To Be a Successful Learning Team free essay sample

Team Cooperation and communication are the main ingredients when it comes to a successful learning team. Effective team management is a vital part of becoming a successful learning team. â€Å"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage (Thomas, E 2012) says it best. Just because we are successful on one project, does not mean failure will not revisit us. It is the trust and confidence that we put in to each other that makes failure obsolete. Being in a learning team at the University of Phoenix has really been a great experience. When working in a group, it is important to first get a feel for your group members. In our learning team, we are extremely lucky that we get along and gel great together. When working in a team, that is one of the most important pieces to this puzzle. Also, we have had an opportunity to get together for a non University of Phoenix related activity and it has also given us a chance to get a feel for each other outside of the school type atmosphere. We will write a custom essay sample on To Be a Successful Learning Team or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page We felt that was a very important piece of the team bonding experience. We also understand that we all have different learning styles but luckily there not too far off from one another. When we first formed our group, we understood how much more important it is to get together and meet as opposed to trying to do a conference call with one another. We decided that at least once a week, we will meet at the Kalamazoo Public Library to do our learning team assignments so there is no confusion with what needs to be done and what our individual responsibilities are. Trusting your team members is another vital piece to the learning team puzzle. If you cannot trust the members of your learning team, it will be difficult for everyone to participate and it can also deter the group in whatever assignment that needs to be completed. Although, trust is earned and not given, every group member needs to understand that the most important thing is the completion of the assignment and every group member needs to pull his or her own weight. â€Å"Less ssertive team members will be encouraged by the atmosphere of trust in an effective learning team to take on a more directive, custodial role on occasions. The more assertive will learn that their success depends on the success of the entire team, and they will become more aware of the value of team work and joint effort in achieving goals† (Baker University Handbook, 2010 ). When assigning tasks to different group members in your learning team, you want to assign the tasks that will appeal to a personà ¢â‚¬â„¢s strengths. If you have a member that is not very familiar with a computer or someone that is not very proficient at typing, then you do not want to put that person in charge of typing your project. You want to try to cater to everyone’s strengths, while at the same time, working to strengthen some of their weaknesses. If you have the opportunity to choose your group members, it is important to choose people that you are able to get along with. Also, you want to try to bring some diversity to the group. Different people bring different things to the table, both good and bad. It is not always a good idea to bring someone in to your group because they are your friend or you like hanging out with them. Remember, the main goal of the learning team is to have maximum participation and most of all, completing the assignment, the right way. By understanding what you need to accomplish and the steps you need to take in order to accomplish your mission, working as a learning team can be extremely beneficial to all parties involved. â€Å"Those who want success should think like a planter. They should understand that having the right seed is an essential key to success, but they must also understand that the soil that they entrust to the seed is just as vital†¦ Can you honestly say the environment(s) you are in will yield the kind of harvest you are expecting?

The Concept of Human Life Value in Relation to the Need for Life Insurance Essays

The Concept of Human Life Value in Relation to the Need for Life Insurance Essays The Concept of Human Life Value in Relation to the Need for Life Insurance Essay The Concept of Human Life Value in Relation to the Need for Life Insurance Essay Essay Topic: The Breadwinner Almutairi Yahya Professor Ruben Acad. Writing Reading June 4 2013 The Concept of Human Life Value in Relation to the Need for Life Insurance Jane and Andrew had just celebrated their fifth year wedding anniversary, and they were coming from dinner when they had an accident. Unfortunately, Andrew did not survive, and Jane became paralysed from the waist down. With no one else to turn to and no way to make an income, Jane had to go back to her parents, where she became dependent on them for the rest of her life. This is a sad situation, but, unfortunately, it represents the story of many families, who are unprepared when fatal accidents happen. The families are left suffering when they lose their breadwinner. Had Andrew and Jane thought about their lives in the future, they would have purchased a life insurance policy, which would have enabled Jane to survive comfortably and even pay for her medical treatments. She would have avoided returning home to her aging parents for care. The rapid changes in life necessitate the acquiring of a life insurance policy. This is a sound financial plan that will ensure that your loved ones are not left destitute but are well taken care of and continue to enjoy a brighter tomorrow in the case of an unfortunate event to you, as the insured, especially if you are the breadwinner. Life insurance is also vital to you in the event that you are disabled. Employers can also benefit from purchasing a life insurance for their employees (assets) to regain financial cover in the event that they lose their lives or they are rendered inefficacious in a way that they can no longer work to make profits for the company. This is referred to as insurable interest. Life insurance/assurance is a security against loss of income resulting from the demise of the insured. The mentioned beneficiary receives the proceeds, and he is thus secured from the financial repercussions that would have occurred owing to the death of the insured. This paper thus aims at looking at the concept of human value in relation to the need of acquiring a life insurance. Some of the relevant sections that will act as principal topics of discussion will include the basic principles of life insurance, the benefits of life insurance, a focus of human value and the advantages disadvantages of life insurance. The human life possesses numerous values, most of which are immeasurable. For example, a person’s relationship with others creates a set of sentimental and emotional attachments. These can barely be measured or replaced with monetary value. However, such values are not the basis for life insurance even though it upholds a strong moral and social concern. The basis for the need of a life insurance cover is the fiscal worth of a human life. With regards to life insurance, the human life has monetary value in terms of its earning capacity only if someone/people or an organization depends upon it or anticipates gaining some financial benefit through it. This secures the economic state of the beneficiary in terms of financial dependence and future savings for fear that there is a negative contingency. Determining the fiscal value of human life helps in identifying the amount of life insurance needed by the beneficiary. The simplest way to work this out is by evaluating all what you pay for and whom you support. These might include things like educational costs, health insurance, mortgages, personal loans, rent, credit card debts, food and groceries, and car insurance among others. Out of these, you can then deduct the things that your family can comfortably do without such as stocks and property investments. The overall amount you get is what determines the level of life insurance that you need (Baldwin 60). Investing in a life insurance policy demands a high level of sacrifice. Life insurance encourages people to be responsible for their own families and the society (Mishra 6). This means that you voluntarily opt to continue providing and catering for your dependant’s wellbeing after death. However, the law morally obliges you to provide for your family to the extent that your financial means permit. A life insurance cover ensures that this moral obligation and financial decency persists after death. The death or disability of the head of a family should not necessarily lead to bankruptcy or financial problems for the family. However, it should be realised that the economic value of human life diminishes with the passage of time. As much as a person’s income may tend to increase indefinitely, the period of productivity lessens as each year passes. This owes to the fact that an individual’s fiscal value is indeed the unrealized earning ability in terms of skill, and it eventually diminishes as potential income is gradually converted into actual income. The basic principles of life insurance include the principle of Utmost Good Faith. The insurer and the insured should have good faith towards one another (Gulati 39). The insurer must provide the insuree with complete and correct information with regards to terms and conditions that apply while the insured should also be willing to disclose complete, clear and correct information of the subject matter. The other principle is the law of large numbers whereby the insurance company uses a large sample size to predict deaths. All life insurance principles operate with this principle. They carefully approximate mortality rates annually to balance their resources. Another principle is the insurable interest. This is whereby the insured, must have some personal relation to the policy owner, receives economic compensation in the event of death of whom they depended on. Perfected savings is another principle of life insurance where you purchase death assurance to your loved ones. This principle is, however, limited with regards to a pre-set time or a predetermined age, upon which the contract matures and compensation are made. In the event of a policyholder’s demise before the pre-set period, the insurer compensates the insured. The transfer of risk is a further vital principle for life insurance. The risk of death is not retained in your policy but spread out among all policyholders with relations to the insurer. The last principle of life insurance is the loss of minimization. This means that the policyholder needs to be careful to reduce the risk of death. This includes careful driving, indulging in proper lifestyle issues and maintaini ng your health as much as possible. The cost of insurance is heavy in the realization that you do not uphold the principle. There are numerous advantages that come with life insurance, such as the immediate infusion of cash when dealing with adverse fiscal consequences of the policyholder’s death. Life insurance guarantees protection of one’s family. The tax treatment for life insurance is quite favourable. The death benefits are usually income tax- free to the insured. It is possible for the life insurance to be exchanged for another policy such as annuity without the incurrence of current taxation. Another advantage is that it facilitates loans without affecting the benefits of the policy (Sethi and Bhatia 181-182). The life insurance policy just like any other has its cons. These include the fact that policyholders forego some current expenditure for the sake of the insured. The surrendered cash values are generally less than the premiums paid, and at times, it is impossible to recover them fully. You may outlive your insurance term and obtain no monetary benefit from the premiums you paid. The insurer also does not provide you with a permanent life insurance protection. Many people are willing to get insurance covers for their properties, but they are not willing to take life insurance, even though life is more valuable than property. The many adversities and uncertainties of life demand that a person acquire a life insurance policy. This is an indispensable measure if you care for the life of those who depend on you. Taking a life insurance cover is proof that a person cares for his or her family, and is concerned about their welfare in case of any eventuality. Some people put off taking life policies because they think that they will be okay so long as they take care of themselves. However, it is not possible to predict death, and it is prudent to consider taking a life insurance policy. Akrani, Gaurav. The Principles of Life Insurance- 7 Basic General Insurance Principles. 2011. Web. June 2, 2013 Baldwin, G. Ben. The Complete Book of Insurance: The Consumer’s Guide to Insuring Your Life, Health, Property, and Income. Burr Bridge: Irwin Professional Publishing, 1996. Print. CIFP Learning. Introduction to Life Insurance. Web. June 2, 2013 Gulati, C. Neelam. Principles of Insurance Management: A Special Focus on Developments in Indian Insurance Sector Pre and Post Liberalisation. New Delhi: Excel Books India, 2009. Print LIFE. What You Need to Know about Life Insurance. 2009. Web. June 2, 2013 Luke, Chris. Principles of Life Insurance Policy. 2012. Web. June 2, 2013 Mishra, Kaninika. Fundamentals of Life Insurance: Theories and Applications. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd, 2010. Print Sethi, Jyotana and Nishwan, Bhatia. Elements of Banking and Insurance. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., 2007. Print

