51 People Requested Family Day in my Giveaway!

51 people requested my book, Family Day, on the first day of my first giveaway. It’s been a really good experience so far. I thought I’d share it with you. If you’re interested in joining, you can as well; there are 100 copies available. Here’s a link to the giveaway:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/299221-family-day-a-family-s-quest-to-overcome-a-global-struggle

Navigating life with 3 smarts

We’ve heard about wisdom, we’ve heard about book smarts, and we’ve heard about street smarts; but why do we not learn about all three simultaneously? The person that is the most intelligent all-around has learnt to incorporate the three smarts.

Age smarts is otherwise known as wisdom. We develop street smarts to protect oneself and to navigate social situations. Book smarts involve focused practice and improvement in skills and academia; it is usually the factor that most convinces people you are intelligent.

School and society puts greater emphasis on book smarts and so we find recurring defecits in one or more areas of individuals’ intelligence capacities.

We’re taught to get the best degree and learn to talk our way through a room in order to be successful in our twenties. We repeat this pattern throughout our careers sometimes neglecting our street smarts and, most of the time, age smarts/wisdom.

The benefits of developing book-smarts range from career progression, financial security and stability, innovation, and leadership/executive roles later in life. In early life book-smarts is celebrated in school and most homes, feeding the individual positive feedback all throughout their early life. You can see the imbalance of the positive feedback and behaviour reinforcement for the 3 smarts. There is little support in modern society for developing age smarts or street smarts in comparison to book smarts.

Street-smarts are not so celebrated although they are a coveted skill set in social settings, and a necessary skillset to develop in order to survive. Whether you are the life of the party or can you get yourself out of a lot of dangerous situations; street smarts is something that is invaluable for those that have developed it.

Finally age smarts is the ability to apply universal principles usually acquired from experience to life. Sometimes an individual is forced to acquire age smarts early or are naturally inclined to be wise. Wisdom is the overarching intellect and compass which points you to the priorities in life, human relationships, having the correct view of the world, and morality. While being the least celebrated intellect, it is begrudgingly developed after a few kicks to the teeth and knowing better and usually arises much later in life. This renders many years lost unnecessarily trying to figure life out. I wish for everyone including myself to figure out their balance of their smarts as I believe therein lies the trifecta of abilities in achieving your lifes purpose.

I’ve Combined My Short Stories into One Book Called Three Very Different Short Stories!

I, Mahmoud, have combined my short stories into one book. It’s called Three Very Different Short Stories. It will be available on Amazon, soon. Please look out for it. You can buy a copy and review it if you like, I would really appreciate any engagement.

Here’s the cover:

The NHS Is Right To Fear Unethical Medical Practices, But So Are Foreign Patients

This article is written in response to one published on the BBC Website.

Mr. Hugh Pym, the Health Editor of the BBC, writes about how the NHS is calling for an export ban on British medicinal products. The rationale for such as ban is solid, as long as wholesalers act irresponsibly and unethically. They could do so by engaging in arbitrage, as Mr. Pym pointed out. The reality is that there are valid health, economic and other reasons to satisfy both domestic and foreign demand. The key is to work closely with doctors and strike deals that allow wholesalers to generate greater sales and acquire adequate supply. 

 

The NHS is a public institution that puts its patients first. The doctors, nurses, psychologists/psychiatrists and all the other health workers would be right to show concern about the possibility of medicinal shortages. Patients who are prescribed treatments are in need of medicine. The government is accountable to its people and should act in their best interest. Big pharmaceutical business and medicinal wholesalers can, unfortunately, solely represent their owners.

 

If businesses were to act ethically and in line with corporate social responsibility, they would not just seek the biggest prices but will also try to act locally in favour of their closest customers. In business terms, it also makes sense to sell to British hospitals and pharmacies, even in the wake of a weakening pound. Closer geographical distances will lower distribution costs, thus making for bigger margins. Prices may also respond to the lower British Pound value; thus, removing the incentive of selling abroad. Finally, the Pound could always rebound, which makes local sales the more lucrative prospect.

 

Of course, medicine is about more than just money. It saves lives and should save all lives that need it. That is to say, British patients are the only potential victims of unethical pharma-business practices. If wholesalers only sell to the highest bidder, then the ill in Less Developed Countries will also suffer. The United Kingdom is among the highest medicinal exporters in the world, making for many casualties if wholesalers act unethically.

