Cultural Analysis of "Stimulating Controversy"

In this post I will analyze the cultural messages of an opinion on electrotherapy in physical therapy.

84user. "The Blue Marble" 10-22-2011. Public Domain.

I have chosen a text on the controversy of using electrotherapy for treatment in physical therapy.

Cultural Keywords
Treatment, helping, stimulation

Thesis
Electrotherapy can be a powerful tool in helping patients regain mobility.

Freewrite
The use of electrical stimulation in physical therapy has been questioned recently due to a few main setbacks. Oddly, some of these setbacks are unrelated to the effectiveness of the treatment itself.

The cultural keywords found in this text are used to explain that electrical stimulation is overall very effective when used correctly. These words are geared towards showing the audience that the treatment is successful. The thesis also states this same idea. The audience is more inclined to support this argument due to the key words because they show that these technique itself works very well but the problems lie in the outside factors such as cost, insurance, and confidence in performing the treatment.

Evaluation of Rhetorical Situations

In this post I will evaluate acts of public speech on a controversy in my discipline.

Public Domain Pictures. "Unknown" September 24 2013. CC0 Public Domain.

1. "Stimulating Controversy" on Electrotherapy in Physical Therapy

• The author of this piece is Gad Alon. He has a PhD and is a Physical Therapist. The author doesn't introduce himself but it is mentioned at the beginning and end of the piece. If the author were someone with less credibility, the piece would be less informative and lack the variety of information. The authors values are shown a little bit throughout the text. It's obvious that he is concerned with the results of the studies being done on electrotherapy. At the same time, it's clear he tries to mask his opinion and just give the information that is currently known.
• The primary audience is other physical therapists looking for more on the controversy or patients looking for information on why the treatment has been put to question. The text assumes that the audience values proper and effective treatment through physical therapy whether that may be through the use of e-stim or not. The audience values the most effective and least harmful treatments.
• This piece was published in April 1, 2001. This medium is an informative article on a medical search engine. This article is related to all other physical therapy controversies and different types of treatments. It is unknown where the author published this text. Other texts that are similar to this one are posted on a link at the bottom that includes articles of or relating to physical therapy and different types of treatments.

2. "Vitamin D: How much is enough?" 

• The author is Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay. There is no evidence that he has any professional knowledge on the subject but he quotes reputable sources throughout the text. It's possible that if the author himself were more credible the piece would contain information of better quality. From the introduction, it's obvious that the author is very in favor of using vitamin D supplements as a treatment. The rest of the information given throughout the text shows that the author is backing up his opinion with factual information.
• The primary audience is people concerned with the amount of vitamin D they're consuming or anyone looking for information on the controversy. The genre of the text is similar to that of a QRG which makes it a little more official. This makes the audience a bit more broad. 
• This text was published in June/July of 2014. The context fits that of a quick reference ride but it is more formal and more in depth than original QRGs. Other texts similar to this one can be found on the website where it was posted.  

3. "Case study report: postural restoration: an effective physical therapy approach to patient treatment"

• The author is a physical therapist name Holly Spence. Due to the fact that this piece is a case study from a patient the information is very reliable. The author provides a table of the patients history and progress which shows evidence of the treatment working. From the type of language used thtoughout the text, it's very obvious the author has a lot of information on the subject. 
• The primary audience of this text is mentioned at the beginning. The piece is designed to inform other physical therapists or professionals in the field of new and effective treatments. The language used makes it obvious that the reader should have some knowledge on the subject of the treatment or of other treatments. 
• The piece was published in April of 2008. This makes the information pretty recent in terms of medical treatments. The piece was a case study of a patient where the use of postural restoration was successful. Other texts similar to this are difficult to find but they can be found on medical journals. 

Reflection

I reviewed Jayni's post and Kelly's post. The formats of both of their posts were different from mine which only gave me more ideas on how to construct blog posts in the future. Jayni set hers up as a table and Kelly used short sentences with titles to evaluate hers. I admired both techniques. After seeing my peers posts I can confidently say that my post reflects the amount of time I spent analyzing my sources. My peers did give me ideas on how to effectively format my blog posts. Looking back I should have used titles separating my different paragraphs rather than bullet points. 

Developing a Research Question

In this post I will discuss research questions in one area of controversy in Physiology.

Horia Varlan. "Question Mark Made of Puzzle Pieces" 10/03/2008. Creative Commons Corporation.

Currently in physiology, professionals are discussing the use of certain types of therapy to create maximum results. One technique in particular include electrotherapy. This field interests me because I have personal experience with electrotherapy as I went through a process of multiple weeks receiving the treatment. I have come up with a few questions regarding this topic. 

1. Why have the results of using electrotherapy to treat joint problems in the elderly made the technique as a whole questionable?

I'm interested in this because as I watch my grandparents grow older, these types of treatments become techniques we start to consider. I'm curious of why electrotherapy is being questioned when it has shown to be useful in many situations. 

2. How does electrotherapy actually affect the body and how does it aid the process of healing?

This interests me because as I mentioned before I have actually had electrotherapy performed on me over several weeks. I was always curious what it was actually doing to me and how it was helping treatment of my injury. In my case, it didn't do much but I have witnessed cases where it has.

3. Why are therapists resistant to use electrotherapy in patients they see potential for it to work?

This is interesting to me because therapists explore many other techniques to heal a patient when electrotherapy is a valid treatment.

4. Why won't insurance companies cover electrotherapy for patients but they will cover a variety of other treatments?

I, along with many others, have had issues with insurance companies not covering electrotherapy in physical therapy. It's a very frustrating and costly experience. 

Final Draft of Project 1

To view my final draft of my QRG click here!!

Reflection on Project 1

In this post I will discuss my experience composing my QRG for project 1.

Geralt. "Unknown" September 23 2014. CC0 Public Domain

• What challenges did you face during the Quick Reference Guide project and how did you deal with them?
• I had problems finding solid information on the fad diet aspect of the controversy. This was difficult simply because there is very limited information on the subject but it ended up making my QRG go in a different direction than I had originally planned.

• What successes did you experience on the project and how did they happen?
• I was able to successfully use all of the conventions of a QRG and use white space pretty well. I think the order of my information fit the style well because I gave an introduction  of the content and then explained from there, going into greater detail as the project went on.

• What kinds of arguments, rhetorical strategies, design choices and writing practices did you find the most effective for your project? Why?
• I found the use of images, horizontal lines, and subheadings the most effective when constructing design. I felt that the images gave evidence on the content and the horizontal lines separated different topics as well as made it easier to scan. I found that trying to avoid an argument but use sympathy at the end gives the readers incentive to get involved in the topic and form their own opinion. I also used a bit of foreshadowing to give the readers an idea of what the next paragraph of text will be about. 

• What kinds of arguments, rhetorical strategies, design choices and writing practices did you find were not effective for your project? Why?
• I found that obviously stating my personal view of the topic unhelpful because that is not what the purpose of a QRG is. For design, I avoided the use of normal paragraph style because the genre does not require that and I did not want my QRG to appear like an essay. 

• How was the writing process for this project similar to other school writing experiences you’ve had in the past?
• It was similar to articles I've had to write and short informative projects. All of these genres require research and stress visual aids to provide information.

• How was the writing process for this project different from other school writing experiences you’ve had in the past?
• It was different because I was able to completely build the project on my own without a lot of guidance. In the past I would have a cookie cutter rubric but I was able to branch out on my own a lot for this project.

• Would any of the skills you practiced for this project be useful in your other coursework? Why or why not?
• Yes, it would even help me in other subjects. Being able to choose a topic on my own and construct my own piece without a ton of guidance is a really useful skill I'll use a lot in the future. 

Reflection

I reviewed Morgan's post of her opinion on project 1. For the most part, we had pretty similar answers. I found myself agreeing with a lot of the points she mentioned. We both agree that using hyperlinks as sources was a much better choice than using a works cited because then our readers can engage in some research of their own. We both enjoyed the more informal writing style as well. Overall we both feel good about finally having project 1 completed and enjoyed the process of creating it. 

Clarity, Part 2

In this post I will go into further discussion of Rules For Writers sections.

Jenny Dowing. "Unknown" June 21 2008.

Active Verbs

Active verbs put more emphasis on the subject it's paired with. They have more of an effect than passive verbs because passive verbs don't show an action that the subject receives. The book advised to always use active verbs and to avoid using passive unless necessary. This is due to the fact that active verbs give a clearer message and have a stronger impact. 

Add Needed Words

The book gave several examples of when to add needed words. One reason in particular that I felt will help my writing personally is adding words to make comparisons logical and complete. I learned that in comparing objects that are different from each other it's a good idea to add words to clarify the objects to make them easier to compare. For example adding "than those of" is better than just saying "than".

Untangle Mixed Constructions

Untangling mixed contractions means fixing parts of sentences that don't make sense. This could be sentences that are too wordy or the message is a bit off. Fixing a sentence grammatically could be as simple as adding punctuation and keeping the words the same. Fixing a sentence due to the message could be adding words, taking away words, or simply switching up the order to make the sentence more effective.

Find The Exact Words

This lesson talked about finding the right words to get the message across exactly as it's intended. A tip that this part included was to avoid looking up synonyms for words that sound fancy and instead look for words that really represent what you're trying to say. By doing this the message will get across effectively instead of being wordy and confusing. This also helps give the message the correct tone and doesn't over exaggerate anything.

