The blog by Toporek on Muscle Enhancing Behaviors Increasingly common among teens - Essay Example

Blog Analysis Presented Blog Analysis The blog by Toporek on Muscle Enhancing Behaviors Increasingly common among teens is a well informing article that carries much weight regarding peer influence, and influence of perception among the youth. According to the article, many youths in one way or another have tried to enhance and enlarge their muscles to conform to the images portrayed by legends or celebrities in various aspects. The blog presents the information in a clear, brief and well-structured manner.

The blogger presents such information in a professional way as no unnecessary materials have been added to dilute the reported study. Essid (2010) explains that a blog that presents academic materials has to get straight to the point and avoid unnecessary materials. Such a blog has to present materials similar to a formal paper, and yet do so in a few words, to avoid cluttering of information that waters down the scholarly nature of the information provided. Such a blog has to present a few claims in the most precise and objective way, and then offer the required evidence to support such claims for it be scholarly.

The above factors have been observed in the blog in question and are the strengths that make the blog sound and scholarly. The author declares the authority of the information provided by providing an objective introduction, which motivates the reader to learn more, noting the objective and scholarly voice in the blog. Rowse & Garret (2010) further argues that it is important to consider who uses such a blog before employing any method to relay information. Thus, the professional presentation of information implies that the blogger targeted professionals or scholars and had to be in scholarly writing.

Another positive aspect about the blog is its appealing nature. Many blogs are cluttered with too much information, pop- ups, and other irrelevant advertisements that make it hard for professionals to take time to go through material in such blog (Rowse & Garret (2010). However, the blogger of this article keeps everything simple and does not include any irrelevant content such as pop ups or advertisements, which distract attention and discourage scholars from visiting such blogs with unprofessional design.

Moreover, as Essid (2010) explains, the blogger in this article makes the article academic by critically providing statistical work to support his argument. The use of statistics such as “70% of boys in the study (897 of 1307) reported changing their eating habits,” makes the article and the argument authoritative and academic in nature. The article indicates some ethical issues. For example, 5.9% of boys reported using steroids and 10.5% reported to have used muscle enhancing substances.

This is in comparison to 4.6% of girls using steroids, and 5.5% of girls using muscle enhancing substances. Such large percentage of underage students using muscle boosting subsistence is unethical as they are in danger of complications resulting from the use of such substances, while many may not be aware of the side effects such as heart problems and muscle complications. Therefore, the blogger notes that while such girls have over the time been thought not to be involved in substance abuse and steroids, a large percentage of girls are in fact using them similar to boys.

The blogger thus notes that the media has been a negative influence to students who have turned to using such steroids to resemble celebrities shown in such media. The article therefore supports the blogger’s assertion that many people including students are indeed trying to pump up currently despite the risks involved. However, though the blogger seems to suggest that such muscle toning is through abuse of substances, the article proves this wrong by indicating that 90% and 80% of boys and girls respectively were involved in exercises to tone up their muscles, which is a positive and good behavior among the teens.

Despite the few teens using substances to achieve the same purpose, a good percentage of teens are in fact involved in physical activities, which indicates a good precedence. However, the article has some weaknesses. For example, the blogger could have cited the study for the reader to make a follow-up for more information. The lack of providing a citation means a follow-up would not be possible; the reader will only take what has been presented. The blogger did not provide a different article, which either reports the same or contrary to the first article, which could have been good in making his argument more academic and powerful.

Therefore, the blogger carried out a scholarly research though he did not cite the exact article for reference. The article is sound and informative as supported by the research article from the journal of Pediatrics, an authoritative publication. The logos of the article is thus sound; the author’s argument makes much logic, and has been presented in an emotional way to portray the extent of steroid and substance use among teens, meaning its pathos is effective. The ethos is also of a sound nature as the blogger presented the arguments in a professional and objective manner.

References Essid, J., (2010) Effective Academic Blogging, University of Richmond Writing Center. http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/blogging.html Rowse, D., & Garret, C., (2012). ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging your Way to a Six Figure Income, CA: Wiley & Sons. Toporek, B., (2012), Study: Enhancing Behaviors Increasingly Common Among Teens, Education Week November, 19. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/schooled_in_sports/2012/11/muscle-enhancing_behaviors_increasingly_common_among_teens_study_finds.html