Alexander Plaza
Mr.Ippolito
10/11/17
Forensics Article Review
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
The article I read was “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case” by the associated press. The article talks about Ruby Williams’ third child, Brenda, who had been missing since 1978. Constantly praying for her return, nearly 40 years later the family went to a symposium held by the detectives about cold cases. A sculpted bust of an unidentified deceased person at the symposium looked like a match to the photo the family brought with them and the police swabbed their cheek to see if the DNA matched. The first news they received was that the DNA ruled out the possibility of the body belonging to Brenda. The family had thought the police had given up after that but months later the police called with news. They had matched Brenda’s DNA with that of a jawbone found in 1986.They were unable to determine how Brenda died, but the Williams family held a funeral for Brenda with her jawbone and had received closure after many years.
The article that I read showed how important DNA is to forensic science and how so much information can be gained from little physical evidence. The article also shows how long it can take for cases to be solved and to process evidence. Forensic science can be very important to point detectives to determining guilt or innocence in cases but this time the investigation provided melancholy news and provided a family with closure.
The article was did well to realistically show how forensic science is conducted in the world and how slow the process can be. However, the article very briefly mentions the discovery of the jawbone and what happened behind the scenes in the forensic lab. The article would do well to elaborate towards the end to explain what exactly was going on in the forensics lab and what tests were being done rather than leaving the reader guessing at why the investigation took so long. Nonetheless, the article was well written.
19 comments:
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017.
www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html
Alex wrote a great response to the article “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case” by the associated press. He begins with a succinct and informative summary that provides the reader with all of the necessary information. He is able to effectively and efficiently describe details of the cold case and how a jawbone was finally found to belong to a young girl named Brenda Williams who had been missing since 1978. Alex wrote an excellent description concerning the importance of the article and the case to forensic science. He explained that the unfortunate discovery that allowed forensic scientists to declare Brenda dead officially was done through the use of DNA science even though it did take decades to do. Alex also did a great job of critiquing the author by writing fair and equal praises and critiques. I agree with him that the article would have been more thorough if the author had included more details about the actual science involved.
Although Alex wrote a well-written current event report, there are two places that he could improve upon. I think that he could have included more contextual information about the actual case and the symposium that the family went to that provided scientists with the DNA evidence. These details would have provided the reader with a more well-rounded understanding of the case and how it reached its conclusion. I would have also liked if he had included a quote from a credible expert or someone close to the case who could emphasize the importance of this resolution.
After reading Alex’s response to the New York Times article, I have learned about how Brenda William’s family finally has closure after 40 years and that Brenda was confirmed dead through DNA evidence. I now have a deeper understanding of how long it can take forensic science to yield a result or a conclusion. The article was definitely bittersweet because while the family has some answers, they still do not know how Brenda died and who killed her if foul play was involved.
Ayten El-Hennawy
Current Event 4
Forensics D Even
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
Alex’s review of the article “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” was pretty interesting to read. I liked how Alex started out by explaining what the article was about and what the case was. I also liked how he relates the article he chose with forensic science and explains how long the process of solving a case can take. Lastly, I liked how Alex explained how the article would’ve been better if it was more detailed about what happened behind the scenes.
I think Alex, reveiw could’ve improved if he had gone more in depth into the topic rather than just stating what was already in the article. I also think it would’ve been better if he put in quotes or an experts opinion to strengthen his review.
I think it’s really interesting how the family went back after 40 years to find out more about their daughter’s case.
Andy Goldbaum 10/11/17 Comment for CE 4 Forensics
Lush, Tamara. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, © 2017 The New York Times Company, The Associated Press, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html
In Alexander Plaza’s review of “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case”, by Tamara Lush, not only in his summary did Plaza order the events of the article according to the way it was written, but he screened solely for points that advanced the message of the article and ended with the broad concept the article was trying to convey: forensics science was used to deliver closure to the victims in this particular case rather than in finding the perpetrator of a crime. Therefore, it was easy to understand the main idea of the article and describing closure at the end helped him flow easily into the implication paragraph with a similar idea. Secondly, his big-picture ideas in the second paragraph did not just repeat what was stated in the article but was actually connected to prior knowledge about forensics: For example, he connected the fact that the article was about an unusual case of bringing closure to victims to the videos shown in the powerpoints from class in which forensic scientists describe this as being a rewarding aspect of their jobs rather than just catching criminals. Thirdly, his points were presented clearly and without any grammatical errors. This made it easy to understand exactly which part of the prompt he was answering, what was an answer, and what was an explanation.
