Advertising Persuasive Paper - 1661 Words

The reality of advertising is right under our noses and in front of our eyes. Wherever we are or whatever we are doing, the fact is we are likely to be surrounded and influenced by advertisements. Shakespeare advertised his plays, of course, but not in the commercial sense we know today. For more than a hundred years, though, commercial advertisements for products and services have been vying for the attention of the consumer. Those businesses found that the bigger and bolder the claims they made, the more people bought their products and chose them over the competition. The fiercely competitive businesses of advertising and marketing were born. Today those businesses alone are worth billions and even trillions of dollars. They†¦show more content†¦We yearn for the car that will make us more macho, or the watch that will exude professionalism and taste. We will buy anything, it seems, to make us suave and sophisticated and the envy of all our friends. Its worth realising that they are very shallow friends indeed if they judge you by what you own rather than on your personality. Do you really need friends like that? We are being manipulated, on every street corner and every moment of the day and its going to get worse. Internet advertising, once only a fraction of all advertising is set to become the biggest business in the world. This wont just apply to pop-ups or banners, it will apply to personal advertising aimed and directed at you personally. It will be based on the mathematic boffins who are now employed by the marketers. They are, at present, working out your spending patterns and studying your lifestyle habits based on your search engine enquiries and surfing habits. You can expect to be subjected to nearly one thousand online marketing messages each day and every one will be set to appeal to you personally. The fact that our lives are saturated by advertising seems to worry only a few people. The rest of us just shrug and think that is how it is supposed to be. Yet whatever and however you feel about it, advertising is impossible to avoid. Marketing companies in response to so called ‘ad clutter or ‘ad fatigue set about findingShow MoreRelatedThe Ethics Of Persuasive Advertising1278 Words   |  6 PagesEthics of Persuasive Advertising Each day we are bombarded with advertisements from a plethora of corporations in every waking moment of our lives. Advertising agencies have become so advanced at what they do, that often times we may not even realize we are being advertised a product. This raises an interesting ethical dilemma over a certain type of advertising: persuasive advertising. Philosophers, economists, and business professionals have debated over whether or not persuasive advertising is anRead MoreAmericas Smoke Screen-Portion Essays1168 Words   |  5 PagesMcDowell-Bryant) This paper will examine the history of the tobacco industry and its advertising campaigns from the 1920s to the present. Some of the issues discussed in this paper will include: What forms of mass communication has tobacco companies used to persuade the public, how changes in technology have influenced the way tobacco companies communicate with target audiences, and how the United States government restrictions affect the current efforts of tobacco companies advertising strategies. OtherRead MoreMarketing Strategies For The Sales Force754 Words   |  4 Pagescommission and salary. My goal there was not just to ring people up on the register, but convince people of the importance of a healthy lifestyle and the convenience of buying home exercise equipment to avoid going in to a gym. â€Å"Information and persuasive content can be combined in the form of an appeal to provide a basic reason for the consumer to act† (Kerin, Hartley, Rudelius, 2012, p.212). On most weekend s I would use my sex appeal by running on the treadmills to get a curious woman excitedRead MoreThe Ladies Room Commercial By Secret Deodorant1601 Words   |  7 PagesAmerica and the brand exclusively caters to females. One of the most famous advertising statements ever made by secret is the slogan â€Å"strong enough for a man, but made for a woman†. The brand has established itself as a brand of empowerment for women across the country. Because this commercial comes from a brand that has a strong history of feminism, the message â€Å"there is no wrong way to be a womn† is far more persuasive. Secret has the credibility to make such an impactful statement because theyRead MoreChildren s Purchasing Decisions Are Affected By The Persuasive Nature1496 Words   |  6 PagesChildren’s purchasing decisions are affected by the persuasive nature used in advertising. I do not think anyone would argue the effectiveness advertising has on children. You can do an experiment all on your own by asking any 5 year old who the Vice President of the United States is. You will more than likely get a wrong answer if they give any answer at all. Now try asking that same child about any character that is associated with any major brand of cereal and I think you will probably be impressedRead MoreAdvertising And Their Influence On Children1516 Words   |  7 PagesEthics in advertising and their influence on children: Introduction Advertising has grown massively due to the expansion of technology and this has transformed the advertising industry. Organisations are spending heavily in advertising to differentiate their brands and cut throat competition among advertising companies is a priority. However, in this race for standing out, advertisers and marketers might overlook the ethical policies. Ethics in advertising has become critical in today’s scandalRead MoreAristotle, The Greatest Thinkers Of All Times Essay1197 Words   |  5 Pagescharacter. Aristotle calls them Ethos, in which is used to describe the ideas and beliefs that characterize the community, Logos in which using logical arguments, scientific method and proof to persuade and Pathos, is a purpose of presentation, advertising and pity for persuasion. Furthermore, these aspects can also be found in outside sources such as advertisements, medias and people trying to persuade others like candidates or running from something that needed to persuade to win. Body, A1 AccordingRead MoreComparing Advertising Essay1109 Words   |  5 PagesComparing Advertising An advertisement is usually a text that is designed to attract the attention of the consumer and try and persuade them to buy a product. The advertisements that will be compared differ in many ways - but the attribute that they both have in common is that that they are both trying to sell something. Their purpose, audience, medium, language and the devices that the copywriters employ will be discussed. The two advertisements that will be lookedRead MoreThe Garbage Problem Of Victoria Bc918 Words   |  4 Pagesdiverse. That tax would be added to the tuition fees. According to the Camosun repot in 2013 just the 34% of the garbage was recycled. On the other hand the 66% of the garbage was destined to the landfill. The 45% of the 66% going to landfill were paper. It is essential to created conscious on the Camosun students about the important of separated the garbage. The increment on the amount of garbage could affect either with the development new diseases by the animals, or the increment of the tuitionRead MoreEssay on An Analysis of Two Leaflets971 Words   |  4 Pagesfrom explaining things to persuading you to give money to charity or vote for a certain political party. In this essay I will compare two different media texts. They are both persuasive leaflets: the first trying to get you to chose to rent a McCarthy Stone retirement apartment, the second is advertising hiking holidays in Ireland. The former of these leaflets came through my letterbox, and is aimed at retired pensioners. The latter, I got from a travel agency. It is

Using Christian Principles And Concepts From Our Textbook

In week 6, I will be reviewing a project manager’s role in creating training materials, using Christian principles and concepts from our textbook. A task was given by my supervisor Marge that entails creating training materials that the company’s trainers will use during training sessions. There will be parts 1 and 2 to help guide the materials that will reflect and embody Christian principles of an organization and concepts from our textbook that the staff will be studying; this was requested by a client. In my conclusion, I will wrap up with an overview of what information I gathered during my discovery of the training materials being used, principles and concepts from the book of Nehemiah and our textbook Kloppenborg’s Contemporary Project Management. As I imagine myself as a project manager for a large, multi-national management training firm I wonder what it would be like. The company I’m working for has a task for me to create Part 1 and 2 train ing materials for the â€Å"Making Masterful Managers.† The client has requested to instill Christian Principles and project management skills from Kloppenborg’s textbook. How will I know where to start? And what information will I use? I will start by using the Kloppenborg’s Contemporary Project Management concepts from the beginning. First-- introducing the concept of project management and organizing projects. Secondly-- project selection and prioritizing, the organization structure, culture and role (Kloppenborg,Show MoreRelatedHow I Have Learned As A Student Essay1426 Words   |  6 PagesThis paper explores the various methods I have learned as a student in the introduction to research course. The skills and methods taught in this class have been presented through course textbooks, online articles and videos, and interaction with the professor. Other opportunities for learning the research skills and methods occurred through writing of papers, testin g knowledge through quizzes, and through interactive discussion board threads and posts. In addition to acknowledging these learnedRead MoreTheo 104 Reflection Paper 1642 Words   |  3 PagesTO CONSIDER FOR THE REFLECTION PAPER: Angels, Anthropological Argument, Arminianism, Assurance of Salvation, Attributes of God, Baptism of Holy Spirit, Believers Glorified Body Bible Study, Biblical Theology, Calvinism, Character Development, Christian Service, Comfort of God, Conscience, Contemporary, Theology, Conversion, Conviction, Cosmological Argument,Creation, Crown of Life, Deacon, Death Death of Christ, Deity of Christ, Demons,Denominations, Doctrine, Dogmatic Theology, Doubt, Elder,Read MoreThe Teachings and Influence of Bill Gothard2327 Words   |  9 Pagesicon of Christian counseling in the United States and in the world at large. His work in determining the basic conflicts in the hearts of people and his devotion to creating a Bible-based community and curriculum for homeschooling families has made him a powerful leader in the realm of Christian counseling and teaching and has endeared him to many. His counseling style has affected thousands of preachers and teachers who follow his methods, and so it is important to understand the principles behindRead MorePersonal Philosophy, Mission and Organizational Ethics741 Words   |  3 PagesPersonal, cultural, and professional values and ethics drive the decision making processes for most individuals and businesses in our society. Ethics reflect our morals and how we apply concepts in deciding right from wrong behav iors. Ethical awareness is critical for how we conduct our lives and make choices in the workplace and by defining personal and ethical values, individual and business alike can become more productive members of society. Whether consciously considered or not, every humanRead MoreMethodism and Deism1421 Words   |  6 Pages Thomas Paine argued that there is happiness in Deism, when one rightly understood it concept. What makes Deism stood out from the rest of world religion, Is that Deist doesn’t need tricks to show miracles to confirm faith. He claimed that Deism brings happiness to it followers; unlike other religious believe systems where they restrain from reasoning and if the reasoning makes sense they will dispute against it. A man or a woman who able to think at all must restrain his/her own reason in orderRead MoreThe Role Of Higher Education Institutions Today?1713 Words   |  7 PagesLearning And Teaching From Pre-School Through Graduate School- Higher educational institutions work with P-12 schools to help prepare students with the increasingly higher-level skills needed to obtain and retain employment. Preparing sufficient numbers of students can be challenging, Take Strong And Visible Roles In Regional Initiative- Higher education, with its networks and linkages throughout the region and state, is uniquely positioned to convene the necessary representatives from the diverse governmentRead MoreChristian Ethics3677 Words   |  15 Pageswrong. Christian Ethics deals with what is morally right and wrong for a Christian.† -Norman Geisler (Christian Ethics: Options and Issues, 17) Christian Ethics: Contemporary Issues amp; Options, Second Edition by Norman L. Geisler In this thorough update of a classic textbook, noted Christian thinker Norman Geisler evaluates contemporary ethical options (such as antinomianism, situation ethics, and legalism) and pressing issues of the day (such as euthanasia, homosexuality, and divorce) from a biblicalRead More Teaching Origins in 20th Century American Public Schools Essay6390 Words   |  26 Pagescountered by creationists who are part of the growing fundamentalist movement and by some who distance themselves from fundamentalism. Finally, though evolution has been accepted by the scientific world and by national education standards and has won several high-profile court victories in the last two decades, creationists are still effectively exerting pressure on state standards, textbook publishers, and individual schools and teachers. The two extreme positions that characterize the debate areRead MoreTexas Textbook Controversy5455 Words   |  22 Pages------------------------------------------------- Texas textbook controversy- Analysis Kim Stevenson Eastern New Mexico University CI 531 1WW March 3, 2013- Abstract: Ever since the 1960s, the Texas textbook controversy has had an issue in America. The Texas school board is meeting to make revisions to their textbooks and curriculum. But are they also revising history? Educators across the country are watching to see the effect this issue will have on students. The choices the board membersRead MoreChristian Worldview and Multiculturalism3014 Words   |  13 PagesThe Christian Worldview and Multiculralism Racial reconciliation should be a top priority for every Christian, of any race or cultural background. But will this demand for a multicultural center of learning produce a less prejudiced society? Multiculturalists insist on greater sensitivity towards, and increased inclusion of, racial minorities and women in society. Christians should endorse both of these goals. But many advocating multiculturalism go beyond these demands for sensitivity and inclusion;