 

The government is accountable to all its people, and not just a small business elite. They should pass laws and policies in favour of the public good. If wholesalers abandon British patients, then the government should ban medicinal exports. This will create a check on poor business practices. Wholesalers should also act with locals in mind, as recent history shows that a deficit in ethics leads to lower profits, legal issues and insolvency.

 

One needs to look no further than the Enron Scandal; the related demise of Arthur Anderson, in the early 2000s, and the collapse of Lehman Brothers and Northern Rock, in the Global Financial Crisis. These economic and financial scandals sent shock waves throughout the business world. Enron and Arthur Anderson both defrauded its stakeholders, with the former filing bankruptcy. Arthur Anderson was also one of the then big five accounting firms in the world. Its fall from grace shows how the full extent of unethical business implications. If greed is good and dirty business is the norm, then why did Enron, Arthur Anderson and Lehman Brothers/Northern Rock fail? The answer is because lacking ethics is not good business practice at all.

 

If wholesalers want big returns, they should understand the intrinsic links between profit and ethics. If wholesalers continue to sell to local consumers, they could gain more in consumer loyalty and end up building a bigger brand. How coincidental is it that local actors end up gaining more global influence than others? UK businesses can also coordinate with doctors to determine demand. Deals can be struck to avoid over-production and losses, and, as long as wholesalers sell at a profit margin, it would make business sense to strike those deals.

 

All in all, the catastrophic outcome of medicinal shortages needs to be avoided at all costs. To sell medicine on an auction basis is unethical and should be avoided. It also does not make sense in economic terms. History shows that greed is not good, does not go unnoticed and could be the cause of a firm’s ultimate demise. The bigger implications of an export ban are the call for a better demand tracking system, through the use of market research, where domestic and foreign demand could be met. 

 

Family Day, Available for Free on Kobo Books!

Family Day is available for free on Kobo books. You can get the book by simply clicking on the link below. I would really appreciate it if I could get some reviews as well. I would love to hear feedback, to improve my writing and know if I’m doing anything well. It’s great to get people just to read my works as well, here’s the link:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/family-day

How Good Grammar Can Help Your Writing

Spelling and grammar are an important aspect of a lot of written works. They say the difference between an A- and a straight A could boil down to spelling and grammar. The more that I think about it, the more important grammar seems to be. Good grammar goes a long way in making your work look polished. Without good grammar, the quality of your writing takes a major hit.

Image result for grammar

What qualifies as good grammar, though? Anyone who has taking a writing, literature or reading or language arts course would have studied grammar. This is a set of rules which dictate what is permissible in writing and what is not. Spelling refers to the correct letter choices in a word. Grammar, on the other hand, refers to rules which writers need to follow; if you follow the rules that apply to our work, your piece would qualify as adhering to the laws of good grammar.

Moreover, grammar can be used proactively, as well. If someone knows how to use commas or semicolons, they could add more parts to their sentence by choosing to use one of those punctuation marks. They work also looks more impressive, the more polished it is. Grammar is more than just punctuation, as sentence parts, paragraph structure and what not all falls into play the massive world is that grammar lives in. It is important to keep that in mind.

It is also important to note that grammar is not the be all and end all of writing. There is more to writing then just following some rules; it is an art. A poorly edited masterpiece may be of more value then a polished, but mediocre, work. That is not to say that grammar is meaningless. On the contrary, it is very important to edit and draft your works, as poor writing can throw off your readers; this is all just to say that grammar is important, and so are other aspects of writing.

In conclusion, practising good grammar is a significant way to bolster your writing credentials. It is important to question what counts as good grammar, to begin with. The answer to that question is anything which follows the rules of writing in a language. Grammar can also be used proactively. In the end of the day, grammar is one of the many aspects of writing that writers can perfect while pursuing their chosen careers.

I’m Giving Away Family Day on Goodreads for Free!

Family Day will be available for free on Goodreads. This giveaway will last from October 23 to November 04. Please get your copy of Family Day. It won’t cost you anything. If you could also leave a review, that’ll be great.

