Editorial

Smoking

According to ready to quit.org, someone dies from smoking every 8 seconds of the day.  Even though it may be hard to kick the addiction to smoking, there are ways to do it. I know you have seen the true commercials or rat commercials telling you how bad smoking is and how it kills so many people in the United States or all over the world even. Well most of these commercials fail to understand that smokers are well aware of the negative effects of smoking but it’s not as easy to stop as they may think. For example, facebook and twitter seem to be very influential in today’s society. Most people feel like they have to tweet or update their facebook statuses.  Well imagine if you started to feel nauseated, agitated, light headed, or on edge when you felt like getting on facebook or tweeting. This is how nicotine reacts in your body. There are a number of routes that smokers can take in order to kick their habit.  According to kid’s health.org, putting the reasons why you should quit smoking in writing typically helps motivate smokers to quit. Sometimes smokers begin to tune out people that constantly tell them to quit smoking, but if they see how quitting will help their everyday lives in a different form such as on paper. It may inspire that person. The money you will save, how much healthier you will feel, not coughing profusely, or sleeping  better at night are just a few reasons that some people have jotted down in the past.  Getting support from family or friends also helps you to stay on tract and gives you some guidance. Your friends and family will serve as motivators; similar to a cheerleader or coach. It’s hard for anyone to accomplish anything without motivation. It’s sort of like that feeling students get when their alarm clock awakens them early in the morning. We initially want to press the snooze button and go back to sleep but are well aware that if we miss class, we may miss out on an assignment, our grades may start to drop, and in the worst case scenario, they may not graduate.  Giving someone a lecture about the dangers of smoking is not likely to be very helpful. Smokers know cigarette smoking is an unhealthy, dangerous, and expensive habit that affects other people; they don’t need a sermon or to be patronized about it. Criticism and nagging are only going to shun the person away from quitting, but showing concern rather than disapproval, is far more helpful in getting a smoker to make the decision to quit.  If you are a young person that doesn’t want to tell your parents or family that you smoke, make sure your friends know, or consider speaking to a counselor or another adult you trust.

Readytoquit.org

This persuasive editorial was written to persuade college students that smoking is bad for them and should be stopped. The reason for writing this is because many college students are stressed out and resort to this habit in order to cope with their problems. This is a current and has been a previous problem for years. Smoking damages the lungs of smokers  and also could generate cancer. It is just not worth it. I chose to write about college students on college campuses because smoking generally becomes a problem amongst people of this age.  I would like for my audience to take a stand against smoking and quit if they are smokers or help others quit.