Revision
Revising my draft after reading the topics from Rules for Writers gave me a lot more tools to improve my draft. I was able to find a spot where I needed to add punctuation to untangle a mixed construction. In this sentence, "Celiacs disease is passed down genetically; it occurs when the small intestine cannot properly break down gluten proteins." I added a semicolon because without it the sentence's meaning was unclear. I used the exact words rule to revise a sentence in the beginning of my draft. In this sentence, "It is obvious that it’s necessary for people suffering from Celiacs disease and gluten sensitivity" I replaced the word "crucial" with the word "necessary". By doing this it gives the sentence the correct tone and avoids any confusion or misleading.

Identifying Basic Grammar Patterns

In this post I will be analyzing the longest paragraph of my current draft of my QRG.

Stinging Eyes. "Lost for Words." June 12, 2007. Creative Commons Corporation.

To view my longest paragraph, click here.

Picking apart my longest paragraph made me realize I should use some more variety in my writing. A few times I found myself adding in the necessary pieces of grammar to complete my blog post. Reading my revised paragraph and seeing how much more interesting it was to read with the variety of grammar makes me want to revise my QRG more thoroughly.

Paragraph Analysis

In this post I will be analyzing my paragraphs in my QRG.

Michele Weber Hurwitz.  June 14, 2015. 

I learned that my strengths are transitioning from topic to topic and setting up the format of my document. My current draft is still very rough so it's a bit hard to tell what I have done a good job of so far and what skills need some work. From the peer comments I received, I need to fix a few grammatical errors and provide more evidence. This is all still in the works. I think my weaknesses could include making my document more aesthetically pleasing. I need to learn how to make it look like a real QRG by adding more pictures and minor visual things.

Here is my copy for paragraph analysis.

Reflection on Project 1 Draft

In this post I will discuss peer review on mine and my peer's project one drafts.

Unknown. January 31, 2015. CC0 License. 

I peer reviewed Mika's draft and Kyle's draft. My draft was reviewed by Jessica and Jayni.

Audience

• Who is going to be reading this document? 
• My instructor and my classmates will be reading my QRG
• What are their values and expectations?
• They're expecting all the conventions of a QRG to be included in my project. They're expecting a guide that provides information on my controversy and provides both sides of an argument in an unbiased way.
• How much information do I need to give my audience?
• I need to provide my audience with enough information to give them an overall understanding of the controversy. They need to know what gluten is, background info on what diseases require a gluten free diet, and findings from experimentation with them.
• What kind of language is suitable for this audience?
• Formal language but not too formal. Like I was writing about an event that happened.
• What tone should I use with my audience?
• The tone should be informative, like a news report. There should be no indication of my personal opinion on the topic.

Context 

• What are the formatting requirements of the assignment?
• I use the conventions of a QRG to guide my formatting. This includes white space, visuals, short concise sentences, etc.
• What are the content requirements for the assignment? 
• Provide sourced information such as quotes and hyperlinks. I still need to integrate my quotes and hyperlinks.
• Does my draft reflect knowledge or skills gained in addition to my own ideas and voice?
• Yes it does. I provide information that I researched and had prior knowledge of and it is said in my own words.
• Have I addressed any grammatical issues that my teacher highlighted in class or in my previously-graded assignments?
• I have not addressed them yet but I am very aware of them. 

Clarity, Part 1

In this post I am going to discuss what I learned from Rules for Writers.

"Rules and Regulations...Threshing Committee of the U.S. Food Administration for Knox Co." 1917. Public Domain

1. Balance Parallel Ideas
Parallel ideas are concepts that are easier to grasp when paired with another idea. I found it interesting that when they're presented in a series they should be presented in the same kind of form. For example, they should all be nouns, adjectives, etc. or the sound of the text is a little off. 

2. Emphasize Key Ideas
Emphasizing key ideas can be done by putting it in the subject and verb of the words that readers pay attention to the most. Coordinating and subordinating were tools the book mentioned that I found interesting. Coordination helps put emphasis equally on multiple ideas and subordination is used to put more attention to one idea versus the other. It's important not to subordinate ideas you feel are important.

3. Provide Some Variety
Using variety in my writing has been something I struggle with a little bit. The book mentions varying sentence openings and the types of structure used in sentences. Changing sentence openings could be moving the subject of the sentence to the end instead of the beginning or beginning the sentence with an adjective. Changing sentence structure could be switching off between simple, compound, and complex sentences throughout the piece. 

4. Tighten Wordy Sentences
Tightening a sentence is necessary when it can be shortened without losing the overall point. To tighten a sentence, eliminating redundancies and cutting empty phrases are two effective tools. Eliminating redundancies means to get rid of repeated ideas in a sentence that are phrased in different ways. By cutting it down to one the sentence gains clarity and becomes more concise. Cutting empty phrases is a simple one. Getting rid of unnecessary phrases like "I think that" gives the sentence a more formal feel.

Thoughts on Drafting

Below I will discuss A Student's Guide to First-Year Writing's reading on how to properly form a draft.

