Counterintuitive Fall 2024

1. Miller, K., Danner, F., & Staten, R. (2008). Relationship of Work Hours With Selected Health Behaviors and Academic Progress Among a College Student Cohert. OR https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3200/JACH.56.6.675-679?needAccess=true&

Background: Authors Miller, Danner, and Staten have gathered statistics from their experiment of 1,700 undergraduate students and surveys asking for their health behaviors and hours worked, and has provided information that proves students who work more than 20 hours a week have a harder time managing themselves.

How I Used It: I used a lot of information from this article because it it credible and provides many facts and statistics from the authors’ experiment. This is the main article that I used for my Categorical and Causal essay. Overall, I quoted and paraphrased a lot of information, and it helped me create my thesis statement.

2. Mounsey, R., Vandehey, M., & Diekhoff, G. (n.d.). Working and Non-Working Universoty Students: Anxiety, Depression, and Grade Point Average.

Background: This study shows the difference of mental health issues between 110 working and nonworking university students. The data analyses in this study precisely explains that there is no difference in the level of depression but there is a difference in the level of stress and anxiety for working college students. Also, it goes in depth about the reasons why and students choose to work and how it effects them.

How I Used It: I used this study to compare the different health behaviors between working and nonworking university students. I did not use much of this study in my essay, but it did give me more knowledge on my topic to gather enough information and form each essay.

3. Stauffer, R. (2018, August 28). College vs. Paycheck.

Background: This article by Stauffer provides a personal perspective of a working college student and what her opinion looks like. Reading this article is like reading inside the mind of an employed college student and understanding the struggles she went through when she was in college.

How I Used It: This article is my favorite and I used it in about every essay that I’ve written so far. Stauffer had many useful point of views and opinions in her article that quoted in my essay whenever I needed a strong view to back up my own so my audience can understand what I was saying.

4. Ezer, Z. (2017, March 30). Not Enough Hours in the Day: Work Study Students and Sleep.

Background: A few stories and opinions from university students are provided in the article that back up the authors text that students should only be working 20 hours or less per week. This article explains the struggle that students experience when they work too much and why they cannot get enough sleep, causing more stress.

How I Used It: I used this article for most of my definition essay and some of my causal essay. It helped me prove that there are cases where students suffer from lack of sleep due to the examples given from the article. It helped me prove to my audience that students do not get enough sleep because of their packed schedule. I also used this as a base point in my definition essay and referred back to it plenty of times.

5. Anthony P. Carnevale, G. U. C. on E. and the W. (2019, November 21). Working while in college might hurt students more than it helps.

Background: This article expresses how it may be more harmful for students, especially low-income students, to have a job more than being beneficial. Moreover, it mentions the grade point average of students who work more than 15 hours per week, and explains how the work experience students get from their jobs while in college does not always prepare them for a good job after graduation.

How I Used It: I did not use much of this article, but I did use one example from it, in my Causal essay, to prove that professional jobs require some type of experience , and without it, it is hard to be accepted for that job.

6. Caldwell, M. (2020, April 14). Here Is a List of Reasons for Working Your Way Through College.

Background: This article emphasizes the benefits of having a job while in college.

How I Used It: I used this article to rebuttal against in my Rebuttal essay. This author played as my opponent, trying to encourage students to get a job with no hesitation and without thinking, so I used some quotes and paraphrasing in my essay to explain that the author forgot to mention the downsides of having a job in college. I used this knowledge to explain to my audience why this author is wrong of omission.

7. Scott, E. (2019, April 12). Common Causes of Stress in College.

Background: This article lists and explains the common causes of stress within college students, but not one of those causes are because of employment.

How I Used It: I used this article for my Rebuttal essay when I simply searched the web for “causes of stress within college students,” to see if any articles mentioned that having a job while in college is the reason for students’ stress. However, there was no recognition given to those university students who work all the time and have mental health issues. I used this article to argue against in my Rebuttal essay to show my audience that working college students are not given enough recognition.

8. Powell, F. (2017, January 11). Weigh Whether to Work During College.

Background: The advantages and disadvantages of having a job while going to college full-time is explained in this article.

How I Used It: I used this article for my Causal essay to compare the benefits of having a job and not having a job while attending college. I did not use any quotes from this article but I did gather enough information to list my audience the benefits of having a job in a short “Yes, but…” sentence.

9. Scholastica, T. C. of S. (2018, May 21). Working while in college: Weighing the pros & cons.

Background: This article weighs the pros and cons of working while going to college full-time.

How I Used It: I did not use this article in my essays but I did compare it to another source that weighed the pros and cons of having a job while attending college full-time, which helped me gather enough information to write a couple sentences of my own without quoting.

10. Lucier, K. (2012, September 13). Consider Pros and Cons of Working in College.

Background: This article explains the pros and cons of working in college and came to conclusion that it is smart to get a job, but to restrict the number of hours a student should work per week.

How I Used It: I used this article to compare with my other sources to ensure that researchers are being accurate and to make sure that the advantages and disadvantages from other Pro/Con sources are being accurate. I did not necessarily use any quotes or paraphrasing from this article to use in my essays.

11. Reifman , A. (2011, October 1). Stress in College Students.

Background: Some key points from this article was what causes the stress in college students and how students usually cope with it. This article also provides many facts and quotes from other articles to back up their reasoning.

How I Used It: I used this article to help me write my Causal and Rebuttal essay by gathering information from it to ensure that my words were heading in the correct direction when I was writing. I did not use a quote or paraphrasing from this article in my essays.

12. Lauriello, S. (2019, January 25). The Real Reason Record Numbers of College Students Are Seeking Mental Health Treatment. Retrieved from https://www.health.com/condition/depression/anxiety-depression-college-university-students

Background: This article provides a story about a young college student who was suffering from anxiety due to her social life and classes. It goes into depth about why she was suffering the way she did and how she treated her mental health issue.

How I Used it: I used this article to compare the personal story of a young college female suffering from mental health issues to another personal story of a college female who struggled while working too many hours. I wanted to recognize the difference between a college student’s point of view who does not work and suffers from anxiety and a college student’s point of view who does work and struggles 24/7. I did not use any quoting from this article in my essay, I only used it to gain more knowledge on my topic and to notice both perspectives.

13. Perna, L. (n.d.). Understanding the Working College Student. Retrieved from https://www.aaup.org/article/understanding-working-college-student#.Xp-rSGhKhPZ

Background: This article gives a clear explanation of the working college student’s perspective, reasons why they work, what jobs are expecting of them along with how students cope with their packed schedule.

How I Used It: I used this article to build my knowledge on my topic and to continue with Causal and Rebuttal essays strongly. This article gave me a better understanding of points that I did not cover before in my essay, and it gave me clarification and more answers afterwards. I did not use any quotations or paraphrasing from this article in my essays.

14. https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1087&context=honors_proj

Background: This study goes in depth about the increased pressure that college students experience due to finding a job, dealing with financial issues, being thrown into an issue they weren’t expecting like managing a busy schedule while dealing with mental health issues, and the health behaviors caused by social media. It explains a lot about why students get a job and what getting a job leads to.

