FADHIL AL

EAP 1 WRITER’S WORKSHOP

CORE: SMOKING SURVEY

FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2009

Smoking in USA

I – INTRODUCTION

I think that people tend to be smokers because of stress and maybe they know what it causes but they do not care about it. They continue smoking. Of that problem people have many diseases and they died just because of smoking (Seal, 1998). Other people know that, but they do not care about the effects. So, many people died because of this. But many people survived, but now they have asthma. So, people who had survived will never smoke again.

II – PURPOSE

The reasons for doing this survey is that we wanted to know how many people smoke in Carbondale or in Southern Illinois University. We put this survey just for smokers. And that is because we want to find out what are the reasons people smoke, but we wanted other people to know the effects of smoking. Our group is K. Urdaneta, W. Chin, Y. Ababatin, and F. Al Alqassab.

III – HYPOTHESIS

I expected that many people are smokers, but nobody tried to quit, but the results show different because a few people tried to quit but they did not. Also, I expected that people would smoke because of the stress and too much studying, and of course because of the exams. People like to smoke because they want to relax and they want to have fun.

IV – MATERIALS

We put six questions on our survey because we wanted to learn about them and why they are smoking. These questions are about whether smokers ever tried to stop smoking and how often they smoke. How do they feel when they smoke? So, our point is we put questions just for smokers and tried to learn why they are smoking.

V – METHODS

We found about 20 students. Some of them were in the Student Center and in Faner Hall. People felt happy when they filled those survey papers. So, I went to the Student Center in the first place because it was crowded with students maybe smokers or maybe not. The results were surprising because there were different than I was expected.

VI – DATA (APPENDIX A)

VII – RESULTS

According to our charts, we found that 70% of smokers had tried to quit. Also, we found that many people smoke every day, with percentage of 90%, and the other 10% of people smoke just once or twice a week. People actually feel relaxed when they smoke with the percentage of 37%, others feel satisfied with 19%, but the other such as people who are nervous and because of bad smell are the same percentage of 22%. We found that people smoke when they feel stress, which is a problem because it was the highest percentage of 41%. So, these people smoke mostly with other people like friends.

VIII – CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

Well, my hypothesis was a little bit different from the results, because I expected different answers like positive way such as people hate smoking, but there were many smokers. I learned that people like to smoke because of problems that they have. The results were similar in one way it was people smoke because of their stress, and the others were completely different. In the next survey I will put different questions, questions that will make me learn more about smokers. So, I learn a lot of them.

IX – REFERENCE

Seal, B. (1998). Smoking. In Academic Encounters: Human behavior. pp. 31–33. New York: Cambridge University Press.

X – APPENDIX B

FADHIL AL

EAP 1 WRITER’S WORKSHOP

CORE: SMOKING SURVEY

FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2009

Smoking in USA

I – INTRODUCTION

I think that people tend to be smokers because of stress and maybe they know what it causes but they do not care about it. They continue smoking. Of that problem people have many diseases and they died just because of smoking (Seal, 1998). Other people know that, but they do not care about the effects. So, many people died because of this. But many people survived, but now they have asthma. So, people who had survived will never smoke again.

II – PURPOSE

The reasons for doing this survey is that we wanted to know how many people smoke in Carbondale or in Southern Illinois University. We put this survey just for smokers. And that is because we want to find out what are the reasons people smoke, but we wanted other people to know the effects of smoking. Our group is K. Urdaneta, W. Chin, Y. Ababatin, and F. Al Alqassab.

III – HYPOTHESIS

I expected that many people are smokers, but nobody tried to quit, but the results show different because a few people tried to quit but they did not. Also, I expected that people would smoke because of the stress and too much studying, and of course because of the exams. People like to smoke because they want to relax and they want to have fun.

IV – MATERIALS

We put six questions on our survey because we wanted to learn about them and why they are smoking. These questions are about whether smokers ever tried to stop smoking and how often they smoke. How do they feel when they smoke? So, our point is we put questions just for smokers and tried to learn why they are smoking.

V – METHODS

We found about 20 students. Some of them were in the Student Center and in Faner Hall. People felt happy when they filled those survey papers. So, I went to the Student Center in the first place because it was crowded with students maybe smokers or maybe not. The results were surprising because there were different than I was expected.

VI – DATA (APPENDIX A)

VII – RESULTS

According to our charts, we found that 70% of smokers had tried to quit. Also, we found that many people smoke every day, with percentage of 90%, and the other 10% of people smoke just once or twice a week. People actually feel relaxed when they smoke with the percentage of 37%, others feel satisfied with 19%, but the other such as people who are nervous and because of bad smell are the same percentage of 22%. We found that people smoke when they feel stress, which is a problem because it was the highest percentage of 41%. So, these people smoke mostly with other people like friends.

VIII – CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

Well, my hypothesis was a little bit different from the results, because I expected different answers like positive way such as people hate smoking, but there were many smokers. I learned that people like to smoke because of problems that they have. The results were similar in one way it was people smoke because of their stress, and the others were completely different. In the next survey I will put different questions, questions that will make me learn more about smokers. So, I learn a lot of them.