One aspect of Plaza’s review that could be improved is that he could have explained the connections to the world and science of forensics more comprehensively in his second paragraph. For example, he could have connected to what was learned in the textbook about the advance of DNA evidence in the textbook to describe why it is important that DNA evidence now allows a forensic scientist to use only a jaw to solve a case. This would have offered context to that claim. Secondly, although the connections in paragraph two were relevant to the world of forensics, Plaza could have more fully answered the prompt by relating these connections to humanity or his personal life specifically.
Although I knew that DNA evidence could allow trace evidence from a crime scene to solve a case, the most impressive aspect of this article for me was that the police did not let evidence get buried after many decades. What was surprising was that the jaw not only still remained in the lab after thirty years, but it was well-preserved enough to be analyzed and matched. This shows the sophistication of modern crime labs both in their ability to store evidence and in preservation technology.
Liam Grealy
Forensics
Current event #4
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
I enjoyed the summary that Alexander Plaza gave. After reading the article I feel like he really got the jist of the whole article in a short and concise paragraph. I liked how he had a different view of DNA based off of this article. It seems like the last few articles I have encountered have seen DNA in a bad light in which it wrongly convicts people or is a false positive. In this case it helped give closure to a family after 40 years not hurt someone's life. Lastly I like how he talked about cold cases and how big of a role different views and other methods of forensic science can give closure.
I wish his review had a quote or two as with a quote you are instantly reassured about the truth behind statements. I found that without reading the article myself I would be unsure about a few things. Lastly I wish he made a personal connection to the article as when someone has passion with something they write it makes the review more fun to read.
I was impressed that the Police managed to match DNA from a jawbone to that of the sisters. I would assume that a jaw bone from 1986 would have slipped through the cracks and that this case would go unsolved and remain a jane doe. I am glad to see that even a small piece of evidence is saved for significance as i'm sure the closure given by it finally helped the family to put their worry to rest and just grieve and get on with their lives and stop waiting around for answers that seemingly never came.
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
Alex’s review of “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case” was a very interesting review. First of all, it really helped that he stated the exact dates and places the family went to so that they could learn more about the sister’s disappearance. In addition, the fact that he had a lot of details about the family and the hardship they went through aided me in understanding this topic better and gave me some additional information about it. Finally, Alex did a really good job on going even further into the topic and talking about why this topic is important to the whole world, stating exactly why and how DNA is extremely important to forensic cases.
Although this review was very interesting, one way it could have been made better is that Alex could have gone back through the review and elaborated a bit more on who this family was and where they lived so that the review was more sophisticated. By reading it over and adding a few sentences, he could have avoided this problem and made his review more thought out. Moreover, I would have added more information on the relationship between the police and the family as I was interested in knowing how the family handled it. By adding one or two sentences about that topic he could have made her review even more thorough.
Overall, this review was captivating and thought-provoking. I had never heard about this this cold case, so I was intrigued when I read Alex’s review. Thus, learning about this was very enlightening and taught me many new things. Reading this review made me realize that with the new DNA techniques, even years later, the victim can still be identified.
Kevin Formato
Forensics
Current event #5
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
I really enjoyed Alex's review of the “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case”. The article talks about Ruby Williams’ third child, Brenda, who had been missing since 1978 and how DNA evidence helped to provide the family closure after years without knowing if Brenda was dead or alive. The first news the family received was that the DNA had ruled out the possibility of the body belonging to Brenda. Alex did a great job describing how a cold case can take years and years to solve. The disappearance of Brenda happened in 1978 and the case was solved many years later. Without this DNA evidence, the family would not be able to find closure if Brenda had just run away or if something evil happened to her. Even though the family prayed for her safe return, they never thought they would find the answer about what happened. In 1986, the police found a jawbone that matched Brenda's and using DNA evidence could make a match and determine this was indeed the jawbone of Brenda. In the end the family found some closure and showed how DNA evidence can help a family.
After reading the Alex’s article, I wish he provided additional details regarding the family’s trouble with Brenda and she had a pattern of getting into trouble and running away. Perhaps that is why the police were not sure if she was missing or ran away. Also, I wish he added more on the DNA evidence about how the police were able to find a match after all this time. Additionally, I wanted to know if there was DNA from Brenda that the police had on file or did they have to use the DNA from a relative to identify the match of the jawbone after all those years.
In the end, I learned how DNA evidence can bring a family closure on hard topics. Even with one little piece of evidence like a jawbone, DNA can provide necessary answers especially to identify the body if they have a DNA match. DNA might also help convict and bring justice or try someone for their wrong doing. Overall, I thought the review was very strong.
