanks to the authors strong use of reasoning in order to win over his readers, he is able to make a point that the stock market should be watched closely as election results are announced, as it could have a drastic effect on the economy.

Read the original article here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39937144/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

Foreclosures May Have Made the Housing Crisis Worse

Ethos, pathos, logos. These words are three of the biggest elements in rhetorical analysis. Ethos refers to the credibility of the author in order to support one's claims. Pathos refers to the emotions the author intends to use to influence readers. Lastly, logos is the part of an article that appeals to the reader's logical reasoning.

In today's article, the authors uses all three of these elements to prove their point in which they present that many people believe that banks have been handling foreclosures improperly.

To begin with, the authors use ethos, or their credibility to win the readers support. The article was posted on the Reuters website, which is known as a reliable source of good information. That alone draws the attention of many readers, and helps the authors be more influential.

Next, the authors attempt to appeal to the readers emotion in order to win over the reader. This is the most evident of the three elements in this article, and it is brought to the readers attention very close to the beginning of the article in which it states, using a quote from Barack Obama, that it is shameful that financial institutions have possibly made the housing crisis worse due to improperly processing foreclosures.

The last of the three elements mentioned, logos, appeals to the readers logical reasoning. This element is not used nearly as noticeably as the others, but it is still used. In one particular instance, it uses in its argument that foreclosed homes make up 25 percent of home sales. Using a fact in an argument is a great use of logos, however, this article unfortunately does not have many facts, just opinions.

Using these elements to analyze an article can be very helpful when learning something. One cannot necessarily believe everything he or she reads, but through this analysis, it can be helpful to figure out which is worth more researching.

Refer to the original article here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69G10J20101017

Randy Moss: Why was he traded?

In any article, video, or other form of media, the author always has an intended message for his readers. Randy Moss, an elite wide receiver in the NFL, was traded by the New England Patriots to the Minnesota Vikings for a 3rd round draft pick and over the past few days, there has been much speculation as to the real reasoning Randy Moss was traded. A rhetorical analysis of an article can be used to try to determine the meaning the author intended.

According to the article, a week before the trade, Randy Moss and quarterback Tom Brady got into an argument in the locker room. Tom Brady expressed concern about Moss' behavior, and as a result, the two got into an argument in which they had to be separated.

When analyzing this story, one could infer that because the author reported a story that attempts to explain why the Patriots traded away one of their top receivers, then the author may believe that the Patriots made a mistake. Also, one could infer that the author does not have faith in Randy Moss being a good person, and the author may expect that trend to continue.

Readers use rhetorical analysis quite often, whether they realize it or not. Through rhetorical analysis, much is learned about the message, as well as the author. When related to this article about Randy Moss, his trade, and his altercation with Tom Brady, the reader really learns a good portion about the situation.

The importance of the Randy Moss trade remains to be seen over the rest of the NFL season. Over the next few weeks, it is almost certain that more news about Randy Moss and the circumstances of the trade are to surface. Only time will tell how much we will learn.

Read the full article here:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2010/10/cbs-tom-brady-randy-moss-had-to-be-separated-after-altercation/1

Miners in Chile Close to Being Rescued

When writing short news articles, it is crucial to capture the readers attention. This is clearly evident in much of the news we read on the internet, and it seems as if the writers who do the best job in holding our attention also happen to be writing for the most well known news websites. In one recent article, the author does a great job in using just one idea per paragraph to really bring in the reader.

The article this particular writer wrote about was a news story about the Chilean miners who have been trapped underground. A rescue capsule has been made, and the hope is to have those miners rescued by sometime in November. The article continues on about the fact that there must be several careful preparations put into place before the miners can be pulled out.

The author does a great job holding the readers interests by using several short paragraphs, a few as short as one sentence. This makes the reader more likely to pay attention, as the story is rapidly developing, rather than developing slowly over a long drawn out paragraph.

The ability to engage readers is perhaps one of the more difficult aspects of writing, and when an author is able to effectively use techniques to engage the readers, it leads to very intriguing articles. In the case of the one this author wrote, we learn how much longer the miners are stuck underground, as well as what is being done to get them out. When written effectively, the produces a "wow" factor in the writing, and also leads to articles worth reading.

Hopefully the miners in Chile will be rescued earlier than expected, but until then, we must wait and see.

Read the original article at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39360789/ns/world_news-americas/

Gulf Oil Well Permanently Closed

Finally, in the Gulf of Mexico today, the oil well that for months leaked oil was permanently closed today. This has prompted a positive reaction for many people across America. In the article I read that explained the success of closing the well, I found that the writer assumed that the average reader would make quite a few inferences. To begin with, the writer assumed that the reader knew about the BP oil spill. This was clearly because the writer's audience was primarily American's, where the oil spill has become common knowledge.

The writer chose quotes carefully, in order to really touch the reader's emotions associated with the oil spill. Many people felt that the response to the event took far too long, and as a result the author of this article chose the quote,"We can finally announce that the Macondo 252 well is effectively dead".The reason this quote was chosen was to really touch the emotion shared among many people in which it was believed that the oil spill took far to long to clean up.

Through the use of inferences and using writing techniques specifically to target a certain demographic, the writer was able to get his point across very effectively that this was a significant event. The inference in which the author assumes that the reader knows about the oil spill is interesting however, because he does still briefly describes the original cause of all the spilled oil later in the article. I find this particularly interesting because it is as if the author was hoping to reach an even broader audience in which there were people who were unaware of the situation at hand. He grabs the readers attention with an interesting headline and opening paragraph, but still makes it so others who are unaware of the situation to still understand the story.

In the end, it is how a news article is written that determines how effective it is at conveying a message. This article did a great job, and thanks to it, I know have the peace of mind knowing that the BP spill is no longer as much of a crisis and all efforts can be focused on cleaning up what is left. Now we can only hope that the marine life makes a full recovery from this awful disaster.

Read the original article here:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19215397.htm