How I Used It: This study provided me with plenty of information since they completed their own research on a very similar topic. I did use paraphrasing and quotes from this article in my Causal essay to assist me with proving why students get a job in the first place and to show that students who have low-income but have too high of income to receive enough financial aid are most likely to get a job.

1. Amanda Capritto “Can herd immunity help stop coronavirus?” Online Research 10. April 2020 

Web. 20. April 2020 

Background: This article discusses a different strategy in the battle against the coronavirus. Instead of isolating and social distancing countries like Sweden and placing little restrictions on activities in an attempt to gain herd immunity from the virus.

How I used it: This article introduced me to a different viewpoint to approaching the virus. After reading the article Sweden released statistics on infection rates. Although the numbers were lower than other countries the government called the death due to the virus the “inability to protect the elederly.” Which essentially means that this system is flawed for the elderly or compromised. 

2. Nicole Chavez “US coronavirus cases reach more than 101,000” CNN 28.March 2020 Web. 20. April 2020

Background: This article showed the current state and demand of medical supplies were needed. People in hotspot states like New York, New Jersey, etc. were getting tested and the number of reported cases were rising.

How I used it: I used this article to compare the United States numbers in coronavirus cases to other countries around the world. I also used this article to show that at the moment the United States has the highest number of cases but reports show that China failed to report numbers and the United States is testing the most people at the moment (drive through testing sights popping up around the country).

3. Shirley Zhao “China’s Mobile Carriers Lose 21 Million Users as Virus Bites” Bloomberg 23. March 2020 Web. 20 April 2020

Background: This was another interesting but scary article. This piece showed that China could be lying about their number of cases based off of cell phone data from the largest communications company in China.

How I used it: I used this article to promote that fact that the United States isn’t the highest number of cases and deaths China is. That being said, all 21 million cell phone lines being abandoned doesn’t mean they were all related to the coronavirus but, even 3% off that number is higher than the United States cases. I then explained how China downplaying the severity of the virus caused the world many casualties. 

4. Smriti Mallapaty “What the cruise-ship outbreaks reveal about COVID-19” Nature 26. March 2020 Web. 20 April 2020

Background: This article from Nature showed how 700 people out of 3,500 got infected with coronavirus on a cruise shipping off the coast of Japan called the Diamond Princess. After this instance of COVID on a cruise ship cases around the world started popping up.

How I used it: This was one of the world’s main events that showcased COVID’s fast communal spread and the most important thing is that it was outside of China. These cases also showed that the death rate of the virus was higher than reported. China reported a death rate of around 1.1% whereas the WHO and other sources noted it to be 3.8%. This was proven true due to the older population that tends to attend cruises more often.

5. Steven W. Mosher ”Don’t buy China’s story: The coronavirus may have leaked from a lab.” New York Post 22. Feb 2020 Web. 20 April 2020

Background: The article written by Steven W. Mosher. He is a journalist from the New York Post. He investigates the speech that ” Xi gave he said, because lab safety is a “national security” issue we need to find a way to fix in the future”. From this statement it implies that the virus came from a lab in Wuhan China.

How I intend to use it: I intend to use this article to show curing the coronavirus could be hard after you know its origins. From this article I can use what leader Xi is saying about the origins of the virus to show this

6. “CDC Reports 13 Million Flu Cases.” ContagionLive. 22 Jan. 2020. Web. 10 March 2020.

Background: This article is an interesting viewpoint on how the spread of the virus could have been misdiagnosed in January. This article was written back in January but it is a good source to look back on now that we know the state of the USA right now.

How I intend to use it: In another source I mentioned that in states like Seattle and Oregon there was a strain of coronavirus that was dated to have arrived in the United States back in early January. Seeing where the United States is now we have to think that the virus must have been around before we knew about it. I will argue how counting events in January allowed the virus to spread around the United States.

7. “CDC has tested 1,583 people for coronavirus.” The Hill. 8 Mar. 2020. Web. 10 March 2020.

Background: This article discusses current states of testing in the United States in early March. The CDC’s lack of test was arguably a reason that the spread of the United States coronavirus was so fast and aggressive in some areas. 

How I intend to use it: The details of the strain that originated in Seattle dated back to January. Testing was limited; it took forever at this point in time. This cost the United States lives due to the CDC’s inability to ship mass amounts of products. Without this data counties/states wouldn’t know what events, schools and gatherings to cancel until a mass amount of people were infected causing hospitals to overflow.

8. URL: Mathew Philips “U.S. Stocks Plunge as Coronavirus Crisis Spreads” New York Post. 10 Mar. 2020 Web. 15 March 2020.

Background: The article is written by Matt Phillips, Jason Horowitz and Choe Sang-Hun. All of these authors operate under the New York Times and have written plenty of articles about the stock market.

How I intend to use it: With the current rate of the stock market dropping the government was forced to send out stimulus checks to support people that were laid off from work and can’t afford to feed their families. If the virus keeps us indoors how will Americans get necessary supplies to feed families and survive.

 

1. URL: https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/December-2016/The-Impact-of-Music-Therapy-on-Mental-Health

Background: This article talks about about the four major interventions involved with music and explain what the benefits of those interventions and how it helps patience deal with mental health issues

How I Used it: I used this article to help readers understand the methods that music therapists used in order to help their patience and the benefits those methods have . I also used it to learn more about music therapy and why therapists use those methods.

2. URL: https://academichelp.net/samples/academics/essays/cause-effect/music-effects.html

Background: This article talks about how music affects our brains and our body and plants and animals . It provides ways it can benefit our hearts and it  explains how it helps the brain stronger.

How I used it: I used this in my casual argument to show the readers that music can not only help with mental issues but with others illnesses. It gave me information about the benefits and I used that to help readers understand the reason why we should do music therapy more.

3. URL: http://www.rapsite.nl/disadvantages-of-music-therapy/

Background:  This article talks about the disadvantages of music therapy  and how it could have a bad effect on trauma patients with mental illness.

How I used it :  I use this for my argument paper to show that there are disadvantages to music therapy but not all of them are true. This was the main focus of my argument paper because it provided me with the argument to my paper

4. URL: https://positivepsychology.com/music-therapy-benefits/

background : This article provided health benefits and tells you the goals they are trying to achieve with music therapy. It also talks about the effect it can have and what therapy can be used for while also providing some facts.

How I used it: I used to better my knowledge on the benefits of music . This was used to provide me with information about the subject for my research topic and paper .

5. URL: https://www.aimm.edu/blog/how-does-music-affect-your-mood

Background: This article talks about how music affects our moods and changes our emotions based on what type of music we are listening to . It’s also talks about how it affects our view of the world while listening to music 

How I used it : I use this to provide the readers some knowledge on how music affects the moods and how it affects the brain that changes our mood when listening to music . This was used for my original thesis that music can affect our emotions . 