I really enjoyed Alex's post about the “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case." It is a true mystery case that takes a lot of detail to understand. The article has to do with DNA evidence and how it can affect the lives of families when it comes to siblings being alive or dead. Alex did a great job at making sure he showed all the family members and talking about how the possibility of Brenda being dead or alive was at stake. Thankfully the DNA showed that Brenda was dead and the whole point of the DNA would help the family know how she died. This whole article is about closure and Alex dies a great job at representing that and making sure the reader understand that.
I would only say that Alex could have done a better job at describing the pain that the family went through trying to find the information about Brenda. It is a real tragedy and the reader deserves to understand that. Taking nothing away from Alex's review it was a great read.
I learned a lot from this read and I am very happy I code to review Alex's article summary. I learned how DNA evidence can help a family finally get closure like in this one. A really strong article and an enjoyable read.
Maggie Miller
Forensics A/B odd
October 18th, 2017
Current Event 5 comment
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
Alex Plaza submitted a review of the article, “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case” which tells the story of Ruby Williams’ child, Brenda, who went missing in 1978. Alex does an excellent job summarizing the events that took place in the investigation to find Brenda. The way he chose not to reveal the outcome of the investigation until the end of summarizing, made it much more intriguing to keep reading. A third aspect of the review that Alex presented well was his organization, but dividing the information into three paragraphs, each with a distinct focus.
However, while Alex’s review was very well written and interesting to read, there were two areas I might suggest he elaborate on. In the second paragraph where he talks about how the article connects to our class/ forensics, it would have been useful to provide details and facts about the process used to determine the DNA of the remains and Brenda. As well as, if he did include the previously suggested use of facts, to incorporate direct quotes from the article is a good way to highlight key points or information.
Nonetheless, Alex’s review of this article from the New York Times was done very well overall. I enjoyed reading about this article, while I am familiar with DNA testing as we discussed it in class, it was interesting to hear about a specific case where it affected this family and the telling of their story. I am now curious to learn more about Brenda Williams and her investigation.
Hayley Berry
Mr. Ippolito
10/18/17
Current Event 5 Comment
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
The review that Alex PLaza posted on the article "40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA test: The Story of a Cold Case" which is about the story of Brenda who is the child of Ruby Williams and went missing in 1978. I thought that Alex did a very good job with doing different summaries for the events that were taken place in the article. The way that he included all of the events in order and really incorporated them in the paragraph was very interesting. Also, the descriptive words that he used in replace the ones in the article was very interesting and made the article very captivating. Overall, I thought that Alex did a great job on the summary of the article.
Even though the summarization was very well written and put together there are some things that I would change. I think that if he included some quotes from the article, it could have made the piece more intriguing. Another thing that I think he could have done a bit better was making better connections to the everyday world and the world of forensics. These are just minor things that I think he could have done better but he used what was given to him in the article which helped make the connections better.
However, I really liked the review that Alex wrote for the article that he had chosen. I was very impressed with the very amount of detail he put into the article. I was also very impressed with the setup of the review in the first paragraph. Overall I thought that Alex did a great job introducing the evidence and explaining it.
Olivia Lewis
Forensics A/B odd
10/19/17
Current Event 5 comment
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
Alex Plaza reviewed the article, “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case,” a story about a girl named Brenda, who went missing in 1978. I think that Alex did a very good job in summarizing the article so that the reader could understand the events that took place in this article. Alex also made a clear connection between this case and modern day forensics which made the review very relevant to what we are learning in class. Finally, I think that it was interesting how, despite most articles concerning DNA identification are focused on identifying the perpetrator, Alex made the focus of this review the victim and the family.
I think that if Alex had included quotes from the article then this review would have had more of an impact. I also think that if he had included more information on the initial investigation that was conducted when Brenda first went missing, the case itself would have been more interesting.
Overall, I found Alex’s review very interesting as it explores how new advancements in forensic science not only help solve cases that are being investigated today, but also cases that have been unsolved for decades.
YiFei Wu
Mr.Ippolito
10/18/2017
Current Event 5 Comment
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
Alex did a very good job on this the "40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA test: The Story of a Cold Case" article. This is the story about Brenda, who was missing in 1978. Alex did a really good job on different summaries for the article. "Constantly praying for her return, nearly 40 years later the family went to a symposium held by the detectives about cold cases. A sculpted bust of an unidentified deceased person at the symposium looked like a match to the photo the family brought with them and the police swabbed their cheek to see if the DNA matched. " He included all the events happened in this event which clearly give audiences information.Vocabulary choices in this article are also interesting and drive audiences in.
