My Interviewees as Professional Writers

Although I could not find my interviewees publications online, I still loved hearing Ivan talk about his writing. He was passionate about what he was trying to communicate through his professionals writing.

During our interview, Ivan Aranguren mentioned he has written in Spanish for a Latin publication. I could not find it online, but it was an editorial written by him regarding the accessibility of health care and Occupational Therapy for Hispanics in the community. The context surrounding of this piece is the assumption that many Hispanics believe that health care isn't affordable for them, or that they can't get it. The message of his piece was simply that health care and occupational therapy are available for this portion of the community, and they are welcome to use it. Aranguren's purpose was to get Hispanics in his community to use health care and take care of themselves.

I haven't interviewed Jenny Allen yet, but I searched online and could not find anything authored by her. She mainly focuses on treating her patients on the football team and at Campus Health at U of A, and less on publishing things of her own.

Anit Louie, "20 Moment All Writing Majors Experience" 12-7-15 via theodysseyonline.com

Academic Discourse and Genre

Looking through this academic journal was interesting for me because I didn't realize how many different types of articles I would find in a single issue of this academic journal. There is so much information to learn!

In this particular issue, there seem to be many studies presented, some large scale and some that are single case on just one person. Large scale studies included research on students pursuing higher education with ADHD. Also, there are some surveys being exhibited, and also just reports on new technology for patients.

Three different genres in this issue are large scale studies, single case studies, and surveys. Large scale studies are different from single case studies because they are usually conducted wiht a large random sampling. Meanwhile, single case studies focus on one participant and how they react to different treatments. In terms of presenting the data, large scale studies tend to show a lot of statistics, while single case studies present specific information about the individual. Surveys are different than both of these because researchers do not conduct an experiment and change variables; they simply come up with a list of questions for a random sample of people to answer and then analyze the data.

Surveys are conducted within a large random sampling to find data regarding attitudes or responses to certain things. No experiments are being performed, nor are the participants being manipulated in any way. Large Scale Studies are conducted within a large random sampling of people to find the average among a group of people using experimental methods. Single case studies are conducted using experimental methods as well, however they are usually conducted on one person or a small number of people.

"AOTA Specialty Pre-conference" via atia.org

Rhetorical Analysis of Academic Journal

It was interesting looking through these academic journals. It was difficult, because I couldnt understand a lot of what they were talking about. It kind of scared me a little, but also made me excited that this is something I could learn from in the future.

There are several authors and speakers published in the March/April issue of AJOT. There are over 20 different authors featured in this issue, but many articles have 3-5 authors on them.Ther are 21 articles printed in this issue.

The intended audience for this journal seems to be other occupational therapists, or those who are familiar with the field and can understand the terms used by OTs. Many of the studies presented in this issue have very specific and complicated terms in them which probably can only be interpreted by professionals in the OT field. However, these issues are open to the public.

A part of this issue included an article about ethics in the OT field. This included details about taking disciplinary action in the field. This affects the overall content of the journal because it affects how other OTs do their job and interpret the information.

Many of the articles in this issue have to do with new techniques in this field depending on the types of patients that are being treated. For example there are separate articles discussing how to treat patients with mental health issues, or stroke victims, or children with autism. 

This journal is trying to educate other OTs as much as possible. This way, every patient being evaluated by an OT is getting the best care possible, and with the most advanced research to back up the actions of the OT.

"AJOT" via aota.org

My Discipline

There were several things in this blog post that made me research things in my field that I would not normally have looked at. It gave me a new perspective of my field, and I am very excited.

Students in the Occupational Therapy field learn how to assist people with learning the daily skills of living. Many of the patients have disorders or are recovering from injuries where they lost mobility in any part of the body. Some of the daily living skills they teach their patients include brushing their teeth, eating, putting socks and shoes on, and other skills.

People can get undergraduate degrees in many different fields, and then focus on occupational therapy in graduate school. Oftentimes, students major in neuroscience, psychology, sociology, and many more. On the other hand, if a student wants to work with children or families, they cna major in Family and Consumer Sciences.

Last year over spring break, I got the chance to shadow the therapists at Phoenix Children's Hospital. I learned about Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapy. I got the chance to see not only what the day-to-day life of these therapists, but also how the therapists have to approach their field differently when working with children. I loved it and would like to go back and volunteer.

Nancy Stanford Blair won American Occupational Therapy Association's Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Occupational Therapy. She has an extensive resume, including countless publications and several awards. In addition, University of Southern California has an outstanding Occupational Therapy program according to U.S. News and World Report. Lastly, Boston University also has a wonderful occupational therapy program.

