Assignment: Read an article and analyze the author’s methods.

• Find the thesis of the whole article
• Find the main ideas in support of the thesis & find the thesis of each paragraph
• Summarize the whole article
• Read as a doubter
• Identify the writer’s underlying assumptions about the subject—where is he or she coming from on this issue?
• Identify evidence that supports the main argument or illustrates the main point.  Is it sufficient to convince you? Is there any evidence that seems to contradict the author’s point?
• Think about the writer’s tone.  Is it cautious?  Angry?  Insulting?  Serious or amusing?  How is the tone created and what effect does it strive to achieve?
• Question the sources used.  Ask yourself whether each source is relevant to the topic, whether it carries sufficient expertise, ands whether its perspective or position on the subject is different from yours or from others you know and respect.  If so, why?
• Look up unfamiliar terms and concepts
• Assess the writer’s qualifications.  Is he an expert on the subject?  How do you know? Is he affiliated with some organization or business that might affect his stance?
• Look carefully at the evidence presented.  How much evidence does the writer present?  Does the amount of support seem substantial enough for the claims being made, or does the writer rely on just one or two examples?  Where does the evidence come from?  Does it seem trustworthy?  Or does the writer rely on sources of dubious credibility?  Is the evidence fairly and fully presented?  Do you suspect that the writer has manipulated information to make his or her case look better?
• Note any contradictions
• Examine the writer’s word choices or identify underlying biases
• Does the writer quote authorities?  Are these authorities really competent in this field? Are equally competent authorities that take a different view ignored?
• If statistics are used, are they appropriate to the point being argued? Can they be interpreted differently?
• Does the writer build the argument by using analogies?  Are they satisfactory?
• Are all relevant factors considered?  Has the author cited the opposing viewpoint?  Why or why not?

Student's Response: "Sizism"

Sally E. Smith wrote and article, Sizism-One of the Last “Safe” Prejudices, and claimed heavy or large people should be label as fat.  The word, fat, which is a strong negative word that the author believed it, would catch attention.  She also believed that fat people faced many great obstacles and being discriminate from their job by the appearance of being fat in their daily life.  The author’s thesis statement claimed “It doesn’t seem to matter that research indicates that fat people are fat because of heredity and metabolic factors; that 95-98% of all diets fail within three to five years; that much of that $33 billion that the diet industry earns annually come at the expense of the health and well being of fat people;”

When the author’s quotes stated that 95-98% dietary failed within three to five years, which means that three to five percent succeed by loosing weight.  She attempted by making the big number to make it look real.  They were falsely accused to draw the people attention.  She attempted that fat people cannot lose weight.  The real key is fat people can loose weight.  The problem of loosing weight is the metabolism.  They need to learn the right way.  For example, they need to learn how to raise the metabolism in order to loose weights.

The author had a lot of agony and anger toward the publicity.  She had a lot of feeling toward being the victims.  When she said “Fat people denied access to public accommodations, such as public transportation, airline travel, theaters, and restaurants before seating is not available for them”, which indicates not true statements.  There was no proving of being discriminate about seating.  When disabled person such as wheelchair, deaf, or visual impairments attend to see a movie, most of the time they provide access for wheelchair, open-captioned, or speakers to provide their service.  They are not being discriminated.  People may make fun of them.  The author tried to make that fat categories should be disabled.  Most of publicity is equal accessible.  Disabled people had to fight for the right service.  They cannot change for who they are.  Fat people can loose weight and have a better health.  We don’t see when black people come in to watch a movie and being discriminated and kicked out.  She tried to compare the blacks as to fat people.  They both are not the same.  Blacks cannot change the color of skin while fat people can change by loosing weight.

The author was trying to let us know they feel rejected due to size, gender, and color of skin and age it as of being rejected as a fat person.  For example, the author stated, “Fat people are discriminated against education, in that they are not accepted into graduate program and are harassed and expelled because of their weight”.  The author believed that the fat categories should be protected.  They were being socially discriminate.  When the author said, “Fat people run off public beaches and out of health spas, because they do not look “acceptable”, she was ashamed of her body in public and had a low self-esteem.  She also had anger toward to tiny people.

To use the word, discrimination the author wanted to give the people get the ideas that she felt that the discriminate had already been done to black people.  She was trying to use black by comparing to theme “fat people”.  Being the victims, only she let it be and claimed, “Blame the victims”.  She was obsessed being fat.  She wanted people to feel sorry for her and help her fix the problem about fat people.  It is not a choice, while fat people had a choice.  “Our society, which accepts that in the bell curve of the human species, some people will be shorter or taller than average, and some people will be thinner than average, cannot accept that some people will be fatter than average”.  Being shorter or taller is not a choice.  A person is a deaf and is not a choice. A person is in wheelchair and is not a choice.  A person is fat and has a choice.  A person has a chance to raise metabolism.