Structural Ýnequalities essays

Structural à nequalities essays The issue of structural inequalities between or within societies have always been a crucial subject for years. Race, religion, class and gender discrimination are the most important ones among others. It is a very vital issue because structural inequalities shape our world. In spite of the fact that there have been inequalities in societies in every period of the history, none of these inequalities have always been dominant throughout history of humankind. To begin with, one of the main inequalities throughout the human history is the gender inequality. It has always seen in every society and undoubtedly it will be in the future because man and woman already have genetically different physical characteristics. Men are normally stronger than women. However, even in hunter and gatherer societies, which require more power to survive, there was not an obvious inequality between woman and man. Of course there are something that woman can do better than man and something is woman cannot. For instance, in hunter and gatherer societies, while men had a tendency to hunt animals because of his strength, women mostly gathered plants such as fruits. However, in my opinion, this does not mean that women were dominated by men. These disparities between men and women are normal and should not be seen as the issue of women. In every period of the history of humankind, there have been differences between men and women but these differences have never been the most crucial inequality. In my point of view it has played second fiddle in every period behind race, religion and class. The second structural inequality in societies is class discrimination. This discrimination appeared perceptibly first in agricultural societies on account of economic differences of people. When people became agrarian there became a division of labour due to surplus of food. After that some people stopped growing food because it does not necessary for all people to cultiv...

What You Need to Know About Prose

What You Need to Know About Prose Prose is ordinary writing (both fiction and nonfiction) as distinguished from verse. Most essays, compositions, reports, articles, research papers, short stories, and journal entries are types of prose writings. In his book The Establishment of Modern English Prose (1998), Ian Robinson observed that the term prose is surprisingly hard to define. . . . We shall return to the sense there may be in the old joke that prose is not verse. In 1906, English philologist Henry Cecil Wyld  suggested that the best prose is never entirely remote in form from the best corresponding conversational style of the period (The Historical Study of the Mother Tongue). Etymology From the Latin, forward turn Observations I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry: that is, prose words in their best order; poetry the best words in the best order.(Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk, July 12, 1827) Philosophy Teacher: All that is not prose is verse; and all that is not verse is prose.M. Jourdain: What? When I say: Nicole, bring me my slippers, and give me my night-cap, is that prose?Philosophy Teacher: Yes, sir.M. Jourdain: Good heavens! For more than 40 years I have been speaking prose without knowing it.(Molià ¨re, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, 1671) For me, a page of good prose is where one hears the rain and the noise of battle. It has the power to give grief or universality that lends it a youthful beauty.(John Cheever, on accepting the National Medal for Literature, 1982) Prose is when all the lines except the last go on to the end. Poetry is when some of them fall short of it.(Jeremy Bentham, quoted by M. St. J. Packe in The Life of John Stuart Mill, 1954) You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.(Governor Mario Cuomo, New Republic, April 8, 1985) Transparency in Prose [O]ne can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface ones own personality. Good prose is like a window pane.(George Orwell, Why I Write, 1946)Our ideal prose, like our ideal typography, is transparent: if a reader doesnt notice it, if it provides a transparent window to the meaning, then the prose stylist has succeeded. But if your ideal prose is purely transparent, such transparency will be, by definition, hard to describe. You cant hit what you cant see. And what is transparent to you is often opaque to someone else. Such an ideal makes for a difficult pedagogy.(Richard Lanham, Analyzing Prose, 2nd ed. Continuum, 2003) Good Prose Prose is the ordinary form of spoken or written language: it fulfills innumerable functions, and it can attain many different kinds of excellence. A well-argued legal judgment, a lucid scientific paper, a readily grasped set of technical instructions all represent triumphs of prose after their fashion. And quantity tells. Inspired prose may be as rare as great poetrythough I am inclined to doubt even that; but good prose is unquestionably far more common than good poetry. It is something you can come across every day: in a letter, in a newspaper, almost anywhere.(John Gross, Introduction to The New Oxford Book of English Prose. Oxford Univ. Press, 1998) A Method of Prose Study Here is a method of prose study which I myself found the best critical practice I have ever had. A brilliant and courageous teacher whose lessons I enjoyed when I was a sixth-former trained me to study prose and verse critically not by setting down my comments but almost entirely by writing imitations of the style. Mere feeble imitation of the exact arrangement of words was not accepted; I had to produce passages that could be mistaken for the work of the author, that copied all the characteristics of the style but treated of some different subject. In order to do this at all it is necessary to make a very minute study of the style; I still think it was the best teaching I ever had. It has the added merit of giving an improved command of the English language and a greater variation in our own style.(Marjorie Boulton, The Anatomy of Prose. Routledge Kegan Paul, 1954) Pronunciation: PROZ

Finding proper article from the daily press or other sources n writing Essay

Finding proper article from the daily press or other sources n writing 2 pages report about article - Essay Example This brief paper discusses some of the important issues in international trade relations. The world economy is in a recession brought about by the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States which started sometime in 2007 but later spread worldwide. Because of it many developed countries are facing financial and economic crises as a consequence as seen in the sovereign debt crisis in European countries such as the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) which undermined the euro currency and unity of the European Union. It is a crisis of unprecedented proportions which had adversely affected world trade in general. Recent news reports as seen in the international media point to a lingering crisis that had defied easy solutions. World trade today is conducted mostly under the WTO supervision but there are many trade blocs now in existence that grant special most favored nation status (MFN) to some countries that trade with each other. This is a violation of the WTO rules that state countries should let free trade prevail through its non-discrimination policy in place. An example of a specific trade bloc is the so-called G-20 (or group of 20) consisting of the twenty most economically powerful countries of the world. However, this group failed to produce a single plan of action that will adequately address the Great Recession in contrast to the Great Depression of 1933. The world today is facing similar challenges in world order as economies are facing stubbornly high unemployment rates such as the U. S. and Europe. A G-20 meeting held in Seoul (South Korea) last year to address the most pressing issues failed to come up with a solution as member-countries could not agree on what steps to take. This is a dangerous situation which had frayed international trade relations because of some massive international trade imbalances of some countries (China and Germany in

Market Strategy of Blue Cross Blue Shield Assignment

Market Strategy of Blue Cross Blue Shield - Assignment Example Conducive research indicates that even during the financial crisis of 2008, the organization has been stellar because of their high customer equity and premiums. Healthcare is one the elements that were always solid. Looking at the financial statements, the company made annual sales of $75.7 million. This allowed the company to leverage itself in the industry.   One of the major strengths of the organization is its ability to have a strong customer base supported by its technological infrastructure. The infrastructure is heavily supported by its business model and understanding how technology can serve its needs. However, the key benefit that the Blue Cross achieved was the fact that it allowed its customers to the accessibility of information without much delay. In an industry where information is vital, this organization was able to accommodate the needs of their growing customers as well as provide information that was compliant with HIPAA and ACA.   One of the major strengths, as mentioned before, was the fact that it had a strong customer and revenue base. The premiums that were being derived from the organization truly harnessed growth and allowed the company to get a strong threshold as a company.   One of the major challenges of the company was to expand its private and public cloud with compliance. It was evident that the risk management involved in the insurance business is a huge focal point.   Blue Cross had a huge dilemma of expanding their IT infrastructure boundaries by maintaining old records and creating space for new customers. Furthermore, the company’s auditing team was able to ensure the legitimacy of network passwords within their own IT infrastructure. When it comes to cloud computing, many flavors are present.

