First Assignment

Katie Hogue

1/12/12

Public Writing

            As a speech pathology major, the realm in which I might use public writing is on the surface less obvious than for many other majors such as those that lead to business-related professions.  However, every person should possess the ability to express themselves and will need to do this through writing.  As a speech pathologist, there are several routes I could take professionally.  At this point I am definitely more interested in the pediatrics side of things rather than geriatrics and otherwise.   Within pediatrics, it is of utmost importance to communicate with both the patients and their parents.  In a small clinic setting this might be easily achieved through face-to-face interaction, but in a school setting it is very likely that I will have to do most communication by sending home notes, e-mailing the parents, etc.  The field of speech pathology is a fairly new one and is expanding every day.  As such, it is especially important for me to be able to keep up with new findings.  I might even find myself doing research and reporting on this to the speech pathology community.  Also, I think speech pathology related or otherwise there is always the possibility that I might want to write a letter to the editor or something to express my opinion.  In summary, everyone should learn to write professionally, regardless of their major, which is why I am taking this class.