Considering Genre

Seeing as this is the first project, I literally had all of the options as to my choice of genre. But after reviewing the future projects and which genres would be fit for those, I decided to commit to the Quick Reference Guide.

I am committing to the Quick Reference Guide for Project 1 for several reasons. This genre is good for outlining the most important parts of a complicated issue. In addition, it allows for the use of graphics to support the different sides of the controversy.

Next week, I am planning on organizing my argument effectively, and finding graphics and data that will support my argument. This kind of genre is also slightly more informal compared to the standard essay, so I will be trying to use a more informal tone, but while keeping it serious because I am discussing a controversy, and I want my readers to take me seriously. The purpose is to inform the readers about the controversy, and I think that an informal tone, shorter paragraphs, and graphics will keep the readers attention

I am feeling a little bit nervous about extracting the right information from my sources and organizing it effectively. I fear I will run into holes in my argument that will require more research. I also fear that my time management skills will fail me and I will end up with a lot of research and no structured argument. 

"Quick Reference Guide" via knowmoregrowmore.com

Cluster of Stakeholders

In my cluster, I split it up into three stakeholders: parents, children, and therapists. From there, I analyzed the roles of the different stakeholders in relation to my topic. This helped me really figure out who was really involved in my controversy, and how to structure my project.

Brandon "Just Coggle It!" 4/3/13 via edutechmag.org

Evaluation of General Sources

After doing further research, I have decided to study the controversy of whether or not the use of Functional Electrical Stimulation (small electrical pulses through the muscles) should be used for injuries in children.

URL

What is it? What does it end with? What do those endings mean? Which ending is  more credible?
The URL from my first article is https://www.kidsphysiotherapy.co.uk/kids-physiotherapy-functional-electrical-stimulation#what-are-the-benefits-of-treatment
The URL from my second article is http://www.oandp.com/articles/2013-04_04.asp

Both of these articles end in .com, meaning they are used for business purposes. URLs ending in .edu are educational websites and are often associated with universities or other educational institutions. If they end in .org then they are usually associated with a non-profit organization, and .net simply stands for network. If the ending is .gov, then that website is run by the government.

Generally, URLs ending in .org, .edu, or .com are usually more credible.

Author

Can you identify an author for the information? Can you verify the author's qualifications
My first article does not specify an author. The information supplied is supposed to represent the organization as a whole, and one person. This is due to the last tab "Contact Us" where readers can ask questions.

My second article is written by Phil Stevens. His name is immediately followed by his qualifications which include MEd (Masters in a Degree of Education), CPO (Certified in Orthotics and Prosthetics), and FAAOP (Fellow of the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists). He is on the board of directors for that website, which is oandp.com, "Your Resource for Orthotic and Prosthetic Information."

Last Updated

Does it say when  the article was last updated? can you see if it is out of date?
My first article does not say when it was last updated, so there is no way to tell if the information is out of date. However, if this company is providing FES services, then the information should be up to date. The links provided at the bottom of the page only offer other services that the company does, not anything to do with FES.

My second article, however, indicated that it was last updated in April of 2013. Therefore, the information should be up to date, but I would have to do further research on similar studies after April of 2013 to know for sure. The links provided give the reader access to similar studies and articles involving FES, including sources from the study Stevens completed.

Purpose

The text of my first article is trying to persuade the reader to use their company for FES services. The information assumes that the reader is unfamiliar with FES, so it outlines what it is and in what cases it is usually applied. If the reader feels like FES might be useful for their situation, the text provides contact information.

The second article is simply informing the reader of a study done about history of the application of FES on different age groups, as well as the effectiveness of FES on children with Cerebal Palsy. It doesn't seem to promoting any idea in particular, just simply the study.

Graphics

The first article only had an cartoon at the top of the page, which had little to do with the contents of the page.

"Functional Electrical Stimulation" via kidsphysiotherapy.co.uk

The second article had several pictures, all of child patients using the FES treatment. This gives the reader a visual of the controversy.

