The Assignment

For this assignment, you will restructure your argument in order to demonstrate your gained knowledge of audience by composing a public piece, an argument presented in a medium that has been planned and executed with the intention of being staged in the public domain. Therefore, your audience for this will be the general public and not the academic community.  

The purpose of this assignment is twofold: (1) You will practice crafting effective arguments to various audiences, using appropriate mediums. (2) You will demonstrate your understanding of the relationship between content, audience, and medium by composing an effective public piece.

After you compose your Public Piece, you will post it to the Discussion Board and then engage in a critical conversation with your peers. You should respond to two peers with thoughtful discussion as you evaluate audience effectiveness. 

Assignment Options:

1. An original editorial cartoon that would be published in a newspaper
2. A public service announcement in the form of a video/commercial (1-2 minutes)
3. An original poem or song that reflects thoughts and emotions relevant to your stance
4. A brochure or pamphlet highlights the key pieces of the paper that would be presented to a specific audience
5. A poster for public display that uses images and limited text to highlight the issue and arguments presented

   *All work is to be original and created by the student.  Students cannot simply locate a pre-made piece and submit it as original work.

Assignment Requirements:

Your public piece should:

1. Establish a clear audience and purpose.
2. Stand as an authentic, engaging, and polished piece that the public could consume.
3. Communicate an argument effectively with no gaps in logic or credibility.

HERE’S WHAT NEEDS TO BE RECONSTRUCTED:

Elimination of Gun Free Zones

Gun free zones are basically made to mitigate suicides,violent crimes, unintended injuries as well as deaths.Theoretically gun free zones eliminates or reduces the gun presence in these locations thus reducing the risk of fire arm related injuries as a result of criminal activity, recklessness or escalatory conflicts. Conversely if the potential presence of armed civilians prevent violence ,these zones can be more attractive targets to mass shooters or violent criminals since those perpetrating will not encounter armed resistance in such locations. In defiance of some claims suggesting that elimination gun free zones might have an impact of protecting a lot of children, schools at the same time must be gun free zones to enhance safe spaces for children maintaining their learning environment, mitigating those who use guns with no proper training.

​Gun free zone​ refers to those locations where possessing or even using a gun is prohibited and is considered a criminal offense if found. Let’s take an example of the Florida shooting in a school. A lot of violence was perpetrated against the school going children. Gun men have now started targeting those areas where guns are not allowed. Statistics show that 90% of all instances of mass shooting in the United States happen in gun free zones such as Florida school. Antigun liberals argue that this instance of mass shooting doesn’t occur in other countries. However that is not true given that US in not even in the top ten countries with high rates of death resulting frommass shooting.

​The Gun-Free School Zones Act (GFSZA) enacted in 1990 prohibits any individual who is unauthorized from knowingly possessing unsecured or a loaded fire harm at a location where the person has a reasonable cause to believe or knows is a school area. This Act applies to private public and highs schools and elementary schools as well as private property within a thousand feet from the school. However, it has a provision that allows sates as well as their political subdivisions to issue licensed that exempt the people licensed from the prohibitions. This Act has been in use since 1994 (Gehrig, 45).

The Crime Prevention Research Center recently gave statistics of mass shooting worldwide. According to them these shootings claims not less than five or more lives in public areas. These shootings are intended to kill following the definition of the FBI. These statistics exclude fights involving gangs since they are basically motivated by drug turf battles. Deaths resulting from other crimes are also excluded. There are also those attacks which are motivated politically. These attacks are not included in our definition. For this reason we exclude serious mass shootings such as the one that happened in Russian Chechen conflict. Another case happened in 2002 where more than 450 individuals were wounded and 130 killed Dubrovka Theater in Moscow in a three day siege. 

Following the establishment of gun free zones the education system has continued to be secure. Majority of shootings that happen in school are as a result of few peoples involved making the wrong decision. Establishment of gun free zones ensured that teachers and also civilian s visiting those zones avoid being in possession of fire arms (Kopel, 54). This ensures that even if there will be a confrontation fire arms will not be involved as opposed to if these zones did not exist. For instance some parents disagree with teachers on the way they sometimes treat their children. When they engage in these tussles there are high chances that guns can be involved.