 

In-depth Discussion on Reports and Insights into Characteristics of Report Writing

 

  1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

A lot of people need to write reports for different reasons. There are informative and analytical reports created in the fields of math, science, engineering and medicine and so on and so forth. When reports have obtained such a high-level of demand, is there a need to write a write a report on reports and report writing?

1.2 WHY WRITE A REPORT ON REPORTS

A report providing information on reports and report writing is useful to anyone who needs to write a report and needs to know more about certain aspects of report writing. This report helps the reader gain the much sought-after and useful skill of report writing.

1.3 WHAT THIS REPORT AIMS TO ACHIEVE

This report aims to help its readers learn more about reports through an active discussion of reports and certain characteristics of report writing. The reader of this report should be better equipped at writing a report after having read this report.

1.4 SECTIONS OF THIS REPORT

The first section of this report is on the definition of report and a discussion on the importance of report writing. Next, this report will aid the reader on how to identify the aim and audience of a report. Subsequently, this report will provide a discussion on the causes of poor report writing. Finally, the use of headings and numbering will be examined in this report.

  1. MAIN TEXT

2.1 DEFINE A REPORT AND DISCUSS THE IMPORTANCE OF REPORT WRITING

2.1.1 Definition of report

Before this paper delves deep into characteristics of and discussions on report writing, the term report should be defined. Oxford dictionary provides several definitions of the word report, with the word used as a verb and a noun in different circumstances (Oxford Dictionaries, 2018). The definition that this paper uses, which is used to describe a report created to provide information or analysis on a topic, is as follows:

An account given on a particular matter, especially in the form of an official document, after thorough investigation or consideration by an appointed person or body (Oxford Dictionaries, 2018)

 

It can be deduced from the above definition that reports are accounts and, although coming in different forms, usually are presented in the form of an official document. All reports have a subject and the writer of a report undergoes a process of, “investigation or consideration,” while writing his or her report.

2.1.2 Importance of report writing

Report-writing is important because it is an exercise of writing; thus, allowing writers to record their work. Reports are proof of work done and are, “the major product of… (one’s) project or investigation,” (Bowden, 2004). The logic behind the importance of report writing is related to its utility. That is, without reports important information will be forgotten and all major discoveries will be lost in time (as if they were not discovered in the first place) (Bowden, 2004).

2.2 HOW TO IDENTIFY THE AIM AND AUDIENCE OF A REPORT

There are certain questions one can ask when identifying the aim and audience of a report. Considering the importance of writing a report with an aim and knowing your audience, it is equally important to learn how to identify the aim and audience of a report. Knowing the aim and audience of your report is also beneficial. This is because it helps the writer of a report direct his or her writing and decide what to include in his or her report. The process of identifying the aim and audience of a report is tackled below.

2.2.1 How to identify the aim of a report

As alluded to earlier, one can identify the aim of their report through an exercise of question-asking. The two main questions one needs to ask himself or herself is, “… what (is the writer) … trying to achieve,” and, “… what is the aim of writing?” (Turk and Kirkman, 2005, p.17). Asking these two questions will help the writers identify the aim of their report.

2.2.2 How to identify the audience of a report

The process of identifying the audience of a report is like the identification the aim of a report. Both processes use question-asking to reach their outcomes. Bowden in Writing a Report and Turk and Kirkman in Effective Writing have outlined five questions each on the identification of the audience of a report (2004) (2005). The first three questions are the same and they are, “are the readers alike or mixed? What do they already know? What else do they need to know?” (Bowden, 2004, p.17). The remaining four questions are on the report-friendliness of your audience, the time they wish to spend on your report, the attitudes of your audience and the, “… psychological and physical contexts within which the new information will be received,” (Turk and Kirkman, 2005, p. 22). Once these questions are asked, the writer will be in a better position to identify the audience of their report.

2.3 DISCUSS THE CAUSES OF POOR REPORT WRITING

2.3.1 Bad teaching and difference in audience and purpose

The two major causes of poor report writing are bad teaching and the difference in audience and purpose of school and professional reports (Turk and Kirkman, 2005). Some writing rules taught in school, such as those in favor of using big words and against repetition of words in the same sentence (Turk and Kirkman, 2005), are not useful in professional report writing. The audience of a professional report usually include people who do not know about the topic, unlike in school where the audience is usually well-informed (Turk and Kirkman, 2005). As a result, the writer’s purpose in school and the workplace differs from each other (Turk and Kirkman, 2005).

