| Course | HLTH 4380 Strategies for Health Communication and Wellness |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 1 |
| Paper type | Message rewrite |
| Length | About 750 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | BS in Public Health |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HLTH 4380 Week 1
One FDA Paragraph on Take-Back Locations, Rewritten for a Daughter Emptying Her Father's Medicine Cabinet Before His Move, With a Memo Logging Every Term Removed
Student Name
Walden University
HLTH 4380: Strategies for Health Communication and Wellness
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
One FDA Paragraph on Take-Back Locations, Rewritten for a Daughter Emptying Her Father's Medicine Cabinet Before His Move, With a Memo Logging Every Term Removed
The Source Paragraph
The paragraph below is quoted in full from the Food and Drug Administration's page on drug take-back options (U.S. Food and Drug Administration [FDA], 2024). It is accurate, and it is the paragraph a person would find first when searching how to get rid of a parent's old prescriptions.
"Some facilities and businesses are registered with the DEA to collect your unused or expired medicines. These drug take-back locations safely and securely gather and dispose of your unused or expired medicines, including those that contain controlled substances. In your community, authorized drug take-back locations may be retail, hospital, or clinic pharmacies, and law enforcement facilities. These drug take-back locations may offer on-site medicine kiosks or drop-off boxes; mail back programs; or other in-home disposal methods to assist you in safely disposing of your unused or expired medicines."
Three terms in it carry regulatory meaning: "registered with the DEA," "controlled substances" and "authorized." The paragraph's 88 words describe the collection system, who may collect and in what forms, before they tell the reader what to do.
The Rewrite
Take your father's old pills to a medicine drop box. Search "drug disposal near me" on your phone's map app to find the closest one; many are inside pharmacies. You can bring pain pills, sleep aids and everyday medicines together in one bag. Black out his name on the bottle labels before you go.
Memo: Who the Rewrite Is For and What Changed
The Reader
The new reader is a composite 54-year-old woman, Teresa, who is packing her 81-year-old father's house in the two weeks before he moves into assisted living. She is standing at a bathroom cabinet with a moving box at her feet. She has never thought about medicine disposal, she does not know what the DEA registers, and she will read on her phone, probably once. Her question is narrow: what do I do with these, today?
Who the Original Was Built For
The FDA paragraph answers a different question: which institutions are allowed to collect drugs. Its subject is the collection system, and its vocabulary is the vocabulary of the people who run that system. A pharmacist deciding whether to install a kiosk, or a pharmacy manager checking registration rules, would find every term useful. Teresa needs one place and one action, and the paragraph gives her four kinds of location and three kinds of program before she learns she can simply go to a pharmacy.
Terms Removed and What Replaced Them
"Registered with the DEA" was removed. The rewrite says only where boxes are found; Teresa does not need to know who licenses them to use one. "Controlled substances" became "pain pills, sleep aids." Her father's cabinet may hold an opioid left from a hip surgery, and the term would not tell her that. This matters because unused opioids are common: a systematic review found that 67% to 92% of surgical patients reported unused opioids, and no included study found FDA-recommended disposal in more than 9% of patients (Bicket et al., 2017). "Authorized" was dropped as redundant once the reader is sent to a box. "Mail back programs" and "other in-home disposal methods" were cut from this paragraph and saved for a later piece, because they answer a question Teresa has not yet asked.
Additions
Two things were added that the source paragraph lacks. The lookup route comes from the same FDA page, which suggests typing "drug disposal near me" into a map search (FDA, 2024). The instruction to black out the name comes from the FDA's advice to scratch out personal information before disposal (FDA, 2024). Both serve Teresa's moment: she has a phone in her hand and a label with her father's name on it.
What Was Checked
The rewrite was checked against the Federal Plain Language Guidelines, which advise addressing the reader as "you," putting the main point first and using short sentences and common words (Plain Language Action and Information Network, 2011). It was also read against the main-message items of the CDC Clear Communication Index: does the material put one main message near the top, and does it tell the audience what to do (Baur & Prue, 2014)? The rewrite does both in its first sentence. Its accuracy rests entirely on the FDA source; nothing in it states a fact the source does not support.
References
Baur, C., & Prue, C. (2014). The CDC Clear Communication Index is a new evidence-based tool to prepare and review health information. Health Promotion Practice, 15(5), 629-637. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839914538969
Bicket, M. C., Long, J. J., Pronovost, P. J., Alexander, G. C., & Wu, C. L. (2017). Prescription opioid analgesics commonly unused after surgery: A systematic review. JAMA Surgery, 152(11), 1066-1071. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamasurg.2017.0831
Plain Language Action and Information Network. (2011). Federal plain language guidelines. https://www.plainlanguage.gov/guidelines/
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2024). Drug disposal: Drug take-back options. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/disposal-unused-medicines-what-you-should-know/drug-disposal-drug-take-back-locations
The Walden HLTH 4380 Week 1 instructions
The first task in this course hands students an accurate health message written for the wrong audience and asks them to rebuild it for a named reader. Students quote the source in full and attribute it, so the grader can compare every change. They then write a short rewrite in plain language, usually addressed as "you," that opens on what the reader should do. A memo follows, typically about a page, which describes the new reader concretely, explains who the original seems to have been written for and accounts for each term removed, replaced or added. Accuracy is the boundary: the rewrite may simplify, but it may not state anything the source does not support. Most prompts expect the memo to cite plain-language guidance or a recognized clarity tool. A rewrite that keeps the source's order and merely swaps hard words for easy ones usually misses what the assignment is after.