Chinas Economic Growth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Chinas Economic Growth - Essay Example China has experienced tremendous economic growth over the years. This growth however comes with a number of problems including environmental degradation, management of exchange rate, export dependency, corruption, healthcare provision, a growing income inequality and many more. These problems have threatened to undermine the benefits of the country's economic growth. Increased environmental pollution and natural resource degradation have proved to be very serious negative consequences of rapid industrial development in China. This has led to problems like desertification, soil erosion and fall in the water table, particularly in the northern parts of the country. Even though the country has passed various environmental laws and taken part in a number of international conventions against pollution, pollution still remains a very serious concern in China, both now and in the future. According to a WHO report in 1998, seventy per cent of the most polluted cities in the world are in China. China's own evaluation admits that over 66 per cent of its cities are polluted, with two thirds of them being either severely or moderately polluted. Consequently, heart and respiratory diseases have become major causes of death in the country. Most of Chinese rivers are polluted and more th... The problem of severe water scarcity has also come out particularly in northern China (Starr, 2001). This has threatened the country's economic growth, forcing the government to plan diversion of the Yangtze River water to northern China cities which include Tianjin and Beijing. Thirty per cent of China has experienced acid rain as a result of massive air pollution. China's GDP has been growing at a rate of between 7 to 10 per cent every year. However, over 300 million people in the rural parts of the country do no have access to clean, safe water. Moreover, about 800 million people in China have not seen any improvement hygiene and sanitation in the recent years. China has attempted containing its rising industrial pollution mainly through efforts aimed at increasing public awareness and through administrative procedures. The severely polluted Pearl River Delta, which is among the country's first major industrialized areas, was targeted for a clean-up. Chinese officials were hopeful that replacing sewage treatment plants in cities within the delta would make it possible for the river to sustain a fish population before the year 2000. China has also seen the emergence of a growing environmental protection industry. However, in a number of areas, pollution has been accepted as a cost related to economic development. China's Three Gorges Dam has sparked a lot of controversy with regard to its environmental impacts. This controversy has mainly been among environmentalists both within the country and without. Critics have been of the view that silting and erosion of the Yantze River is a threat to a number of endangered species in the area. On the other hand, Chinese officials have maintained that this dam will go a long

How Teachers use language Strategies in Schools to Control Behaviour Essay

How Teachers use language Strategies in Schools to Control Behaviour Increase Pupil Participation and to Facilitate Learning - Essay Example This paper stresses that a separate discipline, that centers on prioritising verbal communication, has become an increasingly focus of research. Thus, from a different set of perspectives, the focus of learning language usage is currently being understood as a necessity and not a luxury. Since language is the major symbolic code implemented in the transfer of information from the sender to the receiver, pragmatic teaching strategies could be usefully implemented to the research of communicative processes. It is suggested that pragmatics be explained as the study of the important basic principles of meaningful language use - that is, a research on how verbal communication works and how to enhance the verbal communication activity. The study of how the students and the classroom lecturer maximize language to discover how the teacher and the students converse in oral fashion. The research centers on the use of language as a medium of increasing learning in the classroom environment. Cul ture and other inputs are important to enhance the classroom learning environment. Indeed, teachers use language strategies in the classroom scenes to control student behavior, increase pupil participation, and to Facilitate Learning. This paper makes a concluison that learning will increase if the person develops one’s speech and its relation to thought. The child relies on one’s own perception to make sense of objects that appear to them to be unrelated. For example, the child creates one’s subjective relationship between objects and then mistakes one’s egocentric perspective for reality. This falls under incoherent coherence. Thus, the child learns by committing mistakes along the way. The child corrects one’s mistake until the goal or objective is finally achieved. The child includes all inputs, both successful and unsuccessful, are gathered and used to determine the proper way of doing or seeing things. Thus, the teachers must accept mistakes as part of the child’s learning process. The child’s mistakes are used as a stepping stone to generating the proper result in any activity. Social interaction plays a major role in transforming prior knowledge. Thus, speci fic functions are not given to a person at birth but given as cultural and social patterns. Lev Vygotsky believes that it is human nature for a person to learn best with the cooperation of other human beings. The child’s learning is grounded on one’s reaction to environmental inputs. Thus, the child’s and the teacher’

Fundamentals of Finance Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Fundamentals of Finance - Case Study Example '10000000. As far as the decision taken by the Swindon Plc is taken in to consideration, it is applying MACRS (Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System) depreciation is taken in to fact. "Four factors are necessary to determine cost recovery deductions under the MACRS procedure. These are (1) class life, (2) depreciable basis after credit reduction, (3) acquisition year assumption, and (4) recovery method." (The Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) - Basic Rules. 2001). It is necessary to taken in to consider that the property or asset class lives should be less than the actual life of the asset, so that the salvage value of such assets should be zero. Cost segregation and accelerated depreciation is essential for the effective implementation of investment decision. Like wise, it is necessary to increase the cash flows of an organization. While calculating the MACRS depreciation, salvage value is not as much effective in any other system for depreciation. If a particular property is utilizing for a period of five years or more then the depreciation rate should be calculated in accordance with this manner- First year-20%; Second year-32%; Third year-19.20%; Fourth and fifth year-11.52%; Last year or sixth year- 5.76%. So, by using this method, during the last or sixth year, the value of the specific asset so depreciated will be zero. (Salzmann 2007). In any organization, its structure is taking in to fact; there is a finance department, which is playing a prominent role, because finance is the life blood of any business activity. The basic and most fundamental financial activities are preparation of Balance sheet, Income statement, analysis of shareholders equity and cash flow, tools for profit analysis, preparation of capital and cash budget. Rate of Depreciation of Swindon Plc under MACRS Method. YEAR MACRS % Applicable 1 20% 2 32% 3 19.20% 4 11.52% 5 11.52% 6(Final Year) 5.76% In this particular case, the total purchase price of Drill and platform is '10000000; and this platform can be sold for '3.5M. i.e. '3500000 within a period of five years. Then, thereafter, Swindon plc bought a new platform costs '14M i.e. '14000000 with an addition of '1M i.e. '1000000 as installation charges. The latest platform should also have an estimated life of five years. But Swindon decided to undertake the sales of the latest platform after five years, at a cost of '4M i.e. '4000000. The Overall Summary of Drill and Platform of Swindon Plc. Particulars A) Cost of existing platform.Total selling price after 5years. Amount (in ') '10000000 '3500000 B) Cost of new drill and platform.Add: Installation charges. Total cost of Drill&Platform. Total selling price of new platform and drill. '14000000 '1000000 C) '15000000 '4000000. Cash flow analysis is an important tool with the finance manager for ascertaining the changes in balance of cash in hand and cash at bank. Cash flow statement analyses the reasons for changes in balance of cash in hand or at bank between two accounting period. Moreover, it shows the inflows and outflows of cash, practically, sources and applications of cash. Cash generating efficiency is a fact used while preparing the cash flow statement.

