Chapter 8

The first thing that came to my mind when reading this article was the importance of being clear. Clarity is such a large factor when writing all types of papers. When I go to thinking about this topic of clarity, clarity isn’t just important in writing but in all aspects of communication whether it is in a movie, radio, books, magazines or in writing itself. The problem is how can we be more of a clear writer? I think this comes with experience and time. The author says in our book, “we never know what we want to say until we’ve written it.” This is such a clear sentence and makes complete sense. When I’m writing a paper, sometimes I feel like I am all over the place. I fell when the reader actually starts reading this paper they are going to get dizzy! The last sentence is something that struct me as insightful. It reads, “deep or complex ideas need not be expressed in obscure ways. Indeed they shouldn’t be.” Going along with clarity is coherence. Making sure that paragraphs are flowing together smoothly, and sentences actually follow idea to idea is so important to giving the reader an idea of understanding. Conciseness is something that often times writers in high school and college struggle with when given a large paper to write. When the teacher says there is a minimum of 8 pages, often times students will write for six pages and then go back in and add enough sentences of ‘blah’ until the paper has reached the eight page minimum. BUT, when conciseness is drowned with these ‘blah’ sentences, the reader may get bored or lost. Adding unconcise sentence can add unclarity and incoherency. Lastly, something that sounds so simple (and perhaps is) is punctuation. Punctuation is probably the easiest that I have mentioned, yet if punctuation is wrong, the whole paper can lose credit. The audience may come to believe that if the person can’t use proper punctuation, there is no way I can trust what the reader is saying.

I know I will need to work on all of these topics. I know that my clarity and the coherentness of my papers is a big struggle. I feel if I can continue working with these two topics, my papers will be delivered in such a convincing way. The book in chapter eight calls this deliver, deliver, deliver!

work cited with explanations.

First, when i copied my works cited page from my word document it doesn't have the correct spacing or any underlining. Im sorry, but the word document has all of the correct punctuation.

Works Cited
1. Dong, Quan. “Three Gorges Dam: Natural Flow and Dam Operations Three Gorges Dam: Natural Flow and Dam Operations.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 3.2 (2005): 75-76.
Basically all of these website contain very similar information. This websites information describes how the operation of the dam has the same amount of impact on the environment as the actual dam itself.

2. Edmonds, Richard Louis. “The Sanxia (Three Gorges) Project: The Environmental Argument Surrounding China’s Super Dam .” Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters 2.4 (1992): 105-125.
Contradictory to most of the articles i have found, this article in some places actually states that the dam is good for the economy and has a positive side to it!

3.Friedman, Edward. “Damming the Three Gorges: What Dam-Builders Don’t Want You to Know.” The Journal of Asian Studies 50.2 (1991): 397-398.
This is a very difficult journal to read, but describes the history of the dam dating back to the Mao era and why it is so important to them.

4.“The Grand Canal and the Three Gorges Dam: A Historical Comparison.” Trade Environment Database. 20 Nov. 2008 http://www.american.edu/‌TED/‌3gorges.htm.
This website has an extensive amount of research related to the dam. It talks about the economical, environmental, and global aspect of the dam. It also describes the history of the dam.

5.Hemming, Li. “Reservoir Resettlement in China: Past Experience and the Three Gorges Dam Reservoir Resettlement in China: Past Experience and the Three Gorges Dam .” The Geographical Journal 167.3 (2001): 195-212.
Written by a native himself, he describes how hundreds of thousands of lives have been displaced and forced to move to other locatoins.

6.Kwei-Cheong, Chau. “The Three Gorges Project of China: Resettlement Prospects and Problems The Three Gorges Project of China: Resettlement Prospects and Problems.” Ambio 24.2 (1995): 105-125.
Similar to the previous source, this paper describes how many of the inhabitants of the river around the dam were forced to living in other places.

7.Perkins, Sid. “A Dam Shame.” Science News 24 May 2003: 323.
A very bias magazine article, describing the basic horribleness rooting from the dam.

8.Porter, Glen. The three gorges dam : a perspective on relocation. N.p.: n.p., n.d.
This is a thesis given from a BYU graduate elaborating on the disaster that begun when the dam was built, but focusing more on the people themselves and less on the environment.

9.Stone, Richard. “Three Gorges Dam: Into the Unknown.” Science 1 Aug. 2008: 628-632.
When the dam was first built most people didn't know what to expect. Actually most people thought the dam would bring energy and opportunity not just for part of China but for the whole country.

10. Wu, Jianguo. “ The Three Gorges Dam: An Ecological Perspective.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2.5 (2004): 241-248.
Lastly, similar to all other articles, Jianguo has a very bias opinion on the disaster that the dam has brought into his country.

I have already started doing research for my research paper. I have chosen to write about the Three gorges Dam in china and the existing dilemma that it brings; the extensive amount of damage it has brought not only to the environment but to the the people in the basin area. I have a large interested in China and I think this topic would be very interesting for me to write about. I have found a lot of success finding dependable sources on this subject on the byu website and the links found thereof. I first plan on making an outline for my topic. After I make the outline for the my paper, I will gather as much information as possible. After deciding what sources have more information than others and what sources are the most dependable I will start marking the more important points in the articles. Again, I will revise my outline and starting writing my paper. I will just continually write my frist rough draft and try not to lose tract of thought. Everytime I write a paper and lose tract of what I'm saying, it is difficult to pick up were I was. I need to stay focused and motivated to get it done. Once the rough draft is done, I will edit it myself, then have several peers edit it. After my peers have edited it, I will take my paper to the writing lab. Finally, a final draft will be written and handed in.