A:
C:
D:
1. To what sort of audience does the writer seem to be addressing? Who is left out?
E:
H:
- What is the writer’s subject? Is she/he choosing to focus or not to focus on something important?
- In Beautiful Brains, the subject that David Dobbs talk about is the development and thought process of the teenage brain. I do believe that Dobbs has chosen to focus on an important topic for this article, because the teenagers of today are going to be the leaders of tomorrow. Also, this article is very relatable to us, as teenagers, so the article and subject is very applicable. I do not think tat Dobbs is leaving anything out. He is very descriptive and seems to give lots of thought into this paper.
- What is the writer’s main point about the subject? Do you agree? Do you disagree? Why?
- I think that the main point of Dobbs writing this paper was to inform adults that teens really do use what knowledge they have. He is basically sticking up for all us teenagers out there. I completely agree with everything he says.
C:
- What is the writer’s purpose in making that point? What do you think of that purpose? Do you think that she/he achieves it?
- I think that the main reason he made this point was to defend the position of teenagers. This is necessary in order to stop adults from criticizing teenagers. He does a good job of proving his point by giving well pointed scientific facts as well as other details such as personal experiences in which defend the position of the teenagers.
D:
1. To what sort of audience does the writer seem to be addressing? Who is left out?
- The audience that Dobbs is writing to in this paper specifically are the parents of teenagers. I feel like he wanted to tell parents that there are reasonable explanations to why their teens do certain things and act certain ways. I think that Dobbs has covered almost every audience in this paper. He knows that almost every age group of people wants to know more about how teenagers act the way they do and why they say certain things.
E:
- What are the assumptions behind the writer’s treatment of her/his subject? Do you agree with them? Do you disagree? Why?
- Dobbs makes several assumptions when he described teenagers "quite possibly the most fully, crucially adaptive human beings around” because they are the ones who will be ruling the country/ world in the next generation. I agree with this because a lot of government power and money goes into education. This is because the education of adolescents is crucial to our country’s future success, for the adolescents of today will be the leaders of tomorrow.
- What further conclusions could be drawn from the writer’s point? Do you agree with them? Do you disagree?Why?
- A further conclusion that can be drawn is that the author believes that the second viewpoint is correct. Even though in the article, he mentions how both views have merit and scientific proof behind them, Dobbs makes it pretty clear through his writing and his tone that he believes the second one with the teenage brain being perfect for its job is the only true one. I also agree with this because I did some extra research on some of the studies referenced in this article, and those studies disprove the “developing adolescent brain” viewpoint.
- What do you think of the way the writer makes her/his argument? Is it convincing? Logical? Is the argument fair?
- By providing scientific evidence and specific details about the certain processes of teenage and adult mindsets, it makes his argument incredibly convincing. As well, he writes in a logical manner that clarifies his points indefinitely. Lastly, I believe his point was fair due to his scientific proof and because of his writing etiquette.
H:
- What can you borrow (without plagiarizing)? Are there particular techniques the writer uses to argue, describe, narrate, or just shape a sentence that you want to remember and use in your writing?
- From this article, I can borrow how the author backed up all of his claims with either scientific studies or well- known statistics. The paragraphs purely describing the science were somewhat confusing; however I believe they were truly instrumental in the description/ narration of this article, and I plan on using the same technique in the future.