6. URL: https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-europe/origin-music-00972

Background: This article talks about the origins of music and how it came to. It talks about how long music has been around for centuries. It also talks about the oldest instrument.

How I used it : I used this  to provide information about the origins of music due to the fact that I was defining music and what it was about. It was used to learn the history of music.

7. URL: http://www.pbs.org/mercy-street/blogs/mercy-street-revealed/songs-of-survival-and-songs-of-freedom-during-slavery/

Background:  This article provides you with the knowledge on how slaves used music for survival. It talks about how it was a form of freedom to them because it distracted them from the situation that they were in and provided them with the memory of home. Music is very important to people of color.

How I used it : I used this to provide the people who read with the knowledge of how important music is. It is a very important thing in many cultures. I used it to let us know that slaves used music to better their moods while working in the fields to show how they used music to express what emotions they were feeling through song. 

8. URL: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/naked-truth/201410/music-is-what-feelings-sound

Background:  This article talks about how music is basically our emotions but through. It talks about how each type of music can capture that emotion and it makes you feel relatable . 

How I used it: I used to show that music is a great way to help you express your emotions especially when it’s something you are not really great at. It’s great to show how you are feeling without words because we know what you are feeling through the song.

9. URL: https://www.timberlineknolls.com/drug-addiction/prescription-drugs/signs-effects/

Background:  This article talks about the symptoms of prescription drugs abuse and the effects of drugs abuse and the cause of drug abuse.

How I used it: I used this to provide the side effects of prescription drugs and to provides better reasons that music therapy is better use than prescription drugs for mental illness because prescription drugs can lead to addiction

10. URL: https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/common-questions/what-music-therapy

Background: This talks about what music therapy is and what it provides. It touches all aspects of the mind ,body, and behavior and talks about how it addresses physical, emotional and social needs to those who are in need .

How I used it : I used to provide background on music therapy and the aspects around it. How it is used and what it is used for . How music affects many parts of the body and how it is a great resource that we should use more. 

Definition Argument Sources (may change depending on how the rewrite goes):

1. Langman, Peter. Why Kids Kill: inside the Minds of School Shooters. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. https://books.google.com/books?id=UUTtO5P6DncC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Background: The author, Peter Langman, delves into the touchy discussion of why children commit school shootings. This book examines the different types of mass shooters, ranging from the psychopathic, psychotic, and traumatized.

How I Used It: This source was one of the most useful for painting a picture of a common profile of school shooters. I was thus able to deduce that only the mentally ill could justify the moral costs of committing mass shootings, and that a culture of mass shootings that excludes these types of people would never be perpetuated by mass media coverage.

2. Madfis, Eric. “In Search of Meaning: Are School Rampage Shootings Random and Senseless Violence?” Taylor & Francis, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00223980.2016.1196161.

Background: The authors of this article refutes what they consider to be misconception about mass violence–that violence is random. They conclude that, in reality, acts of mass violence are backed by motivations and the products of careful planning over a considerable length of time.

How I Used It: Using this article, I was able to identify the path to mass murder by referencing the phases of planning as well as the factors that compel a child to commit school shootings. Overall, I used it to reinforce the notion of a common profile of school shooters.

3. “Ten Years of Mass Shootings in the United States.” EverytownResearch.org, everytownresearch.org/massshootingsreports/mass-shootings-in-america-2009-2019/.

Background: This report consisted mainly of statistics about mass shootings in America over the past decade. It identified patterns and trends that may potentially help legislators in their efforts to minimize the number of school shootings.

How I Used It: I was able to use this report to point out a crucial fact: that many school shootings end in the perpetrator committing suicide. This helped me guide the reader to the conclusion that suicide would not be the end product of a desire for fame/notoriety in at-risk children. In other words, posthumous fame would not satisfy anyone in his or her right mind.

Causal Argument Sources:

4. Gold, Liza H., and Robert I. Simon. “Gun Violence and Mental Illness.” American Psychiatric Association Publishing, American Psychiatric Association, 2016, http://www.appi.org/gun_violence_and_mental_illness.

Background: This review of the intersection between gun violence and mental health addresses the common misconception that mental illness is a major factor in a person’s decision to commit school shootings. It argues that this myth contributes heavily to America’s stigmatization of the mentally ill.

How I Used It: I used this source to point out that mental illness rarely causes school shootings and that the mentally ill rarely commit crimes of gun violence at all. This was to refute the popular notion that a mentally ill person fits the profile of a potential school shooter.

5. Vossekuil, Bryan, et al. “The Final Report and Findings of the ‘Safe School Initiative’: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States.” Govinfo, 1 May 2002, http://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/ERIC-ED466024.

Background: This FBI report discusses methods of crisis intervention, particularly in school shootings. It also analyzed facts and surveys surrounding acts of mass violence. It found no common characteristic of school shooters and suggested other means by which authorities can prevent school shootings in the future.

How I Used It: I used this report to refute the notion of a “common profile” of perpetrators of school shootings. In other words, this source helped me assert that there are no circumstances–be it mental illness, a broken family, a desire for revenge, a lack of friends, etc–that can reasonably raise a red flag about someone as a potential school shooter. This usage helped me in my transition to address factors that I consider real causes of school shootings.

6. Coleman, Loren. “The Copycat Effect.” Google Libros, Google, 2004, books.google.com.pa/books/about/The_Copycat_Effect.html?id=3B4lTTZE58oC.

Background: Loren Coleman examines the “copycat effect”–the phenomenon in which tragedies cause multiple similar events to happen in the future–and how it has influenced history. The author found that this phenomenon is a major cause of suicide bombings today.

How I Used It: This source helped me introduce and explain the notion of copycat shootings and assert that the phenomenon is very real. It helped me guide the reader to the conclusion that, given the evidence of the effect in other forms, copycat shootings are realistic causes of school shootings.

7. Gomez-Lievano, Andres, et al. “Contagion in Mass Killings and School Shootings.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, 2 July 2015, journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0117259.

Background: This scientific study found “significant evidence that mass killings are incented by similar events in the immediate past.” It made the connection between media coverage of a school shooting and the likelihood of similar incidents happening in the future.

How I Used It: This source was crucial as it helped me point out the many supports for the idea that school shootings are copies of past similar events, and that a media contagion of mass shootings does indeed exist. It bolstered my main thesis: that media coverage of school shooters is a major cause of future school shootings.

8. Johnston, Jennifer, and Andrew Joy. Mass Shootings and the Media Contagion Effect. Western New Mexico University, http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2016/08/media-contagion-effect.pdf.

Background: This study, like source #7, found that a media contagion does indeed exist. In addition, the authors calculated a high likelihood of copycat shootings in the event that an initial incident happens. It also found that a higher number of tweets about a school shooting significantly increased the likelihood of a similar shooting happening later on. Though it could not point to a root cause of this phenomenon, it concluded that there was nevertheless a high correlation between media coverage and the number of mass shootings.

