Swales' CARS Model

Move 1: Establishing a Territory

When it comes to social networks and false appealing profiles many users do tend to create false profiles without even realizing it. This is important because many users tend to "stretch the truth." For example, by being able to pick and choose what pictures users want to upload onto their profile.

Move 2: Establishing a Niche

Through my research, I've come to realize that not many users are aware of how often people create false appealing profiles. Also, just by talking about this subject with my peers, many of them didn't understand what I meant by a false appealing profile; instead, they thought I meant a completely made up person with their own profile. I decided to do some research of my own for this topic. I looked at some of my peers' Facebook pages to see if their pages were entirely true. Come to find out, my profile page wasn't exactly who I am, therefore, I am guilty of creating false appealing profile.

Move 3: Occupying the Niche

The purpose of my essay is to make my readers aware of the how often people create false appealing profiles. In order to support this, I researched different social networks, such as, Facebook, MySpace, MUDs, etc. Some sites are created specifically for the purpose of being someone you are not, whereas, with other sites, they're specifically made to represent who you are. By the end of my essay, the reader should be well aware of how often false appealing profiles actually occur. In fact, there profiles cannot only affect the user's image, but can also affect other people. For example, the 13-year-old girl who committed suicide due to a cruel prank played through MySpace. For the structure of my paper, I plan on starting with a question of how many people know someone who stretches the truth on their Facebook or MySpace pages, in hopes that this will catch the reader's attention. Then I will talk about MUDs and how they were created specifically for users to be someone/something they're not. I feel as if not very many people are educated on what a MUD is, so it'll help by explaining a little more about them. Next, I will get into the different studies of college students and their Facebook profiles. I will wrap up my essay by reminding my reader to keep an eye out for it and to always remain aware.

Chapter 7 and 8 Quiz

For my Core 4 assignment, I plan on arguing how in some cases, it is clever to create a false profile to make the user seem more appealing, however, it is not a smart choice. For this argument, I personally feel that my research is a combination of both, an argument of definition and an argument of fact. I clearly state my opinion and side of the argument, stating that it is not smart to create a false appealing profile. In Lunsford’s book, “Everything’s an Argument,” it states “definitional arguments don’t just appear out of the blue; they evolve out of the occasions and conversations of daily life” (pg 228). This unquestionably relates to my research because Internet social-networks are used in people’s everyday lives. For example, today, many users of Facebook have an application on their phone giving them updates on what’s going on. In my research I’ve found that people tend to stretch the truth, making their profiles not “really who they are.” People put up the pictures they want other people to see; users aren’t going to upload and post a bad photo of them. I feel as though my research will help my peers realize how users of Facebook and other social-networking sites do create a false appealing profile just based on the little things that can be altered.

Also in Lunsford’s book, she explains how design issues also play a role in an argument of definition (pg 232). She gives examples of italics, boldface, and headings in writing and how they also play a part. This relates to my research because on Facebook, for example, you can add various symbols, boldface, underline, larger font, etc. to make what you’re saying more noticeable. Even though Facebook is fairly new, you still can find information about it and the effects of false appealing profiles in some scholarly articles, newsgroups, and even in some college dictionaries. Facebook is continuing to progress and have a strong influence on people’s everyday lives.

My research can also be considering a factual argument because it does “tend to be driven by perceptions and evidence” (pg 182). In the research I’ve found, there have been many cases where researchers have examined and surveyed users of Facebook and other social-networking sites. Also, some of the research I found contains opinions then supports them with evidence and different studies. For example, in Sherry Turkle’s “Life on the Screen,” she is researching and observing the different MUD characters used and eventually runs across one of herself. This changes her whole perception and looks at her research in a whole other view point.

The information I used to conduct this research has helped me with defining my argument. I found my topic to be both a factual argument and an argument of definition.

Research Reflection - 4/6/10

Reflect on your research found to date... What do you think about the conversation between all of the authors so far? Do you have any concerns or see any problems with any of this research?

The research I've found has seemed to support my argument that online networking makes it easy for users to create false appealing profiles. The authors of my research all seem to have the same view points. Sherry Turkle explains how there are websites/games that allow you to create a false character allowing the users to be anyone or anything they wanted. The most interesting point in her research is how she came across a MUD that was "Dr. Turkle." She explains how freaked out she is by it and how it affected her. Brad Paisley uses satire to explain how he is "so much cooler online." I feel like this is great for my paper because my paper will be written towards my peers (young adults). In his song, Online, Paisley talks about a lot of funny things that I know I, myself, as well as many of my peers have came across while browsing online.

In Zhao's, Identity Construction on Facebook, he explains how easy it is to create a false persona on Facebook. This is the research that affected my ways of thinking the most. I feel like I will be using this research frequently in my research. When Zhao explains how when users just pick pictures that they "look best" in, this is creating a false profile. People get to pick and choose what they want on their profile, sometimes stretching the truth. I feel like this research will also have the most impact on my peers while reading my paper, because it is very true.

The only problems I'm having with research, is trying to find two more sources. A lot of the information I'm finding is about stories of people on social networks or simply information that does not pertain to my research/paper. Overall, I feel like this research has helped me a lot and helped me have a better understanding of the research I am actually doing.