What to Expect When You're Expecting the Un-Expected

New and current students are standing in the hall way of the Princess Anne building, at Tidewater Community College (TCC). You are waiting in line after spending the day taking placement tests and meeting with guidance counselors. You walk up to the computer and select your course English composition ENG 111 with Professor Paul Gasparo. It’s now official; the easy part of the sixteen week course is over, selecting the course. Going forward nothing in this class will come easy or without hard work if you want to get a good grade in the class. To pass this class you will need to be organized, self motivated and willing to step outside of your comfort zones.

Organization is going to be the best place to start this course. Over ninety percent of the items covered in the class can be found on the university Blackboard website. Blackboard is an online website that contains all the course material covered. The course syllabus, the course calendar, course texts, assignment prompts, and your grades are located on this site. The course calendar is going your best point of reference to keep up with due dates and class activities. If you miss a class for any reason, the course calendar will allow you to keep current with the class. During the semester various assignments will be posted on the Blackboard discussion area or announcement area. Be prepared to have a daily ritual of signing into your blackboard account and check for announcements and emails from the professors. The readings will be required for discussions in class.

Throughout the semester you will be asked to read over fifty different articles. The articles can be items assigned to read from the text book, web sites, or scholarly journals. Not reading them will prevent you from having full understanding and prevent the chance of learning something new. The professor reserves the right at any time to have a quiz on the reading material. Honestly the readings at times tend to be a bit cumbersome. A couple of the readings are hard to follow and painful to finish, but those readings are a small percentage. The readings from the text books require you to be self motivated. The professor will not check to see if you are keeping up with your assigned readings. No doing so will be transparent during towards the end of the semester when you write your argument essay. Good materials are presented in the text books during the semester. Being motivated to read these assignments will provide key insight on how to create and annotated bibliography and understanding rhetorical analysis keys, such as Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.

The most important part to your success in ENG 111 with Professor Paul Gasparo is the ability to step outside of your normal comfort zone. Professor Gasparo will challenge you to read, think, and write in ways you may not be comfortable with. The professor provides you with new tools and understandings to take your analytical writings to a new level. Be prepared to do extensive research on a topic to write a paper on. A prospectus is another required assignment. A prospectus is a formal writing to request approval from your professor to research a particular topic. If the prospectus does not make you nervous then the thought of an annotated bibliography will. In an annotated bibliography you will site all the sources you find to use in your argument research paper. Talk about out of your comfort zone. You will you more special characters to complete this assignment than actual letters. Learning how to complete the above mentioned items is instrumental in completing the argument essay.

When the course finally nears the end and you can finally see the finish line in sight, please do not give up. Remember the easiest part of the course was merely registering for the course. Once you have completed the course you will have a strong appreciate on what to expect in a college level course. Good organization, self motivation to personally achieve the goal of passing the course by completing the course work, and not being overwhelmed by the challenges the professor places on you, are all part of what you will experience in Professor Gasparo course.


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Diagnostic Essay Revised: It’s Should be Illegal to Have this Good of a Job

Throughout my career life I have had my share of good and bad jobs. My most recent job as a Computer Engineer at Cegedim Dendrite the best job I have ever had. Cutting edge technology, social events, and teamwork are attributes making our workplace.

On my first day I was provided with a company laptop and all supporting peripherals to do my job. This allowed me to always have the needed materials; and at anytime move around inside the company, attend meetings, and work from home. Work conditions and facilities are not comparable to my previous jobs. I love to stay breast with new technology. We have access to various equipment and tools allowing us to excel and continuously improve in fulfilling our day to day tasks. Another great tool the company provides is “SharePoint”, which all members of the company are allowed to post documents and messages. I use this tool to save multiple documents from my laptop to the “SharePoint” server. This provides the employees a backup in case of technical issues with their equipment “SharePoint” is a great way for me to stay up to date on all current company events as information posted to the site is in real-time.