How I Used It: This source helped me bolster the idea of media contagion as a reasonable cause of school shootings. Though it could not find a root cause, it helped me point out to the reader the mountain of evidence regarding the effect of media coverage on school shootings.

(Unique) Rebuttal Argument Sources:

9. Lankford A. (2016). Fame Seeking-Rampage Shooters: Initial Findings and Empirical Predictions. Aggression and Violent Behavior 27, p. 122–129. [Lengthy link]

Background: This study reported on the behavior of fame-seeking shooters as compared to other offenders. It found that, despite existing in America for over 40 years, these fame-seeking rampage shooters have become more of a problem in recent decades. It observed that they tend to be younger, significantly more violent, and kill more victims.

How I Used It: Using this source helped me convey that not only are fame-seeking school shooters real, but also that they are so common they are a major problem.

10. Silva, Jason R., and Emily Ann Greene-Colozzi. “Fame-Seeking Mass Shooters in America: Severity, Characteristics, and Media Coverage.” Aggression and Violent Behavior, Pergamon, 2 Aug. 2019, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S135917891830274X.

Background: This study examines the severity, characteristics, and coverage of fame-seeking mass shootings in the United States. It reports on the rates and casualties of such fame-seeking mass shootings and compares such incidents to other types of mass shootings.

How I Used It: This source not only bolstered my claims that fame-seeking shooters make up a considerable portion of the perpetrators of school shootings, but it also helped me to implicate major news organizations and news coverage of school shooters in general as contributors to the problem of copycat killings.

1. Farris, A. R. (n.d.). Nutritional Comparison of Packed and School Lunches in Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten Children Following the Implementation of the 2012–2013 National School Lunch Program Standards. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://www.jneb.org/article/S1499-4046(14)00632-0/abstract

Background: This study focuses on the nutritional quality of home packed lunches compared to school lunches. Of the results collected it shows that components like energy, fat, saturated fat, sugar, vitamin C, and iron were significantly higher whereas protein, sodium, fiber, vitamin A, and calcium were significantly lower for packed lunches than in school lunches.

How Its Used: This article will help me prove the reasoning behind school lunches being more nutritionally valuable to students than home packed lunches. I used it to demonstrate the categories of nutrition in which school lunches out perform the home packed. 

2. USDA. (2017, November). The National School Lunch Program. Retrieved from https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/resource-files/NSLPFactSheet.pdf

Background: This fact sheet details what exactly the National School Lunch Program does  and how it supports students in need of assistance with lunch. It provides a baseline to how the NSLP works and who it can benefit. It also adds statistics to how much it has increased in the past decades.

How Its Used: This fact will be crucial in my rebuttal aspect as it introduces possibilities for students that aren’t under the best financial circumstances. The fact sheet will show readers how the NSLP is beneficial to those in need and I will use it as a strong backbone for the argument of students not being able to afford the school lunches. 

Home-made packed lunches slip through nutrition net. (2010). Nursing Standard (through 2013), 24(25), 16. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.rowan.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.rowan.edu/docview/219842589?accountid=13605

Background: This article focuses on the lack of nutritional standards inside of home packed lunches. Researchers studied multiple students from multiple schools to determine if the food brought from home could match the ones from school. This came to a result in which only 1.1 percent of home lunches met the requirements for school lunches.

How Its Used: This article will tremendously help my argument that school lunches are way more nutritional than home packed lunches in many ways. Showing the reader that school lunches are overall much more balanced and healthier then almost 99% of home lunches provides a strong standing point. 

4. Comparison of Nutrient Content and Cost of Home-Packed Lunches to Reimbursable School Lunch Nutrient Standards and Prices. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://schoolnutrition.org/5–News-and-Publications/4–The-Journal-of-Child-Nutrition-and-Management/Fall-2009/Volume-33,-Issue-2,-Fall-2009—Johnson;-Bednar;-Kwon;-Gustof/

Background: This study focuses on the comparison of both home packed and school lunches and their nutrients. Of the schools tested on the study researchers found home packed lunches contained fewer vitamins, minerals, calories, fiber and more sodium than needed. The study provides sample tests to how they received this data and what exactly the home packed lunches are overfilled with and lacking of and why the NSLP lunches are better for students everyday.

How It’s Used: This article will help me prove what exactly a lunch provided by the NSLP is and how they are more nutritious than the average home packed lunch. I can use exact stats on the studies done as an illustration to the readers of what my idea is. Having real life stats and examples in my argument is perfect evidence that could win over the readers opinion. 

5. Eating School Lunch Is Associated with Higher Diet Quality among Elementary School Students. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www-clinicalkey-com.ezproxy.rowan.edu/#!/content/playContent/1-s2.0-S221226721630185X?scrollTo=#top

Background: This article focuses on a study of fourth and fifth graders in which they tested the healthy eating index scores of lots of students and compared them when they ate school lunches vs home packed lunches. The study was conducted from 43 different schools and multiple students from each. They found that the healthy eating index of students who ate lunch from school had an overall higher mean and deviation which meant their diets were much better.

How It’s Used: This article will help me prove that the diets and health of students is truly being affected by these lunches even though they are only 1 meal of the day and 5 times a week. These meals can have a huge impact on students’ diets and health in which you can tell from there healthy eating index scores. Having higher eating index scores for students will make the readers want to personally or have their kids eat school lunches more.

6. Nutrition And Students’ Academic Performance. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://www.wilder.org/sites/default/files/imports/Cargill_lit_review_1-14.pdf

Background: This research paper done by wilder focuses on the performance of students who ate the different lunches. They discovered that student academic performance is indirectly affected by the nutrition of students. When students ate poorly they were more susceptible to illness and getting headaches while at school. These headaches and illnesses end up resulting in absences for students and disturbances to their grades. 

How It’s Used: This research paper provides me with the indirect impact not all students and parents know about. The impact on their academics and well being is one not understood by every person and they may not think that they could be doing better academically, but they could. Understanding that you’re overall safer when eating a school lunch in more ways than just nutrition wise can very much alter the opinions of the readers.

7. Children’s Food Security and USDA Child Nutrition Programs. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/84003/eib-174.pdf?v=0

Background: This USDA study focuses on students overall stability outside of school unlike the other studies. The study came to show that 16.6 percent of families with children in them are food insecure. 

How It’s Used:  This article helps show that category of students who don’t get the daily needs they should be from food. 16.6 percent doesn’t seem like a huge number, but that’s about 1 in every 6 households being food insecure. With school lunches packing with good calories it helps students achieve their daily goals while also not overeating or eating too much. These families without the income to support their whole family will most likely meet the requirements for free or reduced lunch so that these students living in food insecure homes can still be healthy and well.