Phar-Mor Fraud Essay Example for Free

Phar-Mor Fraud Essay Phar-Mor, Inc was a thriving discount grocery store in the late 1980’s. Phar-Mor was moving product quickly but profit margins were not significant enough to pay the bills. By the early 1990’s, Phar-Mor declared bankruptcy due to fraudulent financial reporting and misappropriation of assets, making it one of the largest frauds in U.S. history. Below, we will use auditing standard AU 316.85 Appendix A in conjunction with the video â€Å"How to Steal $500 million† to analyze how incentives/pressures, opportunities, and attitudes/rationalizations allowed for fraud to start and continue at Phar-Mor. Incentives/Pressures Annual reoccurring losses due to small margins put pressure on the CFO and controller to divide the overall loss incurred by Phar-Mor upon each of the individual stores, making the dollar amount of loss per store appear much less material than the millions actually incurred. Phar-Mor’s threat of facing bankruptcy was an incentive for the president, CFO, accounting manager and controller to find ways to â€Å"cook the books†, such as overstating the price of inventory. Each character involved had significant incentive and felt a lot of pressure to allow the fraud to continue. At one part in the documentary, the controller for Phar-Mor even stated that he, â€Å"feared physical harm,† should he not go along with the fraud. It was the president, who was the one who initially decided not to post the losses, but told his CFO and controller to hide the company’s losses in a separate subledger while continuing to tell the CEO and board members that the company was in good financial standing. The president felt significant pressure as the business model was his, and the simple notion of pride can sometimes propel people to do the wrong thing. Appendix A.2 of AU 316 lists several factors that incentivize and pressure employees into committing fraud. It states that if â€Å"Financial stability or profitability is threatened by economic, industry, or entity operating conditions,† one may be more inclined to perpetrate fraud. Obviously, all those involved realized that Phar-Mor would not be able to remain in business should they report the losses. In an industry as highly competitive as the discount grocery/retail business, declining margins are a death sentence. Appendix A.2 also states that if â€Å"Excessive pressure exists for management to meet the requirements or expectations of third parties,† there will be more incentive to purposely misstate transactions/reports. In the case with Phar-Mor, management not only felt pressure from an upcoming IPO (which will be analyzed in the subsequent paragraph), but also from vendors who sold products at Phar-Mor. If the vendors knew that Phar-Mor was experiencing losses too big to recoup, they would pull their line from Phar-Mor locations and that would spell the end to Phar-Mor. Another incentive/pressure described in Appendix A.2 states that the company may be committing fraud if â€Å"Information available indicates that management or the board of directors’ personal financial situation is threatened by the entity’s financial performance.† In the midst of the substantial misstatements that were being done by Phar-Mor management, the company was preparing an IPO, from which upper-management, namely the president and CEO, were set to make millions. This was a strong incentive to allow the fraud to continue. Most associated with the fraud never meant to start it, but they never did anything to stop it until they were about to get caught. Once they started following orders from the president, they were under increased pressure to continue covering up the fraud or risk being harmed, financially or physically. Personal financial obligations of those involved in the fraud allowed for them to justify the misappropriation of assets. Opportunities When the CFO informed the president that Phar-Mor was in the red, Phar-Mor’s president knew of ways to fraudulently report the losses on the financial statements and misappropriate the assets. A trusting board of directors and no internal audit committee allowed fraudulent financial statements to be reported for many years. The organizational structure of Phar-Mor was ineffective and lacked many control activities including: segregation of duties, authorization, documentary and IT controls. As a result, Phar-Mor’s president had a stronghold on certain upper level management and executives which gave him the opportunity to control the fraud and hide it from other members of the organization and supposedly Phar-Mor’s auditors, Coopers and Lybrand LLP. Phar-Mor was a large grocery story and had thousands of inventory items on hand at each store which processed significant amounts of cash each day. The organizational structure of Phar-Mor allowed for inadequate and fraudulent recording keeping of assets as well as authorization and approval of purchasing transactions. Phar-Mor’s IT system of event logs was not robust enough to see which transactions had been modified, deleted or created, which allowed Phar-Mor to overstate the value of inventory. Appendix A.2 also lists several factors that could provide opportunities for management/employees to commit fraud. One factor that could lead to fraud is if, â€Å"There is ineffective monitoring of management as a result of: domination of management by a single person or small group without compensating controls.† The auditors should have taken notice of the lack of controls and segregation of duties with respect to Phar-Mor’s president. He had far too much control and was able to perform his duties without any internal controls to limit his ability to affect the financial statements. The Appendix also states that fraud opportunities could arise if â€Å"Internal controls components are deficient as a result of: inadequate monitoring of controls.† Obviously in the case of Phar-Mor, the internal controls were deficient. The monitoring of controls was woefully inadequate which allowed for the president and others to continue perpetrating the fraud for years. One of the reasons that Phar-Mor was able to commit such a substantial amount of fraud for as long as it did was its business model was highly unique and perhaps not well understood. The more â€Å"complex† a company is, and the harder it is to understand, the easier it will be for said company to commit fraud. The CFO, accounting manager, and controller were all presented with â€Å"opportunities† to perpetrate the fraud, simply due to the fact that the president himself instructed them to misstate the financial statements, or simply â€Å"go along with it.† However, it was the lack of internal controls that provided the opportunity for the president to initiate the fraud in the first place. Attitudes/Rationalizations As noted in Appendix A of AU 316, the â€Å"risk factors reflective of attitudes/rationalizations by board members, management, or employees, that allow them to engage in and/or justify fraudulent financial reporting, may not be susceptible to observation by the auditor. Nevertheless, the auditor who becomes aware of the existence of such information should consider it in identifying the risks of material misstatement arising from fraudulent financial reporting.† It would be hard for any auditor to identify any members of management or employees who may be rationalizing their involvement in an act of fraud. As stated in the video, Phar-Mor’s external auditors said their job is to be a watch dog, not a bloodhound, in reference to finding misstatements in the reported assets or financial statements. However, the documentary was able to shed light on the many different rationalizations made by those involved with the fraud at Phar-Mor. Phar-Mor’s president and those associated with the fraud made plenty of rationalizations to continue justifying material misstatements on the financial statements and misappropriating company assets. When employees make rationalizations related to committing fraud, an auditor will have a hard time detecting the fraud because the employee will do everything in their power not to get caught. In Phar-Mor’s case, when a group of employees with so much power and authority in the company collaborate to commit fraud, an auditor will have an even lower chance of detecting the fraud At the onset of the fraud it was initially rationalized by those involved because according to them, they were just â€Å"buying time† and eventually they would be able to improve efficiency and all would be well. Also, while the first misstatements made by the president/CFO were illegal, they were initially made on an internal document, so Phar-Mor was in essence only, â€Å"lying to its owners†. As time went on, several of those involved still felt that there were ways to fix the problem, but eventually it got to the point where most realized that it was a lost cause. Conclusion The president of Phar-Mor instilled a very negative â€Å"tone at the top† which trickled down to his direct reports. His attitude and disregard for internal controls by continually overriding transactions scared the employees involved with the fraud. Most importantly, he never wanted to correct the overridden controls, digging the fraud hole bigger and bigger every year. Even when he knew Phar-Mor was in financial trouble he continued to use company money to fund his personal investments such as LPGA events and the World Basketball League. The president’s lavish lifestyle created an illusion to investors, creditors, and customers that Phar-Mor was doing well financially. He bullied suppliers into giving him a certain amount of product for a lower price per unit, as well as large sums of money in order not to sell a certain competitors products. He would then misstate the actual price of inventory by increasing the cost and use the difference, plus the extra money given by suppliers, to pay expenses. The documentary makes the point that our society likes that our entrepreneurs are inherent risk takers. However, there is a fine line between an aggressive, calculated risk taker and an irresponsible gambler. It is incumbent upon an auditor to determine whether individuals in management positions have crossed that line in order to fully assess the fraud risk associated with a company. In the case of Phar-Mor we fully opine that the company’s president acted irresponsibly and crossed the line with regards to legality and risk. We also believe that it was incumbent upon the CEO, CFO, account manager, and controller to correct any misstatements and put an end to any fraudulent/illegal activity as soon as they became aware the fraud was occurring. An auditor’s consideration of fraudulent financial reporting and misappropriation of assets happens throughout every audit. Using the three risk factors stated above (incentives/pressures, opportunities, and attitudes/rationalizations), an auditor will assess the risk for each job accordingly. The auditors of Cooper and Lybrand LLP did not do a thorough job in assessing the amount of risk Phar-Mor’s financial statements were materially misstated or assets were misappropriated. Using horizontal and vertical analyses, the auditors should have modified their planning and audit procedures to further investigate large increases in certain accounts which could have detected fraudulent transactions much sooner.

