IMRaD Report

Isaiah Jones

4/14/15

IMRaD Report

Gender and Revision of Meal Plan

Abstract

Research in gender and revision of the university meal plan found that men are more in favor of changing it than women. This study examined 13 male and 7 female students at the University of Louisville. The survey was done by sending questions over email and personal interviews. The results indicate that men agree more than women on revising the university meal plan. Although this is a small sample size, it’s acceptable to assume this study could represent the whole student population. These findings may suggest that a slightly higher percentage of men want a change to the university meal plan.

Introduction

Discussing this topic among students on campus, the majority would like to see the meal plan be revised. The current meal plan for a student living on campus is either $930 or $1460. This will cover the student’s meal swipes and flex points. Students can use their points and swipes at university restaurants such as the Ville Grille and Chic Fil A.

Students aren’t disappointed in this meal plan, they just want it to have a few small changes. There’s a couple problems with the meal plan. There are a limited number of restaurants where students can use their meal cards. Many restaurants surround the campus, but students can only use their meal plan on a small amount of them. Also unused swipes don’t rollover each semester. Most students don’t use all of the 115 swipes given to them at the beginning of each semester, and when the semester ends the university takes them. So the university basically keeps the student’s money from unused swipes and points. So by the end of the spring semester, some students still have a couple hundred dollars left, and don’t get to use that money for the next semester. This study will help determine how many students want a revision to the meal plan, and also compare and contrast male and female opinions. My findings on the study conducted will show that students agree on adding more restaurants and having meal swipes and flex points rollover, thus possibly giving the university a decision to change it in the future.

Method

Participants

13 men and 7 women participated in this study. All participants were students at the University of Louisville, and the majority of those surveyed were freshmen.

Data Sources

The researcher received all of his data from the survey questions and interviews.

Procedures

The researcher emailed the survey to students at the University of Louisville. Next the researcher interviewed two students on the same survey questions. This not only provided data, but a more in-depth view of the student’s opinions on the revision of the meal plan. Once all data was collected, he recorded them into a table.

Data Analysis

The researcher asked the students the following questions in the survey:

1.       What is your gender?

2.       What year are you?

3.       Are you satisfied with the university’s current meal plan?

4.       The university should change its meal plan?

5.       There should be more restaurants added to the meal plan.

6.       Unused swipes and flex points should be rolled over to the next semester.

Questions 1 and 2 are just for comparing and contrasting. Question 3 should be answered with yes or no. Questions 4, 5, and 6 are given the options strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree.

Results

Table 1 shows that a great majority of the students surveyed strongly agreed on revising the meal plan, adding restaurants to the meal plan, and rolling over swipes and flex points.

Table 1: All students survey answers on revision of meal plan, addition of more restaurants, and the rollover of swipes and flex points.

	Meal plan should be revised	More restaurants should be added	Unused swipes and flex points should rollover
Strongly Agree	60%	70%	70%
Agree	30%	25%	30%
Disagree	10%	5%	0%
Strongly Disagree	0%	0%	0%

Table 2 indicates that males are in strong favor of changing the meal plan, adding restaurants, and rolling over swipes and flex points. None of the males voted disagree or strongly disagree on any of the choices. To receive the percentage of males who strongly agreed or agreed on a choice, the researcher divided the total number of males surveyed (13) by the number of males who voted in that choice. For example, 77% of males strongly agreed that the meal plan should be revised. To get that percentage, divide 10 by 13, with 10 being the number who voted in that category and 13 being the total number of males.

Table 2: Male’s survey answers on revision of meal plan, addition of more restaurants, and the rollover of swipes and flex points.

