How to Get a Perfect 12 on the ACT Writing Essay

How to Get a Perfect 12 on the ACT Writing Essay SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips There is no part of the ACT more mysterious to students than the essay, and very few people seem to know what exactly the ACT is looking for in a "perfect" essay (particularly since September 2015 was the new ACT Writing test's debut). Luckily, we've got the expertise to give you some insight into how the essay works and what you can do to push your score those extra few points up the scale. Whether you're trying to impress your dream school or just want to boost your ACT score, the essay is a great thing to work on. Some of the tips below stand alone, while others are part of larger categories that have been assembled based our ACT expertise. Important: If you haven't read these two other ACT Writing guides before, take a minute and read them now: The ACT Writing Rubric: Analysis, Explanation, and Strategies How to Write an ACT Essay, Step by Step This will make the rest of the article make more sense. Part I: What a 12 on the ACT Essay Means If you're already scoring an 8 or above in every domain on practice (or real) ACT essays, you have a shot at completely nailing what the graders want, represented by a score of 12, with a little practice. But there's something important to remember in your quest for perfection: on the ACT essay, a 12 is not always achievable. We've got good news and bad news for those of you who are determined to know how to get a 12 on the ACT essay. The Big Secret You'll have to practice this specific essay. The perfect ACT essay is like a puzzle that happens to be in writing form- it can be mastered, but to do it well and completely every time requires a few month's practice. Knowing how to write other kinds of essays will only help you a limited amount. The Bad News Because the whole essay must be written in 40 minutes, getting a 12 requires some luck. You have to pick a thesis and think of relevant and convincing evidence to support it before you can even start writing, so a lot depends on how quickly you can decided on a point of view and relevant support for whatever the prompt happens to be. And because perfect-scoring essays are almost always at least two pages long, you won't have any time to spare. The Good News Because the essay is so formulaic, it's always possible to get at least a 10 in each domain. And, on top of this, no college worth its salt is going to base your college admission on getting those last two points on an essay you had to write in 40 minutes. The goal, really, is to show that you can write a decent essay in that time, and a 10 in each domain shows that just as well as a 12 does. Part II: The Difference Between a 10 and a 12 If we asked the ACT what the difference is between a 10 and a 12 ACT essay, they would direct us to their scoring criteria (replicated in the table below) that describes the difference between the 5 and 6 essay scores in each domain. As you may already know, a total domain score of 12 comes from two readers separately giving your essay a 6; the four domain scores are then averaged to calculate your total essay score of 12. We've marked the differences between the 5 and 6 criteria in bold. Later, we'll look at these differences in the context of a sample essay. Score of 5 (10) Score of 6 (12) Major Differences Responses at this scorepoint demonstrate well-developed skill in writing an argumentative essay. Responses at this scorepoint demonstrate effective skill in writing an argumentative essay. Ideas and Analysis The writer generates an argument that productively engages with multiple perspectives on the given issue. The argument’s thesis reflects precision in thought and purpose. The argument establishes and employs a thoughtful context for analysis of the issue and its perspectives. The analysis addresses implications, complexities and tensions, and/or underlying values and assumptions. The writer generates an argument that critically engages with multiple perspectives on the given issue. The argument’s thesis reflects nuance and precision in thought and purpose. The argument establishes and employs an insightful context for analysis of the issue and its perspectives. The analysis examines implications, complexities and tensions, and/or underlying values and assumptions. The 6 essay gives a more specific and logically precise context. The thesis and argument show a deep understanding of the issue, while the analysis not only mentions, but also inspects the complexities and implications of the issue. Development and Support Development of ideas and support for claims deepen understanding. A mostly integrated line of purposeful reasoning and illustration capably conveys the significance of the argument. Qualifications and complications enrich ideas and analysis. Development of ideas and support for claims deepen insight and broaden context. An integrated line of skillful reasoning and illustration effectively conveys the significance of the argument. Qualifications and complications enrich and bolster ideas and analysis. The 6 essays develops its ideas and support for those ideas more thoroughly and examines the implications of the ideas and support in a larger context. In addition, the complexity of the discussion for each examples strengthens the essay's argument and the analysis of the issue at hand. Organization The response exhibits a productive organizational strategy. The response is mostly unified by a controlling idea or purpose, and a logical sequencing of ideas contributes to the effectiveness of the argument. Transitions between and within paragraphs consistently clarify the relationships among ideas. The response exhibits a skillful organizational strategy. The response is unified by a controlling idea or purpose, and a logical progression of ideas increases the effectiveness of the writer’s argument. Transitions between and within paragraphs strengthen the relationships among ideas. The 6 essay is organized to enhance the logic and strength of the writer's argument, whereas the 5 essay is only organized clearly. Language Use The use of language works in service of the argument. Word choice is precise. Sentence structures are clear and varied often. Stylistic and register choices, including voice and tone, are purposeful and productive. While minor errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics may be present, they do not impede understanding. The use of language enhances the argument. Word choice is skillful and precise. Sentence structures are consistently varied and clear. Stylistic and register choices, including voice and tone, are strategic and effective. While a few minor errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics may be present, they do not impede understanding. The 6 essay is written extremely well, whereas the 5 essay is written pretty well. This means getting creative and using advanced vocabulary appropriately if you want a 6. Part III: Applying the Criteria in a Real ACT Essay Example Now we'll look at a sample essay and how it demonstrates the characteristics of the 6 essay above. First, let's look at the prompt: Intelligent Machines Many of the goods and services we depend on daily are now supplied by intelligent, automated machines rather than human beings. Robots build cars and other goods on assembly lines, where once there were human workers. Many of our phone conversations are now conducted not with people but with sophisticated technologies. We can now buy goods at a variety of stores without the help of a human cashier. Automation is generally seen as a sign of progress, but what is lost when we replace humans with machines? Given the accelerating variety and prevalence of intelligent machines, it is worth examining the implications and meaning of their presence in our lives. Perspective One: What we lose with the replacement of people by machines is some part of our own humanity. Even our mundane daily encounters no longer require from us basic courtesy, respect, and tolerance for other people. Perspective Two: Machines are good at low-skill, repetitive jobs, and at high-speed, extremely precise jobs. In both cases they work better than humans. This efficiency leads to a more prosperous and progressive world for everyone. Perspective Three: Intelligent machines challenge our long-standing ideas about what humans are or can be. This is good because it pushes both humans and machines toward new, unimagined possibilities. Write a unified, coherent essay about the increasing presence of intelligent machines. Now, read the ACT essay example below, and try to notice how it meets the criteria in the table above. From the simplest system of pulleys and ropes to the most complex supercomputer in the world today, machines have had (and continue to have) a profound influence on the development of humanity. Whether it is taking over monotonous, low-skill tasks or removing that messy â€Å"human† element from our day-to-day interactions, machines have answered the call to duty. The increasing prevalence of intelligent machines challenges us to change long held beliefs about our limitations and to continue forward to new and even more advanced possibilities. One common argument against the increased presence of machines in our day to day lives is that machines leach from us our basic humanity. Indeed, certain people whose only social interactions are anonymous text-based conversations with other anonymous Internet forum dwellers over computers may begin to lose basic human courtesy and empathy. This is crystal clear with a glance at the comments section of any popular news article. Yet mach ines are also capable of enhancing people’s abilities to communicate. An example of this can be found in Tod Machover’s lab at MIT, where breakthroughs in neurotechnology have made it possible for quadripalegics to manipulate text on computers with their minds. Such interactions would be impossible without the existence of intelligent machines. Therefore, I must disagree with Perspective one. Rather than losing part of our own humanity to machines, we instead make that most-essential-to-humanity of acts, communication, possible. Another school of thought (Perspective Two) argues that machines are good at how and high skill repetitive jobs, which leads to a more prosperous and progressive world for everyone. This can be seen in the human work hours that are saved daily with automated phone menus. Before intelligent machines made automatic telephone menus possible, every customer service call ate up valuable employee time. Now, menus allow callers to choose the number th at best suits their needs, routing calls to appropriate destinations without the need for human employees to waste time explaining for the hundredth time that â€Å"our business hours are 10am-6pm.