macbeth as a tragic hero :: essays research papers

Macbeth the Tragic hero <Tab/>"I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan, for it knell that summons thee to heaven, or to hell." This is a quote from Shakespeare's play Macbeth. The quote symbolizes Macbeth turning to the dark side. Macbeth is a historically based play. James I is placed into the play with his distant relationship with Banguo. Macbeth is a tragedy in which human actions have unavoidable consequences, where the characters sins and mistakes are never forgiven or rectified. Every tragedy has a tragic hero in this play Macbeth is the tragic hero. Macbeth is the tragic hero because he has a high station, tragic flaw, and a downfall in which he redeems before his death. <Tab/>Macbeth receives a station as high as king of Scotland. He also obtains title of Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth fought valiantly in the battle against Macdonaldwald and fought him face to face and defeated his army. Macbeth sounds like an honorable and courageous man. Well, he is until he starts to turn to the dark side. <Tab/>The three witches tell him three apparitions the first being beware of Macduff, Second one is no man of woman born shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him. Hearing the apparitions makes Macbeth greedy and overconfident. He believes that he can do as he pleases and will never falter. These two things are Macbeth's tragic flaws. These and other things lead to Macbeth's downfall. <Tab/>Macbeth comes across three witches that greet him in three different ways Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and king here after. Macbeth did not think much of these greetings. Well, until he receives the news from Ross that he has become the Thane of Cawdor. This is where Macbeth's downfall beings to show it's ugly little head. His mind becomes cloudy and begins to focus on how he will obtain the crown. Macbeth later murders Duncan, the king, in his sleep. This action turns Macbeth's downfall in to a rapid decent. Not long thereafter his wife drives herself crazy thinking of Duncan's murder and commits suicide. Macbeth also loses the throne, and his life in the final act. These actions symbolize the completion of his down fall. Even after all his deceit and corruption he still seems to redeem his honor and courage to the audience. <Tab/>Macbeth regains is honor and courage just before his death.