	Meal plan should be revised	More restaurants should be added	Unused swipes and flex points should rollover
Strongly Agree	77%	77%	85%
Agree	23%	23%	15%
Disagree	0%	0%	0%
Strongly Disagree	0%	0%	0%

Table 3 shows some variation for the female’s choices on revising the meal plan, adding restaurants, and rolling over swipes and flex points. From looking at the table below, it shows females are in favor of changing the meal plan, just not as strongly as males. Over a quarter disagreed that the meal plan should be revised, and most agreed it should be revised. Also more agreed on the rolling over of swipes and flex points than strongly agreeing. This demonstrates females are somewhat in favor of revision of the meal plan.

Table 3: Female’s survey answers on revision of meal plan, addition of more restaurants, and the rollover of swipes and flex points.

	Meal plan should be revised	More restaurants should be added	Unused swipes and flex points should rollover
Strongly Agree	28.5%	57%	43%
Agree	43%	28.5%	57%
Disagree	28.5%	14.5%	0%
Strongly Disagree	0%	0%	0%

With these results, it’s acceptable to assume males are in stronger favor of revising the university meal plan. The survey would be more accurate if the sample size was larger and there was an even number of males and females surveyed, but these findings could suggest how the percentages would look in a larger scale.

Discussion

The researcher interviewed two freshmen students, one male and one female, on this topic. The male student wanted change to the meal plan, strongly agreed to adding more restaurants, and strongly agreed to rolling over meal swipes and flex points. He stated that the restaurants surrounding campus should be included on the meal plan. Also he said he hates eating at the same restaurants every day, so adding more would be helpful. The female student wanted a revision to the meal plan, agreed to adding restaurants, and agreed to rolling over meal swipes and flex points. She wants healthier restaurants to be added and that the students should have more options on the meal plan choice they want.

The importance of this study is to show the percentage of students who want the university meal plan to be revised, and the comparison of males and females on the survey questions. There were a couple problems that were stated earlier, but it’s still assumable that the data is still accurate for a bigger and equal sample size. In doing this study, it has been found that males are more supportive of revision of the meal plan than females. This suggest males might care about this topic more than females. Future research on this topic could be comparing the freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior students or having a larger sample size for the study.

Survey and Interview Questions

1. What is your gender?
1 - Male
2 - Female

2. What year are you?
1 - Freshman
2 - Sophomore
3 - Junior
4 - Senior

3. Are you satisfied with the university's current meal plan?
1 - Yes
2 - No

4. The university should change its' meal plan.
1 - Strongly Agree
2 - Agree
3 - Disagree
4 - Strongly Disagree

5. Students should be able to use their meal swipes and flex points at more restaurants.
1 - Strongly Agree
2 - Agree
3 - Disagree
4 - Strongly Disagree

6. Unused meal swipes and flex points should be rolled over to the student's next semester.
1 - Strongly Agree
2 - Agree
3 - Disagree
4 - Strongly Disagree

Research Questions for IMRaD Report

For the IMRaD report, you need to either do a research experiment or conduct a poll and interviews. My first research question is "Do you think the university should change it's meal plan and allow meal swipes to be used at more restaurants?" I plan on doing a survey in the class and interviewing a few students around campus on what their opinion is on this question.

My second research question is "Do you think college athletes should be paid?" I did my research paper and translation assignment on this assignment so I already have knowledge on this topic. I could do a survey in class or ask students around campus about what they think. I could also interview athletes and non-athletes and compare and contrast their opinions.

IMRaD Report vs. Research Paper

The purpose of the IMRaD report is to write a paper over a research experiment. You must conduct a research experiment or poll and add the data to the paper. You also need to interview two or three people, and ask about their beliefs of the topic. Also the report is structured differently. First you need to write an abstract. Then write the introduction, methods, results, and discussion. A works cited and appendix are optional for this assignment.
This assignment is different than the research paper. The structures are completely different because for the IMRaD, you have sections and subheadings. In the research paper, you have a basic structure for an argumentative paper. For this assignment, you need to do an experiment and interview people. In the research paper you didn't, it only required you to find academic and nonacademic sources.

