Monday, September 30, 2019

Analyzing Disorders

Eating, substance abuse, sex, gender, sexual, and personality disorders are among the group of disorders that affect many in society. Unfortunately, it is harder to diagnose some disorders, however with symptoms being early detected it is easier to diagnose these disorders. Disorders initiate from an origin. Biological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components exist; these factors develop according to daily living and exposure to various environments.Explanation through analyzing the components and statistics gives a better understanding and reasoning behind unwanted behaviors and the numbers of people who these disorders affects will be explained further in this paper. When it comes to eating disorders and the biological components involved in this would be obviously genetic and hormonal but Hansell and Damour also said that neurotransmitter abnormalities, and brain abnormalities association with the disorders play a role in the biological aspects on eating disorders.Also sub stance abuse, the biological components studied through research focuses on the role genetics plays in substance abuse (Hansell & Damour, 2008). Sexual dysfunctions viewed from the biological aspect can occur from medical illnesses. The medication prescribed for various medical illness such as diabetes and heart disease, contributes as a biological component (Hansell & Damour, 2008),unlike, the biological components of Gender Identity disorder (GID), but Society debates and wonders if a person is born homosexual. Gender Identity disorders involve an intense discomfort with his biological sex and prefer to be female instead of male.Much emphasis has been placed on temperament, which is an inborn behavioral tendency (Hansell & Damour, 2008). If a person believes that a person is free to believe in their own sexual preference is one he or she desires it could be a result of the environment they were raised in. disorders links to prenatal drug use (Hansell & Damour, 2008). People such a s Ted Bundy were prime examples of this type of situation. He never knew his father, his mother did not show him affection, and his bad experience with a second-grade teacher gave him the urge to want to kill at age seven (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 009).Moreover, sexual disorders have a variety of psychological factors. Although biological components make up a portion of disorders, still other factors remain in the equation. Biological and emotional make up have been researched and help with the understanding of abnormal behaviors like substance abuse, sex, sexual and personality disorders, and gender, and the fact that there is an emotional connection. For example eating disorders are likely, when combined with psychological vulnerability, and family emphasis about weight, and appearance (Hansell & Damour, 2008).Improving troubled emotions through self-improvement, self- acceptance, ego, and relationship skills are significant components in relation to substance abuse, such as peop le with alcoholism in their family. ). Unfortunately, sexual disorders in some cases like perihelia occur from a sexual trauma and problematic emotions of humiliation, shame, and rage (Hansell & Damour, 2008). Many disorders involve anxiety, usually brought on by environmental and social factors, and some even traumatic experiences.The explanation of eating disorders on a cognitive-behavioral level focuses on experiences that have caused or reinforces eating disorder behaviors addressing the faulty and distorted thoughts that many with eating disorders suffering eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia both results from a combination of dysfunctional thoughts and repeated experiences that have reinforced the behaviors of eating disorders (Hansell & Damour, 2008). Eating disorders have extra pressures to the victims not only because of the media and society, but sometimes this is caused by family.Substance abuse may result from exposure in the wrong environment and learning from others. Although substance abuse of drugs or alcohol in men is twice likely than for women (Hansell & Damour, 2008), but substance abuse just as other disorders have many components to factor in the equation. In addition stress and negative thinking patterns contributes to relapses for some (Hansell & Damour, 2008). Substance abuse can be described and understood by classical and operant conditioning and social learning model.The observation of others is also a key factor in the behaviors people may display, behavioral intervention helps to reverse nwanted behaviors and maladaptive patterns of deviant sexual arousal (Hansell & Damour, 2008). Different components of personality disorders come into play when it comes to personality disorders some of those components are cognitive and some are behavioral components, and these different components help in underlying assumptions of cognitive e distortions. A person suffering will convince himself that the world is dangerous; he is helpl ess, vulnerable, unaccepted by others, and believing that his feelings are of no value.People who suffer from neurotic disorders found to have traits such as anxiety, hysteria, and obsessive compulsive disorder, studies of identical twins was greater than fraternal twins; neurotic needs by definition are non-productive and those people live unhealthy lives (Feist, & Feist, 2009). Each disorder has its own similarities even if it is eating, substance abuse, sex, gender, sexual. These disorders have their own separation and classifications such as age, gender, and class helps to breakdown the groups that suffer from various disorders.Whether biological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral can help in assisting the professionals to understand patterns. The various approaches are an advantage and helps society realize the number of influences that affect eating habits, drug use, sexual, gender, and personality disorders, but when addressing the needs and reducing the outcome for women, men, and children is of the essence, most important addressing the forces behind the behaviors opens the door for components that form and support behaviors biological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Education vs. Non-Education Essay

There are two important stories called, â€Å"Front Seat Brahman† and â€Å"Teachers of Import† that have a common conflict. That common conflict is education vs. non-education. The character in â€Å"Front Seat Brahman† is Sushil Rao. He is from Bombay, India. The characters in â€Å"The Teachers of Import† are Amarel Collymore and Elke Walcher. Amarel is from Bridgetown, Barbados and Elke is from Austria. They all moved to Queens, New York for a particular reason. Sushil did not mention whether or not he went to elementary or high school. However, from the story it sounds like he took school lightly compared to Amarel and Elke. Sushil states, â€Å"I went away to agriculture college to learn how to be a farmer, but they made me dissect frogs in a botany class so I quite. So I enrolled in a philosophy college. A year later, my father died and I was kind of out of control. I quite college and became a traveling hippie† (Lehrer/ Sloan, 32). This proves that he did try to go to college, but was not dedicated enough to finish college. He thought there were better opportunities and prospects out in the world than just going to college. That was not the case for Amarel and Elke. Amarel was a college graduate and taught high school English. She had decades of teaching experience and decided to come to New York. Elke was also a college graduate and taught science. Both teachers came to teach in New York because there was a shortage of teachers and the New York City Board of Education was looking to recruit teachers from different countries. Amarel was not used to the student’s behavior the first week of classes. She states, â€Å"In Barbados, if a student acts up, they get put out the door right away. When I first started teaching here I thought the kids were raging all the time. Then I figured out its just normal for them to curse and swear† (Lehrer/ Sloan, 55). This shows the differences between the way students act in Barbados vs. America. I think American students, depending on the school though; have very low respect for their teachers compared to certain countries. Elke had a different experience. She said, â€Å"It’s a prejudice Europeans have against blacks anyways. The movies give the impression that all blacks are criminals and they all live in the Bronx. I couldn’t believe the class was half black. Most of the guys are wearing gang jackets and bandanas† (Lehrer/ Sloan, 59). This proves that Elke was in for a big surprise and they were not like the Austrian students that she was used to. Sushil was more of a spiritual person rather than educational. For example Sushil says, â€Å"You can live without food for days at a time. But water you need almost every four hours. Water is like diamonds. Our life depends on it† (Lehrer/ Sloan, 36)! People know they cannot live without water, but I have never heard anyone phrase is quite like that. This shows that Sushil is such a deep and meaningful man. Sushil has such a great view of life and appreciates it so much more than the average American. The two teachers and Sushil make the education vs. non-education conflict have some similarities and differences. The two teachers take such great pride in their work as teachers. Just as Sushil takes pride in sharing his stories with people, cooking and his publishing company. He did not need college to succeed like Amarel and Elke, but the women definitely make education a big part of their lives. These are just two different views these people have. In a way, Sushil was teaching the people in the cabs about his country and his beliefs, just as the two teachers teacher their students. Sushil does not mention how education is portrayed in India, but according to Amarel and Elke teachers are very well respected and getting an education is very highly though of. The two teachers were not sure they wanted to stay in New York or go back home and teach. In the end, they did both want to stay. Amarel concludes with, â€Å"I’ve gotten accustomed to these kids. The Lord brought me here for something. I am not yet sure what it is. I know now if I hate to, I could teach anywhere. But I’d like to teach here again next year if I can† (Lehrer/ Sloan, 57). Elke concludes with, â€Å"Teaching is a calling. If you do it just for the money you won’t last. Especially in New York. Some of the teachers look at me like I’m nuts whenever I talk with great enthusiasm for teaching† (Lehrer/ Sloan, 61). This show that both teachers are now getting used to the idea that they can help these students and teach them to respect teachers more. They both succeeded in the end. Sushil also succeeded even though he did not go to college and education was not a part of his life. He was starting to make dinners for his friend and all his friends. Then Sushil and his friend started up a publishing company together. That proved he did not need a professional education. He was poetic and creative and that made him a success.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Film & Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Film & Society - Essay Example The aspect offers an excellent lesson that an individual’s fear over particular things in them or their fear over change may project onto other things that may result to the development of very ugly social situations. The aspect helped me to understand that a healthy social life is solely dependent on my readiness to accept change so as to accommodate other people with their social aspects. Fear of change, however, only results to adverse social implications (Grainge 45). The twelve angry men film involves an eighteen year old Hispanic boy whose origin was in a slum on a trial. He was facing allegations of having stabbed his father to death. The twelve jurors happen to be the film’s protagonist. They were involved into a very long discussion in trying to make a verdict whether the boy was guilty or not with jurors shifting from one stand to another depending on rising facts as the discussion continued. Finally, all the jurors except the juror three came to a consensus that the boy was not guilty (Rose 45). After the juror three had given many arguments, he ended up making a remark that rotten kids they should work their life. The remark revealed that he had a poor relationship with his son, and that was his main reason for him pushing for the boy to be regarded as guilty. The aspect also creates an impression of how fear of change and lack of understanding may cause adverse social implications. However, he finally lost his temper and broke down to cry and changed his vote to not guilty (Rose 87). In the movie the smoke signals, the movie’s protagonists Thomas and victor are revealed to have been brought up by victor’s father, Arnold. Thomas being rescued by Arnold from a fire that killed his parents considered victor’s father as a hero while Thomas endures his father’s domestic violence, child abandonment and alcoholism. He, therefore, regards his father bitter resentment

Friday, September 27, 2019

Nespresso Entering Kiev Market Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Nespresso Entering Kiev Market - Assignment Example It also includes target market, brand positioning and marketing mix. The report also encompasses market development which shows how Nespresso will survive and struggle. Finally, there is an exit strategy for Nespresso. Thus, this report will give an overall view of the possible hurdles and the outcomes that Nespresso might have to face. Keywords: Nespresso, Kiev, International Market According to Nespresso (2011), â€Å"As the worldwide pioneer, Nespresso redefined the way coffee lovers around the world enjoy their Espresso coffee through a unique combination of premium quality Grand Cru coffees, smart coffee machines and exceptional customer services.† â€Å"Kiev is the capital city of Ukraine, its largest economical, political, educational and cultural centre. Kiev offers endless opportunities for tourism† (Kiev, 2011) From the facts above, it is obvious that Nespresso has been doing great in international markets and Kiev seems to be a good investment for Nespresso. Even so, there are bound to be hurdles and opportunities at the same time. Therefore, the analysis done ahead will give us an insight on how Nespresso will do on entering Kiev. Purpose of the Plan The purpose of this business plan is to analyze the possibility of survival in Ukrainian market, to define the entry, marketing mix, and even to formulate an exit strategy, just in case. The situation analysis will help us learn whether it is feasible for Nespresso to enter Kiev or not. Thus, this business plan will help us foresee the outcomes of Nespresso entering Kiev market. The Idea Kiev is a good place for tourists, plus the people of Kiev not only eat local food but also eat continental food. They have Italian and French restaurants as well. They also like to eat fast food, American and Russian dishes. Thus, given that the people at Kiev have taste buds for food other than local Ukrainian dishes (Kiev, 2011). People all around the world crave coffee and if the coffee you are having is Nespresso then it is difficult to resist. Nespresso does not only give high quality coffee, but also provides an unmatched personal service. These days, service has become just as important as t he product, and Nespresso proves that it is excellent at both and that is what makes it so much better than other coffees. According to Nespresso (2011) â€Å"At  Nespresso, creating the perfect coffee is at the heart of what we do. Delighting coffee lovers is why we do it.† Hence that is basically the idea behind entering Kiev as well, to satisfy not only the need of taste buds but also the need of good service seekers. Situation Analysis In this case, the situation analysis will be done with the help of 5C’s. (Net MBA, 2010) Company Nespresso is espresso made by Nestle, it has a healthy rapport in the market not only locally but also in international market, be it west or east. Nespresso not only produces excellent quality coffee but also gives quality service which a huge plus. It also has a huge range of Nespresso machines which are smart, stylish and user friendly. Collaborators Nespresso works with its Ecollaboration partners to improve its sustainability (Nesp resso, 2011) Customers When it comes to coffee, there are those who go for supreme quality, then there are those who have coffee on daily basis and will go for coffee of any kind, some don’t like plain coffee and like to create drinks that have coffee with caramel, chocolate and other syrups. Nowadays, kids also tend to go for coffee as a beverage. For kids, however, there is more sugar involved. Thus, coffee is for all market segments, and Nespresso can cater to the needs of all. Competitors For Nespresso,

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Social Care Policies in Global Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social Care Policies in Global Society - Essay Example The ageing of the population poses a remarkable challenge to all European welfare states and here the question of care becomes fundamental. Also the many changes taking place in family structures e.g., the increasing divorce rate, the growing number of children born out of marriage, the decreasing proportion of older people living together with their children, all generate new social assemblage where care has to be arranged in new ways. The high participation of women in paid work has contributed to changing care from 'just a women's business' to a major issue of public social policies. A functioning labor market presupposes functioning care arrangements. Even if a welfare state does not itself directly supply a broad variety and coverage of care services, it still remains responsible for providing the required support and guiding to enable families, voluntary and commercial organizations to provide the care that is needed.( Thomas ,1993)(1) Recently, it has become widely recognized that social care policies affect in various field of life of the people -children, family, workers, elderly people, disables, health of the people, education etc -whether it is globally or it is related to the particular countries. Wherever they exist, flexible care services are a major support for the reconciliation of work and family responsibilities. Under these circumstances, we shall analyse some of the fields where the social care policies applied by the government of UK and also we shall scrutinize how these policies differ from other European countries. To better understand, we shall take up the European country of Sweden to compare with UK.   Child care and Fostering   In Europe it is considered that the major cross-national differences are related to the extensiveness of the public sector role; the predominance of the education, health and social welfare systems in delivering the services; the proportion of children of different ages served by these programs; whether services are limited to the children of workingmothers; and the quality of the childcare provided. (Kamerman (1991, 180),).   

