See Beauty... in creativity
Writing Proficiency
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I have been prompted to address several different forms of writing over the past four years. As a student I am well practiced in an academic, creative and reflective voice. As an emerging professional I am now starting to find my advocacy and professional voice.
This past fall I took Applied Research Methods, HSP 385, which is a writing proficiency course. In many of my other classes the writing style would be in a form of reflection and opinion; however this course gives the opportunity to be objective, critical and persuasive in the facts and data you will present. The final project is to do a literature review with a study proposal. The question my paper focused on was ‘if the aggressive behavior in males is a product of the way they are often conditioned to suppress their feelings and emotions.’ To support my hypothesis I reviewed several scholarly articles and sources to provide information and background. The purpose of this paper was to prove that my question was worth enough attention to gain interest in moving forward with my proposed study. The voice used had to be strictly academic, giving all appropriate citations in APA form.
Much of the writing I did in my Core classes was a reflective analysis of systems. The concentration of my writing during fall of my Junior Core was personal reflection, really coming to understand who I am as an individual and what that means to me as a Human Service Professional. The ‘Who am I?’ essay was written to give me the opportunity to express and process many thoughts I have about myself in a structured, productive way. I reflected on all of the layers of my identity, the masks I use in all contexts, and the bifurcation points that have set me on the path I am on today. These were ideas I had considered vaguely and abstractly in the past, but this assignment made it so I could assess my strengths, weaknesses, fears, etc. objectively and without judgment; simply to make me more comfortable in my own skin and knowledgeable about who I want to become.
I was also able to write reflectively during Human Development and Human Systems, HSP 315. In this class I was to create a Life Book with one of my peers for an adopted child through the Department of Child and Family Services. Essentially the Life Book is scrap book of positive memories for this child; often moving through the system these kids do not have many things of their past, so we were to create one for them. After we finished the project I was to write a Life Book reaction essay. One of the aspects I enjoyed the most about this project was creating something tangible for someone in the community. While I do think the assignments we do are valuable, I find it more rewarding when I know that the end product will benefit someone else.
The Life Book was one of the first instances of an item I provided for a member of the community, but this became a common theme throughout my senior year as well. During this past winter quarter I took an independent study class with the same idea in mind. I wanted to be able to gain something academically, but meanwhile producing something community members would benefit from. I had started working at Sean Humphrey House (SHH) just a few months prior and decided my focus would go towards them. As a Clerical Assistant I’m acutely aware of what goes on with administration, but hadn’t had much experience of what it means to be a resident of Sean Humphrey House and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to find out more. I created a brochure to highlight general knowledge and misconceptions on HIV/AIDS. I gained background that I may not have had a chance to get otherwise and was able to provide a resource for SHH.
My professional voice has emerged as I have become immersed professionally in the community. By Standard 21, of the Council for Standards in Human Service Education, the Human Service Program is to facilitate field experience and follow up with in class curriculum. I have interned at three nonprofit organizations and hold the Clerical position at SHH and while I have been walked through various forms, paperwork, and professional writing voices to be used in the field, it wasn’t until I actually used these skills that I felt they stuck. I have now done several case notes, correspondence for organizations, written agendas to facilitate meetings, produced minutes for both staff and Board meetings, and created several various types of forms, both electronic and otherwise, to be utilized. When interning at Catholic Community Services my role was to write up event notes on the clients after group. The stress with this form of writing is on the accuracy and distinction between fact and observation. There is a section to state what is observed of the client, ex: Client A came to group late; versus the second section to state what you conclude, ex: Client B appeared disconnected from the group and seemed to become uncomfortable by the subject matter. You cannot legally make claims on assumptions. You can only state facts and must distinguish otherwise.
A voice with advocacy was not something I had really explored until recently when we attended lobby day in Olympia with the Human Service Professional and Community Systems class, HSP 404. Being present and raising our voice to our legislators can have an enormous impact on attention given to a bill. When meeting with Representative Sam Hunt we came prepared with a factsheet to supplement the information we were trying to pass along. Coming with the understanding that you can rally a legislator around your cause we wanted to gain support and make sure that support didn’t leave with us when we left the room. A factsheet must be concise while engaging and make the gathering of information as simple as possible. With so many requests for support being thrown their way, I came to understand that you have to have the ability to distinguish yourself and your cause and a factsheet can help with that.
As I am ending my academic career and beginning my professional experience, I realize that my writing will shift. I don’t see as much reflective writing in my future, but I think having had been made to do so is going to be very important to encourage reflection in my daily life. It is important to stay polished in all voices of writing because there will be so many different reasons to write in the future.