Reflection on Remediation Assignement

For this assignment, I had to translate my research paper into a different medium. I chose to make a PowerPoint. My presentation was on whether or not college athletes should be paid. This assignment was easier than the previous ones, but still required work and brought a few challenges.
The purpose of my remediation project was to translate my argument into a new medium. The PowerPoint is a great way of displaying my argument to the audience. It has few texts and more visuals like pictures and a video so it can be more understandable and interesting. I feel like my remediation was great because it clearly shows my argument.
My target audience did not change when doing this project. The audience for this could be anyone interested in sports. To help make the PowerPoint more pleasing to my audience I added pictures with athletes and a video.
There were some differences between the research paper and the PowerPoint. The research paper was much harder to do because I had to find many credible sources and cite them. It also took me a while to do. I had to find sources, make an outline, and then type the paper. The PowerPoint was easier because I used the information form my paper to construct it. All I had to do was find pictures and a video. Adding the voice over was difficult to do but overall this project was easier than the paper.

Multimedia for Translation Assignment

I plan on doing a Power Point presentation for this assignment. I'm doing this because I think it's the best way to show the audience my argument.  Multimodal text I can use are videos, pictures, articles, and graphs. 

Textual elements that could be useful are pictures and videos. I already found a video that talks about my argument so that will be useful. Pictures will go along with my argument, and will give the audience a visual. For example if I'm talking about a statistic, a bar or line graph would be helpful. 

Remediation

Remediation is taking a text and translating it into a new medium. An example of this is taking a book and turning it into a movie. In the article "Remediation", Caitlin Mullen describes remediation in a couple different ways. The definition she gave for it was "the blending of old and new media". The example she gave was the comic strip of the penguins. In this, there's a hand drawn penguin and a realistic penguin. Her example perfectly shows what remediation is since the mediums blended together.
There are a few possible ways of using remediation for my research paper. My research paper was about college athletes and whether or not they should be paid. So a remediation I could do is turn my paper into an article for a sports magazine or newspaper. Another idea could be making a Power Point on my topic to give my audience a visual. I could also write a blog about the topic from my research paper.

APA Works Cited

References

Bullock, R., Goggin, M.D., Weinberg, F. (2013). The Norton Field to Writing 3^rd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Martins, S. D.  (Ed.). (2015). Transnational Writing Program Administration. Boulder, Colorado. Utah State University Press.

Corbett, S. (2015, March 10). Text-to-Visual-Remediation. Writing Commons. Retrieved from writingcommoms.org.

Baker, P. (2015, March 9). G.O.P. Senators’ Letter to Iran About Nuclear Deal Angers White House. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

N.A. (2015, March 10). Emergency Notification. University of Louisville. Retrieved from louisville.edu.

Lu, M. (1991). REDEFINING THE LEGACY OF MINA SHAUGHNESSY: A CRITIQUE OF THE POLITICS OF LINGUISTIC INNOCENCE. Vol. 10. 26-40.

My partner Brian Radcliff did the MLA citations. 

Reflection on Research Paper

I wrote my research paper on whether college athletes should be paid or not. I chose this topic because it’s something I’m interested in and I wanted to learn more about it. And since it has to deal with sports, the topic is relevant to my major of Exercise Science.

Challenges I faced while writing this research paper were finding credible academic sources. It was easy to find nonacademic sources because this is a much discussed issue among the sports world, but finding scholarly articles on this was difficult. I ended up finding a few academic articles on whether college athletes should be paid or not on a database.

Writing a research paper was not an easy task and it taught me many things. I learned how to argue a topic by explaining points from both perspectives. Instead of saying why one side is good and the other is bad, I had to show both sides advantages. This is different because I’ve never written a paper like this. Usually I make a stance for my argument and say why it should happen or why it’s beneficial. But I learned how to write from multiple viewpoints so my argument isn’t opinionated.