The Effectiveness Of Subliminal Mind Messaging

The Effectiveness Of Subliminal Mind Messaging Subliminal stimuli, contrary to supraliminal stimuli or above threshold, are any sensory stimuli below an individuals absolute threshold for conscious perception. Visual stimuli may be quickly flashed before an individual may process them, or flashed and then masked, thereby interrupting the processing. Audio stimuli may be played below audible volumes, similarly masked by other stimuli, or recorded backwards in a process called backmasking. Introduced in 1897, the concept became controversial as subliminal messages in 1957 when marketing practitioners claimed its potential use in persuasion. Subsequent scientific research, however, has been unable to replicate most of these marketing claims beyond a mere placebo effect. Used in advertising to create familiarity with new products, subliminal messages make familiarity into a preference for the new products. Johan Karremans suggests that subliminal messages have an effect when the messages are goal-relevant. Karremans did a study assessing whether subliminal priming of a brand name of a drink would affect a persons choice of drink, and whether this effect is caused by the individuals feelings of being thirsty. His study sought to ascertain whether or not subliminally priming or preparing the participant with text or an image without being aware of it would make the partaker more familiar with the product. Half of his participants were subliminally primed with Lipton Ice (Lipton Ice was repeatedly flashed on a computer screen for 24 milliseconds), while the other half was primed with a control that did not consist of a brand. In his study he found that subliminally priming a brand name of a drink (Lipton Ice) made those who were thirsty want the Lipton Ice. Those who were not thirsty, however, were not influenced by the subliminal message since their goal was not to quench their thirst. Subconscious stimuli by single words are well known to be modestly effective in changing human behaviour or emotions. This is evident by a pictorial advertisement that portrays four different types of rum. The phrase U Buy was embedded somewhere, backwards in the picture. A study was done to test the effectiveness of the alcohol ad. Before the study, participants were able to try to identify any hidden message in the ad, none found any. In the end, the study showed 80% of the subjects unconsciously perceived the backward message, meaning they showed a preference for that particular rum. Though many things can be perceived from subliminal messages, only a few words or a single image of unconscious signals can be internalized. As only a word or image can be effectively perceived, the simpler features of that image or word will cause a change in behaviour (i.e., beef is related to hunger). This was demonstrated by Byrne in 1959. The word beef was flashed for several, five millisecond intervals during a sixteen-minute movie to experimental subjects, while nothing was flashed to control subjects. Neither the experimental nor control subjects reported for a higher preference for beef sandwiches when given a list of five different foods, but the experimental subjects did rate themselves as hungrier than the control subjects when given a survey. If the subjects were flashed a whole sentence, the words would not be perceived and no effect would be expected. In 1983, five studies with 52 undergraduate and graduate students, found that although subliminally flashing and masking the words affects the availability of conscious processing, it however has little effect on visual processing itself. This suggests that perceptual processing is an unconscious activity that proceeds to all levels of available and redescription analysis. For example if flashed the word butter the individual would be quicker to identify the word bread than an unrelated word such as bottle. In 1991, Baldwin and others in two studies questioned whether priming individuals with images flashed for an instant may affect experiences of self. In the first study, images were flashed of the scowling face of their faculty adviser or an approving face of another before graduate students evaluated their own research ideas. In the second study, participants who were Catholic were asked to evaluate themselves after being flashed a disapproving face of the Pope or another unfamiliar face. In both studies the self-ratings were lower after the presentation of a disapproving face with personal significance, however in the second study there was no effect if the disapproving face were unfamiliar. In 1992, Krosnick and others, in two studies with 162 undergraduates, demonstrated that attitudes can develop without being aware of its antecedents. Individuals viewed nine slides of people performing familiar daily activities after being exposed to either an emotionally positive scene, such as a romantic couple or kittens, or an emotionally negative scene, such as a werewolf or a dead body between each slide. After exposure from which the individuals consciously perceived as a flash of light, the participants gave more positive personality traits to those people whose slides were associated with a emotionally positive scene and vice-versa. Despite the statistical difference, the subliminal messages had less of an impact on judgment than the slides inherent level of physical attractiveness. In order to determine whether these images affect an individuals evaluation of novel stimuli, a study was conducted in 1993 which produced in similar results. In 1998, Bar and Biederman questioned whether an image flashed briefly would prime an individuals response. An image was flashed for 47 milliseconds and then a mask would interrupt the processing. Following the first presentation only one in seven individuals could identify the image, while after the second presentation, fifteen to twenty minutes later, one in three could identify the image. Backmasking is a recording technique in which a sound or message is recorded backward onto a track that is meant to be played forward. During the 1970s, media reports raised a series of concerns of its impact on listeners, stating that satanic messages were calling its listeners to commit suicide, murder, abuse drugs, or engage in sex-which were all rising at the time. In a series of scientific studies, individuals listening to messages played backwards with no accompanying music could discern: the gender of the speaker; whether the message was in English, French, or German; whether the sentence was declarative or a question; and occasionally a word or meaning of a sentence. However when comparing sentence pairs, individuals were more likely to be incorrect than if their response were by pure chance: if the message were spoken by different speakers; whether two sentences were semantically related; and label beyond pure chance whether a message was positive or negative in nature-suggesting that individual expectations influenced their response. Across a variety of tasks, the studies were unable to find evidence that such messages affected an individuals behaviour, and reasoned that if the individual could not discern the meaning of the message, then the presence of these messages would be more likely due to the listeners expectations than the existe nce of these messages in them. Effectiveness The effectiveness of subliminal messaging has been demonstrated to prime individual responses and stimulate mild emotional activity. Applications, however, often base themselves on the persuasiveness of the message. The near-consensus among research psychologists is that subliminal messages do not produce a powerful, enduring effect on behaviour; and that laboratory research reveals little effect beyond a subtle, fleeting effect on thinking. For example, priming thirsty people with a subliminal word may, for a brief period of time, make a thirst-quenching beverage advertisement more persuasive. Research upon those claims of lasting effects-such as weight loss, smoking cessation, how music in popular culture may corrupt their listeners, how it may facilitate unconscious wishes in psychotherapy, and how market practitioners may exploit their customers-conclude that there is no effect beyond a placebo. In a 1994 study comparing television commercials with the message either supraliminal or subliminal, individuals produced higher ratings with those that were supraliminal. Unexpectedly, individuals somehow were less likely to remember the subliminal message than if there were no message. Origins The director of Yale Psychology laboratory PhD E. W. Scripture published The New Psychology in 1897 (The Walter Scott Ltd, London), which described the basic principles of subliminal messages. In 1900, Knight Dunlap, an American professor of psychology, flashed an imperceptible shadow to subjects while showing them a Mà ¼ller-Lyer illusion containing two lines with pointed arrows at both ends which create an illusion of different lengths. Dunlap claimed that the shadow influenced his subjects subliminally in their judgment of the lengths of the lines. Although these results were not verified in a scientific study, American psychologist Harry Levi Hollingworth reported in an advertising textbook that such subliminal messages could be used by advertisers. During World War II, the tachistoscope, an instrument which projects pictures for an extremely brief period, was used to train soldiers to recognize enemy airplanes. Today the tachistoscope is used to increase reading speed or to test sight. 1950-1970 In 1957, market researcher James Vicary claimed that quickly flashing messages on a movie screen, in Fort Lee, New Jersey, had influenced people to purchase more food and drinks. Vicary coined the term subliminal advertising and formed the Subliminal Projection Company based on a six-week test. Vicary claimed that during the presentation of the movie Picnic he used a tachistoscope to project the words Drink Coca-Cola and Hungry? Eat popcorn for 1/3000 of a second at five-second intervals. Vicary asserted that during the test, sales of popcorn and Coke in that New Jersey theater increased 57.8% and 18.1% respectively. However, in 1962 Vicary admitted to lying about the experiment and falsifying the results, the story itself being a marketing ploy. An identical experiment conducted by Dr. Henry Link showed no increase in cola or popcorn sales. A trip to Fort Lee, where the first experiment was alleged to have taken place, would have shown straight away that the small cinema there couldnt possibly have had 45,699 visitors through its doors in the space of 6 weeks. This has led people to believe that Vicary actually did not conduct his experiment at all. However, before Vicarys confession, his claims were promoted in Vance Packards book The Hidden Persuaders, and led to a public out-cry, and too many conspiracy theories of governments and cults using the technique to their advantage. The practice of subliminal advertising was subsequently banned in the United Kingdom and Australia and by American networks and the National Association of Broadcasters in 1958. But in 1958, Vicary conducted a television test in which he flashed the message telephone now hundreds of times during a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program, and found no noticeable increase in telephone calls. 