How this HLTH 4380 Week 1 example is built
The paper quotes the FDA paragraph on take-back locations and underlines three regulatory terms: registration with the DEA, controlled substances and authorized sites. Next comes the rewrite, five short sentences that tell Teresa to take her father's old pills to a drop box, search "drug disposal near me" on her phone's map, include pain pills and sleep aids, and black out his name on the bottle labels. The memo describes her moment in detail, a moving box at her feet and a phone in her hand, then argues that the source was organized around which institutions may collect drugs. Each removed term gets a sentence of reasoning, and the opioid example is backed by a systematic review showing unused opioids are common and rarely disposed of properly. Two additions are traced to the same FDA page. A closing section checks the rewrite against the plain-language and Clear Communication criteria.
Where the marks sit in the HLTH 4380 Week 1 rubric
Rubrics for this first assignment generally look at four things: whether the reader is defined, whether the rewrite serves that reader, whether the changes are explained and whether accuracy is preserved. A vague audience such as "the general public" costs the first row, because nothing in the rewrite can then be tested against it. The rewrite earns its row when the action comes first and the vocabulary matches the reader's own. Explanation is where many papers lose ground: a list of easier words is weaker than a log that gives a reason for each change. Accuracy is checked line by line against the source, and an instruction the source does not support is treated as a serious error. Citing plain-language guidance or a clarity index shows the changes rest on standards rather than taste. Mechanics include APA entries for a federal web page and a group author.
HLTH 4380 Week 1 help: mistakes that cost marks
Rewrites in this course most often fall short by changing words and nothing else, so the action is still buried in the third sentence. Another common shortfall is a reader described only by demographics, with no situation or moment attached. Some students also add helpful advice the source never gave, which breaks the accuracy rule. Start by writing one sentence about where your reader is standing when the message reaches them. Put the action in your first sentence and the way to act in your second. For every term you cut, write down what it meant and whether your reader needs that meaning. Trace anything you add to an authoritative source. Keep the memo focused on decisions, not on general praise of plain language. A custom version can rework a different federal paragraph, such as a vaccine schedule note or a food recall notice, for a reader you name.
Get a HLTH 4380 Week 1 example written to your instructions
Your section's prompt and rubric, plus the source paragraph it assigns, are all a rewrite and memo need to be built to that material. The first one is free and lands inside 24 to 48 hours. The reader shown here is a composite and the agency text is public, so nothing about your family's medicines is ever asked for.
More HLTH 4380 papers and BS in Public Health samples
- HLTH 4380 Week 2: Channel Comparison Brief
- HLTH 4380 Week 3: Readability Revision Brief
- HLTH 4380 Week 4: Fact Sheet Draft Example
- HLTH 4380 Week 5: Campaign Concept Paper
- HLTH 4380 Week 6: Social Post Set Example
- HLTH 4380 Week 7: Spokesperson Script Example
- HLTH 4380 Week 8: Infographic Rationale Example
- HLTH 4380 Week 9: Media Pitch Example
- HLTH 4380 Week 10: Message Testing Memo
- HLTH 4380 Week 11: Campaign Portfolio Example
- HLTH 4360 Week 1: Defining Stress Post
- HLTH 4340 Week 1: Fitness Components Post
- HLTH 4320 Week 1: Dietary Reference Intakes Post
- HLTH 4300 Week 1: Personal Risk Narrative
HLTH 4380 Week 1 questions, answered
Where can I find a free HLTH 4380 Week 1 sample paper?
A complete Week 1 message rewrite, with the quoted FDA paragraph, a five-sentence rewrite for an adult daughter and a memo logging every change, appears on this page with four references.
What source does the HLTH 4380 Week 1 example rewrite?
It rewrites a paragraph from the FDA's page on drug take-back options, which explains which sites are registered with the DEA to collect unused medicines, including controlled substances.
Who is the reader in the HLTH 4380 Week 1 rewrite?
Teresa, a composite 54-year-old woman packing her 81-year-old father's house in the two weeks before he moves into assisted living, who will read the message once on her phone.
Which terms were removed in the rewrite?
The rewrite drops "registered with the DEA," "authorized" and the mail-back and in-home options, and replaces "controlled substances" with "pain pills, sleep aids," which the reader would recognize.
How does the memo check the rewrite?
It applies the Federal Plain Language Guidelines and the CDC Clear Communication Index items on stating one main message near the top and telling the reader what action to take.