Discussion: Analyzing Essays that Offer Solutions to Problems

Please respond to the following:

• Read the three essays in Chapter 11 ("The Nursing Crisis; The Solution Lies Within," "An Open Letter to the Community," and "Request for a Work Schedule Change.") Analyze the arguments and compare the effectiveness of their thesis statements, proposed solutions, and evidence.

• Identify which one you think is most effective. Explain.

The Nursing Crisis; The Solution Lies Within;

I believe that the author Michelle Pollard relayed the concerns of nurses so that anyone reading this writing could understand the issue's that nurses are going through, while try still trying to provide the best quality health care to patients.

With my mother and sister both working in the health profession as nurses, I can understand and relate to what Mrs. Pollard's concerns are with being over worked and having patients outnumber the amount of nurses.

The argument for "The Nursing Crisis", effectively points out all points to the case, the over working, and the aspect of current nurses changing from the profession to another profession, really makes new comers wonder if they are making the right career move, but through interaction with the administrators and staffers as Mrs. Pollard mentioned in her writing, I believe the profession will rebound.

http://allnurses.com/nursing-career-advice/if-nursing-if-176049.html, this website is a blog that can give insight to basically what Mrs. Pollard was describing in her writings about the nursing profession and its concerns.

An Open Letter to the Community;

This writing by Mr. Gibor Basri, speaks of the growing concerns of disputes, physical violence and altercations and how he wants the community to become more proactive in finding resolutions to combat the number of assaults and act of retaliations. Mr. Basri does point out organizations and web links that are being used to help promote awareness and alternative solutions to problem resolutions.

This letter does point out the routes that the campus is trying to do to fix the ongoing issues of violence and assaults, but there seems to be missing a clear and concise conclusion to issue resolution. I see the direction that the writer wants to go in getting community and campus involvement, but I cannot seem to feel that the point and resolution basis is not clear enough.

Request for a Work Schedule Change;

This letter by Karen MacDonald, is a very well written letter and very informative to her employer. Her argument for child care and with emphasis on maintaining an effective presence in the work environment was key information to relaying her concerns to her managers, for the change in work hours to accommodate her child care needs.

The effective portion of her writing laid out a format of how she would still interact with the staffers and the engineering department and the basis for a one month trial to see if this was the best solution for her and the company.

I believe that this professional letter was the most effective writing of the three, due to the informative and descriptive layout of how she would perform her work related duties, while still being able to care for her child. She also maintained a team focus in writing her letter to management, which is important when requesting flexible working hours, so that management can devise a plan and look at the pros and cons of granting the request.