Academic Writing Skills Guide free essay sample

Yet, it is also a means in itself. Writing helps you organize your own ideas, discover the strengths and weaknesses in your thinking, and internalize the knowledge you construct. We hope this guide will help you on your way. But like all guides, it does not contain everything. As Voltaire said, the best way to be boring is to leave nothing out This guide acts as a starter it is up to you to go deeper. Just as you will find with your writing assignments, We too have gone through the writing process in the construction of this guide.We constructed a plan, consulted numerous sources and people, wrote the text, bevies it, and edited it, all the time trying to keep it clear and simple. In putting together this guide, we have aimed to follow Ernest Hemingway who said, My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what feel in the best and simplest way. We will write a custom essay sample on Academic Writing Skills Guide or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page We hope we have succeeded. Henry Menses, Masc. Robber Wilkinson, Masc. second edition (2010) The second edition of this guide to academic writing is a thorough revision o the first edition (2002).Apart from changes to chapter 2, we have significantly changed chapters 3 and 5. In addition, we have completely rewritten chapter 4 on citing and referencing in line with the current (2010) citation and preference norms of the American Psychological Association. Major changes also entail the introduction of many more examples. In addition, the format requirements for submitting papers has changed. 2 We have not included information on grammar and punctuation, since we expect students at the School Of Business and Economics to have a good command of these aspects on entry.However, we are aware that many users of this guide will wish to seek reassurance in this respect. We recommend users to consult a good grammar book or one of the many good writing sites on the Internet. Robert Wilkinson, Masc. Jennet Homes, MA NOTE: the Guide is not presented in the format that you have to present your papers (see section 5). However, where extracts of student essays are given, these are in the required format. Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge the many people and sources we have consulted during the construction of this guide.In particular, we would like to express thanks to Henry Menses for his work on the first edition, and Keith Campbell of the Language Centre who adapted the first edition of this guide in 2006. We also thank the Academic Writing tutors of the Language Centre for their inputs ND the many students who have made use of the first edition. Furthermore, we are indebted to Mike Hannah and Lacuna Mackenzie, whose book Effective writing in English: A resource guide (both the 1 996 and 2002 editions) has been a major source of information for chapters 2 and 3.We acknowledge the American Psychological Association whose Publication manual (American psychological Association, 6th deed. , 2010) has been an excellent support in the construction of chapter 4 in this guide. Finally, we are grateful to the Director of the School of Business and Economics for purporting the pr oduction of this second edition. 3 1. Introduction Academic writing covers the wide range of specific writing tasks that you are required to write during the course of your academic studies: papers, reports, literature reviews, projects, case studies, dissertations, theses, research papers, and articles.Some of these text types are quite rare outside the academic environment (papers, literature reviews, dissertations, theses); others (reports, projects, etc. ) may well be aiming at a much broader public. However, what they all have in common is a similar type of reader: a person educated in the specialist field (here economics or business studies), and usually acting as a professional in that field. These target readers represent the professional community of which you aim to become a member. To be accepted as member requires you to meet the norms and standards that the professional community expects. Thus with regard to writing, you are expected to adhere to the norms expected by the (international) academic community. Compare this to a relay race in athletics. In the relay race, you run with three other runners. If you are one of the two middle runners, you eve to collect the baton smoothly from the previous runner and pass it on to the next runner. In the relay race your team runs against other teams (your local community). All of you have to run according to the set of rules agreed by the sports governing body (the professional community). If you do not, your team may be disqualified. The rules set the framework for a potentially great race, and within the rules there is vast scope for individual flair and talent. So with academic writing: you have to write according to the rules but to write well demands your own India, Vidal talent and enterprise. Just as a highly skilled athlete knows how to use the rules to his advantage, so an expert writer uses the norms and standards of professional academic writing to persuade readers of the power of his argument. We should not extend this athletics analogy too far: sports have clear sets of rules that everyone can read and study; academic writing does not.What a professional academic field has is a set of overt norms, such as a style guide. This guide is based on the editorial style requirements described in the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 2010). Alongside these is a set of covert norms that are just as powerful. Examples of the covert norms will be the nature of argumentation that is considered acceptable in the field. Covert norms are hidden and therefore take a long time to acquire. Most novice writers acquire them through extensive reading in the field, and by paying active attention to the way other writers use 4 language.This process of acquisition demands close observation of how expert writers use words and expressions differently in different types of text, e. G. Literature reviews or case studies in a single field (e. . Marketing). Academic papers (and most other forms of academic writing) are typically expository or argumentative. An expository or informative paper describes or explains a particular set of phenomena, and provides an account of why these phenomena are found in one or more specific situations or contexts. The goal of the expository paper is also to acquaint the reader with a body of knowledge.An argumentative or persuasive paper must choose a side, make a case for it, consider and refute alternative arguments, and prove to the undecided reader that the opinion it presents is the best one. You must be aware of other sides and be fair to them; dismissing them completely will weaken your own argument. It is always best to take a side that you believe in, preferably with the most supporting evidence. To develop a good academic paper you should go through a number of stages, called the writing process.The following seven stages can be distinguished: The writing process 1 Thinking stage 2. Research stage 3. Outline stage 4. Drafting stage 5. Revising stage 6. Editing stage 7. Final version stage Planning process Transfer in a first draft output Revising editing F-IANAL output Figure 1. Stages of the writing process 1 . Thinking stage In this Stage you determine your topic area (which may Of course already be given), brainstorm about ideas on the topic, select, reject and focus those ideas, before arriving at your final choice. 5 2.Research stage Here you search for and study background literature and other materials, analyses the results, draw your own conclusions and interpretations, etc. 3. Outline stage In this stage you draft an outline of the paper you intend to write, setting out your main aim or purpose in the paper (the purpose statement or thesis statement), sketch how you will develop the mints that follow from the purpose, and indicate how you will conclude the paper. 4. Drafting stage Here you put down on screen successively improved versions of your paper. 5.Revising stage In this stage you scan your work on a macro level for logical coherence, checking whether you need to add or delete information, whether sections need rephrasing for clarification. 6. Editing stage Here you edit your text on a micro level, checking the grammar, spelling, punctuation, in-text citations, references and the layout. 7. Final version stage In this stage you set out the final paper neatly and clearly. Writing a paper is recursive: you do not start at the beginning, and work through straight to the end, and that is that.At all times you will be backtracking or looping that as you are , writing your first draft, you may discover you need to add more information and have to return to the research stage. During the revising stage, you may discover that your original plan was too broad, and so decide to cut out a whole section. You may produce several revised versions of the paper before your final version. Do not forget to allow yourself plenty of time between writing your first draft and your final version.Figure 2 illustrates the three groups of actions in writing a paper, the planning process, the transfer, and revision and editing. The figure emphasizes the recursive nature of writing a paper in that each action not only feeds into the next but feeds back into the previous actions, entailing revision of those actions. 6 You may Start with a plan, conduct some research (reading, library and/or Internet search), analyses and then synthesize the information you have acquired, construct a question or a statement tattoo will examine, draft an outline, write a rough draft of the introduction, start writing the body, then top.You go back, conduct some more research, adjust your outline, rewrite the body, write a bit more, adjust the introduction, perhaps adjust the statement of your purpose, then stop again. You conduct more research, rewrite the body again, draft a conclusion, go back to the introduction, adjust the purpose, rewrite the introduction, then stop. You let the paper isomerisms a while, then reread it, adjusting here and there for content accuracy, perhaps search or check for a contrary argument, throw o ut less relevant parts of the paper, check the logical development of your ideas and arguments, and wrap up the conclusion.Then you check again for spelling (using the spellchecker, but also reading carefully word by word), check for grammar (using the grammar checkers wisely), check all punctuation, check the layout, check the citations and the references. You check too for sentence length (eliminate very long, rambling sentences), check paragraph structure (particularly if the topic of the paragraph changes in the paragraph check the subjects of the main verbs), check the logical links between paragraphs and sections. And so on. Figure 2: The writing process and its recursive nature (Bauer, 1993).This guide is organized as follows. Chapter 2 focuses on the planning process, describing the planning activities and the construction Of an outline. Chapter 3 elaborates on the structuring of the paper, through a detailed discussion of the three parts of a paper, introduction, body, and conclusion. Moreover, structuring a paper effectively requires that you write wholeheartedly paragraphs: this chapter also provides brief guidelines on paragraph organization. Chapter 4 explains the importance of citing sources and giving references, and provides guidelines how to put them in the paper in a correct ay. Chapter 5 concentrates on finalizing the paper. This chapter discusses the format requirements, text revision and the evaluation of the paper. To conclude, this guide helps you to master the process of academic writing, which you can apply to the specific writing assignments during the course of your academic studies. It specifies the elements necessary to a successful academic paper. But keep in mind two things. First, each assignment will be different and require a different organization. Second, writing is a skill; 7 you only get better at a skill through regular practice. Regular practice leads o routine and expertise. The application of the principles of this guide can be of use until your last writing examination: the final thesis. However, this guide just contains a brief summary of the different topics discussed. For more information you should consult literature, especially the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2010, 6th deed. , in the University Library), and the Internet. Besides, keep in mind that the writing process is not just simply following a set of rules. Try to develop your own style, expertise and talent, in order to distinguish yourself. Good luck with your rating career! 8 The planning process 2. The planning process In order to get a good start to writing your paper, it is Important that you go successfully through the planning process. This chapter describes the different activities of the planning process. Then, section 2. 2 discusses the most important stage of the planning process: the construction of an outline. 2. 1. The planning activities During the planning process, according to Hannah and Mackenzie (2002), you are concerned with six major activities: 1 Generating ideas for the content.Ideas for content can come from several sources: from your own knowledge, room discussions with other people, and from various media sources (written texts, audio-visual media and electronic media). Brainstorming techniques help you to generate ideas in the first two categories. 2 Selecting and classifying points. Here you are concerned with ordering your ideas. Analyses them to determine the extent to which they are connected with each other. Ideas and concepts that are highly connected are likely to form key points in your texts. Those which are less closely connected may form essential supporting topics, or may need to be abandoned.Some may require more development. Always be prepared to get rid of ideas that prove not to be relevant to your argument. 3 Establishing your perspective. In this activity you need to decide what angle you are going to take with your material. Are you taking a historical perspective, or only discussing the present situation? Are you taking an objective position, or are you bringing in your own personal standpoint? Are you taking a general viewpoint, or only a specific case? Are you looking at the matter from your home country perspective? Are you discussing a general issue or only a NAS action situation? 4 Determining your intention. Now you need to consider what you want to do with the text. Do you want to present both sides of an argument equally, or do you want to present only one side? Do you need to give examples, or will your argumentation be sufficient on its own? Do you want to persuade the reader of your opinion, or are you only wishing to describe the matter? Do you want just to present a problem, or do you want to offer solutions as well? What you are going to do with your text must become very clear to the reader in the thesis statement: this statement directs the readers to the purpose of the text. Formulating a draft title, structuring the introduction and inclusion. Here you should set down a working title and devise a draft structure for the introduction and the conclusion. At this Stage your drafting should only be provisional: you should write the actual version only after you have written the body of the paper. This is because you do need to know what your introduction is indeed introducing, and you need to know what your conclusion is concluding. A us eful rule of thumb is: Plan your introduction, then your conclusion, and then your body, but write your body, then your conclusion and then your introduction. Drafting paragraph themes. At this stage, go back to the ideas (themes) you have selected and classified. Now you have to decide which will be suitable for your text. Each theme usually is the basis for a single paragraph. Each theme too will require sufficient development; so do not try to include too many. As a rough guide, you probably cannot treat adequately more than about 4 themes in a 1000-word paper (roughly 3 pages), while a 2500-word paper (roughly 6 pages) will seem overwhelming if it includes more than 9 or 10 themes. Once you have selected your themes, list the points that you need to make to support the theme in the paragraph. 2. The planning outline The goal of the planning outline is to help you organize your ideas, and present them in a logical order. It serves to identify the relationships between the ideas: it allows you to see how related ideas can be grouped together, and which ideas you can cut out, and which ideas need more support. A good outline helps you to maintain the direction in your paper, and prevents you from getting distracted into irrelevant information. 10 Figure 3 lists six steps that may be considered in the development of a planning outline. 1 Decide the purpose of your paper and the audience you re writing for.Develop a statement in which you define the goal or purpose of your paper (commonly called thesis statement). This clarifies what you are going to present or argue in the paper. At this stage you may not have a definitive version of this statement. List all the important points you want to handle in the paper. These points have to be split in three main parts: introduction, body, and conclusion. The points in the introduction include the items that lead to the purpose or thesis statement (so-called background information), and a statement of the purpose or goal that should now be defined precisely.When you are planning your paper, you will group all your ideas around one central theme. This theme forms the core of your purpose or thesis statement or research question. The points in the body have to be logically organized so that they follow from your purpose and lead towards the conclusion. In a larger paper (for example a Master thesis), you usually develop a set of subs questions, covering the s points that lead to an answer to the research question. By answering step by step the different substitutions in the body, you can draw a structured and well-founded conclusion at the end.