The introduction of this gun free zones have reduced gun shooting in schools. This has enabled children to feel more secure since the risk of gun shooting is mitigated. Statistics show that the level of performance in schools has gone high since the introduction of gun free zones. They have also ensured that teaching and learning environment is conducive for both the teachers and their students. Other provisions in the ACT also ensured that there is security in learning institutions. When children are in class and they know that someone is in possession of a gun then they can feel intimidated and therefore their level of concentration in class goes down .The same applies to the teachers who cannot deliver their duties as expected. The gun free zones ensure that everyone is free and does not feel intimidated by the risks of people owning guns.

There is however several ways in which these problemsassociated with gun free zones can be addressed. For instance take the incidence in the Florida shooting. Only one guy in the entire school was armed. He therefore executed his plans without any hurry. He was aware of the situation in the school and therefore he was not even afraid to shoot openly. One of the things that attract these perpetrators is the big signs at the gates of the schools declaring the area to be a gun free zone. Many people would not take guns there because they know the consequences if they are, found. Therefore the bad guys take that chance since they don’t obey the law.

One of the ways to mitigate this problem is to strengthen the laws that govern the use of guns. Hefty fines should be introduced so that whoever does not obey the law feels the pain.These laws should also allow more people to be in possession of guns in such areas. Since this area have become soft target recently, eliminating them could also prove beneficial to the society as a whole. Schools should also be harmed so that student’s fear the consequences of possessing guns in school. It is also important that schools improve their security systems to mitigate any incidence of violence. If the gun free zone is going to be fully eliminated and more students in schools enjoy their education with no form of interference, they should compete and fight for safer education for others.

Gun free zones have improved security in school in the last couple of years after the GFSZA was introduced. However since gangsters have started targeting these zones new measures need to be taken to reduce such incidences. Schools on the other hand have that right to be protected from crowd shooting (Safra, 58). Also to ensure safer schooling gun free zone Acts should be adhered to in schools. I f gun free zone will be fully eliminated and more schools enjoy the contusive environment, there will be lee or no violence and mitigation in all schools since the laws will have been well strengthened.

Works Cited

Gehrig, David S. "The Gun-Free School Zones Act: The Shootout over Legislative Findings, the Commerce Clause, and Federalism." Hastings Const. LQ 22 (2014): 179.

Kopel, David B. "Pretend gun-free school zones: A deadly legal fiction." Conn. L. Rev. 42 (2009): 515.

Safra, Seth J. "Amended Gun-Free School Zones Act: Doubt as to Its Constitutionality Remains, The." Duke LJ 50 (2010): 637.

For this assignment reply each question by your thought.

1.In the case study of Johnny, the behavior I will explain will be his temper and behavior with other children at school. I will first explain this behavioral pattern using Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. In psychoanalysis, Freud focused attention on the unconscious mind. The foundation of psychoanalysis is that unconscious thoughts and internal conflicts are responsible for our conscious thoughts and actions. These unconscious thoughts are repressed, which is the defense mechanism that shuts out any anxiety-arousing wishes, thoughts, and feelings from our conscious mind. Freud believed that this repression could enable other defense mechanisms such as regression, reaction formation, projection, rationalization, displacement, and denial. In Johnny’s case, he is most likely experiencing displacement — the shifting of sexual or aggressive impulses towards more acceptable or less threatening people. Johnny acts out his aggressive impulses towards other children his own age since they do not pose a threat to him. As for the cause of Johnny’s temper, it is possible that Johnny could be wrestling with an Oedipus complex. This complex is when a boy develops sexual desires for his mother, while simultaneously fostering jealousy and hatred for his father, who he now views as a rival. This complex occurs during the Phallic stage of Freud’s psychosexual stages, usually when a child is between the ages of 3 and 6. However, a strong conflict can keep a person fixated in a stage even after that stage is over. So even though Johnny is 7, he could still be dealing with unresolved feelings about his parents, which in turn causes the displacement that triggers the aggressive impulses towards his classmates.

