Week 4; Post 2

An inductive argument that I found myself involved in this week was between myself and my grandma. She and I were talking on the phone and she asked me how long after my fiancé and I get married will we start having children. I told her that we were thinking of not having any children. She seemed absolutely appalled by my answer and couldn't seem to understand how a married couple would not have any children. To her, after getting married she would expect that we would have children. She assumed because me and my fiance are getting married (the premises) that we were going to have children (the conclusion). This argument between my grandma and I was an inductive argument because she looked at the premises, that I am getting married, and drew her own conclusion, that I would want to have children. Inductive arguments can be very tricky because they rely on assumptions rather than real facts. 

Week 4; Post 1

Dr. Novello is a woman that didn't let the fact that she was born into a poor family, the loss of her father at a young age, and dealing with health problems as a child stand in the way of achieving remarkable things. In fact these may be some of the reasons she was so motivated to helping reduce the devastation created by AIDS, violence, smoking, and alcohol. Her use of cause-and-effect inductive reasoning was helpful when she began her crusade to lower the increased number of teens and children that smoked cigarettes. She noticed that the numbers increased substantially in 1988 which was when cigarette ads hit the public eye.  She reasoned that since the ads came out the same year of the increase they must be related. The increased number in teens and children smoking was caused by the ads they were being exposed to. The exposure to cigarette smoke in turn effected the health of the teens and children. 

Introductory Post

Hi all!

I am a communication studies major and this will be my second semester at SJSU. I received my Associates Degree from West Valley Junior College in December 2010. I am really excited for this semester and learning all the things this course has to offer. I am sure like many of my other communication classes the material will be interesting and relatable to our everyday lives (one of the things I like most about communication studies!). I enjoy traveling and being outdoors. I recently visited Hawaii's Big Island....and got engaged there! So I guess wedding planning will become my new hobby. I look forward to spending this semester with all of you!

:)