1970-2000 In 1973, commercials in the United States and Canada for the game HÃ…Â «sker DÃ…Â «? flashed the message Get it. During the same year, Wilson Bryan Keys book Subliminal Seduction claimed that subliminal techniques were widely used in advertising. Public concern was sufficient to cause the FCC to hold hearings in 1974. The hearings resulted in an FCC policy statement stating that subliminal advertising was contrary to the public interest and intended to be deceptive. Subliminal advertising was also banned in Canada following the broadcasting of HÃ…Â «sker DÃ…Â «? ads there. The December 16, 1973 episode of Columbo titled Double Exposure, is based on subliminal messaging: it is used by the murderer, Dr. Bart Keppler, a motivational research specialist, played by Robert Culp, to lure his victim out of his seat during the viewing of a promotional film and by Lt. Columbo to bring Keppler back to the crime scene and incriminate him. Lt. Columbo is shown how subliminal cuts work in a scene mirroring James Vicarys experiment. In 1978, Wichita, Kansas TV station KAKE-TV received special permission from the police to place a subliminal message in a report on the BTK Killer (Bind, Torture, Kill) in an effort to get him to turn himself in. The subliminal message included the text Now call the chief, as well as a pair of glasses. The glasses were included because when BTK murdered Nancy Fox, there was a pair of glasses lying upside down on her dresser; police felt that seeing the glasses might stir up remorse in the killer. The attempt was unsuccessful, and police reported no increased volume of calls afterward. A study conducted by the United Nations concluded that the cultural implications of subliminal indoctrination are a major threat to human rights throughout the world. Campaigners have suggested subliminal messages appear in music. In 1985, two young men, James Vance and Raymond Belknap, attempted suicide. At the time of the shootings, Belknap died instantly. Vance was severely injured and survived. Their families were convinced it was because of a British rock band, Judas Priest. The families claimed subliminal messages told listeners to do it in the song Better by You, Better than Me. The case was taken to court and the families sought more than US$6 million in damages. The judge, Jerry Carr Whitehead said that freedom of speech protections would not apply to subliminal messages. He said he was not convinced the hidden messages actually existed on the album, but left the argument to attorneys. The suit was eventually dismissed. In turn, he ruled it probably would not have been perceived without the power of suggestion or the young men would not have done it unless they really intended to. In 1985, Dr. Joe Stuessy testified to the United States Senate at the Parents Music Resource Center hearings that: The message of a piece of heavy metal music may also be covert or subliminal. Sometimes subaudible tracks are mixed in underneath other, louder tracks. These are heard by the subconscious but not the conscious mind. Sometimes the messages are audible but are backwards, called backmasking. There is disagreement among experts regarding the effectiveness of subliminals. We need more research on that Stuessys written testimony stated that: Some messages are presented to the listener backwards. While listening to a normal forward message (usually nonsensical), one is simultaneously being treated to a back-wards message. Some experts believe that while the conscious mind is trying to absorb the forward lyric, the subconscious is working overtime to decipher the backwards message. A few months after Judas Priests acquittal, Michael Waller, the son of a Georgia minister, shot himself in the head while supposedly listening to Ozzy Osbournes song Suicide Solution (despite the fact that the song Suicide Solution was not on the record [Ozzy Osbournes Speak Of The Devil] found playing in his room when his suicide was discovered). His parents claimed that subliminal messages may have influenced his actions. The judge in that trial granted the summary judgment because the plaintiffs could not show that there was any subliminal material on the record. He noted, however, that if the plaintiffs had shown that subliminal content was present, the messages would not have received protection under the First Amendment because subliminal messages are, in principle, false, misleading or extremely limited in their social value (Waller v. Osbourne 1991). Justice Whiteheads ruling in the Judas Priest trial was cited to support his position. 2000-Present During the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, a television ad campaigning for Republican candidate George W. Bush showed words (and parts thereof) scaling from the foreground to the background on a television screen. When the word BUREAUCRATS flashed on the screen, one frame showed only the last part, RATS. The FCC looked into the matter, but no penalties were ever assessed in the case. A McDonalds logo appeared for one frame during the Food Networks Iron Chef America series on 2007-01-27, leading to claims that this was an instance of subliminal advertising. The Food Network replied that it was simply a glitch. On November 7, 2007, Network Ten Australias broadcast of the ARIA Awards was called out for using subliminal advertising in an exposà © by the Media Watch program on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). In February 2007, it was discovered that 87 Konami slot machines in Ontario (OLG) casinos displayed a brief winning hand image before the game would begin. Government officials worried that the image subliminally persuaded gamblers to continue gambling; the company claimed that the image was a coding error. The machines were removed pending a fix by Konami. In 2007, to mark the 50th anniversary of James Vicarys original experiment, it was recreated at the International Brand Marketing Conference MARKA 2007. As part of the Hypnosis, subconscious triggers and branding presentation 1,400 delegates watched part of the opening credits of the film Picnic that was used in the original experiment. They were exposed to 30 subliminal cuts over a 90 second period. When asked to choose one of two fictional brands, Delta and Theta, 81% of the delegates picked the brand suggested by the subliminal cuts, Delta. Although, Delta is also a real brand. In 2010, Ferraris Formula One cars sported a barcode design that was criticized for subliminally evoking the logo of sponsor company Marlboro, flouting a ban on tobacco advertising. The design was removed in response. Backmasking Backmasking (also known as backward masking) is a recording technique in which a sound or message is recorded backward onto a track that is meant to be played forward. Backmasking is a deliberate process, whereas a message found through phonetic reversal may be unintentional. Backmasking was popularized by The Beatles, who used backward vocals and instrumentation in recording their 1966 album Revolver. Artists have since used backmasking for artistic, comedic, and satiric effect, on both analog and digital recordings. The technique has also been used to censor words or phrases for clean releases of songs. Backmasking has been a controversial topic in the United States since the 1980s, when allegations from Christian groups of its use for satanic purposes were made against prominent rock musicians, leading to record-burning protests and proposed anti-backmasking legislation by state and federal governments. Whether backmasking can be used subliminally to affect listeners is in debate by both sides Subliminal Advertising Subliminal advertising, as some call it, is primarily a set of techniques that focus and defocus the viewers attention and awareness. Doing this has an impact on what the audience will be able to consciously recall about the ad and what it will remember, but not be able to consciously recall. In magazines, for example, the advertisers main problem is that the typical reader gives a full-page ad only a glance in passing. Less than 3 seconds, typically, the time it takes to slowly turn a page and glance at it as it goes by on the way to the next page. So, in a magazine or newspaper, how can the potential buyers attention be captured and focused, in the absence of what TV depends on: motion, music and natural sound, and a human voice? To do this more efficiently, different levels of attention can be managed within microseconds of each other so that the most conscious level of perception will partially mask, but will not overwhelm low-level awareness at one or more other levels. Subliminal Marketing The use of subliminal marketing is a popular method of enhancing ones life. These messages are hidden in the many form in any music, video or text message. They reach directly the subconscious level of our mind and generally have a positive effect on our attitude, behaviour and thoughts. These subliminal marketing message are many times present in TV ads, movies and in music. They are so well implanted that they are not perceived by conscious mind, but are only received and deciphered by subconscious mind. Subliminal messages have now become a means of using in personal development. With the means of using positive statements to the subconscious mind, people have used it for losing weight, quitting bad habit or improving the overall personality. It gives a positive outlook to the person using it. You can use these subliminal messages to make your wishes and desire obvious. Many times you think of a goal as impossible, but after going through sessions of subliminal messages these goals seem to be quite probable top achieve. It is a powerful tool of your mind that allows you to do things which you consciously never attempted. It removes the mental block from your mind. It makes your brain change the way your subconscious mind wants to do it. It takes time to feel the change come through with the help of this medium, but if done properly you will notice the changes coming in your life. http://www.articlesbase.com/self-improvement-articles/subliminal-marketing-2153211.html#ixzz0vA9MCgFI Studies have shown that every day, each of us is subject to about 10,000 marketing messages, brands, logos and product offers. 