Looking at Johnny’s behavior from a humanistic perspective, I would look at the ways in which Johnny’s current environment nurtures or limits his growth potential. Rogers’ approach to humanistic theory was a person-centered perspective — that people are essentially good and equipped with self-actualization tendencies. People are ready for growth and fulfillment provided that they are in a growth-promoting environment that contains three elements: genuineness, acceptance, and empathy. Johnny is unable to be genuine with his classmates since he is not open with his own feelings and does not drop his facade, which in this case, is his combative persona. Johnny also seems to lack empathy towards his classmates. There is also an element of acceptance missing since Johnny isn’t willing to let his guard down around his peers in recreational settings, as well as showing an inability to have unconditional positive regard, which is an attitude of total acceptance towards others. Since Johnny has shown an aggressive nature with his classmates in the form of name-calling, being argumentative and short-tempered, it is possible that this is the result of being exposed to an environment that does not contain the necessary elements for growth, thus inhibiting his own growth.

2.  From the philosophy of the psychoanalytic theory, Johnny’s argumentative and short temper towards other students can be understood to be a result from sibling rivalry and displacement. In the traditional parent-offspring relationship parents provide love, safety, and support to their children. Children are dependent on the care of their parents to survive and thrive, thus any threat to said support would negatively affect the child. In families with only one child, all the attention and love from the parents is directed to the single child. In families with multiple children attention and care needs to be split between each child. At times one child may be receiving more attention than the others, such as a newborn baby who requires greater attention than a young boy who is somewhat more self sufficient. In Johnny’s case, his father works a low skilled job and presumably works a larger amount of time and may be somewhat absent from the family. Johnny’s mother is a stay at home mother who is currently caring for a newborn baby. Johnny’s younger siblings require greater attention from the parents, while Johnny who is the eldest requires less attention. Negative attitudes and thoughts regarding the siblings may be held by Johnny who then displaces his impulses towards other students at school. If Johnny’s aggressive impulses were directed towards his younger siblings he might lose the support from his parents so he directs it towards people outside his family.

Humanistic Theory

          The humanistic theory might attribute Johnny’s aggressiveness and short temper with other students to a lack of growth and fulfillment to achieve self-actualization. Influenced by Maslow and Rogers the Humanistic theory believes that personality has the potential for growth when given adequate support and care. People have an innate ability to eventually achieve self actualization but require support to grow to that goal. Similar to how sibling rivalry might influence Johnny’s personality Humanists might interpret Johnny’s behavior as a result of him not fulfilling the level of belongingness and love needs. Attention being diverted to the younger siblings at Johnny’s expense may be causing him to not feel fully loved or accepted. Being that his needs for belongingness and love are not being met he cannot move up the Hierarchy of Needs to reach his esteem and self actualization needs. Not being able to develop respect and recognition from others and having the sensation of not fully belonging, Johnny may be directing his anger towards his fellow schoolmates.

3.I recently came across an article that discussed about a program which is aiming at injecting aerosols into the atmosphere from high altitude aircrafts. The researchers have been looking into the costs and effectiveness of such a program, but may end up keeping it a secret if it does go through. It is estimated to cost $2 billion yearly in the first 15 years, which is obviously very costly. However, there is currently no aircraft designed at the moment that can do this job and would have to be built special to do it. This would be an amazing concept to to see and hear about, but if people detect it, it could be deterred. If such a thing were to go through would be beneficial to our planet. 

4.Rain from thunderstorms and flash flooding occurred in Sydney this week at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. It led to road chaos, flood in buildings and train station. More than 4,000 properties were without of power as lightning strikes as well as strong winds damages the lines (McGowan). In less than two hours, a month’s worth of rain occurred in Sydney through a thunderstorm and effected the south coast to the northern river. It rained since 5 a.m. to the afternoon and roads became flooded and lead chaos when dealing with transportation. It is surprising to see these natural events occurring every day and how much damage it led to as well as the impact on the community. The images are frightening and surprising to see how much rain fall on the area.

 in Modules/Weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8, you are required to reply to 2 other classmates' threads. Each reply must be at least 200 words. 