This research paper has similarities and differences with the first major assignment. The first paper was an informational paper about how writing is used in our major, and getting academic and nonacademic sources and two interviews. This paper I didn’t need to get interviews, only sources. The structures of both papers needed a thesis and conclusion. The research paper was argumentative so in the body paragraphs, you would include both perspectives instead of one.

Outline for Research Paper

Should College Athletes be Paid?

Thesis

• There are many reasons to believe college athletes should be paid such as the NCAA making money off them and businesses selling merchandise with their names on it, but there are also opposing views that explain why they should not be paid, like receiving full scholarships.

College athletes should be paid because...

• The NCAA makes billions of dollars off them every year.
• Coaches and athletic directors get paid.
• It's basically a job because they devote countless hours to their sport. 
• They are a market for the university.
• Businesses make money off them.

College athletes should not be paid because...

• They receive scholarships.
• They are student-athletes not professional athletes.
• Antitrust laws do not allow them to be paid.

Conclusion

• I am in between on the decision to pay college athletes. Although there are pros and cons to both sides, it would be difficult to change the NCAA policy to pay them.

APA and MLA Style for Quoting and Citing

There are a few different styles in writing research papers, and two common styles are MLA and APA. There are similarities and differences in the structures for these papers. The citing and quoting of these styles also have a few things that are alike. In block quotations, the parenthesis with the author and page number inside comes after the period. Also if the author is stated in the sentence then the parenthesis doesn’t need the author’s name, only the page number.   

The differences for citing and quoting for these two styles are important in the structure of the paper. In an MLA paper, the parenthesis only have the author and page number inside. If the author isn’t given, then use the title of the source. Block quotations are indented ten spaces, while in an APA paper it’s indented five to seven spaces. Also in MLA papers, the publication date is included in the parenthesis. 

Summary of Sources for Research Paper

My research paper will be about a controversial topic in the NCAA, should college athletes be paid? In the first nonacademic source I found, it stated that college athletes should receive some money for playing sports because of many reasons. One big reason is that the NCAA makes about $6 billion annually off athletes. Ads make money off of them because they pay to air their commercials on during a big game which then will reward them with millions of dollars. Athletic conferences make money if the team makes it far into the tournament. They should also be paid because the NCAA and other big businesses make money off athletes by using their “names and likenesses on merchandise such as jerseys and video games”.

The second nonacademic source also provides many reasons on why college athletes should be paid. Many argue they already get paid by receiving a free education, but this only covers their schooling, they don’t receive extra money to spend on other things. The top executives at the NCAA make $1 million a year, while athletes make nothing. Athletes bring in millions of dollars each year from ticket sales and media, but do not receive any of it. The article ends by saying the NCAA needs to make changes to its rules and should consider paying athletes.

The third nonacademic source gives twenty one reasons why college athletes should be paid. This article is opinionated, but it does provide a few good points and could influence the reader on why they should be paid. One reason the author gave was “The typical Division I college football player devotes 43.3 hours per week to his sport — 3.3 more hours than the typical American work week”. This is an alarming statistic and could change a person’s perspective on this debated topic. 

Analysis of "Organ Sales Will Save Lives"

In Joanna Mackay’s “Organ Sales Will Save Lives”, she argues that the sale of kidneys should be legal. She begins her argument with her position on the topic, and the thesis. The thesis was “Governments should not ban the sale of human organs; they should regulate it. Lives should not be wasted; they should be saved”. Her thesis is clear and is supported by reasons.

She then gives necessary background information so the audience can understand the importance of kidney transplants. After that she gives a few reasons on why selling kidneys should be allowed. A counterargument is followed by each reason so her argument isn't one sided. She gives multiple perspectives for her argument. For example, she claims the sale of kidneys should be legal because donors could use the money. Her counterarguments to this were donating a kidney is risky and selling organs is unethical. Giving perspectives on both sides, her argument is credible and well more interesting.

To conclude her argument, she asks the audience a question that will make them reconsider their views on the sale of organs.  

Reflection on Informational Report

Reflection on Informational Report

The purpose of this assignment was to write an informational report on the use of writing in our major using academic and nonacademic sources and also adding interviews. My major is Health and Human Performance so I wrote how writing is important in this field of study, and what types are usually written for the careers in this field. This assignment taught me many new things about my major and writing in the career I want to pursue. After doing my research I found out that writing is a very important aspect in the careers for this field. Like for example, I want to be an athletic trainer someday so I searched for information on how writing impacts this job. Athletic trainers use writing mainly for keeping track of athletes’ rehabilitation progress and making workout plans. I had an idea of what athletic trainers did, but I didn't know they had to do a lot of writing. Most people assume that careers in Health and Human Performance don’t have to write like other careers. This is not true, all the careers I did research on for this field require some type of writing. It really depends on the job and degree you have for what type of writing you do, whether it’s academic or nonacademic.

Challenges I faced while writing this were finding enough credible sources on writing in this field. Most of the sites I found didn't really say much on writing, just a job description. I eventually found enough sources to incorporate in my report. Using the library database was extremely useful in finding scholarly papers for this field.

After writing this report, I feel I've become a more improved and effective writer. I learned how to write to inform the audience and use sources other than Google. My strengths are providing background knowledge on my topic and clearly giving evidence of the topics. Weaknesses I see in my writing are the use of ‘I’, ‘my’, and ‘you’. I tend to use these words a lot in papers, but I’m getting better at avoiding these first person words.

The group conference was useful because my partner gave me good information on my report, and told me things I should fix. Although group conferences are useful, I prefer individual conferences because I only have to worry about my paper instead of my partners.

Informational Report - First Draft

Isaiah Jones

Professor Paudel

Eng. 102

3 February 2015

Is Writing Important in Health and Human Performance?

Writing is a task we've been doing for most our lives. It’s been an important to us ever since we learned how to do it in preschool. Most of us write every day, whether it’s a simple text message, email, or ten page research paper for an English class. It has become very significant for us, especially as we grow older and further our education and careers. Some careers may require more writing than others, but as we all know a vast majority of jobs will require some type of writing skills. English majors need writing because their careers will be focused on it, such as writing books and poems. But what about those who major in Health and Human Performance? Do people in this field even need to write? The answer is yes, and I will explain to you the many different ways writing is used in this field.

Health and Human Performance, also more commonly known as Exercise Science, is a growing field at many universities and is becoming a very popular major among students. This major is common for athletes and students interested in health and exercise. The main objectives for this field are for students to learn about the science of the human body, how to improve health with exercise and diet, injury prevention, and several more health related topics. In fact, Prairie View A&M University states that their goal for Health and Human Performance is “to introduce every student to the potential benefits of a well defined exercise program and to provide planned experiences that will result in knowledge about the value of physical activities, essential motor skill development, stamina, strength and those social qualities that will last a life time” (“Health and Human Performance”). The university’s goal is for its students to gain a better understanding of exercise, health, and the body. A Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science gives rise to a variety of career choices such as: athletic training, physical and occupational therapy, nursing, teaching, and many other health related professions. Writing is significant for all of these careers. The purpose and genre of the writing depends on the job the person has. For example, a nurse would have different writing assignments than a personal trainer.

Athletic training is a one of the common careers for a student majoring in Exercise Science, and is also what I plan on becoming in the future. Athletic trainers’ jobs are to prevent and treat the injuries of athletes. They work with athletes for college and professional teams. Although they’re usually working with patients, writing is a big part of their daily lives. They write down records of each player and keep track of their rehabilitation progress. “The trainer is also to work with the team physician in designing an rehabilitation program for an injured athlete… implementing a program that will help the injured player heal properly and maintain is [his] endurance and strength… keeping records of each athletes progression throughout the rehabilitation process. The records must show when an athlete was injured, what the injury was, the prognosis, prescribed rehabilitation, and progress” (Morais). They must write down workouts, rehab programs, and records of progression for injured athletes. Athletic trainers stay extremely busy with all this paperwork, and it shows that writing has a huge impact on their daily lives.