By Rachel Glendenning Essays

By Rachel Glendenning Essays By Rachel Glendenning Essay By Rachel Glendenning Essay It was a calm night in the lonely moor surrounding moon fleet village. The water from the sea was lapping the shore, as the rounded moon shone gracefully upon the dunes. That the mild gusts of the summer wind blew unpleasantly around our toasty bodies causing them to feel colder with every blast of air combined with sun dried sand blown at us. Moon fleet was silent and still and visibly there were only two traces of light coming from the sleeping village, both of which came from candles, but in very different circumstances. One gave light to some of my fellow men and companions, as they walked silently up to the old Mohone vault within the graveyard. To prepare the storage vault for its new contents how ever small tonights collection was going to be, but was sure to keep us wealthy enough.But on the other hand, the second candle was called Maskews march. Grace Maskew placed the candle on her windowsill so that she could warn all boats that came to close, in bad weather and when the b lanket of darkness covered us, that land was near. The adrenalin pumped through my whole body filling it with fear and excitement. A strange buzz of which I cannot really describe fully, as our boat became adrift and the salty spray splashed off the bow of the boat up on to our anxious faces. We all jumped enthusiastically in to the boat causing it to rock violently and sink a little with all of the extra weight. David blocks face lit up as he grabbed an ore and lowered it in to the water on his fathers orders. He whispered earnestly of how he was so excited as it was his first time, just like a child losing a tooth for the first time.The order came from the head of the Ketch to start to row, so with every back breaking stoke we were pulled a little closer to the mother ship, as I called it, to collect her gear. The ores rotated very shallowly at first, and then with each stroke became deeper and deeper as the boat left the shore and travelled in to the ocean. A splash, my heart pou nded, it was louder than the splash of an ore. I scanned the shoreline, yet I could not see anything, I couldnt picture what else could make such a noise except hefty sized boat entering the shallow water of the embankment behind a small hill, not visible to sight from such an angle that we were.We all sat as though all of our bodies were paralysed, not been able to move a muscle through fear. We were in the middle, caught half way between the shore and the gigantic ship of which we gained our fortune. All was silent as tiny slits scanned the shoreline from end to end, like looking at a beaming smile that stretched from ear to ear. I couldnt see anything, but my mind was going mad. I could not see a boat in the water, but my head felt like it was going crazy, what would happen to my daughter and wife if I were to be caught.I would be hanged, why do I deal in such a filthy business. Elzevier spoke wisely, you should be afraid of what you cannot see, but if you cannot see anything why are you afraid. This puzzle fused our imagination, the puzzle of which one could not figure yet use to re-build our confidence. So we could take several more splashes of the ores beating the water so that the mother ship was along side us.These ores were lifted, as the bow was tied to the port bow of the ship, so that the ores could be rapped against the side of the ship alerting the foreigners that we were waiting. Seconds passed, before the foreigners faces appeared over the top of the ship. They tried to communicate with us, though no one could understand them. We all smiled innocently, and David Blocks face went white, though I could not tell whether it was because he felt ill, or ill with excitement or just because the light from the moon shone upon his pasty face, with skin of his mother, causing it to look white.The foreigners passed the goods down as we grabbed them and loaded them in to the Ketch, making sure that we were not to sink the boat. Barrels of ale, boxes of toba cco and fine silks of which any man could only wish to give to his wife or close female friend were loaded on to our boat. Which felt a lot heavier and it felt as though water would start spilling over the top at any moment, but it did not. So with a final farewell and friendly handshake with the captain,Elzevier and us gave a solemn wave good-bye to the men of the great cargo ship as we again pushed away from the great floating structure. We thought that it would be a quick journey to shore, but the time it took, seemed like an eternity. No one could have felt prouder that night than Elzevier Block, his sons eyes sparkling in the moon light, his brown hair shining like gold in the moon light and his wide noticeable smile soon to be shattered under the same moon light.We all quietened down as we started to approach the long stretch of coastline, so that not a sound could be heard apart from the soft stroke of the rotating ores.Abruptly I heard some one call out , what is that coming towards us, it is so close and look at the speed it is approaching us!Its certainly not one of ours, Block added.We rose to our feet panic stricken and dumbfounded. Mens faces could be seen as clear as if it was day, their little beady eyes looking straight at us and the gleam of their swards glinting in the moonlight. They were approaching at a tremendous speed, so fast, getting so close.Maskew, whispered Elzevier Block, with no feeling and no surprise within the tone of his voice.Get down David, dont stay on the boat, a conflict is about to take place, and you should not be a part of it. He said, with a lot more feeling, strength and power within his tone.The revenue boat drew closer, and swards were drawn on both parties. Once again I felt anxious, once again, I was fighting for my life. David listen to your father, he speaks wise words and he is a man to be taken notice of! I quickly spurted out, before our boat was swamped with unwanted folks. The ketch sunk lower with every p erson that jumped aboard. Soon water was to be spilling over the top. It was really every man for him self, yet every man believed to protect young David. Maybe Maskew wanted Block to come to him, but from the corner of my eye I saw Maskew walk to the front of his boat, kiss his fingers and place them on the title name of his ship, the elector schooner. Hatred in his eyes and a sward in his other hand, his long coat draping over the bow of the boat and long drawn out face and scrawny hair facing towards the very strong, menacing looking Elzevier. The glance of a sward caught my tearful eye, as I turned and sliced one if the oppositions through the thorax area.Blood trickled down the blade of my sward, and so fell down my upper arm area, as a blade caught the top part of my arm. I turned to see little David crouched in the top of the boat covered in a range of different blood stained silks, eyes fixed on his father and Maskew. Of whom I turned to see was walking slowly and sturdily t owards Maskew. The sound of clanging steel and raised voices echoed around as lights from Moon fleet village began to appear because of the disturbance. I flung my sward at a person approaching me at high speed, without taking my eyes off the two men now aboard the elector schooner. I had been using swards since a very young age and so was surprisingly good at using them, for play or battle; its all the same to me.Water started to come up to my ankles; David rose to his feet so that he could try to escape the blood died water. I again looked at Elzevier who was in a major hand-to-hand battle with Maskew. He was younger than Elzevier, yet more skilled at hand-to-hand combat. With a flick of his wrist Maskew flung Elzeviers sward through the air. It landed right in front of young Davids feet who then saw his father tripped to the ground, with a blade held to his heart. I can get you right through here, when I want to, I heard Maskew say. Elzeviers eyes towards the sky full of fear and still looking hopeful,You can kill me now, but never pierce my stone heart. Elzevier said looking Maskew in the eyes, you will never get me where it really hurts.He then looked toward his son whose tears fell in to the water as his father whispered the three words every human on the planet could only whisper to a loved one just before being put to death. Before I saw the sward raised up in to the air, David gave a learch towards the boat weaving between fighting men, I ran after him, as the ketch started to raise its stern in to the air. Maskew dropped his sward as David tried to clamber aboard the ship.Block screamed NO DAVID!But it got to him to late. Maskew had pulled back his coat to reveal a silver butted revolver. He pointed it at David as the youngster gathered speed coming towards him. Elzevier tried to get to his feet, but was to slow. I reached out to David to catch him but I was too late, the almighty bang had already occurred and the bullet travelled towards David who w as powerless towards it. It all happened so fast; the bullet had pierced young Davids heart and as he fell in to the water, I felt a sharp pain in my side. I looked down, to see gouts of blood coming from the lower part of my abdomen. The very same bullet that passed straight through the young boy also passed straight through me. The last sights I saw from the ketch was the strong powerful Maskew looking down at David with the sternest and most pleased of looks on his face and pistol still in the same position of what it was when the shot was fired. And Elzevier Block diving in to the water to grab his son for hope he was still alive.I knew I could get you right where it hurt, and from your eyes I can see I have succeeded. Said Maskew. As I fell in to the salty water, and the boat disappeared under the sea with all the goods causing me to be dragged under. With only enough energy for me to kick my way back to the surface and cling on to a piece of drift wood, to fall unconscious bec ause of the suffering and pain my side was giving me. I drifted unconsciously to the shore where I was found a day later, half dead, drained of blood and suffering from sever hypothermia.

Philosphical Approaches Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Philosphical Approaches - Essay Example It is very important to leave out bias, prejudice, personal factors, and opinions from ethical decision making in such cases (Guy, 1990). Ethical decision making requires a good sense of morals and a neutral viewpoint. While it is very difficult for a person to remain neutral in several situations, an ethical decision maker or a judge has to keep his/her mind clear of preconceived notions. An ethical dilemma may arise when a decision has to be made on moralistic grounds between two opposing situations. While both parties may be right in their own regard, it is up to the decision maker to reach a fair, unbiased, altruistic conclusion (Trevino, 1986). Several tools are available to decision makers to derive their decision such as references, proof, investigations, objective opinions of others, etc. However, the method to be chosen is reliant upon the decision maker’s preference and his/her comfort level with the chosen method (Robert, 2007). In regard to ethical decision making, there are three philosophical approached to guide the behavior of the decision maker. The first approach is the intuitionist approach. This approach relies on intuition alone and is basically reliant upon the decision maker’s own sense of morals and standards of ethical behavior. The decision maker alone is responsible for deciding what is right and wrong according to his/ her judgment and intuition. This is the most subjective approach amongst the three as the basis of an ethical decision relies upon whether the decision maker himself feels that he has made an ethical and moralistic judgment. This may also be criticized as being an unethica l approach to decision making as everyone’s norms and sense of morality may differ. However, this approach is used and is considered to be one of the most phenomenal approaches to ethical decision making (Guy, 1990). The next is the deontological