Hanger, "Hanger Clinic National Orthotics Specialist Curt Bertram with WalkAide patient Amber Konkol." 4/13 via oandp.com

Position on Subject

The first article is very biased because it is trying to persuade the reader to use their services. It also seemed a little incomplete because the answers were very limited. Therefore, they are going to promote the use of FES heavily. They profit if the users believe this information. I can verify some of the information with other sources.

The text of the second article is relatively unbiased because it outlines a study to see if FES is appropriate for children. However, the graphics associated with it, as well as the website began to persuade me as a reader from the beginning that the FES devices were effective, even before I reached the results section of the study. Because it is a study, I can verify this information with other studies done.

Links

The first source does not suggest other sources for information, other than ways to contact the company itself, and links to other sections of the website that differ from the topic on that page. It does not cite sources, so I am hesitant to believe this information.

The second source cited many sources due to the nature of the study done. In addition, the editor provided a link to a similar study done on adults, if the reader was interested. Because of this, I am more comfortable believing this information than the information in the first article.

Reddit and What I Found There

For me, I found Reddit to be much more useful than Twitter. On Twitter I found a lot of links to other studies and articles, on Reddit I found more of a conversation between people in my field about different experiences regarding the day to day perspective, as well as tips for getting into graduate school.

Based on the Occupational Therapy page on Reddit, it seems like a lot of people are discussing what kids of things to do in order to get into OT school. For example, there is a whole page just giving advice on how to get into OT school. Along those lines, many threads were about how to build up resumes, where to get shadowing and volunteer hours, and what kinds of classes to take in your undergrad. There was also a post about what kind of qualities an OT should have, which I found very interesting.

One interesting debate I read about had to do with why there weren't that many male Occupational Therapists compared to female. I never realized there was such a large difference, and I was curious as to why, and how male OTs felt in such a female dominated field. The second thread I found interesting was discussing whether Physical Therapists or Occupational Therapists made more money. Some of the replies provided links to websites where the person could do their own research. On the other hand, most of the replies insisted that choosing a field should absolutely not be based on salary. While I agree with this notion, I was still curious. So upon further researching, I found that the two professions make about the same amount, with OT at $78,810 per year and PT at $82,390 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

I get the impression that getting into this field is very difficult and time consuming, but worth it in the end. Because many incoming OT graduate students are looking to add to their resume, I got kind of an idea of what my life will be like for the next couple of years. I expected to find more controversy than I did; however, this field is still growing, so I think that there will be more controversy as the field grows.

AOTA, "What is OT" via AOTA

Evaluation of News Magazine Stories

Finding specific news stories about occupational therapy was not easy. My first article is from The Atlantic, and it outlines the struggle of giving enough support to autistic students and those with asperger's syndrome, because often schools don't have the right resources for these kids, and they suffer in school, both academically and socially. My second article is from The Week, and it discusses the role mental health plays in universities.

Number One!
This article discusses the lack of support given to autistic children in the public school system. More specifically, how the public schools only care about how these struggling students are doing academically, and not socially. Henry was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when he was in the fifth grade, but it had been a lifelong struggle for him to fit in and keep up with his peers socially. "Special- education departments to focus on helping students with learning disabilities. But kids with Asperger's often don't need academic support," says Amy, the author and mother of Henry. While the administration claimed that they were doing all they could, Amy disagreed.

The most sympathetic character in this story is actually the author. The author is Henry's mother, who ended up pulling her son out of public school and homeschooling him due to the lack of social support at his previous school. She evokes feelings of sympathy from me because I cant imagine being put in this position. Seeing my child stressed and upset at the end of every school day and having breakdowns during class would break my heart. And it broke hers too, so she tried to get the school to help him. None of the psychologists or administration cared about his social well being because he was excelling academically.

The least sympathetic character in this story would be the public school administration. I understand that they can only do so much for one child, but in this case they did not even try to understand Henry's situation. If a psychologist from the school had sat down with him and properly evaluated his social skills and personality, then they could've set up a different kind of program for him. One that was communicated to the teachers that he had so that he was getting the most out of his school day. But since this was not done, Henry just became shy and quiet and kept to himself.