Physical Therapy is another common profession in the field of Exercise Science. “Physical Therapy is a branch of rehabilitative health care that utilizes different exercises and equipment to improve, restore, or maintain a patients physical mobility” (“Reading and Writing for Physical Therapists”). The job of a physical therapist is to treat injured patients with exercises so they can restore the function of the injured body part. Writing also plays a significant role in this job too. Physical therapists must write charts for every patient that includes a list of exercises and medication, treatment and exercise plans, and patient evaluations.

People in careers in this field also do a variety of scholarly writings. They may write magazine articles, proposals, research papers, case reports, and blogs. In this case report titled, “Use of the Theoretical Domains Framework to Develop an Intervention to Improve Physical Therapist Management of the Risk of Falls After Discharge”, physical therapy experts Susie Thomas and Shylie Mackintosh wrote this report on their concerns of patient falls after being discharged from the hospital. In this seventeen page report, they gave background information and a purpose, a case description, outcomes, and a discussion. They clearly described the problems and even used charts to give the audience a visual of the data. In another academic writing titled “Meaning and Misunderstanding in Occupational Forms: A Study of Therapeutic Goal Setting”, occupational therapists Gary Kielhofner and Laura Barrett wrote about goal setting for this profession. The objective they stated in the article was “This study examined occupational therapists’ use of the occupational form of goal setting as therapy and its impact on clients” (Kielhofner & Barret). The main focus of the article is how clients are influenced by their therapists’ goals. The therapists used qualitative data for the method to get accurate results and conclusions. From these academic sources, it’s evitable that writing is very important for this field.

Now that we understand how writing is used in Health and Human Performance, we can compare and contrast the writing for this field with real people in the profession. I interviewed two experts in Health and Human Performance about how writing impacts their jobs. The first person I interviewed was Mike Jett, a co-owner of a fitness business and university faculty instructor. He earned a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology, and said writing is a very important aspect of his job. Mr. Jett says he writes daily, whether it be an email or proposal, and “through my fitness business I send out a weekly newsletter to over 1000 people. I also post a modified version of this newsletter on a Health/Fitness Blog hosted on the Courier Journal website”. Writing is very important for his job because he has to let his audience know of the business he owns. The genre of writing he mainly does is informative with his audience being Exercise Science students and people interested in health and fitness. The second person I interviewed was Susan Peacock, a teacher at the University of Louisville. She earned two Master’s degrees, one in Education and the other in Nutritional Sciences. Writing is also an essential part of her job. She writes emails, journal articles, and fitness manuals. Mrs. Peacock stated, “I am a contributing author in an ACSM fitness manual. When the department receives grant money in an area of my expertise, I write for the grant”. Writing for her is extremely important because it potentially gives her department grant money. The genre of writing she mainly does is expository and audience is her partners at the university. Although their writings are similar as those of other professions in this field, they do more scholarly writings.

Writing is important for many different careers and depending on what it is, decides how much and what type of writing you do. Some fields of study may require more academic writings, while some may be more simplistic. Exercise Science careers will require some sort of writing, and given the examples, we see they can be either academic like career reports or nonacademic like patient charts. For that reason it is evident that the answer to the question of whether writing is important in this field is yes.

Works Cited

"Essay/Term Paper: Athletic Training." Essay on Essays. Research Paper on Athletic Training. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.

"Health and Human Performance." College of Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.

Kielhofner, Gary, and Laura Barret. "Meaning and Misunderstanding in Occupational Forms: A Study of Therapeutic Goal Setting." Google Scholar. N.p., May 1998. Web. <http://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=1862543>.

