Depression's impact on literary careers and spirituality

Vovkun

Depression

This midterm is top ranking in comparison to the others. The outline is very detailed and on the first page, making it easier for me to see what the paper is about and where the writer wants to go through each section. The different sections are also very convincing in their claims such as writer oriented depression. I liked how he used two well-known writers and their bouts of depression and linked them together to where you can see directly and indirectly how depression fueled their career and vice versa. I also liked the use of religion as means of helping people who suffer from depression.

The quotes work very well with each subject. The progression from nature of depression to how depression affects different areas such as religion and literature is well thought out. The bibliography is long and varied with sources from texts, journals. Most of the sources are recent and the formatting throughot the paper is great, especially in regards to in text citation. There are no suggestions for this paper. It is a well crafted piece of work.

Antonia O'Hara

Farming Production and the Myths behind the Process

There was no outline. The bibliography page was short and lacked any variety in sources. It was mainly texts with the exception of one direct interview which proved useful in giving some insight to the topic. "Not only were they infested in the produce," this line confused me. Grammatically, it doesn't sound right. "This was the sprout of the organic movement," these sentences sound off. The first paragraph was incredibly long. It took up the whole page and I wasn't sure where the thesis was. I thought it would come up and be related to the title, myths of farming, but it didn't really mention anything about it except organic farming and how the quality of produce has diminished.

The same can be said of the conclusion. The conclusion was not clear. I did not know where it started. Some of the quotes, like the Buddha quote was good and helped convey her message. But I think the focus on the paper ended up being the benefits of locally grown foods which should have been the title of this paper. I enjoyed reading it, it provided me with a lot of information on pesticides and the current condition of American food.

The main problem is lack of focus on one topic. She needs to stick to one thing and then present claims and counterclaims for it. Going through locally grown foods, then pesticides, than lack of consumer knowledge on food, scatter the point-of-view. Narrowing perspective allows for better analysis. Otherwise, the topic was interesting, it was made interesting, and I thought everything flowed well. Was it lacking direction, yes. Could it have been more focused, yes.

Jesus-Ramirez

Group Exercise: The Safest Antidepressant

This is another great midterm. Right away I knew that she was talking about SSRI's and her attempt to follow the effects of exercise as an all natural remedy to Major Depressive Disorder. She was clear and concise from the beginning going to what SSRI's are, the history behind them, the claims that they are reported effective and are reported ineffective by actually increasing suicide rates. The literary quotes matched well with each section. She provided a multitude of evidence to support her introductory statements such as a picture of the FDA's Black Box Warning stating the danger of antidepressants in increasing suicidal tendencies.

She presented a counterclaim as well of the effectiveness of antidepressants and the FDA warning, stating suicides increased when people became fearful of using antidepressants. She also used a study and presented evidence from that study to further her knowledge on the topic. The analysis was done quite well with evidence from multiple areas to support her claims and counterclaims. The outline was extremely detailed and I saw most of what she wrote on the outline carried out in her paper. The bibliography was long and carried a variety of sources. This was a great paper. It was argumentative, thought provoking, and could easily be considered as an article because of the efficacy of her statements and research.

Kenny Mitchell

Removing the Stigma and Unlocking the Potential of Cannabis

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous." - I don't know about this quote. It does sound trippy though...so. "this stigma" should be the stigma. The opening paragraph was great, but I was really confused with the overly long question right afterwards. It was way too unnecessarily wordy. You could achieve that same amount of meaning in one not so long question: Why is it that the government feels Cannabis is harmful, and what can be done to remove the stigma and help the economy? Other than that, the history behind making Cannabis illegal was interesting and the chart showing Hemp as a better resource for paper showed how Cannabis/Hemp can be used as a better substitute for a variety of things.

His mention of opiates and minorities took away focus on the topic. Another unnecessary addition was the prescription drug problem in America. That issue deserves its own paper and certainly should not be included in this paper. After all, the point is to make Cannabis seem like a useful plant that should be legalized. Sticking to the uses and how it will help the economy will only strengthen the paper. The bibliography was weak in that most of the sources were from online. He needs to find better sources. The outline was okay but there was one section: "Opposition. None that I can find. You can not get high in any way from hemp products. I have yet to discover a negative impact to the environment or society" that is not true. There is plenty opposition and some research has shown growing marijuana has led to a negative impact on the environment through supplies pollution. People growing marijuana throw away their used up supplies in ways that pollute the environment.