Language Policy or Practice in Education of Everyday Life Essay

Language Policy or Practice in Education of Everyday Life - Essay Example This paper approves hardly anyone disputes that sign language is a useful skill but the arguments laid out above prove that it must become more than just a skill. It needs to become a part of one’s way of living. Learning the sign language widens children’s social circle. They are given the ability to communicate even with those that are deaf and hard of hearing. This means can have more friends, learn from more people, and stimulate the exchange of knowledge more. It is also when the development of an intimate level of familiarity that the true empathy towards the deaf come. The deaf and the mute have been looked at as an inferior member of the community for so long simply because not all their senses are working. It is time for people to realize that just because they don’t have all the senses doesn’t mean they are less capable. However, that realization will only come if they are able to communicate with them directly. This paper makes a conclusion It is also interesting to know that learning sign language can make students smarter because the language stimulates alternative learning styles. Reports about learning new skills and improved academic performance prove that sign language is a legitimate teaching or learning tool. The government and schools will, of course, incur expenses as it revises the curriculum and hire teachers that can teach sing language among young students. However, the benefits mentioned above make it a worthwhile effort. More importantly, integrating the sign language in the primary level could well be the most significant move that the government will make in its effort to stop the discrimination against disabled people, specifically the deaf and mute... Learning another language will include an opportunity to learn about the culture of the community where the language originated from. The understanding of culture will allow the students to look beyond the perceived handicap in this case. Given that most of their values are formed during their primary years, children will learn the value of looking every human being and not be subjected to the same prejudice that majority of the adult population holds. This will automatically come with the benefit is allowing the children the capacity to communicate with greater number of people that will also widen their opportunity to learn from more people and exchange knowledge and experiences. There are a lot of achievers in the field of science and technology and arts that are deaf and mute (Karchmer & Mitchell 2003). Learning their language will give young students an opportunity to learn from these people. It is also proven that learning sign language stimulates three extra areas of learning, visual, spatial, and tactile. Psychological, Sociological and even Physiological studies have attested to the value of learning how to read body language and learn communication beyond the verbal way. It increases the child’s intellectual quotient and emotional quotient (Armstrong, 1994). According to their study, there are areas of learning that are often overlooked. This generally wastes a lot of potentials. Tapping these areas of learning will allow students to tap into other areas if they are unable to understand a lesson with one. They will also be able to use one area to support another or increase their understanding of a concept because they are able to understand lessons from different perspectives. Opening more areas of learning will allow

When Things Fall Apart by Chodrun from chapter 1 to 18 Essay

When Things Fall Apart by Chodrun from chapter 1 to 18 - Essay Example Difficulties of life like aging, illness, getting what they do not want and many more are facts. The Buddha also faces these challenges. The teaching goes on stating that what causes unhappiness is when someone wants to avoid the facts of life and try to find happiness (Von Rosenberg 15). Turning upside down enables individuals to think upside down.Pema Chodrun states that suffering has a great role to play in our lives. Suffering will motivate people to look for answers to the problems us facing. Through suffering people, learn to have the feeling of empathy for other people facing the same problem. Through right thinking, we create the feeling of compassion for ourselves. We are compassionate on every part of ourselves that are unwanted. Compassion will create a room of relief and joy in us. It is a fundamental thing for everyone to feel happiness and in any case, when we start feeling unhappy, depressed we think that we lost something or we made a mistake (Von Rosenberg 19). When we incorporate the right thinking, we will appreciate suffering and view pain as a transformation to have the right thinking. When someone faces pain, we always look for happiness and satisfaction rather than having the right thinking and honor the quality of precisely what is happening in your life. It makes people run away from discomfort facing them. The situation makes them disappointed and unhappy Thus, Pema Chodrun urges one to have the right thinking and view situations like this as trying to develop our inner strengths (Von Rosenberg 21). What is more important is considering the inner strength as something that is only available when we are facing discomfort. When certain situation threatens us, we need to view first how we found ourselves at the discomfort. Inner strength will help find why we are in the situation. Pema Chodrun urges that we should accept

Speech Act Theory

Speech Act Theory Introduction Speech act theory is a technical term in linguistics and the philosophy of language. The contemporary use of the term goes back to J. L. Austins doctrine of locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts. It is developed by the great philosopher J.L Austin in the 1930s and set forth in a series of lectures, which he gave at Harvard in1955. These were subsequently developed in 1962 as How to Do Things With Words. He founded the modern study of speech acts. The approach has been greatly developed since by the philosopher J.R.Searle (Austins pupil). The central insight of the speech act theory which is attributed to Austin, Searle and other philosophers is that speech is action and language is used to perform things not only to describe a state of affairs. Moreover, Austin pointed out that many utterances do not communicate information, but are equivalent to actions. When someone says, I apologize. , I promise , or I name this ship. the utterance immediately conveys a new psychological or social reality. Many scholars identify speech acts with illocutionary acts, rather than locutionary or perlocutionary acts. As with the notion of illocutionary acts, there are different opinions on the nature of speech acts. The extension of speech acts is commonly taken to include such acts as promising, ordering, greeting, warning, inviting someone and congratulating. Definition of speech act with elaboration A speech act is an act that a speaker performs when making an utterance. To Jennifer Spenader, speech act theory is: A theory where the effect of an utterance is analyzed in relationship  to the speaker and listeners behaviour. Speech act theory can also help us examine utterances from  the perspective of their function, rather than their form. Austin pointed out that when people use language, they are performing a kind of action. He called these actions speech acts. Traditionally, philosophers have distinguished between actions and speaking on the basis that speaking about something is quite dissimilar from doing it. Austin challenged this by demonstrating that utterances can be regarded as events in a similar way to other actions. The below lists are samples of speech acts which Austin reckoned that this sort of list could be extended further. Statement I live in Edinburg for five years Order Pay this bill immediately Question Where are you from? Prohibition No right turn Greeting Hello Invitation Help yourself Felicitation Happy new year (grudging) apology I hereby apologize as required by the magistrate (Griffiths, 2006:148) We can say that each utterance on the right is based on single sentence and the sentence is the level of language. Here, the language is used to accomplish actions as Austin stated. The above sentences are not used just to say things, that is to say describe states of affairs, but rather actively to do things. Further, one cannot assess such utterances as true or false. Moreover, most speech acts are not so official but they rely on the speaker using an utterance to signal his/her intension to achieve some action and the hearer inferring that action from the utterance. One can say that speech act cannot only be done in speaking but also in writing. The clue is the example number (7) in which it would be equally appropriate printed in a card or spoken. As a matter of fact, there are purposes behind any utterance. Consider these examples A-Somebody has broken my leg. In the above sentence, the following purpose appears The first one is to describe things which are not the basic purpose and the second purpose is to complain which is the basic purpose as it doesnt describe things. B-I love you. The purpose here is to please or to assure somebody. C-Watch out, the gun is loaded. The purpose is to warn someone. D-She is a fool. The purpose is to insult or to ease. Thus, the gist idea of speech act theory is to do acts (things) and not simply to describe because description is not the important function of language. Dichotomies (constative and performative) Many writers, in their books, define the dichotomy constative (descriptive) and performative clearly. Riemer in his books Introducing Semantics that an utterance is constative if it describes or states facts about a situation. Whereas performative is one which does not describe or state any facts, but which itself constitutes the performing of an action. The following pair of examples serve the above point A-I promise to visit tomorrow. B-She promised to visit tomorrow. In the first example, you promise to visit but if you dont visit it, the person you said it can complain that you broke your promise. Sentences which perform actions are known as performatives while other sentences are called constatives. Although constatives perform actions. The example (b) serves this point which performs the action of reporting her promise. Thus, the difference between the two (constatives and performatives) may not be as significant as the idea that all sentences can be used to perform actions of various sorts. Broadly speaking, all utterances are performative in the sense of constituting a form of action rather than a matter of saying something about the world. Ultimately, a single utterance can have both aspects constatives and performative elements; they are all sayings and doings simultaneously. Typical examples of performative verbs are ask, beg, beseech, command, congratulate, deny, deplore, declare, implore and warn. Only certain forms of the verb count as performing the speech act, mainly first person simple present active and third person present passive. Furthermore, a performative verb in a performative use can typically be accompanied by hereby. See the following A-I hereby declare the bridge open. B-I hereby command you to surrender. While in the below instances using hereby is not possible with non-performative verbs speaking. A-I hereby persuade you to accompany me. B-I hereby tell the truth. As we said earlier, the performative use of performative verbs is extremely restricted grammatically. They must be first person simple present active and third person present passive. Consider, first, active uses I hereby promise to pay you next week. Not: I herby promised you pay him the following week. Similar contrasts are possible with passive uses Passengers are hereby requested not to smoke. Not: Passengers were hereby requested not to smoke. You are hereby warned to leave immediately. Not: They will be hereby warned to leave immediately. Characteristics of Performative verbs The sense of the verb is always present. The subject is always first person (singular,plural) Since performative verbs are not descriptions but actions they are not subject to truth-value. In performative sentences the illocutionary act is explicit. Performative verbs like (affirm, allege, assert, forecast, predict, announce, insist, order, state, name, declare, bet, agree). For testing whether a verb is performative we can insert the word (hereby). The book entitled semantics and pragmatics by Dr. Misbah Mahmood gives extra examples about the distinguishing between performatives and constatives. Performatives Constatives I promise I will be there. I will be there. I warn you, the gun is loaded. The gun is loaded. I thank you. I am very grateful. I order you to read. You must read. I request you to send me the book. Send me the book. I apologize. I am sorry. Are Performatives truth-evaluable? Verschueren, in his book, entitled Understanding Pragmatics states that Austin drew a distinction between constative and performative utterances. In this dichotomy, constatives are utterances in which something is said which can be evaluated along a dimension of truth. Performatives, on the other hand, are utterances in which something is done which cannot be said to be true or false but which can be evaluated along a dimension of felicity. According to Austins account, it is an essential characteristic of performative utterances that they are neither true nor false, that is, not truth-evaluable, instead when something is wrong with them then they are felicitous (happy) or infelicitous (unhappy). The uttering of a performative is the doing of a certain kind of action , the performance would not normally be described as just saying or describing something. For example, when Tom says I promise to do the dishes in an appropriate context he does not just describe what he is doing; rather, in making the utterance he performs the promise; since promising is an illocutionary act, the utterance is thus a performative utterance. If Tom utters the sentence without the intention to keep the promise, the sentence is not false: it is rather unhappy, or infelicitous. In the absence of any such flaw, on the other hand, the utterance is to be assessed as happy or felicitous, rather than as true. What Leech states is that Constative utterances could be evaluated in traditional terms of truth and falsehood, performatives were neither true nor false: instead they were to be regarded as felicitous or non felicitous. (Leech,1983:176) By felicity and infelicity, as Yule points out, they can only be as appropriate that is the performance of a speech act to be recognized as intended or inappropriate that is if the speaker is not a specific person in a special context. Briefly, felicity and infelicity are not subject to truth-value. A sentence like I pronounce you man and wife, the performance, here, will be infelicitous on condition that the speaker is not properly qualified. Regarding felicity condition (happiness condition), it can be grouped under three headings: preparatory conditions, sincerity conditions, and essential conditions. Types of Felicity Conditions There are normally conditions which must be fulfilled before a speech act can be said to have been properly performed. These are usually called felicity conditions or happiness conditions. 1-Preparatory Conditions The preparatory conditions for a promise and warning are unlike. When I promise to do something, two conditions appear: first, the event will not occur by itself, and second, the event will have a beneficial effect. But when I utter a warning, it is not clear that the hearer knows the event will happen whilst the speaker does think the event will occur, and the event will not have a beneficial effect. 2-Sincerity Conditions They require the speaker to be sincere. When one promises to do something must genuinely intend to do it; someone congratulating somebody else must feel pleasure at that persons good luck. 3-Essential Conditions By the act of uttering a promise, an obligation created to carry out the action as promised. In other words, the utterance changes my state from non-obligation to obligation. When speaker A warns speaker B, speaker A changes his state from non-informing of a bad future event to informing. Aspects of Speech Acts Austin found great difficulty in drawing a completely clear distinction between performatives and constatives; he came to the conclusion that to state something is to perform an illocutionary act, which renders all constatives as performatives; Austin proposed that in uttering a sentence speaker is involved in three different acts. In other words, he isolates three basic senses in which in saying something one is doing something, and thus, three kinds of acts that are simultaneously performed. 1-Locutionary act. Lots of writers define locutionary act. One of them is Levinson in the book Pragmatics. Locutionary act is the utterance of a sentence with determinate sense and reference. (Levinson,1983:236) Another definition is by Finch. It refers simply to the act of saying something that makes sense in the language; in other words, that follows the grammatical rules of language. (Finch,2000:180) The last definition said by Cruse, in his book, Meaning in Language in which Austin explained as follows: the utterance of certain noises.. certain words in a certain construction, and the utterance of them with a certain sense and a certain reference. (Cruse,2000:331) From the above definition, we conclude that locutionary act is related to the inherent meaning of the lexical item and it is the province of semantics. It is the act of expressing the basic, literal meanings of the words chosen. Besides, performing the act of saying something that makes sense in the language; in other words, that follows the grammatical rules of language. For more elaboration, see the below instances For example, Tom is outside the room. In this sentence both words (Tom and the room) have meaning and we should know what the words (Tom and the room) refer to. In uttering the words, You will get your hands blown off, a speaker performs the locutionary act of stating that the hearer will get his hands blown off. Suppose speaker A says to hearer B There is a bear sneaking up behind you! (Fasold,2006:162) Speaker A utters the word there and refers to the addressee with the word you. 2-Illocutionary act Cruse, in his book, entitled A Glossry of Semantics and Pragmatics defined that illocutionary act is an act performed by a speaker in saying something (with an appropriate intention and in an appropriate context), rather than by virtue of having produced a particular effect by saying something (Cruse,2006:167) According to Finch illocutionary act is one which is performed through the medium of language: stating, warning, wishing, promising and so on. Context can be seen in the definition and this leads to remind us the province of pragmatics. If we come to talk about intention, which is also found in defining illocution, we can regard that the intention is to inform, complain, thank, apologize, threaten, etc. Consider the below instances Father: I will turn out your light. Here, the intention of father is to threaten her son. It is duty of pragmatics since the idea of threatening doesnt relate to meaning but the context. In the sentence like, There is a lion behind you, suppose that A is a speaker and B is a hearer. At the illocutionary level, A asserts a fact (that there is a lion behind B) and warns B that he/she is in danger. The speaker has the illocutionary force of warning. In short, context in which the sentence is uttered is crucial in interpreting the illocutionary force of a speech act. If someone says: I order you to leave now, the intention is ordering by virtue of having uttered the words, whether or not the addressee acts in the desired way. 3-Prelocutionary act Concerning prelocutionary Levinson states the bringing about of effects on the audience by means of uttering the sentence, such effects being special to the circumstances of utterance. While Fasold points that prelocutionary is an action which goes beyond communication such as annoying, frightening, or tricking. The contrasts between illocutionary and prelocutionary lies by lists of verbs Illocutionary: report, request, suggest, announce, predict, order, propose, reprimand, promise, thank, express, congratulate, admit, ask Prelocutionary: persuade, deceive, encourage, irritate, frighten, amuse, inspire, distract, impress, encourage embarrass. Briefly, prelocutionary is the act of producing an effect in the hearer by means of the utterance. It is outside the province of semantics and pragmatics, because it involves many other aspects of the situations. It is not always intended by speaker, is not under his control, and is not evident until after the utterance is made. The speaker tries to carry out a prelocutionary act for example to shock, to amuse, and to annoy somebody. The following examples serve the above point A-You will get your hands blown off. The above sentence might be to prevent the hearer from playing with a lighter and a stick of dynamite, to frighten the hearer. B-John is inside the hall. The prelocutionary act for the above sentence is perhaps to disappoint, shock or annoy. To explicate more about the three types of speech acts, we take instances to apply the three acts. A-There is a wasp in your left ear. The first act: we know speaker and listener. (reference) The second act: the intention is the act of warning. The third act: The hearer is panic (afraid). The hearer may scream and scratch his ears. Panic is not intended but the speaker tries to make the hearer panic. B-Someone says Good night late at night in forest. The first act: speaker and listener. (reference) The second act: leave-taking, there is greeting purpose behind saying good bye. The third act: to horrify or to frighten. C-Father: I will turn out your light. The first act: I refers to father, your refers to sons light, having meaning and reference. The second act: to intend the act of threatening The third act: to frighten the son to sleep. The father tries to frighten his son. It is not under the control of the speaker and it may not be intended of the speaker that he wants to frighten his son. Types of Illocutionary Acts Implicit and explicit illocutionary force Implicit performatives are those which dont have performative verbs. For example when one says I will turn off your light, it is implicit since there is no performative verb and besides, the force doesnt relate to the meaning of the words. Another example Be aware of the dog means that I warn you to beware of the dog. Whereas explicit performatives are those which have performative verbs, that is, a verb which names the action being performed. For example when I say I warn you that.., it is explicit as I am not describing or stating the existence of any independent fact; I am, instead performing an act (act of warning). Speech Act Classifications Searle (1976) has set up the following classification of illocutionary speech acts that one can perform in speaking. David Crystal in his book, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, sheds light on five basic types. 1-Representatives: the speaker is committed, in varying degrees, to the truth of proposition. For instance, affirm, believe, conclude, deny, and report. The following examples illustrate the point. A-The earth is flat. B-Chomsky didnt write about peanuts. C-It was a warm sunny day. In all the above instances, the speaker represents the world as he/she believes it is. 2-Directives: the speaker tries to get the hearer to do something. For example request, challenge, insist, command, advise, and suggest. A-Could you open the door, please? B-I suggest you take a taxi. C-Dont go too far. The above-mentioned examples illustrate that the speaker tries to make the world fit the words through the hearer. 3-Commissives: the speaker is committed, in varying degrees, to a certain course of action. For example, promise, oath, refuse, pledge, threat, guarantee, vow, and swear. The instances, which shown below, point out that the speaker undertakes to make the world adapt the words through the speaker. A-I will be back. B-We will not do that. 4-Expressives: the speaker expresses an attitude about a state of affairs. For instance, congratulate, excuse, thanking, deplore, apologize, welcome, and thank. A-Congratulations! B-I am really sorry. The sentences indicate the speaker makes words fit the world of feeling. 5-Declaratives: the speaker alters the external status or condition of an object or situation solely by making the utterance. For example, resign, sack, appoint, name, christen, sentence (in court), bid (at auction), declaring war, pronouncing someone husband and wife. The below instances clarifies more about what we said. A-Priest: I now pronounce you husband and wife. B-Referee: You are out. One can say that the speaker changes the world via words. Direct and Indirect Speech Acts It is obvious that we have three structural forms (declarative, interrogative, imperative) and the three general communicative functions (statement, question, command/order) respectively. The table below clarifies more about what we pointed out. Whenever there is a direct relationship between a structure and a function, we have a direct speech act. Furthermore, there is a match between sentence meaning and speaker meaning, that is to say, the form of the utterance coincides with what a speaker is intending to convey. But in case of having indirect relationship between the two which mentioned before we have indirect speech act. Therefore, when a declarative used to make a statement it is functioning as a direct speech act, but when it used to make a request it is functioning as an indirect speech act. Consider the following instances A-It is hot. B-I hereby tell you about weather. C-I hereby request of you that you open the door. It is clear that the sentence A is a declarative, the sentence B used as statement so, it is direct speech act but the last sentence C used as command therefore; it is indirect speech act. A speech act can be indirect where one illocutionary act is performed by another. Well-known examples are requests which are superficially question. We expect actions rather than answer. A-Can you pass the sault? B-Would you mind if I opened the door? So, the above mentioned sentences superficially are interrogative and they are direct speech act but if we look at them deeply they become request and in this case they are indirect speech act. It is quite true to say that different structures used to attain the same function. The examples below show that the speaker wants the addressee not to stand in front of the TV. A-Move out of the way! B-Do you have to stand in front of the TV? C-You are standing in front of the TV. D-Youd make a better door than a window. The basic function of all the utterances is a command. The first instance is direct speech act because its structure is imperative. Whilst the rest of the sentences are indirect speech acts because the interrogative structure is not used only as question and also the declarative structures are not used only as statement. Conclusion Needless to say, that conclusion shows the product of any turn paper, research and etc. In this turn paper, a formal account of speech acts provided. Throughout reading it, I infer that we can extend what a speaker means by his/her words. Thus, utterances are not uniquely used to describe states of affairs but rather they convey speakers intention to the addressee. Speech act comprises the notion of speaker meaning since through it the intentions of the speaker can be felt or found it. Also, I conclude that speech act is one of the helpful factors for decoding those words that uttered by a speaker. It is obvious that there is communication in speech act between speaker and hearer and this communication conveys not only linguistic meanings but also expressing attitudes, and understanding is a matter of recognizing the attitudes being expressed. Another conclusion which is not to be forgotten is that if a sentence is interrogative, the same sentence could be regarded as request if we look at it deeply. The sentence Could you sign the papers, please? is our evidence. So, this case only occurred in speech act, one is direct and the other is indirect and the sentence has two functions question and request.

Television Violence :: essays research papers

Television Violence   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Violence in television, is it turning our children into violent, destructive, and hateful toddlers. Yes or no? In today's society television plays such a big role in our everyday lives that it is hard to see if it effects our children's behavior. Television has the potential of being a very constructive learning tool, if used correctly. On the other hand if used in a destructive manner it could, hypothetically, turn our children and future leaders of tomorrow into deadly hate mongers. I believe that television does effect the way people think and behave.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In a survey given in 1978 at an unnamed college in Washington D.C., when asked if what was seen on T.V. effected the way they acted ,2% thought it did , 7% didn't know and ,91% didn't think it effected them at all(2). In 1993 a similar survey was given in London by the Broadcasting Standard Council( BSC ). When people were asked if they thought T.V. effected the way people behaved 41% said yes, 4% left without finishing the survey, and 55% said that they didn't think it effected the way people acted(14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As seen in the survey the problem of television violence is being made more aware to the people of the world. The problem has also grown over the years to a more serious dilemma making the government start to try and solve the problem by initiating laws in which television stations must limit violence on T.V.(6). It is still not enough though the problem must be taken care of promptly before it changes society as a whole. If the problem is not taken care of swiftly then it could effect the future of the world by having violence rampage the streets of our towns.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the past when television was first invented it was a much happier time. people could walk on our streets without having to care if they were going to make it home alive. I'm not trying to say that television is the reason that society today is so dangerously violent, but as violence on television evolved so did the violence on our streets. In the past there were not as many violent T.V. shows if there were even any. Also T.V. was more of a family recreation, most families could only afford one T.V. set so when children watched T.V. they were supervised by their family making violence almost an impossible thing to see if parents were not interested. Today, there are an average of three televisions per household so it is harder for parents to make Television Violence :: essays research papers Television Violence   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Violence in television, is it turning our children into violent, destructive, and hateful toddlers. Yes or no? In today's society television plays such a big role in our everyday lives that it is hard to see if it effects our children's behavior. Television has the potential of being a very constructive learning tool, if used correctly. On the other hand if used in a destructive manner it could, hypothetically, turn our children and future leaders of tomorrow into deadly hate mongers. I believe that television does effect the way people think and behave.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In a survey given in 1978 at an unnamed college in Washington D.C., when asked if what was seen on T.V. effected the way they acted ,2% thought it did , 7% didn't know and ,91% didn't think it effected them at all(2). In 1993 a similar survey was given in London by the Broadcasting Standard Council( BSC ). When people were asked if they thought T.V. effected the way people behaved 41% said yes, 4% left without finishing the survey, and 55% said that they didn't think it effected the way people acted(14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As seen in the survey the problem of television violence is being made more aware to the people of the world. The problem has also grown over the years to a more serious dilemma making the government start to try and solve the problem by initiating laws in which television stations must limit violence on T.V.(6). It is still not enough though the problem must be taken care of promptly before it changes society as a whole. If the problem is not taken care of swiftly then it could effect the future of the world by having violence rampage the streets of our towns.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the past when television was first invented it was a much happier time. people could walk on our streets without having to care if they were going to make it home alive. I'm not trying to say that television is the reason that society today is so dangerously violent, but as violence on television evolved so did the violence on our streets. In the past there were not as many violent T.V. shows if there were even any. Also T.V. was more of a family recreation, most families could only afford one T.V. set so when children watched T.V. they were supervised by their family making violence almost an impossible thing to see if parents were not interested. Today, there are an average of three televisions per household so it is harder for parents to make

Military vs. Civilian life Essay

5 A.M. and morning drill is blaring over troop’s heads. One more morning that doesn’t allow extra sleep. These are thoughts that are going through military member’s heads as they are herded down to chow like a bunch of cattle. They had a choice to become a respected member of the military community or fight for college and rent money out in the civilian world. Leading a â€Å"normal† life is a big decision. The option of military is thrown into senior’s heads pre graduation. This is the time to outweigh the pros and cons of such a life changing profession. When faced with the decision to go to college cost is always an issue. The options are limited on how it should be paid for. In general, civilian life offers more money. But there is a catch: more money must be spent to get educated. On the other hand, in the military college is completely paid for while on active duty. The college money doesn’t stop there. Upon getting out of the military, member’s get what’s called a GI bill. This is more money that is given every semester while in school, to further one’s education. The best part about the GI bill is that it does not have to be paid back. It is common knowledge that a degree is needed to get a well paying job, having the military pay for this is a great perk. Many things are either substantially cheaper or free in the military. Medical and dental care is an example of this. These bills can get outrageous for simple things as going in for a stomach ache. Military makes it a little easier on troops in that it provides most dental and medical services right on base. It is easy to make a phone call to a medical provider and be seen without having the stresses of cost and missing work. In the civilian world, if seeing a doctor is necessary during work hours, it is considered missed work and not paid for. Traveling the world at the military’s expense is a liberating experience. Most likely traveling to see several locations through deployment and temporary duty locations will happen. As a civilian paying for traveling expenses is a must, unless a job is found that pays for this. Vacation time is a major factor when traveling. Most civilian employers start an employee at 10-14 vacation days per year, with little increase until several years  have been devoted to the employer. If no vacation days have been acquired as a civilian then traveling is virtually impossible. However, in the military 30 days of vacation are guaranteed a year, those days are not counted against a member if they are sent to another air force base for work. Many times the military will send troops to a stateside base to attend some work issues. More often than not there is free time that allows the member to see the sights around where they were sent. So in a sense this is a â€Å"free† vacation. A normal thought that comes with joining the military is war, and all the above perks of the military are outweighed by the fear of dying. However, being faced with a life decision such as what to do after high school causes one to weigh the pros and cons of all their options. Joining the military or going to college and finding a job of that gives added perks, is based solely on what type of person he/she is and what one is looking for in life.

How to Write a Critical Thinking Essay on Consumer Behavior

How to Write a Critical Thinking Essay on Consumer Behavior Consumer behavior is an exciting subject to study and a necessity for business majors. In fact, business students wishing to understand the whys and how’s of modern day marketing needs to learn the ins and outs of consumer behavior first hand. Understanding this need, professors encourage their students to learn beyond their teachings by assigning critical thinking essays. If your instructor just told you to write one, you may think that this is a challenge you are not up for. Luckily, the following guide details a template for writing critical thinking essays which you can use for any subject, including consumer behavior. Pre-Writing Stage Before you even start, you have to pick a topic for your paper. If you have trouble choosing a topic, select one from our list of 20 topics on consumer behavior for a critical thinking essay or be inspired to come up with your own after reading our 13 facts on consumer behavior for a critical thinking essay. Next comes research; look up authoritative sources and carefully read through the best materials on the subject. Finally, outline the main points and analyze the argument presented. The following are some important tips you should keep in mind throughout this stage: Reflect on what you have just read. Consider the authority of the source of information. Identify the conclusion of the argument. See how the argument is formed, step by step. Evaluate the merit of the evidence presented. Observe how the information is presented (table, text, maps, charts, etc.). Learn to recognize the difference among facts, opinions and opinions. Check if the facts are biased. Weigh the evidence and present your own argument. Complete this step successfully and more than half your work will be done. Now, it is time to move on to actually writing the essay. Introduction Since it is the first paragraph of your essay, your introduction needs to help readers identify your chosen topic. Present the context of the topic and then move on to the thesis. The thesis is the central idea of your paper, so it needs to be clear, direct, and strongly worded. End this section in a way that provides your reader with overview of what they are about to read. Main Body Use the first few paragraphs to summarize your main ideas. Each of these ideas must support your thesis and be thoroughly elaborated on in the subsequent paragraphs. Basically, you should write out the idea and then present evidence supporting it. This evidence will work in favor of your point. In case you are wondering, three to five paragraphs are enough to support a thesis. Once you are done with this part, you need to tackle the other side’s arguments and objections. Address these in a separate paragraph while highlighting why these criticisms are not applicable. Conclusion This is the part where you tie all the strings of your different arguments into a clear statement. Describe the implications and importance of your findings and restate your thesis in a coherent manner to drive the point home. Include any unaddressed avenue as a potential direction for future research. This template will help you draft a critical thinking essay on consumer behavior. Follow its steps and stick to its guidelines unless your instructor provides you with their own formatting requirements.

buy custom Business and Finance essay

buy custom Business and Finance essay Finance department plays a dominant role in the long run productivity of an organization. There is a marginal different lies between accounts and finance. Accounting refers to the recording and articulating the data while finance deals with the utilization of funds at a place from where the likelihood becomes easy. Capital Budgeting is one of the most important branches of Finance, which deals with the analysis of the future of a project which an organization is wishing to undertake. Organizations have to consider the working of capital budgeting in order to take only those projects which actually increases the worth of the company. There are certain tools used specifically for capital budgeting and project evaluation purpose. The main perspective of this assignment deals with a case study of capital budgeting and project evaluation. There are different characters present in the case study which are the upper management personnel of a company. We are supposing as the financial consultant who later on start his work to analyze the proposals. There are two proposals which are in consideration of this assignment which predominantly are Project X and Project Y. Some of the specification given in the case study is mentioned below, There are basically two steps involved in this computation. First of all, we have given the actual quantity which will produce by the company which will be 150,000 units which increases by 8% for the next 4 years. Each unit will be sold at a price of 40. Each year, the sale revenue also increased by 8% while the operating cost covering an initial cost of 16 a unit also increased with the same proportion. The next table includes the initial outlay of 2.2 million pounds and then the depreciation computed with the help of Straight Line Method (SLM). A value of 4, 40,000 pounds has been depreciated each year for the next 5 years of the machine of project Y. Working capital which has been computed as 12% of the total revenue excluded from the initial outlay. We have arrived on the net income figure after deducting depreciation, tax and operating cost from the sales revenue. Please note that we have still not reached on the cash flow from operation and from investment which will be used later on in project evaluation. There is another table which computed the same, Net Present Value (NPV)Finally, we have reached on the cash flow which will be used in further analysis. The final cash flows are 3048,000, 3192000, 3405120, 3635290 and 388873. Now we have 3 different tools which will be used here project evaluation. The three tools which will be used here are Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Profitability Index (PI). After computing these things, analysis will be done to analyze will the company has to accept the project or should not. Net Present Value (hereafter NPV) is the most widely used tool to assess the economic compatibility of a particular project. Basically the NPV which is also called Net Present worth (NPW) is a time series of cash flows which are both ingoing and outgoing is called NPV. Basically it is the sum of all the present values of the individual cash flows (Edwin Ruud, 2000). NPV is very useful in the world of finance and has been counted as the central tool to appraise the long term projects with the help of discounted cash flow techniques and time value of money factor. NPV is the most powerful tool to analyze a project. Project managers and financial analysts use this particular tool to analyze the actual worth of a project. With the help of this tool a manager becomes able to analyze that whether or not the project will actually increase or decrease the worth of the company. The hurdle rate or Weighted Average Cost of Capital of Project Y is 16%. Mentioned below table analyzes the NPV of project Y. We analyze that, project Y can be accepted easily because of its positive NPV. The main issue here is that there is another project which is Project X and the company has to make a mutually exclusive choice, like they have to select only a single project instead of one. Project X NPV analysis is mentioned below,From this analysis, it can be clearly seen that Project Y will actually increase the worth of the company as the NPV of the company lies in positive term. From the analysis, it is found that the NPV of the company is more than 8.8 million GBP which is very handy from the viewpoint of a company. The cash flow which we have computed through capital budgeting is increasing year on year (YOY) by a reasonable percentage of 8% which then be discounted at a rate of 16% of WACC. Internal Rate of ReturnNow, the comparison is extremely easy. Project Y can increase the worth of the company more than by 8 million GBP, while Project X can only increase the worth by 2.1 million GBP. Hence, the company has to look forward to invest in Project Y rather than in project X. Internal Rate of Return (IRR) is another widely used tool to analyze a company or project before taking it. IRR is the rate on which the NPV of the project becomes zero. If the computed IRR comes out greater than the discount or hurdle rate then the project should be taken. Apart from IRR, Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR) is another tool to analyze the company. MIRR is a rate which initially computes through IRR and then reinvests the same on some rate (Edwin Ruud, 2000). This particular tool is not widely used by the companies to analyze the projects and companies. This is another important tool which has been used by the companies to evaluate the effectiveness of a project. The actual hurdle rate or WACC of the project is 16% and the computed discounted IRR is 108% which is way higher than the actual WACC of the company, hence according to the law, the project must be selected; lets now compute the IRR of project X for the comparison. IRR which is again an important tool is manifesting that project Y is superior to project X because of high amount of NPV and IRR. The discounted IRR of the projects are 108% and 32% of project Y and Project X respectively and the company should go for the larger one. Profitability Index (PI) Profitability index (PI) which is also called the Profit Investment Ratio (PIR) is another widely used ratio in the world of finance. This particular tool is used to rank the projects and it is used with the NPV of the project. If the PI of the project comes more than 1, then one have to invest in this project otherwise one must abrogate the idea of investing in the project (Edwin Ruud, 2000). ConclusionAccording to the rule, will be more than 1 to select. Here the PI is 4 and it should be select accordingly. The entire world is moving with a lightning speed and continuously apprising that the current era is the era of globalization and technology (Edwin Ruud, 2000). Globalization is a situation in which a single effect leaves an ultimate effect over the other thing as well. Due to the globalization, the insurgence of new companies has increased tremendously which is inevitably contributing in the long run economic growth of the companies (Edwin Ruud, 2000). Business decisions are always difficult to take because of it sophisticated nature. There are numerous methods come under the ambit of taking business decisions for an organization. From the entire analysis, it can be said that the company should go with the investment in Project Y rather than Project X. Buy custom Business and Finance essay

Student Anaylsis on FritoLay's Dips Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Student Anaylsis on FritoLay's Dips - Essay Example Frito-Lay's capacity to realize this strategic objective is predicated on the company's ability to accurately identify the relevant strategic issues, understand the challenges to the realization of this goal, and analyze and evaluate its position. This report shall do just that, concluding with a set of recommendations. Frito Dips has been a major player in the salty snacks market with 33% market share. It is North America's largest and most popular snack food manufacturer, and controls a good third of the salty-snack market. Its position in the dips market, however, is unstable. This is largely because of the reputation of its competitors, which include Borden and Kraft, not to mention several local companies who are also determinedly trying to capitalize on the popularity of cheese dips' market. The fact is that the reputation of both Borden and Kraft in the cheese dip market function as an immediate obstacle to Frito-Lay's capacity to realize its strategic objective vis--vis the cheese dips' market. Considering Frito-Lay's supremacy in the salty snacks market and its status as an untested brand in the cheese dips market, several questions impose themselves upon us. As the company has enjoyed a solid profitability base, the question that now arises is how to sustain profit levels in the dips category The major problem lies in how to develop Frito Lays dips and capitalize on the new shelf stable sour cream based dip to maintain the high growth rates the company has achieved in recent years. Would the best future strategy be to pursue an aggressive promotion in the market for the chip-dip category which appears to be reaching saturation levels or develop the vegetable-dip category, which requires the development of new modes of marketing and entry into a hitherto unfamiliar market Indeed, the question is whether or not entry into segments of the snack food market where Frito-Lay does not have the consumer-base its competitors do and which already appear to be highly saturated is w ise. If there are profits to be accrued and a market segment to be capitalized upon, should Frito-Lay, Inc. seek entry into the cheese or the vegetable dips' markets Answers shall be provided in the form of recommendations, following a critical evaluative analysis of the market and Frito-Lay's position therein. Analysis and evaluation: The popularity of dips in general, as accompaniments to snacks and vegetables has grown in recent years. The vast majority of sales, however, estimated at 80%, occur through supermarket outlets, in addition to which, 45% of available dips are of the shelf stable variety. Out of the total $650 million in annual sales for all types and kinds of dips, the latter accounts for $185 million. Two-thirds of the available dips are the prepared, ready-to-serve, variety while the remainder is comprised of different kinds of dip mixes to be prepared at home. Sour cream based dips are most popular, accounting for 50% of total sales. The popularity of Mexican foods

The Difference Between Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan Essay

The Difference Between Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan - Essay Example Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan too used different philosophies in delivering their mandate. The two former presidents of the United States of America led the two most influential presidencies of post-war United States of America. It is, therefore, the intention of the paper to provide a detailed analysis of Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan concerning their philosophies of governance. Lyndon Johnson believed that was the responsibility of the big government to offer solutions to a number of problems facing American citizens (Langston, 1992). Concerning this, Lyndon believed that the social problems the Americans faced could only get a solution from the tax and the government. Johnson valued the program of the great society that aimed at giving quality life to all Americans. The program involved itself in ensuring a better education for the Americans and jobs. In addition, the program could help in fighting poverty as well as empowering the civil societies. The notion behind this was that, the civil societies could help in speaking for the poor through demonstrations and dialog. On the other hand, Ronald Reagan, believed that the big governments were the problem concerning valid solutions for the problems facing the Americans. In this regard, therefore, Reagan believes so much in the delegation of responsibilities. Reagan believes that delegation of duty helps bet ter the lives of miserable Americans than it being the role of the big federal government. In addition, Reagan had the ability to communicate convincingly concerning his vision for the Americans. The eloquence compensated for inadequacy in Reagan’s intellectual ability. Reagan’s conservative nature of wanting to uphold strategies that never worked contradicts Lyndon’s liberal nature. Lyndon remained open to trying new strategies in delivering to the American people, as Reagan believed in the delegation of duty. The delegation had failed severally and yet Reagan embraced it. In