Number Two!
The debate in this article is very similar to the previous article, but translated to universities. This article claims that universities are not providing enough support for students with mental health issues. Young adults are at a higher risk of suffering from mental illness because they are in a brand new environment, which puts them outside of their comfort zone, which then makes them very vulnerable. While most schools have some sort of counseling available, often it is very limited to suicide prevention or just depression, when it should be expanded to anxiety and stress. But why should people care? "The arguments starts with why mental health can affect academic performance, by affecting concentration, optimism about the future, energy, sleep, and so on," says Daniel Eisenberg, a professor at University of Michigan.

I am most sympathetic to the students at universities that do not support the mental health of their students. Mental health is an issue that hits close to home for me, so it makes me upset to find that some students are not getting the help that could make them much more successful in school. Every student should have an equal chance at success at pursuing their career, and I'm afraid that students without receiving the help they need to deal with mental health issues are at a distinct disadvantage.

I am least sympathetic to the Universities that are not putting in the money and effort needed to improve these mental health programs. If they did, they would have more students graduating, and better GPA for student's struggling with these mental health issues. Needless to say, students would have better experiences throughout college as well.

Zoe Schlanger, "Mental Health Providers." 3-26-14  via Newsweek.

Twitter and What I Found There

I am a huge fan of Twitter. Nothing cures boredom quite like a Twitter feed. However, I also didnt realize how informative it could be. In completing this assignment I feel I have gotten to see a whole different side of Twitter, and one that I quite enjoyed. I also may have found a few accounts to follow to make my own Twitter feed a little more educational. :)


So I googled "occupational therapy twitter" and clicked on the hashtag that brought me to the page where occupational therapists across the world can communicate about new studies or new techniques for different kinds of patients. Many of the tweets I stumbled across were links to other articles, like this one that describes what techniques other occupational therapists can use if treating kids with ADHD. I also saw a lot of positive uplifting tweets about the work being done. For example, Alexis wrote "I do it for the client desiring to walk their pup w/o feeling winded or short of breath from pneumonia recovery #OT365 #occupational therapy." These kind of tweets also lead me to other hashtags to search through.


There were a few Twitter accounts that I found really helpful. First was AOTA's twitter account, or American Occupational Therapy Association. They provide links to information for future OTs like myself, as well as new strategies and methods for current OTs. More specifically, the one I found most interesting was this tweet about adult coloring books. I have always loved coloring (I never grew out of it-oops), but I never imagined that something that simple could be used to heal someone. The other twitter account I found interesting was called TodayinOT. This account provides any breaking news in the field, as well as job openings. One of my favorite tweets from them involves music therapy as well. It describes how adding musical therapy to original OT exercises eased symptoms of the illness. I enjoyed this because I have always loved music, playing violin since age nine and singing throughout high school. The thought of music helping someone through an incredibly painful time warms my heart.

Before going on twitter, I assumed I would find tweets from organizations promoting the career, and providing links and resources to further educate myself on what exactly an occupational therapist is. While I did find some of those, I also found tweets from specific people talking about the day-to-day life in this field. I did not expect this, but I almost found these kid of tweets more helpful than the links to articles, because it made it feel real. Like that could be me someday if I worked hard enough.

Based off twitter, I get the impression that my field is very rewarding. I have seen occupational therapists tweet about how awesome their day was because they got to teach someone how to write again. I also saw tweets from patients and family member's of patients giving thanks to occupational therapists for helping them do the things they love again. Looking through these twitter feeds has made me excited to join this wonderful group of people that are helping people every day.

AOTA, "OT Around the World." 1-21-16 via Twitter.

Evaluation of New York Times Stories

I had never really looked through the New York Times before, so it was nice to just look through and read what I wanted to read. I didn't see very many that were arguing something, mostly just reporting on something that happened. Nevertheless, they are still just as interesting to read.


Number One!
The first article I read was in the Health section of the New York Times, and was titled "Scientists Move Closer to Understanding Schizophrenia's Cause" by Benedict Carey.

The protagonists of this story seems to be the scientists themselves that made this breakthrough, Steven McCarroll and Beth Stevens. McCarroll is an associate professor of genetics at Harvard, and Stevens works at Boston Children's Hospital as an assistant professor of neurology.These two are the center of the story because together they made an exciting discovery about how and why Schizophrenia appears in humans.