† On the other hand, no mechanized system of this kind is perfect, because it can’t predict all future outcomes. In terms of automated telephone menus, this means that sometimes, no menu options are correct. While automated systems may take the burden off of human workers, it is a mistake to think that they can replace humans entirely. Why else would the last line of resort for most automated phone menus be â€Å"Dial â€Å"0† to speak to an operator/customer service representative?† Perspective Two is true, but it only goes so far. A final example will demonstrate how intelligent machines challenge longstanding ideas and push us towards new, unimagined possibilities (perspective three). At my high school, all students had to take diagnostic tests in every main subject to figure out our strengths and weaknesses, and we were then sorted into class by skill level. A truly remarkable pattern emerged as a result of this sorting: it turned out that every kid in my medium-level physics class was also a talented musician. The system that sorted us allowed us to find this underlying pattern, which changed the way our teachers taught us; we learned about mechanics through examples that were more relevant to our lives (answering questions like â€Å"how many pulleys are needed to lift a piano?†), which in turn made our classes both more enjoyable and also more effective. When before I had struggled with physics and simply assumed it was a subject I â€Å"wasn’t good at,† the intelligent, automated sorting system allowed me to discover that I could in fact understand mechanics if taught in the right way. This discovery pushed me toward previously unimagined academic possibilities. In conclusion, intelligent machines help us to mo ve forward as a species to greater heights. While machines can cause problems and may in some cases need human input to function optimally, it is how we react and adapt to the machines that is the real takeaway. This was a real essay written by me within the time limit.What do you think? Now let's look at an annotated version of this ACT essay example that points out the essay's features. What Makes This ACT Essay a 12, Rather Than an 8 or 10? Major Differences between a 5 and a 6 Essay (from table above) Sample Essay Ideas and Analysis The 6 essay gives a more specific and logically precise context. The thesis and argument show a deep understanding of the issue, while the analysis not only mentions, but also inspects the complexities and implications of the issue. The author clearly states her perspective and compares it to two other given perspectives, presenting both positive and negative aspects of the two perspectives she does not entirely agree with: "One common argument against the increased presence of machines in our day to day lives is that machines leach from us our basic humanity...Yet machines are also capable of enhancing people’s abilities to communicate." Development and Support The 6 essays develops its ideas and support for those ideas more thoroughly and examines the implications of the ideas and support in a larger context. In addition, the complexity of the discussion for each examples strengthens the essay's argument and the analysis of the issue at hand. The author gives both general statements... "Rather than losing part of our own humanity to machines, we instead make that most-essential-to-humanity of acts, communication, possible." ...and specific examples that discuss both sides of the perspectives: "...certain people whose only social interactions are anonymous text-based conversations with other anonymous Internet forum dwellers over computers may begin to lose basic human courtesy and empathy...[on the other hand,] breakthroughs in neurotechnology have made it possible for quadripalegics to manipulate text on computers with their minds." Organization The 6 essay is organized to enhance the logic and strength of the writer's argument, whereas the 5 essay is only organized clearly. The essay begins (after the introduction paragraph) by addressing opposing views and discussing their strengths and their limits. Then it goes on in paragraphs 4 to explain a final reason why intelligent machines challenge ideas about humanity and push us towards new possibilities. Language Use The 6 essay is written extremely well, whereas the 5 essay is written pretty well. This means getting creative and using advanced vocabulary appropriately if you want a 6. The "advanced" vocabulary is highlighted in blue. Sentence structure is varied, like here: "On the other hand, no mechanized system of this kind is perfect, because it can’t predict all future outcomes. In terms of automated telephone menus, this means that sometimes, no menu options are correct. While automated systems may take the burden off of human workers, it is a mistake to think that they can replace humans entirely. Why else would the last line of resort for most automated phone menus be â€Å"Dial â€Å"0† to speak to an operator/customer service representative?†" Considerations That Aren't Included in the ACT's Published Guidelines Length The essay is long enough to analyze and compare the author's perspective to other perspectives in a nuanced way (one positive example for each perspective with an addition negative example comparing the two perspectives the author disagreed to her own perspective) and include an introductory paragraph and a conclusion. While ACT, Inc. doesn't acknowledge that length is a factor in scoring ACT essays, most experts agree that it is. But length means nothing if there isn't valuable information filling the space, so long ACT essays also need to be detailed- this author uses the space to give lots of analysis of and context for her examples. Paragraph Breaks You may have noticed that the essay is broken up into multiple paragraphs (into the standard five-paragraph format, in fact). This makes the essay easier to read, especially for the ACT readers who have about two to three minutes to read (and score!) each essay. If your points can easily be split up into small parts, then it makes sense to split it up into even more paragraphs, as long as your essay's organization and logical progression remains clear. Content and Examples This essay uses a personal example, which may or may not be made up (spoiler alert: it is). But the point is that it could be made up, as can anything you use in your essay. Being able to think of examples (that are not too obviously made up) can give you a huge advantage on the ACT essay. Do's and Don'ts for a 12 ACT Essay The key to a perfect score on the ACT essay is to use every second of your time wisely. To this end, here are a few tips to avoid common time-wasters and put your energy where it will get you the most points. Do spend time: #1: Writing as much as you can without including repetitive or irrelevant information. #2: Revising the first and last paragraphs (they stand out in readers' minds). #3: Making sure you have transitions. Don't spend time: #1: Thinking of 'smart' sounding evidence- examples from your own life (or made up about your own life) are just as viable as current events, as long as you keep your example focused and concise. #2: Trying to correct every error- the grammar and spelling do not have to be perfect to score a 12 in the Language Use domain. #3: Adding as many vocabulary words as you can- you only need enough to avoid repeating the same basic words or phrases multiple times; you'll max out fancy vocab's potential at two words per paragraph. How To Practice Your Writing To Get A Perfect 12 In Each Domain Start with our list of ACT essay prompts. Create a list of evidence examples- from literature, history, or personal experience- that you can use for many or most prompt arguments. Practice first with extended time- 50 minutes- so you can get an idea of what it takes to get a top-scoring essay. Find a way to grade your essay, using the ACT Writing Rubric. If you can be objective about your writing, you can notice weak spots, especially if you ran out of time but know what to do. Otherwise, try to get help from an English teacher or a friend who's a better writer than you are. Start narrowing the time down to 40 minutes to mirror the actual test. Stay confident! The ACT essay is just like a puzzle- every time you do one, you get better at doing it. What's Next? Find out more about how to write an ACT essay with this step-by-step example. Use our analysis of the ACT Writing Rubric to learn about how your essay will be scored- and discover strategies you can use to get the score you want. Want to aim for perfection on the ACT with a 36? Read our guide on how to score a perfect ACT score, written by our resident 36 scorer. Make sure your ACT score is high enough for the schools you want to apply to. Find out how to find your ACT target score. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today:

Art in culture essays

Art in culture essays Art is an expression of a particular person, or group of people. Art can have a large effect on culture, as it can be symbolic of traits, morals, and religious characteristics. An artist is defined as a person whose creative work shows sensitivity and imagination.1 That sensitivity and imagination is what can make a culture. Artists have the ability to manipulate the form of their art therefore manipulating the experience of that art.2 Art is everywhere ; it is in the car we drive, the magazine we read, and in the food that we eat. Art is something that influences many parts of our lives. Art is what drives us to be creative. To make a car better, we need to have an impeccable design. To build a better house, we have to have an imagination to construct. Art is in everything around us whether it is the car we drive or the house we go home to, it is someones artwork. It took someones creativity and thought to fabricate the masterpiece. The arts provide a way for people to explore new possibilities to notice the world.2 Art defines a culture because culture is a pattern of behaviors, ideas, and values shared by a group.3 Without art, what is a culture? A way of life? Culture is sometimes defined as the tastes in art and manners that are favored by a social group.1 Some would come to the conclusion that there isnt culture without art. If you take away all man made things, do you have culture left? Culture is an expression, and without art, there is nothing left but survival. Art offers a type of release, whether through song, paint, clay, or simply writing in a diary. Everyone has a passion for a type of work, whether it be crunching numbers on a calculator or spraying paint all over a canvas. Everyone likes to think that their work shows sensitivity and imagination. People also like to strive to ...

Factors Affecting the Performance of Employees Research Paper

Factors Affecting the Performance of Employees - Research Paper Example The human resource policies and strategies of an organization are the key determinants of employees’ performance (Armstrong, 2006). For example, in my previous employment, there were various incentives such as Christmas bonuses to employees, which aimed at motivating employees. Despite the human resource policies and strategies, the interrelationships of various departments of the organization, inter-organizational relations, and demographic factors have an impact on employees’ performance. According to Armstrong (2006), human resources are valuable assets for an organization. Understanding the issues, which influence worker performance, may be key to enhancing employee’s productivity and morale. Organizations formulate strategies for providing an excellent work environment in order to attract and retain the best employees. These strategies should address those factors that affect the performance of workers. These factors may be within or outside the company, inc luding those factors emanating from the employee’s personal lives. The paper will discuss the following factors as determinants of employees’ performance. These factors include ability, knowledge and skills, feedback, environment, standards, and motivation.  Ã‚  Motivation is the key to an effective organization to sustain the stability of the work in a strong way and help the survival of the organization. Motivation is discovering a requirement inside the workers and assisting to attain it. Motivation enables employees to widen their skills to meet the organizational objectives. Motivation drives human beings to achieve their objectives and company objectives through each challenge and limitation they experience in their workplace. The need of accomplishment leads in a desire to put extra effort to have something done better and the desire for success. There are three internal forces that influence an individual’s behavior; direction, intensity, and persisten ce. In terms of direction, motivation is directed by objectives while in terms of intensity, it is the amount of effort allotted. In terms of persistence, it is the time and effort applied. The following are the five main approaches of motivation; Maslow’s need hierarchy theory, Adams’ equity theory, Vroom’s expectancy theory, Herzberg’s two-factor theory, and Skinner’s reinforcement theory (Herzberg, 1987). Maslow points out that there are five levels of employee needs; safety, physiological, ego, social, and self-actualizing. Maslow observed that employees are motivated when their low-level needs are satisfied first before the next high-level needs. Herzberg’s study classified motivation into two factors; hygiene and motivators. Intrinsic or motivator factors, such as recognition and achievement lead to job satisfaction. Extrinsic or hygiene factors, such as level of remuneration and degree of job security generate job dissatisfaction. Vro om’s approach is based on the idea that worker effort will result in performance, which will result in rewards. The rewards can be either negative or positive. The more positive the prize the more probable the worker will be extremely motivated (Armstrong, 2006). On the contrary, the more negative the prize, the less probable the worker will be motivated.  Ã‚  