This past fall I took Applied Research Methods, HSP 385, which is a writing proficiency course. In many of my other classes the writing style would be in a form of reflection and opinion; however this course gives the opportunity to be objective, critical and persuasive in the facts and data you will present. The final project is to do a literature review with a study proposal. The question my paper focused on was ‘if the aggressive behavior in males is a product of the way they are often conditioned to suppress their feelings and emotions.’ To support my hypothesis I reviewed several scholarly articles and sources to provide information and background. The purpose of this paper was to prove that my question was worth enough attention to gain interest in moving forward with my proposed study. The voice used had to be strictly academic, giving all appropriate citations in APA form.
Much of the writing I did in my Core classes was a reflective analysis of systems. The concentration of my writing during fall of my Junior Core was personal reflection, really coming to understand who I am as an individual and what that means to me as a Human Service Professional. The ‘Who am I?’ essay was written to give me the opportunity to express and process many thoughts I have about myself in a structured, productive way. I reflected on all of the layers of my identity, the masks I use in all contexts, and the bifurcation points that have set me on the path I am on today. These were ideas I had considered vaguely and abstractly in the past, but this assignment made it so I could assess my strengths, weaknesses, fears, etc. objectively and without judgment; simply to make me more comfortable in my own skin and knowledgeable about who I want to become.
I was also able to write reflectively during Human Development and Human Systems, HSP 315. In this class I was to create a Life Book with one of my peers for an adopted child through the Department of Child and Family Services. Essentially the Life Book is scrap book of positive memories for this child; often moving through the system these kids do not have many things of their past, so we were to create one for them. After we finished the project I was to write a Life Book reaction essay. One of the aspects I enjoyed the most about this project was creating something tangible for someone in the community. While I do think the assignments we do are valuable, I find it more rewarding when I know that the end product will benefit someone else.
The Life Book was one of the first instances of an item I provided for a member of the community, but this became a common theme throughout my senior year as well. During this past winter quarter I took an independent study class with the same idea in mind. I wanted to be able to gain something academically, but meanwhile producing something community members would benefit from. I had started working at Sean Humphrey House (SHH) just a few months prior and decided my focus would go towards them. As a Clerical Assistant I’m acutely aware of what goes on with administration, but hadn’t had much experience of what it means to be a resident of Sean Humphrey House and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to find out more. I created a brochure to highlight general knowledge and misconceptions on HIV/AIDS. I gained background that I may not have had a chance to get otherwise and was able to provide a resource for SHH.
My professional voice has emerged as I have become immersed professionally in the community. By Standard 21, of the Council for Standards in Human Service Education, the Human Service Program is to facilitate field experience and follow up with in class curriculum. I have interned at three nonprofit organizations and hold the Clerical position at SHH and while I have been walked through various forms, paperwork, and professional writing voices to be used in the field, it wasn’t until I actually used these skills that I felt they stuck. I have now done several case notes, correspondence for organizations, written agendas to facilitate meetings, produced minutes for both staff and Board meetings, and created several various types of forms, both electronic and otherwise, to be utilized. When interning at Catholic Community Services my role was to write up event notes on the clients after group. The stress with this form of writing is on the accuracy and distinction between fact and observation. There is a section to state what is observed of the client, ex: Client A came to group late; versus the second section to state what you conclude, ex: Client B appeared disconnected from the group and seemed to become uncomfortable by the subject matter. You cannot legally make claims on assumptions. You can only state facts and must distinguish otherwise.
A voice with advocacy was not something I had really explored until recently when we attended lobby day in Olympia with the Human Service Professional and Community Systems class, HSP 404. Being present and raising our voice to our legislators can have an enormous impact on attention given to a bill. When meeting with Representative Sam Hunt we came prepared with a factsheet to supplement the information we were trying to pass along. Coming with the understanding that you can rally a legislator around your cause we wanted to gain support and make sure that support didn’t leave with us when we left the room. A factsheet must be concise while engaging and make the gathering of information as simple as possible. With so many requests for support being thrown their way, I came to understand that you have to have the ability to distinguish yourself and your cause and a factsheet can help with that.
As I am ending my academic career and beginning my professional experience, I realize that my writing will shift. I don’t see as much reflective writing in my future, but I think having had been made to do so is going to be very important to encourage reflection in my daily life. It is important to stay polished in all voices of writing because there will be so many different reasons to write in the future.