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Internet and Social networking Privacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Internet and Social networking Privacy - Essay Example The author of the essay "Internet and Social Networking Privacy" thinks that privacy concerns is one of the most troubling issues for users of social networking sites today, but this problem has been largely underresearched. Social networking sites are online communities that connect people through the Internet and Web 2.0.Facebook, MySpace, Tribe, the Classmates are just a few online social networking sites that attract thousands of people ever day worldwide. Whatever their real purpose, they enable users to upload lots of personal images, exchange messages, chat in chat rooms online, and actively share photos and files. Some sites allow informing the rest of the world about the individual’s movements. In conclusion, the specifics of social networking sites functioning (e.g. invite buddies function or openness of personal profile) often lead to undesirable exposure to the third parties. This, however, does not prevent most users from using the limitations on their profiles. Raising awareness among users about perceived dangers of excessive disclosure is one way to handle the situation. Some other ways should include enhancing the privacy policy of certain websites, legislative restrictions, etc. This is because studies show that users are so much willing to share that they may neglect the risks even being aware of dangers. Out of the studies discussed above, the first one seems most credible since it uses the largest sample of 4, 000 students. Besides, it has the strongest theoretical basis and a broader range of research.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The impact of the economic, legal, political, technical, Essay

The impact of the economic, legal, political, technical, international, and social environments on administration - Essay Example The law is slated to take effect on October 17, 2005. When Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R. Wis.), chairman of the Congressional Judiciary Committee sponsored the legislation, he and his committee members and Congress in general acknowledged that banks and credit card companies were suspect to large losses, from the high incidence of Chapter 7 filings. However, there would soon be another downside which both the Judiciary Committee and Congress in general, nor President Bush could have ever anticipated. On August 29, 2005 hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast and devastated the City of New Orleans. Three weeks later, hurricane Rita wreaked havoc on Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and left enough of its devastation in New Orleans to place them back at square one. In a survey by ISO, an insurance and risk data firm based in Jersey City, New Jersey, they found that personal and commercial loss claims for hurricane Katrina would likely be in the neighborhood of $34.4 billion, which qualifies it as the most costly natural disaster in United States history.(New York Times,2005) Albeit this figure is unprecedented and huge, it is by no means the final devastation figure. At least 99% of the persons who were housed at the Louisiana Superdome and the Civic Center, along with countless others who co-exist from pay check to paycheck who are uninsured, are yet to be tallied. Robert Lawless, a law professor at the University of Nevada Law School found in a recent Nevada Law Journal study that bankruptcy filings rose about 50 percent faster in states affected by hurricanes than in those unaffected. Mr. Lawless's study found that the peak in bankruptcy filings was not right after a storm but two to three years later. (New York Times/Editorial 05). Obviously the victims of Katrina will no doubt skew these findings as they u nquestionable fit the profile of those who typically file for chapter 7 relief.Lawless points out, "The commonality of most bankruptcy filers is a huge setback beyond their control, like illness, the death of a loved one, divorce or layoff".(New York Times). The banks and credit card companies who paid and lobbied for the passage of this new bankruptcy law, will no doubt benefit immensely because it will now become more difficult for Chapter 7 filers to erase their negative history. Obviously, this writer believes that under normal circumstances, when one establishes credit and incurs a debt, then you are obligated to pay. Of course the operative word here is "normal". If one has delusions of how abnormal things are in New Orleans after Katrina, one can listen to the plight of the Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin in an October 11, 2005 interview where he said. " 3 "I will lay-off 3,000 city employees because I have not been able to find the money to keep (non-essential) workers on the payroll".(Nagin qtd.Fox News) These individuals are at the bottom of the food chain and maybe they did not lose as much as many others, but now, all that they did have prior to

Monday, September 23, 2019

Long Australian (New South Wales) contract law scenario Is Seymour Essay

Long Australian (New South Wales) contract law scenario Is Seymour bound to his contracts with Agnes and with Krustylu - Essay Example However section 52 provides a general prohibition against misleading or deceptive conduct in commercial activities. Whether the violation of contract might also be breach of section 52 is a significant issue. The basis of such argument is the consideration that contractual promises are obligations which contracting parties have undertaken to fulfil, and to enter in to a contractual undertaking and subsequently fail to adhere to it is misleading with in meaning of section 52. There have been several cases (FN2, FN3 and FN4) in which consideration has been given to the scope of section 52. However, if the agreement is signed without consideration of moral principles guided or defined as per Australian contract law there is a sufficient ground for the client to seek for the relaxation. As the Seymour Skinner was forced to sign the agreement or contract which is nothing but violating the legal principles of contract, he is not bound to the contract with Agnes and Krustylu Television Studios to full extent. It has to be assessed whether an unfulfilled contractual promise itself as opposed to a defect in the promise constitutes a breach of section 52. Several cases revealed that an unfulfilled promissory contractual term to be declared as misleading needs to be argued under long Australian contract law (FN5). ... Breach of this contract is recognized by the law and legal remedies can be provided.Once the legality of the contract is maintained, then any party who signed the contract have to obey the contract. The agreement between Seymour and Agnes and Krustylu Television Studios clearly violated the legality, hence it comes under illegality of Australian contract law. Any person involved intentionally under this contract may be punished and the person who was forced to sign will be given sufficient chance to represent his case. Once the judicial body finds sufficient ground in defence of client, it may reconsider or review the contract and may declare the contract as void. (2) This contract comes under violation of principle of performance and breach. Australian courts have not definitively established the non-fulfilment of a contractual promise as conduct itself being misleading with in section 52 (FN7). As long as the "conduct" definition (FN8 and FN9) is satisfied, the person violating or non-fulfilling contractual promise will be charged under misleading conduct. Other wise section 52 of Australian trade Practices act relaxes the condition for client. It will provide enough opportunity for client to represent his case and show sufficient proof of not meeting the definition of "conduct" by the other party under the contract. (3) This contract has not obeyed the principle of undue influence. Seymour has been put under pressure to sign the contract. Even though Seymour Skinner admits that his mother was behind his successful career, it is not proper to expect that Seymour should sign a trade contract in favour of his mother Agnes. As it is the responsibility of any mother to shape the career of her children it is not to be linked with trade

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Beauty in The Bluest Eye Essay Example for Free

Beauty in The Bluest Eye Essay The Bluest Eye is a brilliantly written novel revealing the fictional trauma of an eleven-year-old black girl named Pecola Breedlove. This story takes place in the town of Lorain, Ohio during the 1940’s. It is told from the perspective of a young girl named Claudia MacTeer. She and her sister, Frieda, become witness to the terrible plights Pecola is unintentionally put through. Pecola chooses to hide from her disabling life behind her clouded dream of possessing the ever so cherished â€Å"bluest of eyes†. The Breedlove’s constant bickering and ever growing poverty contributes to the emotional downfall of this little girl. Pecola’s misery is obtained through the touch of her father’s hand and the voice of her community’s struggle with racial separation, anger, and ignorance. Her innocence is harshly ripped from her grasp as her father rapes her limp existence. The community’s anger with it’s own insecurities is taken out on this poor, ugly, black, non-ideal, young girl. She shields herself from this sorrow behind her obsessive plea for blue eyes. But her eyes do not replace the pain of carrying her fleeing father’s baby. Nor do they protect her from the shady eyes of her neighbours. Though this book discuses negative and disturbing situations, it teaches a very positive lesson. The theme of The Bluest Eye is that of depending on outside influences to become aware of one’s own beauty and to fabricate one’s own self image can be extremely damaging. Topic Tracking: Beauty Beauty 1: Claudia is constantly faced with white ideals of beauty. For Christmas one year, she receives a blue-eyed, blonde-haired, pink-skinned doll. Rather than adore the doll, she destroys and dismembers it as a result of her anger. Claudia feels she can never measure up to the beauty of white children, the beauty that all the world reveres. Beauty 2: The Breedloves are poor and ugly. At least that is how they think the world views them. Their beliefs that they are ugly come from white American media always portraying whites as representations of what is beautiful. Because of this, they do not strive for more, for they think that they do not deserve to have more. Beauty 3: Pecola wishes that she had blue eyes. She thinks that if her eyes were blue, and therefore beautiful according to white American standards, then her problems would go away and her life would be beautiful. Then maybe, her classmates and teachers would not despise her and think she was so ugly. She so hates hersel f that she stares at herself in the mirror trying to figure out where her ugliness comes from. Beauty 4: For one year Pecola prays that her eyes will turn blue. She has many problems in her life, starting with family issues, and she thinks that if she had blue eyes, her problems might go away. And even more than that, if she had blue eyes, people would see her as beautiful, and then she would be able to see herself as beautiful too. Being a black little girl in a society that idolizes blonde-haired blue-eyed beauty, Pecola thinks she is ugly. Pecola sympathizes for the dandelions because she knows what it is like to be devalued. She finds beauty in the weeds, for she thinks that people see her as a weed. Beauty 5: A new little girl, named Maureen Peal, comes to Claudia and Friedas school. Maureen is revered for her looks, which people deem beautiful. She has lighter skin and eyes than most of the other children, and everyone adores her because of this. She is looked upon as beautiful because her characteristics are somewhat more white than other black peoples. This causes many to be jealous of her. However, Claudia and Frieda are not jealous. They see through the standards placed on beauty, and if Maureen is what is beautiful, this means that they are not beautiful (according to society). Beauty 6: When the girls are walking home from getting ice cream after school, they pass a movie theater with a picture of Betty Grable on the building. Maureen and Pecola both say that they love Betty Grable, an icon for white American beauty with her blonde hair and blue eyes. However, showing her disdain for such standards placed on beauty, Claudia says that she prefers the actress, Hedy Lamarr, who has dark hair. Beauty 7: In her younger years, Pauline Breedlove occupied herself by going to the movies. It was here that she got her first glimpse into what idealized beauty was. She saw the Hollywood blonde-haired, blue-eyed bombshells as being true representations of beauty. And anything that strayed from these looks, including her own, was seen as not pretty. American society placed their standards of beauty onto the world, and because of this, many people began to realize how far away they were from those standards. Beauty 8: Pecola goes to visit Soaphead Church with the hope that he will be able to fulfill her wish to have blue eyes. She thinks that with blue eyes, all of her problems will disappear and the world will love her because she will be beautiful. The world, seen through blue eyes, will also appear beautiful to Pecola. Beauty 9: Claudia prays that Pecolas baby will survive. She needs the baby to live to counteract societys standards set on beauty, which say that blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girls are all that is pretty. Claudia hopes that with this new black baby people will change and see blackness as something that can be admired and something that is beautiful. Topic Tracking: Culture Culture 1: Mr. Henry moves into Claudia and Friedas house. One day, the girls come home and when they walk in Mr. Henry greets them. He flatters them by telling them they look just like Greta Garbo and Ginger Rogers, two white American female actresses. These two actresses represented American societys ideal beauty, with their blonde hair and blue eyes. They, and other actresses like them, were so idealized by the media that it forced young American girls, both white and black, to question their own beauty if it differed from the standard of blond hair and blue eyes. Culture 2: After seeing the cup with Shirley Temple on it, Claudia explains her ill feelings for her. Shirley Temple was the epitome of what all of America adored in little girls: her bouncy blonde curls and big blue eyes. This sickened Claudia, as she was so different from Shirley Temple and all of the other little girls who looked like Shirley. Culture 3: Claudia tells the story about the doll she received for Christma s one year. This doll was a beautiful doll that had blonde hair, blue eyes, and pink skin. Instead of appreciating the doll like most other children would have done, Claudia dismembered and destroyed the doll. She was sick of having American ideals of beauty placed on her, which said that being white with blonde hair and blue eyes was what was deemed as beautiful. Culture 4: This excerpt from a first grade reading primer describes the perfect white family. Morrison uses these excerpts in many points of the story to illustrate the dichotomy between the ideal white family, and the family of blacks, specifically Pecolas family. The reading book perpetuates the stigma that what is seen as ideal in American culture means having a neat little house, run by two loving parents, with two children, one of which has blonde hair and blue eyes, and a fun loving dog who plays with the children. This social stigma presses on children who are different that are reading these books, and makes them think they are abnormal and unacceptable. Culture 5: The Breedloves are described. They think they are poor and ugly, and it says that much of the reason they think this is because of the white American media. The media, as part of our culture, sets the standards for what defines beauty, and anything straying from these standards is viewed as ugly. Culture 6: Pecola is constantly faced with the standards set on her society by American culture. She cannot even enjoy a piece of candy without feeling that she is different and lacking in some way in terms of beauty. When she goes to eat her Mary Jane candy, she is mesmerized by the little girl of Mary Jane on the cover, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl. These cultural pressures of what defines beauty make Pecola aware of just how much she strays from that defined beauty. This eventually leads to her desire for blue eyes, which in turn leads her into madness. Culture 7: When Pecola, Maureen, Claudia and Frieda are walking home from the ice cream shop, they pass a theater with a picture of Betty Grable on it. Young girls are bombarded with American cultures ideals of beauty, such as pictures of famous actresses. Betty Grable in particular, with h er blonde hair and blue eyes, makes Pecola and Maureen want to look like her. However, despite all of their hopes and wishes, they will never be able to look like that, and they are left as the victims of a culture that standardizes and limits young children. Culture 8: During her younger years, Pauline Breedlove spent a lot of time at the movie theater. It was here where she learned American standards of true beauty. Constantly faced with actresses like Jean Harlow, the ultimate Hollywood blonde bombshell, Pauline was forced to examine her own beauty in terms of Harlows. She realized that she did not look anything like Harlow, and based on this, came to the conclusion that she must be ugly. However, her feelings of ugliness were purely based on cultural standards set on her through the medium of Hollywood. Culture 9: Claudia feels the need for Pecolas baby to be alive and healthy. She wants the baby to survive because she wants to counteract the cultural emphasis placed on white girls with blonde hair and blue eyes, exemplified by the types of white baby dolls most children adore (dolls that look like Shirley Temple). If Pecolas baby lives, maybe people can learn to love a black baby and see black as beautiful too. At least this is what Claudia is hoping for. Culture 10: Pecola beats her arms like a bird, and attempts to fly up to the sky. However, she cannot. The reason she cannot is because she has been held back by the culture in which she lives, a culture that values white beauty, and ignores black beauty. It was an inevitable end result that Pecola would never be able to achieve the standards of beauty she wanted to. She was born a black child, and unfortunately, her culture does not accept black beauty. Thus, her dreams would never be fulfilled. And even though she thinks she has blue eyes, the world around her does not recognize her as she wishes to be seen. And because of this, she is driven to madness, caused by the pressures and social standards of her culture.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Media Influence on Body Image Essay Example for Free