Drew Coffman. Writers Block I. 07-19-10. Creative Commons Corporation

1. What parts of the book’s advice on the topics are helpful for writing in this genre?

• Drafting a Thesis Statement- It is helpful when the book says the thesis statement is making a promise to the reader on what the piece is going to be about when thinking of the opening statement on what the QRG is going to be about as the thesis. It says to make sure it's interesting and manageable which will keep the reader engaged through the whole piece.
• Writing Paragraphs in PIE Form- The books claim of having one paragraph cover a single point works well with QRGs when using white space and small paragraphs to cover different points.
• Writing Introductions- I agree with the statement that it's important to forecast the information going to be covered. By giving a preview in the introduction it allows the reader of the QRG to decide whether it's going to contain the information they're looking for or not.
• Organizing Information- The idea of evaluating the organization of a piece using reverse outlines and cutting up the piece and putting it in a different order. I think these are valuable methods of testing the organization and revising it to make it easier for the reader to find information they're looking for. 
• Writing Conclusions- Circling back to an interesting point or main incident in the conclusion could be an effective tool here. Also, if the QRG is about an unresolved issue, looking forward in the end could be an effective conclusion as well if providing all the information on a topic is unavailable. 

2. What parts of the book’s advice on these topics might not be so helpful, considering the genre you’re writing in?

• Drafting a Thesis Statement- This section doesn't totally apply to QRGs because there is no obvious argument being made. The opinion of the writer is supposed to be a bit hidden throughout the article and therefore shouldn't be a strong claim.
• Writing Paragraphs in PIE form- The book's claim of providing analysis might not be relevant for QRGs because they are mostly stating facts and will most likely not need as much analysis as the book suggests.
• Writing Introductions- For QRGs, I disagree about the need for a thesis statement containing the author's argument. Readers of QRGs are not necessarily looking for an opinion on the topic but rather more information on it.
• Organizing Information- The idea of forecasting information at the end of paragraphs most likely won't be necessary in QRGs. Paragraphs are short and focus on one topic and forecasting the information in the paragraphs before won't be needed. 
• Writing Conclusions- Summarizing claims for the conclusion on a QRG is not necessary. The information in the article can be accessed throughout and does not need to be gone over again in this genre. People do not read QRGs for the conclusion but rather to get quick information so therefore summarizing is not needed. 

Reflection

After reading Jessica's and Alyssa's blog posts I realized it's common to have different opinions on writing styles and still produce quality work in the same genre. Jessica and Alyssa both had some different opinions from me about what is applicable and not applicable to the QRG genre but that doesn't mean we can't all construct quality QRGs.

When revising my QRG, I think I need to work on the following:
1.  Overall, I need to work on the aesthetics of my project. Right now, it looks unprofessional and only consists of content. I need to add images, white space, etc to make it look like more of a QRG.
2.  I also need to work on the content of my project. My draft covers the overall topic I chose but I need to find more specifics and give the readers more specific and concise information.
3. My draft currently lacks a title. I'm working on creating a creative and informative title that fits exactly what my QRG is going to be about. 

Draft of Quick Reference Guide

Below I am going to reflect and attach my draft of a QRG

I have constructed a very rough draft of a quick reference guide on the gluten free controversy. I emphasize "rough" because it is very, very rough. I'm aware I need to add more quotes and more context in general. Also, I am going to add hyperlinks very shorty. A title will be added as soon as I think of one I'm satisfied with.

A link to my rough draft can be found here.

Practicing Quoting

In this blog post I will give an example of proper quoting.

Screenshot taken 09/12/2015

The blue indicates the text that gives the quote contextual information.

The purple indicates text that gives the source credibility.

The green indicates signal phrases in the text.

The yellow indicates the use of ellipsis marks an/or brackets.

QRG's: The Genre

Below I am going to discuss the genre of 5 examples of a Quick Reference Guide.

Conventions of the Genre
Each QRG contained the following conventions:

• Title
• Subtitles
• Short, concise paragraphs
• Use of white space
• Images/Visuals
• Hyperlinks to sources

How the Conventions are Defined by the Author's Format/Design

The title is always at the top of the piece. It usually is to the point and unbiased. The subtitles are used to break up the text into sections and help the reader scan for the information they're looking for. Short concise paragraphs and white space help the reader find information more quickly. Images and graphs etc are found throughout the article, usually at the beginning. Hyperlinks are used to direct the reader to the sources used to find the information. 

Purpose of QRGs

The purpose of QRGs is to provide scannable, to-the-point information on certain topics. They are often unbiased or not extremely biased. The information found in them is usually pretty reliable and contains hyperlinks to the sources.

Intended Audience for QRGs

The intended audience is dependent on the topic of the QRG. In most cases, the intended audience is the people interested in the topic. This could range from people informally researching information for personal use or professionals on the topic. 