8. Graves, G. (2019, June 25). Getting a Better School Lunch. Retrieved from https://www.nrdc.org/stories/getting-better-school-lunch?gclid=CjwKCAiAzJLzBRAZEiwAmZb0akneEqjL0AQji3CZBnbAfJfk–QpbQ6_g5PcOINzVtpkpi2chu_JXBoCXWAQAvD_BwE

Background: This article focuses on the adding of multiple healthy ideas for cafeterias. Margaret Brown who thrives for healthy foods and ideas for schools give the idea for salad bars as they are huge hits for students. The goal of this article is to give overall support to schools for what they should do for the wellness of students because they have already been proven to work. 

How It’s Used: This article helps my argument by showing what school lunch programs are continuing to do for the best of their students. Incorporating salad bars in cafeterias is perfect for students since they can choose whatever they want to customize it, but still are choosing a healthy option.

9. School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study . (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/resource-files/SNMCS_Summary-Findings.pdf

Background: This article focuses on the studies of the NSLP and the amount of meals presented that meet the requirements. Practically all lunches require a fruit, meat and most contain a vegetable and grain. All required a diary in which milk is usually applied for every student’s lunch.

How It’s Used: This article helps my argument in the way of showing all the requirements for the school lunches. Since most of the meals for lunches have high percentages for meeting these requirements it shows the effectiveness of these meals on student nutrition. When more than 80% of school menus reach the standards for the NSLP it shows how effective the program is on the school lunch programs and that’s not including the ones that reach most of the standards of NSLP.

10. Cuninggim, P. (2014, May 6). The Impact of Nutrition on Learning and Behavior. Retrieved from http://nisce.org/blog/features/impact-nutrition-learning-behavior-brainer/

Background: This article focuses on the impact of nutrition on behavior and learning. The ingredients in lots of the snacks and foods students love to pack make it harder for the brain to perform at its best. In the article they incorporate findings from the book Teaching With the Brain in Mind and shows the nutrients that help with focus and behavior. 

How It’s Used: This article helps my argument because when these nutrients are the main factor affecting your brain when it comes to behavior and learning and these school lunches focus on adding these nutrients then that means they play a huge role in your behavior and learning. Thinking about nutrition being a major role in your learning you wouldn’t think about a huge comparison, but this article could be my backup for how it is. 

11. How the quality of school lunch affects students’ academic performance

Background: The article focuses on the increase of student testing grades when the school is paired in a healthy contract with a school lunch company. Students, on average, received .03 to .04 standard deviations higher which is a great improvement.

How I Intend To Use it: This article will improve my argument as a whole by providing in school test scores that have been increased due to healthy school lunches. This article can also provide a counter argument as to how some schools who aren’t paired with healthy lunch companies have students that may be doing worse academically.

12.  School Meals Are Healthier After Major Nutrition Reforms

Background: This article focuses on the increased scores of school lunches on the healthy eating index. Scores are much higher compared to where they were before 2010. Students who had bought school lunches were way more likely to consume milk, vegetables, and/or fruits at lunch than kids with lunches from home.

How I Intend To Use it: This article will improve my argument by showing that school lunches’ healthy eating index scores are rising up each year giving students a better chance to receive necessary vitamins and minerals they may be lacking from homemade lunch. Knowing that veggies and fruits are consumed much more from school lunches will very much improve my argument that they are more nutritional.

13. How Does School Lunch Work? (2020, April 20). Retrieved from https://www.actionforhealthykids.org/how-does-school-lunch-work/

Background: This article focuses on the basis of how the NSLP works. This provides the overall idea of the NSLP and their different requirements by age difference. Kindergarteners are aimed to be given around 500-600 calories per lunch up to high schoolers when they recieve around 700-800 calories. 

How It’s Used: This article will help me show how the NSLP accommodates students of different ages. By having different accommodations for each age group it would be good for a counter acting point when someone argues that all ages don’t need the same nutrients and same amounts of foods. 

1. Dr.Joseph, Stephen “How to See Challenges as Opportunities” Psychology Today. 5 Nov. 2016

Background: In this short article, the idea of overcoming challenges and how doing so is the only way to becoming a better individual is examined. The author focuses on how staying in a comfort zone can be very detrimental to one’s personal growth, and goes on to describe the reasons why. 

How I Used It: One of my main points I wanted to support in my writing was how the best way to develop a life skill is to go through a life experience that pushes you to overcome obstacles. I feel that this article supports that idea by describing how working to get through challenges is how to fully “lead an authentic life”. The author further supports my claim in describing how avoiding challenges can be harmful when it comes to trying to improve oneself. 

2. Dr.Mintz, Steven “How Parent-Child Relations Have Changed” Psychology Today. 7 Apr. 2015

Background: This article discusses the evolution of the bond between parent and child, specifically how it has changed drastically from the 50’s to now. The author discussed how parents themselves have different values and beliefs compared to what they were raised with. He also goes on to say how the environment and modern day dangers that children group up surrounded by also play a factor to how much things have changed in child raising. 

How I Used It: This article helped support my claim about how parenting techniques have changed and the reason behind kids today have an overall different relationship with their children. I wanted to point out how the values of parents have changed and thus changing the way children now view their parents. One point that stood out to me so much that I decided to use the direct quote in my writing was how he spoke about that even though parents currently can be described as overprotective and overbearing, the relationship they develop with their child surpasses anyone trying to judge them and their techniques. I feel that this was an important fact my readers needed to know as well.   

3. Hustand, Megan “Surprising Benefits for Those Who Had Tough Childhoods” Psychology Today. 7 Mar. 2017. Reviewed 17 Oct. 2019

Background: This article discusses the surprising benefactors of having a difficult childhood. The author talks about an individual who had a very stressful upbringing and how though her childhood experiences she developed many different skills, that not many have a chance to develop. 

How I Used It: This article was not what I was specifically looking for while researching for my paper, however; it brought to light many important points that ended up helping give my writing a different perspective. The writer helped me identify what sort of problems my claim could potentially bring up and thus helped me identify what I needed to address in my writing to undermine those rebuttals. She also asked a similar question I was working to answer in my own writing which is if under the right conditions, could kids from stressed environments perform better than expected in certain abilities?

4. Dr.Fagan, Pat “Effects of Family Structure on Crime” Marripedia

Background: This piece of writing comes from an online social science encyclopedia related to family topics. It is a gathering of evidence and it gives specific findings and provides graphs on family structure as it relates to family criminal history. Some examples of the findings include, the rate of teenage crime corresponding to the number of families without fathers, high-crime neighborhoods being characterized by families with single parents, and several more.

How I Used It: I wanted to specify what exactly I was claiming, and I feel that this collection of data helps with that. In order to show the readers what I was declaring I needed to show them what I wasn’t. Specifically that having an extremely troublesome childhood is not beneficial to the child and can lead them down a negative path.  

5. Noonan, Julie “What Makes a Good Childhood?” Berry Street Victoria Inc. Childhood Institute, Knowledge to Action, 2017

Background: This textbook contains several chapters essentially answering the question “what makes a good childhood?”. The author includes a brief description of childhoods in history compared to now, as well as well-being factors of childhood. 

