Develop your own marketing communication model derived from academic Assignment - 1

Build up your own promoting correspondence model got from scholastic research. Utilize this model to break down the Marketing Communications Campaign of your picked FMCG (Nescaf) brand - Assignment Example Showcasing correspondences, as characterized by Egan (2007, p. 1), is â€Å"the implies by which a provider of products, administrations, values or potentially thoughts speak to themselves to their intended interest group with the objective of invigorating exchange prompting a superior business or other relationships†. Promoting correspondences is supposed to be acceptable when it considers three essential components for example crowd, message and media (Dahlã ©n, Lange and Smith 2009). These three components are interlinked and the choice in regards to promoting specialized devices must consider each of them three. Advertising specialized instruments are otherwise called showcasing correspondences blend or limited time blend. Egan (2007, p. 17) characterized these apparatuses as â€Å"tools utilized in showcasing correspondences, for example, publicizing, deals advancement, advertising, individual selling, direct promoting etc†. Presently the organization needs to cho ose how well it can incorporate these devices so as to guarantee they get a positive criticism from the entire correspondence process. Correspondence process is introduced beneath. There are a few advertising interchanges models created after much research on the impact of correspondences on item showcasing. Every one of them attempt to investigate various features on how shoppers see data gave to them by the advertiser and how they respond to it. Since positive response/criticism upgrade company’s benefits in this way conveying an item in a correct way to the intended interest groups is significant. Following head examines the promoting correspondence models in detail with specific accentuation on two models, Strong’s AIDA model and Mindscape of Integrated Marketing Communications Model (broadened variant introduced by Hartley and Pickton 2010). Advertising interchanges which is likewise alluded to as Integrated Marketing Communications is â€Å"a procedure of utilizing a wide range

United States Postal Service Essay Example

US Postal Service Essay The U. S. Postal Service It is significant for the U. S. Postal Service to have a high volume of mail to process so as to follow the statement of purpose. An association strategic its explanation behind presence and is communicated in the statement of purpose (Stevenson 42). Crucial the Postal Service: The Postal Service will have as its fundamental capacity the commitment to offer postal types of assistance to tie the Nation together through the individual, instructive, scholarly, and business correspondence of the individuals. It will give fast, solid, and effective administrations to supporters in all zones and will render postal administrations to all networks (USPS 1998). For the Postal Service to â€Å"bind the Nation together†¦Ã¢â‚¬  they would require a high volume of mail from the nation over to process on an every day fundamental. The more mail implies a progressively effective business. Efficiency improved at the Postal Service because of the expanded utilization of computerization and presentation and later development of postal districts. The innovative progressions considered postal rates to stay low and keep up quick conveyance. Innovation isn't sufficient for profitability to increment. We will compose a custom article test on United States Postal Service explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now We will compose a custom paper test on United States Postal Service explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer We will compose a custom paper test on United States Postal Service explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer There should be appropriate arranging or, in all likelihood innovation can lessen efficiency (Stevenson 58). Rivalry from conveyance organizations, for example, FedEx and UPS put focus on the United States Postal Service to expand profitability to keep rates low and keep up fast conveyance. Tasks Management makes point that valuing is essential to customers in the determination procedure and that there is an exchange off among cost and quality (Stevenson 40). Having lower costs as well as quick conveyance will decide if somebody will decide to mail their bundle with the Postal Service or the opposition. The United States Postal Service found a way to stay serious, first beginning with client care. The Postal Service started attempting to more readily distinguish their customer’s needs; this included including client support directors, extending retail hours, and estimating consumer loyalty. The content clarifies that â€Å"Identifying customer needs as well as necessities is a fundamental contribution to an organization’s dynamic process† (Stevenson 40). The Postal Service likewise experienced a rearrangement where the executives positions were dispensed with and divisions were solidified to decrease overhead. These measures all lead to expanded creation and speedier conveyance to stay serious. The aftereffects of the Postal Service’s changes were effective. The decreased administration and overhead lead to improved help, consumer loyalty and diminished the need to build postage rates. The rearrangement wiped out certain projects, cut cost, pulled in new business, and diminished the Postal Service’s anticipated shortage. The Postal Service utilized a quality-based procedure to achieve these objectives. They concentrated on improving the nature of its association, as quality is keeps up and pulls in new clients (Stevenson 50). The expanded utilization of email inversy affects the Postal Service’s creation. The more mail that is sent electronically implies less mail is being prepared by the Postal Service. The less mail being handled equivalents diminished profitability (Stevenson 53).