Media Influence on Body Image Essay So many people today are insecure about the way they look, either thinking themselves too fat, or having bad hair, skin, or simply just not attractive enough. Of course, much of this line of thinking is encouraged by the barrage of advertisements which portray skinny women and muscular men with perfect skin and hair traipsing around in exotic spots and driving the opposite sex crazy. More than any other outlet, the media is guilty of creating a misperception of what beauty really is and the anxieties and problems in society are exacerbated by their efforts. Celebrities make regular people feel that they need to spend a ridiculous amount of money and time on external appearance, as infomercials for beauty creams, workout regimens and equipment, foods and drinks, diets and countless other means of body modification are continuously hocked as ways to achieve happiness and contentment. Very few outlets in the media, whether television, movies, magazines, or the Internet encourage people to be comfortable with their bodies, even though reason dictates that true beauty is not something that relies completely on external appeal, but rather beauty is something that comes from within and can be shared with others. Beauty is everywhere. It can be in a sunset, a work of art, or in a masterpiece of architecture. There is manmade beauty and natural beauty, and both have unique appeals that inspire people to feel good about themselves and life. However, when it comes to human beauty, we are educated from the earliest ages that it is almost completely physical. The media portrays this in the form of men and women with perfectly sculpted bodies without an ounce of fat, lustrous and clear skin, soft, flowing hair, and a perfectly symmetrical face. The images of beautiful celebrities and fashion models stare at us from magazines in the checkout line at the grocery store. It seems everywhere that the media is telling people what beauty really is, and the effect is severe insecurities in the masses. This leads to pills, creams, hair restoration, breast implants, plastic surgery, and all kinds of other drastic actions in the hopes of attaining beauty. The inundation of media images of unnaturally thin women also has a significantly negative effect on young girls. Professor of psychology and body-image researcher, Sarah Murnen, and her colleagues reviewed 21 studies that looked at the media’s effect on more than 6,000 girls, ages 10 and older, and found those who were exposed to the most fashion magazines were more likely to suffer from poor body images (Hellmich). This can also lead the young girls to adopt unhealthy eating habits such as bulimia and anorexia in hopes to maintain what they feel as the ideal â€Å"beautiful† body. However, some companies are making an effort to dispel this, like Dove. Instead of images of long locks, longer legs and incredibly lean bodies, Dove brand beauty products and American Girl are promoting their products with a message of â€Å"real beauty† by encouraging women and girls to celebrate themselves as they are — while using the products, of course (Howard). While they are encouraging women to pursue a greater beauty than physical, they are still sending the contradictory message that young women need to use their products. However, the true definition of beauty is something that goes far deeper than these profit-driven interpretations espoused by the media. It is impossible to deny that certain men and women are not beautiful, for a perfect face and body attracts many people from all around, however like the old adage that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, everyone else may not universally agree upon the external and physical beauty of these people. Some people make think blonds are beautiful, while others prefer brunettes; some people may like blue eyes, while others only find brown beautiful. This shows the subjective nature of external beauty, which begs the question as to whether this beauty is significant at all or merely a matter of taste. To that end, it is far more productive to pursue a greater beauty in life, and not worry about physical beauty or achieving it. I believe the greatest beauty in life comes from within; and this kind of beauty can be achieved by everyone without pills, painful operations, or costly beauty treatments. I have learned not to put too much stock in the media’s representation of beauty, because I feel it robs from the more significant beauty that can be achieved in society when people think of each other and treat each other with equal respect and consideration. I do my best to live by the golden rule, and find situations the most beautiful when others do the same. I feel that many of the popular conceptions of beauty are based on half-truths and blatant deceptions, encouraging people to hide their flaws rather than love themselves. For me, honesty is beautiful, and I am always honest, unlike the advertisers that have something to gain by creating untruths and anxiety. Life is beautiful enough without having to worry about perfecting physical attributes, and the truth is that aesthetic beauty is not nearly as lasting as emotional, spiritual, and mental beauty. These are the kinds of beauty to which I aspire and have successfully managed to cultivate. I consider myself beautiful because I am generous to others, and see myself reflected in their appreciating eyes. I love to share my time and effort with others, and do so sincerely with no expectations for recognition or reciprocity. The reward for me is simply being alive to share what I have, and I find life itself beautiful. I try my best not to get caught up in the conventional definitions of conventional beauty, because they would expect me to devote my time to working on my physical attributes rather than my spiritual and mental beauty. I know my actions make me beautiful, because when I help others I also recall all the times that others have helped me and I realize that this is one of the most beautiful things that humans can achieve, as powerful as the most perfect sunset or double rainbow. While beauty may truly be in the eye of the beholder, I feel confident in my own beauty because I treat everything in life as it is: beautiful. I find joy in everything, am compassionate, and try to make everyone share in the beauty that I possess, hoping that they can also create his or her own. I try to be truthful in all regards, and try never to feel insecure that my beliefs in my own beauty are false. I refuse to adopt the media’s perception of beauty, and prefer to find my own conceptions in what I see is true beauty: generosity, compassion, and joy. For me, this is the truth, and like the words of John Keats, â€Å"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all/ Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know† (Keats). Works Cited: Hellmich, Nanci. â€Å"Do thin models warp girls’ body image?† USA Today. 26 Sep 2006. 29 Apr 2008. http://www. usatoday. com/news/health/2006-09-25-thin-models_x. htm. Howard, Theresa. â€Å"Ad campaign tell women to celebrate who they are. † USA Today/Dove. 8 Jul 2005. 12 Apr 2008. http://www. campaignforrealbeauty. com/press. asp? section=newsid=3073. Keats, John. â€Å"Ode to a Grecian Urn. † The Oxford Book of English Verse. 1901. Ed. Quiller- Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir. Bartleby. com. 1999. 12 Apr 2008. www. bartleby. com/ 101/625.