Three leading journals in occupational therapy are OTJR, published by The American Occupational Therapy Foundation, AJOT, or the American Journal of Occupational Therapy, published by The American Occupational therapy Association, and OJOT, or The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy.

"OTJRJournal" 10-31-14 via twitter.com

My Interviewees on Social Media

This was a difficult blog post for me, because for some reason, neither of the people I am interviewing have much of a social media presence. But regardless, I still learned some information.


Ivan Aranguren
He has a LinkedIn profile for business purposes, as well as a Facebook profile. On his LinkedIn profile, he shares his work experience and where he received his higher education degrees. He also listed his skills and what he is qualified to do at his Occupational therapy clinic. He didn't share much else, or that I could view without signing up for LinkedIn as well. After scrolling through his Facebook, I found that he has a wife and two children. Because I could not get a hold of his writings that he wrote in Spanish for the Hispanic community, I can't compare these findings with his professional persona.


Jenny Allen
She has even less of a social media presence than Ivan. I looked through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and could not find her. The only information I found out about her, I found on the U of A website. Because of this, I can't compare her social media presence to her professional persona.

"LinkedIn Logo" 3/10/11 via commons.wikimedia.org

My Interview Subjects

For Project 2,  I am interviewing an Occupational Therapist named Ivan Aranguren and an Athletic Trainer and Physical Therapist named Jenny Allen. I wanted to interview a Physical Therapist and an occupational Therapist because I am still deciding which field to enter.

"Augusto Ivan Aranguren" via linkedin.com

Ivan Aranguren owns his own Occupational Therapy clinic called Integrated Therapy Services, where he is the head Occupational Therapist. He is also a supervisor for Outpatient Rehabilitation Services at St. Mary's Hospital. After a submarine accident in his previous occupation, he went to school to be an occupational therapist in 1997, and has been working in the field since 1999. He received his Bachelor's of Science at the Peruvian Naval Academy in La Punta, Callao in Peru, and then got his Master Science at Barry University in Miami, Florida. This photo is from his LinkedIn profile, but his professional website is here. I interviewed him on Wednesday, February 24th, at 7 pm after he spoke to a club I am in, Physical Occupational and Speech Therapy (P.O.S.T) in Modern Languages 402. Here were some of the questions I asked him.

1. How does your experience with the Naval Academy affect your work?

2. Does your writing process differ if you write in different languages?

3. Do you write differently when writing to the Hispanic community?

4. Why do you specialize in pediatrics, and specifically autistic children?

5. How does your job at St. Mary's hospital differ from your job at your clinic?

6. Is the writing for your role at St. Mary's hospital different than at the clinic

7. What do you love most about either of your jobs?

8. How is your clinic different from other clinics around Tucson?

"Jenny Allen"  via arizonawildcats.com

Jenny Allen is an Athletic Trainer for the University of Arizona football team, as well as a Physical Therapist at Campus Health. She received her Bachelors of Science from University of Arizona, as well as her Masters in Athletic Training from University of Virginia, and a Masters in Physical Therapy from Shenandoah University, which is in Northern Virginia. She worked as an Athletic Trainer for Purdue University from 1998 to 2000, before moving to Tucson to work with the football team in 2001. Although she has agreed to speak with me, we have not yet scheduled a meeting, but it will be sometime this week, and in her office. Here are some of the interview questions I will ask,

1. How was pursuing your masters in Athletic training different from your masters in physical therapy?

2. Why did you choose Virginia for graduate school?

3. How was working for women's basketball different than football?

4. What made you return to U of A?

5. How does your work at Campus Health differ from your work with the football team?

6. Which do you prefer?

7. What does it mean to be a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist?

8. How do you keep up with new research in your field?

Brutally Honest Self-Assessment

ITS OVER. After four weeks of stressful procrastinating, I have finally turned in Project 1 and am not moving on to Project 2. Here we go...

I am feeling alright about it. I feel like I got everything in there that I needed to, but I'm not sure if it was in the best way possible. After writing and researching about this controversy for four weeks, I am worried that the tone of my piece sounded very dull and tired. However, I am glad that I researched as much as I did. I feel that I am an expert on this topic and I hope that it shows through my piece.

On one of peer reviews, someone commented that my piece didn't flow as naturally as it could have, and I completely agreed with them. When I went back and revised, I tried to reevaluate how I wanted my QRG to look and sound, and made it less structured. I am hoping this helps with the fluidity of my piece, but I am still worried about how it sounds.

