How to Create Your Own Homeschool Curriculum

Many homeschooling parents—even those who start out using a pre-packaged curriculum—decide somewhere along the way to take advantage of the freedom homeschooling allows by creating their own course of study. If youve never created your own teaching plan, it can sound daunting. But taking the time to put together a customized curriculum for your family can save you money and make your homeschooling experience much more meaningful. Here are some general steps to follow to help you design a curriculum for any subject. 1. Review Typical Courses of Study by Grade First, you may want to research what other children in public and private schools are studying in each grade in order to make sure your children are covering approximately the same material as other students their age. The detailed guidelines linked below can help you set standards and goals for  your own curriculum. Typical Course of Study for Elementary SchoolTypical Course of Study for Sixth GradeTypical Course of Study for Seventh GradeTypical Course of Study for Eighth GradeTypical Course of Study for Ninth GradeTypical Course of Study for Tenth GradeTypical Course of Study for Eleventh GradeTypical Course of Study for Twelfth Grade 2. Do Your Research. Once you have determined what subjects you will cover, you may need to do some research to make sure you are up-to-date on the particular topic, particularly if its one you are not already familiar with.   One solid way to get a quick overview of a new subject? Read a well-written book on the topic aimed at middle schoolers! Books for that level will tell you everything you need to know to cover the topic for younger students, but still be comprehensive enough to get you started on a high school level. Other resources you can use include: Popular nonfiction young adult books;Websites about a subject for students;Review books written for high school students;Self-help books for adults (such as the For Dummies series);Textbooks, particularly ones that are recommended by other homeschoolers. As you read, make notes on key concepts and topics you may want to cover. 3. Identify Topics to Cover. Once youve gotten a broad view of the subject, start thinking about what concepts you want your children to learn. Dont feel you have to cover everything—many educators today feel that digging deep into a few core areas is more useful than skimming over many topics briefly. It helps if you organize related topics into units. That gives you more flexibility and cuts down on work. (See below for more work-saving tips.) 4. Ask Your Students. Ask your children what they would like to study. We all retain facts more readily when were studying a topic that captivates us. Your children may be interested in topics that fall right in line with what youd want to cover anyway, such as the American Revolution or insects. However, even topics that may not seem educational on the surface can provide valuable learning opportunities. You can study them as-is, weave in related concepts, or use them as a springboard for more in-depth topics. 5. Create a Timetable. Figure out how long you would like to spend on the subject. You can take a year, a semester, or a few weeks. Then decide how much time you want to devote to each topic you want to cover. I recommend creating a schedule around units instead of individual topics. Within that time period, you can list all the topics you think your family would like to learn about. But dont worry about individual topics until you get there. That way, if you decide to drop a topic, youll avoid doing extra work. For instance, you may want to devote three months to the Civil War. But you dont need to plan out how to cover each battle until you dive in and see how it goes. 6. Select High-quality Resources. One big plus of homeschooling is that it lets you use choose the very best resources available, whether they are textbooks or alternatives to textbooks. That includes picture books and comics, movies, videos, and toys and games, as well as online resources and apps. Fiction and narrative nonfiction (true stories about inventions and discoveries, biographies, and so on) can also be useful learning tools. 7. Schedule Related Activities. Theres more to learning a topic than accumulating facts. Help your kids put the topics you cover into context by scheduling in field trips, classes, and community events that relate to the subject you are studying. Search out museum exhibits or programs in your region. Find experts (college professors, craftspeople, hobbyists) who might be willing to talk to your family or homeschool group. And be sure to include lots of hands-on projects. You dont have to put them together from scratch -- there are lots of well-made science kits and arts and crafts kits, as well as activity books that give you step-by-step directions. Dont forget activities like  cooking, making costumes, creating ABC books, or building models. 8. Find Ways to Demonstrate What Your Kids Have Learned. Written tests are just one way to see how much your students  have learned about a subject. You can have them put together a research project that includes an essay, charts, timelines, and written or visual presentations. Kids can also reinforce what theyve learned by making artwork, writing stories or plays, or creating music inspired by the subject. Bonus Tips: How to make writing your own curriculum quicker and easier: Start small. When youre writing your own curriculum for the first time, it helps to start with one unit study or one subject.Keep it flexible. The more detailed your teaching plan, the less likely you are to stick to it. Within your subject, pick a few general topics you want to touch on. Dont worry if you come up with more topics than you can possibly cover in one year. If one topic doesnt work for your family, youll have options to move on to. And nothing says you cant continue on with a subject for more than a year.Choose topics that interest you and/or your kids. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you child is fascinated with a subject, chances are you will pick up some factoids about it as well. The same goes for you: Teachers who love their topic can make anything sound interesting. Writing your own curriculum doesnt have to be a daunting task. You might be surprised to discover how much you enjoy personalizing your familys curriculum—and how much you learn along the way. Updated by Kris Bales

How to Do a Quickweave Essay - 708 Words

Melissa Williams English 101 Essay 1: How to do A Quick Weave Ladies have you ever wanted to change your hairstyle and didn’t know what to do? Do you ever get tired of looking the same way? Do you want to look classy with long flowing hair? Here is a great idea for you. Quick weaves are beautiful, fast to do, and easy to maintain. It doesn’t cost a lot, and the hair would make you fall in love with yourself. You can have short, long, thin, or thick hair. It doesn’t matter this will work for you. You will receive information on the tools you need, the steps, and the styling. It is the beginning of a beautiful makeover. The main ingredient for this process is the hair extensions. You can go to the nearest beauty supply†¦show more content†¦Take the hair that’s hanging from the ponytail, pull it tight, split it in half, and gel both sides down. Sit under the dryer for one hour or until your hair is dry and hard. Once your hair is dry you are ready to start the next process. Now get ready to use your hair extensions, glue, and scissors from your supplies. Take the hair out of the packaging and unroll it. Start by laying the tracks in the back from ear to ear and work your way to the top. Once you reach the top of your head where you left the hair out, use it to cover the tracks. Now you have a beautiful quick weave that is ready to style. Long hair is what people usually prefer. With long hair you can take the straightening iron and go over the hair to make it blend. If you like short hair and want a bob pull the hair in the ponytail to the back of your head. Take the scissors and cut the hair that’s hanging out the rubber band off, and take out the rubber band. Use the straightening iron and curl the hair under and there is your bob. Play with your quick weave and style it however you want it’s your hair. Quick weaves are one of the greatest hair styles. If you never had one and you are confused, you can YouTube or Google beautiful, trendy, and popular styles. They are better than wigs, and you can change hairstyles as often as you like. If you have little or no hair and want long hair, this is definitely for you. If you have long hair and it’s thin you can use this

Hamlet Masks We Wear Essay Example For Students

Hamlet: Masks We Wear Essay MasksA mask is a covering worn on the face or something that disguises or conceals oneself. All the characters in Shakespeares Hamlet hide behind masks to cover up who they really are, which contridictes a main idea, expressed by the fool, Old Polonius, To thine ownself be true (Polonius 1.3. 84). All the characters share strengths and triumphs, flaws and downfalls. Instead of revealing their vulnerabilities, each of them wears a mask that conceals who they are and there true convictions. The masks brought about feelings such as fear, hatred, insanity, indecisiveness, ambitiousness, and vengeance all of which contribute to the tragic ending of the play. Shakespeare reveals the idea of the masks in the first lines of the play, Whos there (Barnardo 1.1.1). Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself (Fransisco 1.1.2). These masks are upon each character, placed there by either society, self-ignorance, or guilt. Ophelia, Polonius daughter and Hamlets lover, hid behind a mask, just like Queen Gertrudes. It was, according to the society and the culture of the time, in the best interest of the woman to display a passive behavior for their personal preservation, which served as Gertrudes mask. Gertrude was brought up to believe that when a woman protests her innocence, in any matter, too much then people will begin to think otherwise. Gertrude revealed the idea of her mask, when responding to Hamlet inquiry of her likes to the play, her response was a bold reply, The lady doth protest too much methinks (Gertrude 3. 2.254), while viewing The Murder of Ganzago. Hamlets disgust with his mothers lack of strength, in regards to Claudius sexual temptations, was evident in his soliloquy, after Gertrude begged him to stay with her and Claudius in Elsinore. And yet, with a month let me not think on t; fratility, thy name is woman. (Hamlet 1.2.149-50) Gertrudes submissiveness is also evident in her refusal to face the pain of the true nature of her husbands murder. Gertrude begs O Hamlet, speak no more! / Thou turnst my eyes into my very soul, / And there I see such black and grained spots / As will not leave their tinct (Gertrude 3. 4.99-103). In relation to Gertrude, Ophelia is even weaker and more passive. This is obscure to the audience until, her confrontation with Hamlet, set up by Claudius and Polonius to determine whether it was Polonius refusal to allow her to see Hamlet that made him crazy. It was during this confrontation that Hamlet openly spurned and rejected her, leaving her no place to turn except to herself. Ophelia is rendered ineffectual regarding the loss of her father because she can not take revenge against her lover, Hamlet, who is also her fathers murderer. After her fathers murder by Hamlet, her true love, two of the three men she loved most were forever lost and the third in some far off country, Ophelia could no longer find any sense of security, and without security her sanity would be nowhere found. The masks created by society for Ophelia and Gertrude resulted in the tragic endings for both of them, Gertrude by the hand of her husband, Claudius, and Ophelia, by the loss of her loved ones. Self-ignoranceis the laking knowledge or comprehention of ones own self, and therfore the self-ignorance of Rosencranz and Guildenstern, allowed for the King to coax them into betraying their good friend Hamlet, by posing as a spy for the King. Upon the arrival of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet welcomed his friends but became suspicious about their reasons for visiting. After Hamlet asked them three times for their business with Hamlet, and received lines such as, To visit you, my lord, no other reason. (Rosencrantz 2. .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364 , .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364 .postImageUrl , .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364 , .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364:hover , .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364:visited , .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364:active { border:0!important; } .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364:active , .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364 .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uf89caf45702e3b2c6493fc05df1a9364:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Supreme Court (503 words) Essay2.292), Hamlet then asked if they were sent for, Gulidinstern replied with, What should we say my lord? (Guildenstern 2.2.299). With this Hamlet concluded to Rosencranz and Guildenstern that the good queen and king have sent for you. (Hamlet 2.2.304-05), and agreed that they had been sent for. Rosencranz and Guildensterns masks of friendship towards Hamlet resulted in no information to the King of Hamlets insanity, and their death in place