Steps to Strategy Formulation (Read Only If You Want To Outcompete Competitors)

Steps to Strategy Formulation (Read Only If You Want To Outcompete Competitors) The most successful endeavors started with well-made plans. The biggest businesses grew with the aid of well-developed strategies. In fact, if you take a look at businesses, every decision made, every action taken, and every resource allocated and spent, had logic behind them. This logic or basis is a strategy.However, strategies aren’t pulled out of thin air, and they are not readily served to entrepreneurs and managers on a silver platter. A lot of thought and effort go into the creation of plans â€" whether they are simple or elaborate â€" and the formulation of the strategies and specific steps within these plans.We often hear the phrase “strategic planning” bandied about, and you’ve probably even learned about it extensively in your business classes or similar courses you’ve taken in the past. And then, out of nowhere, you hear “strategy formulation”, and this brings a whole new set of questions in your head. Is it a new concept? Do you have to take a separate cour se to learn about it, especially on how you can apply it to your business? © Shutterstock.com | imtmphotoHere’s the good news: you don’t have to. That is because “strategy formulation” is simply another way to refer to strategic planning.THE FUNDAMENTALS OF STRATEGY FORMULATIONStrategic Management is a very broad discipline, its scope spanning the entire strategic decision-making structure of the organization, from the management processes and decisions to the activities performed in all its functional units. The primary focus of this discipline is the conduct of the strategic management process, which pretty much covers all the activities and functions performed to enable the organization to cope well with change over the long term.The systematic nature of the strategic management process is apparent in how it was split into three stages: Strategy Formulation, Strategy Implementation, and Strategy Evaluation and Control.In this discussion, we will take an in-depth look at the first stage â€" Strategy Formulation â€" and the six steps that you shou ld follow in order to come up with management strategies that will propel your organization forward, far ahead of your competitors and rivals.Strategy formulation is the process of determining and establishing the goals, mission and objectives of an organization, and identifying the appropriate and best courses or plans of action among all available alternative strategies to achieve them.Always, there is an end in sight, and that is the organizational goals of the firm. The organization anticipates specific results, which they can only achieve by following a specific route, or acting within the confines or parameters of a specific framework. That route or framework will be created through strategy formulation.The main reason that the strategy formulation is also referred to at times as “strategic planning” is because they basically follow the same concept. Through strategic planning, management is able to evaluate its resources and determine the best ways to maximize the company ’s return on investment (ROI). The output â€" the strategic plan â€" will serve as the framework or guide for the members of the organization in carrying out their respective roles.Therefore, it is important to note that, although the two phrases are sometimes used interchangeably, and although they are similar in a lot of ways, they are not exactly the same.Aspects of Strategy FormulationStrategy formulation has three levels or aspects, with the resulting recommendations in each level being consistent in order to ensure the formulation of strategies that are cohesive, realistic and viable.Corporate Level StrategyIn this level, the perspective is broad and wide, so the focus is on the overall scope, direction and goals of the entire organization. Since we are looking at the big picture, our concern is the total structure of the business.This aspect of strategy formulation has the following components:Growth strategy: This component is concerned with the direction that the business is taking. What are the organization’s growth objectives? How is its overall performance, and does it coincide with what the business had in mind when it developed its growth objectives? Are the growth strategies still consistent with the growth objectives and, if not, what changes or modifications must be made?Portfolio strategy: This aspect is all about taking stock of the organization’s operational structure. What are the lines of business in the organization’s portfolio? How are these lines interconnected or how do they fit together? The most common strategies developed at this level address queries on whether a business should diversify its portfolio or keep them as they are, and focusing on their concentrations or weights instead.Parenting strategy: The main point of concern here is the allocation of resources and capabilities across the lines of business of the organization. How will the items in the portfolio be managed? Which lines require more direct management and control? Which lines are in need of additional resources to boost their performance?Business Level StrategyLarge companies usually have multiple lines of business in their portfolio. The larger firms even distinguish them as separate strategic business units (SBUs) under a single organizational umbrella. As