How I Used It: I used the definition of what was defined by the text in order to create a very simplified background of what the bare minimum a child needs in order to get a good start in life. I also included some of the well-being factors so that there was a clear outline of what a child needs to start off with. Specifically the Positive Sense of Self section caught my eye and mentions “Gaining knowledge and skills to prepare for adult life” which supports my claims. 

6. Dolan, Michael“How Did the White Picket Fence Become a Symbol of the Suburbs” Apr. 2019

Background: This article gives the history and in-depth definition of the phrase “White Picket Fence”. It describes how the phrase was first brought into society and what influences it had on people. 

How I Used It: I wanted to give a definition to what so many people wanted so badly to achieve in life. This article provided me with background information for what I believe so many people work their whole lives to get: a comfortable life. I used this definition to prove that claim and show my audience how striving for this ideal life can bring up some difficulties in the future. The author agrees with my ideas to an extent saying things such as retiring the phrase and coming up with something a little more relevant to current times. 

7. Gottlieb, Lori “How to Land Your Kid in Therapy” The Atlantic, July/Aug. 2011

Background: The author, A mother and Psychologist named Lori Gottlieb seeks an answer to what every parent asks themselves before having a child, what is the right way to raise my child? She tries to find this answer by interviewing a few of her clients about their upbringings and how they are now. Gottlieb brings up a great point in showing how many of her clients were feeling overall down, but confessed that they had nothing to complain about in their lives as well as in their pasts.

How I Used It: The author goes on to show her readers how young adults who were given lives with no hardships end up feeling a lack of purpose. Proving my main claim that having a “perfect” childhood can be detrimental to children once they reach adulthood. I wanted to follow a similar direction that she was going towards and points she was proving, while branching off and focusing on life lessons and learning to overcome them in my writing. 

8.  “Raising Well-Balanced Kids” Challenge Success. Stanford Graduate School of Education, 2020

Background: This short essay comes from a group that partners with schools, families and communities to support success and implement strategies that promote a child’s well being. In this particular page, they discuss the key factors of raising a well-balanced child. 

How I Used It: I wanted to have an overall agreed idea of what a child needs inorder for them to succeed and this short article sums it up perfectly. Mainly their points on allowing kids space to develop on their own and make mistakes, and building a sense of responsibility at home and in the community are what I wanted to include in my writing. 

9.  Hurley, Katie “Resilience in Children: Strategies to Strengthen Your Kids” Psycom, 26 Sep. 2018

Background: This article is from a psychological web page that includes other articles regarding issues with children such as “6 Types of Anxiety that Can Affect Children,” among others. The article goes straight into helping one’s child build resilience and develop their own skills to face different types of obstacles they may face. 

How I Used It: The author identifies many stressors children can possibly face such as bullies, divorce, and coping with grief. I wanted to include these events in showing that there are some things that parents cannot protect their children from, and how children need to know how to deal with these things on their own in order to grow as individuals.

10. Lythcott-Haims, Julie “How to raise successful kids without overparenting.” TED Talks Live. 15 Nov

Background: Julie Lythcott-Haims immediately dives into the topic of modern day parenting techniques and what exactly is wrong with them. She discusses how overbearing parents can be just as detrimental as neglectful parents. 

How I Used It: I wanted to include her several negative points on overbearing parents and how becoming a parent that protects their child from everything that life throws their way doesn’t prepare them for anything they may encounter in the future. I want to go further with her claims and say that overcoming an obstacle is a more effective way of building a skill than having an outside source constantly giving support, because when a child overcomes that challenge themselves they can better develop “self-efficacy”. 

11. Fry, Elizabeth “A Childhood Biography of Oprah Winfrey” liveaboutdotcom. 22 Aug. 2019

Background: A simple yet detailed account on the experiences and challenges Oprah Winfrey faced in youth. It describes the challenges she had to fight through and compares then to where she is today.

How I Used It: This reference provided me with some needed information on a very successful person’s childhood and how it related to where she is now. Oprah Winfrey had both a very successful career as well as a troublesome childhood. Even though it was not directly quoted in my Casual Argument, it still inspired some ideas and allowed me to reference Oprah Winfrey in my writing.

1. Maffulli, N et al. “Long-Term Health Outcomes of Youth Sports Injuries.” British Journal of Sports Medicine 44.1 (2010): 21–25. Web.

Background: The author of this article talks about the long term effects that come from playing sports. The children that do play sports that are getting injured are having to drop out of sports and stop playing permanently because they can no longer physically play. She also goes to say that there can end up being growth disturbance because of the types of injuries that these kids face. These disturbances can not only affect them now but can affect them throughout their entire life.

How I used it: This article was a great way to start my research for growth disturbances from injuries. It also helped my argument saying that kids have to drop playing sports because of the long term effects that are caused by the injuries they face.

2. Longo, Umile Giuseppe et al. “Apophyseal Injuries in Children’s and Youth Sports.” British Medical Bulletin 120.1 (2016): 139–159. Web.

At Rowan Campbell Library Database, Type:
Nicola Maffulli “Apohyseal injuries in children’s and youth sports” 
Result:
Follow Link

Background: This article is about the frequency of injuries in youth sports. It says that the number of children that are participating in sports is growing and with that comes the amount of injuries as well. The author goes to say the percentage of children that actually get hurt playing sports and how they are difficult to avoid given the number of children that play.

How I used it: I used this article to show how many kids actually get hurt playing sports, which is 40%. I also used this article to show that they are hard to avoid because the growth plates in children do not stop growing until the age of 22 so the children’s bodies are still growing and delicate.

3. Seefeldt, & Vern. (1992, November 30).Overview of Youth Sports Programs in the United States. Retrieved May 03, 2020

Background: The author of this article explains how children are at risk for injuries when  they are playing sports and why. In this article it talks about children who grow up in different communities with different kinds of mentors and coaches and their likelihood to get themselves caught up with these injuries. It also goes into detail on why the children in not so ideal environments face more injuries because they are not equipped with the right things to play and are not under the right care.

How I used it: I showed that children are normally at risk, but they are more at risk when they are not given the right environments and the right equipment. This can be a big factor in getting hurt because they don’t have the right protection. This helps me demonstrate the risks of playing sports

4. default –Stanford Children’s Health. (n.d.). Retrieved April 5, 2020

Background: This article tells about who, when, and why the kids are getting injured. This article uses statistics to show the number of children who are getting hurt and why it is those children specifically. It also goes into detail about the types of sports and the children who ended up in the hospital or injured from playing that sport.

How I used it: I used this article for statistical support for my paper. I was telling my readers about the injuries and that they were common and what they could lead to but I needed the actual numbers and facts to support it and thats what I used this article to do. 

5. Gibson, S. R. (Ed.). (2014, June). What Happens If You Keep Playing Sports When You’re Injured? (for Teens)– Nemours KidsHealth. Retrieved April 5, 2020

Background: This article talks about sports injuries and the effects that happen when you continue to play with them. It also explains about pre existing injuries and what happens to other parts of the body when you are compensating for that injury. That only hurts the body more and leads to more injuries. They conclude that these injuries will basically leave you sitting on the bench and retiring from playing.

