Topic: Benefits of Reading

Thesis statement: Reading has an effective holistic effect on people.

Reading is like music; it is universal. It can be done anywhere at any time. Reading transports
every reader to every dimension it is in and let the readers immerse themselves with the moment, and
with the characters. Reading develops the senses; it can also make the readers experience different
sensations that can influence their thoughts and actions.
Various studies have been made by professionals to fully determine the beneficial effects of
reading. Even though they differ in purpose and methods most of the time, the end result is the same:
READING IS GOOD FOR EVERYONE WHO DOES IT. Reading definitely helps a person develop holistically.
Let me tell you few reasons to start the habit of reading.
1. Reading exercises the brain. Our extremities are not the only body parts that need exercise;
our brains need it too. According to Dr. Robert Friedland, the brain is a body organ and just
like the heart and muscles need physical activity, intellectual activity strengthens the brain
against disease." Reading can help make the brain stay in shape as we get older, and it
might actually derail Alzheimers to attack later on. Another thing, it helps the reader to
think critically and to question most of the information presented and information that we
grew up in. Through reading, we are teaching ourselves to delve deeper and scratch beyond
the surface.
2. Reading is better than a tranquilizer. You feel stressed? You worry about a lot of things? You
seem to lose control of yourself, your surroundings, and your situation? Then take a step
back and grab a book, a newspaper, or any reading material and divert you focus on it. As
the research conducted in 2009 at the University of Sussex had shown, reading was the
most effective way to overcome stress, beating out old favorites such as listening to music,
enjoying a cup of tea or coffee and even taking a walk. Dr. David Lewis said that focusing on
reading and losing ourselves into it, we become less conscious of our worries and sink
deeper to what we are reading forgetting for a moment the mess we are in.
3. Reading can make you more empathetic. Empathy means identifying and understanding of
anothers situation and feeling. Research says that being emotionally transported to a
work of fiction can help us be more empathetic since we understand the characters
situation, emotion, and motive, and we try to identify ourselves with them. Since reading
makes readers us feel more, readers also have the tendency to reflect more on themselves,
and on other people and things.
4. Reading can ease depression. A book may have been written decades, hundreds, thousands
of years ago and still can make the readers feel as if it speaks the situation right at that
moment. It may have been written someone living in another place, speaking a different
language from yours, and living an entirely different life from yours, but you feel as if that
book is written solely FOR you, written ABOUT you. It makes you feel that you are not alone
in undergoing such an event and someone is actually sharing that experience with you.
5. Reading can help develop the senses. It starts with the sense of sight then goes on to sense
of hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling or touching. Through the words that were used in
the book or article, etc., readers tend to imagine what is being written and use the five
senses to fully accomplish it, to entirely understand what is going on in the story.
Reading, no matter how you put it, is absolutely beneficial in any aspect. It develops your brain
muscles, your cognitive skills, and your senses; it makes you more human too since it helps you identify
someone elses feelings as yours. Pick up a book and read. You might just thank yourself for doing so
later on.




















Topic: Everyone Should Watch Documentaries
Thesis statement: By watching documentaries, we can be exposed to social realities and learn about
cultural experiences of others.
Documentaries should be a habit of every person. It delves into serious issues and informs
people of the things left out in for-entertainment-purposes only television shows. It is a very powerful
means to send out social messages to the world. It can help educate the masses.
There is a plethora of choices as topic in documentaries. They could focus on wildlife, cultural
practices, politics, education, and many more. By watching different kinds of documentaries we open
ourselves more to critical thinking and connectedness to the rest of the world. Since there is variety of
focus in documentaries, there is a bigger chance of broadening our minds with visual facts.
Viewing documentaries with other people can also open the gates of exchanging opinions and
intellectual debate. It helps eliminate myths and superstitions on issues that have been muddled with
baseless beliefs. It can also be an icebreaker between family and friends or with anybody to discuss
sensitive issues such as homosexuality, RH bill, abortion, annulment, divorce, etc. It can also make one
travel instantly to another place if the documentary centers on one place alone. It also tackle other
subjects like arts, history, music, language, science, and the like which a lot of people take interest to. It
also encourages people to read more or do more research on what has been presented in the
documentaries.
In the Philippines, documentaries have been making a breakthrough in the mainstream media
thanks to the efforts of credible and esteemed journalists such as Kara David, Howie Severino, Jiggy
Manicad, and more. Through their expertise and dedication to make many documentaries, they have
educated many Filipinos in various aspects like politics, education, traveling, arts, culture, health, etc.
They have created documentaries that have changed many Filipinos perspective on poverty, their own
culture, their own land. These journalists have successfully influence our attitude on the said subjects
through their quality documentary works.
Everyone should watch documentaries because it is informative and provides visual
presentations to find interesting ways to gain knowledge.