IX – REFERENCE

Seal, B. (1998). Smoking. In Academic Encounters: Human behavior. pp. 31–33. New York:

Cambridge University Press.

X – APPENDIX B

Smoking Survey Report

FADHIL AL

EAP 1 WRITER’S WORKSHOP

Smoking Survey Report

I - INTRODUCTION

I think people had problems with smoking because it causes many diseases. Many people had cancer, so they died and that was because of smoking. Smoking is important for some people for their health. People begin to smoke because they have exams, because family members smoke, and because of too much stress. If a person starts smoking, this person will never quit unless this person went to programs for training. Smoking causes huge problems to our environment (Seal, 1998). It also affects the education for students. Some programs can really help smokers stop, and smokers often stop once a while. For so many reasons many diseases can affect us indirectly very quickly and a lot of second hand smokers die earlier than smokers (first hand smoking). People think that smoking is relaxing for them, but it is really dangerous for their health. And (Seal, 1998). So, the reasons of this survey is really to make people know that they are wrong about why should they smoke.

II - PURPOSE

The purpose for doing the survey is because we wanted to find out why people smoke. Also, we wanted to know if people want to quit smoking or what are the reasons that people should quit. And because of our survey we want to help other people understand why other people smoke.

III – HYPOTHESIS

My guess was that males smoke more than females because males like to smoke because of stress about academic exams. So, the way I see the problem here is to give people some nicotine gums or patch, cold turkey or training program to make them quit as soon as possible.

IV – MATERIALS

We put eight questions on a survey so we could ask many people, and it wasn’t only for smokers, it was for both smokers and non-smokers. These questions were about where these people smoke, whether they are addicted, how they started and what the best ways to quit are. So, we wanted to know how smokers and non-smokers think about themselves.

V – METHODS

We asked about 43 people. Some of them were in the Student Center and outside the Student Center. And we waited for these people to fill out the papers. These questions were made for everybody, not only for CESL students; it was for all people, males and females. So I went to the Student Center because it was the only place for me, which is full of students. So, we did pretty well in these surveys and we asked many people. We were trying to find many people and we did.

VI – DATA http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AtKsgrADwuYudE9Cc3J4U3c3Tzg4ZlBrQjZfYUhKR2c&hl=en

VII – RESULTS

According to the chart 78.9% of males smoke; 21.1% of females smoke. Also, these smokers smoke alone and with people with percentage 12.5%, so they smoke with both equally with percentage 75%. So, where do these people smoke? Well, some of them smoke only in public with the percentage 8.3%, and some of them smoke in private with percentage 25%, but the rest smoke in both places with percentage 66.7%. Some people are forced to smoke with percentage 37.5%. Many smokers smoke because of stress and because of their friends also smoke with percentage 42.9%. All people suggest that programs of training with percentage 39.5% are great way to quit smoking. So, these surveys show that people care about themselves even if they smoke.

VIII – CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION

My hypothesis was right, because males smoke more than females. And I think that is because males can handle smoking. Also, I learned that people smoke always with each other in public and in private. If I did this survey again I would make many changes to these questions so I could learn more about smokers.

IX - REFERENCE

Seal, B. (1998). Smoking. In Academic Encounters: Human behavior. pp. 31- 33. New York:

Cambridge University Press.

Coping with Homework Assignments

FADHIL AL ALQASSAB

EAP 1 WRITER’S WORKSHOP

ARGUMENT ESSAY [EDITED]

TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2009

 

Coping with Homework Assignments

 

The problem is about an argument about homework for some kids in school. There is a survey that has questions from families and teachers asking about homework and tells how parents can take care of their kids’ homework (Strauss, 2009). Some governments in other countries recommend homework. There is another problem which is kids do not like homework, but homework is important according to the teachers. If there is no homework, then parents and their kids will not talk about anything about school and that is a problem. There is an issue about teachers who give a lot of homework, but it is good for kids. Some research shows that kids from second grade through fifth grade write very well on their exams, but homework is a huge problem for them. Kids need this homework to improve their skills in their schools (Strauss, 2009). Homework is a good way to make strong bonding between kids and their families. Many families think that homework is wasting their kids’ time, but it is really for good for their kids. They found that if kids have too m uch homework, they will spend a lot of time studying and this is a problem for their parents according to the article (Flynn, 2009). So, people should really think that homework is very helpful for their kids and it helps them to get higher grades in the future in their classes.

I totally disagree with both authors. The authors made really good points, but they talk about how kids can cope with their problems with their homework. And that’s not a good idea, so I came with many ideas that help kids agree with the homework assignment. There are good ideas to help kids cope with homework; first, schools can make classes longer, and second, students should check with teachers and classmates.

 

First, schools can make the classes longer, so they can make fewer homework assignments. For example, if people do not want a lot of homework for their children, then schools should make school time a little bit longer. Also, children should think that if they have many classes, they will get tired, so the homework assignments will be short. So, students will be good at homework if they can cope with it, and a lot of classes should cover their problems. There are a lot of advantages that students can benefit from when they make the classes longer.

