ASSIGNMENT: RECONSTRUCTING ARGUMENTS
General Instructions: Reconstruct the arguments contained in the passages below, following the argument reconstruction rules on pg. 65 of your textbook. This assignment is modeled after Practice Problems Set 1-12. You may work in groups on this assignment, and you may turn in group work. There are ten required problems and one extra credit problem. Due: at the start of class on Monday, September 28
Required Problems:
1. Electronic cigarettes are smokeless. Hence they come without the carcinogenic elements present in the tobacco smoke. [Press Release, "Benefits of Electronic Cigarettes in 2014, as Revealed by V2CigsDeals.com," www.sbwire.com, January 22, 2014.]
2. Georgia is a transit point for Caspian and Central Asian oil and gas and as such is critical to Turkey's ambitions to become an energy hub and to diversify its own energy supplies. [Michael Reynolds, "Turk Troubles in Caucasus," World Bulletin (Balmumcu, Turkey), September 1, 2008.]
3. Local food tastes better because it retains its nutrients. [Jesús González, chef at La Cocina Que Canta, Tecate, Mexico, quoted in Elizabeth Khuri, "Cooking Local," Los Angeles Times Magazine (October 14, 2007), p. 60.]
4. A lot of hip-hop artists don't have the ability to make classic songs because they spend most of their time rapping about themselves rather than what people really care about. [Kanye West, quoted in Nui Te Koha, "Kanye West - the Ego Has Landed," Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), September 17, 2007.]
5. Current world population estimates of Armenians range from 6 million to 8 million. Approximately 3.5 million live in the Republic of Armenia, so a majority live outside the homeland. [Berge Bulbulian, The Fresno Armenians: History of a Diaspora Community. (Fresno, CA: The Press at California State University, Fresno, 2000), p. 6.]
6. Hey, there's a Dodgers game tonight, so I'm sure there's some extra traffic on the 5 through Elysian Park. There's always extra traffic there when there's a Dodgers' game. [Traffic Report, KNX (Los Angeles), June 6, 2005.]
7. Hybrid technology is ... unsuited to small cars not only because they are already fuel efficient but also because there isn't enough space to accommodate the larger hybrid system. [Kaho Shimizu, "Different Roads to Eco-Friendly Vehicles," Japan Times, May 22, 2007.]
8. ...[M]any trans women are sex workers, but generally not because they wish to be sexual objects. ....[M]any trans women turn to such work because few other viable economic options are available to them. [Julia Serano, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. (Emeryville, California: Seal Press, 2007), p. 261.]
9. If you're even thinking of having a baby someday, start eating foods rich in folic acid today. ... ...[E]ating adequate amounts of food rich in folic acid, like leafy greens and enriched white bread, may help prevent some neural tube defects that can occur in the first few weeks of pregnancy, even before you know you're pregnant. [March of Dimes, Advertisement, Self (March 2007), p. 98.]
10. Note: In this passage, ‘he' refers to Robert Gibbs, President Obama's Press Secretary, who was about to hold his first White House press briefing.
If he's not nervous then he's not a human being. So I know he's nervous ‘cuz I know he's a human being. [Joe Lockhart, former White House Press Secretary, MSNBC, January 22, 2009.]