strategic business units, they are operational as stand-alone businesses, which means that competition is bound to arise.In this level, strategy formulation is geared towards coming up with competitive strategies between and among the lines of businesses or SBUs of the organization.Functional Level StrategyCompared to the other two levels, the functional level has a shorter outlook. Within each line of business or SBU, there are functional units with their own specific tasks and sets of activities. Strategies at this level are required, primarily addressing how these activities and tasks will be carried out effectively and efficiently. STEPS FOR AN EFFECTIVE AND WINNING STRATEGY FORMULATIONSo you want your business to earn more than a decent amount of profit. You want your business to grow and be a force to reckon with in the industry. Naturally, you also want to be ahead of the competition, beating them soundly and putting as much distance as you can between you.First, you have to come up with winning strategies, which you will then implement to come out on top. Your strategy formulation should roughly follow these steps:1. Define the organization and its environmentThe first step requires you to take a look at the organization. The points of interest are:Target market â€" This is the domain that the business hopes to dominate, so there is a need for the organization to clearly identify and define the particular group that it will target. Demographic and psychographic factors are the primary indicators considered in defining the organization’s target market.Customers â€" They are the end users of the products and services that the company offers. Who are they? How do they perceive value? Are you able to meet that perception? How do they make their purchasing decisions? Why do they purchase your products or services?Offerings â€" These are the products or services that you are selling to the customers. Do they offer value to the customers, and does that value meet their perceived value? How does the price point affect its value, if at all? What are the end benefits that these products and services have that convince customers to buy them?Adaptation to changes and challenges â€" Business environments are, at best, unstable in the sense that changes are expected and even anticipated. Anticipation will spur the company to come up with strategies to be able to adapt quickly and effectively. Therefore, the organization has to identify the potential challenges that are expected to arise. The most common examples are the introduction of new technologies and equipment, and updates in systems.2. Define the strategic missionOrganizations are forward-looking, and they want to achieve something as they move the business along. The strategic mission will provide a clear picture of that long-range outlook, providing an overview of what the business wants to achieve. This will serve as a definitive and clear guide for the organization and its members as they carry out the tasks indicated in the plan.A strong strategic mission should have all, if not most, of the following:An indication of a long-range perspective. The business is looking at the long term, not just one, three or five years down the road. It has to be clear on that front.Core values of the organization. The mission must include the values that are upheld and highly esteemed by the organization. These values will largely dictate how you are going to go about the process of achieving the goals of the organization.Nature of the business. Briefly, include a description of the core activities or main line of business of the organization. Is it in commercial retail, healthcare services, or automobile manufacturing?Current position of the organization in the market. Is the organization currently holding the leader position in the market? Are there special characteristics or features that clearly distinguish the organization from the rest? These should also be noted in the strategic mission.Vision of the organization. This is a statement of what and where the organization wants to be in the future, on its own and in the market.Here are some tips that may help you when crafting your Strategic Mission statement.Start by taking a look at the main operations and offerings of the business and how they go about them. Consider also the end users or recipients of the output of these operations.Focus on the “what is”, not the “what should be”. That means you have to be objective in looking at the current state of affairs in the organization and the industry it belongs to.Present your drafts to other members of the information for critiquing. You may be able to get more pointers from their feedback, since they are likely to be more objective when evaluating the mission statement.Get pointers from other companies. In fact, it would be a great idea to take a look at the mission statements of your competitors, considering how you are pretty much in the same position and, probably, with a similar vision. Be careful, however, that you won’t be copying their mission statements outright.You might end up making dozens of draft mission statements and scrapping all of them. That is fine. Keep revising and improving until you have a draft of a mission statement that you are fully satisfied with, and that captures and reflects the organizations long-range perspective perfectly.Take a look at the following example of a well-written strategic mission of New Leaf Paper, manufacturer and distributor of printing and office papers using environment-friendly virgin-fiber products. It is one of the largest and leading paper companies in the U nited States today.