2.3.2 Style

Most of the causes of poor report writing are related to the style of writing a writer adopts. The causes of poor report writing can be determined by learning how not to write a report. Report writers are meant to utilize a clear, concise and direct style (Bowden, 2004). The style of report writing should also be unobtrusive; therefore, writing that is, “pompous… ostentatious… ambiguous… or difficult to follow,” (Bowden, 2004, p.72) should be avoided. Furthermore, the inclusion of unnecessary or irrelevant information is also characteristic of poor report writing (Munizzo and Musial, 2010).

The words a writer chooses can also determine the quality of his or her report writing. There are certain guidelines on how to avoid poor report writing by, “choosing… words carefully,” (Bowden, 2004, p.76) The guidelines are as follows:

 

Prefer plain words… avoid pointless words… avoid overwriting and padding… avoid redundant words… avoid the careless position of words… prefer the positive… try to avoid qualifying introductions… place emphasis at the end of the sentence… prefer English words and phrases to foreign words… avoid sexist language… (and) use warm words (Bowden, 2004, p.76-79)

2.4 THE USE OF HEADINGS AND NUMBERING

2.4.1 Discussion and insight into heading

The use of heading and numbering in report writing is a conscientious topic which has caused plenty of debate. It is generally agreed that heading and numbering should be used in a report but the issue with this topic is how one should head the sections and subsections of their report and how to use numbering in their report. Turk and Kirkman have laid out a proposed structure for headings of a report in their book Effective Writing: (2005). In a chapter of the book titled the use of headings and numbering, they state that through the use of, “…numbering… indenting… capital and lower-case letters… (and) bolding… (or) underlining… in type written texts,” one can showcase, “…the relative hierarchy,” and structure of the sections of their report (Turk and Kirkman, 2005, p.66). One of the points of contention on this topic is to do with Turk’s and Kirkman’s suggestions on the use of indenting.

 

2.4.2 Rules on Indentation

Should one indent headings, subheadings and text? Does this create environmental and economic issues to do with paper wastage (Turk and Kirkman, 2005, p.67)? Turk and Kirkman argue that any form of indentation which helps the reader is not to be considered as a waste of paper (2005). However, if one sought to manage their paper usage more efficiently they could indent only the subsections of their report and leave the text un-indented (Turk and Kirkman, 2005).

 

2.4.3 Numbering Systems

Another point of debate is to do with the use of numbering. Which system of numbering, “the decimal system, mixtures of numbers and letters, (and) the HMSO system,” (Turk and Kirkman, 2005, p.67) should one use? The decimal system seems to be the champion of numbering systems, at least according to Turk and Kirkman (2005). This is because the decimal system is better-equipped for aiding the reader of a report in finding their place and with the general organization of a report (Turk and Kirkman, 2005). The other two systems are confusing and are not favored to the decimal system (Turk and Kirkman, 2005).

2.5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Report writing is an important skill which this report aims at helping their reader acquire through the discussion on reports and certain aspects of report writing. The word report has many definitions, but reports treated as accounts on matters is the best definition for school and professional reports. Reports are important because without them information would be lost. One can identify the aim and purpose of his or her report by asking the right questions. Bad teaching and differences in audience and purpose are the main causes of poor report writing. There also systems of heading and numbering which help a writer better organize his or her work.

Asking the questions regarding aim and audience of a report laid out in this report helps the writer identify the aim and audience of his or her report. Knowing the causes of poor report writing also helps a writer with their own report writing task. It is important to note that a common theme in this report is the emphasis on making the reader’s job easier. This includes the discussion on indentation, waste-management and readability. When in doubt, indent. Doing so values the readability of a report. If one were to manage their paper usage, then he or she can indent only the headings but leaving the text and headings un-indented would be an error of poor presentation and cause confusion.

Writing Workshop!

Hey everyone, Writers in the Family is scheduling a writing workshop. You are cordially invited to partake in the activities involved in sharing writing tips and whatnot. We want to create a group of writers/authors, which will hopefully be of aid to everyone in the group. We might create a WhatsApp group, where we can share ideas. For now, please share any writing tips you have, in the comments section, and keys to writing success you think are valid.