Essay 4 Concerns

I am concerned about my length because I know my paper isn't long enough but without being able to use more than four sources, I couldn't add more facts to my argument without plagiarizing.

In-Class 11/22

1. One policy that needs to be changed is the varying rules from dorm to dorm.  At Capstone you have to swipe your card each time you want to go upstairs even if the desk person just saw you come out of the stairs and knows you live there, while at Woodrow or the Roost, the desk person never asks for ID.  This is very inconvenient for the people who live at the dorms where the security measures are over the top and where there are no security measures.  USC should make a policy regarding housing security that is a happy medium.  As for why the authorities have not introduced the policy above, there is really no answer except that they probably aren't sure of where the happy medium is.

Planning Essay 4

1. Some animal lovers and certain researchers and zoos would love to breed endangered species to protect the environment from a mass extinction, prevent the loss of beloved creatures and save the possibility of discovering scientific findings that could improve our lives.
2. However, on the other hand some scientists and researchers argue against captive breeding due to the findings that species with small populations increase the chances that undesirable genes will become widespread in the population while in captivity.
3. Another group completely against captive breeding consists of animal lovers and animal rights activists such as PETA because the organisms are not in their natural habitat, they have no choice in whether they want to reproduce or not and are not free to choose their partner.
4.  A small, influential group of people who collect rare organisms, mostly animals and birds, will not participate in captive breeding programs because either they have no interest in breeding or they welcome the population decline as it increases the rarity of their organism.

• I'm planning to write a policy paper and I'm proposing that captive breeding should be used but the added time should be used to improve the problems that face captive bred organisms.
• I'm undecided if I'll do more research or not.  I have a lot of information but since we had to find four different perspectives, I feel as though it wouldn't hurt to have more for my policy paper since I'm focusing more on the perspective I relate the most to.

Revisions

I reread my paper and found a lot of awkward sentences and grammatical errors, so I fixed all those.  Then I added transitions in between each perspective because my peer comments mentioned that and after rereading my paper I noticed it didn't flow very well from point to point.  I feel like the strongest element of my paper is where I describe the different perspectives on captive breeding because I'm very thorough and used my research to support the ideas I present.  I am most concerned about my introduction.  I feel like I don't have a main thesis just because my ideas were too large to fit all in one succinct sentence.

SWA #24

1.  He makes the argument that homosexuality is bad in most people's eyes because they relate it pedophilia.  He supports this by telling the story about the woman named Audrey on the radio who called in to talk about the Catholic Church scandal.  He believes that most people stereotype homosexuals as pedophiles and interchange the two words without much thought.  He constantly feels like people are judging him and mistreating him due to their lack of knowledge about his lifestyle and the life of a homosexual in general.
2.  Humor makes the subject seem much more light and makes it easier to relate to those who are not in his position or don't understand.  By doing using humor, the audience can be more comfortable or relaxed.  Also the stereotypical comments that are said in a sarcastic manner give the audience a chance to see this issue from a different viewpoint than their own.  He tries to demonstrate that most stereotypes are ignorant and aren't based off of any kinds of facts or knowledge.

Annotated Bibliography

Black, Richard. "Captive breeding 'weakens' beasts." 5 October 2007. BBC News. Article. 6 November 2011.

            The author appears to be unbiased as he simply presents facts and interviews from different research facilities throughout the United States.  He is writing for BBC News, which is primarily read by English people.  He summarizes research findings that species salmon that are captive bred lose their ability to reproduce much more quickly than their wild counterparts do.  I learned that many undesirable traits are eliminated from the gene pool because in the wild those fish eggs die off very quickly in comparison to captive breeding where all the eggs survive.  This will be useful in demonstrating the viewpoint of people against captive breeding because it actually harms the genetics of the populations.

Lynch, Michael and Martin O'Hely. "Captive breeding and the genetic fitness of natural populations." Conservation Biology 2.4 (2001): 363-378. Print.

            The source is objective and offers many scientific facts and research findings in relation to how genetics are affected through captive breeding.  However many of the findings appear negative because they show that unwanted traits become abundant in captive breeding because unlike the wild most of the fish survive.  According to the authors, this can severely damage the population especially if it is intended to release the captive individuals back into the wild.  I discovered that when these populations are released back into the wild even natural selection is not enough to remove the harmful traits from the population.  This source will also be useful in demonstrating the viewpoint against captive breeding due to the negative effects on the gene pool of populations.