"Reading and Writing for Physical Therapists." Reading and Writing for Physical Therapists. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.

Thomas, Susie, and Shylie Mackintosh. Use of the Theoretical Domains Framework to Develop an Intervention to Improve Physical Therapist Management of the Risks of Falls After Discharge. Rep. 11th ed. Vol. 94. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Ebsco Host. Web. 1 Nov. 2014. <http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=7bd940bd-ad0c-48db-8ebf-9ff8ac1719b0%40sessionmgr4001&vid=2&hid=4114>.

Reflection on Suggestions for Informational Report

In my group discussion, we talked about how we should organize and develop our ideas for our informational reports. We said to start the paper with background knowledge of our fields and describe them. Then provide a clear thesis at the end of the first paragraph. Next, write about the interviews and how writing impacts their jobs. Use quotes, and introduce and explain them, so the reader will understand it clearly. Next write about the academic and nonacademic sources found about the field, and summarize how writing is used. Also, compare and contrast the interviews and sources. Conclude on restating the thesis, and explaining the main topics.
Four important points I learned from the discussion is use quotes for interviews and sources, summarize the main ideas of sources, introduce and explain quotes, and explain how writing is used for the job in the field.

Summary of Interviews and Sources

Summary of Interviews

I interviewed two experts from the field of Health and Human Performance, Susan Peacock and Mike Jett. Susan Peacock was the first person I interviewed. She earned a MEd with a focus in psychology and a MS in nutritional sciences. Her job is being a lecturer and teacher. She’s my Healthy Lifestyles teacher. Writing has a major impact on her job. She is a contributing author in an ACSM fitness manual, writes emails daily, and other kinds less frequently. The main genre of her writings is expository and main audience is business partners. Most of her writing experience came from high school, not college. Although her job doesn’t require much writing, it’s still needed and very important.

The second person I interviewed was Mike Jett. He has an Md in Exercise Physiology and a BA in History. He co-owns a fitness business and is a full-time faculty instructor here at UofL. Writing is also a very important aspect of his job. He writes weekly newsletters for his fitness business, proposals every few months, and emails daily. He also posts a modified version of his weekly newsletter on a Health/Fitness Blog hosted on the Courier Journal website. He says he write informatively and sometimes adds comedy for entertainment purposes. His audience is people interested in health, nutrition, fitness, and exercise science students. He says writing in college helped him become a better writer for his job, and he writes about an hour a day.

The interviews helped me get a new perspective of how experts in the field I’m pursuing write. I didn't know that those in the Health and Human Performance field wrote daily, but now I know they do. Depending on the job in the field, you can write newsletters, proposals, emails, and many more informational papers.

Analysis of Sources

From a nonacademic source I found, people who are in athletic training, which is a job in the field of Health and Human Performance, use writing and it’s a very important part of their jobs. Athletic trainers design work outs for athletes and record the progress. They also record the progress of the rehabilitation process of injured athletes. They must also fill out paper work and write emails. Another source talked about personal trainers. Their job is similar to athletic trainers, but they’re more focused on fitness and weight loss for their clients instead of injury prevention and treatment. They write articles in fitness magazines and make dietary plans for clients. Some people in this field can become physical education teachers and health educators. To do this they should know how to write and communicate with their class, and also write emails. There's also many more careers in this field that may have to do other types of writing. 

Analysis of Quotes

In my English 101 class last semester, I wrote an essay about stress in college students. To have evidence of my claim and make points, I used quotes from academic and nonacademic sources. One of the sources I used in the essay was, “One out of four students report experiencing daily stress” (Schuder). For this quote to be clear to the audience, I had to introduce it by explaining to the audience by giving them an example of how stressful college is for me. And to conclude the quote I explained how stressed out college students are and what causes their stress. I think I did a good job of explaining the quote, and showing that the statistic is actually true.