Love symbol Essay

1.1. Background of the Study Most people say love is a gift something beautiful from God. Love is a symbol about the feeling each individual. Deal with their couple, deal with their family, their children, and their friend. In the most stories, a man who falls in love with a woman will sacrifice everything he can, also with a woman, when a woman falls in love with a man will sacrifice everything she can. Not only about relationship between woman and man need sacrifice for a love, but also in family’s relationship needed. For example love and care of parents to her or his kids is always all the way. Based on my opinion that love is like a knife with two eyes, the right side can make a happiness, and the left side can make a sadness. The happiness moment of love is when two people allied in marriages. Two people with different personality become a one. The sadness moment is when two people in marriage decide to divorce, it makes very hurt, not only for two people who had, but it hurt to her and his kids. Those problems might come from external factors, such as the couple’s disagreement over some things, personal jealously, anxiety, distrust, etc. Sometimes, a person even has to sacrifice his or her own happiness for his or her lovers. This shows that love can be such a powerful of wonderful love, and can make painful, most people called it love. Based on the statement above love can also be found in one of Nicholas Sparks novel, the title is The Last Song. The Story tells about starts with Ronnie. She is a rebellious child who has taken the company of wrong kind of friends. It is because she has never been able to come out of her parent’s divorce and have bitter feelings about it. Her life has never been the same. After her parents divorced and her father moved to North Carolina, Ronnie distanced herself from her father and gave up music. Music was the thing that she had grown up learning from her father but now it was another source of stirring up bad memories. Three years later, on her father’s request, Ronnie and her brother, Jonah is sent to North Carolina to spend the summer with their father. Resentful and rebellious, Ronnie rejects her father’s attempts to reach out to her and threatens to return to New York before the summer’s end. It is during this summer that Ronnie meets Will and Blaze and Marcus. After a disgusting episode with Marcus and Blaze, things starts changing in  her life for the good. She finds herself falling for Will, opening herself up to the greatest happiness – and pain – that she has ever known. Her strained relationship with her father starts healing slowly and gradually the bond is restored. All the characters seem real and are well defined. As Ronnie’s life changes, the readers can feel the way she matures from a rebellious teenager to a young woman of substance. Jona, He is intelligent, adorable and a witty child and the way he cares for his father and sister is simp ly moving. Steve, too as a father does his best to spend meaningful time with his children. His unconditional love for his children, patience with Ronnie and his belief in her and finally his love for music is remarkable. Forgiveness is the key to happiness. Life is too short to hold grudges against others. So, forgive and forget and move forward in life. Based on the website of Nicholas Sparks this story is told about love and family. As we know that the Nicholas Sparks’s works always tell about romantic and love. Nicholas Sparks was born on December 31, 1965, in Omaha, Nebraska. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1998. He lives in North Carolina with his wife who accompanies him for 13 years. Nicholas Sparks graduated in 1984 as a valedictorian from Bella Vista High school. The first work of Nicholas Sparks is The Notebook, the novel was published in October 1996 and made the New York Times best seller list. With the success of his first novel he wrote several international bestsellers, one of is The Last Song, it was published on 2010. The Last Song is interesting to analyze particularly from intrinsic factors and the elements of conflict on the main character’s life. T he conflict starts from when Ronnie’s parents decide to divorce. Firstly Ronnie love playing music, after her parents divorce Ronnie dislike to play music, and he hate her father so much. One day, in summer Ronnie and her brother visit to her father’s house. She ignored her father. But soon Ronnie meets Will, the last person she thought she’d never be attracted to, and finds herself falling for him, opening her self up to the greatest happiness and pain that she has ever known. New Criticism theory is appropriate to use in this study to analyze Love and Song influence in Ronnie’s life. 1.2. Statement of the Problems Based on the background of the study above, there are several research questions have to discussed in this thesis, which are: a. How are Love and Song influence of Ronnie’s life in this novel ? b. How are Love and Song created conflict on the plot of the story in this novel? 1.3. Objective of the Study Based on the statements of the problem above, the writer’s purpose are analysis to clear out about: a. The effect of song and love in Ronnie’s life can changes her opinion b. love and song through conflicts elements in this novel 1.4. Significance of the Study In the English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Airlangga University, Surabaya, especially who are studying in literature class got some theory to write on thesis writing. Some theory are pschoanalytic criticism, marxist criticism, feminist criticism, new criticism, structuralist criticism, and etc. In this thesis writing the writer use and focused in New Criticism theory application. New Criticism theory application is about analysis of words, figures of speech and dictions. Intrinsic elements such as characterization, plot, and setting. In this thesis the writer analysis about the conflict of the plot in this story. How love and song influence the main character’s life. The Last Song give us about the effect on the power of love and song can changes the personality of the main character. As we know that the Nicholas Spark’s works, mostly genre about romantic (love). 1.5. Scope and Limitation The novel is analyzed from the text it self, which include the analysis on conflict of plot and elements particularly of the main character it self. This analysis does not discuss about other elements, or anything out from this novel. 1.6. Theoretical Background This thesis has a aim to analyze the love and song can give effect to Ronnie in The Last Song. The writer analyzes the conflict of the plot and the elements character in this novel, the writer uses New Criticism theory to get the more understanding about the problem of the analysis. It is a method of analyzing a text, in this case, a novel, based on the text itself without  adaption any other outside theories. All of elements found in a text are from the main idea represented by the text. New Criticism Theory itself talks about a theory which concerns on text only, without seeing who is the writer’s background of the text, as Tyson (2006) said that â€Å"some of its most important concepts concerning the nature and importance of textual evidence -the use of concrete, specific examples from the text itself to validate our interpretations- have been incorporated into the way most literary critics today, regardless of their theoretical persuasion, support their readings of lit erature.† Secondly, close reading is used to interpret or analyse the text, it means that New Criticism Theory has a new critic to analyse the text itself by using â€Å"close reading† as a point. Thirdly, New Criticism Theory as an imaginative literature in analysing a literary text which called an aesthetic experience is about something that can lead us as a reader to be the truth, as Bressler (2007) said that â€Å"Aesthetic Experience talks about (i.e., the effects produced on an individual when contemplating a work of art) that can lead the truth.† Fourthly, New Criticism Theory is about the author’s intention to make its interpret, as Tyson said that â€Å"New Criticism Theory knows on author’s intention which called ‘intentional fallacy’ to refer to the mistaken belief that the author’s intention is the same as the text’s meaning. Besides intentional fallacy, there is also affective fallacy means that it focuses on the text with its effects.† Fifthly, New Criticism Theory has formal elements or figurative language in analysing a literary text after â€Å"closely read,† there are images, symbol, metaphors, rhyme, meter, point of view, setting, characterization, and plot. Besides formal elements, literary language also one of formal elements, as Tyson (2006) said that â€Å"Literary Language, in contrast, depends on connotation: on the implication, association, suggestion, and evocation of meanings and of shades of meaning, in addition, literary language is expressive: it communicates tone, attitude, and feeling.† Sixthly, New Criticism Theory is also as â€Å"a play on words† which means that the words that exist on literary texts have multiple meanings. As Tyson said that â€Å"new criticism, the complexity of a text is created by the multiple and often conflicting meanings woven th rough it, and these meanings are primarily of four kinds of linguistic devices: (1) Paradox is thus responsible for much of the complexity of human experience and of the literature that portrays  it. (2) Irony means that a statement or event undermined by the context in which it occurs. (3) Ambiguity occurs when a word or event generates two or more different meanings. (4) Tension is created by the integration of the abstract and the concrete, of general ideas embodied in specific images.† 1.7. Method of the Study Write this thesis, firstly the writer reads the novel title The Last Song on a long times. The first time when read this novel, the writer get a general imagination of the all cintent of the novel. After the writer read the novel until finished, the writer get a technique to analyze the novel. She chosen base theory, that is New Criticism. The writer focuses analyze about the conflict in every plot’s the main character. The writer analyze about the influence love and song give effeect in the main character’s life. The writer also searching on the google to get more information about the novel and the New Criticism theory. She also consult with her lecture, and visit on the library books to get more information and collect the theory of New Crticism to doing her thesis analyze The Last Song. 1.8. Definition of Key Term Love: love is like a knife with two eyes, the right side can make a happiness,and the left side can make a sadness Effect: the impact of some happening in our life Song: Music can represented how people falls, which is her or his sad or happy CHAPTER II LITERARY REVIEW The theory that will be used in analyzing the text is New Criticism. As stated by Tyson, New Criticism’s purpose in an analysis is to reveal the true meaning of the text itself. Since this theory is based on the text itself, New Criticism’s main focus is toward the formal elements of the text which forms the organic unity of the text (Tyson 136). 2.1 New Criticism New criticism is one of literary approaches which is commonly used to interpret the meaning of a literary work. New criticism begin in the 1940s  through 1960s, in that era, this method of analysis became popular in the most high school and college literature classes. This approach concerns with close reading, a technique that focus on the elements of a literary work. In a literary work, the elements can be tone, point of view, and any other poetic device that will help the reader understand the overall meaning of a literary work. Formal elements determine what a text contains, since text or literary works uses language in order to express its meaning. In literary work, the language that the author uses in explaining the story of a poem or play is different from the language that people found in their everyday life. In everyday life, we often found scientific language which means that the language is easy to understand and to the point of what it means. On the other hand, literary work use figurative language since a one word can have more than one meaning. As an important part of formal elements, figurative language carries images, symbols, metaphor and similes. This is where figurative language becomes an important part of formal elements because it carries images, symbols, metaphor, and similes in its language (Tyson 141). 2.2 Setting Setting is a physical details of the place, the time, and the social context that influence the actions of the characters in a literary work. Often setting also evokes a mood or atmosphere, foreshadowing event to come. Setting is the time and place of a story. Vivid settings give a story reality; they give readers a sense of being there. Playwrights build themes into their plays through the development and interrelationship of all elements of drama, most of which are the same as for fiction. Three methods of developing theme, however, are particularly noteworthy: repetitions, symbols, and contrasts. All three lend themselves well to drama (Griffith 71): Repetitions can take many forms- a character’s performing the same gesture over and over again, repeating the same phrase stating the same idea, or appearing at regular intervals. Symbolism can enrich setting; but, in fact, symbolism bears on both characterization and theme as well. Then contrast is a device for developing not just theme but characterization and plot as well, and contrast usually bears on all three. 2.3 Plot Plot gives an order to the events that the character in the text faces and focuses on conflicts. Events require the interaction between a character’s oneself or an interaction with another character. The conflicts itself are what the characters must face in a story and need to be resolved. There are elements that make the plot become interesting: introduction (where the character and the story are introduced), rising action, conflict (the struggle that grows out of the of the interplay of two opposing forces in a plot), climax (the highest point of interest in the story or the point which readers learn how the conflict is resolved), falling action, and denouement (the ending of the story). There are many types of plot, such as dramatic plot, episodic plot, parallel plot, and cumulative plot. 2.4 Character Character is a person in a narrative works such as novel, play or drama, and film. Characters in a drama can be different from each other, it means that each character has its own characterization. Characterization is a process of how a character is depicted in a literary work, the aspect of characterization need to be taken in account to illustrate the characters of a story, for example how characters behave or how they act in a certain situation they are in. There are some types of the characters in a drama, such as protagonist (the best actor who got the principal part), euteragonist (the second best actor), antagonist (the character who rivals with other character, mostly involve in a conflict), and the last one is stereotype or stock character (a character who reappears in various forms in many plays). CHAPTER III ANALYSIS Love and song through conflicts Fristly the writer explain about love. Love is a symbol about the feeling each individual. Deal with their couple, deal with their family, their children, and their friend. In the most stories, a man who falls in love with a woman will sacrifice everything he can, also with a woman, when a woman falls in love with a man will sacrifice everything she can. Not only about relationship between woman and man need sacrifice for a love, in family’s relationship needed too. For example love and care of parents to her or his kids is always all the way. Based on my opinion that love is  like a knife with two eyes, the right side can make a happiness, and the left side can make a sadness. The happiness moment of love is when two people allied in marriages. Two people with different personality become a one. The sadness moment is when two people in marriage decide to divorce, it makes very hurt, not only for two people who had, but it hurt to her and his kids. Those problems might come from external factors, such as the couple’s disagreement over some things, personal jealously, anxiety, distrust, etc. Sometimes, a person even has to sacrifice his or her own happiness for his or her lovers. This shows that love can be such a powerful of wonderful love, and can make painful, most people called it love. Song is one of expression about somebody who want to show that her or his feeling. In this novel Ronnie’s father like playing piano to show his feeling about his condition. Before divorce, he always played music with Ronnie, but after divorce he play music without Ronnie, because Ronnie now hate play music. Even Ronnie didn’t play piano, in deepest her feeling, she want to play piano. Ronnie Miller, portrays a rebellious teenager who lives in New York City and is forced to move in with her father for the summer in Tybee Island, Georgia. She hates him after her parents’ divorce and hasn’t talked to him for th ree years. Her father taught her how to play the piano and she loved it. Ever since the divorce, she refuses to play. Ronnie was accepted to Juliard School for the fall, but she refuses to attend. Before she arrived to Georgia, she was miserable, hostile, and defensive towards everyone around her. Ronnie has a serious attitude and she was not being nice to her father. The conflict is when Ronnie’s parents divorce, she hate her father. She always ignore her father. The statement that she hate her father. â€Å" I don’t ant to see and talk to him.† Ronnie said. (the last song 11) The conversation is when her mother talk to Ronnie, that Ronnie and her brother will spend the summer holiday in her father house. The main conflict why Ronnie hate her father is when her grandfather passed away is changes her father. Ronnie’s father quit his position at Juilliard, and year after that he’d decided to try his luck as a concert pianist. Then three years ago her father and her mother decided to divorce, and his father moved back to his home town. Before her parrents divorce, Ro nnie like playing piano, but after her parents divorce she stop playing piano. â€Å"Ronnie hated the piano and swore she’d never play again a decision even some of her  oldest friends thought was strange, since it had been a major part of her life for as long as she’d known them.† (the last song 12) Love changes Ronnie’s Character The first day at her father’s house, Ronnie met Will Blakelee. She crashed into him at his volleyball game and he accidentally spilled her milkshake all over her. Ronnie ignores him even though he was handsome, rich, and popular. The writer assumed that of this text is to think that no matter what happens, you will always end up with your true love in the end. Despite the arguments and different values one may share, it is the thought of first love that will bring you together and help that irresistible bond last forever. The text encourages us all to believe that in every hard time in our lives, we will be rescued by a gorgeous, strong, wealthy man who has nothing less in his heart but the idea to sweep you off your feet at every moment. It is giving every young woman the idea that they don’t have to go out and work hard to find the perfect man because at some point he is going to bump right into you at the beach and you will be in love from then on. The values and cha racteristics, besides the ones on the outside, don’t matter to Ronnie and Will. They are infatuated with each other after spending one summer together. The oppositional reading refuses to explain the unrealistic hopes and expectations it sends out to the viewers. The two young lovers jump right into love within seconds of meeting each other. The first meeting was completely unrealistic because it was just an event based on being in the right place at the right time. They have major class differences and many issues that they didn’t deal with together. The idea that Will was able to change Ronnie from a rebel to a saint in two days could not have been done so easily. In this novel, Ronnie’s father tells Will â€Å"I would be able to help you if I understood the mind of a woman†. It is hard to believe that an 18 year-old boy would be able to understand a woman, but an older, wiser, divorced adult does not. We can not mindlessly accept the idea that your perfect partner is cosmically predestined, so nothing/nobody can ultimately separate you be cause there are many events that can separate a couple. When Ronnie stay at her father’s house, firstly Ronnie ignore her father, but after Ronnie meet someone who makes Ronnie fall in love, step by step she changes her mind preseption to her father. Would Ronnie have been interested in Will if he was shorter, poorer, weaker, and younger than her? Wills rescue of Ronnie was based on his strength and his ability to love her. What would Will have offered to Ronnie if he didn’t have the characteristics of being rich, older, stronger, and taller? Also, do you really think it is realistic for Will to be able to change Ronnie’s rebellious ways instantly? She went from being a rebellious, angry teen who was caught for shoplifting back at home in New York City and â€Å"hated† her father, to a beautiful, respectful young woman who loved her father and only does good things. This is something that can’t be changed within days of meeting a good-looking man.

