FINAL PROJECT: Abstract and Reader's Reponse

Write an Abstract of your work, in 250 words or less. Then write a Reader's Response paragraph from the point of view of a difficult-to-reach-reader. This means you will address at least one argument against what you write about. Another way to think of this is to address the objection of a difficult or bored or hostile reader.  POST BY midnight on FRIDAY, MAY 5.

For the abstract,

  • write in first person, if you are writing for a lay audience.
  • write in third person if you are writing for a technical audience.

For the Reader's Reponse,

  • write in first person as if you were inside the head of the reader.
  • address at least one major objection.

See my example on The Science of Happiness:

The Science of Happiness

ABSTRACT: This Slate Magazine article argues that some disciplines of optimism can be practiced by people not usually described as happy. The writer profiles Slough, a village (pop. 750) in Northern England that participated in positive-outlook psychology training (2003-2005). University of Sheffield researchers did find that several measures of happiness increased. The writer then examines classical definitions of happiness: Socrates, Aristotle, Kant, Buddha, among them. Flash forward to the millennium: quotes from subjects surveyed in a longitudinal survey (12 years and ongoing; University of Pennsylvania) about happiness tended to center on defining happiness as a state free of “worry,” “pain,” “terminal boredom,” and “not sad.” The author settles on the Justice Stewart Potter formula: “I may not be able to define happiness, but I know it when I feel it.” Returning to the English village, the Slough project yielded "Ten Concrete Steps," which the writer considers against the thinking of psychologists James Hillman, Carol Pearson, Martin Seligman, and Victor Frankl. The article closes with the case of Tibetan Buddhist monks and their participation in neurological studies: 1) neurology of compassion states (University of Wisconsin at Madison) and 2) University of California San Francisco Medical Center studies of “taming the amygdala,” an area of the brain that may be the hub of fear.

WC= 209
READER'S PROFILE I imagine a reader skeptical of the idea that a person might rewire parts of her brain for happiness, or at least a release from stress.

READER'S RESPONSE: Hmm. Positive-outlook and meditation might work like exercise. If I do these practices, like an athlete in training, perhaps my brain chemistry might shift away from grey and into better states. Reducing even half of my stress would be great. Maybe I will spend ten minutes at the beginning and the end of the day, sitting quietly, being grateful. Of those ten items learned from the village in England, most are simple and clear. I can try two or three of them in a day. The article said something also about taking twenty-one days of practice to make a habit. I can also buy a book. If only she had written some annotations, to help me choose…..
---- Update me with your:
REVISED THESIS OR PROBLEM STATEMENT:
VOICE:  same throughout or by section or sub document
CITATION: same throughout or by section or sub document

 

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