How I Used it:  I used this article to show that these injuries will leave you sitting on the bench and even retire from playing eventually. This happens from not listening to your body the first time it tells you something is wrong which leads to another problems. I also used that, saying how not listening to your body will lead to other injuries.

6. Jin, T. K. (2017, April 21). 10 Sports Injuries with Lifelong Consequences. Retrieved March 10, 2020

Background: This article explains the different types of injuries that athletes face. They are the 10 most common injuries that can later in life lead to problems. These injuries are sports career ending if not taken care of correctly, and even then they can be career ending. This article also explains how these injuries can happen and the different levels of them.

How I Used it: I used this article to show the common injuries that can have a lasting impact on your life if faced with them. I wanted to back up my paper with actual common examples that people face all the time. By doing this the reader can relate to the paper, and also know more of what I am talking about because most of these injuries are commonly heard of.

7. Slauterbeck, J. (2018, June 27).Kids’ Sports: Pros and Cons. Retrieved May 03, 2020

Background: This article explains what it is like to play multiple sports and the pros and cons of it. It compares what it is like to play one sport vs multiple, and the effects it has on the body. It goes on to say that the kids who play more sports are more likely to face injury because they are pushing their body much harder than a person playing one, and they are also more vulnerable being that they are in contact with others more often.

How I Used it: I used this article to argue the fact that playing multiple sports is very hard on the body, and can often lead to more injuries because of the toll that it takes on your body. Playing multiple sports often leads to giving your body no break which leads to wear and tear on it. This article helped me argue the effects of overuse injuries, which can be just as traumatic as a single traumatic injury. 

8. Healio. (2014, July 01).Pediatric overuse injuries increase due to year round, one sport training. Retrieved May 03, 2020

Background: This article explains what an overuse injury is because many people haven’t heard of them. Overuse injuries happen when you exert the body too much, and they can often lead to bigger, long lasting problems later on. The article says that most people believe the more and more you practice something day in and day out, the better you will be, but in reality you are just damaging your body and not giving it the proper break that it needs.

How I Used it: I used this article to help me tell the damages that overuse injuries can cause, because they are one of the most common that atheletes can face. I also used it so show that it is only increasing and becoming an “epidemic” because people today only want their children to be the best of the best, which causes them to push the kids to hard into these injuries.

9. Nicola Maffulli, Umile Giuseppe Longo, Filippo Spiezia & Vincenzo Denaro (2010) Sports Injuries in Young Athletes: Long-Term Outcome and Prevention Strategies. Retrieved May 3, 2020

Background: This article explains the increase in the number of kids who participate in sports at younger and younger ages. With the number of children who participate comes with the number of injuries that they face. This article tells the long term outcome of these sports injuries, what they can cause to the body, and also how they can be prevented or treated early on. This article also explains the long term physical growth defects that can come from the injuries. 

How I Used it: I usd this article to help me show that the number of children that are participating in sports is gowing. But not only is it growing, it is starting at a young age because the level of sports is opening up to younger kids. This only leads to more physical growth disability because the younger the child is when they get hurt, the worse effects it can have on their bodies.

10. Paterno, Mark V et al (2014, Oct 1) . “Prevention of Overuse Sports Injuries in the Young Athlete. Retrieved May 3, 2020

Background: This article goes into detail about the prevention of overuse injuries and also why they are so common in kids that play multiple sports. This article also uses statistical evidence that the number of overuse injuries is growing and how many of the injuries faced today are overuse. Because the overuse injuries are typically the ones that occur overtime and are long lasting, they are more common in those who play more sports and for a longer period of time.

How I Used it: I used this article to understand more about the likely hood, and details about overuse injuries because those seem to be on the rise in sports today. Because sports are becoming bigger and bigger as years go on more athletes seem to be playing multiple sports which leads to multiple kinds of injuries. The body starts to wear down and become prone to more injuries, which is when overuse injuries seem to attack.

1. Seidman, C., Salisbury, J., & NBC Sports Philadelphia Staff. (2020, January 9). A refresher on MLB’s luxury tax in relation to 2020 Phillies.

Background: This article from NBC Sports Philadelphia highlights the penalties for exceeding the luxury tax. The penalties, which begin as a 20% fine on all overages, become increasingly harsh if a team is over the luxury tax threshold for consecutive seasons. Surtaxes are appended when teams surpass specific amounts over the luxury tax threshold, and organizations that are more than $40 million over cause their top draft pick to be lowered by 10 spots. This content informed me of all possible outcomes for teams that do not comply with the luxury tax “boundaries”.

How I Used It: This article was essential to my definition argument because it clearly defined the harmful consequences for teams that decided to go over the luxury tax. In using this source, I provided the reader with information that they could compare/contrast to the hard salary cap, and in doing so they could form their own opinion. By providing the reader with a bank of knowledge about the luxury tax, it enlightened them as to why it is often much less of a deterrent to lavish spending then the hard salary cap.

2. Axisa, M. (2018, December 15). Only Red Sox, Nationals owe luxury tax in 2018 as MLB teams combine for smallest bill in 15 years.

Background: This article explained that big market teams such as the Dodgers and Yankees had been over MLB’s luxury tax for an extraordinary amount of time. The article states that the Yankees were over the tax from 2003-2017, while the Dodgers had exceeded the tax from the 2013-2017 seasons. The author also noted that in 2018, there were only two teams that were going to pay the penalties of the luxury tax, and their combined tax penalties were the lowest since 2003.

How I Used It: This article did not have any helpful information or support for the hard cap directly. However, it did happen to provide me with evidence that could be used in my argument because the author explained that the Yankees had paid the luxury tax for 14 straight seasons. This is a major issue considering small market teams could not even dream of paying the tax for a few years, let alone 14! Also, I made sure to expose the luxury tax in my essay by using that stat…clearly the luxury tax was not harsh/strict enough on teams that could afford to go over.

3. Colby, W. R. (2011). Revenue Sharing, Competitive Balance, and Incentives in Major League Baseball. How MLB Revenue Sharing Made the Yankees Better.

Background: In this essay, the author used formulas and conducted studies to draw conclusions about revenue sharing in Major League Baseball. The author concluded that throughout the history of Major League Baseball, league officials have repeatedly failed to create a successful luxury tax system that ensures competitive balance. The league created unintended incentives that were abused by teams in the 2002 revenue sharing system, then alleviated those issues and incentives in the CBA four years later. But that change resulted in imbalance that was just as poor as the original agreement. The results, as well as the author’s flawed solutions, guided me away from the hypothesis that altered revenue sharing agreements could fix Major League Baseball’s competitive balance issue.

How I Used It: This article provided me with substantial evidence that revenue sharing is not an effective way to achieve parity in Major League Baseball, so I gathered up the author’s conclusions and included them in my rebuttal argument. At first, I believed revenue sharing was an incredibly valid, and possibly even better, solution than the hard salary cap, but I was wrong. I assumed that my audience may have shared the same thoughts, so I quoted the author word-for-word when he explained how and why revenue sharing has had little-to-no impact on competitive balance in professional baseball.