In the same essay I used a long quote from a source. I didn’t summarize it because I felt like it was really important information for the essay. To introduce this long quote, I gave background information on the quote so the audience will have an understanding of it. I concluded it by simply paraphrasing what the author stated. I could have improved the conclusion of the quote by explaining how it was important and saying how useful it is for college students to know.  

Summary of Source and Interview Questions

The source I used is about athletic training. This career is one of the many careers in the Health and Human Performance field. The genre of this non-academic source is informative. This source informs the audience on what athletic trainers do and how writing is important for them.

The source is about athletic training. Athletic trainers prevent, examine, and treat athletes’ injuries. They use writing in many different ways. They record the athletes’ progression through rehabilitation. They also record the injuries of the athletes and their performance on the field. Another way they can use writing is making work out plans for the athletes.

Interview Questions

1.       How do you use writing in your field of Health and Human Performance?

2.       What is your job and what do you do?

3.       How does writing impact your job?

4.       Do you write a lot?

5.       What type of writing do you do?

Analysis of Assignment 1 - Isaiah Jones

The purpose of this assignment is to write an Informational Report on the role that writing plays on a specific profession. I need to interview two or three writers in the field of the profession and analyze two academic and two non-academic sources.

The rhetorical situation of this assignment is to increase the awareness of the profession. The purpose for this is to teach students about the profession and its writing skills. The audience is a group of high school students who are interested in this profession. The stance is my attitude toward this profession, whether I feel it’s interesting or important. The media will be a written report possibly with illustrations or charts to help clearly present the information of the profession. 

Rhetorical Situations - Isaiah Jones

A rhetorical situation is

• any set of circumstances that involves at least one person using some sort of communication to modify the perspective of at least one other person.
• the context of a rhetorical act, made up of a speaker, an issue, and an audience.
• refers to all of the features of audience, purpose, and exigence that serves to create a moment suitable for a rhetorical response.

Analysis of Proposal Argument from Eng 101 Using Rhetorical Situations - Isaiah Jones

In my English 101 class last semester I wrote a proposal argument addressing the university’s general education requirements. The rhetorical situations influenced my writing greatly.

The purpose of this proposal argument was to propose a problem to the university on general education requirements, inform them with facts on why the solution to the proposal was reasonable, and persuade them with benefits of the solution in the justification. Evidence of showing purpose in the proposal was telling the audience exactly what needed to be changed. In the proposal I said the university should change the number of credits needed.

The audience in my proposal was the University General Education Curriculum Committee. This was the right audience to address the problem because they could potentially act on it. I addressed them in the cover letter and repeated the name multiple times in the proposal so they know it was intended for them.

The genre of this writing is a proposal. The proposal needed to have a certain organization such as a cover letter, stated problem, solution, justification, conclusion, and sources.

My stance in my proposal was persuasive. In my justification I persuaded the audience with the benefits of acting on the solution of requiring less credits. I said students would “graduate earlier, save money, and start careers earlier.” By telling the audience these advantages of the solution, it made my stance much stronger.

The mediums I used in this proposal were the headings and graph. There were three major headings: the problem, solution, and justification. These gave the proposal a sense of clarity for the audience so they will know exactly where to look for each part of the proposal. There was also a table included in it with data from a survey.

Ways to improve on my next paper are to have a better stance and stay strong with my opinions on the topic. I can also respond to opposing arguments and multiple perspectives of the audience.

Syllabus - Isaiah Jones

After reading the syllabus for this course, I have a few questions. My first one is on the homework assignments. Do all of our homework assignments need to be posted on our blogs and printed, or just posted on our blogs? I think it would be much easier to just post them to the blog instead of doing both. And also, are all homework assignments from the book?

I’m also confused on the grading policy. A majority of our grade is daily responses, quizzes, and in-class assignments. So will it hurt my grade if I miss a few daily responses and in-class assignments? And also I see if we can revise our essays. Can we revise all of our essays or just one?