The Logic of the Article: “Later School Times Would Make Teens Safer”
John MacHalec, a concerned parent in Mounds View School District writes the article: “Later School Times Would Make Teens Safer” with a purpose to improve health and safety of the young people, especially high schoolers. The purpose is not stated till the end of the article, but it is stated clearly. The author’s urge for parents to take an action directly follows his stated purpose, giving the readers an accessible venue to look for the purpose of the article. It also encompasses the two factors-safety and health-that he brings up with his reasons. To further analyze the article to compare it to the intellectual standards, following intellectual elements were identified: …show more content…
The answer to this question is presented right before it, making it accessible for the readers. The addition of the issue towards the end of the article is of particular importance; it draws attention back to why the author wrote the article after presenting all his reasons. What follows next is what the readers should take out of it: take action and be engaged in the community. The issue is descriptive as it asks the question: “What can be done in the future?” The issue cannot be prescriptive as it doesn’t wage whether or not certain intervention (later starting hours) should be done?
Intermediate Conclusion A: Lack of sleep, especially for at least eight hours for that particular age group, is one of the risk factors of suicide.
Reason 1: A 2011 study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control examined sleep and behavior patterns in 12,154 adolescents in grades 9-12. Among kids who got less than eight hours of sleep on an average school night, 31.1 percent experienced depression, defined as feeling “sad or hopeless almost every day for at least 2 or more weeks in a row so that they stopped doing some usual activities.” Also, 16.8 percent of these fatigued children “seriously considered attempting suicide” over a 12-month …show more content…
With the description of the rates and what exactly they measured, the author was precise. He defined the word “depression” to be specific regarding the self-report of the feeling rather than a clinical diagnosis. He didn’t overgeneralize the “thoughts of suicide” to make it more compatible with his argument. One can argue the questions asked by the study to why they asked for “suicidal thoughts” only among “people with depression” and overlooked other mental illnesses that might could result in suicidal thoughts and/or suicide. But, since we are asked to not attack the evidence, the assumption made about this link has to be accepted in order to recognize author’s intermediate conclusion. To go further in depth, he gives us the difference at the end of the reason 2(not noted here). His vision of the issue is clearly transferred into this reasoning by being elaborate, precise and going in depth. The last reason is placed right before the end of the article. It is a personal testimony of a pediatrics professor who also happens to be one of the parents in the district. He appeals to authority for not only being a parent, but also by his exemplary background in children’s health (our target population for the intervention). He also appeals to emotion as the audience of this article (the parents) can relate to him for having their
John MacHalec, a concerned parent in Mounds View School District writes the article: “Later School Times Would Make Teens Safer” with a purpose to improve health and safety of the young people, especially high schoolers. The purpose is not stated till the end of the article, but it is stated clearly. The author’s urge for parents to take an action directly follows his stated purpose, giving the readers an accessible venue to look for the purpose of the article. It also encompasses the two factors-safety and health-that he brings up with his reasons. To further analyze the article to compare it to the intellectual standards, following intellectual elements were identified: …show more content…
The answer to this question is presented right before it, making it accessible for the readers. The addition of the issue towards the end of the article is of particular importance; it draws attention back to why the author wrote the article after presenting all his reasons. What follows next is what the readers should take out of it: take action and be engaged in the community. The issue is descriptive as it asks the question: “What can be done in the future?” The issue cannot be prescriptive as it doesn’t wage whether or not certain intervention (later starting hours) should be done?
Intermediate Conclusion A: Lack of sleep, especially for at least eight hours for that particular age group, is one of the risk factors of suicide.
Reason 1: A 2011 study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control examined sleep and behavior patterns in 12,154 adolescents in grades 9-12. Among kids who got less than eight hours of sleep on an average school night, 31.1 percent experienced depression, defined as feeling “sad or hopeless almost every day for at least 2 or more weeks in a row so that they stopped doing some usual activities.” Also, 16.8 percent of these fatigued children “seriously considered attempting suicide” over a 12-month …show more content…
With the description of the rates and what exactly they measured, the author was precise. He defined the word “depression” to be specific regarding the self-report of the feeling rather than a clinical diagnosis. He didn’t overgeneralize the “thoughts of suicide” to make it more compatible with his argument. One can argue the questions asked by the study to why they asked for “suicidal thoughts” only among “people with depression” and overlooked other mental illnesses that might could result in suicidal thoughts and/or suicide. But, since we are asked to not attack the evidence, the assumption made about this link has to be accepted in order to recognize author’s intermediate conclusion. To go further in depth, he gives us the difference at the end of the reason 2(not noted here). His vision of the issue is clearly transferred into this reasoning by being elaborate, precise and going in depth. The last reason is placed right before the end of the article. It is a personal testimony of a pediatrics professor who also happens to be one of the parents in the district. He appeals to authority for not only being a parent, but also by his exemplary background in children’s health (our target population for the intervention). He also appeals to emotion as the audience of this article (the parents) can relate to him for having their