Gregorik Andras Essay Example For Students

Gregorik Andras Essay I. Thick fabric II. Stoicheia III. Three types of prose narration IV. The Augustan novel V. Conclusion no matter what kind of pleasure may await his senses, unless it serves exclusively the glory of God, he needs to cut it off of him, giving it up out of his love towards Jesus Christ 1 I. Taking its time to establish a radically theological point of view, this essay aims to apply it to the body of novel literature in 18th century England, probing and inquiring it whether it is in support of Christianity as laid down in the New Testament or not. It assumes the stance of an advocate of the narrow path, the strict and unforgiving measuring scale of those few taking the Christian way of life truly seriously. Thus, the arguments and deductions featured herein which are the actual purpose of the piece may well strike materialist and novel-advocate minds as unnotable and subjective. The author, on the other hand, is firmly convinced on the grounds of faith that the conclusions to come are as objective as it is possible, being based on the revelations of the Holy Trinity. All views and opinions featured are his own except where signified. First of all, we may start the discussion with an analogy that sets the mood and aligns the frame of mind to the possible uncommonness of the argument system to be introduced. The images of this analogy will also come handy later and might ease the essays overall understanding for those unaccustomed to the exclusively religious take on life. Picture, if you will, a high wall and thousands of bricks it is comprised of; now picture one of the single bricks coming to life, finding itself as part of the wall. This brick in the wall is unable to measure the dimensions of the structure it was built inside. In case it could come loose and jump out of the wall with the help of a supernatural force, it might be frightened at the sight of the oppressive building it used to support for long and vow never to return to it, but serve its saviour instead. The only means of establishing a distance between the Truth and human cultures tailormade truth we indulge in does not seem to be any of the traditional manmade tools for extracting and gathering knowledge: psychology, sociology, philosophy and their clever alloys leave us running in circles when seeking the cure for all the ominous signs and phenomena in our society. The only means seem to be the one science which was initiated by Someone other than man: theology. The liberated brick from the wall, now supported by God, might arrive at the following conclusion while gazing at the building: something is inherently wrong with this structure. Junk relationships, junk ideals and junk goals form the cornerstones of peoples lives, while they are walking about with a wide plastic smile and are made to believe that they are following a flawless, unquestionably great life-scheme that will lead them to permanent happiness. Better yet, they are already following it. The brick would now feel terribly sorry for all his ex-fellows still in the wall in oblivion. He would keep on contemplating: this is not a new issue at all, tracing back to ancient Rome, and even further back in time, perhaps right down to the original sin. What can be said for sure is that by the Eighteenth Century human culture had finally become something that has nothing to do with Gods original purpose for mankind. Slowly but surely, we have defined a value system that makes society appear more and more similar to a Satanic cult when compared to the authoritative systems of ancient times: those of Greece, Judaism and Christianity. Now Satanic cults especially those masquerading as righteous organizations utilize the methods of brainwashing, mass deception, hypocrisy and driving devotees to commit ever worse sins, while making them believe that they are on their way to personal and social fulfillment. It is as if mans culture has become a hermetic homeostasis created by his weakness and tunnel vision based on materialism. According to God, children need to be connected to Him mentally and emotionally in order to get to know life and gather experiences with His guidance. Now young people born into this society are first of all cut off and pulled away from God and then treated with internalized skills instead, which are needed in the process of linking them with a set of sophisticated, prefabricated pleasure hooks, designed to bind them into this homeostasis. The thick fabric of both high and low literature, education and upbringing swiftly builds up these devices in the children, and the devices start to function as pleasure hook receptors from a very early age. Those affected with them become active seekers and users of a range of activity packs: shopping, dating, sex, polite conversation, travel, newspapers, sports and so on. As exaggerated as it may sound, these packs have the power to permanently claim ones soul for the fee of some pleasure. They are subject to constant propagation, glorification and accentuation from the part of this thick fabric, which is the reason why young adults quickly develop the conviction that these comprise the essence of being. They are persuaded to feel that they are alive only as much as they pursue these activities. The infinite domain of life, where this fabric grows thin and finally disappears and where the liberated brick is now happy to fade into remains in hiding from them. To illustrate our point even further, we may also turn to a parable by Simone Weil2, mystic mind of the early 20th century. The world is a labyrinth, she explains, and the opening of this labyrinth is none else than the beauty of the world, alluring all of us to enter. And we do enter, during the beginning of our life, enchanted by the beauty of the world. After a few steps, however, we come to realize that this beauty is frayed and quickly dissolving before our eyes. The tunnels of the labyrinth destroy its memories and the original opening is nowhere to be found. All of a sudden we feel completely alone, wandering lonely, losing the help of everyone important to us, losing even our sense of ourself. We do not know anymore if we are actually progressing or just circling around ourself. Most of our fellow wanderers give up their unsung struggle without the slightest bit of knowledge on their situation. Changing Things for the Better EssayIt is a sort of lying that makes a great hole in the heart, at which by degrees a habit of lying enters in. 8 This statement needs even less comment. He had taken up the godless profession of novel-writing out of pressure of his circumstances, financial and social. Our interest in him in this essay is based on the fact that he was one of Christian upbringing and his apparent aim in his first novel, Robinson Crusoe, was to take Cervantes genre and try to apply it to sacred means; we shall examine if he managed to create an example of the secondary narration. Robinson Crusoe was supposed to be a parable on the way a once loyal believer becomes entangled in mundane affairs he becomes a wealthy merchant that eventually entrap him he wrecks his ship but is finally saved by the grace of the Lord the end of the novel. Since the subject is entirely secular to begin with, the conditions for our criteria are not given a chance. Furthermore, Defoe himself becomes mundanely entangled during the course of writing: his complicating of things with circumstantial physical details is far from good Christian writing. An even more serious objection is that an undercurrent of non-religious values pervades every page: we see Crusoe rewarded by life for his sins; it is told that he was born into the middle station of low life9 only to emerge later as a rich slave trader by untold suspicious means. Also, Crusoes acts manifested in the novel are less than Christan-like: he decides to sell the Moorish boy who saved his life for sixty silvers; later, he seems to treat Friday in a condescending, unequal manner that Defoe does not condemn. We may now argue that Robinson turned out to be Defoes sub-conscious celebration of stoicheia that found a new ally in Englands Augustan tendencies. The novel, then, is to be written off as third rate and harmful. We now promptly turn to Moll Flanders which is regarded as the authors best novel. Sadly, the moral bankruptcy of this prototype of the British social novel is even less debatable. Centering on a basically amoral woman, it tells the long-winded story of how almost all the characters in her life adored and admired her while she kept treating them with dishonesty and abandon. The neglectment of Molls bloodchildren by both her and the author is beyond words and gives reason enough in itself to classify the book as base literature. In the end, Molls stolen goods formed the basis of her wealth and harmony. Jonathan Swift was picked also based on his well-documented affiliation with Christianity and his attempt to create a decidedly sublime theological satire in Gullivers Travels. Deemed by critics as one of the key Augustan novels, the first books are regarded as less controversial and less serious than the last one on which we are focusing. The first books, in fact, are peripheral in their lengthy examination and caricature of human affairs, and are not fit to Christian consideration. The last book presents the land of the Houyhnhms and the caveman-like Yahoos, and isolated from the rest of the novel almost makes it as secondary narration. The problem, again, is the substitution of Biblical imagery with complete fiction. As a blameless Irish clergyman, Swift is less suspect of being a covert advocate of stoicheia than Defoe; he fought his daily battles with his pre-industrial environment, a war reflected most notably in this last book of his novel. His faith seems to be strong, which is one thing. His Gulliver, even at its best, does not relate directly to the Scripture, which is another thing, equally as important. He made up an imaginary world instead which has much to say to the unwitting secular individual, but still comes off as a misapplication of his faith. It is the final deduction that makes this last book slightly noteworthy: Swift argues that man has the likeness of Yahoos due to the original sin and he needs the Christian miracle to escape his beast-like identity. In the process, he must avoid becoming the likeness of the Houyhnhms who represent the lifeless, logic- and reason-based reality of the Augustan era. Samuel Richardson easily surpasses the previous two in psychological depth and character forming, but also reaches new lows in hypocrisy and exploitation. As D. H. Lawrence remarks, Boccaccio at his hottest seems to me less pornographical than Pamela or Clarissa Harlowe. 10 We include Richardson because it is inevitable in any discussion of the 18th century novel. His Pamela is a prime example of the lengthy third rate narration type. It sets up the theme of virtue rewarded, then lingers endlessly on episodes of thin-veiled pornography as a landlord goes on and on in his attempts to seduce a young maiden whose dreams are filled with ideas of rape, but whose waking moments resound to prate about her honour11. Pamela is hailed to this day as the first truly complex psychological novel, which is a praise irrelevant to our system of values, as being complex and analytical makes no sense in case of the exclusion of the Divine. In Clarissa Harlowe, this kind of hurtful secular complexity is taken even further, to the point of sickly obsession, with the whole tumult ending with the death of the protagonist. V. The examination could go on for several pages, from Fieldings Joseph Andrews to Smolletts Humphrey Clinker, but the point is made clear: the novel genre in general, including its 17th century South-European forefathers and its 18th century British pioneers, is of secondary value at best when it comes to the all-essential questions of life. These questions are fully covered in the one book that embodies the category of primary narration. Any subsequent specimens of epic prose narration are potentially damaging or at least irrelevant which, in this context, also qualifies as harmful. Unfortunately, the masses advocating and fervently reading the ocean of secular novels which are in no case second, but third rate material are the equivalents of the lost wanderers in Simone Weils labyrinth, or the oblivious bricks in the wall in our other analogy. The thick fabric of hexing stoicheia might never grow thin for them.