10,000? Yes, thats a huge number but when you think about it, its probably close to reality. Lets see for a minute. You wake up and turn off your SONY alarm clock, go to the bathroom and brush your teeth with your BRAUN electric toothbrush and use some COLGATE toothpaste. While youre brushing, you look unconsciously look around you and see your HUGO BOSS cologne, your NIVEA lotion. You turn on your LG TV or your PIONEER radio and hear a commercial for Mossy NISSAN, another commercial for PAPA JOHNS, and another commercial for BANK OF AMERICA. You get a SMS on your APPLE iPhone; its actually a special offer from MCDONALDS because you agreed to receive SMS alerts from them. You make some STARBUCKS coffee in your BODUM French press. Its time to go to work. You grab your keys and walk through the parking lot. You walk by a FORD, a TOYOTA, a BUICK, a KIA, an AUDI (thats mine ;-). You get in, turn on the radio and hear 5 commercials for BUDWEISER, GEICO, BEST BUY, TARGET, and T-MOBILE. You drive off the parking lot and thats when the marketing hammering really starts. You drive by hundreds of different cars (different brands), some of them with stickers for various brand names, you pass hundreds of billboards. OK, lets stop here. I think you get it. How much do you think you saw of all this? None? Guess again. Reality is you saw most of it, even if youre not aware of it. Scary, huh!? But thats what marketing is all about. Its not because you didnt read the billboard that your brain didnt register the information. When you drive by this billboard, your eyes just lay on it without reading it, but your brain is smarter than you and takes a picture of the billboard, processes it in the background and register all the information without letting you know. Then you go to the store and without thinking about it, you grab some Gatorade. Why Gatorade? Maybe because its your favourite drink? Or maybe because you heard 21 commercials about it within the last week, saw 15 football teams with the Gatorade logos on their bottles, or maybe you just really like ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ No! You dont just really like it. Youve been somewhat brainwashed by marketing genius to think you really like it. These are some of the basics of marketing. I remember my first class of marketing in Business School. The teacher asked: what is the goal of marketing? Most answers were: advertising a product, or selling products. The right answer is that the goal of marketing is to create a need! Do you really an iPhone? I mean, your old BlackBerry Pearl pretty much does it all. Well, marketing creates this need for the iPhone. And theyre so good at it they even make you wait for hours in line to get ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Subliminal Messages in Marketing Fact or Fake The Latin word sublimis (meaning uplifted) is the root of the word sublime. It is not at all related to sub-limen (meaning below the threshold). Subliminal messages are very much prevalent in the world of advertising. These are messages which are presented below the threshold of human understanding. The chances of they being understood by humans is lesser than 25%. The technique is to give inputs below the threshold of conscious perception. To illustrate, consider an advertisement that flashes in front of you on TV or cinema, but is so short and fast that your conscious mind does not acknowledge it. Nevertheless, the message does get registered below your level of conscious and thus becomes an input for you to act on. This is easy to practice in cinema halls. Let me explain. It is possible to insert a single frame in twenty four. Suppose the message You are Hungry is flashed a hundred times in short periods of rime. This could stimulate your hunger and make you buy something to eat. Critics say that any kind of message can be induced in this manner, which may lead to violent and criminal tendencies in people to rise. But there is no proof to prove if this principle is true. Yes, subliminal messages are not a fiction, they are real and existent. But the issue is: How often do we encounter them? A study involving advertising executives has found that, agencies practicing subliminal messages are very few in number. Advertisements, by themselves, are very strong means to influence our brains. Hence, ad-designers will not waste efforts into inserting subliminal messages in their work. Also, if any agency practiced subliminal messages, it will sooner or later be discovered by the media. This will definitely cause a huge dent on the image of the agency. Hence subliminal messaging, although it may exist, is not commercially feasible to be practiced. Subconscious Awareness: Each of us has a certain set of principles, ethics, habits, personality which we have cultivated over a period of time. Ever wondered we develop all the above traits? Each second we are bombarded with information in all forms. Our senses observe many of them, and some get registered in our conscious mind. But the rest doesnt get wasted. It is the subconscious mind that stores it and these influence us and play a very significant role in shaping up our habits, personality and skills. So what you are today is a result of what your subconscious mind has stored. We observe a lot of things in our life, but not all information is useful to us, some of it is bad. The ratio of positive to negative feelings is very high as high as 1: 20. Though we are not conscious of these, our subconscious mind registers all the information since it takes everything to be true. Many of these thoughts also make us underestimate ourselves and limit ourselves to trying only thing we are comfortable with. This shapes us what we are today and what capabilities we believe in. We will always be subjected to good and bad experiences and we can control the amount of influence they have on us. When we limit ourselves to our comfort zone, it is indicative of the fact that we are having a high influence of our thoughts which bar us from realizing our full potential. This hampers our creative skills and out of box thinking to a very huge extent. It is very much necessary to overcome these negative influences in our personality if we ever want to taste success. Human being is different from every other living thing on the earth because we are endowed with a unique feature that of thinking. But this has the potential to be our best buddy and even the worst of all enemies. What you think largely shapes up your life. We are never bound to adhere to some predetermined set of values, ethics and culture. We are free to try out all new things and then think over to select some and reject some. The most value adding investment is on oneself. This investment should be such that we become more proactive, creative, inspired, perfectionist and confident to list few of the many possible positive traits. The subconscious mind is not a new concept at all. Its been a subject of huge research for more than a century now. A number of studies and researches have been conducted to understand fully the human behaviour. Hypnosis was a technique which became popular and known in the 1800s. It is from this time that we became our mind that in addition to the conscious intake of input we are also capable of responding to audio, visual stimuli which is below the threshold of conscious brain or in other words we can respond to subliminal stimuli too. Subliminal the literal meaning is below (sub) the threshold (limen) i.e. below the limit of our conscious mind. It is a very self explanatory term. Computers and technology have been very helpful to discover new traits about these subliminal phenomena. A thorough understanding of bio computer has also helped light some light in the dark and mysterious arena of the subconscious. It is the advertising world that is believed to be the pioneer in using subliminal concepts for practical purposes. But it came to the fore only in 1958 through James Vicarys experiment. An experiment was conducted for a period of six weeks during which people watch Kim Novak in the movie Picnic, at Fort Lee, New Jersey were subjected to flash messages displayed on the theatre screen. These messages conveyed them to eat popcorn and drink Coca- Cola. The results were astounding. The sales of Coca cola and popcorn had increased by 18 and 55 per cent! But the degree of influence was not uniform. People, who never ate them, could not be influenced. Subliminal advertising is banned in the US. There are specific norms framed so as to discourage anyone from using subliminal messages. While we can be vigilant towards things that are visible and audible, we cannot be certainly sure about monitoring things like music, colour and the fragrance. To illustrate for colour, Chinese restaurants use a lot of red while designing the ambience. Red is known to stimulate hunger, hence useful for any restaurant. A department store uses a variety of fragrance, which also is a powerful means to communicate subliminal messages. The most powerful way to influence your subconscious for self-help and self hypnosis purposes is, definitely, visual subliminal messaging. There are a lot of programs based on subliminal messages in the Web, the most powerful for today is Subliminal Flash, that displays subliminal messages on your computer screen (duration of every separate message is not more 10 milliseconds, but your subconscious mind is able to notice and accept new objectives that are being sent to it every second). Subliminal Advertising Works Subliminal advertising involves the use of messages sent to the subconscious in order to convince people about a particular product or service from the inner depths of their minds. The subconscious mind of a person is responsible for controlling every action and thought instigated by certain conditions. These thoughts and actions include memory extraction and storage as well as breathing and body temperature maintenance among others. The subconscious mind even controls most of the cor