“The mission of New Leaf Paper is to be the leading national source for environmentally responsible, economically sound paper. We supply paper with the greatest environmental benefit while meeting the business needs of our customers. Our goal is to inspire â€" through our success â€" a fundamental shift toward sustainability in the paper industry.”3. Define and set the strategic objectivesStrategic objectives represent what the organization must achieve in order for it to become competitive â€" or to remain competitive â€" and ensure sustainability of the business over the long term. They come in the form of specific responses or aims of the organization to address issues regarding competitiveness, long-term sustainability and other business advantages.If the strategic mission will serve as a directional guide for where the business wants to be, the strategic objectives will serve as a directional guide on how the business will make use of its resources and ca rry out key functions and activities.In essence, defining the strategic objectives involves identifying performance targets that the members of the organization will aim for, and these targets are clearly geared towards the attainment of the goals.When setting strategic objectives, keep the following in mind:They should be specific and easy to understand by everyone, especially the members of the organization.They should be aligned with the strategic mission of the organization.They should be communicated to all employees and other members of the organization, and every effort must be made to ensure that they fully understand the objectives, as well as their individual and collective roles in achieving these targets.A strategic objective may be something as specific as “to increase annual growth sales rate by 15%”. Or it could be something like how New Leaf Paper set out to develop a new market for environmentally sustainable papers, and pioneer that market by introducing innova tive environmental paper products. It is in keeping with how their mission statement referred to the organization’s environmental and sustainability thrusts, as well as that reference to inspiring and stimulating a shift in the paper industry. 4. Define the competitive strategyThe next step in strategy formulation is where the organization will start identifying and coming up with its long-term plan to gain advantage â€" and maintain it â€" over the competition. This is known as the competitive advantage, and the plan is referred to as the competitive strategy.There are three factors at play when determining the Competitive Strategy of the organization.The industry that the organization belongs toThis involves taking a look at the industry or the marketplace and its various aspects.Market size: Logic would dictate that the overall competitive strategy of a business in the South American hotel industry will have differences with that of a firm in the larger European hotel industry. The size of the market comes with several implications. For example, larger markets generally have more players, which means more competitors. It also often means higher amounts of investment and resource allocations by the company since they have a larger area to cover. These, and other factors, are sure to influence an organization’s competitive strategy.Market growth trends: This requires looking into past market growth, how the market is currently moving along, and any potential growth in the future. Many industrial and market analysts conduct these types of studies from time to time, providing businesses with their inputs and thoughts on the future of the market, which these businesses will then use in its strategic management processes.Competition: A particular point of interest is competitive profitability. How are the competing firms in the market doing in terms of profit-earning? Are their huge disparities in their profit levels? Is the average actual profitability of th e firms lower or higher than the expected industry average?Movements in and out of the market: You also have to consider the number of new market entries, withdrawals from the market, and a comparison of the two. A market with too many new entrants can mean a lot of things. It is possible that new players are coming in because they think there is still room for them. Some may also deem the existing firms in the market as weak competition, which is why they are coming in.Threats to the industry: Some industries are prone to more threats than others, and this is bound to affect the formulation of strategies. Aside from getting a feel for the level of vulnerability of the industry to threats, the potential threats should also be clearly identified.The competitive position of the organizationThis time, the focus is on the competition. Know who your competitors are and understand how they work. In aid of defining a competitive strategy, you should:Gain an understanding of the operations of competitors, such as their products and services, their marketing campaigns, and their customer bases.Analyze how the competitors are able to deliver value to their customers through their product offerings.Identify the strengths and weaknesses of competitors, and analyze how they are opportunities and threats to the organization.The strengths and weaknesses of the organizationThe organization also has to look internally and look into itself. In particular, it has to identify its strengths and acknowledge its weaknesses. By doing so, defining a competitive strategy will be easier.Again, specificity is important when coming up with competitive strategies. Let us take a look at some competitive strategy examples:Produce at low cost and sell at a low price, but at high volumePursue a market niche strategyIn New Leaf Paper’s case, its competitive strategy involved “serving the market through leading product innovation, while ensuring that each product line and business relationsh ip is deeply entrenched with New Leaf Paper’s environmental and social values.”