Piggy Lord of the Flies Essay Example

Piggy Lord of the Flies Paper Lord of the flies is a novel about a group of boys who crash land on a island and are left to fend for themselves. Piggy is a fat boy who wears thick spectacles. Piggy lives with his aunty and has asthma. Piggy is a clever, cautious and rational thinking boy. Piggy is very cautious he admits to Ralph that he can not swim he says I cant swim I wasnt allowed, my asthma, my aunty wouldnt let me, blow on account of my asthma. This shows that piggy is very cautious about entering the water and does not on account of his asthma. Also this quotation shows that piggy is very attached to his aunty. When the other boys find out that Piggy has asthma they pick up on that straight away and use it against Piggy Ralph said, Sucks to your ass-mar. Piggy is a very clever boy the book states that Piggy was no chief, but Piggy for all his ludicrous body, had the brains. This shows that although Piggy is fat he is the only one that can think logically and sensibly. Piggy says, We ought to have a meeting this also shows that piggy is thinking sensibly. This combination between this physical appearance and his brains does not make Piggy very popular as he is also an easy target. The other boy on the island most of all Jack dislike Piggy, they call him fat and discriminate Piggy as he is physically different. Ralph is the only one on the island that finally appreciates Piggys intelligence. At first Ralph thought in the same way as the others but in the end changed his mind and realised that he was the only intelligent one on the island. Piggy is a victim, Piggy chooses to make himself a victim. He stood outside the circle of boys. We will write a custom essay sample on Piggy Lord of the Flies specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Piggy Lord of the Flies specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Piggy Lord of the Flies specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer He chooses to exclude himself from the other boys as he strongly believes that he is different not just because he is physically different but mentally too. He feels different because all the other boys make fun of him an do not include him in what they are doing. The other boys are having fun making a tribe, swimming and hunting, but on the other hand Piggy knows that it is more important to survive first to make shelters and have civilised society inlike Jack who like chaos. So Piggy omits himself from the group as he feels that he is better than the rest. So not only Piggy chooses to reject himself but also Jack and the others do too they call him names and treats him badly like when they stole his glasses, which is why he is a victim. Jack is very weak on the island he cant cope with order he hates it because he likes every think to be chaotic. He also loves power he said I ought to be chief he said with simple arrogance. When Jack singles out Piggy it makes him feel good about himself it makes him feel powerful he only picks on Piggy because he is different amd can not stick up for himself. Jack knows that he is an easy target. I feel Piggy is an important character in the novel as Piggy is the only one with the brains and he is the only one except Ralph that thinks about been rescued and about the future. I believe that it is Piggys intelligence helps them to survive but when Piggy died and the conch smashed the symbol for intelligence, order and logic died with him. So there fore Piggy is an important figure in the novel as he help the natural leader Ralph make the vital decisions.

Domestic violence dangers mount with economic, seasonal pressures

Summary of the article The article, Domestic violence dangers mount with economic, seasonal pressures by Ortiz Elias reviews the effects of economic downturn on domestic violence since it propels seasonal pressures in the family. The author identifies financial conflict as a major cause of domestic violence especially during the cold season when cases of sexual abuse are reported as highest.Advertising We will write a custom article sample on Domestic violence dangers mount with economic, seasonal pressures specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The economic conflict is highest during cold weather since such families cannot afford proper shelter and may resort to sexual abuse to counter the cold weather. The author concludes that investment and consultative approach to economic conflicts may reduce domestic violence by a large proportion since these families will be in a position to afford better shelter (Ortiz, 2013). The dependent and independent variables The independent variable in this article is the economic stress-reduction intervention as a strategy for reducing domestic violence contributed by economic conflicts. The two dependent variables include cold weather and a measure of coping behaviors from sexual abuse. These variables are believed to be able to prompt the family to explore the experiences and meanings of stress and stress management. Theory and significance Significant changes in the family’s normal stress levels may occur due to intervention and practice. A life crisis might escalate the stress response and negate the intervention effect. Conversely, crisis resolution might reduce the response to stress. As proposed by the ‘loss of control’ theory, the family must take a leading role in reduction and prevention of domestic violence. It is through this approach that a better understanding of the sequel of domestic violence can be obtained including coping strategies and stre ss management efficacy. The ‘loss of control’ theory is more significant than the ‘learned helplessness’ theory since it recognizes the cognitive element in the intervention and control mechanisms when handling cases of sexual abuse as a result of domestic violence. Besides, this theory focuses on empowerment in the family unit to create harmony. Empowerment focuses on social, economic, and spiritual strength of the individual who may be the victim or perpetrator of domestic violence. As a matter of fact, empowerment is a vast concept that should not be concentrated upon women affairs since the victim and the perpetrator should be reading from the same page.Advertising Looking for article on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Analysis As suggested by the article, addressing feminine issues in domestic violence surrounding feminist theorist should be complete and reflective of the roles a nd acculturation as adopted by the society expected to embrace gender equality to minimize domestic violence. For such reason, supportive intervention should be provided to vulnerable and marginalized women in order to address their needs. Through application of informative learning, women and men are put in a position to understand and appropriate the need for stress management (Ortiz, 2013). Through this, it is relatively possible to control violence in the family unit and manage the process without having to create conflict in the intervention mechanisms. Empowering women and gender equality are vital to the attainment of minimal cases of domestic violence since they are always the victim in most instances. Therefore, policies which fail to address gender inequality also fail to support women to enhance important development activities in their societies. As a matter of fact, resolution for this financial problem should be in the form of measures adopted to promote and empower bo th women and men. Some have criticized the idea of empowering women alone since it contributes to gender inequality instead of promoting equality (Ortiz, 2013). Conclusion This article has successfully addressed the financial reasons for occurrence of domestic violence in the modern society. However, the article is not convincing enough on how domestic violence is related to changing seasons. Reference Ortiz, E. (2013). Domestic violence dangers mount with economic, seasonal pressures Web. This article on Domestic violence dangers mount with economic, seasonal pressures was written and submitted by user Ben Reilly to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Biography of Mohandas Gandhi, Indian Freedom Leader