The Woman in Black free essay sample

A London Particular The Second chapter of Susan Hills chilling novel, The Woman In Black, is host to some of the conventional gothic aspects found in such ghost stories. The focus of this essay is the first eight paragraphs of the second chapter. Story telling lies at the heart of this novel and there is definite mix within the story of new and old ghost stories which would allow Susan Hill to select what she would have thought to be essential components of a successful ghost narrative. A London Particular’ imparts a strong sense of place, mood, season and of the elements to the point that our main character, Arthur Kipps, is very effected by the various scenarios; whether it be sunny in the open or dark and cloudy. These senses mean the traditional ‘haunting’ fundamentals; an isolated house, narrow empty streets at night (lonely churchyards and convents later on), are heavily relied upon. We will write a custom essay sample on The Woman in Black or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Past the lonely house of chapter one, ‘A London Particular’ begins on a normal Monday afternoon in November. Arthur Kipps is making a routine journey to work through London; something he has done every day for a very long time. However, within the first sentence, a crucial ghost story element forms. The fog. The fog is powerfully atmospheric, beautiful and sinister all at the same time as it rolls across the usually busy streets of London. The other intimidating fact is that London is usually a civilized, safe place. With the appearance of the fog, it makes London a much more insecure place. These are the earliest sign of a ghostly nature in the book as the fog mystifies and ‘empties’ the busy avenues by obscuring everyone’s sight, hence creating a mood of uneasiness and mystery as one never knows who’s out there and where. I believe that the beginning of the second paragraph in chapter two is one of the most effective passages at creating a spooky and ghostly setting on the roads of London. It reads like a typical gothic scene maker, creating a very unwelcoming and deserted place of an area which in the broad daylight would typically be bustling with commuters. The winter season tops this off with the coldness and bleakness of the surrounding; the trees are bare and lanky and the chilliness has reduced crowds further. Susan Hill personifies the fog itself, manifesting it into a creature of its own, consuming those who venture into it. She refers to the fog being evil, able to choke and blind. This almost suggests that the fog is a murderer, promoting the mounting terror of the book. Arthur Kipps begins to feel a little uncomfortable with the developing darkness shadowing what little was left visible by the fog. We know by this point in the book that Arthur Kipps’ mood is influenced heavily on the weather and hence the growing darkness compounded with the bleakness of winter disturbs his well-being. He describes it as â€Å"the fog confuses people, as they would be blindfolded and spun around†. The next valuable point was the fact that he has a sense of foreboding about the journey he is embarking upon; some sort of sixth sense. This is where the first clairvoyant behavior is experienced or mentioned. As mentioned before, Arthur Kipps is severely affected mood-wise by the weather and hence he feels a little depressed at this stage and seems to be focusing around negatives. However, even though the weather has depressed, Arthur seems fairly perpetual, keeping his calm. Curiosity seems to strike him more than anything and the want to understand what the fog desires to obscure is present in him, thus adding a detective fiction feel to the passage as well. Maybe, the fog was a sign of what was yet to come? Darkness, mystery and the feeling of being lost. The eighth paragraph boasts a description of the street lights which can only be read like a hell-like scene; with inferno like circles, flares from basements, the flickering light of the lamplighter, red-hot pools of light from chestnut sellers. Each of these descriptions makes it eventual reference to the famous cliche of a demon boiling people in a large cauldron of tar. This imagery further agrees with the gothic convention within the book. Also in this section is a clear reference to some of the key senses; the sulphuric taste of the London fog, the burning smell of roasting chestnuts and the sight of ghost-like figures swaying in and out of the fog. The last paragraph shows chaos and disorder within a civilized community which clearly links to the feeling of uneasiness, confusion, fret and horror. All common elements of a gothic novel. Also in this paragraph is the very first reference to a ghost. Arthur Kipps describes the figures weaving in and out of the fog as ‘ghost-like’ because of their mouth and lower faces muffled in scarves, veils and handkerchiefs. This ghost reference again sets a tone of foreboding for what is yet to come into Arthur’s life. It also foreshadows Mr. Daily’s apparent description of Arthur Kipps ‘whistling in the dark’, completely oblivious of the real dangers that surround him. In many typical ghost/gothic stories, light is generally there to resemble peace and calmness; almost angelic. Similes are also present in this paragraph, for example; ‘†¦were like ghost figures’, adding to the descriptive tone of the passage. However in the end of the paragraph, Arthur Kipps describes the people walking in and out of it becoming ‘red-eyed and demonic’, destroying this sign of calm and replacing it with the evil tone we have become all too familiar with. ‘A London Particular’ sets a typical gothic, ghost-like scene with the fog, darkness and demonic features within nearly every aspect of the area. The sense of foreboding is definitely there and with the benefit of hindsight, we can clearly say that the London Particular was a warning sign for Arthur Kipps not to embark on the job at hand. However, he does.

Child Abuse

Child Abuse Child abuse occurs like a virus. Child abuse remains not only an individual or family problem but a societal problem. Children who survive abuse grow up more plausible to negatively impact society in many ways. The effects of child abuse on its victims are devastating and life-long. The effects on society are pervasive. Many possible outcomes exist for children experiencing abuse, which range from mild, almost unnoticeable personality effects to full-blown breakdowns in healthy functioning. Effects of child abuse implement various critical problems: physical, psychological, and behavioral.The first significant dilemma triggered by child abuse includes physical oppression. The usual physical abuse scenario involves a parent who losses control and lashes out at a child. The source may be normal child behavior that causes the parent to house deep-rooted negative feelings toward their children. These types of situations lead to numerous complications for the children and may cause a chil d to display fearful behavior.Illegal Drug Addiction and Substance AbuseAny abuse which results in a sever injury requiring prompt medical attention, that could be life threatening, that could cause mental and/or physical impairment, could cause disfigurement, or chronic pain is too classified as physical child abuse. Another form of physical abuse is any knowing or willful mistreatment which in the opinion of a licensed medical doctor causes great bodily harm and/or results in hospitalization for treatment of this injury or condition; this may include physical injury sustained as a result of abuse or conditions which result from a parent's willful failure to act to stop this from happening to the child.Physical neglect is defined as failure to provide for a child's physical survival needs to the extent that there is harm or risk of harm to the child's health and safety. Physical neglect includes these...