Friday, September 20, 2019

EU Economic And Monetary Policy Case Of Spain

EU Economic And Monetary Policy Case Of Spain This research paper aims to discuss how the EU has influenced economic and monetary policies of Spain and vice versa. This dual relationship is of utmost importance as we look at the costs and benefits the EMU has brought to Spain and the possibility of the long-standing inflation problem in Spain affecting EUs monetary policies. EU membership has undoubtedly largely influenced the economic policies and conditions of Spain. For example, Spains accession in 1986 forced the government and economic elites to adopt the necessary policies to embark on economic modernization. In addition, the European Monetary Union (EMU) Maastricht Treaty criteria resulted in Spain having to implement micro and macroeconomic policies like fiscal consolidation, central bank independence and wage moderation (Royo, 2006). Also, the current Greek debt crisis has also thrown the spotlight on Spain which is also undergoing a crisis of itself: competitiveness crisis. With this crisis in mind, it is highly unlike ly but still possible that EU might either choose to expel Spain from the euro area or undergo a series of policy reforms to deal with this crisis. This research paper will begin with an introduction of Spains accession into the EU, followed by the costs and benefits Spain experienced from complying with the EMU Maastricht Treaty. This will be followed by an investigation on the competitiveness crisis in Spain and its influence on the EU. Lastly, this paper will have a discussion on the possible economic and structural reforms that both Spain and EU should undertake to smoothen EU integration for both parties. Spains accession into the EU Before accession into the EU, Spains economy was of a protectionist nature. It remained largely outside the international economic trading area. However in the 1980s, Spain decided to integrate with Western Europe, and was enthusiastic in accommodating to the EC trade customs and rules in order to secure accession. Spain joined the EMU because it was economically beneficial then as the majority of Spains trading partners are in the EU. On January 1986, Spain joined the European community as a full member. Spain was a firm supporter of the European and Monetary Union from the very beginning and rushed to be a part of the European Monetary System (EMS) in 1989 (Sebastian Royo, 2003). The European Monetary Union was established with the purpose of creating and improves trade among European countries. Based on the accession agreement, the taxation policy of Spain was transformed dramatically. Firstly, Spain had to gradually remove custom duties as well as industrial tariffs on EC goods (US Library of Congress). Spains tax rebate on exports had to be removed too. In addition, Spain had to impose a value-added tax (VAT) which had affected Spain negatively in the 1980s. For instance, the introduction of VAT makes Spain a more expensive destination for inbound visitors/tourists and this will affect the Spanish tourism industry. 2.1 Implications of European financial integration on Spain More importantly, membership in the Economic Monetary Union has many implications on Spains domestic economic policies. This is because Spain now loses control of monetary and exchange rate polices to fix problems in its economy and have to rely on the EMUs monetary policy instead. The EMU is tasked with the objective to conduct policies to ensure and achieve stability and growth in the Euro zone (Trichet, 2005). European financial integration kick-started a series of reforms aimed at liberalizing and modernizing the Spanish economy. Accession to ERM and then EMU membership resulted in the reform of the tax system. This reform of the Spanish tax system includes the introduction of VAT as well as a reduction of import duties. This was accompanied by a fiscal consolidation process (reducing government budget and debt deficits). Membership in the EU which resulted in European financial integration has both positive effects and negative effects on the economy. The general consensus is that the economic outcome for Spains membership is still largely positive. For example, gross domestic product per capital (GDP) increased significantly from 1985 and 2005 (Elcano Royal Institute European Parliament Office in Spain, 2006). The Spanish economy has also enjoyed growth since accession. Furthermore Spain has received a large amount of funds since accession and has made use of these funds to finance regional cohesion projects and develop infrastructures to modernise the economy. In addition, with greater exchange rate stability, imports of goods and services in Spain rose significantly and thus there was a greater degree of openness in the Spanish economy. However there remain major differences in economic development between Spain and the leading economies in the EU. Financial integration due to EMU was not totally smooth-sailing for Spain. The financial integration, which resulted in industrial restricting, has adverse effects on the economy in the early 1980: it resulted in high unemployment. In addition, the 1992 EMS crisis was traumatic for Spain. The 1992 crisis originated from an increase in government spending in Germany. This coupled with contractionary monetary policy led to increase in interest rates which affected the rest of the members of the EMU. The result was a sharp decline in the growth rate of real GDP and Spain having to devalue thrice. Many jobs in Spain were lost in the crisis. Fortunately these effects were cushioned somewhat by an economic boom in Spain, the continuing fall in oil prices and large inflow of foreign direct investment into Spain as many foreign companies seek to grab a slice of Spains expanding consumer market (US Library of Congress). Therefore for Spain to seize the benefits of EU membership and enjoy economic growth as well as low inflation, it has to push forward its structural reforms as well undertake sound fiscal policies. Spain till now has succeeded in conducting sound fiscal policies. However its inherent problem of high inflation continues to threaten its competitiveness and hence its trade balance. This has not been resolved quickly partially because of complacency due to its early economic success in the EU (Royo, 2006). European financial integration of the EU which entails efficient free movement of capital, commitment to exchange rate stability as well as harmonization of capital taxes have many positive implications on the Spanish macroeconomic policies. One benefit is that free movement of capital results in a decrease in financial costs for companies and thus allowing companies to raise more resources. However European financial integration has its drawbacks too for Spain. For instance, such commitments come into conflict with the aim of the Spanish government to reduce inflation as such commitments tend to result in lower interest rates thus raising inflation rates. Nevertheless, EU membership has contributed to some extent in lowering inflation in Spain. The introduction of the Euro and the European Central Bank (ECB), have considerable success in limiting price increases. The ECBs main aim of its monetary policy is to keep inflation of those in the euro zone under control and achieves this b y raising interest rates. The ECB therefore sets long-term interest rates for all the EMU countries. Since entering the EMU and participating in the single currency, Euro, the Spanish economy has transformed in a starkly different manner as compared to its counterparts in the EU. Spains economic growth in terms of GDP and inflation rate has been significantly higher than the other member states in the EU (Andres, Hurtado, Ortega, Thomas, 2009). These differentials particularly the inflation differential is most probably caused by the convergence and the integration of foreign markets. In fact, the surrendering of a nations right to pursue autonomous monetary policy as a result of complying with EMU and ECB is one reason why Spain has problems reducing her traditionally high inflation rate. Therefore this is perhaps the reason why Spain is powerless to use initiatives like setting interest rates to control inflation. As mentioned previously, one of the most significant implications of EMU membership for Spain was the convergence of interest rates which resulted in extremely low interest rates in Spain. (Royo, 2006). The drastic decline of interest rates in Spain was necessary in order to secure entry into the EMU. In fact, this convergence of interest rates as a result of EMU membership has an indirect effect on Spains current account trade deficit. Low interest rates led to an explosion of credit and mortgages. This raises houses prices. Low interest rates cause savings to decrease and thus the saving rate is insufficient to finance investment projects, resulting in the private sector having a large trade deficit. Low interest rates also result in excess demand and leading to high goods and wage inflation. Therefore, although membership in the EU served as a primary trigger for the Spain to embark on liberalizing the economy and has largely improved trade, it also contributes to problems regarding Spains trade balance. This is because most of Spains trade partners (countries which Spain exports her products to) are in the EU. (Royo, 2006)This coupled with rising GDP, which increased at a faster rate than exports, resulted in a growing current account deficit. It is important to note that the high inflation problems and the rising current account deficit took place in a setting of fiscal stability (Ubide, 2007). Once again, membership in the EU has resulted in Spain having a lack of monetary and cyclical tools to achieve fiscal surplus and control rising inflation. Having the national currency in a fixed exchange rate due to the EMS thus caused Spain being unable to resolve these economic problems. In other words, if Spain is not a member of the EU and do not participate in the single currency, Euro, she could have devalue her currency with respect to other currencies and improve its competiveness of its exports, and thus improve her trade balance. 3.1 The Competiveness Crisis in Spain The Greek debt crisis has put the spotlight on the peripheral member states of the EU especially Spain. However Spain is undergoing another crisis which of a different nature as compared to Greece. Spains crisis is not due to a lack of budgetary discipline, but caused by the boom in domestic credit (due to convergence in interest rates in the EU). The membership in the EMU can be attributed to the boom in domestic credit leading to the construction boom in Spain. EMU reduced the cost of borrowing for households as real interest rates for households fall substantially. This is due to the reduction in the risk premium as a result of EMU membership. Therefore, reduced cost of borrowing for households led to an increased in number of houses built and thus a boom in the construction industry. The construction boom in the private sector was accompanied by poor economic performance in the other sectors; this resulted in instability as well as trade imbalance. From the late 1990s to 2007, Spain has displayed poor international cost competitiveness (as compared to the rest of the EU members) as a result a significant increase in cost of production especially in the tradable goods sector (Marzinotto, 2010).This significant increase in cost of production is caused by Spains real estate investment boom. Other factors that contributed to poor international cost competitiveness include wage indexation to past high inflation and extension of wages which are agreed at industry level (Marzinotto, 2010). In the 19809s, Spanish firms were facing intense competition from Latin America and the Far East on products like clothing, textile which are Spains main exports. These countries from the Far East and Latin America have leverage on Spain because they are able to produce these goods far cheaper than Spain due to their low wages (Royo, 2006). As a result, Spain is often overlooked by foreign investors who chose to set their operations in these countries instead. This situation worsened when the enlargement of the European Union to the central and eastern European countries materialized. This is because Spain has to deal with new competition from new members on industries which are labor-intensive which form the bulk of Spanish trade. This further affect the trade balance of Spain because these new members also are able to exploit their low wages thus are able to produce cheaper exports as compared to EU. It is a tough obstacle for Spain to resolve the resulting current account deficit because such trade imbalance exists independent of any utilization of sound fiscal policies. This is not only an important issue for Spain but also has an important influence on the EU. This is because the poor international competitiveness of Spain will affect the stability of the Euro too. 3.2 Spains crisis and its implications on the EMU Based on the current competiveness crisis of Spain, one of the unlikely options for Spain is to exit from the euro area. However such an option begs another central question: is a euro exit possible and how will the credibility of the euro being affected? Firstly, the credibility of the euro is unlikely to be threatened if countries like Spain and Greece exit from the euro zone. However in an event of a Spanish exit from the euro zone, it will lead to other troubled nations pondering over similar departures and such spill over effects will create an uncertain environment which is not conducive for further European financial integration. Nevertheless, such concerns may be redundant because the chances of Spain exiting the euro zone or any other member state doing likewise is extremely unlikely because of the difficulty in doing so. One important barrier to exit is the financial integration between the members of the EU has reached a significant degree thus cross-border assets are very high. Therefore an exit will result in massive upheaval (Willams, 2009). Of course there will be benefits for Spain to leave the euro as it implies regaining autonomy in pursuing independent monetary policy as well as exchange rate flexibility. However, the costs of withdrawal are high too. For instance, there will be a cut in access to finance as well as a sharp increase in funding costs due to a removal of funding by the EMU as a result of withdrawal. This thus suggest a likely situation where Spain will remain in the euro zone and attempt to deflate its housing boom without the use of independent monetary policy or currency devaluation. This crisis has wide implications on the EU. The EU cannot and will not hang these struggling economies out to dry. Therefore to fix the competiveness crisis in Spain, there is a need for the EU to make some changes or introduce some frameworks. One possible way in which the EU can manage this crisis is to introduce a system to monitor wage and price developments (Marzinotto, 2010). This is not exactly a novel avenue which the EU has not implemented before. One of the requirements of the Exchange Rate Mechanisms ERM (before the introduction of the euro) was that no member country could change its nominal exchange rate without the consent of the others due to its effects on competitiveness. This is not the case now. Member states can now change its real exchange rates via VAT increases and cuts in social security contributions (Marzinotto, 2010). Therefore in this avenue, the EU should regularly monitor the real exchange rates in the euro zone and should introduce initiatives whenever economic developments pose a threat to the stability and the operation of the EMU. In addition this European competiveness monitoring framework (Marzinotto, 2010) should have a euro-wide perspective and focus as Spains current account deficit means a surplus for another country. Therefore in the event of necessary adjustments, the EMU must take into consideration both the interests of the deficit and surplus member states. In addition to a monitoring framework, there should also be an alert procedure (Marzinotto, 2010)that will have an assessment whenever fluctuations in a countrys current account deficit exceed the predefined limits. In the alert procedure, the country that has flouted the predetermined limits will be assessed based on its efforts to correct this problem. If the assessment is negative, the commission will then propose initiatives to solve the problem based on a euro-wide focus. Nevertheless, despite these recommendations to help Spain and other similar countries to solve such competiveness crisis, the onus is for these countries to make a concerted effort to resolve it via national efforts. The Spanish government should implement a national competiveness monitoring framework (Marzinotto, 2010). This framework includes utilizing a range of policies for remedial action. However this will not be any easy task due to obligations to the EU. Policies that Spain is hindered from using due to euro membership include encouraging inward investment by offering tax incentives and cheap loans to investors as well as devaluation. Therefore there seems to be only supply-side policies which Spain can use to remedy the crisis. Supply-side policies are favourable because an improvement in supply-side performance tends to lead to sustained economic growth without a rise in inflation rate, ceteris paribus. However, a good supply-side performance alone is not sufficient and mus t be accompanied by a sufficiently high level of aggregate demand so the productive capacity of the economy can be utilized. The Spanish government can encourage an entrepreneurial culture by providing regional policy assistance for entrepreneurs and also helping these firms with regards to access to knowledge and advice. In addition, although Spain has managed to maintain a sound fiscal policy, it has not fully utilized the fiscal policy to deflate the housing boom. Spain can modify the tax treatments of interest payments on house loans to cool the domestic housing market. With higher cost of capital, the disposable income of a household will be affected thus leading to a reduction in excess housing demand. In fact Ireland has demonstrated that raising the cost of capital of households can be achieved by removing interest relief on mortgage interest payments, (Gerald, 2004) is possible within the EMU. This goes to show that the loss of independent monetary policy (as a result of EMU membership) to correct the crisis cannot be an excuse for failure. This is because a well targeted fiscal policy can be used effectively to reduce excess demand in the housing market. However such measures undertaken by the Spanish government may not be popular with the Spanish public. 3.3 Efforts by the Spanish government Spanish government launched the National Reform Program (OECD, 2007) in 2005 to identify challenges to the economy (as a result of indirect implications of EMU membership) and propose initiatives to solve these problems. Despite the intentions of the program, it has not been very successful in meeting the challenges. In addition, the tightening by the European Central Bank has not managed to cool the domestic demand in Spain by a small degree. Furthermore, although the housing market in Spain has showed some signs in slowing down, residential investment continue to form a significant part of Spains GDP and house prices are still steadily increasing (OECD, 2007). Industry productivity has not improved significantly thus inflation differential still persist between Spain and the rest of the euro zone members. As compared to other members of the euro zone, Spain has embarked on a fiscal consolidation policy with a more concerted effort. This is because of a need to counterbalance the effects of the current loose monetary policy conditions. Although ECB raised the interest rates in 2007, it had limited success in cooling the domestic demand in Spain. This is partially due to tax reductions on households which increase the households disposable income. Therefore Spain should continue or even enhance its restrictive fiscal stance to reduce pressure on the domestic demand. The Spanish government has also attempted to develop the rental housing market. However it has met with limited success. Therefore, it will be better to gradually phase away any forms of assistance which home owners can receive in order to balance the incentives between renting and purchasing and moderate demand pressures. (OECD, 2007). Another measure is to improve the legal security of relations between owners and tenants so as to improve the use of the housing stock (OECD, 2007). With the gradual decrease in EU transfers to Spain as a result of enlargement, there is an increasing need to have and manage the government budget effectively. The Spanish government has recognized this need and have adopted reforms to improve the management of the government expenditure and resources. The Spanish government limited the growth of government expenditure to below the projected rise in nominal GDP and also used tax revenue to reduce indebtedness (OECD, 2007). The government has also increased the accountability and responsibility of regions regarding their expenditure. This is achieved via increasing the control the regions have over the taxes imposed on their specific regions. This will have the effect of reducing the reliance by these regions on the central government for transfers. Therefore this delegation of responsibility will also enhance the regions revenue raising powers. However there are problems associated with such decentralization, there may be loss of in formation thus affecting efficiency. Therefore there have to be an independent agency to monitor and evaluate the polices of the various government agencies of the respective regions (OECD, 2007). In addition such assessments have to be transparent to the Spanish public. The Spainish government has also reformed the 2003 Fiscal Stability Law (OECD, 2007)in order to maintain fiscal stability and prudence in a decentralised system. According to the 2003 Fiscal Stability Law, each level of the government has to ensure that its accounts are permanenty in balance. In addition, the law assessed the cyclical position of the Spanish economy by monitoring its expected growth rate against it potential. Although this law seems has a great influence on maintaining fiscal stability, the government must execute this law with caution to prevent a situation of a pro-cyclical budgetary outcome where a loose fiscal stance is adopted when times are good and a restrictive fiscal stance when times are bad. Conclusion Since accession into the EU in 1986, Spain has enjoyed a positive economic growth. In addition, EU transfers had also allowed Spain to modernise and develop its economy as well as infrastructure. Although the financial integration process was difficult for Spain with the introduction of VAT and other measures, Spain accommodated its national policies to secure entry into the EMU. Despite Spain maintaining an environment of fiscal stability, the high inflation differerntial between Spain and the rest of the euro zone members threatens to harm Spains international competitiveness. This competition crisis can be partially attributed to the low interest rates set by the EMU thus leading to domestic credit boom and hence excess demand in the housing market. This is a central issue for both the EU and Spain as it has wide implications for both parties. Therefore it is likely that EUs economic policies and framework will be modified to include initiatives like a monitoring framework to mana ge the Spains crisis or other similar crisis by other member states in the future. In addition, although Spain is tied by its obligations to the EMU (which include not being able to devalue its exchange rate or pursuing an independent monetary policy to deflate its booming housing market), there are some supply-side policies and national reforms that Spain can pursue to reduce inflation. Lastly, remedial action by both the EU and Spain will invariably have implications on each other as well on the rest of Europe.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight :: Fourteenth Century English Literature Essays