Formal Lab Report Essay

Human reaction times vary person to person and often increase with age. This change in reaction time can have little impact on a person’s daily life, such as when answering a ringing telephone. But this change can also have a dramatic impact when driving, working in dangerous environments, and negotiating busy streets and sidewalks. Literature Search â€Å"Reaction time has been used as a psychological test since the mid-19th century (Deary, 1). † Several studies have been conducted dealing with reaction time and the factors that can affect it. In their study titled â€Å"Validation of reaction time as a measure of cognitive function and quality of life in healthy subjects and patients†, Jakobsen, Sorensen, et al studied and reported findings regarding diminished reaction times and the effect that poor health had on those times. Findings were conclusive that the healthier the individual, the better their responses. Hypothesis Individual’s reaction time with their dominant hand is faster than those with their non-dominant hand. Conversely, there may be no statistically valid difference in the reaction time from one hand to the other. Experiment To test the variance in reaction time from dominant hand to non-dominant hand we set up an experiment using a simple reaction time test found in the free marketplace on an Android telephone. This application required the user to touch one of four colored stars that match the color of an identified star in the upper right hand corner. The subject was asked to repeat this response 20 times and the total time was scored as the reaction time. If a subject made an incorrect â€Å"touch† then their time would continue until the correctly touched 20 stars. The subject would then be ask to repeat this test with their non-dominant hand. To standardize the testing instructions were provided by my team mates and it was decided that the subject would place the device on a flat surface in front of them and use the index finger on first their dominant hand and then their non-dominant hand. Data was collected for 30 random subjects and analysis performed. Data Analysis Data collected from the 30 random subjects was input and the following summary statistics were produced. Dominant Hand Mean Reaction Time (D)| | | 18. 865 sec. | Median Reaction Time (D)| | | 17. 264 sec. | Variance (D)| | | 28. 235 sec. | Standard Deviation (D)| | | 5. 314 sec. | Non-dominant Hand Mean Reaction Time (N)| | | 17. 734 sec. | Median Reaction Time (N)| | 16. 412 sec. | Variance (N)| | | 16. 130 sec. | Standard Deviation (N)| | | 4. 016 sec. | The graphs below illustrate the mean for each hand as well as error with in plus or minus one standard deviation. Conclusion After conducting this experiment and reviewing the data, a few things became clear. One is that age of the subject had a significant impact on results with both hands. This is presumed to be the result of the interaction with a new technology. Younger subjects seemed to grasp the concept of what they were expected to do more quickly. Second, in this case, familiarity did not breed contempt, but it did breed faster reaction times. As subjects became more comfortable with the application they were using, their response times decreased. The later of these two factors had a more global effect on our outcomes, thus disproving our hypothesis in this case. I do not believe these results to be conclusive or authoritative and simply put, more research is needed. References Deary, I. J. , Liewald, D. & Nissan, J. (2011) A free, easy-to-use, computer-based simple and four-choice reaction time programme: The dearly-liewald reaction time task. Behavior Research Methods (Online), 43(1), 258-268. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/920259801? accountid=39001 Jakobsen, L. H. , Sorensen, J. M. , Rask, I. K. , Jensen, B. S. , & Kondrup, J. (2011). Validation of reaction time as a measure of cognitive function and quality of life in healthy subjects and patients. Nutrition, 27(5), 561-570. Doi: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1016/j. nut. 2010. 08. 003 Norman, Celia (2011). General Biology 111: Laboratory Manual. Denver, CO: Department of Biology, Arapahoe Community College.

