Unit 45 Task 2 Health and Social Care

Danielle Lee    s45320888

Assignment 2- Writing styles in health and social care

In this essay I will compare and explain the differences between three different texts/documents that are written in different styles of writing. This essay will look at the styles of writing, the purposes of the writing and the differences between the texts. I have taken the text from a magazine, the internet and a journal. The three styles of writing are ethical, discursive and persuasive.

Magazines- Love It!  1st October 2015. ‘I lost 9 stone and reversed my diabetes’ Tracey Albert.

The magazine is eye catching; there are lots of pictures and big and bright headlines with the relevant information presented underneath. The article contains bold and captivating quotes from the article to interest the reader into reading the article. The way how a magazine is presented is very laid back and formal as it is written for an entertainment or amusement purpose because it is not structured strictly, there are lots of pictures and bright coloured headlines, it is light reading and not structured as strict as a journal, because a journal is subject based and written by experts and professionals e.g. Doctors, nurses.

The article is written in an ethical style of writing, Ethical writing is usually based around personal experiences, values or morals. The article is written on a personal level and the reader has been given an insight into her personal life, the writer tells us that the more weight she piled on the more depressed and hopeless she became and she was less able to do anything about it. It then tells us about the doctor diagnosing her with diabetes and her wanting to stay healthy for her three children. The reader can almost sympathise with the information presented in this article.

 It could also be a reflective style of writing; Reflective writing could be a way of processing ones practise based experiences and past events to help the reader learn from. The writer talks about how she lost weight and reflects back on the difficulties she went through in doing so, she says ‘A year and a half ago I couldn’t walk around the block. Now I walk five miles a day’. She also reflects back on how she felt whilst she was overweight, how she felt once she started losing weight and how she felt once her health was back to normal again.

The purpose of this style of writing is to gain an emotional awareness into the subject’s personal experiences and life style; it goes in to detail around the medical factor, life style changes, home environment and family environment. It is also giving the reader an awareness into medical factors in which could arise from being overweight. The reflective style of writing helps the reader and also the writer reflect back on their past experiences and how far they have come.

Journal- Nursing Times, June 2015. ‘Do prescribed medicines affect falls risks?’