The first part of the breakthrough took place in Steven McCarroll's lab at Harvard. Here, they discovered that the MHC locus produced the C4 gene, which then created two proteins called C4-A and C4-B. The C4-A gene seemed to be the one that was causing the disease due to his study. However, they got a second opinion with Beth Stevens at Boston's Children Hospital. In Stevens's lab, this theory was supported even more due to lab testing on mice.

There doesn't seem to be a debate happening in this story. Although this ahs been a major breakthrough, McCarroll, Stevens, and other scientists who read their report all seem to agree this is one step in a very long process. This is an amazing discovery for scientists studying this disease, but they all agree they are still far from forming treatment or a cure.

Number Two!
The second article I read was from the Science section, and it was titled, "How to Get Five Planets Into a Single Photograph" by Nicholas St. Fleur.

The main character in this story is Greg Hogan, an astronomer from Georgia. He is the center of the story because he was the person who took the photograph and managed to fit all five planets in one single shot.

This story takes place in the Oaky Woods in Kathleen, Georgia. He woke up his sons and they ventured into the wilderness at 5:30 in the morning on Sunday to look at the stars and planets. It was 25 degrees outside; however, no one seemed to care- just wanted to enjoy the experience.

There doesn't seem to be a very significant debate in this article, although there was a suggestion on what type of camera to use, since a simple iPhone refuses to get Mercury in the picture.

For those of you curious, here is the picture that Hogan took!

Greg Hogan, "Untitled" 1-24-16 via The New York Times.

Course Projects

• What are you most confused by or nervous about in regards to the four major projects?
• I am most nervous about conducting interviews for The Rhetorical Investigation. It will probably be good for me to be gently pushed outside of my comfort zone, but I have anxiety over the whole situation. What if I ask a dumb question???? Being an Undecided major means I can choose literally anything to focus on, but seeing as I am extremely (obviously) indecisive, choosing a topic to study and finding professionals to interview is very nerve-racking for me.
• What are you most interested in or excited by in regards to the four major projects?
• I am most looking forward to the Public Argument because although it requires a ton of research, I am excited to find something that interests me (and maybe it will help me find a major J).
• Based on your understanding of the major projects, what are the elements of this course that you have to plan ahead for? How will the coursework described in the four project assignment sheets challenge your time management skills this semester?
• I generally manage my time by estimating how long a certain task will take, and then designating a certain amount of my homework time to that task. The Controversy Postmortem and the Public Argument will challenge this habit because these projects require tons of research, which does not have a designated time limit. Transferring my research into the designated genre will take an unknown amount of time as well, as I have never used movie making or auditory programs before.
• How has your past English coursework in high school or college prepared you for the challenges of this course? What skills will you bring into the course with you?
• My past English courses have plenty prepared me for writing essays. My AP Language class prepared me on how to effectively construct an argument and properly back it up with reliable sources. I will be using those skills for the Public Argument. In addition, taking honors English courses in high school made me manage my time effectively due to the extensive amount of assignments, so I will be using those skills throughout this course.
• Do you have any questions about the four major projects that haven't been answered by the assignment sheets? What do you still want to know?
• For Project 2, the Rhetorical Investigation, we conduct primary research with the interviews, and then secondary research afterwards. So then do we just present the information we gathered in our chosen genre? I don’t understand what the sheet means by “rhetorical dimensions.”
• For the public argument, are we trying to persuade our audience to choose a side of the controversy? Or simply presenting both sides of the issue?

Edit: After reading Sarah's and Kelly's posts, I realized that a lot of other people have the same fears and worries over some of the projects in this class. In terms of time management and completing some assignments that are outside of my comfort zone, I realized that we are all in the same boat. On a different note, I also really liked the layout of Sarah's blog; I could get a better sense of her personality.

