Yoon 1

Jun Yoon
Professor Noh
English 114A
16 November 2015
Evaluating Sources

1st source: Risks and Benefits of Social Media for Children and Adolescents
Thesis: Social Media does help teenagers in terms of communications, social connections, and
learning technical skills but there is a high chance of teenagers being exposed to many risks such
as cyber-bullying and sexting.
How the author is creating argument: Author uses many evidences such as polls, reports, and
surveys to back up his argument. Also the author states examples and influences of the risks from
using social media to show what he is arguing for and why.
Rhetorical Moves: The author explains the cause and effect of sexting. The author states that
widespread distribution of inappropriate pictures and easy access to one another in social media s
causing the sexting. As the result of sexting, teenagers could possibly result in emotional distress,
school suspension, and legal problems.
Bias or not: Many of the statements in this source seem to be not biased since many of evidences
are used to back up most of the authors claims. But in some parts, the author tends to pick only
information that supports the argument which leads it to be a bit biased.
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Do I agree or disagree: I agree with the argument and in my opinion other than sexting and
cyber-bullying there are even worse risks that could harm and impact teenagers in bad ways.

1. What is the author arguing? Is the author against, or for the topic? What is the authors
main point?
The author is arguing that social media is not benefiting teenagers but instead influencing
them negatively. The author is against the topic and his main point is that social media is
causing risks such as cyber-bullying and sexting which could be critical to teenagers.
2. What examples does the author provide? Are there a variety of examples, or does the
author continuously use a single example?
Most of the examples that the author provide are polls, surveys, and reports.

3. What rhetorical moves is the author using to make his or her point? Are there any
rhetorical devices at play? If so, which ones?
The author states the causes and effects of risks such as cyber-bullying and sexting to
make his point. An anagoge, enumeratio, and epithet are used as rhetorical devices.
4. Is the author writing in the convention of the genre? Explain how is the author achieving
his or her goal.
In my opinion the author is writing in the convention of the genre. This source seems as a
persuasive writing in which author tries to persuade readers to avoid the usage of social
media by giving examples of bad effects from using social media.

2nd Source: The Impact of Social Media on the Academic Development of School
Students
Thesis: Social media does not increase teenagers academic performance and therefore there is
no relationship between social media and academic performance.
How the author is creating argument: The author divided the writing in different sections and
each section covers different material. Those different sections contain introduction, literature
review, research methods, findings and discussions, conclusion, and limitations. The main

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argument is in the conclusion which is supported by other sections to help support his argument
and make his argument stronger.
Rhetorical Moves: The author is comparing and contrasting teenagers that spend less than one
hour on social media and those teenagers that spend more than six hours on social media to
conclude that social media does not impact school students academic performance.
Bias or Not: Many of claims were used with evidences and references to show that they are facts
not authors opinions. In addition to that, I have not read any sentences that were using either
exaggeration or misinformation.
Do I agree or disagree: I do agree that social media has small impact on teenagers academic
performance but I disagree with how social media is totally irrelevant to teenagers academic
performance.

1. What is the author arguing? Is the author against, or for the topic? What is the authors
main point?
Author is arguing that social media does not increase teenagers academic performance.
The author is against the topic and his main point is that social media is not a
great source
for teenagers to learn and develop.

2. What examples does the author provide? Are there a variety of examples, or does the
author continuously use a single example?
Author uses many examples and most of them deal with percentage and numbers which
help supporting authors claims.
3. What rhetorical moves is the author using to make his or her point? Are there any
rhetorical devices at play? If so, which ones?
The author is comparing and contrasting to make his point stronger and epithet and
enumeration have been used as rhetorical devices.
4. Is the author writing in the convention of the genre? Explain how is the author achieving
his or her goal
This source was very informational and the author without having to say directly
conveyed his argument by focusing on researches findings, and discussions.

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3rd source: Benefits of Internet and Social Media

Thesis: Internet and social media are considered to be bad for teens but in reality they are
actually good for them.
How the author is creating argument: The author states possible bad influences of using social
media then explains how they are not always true by her strong claims and statements.
Rhetorical Moves: Many of statements and claims of the author appeal more to logic than others
such as emotion. Also the author used revelatory points rather than familiar points which could
not only interest readers but also buy their attention.
Bias or Not: Most of her statements and claims seem to be coming from her opinions and own
ideas therefore making everything she says a bit biased. Not that many evidences and examples
were used to back up her claims.
Do I agree or disagree: I disagree with social media having that many benefits but I do agree
with the fact that social media does not only have bad sides but good sides as well.
1. What is the author arguing? Is the author against, or for the topic? What is the authors
main point?
The author is arguing that there are good sides of social media or even social networking.
She is for the topic and her main point is that social media could be inventive and even
beneficial to teenagers.
2. What examples does the author provide? Are there a variety of examples, or does the
author continuously use a single example?
She does not provide that many examples but she does use different time periods to show
how technologies such as social media are perceived in a society is changing.
3. What rhetorical moves is the author using to make his or her point? Are there any
rhetorical devices at play? If so, which ones?
The author tries to make her statements and claims appeal to logic and by using
revelatory points to buy readers attention. Hyperbole, epithet, enumeratio, and oxymoron
were used as rhetorical devices.

4. Is the author writing in the convention of the genre? Explain how is the author achieving
his or her goal.
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She is achieving her goal by writing this article as a parent of two boys who are exposed
to social media as well. Since she is writing this article in such a point of view, she is
providing more deep thoughts and understanding of the topic.

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Works Cited
McBride, Deborah L. "Access to Restricted Resources." CSUN Library. N.p., 05 Oct. 2011. Web.
15 Nov. 2015.
Thompson, Clive. "Teenagers and Social Networking- It Might Actually Be Good for Them."
Theguardian. N.p., 05 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.
Yasmin, Hashem. "The Impact of Social Media on the Academic Development of School
Students." ProQquest. N.p., 2015. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.