College Essay Topic #4 7 Essay Tips for Writing a College Application Essay About a Fictional Character

College Essay Topic #4 7 Essay Tips for Writing a College Application Essay About a Fictional Character How can you write an essay about a character from a novel, play or movie without ending up with a book report instead of a college application essay?   Follow these guidelines and you will demonstrate your ability to think critically about literature, film or theater, as well as about yourself. 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Choose a character who truly inspired you, repulsed you, or otherwise moved you. Demonstrate that you know the character well.   Re-read the book or watch the movie again if you have to! 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ask yourself, â€Å"How am I like this character?   How am I different? Write about it. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Write about the lessons you learned from the character.   How have you applied those lessons in your life? 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If the character is from the past or the future, or from a different town, country, or even planet, inquire as to how you would fare in the character’s world. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Similarly to #4, how would the character fare in your world?   What if the character had to babysit your brother or do your science fair project? 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Share just enough information about the character and the character’s situation to allow us to understand how you are similar to or different from that character.   Keep the â€Å"story† to a minimum. 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Make sure the essay is at least 75% about you!   If you find yourself writing more than 25% about the character, step back, ask yourself question #s 1-5, and change the balance. Remember, just because you’re writing about a character doesn’t mean you have to re-tell the entire life story of the character.   Keep it personal and reflective and you’ll write a winning essay. For examples of successful college essays, The Essay Expert recommends Accepted!   50 Successful College Admissions Essays by Gen and Kelly Tanabe. Still not sure how to write a great college application essay about your sport?   Contact The Essay Expert for a FREE 15 minute consultation.

The Determination of Food Policy in a Modern World Essay

The Determination of Food Policy in a Modern World - Essay Example Contrary to the main point of The Omnivore Dilemma, however, that part of the difficulty for humans is choosing their food is that we have too much choice, that we can eat anything we want. The problem, however, is that we do not actually have that great a degree of choice and that the factors that determine the crops we grow are in fact outside of our control. It is impossible to simply choose better, safer, healthier, and more environmentally friendly food because the food we grow is determined by the complex interaction of population, food-consumption style, and climate. In order to truly be the masters of our destiny in terms of food production, we must control the factors that determine what food we plant. Corn is in many ways a wonder food and in many ways a dangerous food. Corn can be produced in quantities that far exceed other plants (Pollan 2006, 36), and is incredibly versatile, functioning as everything from feedstock (65) to the sugars in sodas and candies (85). This mea ns that corn is the product of choice for most food production – in a single meal, nearly everything you eat can be a corn product in some way or another (111). This leads to problems, however. Firstly, heavy reliance on a single crop is incredibly dangerous from a food security perspective - an insect that develops the ability to eat it in high quantities and resisting pesticides, or a phage that targets the plant could lead to significant food shortages. Likewise, corn products are not always the most healthy – the high-fructose corn syrup that is in nearly every junk food on the planet is associated with heart disease and diabetes, two of the most serious killers in North America. So, realistically, there would be many benefits to breaking our addiction to corn (and other similarly homogenous cereal crops) and diversifying our planting to a wider variety of food products. But unfortunately, this is near to impossible because of the pressures that actually decide wha t kinds of food we plant. Forces other than free choice force the determination of what crops we plant. The first of these forces is population. Corn and other cereal crops’ incredibly high yields have led to a population explosion the like of which the human race has never seen before. And the fact is, this means that we now need these high yield crops in order to maintain the population and avoid even greater mass starvation than is already occurring. Population in many ways forces us to grow the crops we do. The second major force is lifestyle – a great deal of the crops we produce are used to feed livestock, which are incredibly inefficient uses of food resources from the human perspective – only about one-tenth of the energy used to feed the animal a human eats actually makes it to the human(68). So the widespread consumption of meat in our society is another major factor inducing the growth of corn. A final factor is climate – as climate changes rap idly it is important to grow crops that can endure a wide variety of conditions, and corn has shown that it is able to do this – it can be grown anywhere from Brazil to Canada, and can endure significant swings in temperature, rain and so on without failing, unlike many other crops.  

Financial Contracts in Islamic law compared to that of American Law Dissertation

Financial Contracts in Islamic law compared to that of American Law - Dissertation Example Financial contracts can be entered in both written and verbal formats and must be discussed and accepted during a single meeting without any noticeable interruptions including multiple negotiation sessions or changes in the meeting venue. Unlike provisions under American law, Islamic financial contracts can be accepted based on personal conduct of the parties (Hassan, 2007). Under special circumstances, non-responsiveness to a given contract proposal is taken as an acceptance. Islamic law also allows further flexibility among parties within a given meeting session whereby parties have the right to refuse a contract up to the point when either party leaves the meeting venue physically. However, variations do exist over the interpretation, implementation and recognition of this feature even within countries where Islamic finance is practiced (Vogel, 2008). Contents of the financial contracts under Islamic law are prohibited from discussing or relating with any item prohibited by the re ligion. Such substances include alcohol and tobacco besides prohibition on gambling. All applicable items that constitute the contract content must further be in the possession or ownership of either party and legally exist at the time of the initiation of the contract (Rayner, 2001). In simple words, items that will be devised in the future may not be included in an Islamic contract. Specific properties of all these items including specifications, origin and quality must be clearly states in the terms of the contract. Other than deals that involve the exchange of money, the exact price at which the goods will be delivered should be agreed upon prior to contract agreement (Hassan, 2007). Contracts based on future prices that are speculative in nature are not allowed and cannot be developed based on the advice of a third party. While there are several types of Islamic financial contract, the most common one that is used for sale and exchange of goods is known as mu’awadat. Goo ds can be sold either for money or can be exchanges as part of a barter transaction. Even exchange of money is valid under Islamic contract. Real estate or equipment can be leased to external parties by using another type of contract known as the ‘ijara’ (Vogel, 2008). The concept of Islamic contracts has been in existence for several centuries in regions like the Middle East, Asia and North Africa where Islam continues to be a major religion (Ayub, 2009). Islamic finance is considered as a tool from the almighty and is based upon relevant Islamic principles that place a high value on moral principles that is expected of all followers of the religion. Conventional American law is aimed at helping create contracts that are ‘ethical’ in nature. Islamic finance advocates a similar approach when developing contracts and related transactions. However, this feature must not lead to an assumption that Islamic contracts bear a close resemblance with Western contrac ts (Rayner, 2001). In fact, contracts agreed upon under Islamic law are rather less binding than conventional American contracts that imply all aspects covered under them. Legal advice and further scrutiny is thus necessary in the case of Islamic contracts to understand the circumstances under which a contract may not be valid. In addition, the application of Islamic contracts has not been uniform across the Islamic world. While countries like Pakistan and Iran apply Islamic law in a stringent fashion, other countries

A Review on Reading Theories and Its Implication to the Teaching of Reading Essay Example for Free