How QRGs use Images/Visuals

There is a variety of visuals a QRG can include. This could be a photograph, a graph, a chart, etc. Photographs are used to show visual evidence and evoke emotions in the readers. Graphs and charts are used to display concrete information. Visuals also give the readers a break from reading the text.

Reflection
I reviewed my peers QRG: The Genre posts at Alyssa's blog, Mehruba's blog, and Brandon's blog. I found that even though we were all asked to do the same thing, we produced different types of blog posts. Alyssa did a nice job of showing the reader the key conventions of the genre. I admired how Brandon explained all the key conventions by provided the purpose and use of them. Mehruba did a nice job of adding unique specifics to show the small but important details in encountering a QRG.

Cluster of My Controversy

Below I am going to discuss how I made a cluster about my controversy.

Screenshot taken 09/09/15

I used Coggle to create a cluster about the Gluten Free Controversy. I used the instructions for the blog post to create the different topics and referenced my previous blog posts to answer the questions listed.

Here is a link to my cluster on Coggle.

Reflection
I reviewed Morgan's blog and Nick's blog posts about their clusters. Both of their clusters have very different styles. Morgan's cluster had longer sentences and less categories. Hers was pretty similar to mine in the way we set them up. We both used Coggle and used the instructions to chose our topics. Nick's was very different from ours. He had multiple topics with less content per bubble. His was a little more confusing to me but I'm sure it makes sense to him.

Annotated Bibliography in Journal of Physiology Style

Below I will be constructing an annotated bibliography for the sources I have used in my previous blog posts. 

Nephron. Intermediate Magnification of Celiac Disease. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

Chang K (2013). Gluten-Free, Whether You Need It or Not. Well. Available at: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/gluten-free-whether-you-need-it-or-not/?_r=0 [Accessed September 5, 2015].

The purpose of this article is to inform readers of findings regarding a gluten-free diet and the reasons people chose to participate in them. The primary audience for this article is people interested in the controversy or looking to participate in the diet themselves, ones that may also have celiacs disease or a sensitivity to gluten. This article uses personal experiences and facts to discuss the effects a reasons behind needing a gluten-free diet. The author conducted his study by researching the findings of doctors. He uses quotes from professionals to back up the information he shares. The major findings from this article is that a gluten-free diet is absolutely necessary for people suffering from celiacs disease. Other than that, it is unknown whether a gluten-free diet is beneficial for people without a sensitivity to it. I plan to use this article as an example of a general source regarding the subject.

Authority Nutrition (2015). Is "Gluten Sensitivity" Real or Imaginary? A Critical Look. Available at: http://authoritynutrition.com/gluten-sensitivity-is-real/ [Accessed September 5, 2015].

This article was written to give readers an overall understanding of how gluten reacts in the body. It is geared towards an audience looking to find out more about what gluten actually is. The purpose is to provide information regarding gluten related illnesses and studies. The study provided in the article was done by testing people with self-reported gluten sensitivilty on a diet containing isolated gluten. The results showed that the real problem might be related to wheat instead of gluten. I plan to use this article when regarding gluten-sensitivity. 

Harrington C (1977). Dermatitis Herpetiformis: Effect of Gluten-Free Diet On Skin Iga And Jejunal Structure And Function. The British Medical Journal 6065, 872-875.

This journal was written to contribute to the knowledge of gluten interacting with the skin causing dermatitis herpetiformis. The audience of this journal is other researchers of the topic seeking further information on the topic. The purpose is to show the discoveries of the experiment done. The study was done by taking gluten out of the diets of people suffering from Dermatitis Herpetiformis. The results showed a gluten-free diet is an effective treatment of the disorder. I plan to use this sources as concrete evidence of gluten related illnesses.

Hubble D (1963). Diagnosis And Management Of Coeliac Disease In Childhood. The British Medical Journal 2, 701-706.

This journal was written to contribute information to the medical field about diagnosing children with Celiacs disease. The intended audience is other professionals in the medical field looking to further their knowledge on the subject. The methods of this study include displaying procedures to use when attempting to recognize the disease. The findings provided information on the proper diagnosis of Celiacs disease in children. I plan to use this source as an example of previous findings on the disease.

Twitter (2015). rían on Twitter. Available at: https://twitter.com/ricinneide/status/639960568674258944 [Accessed September 5, 2015].

This tweet was written to try to convince his followers of the knowledge he claims to have about gluten reacting in the body. The audience is all of his followers on Twitter. The purpose is to tell people that gluten sensitivity is not real. There was no study conducted behind this knowledge. I plan to use this source as an example of social media influences on the gluten-free controversy.

Instagram (2015). Amanda on Instagram: “#Repost @_gorgie with @repostapp ・・・ I did not choose to be sick. I did not opt for a "fad diet". I do not enjoy watching everyone around…”. Available at: https://instagram.com/p/7OuTd9qCAe/?taken-by=hashtagimotowarrior [Accessed September 5, 2015].