Free Essays on The Australian Legal System Fails Rape Victims

â€Å"The experience of the few women who do seek justice after being raped is heartbreaking testament to the failure of the adversarial criminal law achieving convictions† Do you agree with this proposition? Justify your position. Similar to many Western countries, Australia uses the adversary system in both criminal and civil cases. The standard of proof of the adversary system in criminal cases is â€Å"proof beyond reasonable doubt†, and with a nation-wide rape conviction rate of one per cent, many important questions are being raised. One of these issues stems from the rate of report of sexual offences to the police, which currently stands at approximately 15%. There are many reasons for this number being so low, the most worrying being â€Å"fear of legal system† or at least a lack of faith in it, by victims. A Rape Crisis Hotline in Victoria receives 15,000 calls per year from distressed women who are victims of sexual assault. Most of them do not report their ordeal to the police for this exact reason; â€Å"the victims fear the system, the think it will just chew them up and spit them out with nothing to show for the whole nightmare†. Other reasons cited by rape victims for not reporting attacks include â€Å"feeling ashamed† and â€Å"being blamed or held responsible by the police or courts†. On top of this, there is the very real knowledge that the chances of their attacker being convicted at a trial and punished for his crime (men still represent 93% of sex offenders) are on ly one in 100. In NSW in 2000-01 of the approximate 3% of the sexual assaults that reached the Courts, 36% were acquitted and only 30% were convicted (12% of which were convicted on a lesser offence). ‘Tracey’ [not her real name],44, of Victoria, and was sexually molested by her father from the age of four up to the age of 15, at which point she moved out of home. ‘Tracey’ was also raped by her father in her early twenties. In 200... Free Essays on The Australian Legal System Fails Rape Victims Free Essays on The Australian Legal System Fails Rape Victims â€Å"The experience of the few women who do seek justice after being raped is heartbreaking testament to the failure of the adversarial criminal law achieving convictions† Do you agree with this proposition? Justify your position. Similar to many Western countries, Australia uses the adversary system in both criminal and civil cases. The standard of proof of the adversary system in criminal cases is â€Å"proof beyond reasonable doubt†, and with a nation-wide rape conviction rate of one per cent, many important questions are being raised. One of these issues stems from the rate of report of sexual offences to the police, which currently stands at approximately 15%. There are many reasons for this number being so low, the most worrying being â€Å"fear of legal system† or at least a lack of faith in it, by victims. A Rape Crisis Hotline in Victoria receives 15,000 calls per year from distressed women who are victims of sexual assault. Most of them do not report their ordeal to the police for this exact reason; â€Å"the victims fear the system, the think it will just chew them up and spit them out with nothing to show for the whole nightmare†. Other reasons cited by rape victims for not reporting attacks include â€Å"feeling ashamed† and â€Å"being blamed or held responsible by the police or courts†. On top of this, there is the very real knowledge that the chances of their attacker being convicted at a trial and punished for his crime (men still represent 93% of sex offenders) are on ly one in 100. In NSW in 2000-01 of the approximate 3% of the sexual assaults that reached the Courts, 36% were acquitted and only 30% were convicted (12% of which were convicted on a lesser offence). ‘Tracey’ [not her real name],44, of Victoria, and was sexually molested by her father from the age of four up to the age of 15, at which point she moved out of home. ‘Tracey’ was also raped by her father in her early twenties. In 200...