Investigating Genres

For this blog post, I chose the genre, Video Essay, because I am terrified of this completing this genre for this class. J

1. What purpose does this genre usually serve?

          The Video Essay is generally used to inform the audience of an issue or a concept, and explain it in detail. The examples given introduce a theme like emotion, a favorite piece of literature, or the influence of highly gender specified commercials on young children. Some of these examples made a claim about the issue, and then backed it up with examples and evidence from real commercials. Others simply analyzed a problem and explained it thoroughly. And others simply presented a piece of literature using film instead of paper.

2. Where, how, or in what context do readers usually find this genre?

          Readers can usually find this genre on the internet because it is film. Often social media sites are the fastest ways to share and spread this type of genre, because most people spend at least a little time online every day. This type of outlet can reach thousands of viewers very quickly, as opposed to small screenings around one city, or mailing a DVD to another city for viewing.

3. Who is the typical audience for this genre?

          This genre is more typical for younger audiences rather than older audiences because of the outlet that is used to view it. Younger viewers tend to have a better grasp on how to venture through the Internet and find what they are looking for; therefore, they are more likely to find this video on the internet and view it. While older viewers may still see these videos, it is more likely that younger viewers with more experience using the internet will find and watch this video.

4. What are some of the key characteristics that are unique to this genre, distinguishing it from other texts?

          This genre is unique because it offers something visual and auditory. The essay is simply text, the quick reference guide offers text along with images or graphs, and the podcasts are only auditory. The Video Essay allows the viewer to take in the information visually off the screen, but also through whatever sound is accompanying the video. Information is being interpreted through more than one of the senses, offering a better understanding of the information presented.

5. Based on your answers to the questions above, come up with a definition in your own words for this genre.

          A video essay is similar to a written essay, except it is filmed instead of written. The video essay uses both visual and auditory methods to convey a topic or problem, the context surrounding said topic, and the evidence to back up whatever claims the author is making about it. It is a digital version of the classic essay.

Edit: After reading James' and Amelia's posts, I learned more about the other genres, and what kind of things I should include in my versions of these genres. Now I know what to expect, and I have a better understanding of how much time each genre will take to produce. However, I am still worried about time management because I am not sure how much time the pre-production will take for each project.

My Writing Process (It's a Struggle)

To be completely honest, I had zero clue what a writing process was, let alone what mine was . I am painfully unaware of the steps I take when I write, so I figured it was safe to assume that I am very disorganized with my thoughts. Despite being this negligent to my own thinking, I've written a plethora of papers throughout high school and here at the U of A. It just happens. So in order to figure out which type of writer I am, I actually had to act like I was about to write something very long and important, and observe what I would do and how I would feel before, during, and after writing such a paper. Turns out, I'm a bit more organized than I thought...

What kind of writer am I??

          Given the four types of writers, I believe I am a sequential composer. I find that writing my paper goes much smoother when I have written out how I want it to be organized. This helps with time management also. If I have the paper planned out with general ideas in the form of an outline, I can better estimate how much time will be needed per paragraph, and therefore the whole paper. Also, I do find myself revising my work as I go, re-reading sections and paragraphs at a time. I rarely read through the whole paper after I am finished, because I revise as I go.

But what else?

My approach probably is a mix between sequential composer and heavy planner. I am a heavy planner in the sense that I do a ton of outlining in my head before writing anything. However, I rarely think about my writing when I am away from the computer. Although I do not revise as much as I should, I revise more than a heavy planner would, and in the way a sequential composer would—by paragraph or sections at a time, rather than the whole paper at once.

Soooo is this good or bad? Or both?

          I think for the most part my writing process seems to be successful, however I have never tried anything else so I wouldn’t really know. Some strengths would be that I know exactly what I want to write and how the paper will go, and time management is fairly easy. However, a weakness is probably that I don’t revise as much as I should. I definitely need to read the paper or piece as a whole as part of the revision process because that is just as important as revising small sections of the paper as I go.

Am I actually going to change anything?

I believe that it would be beneficial for me to try different aspects of other approaches, rather than ditch mine all together. Because I do like my writing process (now that I actually know what it is) the way it is, but adding techniques from other writing processes could potentially be more beneficial for me in the long run.

Visual Representation of my writing process:

marysaddlernewt. "Current mood . . ." 12/15/15 via Tumblr. Content License.

 Like I said, it's a struggle.