Reply to  Laurie 

Leadership qualities that are unobservable have been linked to certain amount of charisma, service, and motivation and finally those whom inspire.  According to Steven Miller, D. L. Moody has the qualities that is not observable, and that is, “but he possessed the right heart and the right attitudes, and that made him wholly moldable clay in the hands of the Master Potter.”[1]    I believe that D.L. Moody, C. H. Spurgeon and Franklin Graham all began their leadership models with prayer.   Prayer life and their ability to preach may have led to their leadership success, but I believe that their heart, sincerity and their love of God makes these men effective.  According to, Miller, “Moody, had a heart abounding love was one of Moody's dominant traits as a spiritual leader.”[2] D.L. Moody did not have a degree that he could hang from his wall so his fellow evangelicals often looked at him with a question of what he could offer.  When he preached, he preached from the heart did not worry about impressing anyone nor did he bend to their wishes.    Another strength of Moody's preaching was his remarkable clarity and Moody like other great leaders surrendered themselves to God and for this reason if they are successful it is credit to God.  

            Other such great leaders share the same passion as D. L. Moody, those like Billy Graham who were risk takers, had a vision, commitment, and a high sense of Scripture.  Billy Graham parents had a strong influence on his faith in Jesus Christ, which is why he is one of the most

influential leaders of our time.   He preached to millions and his career last for approximately 60 years and brought many to Christ through his Christian crusades.  Evangelist Billy Graham has addressed more people about Jesus than anyone else in history and explains, "My main motivation as an evangelist is obedience to a divine command and recognition of a God-given gift.” [3]  For Graham he was under strict orders to save souls for Christ as well as his resolve to The spiritual discipline of prayer and the words, "I'm praying for you," echoed by millions worldwide are two primary reasons Billy Graham's ministry has been mightily blessed.”[4]   It seems that the Grahams worked very hard at achieving balance which is essential for the success that he had.

            These leaders were not perfect however what they had was good beginnings, they had a balance in their home life.  According to William J. Peterson, his marriage was a union of two forgivers.”[4]  Mrs. Graham admits that her husband was absent for months at a time, she writes, “Although we don’t have the usual family life, we have an interesting and fulfilled one.”[5] What Moody and Graham had was “faith” after their conversion there was no stopping them.  Both Moody and Graham have left a great legacy and Graham’s legacy with the Evangelistic Association does need to remain active because Graham will be a tough act to follow so with this said we have to look at the life these great men lived, for all these men before them they had great commitment to Christ. 

            These men had families that they left behind however the correct partner helps with the balance of success.  We have to look at ourselves first and then reach out to those who have not been saved and help them grow in Christ.  Leadership is a gift and quality granted from Christ, and we recognize a good leader by what we aspire to become.

______________________________

1 Miller, Steven. (2004). D.L. Moody on Spiritual Leadership. Zondervan Publishing House.

2.             I.bid.,65

3.             I.bid.66

4.             William J Peterson. Surprising Marriages, “How Great Christians Struggle to Make Marriage Work, .Mastof Press, 1983 pg. 350

5              I.bid.,pg. 350

Reply to Lauren 

I think that it is easy to slip into the habit of measuring success through observable traits or numeric indicators simply because those are the easiest to measure. But, I think that this is not how God measures us, and He has provided a template of how to best measure success in ministry leaders. 

When I read this question, it actually made me think of when, at my job, I have to write reports to granters on the work we are doing. Often they want figures and statistics about how their funds have impacted the lives of students. However, we struggle with the fact that sometimes a student's quality of life has simply improved. How do you quantify that? Similarly to measuring success of leaders, often the things that matter the most are not easily wrapped up in a pretty number or indicator. But, that does not make them any less valuable. 

For example, after Moody's death, many of the people who knew him spoke of him as a "genuinely humble leader with a benevolent heart" (Miller, 2004) I think that the level to which we have spent our lives serving others is a key part of success as a leader. Moody is remembered as a kind and humble leader, and that is what I think we should be looking towards for success. As a leader, a large part of our job description is others-focused. So if our expectations are based on others, I think that our success measurement should also be others-focused. 