This Instagram post was created to inform her followers of her experience with Celiacs disease. The audience is all of her followers. The purpose is to show her struggle with eating a gluten-free diet. The author was diagnosed with Celiacs disease. I plan to use this source as a reference to personal experience with a gluten-free diet. 

Sanghavi D (2015). Who Really Needs To Eat a Gluten-Free Diet?. Slate Magazine. Available at: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/02/gluten_free_diet_distinguishing_celiac_disease_wheat_allergy_and_gluten.html [Accessed September 8, 2015].

The purpose of this article is to discuss how celiacs disease is under diagnosed and gluten sensitivity is over diagnosed. The article is geared towards people looking for more information on the two illnesses. The overall purpose is to inform readers about the diseases themselves and the misconceptions about them. The key idea in this text is to show that it is hard to differentiate the problems people have with gluten. I plan to use this to show how people with gluten issues can be very misled.

reddit (2015). There’s a lot of controversy over the gluten-free diet. Is it really as good or bad as many people say? Or is the truth somewhere in the middle? • /r/Health. Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/Health/comments/35y6k5/theres_a_lot_of_controversy_over_the_glutenfree/? [Accessed September 8, 2015].

The purpose is to answer a question regarding what to eat on a gluten free diet. The audience is the person and other people that have the question. The purpose is to say that people that want to eat a gluten free diet without a gluten tolerance should not eat processed foods that should naturally have gluten in them. The key idea is that eating gluten-free processed foods is worse than eating nutritious foods that naturally have gluten in them. I plan to use this when talking about being gluten-free without having gluten sensitivity. 

Abel H (2015). Stop Mocking Gluten-Free Faddists. They’re Just Trying to Feel Better. Slate Magazine. Available at: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2014/12/gluten_free_fad_don_t_be_annoyed_says_celiac_disease_memoirist.html [Accessed September 9, 2015].

The purpose of this article is to show the struggle of a person suffering gluten sensitivity without knowledge of it. The audience is people with a misunderstanding of what it's like to suffer a gluten allergy. The author tries to make people empathize for her disease. The major findings was that the author suffered while doctors misdirected her before she found out what was really wrong with her. I plan to use this source as an example of the process leading up to being diagnosed.

The Huffington Post (2015). Beware The 'Health Halo' Of Gluten-Free Foods. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gluten-free-foods-are-no-healthier-study-finds_559c29b0e4b04a9c98e84be4 [Accessed September 9, 2015].

The purpose of this article is to show that gluten-free foods are not always healthier. It is geared towards an audience that is wondering if gluten-free means healthier. The purpose is to show hard evidence that nutritionally the gluten-free foods and gluten containing foods are not very different. The study done showed that gluten-free foods contained 52% less protein than foods with gluten. I plan to use the study as evidence that gluten-free does not always mean its healthier.



For this bibliography, I used this reference guide to citations in The Journal of Physiology style. 


Reflection
I reviewed Mika's blog and Carter's blog on their annotated bibliography posts. Carter, like me, is interested in the health field so our citation style is kind of similar. He did a nice job of using AMA style for his sources. One critique I had was the color of the text he used, it blended in to the page too much and I had to highlight the text to view it correctly. Other than that, his overall citaions looked correct. Mika is a computer science major so she used IEEE style. Her post was beautifully put together. It made me appreciate the amount of work I had to do. Her citations matched the example and her descriptions were very well thought out. 

Ideology in My Controversy

Indil77. Symbol for Gluten Free products. 1 May 2015. Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication

Who is involved in the controversy?
There are multiple unaffiliated groups currently discussing the controversy about gluten-free diets. The group with the most knowledge on the topic would be the doctors, researchers, and nutritionalists looking for the facts and trying to find the real answers. The other groups consist of the media. This could range anywhere from twitter accounts dedicated to Celiacs disease or simply personal accounts discussing the topic amongst each other.

Who are some of the major speakers/writers within these groups?
Daniel Kalish DC and Lola O'Rourke MS, RD are active speakers on the topic. Daniel Kalish discusses how gluten disrupts healthy thyroid function and Lola discusses the safety regarding gluten free food labeling. They are both certified and have expertise in the subject.

What kind of social/cultural/economic/political power does each group hold?
These groups mostly hold social power. There is some economic power involved in the actual production of gluten-free products and people demanding them. Most of the power comes from the social aspect of people trying to engage in the latest diet fads.

What resources are available to different positions?
The doctors and nutritionalists have access to recorded experiments and databases for conrete information. The media has just that, the media. They can do their research through the internet on the topic.

What does each group value?
The professionals in the medical field value the answers. This means they value finding the end result to the controversy so we can further our knowledge on the subject and advise people effectively. The media values the attention. In other words the followers, the subscribers, the people that believe the information in their posts whether it is correct or not.