Biography of Mohandas Gandhi, Indian Freedom Leader Mohandas Gandhi (October 2, 1869–January 30, 1948) was the father of the Indian independence movement. While fighting discrimination in South Africa, Gandhi developed satyagraha, a nonviolent way of protesting injustice. Returning to his birthplace of India, Gandhi spent his remaining years working to end British rule of his country and to better the lives of Indias poorest classes. Fast Facts: Mohandas Gandhi Known For: Leader of Indias independence movementAlso Known As: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Mahatma (Great Soul), Father of the Nation, Bapu (Father), GandhijiBorn: October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, IndiaParents: Karamchand and Putlibai GandhiDied: January 30, 1948 in New Delhi, IndiaEducation: Law degree, Inner Temple, London, EnglandPublished Works: Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Freedoms BattleSpouse: Kasturba KapadiaChildren: Harilal Gandhi, Manilal Gandhi, Ramdas Gandhi, Devdas GandhiNotable Quote: The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members. Early Life Mohandas Gandhi was born October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, India, the last child of his father Karamchand Gandhi and his fourth wife Putlibai. Young Gandhi was a shy, mediocre student. At age 13, he married Kasturba Kapadia  as part of an arranged marriage. She bore four sons and supported Gandhis endeavors until her 1944 death. In September 1888 at age 18, Gandhi left India alone to study law in London. He attempted to become an English gentleman, buying suits, fine-tuning his English accent, learning French, and taking music lessons. Deciding that was a waste of time and money, he spent the rest of his three-year stay as a serious student living a simple lifestyle. Gandhi also adopted vegetarianism and joined the London Vegetarian Society, whose intellectual crowd introduced Gandhi to authors Henry David Thoreau and Leo Tolstoy. He also studied the Bhagavad Gita, an epic poem sacred to Hindus. These books concepts set the foundation for his later beliefs. Gandhi passed the bar on June 10, 1891, and returned to India. For two years, he attempted to practice law but lacked the knowledge of Indian law and the self-confidence necessary to be a trial lawyer. Instead, he took on a year-long case in South Africa. South Africa At 23, Gandhi again left his family and set off for the British-governed Natal province in South Africa in May 1893. After a week, Gandhi was asked to go to the Dutch-governed Transvaal province. When Gandhi boarded the train, railroad officials ordered him to move to the third-class car. Gandhi, holding first-class tickets, refused. A policeman threw him off the train. As Gandhi talked to Indians in South Africa, he learned that such experiences were common. Sitting in the cold depot that first night of his trip, Gandhi debated returning to India or fighting the discrimination. He decided that he couldnt ignore these injustices. Gandhi spent 20 years bettering Indians rights in South Africa, becoming a resilient, potent leader against discrimination. He learned about Indian grievances, studied the law, wrote letters to officials, and organized petitions. On May 22, 1894, Gandhi established the Natal Indian Congress (NIC). Although it began as an organization for wealthy Indians, Gandhi expanded it to all classes and castes. He became a leader of South Africas Indian community, his activism covered by newspapers in England and India. Return to India In 1896 after three years in South Africa, Gandhi sailed to India to bring his wife and two sons back with him, returning in November. Gandhis ship was quarantined at the harbor for 23 days, but the real reason for the delay was an angry mob of whites at the dock who believed Gandhi was returning with Indians who would overrun South Africa. Gandhi sent his family to safety, but he was assaulted with bricks, rotten eggs, and fists. Police escorted him away. Gandhi refuted the claims against him but refused to prosecute those involved. The violence stopped, strengthening Gandhis prestige. Influenced by the  Gita, Gandhi wanted to purify his life by following the concepts of aparigraha  (nonpossession) and  samabhava  (equitability). A friend gave him Unto This Last  by  John Ruskin, which inspired Gandhi to establish Phoenix Settlement, a community outside Durban, in June 1904. The settlement focused on eliminating needless possessions and living in full equality. Gandhi moved his family and his newspaper, the  Indian Opinion, to the settlement. In 1906, believing that family life was detracting from his potential as a public advocate, Gandhi took the vow of  brahmacharya  (abstinence from sex). He simplified his vegetarianism to unspiced, usually uncooked foods- mostly fruits and nuts, which he believed would help quiet his urges. Satyagraha Gandhi believed that his vow of  brahmacharya  allowed him the focus to devise the concept of  satyagraha  in late 1906. In the simplest sense,  satyagraha  is passive resistance, but Gandhi described it as truth force, or natural right. He believed exploitation was possible only if the exploited and the exploiter accepted it, so seeing beyond the current situation provided power to change it. In practice,  satyagraha  is nonviolent resistance to injustice. A  person using satyagraha could resist injustice by refusing to follow an unjust law or putting up with physical assaults and/or confiscation of his property without anger. There would be no winners or losers; all would understand the truth and agree to rescind the unjust law. Gandhi first organized satyagraha  against the Asiatic Registration Law, or Black Act, which passed in March 1907. It required all Indians to be fingerprinted and carry registration documents at all times. Indians refused fingerprinting and picketed documentation offices. Protests were organized, miners went on strike, and Indians illegally traveled from Natal to the Transvaal in opposition to the act. Many protesters, including Gandhi, were beaten and arrested. After seven years of protest, the Black Act was repealed. The nonviolent protest had succeeded. Back to India After 20 years in South Africa, Gandhi returned to India. By the time he arrived, press reports of his South African triumphs had made him a national hero. He traveled the country for a year before beginning reforms. Gandhi found that his fame conflicted with observing conditions of the poor, so he wore a loincloth (dhoti) and sandals, the garb of the masses, during this journey. In cold weather, he added a shawl. This became his lifetime wardrobe. Gandhi founded another communal settlement in Ahmadabad called Sabarmati Ashram. For the next 16 years, Gandhi lived there with his family. He was also given the honorary title of Mahatma, or Great Soul. Many credit Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913  Nobel Prize for Literature, for awarding Gandhi this name. Peasants viewed Gandhi as a holy man, but he disliked the title because it implied he was special. He viewed himself as ordinary. After the year ended, Gandhi still felt stifled because of World War I. As part of  satyagraha, Gandhi had vowed never to take advantage of an opponents troubles. With the British in a major conflict, Gandhi couldnt fight them for Indian freedom. Instead, he used satyagraha  to erase inequities among Indians. Gandhi persuaded landlords to stop forcing tenant farmers to pay increased rent by appealing to their morals and fasted to convince mill owners to settle a strike. Because of Gandhis prestige, people didnt want to be responsible for his death from fasting. Confronting British When the war ended, Gandhi focused on the fight for Indian self-rule (swaraj). In 1919, the British handed Gandhi a cause: the Rowlatt Act, which gave the British nearly free rein to detain revolutionary elements without trial. Gandhi organized a hartal (strike), which began on March 30, 1919. Unfortunately, the protest turned violent. Gandhi ended the  hartal  once he heard about the violence, but more than 300 Indians had died and more than 1,100 were injured from British reprisals in the city of Amritsar.  Satyagraha  hadnt been achieved, but the Amritsar Massacre  fueled Indian opinions against the British. The violence showed Gandhi that the Indian people didnt fully believe in satyagraha. He spent much of the 1920s advocating for it  and struggling to keep protests peaceful. Gandhi also began advocating self-reliance as a path to freedom. Since the British established India as a colony, Indians had supplied Britain with raw fiber and then imported the resulting cloth from England. Gandhi advocated that Indians spin their own cloth, popularizing the idea by traveling with a spinning wheel, often spinning yarn while giving a speech. The image of the spinning wheel (charkha) became a symbol for independence. In March 1922, Gandhi was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison for sedition. After two years, he was released following surgery to find his country embroiled in violence between Muslims and Hindus. When Gandhi began a 21-day fast still ill from surgery, many thought he would die, but he rallied. The fast created a temporary peace. Salt March In December 1928, Gandhi and the Indian National Congress (INC) announced a challenge to the British government. If India wasnt granted Commonwealth status by December 31, 1929, they would organize a nationwide protest against British taxes. The deadline passed without change. Gandhi chose to protest the British salt tax because salt was used in everyday cooking, even by the poorest. The Salt March began a nationwide boycott starting March 12,  1930, when Gandhi and 78 followers walked 200 miles from the Sabarmati Ashram to the sea. The group grew along the way, reaching 2,000 to 3,000. When they reached the coastal town of Dandi on April 5, they prayed all night. In the morning, Gandhi made a presentation of picking up a piece of sea salt from the beach. Technically, he had broken the law. Thus began an endeavor for Indians to make salt. Some picked up loose salt on the beaches, while others evaporated saltwater. Indian-made salt soon was sold nationwide. Peaceful picketing and marches were conducted. The British responded with mass arrests. Protesters Beaten When Gandhi announced a march on the government-owned Dharasana Saltworks, the British imprisoned him without trial. Although they hoped Gandhis arrest would stop the march, they underestimated his followers. The poet  Sarojini Naidu  led 2,500 marchers. As they reached the waiting police, the marchers were beaten with clubs. News of the brutal beating of peaceful protesters shocked the world. British viceroy Lord Irwin met with Gandhi and they agreed on the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, which granted limited salt production and freedom for the protesters if Gandhi called off the protests. While many Indians believed that Gandhi hadnt gotten enough from the negotiations, he viewed it as a step toward independence. Independence After the success of the  Salt March, Gandhi conducted another fast that enhanced his image as a holy man or prophet. Dismayed at the adulation, Gandhi retired from politics in 1934 at age 64. He came out of retirement five years later when the British viceroy announced, without consulting Indian leaders, that India would side with England during  World War II. This revitalized the Indian independence movement. Many British parliamentarians realized they were facing mass protests and began discussing an independent India. Although Prime Minister  Winston Churchill  opposed losing India as a colony, the British announced in March 1941 that it would free India after  World War II. Gandhi wanted independence sooner and organized a Quit India campaign in 1942. The British again jailed Gandhi. Hindu-Muslim Conflict When Gandhi was released in 1944, independence seemed near. Huge disagreements, however, arose between Hindus and Muslims. Because the majority of Indians were Hindu, Muslims feared losing political power if India became independent. The Muslims wanted six provinces in northwest India, where Muslims predominated, to become an independent country. Gandhi opposed partitioning India and tried to bring the sides together, but that proved too difficult even for the Mahatma. Violence erupted; entire towns were burned. Gandhi toured India, hoping his presence could curb the violence. Although violence stopped where Gandhi visited, he couldnt be everywhere. Partition The British, seeing India headed for civil war, decided to leave in August 1947. Before leaving, they got the Hindus, against Gandhis wishes, to agree to a  partition plan. On August 15, 1947, Britain granted independence to India and to the newly formed Muslim country of Pakistan. Millions of Muslims marched from India to Pakistan, and millions of Hindus in Pakistan walked to India. Many refugees died from illness, exposure, and dehydration. As 15 million Indians became uprooted from their homes, Hindus and Muslims attacked each other. Gandhi once again went on a fast. He would only eat again, he stated, once he saw clear plans to stop the violence. The fast began on January 13, 1948. Realizing that the frail, aged Gandhi couldnt withstand a long fast, the sides collaborated. On January 18, more than 100 representatives approached Gandhi with a promise for peace, ending his fast. Assassination Not everyone approved of the plan. Some radical Hindu groups believed that India shouldnt have been partitioned, blaming Gandhi. On January 30, 1948, the 78-year-old Gandhi spent his day discussing issues. Just past 5 p.m., Gandhi began the walk, supported by two grandnieces, to the Birla House, where he was staying in New Delhi, for a prayer meeting. A crowd surrounded him. A young Hindu named Nathuram Godse stopped before him and bowed. Gandhi bowed back. Godse shot Gandhi three times. Although Gandhi had survived five other assassination attempts, he fell to the ground, dead. Legacy Gandhis concept of nonviolent protest attracted the organizers of numerous demonstrations and movements. Civil rights leaders, especially Martin Luther King Jr., adopted Gandhis model for their own struggles. Research in the second half of the 20th century established Gandhi as a great mediator and reconciler, resolving conflicts between older moderate politicians and young radicals, political terrorists and parliamentarians, urban intelligentsia and rural masses, Hindus and Muslims, as well as Indians and British. He was the  catalyst,  if not the initiator, of three major revolutions of the 20th century: movements against colonialism, racism, and violence. His deepest strivings were spiritual, but unlike many fellow Indians with such  aspirations, he didnt retire to a Himalayan cave  to meditate. Rather, he took his cave with him everywhere he went. And, he left his thoughts to posterity: His collected writings had reached 100 volumes by the early 21st century. Sources Mahatma Gandhi: Indian Leader. Encyclopaedia Britannica.Mahatma Gandhi. History.com.

Parenting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Parenting - Essay Example This paper briefly analyses the importance of parenting. According to Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint, "Most children need their parents' help and encouragement to discover the satisfaction of using their own imaginations" (Thoughts for Today). Psychological development of children is as important as the physical development. Many parents- even the educated parents- concentrate more on the physical development of the children and give less importance to the psychological or emotional development. Such parents believe that their duty remains only in giving proper food, clothing and shelter to the children till they become adults. In fact parents’ love, care and attention are more important to the children than the food or other physical things. Growing children do not know how to adapt with its surrounding. He will look suspiciously or anxiously at all new things which may catch his attention. The presence of parents and their advice will help the children in dealing with new situations more comfortably. â€Å"Some parents believe that if they've spent an hour of "quality" time with their children, they've done enough. This hour is usually focused on an enjoyable activity: watching TV going out to eat, going to the movies, etc† (Parenting Tips: Giving Your Children the Gift of Time). Many of the mothers are professionals and they get less time to spend with their children. Infants and children often forced to spend their majority time in the day care centers with nannies rather than mothers. The services of nannies can never be considered as the substitute of mother’s services to a child. In order to compensate for the less time spent with the children; some working mothers have the habit of spending an hour with the children when they come back their home. They are of the false belief that spending an hour as a friend with their children is enough for the proper development of their children. Children need the services of parents rather than friends . If parents give the services of peers, from where the children will get the services of parents? â€Å"Suffice it to say that guilty parenting overcompensates and causes children to view themselves as victims. This happens because children model our behavior and point their fingers at the parent who points the finger at himself† (Parenting Tips: Giving Your Children the Gift of Time). Parents who failed to spend adequate time with their children often try to give more love and care to their children when they get opportunities to spend time with their children. This overcompensation usually do harm to the children rather than goods. Over activities of parents will increase the children’s desire for the presence of their parents further and further. Failure to spend increased time with parents will develop the feeling of victimization among children. According to Frank A. Clark, â€Å"The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them† (Parenting Quotes). Making the children self sufficient to meet the realities in life is the core of good parenting. Parents are the first teachers in a child’s life. They consider their parents as the role models in their life. Whatever the things they learned from the parents or family will often reflect in their behavior in society. Society or schools can do little in the molding of children when we compare the roles parents can

The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union Assignment

The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union - Assignment Example In the EU farmers are guaranteed a certain price by their government. This is achieved mainly through the use of buffer stocks. These refer to the previous season’s stocks that were not absorbed by the market hence stored by the governments for future eventualities in the market prices. The government buys excess stock in the market to maintain a certain price if there is over supply and releases extra produce to the market to keep the prices at the agreed rate in case of shortage pushing the prices up (Swinbank, & Tranter, 2004). Whenever there is an overwhelming supply of farm products on the market, the excess supply tends to push down the average prices of the produce leading to reduced profits for the farmers or even end up making losses. The E.U sets quotas for such products so as to protect farmers from these problems. The dairy sector is one such agricultural sector that has set quotas imposed on it by the E.U. A quota is represented on the graph by a vertical supply curve at the time the quota is binding. The response of the producers to changes in prices is asymmetrical. Supply will reduce in response to fall in prices and this is represented by the left side of the quota. On the other side ,the right side, when the price rises the farmers are prevented from raising production making the supply curve to become inelastic in nature. (www.economicsonline.co.uk) The elasticity of the demand curve will determine if the farmers will benefit from the production quota. The farmers will be at a benefitting position after the quota if the curve is inelastic around the initial set price. When a market economy is restricted, the quota that is set on production always leads to quota rents. This can be depicted as the a+b in the graphic representation. They are referred to as rents because the farmers get an extra return of Pd. If the farmers manage to sell or lease their quota rights, it gives a capital value to the quota which is equal to the discounted