Life and Work of Langston Hughes :: Biography bio Hughes Langston Poet Essays

Life and Work of Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes, an African American, became a well known poet, novelist, journalist, and playwright. During the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes gained fame and respect for his ability to express the Black American experiences in his works. He was one of the most original and versatile of the twentieth century black writers. Influenced by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Carl Dandburg, and his grandmother Carrie Mercer Langston Hughes, Langston Hughes began writing creatively while he was still a young boy (Barksdale 14). Born in Joplin Missouri, Langston Hughes lived with both his parents until they separated. Because his father immigrated to Mexico and his mother was often away, Hughes was brought up in Lawrence, Kansas, by his grandmother Mary Langston. His grandmother embedded Hughes? sense of dedication. Her second husband (Hughes's grandfather) was a fierce abolitionist. She helped Hughes to see the cause of social justice. Although she told him wonderful stories about Frederick Douglas and Sojourner Truth and took him to hear Booker T. Washington, Hughes did not get all the attention he needed. Furthermore, Hughes felt hurt by both his parents and was unable to understand why he was not allowed to live with either of them. These feelings of rejection caused him to grow up very insecure and unsure of himself. Because his childhood was a lonely time, he fought the loneliness by reading different books. ?Books began to happen to me, and I began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language, not in monosyllables, as we did in Kansas? (Hughes 16). Langston Hughes began writing in high school, and even at this early age was developing the voice that made him famous. High school teacher and classmates recognized Hughes writing talent, and Hughes had his first pieces of verse published in the Central High Monthly, a sophisticated school magazine. An English teacher introduced him to poets such as Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, and these became Hughes?s earliest influences. In 1921 he entered Columbia University, but left after an unhappy year. Langston was very fascinated and influenced by Harlem?s people and the life itself, there. The Big Sea, the first volume of his autobiography, provided ?such a crucial first person account of the era? that much of what we know about the Harlem Renaissance we know from Hughes?

Proper Citation, Quotation and Referencing Using the Publication Manual of the Apa, 6th Edition

Running head: PROPER CITATION, QUOTATION AND REFERENCING Proper Citation, Quotation and Referencing Using The Publication Manual of the APA, 6th Edition Sample Paper Free Essays Biffy Wentworth University PROPER CITATION, QUOTATION AND REFERENCING Proper Citation, Quotation and Referencing Using The Publication Manual of the APA, 6th Edition Every student at some time in his or her college career will be called on to write a term paper for a course. Many students have never learned, or have not been taught, the proper form of citation, quotation and referencing using the Publication Manual of the APA. When students use citations incorrectly, they are running the risk that they are plagiarizing the author of the text that they are referencing in their paper. Whether these errors are intentional or unintentional, they are difficult to overcome. If the citations are incorrect, many of the facts stated and referenced in the paper may be incorrect as well. This will reflect poorly on the outcome of the student’s grade for the paper being reviewed. And that is unfortunate, since it is within the student’s grasp to review the Publication Manual of the APA for proper information regarding citations and uotations. In this way, the papers have the best opportunity to be well written, well cited and an interesting format for everyone involved in the process. The 6th Edition is the latest version of the manual of style, and it is a well written guide PROPER CITATION, QUOTATION AND REFERENCING for students to follow when completing their college level term papers and written assi gnments. Most professors at the college level, expect students to know how to use the Publication Manual of the APA to reference the citations and quotations used in the papers the students present on arious assigned topics. When the students are able to utilize the Publication Manual of the APA correctly, the papers are reflective of solid references and correct citations, and will most likely earn a higher grade than those that are submitted with incorrect citations and notations. Students who utilize the Publication Manual of the APA, 6th Edition are referencing the best source for correctly giving credit to the authors of the information used within their term papers and assignments. It is imperative that students give credit where credit is due, and that hey learn to follow the manual of style for giving credit to the copyrighted work of authors used in their term papers submitted for review and grading. Students will need to use primary sources when referencing work cited with in the body of the paper they are writing. For example, if a student is writing a paper on saving the polar bears, it will be important to get the best sources for the paper and to provide correct citations for those sources used. Before a student can cite a source, it is important to note that some sources are better than PROPER CITATION, QUOTATION AND REFERENCING others. Many students will use library sources or books as sources for their assignments. There are also a variety of sources available on the internet. It is critical that students understand what to use and not to use as references for internet sources. If a student wants to write a paper on saving the polar bears, using a Wikipedia or blog as a reference point is not the best idea. These sources are actually just the writer’s personal opinion, and will rarely be backed by credible information. Also, if the student goes to a website that has strong views for or against the topic, he or she may be using a biased site that is less than rofessional. The best websites to use for this type of project would be sites that are university based, have been peer reviewed, or are part of larger scientific studies on the polar bears and efforts to save their habitats. It is true that an encyclopedia source will have some information regarding polar bears, but it is better to review scientific st udies from accredited sources, such as National Geographic or other well known sites. Many references will be found, and if they are good sources, they can all be used since seven references are better than using only two for a term paper. PROPER CITATION, QUOTATION AND REFERENCING Once the student has reputable sources, and is developing the topic for the paper, it is time to think about the sources themselves. When students are using citations in a paper, it is crucial to give credit to the author. This may be a problem, since some sources do not have an author listed, are anonymous without an author noted. Other sources do not have page numbers, are missing the date the text was written, or are internet sources that appear to be professional but can’t be verified. At this point, the student will want to use the Publication Manual of the APA, th Edition to find the correct way to make the citation. The student will want to make the point he or she is making, in his or her own words, and use the source citation as back up to solidify that point. For example, if the student says that global warming is affecting the polar bear’s habitat, it is an empty statement without some professionally grounded proof o f the fact. Students can make a statement in their paper, and use their sources as proof of what they declare. These notations are put right in the body of the term paper to show that they haven’t just made up the facts, that they come from a reputable and rofessionally reviewed source. The student makes a statement, and should then follow it with a source within the body of the paper as proof. The scheme of events will look like this: student PROPER CITATION, QUOTATION AND REFERENCING statement, then proof (with citation in the body of the paper), statement, then proof. The reader will appreciate the proof as backup to the statements being made, and it makes the statements have more power to be backed up by professionals who agree with what is said. Citations can be paraphrased or quoted directly within the body of the paper. In fact, the Publication Manual of the APA states that when there are direct quotations, the information varies depending on whether using print or electric form. When citing print sources, give the â€Å"author, year, and page number in parentheses† (Publication Manual of the APA, 2010, p. 120). When students are paraphrasing, which means boiling down the phrases into their own words, the idea from the original source must also be given proper credit. This means that the student should correctly cite, and put quotations around the text that was used, so that the reader can go ack and find the citation and the context it was used in the original text. Students may also need to make a citation for secondary sources within the body of a term paper. A secondary source is when the author quotes someone else, and makes a citation within the text the student is quoting from. It is like a double quote, or a quote within a quote for the student interested in using the words that the a uthor got from someone else. If this is done, PROPER CITATION, QUOTATION AND REFERENCING the student needs to remember to put the secondary source in the reference listing too. A roperly cited secondary source would need to include the name of the original work, and the citation for the secondary source (Publication Manual of the APA, 2010, p. 247). The text citation will look like this: Gleason and McLurkin’s study (as cited in Tressel, Roger, 1990). If the student is interested in using quotation marks, special care needs to be taken to get it right. A double quotation mark should be used around direct quotes taken from a text. A single quotation mark is used â€Å"within double quotation marks to set off material that is in the original source† (Publication Manual of the APA, 2010, p. 119). The student can use a block of text if there are more than 40 words that are going to be used in the quote. For example, if the student wants to discuss a direct quote longer than 40 words, it would be separated like this, with no quotation marks necessary. The quotation should be indented five spaces from the left margin, in the same position as a new paragraph (Publication Manual of the APA, 2010, p. 117). It would be typed double space, just as the paper is typed, and should include the author’s last name and the publication date as an introduction to the quote. It should PROPER CITATION, QUOTATION AND REFERENCING nd with the page number noted so that the reader could find the original text if necessary. Johnson’s (1998) study on polar bears found the following: Polar bears live in the Northern Hemisphere only. They are great swimmers and they can outrun a man while on land. They have an average weight of one ton, and they eat several hundreds of pounds of fish a day . Polar bears have been known to kill off whole populations of indigenous seals in certain localities. They are known to hunt individually, preferring not to hunt in packs. They are so large that they often have been known to fall through solid ice platforms, which is never fatal. p. 114) This block of quoted text above would need to be cited at the end of the paper. The citation for this made up quote about polar bears may look like this citation below, and would be placed at the end of the paper under the References section. Johnson, Jeremy P. & Babush, Max R. (1998). The Complexities of Studying the Great Polar Bear in the Wild. Journal of Wildlife Sciences, 10(9), 114-127. Finally, if students are carful in their use of quoted materials and citations within their term papers, they will be good stewards of the words spoken by others that are used as reference. PROPER CITATION, QUOTATION AND REFERENCING In this way, their term papers will have valid ideas and thoughts backed up by facts from reputable sources. The reader will have a better understanding of the topic, and the subject matter will be clearer with correctly referenced works from experts in the fields they are writing about and studying. PROPER CITATION, QUOTATION AND REFERENCING References American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition: Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