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem written in the fourteenth century by an anonymous author. It describes the adventures of Sir Gawain, during which his morality is put to the test. The story develops around the Christmas game with the Green Knight. In this game the challenger, the Green Knight, proposes to exchange blows with an axe within a one-year interval. At the time Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written, Sir Gawain was considered to be the most noble and admirable of the knights of the Round Table. His actions, therefore, in this poem, testify to the reader that his knightly honor is unblemished, despite the moral tests he is put through in the story. The main idea behind the poem is to show that the perfect Christian knight, is not just the strongest and bravest warrior, but also the most moral and honorable person. Therefore, Sir Gawain is tested in order for us to see if he is a perfect knight. GRAPH The second part of the poem (stanzas 1 through 3) presents us with a change in the poem's tone, as compared with the previous festival atmosphere of the castle. We are given a detailed description of passing time. The change in weather and all the surroundings seems to be governed by fate, but as the poet notices the "First things and final conform but seldom" (Norton, 212). The vivid description of passing clouds, "fostering showers"(212) and singing birds signifies the beginning of summer-time, which changes with the portrayal of harvest season, the ripening of the fruits and the turning of green grass into gray (Norton, 213), marked by arrival of the autumn. We see how the eternal cycle of seasons is once again approaching its end. The cold winter is very close now, and that also means that so is Sir Gawain's journey to find Green Knight and complete the Christmas game: "And so the year moves on in yesterday's many, And winter once more, by the world's law draws nigh." (Nor ton 213, lines 529-530)

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Cottam Summary Report :: Archaeology Essays

Cottam Summary Report During 1993 an archaeological evaluation was conducted at the Anglian site at Cottam, North Humberside, under the auspices of the York Environs Project, Department of Archaeology, York University. Fieldwalking was carried out in January and February, and Dr J.D.Richards and B.E.Vyner directed limited excavations during July and August. The purpose of this note is to provide an interim summary, in advance of the main publication which will appear in the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal in due course. The site lies on arable land high on the Yorkshire Wolds some 10 miles from the coast, in the parish of Cottam (NGR 49754667). It was discovered in 1987 by metal detector enthusiasts and has subsequently been intensively worked, yielding a rich collection of predominantly Middle Saxon metalwork. The metalwork finds have been systematically plotted, and published in the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal (Haldenby 1990, 1992 and forthcoming), although the location of the site has hitherto been withheld as a contribution to its protection. To date the published finds include some 30 simple pins, 26 strap-ends, 8 lead spindle whorls, 40 iron knife blades, 14 ninth-century stycas, plus a Jellinge-style brooch and a Norse bell. Two main concentrations of metal finds have become apparent, and these can be seen to be roughly coterminous with two concentrations of crop marks. The date range of the artefacts suggests that the site was in use for much of the 8th and 9th centuries AD. During Apri l 1989 fieldwalking was undertaken for Humberside Archaeological Unit by Peter Didsbury and members of the East Riding Archaeological Society (Didsbury 1990), leading to the recovery of animal bone, prehistoric flints and Roman and medieval pottery, as well as Anglian pottery. The site at Cottam provides an opportunity to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge of activity in York's hinterland during the 8th and 9th centuries. From the surface finds it is apparent that it belongs to a new category of site in Humberside and Yorkshire producing rich Middle Saxon and Viking Age metalwork, which has not so far been excavated. The aim of the evaluation, therefore, was firstly, to establish the extent and survival of archaeological deposits; secondly, to identify the sequence of 8th and 9th- century activity; thirdly, to establish the relationship of the metalwork and the crop-marks; and lastly, to determine the nature of the 8th and 9th- century activity. Fieldwalking confirmed the picture derived from the distribution of metal- detector finds of two concentrations of post-Roman activity, suggesting there was an Anglian nucleus towards the centre of the field, and a subsequent shift to the north-east during the Viking Age.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

“Lord of the Flies” †novel by William Golding (1954) Essay

In this essay I will be comparing the three approaches to the incident of Piggy’s death. This is a very significant moment in the ‘Lord of the Flies’ and symbolises how outcasts are treated in a broken down society. I will be comparing the novel by William Golding, with the film by Peter Brook and the film by Harry Hook. The original book was written directly after World War 2, which had a great influence on how Golding decided to plan and write his book. The original book is the true ‘Lord of the Flies’, and the films are adaptations of the original novel. The film that was made in 1961 by Peter Brook was a very close interpretation of the original novel. The characters are the same, the setting is same, and the whole story loosely follows the same pattern as the book. Brook used thirty boys, aged eight to fourteen with non-acting backgrounds, as they all came from a randomly picked London school. He took them to an island off Puerto Rico for 3 months, in which time he filmed this masterpiece, which was ground breaking at the time and closely followed the book. It was original and daring, and was filmed in black and white with restricted amount of equipment. In contrast, the second film produced by Harry Hook in 1994, which was based on the same idea, but was set in different situations. The audience he was attracting needed much more action and adventure, which the old version doesn’t show and would probably be laughed at by Hook’s audience. The film needed to be original, which it was to his audience, but he cleverly used the book and the other film as a basis on which to build his ideas. The film, ‘Lord of the Flies’ by Harry Hook was filmed in colour, with American actors playing as army cadets with ‘mod cons’ such as army knives and watches. Changes such as including adults in the story and use of strong language add a twist to the original novel, and which isn’t portrayed in the 1961 version. It moves completely away from Golding’s original narrative, and his initial intentions. The opening shot is similar in the three versions of ‘Lord of the Flies’, but also has differences. The differences between the two films become evident at the opening of the scene. As the thundering waves are hurled against the sharp, jagged rocks with the darkness and savagery within them, the scene becomes clear. Brook turns to the boys walking along, you just know that something is going to happen. In the Peter Brook film, the coastline is the main feature, with the boys looking small, walking along. The faces of the boys are not so easy to depict until they get close enough. Ralph, Piggy and SamnEric, are looked down on by the camera, with the commanding rocks and the roaring sea all around. However, the boys don’t seem to be put off by this and look positive and intentional in their visit. In comparison, the Hook film shows the shot to be not so dark and suspicious, but more religious and sacrificial. The background noise of the crashing waves is substituted with choral singing. This time, we only see Ralph and Piggy approaching the rocks. Piggy is wearing full cadet uniform and appears not to be having problems with his sight. The boys are at the same level, and the darkness and savagery seems to be lost from this film. Both films have followed the idea of the book, Hook’s version more loosely than Brook’s film. Neither mentioned how much Ralph was injured or his ragged appearance as in the novel, â€Å"Ralph went first, limping a little, a spear carried over one shoulder.† The films left this out because it may well have not appealed to their audiences, as the hero doesn’t look perfect, especially with the later film. Hook also left out SamnEric in the advancing bunch. Golding, who wrote the original ‘Lord of the Flies’, starts this scene by retelling some of the plot. He reminds the reader how such a beautiful island has been effected by society, and how individuals can ruin things for everyone. â€Å"The sky and the mountain were at an immense distance, shimmering in the heat; and the reef was lifted by mirage, floating in a kind of silver pool half-way up the sky.† This little interlude reflects on the past, and will maybe add more impact to the incidents to come. Golding also mentions fire, which reminds the reader of how Jack stole the glasses off helpless Piggy, to use for their own comfort and as a aid for a cooking fire. The first sign of conflict between Jack and Ralph is when they meet. They start to argue and quarrel, and tension is built up within this period. This is the same with all three texts. Ralph intentions are clear as he approaches, but Jack wants none of it. In the novel, Golding has built up the tension with words he uses, â€Å"Ralph’s temper blazed out†. The sentences are short, and not very descriptive. The main feature of the scene, the fight, is portrayed similarly in all three texts. They attack each other vigorously, and the real conflict and anger between the two groups is apparent. In the film, by Brook, the camera can be used to aid the build up of tension as well as the dialogue. The short camera angles used reflect Goldings’ staccato language. The camera looks up to Jack, and down to Ralph. He appears in a definite commanding position. The camera follows Jacks face, which appears dark against the rock, and is hidden whenever Ralph speaks to hide his thoughts. He wears a mask to hide his face, which is savage and evil. Prior to the fight, the camera sways to Jacks barbarous face, with him holding his spear, with only the point showing. This shows the wildness and spite within Jack. This is shown similarly in the Hook film, but Jack doesn’t wear a mask, so we see more of his face. However, Hook has decided to use stronger language to convey the anger between the two boys. Hook chose similar camera movements and patterns to Brooks’ film, as they seemed to show the positions of the characters well and would appeal to his modern audience. Ralph and his gang are portrayed as the lower, weaker force, and Jacks rabble are shown as being in control. The main feature, the fight, is depicted equally in the three texts. Both sides seem angered, and in Hook’s film, the loss of society is also shown. Ralph, usually the well-balanced, even-tempered individual, is lowered to such means as fighting. On the other hand, that is Jacks usual way of settling things. Roger has a strong influence on Piggy’s death and plays a significant role, in all three interpretations of the ‘Lord of the Flies’. Roger is first introduced into the scene in the novel, when he starts to toss rocks at Ralph. His physical appearance is kept a secret and is only released when he pushes the lever, â€Å"Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever.† Roger is introduced earlier on in Brook’s film. What we see of Roger is a godly figure, with his face outlined to the sky. Hook shows us a close up of Rogers’ face from below. He is painted with black paint around the eyes and mouth, which looks like deep hollows in which evil is to be found. He is a symbol of evil and power and as a slight grimace creeps along his face, the audience is shocked by this terrifying image. His intentions become clearer as the scene advances. A longer period of time is spent on him, so does the amount we see of him. When the camera shows us his hand going towards the lever, the anticipation is built up, with the climax of him releasing it with great force, pounding down onto Piggy’s head. Roger is not so well shown in Hooks film. Most of the time he is hidden by the cliff edge and the other savages, but once the stone is released, Rogers’ face is no longer mysterious, but is clear. This makes the audience feel suspicion and fear towards Roger. Piggy is the main character in the scene, and is based on the character first developed in Golding’s novel in both the book and the films. Piggy has similarities and differences in the films, but the main ‘feeling’ of Piggy’s character is conveyed quite well. In Peter Brooks film, Piggy is uneasy about the situation, poised on the steep rocks which seem to fall into hell. He is wearing full uniform, showing his intentions to keep rules. The camera is overhead, and makes us feel pity for Piggy who is helpless. In the build up to the death, the camera focuses on short close-up shots of Piggy’s face to show his hopelessness and anxiety. Piggys’ voice is blurred by the natural sounds of the roaring of the sea crashing against the rocks. Ralph forgets what he came for, and Piggy knows this. This has an effect on the audience to feel empathy for Piggy. Harry Hook has changed Piggy’s character, to fit his wants and his audiences wants. He doesn’t make Piggy as disabled as Brook does in his film. He allows Piggy to be able to see fairly well and able him to stand on the same level platform as Ralph. Piggy isn’t left out or forgotten during the fight, and can be seen in the shots of the fight, standing in the background. In the book, Piggy seems extremely scared and worried of what was about to happen as he clings onto the steep sided rock face. â€Å"‘Am I safe?’ quavered Piggy. ‘I feel awful-‘†. Brooks’ film is better on picking up on the idea that Piggy is supposed to be very disadvantaged. Piggy’s emotions are shown well in all three texts, as a close up in the film, or as strong description in the novel. The murder is the main feature in the scene we are studying. It has a strong impact on the audience in all of the texts and is transmitted differently in each. In the novel, Piggys death is compared to a pig after his death, which is rather ironic, â€Å"Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed.† The language used here is very severe and looks as thought Golding doesn’t really care about what has just happened to Piggy. After this there is a silence all around, until it is disturbed by a little speech between Jack and Ralph, followed by Jack throwing his spear at Ralph, which then leads him to run away, with spears coming at him from all directions. This isn’t shown in either of the films, and in Brooks’ film, nothing is said, and Ralph just flees. Brook has a lengthy build up to his death scene in his film. Hints are dropped all the time, with the camera continually looking at the rough sea and jagged rocks, then at Piggy’s confused face. Brook supports Golding’s language, with only a few minor changes. In the build up to the climax, the camera continually switches between Piggy and Roger, with longer shots to Roger as we get ever closer to the climax. Also, the noise of the jeering boys gets louder, and sounds more and more like air raid sirens, which adds to the effect of anticipation. This is obviously significant because it indicates the society the boys have just left, and shows the links to situations of which Golding has just witnessed before he wrote his novel, and of the tragedy of war. However, this is something that Brooks audience may not clearly remember so wouldn’t be so obvious in his film. The final shot of Roger is of him pushing down on the lever as with Golding’s novel. The face looks emotionless until the rock is released, when a wide, evil smirk smears across his face. The camera stays still to make Roger look as though he is pushing harder, as he moves out of the shot. We see the rock rolling down, and then we see Piggy’s viewpoint of the rock above, coming straight, bang down onto his head. Immediately as the rock hits Piggy, the jeering comes to a halt, and all is left is the roaring sounds of nature. All, including Jack seem shocked, but Roger is not. The camera switches between the characters showing their disbelief of that which Roger had just done. To end the lengthy scene, Brook has a shot of Ralph looking in commiseration down to Piggy. The camera is then just left still as Ralph scurries over the rocks. Harry Hook has changed the death scene in his film to suit his modern audience. Brook has kept close to the language with Piggy’s speech, and has only changed a few parts to suit more to his audience. In the shot where Roger releases the rock, the director shows the shot from Ralph’s point of view. As the rock falls, Ralph shouts â€Å"NO!† in a slow motion speech. Piggy is oblivious to the situation due to his eyesight. He says nothing, and just falls flat onto the rock and lies there in a pool of blood. This loosely follows the original text by Golding. Golding described how Piggy was knocked into the water and got washed away, whereas there was no sight of this in Hook’s film. â€Å"You’re not gonna get away with this† says Ralph after the death. Jack thinks logically and says that Ralph was on his own, which he most definitely was. The speaking is then terminated by the boys throwing stones at Ralph as he speeds away along the beach. All three versions of the ‘Lord of the Flies’ are interpreted differently, but use the same original story line written by William Golding. All are effective, but some are more so than the others. Personally, I think that Peter Brook directed the best film. This is because it was more appealing to the audience at that time, it was more successful and it follows the book much closer than the other film, which was directed by Harry Hook. However, I do like the book for the detail and originality within it. To me the text vividly describes the sights of horror and the dramatic feelings of loss and grief felt by the societies at this particular time of World War 2. At the time the book was written, which was just after the war, total communities had witnessed such devastation as was described in the book. They could relate directly to the savagery and the way the murder was committed in cold blood. I feel the book also cleverly puts the characters into stereotypes of the tim e, showing how certain communities and their structures can be so easily destroyed.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Writing and Assignment Learning Journal