Another reason I’m a happy employee is the company social events. The biggest social event that my company does is the annual Christmas party. These events present the opportunity to socialize and get to know other coworkers. Considering workers spend of half of their lives at the job. It is not a surprise with a little free time with each other will help to improve moral and help people get acquainted with people whom they do not know. The black tie affair takes place in an upscale hotel or event hall, and is accompanied by a formal dinner, dancing, and professional photographs. The gala event stops nothing short of spectacular. Throughout the year the company has several raffles for prizes that include free food, company embroidered apparel, and paid leave. During the summer the company provides two additional benefits that get rave reviews from everyone. The company offers dress down days. Once a month, on Friday’s, full time employees get the opportunity to leave four hours early with pay, to enjoy time with family and/or friends.

Above all, strong teamwork is the most encouraging culture developed by my employers driving us to further success. The chemistry amongst coworkers at Cegedim Dendrite contributes greatly to a pleasant work environment. In previous jobs, personal conflicts interfered with company success and created a hostile work environment. At our workplace any projects require strict deadlines to be met. The willingness of team members to who come to work early and stay late to meet deadlines, contributes to the success of the company. Sense of responsibility as well as teamwork is highly respected at our company. Therefore, task assignment and job distribution among diverse teammates works perfectly. Also, being open to constructive criticism allows the teams to work cohesively, moving the projects ahead in a timely manner.

In conclusion Cegedim Dendrite is without a doubt I believe a wonderful place to have had an opportunity to work at. Some of the company sponsored activates go a long way to making this company an enjoyable place to work. All the details the company puts in the hiring process produces excellent employees that, in turn, create a wonderful working environment. When searching the job market I highly recommend that you consider Cegedim Dendrite as a possible place of employment.


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Diagnostic Essay: The Best Job I Ever Had

September 01, 2009

Throughout my career life I have had my share of good and bad jobs. My most recent job as a Computer Engineer at Cegedim Dendrite the best job I have ever had. Cutting edge technology, social events, and teamwork are attributes making our workplace.

On my first day I was provided with a company laptop and all supporting peripherals to do my job. This allowed me to always have the needed materials; and at anytime move around inside the company, attend meetings, and work from home. Work conditions and facilities are not comparable to my previous jobs. We have access to various equipment and tools allowing us to excel and continuously improve in fulfilling our day to day tasks. Another great tool the company provides is “SharePoint”, which all members of the company are allowed to post documents and messages. I use this tool to save multiple documents from my laptop to the “SharePoint” server. This provides the employees a backup in case of technical issues with their equipment “SharePoint” is a great way for me to stay up to date on all current company events as information posted to the site is in real-time.

Another reason I’m a happy employee is the company social events. The biggest social event that my company does is the annual Christmas party. These events present the opportunity to socialize and get to know other coworkers.
The black tie affair takes place in an upscale hotel or event hall, and is accompanied by a formal dinner, dancing, and professional photographs. Throughout the year the company has several raffles for prizes that include free food, company embroidered apparel, and paid leave. During the summer the company provides two additional benefits that get rave reviews from everyone. The company offers dress down days. Once a month, on Friday’s, full time employees get the opportunity to leave four hours early with pay, to enjoy time with family and/or friends.

Above all, strong teamwork is the most encouraging culture developed by my employers driving us to further success. The chemistry amongst coworkers at Cegedim Dendrite contributes greatly to a pleasant work environment. In previous jobs, personal conflicts interfered with company success and created a hostile work environment. At our workplace any projects require strict deadlines to be met. The willingness of team members to who come to work early and stay late to meet deadlines, contributes to the success of the company. Sense of responsibility as well as teamwork is highly respected at our company.
Therefore, task assignment and job distribution among diverse teammates works perfectly. Also, being open to constructive criticism allows the teams to work cohesively, moving the projects ahead in a timely manner.

In conclusion Cegedim Dendrite is without a doubt the greatest place I have had an opportunity to work at. Some of the company sponsored activates go a long way to making this company an enjoyable place to work. All the details the company puts in the hiring process produces great employees that, in turn, create a wonderful working environment. When searching the job market I highly recommend that you consider Cegedim Dendrite as a possible place of employment.






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