TOW #1: NYTIMES- Myths Surround Breakfast and Weight by Anahad O’Connor; IRB Intro "A Stolen Life" by Jaycee Lee Dugard

           On September 10^th, 2013, Anahad O’Connor posted an article on New York Times about how eating breakfast has an effect of whether people may gain weight or not. He talks about how people skip breakfast in order to lost weight. In actuality, it causes people to not lose but stay the same or even gain weight. Why? He says that if people skip breakfast, they get hungry throughout the day and snack on a lot of things and eat much more than they would have if they had eaten breakfast. However, he mentions many contradictions that other researchers have point out, which was that breakfast might actually help people lose weight.

            The author is credible because he uses actual facts that he had researched. For example, he uses Dr. Allison as a source and quotes many of the things that he claims about eating breakfast. In the article, as one of the contradictions, the author mentions that Dr. Allison said “But of 72 subsequent research articles on breakfast and weight loss that cited the registry study, about half overstated its findings”.

            Several things mentioned in the article are out of context. For example it states that, “…then measured the effect on their body weight was published in 1992”. This is out of context because it mentions a trial that was published in 1992. Those trial results could be completely different compared to if that trial was redone in 2013. Basing other results on the trial in 1992 is inaccurate and the outcomes would be misleading.

            The author purpose of this article was to show two different sides of whether breakfast was a necessity or not. It wasn’t to argue a side but to analyze different views of eating breakfast.

            The audience for whom the article was meant for would probably be towards people in general who care for their health and want to know ways in which they can be healthy. Since the article is not fighting for one side, it is a more informational piece. Therefore it is intended towards people who want to know which route is the right way to go.

            The author uses personification in his article to achieve his purpose, which is emphasizing several points. For example he says, “…their findings drowned out by dozens of large observational studies that have found associations between breakfast habits and obesity but no direct cause and effect”. The large observational studies didn’t actually “drown” the findings. What he meant was that the observational studies overpowered the other findings. The studies were better than the findings that the findings are ignored for that reason.

            The author achieved his purpose because he used factual evidence from actual scientists who are reliable sources for his article. He showed both sides of an opinion in order to show the possible doubts of a thought. He uses rhetoric, like personification to show emphasis in what he is trying to say. As these examples of his strategies show, Anahad O’Connor accomplished his purpose.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/myths-surround-breakfast-and-weight/?ref=health&_r=1

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Lee Dugard

This book is about a girl named Jaycee Lee Dugard who write about her experience as an 11-year-old abducted and imprisoned for 18 years. I chose this book because I have always heard stories about little children being kidnapped and were never found. But this girl survived all those years and was able to retell her story of how she remembered it. I have always wanted to know what really happens to children who get kidnapped. I would always hear that a child was killed. So no one would be able to hear the child's story. 

I am looking forward to be able to feel the feelings that she felt and put myself in her shoes to get a better feel of the story. What I hope to gain is the truth. I want to know if crazy things do happened to kidnapped children like movies portray, or if it is all exaggerated and kidnapping isn't as "exciting" as it seems. I am very excited to read this book!