(Technically, this is where Strategy Formulation ends, and we move on to the next stage in the Strategic Management Process. However, in order to further emphasize the crucial role played by Strategy Formulation, let us continue on to the succeeding steps in the process.On the other hand, considering how strategy formulation is also done throughout the strategic management process, it won’t be entirely wrong to say that the next two steps may also fall under Strategy Formulation. After all, management may discover new information or circumstances that will result to formulation of new and improved strategies.)5. Implementation of strategiesOrganizations may have come up with very good strategies, but they will be completely wasted and will benefit no one unless they are implemented.Identify the tactics or methods that will be used in the implementation of the chosen strategies. As the implementation moves forward, management may spot some methods or tactics that are not working, or they may realize that another tactic may work better. In that case, the corresponding adjustments may be made.At this point, it is possible that the company was able to come up with several strategies. However, as much as they’d want to implement all these strategies, that is not just possible. Review of the strategies will help the strategic management team to prioritize the strategies and identify which ones to implement.This time, let us take a look at some tactics, methods or steps undertaken by New Leaf Paper. Keep in mind that the competitive strategy is to introduce product innovations and putting emphasis on environment and social values.Development of innovative products. New Leaf Product was the first to develop, manufacture, and sell innovative and ground-breaking paper products, and some of the most notable ones are:“New Leaf Reincarnation, the first 100% recycled coated paper (1998) “New Leaf Ecobook 100”, the first trade book paper, made with post-consumer waste (PCW) content and PCF (2001)“New Leaf Opaque 100”, the first white opaque paper made with 100 PCW and PCF (2003)“New Leaf Primavera”, the first high-end gloss coated paper with 40% PCW and PCF (2004)“New Leaf Sakura”, the first silk-coated paper in the US (2006)Certification as a Certified B corporation. New Leaf Paper is one of the first 81 companies named as a Certified B Corporation, known for using “the power of business to solve social and environmental problems”.Obtaining environmental certifications. In 1999, New Leaf Paper produced the “New Leaf Ecomatte”, which was the first coated paper to be granted a certification by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Other environmental certifications earned were from Biogas Energy, Green-e Certified Renewable Energy, and Ancient Forest Friendly.Tie-ups with major companies and undertakings, one of the most notable ones being whe n “New Leaf Paper Ecobook 100” was used to print 950,000 copies of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” in 2003.Leveraging partnerships. New Leaf Paper partnered with Bank of America and developed the “New Leaf Everest”, the first bright white letterhead paper in the world, made with 100 PCW and PCF.6. Evaluate progress and effectivenessIt is important to track the progress of the implementation of the strategies. Are they being properly implemented? Are they being measured properly? Are the safeguards to ensure reliability of the results in place?On top of that, the effectiveness of the strategy implemented should also be assessed. Is the strategy working? Does it have the potential to bring the company closer to the fulfillment of its goals, as laid out in the Mission Statement?When we look at the example of New Leaf Paper, its strategies resulted in other paper companies launching their own lines of environmentally responsible paper products th at are very similar with New Leaf products. For example, the success of “New Leaf Everest” spurred five competing paper companies to launch their own brands. Clearly, this is an indication that the company is making strides in its vision of inspiring â€" through their success â€" that fundamental shift toward sustainability in the paper industry.Feedback plays a very important role in the evaluation stage, providing the strategists with insights on how the implemented strategies are faring.It takes a lot of smarts, determination and hard work to make a business succeed, beat the competitors, and have the upper hand in the competitive arena within the marketplace. A great part of this rides on the strategies and how they are implemented, but never forget that it all starts with the strategy. In order to have an effective strategy, make sure that they are in line with the overall organizational goals.