SATS Air Cargo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

SATS Air Cargo - Essay Example Correspondingly, the organizational operations of SATS have also seen changes over the years owing to the changing nature of its customers. With the increasing number of customers in the cargo sector of the airline market, SATS initiated the SIA Superhub 2 also known as the Airfreight Terminal 6 in the year 2001 with an investment of around $270 million. This approach of the company accompanied it with the ability to handle 800,000 tonnes of cargo per year, which was also accounted among the biggest capacities during that time. Furthermore, the customers in the cargo handling sector of the airline industry have also become more attracted towards online web based operations in course of time. Contextually, SATS introduced the web-based cargo tracking services in the year 2003 in order to meet the changing expectations of the customers (SATS 20111). Increased Competition With the augmented number of operations of various companies in the cargo sector of the airline industry, the compet ition has become more intense. ... This step of the company ensured the loyalty of the customers with the company for a longer period of time. Moreover, in similar regard, it has also introduced a new brand promise to the customers, which further states as â€Å"One with you† (SATS 20111). Furthermore, since there are various numbers of companies offering similar kind of products to the customers, only effective or innovative services would ensure enhanced operational services for any company including SATS. To comply with this aspect, the company has been continuously changing its service offering patterns to the customers so that their valuable association with the company continues for a longer period of time (SATS 20111). Part 2- SATS Air Cargo Competition SATS DHL Singapore Airlines Market Share .0019% 11.49% .0.02% Share Price as of Submission .31% (2013) Singapore Exchange 1.03 % (2013) (Singapore Exchange n.d.) .48% (2013) (Singapore Exchange n.d.) Stock Turnover 27.70 (2013) (Singapore Exchange n.d.) 2 3.56 (2013) (Singapore Exchange n.d.) 35.50 (2013) (Singapore Exchange n.d.) Revenue 2008- S$1,062,094 2009- S$ 1,538,906 2010- S$ 1,729,131 2011- S$ 1,685,413 2012- S$ 1,818,992 (SATS 20112) 2008- S$ 7,474,908,000 2009- S$ 6,175,362,000 2010- S$ 7,525,278,000 2011- S$ 8,223,343,128 2012- S$ 8,405,745,600 (Deutsche Post AG 2013) 2008- S$ 186,245 2009- S$ 181,752 2010- S$ 145,834 2011- S$ 159,980 2012- S$ 169,157 (Singapore Airlines 2012) Resources People: The chairman of the Edmund Cheng Wai Wing was appointed in the year 2012. Apart from him, there are also some other crucial members altogether forming the management team of the organization. Brand Position: With more than 60 years of operations in the airline industry, the company has acquired the reputation to be called as one of

A Microeconomic Analysis Of British Petroleum Economics Essay

A Microeconomic Analysis Of British Petroleum Economics Essay BPs (British Petroleum) origins can be traced back to 1901 when William Know tried to explore oil in Persia. The first commercial oil discovery was made in the Middle East by BP in 1908. In 1935, the company prospered and was renamed the Anglo- Iranian Oil Company. The war effort resulted in the British government becoming a shareholder of the company (until 1987). In 1950, Anglo-Iranian expanded into petrochemicals. The Iranian nationalization of the oil industry and subsequent diplomatic solution involving Britain, the US, and Iran led to the emergence of a new consortium involving Anglo-Iranian Oil called The British Petroleum Company (founded in 1954). 1.2 Company Overview BP is one of the largest vertically integrated oil and gas companies in the world. The companys operations primarily include the exploration and production of gas and crude oil, as well as the marketing and trading of natural gas, power, and natural gas liquids. BP is headquartered in London, the UK and employs about 92,000 people. 1.3 Why choosing BP for the essay The company recorded revenues of $361,143 million during the financial year ended December 2008 (FY2008), an increase of 27% over the financial year ended December 2007 (FY2007). The operating profit of the company was $36,347 million during FY2008, an increase of 9.2% over FY2007. The net profit was $21,157 million in FY2008, an increase of 1.5% over FY2007. 1.4 Business Description BP is one of the worlds largest oil and gas companies. It has presence in more than 100 countries across six continents. The company operates through two reportable business segments: exploration and production; and refining and marketing. The company also operates through a third business segment, other businesses and corporate. Upstream activities involve oil and natural gas exploration and field development and production. The midstream operations involve the ownership and management of crude oil and natural gas pipelines, processing and export terminals, and LNG processing facilities and transportation. For the FY2008, BPs worldwide network consisted of some 22,600 locations branded BP, Amoco, ARCO, and Aral. BPs retail network in the US for the FY2008 comprised approximately 11,700 sites, of which approximately 9,200 were owned by jobbers (who purchase their products directly from the refining companies and either sell them to retailers or directly to the end users) and 900 operated under a franchise agreement. At the end of FY2008, BPs European retail network consisted of approximately 8,600 sites and had approximately 2,300 sites in the rest of world. Other businesses and corporate segment of the company comprises treasury (which includes interest income on the companys cash and cash equivalents) the companys aluminum asset, the alternative energy business, and shipping and corporate activities worldwide. 1.5 What we will discuss Not a clue yet. 2. ANALYSIS 2.1 Microeconomic analysis 2.1.1 Consumer demand, price elasticity and BP revenues for FY 2008 We will take one example here to analyse the law of demand and how it applies to BP. For this specific example we will use petrol as product. In general, the law of demand states that the quantity demanded of a good falls when the price of the good rises (assuming other things equal). To represent this change, the demand curve is used. It is a graph that represents the relationship between the price of a product (petrol in this case) and the quantity demanded. demand.JPG Figure The Demand Curve (image taken from www.freeworldacademy.com) As you can see in figure1, when the price increased from P1 to P2 the quantity demanded dropped from Q1 to Q2. Changes in the demand curve can be caused by many factors such as the consumer income, the price of substitutes and others. There are 2 categories of goods though. The ones that the demand doesnt change a lot when price is changed and those that even a small price change will result in a huge change in the demand. This is called the elasticity of demand. The price elasticity of demand for petrol is inelastic (price elasticity inelastic.JPG Figure Inelastic demand You can see here that an increase in price (p1 to p2) leads to a decrease in quantity (q1 to q2) that is proportionately smaller. This results in an increase of the total revenue of the company. Lets see how BP performed. revenue.JPG Figure BP revenue in 2008 (BP annual review) BP recorded revenues of $ 361.143 million in the year 2008 compared to $ 284.365 million in 2007. This large revenue increase is partially due to the very high oil price. Peter Sutherland (BP chairman) said in his speech in February 2009: There are few precedents in history for such a rapid and dramatic change in the business environment. In the space of a few months we went from a record oil price of more than $140 per barrel, and BP reporting two consecutive quarters of record profits for the group. This profitability in 2008, in theory can be based to the price effect which states that after a price increase, product (petrol) sells at a higher price, which tends to higher revenue. The sales effect doesnt apply here because we are talking about inelastic demand. 2.1.2 Oil Market Structure (supply curve, market equilibrium, total surplus) Its difficult and most times inaccurate to try and analyse the supply curve for inelastic products. A supply curve illustrates firms willingness to supply at particular prices. But in the oil industry there are exogenous factors that affect the prices. When a factor changes we say we have shifts in supply. That can be anything, for example a change in the number of firm selling petrol, a change in the price of a factor input (oil exploration expenses) or a change in technology. In our case, the supply is not affected by customers willingness to buy. Someone will buy petrol at any price in order to cover their needs (e.g drive to work). But in theory, the more quantity requested, the higher the price set by the firm. In the case which the price has reached the level where quantity supplied equals quantity demanded, we use the term equilibrium. On a graph, it is the price at which the supply and demand curves intersect. The total surplus refers to the total net gain to consumers and pr oducers from trading in the market. IT is the sum of the producer and consumer surplus. But in practice the things are a little bit different. There is always need for more petrol (or oil products generally). This means that BP and other firms can produce as much petrol as they want. The boundaries here are if the petroleum firms can produce more petrol. Its clear that the firm that can sell more barrels of oil, they will generate more revenue and gain more market share. BPs performance in the last 10 years has been exceptional well. They improve and increase the production every single year and thats due to increased refining availability. In the next page (figure4) you can see some of the performance factors. performance.JPG Figure BPs performance (picture taken from BPs annual report 2008) As you can see in the photo, the production was high but a bit lower that the year 2006. This is due to the unstable economy and prices in the last 2 years. BP still managed to increase their profits by improving their processes. The highlights of the year are: replacement cost profit of $ 25.594 million (up 39%), capital expenditure and acquisitions of $ 30.700 million and share price increase. The complete table with data will be attached in the appendix. 2.1.3 Government legislation (competition policy and carbon trading) The competition policies are different from country to country. We will talk about the policies in England as the BP is a british firm. In the UK there is the role of Director of fair trading and their job is to supervise the behaviour of companies. If they think that a firm is doing something is not supposed to do then they can refer those firms to the Competition Commission for investigation. The maximum market share that a company can hold is less than 25% of the total market. If it exceeds this limit the Director of fair trading can refer the company to the Competition Commission. Also, firms are not allowed to collude because this way they restrict the competition by setting prices. Also, because many companies operate in Europe or worldwide, there are other organisations that keep an eye on firms strategy. In the oil industry the top 3 competitors are : Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP. BP is the second largest refining and fuel retailing firm in the UK and third in the world. In their effort to become the largest petroleum and offer high variety of products, BP merged or acquired other firms over the past few years. The companys key products and services now include the following: Aromatics and acetyls, petrochemical products, oil and gas exploration and production, lubricants downstream derivative products, aluminum coil and other. To produce their products, firms utilise big amounts of energy. This energy usually comes from burning fossil fuels. For example, oil and coal are used to generate electricity. By burning these fuels, greenhouse gas is emitted in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a pollutant and the European governments have set rules to try to reduce the emissions. The reason the firms dont care much about pollution is because they maximise profit by reducing their costs. Nowadays though, they have to pay big amounts of money depending how much they pollute the environment (surplus permits). BP is helping to meet the worlds growing demand for sustainable and affordable energy, building alternative energy businesses with the potential to grow and compete far into the future. gas.JPG It is also impressive how much money BP invests in alternative energy, $ 1.4 billion just in 1 year. The total cost they are willing to invest is $ 8 billion. Alternative sources of energy BP is experimenting with are: Wind (432MW), Solar(162MW) and Biofuels. Moreover, they are running a project called CCS that stands for Carbon Capture and Storage. What CCS does is capturing the CO2 emitted during the burning and processing of fossil fuel. Then, it is transported and stored in deep geological formations such as gas or oil fields. CCS technology is supported by the government and the target is a worldwide implementation that will help reduce the problem of global warning. 2.2 Macroeconomic Analysis 2.2.1 2.2.2 3. CONCLUSION Based on your analysis, state your recommendations describing the possible strategies that the firm can consider.