Operational Management Business Plan Term Paper

Operational Management Business Plan - Term Paper Example (National Center for Education Statistics) Operations management is essentially overseeing processes that turn inputs into outputs. The goal is to achieve organisational objectives at the lowest cost in order to maximise profits. I work for General Trading which is a grocery and dairy supplier. The portfolio includes distribution, wholesale as well as export operations. The company trades in approximately 10,000 grocery items and 2,000 products and sports its own brands Parade and Better Valu. The export markets range from Europe, South America, Africa, Caribbean and the Middle East. (General Trading) The largest branch of operations exists for food items delivery to supermarkets within the metropolitan area. General Trading acts as the middle man between the wholesalers and the larger grocery stores. Myriad physical resources including warehouses, offices, transport equipment, support services are required to support operations. On the human side, hundreds of workers are required ea ch day by General Trading to ensure prompt delivery of food items. The business philosophy is rather archaic and well set in and the management is not highly committed to change (in terms of modernisation). Business operations demand investment in physical and human resources in order to maximise efficiency and production. At General Trading the, top management has been relentlessly unwilling to invest money in company operations in the short-term to prosper in the long-run. The company’s operations suffer due to lack of training, archaic physical resources, inefficient warehouse operations (stacking and retrieval), lack of employee metrics as well as the lack of a coherent quality management scheme. Operation Analysis and Evaluation General Trading being a logistics operator has to deal with warehousing and transportation. These two operations form the bulk of the company’s operations management. Goods flow both into and out of the warehouse. The material needs to be stacked in order of certain preferences so that it can be readily deployed as required. These preferences include delivery dates, nature of food materials (preserved or fresh), room for fire fighting and escape etc. Food orders are created to record all transactions of incoming and outgoing food materials. Experienced personnel are required to create food orders so that the right amount of detail is entered flawlessly intro records. Similarly, experienced store handlers are required to locate the food materials both when they arrive and when they are about to leave. Investments in the physical equipment have also been lacking which have promoted inefficient operations. A description of the operations is provided below for areas where improvements are desired. Relevant weaknesses are listed alongside the process evaluation so that continuity and relevance can be maintained. Warehousing Warehousing refers to the storage of materials for further processing. In terms of business value a ddition, warehousing

Women’s rights in America in the 1920s Essay Example for Free

Women’s rights in America in the 1920s Essay Throughout the ages women have been stricken with often male-made oppression in many forms on the long, difficult road to their eventual initiation into equal rights. Some aspects of women’s rights today were obtained by questionable means in the past. One such act of liberation by questionable means was the introduction of a class of women in the 1920s known as flappers. These flappers were the beginning of a new wave of sexually and intellectually liberated women. Women of this age wore short skirts and revealing clothing in addition to cutting their hair into bobs and smoking and drinking publicly. These women were also outspoken in many areas, including matters of art, society, and politics. (â€Å"The changing values of a new generation†) Many argued that these women were the source of much moral corruption and social confusion during the age. A large number of people believed that flappers were rowdy, trouble-making, time-wasting, destructive women and that their damaged morals were in need of correcting. In the eyes of many critics, flappers were a prime example of the growing immorality, irresponsibility, inconsideration, impatience, stupidity and selfish personal absorption of today’s female youth. Still others felt that the flappers were simply lazy and their lifestyles were not only evil and blasphemous but also unhealthy for the soul, body, and mind. Secretary of Labor, James Davis said in September of 1922, that the flappers lifestyle revolved mainly around sex and substance abuse. It was argued that the heightened displays of sexual freedom of these flappers promoted lower social morals, larger rates of promiscuity and greater irresponsibility in many young women. Many people saw flappers as being unintelligent, self absorbed, and were only concerned with their own personal gain, without taking others into consideration. They were often viewed as shameful recluses, and troublemakers. Those who felt that flappers were immoral and corrupt argued that they were bad influences on the younger, more impressionable girls and that they gave their community a bad image. It was said to be inappropriate for any woman to show a substantial about of flesh  at any given time, especially in public, therefor, the flappers were seen in an even more negative light due to the fact that their dresses only required 3 yards of fabric instead of the traditional 6. Many said that flappers were inconsiderate of others with their rambunctious behavior and provocative appearances. Their public drinking and smoking was seen by many as vulgar and unladylike. Flappers were also said to be impatient and unintelligent in areas such as schooling, work and typical domestic o bligations. Despite many negative arguments against flappers there were also those who supported them and argued for them, including, of course, the flappers themselves. Flappers and their supporters looked at their actions as a means of promoting their sexual and intellectual liberation from the former, male-based structure of society. These supporters of such female liberation believed that flappers had earned the right to their free and passionate lifestyles and that they should be respected just as much as the men of the community. Such flapper collaborators felt that they were self-sufficient and reliant as well as intelligent and feminine. Flappers often wore makeup with their short hair and flowingly skimpy clothing. They kept themselves slim and fit and exercised often. These women spent a great deal of money to uphold their flapper fashion and image. They felt that they were independent as well as responsible in their free-spirited fight for equality and freewill. They argued that they were not immoral in their lifestyle and that their behavior was in fact far from destructive but, instead, was helping to work towards creating social equality. (â€Å"The New feminism of the 1920s†) Flappers were not in fact only concerned with standing out and being noticed. They were not simply fashion and image-driven, selfish women, but were strong, self-willed, independent young feminist citizens who were fighting passionately for their right to stable equality amidst a prominently male-driven world. These women pushed aggressively for their social, professional, and sexual freedom which they felt were hard-earned and well overdue. Many flappers wished to pursue positions in careers which would otherwise be deemed unacceptable for the average women of the time. They hoped that by breaking away from social normalitys that they could eventually obtain equality in all important aspects of life while hopefully  also allowing them entry into many professional fields which would normally be unaccessible to women. It is beyond confrontation that many of the questions of the flapper age were presented with a certain amount of dubiety by many brave independent women seeking fairness and equality. These women took their lives and futures into their own hands and with all the courage and determination they could muster they threw their hopes and expectations for equality upon the world. The flappers were passionate, lively young women with aspirations of possessing the same basic human rights that were possessed by the men of the age. Though their aggressively displayed fashion and ideas came as quite a shock to most people at first, after the differences became more accepted by the general public objections were able to be put aside, to make way for some real changes. Despite the many controversies surrounding the flappers and their ideals the fact remains that due to their existence and involvement in history a great deal of significance changes were brought about whether for the good or bad that of today’s society which have greatly expanded upon women’s rights and equality.