A Review on Reading Theories and Its Implication to the Teaching of Reading Essay Abstract Opini dan masukan untuk peningkatan pengajaran membaca kepada pembelajar bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing, baik yang didasarkan pada hasil penelitian maupun pengalaman, tersedia sangat banyak dalam kepustakaan pengajaran bahasa. Tulisan ini merupakan sebuah rangkuman atas berbagai teori, temuan dan pendapat tentang pengajaran membaca. Pemahaman terhadap topik-topik tersebut, terutama tentang teori top-down, bottom-up, dan meta-cognitive, diharapkan dapat dijadikan landasan untuk meningkatkan teknik pengajaran membaca. Dengan demikian, kemahiran membaca para pembelajar bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing dapat ditingkatkan secara signifikan. Kata Kunci: top-down, bottom-up, schemata, meta-cognitive, pre-reading, during-reading, after-reading Introduction Among the four language skills, reading is possibly the most extensively and intensively studied by experts in the field of language teaching. The results of the researches conducted for many decades on nature of reading—how people learn to process textual information—have contributed contrasting theories about what works best in the teaching of reading. As a result, language educators can choose among a wide variety of teaching methods and techniques for students learning to read in their second language (SL) or foreign language (FL). For students who are learning a SL/FL reading is the most crucial skill to master due to several reasons. First, students can usually perform at a higher level in reading than in any other skills. They can quite accurately understand written materials that they could not discuss orally or in writing with equivalent accuracy or thoroughness. Such condition will undoubtedly enhance their motivation to learn. Second, reading necessitates very minimum requirements. Different from speaking which requires opportunities to interact with sparring partner, or from writing which needs a lot of guidance and time to practice, reading necessitates only a text and motivation. Third, reading is a service skill. After learning how to read effectively, students will be able to learn effectively by reading. Realizing how crucial reading is for our students, we can see the great importance of developing their reading ability. To achieve it, we should improve our reading lessons by implementing the best method and techniques provided by theories. This article aims to describe principal theories of reading and examine some tips and guidelines for implementing a theory of reading which will help us develop our learners abilities. Theories of Reading So far, there are three main theories which explain the nature of learning to read. First, the traditional theory, or bottom up processing, which focused on the printed form of a text. (2) the cognitive view, or top-down processing enhanced the role of background knowledge in addition to what appeared on the printed page. Third, the metacognitive view, which is based on the control and manipulation that a reader can have on the act of comprehending a text, and thus, emphasizes the involvement of the reader’s thinking about what he is doing while reading. 1. The traditional bottom-up view. The traditional bottom-up approach to reading was influenced by behaviorist psychology of the 1950s, which claimed learning was based upon â€Å"habit formation, brought about by the repeated association of a stimulus with a response† and language learning was characterized as a â€Å"response system that humans acquire through automatic conditioning processes,† where â€Å"some patterns of language are reinforced (rewarded) and others are not,† and â€Å"only those patterns reinforced by the community of language users will persist† (Omaggio 1993, 45-46). Behaviorism became the basis of the audio-lingual method, which sought to form second language â€Å"habits† through drilling, repetition, and error correction. Today, the main method associated with the bottom-up approach to reading is known as phonics, which requires the learner to match letters with sounds in a defined sequence. According to this view, reading is a linear process by which readers decode a text word by word, linking the words into phrases and then sentences (Gray and Rogers, cited in Kucer 1987). According to Samuels and Kamil (1988: 25),  the emphasis on behaviorism treated reading as a word-recognition response to the stimuli of the printed words, where â€Å"little attempt was made to explain what went on within the recesses of the mind that allowed the human to make sense of the printed page†. In other words, textual comprehension involves adding the meanings of words to get the meanings of clauses (Anderson 1994). These lower level skills are connected to the visual stimulus, or print, and are consequently concerned with recognizing and recalling. Like the audio-lingual teaching method, phonics emphasizes on repetition and on drills using the sounds that make up words. Information is received and processed beginning with the smallest sound units, and proceeded to letter blends, words, phrases, and sentences. Thus, novice readers acquire a set of hierarchically ordered sub-skills that sequentially build toward comprehension ability. Having mastered these skills, readers are viewed as experts who comprehend what they read. The bottom-up model describes information flow as a series of stages that transforms the input and passes it to the next stage without any feedback or possibility of later stages of the process influencing earlier stages (Stanovich, 1980). In other words, language is viewed as a code and the reader’s main task is to identify graphemes and convert them into phonemes. Consequently, readers are regarded as passive recipients of information in the text. Meaning resides in the text and the reader has to reproduce it. The ESL and EFL textbooks influenced by this perspective include exercises that focus on literal comprehension and give little or no importance to the reader’s knowledge or experience with the subject matter, and the only interaction is with the basic building blocks of sounds and words. Most activities are based on recognition and recall of lexical and grammatical forms with an emphasis on the perceptual and decoding dimension. This model of reading has almost always been under attack as being insufficient and defective for the main reason that it relies on the formal features of the language, mainly words and structure. Although it is possible to accept this rejection for the fact that there is over-reliance on structure in this view, it must be confessed that knowledge of linguistic features is also necessary for comprehension to take place. To counteract over-reliance on form in the traditional view of reading, the cognitive view was introduced. 2. The Cognitive View (top-down processing) In the 1960s a paradigm shift occurred in the cognitive sciences. Behaviorism became somewhat discredited as the new cognitive theory represented the mind’s innate capacity for learning, which gave new explanatory power to how humans acquired their first language; this also had a tremendous impact on the field of ESL/EFL as psycholinguists explained â€Å"how such internal representations of the foreign language develop within the learner’s mind† (Omaggio, 1993: 57). Ausubel (cited in Omaggio, 1993: 58), made an important distinction between meaningful learning and rote learning. An example of rote learning is simply memorizing lists of isolated words or rules in a new language, where the information becomes temporary and subject to loss. Meaningful learning, on the other hand, occurs when new information is presented in a relevant context and is related to what the learner already knows, so that it can be easily integrated into one’s existing cognitive structure. A learning that is not meaningful will not become permanent. This emphasis on meaning eventually informed the top-down approach to L2 learning, and in the 1960s and 1970s there was an explosion of teaching methods and activities that strongly considered the experience and knowledge of the learner. These new cognitive and top-down processing approaches revolutionized the conception of the way students learn to read (Smith, 1994). In this view, reading is not just extracting meaning from a text but a process of connecting information in the text with the knowledge the reader brings to the act of reading. In this sense, reading is a dialogue between the reader and the text which involves an active cognitive process in which the reader’s background knowledge plays a key role in the creation of meaning (Tierney and Pearson, 1994). Reading is not a passive mechanical activity but purposeful and rational, dependent on the prior knowledge and expectations of the reader. It is not merely a matter of decoding print to sound but also a matter of making sense of written language (Smith, 1994: 2). In short, reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game, a process in which readers sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, make new hypotheses, and so forth. Schema Theory Another theory closely related to top-down processing called schema theory also had a major impact on reading instruction. It describes in detail how  the background knowledge of the learner interacts with the reading task and illustrates how a student’s knowledge and previous experience with the world is crucial to deciphering a text. The ability to use this schemata, or background knowledge, plays a fundamental role in one’s trial to comprehend a text. Schema theory is based on the notion that past experiences lead to the creation of mental frameworks that help a reader make sense of new experiences. Smith (1994: 14) calls schemes the â€Å"extensive representations of more general patterns or regularities that occur in our experience†. For instance one’s generic scheme of an airplane will allow him to make sense of airplane he has not previously flied with. This means that past experiences will be related to new experiences, which may include the knowledge of â€Å"objects, situations, and events as well as knowledge of procedures for retrieving, organizing and interpreting information† (Kucer, 1987: 31). Anderson (1994: 469) presents research showing that recall of information in a text is affected by the reader’s schemata and explains that â€Å"a reader comprehends a message when he is able to bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and events described in the message†. Comprehension is the process of â€Å"activating or constructing a schema that provides a coherent explanation of objects and events mentioned in a discourse† (Anderson, 1994: 473). For Anderson and Pearson (1988: 38), comprehension is the interaction between old and new information. They emphasize: â€Å"To say that one has comprehended a text is to say that she has found a mental ‘home’ for the information in the text, or else that she has modified an existing mental home in order to accommodate that new information†. Therefore, a learner’s schemata will restructure itself to accommodate new information as that information is added to the system (Omaggio, 1993). Content and formal schemata. Schema theorists differentiate formal schemata (knowledge about the structure of a text) from content schemata (knowledge about the subject matter of a text), and a reader’s prior knowledge of both schemata enables him to predict events and meaning as well as to infer meaning from a wider context. Formal schemata refers to the way that texts differ from one another; for example, a reading text could be a fictional work, a letter to the editor, or a scientific essay, and each genre will have a different structural organization. Knowledge of these genre structures can aid reading comprehension, as it gives readers a basis for predicting what a text will be like (Smith 1994). For example, if a reader knows that the typical format of a research article consists of sections subtitled Introduction, Theoretical Basis, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion, that knowledge will facilitate their interaction with the article and boost comprehension. On the other hand, if he is not familiar with this formal schema, teaching it to him could lead to improved reading ability with lasting and beneficial effects. Content schemata refers to the message of the text. One’s familiarity with the content will make more productive and efficient. As Anderson (1994: 469) explains, â€Å"a reader comprehends a message when he is able to bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and events described in the message†. Activating and building schemata Since the reader plays a fundamental role in the construction of meaning, his age, gender, experience, and culture are important considerations for teachers who want to select readings that will motivate their students. Anderson (1994) notes that when readers cannot locate a schema that fits a text, they may find it incomprehensible. In some cases readers may not have a schema that is significant to the text, or they may need help to activate the pertinent schema to be able to comprehend the text. In such cases it may not be possible for the reader to understand the text, and the teacher must be ready to engage in â€Å"building new background knowledge as well as activating existing background knowledge† (Carrell, 1988: 248). In parallel with this, Bransford (1994) points out that difficulties in comprehension may be caused by the lack of background knowledge presumed by the text, and he sees the responsibility of instructors as being twofold: to activate preexisting schemata and to help students to integrate isolated â€Å"parcels† of knowledge into a schema or to build a new one. If the texts to be read contain a cultural context that is different from the student’s, the issues of formal and content schemata become even more important. McDonough (1995), explains that, to a higher extent, this is the reason why ESL and EFL students find it difficult to read in a second language with texts that contain cultural assumptions of the target culture. They may lack the culture-specific background knowledge necessary to process the text in a top-down manner. His reports on several studies demonstrate how people outside a given culture may misunderstand events with unfamiliar cultural connotations. (Students from different cultural backgrounds taking standardized tests which assume common schemata for will also face the same problem.) Applying schema theory to L2 reading Based on the aforementioned ideas, it is obvious that in order to teach reading effectively, the teacher’s role to activate and build schemata is paramount. To achieve it, he should in advance select texts that are relevant to the students’ needs, preferences, individual differences, and cultures in order to provide meaningful texts so the students understand the message, which entails activating existing schemata and helping build new schemata. Then, after selecting the text, he needs to do the following three stages of activities to activate and build the students’ schemata. (1) Pre-reading activities, in which the teacher have students think, write, and discuss everything they know about the topic, employing techniques such as prediction, semantic mapping, and reconciled reading. The objective is to make sure that students have the relevant schema for understanding the text. (2) During-reading activities, in which the teacher guide and monitor the interaction between the reader and the text. One important skill teachers can impart at this stage is note-taking, which allows students to compile new vocabulary and important information and details, and to summarize information and record their reactions and opinions. (3)Post-reading activities which facilitate the chance to evaluate students’ adequacy of interpretation, while bearing in mind that accuracy is relative and that â€Å"readership† must be respected as long as the writer’s intentions are addressed (Tierney and Pearson, 1994). Post-reading activities focus on a wide range of questions that allow for different interpretations. While schema activation