Bill Hendrick, "Teens all thumbs when texting and driving." May 5, 2009. Web. January 30, 2011.
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20090505/teens-all-thumbs-when-texting-and -driving
In the article "Teens all thumbs when texting and driving," Bill Hendrick states that research has show that teens how text, use Ipods and other devices while driving are much more prone to haveing accidents that endanger not only themselves, but others. He believes that texting and driving is an increasing danger to everyone on the road today and that it is very difficult for law enforcement to enforce laws banning this action, because it is hard to prove that these actions were taken. Researchers have proven the fact that texting and driving is an extremely dangerous action that is going on today and is increasingly causes death and injuries in the driving community all around the world. Bill states in the article that texting and driving is becoming a growing problem all thoughout the world.
I can see where Bill is coming from in this article, because as numbers of texting and driving teens increase, there is a growing danger on the roads that we drive on. As Hendrick states, as the studies that have been tested, they are continueing to be proven that texting and driving is a major problem today, and there needs to be something done about it, so that the increasing number of accidents can be reduced by huge numbers.
As technology becomes more and more popular throughout the world, there are increasing numbers of teen who are texting and driving. This is a major problem, as Bill states in the article, but there isn't much that can be done besides outlawing any use of phones while operating a vehicle. But, this is still a huge problem even if it is outlawed, because it is a very difficult job to enforce the laws of phone use while operating vehicles. I have personally been know to text and drive and I do have to agree that it is a very dangerous thing to be doing while operating a motor vehicle and if there is something that can be done about this horrible action, law enforcement needs to enforce these laws to help decrease the number of accidents involved with texting while driving. Texting does have a huge impact on teen driving throughout the world.
This article does bring a few questions to mind after reading it. Where does the writer get his facts about the research done on texting while driving? Are his statistics correct? How can this problem be resolved throughout the world? Is this something that is to difficult for law enforcement to enforce? Would teen car accident rates decrease as the numbers of teen texters also decreased?
Group Response #1
ReplyDeleteI figured since the blogger doesn’t maintain the Microsoft Word formatting I’d write this in essay form. I was focused on the meaning and depth of understanding your response contained, however I also paid attention to the “sound” of it. In other words, did it flow and was it easy to read for someone unfamiliar with the topic?
Your source citation and dating of the article don’t follow MLA format (I did this too), the author’s name is Last, First and the dating of the article is Day, Month, Year. So it should be Hendrick, Bill and the dates would be 5 May 2009 and 30 January 2011 (no commas). The website OWL at Purdue doesn’t navigate well, but if you look hard enough the information for citation is there. Deeply buried, but there. Also, each paragraph is supposed to be indented by one ‘tab’ key (I forgot this too).
In your first prompt there are a few grammatical errors: middle of the second line ‘how’ should be ‘who’, the second sentence repeats the word ‘enforce’, and the comma doesn’t need to be after the word ‘taken’. Overall it was a well rounded statement of his position but lacked statistical facts, the numerical relationship to the frequency of drunk driving accidents for instance. I followed his ideas but it didn’t seem like he had anything new to add to the conversation. Was there something in the article that was different or unique to him or the research?
Your analysis of the article is short and to the point, it covers the ideas and speaks to something we all can agree with even if we don’t know how distracting texting can actually be. I feel this could have been expanded on to emphasize how important this topic is becoming. Using relevant information from the article like quotes, major ideas/points and conclusions would serve to drive the point home.
I like how you are able to admit to texting and driving. It really draws attention to the problem and how widespread it is. Moreover, it brings your personal testimony to the table in support of the research. I don’t see how you would be able to disagree with the article in any way other than the enforcement possibilities. Even then I happen to agree with the article too, enforcing the law is extremely difficult. An alternate approach might be to look for prevention and educational methods. More statistics or percentages would be helpful here too; numbers are a great way to back up opinions and personal conclusions because they are not easily disputed.
In your final paragraph/prompt you started with a good lead-in “This article brought to mind…” However, some of your questions seemed to either be answered in the article or your analysis of it. The last question though, “would teen car accident rates decrease as the number of teen texters also decreased, is an excellent idea. It asks for a simple yes or no answer, and while that answer is obvious (YES!), it makes you think about the implications and positive consequences of reducing the number of teen texters.
As for finding two areas where you can improve, the first would be to go more in depth on the summary of the source. This would mean including more hard information such as facts, statistics and mentioning their source material (was it a research study, survey, or analysis of others work?). The other area is to separate yourself from the source itself, even if you completely agree with their conclusion. Make sure to specify your ideas, either comparing or contrasting them to your sources so that it is clear whose ideas are whose. An easy way to do this is to use ‘I’ statements and then words or phrases that isolate your ‘I’ statement from the sources idea. These words/phrases include “similar to,” “in contrast to,” “unlike,” “SOURCENAME believes differently” and “SOURCENAME’s ideas are in line with mine” etc.
Hope all my rambling helped you out in some small way =D
The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say. ~Mark Twain