English 101: Critical Thinking and Writing TTH 9:30am to 10:50 am Laurence E. Musgrove Office Hours: 11am to noon and by appointment Office: N416 Office Telephone: 773 298-3241 Office E-mail: [email  protected] edu General Course Description English 101: Critical Thinking and Writing (3) Application of the principles of clear thinking and effective writing to expository and argumentative essays. Must be passed with a grade of C or better. English 101 Learning Objectives . Understanding the values of reading, writing, and critical thinking in the University community Students should recognize the role reading, writing, and thinking play in the University, as well as the significance of such intellectual virtues as humility, courage, honesty, perseverance, hopefulness, consideration, and civility. 2. Understanding rhetoric Students should be introduced to rhetoric and understand the dramatic and situational nature of communication.Understood as the art of discovering, evaluating, and communicating knowledge in response to the ideas of others, rhetoric reminds us that writing is the means, not the end of communication, the evidence of a writer’s desire to affect a particular audience through crafted prose for a specific purpose. 3. Reading actively, critically, and responsibly Students should learn to analyze the writing of others, noting focus, arrangement, logical development, vocabulary, and style. Students should learn the difference between reading information and reading literary art.Students should also learn to acknowledge how their experiences and attitudes limit, enable, and determine their responses to texts. 4. Understanding writing as a process Students should learn writing as a process of various problem-solving tasks, including planning, discovering, drafting, revising, and editing. Students should also learn that this process is situational: different purposes and audiences for writing demand distinct writing processes and presentation for mats. . Writing clearly and effectively Students should learn to see writing as an act of communication rather than solely an act of private expression. They should learn about the issues and responsibilities entailed in composing concise, vivid, and coherent prose for a general readership and specific audiences. 6. Thinking critically Students should learn critical thinking as an active, purposeful, and organized process that we use to make sense of the world.They should learn to evaluate the quality of their ideas as well as the ideas of others. 7. Understanding the formal conventions of various essay genres, paragraphs, sentences, and word usage Students should learn the basic textual conventions of academic writing, including the personal essay, expository writing, analysis, and argument, as well as understand the need to fulfill readers’ expectations about focus, organization, development, and voice in each. Students should learn the conventional forms and functions of p aragraphs.Students should also develop the ability to use various sentence patterns and to edit for correctness, variety, and correct usage. 8. Developing an awareness of language Students should learn how language is a value-laden tool for discovering and communicating ideas. Students should recognize how a language-user is always a language-chooser who promotes or inhibits (consciously or not) further thinking, communication, and action. Required Texts The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison The Hunger of Memory, Richard RodriguezThe Situe Stories, Frances Khirallah Noble Siddhartha, Herman Hesse The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player, John Maxwell Mini-Lessons Packet for English 101, Laurence Musgrove Poem of the Day Packet for English 101 Required Supplies 1 ? or 2 inch three-ring presentation binder with at least 9 section dividers to separate and organize portfolio ingredients. Other supplies should include a three-hole punch, stapler, computer paper, and manila folders for essay s ubmissions. Section |Portfolio Ingredient | |1 |Resume | |1 |Initial Learning Achievements and Goals | |2 |Learning Journal Reading Responses | |3 |Essay 1 | |4 |Essay 2 | |5 |Essay 3 | |6 |Essay 4 | |7 |Midterm Exam, Self-Evaluation, and Learning Achievements and Goals | |8 |Final Exam, Self-Evaluation, and Learning Achievements and Goals | |9 |Packets and other handouts |Conferences: Several times during the term, I will cancel class meetings and schedule individual conferences so that we can discuss drafts of your essays. These conferences should last no longer than 20 minutes, and they are required. A missed conference will be equivalent to two absences. I would also encourage you to use the extra time made available by the cancelled class meetings to catch up on your reading and writing assignments. Student Athletes and Absences: Student athletes should provide instructor with schedule of classes that will be missed due to University-sanctioned events. Academic Honesty: All work composed for this class must be written exclusively for this class and be your original work.You may of course receive assistance on your writing, but submitting someone else’s work as your own or failing to acknowledge sources appropriately will be grounds for plagiarism. Violations of academic honesty will result in failure. See your Student Handbook for more on Academic Honesty. Essay Grades Essays will be graded according to the essay evaluation criteria attached. Students may revise essays once after receiving the first evaluation on their third drafts. An essay’s final grade will be an average of the last two grades it receives. For example, if an essay received a C on the third draft and an A on the fourth, the final grade for that essay would be a B. Other Effects on Final Grade Five absences will result in failure.If you must miss a class, contact a classmate to get the homework assignment for you or to turn in your work. Late work will not be accepte d under any circumstances. All assignments must be submitted to receive a passing grade. No incompletes will be given. Extra Credit Options During the term, I will provide you with a number of extra credit opportunities related to attending events on and off campus that in some way relate to our course. In addition, students may earn up to 500 extra credit points for sharing with the class a song, article, or poem that relates to any course topic. Students may earn this second type of extra credit no more than four times or a limit of 2000 extra credit points. Academic Support Services for StudentsPersonal Counseling: Counseling and Career Services offers individual counseling for a variety of issues that impact on students’ motivation to remain and succeed in college. If you are having problems keeping up with your school work because of personal issues, these free services may be able to help you. Self-Disclosure of Disability: Services for students with disabilities are co ordinated through Learning Assistance Services. Students seeking academic accommodations should contact that office to self-disclose their disability, provide appropriate and current documentation, and request accommodations. The Learning Assistance Services will forward confirmation of disability to faculty with recommended accommodations.Writing Tutors in Learning Assistance Center. The Learning Assistance Center offers tutoring in writing at no cost. Tutors will not write or edit your papers, but they will help you develop the skills you need to plan, draft, and revise your work. Computer Labs: Verify availability of all University computer labs on campus and in the dormitories. Schedules should be posted at each lab. Final Portfolio: Your grade for the course will be based entirely upon the ingredients in your portfolio. You must save all of your graded work throughout the semester and submit it in a manila file folder at the end of the term. These ingredients and their point va lues are listed below. INGREDIENT |POINTS POSSIBLE |POINTS EARNED |FACTOR |FACTOR |TOTAL | | | | | |TOTAL | | |Resume |100 | |X 10 |1000 | | |Learning Goals and Achievements |100 | |X 10 |1000 | | |Average of 15 Best Learning Journal |100 | |X 50 |5000 | | |Responses | | | | | | |Essay 1 |100 | |X 50 |5000 | | |Essay 2 100 | |X 50 |5000 | | |Essay 3 |100 | |X 80 |8000 | | |Essay 4 |100 | |X 80 |8000 | | |Midterm Exam |100 | |X 100 |10000 | | |Midterm Self-Evaluation |100 | |X 20 |2000 | | |Midterm Learning Achievements and |100 | |X 10 |1000 | | |Goals | | | | | | |Final Exam |100 | |X 100 |10000 | | |Final Self-Evaluation |100 | |X 20 |2000 | | |Final Learning Goals and Achievements|100 | |X 10 |1000 | | |EXTRA CREDIT | | | | | | |Total | | | |59000 | | |Divide Total by 590 | | | | | | |=Final Grade | | | | | | GRADE EQUIVALENCIES |Letter Grade |Numerical Equivalent |Grade Ranges | |A |100 |93-100 | |B |88 |84-92 | |C |78 |74-83 | |D |68 |64-73 | |F |58 |0-63 | Tentative Schedule E nglish 101, TTH 9:30 am Musgrove Week |Tuesday |Thursday | |Week One | |8/21 | |Poem of the Day | |To Be of Use | |Class Topics | |Introductions | |Week Two |8/26 |8/28 | |Poem of the Day |Fear |I Give You Back | |Class Topics |Questions about the class; |What Happens When We Read | | |Critical thinking/writing | | | |What Happens When We Read survey | | |Mini-Lesson |Basic Vocabulary of Sentences |Eight Basic Sentence Strategies | |Reading Assignment |Hesse 3-11 |Hesse 13-23 | |Writing Assignment |Academic Performance Agreement due |Resume & Learning achievements and goals due | |Week Three |9/2 |9/4 | |Poem of the Day |Curiosity |A Ritual to Read to Each Other | |Class Topics |Rhetoric, Rhetorical sensitivity, Critical |Writing as a process, | | |reading The Bundle of Sticks | | |What the Reader Brings |What the Reader Brings | | |Attitude |Knowledge | |Mini-Lesson |Simple Sentences; |Compound Sentences; | | |Creating Titles; |Compound Sentences with Semi-Colons | | |Conventions f or Quoting and Citing Sources | | |Reading Assignment |Hesse 25-56 |Hesse 57-88 | | |Maxwell, Introduction |Maxwell, Adaptable | |Writing Assignment |Learning journal 1 due |Learning journal 2 due | | |Essay 1 Assigned | | |Week Four |9/9 |9/11 | |Poem of the Day |Drouth |When Death Comes | |Class Topics |What the Reader Brings |The World of the Text | | |Experience |Author | |Mini-Lesson |Complex Sentences; |Sentence-Combining Exercises 2 and 3 | | |Sentence-Combining Exercise 1 | | |Reading Assignment |Hesse 89-132 |Mazwell, Committed | | |Maxwell, Collaborative | | |Writing Assignment |Learning journal 3 due |Learning journal 4 due | | | |Essay 1. Due | |Week Five |9/16 |9/18 | |Poem of the Day | | | |Class Topics |NO CLASS |NO CLASS | | |Conferences in N416 |Conferences in N416 | | |Distribute MBTI Surveys |Distribute MBTI Surveys | |Mini-Lesson | | | |Reading Assignment | | | |Writing Assignment |Essay 1. 2 Due |Essay 1. 2 Due | Week Six |9/23 |9/25 | |Poem of the Day |The Su mmer Day |Forgiving Our Fathers; | | | |Those Winter Sundays | |Class Topics |Personality Type; |Personality Strengths; | | |The World of the Text; |The World of the Text | | |Topic |Form | |Mini-Lesson |Compound-Complex Sentences; |Sentence Unscrambling Exercises 1 and 2 | | |Sentence-Combining Exercise 4 | | |Reading Assignment |Noble, Situe; Albert and Esne |Noble, Genevieve, The War | | |Mazwell, Communicative |Maxwell, Competent | |Writing Assignment |Learning Journal 5 due |Learning journal 6 due | | |Essay 1. due; | | | |Essay 2 assigned | | |Week Seven |9/30 |10/2 | |Poem of the Day |Washing Rice |Blackberry Eating | |Class Topics |The World of the Text |Options for Response | | |Audience |Personal, Biographical, and Creative | |Mini-Lesson |Effective Intentional Fragment; |Editing Unpunctuated Paragraph 2; | | |Editing Unpunctuated Paragraph 1 |Review of Basic Sentence Strategies | |Reading Assignment |Noble, The Table; The American Way |Noble, The Hike to Heart Rock; Suste nance | | |Maxwell, Dependable |Maxwell, Disciplined | |Writing Assignment |Learning journal 7 due |Learning journal 8 due | | | |Essay 2. 1 due | | | |Midterm Self-Evaluation Assigned | | | |Essay 3 Assigned | |Week Eight |10/7 |10/9 | |Poem of the Day | | |Class Topics |NO CLASS |NO CLASS | | |Conferences in N416 |Conferences in N416 | |Mini-Lesson | | | |Reading Assignment | | | |Writing Assignment |Essay 1. 4 due |Essay 1. 4 due | | |Essay 2. 2 due |Essay 2. due | |Week Nine |10/14 |10/16 | |Poem of the Day | |Learning by Doing | |Class Topics |TBA |Options for Response | | | |Formal and Audience Analysis | |Mini-Lesson | |Relative Clauses | | | |Sentence-Combining Exercise 5 | |Reading Assignment |Noble, Dry Goods; Kahlil Gibran |Noble, The Honor of Her Presennce | | | |Maxwell, Enlarging | |Writing Assignment |Learning journal 9 due |Learning journal 10 due | | |Midterm Exam |Midterm Self-Evaluation and Learning Goals and | | |Essay 2. 3 due |Achievements due | Week Ten |10/21 |10/23 | |Poem of the Day |How to Like It |Early Snow | |Class Topics |Options for Response | | | |Topical, Interpretive, and Ethical | | |Mini-Lesson |Analogies |Chiasmus; | | | |Subject and Pronoun Agreement | |Reading Assignment |Morrison, 1-32 |Morrison, 33-58 | | |Maxwell, Enthusiastic |Maxwell, Intentional | |Writing Assignment |Learning journal 11 due |Learning journal 12 due | | | |Essay 3. due | |Week Eleven |10/28 |10/30 | |Poem of the Day | | | |Class Topics |NO CLASS |NO CLASS | | |Conferences in N416 |Conferences in N416 | |Mini-Lesson | | | |Reading Assignment | | | |Writing Assignment |Essay 2. 4 due |Essay 2. 4 due | | |Essay 3. 2 due |Essay 3. 