Cultural and gender comparison of Russia and the US Essay -- essays re

Cultural Comparison of Russia   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gender roles in Russia have dramatically changed since the fall of the former Soviet Union and the fall of communism. It is hard to look directly at the constitution of Russia seeing as though the drafting and redrafting of their constitution is still underway. However, looking at the constitution of the former Soviet Union, you can see it is clearly stated that: â€Å"Women and men have equal rights.† It is very clear that in the Soviet Union they were trying to make it so that women and men were equal. It is still clear today that those same basic ideals are present in Russia. Women are clearly more equal in their country than in ours. In the workforce as well as in the home, women play a more equal role than in the present day United States. However, for the sake of this paper, let us just look at the infrastructure of Russia, formerly known as the Soviet Union or USSR.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In terms of employment, the former Soviet Union had the largest percentage of women in the labor force than any other comparative society. This still remains the case in the present day Russia. Unemployed women in Russia will be quickly employed. They have a very high success rate of reemploying women if they were to lose their jobs. â€Å"Compared to Western women, although Russian women have a much higher representation in law, medicine and engineering as well as in the skilled trades, such as metalworking and construction,...

Home Is Where the Heart Is Essay

Some say â€Å"home is where the heart is. † Home can be everything to some. Home is their safe comfort place they have in life. Home determines a sense of one’s identity. One poem called â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† by Cathy Song involves characters experiencing conflicting situations between the demands of their home and identity. One might think that this poem is simply about mothers versus daughters; however, this poem evokes a broader sense meaning that daughters are torn between either pulling away or pulling closer to home. In one sense, the daughter in this poem is frustrated with her current situation and aspires to do more with her life, rather than devote her time doing what her mother thinks she should be doing. Despite this feeling, she knows she should be caring for her sick mother. The role she has in her home has conflicting messages. Using the elements of tone, narrative poem, and word choice, the poem can be explicated to show how it creates and resolves the meaning of conflict between mothers and daughters. â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† utilizes the narrative type poem, which helps create and resolve the conflict in the poem. The main conflict in this poem is that the daughter has to choose between obligations and desires, while finding her own role in her home. A narrative poem tells a story, and this poem tells a story about a daughter taking care of her elderly mother. The poem is about what the daughter’s daily life is like. This shows the â€Å"obligations† part of her life. The first sentence of the poem is â€Å"the sky has been dark for many years. † This implies that everything that has been going on with her taking care of her mother has been going on for many years. Since her mother became ill, it has been the daughter’s obligation to take care of her. This obligation is based on cultural expectations. In many cultures, children are expected to take care of their parents once they age. The poem is organized into stanzas that are associated with a certain part of the story. One stanza describes what has been going on lately. Another is about â€Å"this morning. † The last stanza is about what goes on â€Å"in the afternoons. † Through the narrative type poem, the daughter is able to express the feeling that her identity is basically taking care of her mother. This identity is also her role in the family. This role limits her own self-identity. Because she is busy caring for her mother, she is unable to develop a sense of self. She is torn between two things: growing away from her mother, and pulling closer to her mother. She knows she has to take care of her, so that aspect makes her seem to pull closer to her mother. Contrary to that, this daughter is a grown woman, and she has a very limited and conflicted life. Her life is devoted to the mother. This is seen by the story of the poem. She wants to grow apart from her mother and do things in her life that interest her. The reader can see that the daughter wants to escape this whole situation because towards the end of the poem it says â€Å"She knows I am not to be trusted / even now planning my escape. † The readers learn here that the mother doesn’t trust the daughter, for reasons unknown. The second line of the above quote shows the readers that this is what the daughter is currently doing to make her mother not trust her. The daughter also desires that her mother’s health improve, because in the poem is says â€Å"As I toast to her health. Love and pity toward her aging mother clash with the feelings of resentment and entrapment of herself. â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† uses word choice to show the conflict of mothers versus daughters, and the daughter’s internal conflict of obligations and desires. The daughter uses middle diction to show her emotions. Like noted in a previous paragraph, the first sentence of the poem is â€Å"the sky has been dark for many years. † This shows that the daughter has been dealing with her mother’s illness for quite some time, and she hasn’t been able to see the sun. She hasn’t been able to do what she wants to do because she has been so overwhelmed with taking care of the mother and fulfilling her obligations. When describing the mother, the daughter says â€Å"her breathing was graveled / her voice gruff with affection. † The word choice of graveled and gruff is interesting. This demonstrates the effort required to breathe and be affectionate. It’s almost as if the writer of the poem wanted the readers to hear what her breathing and voice sounded like by including those two words in there. This implies in a way that the mother has an opinion with the situation too. These two words make these two lines more effective. The daughter says â€Å"I was almost tender / when I came to the blue bruises. † This shows that the daughter feels sorry for what the mother has to go through. Tender is another interesting word choice. The poem also says â€Å"I soaped her slowly,† meaning that the daughter takes her time when washing her mother, because her life has been accustomed to nothing. Another aspect of obligations is that the daughter says â€Å"I scrubbed them with a sour taste in my mouth. The daughter obviously doesn’t want to scrub the mother, but it is obligation, her duty, so she must. Using the sentence â€Å"We eat in the familiar silence† shows that there is tension between them, because if there was no tension, they would be talking when they are eating. Despite this tension, this still occurs each day, and they continue to follow the same routine. If this line just had said â€Å"We eat in silence,† it would have a much lesser effect on the poem as a whole. By adding the word â€Å"familiar,† it allows the reader to understand that eating that way is a commonality and part of a consistent routine. The words â€Å"familiar silence† contrast each other. Familiar is something that has occurred so often that it becomes accustomed. And what is familiar in this poem? Silence. Silence, though it means quiet, is essentially nothing. Quietness, or nothing, has occurred so much that it is accustomed. The word choice is contrasting obligations with desires. The daughter is obligated to care for her mother. This is evident throughout the entire poem when the daughter describes everything she does for her mother. Despite this, she desires to do something different than just solely care for her mother. This desire is evident when the poem says â€Å"She know I am not to be trusted / even now planning my escape. † The daughter wants to escape, and the mother is aware of it. This contrast between obligations and desires makes the reader of the poem feel that this is an either/or situation. The daughter can either take care of the mother, or she can go off on her own. The last two lines of the poem are very meaningful: â€Å"A thousand cranes curtain the window / fly up in a sudden breeze. These word choices are effective because the words allow the readers to see an ending image. It seems like the cranes flying away is associated with the daughter being set free and escaping her life. It’s ironic how the first line of the poem uses words that talk about the sky, and in the last few lines of the poem the cranes fly into the sky. This line is used as a way for the author of the poem to show that the resolution has occurred. By the end of the poem, the conflict of obligations versus desires is resolved. One of the last lines of the poem says â€Å"As I toast to her health. This shows that the daughter finally realizes that caring for her mother is what’s best for her at this moment. By toasting for her health, she reveals that even though she is sick of caring for her mother, she would rather care for her mother than have her mother be dead. The daughter realizes that there will eventually be a time when the mother dies, and at that time the daughter will be able to do whatever she desires, but right now, her focus needs to be on her mother. The cranes flying into the sky reiterates this fact. When this time comes, even though the daughter will be able to do what she wants, she will be without a mother. She will have no obligations, which in a sense is good for her, because she will be able to do what she wants, yet a part of her life will be missing. Death is always hard to deal with, and even though in the poem she talks about how she wants to escape, in reality she really would miss her mother. The tone is this poem is bittersweet and affectionate; children should care for their aging parents, yet children need to live their own lives. In a way, the tone is also both happy and sad. The way the tone changes correlated with both of the conflicting sides of the poem. It’s happy in the way that the poet shows that there is affection and love between mothers and daughters, yet it is sad in the way that it shows that sometimes conflicts arise between mothers and daughters. This also explains how it is bittersweet. The tone shows that there are moral ties between children and their parents. These moral ties tie in with the obligational part of the conflict. Morally, the daughter feels obliged to care for her mother. The speaker is the youngest daughter of a family, and her duty is to take care of her aging parent. As one can see, looking at a poem through elements can help a reader understand the meaning of it. In â€Å"The Youngest Daughter,† the poem creates the meaning of conflict between mothers and daughters related to the daughter either pulling closer or pulling away from family and having to choose between obligations and desires. The elements of tone, word choice, and narrative poem together effectively create this meaning. In this poem, the home determines one’s identity. The daughter is conflicted between either pulling closer to her home life and her mother, or pulling away from it all and going after her own aspirations. Readers can relate to this poem because many people go through the same predicament in life: taking care of an aging parent. People do it because they love their family. Even though this daughter is having conflicting feelings about taking care of her mother, she does it anyways because family always comes first.

