Part 1: Ambiguity Discussion (5 points)
You may do this in groups of 2 or 3.
1. Go to the Beatrice Santorini Linguistic Humor page at http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/humor/
2. There are lots of ambiguities in the links under the headings; Pragmatics, Lexicon and Morphology. You will also find ambiguities in some of the other categories. Look at the links to find an example of an ambiguity that you like that hasn't been posted about already by another student.
3. Post a New Topic to the 10/2 Participation Ambiguity discussion. Do the following:
(1 point) Put the ambiguity you chose (or as much as will fit) in your subject line so the other students can see that it has been used.
(2 points) In the body of the message
Repeat the ambiguity (can copy/paste from the web page)
Explain one possible meaning.
Put the name of the other students if you worked together.
4. (2 points) Reply to another student's posting that no one else has replied to yet or where you feel that the reply is not complete. In your reply, describe another DIFFERENT meaning.
Part 2 Research Paper (5 points)
Together, we will practice formatting a research paper, using the instructions in Works Cited page with Word.
1. Start a new Word document and follow the instructions up to but not including Step 6 under "Enter Document Information."
2. Follow the instructions to enter the title: Video Games Cause Hostility
3. Follow the instructions starting with step 7 to begin typing the paper with the sentences: Video and computer games will continue to be an exciting and growing part of children’s media diets. With so many good games available for children and youth, it is unfortunate that so much attention has to be paid to games which are inappropriate for all youth and harmful to some.
4. Copy and paste the following text into your document, matching destination formatting:
As long as children have easy access to these games, then policy debates will continue. Perhaps those debates will be moot in the near future as both the industry and parents make sure that children and youth of America are sold games that entertain and benefit them.
Video games will turn 37 years old in 2009. The industry started with the simple game of Pong and and is now a multi-billion worldwide industries. The growth of the industry is both matched and driven by the technological advances. In a little more than two years, video games consoles have gone from processing 350,000 polygons per second – a measure of graphic and action quality – to processing 125 million polygons. The increasingly realistic and exciting nature of electronic games has helped to make them enormously popular with children and youth. The statistics show that 79% of American children now play computer or video games on a regular basis. Children between the ages of seven and 17 play an average of eight hours a week. Most of the games on the market are appropriate for those youth players, and the best of them can bring a lot of benefits. Besides being fun, some of the games provide practice in problem solving and logic as well as strategizing.
The growth of electronic games has not been without controversy; however the subset of games that feature violence, gore, and antisocial behavior has raised concern among parents, educators, child advocates, medical professionals, and policy makers. The intense concern about video and computer games is based on the belief that the ultra violent are inappropriate for all children and harmful to some. But the issue is not only the social behavior problem; many studies suggested that every hour children play video games may double their risk of obesity. The statistics also show that kids prefer to play video games for long hours than having a physical activity. These video games have been considered as sedentary activities.
Concern about violent video and computer games is based on the assumption that they contribute to aggression and violence among young players. Children are more likely to imitate the action of a character with whom they identify; for instance, the player is often required to take the point of view of the shooter or perpetrator. Video games involve a great deal of repetition. If the games are violent, then the effect is a behavioral rehearsal for violent activity. Concern about these games also is based in the increase of physiological and psychological arousal. Heart rate, systolic pressure, and diastolic blood pressure all increase when playing video games. Studies have shown that the effect may be even greater for children who are naturally more aggressive. Children who are more hostile also showed much greater response in adrenaline, nor-adrenaline, and testosterone than children who are less hostile. These effects are important because these are the same type of reactions bodies when engaged in a fight. Children exposure to a violent games increases hostile attribution bias. This term has been used to describe the manner in which aggressive children perceive the actions of peers. Also the studies have found a relationship between hostile attribution bias and children’s social maladjustment, such as depression, negative self-perceptions, and peer rejection. Children also have been affected with aggressive emotions and those who are “addicted” to video games are significantly more likely to be in a bad mood.
For all these physiological and psychological effects in our kids; the society especially parents would like the authorities to have more control on marketing of these products. Parent needs that the institutions investigate the producers or distributors of these games because they don’t respect an “M” rating and continue delivering these games to children and youth. Aftermath of the Columbine high School shootings; Federal Trade Commission investigated some accusations. They reported that, “Of the 118 electronic games with a Mature rating for violence the Commission selected for its study, 83, or 70%, targeted children under 17 in their target audience”. This confirmed what parents are requesting to authorities, that is, that some in the industry were promoting products they themselves acknowledged warrant parental caution. It would be great for parents that the authorities permitted them by law to have the authority and duty to supervise the activities of their children and this can be affirmed by the Supreme Court. However, these laws will limit children’s access to certain information and activities.
In order to totally access the effects of game violence on its users, the limiting conditions which there are effects must be taken into account, which include age, gender, and class/level of education. However, violent games do affect children, as the studies show, especially early teens, and I feel that there needs to be a stricter regulation regarding the availability of these games to young children.
5. Make sure all paragraphs are indented, left-aligned and double-spaced.
6. Begin the Works Cited page by following steps 1 through 9 under the heading "Format the Works Cited Page."
7. Create entries for the following URLs:
http://www.businessweek.com/print/innovate/content/apr2007/id20070425_615390.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2000/09/youthviol.shtm
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1723
http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/conf2001/papers/walsh.html
8. This student did a good job of writing an argument, but she did not cite where her evidence came from in the paper. Whenever you use statistics or evidence you must put a citation in parentheses afterward. Not just if you use a direct quote, even if you have reworded it. Click after the sentence end "now a multi-billion worldwide industries." Type: (Walsh)
9. Click after "...17 in their target audience." and type: (http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2000/09/youthviol.shtm). There are other places in the paper where there should be citations, but we'll stop here.
Save the document as Oct2 and upload to Tasks, Tests and Surveys.