Proposals and Nutrition

Okay, so this will sound a little familiar to a previous blog post...Rhetoric...but I feel that it is fitting for this topic too.  I'm just going to put it out there, proposals are everywhere.  Period.  They don't necessarily have to be the exact same style for every idea because obviously that wouldn't make a lick of sense since every idea is going to be completely different.  The one thing that they all have in common though is that they are being persuasive through solid information and research.  To have a good proposal,  you'll definitely need good research because without research you don't have a solid proposal. Now, going back to proposals being everywhere.  If you think about it many things in life have sold you on something based on how well they pitched their proposal.  Like buying a car, a medical insurance plan, when choosing a college, or even buying a home.

So now you are probably wondering where the heck Nutrition comes into play into the blog post.  Well, since my major is Nutrition I am always looking at everything from a health perspective.  Nutrition can definitely have proposals...all the time.  One thing that jumped out to me when reading the assigned pages was how to develop a proper proposal because it is very similar to making a nutritional diagnosis.  When you are planning a proposals you have an introduction, statement of the problem, and proposed solution.  When you are making a nutritional diagnosis you have a needs assessment, diagnosis, intervention, and monitoring and evaluating.  The monitoring and evaluation don't really seem to have a place in a proposal, but the needs assessment, diagnosis, and intervention do.  When completing a needs assessment, you are coming up with the patients background and history to try and figure out what nutritional issues that are having.  That, to me, is equivalent to the introduction.  Then you have a diagnosis, which is provided by your knowledge of nutrition and the needs assessment.  This is similar to stating the problem.  Then you have an intervention, which is how we will attempt to solve the patients diagnosis based on previous research and past nutritional diagnoses.  This step is equivalent to  the proposed solution.

Hopefully, I've somewhat allowed you to see how proposals fit into my major area of study.  I hope that you were able to understand it.  How do proposals fit into your life and area of study?

You're not alone.

In class when we received the handout on the different types of personalities that are involved in a group project, I was so surprised that the writer of the article was basically dead on! I know when I have been paired or grouped with people for a project, sometimes the person(s) I'm with just doesn't cut it when it comes to completing work in a timely manor or being equally involved in the project.  Up until the other day, it was hard for me to see that that is the problem, not just with me, but with most everyone.  I always thought that luck just wasn't on my side.  I never thought that others were having the same problems as me.

The thing that gets me the most is how can these people who don't get involved in the group projects feel good about themselves with the grade that was earned by someone else.  For me, I am always willing to go the extra mile for a good grade and if that means doing someone else's work because they are slacking, then I will do so.  That doesn't mean that I'm the "Controller" of the group.  I'm just basically looking out for myself and my potential grade.  If someone else (if there are more than two people) wants to take on the "slackers" portion of work, then go for it, just as long as it gets done.

I'm hoping that the group project in English 314 won't be like the other projects that I've had in the past.  I hope, with this article, that people will not want to become those personalities the writer of the article described.  Also, I hope people will work harder knowing that each person in each group will be looking out thinking of those personalities and labeling people as the semester continues on.

Over My Head!!!

Have you ever felt that something was "over your head" and you had a hard time comprehending it? Well, that is how I felt in English today! I understand the concept that technical writing is more than just a list of instructions, but that article today I thought was way to complicated and I hardly understood a word of it.  I also had a hard time keeping up with the discussion today as well.

The thing that I got from the article that I actually comprehended was that technical writing should be clear and concise because if you aren't clear about something then it can seem cloudy to someone else (even if it's clear to you) and harder to understand.  Try not to "decorate" it up to where it is harder to comprehend or can't be comprehended at all.

To me, this article today was really decorated because as we all know, I didn't understand a dang bit of it (minus that one small portion)!! How do you feel about today's article? Maybe I can get some insight from someone who does understand and who does comprehend.

I know this post is really short this time, but I figured I would try and get a better grasp on it by making you aware of my problem!

Instructions, What Are They?

So, all our life we've been getting all these instructions on what to do, how to do something, when to do it, where it needs to be done, etc, etc.  We've also been giving instructions all our life to someone else on the same things.  Usually when we are the ones giving the instructions we know that topic so well, we feel confident that we can guide someone else on how to do it, how to get there, etc, etc.  Have you ever sat down and thought about how important instructions are to your every day life? Everything we do is instructed at some point or another.

Lets look at a regular day for a college student.  When we get up and get in the car to go to school, we have been instructed on how to drive the car to actually get to school.  Once we're at school we've been instructed to park in certain areas that are designated for students and we've been instructed on where to go to get to our classes.  Once we get into class, we're instructed on what to do for our assignments, how to do the assignments, and so forth.  Almost everything we do in our daily life has been instructed at some point or another.

For our instruction assignment, we're actually going to be instructing the class on how to do something that most of us will not be familiar with.  Once again, that is an instruction.  Can you think of anytime in your life where you haven't been instructed for one entire day? Meaning, whatever you're doing that day, you've never in your life been instructed on.  I think it's impossible...

Enthymeme...

Enthymeme...what a weird word.  If you were talking to me and out of your mouth came the word "enthymeme" I would have thought you were crazy.  But of course that was before English 314 and before I was introduced to the word "enthymeme".  So I think enthymemes are everywhere, but we don't pick up on the fact that they are so common because we don't look for them.  In case you have forgotten or didn't hear in class, an enthymeme is an informal way of reasoning through things that is typical of rhetoric discourse and the major or minor premise is left out since it is implied.  This is also called a "truncated syllogism".  But the definition isn't the point of this blog post; the point is that it is everywhere and we don't realize it since we aren't looking for it.  

Now that we know what an enthymeme is, can you recall a recent conversation or an important conversation and think how many enthymemes there were in it?  Can you see how many enthymemes you actually produced? Can you see if the other person actually understood what you were saying?  I can say I am definitely guilty of using enthymemes as a way to imply something with out having to explain the whole idea/situation/task.  But not saying the whole thing gets me in trouble because usually my boyfriend gets mad at me when he doesn't know what I'm talking about.  Which then I have to go through and explain.  I'm not sure if that is the exact right idea of an enthymeme, but that is one of the things I first though about when I sat down to write this blog post.  

I know I have incorporated the technical definition for an enthymeme and you have seen how I interpret it, but how do you interpret an enthymeme?