2 due | |Week Twelve 11/4 |11/6 | |Poem of the Day |Here |Letter Home | |Class Topics | | | |Mini-Lesson |Four Basic Modifying Phrase Strategies |Appositive Phrases | |Reading Assignment |Morrison, 59-93 |Morrison, 95-131 | | |Maxwell, Mission Conscious |Maxwell, Prepared | |Writing Assignment |Learning journal 13 due |Learni ng journal 14 due | | |Essay 3. due | | | |Essay 4 assigned | | |Week Thirteen |11/11 |11/13 | |Poem of the Day |Art; One Art |This is Just to Say | |Class Topics |Taking Responsibility |Taking Responsibility | | |Checking with Other Resources |Checking with Ourselves | |Mini-Lesson |Participial Phrases |Absolute Phrases | |Reading Assignment |Morrison, 132-183 |Morrison, 184-216 | | |Maxwell, Relational |Maxwell, Self-Improving | |Writing Assignment |Learning journal 15 due |Learning journal 16 due | | | |Essay 4. 1 due | |Week Fourteen |11/18 11/20 | |Poem of the Day | | | |Class Topics |NO CLASS |NO CLASS | | |Conferences in N416 |Conferences in N416 | |Mini-Lesson | | | |Reading Assignment | | | |Writing Assignment |Essay 3. 4 due |Essay 3. 4 due | | |Essay 4. 2 due |Essay 4. 2 due | Week Fifteen |11/25 |11/27 | |Poem of the Day |By Heart |Advice to Writers | |Class Topics |Taking Responsibility |Taking Responsibility | | |Checking with the Text |Checking with Others | |Mini-Les son |Adjectives Out-of-Order |Editing Unpunctuated Paragraph 3 | |Reading Assignment |Rodriguez, Middle Class Pastoral; Aria |Rodriguez, The Achievement of Desire | | |Maxwell, Selfless |Maxwell, Solution Oriented | |Writing Assignment |Learning journal 17 due |Learning journal 18 due | | |Essay 4. 3 due | | | |Final Self-Evaluation Assigned | |Week Sixteen |12/02 |12/04 | |Poem of the Day |Thesaurus |Eating Together | |Class Topics | | | |Mini-Lesson |Review of Basic Modifying Phrase Strategies |Review of Basic Sentence and Phrase Strategies | |Reading Assignment |Rodriguez, Credo |Rodriguez, Complexion | | |Maxwell, Tenacious |Maxwell, Conclusion | |Writing Assignment |Learning journal 19 due |Learning journal 20 due | |Week Seventeen |12/09 |12/11 | |FINALS WEEK | |Final Exam | | | |Final Portfolio with Final Self-Evaluation and | | | |Learning Achievements and Goals due | RESUME Name Address Telephone Email Present Educational Objective In this section, you should describe your main purpose for attending college. I plan on receiving a college degree in a health-related field so that I can go to medical school I plan on getting an MBA. I am taking a range of courses that will help me eventually choose my major. I am planning on a degree in elementary education. Highlights of Qualifications and accomplishments In this section, you should list your most significant qualifications, relevant experiences, accomplishments, and strengths that would contribute to your educational objective.During high school, I served as a volunteer at a local hospital. I was captain of our volleyball team. I was student council president in high school. I graduated with academic honors. I was an active member of the speech and drama clubs in high school. Last summer, I traveled to Europe. Employment In this section, you should list your employment history. Education In this section, you should list the high schools and colleges you’ve previously attended accompanied by the dates of attendance. Other General Interests In this section, you should list other activities of personal interest. Student Name Professor Musgrove English 101 Date Learning Achievements and Goals 1.I feel confident about my writing in the following ways for the reasons given. (a sample response: I feel confident about writing research essays because I had plenty of practice during my senior year. ) 2. I feel confident about my reading ability in the following ways for the reasons given. 3. I feel confident about my critical thinking abilities in the following ways for the reasons given. 4. I would like to improve my writing ability in the following ways for the reasons given. (a sample response: I would like to learn how to use commas correctly because my last teacher always marked my papers for commas. ) 5. I would like to improve my reading ability in the following ways for the reasons given. 6.I would like to improve my critical thinking abilities in the following ways for the reasons given. 7. I can see how these improvements would relate to my academic work and career plans in the following ways. Student’s Last Name # Student’s Name Professor Musgrove English 101 Date Version Number or Description Standard Essay Format Following Modern Language Association guidelines, this page demonstrates the standard format for essays and learning journal responses. Left, right, top, and bottom margins are set at one inch, and a header with the writer’s last name and page number is set at one-half inch from the top of every page and right-justified.The standard heading at the top left is left-justified and single-spaced. For the purposes of this course, I’ve added an extra line in the heading so that a writer can more easily keep track of the version of the essay submitted or the description of the learning journal response. After the heading, the title of the essay is centered above the body of the essay. This title does not require quota tion marks or underlining, nor does it need to be bold. All of the other text is left-justified, double-spaced, and set in Arial, Times New Roman, or Courier New font no larger than size 12. The first line of each paragraph begins with a one-half inch tab, and there should be no extra spaces between paragraphs.For more information on formatting essays and research projects, see A Guide to MLA Documentation. Guidelines for Learning Journal Reading Responses In this class, your learning journal reading responses are one of the main ways you will use writing to engage, respond to, and learn from the course reading assignments. Each learning journal entry should be at the minimum three short paragraphs, one page, and typed. In these three paragraphs, you should complete the following. 1. Briefly summarize the assigned reading. This is not a detailed account of the events or argument presented, but a short overview of the story or essay. 2. Describe how you might relate your experience, someone you know, or some previous knowledge to the reading.In some cases, you may be able to easily relate some experience or another individual or prior knowledge to the reading. In other cases, this may be more difficult; if this is the case, challenge yourself to make the connection. 3. Ask one or two questions about what you’ve read. These questions will reveal your interest in the characters, events, topics, and craft of the assigned reading. These questions will also serve to guide our daily class discussions. To write â€Å"I don’t have any questions. † would not be an appropriate response. In addition, you should include at least one in-text citation from the reading assignment. This should be a direct quotation and include a parenthetical page reference that corresponds to the cited information.See â€Å"Conventions for Quoting and Citing Sources† on page 39 in your mini-lessons packet on how to cite and reference direct quotations correctly. As the term progresses, I will also ask you to incorporate a variety of sentence and phrase strategies in your learning journals. These reading responses are a very important contribution to your learning in this class as well because they will be the main source material for your midterm and final self-evaluation essays. They will also serve as practice for your midterm and final exams. In addition, you may submit up to four alternative responses that in some way creatively represent the main concepts or arguments in the assigned reading(s).In other words, rather than follow the guidelines above, you may submit an original poem, song lyric, PowerPoint slide, or two-dimensional drawing, painting, or collage that represents your response to the assigned reading(s). These alternative responses should also be submitted on regular 8 ? X 11 paper. These alternative responses should include the passage from the reading with corresponding page number that relates to or inspired in some way y our alternative response. Writing Project #1 Narrative Essay The first major essay we will work on together in class will be a narrative essay. The other three will include an expository essay, an analysis essay, and an argumentative essay.These are four of the most common types of essays because telling stories, explaining, analyzing, and persuading are the most common ways we use writing to communicate with others inside school and beyond the classroom walls. Narrative essays are distinct from other forms of writing because they generally focus on a dramatic situation that the writer has personally encountered and wishes to share with someone else for a specific reason. Along the way, the writer must narrate in detail the elements of the story, including the setting (where and when the action took place), the characters (who did what to whom), and the action (what took place).The writer must also provide the reader with sensual detail (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and other sen sations) as well as the emotions, attitudes, and thoughts of the main characters, including the narrator. In other words, the writer is obligated to make the story come to life in as many ways as possible, so that the reader can see and understand what the writer experienced. Thus, for your first assignment, compose at least a three page narrative essay in response to one of the prompts below. 1. Purpose: Tell about an event that helped you understand your cultural identity. Audience: A friend, a member of your family, an important person in your cultural community, or readers of the school newspaper.What conclusions would you want your audience to draw? What response would you want them to have to your story? 2. Purpose: Tell about an event that helped you learn how to value your parent(s) or a friend. Audience: Your family, your friends, or the readers of the school newspaper. 3. Purpose: Tell about an event in the last two or three weeks that caused you to change your preconcepti ons about college life. What did you believe about college before this time? What do you now believe? What event and people contributed to that change? Audience: Your friends, family, seniors in high school who are planning to come to school, or readers of the school newspaper. Narrative StructureNarrative essays are similar to stories, except that the setting, characters, and events are true. Narrative essays are also similar to stories because they follow the same structure; that is, narrative essays have a chronological structure that 1. begins with an introduction of the setting and the main characters, 2. moves from one event to the next, 3. includes a conflict or climactic moment, 4. and then reaches a resolution of the conflict. Traditionally, a narrative plot or story line is represented as follows: Narrative Openings Opening 1: Give reader detailed description of the scene where the first event in story takes place. The cool autumn breeze jostled the leaves in the maple hig h above the dew-covered lawn.As I walked out into the yellow dawn light, a squirrel scampered across the sidewalk and wound himself up the maple. I bent to pick up the daily news, and he chattered his complaints at me. I must have interrupted his morning rounds. Suddenly, I heard the telephone ring from the house. Who could be calling so early? Opening 2: Start in media res with dialogue. Let reader hear significant dialogue from significant encounter in story. Then begin the story. â€Å"I just can’t believe this is happening to me,† Dan said. He was obviously upset. His voice sounded hoarse and strained. â€Å"What do you want me to do? I could drive over and be there in a couple of hours,† I offered. â€Å"Yes, why don’t I drive over. It won’t take me long. † â€Å"Well, uh. I don’t know. †Then there was a long silence at his end of the line. I tried to imagine what he was feeling, but I couldn’t. I hadn’t seen him or talked to him in three years. â€Å"Dan? † â€Å"Yeah, come on. I think I’ll need your help. How soon can you be here? † â€Å"Two hours. I’m on my way. I’ll leave here now. † I guess it wasn’t so odd that he called me. We were the closest friends not that long ago. Opening 3: Start in media res with description of scene. Give reader detailed description of the scene of significant event, briefly hint at event, and then begin the story. The traffic was snarled, and the air thickened with brown blowing dust and gray exhaust.The blinding sun sunk just ahead, and I dropped my visor so that I could focus on the string of red brake lights in front of me. Stop and go, stop and go. Somewhere in the distance, twisted metal, broken glass, and snapped necks stalled this three-lane, rush hour torture. I was late to meet Dan and wondered if he was feeling snarled, twisted, broken, snapped, stalled, and tortured as well. Opening 4: Relate your specific story to a familiar story. Unfortunately, we’re all too familiar with the trouble men have with women and women with men. Boy meets girl. Boy woos girl. Boy gets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy calls best friend. Same with girls. Girl meets boy. Girl woos boy.And so forth. TV sitcoms are filled with such stuff. First attractions, eventual breakups, and best friends consoling one another. Seems like we would have learned how to get out of this mess by now. But no. Writing Project #2 Expository Essay The second major essay we will work on together in class will be an expository essay. The first was a narrative essay, and the next two will include an analysis essay and an argumentative essay. These are four of the most common types of essays because telling stories, explaining, analyzing, and persuading are the most common ways we use writing to communicate with others inside the University and beyond.Expository essays are distinct from other forms of writing because the y generally focus on explaining a concept or process through definition, analysis, classification, or comparison/contrast. In other words, expository essays are intended to clarify a concept or process through explanation. Thus, for your second assignment, compose a three-page, typed expository essay in response to one of the prompts below. 