OFFICE OF STUDENT LIFE To: Esiquio Uballe, Ed.

D, Associate Dean of Student Life From: Aneta Jelowicki, Karina Escobedo, Susana Nasserie, Hang Pham Subject: Magazine recommendation for Deans Office of Student Life waiting room Date: October 7, 2013 Can you keep a white, vertical column above? Purpose The purpose of this memo is to present our recommendation for a magazine that would be most ideal to subscribe to and be most useful in the waiting room of the Deans Office of Student Life (wordy).

Summary College students at California State University, Fullerton visit the office of Student Life to receive services that will support their progress towards a degree or professional objectives. Students with academic concerns are also able to set up appointments to receive advising in regards to enrich their student development (revise for concision). Can you say more about this audience? Demographics?

With this in mind, we evaluated three popular magazines, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and TIMES magazine, to determine which magazine is able to interest a wide variety of students. The criteria we focused on were: 1) a magazine that provides a wide variety of topics rather than topics directed to a specific audience with a certain type of interest; 2) the magazine must be a decent length, in the sense that articles are considered light reading and relays information quickly; 3) the price of the magazine (see appendix) parallelism in lists. Our analysis indicates TIMES magazine best satisfies these criteria exceptionally well and has been chosen as the magazine most ideal to subscribe to for the waiting room.

Discussion For our first magazine, The Atlantic, we notice their writing approach does not suit most students who visit the waiting room. To start, many of the articles provide immense content and analysis that could run several pages long. We believe this is not ideal for those who are there for a short duration. While they cover a range of topics, their main focus is on politics, business, literature, and culture, thus it wouldnt be able to catch the attention of students of other disciplines and interests (give example?). In spite the fact that The Atlantic offers an education segment, the articles again, mostly coincide with their ideologies (whose?). With headlines involving terms

such as CEO, Humanities, and a number of political references, we see they direct themselves toward a specific audience. Statistically, they also cater toward an older demographic and according to The Atlantic mission statement, people who are considered thought leaders, those that typically have more expertise, are opinionated, take action, and seek thought provoking content (Mission Statement The Atlantic). In terms of availability and price, one receives 10 issues, not even a monthly distribution, for $24.50 a year, making it the most expensive of the three magazines (Magazine Cost). Since the content eventually delves beyond the general audience, it may lure away students who prefer to read something more prevalent (ww) and straight to the point. As a result, we disregard this magazine as a recommendation. The second magazine is National Geographic. Although this magazine is popular for its thorough articles and dramatic photographs, we do not recommend it because its editing style does not suit the Deans Office waiting room. The magazine contains lengthy articles that often run more than 30 pages to discuss a particular topic. For example, the August 2013 edition discusses African Lions for 66 pages (great example, do same for above and below). The magazine elaborates the articles meticulously and presents detailed credible facts such as statistics, maps, and vivid photographs. Most Student Life visitors schedule their appointments ahead of time and their wait times are short (Garcia) great idea! Interview!. Therefore, National Geographic is not the best option for their short visits. Another downside of this magazine is its limited topics. Because of its mission, Inspiring People to Care about the Planet, National Geographic weighs its articles heavily towards the environment, earth, and science education (National Geographic Store). Our multidisciplinary background visitors may find the magazine unappealing because of its deep focus on these specific topics. Lastly, in terms of the cost and availability, National Geographic issues 12 magazines per year with an annual subscription of $15 (Magazine Cost). It is the second most expensive publication amongst our reviewed magazines. Because National Geographic has lengthy articles, limited topics, and has the second highest subscription cost compared to the two other magazines, we eliminated this magazine from our recommendation. TIMES magazine proves to be the most ideal magazine to subscribe to and be used in the waiting room of the Deans office of Student life. To start off, TIMES magazine provides a wide variety of topics and is able to spark interest in almost every reader. This magazine provides content varying from Breaking News, to headlines and stories about the United States, politics and world news, as well as Business and Technology, Health, Science, Medicine, Fitness and entertainment. It is necessary to provide content with a broad range of topics because in the office waiting room, one may encounter a variety of students with different interests good. The next set of criteria that was examined was the overall length of the magazine. TIMES magazine is brief but very informative and provides light reading articles that are perfect for the brief times most people spend in the waiting room. The last set of criteria that was taken into account was the price of the magazine. The price is reasonable with a low $30 for an annual subscription one receives 53 issues, thus meaning a new issue once a week (Magazine Cost). With this in mind,

when one receives a new issue each week, the information and articles will be up to date. Also, one can keep multiple issues in the waiting room for several weeks so that students can compare interests from one magazine with an issue that was released earlier. However, some may say that the TIMES magazine articles may be one sided, that it might offend different parties and does not fully focus on education. We think it is still the best magazine choice because it provides a broader range of topics that is able to give each reader a better understanding about a variety of issues. Overall, TIMES magazine presents itself to be the best magazine to subscribe to and to have in the waiting room. Recommendation Out of the three magazines that were researched, the one that meets all three criteria exceptionally well is TIMES magazine. The content of this magazine proves to be written for a general audience with a variety of interests, thus anyone in the waiting room would be willing to grab this magazine than any other. We believe students that wait for their appointment will pick up TIMES magazine because it is not directed towards a specific group of people, as well as interesting the reader in a topic they never thought to be of interest and possibly enhance their personal and academic development. Works Cited Garcia, Yvett. Personal interview. 19 Sept.2013. Magazinecost.com. Magazine Cost ,2013. Web. 19 Sept.2013. Mission Statement The Atlantic. The Atlantic. 2011: 1- 15. PDF file. Nationalgeographic.com. National Geographic,1996-2013. Web. 20 Sept.2013. Shop.nationalgeographic.com. National Geographic Store, 2013. Web. 20 Sept.2013. Times.com. TIMES Magazine, 2013. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.

Appendix: Magazines TIMES 5 5 4 4.67

Criteria Variety of Topics Length Price Average:

National Geographic 1 2 2 1.67

The Atlantic 4 3 2 3.0

List of Generic Conventions for Memos 1. Common: 2. Content: a. Clear statement of purpose b. Summary: conveys request c. Discussion: conveys detailed version of message, provides facts, ends with a conclusion d. Recommendation: provides ideas on what to do next 3. Kinds of purposes memos serve a. Make easy reference b. Inform c. Get someone to do something d. Easy to read e. Discuss what is important about topic being covered 4. Types of audiences addressed: co-workers, bosses a. Communicator typically an employee or someone who wants to provide a summary of information on a certain topic 5. Form and style of a memo a. Easy to read, informative headings, and summarized information in paragraph form, can include charts, has white space. b. Style: written to inform or persuade the reader

Memo Peer Review Sheet Criteria Addresses audience with an appropriate, clear, and succinct style. Attends to audiences needs and values. Uses conventional design of memos, including heading, statement of purpose, summary, discussion, and recommendation sections. Defines relevant criteria and provides specific details to support its endorsement or rejection of each magazine. Organizes results and paragraphs in a smooth, logical pattern. GRADE: 90 Comments Your sentences are typically clear, although they are often wordy. Can you apply some of Markels effective sentence techniques? Im also impressed that youve indicated your awareness of the reasons students visit this office. Only one way to improve: tell us a little about these students. Your conventional design helps the reader follow your logic: good!

You have specified your criteria: good! Youve also used them to construct an apples-to-apples style organization which facilitates a reading of your argument. Can you emulate the type of specific evidence you provide in your Nat Geo P in your other Ps? Again, adding something about your audiences demographics will help you be even more specific in your evaluation.

Address the postwrite question here: