Victor's Responses in WyzAnt Answers

I. Why so Many Citation Styles vs. Why Cite?

    All of the tutors that responded to your question covered it and no reason to echo it. I do want to add that it is just as important to understand "why cite?". Ellie M. and Lauren gave one of the reasons which is "to avoid plagiarism". The other two reasons are because it gives credibility to the student's essays or term papers since it demonstrates to the instructor what he or she have learned in the topic that they explored and why they argued for their position. It is how ideas are tested to see if it is the case. The third reason is because researchers in their respective field conduct research which is than peer-reviewed by their colleagues which in turn promotes standard quality, credibility, and eventually be published in its respective journal.

Citation Styles. The University of Houston, 114 University Libraries, Houston, TX. 26 February 2013

<http://guides.lib.uh.edu/citationhelp>

The conclusion is very, very important to your essay because the challenge that you have as the writer is to conclude with strength by going beyond just summarizing your main points. Which it is included, but it does not stop short by ending it there. That would be like a dud firecracker. You have to go beyond that by creating for your audience/readers something which would cause them to take action, think about the future, take your recommendation seriously, challenge their perspective, etc. "It can suggest broader implications that will not only interest your reader, but also enrich your reader’s life in some way. It is your gift to the reader".

A: Make sure your conclusion is more than a summary of your main points, "....but don’t simply repeat things that were in your paper. Instead, show your reader how the points you made and the support and examples you used fit together. Pull it all together."

The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, suggests several strategies, however, I'll mention three of them that will help you to "Pull it together" :

1. "Play the “So What” Game. If you’re stuck and feel like your conclusion isn’t saying anything new or interesting, ask a friend to read it with you. Whenever you make a statement from your conclusion, ask the friend to say, “So what?” or “Why should anybody care?” Then ponder that question and answer it".

2. "Propose a course of action, a solution to an issue, or questions for further study. This can redirect your reader’s thought process and help her to apply your info and ideas to her own life or to see the broader implications".

3. "Include a provocative insight or quotation from the research or reading you did for your paper"

All quotations are from:

Conclusions. The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel. 26 February, 2013

<Hill.http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/conclusions/>.

Not any more. Called and reported you

A match between the tutor's conducting their business and the student's comfort zone would be the ideal. However, there ought be some sort of flexibility in order to reach a compromise. That is to say, a win-win negotiation where neither comes out to inconvenient. It is true that Wyzant tutors, as independent contractors earn their income as supplement, but the ultimate goal is, what will be the most beneficial for the student's learning experience ? My personal opinion is that the tutor ought to be the one to know how to adapt not only the student's learning style, but also be flexible towards the student's best learning environment as much as possible. Especially if the student is a child or teenager. The bottom line is, the tutor is to find out the best learning environment and learning style of the student and make it work together (including making the best use of Wyzant's tools such as the online tutoring, etc)

Nice. Good question Simone. That kind of question is known as the "The Distribution Question". Because what your trying to explore is, "can we know which animals beside humans are conscious?" It's one that is controversial and STILL arguments on this matter from different perspectives.

Self awareness can be defined as,  "....understanding of one's subjective internal state of mind". It's philosophical in nature. Jeremy is appealing to one of the philosophical theories that falls under arguments against animal consciousness. Under that, one of several sub-arguments known as, "Arguments from the absence of self-consciousness". The "mirror test" by Gordon Gallup (1970) who developed it argues for the "arguments from the absence of self-consciousness."

However, the "mirror test", like all arguments, have an inadequate test due to its limited understanding of the concept of self awareness. Every perspective has its limited understanding. What "....Gallup (1970; 1984) and others have argued that behavior directed towards bodily marks visible only in a mirror may serve as an operational definition of “self-awareness.” According to this definition, Gallup would claim that only humans, chimpanzees, orangutans, and perhaps gorillas may be labeled “self-aware.” But, DeGrazia and others ("arguments for animal consciousness) disagree because the problem with that definition is that it is limiting to one form of test of self awareness because animals are self-aware in one form or another. 

I. There are different types of self-awareness:

 I don't want to give to much info, so I'll give you at least two types of self awareness among others given by David DeGrazia, Professor and Chair Department of Philosophy at George Washington University, specializing in bioethics and animal rights. He argues that one of the forms that animals display self-awareness is by "Bodily self-awareness" and "Social self-awareness" which human beings have in common too. I encourage you to look further by getting an overview and detail explanations of the arguments for and against animal self awareness from Allen's "Animal Consciousness".

Sources:

Allen, Colin, "Animal Consciousness", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition)Edward N. Zalta (ed.). 28 February 2013

<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2011/entries/consciousness-animal/>.

Robert W. Lurz (ed.), The Philosophy of Animal Minds. Cambridge University Press (2009).

Mirror use of Pigeons. Psychology Department. Lafayette College. Web. 28 Feb 2013.