Good Communication Is Effective Communication - 958 Words

Good communication is effective communication; it provides direction, a clear goal, and encourages the flow of ideas. Successful communication is achieved through a variety of methods, but most importantly, it begins with a foundation of security and trust within the team. Successful Communication Over the past few weeks my group has been using our group discussion board as our primary method of communication. Since beginning our power point project we have been posting updates, questions and simple check ins to see how each member of the group is coming along with their portion of the PowerPoint assignment. Our key to success has been because of our communication; this is especially important because we are a virtual group. We touch base with each other regularly for multiple reasons, the first being the need to establish a relationship. In contrast to teams who meet face-to-face on a regular basis, we cannot pick up on non-verbal clues that are expressed through body language, nor are we able to establish an emotional connection with one another; with that being said, we must maintain regular contact in order to build a rapport. Secondly, regular communication allowed us to report progress and drawbacks that may hinder our success. Moreover, scheduling regular periods of communication enforced accountability by instituting periodic milestones of progress. In previous experiences I have had working in collaborative groups, in regard to the importance of communication,Show MoreRelatedEffective Communication Is Enhanced By Good Communication Skills1322 Words   |  6 PagesCommunication involves the exchange of ideas and thoughts between two or more people with the aim of conveying information. Effective communication is enhanced by good communication skills. 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The Use of Language in J.D. Salingers Catcher in the Rye

The use of language in J.D. Salingers Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of J.D. Salingers Catcher in the Rye, is an upper-class boy who has gone from one private school to another, searching for -- something. He expresses his frustrations in language highly characteristic of adolescence; his extremely colloquial speech sounds just like that of teenagers today, even though Salingers novel was written in the 1950s. But a particularly striking factor of Holdens narration is his frequent use of the words phony and crazy, as well as his ongoing lapse into second person -- you. These characteristics attain greater significance given Holdens desperate need to actually reach out and communicate with someone, anyone,†¦show more content†¦Michael Bracewell notes that There were no such beings as teenagers -- in a cultural sense -- when Salinger created his adolescent hero of angst and ennui; there were boys and girls who had no more connection with the adult world than high schools had with a speakeasy (Bracewell, 7). Adults didnt give a great deal of thought to growing up; it was just something that naturally happened to one as the years increased. Consequently, Holden has no one who really seems to understand what hes going through. He once had people he could talk to -- his brother Ally, his sister Phoebe, Jane Gallagher. But now Ally is dead, Phoebe is back in New York, and Jane and he no longer have that close bond, as he shows when he says he defers going downstairs to talk to her. Although not being in the mood to go talk to Jane now is as close to an explanation as Holden can devise for his hesitation, his real problem is that Jane represents for him an ease of communication that he no longer feels with anyone. Another expression Holden uses frequently is phony; in fact, according to Edward P.J. Corbett, Holden makes reference to the word phony forty-four separate times during the course of the novel (Corbett, cited in rye1.txt). Everything he encounters seems phony to him. He never really defines what he means by that term, because he doesntShow MoreRelatedHow Salinger’s Holden Caulfield Relates to Teenagers Throughout Time1412 Words   |  6 PagesHow Salinger’s Holden Caulfield Relates to Teenagers Throughout Time In 1951, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye was #1 on the New York Time’s bestseller list. 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Salinger s The Catcher s The Rye 1230 Words   |  5 Pages J.D. Salinger’s, The Catcher in the Rye, holds the honor of appearing on â€Å"Time† magazine’s 2010 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923 (Lacayo). In contrast, the American Library Association (ALA) notes that the novel also holds the dubious honor of being the tenth most challenged book in the United States from 1990 to 1999. In 2001, 2005, and 2009 the book again made the ALA top ten most frequently challenged book list (Banned and Challenged Books). In the lightRead MoreThe Importance of Censoring in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger1145 Words   |  5 PagesJ.D. Salinger was an American author well known for his best seller The Catcher in the Rye, a considerably influential novel that portrayed the feelings of alienation that were experienced by adolescents in North America after World War II (J.D. Salinger Biography). Salinger’s work appeared in many magazines, including a series of short stories which inspired many new authors (J.D. Salinger Biography). His inspiration for Pencey Prep boarding school in The Catcher in the Rye stemmed from hisRead More The Catcher and the Rye / Huckleberry Finn Essay1251 Words   |  6 Pagestend to twist or stretch the meaning in order to fit the material to which it applies. For example, the way J.D Salinger applies innocence to his work is quite different from the way Mark Twain uses innocence. Innocence also changes accordingly with the time period. The definition of innocence is dynamic with respect to author and time period, as illustrated in The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. Throughout history