and building can occur in all three stages, the pre-reading stage deserves special attention since it is here, during the students’ initial contact with the text, where their schemata will be activated. Pre-reading activities Pre-reading activities is aimed to activate existing schemata, build new schemata, and provide information to the teacher about what the students know. In their report on the positive effect various pre-reading activities had on reading comprehension, Chen and Graves (1995, 664), define them as â€Å"devices for bridging the gap between the text’s content and the reader’s schemata†. Various activities and materials can help the teacher introduce key vocabulary and reinforce concept association to activate both formal and content schemata. Formal schemata will be activated by employing devices such as advance organizers and overviews to draw attention to the structure of a text. The content schemata will be activated by using various pre-reading activities to help learners brainstorm and predict how the information fits in with their previous knowledge. One of the most important pre-reading activities proposed by schematic theorists is prediction. According to Goodman (1988: 16), prediction is important because â€Å"the brain is always anticipating and predicting as it seeks order and significance in sensory inputs†. Smith (1994, 19–20) defines prediction as â€Å"the prior elimination of unlikely alternatives†. According to him, predictions are questions the readers ask the world and comprehension is receiving the answers. He emphasizes that it is prediction that makes skilled readers effective when reading texts that contain familiar subject matter. â€Å"Prediction brings potential meaning to texts, reducing ambiguity and eliminating in advance irrelevant alternatives. Thus, we are able to generate comprehensible experience from inert pages of print† (Smith 1994, 18). Another pre-reading activity is previewing, where students look at titles, headings, and pictures, and read the first few paragraphs and the last paragraph; these activities can then help students understand what the text is about by activating their formal and content schemata and making them familiar with the topic before they begin reading in earnest. Semantic mapping is another pre-reading activity that Carrell, Pharis, and Liberto (1989: 651) describe as a useful way to pre-teach vocabulary and to â€Å"provide the teacher with an assessment of the students’ prior knowledge or schema availability on the topic†. This activity asks students to brainstorm about the reading topic as the information is displayed on a graphic â€Å"map. † As students make associations, the map becomes a thorough summary of the concepts and vocabulary that they will encounter in the reading. It can also help build schemata and vocabulary that students do not yet possess. Again, it is important to know something about the students so the selected texts contain the type of material that is likely to be familiar and interesting to them. Reutzel (1985) proposes another type of pre-reading activity called reconciled reading lesson, which reverses the sequence presented by many textbooks where the text is followed by questions. Instead, the teacher develops pre-reading questions from the questions that appear at the end of the reading. Smith (1994) criticizes comprehension exercises presented at the end of a reading because they are like memory tests. He argues that using prior knowledge efficiently contributes to fluent readers, and he believes that there is a reciprocal relationship between visual and non-visual (prior knowledge) information; the more the readers have of the latter, the less they need of the former. Although not all the post-reading questions can be easily turned into pre-reading ones, this strategy can be invaluable to activate schemata. 3. The metacognitive view According to Block (1992), there is now no more debate on whether reading is a bottom-up, language-based process or a top-down, knowledge-based process. It is also no more problematic to accept the influence of background knowledge on readers. Research has gone even further to define the control executed by readers on their trial to understand a text. This control is what Block has referred to as meta-cognition. In the context of reading, meta-cognition involves thinking about what one is doing while reading. Strategic readers do not only sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, and make new hypotheses while reading. They also involve many activities along the process of reading, whose stages can be divided into three, i.e. before reading, while reading, and after reading. The activities the readers involve before reading are to identify the purpose of the reading, identify the form or type of the text. In the second stage (while reading), they think about the general character and features of the form or type of the text—such as trying to locate a topic sentence and follow supporting details toward a conclusion, project the authors purpose for writing the text, choose, scan, or read in detail, make continuous  predictions about what will occur next based on information obtained earlier, prior knowledge, and conclusions obtained within the previous stages. Finally, in the last stage, they attempt to form a summary, conclude, or make inference of what was read. Guidelines for Effective Teaching of Reading After discussing the ideas and concepts presented in the three reading theories, we are now on the position of arranging tips and guidelines for implementing a theory of reading which will help to develop our learners abilities. These tips are arranged in three sections which are parallel with the three consecutive reading stages: before reading, during reading, and after reading. Pre-Reading Tips Before the actual act of reading a text begins, some points should be regarded in order to make the process of reading more comprehensible. First, teachers need to make sure that the texts to read contain words and grammatical structures familiar to the learners. If the texts contain unfamiliar vocabulary, teachers can introduce key vocabulary in pre-reading activities that focus on language awareness, such as finding synonyms, antonyms, derivatives, or associated words. Second, teachers should make sure that the topics of texts chosen are in accordance with the age range, interests, sex, and background culture of the students for whom they are intended. If they are not, it is necessary to provide the necessary background information to the reader to facilitate comprehension. This activity could be carried out by letting the class members brainstorm ideas about the meaning of a title or an illustration and discuss what they know. The followings are some activities teacher can use during the pre-reading stage. These activities will not take a very long time to carry out. However, they are very effective in overcoming the common urge to start reading a text closely right away from the beginning. 1. Teacher-directed pre-reading, in which some key vocabulary, ideas in the text, and the type of the text are explained. In this approach the teacher directly explains the information the students will need, including key concepts, important vocabulary, and appropriate conceptual framework. The text types are also necessary to introduce because texts may take on different forms and hold certain pieces of information in different places. The students’ familiarity with the types of the text they are reading will develop their understanding of the layout of the material. Such familiarity will, in turn, enable them to focus more deeply on the parts that are more densely compacted with information. Even paying attention to the year of publication of a text, if applicable, may aid the reader in presuppositions about the text as can glancing at the name of the author. 2. Interactive activities, in which the teacher leads a discussion in which he/she draws out the information students already have and interjects additional information deemed necessary to an understanding of the text to be read. Moreover, the teacher can make explicit links between prior knowledge and important information in the text. 3. Reflective activities, in which students are guided to make themselves aware of the purpose and goal for reading a certain piece of written material. At the beginning stages this can be done by the teacher, but as the reader becomes more mature this strategy can be left to the readers. For instance, the students may be guided to ask themselves, Why am I reading this text? What do I want to do or know after finished reading this? Being aware of their purpose and goal to read, later—in during reading activities—they can determine what skill(s) to employ: skimming, scanning, reading for details, or critical reading. During-reading tips The activities carried out in during-reading stage consist of taking notes, reacting, predicting, selecting significant information, questioning the writer’s position, evaluating, and placing a text within one’s own experience. These processes may be the most complex to develop in a classroom setting, the reason being that in English reading classes most attention is often paid to dictionaries, the text, and the teacher. The followings are tips that encourage active reading. Practicing them will help the students be active readers. 1. Making predictions: The students should be taught to be on the watch to predict what is going to happen next in the text to be able to integrate and combine what has come with what is to come. 2. Making selections: Readers who are more proficient read selectively, continually making decisions about their reading. 3. Integrating prior knowledge: The schemata that have been activated in the pre-reading section should be called upon to facilitate comprehension. 4. Skipping insignificant parts: A good reader will concentrate on significant pieces of information while skipping insignificant pieces. 5. Re-reading: Students should be encouraged to become sensitive to the effect of reading on their comprehension. 6. Making use of context or guessing: Students should not be encouraged to define and understand every single unknown word in a text. Instead they should learn to make use of context to guess the meaning of unknown words. 7. Breaking words into their component parts: To keep the process of comprehension ongoing, efficient readers analyze unfamiliar words by break them into their affixes or bases. These parts can help them guess the meaning of a word. 8. Reading in chunks: To ensure reading speed, students should get used to reading groups of words together. This act will also enhance comprehension by focusing on groups of meaning-conveying symbols simultaneously. 9. Pausing: Good readers will pause at certain places while reading a text to absorb and internalize the material being read and sort out information. 10. Paraphrasing: While reading texts, it may be necessary to paraphrase and interpret texts sub-vocally in order to verify what was comprehended. 11. Monitoring: Good readers monitor their understanding to evaluate whether the text, or the reading of it, is meeting their goals. After-reading tips Post-reading activities basically depend on the purpose of reading and the type of information extracted from the text. Barnett (1988) states that post-reading exercises first check students comprehension and then lead students to a deeper analysis of the text. In the real world the purpose of reading is not to memorize an authors point of view or to summarize text content, but rather to see into another mind, or to engage new information with what one already knows. Group discussion will help students focus on information they did not comprehend, or did comprehend correctly. Accordingly, attention will be focused on processes that lead to comprehension or miscomprehension. Generally speaking, post-reading can take the form of these various activities: (1) discussing the text: written/oral, (2) summarizing: written/oral, (3) making questions: written/oral, (3) answering questions: written/oral, (4) filling in forms and charts (5) writing reading logs (6) completing a text, (7) listening to or reading other related materials, and (7) role-playing. Conclusion Researches, opinions, and suggestions regarding the teaching of the reading exist in extensive amount, and this summary of reading theories is by no means exhaustive. However, with a basic understanding of the theoretical basis of top-down and bottom-up processing, teachers can better take advantage of the most useful methodologies associated with the different approaches. What is important to bear in mind is that relying too much on either top-down or bottom-up processing may cause problems for beginning ESL/EFL readers; therefore, to develop reading abilities, both approaches should be considered, as the meta-cognitive approach suggests. Considering my own experience in teaching reading to Indonesian students, I have found that the students who managed to read English text effectively are those who approach texts in a painful, slow, and frustrating word-by-word manner. By improving their decoding skills, they are freed to concentrate on global meanings. So, both the psycho and the linguistic† aspects must be emphasized in EFL reading classes. Bibliography Barnett, M. A. 1988. â€Å"Teaching Reading in a Foreign Language. † ERIC Digest. Anderson, R. 1994. â€Å"Role of the reader’s schema in comprehension, learning, and memory. † In Ruddell, Ruddell, and Singer 1994, 469–82. Anderson, R. , and P. D. Pearson. 1988. â€Å"A schematheoretic view of basic processes in reading comprehension. † In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 37–55. Block, E. L. 1992. â€Å"How They Read: Comprehension Monitoring of L1 and L2 Readers. † TESOL Quarterly 26(2) Bransford, J. 1994. Schema activation and schema acquisition: Comments on Richard C. Anderson’s remarks. In Rudell, Ruddell, and Singer 1994, 483–95. Carrell, P. L. 1984. The effects of rhetorical organization on ESL readers. TESOL Quarterly 18 (3): 441–69. _______ 1988. Interactive text processing: Implications for ESL/second language reading classrooms. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 239–59. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, Interactive approaches to second language reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Carrell, P. L. , B. G. Pharis, and J. C. Liberto. 1989. Metacognitive strategy training for ESL reading. TESOL Quarterly 23 (4): 647–78. Chen, H. , and M. Graves. 1995. Effects of previewing and providing background knowledge on Taiwanese college students’ comprehension of American short stories. TESOL Quarterly 29 (4): 663–86. Goodman, K. 1988. The reading process. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 11–21. Kucer, S. B. 1987. â€Å"The cognitive base of reading and writing. † In The dynamics of language learning, ed. J. Squire, 27–51. Urbana, IL: National Conference on Research in English. Mcdonough, S. H. 1995. Strategy and Skill in Learning a Foreign Language. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Omaggio, M. A. 1993. Teaching language in context. Boston: Heinle and Heinle. Reutzel, D. R. 1985. â€Å"Reconciling Schema Theory and the Basal Reading Lesson. † The Reading Teacher 39 (2): 194–98. Rigg, P. 1998. â€Å"The Miscue-ESL project. † In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 206–220. Rudell, Ruddell, and Singer, eds. 1994, Theoretical models and processes of reading. 4th ed. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Samuels, S. J. , and M. L. Kamil. 1988. â€Å"Models of the Reading Process. † In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey, eds. 1988. 22–36. Smith, F. 1994. Understanding Reading. 5th ed. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Stanovich, K. E. 1980. â€Å"Toward an Interactive-Compensatory Model of Individual Differences in The Development of Reading Fluency. † Research Reading Quarterly 16 (1): 32-71. Tierney, R. J. , and P. D. Pearson. 1994. â€Å"Learning to learn from text: A Framework for Improving Classroom Practice. † In Rudell, Ruddell, and Singer, eds. 1994. 496–513.