Belonging Related Text Essay

George Orwell’s essays – related text ‘Marrakech’ explores the notion of ethnocentricity through a Eurocentric perspective, in which one is isolated at the consequence of differing morels. Orwell succeeds in doing so through various anecdotes â€Å"What does Morocco mean to a Frenchman? An orange-grove or a job in government service. † In essence this displays the failure of a migrant to withhold a deeper connection to the land. Orwell emotively describes the crippled elderly women who â€Å"answered with a shrill wail, almost a scream, which was partly gratitude but mainly surprise†, as a response to the charity he provided her with. The dramatic reaction displays her sense of alienation from her own homeland, at fault of those who are foreign, yet awfully powerful. This is furthered through the description of â€Å"the shy, wide-eyed Negro† where through his ignorance, he â€Å"has been taught that the white race are his masters, and still believes it. † A sense of melancholy pervades this essay through the harsh truth â€Å"How much longer can we go on kidding these people? † displaying the indigenous peoples disconnection to a place that was originally theirs. While ‘Marrakech’ explores the notion that one does not belong to their homeland. This is juxtaposed through ‘Shooting an Elephant’ with Orwell’s alternative experience of belonging. Through Orwell’s ambivalence we see the highly controversial understanding of â€Å"the hollowness.. of the white man’s dominion in the East. † It is ironic that a â€Å"sub-divisional police officer† should feel self-conscious with such authority. Controversially he â€Å"was all for the Burmese† juxtaposed to the grotesque imagery of his deepest desire to â€Å"drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest’s guts.

The United States and Manifest Destiny essays

The United States and Manifest Destiny essays During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the United States saw many problems come and go. Some problems were more important than others. However, all led to the further division of American politics. The most divisive issue in American politics during this time frame was the idea of Manifest Destiny or territorial expansion. Manifest Destiny was the idea that it was the United States' destiny to take over all of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Most of the public was in favor of territorial expansion, though some politicians felt it contradicted the constitution. Strict constructionists were against territorial expansion, while loose constructionists felt expansion was the United States' destiny. Strict constructionists centered their platform around the fact that the constitution never directly states that the federal government has the right to acquire land. Those that view the constitution liberally, or loose constructionists, counter that stand by claiming the right of expansion falls under the government's implied powers. Loose constructionists and strict constructionists are the main divisive factor for the United States political parties: the Democrats and the Whigs. One of the supporters of Manifest Destiny was Democrat, James Polk who served as president from 1844 to 1848. Polk was strongly in favor of expanding the United States to the Pacific. This opinion won him the election of 1844. That year Henry Clay, a well known and loved figure in American politics, ran and was expected to blow, little known, Polk of the charts. The only problem was Clay was nervous about territorial expansion. He did not want with Mexico and was unsure of the constitutionality of expanding. Polk won because the majority of the public believed in Manifest Destiny. Along with influencing presidential elections, Manifest Destiny played a role in the slavery issue. Entering the mid eighteen hundred slavery was a ...