Noel F. R. Snyder, Scott R. Derrickson, Steven R. Beissinger, James W. Wiley, Thomas B. Smith, William D. Toone and Brian Miller. "Limitations of Captive Breeding in Endangered Species Recovery." Conservation Biology 10.2 (1996): 338-348. Print.

            The source seemed somewhat objective as they presented many facts to support their argument.  However, the authors state that captive breeding should be used as a last resort, which makes me feel like he specifically chose research that only supports his claim.  The article is aimed at a group of individuals who are highly involved in the biology and scientific fields so they respond better to claims that are supported by facts and lots of research.  The authors covered several different points as to why captive breeding should be a last resort such as poor success in reintroduction, high costs and disease outbreak.  I learned that in captive bred populations widespread disease outbreaks are more likely when introduced into the wild as they may have genes that are not developed to withstand certain types of diseases that wild populations have become immune to.  Like the two previous sources, this one will also be beneficial in demonstrating the argument against captive breeding due to detrimental genes.

Press, The Associated. "Despite Sucess, Condor's Fate Remains Unknown." The New York Times 22 August 2000: F3. Print.

            This article appeared very objective as it offered both sides of the issue.  How the condor was helped by captive breeding but also some of the negative side effects that have happened.  The audience is a widespread audience as many people through the United States and the world read the New York Times.  The article talks about how the condor has dramatically increased its population through captive breeding, however the birds are facing many problems such as lead poisoning and begging humans for food after being released back into the wild.  I found the most interesting part was about a bird that had torn its way into a tent just to reach people and beg to be fed.  I have not decided how this source will be used yet in my paper as it represents many different sides of captive breeding.

Primack, Richard B. "Captive Breeding and Species Reintroductions." Primack, Richard B. Essentials of Conservation Biology. Sinauer Associates, 2010. 361-393. Print.

            This source is extremely objective as it comes from biology textbook.  It presents both sides of captive breeding.  The author is unbiased and his intent is to educate.  Also included are the benefits and negatives associated with captive breeding.  It also brings up possible ways to decrease the negative side effects such as cross fostering and artificial insemination.  These would help distribute genes throughout the world and thus make a more varied population.  The possible ways to decrease the negative effects were the most interesting to me because none of the other articles even expressed the idea that the negatives could be decreased.  This will be helpful in explaining all my viewpoints as many different points are brought up.

Save Solomon Dolphins. n.d. Save Solomon Dolphins Organization. Article. 7 November 2011.

This source was highly biased and contained only appeals to pathos. The authors did not present any other side but their own beliefs against captive breeding dolphins. They provided no scientific evidence or any factual evidence at all. Swimming in a straight line, catching wild fish and experiencing the natural rhythms of the seas are all things that are brought up and told that these captive bred dolphins can never experience these. I hadn’t considered how the smaller space would detrimentally affect the dolphins capabilities up until this point so I found it opened my eyes to that viewpoint more. This would be useful in explaining the viewpoint of those against captive breeding purely for the sake of animal rights.

Tribe, Andrew and Rosemary Booth. "Assessing the Role of Zoos in Wildlife Conservation." Human Dimensions of Wildlife 8.1 (2003): 65-74. Print.

            This article is objective because the author simply states all the issues that zoos have when it comes to captive breeding.  The author’s main objective is to educate his audience, which is for people who are interested in wildlife management.  The topics covered include how zoos are searching for the right balance between commercial success and scientific approval.  In addition, the article discusses how zoos handle captive breeding on their premises and in habitat reserves or other off site places.  This article opened my eyes to the problems that zoos may face when trying to create a successful captive breeding program.  Although this was very informational, I am still unsure where all this information will be useful in my paper.

Tudge, Colin. "The sad story of the stolen scarlet macaw; Colin Tudge reports on how captivity can rescue species from extinction." The Independent 19 November 1990: 17. Print.

            This article was objective in the sense that it offered both the benefits and the negatives of captive breeding when it comes to parrots in general.  However the author seemed to agree with the use of captive breeding.  According to Tudge, parrots are perhaps one of the most endangered species on the planet so they face many benefits and limitations when it comes to captive breeding.  Some benefits would be increasing their population so they do not reach extinction, however because many populations are already so small the gene pools are not large enough and they risk inbreeding in future generations.  The most interesting part of the article and something new that I learned was that some people in the world collect rare parrots and refuse to share them to conserve endangered species in order to make their own bird worth more.  Like the previous source, this was informative and opened my eyes to difficulties faced when captive breeding however I am unsure of the role this will play in my paper.