Life Of A Teenager Essay

WE TEENS are something our life depends on cell phones, television and lot more. We are more bothered about our fashion and outlook. Our friends play the most important role in our life.A teenager, or teen, is a young person whose age falls within the range from thirteen  through nineteen (13–19). They are called teenagers because their age number ends in â€Å"teen†. Someone aged 18 or 19 is also considered a young adult. Timing of puberty On average, girls begin puberty at ages 10–11; boys at ages 11–12. Girls usually complete puberty by ages 15–17,[2][3][4] while boys usually complete puberty by ages 16-17. The major landmark of puberty for females is menarche, the onset of menstruation, which occurs on average between ages 12–13; for males, it is the first ejaculation, which occurs on average at age 13. In the 21st century, the average age at which children, especially girls, reach puberty is lower compared to the 19th century, when it was 15 for girls and 16 for boys.This can be due to improved nutrition resulting in rapid body growth, increased weight and fat deposition, or eating meat from animals which have been dosed up with oestrogen. â€Å"I memorize the phone numbers of friends whom my parents do not approve of so that their names don’t blink on my mobile phone.† Nothing Like a Friend >> I sometimes fight with my friends, but there’s mutual understanding that we won’t let our parents know. And, usually, we sort out the differences ourselves. >> Some of us get stuck with friends from whom we learn to smoke, drink, splurge, and other vices. For a while, I got entangled with a group of boys and became addicted to video games. >> When I want to attend a party or watch a film, I invent a story, like I am  going to study at a friend’s place. >> Last year one of my classmates was moving to another city. On his last day at school, I gave him `100 so that he could buy himself a present. It was the money my mother gave me to buy a sweater.

Blackrock Difference Essay Essay

The expectations, standards and treatment an individual receives are affected by their differences. The play ‘Blackrock’ composed by Nick Enright thoroughly explores the impact that difference of gender has on individuals and groups. The composer examines the common social ideas of gender and the differences in expectations, standards and treatment of males and females by creating a focus on the reaction by people to the rape and murder of the young girl. This is similar to the cartoon on homosexuality composed by Ficher. Ficher also examines the common social ideas differences in expectations by creating a focus on the response by people towards homosexuals being open about their sexuality in society. Both texts explore the way society views a person’s difference. The expectations, standard and treatment an individual receives are affected by their differences. The play â€Å"Blackrock† demonstrates how an individual’s gender forms the expectations others have on them. The typical expectation of girls is that they should be subservient and be used as an object. Cherie is an example of the rejection of these expectations. The behaviour Cherie portrays is different from other girls in the play as she interacts regularly with her female friends and portrays no interest in sexual behaviour. Cherie represents dignity and independence. As a result, she is exposed to isolation and abuse by others. This is demonstrated in the scene where Cherie protects Tracy’s reputation by saying to the boys â€Å"She was beautiful, you dickheads†. She is ridiculed by Scott, who in reply utilises slang in saying â€Å"Couple of lezzos are you? . The use of slang in â€Å"lezzos† reveals the aggressive response towards Cherie for protecting the reputation of the girl as well as abuse and isolation towards any person who breaks the conventional gender roles. The use of the word â€Å"lezzos† is a pejorative term used to ridicule females who have an interest in the same gender. In Cherie’s case, she is protecting a female and she is berated and ridiculed by Scott for protecting a female friend. The statement also reveals how Cherie is expected to be submissive to the boys. In Cherie’s circumstance, gender forms the expectations others have of her, and in breaching them she suffers isolation and abuse. In Enright’s â€Å"Blackrock† it is clear that an individual’s gender can form the way an individual is treated. In the play, gender connects the boys together and a mutual trust is formed. This mutual trust creates the belief that mates should protect and treat each other with respect. This however is different for the females. The boys portray a general disrespect towards the females in the play. They sexualise them and expect them to ‘give into’ there sexualisation. Once the female rejects to be submissive to their sexualisation, they are abused and isolated. This is portrayed through Scott who utilises dialogue in saying â€Å"you just pashed me off you slag†. The use of the word â€Å"slag† demonstrates the aggressive response Scott upholds towards females who refuse to be submissive. This statement also reveals the mistreatment females suffer as the word â€Å"slag† is used as an insulting term to describe females who engage in sex and in promiscuous behaviour. The males criticize the ones who reject their sexualisation as well. This is portrayed in the statement by Scott â€Å"I know enough†¦to show you a good time† . The slang in this statement suggests how forceful and berating Scott is towards females who reject to be submissive to his sexualisation. This demonstrates how despite the continuous rejection, Scott will continue to enforce his male dominance and mistreat the females. This mistreatment is continually related to gender and is evident throughout the play. Enright portrays the way difference determines how a person is treated. The cartoon composed by Ficher shows how an individual’s sexual status forms the expectations others have on them. The cartoon composed by Ficher demonstrates the difficulty faced by homosexuals who are trying to be open up about their sexuality. Society’s response to such beliefs and opinions are forceful and violent as they immediately reject and refuse to accept them. The composer utilizes symbolism to demonstrate the expectations formed by difference. The two figures on the left symbolise two major, powerful groups in society – law and religion. These figures represent society as a whole. The two figures on the right symbolise the homosexuals, the different group in society. The two powerful groups are forcefully sending the two homosexuals back to the ‘metaphorical closet’ as the closet is used as a symbol to represent a person being open up about their sexuality. The expectation’s formed by society to the homosexuals is that they should not be open about their sexuality and that they should keep their sexuality hidden from society. Fischer makes it portray the way difference decides how society forms expectations people have on them. The expectations formed on the two homosexuals are similar to the expectations formed on Cherrie in the play. The two homosexuals are expected and forced to keep quiet about their sexuality. They are also expected to be submissive to society. Similarly, Cherrie is expected and forced to be submissive to the boys. Both characters represent society’s mistreatment of people who are different. This portrays how the expectations and treatment an individual receives are affected by their differences. In â€Å"Blackrock†, the view of what is acceptable behaviour for each gender is demonstrated throughout the entire play. A double-standard is strongly reflected through the characters gender difference. In the play, allowing males to have sexual intercourse with females whenever possible is acceptable. Ricko demonstrates this at the party by utilising dialogue in saying â€Å"the mobs hot†¦go for it†. The use of dialogue reveals the peer-pressure encouragement element in the statement. The statement also reveals how they encourage each other and try to pick up different girls in different settings such as the party. This also portrays how openly sexual males are accepted and their behaviour and attitudes are encouraged. In contrast, openly sexual girls are disrespected, abused and labelled as ‘slag’ and ‘slut;.. This is portrayed by Scott, who utilises slang in saying â€Å"She’s been through Ricko already. Now its Gary. Now she’s a fucken band moll†. This reveals how girls who are openly sexual are disrespected and verbally abused. This shows Scott’s aggressive response towards females who are openly sexual. The word â€Å"moll† is an insulting term used to describe woman with openly sexual morals and is used to describe females in the play. This statement also reveals the non-acceptant views on females with openly sexual morals. These statements both portray a clear double-standard as the males in the play are allowed to be openly and freely sexual where the females are berated and abused if they are openly sexual. Enright portrays how gender difference reflects a double standard through showing what acceptable and non-acceptable behaviour for each gender is. In conclusion, expectations, standards and treatment an individual receives are affected by their differences. The play ‘Blackrock’ composed by Nick Enright explores the impact that difference of gender has on individuals and groups. Enright examines this through the common social ideas of gender and the differences in expectations, standards and treatment of males and females by creating a focus on the reaction by people to the rape and murder of the young girl. This is similar to the cartoon on homosexuality composed by Ficher. Ficher also examines the common social ideas differences in expectations by creating a focus on the response by people towards homosexuals being open about their sexuality in society. The expectations, standards and treatment an individual receives are affected by their differences.

Admission Essays Writing

Admission Essays Writing Admission Essays Writing Admission Essays Writing: The Introduction Admission essay writing is obviously included in the list of admission and exams to the MBA. Some MBA schools even require several essays, the quantity of which depends on the school. The essence of the MBA essay topics is usually the same every year. They do not usually change much: The Most Widespread Questions We offer you several of the admission essay questions. There are questions about your contribution to education and about your versatility. What reasons influenced your professional choice? Please, tell us about your plans for the professional future. Where do you want to get your MBA degree to achieve the desired objective? Tell us about your career. Why do you need the MBA degree? How will develop your career after receiving MBA degree? Tell us more about, what is your plan to do in the near future and in the future after receiving your MBA degree. How will education at MBA School contribute to the achievement of your goals? Briefly tell us about your professional achievements. Tell us details about your plans for the future and what caused you to get MBA degree at the university? What are your plans after receiving MBA degree? These are the most typical essay topics of every business school. You must clearly and precisely explain, why you need an MBA degree, and be able to prove it, writing an essay. Essay questions are usually divided into several parts. Most of them concern your past. Did you succeed in business today? Tell us, what influences your future. How will develop your career after receiving your MBA degree? What are your future plans? Admission Essay Help: Responsibility And Trust Why should you order custom essay writingat our company? We have well-organized and well-structured staff. Each employer is responsible for his own work. For example, the essay writer writes, professional editor edits, manager controls the process of performance of the custom essay order. Unlike other companies, where one person performs admission essay service, all our employees are divided into groups of specialization: economics, law, science, humanitarian, technical etc, and thus the organizational structure of the company is created. Secondly, in order to take a systemic approach to take and control essay orders a service administration was established. And thirdly, most important, is that an organized group of editors are responsible for the quality of the custom essay order. We are a reliable, experienced company! Contact us to convince of the best results and 100% guaranteed success! Read also: Much Ado About Nothing Coursework Marketing Coursework Self Critique Essay MLA Format Bibliography Critical Essay Essays on Patriotism