What counts as evidence for each position?
For the specialists, the evidence lies in the results of experiments and medical procedures. This is concrete knowledge of how gluten reacts in the body. For the media, evidence could be found in posts about personal experiences with a gluten-free diet; for example, transformations, stories, etc.

Is there a power differential between the groups?
Definitely. The doctors hold all of the power in the argument. The doctors hold all of the knowledge and concrete facts regarding the subject. The media simply spits out facts it knows the consumers want to here.

Is there any acknowledged common ground between groups?
There is a little bit of common ground. The only thing that would overlap is when doctors and professionals use the media to spread their discoveries and opinions on the topic.

Is there any unacknowledged common ground?
There is a bit of unacknowledged common ground between the two. When doctors are doing research on the topic it is often said that they will search the media initially to see what other information about the subject is out there.

Do the various groups listen to each other?
The media more often than not does listen to what the doctors have to say about the controversy. The doctors however seldom listen to the media because the media is full of lots of misinformation and things the doctors are already aware of.

Evaluation of Social Media Sources

In this post I'm going to talk about social media sources that discuss celiacs disease and the gluten-free controversy.

My first source is from a twitter account. 

Screenshot taken on 09-04-15

Credibility

The author of this tweet does not appear to be very credible. I was able to view his twitter feed and uncover that he has over 20,000 tweets with a total of 202 followers since he has joined twitter in December of 2010. Although his page shows no evidence of participation in an organization, all of his recent tweets involve health-related issues. Looking further down his feed it's evident that this account is a personal account. There is no confirmation of his tweets being correct. 

Location

The author has no affiliation with any organizations involving celiacs disease. In fact most of his tweets have been unrelated to the topic. He has many tweets involving the use of proteins in our body and involved celiacs disease as a side topic.

Network

Most of his followers consist of random people. I was able to identify one registered nurse but that does not prove his affiliation with anything involving physiology or celiacs disease. 

Content

The content of his tweets does not seem to be totally incorrect. I'm sure some credibility can be found. From my prior knowledge of health I can tell that some of his statements aren't incorrect but overall it's obvious he is very opinionated. 

Contextual Updates

Rian's other posts are unrelated to celiacs disease. They are mostly about general health assumptions. This includes topics such as veganism, carbohydrates, overuse of protein, etc.

Age

The twitter account was made in December of 2010. The tweet itself was posted September 4, 2015.

Reliability

I would say the source is unreliable. The author does not seem to have any qualifications or expertise in the subject and barely even goes into the subject of celiacs disease but merely posts a side tweet about it. 

My next source is an instagram post from a girl suffering from celiacs disease.

Credibility

Amanda does not belong to any organization involving celiacs disease, she simply suffers from it. The only element of credibility she has is the fact that she has personal experience with the disease.

Location

I was unable to find information on Amanda's location. From her other posts, it can be assumed that she is posting from her hometown where she resides. She is directly related to celiacs disease because she is currently suffering from it.

Network

Since her account is a personal account, there are no accounts that follow her due to the information she shared about having celiacs disease. They mostly consist of her friends and family.

Content

The information she supplies in her post can be corroborated from other people that suffer as she does. She is sharing her experience with the disease through social media. This can be confirmed through other people that share the same experiences as her.

Contextual Updates

Amanda does frequently post about her experience with her disease. This could be anywhere from sarcastic posts about comments or advice she gets from people regarding her struggles to posts about her internal struggles with the disease. The majority of her posts involve something about her daily struggle with a gluten-free diet.

Age

The age of her account is unidentifiable. From her posts, I can infer that she has had her account for at least a couple of months. It is obvious her account is not new.

Reliability

I would not claim her post to be reliable. Although she does have personal experience with a gluten-free she does not contribute any information about the controversy. 

Evaluation of Scholarly Sources

In this post I am going to evaluate two scholarly sources on how gluten effects the body.

http://www.picserver.org/images/highway/phrases/gluten-free.jpg

The first scholarly article discusses the effects of a gluten-free diet on the skin's structure and function.
What is it's purpose?
The purpose of this piece is to provide information on a study done on patients with dermatitis herpetiformis, or a skin manifestation of Celiacs disease. The experiment done showed that two thirds of the patients tested on showed results of treatment after extracting gluten from their diet. Therefore the overall purpose of the study was to show how a gluten-free diet is effective in the treatment of the skin disorder.

How and Where is it Published?
It was published by BMJ, or the British Medical Journal, by academic review in England of April 2, 1977.

What kind of sources does it site?
The journal references 27 different sources. All of which being either other scholarly journals, published research, or other scientific novels. These references can be found in the reference list or throughout the journal itself.

Who is the author?
The authors are Christine I. Harrington and N. W. Read. Christine has a Ph. D and her own website called drchristineharrington.org. She also is the founder of Harrington Teaching and Learning Services LLC. N. W. Read was a bit more difficult to locate but one can assume based on the article that he/she has similar qualifications.