The strengths of my project include using the elements of the QRG to my advantage. I really wanted to use graphics to illustrate my point, because from experience I tend to look at pictures more than read paragraphs. I also wanted to include important quotes from significant sources and make them larger so even if someone doesn't read the whole QRG, they will read the most important points and understand what I am trying to say. Also, I felt that I researched my topic well. All of the important stakeholder's were present, and I feel I connected my main story to the bigger picture well using graphics and other tools.

My time management could've been better throughout this project, but it also could've been worse. I think I put enough effort into the QRG, but I think I just struggled managing it with my other classes. I am an English student, but I am also a Chemistry, Biology, and Psych student, among other obligations. Organizing all of my assignments in between classes and meetings was really difficult for me. Having 8 blog posts, studying for a chem test, and completing a bio project all on my to do list for one week easily makes me feel overwhelmed.  I think in the future I need to actually schedule out my time AND STICK TO IT. Instead of just "Oh, I'll do that on Saturday," I should say, "Oh, I'll complete at least 3 blog posts on Saturday afternoon from 2-4." If I do that with all of my assignments, it should prevent me from procrastinating (I hope).

-

"Time Management" 4-21-14 via grooverpr.wordpress.com

Local Revision: Variety

Variety is essential in any piece of writing. While the look of the QRG can bring the reader in, a variety of sentence structure and vocabulary will keep their attention.

In my current draft, I think that I have good sentence variety. In reading through, I have more complex sentences than simple sentences. This is literally only because I don't like the sound of simple sentences in my head when I'm writing something. While I do use many different kinds of complex sentences, having a series of long complex sentences can make the reader tired of following along. This is something I will go back and pay attention to when I am revising my draft.

Right now, my QRG is structured so every paragraph has a subheading, and I don't think I like that very much. Having subheadings is my excuse to not have transitions, which is dumb. I need to look at the whole thing and see which sections are closely related enough to ditch a subheading. I want my QRG to look good from afar, that way people will actually want to read and learn about my controversy.

In looking through my verbs for an earlier post, I found that many of them were action verbs, especially in the second half of my QRG where I write about occupational therapists and what they do. I really like the variety I have in the second half, and would like to emulate it in the first half.  However, in the first half, I used quite a few linking verbs (and the same ones) to tell Henry's story. I also used a lot of the same pronouns to tell Henry's story, so I need to go back and reevaluate that section paying attention to those two things. Overall, a strength is my variety of action verbs when I use them, and my weakness is pronouns. Using too many can cause confusion for the audience, which is the opposite of what a QRG should do.

"Repetition and Variety" 9-20-12 via sorryaboutthatbud.wordpress.com

Local Revision: Pronoun Usage

Analyzing my pronoun usage was interesting, because it is not usually something I would normally do as part of my revision process. Still, I came upon very interesting observations.

Brian Wasko, "Pronouns" 6-03-13 via blog.writeathome.com

I would say that my pronoun usage could be better. I found that when I was telling Henry's story, I used a lot of pronouns simply because the story is all about him. Actively examining my pronoun usage tells me that while writing can come very natural to me, revision is always necessary. I found that sometimes I used too many pronouns in one sentence, or a couple of sentences, and the reader could get confused about who I was talking about.

I never use the "you" pronoun in my piece; however, I do ask a rhetorical question at the beginning of my QRG. Even still, this is not necessarily speaking directly to the audience. I think I unconsciously chose not to directly speak to the audience. This is most likely because it has been drilled into my brain for my entire high school career to avoid the 2nd person point of view when writing something professionally. But in this specific piece, I think I avoided speaking to the audience because I didn't want them to feel at fault for this issue. I did not want the whole piece to feel like "THIS IS A PROBLEM LOOK DON'T YOU AGREE????" and more, "These are the facts, these are the options, here is the story." Looking back, I'm sure there are ways I could've incorporated 2nd person point of view without telling them what to do.

My Pronouns

This exercise made me very aware of how I was writing, particularly when I am telling Henry's story.

List of Pronouns

it (figure 1)

his (Henry)

She (Henry's mother)

his (Henry)

him (Henry)

She (Henry's therapist)

him (Henry)

he (Henry)

she (Henry's therapist)

his (Henry)

he (Henry)

her (Henry's therapist)

he (Henry)

his (Henry)

He (Henry)

him (Henry)

He (Henry)

him (Henry)

he (Henry)

he(Henry)

his (Henry)

him (Henry)

they (Henry;s parents)

They (Henry's parents)

they (Henry's parents)

she (Henry's mother)

him (Henry)

it (homeschooling)

they (occupational therapists)

they (occupational therapists)

they (occupational therapists)

he/she (student)

they (occupational therapists)

them (students' parents)

they (occupational therapists)

them (disabled students)

his (Tanner Skilton)

this (lack of support)

this (lack of support)

It (figure 2)

they (schools)

"Personal Pronouns" via brainpop.com

Local Revision: Passive and Active Voice

This was very interesting to analyze, because in re-reading my draft, I mostly use active voice.