List of Naturally Occurring Elements

List of Naturally Occurring Elements Some elements have been made by man, but do not exist naturally. Have you ever wondered how many elements are found in nature? Of the 118 elements that have been discovered, there are 90 elements that occur in nature in appreciable amounts. Depending who you ask, there are another 4 or 8 elements that occur in nature as a result of radioactive decay of heavier elements. So, the grand total of natural elements is 94 or 98. As new decay schemes are discovered, its likely the number of natural elements will grow. However, these elements will likely be present in trace amounts. There are 80 elements that have at least one stable isotope. The other 38 elements exist only as radioactive isotopes. Several of the radioisotopes instantly decay into a different element. It used to be believed that of the first 92 elements on the periodic table  (1 is hydrogen and 92 is uranium) that 90 elements occur naturally. Technetium (atomic number 43) and promethium (atomic number 61) were synthesized by man before they were identified in nature. List of the Natural Elements Assuming 98 elements can be found, however briefly, in nature, there are 10 found in extremely minute amounts:  technetium, atomic number 43; promethium, number 61; astatine, number 85; francium, number 87; neptunium, number 93; plutonium, number 94; americium, number 95; curium, number 96; berkelium, number 97; and californium, number 98. Here is an alphabetical list of the natural elements: Element Name Symbol Actinium Ac Aluminum Al Antimony Sb Argon Ar Arsenic As Astatine At Barium Ba Beryllium Be Bismuth Bi Boron B Bromine Br Cadmium Cd Calcium Ca Carbon C Cerium Ce Cesium Cs Chlorine Cl Chromium Cr Cobalt Co Copper Cu Dysprosium Dy Erbium Er Europium Eu Fluorine F Francium Fr Gadolinium Gd Gallium Ga Germanium Ge Gold Au Hafnium Hf Helium He Hydrogen H Indium In Iodine I Iridium Ir Iron Fe Krypton Kr Lanthanum La Lead Pb Lithium Li Lutetium Lu Magnesium Mg Manganese Mn Mercury Hg Molybdenum Mo Neodymium Nd Neon Ne Nickel Ni Niobium Nb Nitrogen N Osmium Os Oxygen O Palladium Pd Phosphorus P Platinum Pt Polonium Po Potassium K Promethium Pm Protactinium Pa Radium Ra Radon Rn Rhenium Re Rhodium Rh Rubidium Rb Ruthenium Ru Samarium Sm Scandium Sc Selenium Se Silicon Si Silver Ag Sodium Na Strontium Sr Sulfur S Tantalum Ta Tellurium Te Terbium Tb Thorium Th Thallium Tl Tin Sn Titanium Ti Tungsten W Uranium U Vanadium V Xenon Xe Ytterbium Yb Yttrium Y Zinc Zn Zirconium Zr The elements are detected in stars, nebulas, and supernovae from their spectra. While pretty much the same elements are found on Earth compared to the rest of the universe, the ratios of the elements and their isotopes are different.

Virtual Hard Drives (VHD) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Virtual Hard Drives (VHD) - Research Paper Example Yet another type is the differencing one, which can be attached to any of the two other types, for increasing the performance of the system. The fixed sized disks do not have to specify for the minimum space required on the computer file system of the host, as it can automatically acquire the required space. On the other hand, dynamically expanding VHDs will take up the required space, according to their need. (Rouse) Virtual Hard Disk drives are the best alternative, when conducting cost-effective operations on computer systems. Using VHD, diverse operating systems can be loaded on the same PC, which allows the host to run different software programs on the same computer, while allowing the software developers to test their programs in a cost-effective manner. During February, 2013 Microsoft purchased the Virtual Hard Disk software from Connectix Virtual PC Software, which was originally responsible for creation of this software. Thereafter, Microsoft renamed this product as Microso ft Virtual PC. (VHD) Virtual Hard disk Formats Apart from the fixed and dynamic formats, as mentioned above, there is another format of VHD called ‘Differencing’ type. Each format can perform different tasks, as they vary in performance. Fixed size VHD The space required by this type of VHD is allocated on the physical Hard disk storage, while creating the VHD. While the fixed size can be increased, in an offline operation, the software does not support reducing the size. The fixed size characteristic of this type ensures optimum efficiency in operation of the system. However, due to the commitment of space allocated, it cannot be used by the physical drive, incase the VHD does not utilize any portion of the given space. Dynamically expanding VHD This file format counters the disadvantage of the fixed type VHD, as the space utilized by dynamically expanding VHD will depend on the actual requirement for the data size that is being written to it. However, ‘on-disk m eta-data’ size will add to this requirement. The file size can vary from as small as 43 KB in a VHD of this type to 20GB. The choices of optimization of performance are available with this type of VHD. However, the performance can be slower, for read or write functions, than the fixed size type VHDs. Differencing VHD This type of VHD can be associated with either of the above two types. While they can implement many additional features to their parent VHD, they also are responsible for prevention of any changes to the parent hard drive. The advantage of using this type is that space taken from physical hard drive can be reclaimed by compacting a differencing VHD.(Ranjana1) Native VHD boot Native boot VHD configuration is available in Windows 7 and Windows server 2008 R2. This allows the user to use the VHD as the computer running operating system without requirement of any parent system or hypervisor. In addition, Native boot provides full access to all the files in the PC sy stem, as the virtual volumes are visible, after the VHD portions are automatically attached to the system. Native VHD boot supports all the tree types of VHDs. However, the system will fail in case the expanding VHD requires more than the space available with the physical host drive. Only BIOS-based and UEFI-based firmware supports Native VHD boot. (Frequently Asked Questions) VHD vs. VHDX Windows Server 2012 has made available another VHD format, called VHDX. It has many advantages. The main

Business in Focus & Research Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Business in Focus & Research Skills - Essay Example Globalisation of businesses on the one hand, and the extensive spread of the Internet on the other, facilitated the phenomenon of global manpower outsourcing. The growth of usage of computers in all walks of life created enormous demand for English speaking and trained manpower for working as programmers. The economic rationale for using foreign nationals in low-end application programmes was the significantly lower wage costs and sheer manpower resource availability. This trend has rapidly spread to many other areas such as call centre operations, legal, accounting and auditing, engineering, manufacturing processes etc. generally termed as business process outsourcing (BPO), and gave rise to two types of employment of foreign nationals - onshore or off-shore services and in each case there have been corresponding loss of job opportunities for locals. In the onshore format, the foreign national is In the US, which is the major promoter of outsourcing as a model for competitive global business operations, there is a growing public resentment on the jobs lost to foreign nationals. The volume of jobs lost can be gauged by the fact that in each of the cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore in India, there are hundreds of companies employing thousands of men and women, providing back office services on 24x7 basis, to the US and European companies (BPO India, 2009). In the past most of these jobs in areas such as customer services, credit card operations, medical transcription, data entry, telemarketing etc. were being performed locally in the US itself by US nationals. The high hourly wage costs and the opening up of the world markets for services led to the outsourcing trends. In addition, the major Indian IT firms place thousands of their employees at the clients' premises for operations such as programming, installation, maintenance and training. Further, major US firms like Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Accenture, and Deloitte have established subsidiary companies in India i.e., they have effectively shipped jobs abroad. While economising on manpower costs is one reason for outsourcing, avoiding payment of taxes in the US is another aspect. Some business houses establish overseas operations in tax haven countries because the corporate income tax in the US is relatively higher, thus encouraging firms to establish operations abroad where either there is no tax or the tax rates are much lesser. Under the double taxation agreements, which the US has with a host of countries, if US firms pay taxes abroad on the income generated fromBusiness in focus 3 their foreign operations, then there is no need to pay taxes again on such income in the US, meaning consolidation of global income for tax purposes is not required. There is a growing criticism of such tax breaks for firms, which ship jobs abroad. The current economic down turn has only accentuated the demands for discouraging firms from outsourcing. During the 2004 presidential elections, Mr. John Kerry

Avon Products Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Avon Products - Case Study Example The company faced a challenge of flattening revenues and even declining operating income. There were many factors that led to this decline, one of the issues was that the company had grown at a faster proportion than the infrastructure and talent could hold. This called for an immediate intervention to save the company from collapsing. The current CEO who was known as Jung and the executive team launched a basic restructuring of the organization in starting of 2006 (Effron, 2009). Question two Leaning and transparency model was one that was targeted to bring change in the organization. For an organization to bring in change, one of the ways to ensure that change does not impact negatively to the organization is through training of employees. By doing so, employees are able to learn new tactics to use in order to integrate with the new change. In addition, employees are able to acquire skills to enable them to cope with the new requirements of the change. The company investment in exe cutive talent is one way of implementing learning model. The company planned to refurnish new talents as a way of ensuring that the company keeps up with the latest growth of the company. The employee’s new knowledge was also to be used as a model of ensuring that they are able to sustain the current growth of the company. ... The company aim to transform the organization through establishing bodies that would oversee transparency process is another example that assisted me to identify the model. The company aim of changing the top management behavior through teaching them on how to maintain a good image of the company is an aspect that is in learning and transformation model. The company also went ahead to recognize every personnel behavior as critical to the overall success of the business. These transformations were supported by performance reviews that were aimed at keeping an eye on the individual performance (Harris, & Hartman 2001). Question three One of the evaluation information that was obtained is that there is a need to create an efficient communication channel which will ensure that organizations processes are carried out in an efficient manner (Zofi, (2011). Communication plays a great role in tackling problems that might affect the organization. Efficient communication also ensures that ther e is a good relationship between leaders and their subordinates. In addition, communication plays a great role in enabling the organization to solve any issue that might affect the organization performance. This evaluation problem was to ensure that poor communication was eradicated and leaders implement policies that would enable the top management and low ranked employees to communicate frequently an aspect that would positively impact on the performance of the employees. Lastly communication would enable leaders to assess the talent of their employees. This is an important move in ensuring that categorization of talents in the organization is done appropriately (Harris, & Hartman 2001).