Similarly, Billy Graham created the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (Shaw, 1997). I think this provides another example of how we should measure success. Not by what associations we create, but by how we work in unity with others. I think that sometimes, as leaders, we can feel like we need to do things on our own. But, sometimes one of the best qualities of a leader is how we work with other people in order to create a greater good than what we could do on our own. 

So much like we have a hard time measuring the successful outcomes of our students at work sometimes, I think that these are two aspects of leadership that I think are crucial to measuring success, but can be hard to quantify or measure. How we serve others and how we work with others to lead well are both marks of a successful leader. 

References

Miller, S. (2004). Dl moody on spiritual leadership. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers. 

Shaw, M. (1997). 10 great ideas from church history. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press. 

5.  

You are the research manager within your organization, and you are grappling with a problem that needs further research. Your immediate supervisor is interested in using experimentation and observation research techniques in researching this problem and requests that you prepare a presentation to educate him on these methods. You are unsure whether using these techniques would be adequate, but you set yourself on a mission to analyze the two research methods to provide him with the best information.

 a PowerPoint with your analysis of experimentation and observation as they apply to your company and/or discipline. PowerPoint to address the following questions/topics:

1. Describe specific experimentation and observational methods that could be used within your discipline to gather data. Include your rationale.
2. Evaluate their effectiveness with respect to certain areas within your discipline.
3. Include company or organizational examples, as relevant.
4. In your opinion, are there any ethical implications with the use of experimentation and observational methods within your discipline?

 must be at least 12 slides in length (including a title slide and a reference slide).  presentation are required to use speaker notes. In the speaker notes,  provide what you would say if you were actually giving the presentation to your supervisor.  write your notes in complete sentences. and adhere to typical grammar and punctuation rules.

All sources must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.  APA style 

6. 

Select an existing company, possibly a publicly held company in order to find easily accessible information. Research the company and compile a SWOT analysis identifying a minimum of four elements under each of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Explain each element with an eye on how this affects the company overall. Once the table has been compiled, address the following questions:

1. How does this tool assist the marketing and management teams to solve problems within the company?
2. Based upon your research and this SWOT analysis, what recommendations would you make for the management team?

 APA-formatted  must be a minimum of three pages (not including the title page and the reference page). The table may be single spaced. References must include a minimum of two credible sources.

Template

Title of Paper

STRENGTHS

Insert strengths in a bulleted list. Make sure to provide a brief explanation of how each element affects the company.WEAKNESSES

Insert weaknesses in a bulleted list. Make sure to provide a brief explanation of how each element affects the company.

OPPORTUNITIES

Insert opportunities in a bulleted list. Make sure to provide a brief explanation of how each element affects the company.THREATS

Insert threats in a bulleted list. Make sure to provide a brief explanation of how each element affects the company.

You will begin your discussion of the SWOT analysis here. The length of your paper should be at least three pages not including the title and reference page. Be sure to address the questions listed in the assignment instructions as part of your response. Include references on a separate reference page. 

References

7.  

Using your favorite search engine, locate the websites for two research firms. Conduct a review of the services offered by these two different research firms. What types of tools do they use, and how effective are those tools? Then, write an essay responding to the following questions/topics, evaluating each research firm’s capability of providing valuable services to its customers.

1. Contrast the services and tools provided by the two research firms.
2. Explain the advantages of utilizing these research firms.
3. Discuss why a company might decide to save the money and utilize its in-house team as opposed to one of these firms.
4. Explain how the tools discussed in the lecture might enable more companies to complete their research internally.

 APA-formatted  must be a minimum of three pages (not including the title page and the reference page). References must include the two websites and a minimum of one additional credible reference. All sources used must be referenced. Paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.

8. 

 a PowerPoint presentation introducing the importance of research and the use of research methods within an organization. Think about how this applies to your industry and, specifically, to a company that might use research methods discussed in this course.  this PowerPoint, discuss the points identified below.