Shaista Kahn, "Active vs Passive Voice" 6-1-13 via literaturequeen.com

Active Voice (Specific)	Active Voice (General)	Passive Voice
lack need noticed wrote took referred meant watched understood began loved became excelled suffered got got felt took knew knew decided shows affected works work affects focus help learn means help regain work helps observe analyze identifies work work assure know knows include shows represents affects means assist give suffers speaks represents represents claims support find leave	are are was was should is are is has is are get are can cannot are can aren’t is does is are go are	has increased would come was named was feeling would become were not helping would be gone would be helping had to work

Local Revision: Tense Usage

In completing this blog post, I noticed that a majority of QRG is present tense. It does mainly switch from pat tense to present. I found that when I write about my big event (Henry and his struggle with school) I used past tense. When I wrote about the role of occupational therapists and the current situation, I used present tense. I used the future tense very little throughout my piece.

Joan Lunden, "Present Tense" via quotesgram.com

Past Tense	Present Tense	Future Tense
increased wrote affected was noticed took referred meant was was watched understood began loved became was excelled suffered loved got felt took got knew knew decided had	are lack are should need shows works is work finding are affects is has focus help learn means help regain is are work helps observe analyze identifies work work assure get know knows are can cannot are can include comes shows represents affects means assist give suffers speaks represents struggling voice aren't is represents claims does is are go support are find leave	would would would would must will need needs needs need

My Verbs

This made me very aware of how I was writing, and also made me aware of how wordy I am. Sometimes I have run-on sentences that stop making sense about halfway through. So this took FOREVER, but now I know which parts to go and change.

are
should
need
shows
increased
affects
wrote
finding
has
affected
was
noticed
took
referred
meant
work
was
was
watched
understood
began
loved
became
would
was
excelled
suffered
loved
got
felt
took
are
lack
got
knew
would
knew
would
decided
had
works
is
are
would
is
focus
help
learn
means
help
regain
is
are
work
helps
observe
analyze
identifies
must
will
work
work
assure
get
know
knows
are
can
cannot
are
can
include
comes
shows
represents
affects
means
need
assist
give
suffers
speaks
represents
struggling
voice
aren't
is
represents
claims
needs
needs
does
is
are
go
need
support
are
find
leave

are/are not: 9
is: 5
was: 4
need: 4
knew/knows: 4
work:4
represents: 3
can/cannot:3
got: 2
lack: 2
would: 4
suffer: 2
affects: 2
loved: 2

Hugh Fox III, "List of Action Verbs" via foxhugh.com

Wordiness

This blog post assignment really made me aware of how I was presenting my ideas to my audience. after reading through some of my paragraphs, I realized that I was using too many words to get my point across, and therefore losing my point all together in the process. This helped me narrow down my paragraphs to what I really wanted to say.

Before:
According to AOTA's guide to Occupational Therapy in School Settings, occupational therapists can "observe a student engaging in an activity and provide strategies to facilitate the student's full participation." KidsHealth.org made a list of only some of the types of kids that occupational therapist can help. Some of them included students with, "birth injuries or birth defects . . . cancer . . .autism . . . mental health or behavioral problems," and many many more. But how do they help these children? According to AOTA's website, there are a whole range of activities that occupational therapist's can assist student's with, including "paying attention in class; concentrating on the task at hand, holding a pencil, musical instrument, or book in the easiest way; or just behaving appropriately in class."

After:
KidsHealth.org made a list of some of the types of kids that occupational therapists can help, like "birth injuries or birth defects . . . cancer . . .autism . . . mental health or behavioral problems," and many more. But how do they help? According to AOTA's website, there are a whole range of activities that occupational therapist's can assist students with, including "paying attention in class; concentrating on the task at hand, holding a pencil, musical instrument, or book in the easiest way; or just behaving appropriately in class."

Amy Gallagher Critchett "Fighting Wordiness" via learni.st

Peer Review 2

I really enjoyed reading Alexis's and Michaela's Quick Reference Guides. They gave me a really good idea about how different a QRG can look compared to others. They also reminded me that reviewing the credibility of your stakeholders is important. Overall, they gave me a lot of ideas on how I can improve my own QRG.

1. I learned that there are varying ways to present a controversy. Each controversy is different, which means that each controversy needs to be presented in a different way so the reader has all of the facts necessary to not only understand the problem, but form an educated opinion on the issue. Context is very important in these types of projects because you want the reader to know as much about the topic as you do after reading/watching/listening to your project. However, including all of the information and keeping it simple for a QRG is difficult.