Branding Universities Essay Example for Free

Branding Universities Essay The end of the 1990s witnessed the corporatization of public universities in Malaysia resulting in the publication of corporate literature in these universities and the type of writing Fairclough (1993) refers to as the marketization of academic discourse. Marketization is necessary in public universities due to stiff competition in attracting students among the public universities as well as from the increasing number of private universities. This article reports how Malaysian universities re-brand themselves using the results of an investigation on corporate brochures from these universities. The investigation employs a structural analysis and a textual analysis. Although informative in nature, these corporate brochures exhibit the use of promotional elements in the texts as seen in the contents and the language use. The communicative functions of university brochures are viewed to be more promotional than informative. ABSTRACT KEY WORDS: brochures, corporate culture, genre analysis, re-branding, universities Introduction Academic institutions, particularly public universities, used to be regarded as the pinnacle of learning. Most of these universities were reputed for providing the best tertiary education and the mere mention of their names lit up the faces of those who had the privilege of learning from these fountains of knowledge and those who aspired to be associated with them. There was a time when admission was ‘by invitation only’, otherwise young men and women were seen struggling to gain admission into these prestigious institutions. These public universities acquired a promotional value (Wernick, 1991) without having to promote or market themselves. In advertising terms, these universities did not go through the process of branding. Branding is a fundamental strategic process of effectively marketing a product or service which includes creating a brand name and identity, designing Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 58 Discourse Communication 2(1) the packaging and promoting the product or service (Randall, 1997). Although Randall (1997) argues that ‘brands (and therefore branding) are so fundamentally important to the survival and success of many firms’ (p.2), this was not the case in public universities in the past. This is significantly due to the fact that these academic institutions were claimed to be free from other influences as evidenced by Cardinal Newman’s view of universities cited by Wernick (1991) as: . . . the high protecting power of all knowledge and science, of fact and principle, of inquiry and discovery, of experiment and speculation; it maps out the territory of the intellect, and sees that . . . there is neither encroachment nor surrender from any side . . . (Cardinal Newman, 1847, cited in Wernick, 1991:151) That was the traditional image of public universities, independent of political or societal influence and this image was not built by advertising or branding. As centres of academe, public universities were known for their quality education based on the results of their graduates and their performance in the careers they embarked on upon graduation. As years passed, more aspiring young people would apply for admission in certain universities due to their reputation. This reputation in turn became the  image of the universities which automatically created the promotional value (Wernick, 1991) of these universities, mentioned earlier as the pinnacle of learning. Each university was identified by its name or logo and no further promotional strategies were required. By providing quality education, these universities successfully built ‘a distinct brand personality’ (Randall, 1997: 67) for themselves as the success of branding is justified when people are reminded of a particular brand just by looking at the logo or hearing its brand name. The traditional role of public universities was to manage society (Jarvis, 2001) by producing scholars in the various fields of study so that they can go out to make the world a better place to live or join the academia to continue producing scholars. However, towards the end of the 20th century, the role of universities started changing from serving the state in managing society to serving the industry and commerce in ensuring that people are employable (Jarvis, 2001). This is partly due to the demands of the contemporary knowledge-based society (Veitch, 1999) where consumers have become more knowledgeable and have started demanding for better education and improved quality of life. Changes started taking place in public universities in the West as early as the 1980s where the governments were forced to abolish academic tenure and decrease funding for these universities. This was when many traditional universities started transforming into corporate universities (Jarvis, 2001) where they have to assume a more corporate form and function more like a corporation. From being the centre of academe, universities have become business-like entities (Connell and Galasinski, 1998). In Malaysia, a number of public universities have recently been corporatized, a move taken by the Malaysian government in its effort to inculcate better and more efficient management of these institutions. As corporate culture (Treadwell and Treadwell, 2000) is a new culture in all these universities, most of them Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising have set up corporate communications departments (Hajibah Osman, 2005) to handle corporate matters. Among the functions of these departments are managing corporate information and publication and projecting a positive image of the universities which are part of corporate advertising. Corporate advertising Business corporations use corporate advertising to enhance the image of the whole organization, or of the general brand in order to influence social values or to establish a connection between the corporation/brand and an already established positive value and in this era of identity, a lot of emphasis has been put on the importance of brand and corporate identities (Richards et al. , 2000). Unlike business organizations, universities are non-profit institutions. Public universities are viewed to use corporate advertising to enhance the strong foundation and to highlight the quality of these institutions of higher education. While it is common for business corporations to publish informative or promotional literature from time to time to inform the public about new developments in the organization (monthly or yearly reports) or to introduce new products or services (product launch leaflets), the use of promotional literature in academic institutions is a recent development. Malaysian public universities have started producing informative literature in the form of university brochures and special booklets in conjunction with certain celebrations in the universities as well as promotional literature in the form of leaflets providing brief information on academic programmes offered by the universities or introducing new programmes (Hajibah Osman, 2005). By employing new strategies to market their traditional image, from the advertising perspective, these universities are re-branding their products and services. Re-branding is the process of marketing an existing product or service of one brand with a different identity involving radical changes to the brand name, logo, image, marketing strategy and advertising themes (Wikipedia, 2006). In the advertising industry, re-branding is often referred to as re-positioning, that is, re-positioning a product or service in order to improve sales. Although there was no actual initial branding taking place in universities, being non-profit making institutions, the term ‘re-branding’ is used in this article to illustrate the change in the image of these universities particularly since the late 20th century. Significantly, this change has been effected without compromising the traditional characteristics and values of these institutions as the pinnacle of higher learning. The process of re-branding is aimed at improving the image of the universities by focusing on the facilities and highlighting the quality of the academic programmes. This article attempts to investigate the process of re-branding in public universities in Malaysia by conducting a genre analysis on university brochures, one type of print materials published by the institutions that represent corporate advertising. Analysing genres can lead to a ‘thick description’ (Bhatia, 1993) Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 59 60 Discourse Communication 2(1) of the texts contained in these genres, explaining why certain texts have been constructed the way they are. The specific objective of this article is to identify and discuss the strategies used in the re-branding process based on the structural organization of university brochures and the communicative functions of this type of brochure. Previous investigations of advertising genres mostly focused on straightsell advertisements of products or services. Bruthiaux (2000), for instance, investigated how advertisers make use of a limited space available to them to create successful advertising copies by examining the syntactic features in an undisclosed number of display and classified advertisements. His results show that the degree of syntactic elaboration ‘varies substantially even when content of equal simplicity/complexity or familiarity to readers is being presented. This variation appears to correlate with perceptions of status on the parts of both writers and readers’ (p. 298) and the persuasive elements lie in the vacuous displays of linguistic sophistication designed to create a largely artificial sense of exclusiveness among status-conscious readers (p. 369). Investigations have also been conducted on the language of advertising in Asia, for instance, Tej Bhatia’s (2000) investigation of language of advertising in Rural India and Henry and Roseberry’s (1998) investigation of the linguistic features in tourist information brochures from Brunei. Thus far, there have been very few linguistic analyses conducted on the genre of corporate advertising. Therefore, the genre selected for analysis in this article is brochure, specifically corporate brochure from academic institutions. A brochure is a printed document of six or more pages, used to introduce an organization, published only once and distributed to special publics for a single purpose (Newsom and Carrell, 2001). The discourse community of Public Relations (PR) specifies five characteristics of brochures, three of which are related to the present article: always having a singular message statement; having a purpose – to persuade or to inform and educate; and attracting and holding the attention of the audience. Brochure genre makes an interesting study because, first, this genre is viewed as a ‘blurred genre’ (a term borrowed from Scollon et al. , 1999) in that the term ‘brochure’ has been used to refer to other forms of publications including booklet, flyer, leaflet and pamphlet (Newsom and Carrell, 2001). Second, a brochure is a genre of persuasive discourse shaping the thoughts, feelings and lives of the public (Dyer, 1993) placing it under the field of advertising. However, according to Newsom and Carrell (2001), brochures are produced by PR practitioners rather than advertising practitioners. This is probably due to the fact that PR, among other things, incorporates looking after the reputation of an organization ‘with the aim of earning understanding and support, and influencing opinion and behaviour’ (Beard, 2001: 7). The question of ownership arises placing brochures in an even more ‘blurred’ state as the communicative functions of brochures have been set by the discourse community to which the genre belongs. In the context of this article, brochures are categorized as a corporate genre (basically PR) involving the principles of corporate writing (Treadwell Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising and Treadwell, 2000). Brochures are readily available, particularly in print version, and are easily accessible electronically. Finally, brochure genre needs to be investigated because brochure format is one of the most frequently used information formats in advertising and PR but is ironically the least written-about (Bivins and Ryan, 1991). Corporate genre in academic institutions This article establishes that any publications from universities, particularly those produced by the Corporate or Public Relations Office, are referred to as corporate genre. Corporate brochures are usually categorized as informative brochures (Richards et al. , 2000) providing all the necessary information about the organizations they represent. There are certain corporate elements present to qualify them as corporate brochures, but mostly these brochures are informative. However, an analysis of corporate brochures from multinational corporations by Askehave and Swales (2001) prove that these brochures also function to promote the organization. This is evident in the presence of promotional elements selected as syntactic choices in these brochures. Corporate brochures also function to establish long-lasting trading relationships which are in fact paramount in today’s industrial market. Hajibah Osman (2005) also notes that corporate brochures from academic institutions are promotional in nature with the use of promotional strategies apart from corporate and informative strategies. Another corporate genre in academic institutions, the university prospectus, started changing in form in the 1990s (Fairclough, 1993) where apart from providing information on the core business of the university, that is, the academic programmes, the prospectus has also included information on other aspects of the universities. Based on a critical discourse analysis of prospectuses from a number of British universities, Fairclough notes that these universities started promoting their programmes because they have come increasingly under (mostly government’s) pressure to operate like other types of businesses competing to sell their products to consumers. The university prospectus has become a ‘genre of consumer advertising colonising professional and public service orders of discourse on a massive scale, generating many new hybrid partly promotional genres’ (Fairclough, 1993: 139). Academic institutions in Malaysia have also published promotional leaflets (Hajibah Osman, 2005) to advertise their academic programmes and these are circulated to potential students particularly before a new academic year begins. These leaflets are no longer the plain, boring information sheets but colourful and interesting ones. This article concurs with Askehave and Swales (2001) that corporate brochures function as promotional brochures more than projecting the corporate image and providing information. Thus, the investigation in this article attempts to identify and discuss the strategies that realize the promotional functions in this type of brochure as part of the re-branding process in public universities. Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 61 62 Discourse Communication 2(1) Methodology In 2005, there were 11 public universities in Malaysia (currently, there are 20). Brochures were obtained from the 11 universities and were initially analysed to identify the possible structural organization. Based on the organization, the communicative functions of these brochures were determined. The 11 public universities included in this investigation are: International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM/UIA); Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM); Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM); Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS); Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS); Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM); Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris (UPSI); Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM); Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM); Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM); University of Malaya (UM). A textual analysis was conducted to examine the strategies used in the rebranding process. The strategies in the context of this article are tactical choices (Bhatia, 1993) which are cognitive processes ‘exploited by the writer to make writing more effective keeping in mind any special reader requirements, considerations arising from the use of medium or constraints imposed by organizational and other factors’ (p. 20). The strategies used by universities in re-branding the institutions are discussed within the framework of the sociolinguistic theory which considers writing as ‘part of the overall activities of a group and organization’ (Gunnarsson, 1997: 140) and in relation to the corporate culture (Hagberg and Heifetz, 2000) practised by the universities. As a genre is a typical form of utterances, it should be studied in its social contexts of use (Berkenkotter and Huckin, 1993). Sociolinguistics does not only describe linguistic variation and the social context in which such a variation occurs, but also shows how linguistic differentiation reflects social structure (Coupland, 2001). The sociolinguistic perspective in this article considers the existence of factors underpinning the construction of university brochures and the concept of promotional culture (Wernick, 1991). Re-branding academic institutions It has been established that university brochures form part of the corporate advertising strategies in Malaysian universities which in turn are part of the rebranding process in these traditional institutions. The structural organization in these brochures consists of 10 sections identified as moves (Table 1). Some of the moves are exemplified with extracts from the university brochures in Figure 1 (see Appendix). In identifying the moves, the term ‘service’ is used to refer to the educational services and the support services offered by the universities. All the brochures from the 11 universities include Moves I, C, L, D, J and S, indicating that these six moves are obligatory. Ninety-one percent of the brochures include Moves A, T and E, while 81 percent include Move V, making them optional moves. The 10 moves have been used to realize three communicative functions of the university brochures which are: †¢ To inform the public about the academic programmes offered in the university and the facilities and other services available to support the academic programmes; Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising †¢ †¢ To portray a corporate image of the university; and To promote the university as an academic institution based on the quality and the variety of academic programmes offered as well as the facilities available. These communicative functions of university brochures correspond with the general functions of brochures (Newsom and Carrell, 2001) set by the discourse community of PR. Re-branding strategies The 10 sections in university brochures have been identified as moves and these moves are realized with the use of strategies, and for the purpose of discussion in this article, re-branding strategies. The article discusses how the strategies contribute to the re-branding process and what their communicative functions are. NAME AND LOGO The first move in university brochures is called identifying the service which presents the name and the logo of the university. Although the brochures are in English language, the names of the universities are in Malay, the national language of Malaysia except two universities, International Islamic University Malaysia and University of Malaya. The names of the public universities were officially changed to Malay when the national language was made the medium of instruction in the mid-1970s. In the case of IIUM, however, the acronym by which it is commonly referred to by Malaysians is the Malay version, UIA. Similarly, University of Malaya is now popularly known as Universiti Malaya (UM). Interestingly, alumni up to the early 1980s still refer to this oldest university in the country as MU (Malaya University). TA B L E 1. Structural organization of university brochures Section Move identification Name of the university University slogan or motto Vision/Mission statement Profile or background of the university Location and size of the university Academic programmes offered at the university Facilities available to support the academic programmes Entry requirements, fees charged and duration of the programmes Career opportunities and recognition received by the university Contact addresses and telephone numbers Identifying the service (I) Attracting reader attention (A) Targeting the market (T) Establishing credentials (C) Locating the service (L) Describing the service (D) Justifying the service (J) Indicating the value of service (V) Endorsing the value of service (E) Soliciting response (S) Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 63 64 Discourse Communication 2(1) In the past, universities were identified by their crests but now these crests have been generally referred to as logos. Although it cannot be ascertained when the change exactly took place, this is the first re-branding strategy. However, this is not an obvious re-branding element because some of the established traditional universities in the world still use the term crest, for example, Oxford University (http://www. ox. ac. uk/web/crest.shtml). As far as Malaysian universities are concerned, both terms are similar and a recent survey of the university websites shows that most of the public universities in Malaysia refer to the crest as the logo while two universities (UKM and USM) refer to them as emblems. Most of the websites also provide the rationale for the design of the logo (e. g. UiTM, UPM). Whether used as crest, logo or emblem, interestingly, there are two common shapes observed: the shape of a shield (six universities) and a round shape (five universities) (Figure 2, see Appendix). The shape of USM’s emblem differs significantly from other logos in that it resembles a state emblem. This qualifies for the use of the term ‘emblem’ (a heraldic device or symbolic object as a distinctive badge of a nation, organization or family – Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, 2001) by the university. Although the current shape of UPSI’s logo is round, it once had the shape of a shield (Figure 3, see Appendix). Compared with the logos of established universities which include traditional designs representing the academe, the current logos of Malaysian public universities include elements of modern designs. In fact, some of these logos have gone through some kind of ‘evolution’ as in the case of UiTM, UPM and UPSI. UPM ‘evolved’ from a training school to a college to a university focusing on agriculture. Later, the university started including more disciplines and the name was changed from Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (Malaysia University of Agriculture) to Universiti Putra Malaysia (Putra University of Malaysia) in 1997, taking after the name of the first prime minister at the same time keeping the same acronym. UPSI and UiTM underwent almost similar ‘evolution’; from a centre to a college to an institute and finally to a university. Throughout the ‘evolution’, the logos have also gone through many changes where the concept incorporated in the logos mainly represents the focus of the university. While UPSI’s logo changed in shape but not in concept, UiTM’s and UPM’s logos underwent a total facelift (Figure 3, see Appendix). This is probably due to the fact that UPSI’s focus of training teachers remains throughout. MOTTO AND SLOGAN A motto is a short sentence or phrase that expresses a rule for sensible behaviour, especially a way of behaving in a particular situation (Collins Cobuild Dictionary, 2001). Most of the university logos have the motto inscribed on them as the motto represents the culture or the way of life in the university. Once again, all the mottos of the public universities are in Malay. The more established universities still retain this culture inscribed in the logo as seen in UM’s motto (translated as) ‘Knowledge, the Source of Development’, UPSI’s ‘Knowledge, the Beacon of Pure Character’, UTM’s ‘By the Name of God for Mankind’ and UUM’s ‘Scholarship, Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising Virtue, Service’. UPSI keeps the same motto inscribed on the logo throughout its ‘evolution’ but UiTM left out its motto of 39 years from its new logo. The newly established universities (UMS and UNIMAS) do not have a motto inscribed in their logos. While a motto is a traditional feature of a public university, having a slogan is a new phenomenon. A slogan is a distinctive catchphrase that serves as a motto for a promotion campaign (Wells et al., 2003) used to sum up a theme for the benefit of the product or the service in order to deliver a message in a few words which are easily remembered. There are two types of slogans (Russell and Lane, 1990): hard-sell slogans are strongly competitive, epitomizing the special significant features of the product or service being advertised. Institutional slogans establish a prestigious image for companies which they need in order to enhance their products or services. Slogans in university brochures fall under the category of institutional slogans. Again, it cannot be ascertained when universities started creating slogans but there is a strong probability that they started at the same time when Malaysian public universities were undergoing corporatization in the late 20th century. Slogans started appearing on brochures and prospectuses of these public universities. The use of slogans has been viewed as a significant re-branding strategy as slogans represent the most promotional element in advertising. The purpose of having a slogan is to attract the reader’s attention and to let it linger on the reader’s mind. According to Russell and Lane (1990), the memorability of slogans can be enhanced by making use of literary techniques. These techniques consist of certain types of words including: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Boldness – use of strong powerful words, and startling or unexpected phrases; Parallelism – use of a repeated structure of a sentence or phrase; Rhyme, rhythm, alliteration – use of repeated sounds; Aptness – use of appropriate, direct words (Russell and Lane, 1990). Slogans in university brochures have been created based on good advertising principles as they have been observed to make use of the literary techniques, for example: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ boldness: Garden of Knowledge and Virtue (IIUM) parallelism: The National University with an International Reach (UKM) aptness: Your Inspiration parallelism: Contemporary and Forward Looking (UNIMAS) boldness: Towards a World-Class University (UPM) boldness: Towards Excellence and Supremacy (UPSI) Boldness is exemplified with words such as ‘virtue’, ‘world-class’ and ‘supremacy’ where the universities are bold enough to associate themselves with such high stature. Traditionally, public universities are centres of academe which do not portray an image of flaunting. Slogans using parallelism aim for jingle-like sounds so that readers can remember them easily while aptness acts like punchlines, strong and effective to be easily remembered. The bottom line is that a slogan is an Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 65 66 Discourse Communication 2(1) advertising concept and a marketing tool. The fact that public universities as nonprofit making academic institutions use slogans place them in a different light. They are currently functioning more like business entities. MISSION STATEMENT This move is identified as targeting the market based on the communicative functions of the mission statements. A mission statement provides information about what type of organization it is and what it does (Falsey, 1989) at the same time highlighting the positive factors in the organization. Stating the mission of the university is viewed as one of the two crucial strategies (the other being using slogans) in re-branding academic institutions as this move never appeared in academic genres before. This move has placed public universities in the same league as other successful corporations. Mission statements of public universities in Malaysia are observed to provide information as to what and how they can contribute to the public in terms of tertiary education as highlighted (underlined) in the following examples: (10) To become a distinguished university, aspiring to promote academic excellence in higher education and professional training necessary for the country’s socio-economic development (UiTM). (11) To be a premier university seeking excellence in the advancement of knowledge to meet the aspirations of the nation (UM) (12) To become an exemplary university of internationally acknowledged stature and as a scholarly institution of preference and choice for students and academics through the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and scholarship (UNIMAS) (13) To lead in the development of creative human resource and technology in line with the aspirations of the nation (UTM). The words ‘distinguished’, ‘premier’, and ‘exemplary’ are used to emphasize the quality of the universities. Other words like ‘excellence’, ‘advancement’ and ‘stature’ as well as ‘to lead’ are all bold words of promise by the universities. PROFILE OF THE UNIVERSITY This section is identified as the move to establish the credentials of the university as it provides information on the background and/or the current status of the university. The background information includes the date of establishment and the reason for the establishment while information on the current status of the university usually includes the achievements of the university in terms of academic programmes and physical development as well as the quality of the programmes offered. This move is supposed to be informational but there are a number of instances where the brochures provide the information on the current status of the university using ‘promotional’ words and phrases. For example: (14) UNIMAS is an ISO-certified university . . . Its undergraduate programmes have been designed to suit the needs of society and industry. Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising An ISO certification for an organization confirms the quality of that organization and it is now a common practice among public universities to obtain such certification to convince the public about the quality of the university, particularly the academic programmes on offer. Universities with ISO certification usually highlight it in their brochures as a strategy to promote the institutions. Other instances of promotional words can be observed in the following examples: (15) The university is the catalyst for regional growth in the northern region of Peninsula Malaysia (UUM) (16) From these humble beginnings, UM grew hand-in-hand with the young nation to become the nucleus for producing graduates of the highest quality and calibre. The word ‘catalyst’ denotes the importance of the university in the regional growth of the northern region of the country, without which there would not have been much growth in that region, thus promoting the significance of the university. Similarly, the word ‘nucleus’ conveys the significance of UM to the developing nation. Another instance is when a university states the commitment of the university to the public or the nation. UPM boldly states its commitment to become a worldclass university to convince the public to come and enrol in this university. (17) Named Universiti Putra Malaysia in honour of the pioneering Prime Minister of Malaysia, . . . has adopted this pioneering spirit and is committed to become the world class Univers.