How to Improve Reading Comprehension 8 Expert Tips

How to Improve Reading Comprehension 8 Expert Tips SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Reading is a skill many people take for granted, but the act ofreading and properly comprehending a textis a complex and interactive process.It requires several different brain functions to worktogether and most often requires one to puzzle through multiplelayers of context and meaning. Because reading comprehension is so complicated, we can often find ourselves understanding the most basic interpretation of a text, but missing the emotional core or the â€Å"big picture.† Or we might just find our brains spinning with no clue at all as to what atext is attempting to convey. But luckily for everyone who struggles in English classes, on standardized tests, or in daily life, reading comprehension can be improved upon (and it’s never too late to start!). In this guide, I explain step-by-step how to improve reading comprehension over time and offer tips for boosting your understandingas you read. What Is Reading Comprehension? Reading comprehension is the understanding of what a particular text means and the ideas the author is attempting to convey, both textual and subtextual.In order to read any text, your brain must process not only the literal words of the piece, but alsotheir relationship with one another, the context behind the words, how subtlelanguage and vocabulary usagecan impact emotion and meaning behind the text, and how the text comes together as a larger, coherent whole. For instance, let's look at the first line from Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Now, a completely literal interpretation of the text, just based on word-meaning, would have us believethat'all rich men wantwives.' But the context, word choice, and phrasing of the text actually belie that interpretation. By using the phrases "universally acknowledged" and "must be in want of" (emphasis ours), the text is conveying a subtle sarcasm to the words. Instead of it being an actual truth that 'rich men want wives,' thisone sentenceinstantlytells us that we're reading about a societypreoccupied withmarriage, while also implyingthat the opening statement is something people in that society may believe, but that isn't necessarily true. In just a few short words, Austen conveys several ideas to the reader about one of the main themes of the story, the setting, and what the culture and peopleare like. And she does so all the while seeming to contradict the literal words of the piece. Without practice in reading comprehension, nuances like these can become lost. Andso it can happen thatsomeonemay find themselves reading, butnot truly comprehending the full meaning of a text. As you can see, reading comprehension involves many processes happening in your brain at once, and thus it can be easy for some aspects of a text to get lost in the muddle.But the good news for anyone who struggles is that reading comprehension is a skill just like any other.It must be learned through practice, focus, and diligence, but it absolutely CAN be learned. Want to get better grades and test scores? We can help. PrepScholar Tutors is the world's best tutoring service. We combine world-class expert tutors with our proprietary teaching techniques. Our students have gotten A's on thousands of classes, perfect 5's on AP tests, and ludicrously high SAT Subject Test scores. Whether you need help with science, math, English, social science, or more, we've got you covered. Get better grades today with PrepScholar Tutors. Why Reading Comprehension Is Important Proper reading comprehension can be difficult, so why bother? Even though learning how to properly read and comprehend texts is a complicated process, it is a necessary skill to master, both for work andfor pleasure. You will need to know how to read and interpret all kinds of different texts- bothon the basic, literal level and on a more in-depth level- throughout your schooling, in college, and in the working world (as well as in your recreation time!). If we think about "reading" just as a literal or surface understanding of a piece and "reading comprehension" as the completeunderstanding, a personcan only get by in the world on pure "reading" for so long. Readingcomprehensionis essential for many significant aspects of daily life, such as: Reading, understanding, and analyzing literature in your English classes Reading and understanding texts from your other class subjects, such as history, math, or science Doing well on both the written and math sections of the SAT (or all five sections of the ACT) Understanding and engaging with current events presented in written form, such as news reports Properly understanding and responding to any and all other workplace correspondence, such as essays, reports, memos, and analyses Simply taking pleasure in written work on your own leisure time Just like with any goal or skill, we can master reading comprehension one step at a time. How to Improve Reading Comprehension: 3 Steps Because reading comprehension is a skill that improves like any other, you can improve your understanding with practice and a game plan. Dedicate yourself to engaging in a combination of both "guided" and "relaxed" reading practice for at least two to three hours a week.Guided practicewill involvestructure and focused attention, like learning new vocabulary words and testing yourself on them, while relaxed practice will involvemerely letting yourself readand enjoy reading without pressure for at least one to two hours a week. (Note: if you already read for pleasure, add at least one more hour of pleasure-reading per week.) By combining reading-for-studying and reading-for-pleasure, you'll be able to improve your reading skill without relegating reading time to the realm of "work" alone. Reading is a huge part of our daily lives, and improving your comprehension should never come at the cost of depriving yourself ofthe pleasure of the activity. So what are some of the firststeps for improving your reading comprehension level? Step 1: Understand and Reevaluate How You’re Currently Reading Before you can improve your reading comprehension, you must first understand how you’re currently reading and what your limitations are. Start by selecting excerpts from different texts with which you are unfamiliar- text books, essays, novels, news reports, or any kind of text you feel you particularly struggle to understand- and read them as you would normally.As you read, see if you can notice when your attention, energy, or comprehension of the material begins to flag. If your comprehension or concentration tends to lagafter a period of time, start to slowly build up your stamina. For instance, if you continually lose focus at the 20minute mark every time you read, acknowledge this and push yourself to slowly increase that time, rather than trying to sit and concentrate on reading for an hour or two at a stretch. Beginby reading for your maximum amount of focused time (in this case, twenty minutes), then give yourself a break. Next time, try for 22minutes. Once you've mastered that, tryfor 25and see if you can still maintain focus. If you can, then try for thirty. If you find that your concentration or comprehension starts to lag again, take a step back on your timing before pushingyourself for more. Improvement comes with time, and it'll only cause frustration if youtry to rush it all at once. Alternatively, you may findthat your issueswith reading comprehension have less to do with the time spent readingthan with the source material itself. Perhaps you struggle to comprehendthe essential elements of a text, the context of a piece, character arcs or motivation, booksor textbooks with densely packed information, or material that is heavily symbolic. If this is the case, then be sure to follow thetips belowto improve these areas of reading comprehension weakness. Improving your reading comprehension level takes time andpractice, but understanding where your strengths and weaknesses stand now is the first step towards progress. Step 2: Improve Your Vocabulary Reading and comprehension rely ona combination of vocabulary, context, and the interaction of words. So you must be able to understand each moving piece before you can understand the text as a whole. If you struggle to understand specific vocabulary, it's sometimespossibleto pick up meaning through context clues (how the words are used in the sentence or in the passage), but it’s always a good idea to lookup thedefinitions of wordswith which you aren't familiar. As you read, make sure to keep a running list of words you don't readily recognize andmakeyourself a set of flashcards with the words and their definitions.Dedicate fifteen minutes two or threetimes a weektoand quizzing yourself on your vocab flashcards. To get started, you'll need some blank index cards and a system to keep them organized. Thesebasic cardsare an affordable option that arealso available infun colors. You can keep them organized with plastic baggies or rubber bands, or you can get anorganizer. Alternatively, trytheseeasy-flip flashcardsthatinclude binder clips.Though we strongly recommend making your own flashcards, you can also buy pre-made ones - the best option is Barron's00 Words You Need to Know, a series of exercises to master key words andidioms. In order to retainyour vocabulary knowledge, you must practice acombination of practiced memorization (like studying your flashcards) and make a point of usingthese new words in your verbal and written communication.Guided vocabulary practice like this will give you access to new words and their meanings as well asallow you to properlyretain them. Step 3: Read for Pleasure The best way to improve your reading comprehension level isthrough practice. And the best way to practice is to have fun with it! Make reading a fun activity, at least on occasion,rather than a constant chore. This will motivate you to engage with the textand embrace the activity as part of your daily life (rather than just your study/work life). As you practice and truly engage with your reading material,improvement will come naturally. Begin by reading texts that are slightly below your age and grade level (especially if reading is frustrating or difficult for you). This will take pressure off of you and allow you to relax and enjoy the story. Here are some fun, easy reads that we recommend to get you started: Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roksani Chokshi Brown Girl Dreamingby Jacqueline Woodson Ghostby Jason Reynolds The Westing Game by Ellen Rankin From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E.Frankweilerby E.L. Konigsburg The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson I Am Malala byMalala Yousafzai Harry Potter and the Sorcerer'sStoneby J.K .Rowling Once you feel more comfortable reading and practicing your comprehension strategies (tips in the next section), go ahead and allow yourself to read at whatever reading or age level you feel like. Even if you feel that you don't understand some of the text right now- or even a large portion of it!- if you enjoy yourself and give it your best shot, you'll find that yourreading comprehension levels will improveover time. Ultimately, reading should be a fun and functional activity. So try to keep yourreading exercises balanced betweenwork and pleasure. 5 Reading Comprehension Tips Improvingyour vocabulary and increasing the amount of time you spend reading overall will help you to improve your reading comprehension over time, but what do you do to help you tocomprehenda particular piece of text? Here, I'll walkyou through the steps to take as you're readingso that you can understand the text and improve how you're reading, when you're reading. Tip1: Stop When You Get Confused and Try to Summarize What You Just Read As you read, let yourself stop whenever youlose focus or feel confused. Just stop.Now, without re-reading, summarize aloud or in your head what you've comprehended so far (before the place where you became confused). Skim back through the text and compare how you've summarizedit with what's written on the page. Do you feel you've captured the salient points? Do you feel a little more focused on what's going on now that you've put the material into your own words? Keep readingwith yoursummation in mind and let yourself stop and repeat the process whenever the piece becomes confusing to you. The more you're able to re-contextualizethe work in your own words, the better you'll be able to understand it and lock the information in your mind as you keep reading. Tip 2: If You’re Struggling, Try Reading Aloud Sometimes, we can form a sort of â€Å"mental block† that can halt our reading progress for whatever reason (maybe the sentence looks complex or awkward, maybe you’re tired, maybe you feel intimidated by the word choice, or are simply bored). Reading these problematic passages aloud can often help circumvent that block and help you to form a visual of what the text is trying to convey. Tip 3: Re-read (or Skim) Previous Sections of the Text For the most part, reading is a personal activity that happens entirely in your head. So don’t feel you have to read just like anyone else if "typical" methodsdon’t work for you. Sometimes it can make the most sense to read (or re-read) a text out of order. It is oftenhelpful to glance backwards through a piece of text (or even re-read large sections) to remind yourself of any information you need and have forgotten- what happened previously, what a particular word means, who a person was...the list is endless. Previous sentences, sections, or even whole chapterscan provide helpful context clues. Re-reading these passages willhelp torefresh your memory so that you can better understand and interpretlater sections of the text. Want to get better grades and test scores? We can help. PrepScholar Tutors is the world's best tutoring service. We combine world-class expert tutors with our proprietary teaching techniques. Our students have gotten A's on thousands of classes, perfect 5's on AP tests, and ludicrously high SAT Subject Test scores. Whether you need help with science, math, English, social science, or more, we've got you covered. Get better grades today with PrepScholar Tutors. Tip 4: Skim or Read Upcoming Sections of the Text Just like with the previous step, don’t feel that the only way to read and understand a text is to work through it completely linearly. Allow yourself the freedom to take apart the text and put it back together again in whichever way makes the most sense to you. Sometimes a current confusion in a work will be explained later on in the text, and it can help you to know that explanations are upcoming or even just to read them ahead of time. So skip forward or backwards, re-read or read ahead as you need to, take the piece in whatever order you need to in order to make sense of the text. Not everyone thinks linearly, and not everyone best understands texts linearly either. Tip 5: Discussthe Text With a Friend (Even an Imaginary Friend) Sometimes discussing what you know so far about a text can helpclear up any confusion. If you have a friend who hasn't read the textin question, then explain it to them in your own words, and discuss where you feel your comprehension is lacking. You'll find that you've probably understood more than you think once you've been forced to explain it to someone who's completely unfamiliar with the piece. Even if no one else is in the room, trying to teach or discusswhat a passage says or meanswith â€Å"someone else†can be extremely beneficial.In fact, software engineers call this technique â€Å"rubber duck debugging,† wherein they explain a codingproblem to a rubber duck. This forcesthem to work through a problem aloud, which has proven time and time again to help people solve problems. So if a piece of text has your headspinningfrom trying to work through it by yourself, start chatting with your nearest friend/pet/rubber duck. You'll be surprised with how much easier it is to understand a text once you've talked it through with someone. Even if that someone is a duck. Quack. The Take-Aways Improving reading comprehension takes time and effort, but it can be done. Be patient with yourself, work through your reading comprehension steps, andtrynot to get frustrated with yourself if you feel your progress is slow or if you feel you’re â€Å"falling behind.†You will utilize your reading skills throughout your life, so go at a pace that works for you, andtake care to maintain thatbalance between reading for pure pleasure andreading for dedicated improvement. As you begin to incorporatemore and more reading into your daily life, you'll find that comprehension will become easier, and reading will become more fun. In every piece of text, there are worlds of meaning to explore, and learning how to uncover them can be the ultimate rewarding journey. What's Next? Can't get enough reading?Whether as part of your reading practice or just for fun, check out our picks for the31 best books to read in high school. Problems with procrastination? Whether you're studying for the SAT's or studying your reading comprehension vocabularycheck out how to beat procrastination and get your studies back on track. Want to earn better grades? Our guide will help you get that 4.0 you're striving for. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links PrepScholar may receive a commission. Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Tweet Courtney Montgomery About the Author Courtney scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT in high school and went on to graduate from Stanford University with a degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology. She is passionate about bringing education and the tools to succeed to students from all backgrounds and walks of life, as she believes open education is one of the great societal equalizers. She has years of tutoring experience and writes creative works in her free time. Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Get FREE EXCLUSIVE insider tips on how to ACE THE SAT/ACT. 100% Privacy. No spam ever. hbspt.forms.create({ portalId: '360031', formId: '2167ba30-e68e-4777-b88d-8bf3c84579af', formInstanceId: '2', submitButtonClass: 'btn-red-light btn', target: '#hubspot-container2', redirectUrl: 'http://ww2.prepscholar.com/blog-subscribe-thank-you', css: '.post-bottom .hs-form.stacked label {display:none;} .post-bottom .hs-form.stacked .field div.input {padding-top: 55px; padding-left: 300px;} .post-bottom .hs-input {width: 220px} .post-bottom .btn-primary, .hs-button.primary {margin-top:0px; padding-left:350px} .post-bottom .hs-form-field {margin-bottom:5px}' }); $(function(){ $(".exclusive-tip-form #hubspot-container2 label").hide(); }); function replace_tag(a, b){ $(a).each(function(index) { var thisTD = this; var newElement = $(""); $.each(this.attributes, function(index) { $(newElement).attr(thisTD.attributes[index].name, thisTD.attributes[index].value); }); $(this).after(newElement).remove(); }); } $(function(){ replace_tag($(".posts-by-topic h3"), "h2"); }) Ask a Question BelowHave any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply! Search the Blog Search jQuery(function(){ var $ = jQuery; var url = 'http://google.com/search?q=site:' + location.protocol + '//' + location.hostname + ' '; var $searchModule = $('.hs-search-module.2b3bea2e-9089-4e16-85b3-5369921046e7'); var $input = $searchModule.find('input'); var $button = $searchModule.find('.hs-button.primary'); if (false) { $input.val(decodeURIComponent(location.pathname.split('/').join(' ').split('.').join(' ').split('-').join(' ').split('_').join(''))); } $button.click(function(){ var newUrl = url + $input.val(); var win = window.open(newUrl, '_blank'); if (win) { //Browser has allowed it to be opened win.focus(); } else { //Browser has blocked it location.href = newUrl; } }); $input.keypress(function(e){ if (e.keyCode !== 13) return; e.preventDefault(); $button.click(); }); }); Improve With Our Famous Guides SATPrep ACTPrep For All Students The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer Series: How to Get 800 on Each SAT Section: Score 800 on SAT Math Score 800 on SAT Reading Score 800 on SAT Writing Series: How to Get to 600 on Each SAT Section: Score 600 on SAT Math Score 600 on SAT Reading Score 600 on SAT Writing Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For? 15 Strategies to Improve Your SAT Essay The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer Series: How to Get 36 on Each ACT Section: 36 on ACT English 36 on ACT Math 36 on ACT Reading 36 on ACT Science Series: How to Get to 24 on Each ACT Section: 24 on ACT English 24 on ACT Math 24 on ACT Reading 24 on ACT Science What ACT target score should you be aiming for? ACT Vocabulary You Must Know ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA How to Write an Amazing College Essay What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For? Is the ACT easier than the SAT? A Comprehensive Guide Should you retake your SAT or ACT? When should you take the SAT or ACT? Michael improved by 370 POINTS! Find Out How Stay Informed Get the latest articles and test prep tips! Looking for Graduate School Test Prep? Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: GRE Online Prep Blog GMAT Online Prep Blog TOEFL Online Prep Blog