1. Purpose: Think about a process or procedure that you know very well and perform successfully. Perhaps you are an expert in this process and could teach it in detail to someone you know. Explain this process so that someone else could perform it following your instructions. Audience: Someone who would benefit from learning this process. 2.Purpose: Taking a humorous approach, explain in a how to successfully fail at something. For example, you might describe the procedures for failing at friendship, or at studying, or at writing a college essay, or at being a dorm roommate, or being a teammate, or being a son or daughter. There may be other â₠¬Å"procedures† you wish to explain. Audience: Readers of the school newspaper. 3. Purpose: Describe someone you know who has helped you understand how to be successful in some aspect of your life. Who is this person and what have they taught you? Audience: Readers of the school newspaper. 4. Purpose: How would you define the characteristics of â€Å"a successful person†?In other words, complete this sentence: â€Å"I believe a successful person demonstrates the qualities of †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. † Also provide examples that clarify your definition. How do these examples fit the characteristics in your definition? Audience: Readers of the school newspaper. 5. Purpose: Contrast two definitions of success. In our culture, many definitions for success compete for our attention. What do you take to be the best definition? Why is this the best? What do you take to be a flawed definition for success? Why is it flawed? Audience: Readers of the school newspaper. Organizational Strategies for Expository Essays In expository essays, writers bring clarity and detail to procedures and concepts.They usually begin by introducing a general process or idea. They then proceed paragraph by paragraph by providing specific examples and evidence to help their readers better understand the steps or qualities of these procedures and concepts. Explaining a Process Introduction Identify the process, your expertise, and why audience would benefit from learning this process Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Conclusion Describing an Influential Person Introduction Name the person, describe their relationship to you, and their general influence Description of Person First influential lesson Second influential lesson Third influential lesson †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Conclusion Defining a ConceptIntroduction General claim about concept, and your specific definition Characteristic 1 Characteristic 2 Characteristic 3 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Conclusion Contrasting Two Ideas Introduction General claim about two ideas and the obvious differences First idea Second idea First contrasting feature of two ideas Second contrasting feature of two ideas Third contrasting feature of two ideas †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Conclusion Writing Project #3 Analysis Essay The third major essay we will work on together in class will be an analysis essay. The first essay was a narrative essay, the second was an expository essay, and the fourth essay will be an argumentative essay.These are four of the most common types of essays because telling stories, explaining, analyzing, and persuading are the most common ways we use writing to communicate with others inside the University and beyond. Analysis essays are distinct from other forms of writing because they generally focus on explaining the relationship s between the whole and its parts. In the case of analysis, the writer of the essay explains how another author uses his or her craft to promote his or her larger purpose, whether it be a story, political speech, editorial, or advertisement. Instead of telling a story (as in a narrative) or explaining a process that the writer already knows (as in an expository essay), the writer in the case of an analysis focuses on examining something new.In other words, instead of focusing on knowledge â€Å"inside† the writer, the writer must focus on knowledge â€Å"outside† or beyond the writer’s previous experiences. Thus, for your third assignment, compose a four-page, typed essay in response to one of the two prompts below. 1. Purpose: Analyze Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha by providing your reader a brief biographical description of Hesse, summarizing the main action of the novel, detailing some of the main topics of the novel, describing Hesse’s use of litera ry form, and concluding with a discussion of what kind of reader(s) might best appreciate the novel. Audience: Someone who has not read the novel and would find value in it. 2.Purpose: Select and analyze two stories by Frances Khirallah Noble by providing your reader a brief biographical description of Noble, summarizing the main action of the stories, detailing some of the main topics of the stories, describing Nobel’s use of literary form, and concluding with a discussion of what kind of reader(s) might best appreciate the stories. Audience: Someone who has not read the stories and would find value in them. In either case, you should provide evidence from the novel or stories to support your analysis. See information on quoting and citing sources in the mini-lesson packet. Recommended Organizational Strategy for Analysis Essay 1. Introduction: a creative introduction that draws reader’s attention 2.Brief biography of author 3. Summary of main action 4. Main topics 5. Literary form 6. Conclusion: remarks on what kind of reader(s) might best appreciate novel or stories Writing Project #4 Argumentative or Persuasive Essay The fourth and final major essay we will work on together in class will be an argumentative or persuasive essay. The first essay was a narrative essay, the second was an expository essay, and the third essay was an analysis essay. These are four of the most common types of essays because telling stories, explaining, analyzing, and persuading are the most common ways we use writing to communicate with others inside the University and beyond.Argumentative or persuasive essays are distinct from other forms of writing because writers generally focus on an issue or problem that they share with their readers and attempt to provide a specific point-of-view or solution. We might also think of this kind of essay as a problem-solving essay. Thus, for your fourth assignment, compose a three-page, typed essay in response to the prompt below. Purpose: Select a specific problem related to your experience at Saint Xavier this year. This problem may have to do with student life, housing, registration, parking, scheduling of classes, course offerings, school activities, sporting events, or student resources like the library or computer labs, but it must be a problem that you know other students have encountered as well.Audience: Compose an editorial for the student newspaper or a letter to the President of the University in which you describe the problem in detail and offer a specific solution. Recommended Organizational Strategy for Persuasive Essay 1. Introduction: discussion of values and concerns University already promotes 2. Description of problem and who it affects 3. Real and possible consequences of problem 4. Possible solutions to problem 5. Best solution to problem and why it’s best 6. Conclusion: discussion of how best solution supports values and concerns University holds Student Name____________________ ______________________________ Essay # ______ Version # ______ Evaluation Criteria |A |a clear aim, a strong introduction, and a houghtful conclusion | |an excellent essay |strong supporting details | | |logically developed and very well organized | | |a tone appropriate to the aim of the essay | | |stylistic maturity and confident facility with language as demonstrated by sentence variety and appropriate | | |word choice | | |virtually free of surface and usage errors | |B |a clear aim and a strong introduction and conclusion | |a good essay |good supporting details | | |logically developed and well organized | | |a tone appropriate to the aim of the essay | | |lacks the stylistic maturity and facility with language of an A essay | | |largely free of surface and usage errors | |C |a clear aim, an introduction, and a conclusion | |an acceptable essay |adequate supporting details | | |competence in logical development and organization, although it may exhibit occasional orga nizational and | | |developmental weakness | | |a tone appropriate to the aim of the essay | | |basic competence in sentence variety and word choice | |a pattern of surface and usage errors | |D |lack of a clear aim, focus, or conclusion | |a poor essay |lack of sufficient support | | |supporting details may be trivial, inappropriate, logically flawed | | |flaws in organization/development | | |inappropriate tone | | |stylistic flaws characterized by lack of sentence variety and by evidence of limited vocabulary | | |frequent usage or surface errors | |F |focus may be too general or too specific | |an unacceptable essay |lack of support | | |lack of organization | | |inappropriate tone | | |serious stylistic flaws | | |serious usage or surface errors | |No evaluation |Essays receiving no grade will | | |fail to address the topic or assignment, | | |fail to fulfill other requirements of the assignment, | | |show evidence of plagiarism, | | |or fail to be accompanied by prev ious drafts. | Recommendations for Revision |Recommendations for Editing | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Academic Performance Agreement English 101 Musgrove In order to make the requirements of this class and your responsibilities as a student as clear as possible, I’ve created this document titled â€Å"Academic Performance Agreement. † Please read this information carefully because it outlines the kinds of behaviors, study habits, and attitudes necessary for success in this class, as well as in the University writing community at large.If you agree to the terms and conditions set forth below, please sign your name on one of the two copies I’ve provided you. By signing and returning this agreement to me, you commit yourself to the standards of conduct and academic performance listed below. If you do not accept these standards, you should see your advisor about withdrawing from this course. 1. I understand that attendance is a re quirement of the class and that 5 absences of any sort (excused or unexcused) will result in automatic failure. I also understand that if I miss class that I should contact another student, rather than the professor of the class, to discover what I’ve missed. A missed conference will be equivalent to two absences. 2.I understand that arriving late to class is inappropriate because it disrupts the class agenda and interferes with teaching and learning. I understand that the instructor will shut the door to the classroom when the class starts and that I will not attempt to enter the class after the door has been closed. 3. I understand that cell phones must be turned off before entering class. I understand if my cell phone rings during class I will be asked to leave the class. 4. I understand that this class has substantial reading and writing requirements. These requirements will demand that I manage my time carefully and schedule at least 6 hours of study time per week or 2 h ours of study time for every one hour of scheduled class time. 5.I understand that purchasing the course texts and bringing the texts to class to support my discussion of the assigned readings is a requirement of the course. 6. I understand that I should be prepared each day to share my learning journal responses to the reading assignments in class. I will share these learning journals responses with other students in the class. I also understand I may not turn these journals in late. 7. I understand that I will be required to contribute to class discussions and small group work in class. In other words, I will be required to speak in class, share my ideas, and respect the ideas of others. 8. I understand that I will be composing learning journal responses, four major essays, and two self-evaluations.I also understand that any writing I submit must be my own and written exclusively for this class. 9. I understand that my writing assignments should be composed and saved on a word-pro cessor or personal computer. I also understand that I should schedule my time and supplies carefully so that I know when I have access to a word-processor or computer and that I have adequate paper and printing supplies. 10. I understand that I will benefit from discussing my ideas and writing with my family, friends, and other students. I also understand that I can get help with my ideas