Beginning the Job Search

Since I am an exercise science major at USM, I am striving to further my education pursuing a PhD in physical therapy, occupational therapy, chiropractic, and athletic training. Physical therapists are physician that treat and detect injuries that occur amongst people of all ages. Most of them deal with the elderly, simply because their bodies become more fragile with age and they are more susceptible to injury. They arrange a plan for each patient in order to heal them back to health. They specialize in promoting the ability to move, reduce pain, restore function, and prevent disability. The American Physical Therapy Association’s accrediting body, called the Commission on Accreditation of Physical Therapy Education accredits entry-level academic programs in physical therapy. It takes a about 2 to 2.5 years of graduate education in order to obtain your master’s and 3 years in order to obtain your doctorate.  Only graduate degree programs are accredited by this accrediting body. Eligibility requirements are different from state to state. Typical requirements for physical therapists include graduation from an accredited physical therapy education program; passing the National Physical Therapy Examination; and fulfilling State requirements such as jurisprudence exams. A number of States require continuing education as a condition of maintaining licensure. Most hospitals and practices are looking for physical therapists that are able to practice in different settings. The most prominent setting for practice are in hospitals, skilled nursing, and orthopedic settings, where the elderly are most often treated. Job prospects should be especially favorable in rural areas as many physical therapists tend to cluster in highly populated urban and suburban areas. However, if physical therapy does not work out as planned, then I will pursue becoming a chiropractor. Chiropractors are similar to physical therapists because they both deal with treating and diagnosing patients with injuries. Yet, chiropractors specialize in treating the musculoskeletal system and treating the effects of those problems of the nervous system.  Most chiropractors solely deal with maneuvering the spine.  Chiropractors must be licensed, which requires 2 to 4 years of undergraduate education, the completion of a 4-year chiropractic college course, and passing scores on national and State examinations. The Council on Chiropractic Education is the accrediting body for chiropractors. Applicants must have at least 90 semester hours of undergraduate study leading toward a bachelor's degree, including courses in English, the social sciences, organic and inorganic chemistry, biology, physics, and psychology. Many applicants have a bachelor's degree. Chiropractors can practice only in States where they are licensed. Chiropractic requires keen observation to detect physical abnormalities. It also takes considerable manual dexterity, but not unusual strength or endurance, to perform adjustments. Chiropractors should be able to work alone and handle their own responsibilities. The desire to help others and truly caring about the health of the patient are good qualities for dealing effectively with patients. The third occupation of choice that I would apply for would be occupational therapy. This job deals with treating patients with disabling conditions that may limit their normal lifestyle and basically show them how to relive their lives. Occupational therapists are regulated in all 50 States. Individuals pursuing a career as an occupational therapist usually need to earn a post-baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university or education classified as equivalent.  A master's degree or higher in occupational therapy is the typical minimum requirement for entry into the field. In order to become a certified OTR, you must graduate from an accredited program and pass a national certification exam. This job would not be a walk in the park. It takes kind, caring, and patient individuals to perform the duties required everyday to assist patients with disabling conditions. Those OTR’s working in home healthcare should be able to adjust to a variety of work settings.  My fourth job of interest would be athletic training. I am an athlete at USM currently and I have had several injuries so I have been around athletic trainers. They are similar to physical therapists but them special in athletes. They treat athletes with injuries due to physical activity. They improve the balance and strength of athletes while educating them on how to prevent these injuries.  A bachelor's degree is usually the minimum requirement, but many athletic trainers hold a master's or doctoral degree. Athletic trainers are similar to physical therapists but they may have to make a quick decision if an athlete gets severely hurt on the playing field. With that being said, I am close to finishing my degree in exercise science. I will then have the qualifications to pursue either of these careers. I am experience with rehabilitation and injuries so I feel like I am certified for the job. I also have great people skills and I am very patient with others; especially when it comes down to their health.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos294.htm

www.medical-career-schools.com/

http://www.jobacle.com/

"Writing Reader-Centered Correspondence: Letters, Memos, and E-mail,"

"Writing Reader-Centered Correspondence: Letters, Memos, and E-mail,"

Original document: I have been reviewing the “errors” in the computer files.
Contrary to what you insinuated in our meeting, the majority of these errors were made by your clerks. I do not feel that my people should be blamed for this. They are correctly copying the faulty time tickets that your clerks are preparing.
You and I discussed requiring my computer operators to perform the very time-consuming task of comparing their entries against the time sheets from which your clerks are miscopying.
My people do not have the time to correct the errors made by your people, and I will not hire additional help for such work.
I recommend that you tell your clerks to review their work carefully before giving it to the computer operators.

 Dear Mr. Leoni,

                Hello, I have written this e-mail to address the topic that was brought up in the meeting. I have come across some errors in the computer files. We should reevaluate the files in a sense in order to find out where the errors are coming from and fix them. After carefully assessing the work of my clerks I have come to the conclusion that my crew’s work is accurate. I would recommend that all files should be carefully reviewed before sending the files to the computer operators to cut down on extra work. I think this will stop the inaccuracy of the computer files. I would greatly appreciate it if we can put this plan into effect.

                Thanks,

                Donald Pryzblo

 Manager

 Data Processing Department

This email seems a little bit harsh in the context that it is written in. It seems like Leoni is blaming the other clerks. This is not the way to talk to an employee. In order to reach an employee you should not blame them personally. You should make it seem like it is a company or collective problem versus blaming and employee personally. Usually they will respond much better. He also makes it seem like his clerks are better than Mr. Pryblo’s when he states that his employee’s do not have the time to correct the errors made. He should never make another employee feel low. He seems to be overusing his rank as a boss and this would not an effective way to get an employee to do something for you. The effectiveness in the email is determined by the tone or mood that the writer illustrates with.