Parle Essays

Parle Essays Parle Essay Parle Essay the company has definitely come a very long way since its inception. Many of the Parle products biscuits or confectioneries, are market leaders in their category and have won acclaim at the Monde Selection, since 1971. With a 40% share of the total biscuit market and a 15% share of the total confectionary market in India , Parle has grown to become a multi-million dollar company. While to consumers its a beacon of faith and trust, competitors look upon Parle as an example of marketing brilliance. Parle-G Every nation dreams of a better tomorrow. And every nation’s tomorrow lies in the hands of its children; children who make the nation proud in every aspect; the young geniuses who shape the future of the nation. So it’s important to nourish these young minds, for after all it’s a question of the nation’s future. Filled with the goodness of milk and wheat, Parle G is a source of strength for both body and mind. Treat yourself to a packet of Parle-G to experience what has nurtured and strengthened the minds of millions of genius Indians for over 65 years. It’s more than just a biscuit. A meal substitute for some, a tasty and healthy snack for many others. Consumed by some for the value it offers, and many others for it’s taste. Little wonder that it’s the Largest selling Biscuit Brand in the world. Ingredients : Wheat Flour, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Edible Vegetable Oils, Invert Syrup*, Leavening Agents [ 503 ( ii ), 500 ( ii ) ], Salt, Milk Solids, Emulsifiers [ 322 or 471 481 ( i ) ] and Dough Conditioners [ 223 ]. Contains Added Flavours (Artificial). * (d Glucose, Levulose) Pack Sizes available: 16. 5G, 38. 5G, 60. 5G, 82. 5G, 99G, 209G, 313. 5G, 418G, 825G Parle G largest selling biscuit brand in world If you thought that a typical family run Indian company cannot top the worldwide charts, think again. The homegrown biscuit brand, Parle G, has proved the belief wrong by becoming the largest selling biscuit brand in the world. Ajay Chauhan, executive director of Parle Products, told Business Standard: The more than 50-year-old brand, Parle G, has been rated as the largest selling glucose biscuit brand in the whole world in terms of volumes. This came as a surprise to us when we were made to understand that we have topped the worldwide charts of the global biscuits industry. This was recently revealed by the US based Bakery Manufacturers Association. The other global biscuit brands include Oreo from Nabisco and McVities from UK-based United Biscuits among others. According to ORG-MARG reports, Parle G commands a good 65 per cent market share in the domestic biscuit market. The glucose biscuits category in India is estimated at Rs 15 billion. The Parle G brand faces competition from Britannias Tiger brand of biscuits. The companys flagship brand, Parle G, contributes more than 50 per cent to the companys total turnover. The other biscuits in the Parle Products basket includes Monaco, Krack Jack, Marie, Hide n Seek, Cheeslings, Jeffs, Sixer and Fun Centre. Said Chauhan: The core brands of the company in the biscuit category will include only Parle G, Monaco and Krack Jack. The other brands will not be aggressively supported by us in the market. This is because these three brands contribute substantially to our topline, Chauhan added. The confectionery business, which is the other division of Parle Products, currently contributes only 15 per cent to the companys total turnover. Interestingly, the company started operations with the confectionery business in 1929. Chauhan elucidated: The confectionery business has now taken a backseat and has become a smaller part of our business because in India biscuits have a larger market. The company commands a 40 per cent marketshare in the Rs 35 billion biscuit market in India. In the confectionery segment, the company enjoys a mere 15 per cent marketshare. The companys confectionery portfolio comprises brands like Melody 2 in 1, MangoBite, Poppins, Rol-a-cola, Kismi, Rosemint, Peppermint, Orange candy, Fruit Drops, Pick n Pack and Tangy. Chauhan has picked up three core brands from this category as well, they being Melody 2 in 1, Poppins and MangoBite. Its a brand that has held its price line at Rs 4 for 25 years now the price was last raised in 1994 by 25 paise. So, its not for nothing that Parle-G is the worlds largest-selling biscuit by volumes. Not that the company didnt try to raise prices to offset the overall hike in costs. Three years ago it did so, but quickly rolled it back after volumes fell sharply and consumers wrote to lodge their protest. We want to cater to the masses and have consciously tried not to increase the price. Parle-G is available for Rs 50 a kg. There are very few food items that are available for Rs 50-60 a kg, says Pravin Kulkarni, general manager (marketing), Parle Products. Parle is, of course, not doing it for charity. Soaring input prices meant it opted for reducing the weight of the biscuit than increasing the price first from 100 gm to 92. gm in January 2008, and then to 88 gm in January this year in line with other biscuit-makers and FMCG players. Regular customers would have noticed the number of biscuits in a pack come down from 16 to 15 even as each biscuit became lighter, but they seemed to understand the cost pressures on the firm. The gamble paid off: Parle was able to sustain its volumes. Strict cost control at every point in its supply chain also helped Parle ent ered into forward contracts with suppliers, outsourced production, increased the number of manufacturing locations to 60 and consolidated buying. Raw material costs account for 60 per cent of the total costs in this segment and packaging costs (plastic films) account for 20-25 per cent of this. Nirmalaya Kumar, professor of marketing at London [ Images ] Business School, feels its a very smart strategy. At this price point, price becomes more important than the weight of the biscuit. Its very interesting and similar to the dollar stores in the US, he says. But price is not its only USP. What makes the Parle G brand tick is also that it has been positioned on the health platform (a single pack of biscuit offers 450 calories). Its earlier punchline was Parle-G: swadh bhare, shakti bhare (full of taste and energy). Currently, the brand uses two punchlines. Parle-G: G for Genius and Hindustan ki Taakat (the countrys strength). The brand, says Kulkarni, meets different needs of customers: calories (energy), nutrition and value-for-money enough reasons why Parle-G enjoys close to 70 per cent market share in the glucose biscuit category and probably has the deepest reach. It reaches 2. 5 million outlets, including villages with a population of 500 people, on a par with Unilevers Lifebuoy, ITCs cigarettes or mobile pre-paid cards. Its also one of the few FMCG brands in the country, whose customers straddle across income segments. The brand is estimated to be worth over Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion), and contributes more than 50 per cent of the companys turnover (Parle Products is an unlisted company and its executives are not comfortable disclosing exact numbers). Last fiscal, Parle had sales of Rs 3,500 crore (Rs 35 billion). Competition has, of course, been trying to wean away customers from Parle. Britannia [ Get Quote ] relaunched its Glucose-D biscuit as Tiger in 1995 and boasts of 17-18 per cent share, while ITCs Sunfeast glucose has captured 8-9 per cent, according to industry sources. Even Levers had forayed into this segment in 2003 and launched a glucose biscuit branded as Modern, after it acquired the bakery business of Modern. There are strong regional brands, including Priya Gold (west), Cremica (north) and Anmol (east). But they still have their work cut out. Nirmalaya Kumar feels the Parle-G story is so fascinating that it deserves to be a case study. What would be interesting to see is whether it will be able to retain its leadership in the coming years as income grows in the hinterlands and consumers upgrade and develop new tastes. The popular Parle-G, glucose biscuits from Parle Products, have witnessed a price hike after a gap of nine years. The company’s marketing manager Pravin Kulkarni said that over these years Parle-G’s price has not increased even as inflation has resulted in a increase in the cost of other products. The price hike, which was decided just before the Budget and was implemented about 10 days ago, has taken up the price of a 100 gm Parle-G pack from Rs four to Rs 4. 0, while that of the 50 gm pack from Rs two to Rs 2. 50. An analyst with a leading brokerage firm in Mumbai said that the move, not exactly related to the Budget, is good for the company and is expected to go down well with the consumers. Arch rival, Britannia Industries, is likely to adopt a wait-and-watch policy for some time, be fore increasing the prices of its glucose biscuit brand, Tiger. Mr Kulkarni said that till now there has been no impact on sales, even as it is too early to observe any further effect. He added that the consumers also understand the need for a price hike after so many years. The company does not have plans at the moment for price increases in any other brands. The organised biscuit market in India is estimated to be over Rs 3000 crore. Britannia, the market leader, is said to have about 45 per cent market share, with Parle close behind at about 30-35 per cent. Another major brand is Priya Gold from Surya Foods, while the smaller brands include Sunfeast from ITC and Champion. The unorganised market comprising very small regional brands and unbranded biscuits and naankhataai, is showing a declining trend over the years, according to analysts.

