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Data Analysis

Victoria Malaszuk

University of Central Florida

ENC1102: English Composition II

Professor Mooney

March 27, 2020

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When looking at Pre-professional organizations like PDSA, there seems to be a

significantly drastic increase in the use of technology as a means of communication amongst

members of an organization and the general public. It has been proven that Pre-professional

organizations at universities and college campuses act as a foundation to a student’s successful

future in their chosen career. Furthermore, these clubs promote human development/self-identity,

communication, and contain necessary literacy strategies reflecting writing and rhetoric. My

research project is focused on identifying how exactly do these pre-professional clubs

effectively use writing and rhetoric to communicate with their members? To successfully answer

this question, I will be identifying patterns in the rhetoric found among the UCF Pre-Dental

Association Powerpoints, pamphlets, and the notes I take during the meetings and workshops as

well as its website and instagram profile.

Coding Chart

General Body Meeting Instagram Profile

Powerpoints

Member Involvement “Members of the Month” “Spotlight” highlight on IG

slide with pictures of profile with picture of chosen
members member and a short paragraph
about the member.

Opportunities Slides of upcoming
workshops, fundraisers,
volunteering events, and
Dental school visits.
Each opportunity slide gives
information about the location
of the event, date/time, and
what to wear.
Officers Each member has a set of
slides they talk about when
the powerpoint is presented at
each general body meeting.
In the beginning of each set of
slides, a picture of them and
their name is shown.
Visual Slides have photos of
members, photos of dental
schools, photos of dental
equipment, motivational
quotes, or gifs with written
information along with each
photo.
Just enough info is presented dent at a time!”
for an individual to get a good gives date of next meeting.
understanding of what is
going on in each slide.
Appendix A
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Posts of PAST workshops,
fundraisers, volunteering
events, and Dental school
visits to give members an idea
of what occurred during that
specific opportunity.
A short caption under each
picture that gives a
description of the event and
what took place.
“Keeping up with Alumni”
highlights a profile where
stories (videos/pictures with
descriptions) are posted in
that section to show how the
alumni of the club are
participating in the dental
community.
Election posts: show a picture
of each member running for
an officer position.
Photos of members, action
shots of members learning
new skills.
IG profile page overview:
Quote: “Motivate. Educate.
Inspire. Feeding into the
future of dentistry, one pre-
PDSA website link
mentioned.
Appendix B
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Lexis Dental terminology such as “Term Thursdays” weekly

scrubs, cavity, crown, root posts which show a diagram
canal etc. or photo of dental term.

Caption includes the dental

term and defines it.
Hashtags None #ucfpdsa #termthursdays
#teamwork #workshop etc.

After breaking down these two pieces of primary data, I have realized that there is a trend

that each piece follows. Both these pieces focus on communicating opportunities to their

members in order for individuals to get the most out of each event. Furthermore, I have identified

that the overall central code seen throughout these pieces is “Opportunities” with other codes

overlapping in each primary data. The focus of communicating different opportunities to

members is seen mostly through the visuals on both the powerpoint and instagram profile as well

as the rhetoric used in each data which directly reflects my research question. These pieces

successfully use rhetoric by using specific dental terminology to pull in members to try new

events as well as writing short descriptions about how these opportunities will be useful when it

comes to the dental field. Additionally, “members of the month” are posted to encourage students

to participate in more events as an opportunity to be picked as the next “member of the month.”

This data begins to answer my research question because a link is seen between students

engaging in these opportunities and reflecting the skills they have adapted in these events to their

future careers. This data in fact supports the research findings in my secondary sources as they

both display the benefits of joining a pre-professional organization. On the other hand, my
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secondary sources were limited when it came to discussing how rhetoric and writing is used in

this type of discourse community. My primary research data expands on exactly how rhetoric

and writing is used as well as the type of rhetoric and writing used in order to communicate to

members. My findings show that pre-professional organizations target members to join through

the opportunities and benefits offered that will shape an individual’s pathway to a successful

career. After analyzing this data, some questions that have been raised is how exactly (in number/

percentage form) are these pieces successful when it comes to the number of students joining/

coming out to these events? In other words, after seeing these pieces how many individuals

actually proceed to enroll in the opportunities given? I believe that these questions are

possibilities for future research and that future research could consist of coming up with a survey

of how many members sign up for the opportunities provided based on the powerpoint and

instagram. Also what posts and slides stand out the most to members when signing up for events.

By researching this, the Pre-Dental Association could focus on posting only certain types of

slides and photos and use specified rhetoric to attract the most individuals.

Appendix A: Powerpoint Slide

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Appendix B: Instagram Profile

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