Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Students : Review

In the Writing Space chapter reading Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Students by Shelley Reid the author gives tips metaphorically on becoming a better writer. I enjoyed the reading and believe the tips Ms. Reid provided will be helpful with my future writings. She talked about "writing and all the rules" and "show what your mean" when your writing a paper. She also gave tips about connecting with your primary and secondary audiences like when someone else may see you work secondhand whether its a research paper or a card you gave to you grandmother. There were tips about adding some flavor to your writing and not just making "plain Jell-O" as in not just making a point but going into detail more vividly. Hey Hey Hey and the textbook Conspiracy: Annotating you reading was on of my favorite points she made about not only just highlighting in the textbooks you own but actually taking good notes and thinking more critically when we do find something interesting other than just a "hey" check this out. When writing essay question on a exam she recommended taking your time when your in that fight or flight mode to let your higher brain stay in control and take the time to think about your response rather than panicking trying to answer the question. Lastly following all the rules she wrote about ironically the last rule was about sometimes breaking the rules of writing and using your own judgement to make the best decision as you see fit. All the rules lead up quite nicely to me up to the last point of just enjoying the process and to keep writing

Mark Smith R.I.P

Detective: I received a call June 6, 2010 10:37p.m about a homicide at a parking garage on my day off. I kissed my wife goodbye and arrived on the scene as soon as I could to meet my partner Detective Elizabeth Benson. My partner she took me over to the crime scene to identify the dead body. We discovered it was Mark Smith, a well known playboy throughout the city had been brutally stabbed to death. He was stabbed multiple times in the abdomen and back. Blood was everywhere, but we had work to do and a lot of questions to ask. We did all the work we could do on the scene and then preceded to head back to headquarters to right a formal report up. Mark Smith, murdered June 6, 9:30 p.m, location at V.I.P parking garage body found on the driver side of homicide victim's vehicle (Ferrari), body found by Dr. Cliff Huxtuble.

Coroner: I received the body of Mark Smith on June 7, 12:01 a.m. The subject was very well taken care off, athletic built, no tattoos, no missing teeth or birth marks. Mr. Smith was stabbed according to forensics for a total of twenty times in the abdomen and lower back. Running tests on the body we believe the subject was stabbed with a kitchen knife. This is the fourth stabbing of the year in Gloom County. The stabbing of the subject appears to not have any relations to previous stabbing that have occurred earlier this year.


Eulogy: Thanks, I'm honored to be here today to celebrate the life of a man who loved many. Mark was a man who loved to give. He loved life, traveling, business but most importantly we all know mark loved woman. Mark was honest about his relations with woman, he respected and loved them all very much so. There are many woman here today who loved and cared about Mark but we all know Mark loved one woman in particular more than any other, his mother. His mother is here today, saddened by her lost of her only son, who provided and cared for her more than anything in the world. A mother should't have to bury her son! A mother should't have to bear this pain! She will not hurt because her son is alive in all of us, he's alive in all the good work he's done across the city, he's alive in all the building, statues and monuments dedicated to him. So for that reason mark is still here, and he will tell us who's done this! Because great men don't die, Mark has not died, he has become greater!


Lawyer: Ladies and Gentleman of the Jury, it's a sad day when a good man like Mark Smith is brutally murdered. It's an even sadder day when he's murdered by his own mother! The woman he loved so, so much he stayed by her side until his dying day. His dying day! Where his mother was waiting in the parking garage to kill her only son because he was getting married. He wanted to leave that playboy lifestyle in the past, get married and raise a family but his mother didn't see it that way. She only saw through her selfish, malicious eyes her son leaving her just like his father, so she couldn't have that, so she murdered him in cold blood and left his body alone! Mark never wanted to be alone, that's why he loved so much, Mark just wanted good company, a friend, a companion. I ask you, the jury today to love justice and be a good friend to wisdom, common sense and truth because that's all you need because the evidence is right before your eyes. In plain common sense, in ice cold blood, the evidence is right before you, the murderer of a great man is here in this court room today and all you need to do is think about Mark Smith as a good friend of yours and do the right thing today.

Research IV.

ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health Source (Legacy Platform)
Auburn University at Montgomery Library // Article Linker

Highly Effective Personal Training: An Evidence-Based Review of Teaching Strategies
Len Kravitz. Strength and Conditioning Journal. Lawrence: Jun 2010. Vol. 32, Iss. 3; pg. 87, 3 pgs

Abstract (Summary)

A COMMANDING ASPECT OF PERSONAL TRAINING CENTERS ON THE ATTRIBUTES AND ABILITIES IN TEACHING CLIENTS. WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF EXCELLENCE IN INSTRUCTION? THIS EVIDENCE-BASED BRIEF REVIEW ON THIS TOPIC WILL PROVIDE ASPIRING FITNESS PROFESSIONALS WITH NOTEWORTHY RESEARCH ON EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND A TAXONOMY (I.E., CLASSIFICATION BY CATEGORIES) OF PERSONAL TRAINING TEACHING EXCELLENCE. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Research III.

EBSCO Host Discovery
AUM Library research database

University Student Interest an Use of Personal Training Services.
Kathleen G. Scholl, Kristina Leen, Devyn Alexander,
Rachel Pike, and Luke Johansen
Abstract:

"Personal trainers act as a motivating force for individuals interested in improving
 health and fitness. Having a knowledgeable and well-trained individual at one’s
side can help meet personal goals. University students are a relatively healthy
demographic, although students can be irregular in terms of their physical activity
levels. This study investigated student interest and use of personal trainers to
determine new marketing strategies by a university supported personal training
program to increase student participation. Overall, college students expressed
that the use of a personal trainer would be a benefit. Some gender differences
were found and showed that males may be more likely to use a personal trainer
for extrinsic reasons, whereas, females may be more influenced to use a personal
trainer for intrinsic reasons. Barriers to personal training program participation
included unawareness of the program and student perception of service pricing."