2. I think that one of my top problem is making my QRG flow a little bit more. I was very worried about breaking up my paragraphs into smaller sections, but in doing so I lost a little bit of fluidity between my sections. I think to fix this I need to go through and re-word some things and make m QRG easier to read. My next big problem is that I need to make my QRG a little more colorful and eye catching so people actually want to read it. To do this I might add some important quotes from my stakeholders in a different font and color. Lastly, I felt that I put some graphs into random places without providing much context to it. To revise, I think I will go back and add a paragraph or at least a couple sentences explaining how each of these graphs relate to my controversy.

3. One of my strengths is adding hyperlinks throughout the article to add to my own credibility. To build on this I will go through and re-read my sections to see if there are any other possible credible articles I could link my readers to. Also, one of my strengths is formatting my QRG. I really wanted to make it as easy as possible to not only read through the QRG, but to easily understand the content as well. I felt that by sticking to smaller paragraphs and subheadings I did so. Lastly, I felt that I outlined my actual event very well, I just need to better connect it to the larger controversy surrounding it. I will do this by adding a section regarding Henry's own experiences in the public school system and why it was such a struggle for him every day.

"Maybe Yes No" via rense.com

Peer Review 1

I peer reviewed Olivia's Quick Reference Guide about Jahi McMath and whether or not to consider her dead or alive due to her brain-dead status, which is one debate among many when considering the ethics of modern medicine.

In my own draft, I would like to avoid straying from my format. The QRG needs to look pretty and be informative, and I think it would look very professional if all of my content fit a certain color scheme. This attracts a reader's attention. I also need to cite my images, which is something she forgot to do as well.

I really liked her choice of title, so I would like to think of something a little bit more clever for my own QRG. In addition, I really like how formatted her quotations so that the audience is more likely to read it. I would like to do something like that in mine as well.

"Medical Ethics" via neurocriticalcare.org 

Draft of Project 1

This is the link to my Quick Reference Guide on the lack of support for children with disabilities in schools. This is a rough draft, so there are still a few things I'm not completely happy with. I'd like feedback on not only my actual writing, but also any design changes that would make reading it any easier. Thank you!

Stakeholder #3

My third stakeholder are the therapists that would be helping these children if they got the chance. While there is usually a team of therapists that assist these students like speech and physical therapists, I will be focusing on the role of occupational therapists in schools, because that is what I would like to do.

Occupational therapists help people learn the skills necessary for daily living or for the patient’s special interests. This means they often help people regain mobility in their arms after spinal cord injuries, or elderly people who cannot move as well as they used to. However, there is much more to this job. They are often placed in school settings to assist children. Occupational therapists often work with students and teachers to implement alternative activities so that the student can fully participate. When an occupational therapist helps a student, they observe and analyze how he/she is working on an assignment, and identifies what the problem is with that specific assignment. Once identified, the therapist must come up with an effective solution that will allow the student to learn the material, but in a different way. They work directly with the student, as well as their teacher and other administrative staff members. Oftentimes, they also work with parents, not only to assure them that their child is being taken care of, but also to get to know the child from a different perspective. No one knows a child better than the parent. However, when therapists are placed in schools, they can only help children that qualify for special education programs. Also, occupational therapists cannot be implemented in all schools, even though they are critical to some student’s success.

According to AOTA's guide to Occupational Therapy in School Settings, occupational therapists can "observe a student engaging in an activity and provide strategies to facilitate the student's full participation." KidsHealth.org made a list of only some of the types of kids that occupational therapist can help. Some of them included students with, "birth injuries or birth defects . . . cancer . . .autism . . . mental health or behavioral problems," and many many more. But how do they help these children? According to AOTA's website, there are a whole range of activities that occupational therapist's can assist student's with, including "paying attention in class; concentrating on the task at hand, holding a pencil, musical instrument, or book in the easiest way; or just behaving appropriately in class."

This source is quite literally facts. However, the first source is an advertisement, so it is a little biased. The first and third claim is from the American Occupational Therapy Association, so they are obviously going to advocate as much as possible for the implementation of OTs in schools. However, there was a lot of fact from that website too. So I believe that these sources are credible.

These claims are similar to those of the parents and children, because they want to help disabled children. However, these claims have a slightly more scientific and detached point of view. They want to help these children, but they are far less emotional than the previous stakeholder's.

Jill Knight, "Occupational Therapist Jamie Wineland works on upper body coordination with John Moorefield" 10-18-15 via newsobserver.com