College Admissions Diversity Essay Sample and Critique

College Admissions Diversity Essay Sample and Critique This example of a college admissions personal essay fits  option #1 of the current Common Application: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it.  If this sounds like you, then please share your story. Carrie focuses on the issue of diversity and how her Goth identity could contribute to the richness of her campus community. Carries Common Application Essay on Diversity Give Goth a Chance When I sat down to write this essay, I tried, as my high school English teacher always instructed, to imagine the audience for my writing. The more I thought about it, the more I pitied the college admissions screeners who would be reading a thousand essays on diversity. Along with the expected takes on race and ethnicity, how many of those essays would present their authors as outcasts, loners, kids who didn’t fit in at his or her school? How could I present myself as someone unique and interesting - strange, even - without falling prey to the clichà © of the self-pitying social misfit? Let me be direct: in some ways, I am the antithesis of what one might picture as a student who contributes to campus diversity. I am white, middle-class, and heterosexual; I have no physical handicaps or mental challenges apart from a tendency towards sarcasm. But when I receive college brochures picturing smiling, clean-cut teens dressed in the latest from Abercrombie Fitch and lounging on a blanket in the sun, I think, those people are not like me. Simply put, I am a Goth. I wear black, lots of it. I have piercings and ear gauges and tattoos. My hair, naturally the same sandy blonde that the rest of my family shares, is dyed jet, sometimes highlighted in streaks of purple or scarlet. I rarely smile, and I don’t do sun. If I were inserted into those brochure photographs of typical college students, I would look like a vampire stalking her wholesome prey. Again, I am imagining my reading audience, and I can almost see my readers’ eyes roll. So you’re a little weird, kid. How does that contribute to campus diversity? Well, I think I contribute plenty. Diversity goes beyond the physical; race or ethnicity might be the first things one thinks of, but really, it is a question of what makes someone the person that he or she is. Diversity might be considered in terms of economic or geographical background, life experiences, religion, sexual orientation, and even personal interests and general outlook. In this respect, my Goth identity contributes a perspective that is far different from the mainstream. Being Goth isn’t just about physical appearance; it’s a way of life that  includes not only individual tastes in music, literature, and popular culture, but also particular beliefs about philosophy, spirituality, and a range of other human issues. To give just one example, I am planning to major in Environmental Studies, and while it might seem odd to picture a ghoulishly-dressed girl who adores the natural world, it was my Goth outlook that led me to this academic interest. I read voraciously, and am drawn to subject matter that is somewhat dark; the more I read about humanity’s impact on the planet and the near-apocalyptic dangers posed by global climate change, pollution, overpopulation, the manipulation of the food supply and other environmental threats, the more interested I became, and the more determined that I should become involved. I, along with other members of my school’s Environmental Club, started a campus recycling program, and lobbied our superintendent to install in all classrooms power strips that are used to easily shut down equipment such as printers and computers at the end of the day, thereby conserving energy and generating significant savings for our school. I was drawn to this dark subjec t matter of environmental crisis, not to wallow in it or savor the Schadenfreude, but to change it and make the world a better place. I know Goths look a little funny, as we wear our ebony trench coats in seventy-degree weather. I know we seem a little odd as we gather in shady nooks to discuss the latest episode of True Blood. I know professors may sigh as we swell the enrollments of poetry and art classes. Yes, we’re different. And we - I - have a lot to contribute. Critique of Carries Essay on Identity or Diversity Writing about identity or diversity for the  Common Application essay presents a writer with specific challenges. In broader terms, however, all college admissions essays must accomplish a specific task: the admissions folks will be looking not just for good writing skills, but also evidence that the writer has the intellectual curiosity, open-mindedness, and strength of character necessary to be a contributing and successful member of the campus community. Carries essay succeeds on this front. Essay Title In general, Carries title works fine. It clearly captures the subject of the essay - approaching Goth with an open mind. Also, the allusion to John Lennons Give Peace a Chance  is appropriate given the songs message about acceptance and understanding. Its not a title that is highly original, and it isnt the best hook for grabbing the readers attention, but it is still a solid title.  The best essay titles  often strive for clarity, not cleverness. Essay Topic Carrie takes a risk in her essay. When you read advice about college admissions interviews, youll often be told to dress somewhat conservatively, get rid of the pink hair and remove all but the most innocuous piercings. The danger of looking too far out of the norm is that you may encounter an admissions officer who isnt open-minded or who feels disturbed or uncomfortable with your appearance. While you dont want to cater to peoples biases, you also dont want to diminish your chances of getting into college. Carrie, however, isnt one to tone down her identity during the admissions process. Her essay blatantly states this is who I am, and she makes it the job of the reader to overcome his or her preconceptions. There is a slight danger that she will get a reader who refuses to accept the Goth culture Carrie describes, but most readers will love the way Carrie approaches her topic as well as her straight-shooting style. The essay has a level of maturity and self-confidence that the reader will find attractive. Also, the reader is likely to be impressed by the way that Carrie imagines her audiences reaction. She has clearly encountered prejudice before, and she preempts it when she imagines the admissions folks reading her essay. Choice of Essay Prompt The current Common Application essay option #1  is a smart choice for Carries topic, for the essay certainly is about a central part of her identity. Carrie clearly shows how she will add an interesting and desirable element to the campus community. The essay demonstrates that she has thought about identity and diversity, that she is open-minded, and that she has a thing or two to teach others about their preconceptions and biases. She weaves in enough details about her passions and accomplishments to debunk any knee-jerk assumptions a reader might make about a Goth. The share your story essay prompt is wonderfully broad, and it can lead to a range of topics. An essay on ones love of crafts to ones non-traditional home situation can all work with Common Application option #1. Essay Tone Carries essay approaches her topic seriously, but it also has a pleasing smattering of humor. Little phrases like I dont do sun, and, a tendency towards sarcasm capture Carries personality in an economical manner that will also get a nice chuckle from her readers. In general, the essay has a great balance of seriousness and playfulness, of quirkiness and intellect. The Quality of the Writing The quality of the writing in this essay is superb, and it is even more impressive because Carrie is going into the sciences, not the humanities where we might expect to see stronger writing. The essay has no grammatical errors, and some of the short, punchy phrases reveal a high level of rhetorical sophistication. If you take apart the essay sentence by sentence, youll notice a huge variety in sentence length and structure. The admissions officers will immediately recognize Carrie as someone who has a mastery of language and is prepared for college-level writing. The length of the essay is right near the 650-word limit, but thats fine. Her essay is neither wordy nor repetitive. The essays by  Lora  and  Sophie  are both strong, but both could use some cutting and revising to get the length down. Carrie writes economically; every word counts. Final Thoughts Think about the impression you have when you finish reading Carries essay. You feel that you  have gotten to know her. She is someone with an offbeat appearance, but she is wonderfully comfortable with who she is. The self-confidence and self-awareness demonstrated in the essay will certainly impress her readers. Carries essay teaches her reader something, and the mastery of language is remarkable. Admissions officers are likely to finish the essay thinking three things: They want to get to know Carrie better.They think Carrie would make a positive contribution to the campus community.Carries reasoning and writing skills are already at the college level. In short, Carrie has written a winning  Common Application essay. Carrie comes across as an intelligent and likable woman who will contribute to the campus community in meaningful ways. Also, her essay gets at the heart of her unique personal story - theres nothing generic about what she has written, so the essay will stand out from the crowd.