4. Vrooman, J. (1995). A General Theory of Professional Sports Leagues. Southern Economic Journal, 61(4), 971-990. doi:10.2307/1060735

Background: This journal used a formula that involves revenue growth, population in the home market, and winning percentage to calculate market advantage in the NFL, NBA, and in Major League Baseball. The study revealed that the market revenue advantage impacted competitive balance least in the NFL and most in MLB. Each result fell in line with traditional theories about each league’s competitive balance, and the source was very useful due to its charts and explanations for several other factors that may/may not affect competitive balance in each respective sport.

How I Used It: This journal contained invaluable research that aided me in my efforts to persuade my audience that the hard salary cap would be beneficial to use in MLB. I included statistics from the journal that were easy to comprehend, all while being incredibly valuable and valid. Specifically, I explained how the NFL achieved elite parity because of the hard cap, whereas MLB has struggled with parity under the luxury tax since 2002. I followed that claim with Vrooman’s evidence, citing that the large market revenue advantage is 2x greater in Major League Baseball than in the NFL.

5. Juliano, W. Looking Under the Hood of MLB’s Revenue Sharing Plan. (2020, March 7).

Background: This article discussed the many steps that go into the calculation of revenue shares in Major League Baseball, and it even provided a chart that displayed 2018 versus 2019 revenue sharing estimates and comparisons. The article also described how many teams were circumnavigating the terms set by the CBA, as well as abusing the system, in order to gain an advantage. The article stated that teams illegally tank because the revenue sharing agreement benefits tanking teams tremendously.

How I Used It: This article was a blessing to come across, and I used in my rebuttal argument because it exposed the flaws of revenue sharing. In my essay, I used this concrete historical evidence to demonstrate and prove why revenue sharing agreements are counterproductive in Major League Baseball. The revenue sharing agreements encourage tanking, which is what harms competitive balance in MLB. Then, I came full circle and explained how the hard salary tax is not counterproductive like revenue sharing is, for the hard salary cap creates competitive balance and encourages small markets to spend.

6. Charlton, Monica. (2018, July 12). A Brief History of the NFL Salary Cap.

Background: This article reviewed the history of the hard salary cap in the NFL, ranging from its purpose, to the penalties if a team exceeds it, to the ways guaranteed contracts and bonuses correlate with it. The article’s primary focus was to give examples of penalties that teams have been charged with in the past.

How I Used It: I used the contents of this source to define what a hard salary cap is, as well as to provide the reader with details that they could use to compare to the luxury tax. Since the hard cap is not self-explanatory, I included all penalties for exceeding the cap in order to highlight the true “hardness” and strictness of the cap. Understanding the difference in fear that a hard cap and the luxury tax instill in teams/leagues is imperative to the entire basis of my research essay.

7. B-R Bullpen. (2016). Retrieved April 14, 2020.

Background: This piece from the Baseball Reference database explained the concept behind revenue sharing. It also provided details about how the current CBA agreement has developed over the years, dating back to its origin–1994 MLB strike. The work stated that in 2020, 48% of local revenue is shared equally among all 30 teams, yet baseball is still behind the NFL and soccer when it comes to revenue sharing.

How I Used It: The information regarding MLB’s current rate of revenue sharing, as well as its history, was valuable to my rebuttal simply because they are straightforward statistics that are easy to understand, and they support my argument. In my essay, I explained that the current revenue sharing rate is 48%, and that it has steadily increased since 1994. I then used that information, combined with my other source that concludes revenue sharing hurts parity, to explain why the hard cap is so much more effective than changing the revenue sharing agreement. In addition, using the historical data about the different revenue sharing CBA agreements, I concluded that as revenue sharing percentages have grown over time, but the rate of tanking has increased, so there is not a single percentage that will help MLB improve competitive balance.

8. Brown, M. (2019, October 4). From Terrible Teams To Rising Costs: Why MLB Attendance Is Down Over 7% Since 2015.

Background: This article explained how MLB attendance has been significantly decreasing for years due to tanking teams and rising prices within the stadium. The article also discussed MLB’s excuses for the decreasing attendance in 2018, with a lot of the blame surrounding poor weather. But attendance and TV ratings have been a consistent issue in baseball for years.

How I Used It: I used this article to my advantage by pulling direct quotes/stats from the article while maintaining integrity by not altering the author’s overall beliefs and message about the subject. Since the author provided the reader with the atrocious decrease in attendance numbers of MLB games since 2015, I used that information to convey why achieving parity in baseball is important now more than ever. Teams tank, and both fanbases involved in the game do not want to watch a tanking team get dismantled by a postseason contender.

9. MLB Rankings. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2020.

Background: This source provides all the current Major League Baseball contracts based on average annual value (AAV) for the 2020 season. It also has data from 2011, and projections up to 2025 for players that have already received long term contracts (even though they are subject to change).

How I Used It: I used this source in my definition essay to give my audience a perspective of how easy it could be to completely abuse the current luxury tax system and its weak penalties. I noted Mike Trout’s current AAV, then created a hypothetical situation to reveal that a team that is already at the luxury tax threshold could sign the best player in baseball. Under the current luxury tax penalties, they would only have to pay $8 million in tax. Of course, this is only my definition essay. However, it helps further define the extent of the luxury tax penalties, and it shows the luxury tax’s weaknesses without explicitly arguing for a hard salary cap.

10. White, M.H., Sheldon, K.M. The contract year syndrome in the NBA and MLB: A classic undermining pattern. Motiv Emot 38, 196–205 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-013-9389-7

Background: This source analyzed the difference in performance for players in their free agent/contract years (from 2006-2012). The research revealed that in the following 5 major statistical categories in professional baseball: Batting Average, Slugging Percentage, On Base Percentage, Home Runs, and Runs Batted In, players performed significantly worse in their post-contract year than in their contract year. In addition, the post-contract year season was, on average, the worst of all three seasons. The post-contract year statistics that experienced the most substantial differences between both the contract year AND the pre-contract year were Batting Average, On Base Percentage, and Slugging Percentage.

How I Used It: I used the research and content of this source to improve my knowledge about tanking in MLB. Although I did not end up directly referencing this source in my essay, it helped me further understand the reasons why MLB teams tank, and it made me aware of how MLB could prevent it. Due to player performance decreases after signing with teams via free agency, teams are incentivized to tank because they can receive higher draft slots and get better value for their players. Players are not eligible to become free agents until the conclusion of their 6^th major league season. Young players are cheaper and more controllable than free agents, and this research reveals that players perform worse after signing contracts in free agency. In my definition essay, I made it evident why tanking is so prevalent in MLB. Major League Baseball could encourage less teams to tank if they employed a hard salary cap because they would not have to worry about being outbid by big market teams. Therefore, they would not feel the need to tank and acquire cheap talent through the draft process.