Forecasting and Business Analysis Research Paper

Forecasting and Business Analysis - Research Paper Example In order to plan for the feasibility of the expansion, they needed to forecast their sales for the period. As a reference to their sales forecast, the Recreational Good Retail Turnover estimate for 2010 is required. The Recreational Good Retail Turnover (RGRT) dataset is gathered starting April 1982 until the end of March 2010. Figure 1 is the graphical summary of the data per quarter of each year. It can be observed that the trend of RGRT is increasing every year with seasonal peaks by the fourth quarter of each year. Furthermore, it can be observed that a linear trend is visible starting from the year 2000 up to the present, thus, these dataset shall be significant. Accompanying the RGRT is the Consumer Price Index (CPI) dataset is gathered from the start of September 1948 until the end of March 2010. The CPI is collected every quarter of the year. It can be observed that the CPI is also increasing through time. The method used for forecasting RGRT in this paper is autoregression (AR) model of univariate analysis. Using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), the AR(pmax) of RGRT is estimated. Lower order AR models are then determined until such time that Yp-1 is statistically significant or the P-value for testing Yp-1 = 0 is less than the chosen significance level of 0.05. In order to corrIn order to correct for the seasonality of the RGRT dataset, a method of calculating seasonal index is applied, wherein, the average seasonal index for each period is used as a multiplier for the regression equation (Rowbotham, Galloway, & Azhashemi, 2007). Other factors that can affect the RGRT are also checked for their statistical significance. These factors are unemployment rate, consumer price index and average weekly earnings of the population. Evaluations of results The unemployment rate, consumer price index and average weekly earnings are significant to the calculation for determination of RGRT forecast values. Appendix A shows the summary of fitted values for each factor. All factors show an increasing trend through time. This means that the increasing trend of RGRT is justified and it is safe to assume that there are no significant downward slope for the year to come. The AR model for RGRT is determined to be in the first-order as estimated by OLS. The RGRT model reduces to Yt = + Yt-1 + et where the fitted values are = 760.6366 and = 16.8146. The P-value for the equation is less than the signifiance level of 0.05 such that the model is considered as statistically significant. Appendix A provides the summary of other values of the regression equation for RGRT. The plot for the estimated values of the trend component is reflected in Figure 3. In order to allocate for the seasonality of RGRT, the average index per quarter is calculated. The index is computed as the predicted y-values using the regression equation divided by the actual y-values from the dataset (Rowbotham, Gall