Building Innovation into Outsourcing Relationship Case Study

Building Innovation into Outsourcing Relationship - Case Study Example Therefore, after identifying the innovation process to be implemented, AlphaCorp must understand how the innovation will be incorporated into the intended operation and or processes (Babin & Schuster, 2012). In other words, it is only through understanding the scope of the innovation that costs and services required to initiate and implement such innovations can be determined and analyzed. Â  AlphaCorp and B&B must distinguish between innovation and continuous improvement in the projects they are running or intend to run towards improving their productivity (Babin & Schuster, 2012). They must ever consider or regard all projects or programs that they have never been working on and are intended to be initiated into their systems as a mean of improving their service deliveries and operations as innovative programs or projective. However, there are some programs and projects that have been operating within the system, but they need to be adjusted on for better results (In Hirschheim et al., 2014). The systematic progress on processes that are already existing programs and projects is known as continuous improvement. Notably, well-intended and drafted projects and programs must give room or ways through which continuous improvement will be conducted on them. Â  Finally, AlphaCorp and B&B must know that innovation must always be carried on already existing productions but not new productions or areas (Babin & Schuster, 2012). In some cases, innovations often fail and if such failures are experienced in new production or areas, it will be highly challenging restore the destroyed image of the product or of the company in the new areas it failed due to failed innovation.

Perspectives on International Trade and Finance Assignment

Perspectives on International Trade and Finance - Assignment Example Joining WTO posed a vital influence on the political as well as economic reforms of China which were learnt to be influencing the telecom sector as well. Xiaolingtong is a mobile network which was developed in the year 1999, before China joined WTO and was controlled by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) which was considered to be the backbone of the fixed line service providers. Later on, significant developments were made with regard to Xiaolingtong which assisted in capturing a significant share in the foreign market. The government provided full support towards the development of Xiaolingtong but those developments were not regarded as vital in comparison to the mobile or cellular service providers. There were also few issues which existed in relation to the adoption or implementation of the 3G service in China’s telecommunication services which required the involvement of different services and technologies. Discussion Key Issues or Options or Alternatives There a re few issues which are known to prevail or subsist in the telecommunication system of China and these issues are believed to be preventing the overall development of the system. The telecom market in China was characterized with arbitrary pricing as well as promotion policies. The main focus was to gain a significant market share instead of increasing its market size by providing new and valued services. The telecom market or the sector was observed to provide increased focus on deploying various services without being much concerned regarding the underlying quality with respect to the value added services for creating differentiation or competitive advantage for their products in the international market. There was an existence of high regulatory framework which created uncertainty as well as risk for the 3G mobile services. China’s telecom policies lacked a proper implementation of the relevant laws as well as regulations. It was found in this respect that MII played a maj or role in regulating the policies for the telecom system in China as the policies were not considered to be transparent which led to uncertainties. It was identified that to develop an efficient as well as effective competition in the telecom market, the existence of an ‘Independent Telecom Regulatory Authority’ was highly required. When China joined WTO, it should have then established an ‘Independent Telecom Regulatory Authority’ for the purpose of developing its telecom industry, but failed to do as MII used to formulate plans and policies as along with managing the telecom service providers (International Trade Administration, 2010). The telecom industry of China needed to conduct its business in partnership with some other international telecom services to compete in the international market. The firms formed out of Chinese partnerships with the foreign associates usually remained stated owned and lacked adequate experience in terms of competing in th e international market. The telecom equipment requires qualifying through various certifications as well as testing prior to their implementation and installation. A certain degree of limitation is imposed in China with regard to the aspect of foreign investment which restricts foreign companies to exercise control over the management of the Chinese telecom industry. A WTO obligation