Information Technology in Society Essay -- Technology, Computers, The

Introduction In recent years there has been a big change as revolution in the computer and communication world and all the signs are that technological development and employ of information technology (IT) will continue go on with a fast velocity. Advocating and accompanying the impressive developments in the power and continue employ of latest information technologies has been the communications’ declining cost consequently of both technological enhancements and developed competition. Such great progresses in development present several major and great opportunities but also pose a lot of challenges. Nowadays, increasing in inventions in the field of IT are having extensive effects all over the society, and different strategy makers are working on various issues in which economic output, rights of intellectual property, protection of privacy and approach to information. Option created now will have enduring effects, and concentration must be devoted to their socio-economic impacts. The most important and very effective outcome of the development of IT is most likely the electronic communication and commerce through the Internet, a latest approach of leading the business. However, in recent times, it may fundamentally change the economic behaviours as well as the social atmosphere. Previously, it impacts those important fields like communications and interactions, retail business and finance and might spread out to sectors mainly like the services of health and education. It involves the seamless process of communication as well as information technology all along the whole business value chain that is managed electronically (Castells, 1996). Literature Review The IT has impacted numerous aspects and features o... ...ted to change in the future times. Finally, the relevancy of a contemporary informational infrastructure to the socio-economic well-being of a society cannot be undervalued. Most favourable options, be they social, cultural or economic must be relied on the finest accessible information. The information’s quality determines the efficiency of any provided choice. In the people sphere, approach to believable information and data is a prerequisite to pluralistic and participative democratic system, development of human, social and economic clearness, and the development of different society. Understanding, knowledge and information infrastructures encourage and support conversation between those holding different thoughts. It is only in an environment in which authentic realities and information are obtainable that people can establish own views and perspectives. Information Technology in Society Essay -- Technology, Computers, The Introduction In recent years there has been a big change as revolution in the computer and communication world and all the signs are that technological development and employ of information technology (IT) will continue go on with a fast velocity. Advocating and accompanying the impressive developments in the power and continue employ of latest information technologies has been the communications’ declining cost consequently of both technological enhancements and developed competition. Such great progresses in development present several major and great opportunities but also pose a lot of challenges. Nowadays, increasing in inventions in the field of IT are having extensive effects all over the society, and different strategy makers are working on various issues in which economic output, rights of intellectual property, protection of privacy and approach to information. Option created now will have enduring effects, and concentration must be devoted to their socio-economic impacts. The most important and very effective outcome of the development of IT is most likely the electronic communication and commerce through the Internet, a latest approach of leading the business. However, in recent times, it may fundamentally change the economic behaviours as well as the social atmosphere. Previously, it impacts those important fields like communications and interactions, retail business and finance and might spread out to sectors mainly like the services of health and education. It involves the seamless process of communication as well as information technology all along the whole business value chain that is managed electronically (Castells, 1996). Literature Review The IT has impacted numerous aspects and features o... ...ted to change in the future times. Finally, the relevancy of a contemporary informational infrastructure to the socio-economic well-being of a society cannot be undervalued. Most favourable options, be they social, cultural or economic must be relied on the finest accessible information. The information’s quality determines the efficiency of any provided choice. In the people sphere, approach to believable information and data is a prerequisite to pluralistic and participative democratic system, development of human, social and economic clearness, and the development of different society. Understanding, knowledge and information infrastructures encourage and support conversation between those holding different thoughts. It is only in an environment in which authentic realities and information are obtainable that people can establish own views and perspectives.

On Dumpster Diving Essay

Quite by accident, I found the essay On Dumpster Diving by Lars Eighner on the pages of Seagull magazine. The first lines of it captured my interest considerably, for as I had never read about dumpster diving or scavenging before. On Dumpster Diving is a piece of large Eighner’s work called Travels with Lizbeth (1993), which was based on his own experience of homelessness. The author engages me by telling the origin and meaning of the term Dumpster Diver, presenting his survival guide with specified rules and regulations. Dumpster is a trademark of garbage loading onto trucks system. Dumpster diving involves persons voluntarily climbing into rubbish bins (dumpsters) to find valuables or simply useful items, including food and used clothing. Eighner writes that the life of a beggar traveling without any money opened his eyes to the fact that all those containers with waste are real â€Å"supermarkets† for the poor, and they are not only a source of survival, but also a d epositary of high-quality and diverse food. Anyhow, there is a risk in eating such findings. According to Eighner’s experience, taking food out of dumpsters should involve three simple principles: â€Å"using the senses and common sense to evaluate the condition of the found materials, knowing the Dumpsters of a given area and checking them regularly, and seeking always to answer the question, â€Å"Why was this discarded?† Narrator advises to avoid such foods as game, poultry, pork, and egg-based meals. Soft drinks testing should be based on their fizzing vigorously. Being a scavenger, one has to notice the least signs of visible contaminates. Notwithstanding the scavenger has no indemnity of self- intoxication. Later on Lars tells about â€Å"a predictable series of stages a person goes through in learning to scavenge,† in which disgust at the beginning gives way to indiscriminate acquiring of the things. The story also includes information about the â€Å"can-divers† and their way of diving featured as unethical and impudent. The plot of it is neither compound nor rich in events and characters. However, it is thought provoking. The author gives us detailed guidance how to survive being a dumpster diver. Reading the essay, I asked myself right along whether it was the only aim of Eighner to teach us those rules. As the story progressed, I picked up the writer’s conception gradually. His essay exemplifies the wasteful nature of American society and implies that it is the result of materialistic values but also ignorance and lack of understanding. People unreasonably throw out even food that is appropriate for using: â€Å"Students throw out many good things including food†¦the item was thrown out through carelessness, ignorance, or wastefulness.†(Eighner) The scavenger can acquire â€Å"boom boxes, candles, bedding, toilet paper, medicine, books, a typewriter, a virgin male love doll, change sometimes amounting to many dollars† in the dumpsters. I suppose the purpose of the article is also to show how immoral is to throw out good food and things, knowing that thousands are starving and suffering from poverty. However, exactly that garbage helps him to survive at difficult times. Eighner’s reasoning for why people are materialistic derives from the concept that they are lost and unsure of what they want. In a way, his short essay On Dumpster Diving, suggests to his readers that to achieve the state of satisfaction, they need to know what they want. He states, â€Å"Almost everything I have now has already been cast at least once, proving that what I own is valueless to someone.† The author himself collects only things that are of benefit to him and leaves the rest for the benefit of others. The article shows that the writer being homeless still keeps his intelligent, clever, and sentimental way of thinking. He emphasises the transience of material being and says, â€Å"Once I was the sort of person who invests material objects with sentimental value. Now I no longer have those things, but I have the sentiments yet.†(Eighner) I think, describing all the rules of dumpster diving Lars Eighner represents us the necessity of keeping the etiquette even in adversity. The breakers of that common law are the â€Å"can-divers.† They, as contrasted with the true scavengers, look only for the money there and mix the contents of the dumpster making it more difficult to find the truly good things, the author explains. The worst in can scroungers’ actions is their audacity to go through individual containers in front of peoples homes, something a true diver would never do. Doing that the can diver finds different prescriptions, diaries and things the owner throws out. It is clear that privacy disclosing would embarrass us. Eighner exclaims against private invasion, thus demonstrating his culture and humanism. The last paragraph where Lars compares himself to ultra-wealthy is the most interesting point of the essay, to my mind. The rich people can acquire anything they like and the money does not stand in the way of doing that. The dumpster diver gets the things from dumpsters free too. Author’s analysis is that the truly rich or the truly poor are those who do not want or need. In his comparison, Lars means that he and the super-rich do not need the items the rest of us do. He can just go out and find them. The narrator tries to show the positives of his profession, but does not overlook the negatives as well, following it with the words: â€Å"Dumpster diving has serious drawbacks as a way of life.† The main idea of Lars Eighner in his essay is to assure us that any hopeless situation has its way out. The life goes on even if you meet difficulties†¦ He calls us for keeping our cultural and ethical talents even when being in the lowest state of life. We may not forget that having materialistic values over moral ones destroys and vitiates us from inside. In the unique voice – dry, disciplined, poignant, comic- Eighner celebrates the triumph of the artistic spirit in the face of enormous adversity, thus, inspiring me for true respect.