the concept of innocenceRead MoreComparison Of IM Crazy By J. D. Salinger746 Words   |  3 PagesWhen J.D. Salinger went to war, he not only affected his own life, but also the life of Holden Caulfield. Similarities between Salinger and Caulfield are too numerous to write off as coincidence: both went to and flunked out of prep schools, and both had a penchant for language classes. Salinger’s life greatly impacted the plot and style of his works because Salinger used himself as inspiration for Holden, as demonstrated through â€Å"I’m Crazy†, â€Å"Slight Rebellion off Madison†, and The Catcher in theRead MoreAnalysis Of Jonathan Yardley s The Rye 861 Words   |  4 Pagesnovels from the past: The Catcher in the Rye. His objective is to persuade his readers that The Catcher in the Rye is neither a well written book --as many claim it is-- nor a book that is deserving enough to be labeled an â€Å"American classic.† Yardley us es a sardonic, yet criticizing tone along with rhetorical devices such as antithesis, hypophora, understatements, and epithets to support his thesis and help the reader perceive the book from his position. Yardley suggest that J.D. Salinger was unsuccessfulRead More Catcher in the Rye Essay: Themes of Society and Growing Up1366 Words   |  6 PagesThemes of Society and Growing Up in The Catcher in the Rye      Ã‚   In reading J.D. Salingers novel, The Catcher in the Rye, one is compelled to have a very strong reaction to the contents of the book.   Whether that reaction is negative or positive, it is unquestionable that the reader will give the novel a second thought after reading it.   There could be many reasons why this novel has such an impact on the readers.   It may be the use of Salingers catchy slang phrases, bitingly sarcastic andRead MoreSummary Of Salinger s The Catcher Rye And Franny And Zooey 1966 Words   |  8 PagesAmerican writer’s haven’t only impacted this country, but the world as a whole. Specifically, J.D. Salinger. He is a well-known author who has wrote many influential books such as The Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey. Salinger’s childhood, education, significant people, major influences,and historical events have all had an impact on how he became the face of a literary movement as well as his contributions to the art of American Literature. Jerome David Salinger was born on January 1, 1919Read MoreThe Characterization Of Bildungsroman In The Catcher In The Rye1400 Words   |  6 PagesDevice). In The Catcher In The Rye, the author creates a successful bildungsroman through the characterization of the novels protagonist, Holden Caulfield. Throughout the novel, Holden uses a jarred voice filled with cynicism and the overall tone is clearly depressing. The conflict between Holden and the values of society(Bildungsroman: A Literary Device) is quite clear as he believes that the world of an adult is filled with pain and disappointment. In The Catcher In The Rye, the methods of characterization

Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Wollstonecraft Free Essays

Looking to the science of the day, Hobbes determined that there was no soul and attempted to describe human nature as pure mechanics. Human nature was therefore driven by the need to satisfy the physical demands of the body and based on basic passions in life. These are to satisfy physical appetites, to seek power to maintain their wealth and to be superior to others by seeking glory. We will write a custom essay sample on Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Wollstonecraft or any similar topic only for you Order Now Hobbes saw the state nature as â€Å"solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. † The state of nature is anarchy, with constant violence (or potential violence) by amoral leaders terrorizing the population. Reason is the answer that will lead to a social contract and government. Individuals will give up their individual rights and freedoms to secure peace. Morality and property can then be dictated by the state, since human nature is not equipped to handle those concepts without conflict. This will allow each person to then pursue their own self-interests without fear of violence. The sovereign authority is the office or institution of government that is contracted by the people. It is the artificial construct onto which the powers are conveyed by the social contract. The only limits to the sovereign’s powers are self-imposed, since it must exist outside of the population; although it should always strive for the good of the people to remain legitimate. Civil law is dictated by the sovereign. Civil law should be designed to promote well-being and progress for society with appropriate punishments for law breakers. Hobbes believed in an absolute monarchy. By making one man in charge, it would make it easy for the people to understand their roles and obey laws. With no confusing dissension or contrary views, people do not have to waste time and effort making political decisions; after all, that’s why they entered the social contract in the first place. He did not, however, believe in the ‘divine right’ or hereditary kings; the contract was conveyed upon an ancestor, which has no bearing on the legitimacy of the heir to rule. Although Locke’s views are similar to Hobbes’, they are not quite as grim and fearful. Similar to Hobbes, he believes that people are naturally free and equal. Locke believes that man is social by nature and is naturally moral, rational and egoistic. In a state of nature, man will generally act with a mutual trust and respect and honor their commitments and obligations to other. Although he emphasizes these positive traits of humanity, he recognizes that since that is not always the case, people will need to form a type of social contract to preserve their rights and liberties. For Hobbes, natural law is a selfish state where people do not recognize the rights of others’ property and liberty. Locke believes that, although they don’t always act in accordance with it, man inherently