Research II.

Alan Aragon's Blog
"Alan Aragon has over 20 years of success in the fitness field. He earned his Bachelor and Master of Science in Nutrition with top honors. Alan is a continuing education provider for the Commission on Dietetic Registration, National Academy of Sports Medicine, American Council on Exercise, and National Strength & Conditioning Association"

Directions toward a career in fitness – part 1, part 2, part 3.

"Through rose-tinted lenses
The fitness field is so appealing to so many, and why wouldn’t it be. The combination of looking good, staying healthy, performing better, and affecting these changes in others is quite idyllic. Given this, it’s not surprising that one of the most frequent questions I’m asked - other than how many milliseconds are allowed to elapse between meals - is how to secure a career in fitness. A fair amount of people who follow my work want to eventually do what I do. That’s very flattering, and the least I can do is offer some insight into the process that led me to a place where I feel empowered enough to talk about it.
In this article series
I’ll start by discussing the pros & cons of being a gym-employed trainer and a self-employed trainer. I’ll do the same with nutritional counseling (yes, I’ve done both), then I’ll cover lecturing. Next, I’ll give you the amusing scoop on how my writing career snuck up on me. My aim for this article is not to provide the end-all set of answers. What I can do is offer my own experiences to give you ideas and a solid framework for making decisions. There’s a lot to cover, so I’ll break this up in parts, and wrap it up with some action steps and resources."

Research I.

Library Journal: Ebsco Host Discovery
AUM Montgomery Library

 What Trends are Driving Personal Training?
from the 2011 IDEA Personal Training Programs & Equipment report.
September 2011 IDEA Fitness Journal
Jan Schroeder, PhD, and Ayla Donlin, MS


"Since last year's survey, we've seen a modest uptick in the economy. Perhaps with that comes increased optimism for growing your businesses and expanding your services to new (and old) clients who are looking to loosen up some dollars to spend on their health and fitness. How do you best prepare for this? How do you know in what direction to steer your offerings or what equipment to buy? This survey, specific to personal trainers, is a bellwether of what you can expect and plan for in the coming year. Nearly 700 IDEA personal trainer members mostly independent, small-business entrepreneurs—completed the 2011 survey Read on to discover what they are seeing in their day-to-day operations, why they are making certain decisions about programming and equipment and how they are positioning themselves for 2012 and beyond."

Googlepedia: Turning Information Behaviors into Research Skills; Response

In this article written by Randall McClure the author examines how students today of the "Google Generation" use Wikipedia and Google as research havens.  No longer are students using the library or rarely using a school's online database to find information when they can just "google it".  The author call these two websites our "web research home".  We also use these sites for "pre-search" in most cases to gain further information.  The problem that may arise is trying to shuffle through all the crap that possibly will not pass the "CRAAP" (currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose)test the author notes.  This calls for "information literacy" in the collegiate community to fully recognize the data that you're working with.  The author reports on two students who conducted research in a typical "Googlepedia" way but maybe not the most efficient.  McClure goes on to share his "8-steps" with the students to help them research and gain a better understanding of the process.  In conclusion he notes the benefits of using the two "pre-search" web-sites and understand we all can learn something new from our technological advancements but must make sure to slow down, appreciate the process, research  and grow.  Society is going to continue to change and make many more advancements but we must be careful in our approach to an abundance of information.  We must continue to think critically and use our value judgement to make the appropriate actions in our daily lives. We can benefit from both sides of the equations, we can benefit from better research and will benefit with better products.

Why Blog? Searching for Writing on the Web

Why Blog? Searching for Writing on the Web is an article written by Alex Reid on Writing Spaces that explores the benefits of creating a blog. The author states that being a blog writter can possibly make you a better overall writer especially in the academia world. He notes famed writer Malcolm Gladwell "10,000 hours" of practice to become an expert at something and see's that it would take thirty six years to accomplish that task for the average college student. So while that may not be your end goal in mind, the idea is obviously the more you right the more you get better at it. Blogging helps with this process. The more you blog for internal satisfaction the easier writing may become. We tend to write for extrinsic value, especially for good grades in school but writting informally while blogging allows you the freedom to write what you feel. It could be just a sentence, a response to something you seen, a story, anything you want to write. That's where the magic begins to happen when you're able to express yourself and learn your writing behavior.

"Wikipedia Is Good for You!?"...If you use it right!

In the Writing Spaces reading, "Wikipedia Is Good for You!? the author James Purday makes the case that "yes" it can be good for you if used appropriately.  Purday breaks down Wikipedia as a a potential source for information to use for cited works.  He also recommends even posting information yourself to get use to sharing and revising information as you would when successfully writing a research-based paper.  The author makes a lot of convincing points and uses examples of others who have used Wikipedia as a source to make his case that the bad rap that Wikipedia gets is often because people mis-use it rather than take advantage of the source of opportunity.  I appreciated and learned quite a bit while reading the article, especially regarding the Wikipedia interface and the opportunities to post in the discussion page.  I was convinced as well that if you actually go to the sources where the information is cited that you can actually use Wikipedia as a great starting point.  Teachers often say how incorrect Wikipedia is and recommend to not use it but from reading this article I beg to differ.  Along with any source from the Internet, books and encyclopedias information can sometimes be wrong.  It was noted in the article that some information previously in the Encyclopedia Britannica was wrong before.  So in conclusion just like any other source of information Wikipedia can make or break you. Use precautions and good judgement but more importantly use it!