Maybe Alex can improve his summery by including more interesting original quotes from the article. As well as connecting all the information to everyday life which is related to us as well.These could be better.
I love the review that Alex wrote. It made me learn a lot about forensics and I am impressed with all the work and interpretation he did in this comment.
Zixi Chen
Mr. Ippolito
Forensics
19 October 2017
Current Event 5
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
Alexander Plaza’s review on the article "40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA test: The Story of a Cold Case" was well written and closely related to forensic science. This article was about Ruby Williams’ third child, Brenda, who had been missing since 1978. Her family constantly prayed for her but did not find her until her jaw bone was identified 40 years later. In this article, Alex did an excellent job in describing the importance of DNA testing in this case. He also did a great job summarizing the hardships of the family and the investigation process. Furthermore, Alex had great organization in this review. All of the paragraphs were clear and organized. This made his review more interesting and easier to read.
Even though Alex’s review was very engaging, there were some areas that he could improve and elaborate on. One area of possible improvement was that it would be nice to incorporate some direct quotes from the original article. Whether the quotes were from Brenda’s family or the investigators who identified Brenda’s jaw bone. I believe using direct quotes can emphasize the main points of the article more strongly. Another area of improvement was that it would be nice if Alex included a more detailed description of the investigation process. It would be interesting if he included more information about how the police came to find and analyze this specific jaw bone and compared Brenda’s DNA to it.
I was surprised by the accuracy of DNA profiling and testing over a long period of time, 40 years. It seemed impossible to identify someone’s body remains if it was not for the DNA comparison tests. The ability of the investigators to solve cases also surprised me. Even though it had been a long time since the case happened, they were able to respect the clients by putting their effort into solving the case. Even when the family was close to giving up their hope for finding Brenda, the police surprised the family and brought an answer to the family.
Jack Harwood
Forensics
Current event #5
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
I really enjoyed Alex's review of the “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case”. Alex did a great job summarizing the story and providing lots of background details on the case being discussed. You also supplied the reader with very informative details and specific statistics. Lastly, I felt that you did a great job at explaining why it is relevant in modern society by explaining what forensic scientists could do wrong.
I believe your review could have been significantly better if your writing flowed better. It was slightly choppy and it felt like you were just listing facts. However, that being said, it allowed me to remember and understand your review more clearly. Also, I would have like to see more quotes from the author. It validates your points and with ethos, it makes your review more credible.
I was very surprise to hear that the first news they received was that the DNA ruled out the possibility of the body belonging to Brenda.
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
I enjoyed Alex's review of the article "40 years, 3 sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case." The article talks about Ruby Williams’ third child, Brenda, who had been missing since 1978, but DNA evidence helped to provide the family find out that Brenda died after years without knowing. Alex did a great job going through the article, taking the most important parts, and putting them together to make the story make sense. I like how he emphasized how important forensic science really is. All they needed was a small amount of DNA and as a result a family's lives were changed. Thirdly, I liked how he ordered the summary of the article to turn it into a story, with a suspenseful ending.
After reading Alex's review I wish he explained what technology the police and forensic scientists used back then to identify the DNA from the jawbone they found, Also maybe why Brenda would run away in the first place. also who did they match the DNA with or how did they get Brenda's DNA previously.
Overall really liked reading Alex's review of the article "40 years, 3 sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case." It was great story of how DNA testing could bring closure to a family
Justin McCarthy
Forensics 12H
Mr. Ippolito
Current Event 5: Reviewing Alexander Plaza
Due October 20th 2017
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html
From reading Alexander’s Plaza account on the New York Times’ latest current event regarding Forensics Science, Mr. Plaza does a great job at setting up the stakes that have been presented by the author, especially when it comes to contemplating the effectiveness of DNA testing to being effective when it comes to solving crimes. Three factors that I really enjoyed from Alexander’s article was that for starters, Alex used specific event to show that the process to relying on DNA can sometimes be faulty. Such as when Alex explains that Ruby Williams third child went missing in the late 1970s. From using this information, Alex is able to hook the reader because we all want to know what happened to this child. The second thing that I enjoyed was the way Alex cited and used DNA evidence and its vital importance to forensics. Such as when he states and explains that because the DNA’s effectiveness it can “show how long it can take for cases to be solved and to process evidence. Forensic science can be very important to point detectives to determining guilt or innocence” (Plaza). Alex is able to set the compelling argument that when it comes to criminal offences and murder, sometimes the best way to solve and seek justice is by finding the DNA and tracing it back to the perpetrator. The third factor that I really enjoyed from reading your article, Alex, is that you were able to report and to explain the effect that Brenda’s death had on her family after she was murdered in the 1980s. I believe because you did such a great job at this, you made us as the reader feel sympathy for someone that we didn’t even meet.
