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Robert Bober
Dr. Claudia Skutar
Intermediate Composition
3/12/2015
Final Reflection—Narrow Topics, Broader Writing
Originally, my topic of choice was about ethical dilemmas in the healthcare field,
particularly for registered nurses. That was it. Broad, simple, and void of any specific dilemmas
faced in the healthcare environment. I had my minimum of five sources, all covering the given
that nurses have to face a variety of ethical dilemmas in their career from informed consent to
alternative therapies. It was not until after my submission for my first draft when I realized my
mistake. I was too broad. I was regurgitating a given. Ethical dilemmas and controversies are
everywhere, not just in the nursing field. I was required to find a specific argument to which I
could propose my case.
The topic of euthanasia and assisted suicide, and how it relates to the ethics found in a
nurse’s Code of Ethics did not come to me initially. Frankly, I thought these controversies were a
thing in the past. Shows how well I knew about this topic initially. But despite being uneducated
in the forms of assisted suicide in today’s society, I chose the topic because of California. This
year, 2015, California passed a means for their residing patients the option of assisted suicide, if
they were a proper candidate. What also sparked my interest was that California was the fifth
state to currently have such laws. Therefore, I realized that not only was assisted suicide and
voluntary euthanasia still prevalent, but there are also many registered nurses in the west who are
required to provide the information and even assistance in promoting these forms of treatment.
Simply put, I found my specific topic of controversy.
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I was able to find plenty of material regarding assisted suicide in all its forms. While
mostly scholarly, one particular source I found which was most helpful for me to understand my
topic was a non-scholarly website briefly highlighting the rise and fall of euthanasia and assisted
suicide throughout the centuries and most recent decades. This allowed me to see how the public
swayed back and forth in their ideals regarding assisted suicide.
One alternative to this assignment that I found enjoyable was the way the material was to
be presented. I was required to create an oral presentation rather than a simple written
argumentative essay. This allowed me two things. For one, I felt like I could provide a more
interesting opening to my topic and discussion. I could introduce who I was as the individual and
share my personal experiences with my audience, then I could use those experiences towards my
opinions about my argument as a whole. Secondly, I felt as though I was preparing this
assignment for a physical audience rather than preaching my thoughts and ideals to the unknown
air. This challenged me to keep my paragraphs interesting throughout this assignment.
I feel as though I am more confident about my writing style. This presentation allowed
me more freedom to be more like Robert Bober and less like another English student. I have
learned through personal experiences and from other likeminded individuals is that there is
something to be said about entertaining writing. While I know I am not the most interesting
college writer, I think I can say that through these courses I became a more interesting writer. I
was a type of person who hated any form of myself. Be that my voice on the answering machine
or the why my own writing style sounded in my head. Now I have confidence. I can write in a
way that can entertain me, to promote me to keep reading further. I am sure that if I can start to
enjoy my writing, then perhaps a few readers will also.