• Analyze the theoretical aspects of research methods to include the following:     
  • importance of conducting effective research leading to good decision making,
  • analysis of the process associated with putting together a research study,
  • summary of research methods including advantages and disadvantages of each, and
  • effective presentation strategies for reporting research results.
• Apply learning from this course to your discipline to include the following:     
  • Explain either a hypothetical or real research problem that could arise within a company in your discipline.
  • Discuss a minimum of two research methods that could be used to address this research problem.
  • Identify and explain specific challenges and opportunities associated with the use of these research methods within your discipline.

 PowerPoint must be at least 16 slides in length (including a title slide and a reference slide).  use speaker notes. In the speaker notes, you will provide what you would say if you were actually giving the presentation to an audience. Please write your notes in complete sentences and adhere to typical grammar and punctuation rules.

All sources used must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations. Be sure to use APA style for citations and references.

ption #1: Analysis of an Individual Comic Strip or Political Cartoon

Choose one comic strip or political cartoon. If you visit the website of a newspaper such as The Baltimore Sun, The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc., you should be able to search for comic strips or political cartoons easily.

Which techniques does the creator of the comic strip use? How does the creator make his/her point in the comic strip? What do we learn about the characters and/or ourselves from this comic strip or political cartoon? If colors are available, what do they tell us about this comic or cartoon? What language is used and how can that be interpreted?

And importantly, which of the key terms from the topic lesson can you discuss in your analysis? For example, how of elements of imagery, symbolism, metaphor, and/or irony help reveal the cartoon's message?

As with all academic essays you write in this course, this essay should have a well-defined introduction with a thesis statement, body, and conclusion.

In essence, what are some of the physical elements present in the cartoon1 – characters, text, colors, etc., along with figurative elements such as metaphor and symbolism, that help to explain the cartoon's message? It can be helpful to focus on a single element in the cartoon in its own body paragraph (including the element in the topic sentence and in the thesis) and describe how it portrays the cartoon's message before moving to the next cartoon feature in a new paragraph.

Sample Thesis Statement: "John Smith uses (add one element from the cartoon), (add a second element from the cartoon), and (add a third element from the cartoon) to show (add the cartoon's message)."

1A successful analysis will go beyond the obvious, literal elements of the cartoon and will analyze figurative elements, too. use the course topic lessons to inform your analysis.

Option #2: Analysis of Multiple Comic Strips or Political Cartoons

Choose two political cartoons or comic strips created by the same person. Which techniques does the creator of the political cartoons use? How does the author make his/her point in the political cartoons? What do we learn about the characters and/or ourselves from these political cartoons? How does the language transmit the creator's message? Using a comparison or contrast mode of development, draw conclusions about the techniques the author uses in the political cartoons and how they apply to our lives. As with all academic essays you write in this course, this essay should have a well-defined introduction with a thesis statement, body, and conclusion.

Use the point-by-point or subject-by-subject structure to compare and contrast about three to five elements found in the cartoons that help to explain how they apply to our lives or to a message present in today's society. After you compare and contrast each paragraph, be sure to explain the message those elements and the cartoons help to depict.

Sample Thesis Statement: "John Smith's cartoon strips Cartoon 1 and Cartoon 2 use (add one element from the cartoon), (add a second element from the cartoon), and (add a third element from the cartoon) to explain (add the cartoon's message)."

Be sure to document the cartoon or comic strip on a Works Cited page. Please visit the following source for citing an electronic image: MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications).

The guidelines for this assignment are as follows:

Length: The assignment should be at least 500 words.

Header: Include a header in the upper left-hand corner of your writing assignment with the following information:

• Your first and last name
• Course Title (Composition II)
• Assignment name (i.e., Cartoon Analysis)
• Current Date

Format: 

• MLA-style source documentation and Works Cited2
• Your last name and page number in the upper-right corner of each page
• Double-spacing throughout
• Standard font (Times New Roman, Calibri)
• Title, centered after heading
• 1" margins on all sides

Underline your thesis statement in the introductory paragraph.