Despite Alex’s many accomplishments in his article, there are two areas where I think Alex could have done a better job at. The first factor which I thought Alex could have done a better job was perhaps using a couple quotes from his article because by using quotes he backs up his argument that without DNA technology to assist us to solve crimes, than Forensics itself is compromised. By using quotes I believe you could have added depth to your argument because in the article the author explains “that the police had given up” on the case because the case was going nowhere because there was no DNA evidence available (The Associated Press). A second thing that I think Alex could have proved on was perhaps going a little deeper about the murder case about the child and how it affected and impacted the Williams going forward because even though justice was delevilerevd, justice will never make up the fact that her parents will never see their child again.
Overall, Alex, I really thought you did a great job on your article and worked very hard on it- especially when it came to summarizing and reporting what you thought the main themes were in this article. The biggest reason why I decided to do this article was because I was very intrigued with the technology and the impact that DNA has when it comes to solving crimes. From the articles that I have read thus far, I believe this one speaks the most to me not just from a science standpoint, but from a human standpoint. I say this because without technology to solve crimes and by using DNA typing tests, than families like the Williams who have lost their children to tragedies will never have the opportunity to find closure.
Jack Baxter
Forensics
10/19/17
Comment
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
Alex’s review on "40 Years,, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA test: The Story of a Cold Case" was very well written and is clearly related to forensic science. This article mainly concerns Ruby Williams’ third child, Brenda, who had been missing since 1978. In this article, Alex did an excellent job with expressing the importance of DNA testing case. Because of the intriguing material brought up by this case, Alex’s point was easily agreeable with and he did a great job summarizing the hardships of the family and the investigation process. Alex also was thoroughly organized throughout his review. All of the paragraphs were clear and concise. This made his review very easy to read and understand.
Even though Alex’s review was very engaging, there were some areas that he could improve and elaborate on. One area of possible improvement was his lack of incorporation of direct quotes from the original article. Whether the quotes were from Brenda’s family or the investigators who identified Brenda’s jaw bone, the usage of them may have emphasized the main points of the article better. Another area of improvement was that it would be nice if Alex included a more detailed description of the investigation process. It would be interesting if he included more info about how the police found and analyzed the specific jaw bone and compared Brenda’s DNA to it.
Overall, Alex’s review was very thorough. The subject matter concerning this specific article really interested me. I believe this story is important because it carries a bigger message: technology deeply helps the forensic field of science and helps poor victims like the Williams in times of trouble.
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
Report by Alex Plaza
Review by Sophia Kocur
Alex Plaza reviewed the article, “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case,” a story about a girl named Brenda, who went missing in 1978.. He is able to effectively and efficiently describe details of the cold case and how a jawbone was finally found to belong to a young girl named Brenda Williams who had been missing since 1978. Alex wrote an excellent description concerning the importance of the article and the case to forensic science. He explained that the unfortunate discovery that allowed forensic scientists to declare Brenda dead officially was done through the use of DNA science even though it did take decades to do. Alex also did a great job of critiquing the author by writing fair and equal praises and critiques. I agree with him that the article would have been more thorough if the author had included more details about the actual science involved.
Despite Alex’s many accomplishments in his article, there are two areas where I think Alex could have done a better job. One way it could have been made better is that Alex could have gone back through the review and elaborated a bit more on who this family was and where they lived so that the review was more sophisticated. By reading it over and adding a few sentences, he could have avoided this problem and made his review more thought out. Moreover, I would have added more information on the relationship between the police and the family as I was interested in knowing how the family handled it. By adding one or two sentences about that topic he could have made her review even more thorough.
Overall, I found Alex’s review very interesting as it explores how new advancements in forensic science not only help solve cases that are being investigated today, but also cases that have been unsolved for decades.
Press, The Associated. “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2017,
www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/09/us/ap-us-cold-case.html.
I thought Alex's review of the “40 Years, 3 Sisters, 1 DNA Test: The Story of a Cold Case” was very well written. Alex did a great job summarizing the story and providing lots of background details on this case. He also gave us as the reader very good information and statistics in his review. I felt that Alex did a great job at explaining why this article is relevant to modern society by explaining what forensic scientists could do wrong. I believe his review could have been better if the review flowed a bit better, it felt a bit clunky upon reading. It was slightly choppy and it felt like it was just a list of facts at some parts. However it allowed me to remember and understand the review better. More quotes from the author would have been great as well. I thought it was great that he gave us closure of the article telling us who the body didn't belong to.
Post a Comment