Claiming Social Security Disability and Veterans Disability

Claiming Social Security Disability and Veterans Disability Claiming SSDI VA Disability Some disabled veterans are eligible to receive both Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) through the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Disability Benefits through the Veterans Administration (VA) at the same time. A detailed article on the process appears here.About VA SSDIThe VA provides disability benefits to military veterans who were disabled during active duty. They examine military service medical records, and base determinations only on illnesses and injuries which occurred during active duty. Benefits are based on a disability rating of 0-100%.The SSA provides SSDI to workers with medical issues who are unable to work. To receive SSDI, applicants must be totally disabled. While the SSA considers a range of conditions, applicants must prove they will be out of work for over one year, or that their condition is terminal.Claiming Both Veterans who receive VA benefits for disability can also apply for SSDI, provided they are unable to work at all, without interfere nce. The SSA considers all qualifying conditions, including those already addressed under the VA rating, when deciding.Expedited ClaimsVeterans meeting specific criteria, including a 100% permanent, total disability rating, qualify for expedited processing of SSDI claims. Through a service provided by the Wounded Warrior program, veterans who became disabled on active duty on or after October 1, 2001 can request expedited processing in writing on their application.We Can HelpIf you are disabled and unable to work, call Disability Attorneys of Michigan for a free confidential consultation. We’ll let you know if we can help you get a monthly check and help you determine if any money or assets you receive could impact your eligibility for disability benefits.Disability Attorneys of Michigan works hard every day helping the disabled of Michigan seek the Social Security Disability and Veterans Disability benefits they need. If you are unable to work due to a physical, mental, or c ognitive impairment; call Disability Attorneys of Michigan now for a free consultation at 800-949- 2900.Let Michigan’s experienced disability law firm help you get the benefits you deserve.Disability Attorneys of Michigan, Compassionate Excellence. Michigan Disability Attorney, Michigan Social Security Disability Lawyer, Michigan Veterans Disability Lawyer

Racism in Disney Movies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Racism in Disney Movies - Research Paper Example ed lyrics are vastly clear as they depict the oriental society as crude and completely barbaric by citing erroneous and negative accounts of their culture. Although, the song has now been revised for its offensive lyrics, but the fact that it was there to begin with clearly shows the bad stereotypes and how it was propagated in earlier versions of the film. (Bernstein & Studlar, 1997, p. 17) This deconstruction of oriental culture within western cinema was first brought to notice by Edward Said’s (1978) theory of ‘Orientalism’, according to which Orientals were portrayed as crude and savages in the media to promote the superiority of western ideology. The racist portrayal was not only restricted to the Middle East, but the general depiction of the minorities was indeed quite warped. For instance, in Pocahontas, the story has been turned into a heartwarming romance between an Indian girl and an Englishman, with the story ending on a heartwarmingly happier note, wit h both ethnicities finally living in harmony. On the other hand, the real events were not as delightful as the one shown in the movie, which clearly represents how misguiding these movies are for the children. In the end, the Indian servant and Pocahontas’ union with her white lover clearly shows the west’s perceived superiority, which is blatantly and colorfully projected on to the big screens for the young children. In reality, the Native Indians were systematically wiped out to help the white faction gain the upper hand over the region; a painful historical fact that was skillfully masked in the film. Furthermore, in several instances the Native Indians are openly referred to as savages, which is further detrimental in establishing an image for the child. Even in Peter Pan, the Native Indians are... As a matter of fact, the obsession with the notion of ‘happily ever after’ is not only contained within the west, but all over the world young girls and boys are ardent fans of Disney motion pictures. Although, parents may not find anything bothersome regarding the content that they are feeding their children through the movies, but analysts have discovered a number of nefarious undertones within the innocent storylines of their movies. Although, Disney has tried their best to remove all the aforementioned racist lyrics but the fact that they are still present on previous copies of the movies continues to make it alarming for parents. Even though, some parents have deemed the presence of these racist elements as completely unimportant, but it is an undeniable fact that children are highly impressionable and thus are greatly influenced by the things they see on television. Disney movies may cause them to establish erroneous pre-conceived notions about people who seem to possess the traits that are present in all the unfavorable cartoon characters. They may hear a black man speaking and immediately make the association that they are lazy and idle like the crows in Dumbo and even believe that all Native Indians are crude and have bad grammar. These pre-conceived notions will only make it difficult for them to associate or identify themselves with other races on a human level. Therefore, it is not healthy for parents to continually expose their child to such content as it narrows down the child’s horizon and he continues to view foreignness in a negative light and children belonging to minority groups may grow up to view western values and cultures as completely superior to their own.

Organisational Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Organisational Behaviour - Essay Example The field of organizational behavior is concerned with the study of what people do in an organization and how that behavior affects the performance of the organization. Organizational behavior is derived by incorporating various behavioral sciences like psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science and social psychology to ascertain the expectation level. (Foundations of human behavior, 2006) (i) Interpersonal Roles: which derives from the manager's position and the formal authority like leadership, liaison etc. (ii) Informational role: this is a direct result of the interpersonal roles ending up in information exchange, e.g., spokesperson, a monitor (iii)Decisional role: managers role as problem-solver, negotiator, resource allocator etc which is a derivation from the above two roles. (GRI Report, 2001:6) All these roles are important in a manager's job and are interrelated, even though some roles may be more influential than others depending upon the managerial position. For instance, sales managers may give more importance to interpersonal roles, while the production managers give more importance to decisional roles. The above facts lead to a clear picture that the organizational behavior is necessarily concatenated with the behavioral sciences. ... udying the interrelated behavioral processes, their disparity at specific situations and their interaction in the decision and communication performance within and among the organizational elements themselves. (Behavioral Science, 2006) Behavioral sciences like psychology, sociology, anthropology etc, help to focus in deriving organizational behavior theories. The current study focuses on three main topics (i) Personality, (ii) Stereotypes and (iii) Group Dynamics I. Personality and the "Trait Theory" Individuals are different in their mental and physical traits. People who form the main components of an organization thus differ both physically (age, sex, height, weight, etc), and also psychologically (intelligence, attitude, motivational level, perceptions, etc.) This belief that each human being is totally different from each other is known as "Law of individual differences". This points out to a crucial fact that the management has to treat them uniquely to get the best out of each and every one. (Robbins & Judge, 2006) A theory on personality aspect, The Trait theory suggests that people have some traits in common with each other and are also different from others in certain other aspects. The main five personality traits emerged from this theory related to job performance could be summarized as extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience. In an organizational setup the personality factors which affect its performance are the Need pattern, introversion or extroversion, tolerance for ambiguity, self esteem and self concept, Type A and Type B personalities etc. These aspects will differ from person to person and as per the managers are concerned; they need to master the tolerance for ambiguity with other