Also, students should check with teachers and classmates to help each other. For instance, if kids have a lot of problems with their homework, they should help each other, or go to their own teachers or maybe they can go to their classmates and work together with their homework. Another example is that students should always check with their teachers about their homework, because kids really need to be on the same schedule with the other students and not be behind the schedule. Kids should get help if they have trouble with the homework assignments.

Some people disagree with my ideas; they think that parents think differently because they have to make school time shorter and a lot of homework assignments, so kids can gain a lot of writing experience. And that’s helpful for them in the future. Also, people disagree with something else and that is classmates should not help each other because that will cause many problems for their kids in the future. That is, kids will get used to getting help from each other. Parents need their kids to be individuals, so they can have the skills.

In conclusion, many people want the best for their kids in schools. So, they need to follow these two ideas, because that helps kids to cope with their homework problems. Also, many kids don’t need help from other student “classmates,” so they should really think about how kids can overcome these problems. So, teachers should help students and classmates also.

 

REFERENCES:

 

Flynn, J. (2009, May 27). Homework: When school never ends. Telegraph. 

Retrieved on July 17, 2009, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/

5369232/Homework-when-school-never-ends.html.

Strauss, V. (2009, January 27). The Homework Debate. The Washington Post.

Retrieved on July 14, 2009, fromhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-

dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012602012_pf.html.

Easy Ways to Deal with Stress

According to Bernard Seal, when people work as a counselor, they will have stress. That is because they have to defend people in front of judges. They could have a hard situation, and of course they will if they have a complicated document. Even on weekends, they do not get to relax. When they succeed in their cases, they will extremely relaxed. Every counselor has pressure in their job. Also, they do not have too much sleep when when they get back to their houses. So, there are many stressful jobs in their life. People found away to deal with their situations such as training to get rid of their stress. Some studies found that a person may challenge stress, but people with commitment can control it. Many people are likely to stay away from these situations. People can fight their stress when they have a dead member of their families. In general, people should learn how to deal with heir stress in their lives.

Well, people should not control their stress or make them selves tired, because that will take a lot of energy. So, I disagree with the author for many reasons. Also, there are three ways that people should handle stress which are getting some help from a professional doctor, taking some medicines, and drinking energy drinks that doctors recommend.

First, going to a professional doctor is good for a stressful person to get healthy. For example, if people can not control themselves with their stress, or they do not have anyone to help, they should go to a doctor. And that will take a short time to get healthy. Also, when foreigners go to another country, they will get stress because it is new culture for them. So, people should think before they do anything with themselves.

Second, taking some medicines is healthier than doing exercise. For instance, people should really take medicines, because it is quick and very effective. Another example is, some people died just by doing exercise. So, why are people still doing exercise when they ought to take medicines? Medicines are very quick to get rid of stress.

Finally, drinking energy drinks is healthy and very tasty. For example, some doctors recommend that people should drink energy drinks when they feel the stress of academic exams. Also, they ought to drink them if they feel weak in their lives. And these drinks make some people happy, because it helps to put themselves together. Energy drinks are more safer and cheaper than taking medicines and seeing doctors.

In conclusion, if people want to get over their stress, they ought to follow these ideas because they are easy to follow and safer. These ideas help people cope with their stress very well and these ideas are healthier for people who want to overcome their stress.

Seal, B (1998). Coping with stress. In Academic encounters: Human behavior.

(pp. 15 - 16). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Summary

According to Dan Childs in his article "Did Michael Jackson's Stress Contribute to Cardiac Arrest?," Michael Jackson died because of stress. People believe that he had a heart attack because of drugs or alcohol. Michael Jackson died when he was 50 years old; he was not too old and not too young. Michael Jackson scheduled 50 concerts before he died, according to the author. Many people have died of stress, so that causes huge problems for the world. The author mentions that the ambulance was fast enough that took Michael Jackson to the medical center, but most people die in this situation. there was many of a lot of heart disease that people had problems with. Every year about a quarter million to a half million Americans have the same problem. So, people should be careful of their stress.

Childs, D. (2009, June 25). Did Michael Jackson's Stress Contribute to Cardiac Arrest? ABC News Medical Unit. Retrieved on July 6, 2009, from  http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=7932717.

Summary

According to Mary McNamara in her article "Michael Jackson, not a black or white story," Michael Jackson is a complex man. Also, he had a strange death. Michael Jackson had a lot of problems in his life and that's why people called him a freak. The author compares Michael Jackson to Napoleon in that "Michael Jackson is perhaps the most fatally flawed." Everybody loves Michael Jackson from all over the world. The author mentions that one Michael Jackson's biographer said that drugs were the reason of his death. Many people think that his death was very complex.

McNamara, M.  (2009, June 25).  Michael Jackson, not a black or white story [updated].  Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on July 1, 2009, from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/06/a-complicated-man.html.