Leadership Skills Ingredient in Decision-Making Essay

In correlation to the given test as an ethical decision maker, my scores revealed that I am not a judgmental person. I do not usually give judgments neither decide which is wrong or right. Therefore, I cannot easily offend other’s personal beliefs and principles. I also believe that moral right must be respected often. It should be protected. I basically make decisions that conform to unified standards of the majority so that I cannot humiliate them. I also believe that the human spirit can only flower in an atmosphere of freedom. Where people can freely express and decide for their own. However, I have difficulties in handling justice. Sometimes I have inequalities in dealing with other people. I easily make good deals with people close to my heart. Thus, it reflects my biases. The Individual Ethics Profile (IEP) revealed specific traits about oneself. I was able to discover my positive attributes like giving importance with other people’s moral rights. That quality is very essential in making ethical decisions in the future. From that, I can base some of my decisions which conform to the principles of proper conduct as established by the society. Since every decision can affect our future, I can also rely from that result some of my weaknesses particularly in the concept of justice. I must be in balance and minimize unhealthy biases with the people surround me. I can also find ways to strengthen and enrich them. Learning more of ourselves can be every beneficial so we can choose good decisions and productively utilize the freedom to decide in the real world. It can also be a source of improvement by comparing my first result to the second one as I take the same questions again. It can also serve as a guide to me in becoming a better leader and decision maker.

Nanoflares Keep Things Hot on the Sun

Nanoflares Keep Things Hot on the Sun One thing we all know about the Sun: its incredibly hot. The surface (the outermost layer of the Sun that we can see) is 10,340 degrees Fahrenheit (F), and the core (which we cant see) is 27 MILLION degrees F. Theres another part of the Sun that lies between the surface and us: its the outermost atmosphere, called the corona.Its some 300 times hotter than the surface. How can something farther away and out in space be hotter? You would think it would actually be cooling off the farther away it gets from the Sun.   This question of how the corona gets so hot has kept solar scientists busy for a long time, trying to find an answer. It was once assumed that the corona heated gradually, but the cause of the heating was a mystery.   The Sun is heated from within by a process called fusion. The core is a nuclear furnace, fusing atoms of hydrogen together to make atoms of helium. The process releases heat and light, which travel through the Suns layers until they escape from the photosphere. The atmosphere, including the corona, lie above that. It should be cooler, but its not. So, what could possibly heat the corona? One answer is nanoflares. These are tiny cousins of the big solar flares that we detect erupting from the Sun. Flares are sudden flashes of brightness from the Suns surface. They release incredible amounts of energy and radiation. Sometimes flares are also accompanied by massive releases of superheated plasma from the Sun called coronal mass ejections. These outbursts can cause whats called space weather  (such as displays of northern and southern lights)  at Earth and other planets. Nanoflares are a different breed of solar flare. First, they erupt constantly, crackling along like countless little hydrogen bombs. Second, they are very, very hot, getting up to 18 million degrees Fahrenheit. Thats hotter than the corona, which is usually a few million degrees F.   Think of them as a very hot soup, bubbling along on the surface of a stove, warming the atmosphere above it. With nanoflares, the combined heating of all those constantly blowing tiny explosions (which are as powerful as 10-megaton hydrogen bomb explosions) is likely why the coronosphere is so hot.    The nanoflare idea is relatively new, and only recently have these little explosions been detected. The concept of nanoflares was first proposed in the early 2000s, and tested beginning in 2013 by astronomers using special instruments on sounding rockets. During the short flights, they studied the Sun, looking for evidence of these tiny flares (which are only a billionth of the power of a regular flare). More recently, the NuSTAR mission, which is a space-based telescope sensitive to x-rays, looked at the Suns x-ray emissions and found evidence for the nanoflares.   While the nanoflare idea seems to be the best one that explains coronal heating, astronomers need to study the Sun more in order to understand how the process works. They will watch the Sun during solar minimum- when the Sun is not bristling with sunspots that can confuse the picture. Then,  NuSTAR and other instruments will be able to get more data to explain just how millions of tiny little flares going off just above the solar surface can heat the thin upper atmosphere of the Sun.

Overview of 12th Grade Math Curriculum

Overview of 12th Grade Math Curriculum By the time students graduate high school, they are expected to have a firm understanding of certain core mathematics concepts from their completed course of study in classes like Algebra II, Calculus, and Statistics. From understanding the basic properties of functions and being able to graph ellipses and hyperbolas in given equations to comprehending the concepts of limits, continuity, and differentiation in Calculus assignments, students are expected to fully grasp these core concepts in order to continue their studies in college courses. The following provides you with the basic concepts that should be attained by the end of the school year where mastery of the concepts of the previous grade is already assumed. Algebra II Concepts In terms of studying Algebra, Algebra II is the highest level high school students will be expected to complete and should grasp all core concepts of this field of study by the time they graduate. Although this class is not always available depending on the jurisdiction of the school district, the topics are also included in precalculus and other math classes students would have to take if Algebra II were not offered. Students should understand the properties of functions, the algebra of functions, matrices, and systems of equations as well as be able to identify functions as either linear, quadratic, exponential, logarithmic, polynomial or rational functions. They should also be able to identify and work with radical expressions and exponents as well as the binomial theorem. In-depth graphing should also be understood including the ability to graph ellipses and hyperbolas of given equations as well as  systems of linear equations and inequalities, quadratics functions and equations. This can often include probability and statistics by using standard deviation measures to compare the scatter of sets of real-world data as well as permutations and combinations. Calculus  and Pre-Calculus Concepts For advanced math students who take a more challenging course load throughout their high school educations, understanding Calculus is essential to finishing off their mathematics curriculums. For other students on a slower learning track, Precalculus is also available. In Calculus, students should be able to successfully review polynomial, algebraic, and transcendental functions as well as be able to define functions, graphs, and limits.  Continuity, differentiation, integration, and applications using problem-solving as the context  will also be a required skill for those expecting to graduate with a Calculus credit. Understanding the  derivatives of functions and real-life applications of derivatives will help students to investigate the relationship between the derivative of a function and the key features of its graph as well as understand the rates of change and their applications. Precalculus students, on the other hand, will be required to understand more basic concepts of the field of study including being able to identify the properties of functions, logarithms, sequences and series, vectors polar coordinates, and complex numbers, and conic sections. Finite Math and Statistics Concepts Some curricula also include an introduction to Finite Math, which combines many of the outcomes listed in other courses with topics which include finance, sets, permutations of n objects known as combinatorics, probability, statistics, matrix algebra, and linear equations. Although this course is typically offered in 11th grade, remedial students may only need to understand the concepts of Finite Math if they take the class their senior year. Similarly, Statistics is offered in the 11th and 12th grades but contains a bit more specific data that students should familiarize themselves with before graduating high school, which include statistical analysis and summarizing and interpreting the data in meaningful ways. Other core concepts of Statistics include probability, linear and non-linear regression, hypothesis testing using binomial, normal, Student-t, and Chi-square distributions, and the use of the fundamental counting principle, permutations, and combinations. Additionally, students should be able to interpret and apply normal and binomial probability distributions as well as transformations to statistical data. Understanding and using the  Central Limit Theorem  and normal distribution patterns are also essential to fully comprehend the field of Statistics.