Blog 3

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos080.htm

This website provided by Bureau of Labor Statistics has a great deal of strengths that would draw someone that is interested in the medical field to pursue physical therapy. It provides a plentiful amount of information about the occupation that is very useful. It describes the earnings most make, the job outlook, and the training required to obtain this job. When you educate people about a certain occupation then that person knows the ins and outs and what to do as they seek interest. This site also provides photos of current physical therapists on the job. I think this is neat because it gives the person a view of how they would look if they were to choose that occupation. It also provided great tips about the profession. For example, it states that 60% of physical therapists work in hospitals. This gives the person a general site of the atmosphere that they will be around on a daily basis. If I were to create a website to try and steer people into the profession that I have chosen. I would make sure there was a lot of useful information.  I also would provide phone numbers and e-mails so that people would be able to reach me or other current physical therapists that would be able to assist them. I think the most important thing about having a website would be the amount of vital information. The slogan of the website would have to be attractive as well. As soon as the person logs onto the website the slogan and the name of the website should catch their eye and lead them to search deeper within the website for more information. It is also very important to make sure that all the information that is provided on the website be clear and easy to understand. Most people that are looking at the website are not familiar with the profession so you should take that into consideration and try not to elaborate as well as possible. I also would provide detailed photo to show how it looks when a physical therapist is at work.

Blog 2

When I took ENG 102 with Ms Laura Bandy, I read the book Day of Infamy written by Walter Lord. Walter Lord was an American author, who born was born in Baltimore, Maryland on October 8, 1917 to Henrietta Hoffman and John Walterhouse who died when Walter was three years old. After high school at Gilman School, he studied history at Princeton University where he graduated in 1939. He continued his education at Yale Law School but it was interrupted because of the attack on Pearl Harbor he joined the Army. When the war ended he returned to school and received a degree in law. Lord wrote twelve bestselling books on such subjects as Pearl Harbor(Day of Infamy,1957), the Battle of Midway (Incredible Victory,1967), the Battle of the Alamo (A Time to Stand,1961), Arctic exploration (Peary to the Pole, 1963), pre-World War I( Good Years: From 1900 to the first World War, 1962), Coastwatchers (Lonely Virgil, 1977), Civil rights struggle (the Past that would not Die, 1965), and his best-selling 1955 book A Night to Remember about the sinking of the ship Titanic.

            Lord’s Day of Infamy is about the December 7, 1941 tragedy of Pearl Harbor when the Japanese brutally attacked the U.S. naval fleet and the island of Oahu. This book is unique because it tells the story from plenty of perspectives from at least 577 people such as sailors and ordinary civilians. An example was a quote from Chief Albert Molter saying “Uniforms meant nothing,” meaning rank was forgotten on that day, people only wanted to pitch in together. There are even some Japanese participants in the book, but were later killed in the war except fifteen were located and contributed their stories to the book. Lord has used a lot of written material as sources especially from the War Records Depository of the University of Hawaii and the damage report from the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. Books and Honolulu papers were keys to the coverage of the book. Some books with valuable information on the attack like Battle Report: Pearl Harbor to Coral Sea by Walter Kraig and Welbroune Kelley, and Remember Pearl Harbor by Blake Clarke . Books of the Japanese side were covered in I Attacked Pearl Harbor by Kazuo Sakamaki and Sunk by Mochitsura Hashimoto. The contribution to this book is so great that the book contains a well-sized list of the people who lend a hand.      

            Lord’s Day of Infamy is a very distinguished book due to its very detailed descriptions and even illustrations. The book does not have good presentation of characters because Lord only describes them in a sentence or two. Lord did a great job with the sequence of events during that time period. Each chapter has a time period and explains what events happened in sequence. Due to the facts gathered, Lord made the book very accurate on what happened during the attack. Overall, this book is an excellent book to read for anyone who does not know what happened on Sunday December 7, 1941.

Blog 1

Hey everyone my name is Brandon Walker. I am a junior exercise science major from Biloxi, MS. I attended St. Martin High School. I am a student-athlete on campus. I am a member of the USM track and field team. The event i specialize in is the long jump. After my four years of undergraduate studies, I plan to further my education as a physical therapist. If physical therapy does not work out then my plan b would be to practice as a chiropractor. I have been injured a lot growing up playing sports all of my life and I am very interested in healing others. I actually enjoy writing but only when it is a common topic of discussion. If the topic is something that I can't relate to then it is harder for me to formulate my thoughts and put them onto paper. All in all I am excited about this class.

Being an exercise science major, I have written numerous lab journals throughout my tenure at USM. Those just consisted of me stating what went on during the experiment in the lab. I have written speeches for my speech class that I had to recite. These were more structured as an outline. Writing only becomes difficult for me when i'm not interested in the topic given and the curriculum requires that you should write a lengthy essay. Sometimes I just do not feel like I have that much information to put into an essay. Although I plan on getting an A in this class, I also would like to learn how to write creatively and find a way to formulate my creative thoughts and put them onto paper. Also I would like to learn how to write properly. I look forward to this class. Good luck to everyone