Who is its intended audience?
This journal is definitely intended for an audience with a great amount of knowledge in biology and other sciences. Most likely research scientists seeking out information.

How did I find it?
I found this journal through JSTOR, an academic database.

The second scholarly article is about the diagnosis and management of Coeliac disease in children.
What is it's purpose?
Because Coeliac disease does not occur commonly in childhood, the journal's purpose is to contribute to medical knowledge about properly recognizing and diagnosing the disease. It does this by showing the procedures done to recognizing it and explaining how and why it should be recognized as Coeliac disease.

How and Where is it Published?
Similar to the previous article, it was published in the British Medical Journal as well. This particular article was published at a later date of September 21, 1963.

What Kind of Sources does it Site?
This article references twenty one sources. Most of them being scholarly journals pertaining to pediatrics as the article is focused on the disease in children. These sources can be found scattered throughout the article as the information used from them is put to use.

Who is the Author?
The author is Douglas Hubble. Hubble is the author of Pediatric Endocrinology.

Who is the intended audience?
This journal is geared towards doctors and medical professionals to further their knowledge in properly recognizing and diagnosing children with Coeliac disease.

How did I find it?
I used JSTOR, an academic database, to search for scholarly articles having to do with gluten.

Evaluation of General Sources

In this post I'm going to discuss two sources of a recent controversy that has to do with physiology. I found two credible sources on the debate discussing gluten.

The first article covers the overall gluten-free debate.

Stacy. "Anadama Bread" 2 February 10. Creative Commons Attribution  2.0 Generic

URL 
The URL is http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/gluten-free-whether-you-need-it-or-not/?_r=0.  It ends in .com which implies it could be either credible or not but because it's the New York Times I consider it as credible.

Author
The author is Kenneth Chang. I was able to verify his qualifications through the New York Times website and his twitter handle.

Last Updated
It was last updated February 4, 2013. Even though the article is over two years old there is no indication that the information is out of date. The other links found on the page take us to other articles throughout the New York Times website and to articles that have to do with health related topics. All of the links found are currently working.

Purpose
The main purpose of this article is to inform the readers of the current studies and findings of a gluten-free diet and the reasons behind people participating in it. There is no written biased opinion trying to sway the reader one way or the other, simply fact and examples of personal experiences that have been properly quoted and cited.

Graphics
There is an initial photo of a piece of bread being shown as hazardous waste. I believe the author is using sarcasm here to show that it is a bit ridiculous to label gluten as unhealthy to consume.

Position on Subject
The author seems to be unbiased about the situation. It is difficult to explain because he tells the viewpoint of a doctor who is biased against the gluten-free diet but also shows evidence that celiacs disease is increasing. The problem is there is no exact answer yet so the author shows both sides to leave the question unanswered, as it remains. If the readers of this article believe the information given New York Times will profit from it as they will gain credibility. The information given can be verified from other sources.

Links
The article itself does not suggest referencing any other readings. It does correctly cite and quote it's sources.

The second article claims to use an evidence-based approach to discuss the controversy.
URL
The URL is http://authoritynutrition.com/gluten-sensitivity-is-real/. Similar to the first one it also ends in .com which alone has no real indication of how credible the source is. We would be able to consider it credible if it ended in .gov or .info.

Author
The author of this article is Kris Gunnars. I was able to find information about Kris through the website the article was found on and other social media such as Google+ and LinkedIn. He has a BS in medicine and is CEO and founder of the Authority Nutrition.

Last Updated
I was not able to locate any information on when the article was last updated. The material is from 2014-2015 as it states so at the very bottom. The links throughout the article are working links to the sources the author used to get the information in the article.

Purpose
The purpose of this article is to inform readers of what gluten actually is and try to make the controversy a little less unclear. Although the article still leaves the question unanswered, it gives a little bit of insight to what might be the real issue with gluten-containing products by discussing a study pertaining to gluten and wheat. There is no recognized biased opinion or persuasion going on.

Graphics
There are photos throughout the article. All but one of the photos are generic photos of pasta, wheat, or other products containing gluten. The only photo with some biased opinion is of a loaf of bread with caution tape over it in reference to wheat being an issue and not gluten. This is when the author talks about a study where gluten was shown to not be as problematic as actual wheat in people with bowel issues.

Position on Subject 
The source appears to have a similar stance as the previous article except a little less biased. It simply informs the reader of the basics of gluten and the diseases that are caused from it. From here it shows evidence from studies about the issue but doesn't try to sway the reader to one side. Overall, it is unbiased.

Links
The article itself does not suggest any other readings but there are a lot of advertisements and suggested articles for other health related topics. This could be a possible question of credibility. On the other hand it does include hyperlinks to reputable sources.