knows right from wrong and are capable of acting in a lawful manner. The goal of government is to preserve the rights to life, liberty, health and property of its society and to pursue the public good even where this may conflict with the rights of individuals. It is also to punish wrongdoers and transgressors of the laws it sets for the common good. Since ones path to salvation and religious preferences fall outside those boundaries, government should not enforce or espouse any one form of religion over another. Class and hierarchy is a natural outgrowth of Locke’s views on property. Credited as the founder of the â€Å"Protestant work ethic†, Locke believed that those who worked hard will possess more. By agreeing to have money be an equalizing factor for trade, this will naturally contribute to some having more wealth than others. This is fine and natural, as long as the producers are working without injustice or injury to others. In retrospect, Locke may be considered the father of feminism. Although he still believed women should be subordinate to men, he also noted that women were capable of rationality and equally shared in the paternal power of raising children. Most notably, he claimed that marriage was a contract entered into by both parties and that both should be able to dissolve the contract at will; it took almost 300 years for society to catch up and instigate no fault divorces. Locke believed government should be formed with both an executive and legislative branches. The legislative determines the laws and may assign judicial, or magistrates, to exercise it. The executive is responsible for enforcing the laws and conducting foreign affairs. There should be a system of checks and balances between the two branches, to avoid despotism and illegitimate governments. Since a monarchy puts the power of both branches into one person, Locke believed all monarchies to be illegitimate forms of government. By advocating some form of representative or democratic government, society can insure that there representatives are working in their best interests. Despotism occurs when either of the two branches of government exceed their authority and begin acting against the benefit of the people. Civil society can then remove the offenders from office through their electoral process or agree to set up a new form of government. When the people are denied these means to choose their government, violent revolution may be the answer. Rousseau believes that the state of nature is solitary existence guided by two principles – self-preservation and compassion. Social interactions were driven by the necessity to satisfy their own needs; war and aggression would be unlikely, since primitive man’s compassion drove him to avoid suffering of others. Civilization and establishment of nuclear families led to the beginnings of society, which corrupted the state of nature and led to human nature. Human nature is based on oppression and inequality, the haves dominating over the have nots. Society and governments were established to protect the rights and properties of the few landowners without regard to the rights of the laborers. His path to liberation is paved with a just, moral civil society that works for the benefit of all of its members. People must draw on their compassion and work towards the good of society, rather than selfish goals. In this manner, a social contract can be formed that will benefit all of society. Rousseau’s social contract involves an overhaul of civilization and a community that is willing to that is willing to forfeit all of their rights. Although not necessarily a violent revolution, he suggests that liberated people form a new community and create a government. This moral body of citizens would only consider the greater good and not selfish, private interests. He does not envision this to be without economic inequality, however, as long as it does not interfere with political equality; there should not be a situation where one man is able to buy or sell a vote. The basis of legislative power is the general will of the people. Although entrance into the community must be unanimous, voting is done by majority. All citizens must participate in open discussion before voting. Votes should only be counted from those expressing the general will; those voting based on selfish interests should be discounted, although no practical way of knowing or enforcing this is described. Since authority and freedoms all reside within the general will, transgressors against the general will can be coerced or forced to liberate themselves. There are underlying conditions necessary for the formation of the social contract. There must be a legislator, a divinely enlightened man who will lead the community into an understanding of its true public interest. He initiates the contract and then retires before he can be corrupted. A civil religion is necessary, one that does not divide the community’s loyalties. The civil religion is founded on the way of life of the citizens, including customs and traditions. It must include belief in God, immortality of the soul and the social contract. The society must be small, modeled after the polis, and agricultural in nature, rather than founded on commerce or industry. The executive institutions are the bureaucracy of the sovereign. The magistrate lays down the laws and is supported by policeman and jailors. The censor is in charge of compliance with the civil religion, using education to guide people. The censor monitors the arts and sciences to insure people are not whiling away their time and distraction themselves from the common good. Two other offices may be used in exigent circumstances to allow for checks on the government. A tribunate can be used to limit the magistrate or a dictator can be used as supreme commander in war or natural disasters. Government should take the form of a republic, with full participation in the legislature and delegation of authority for the executive. Depending on the wealth and size of the state, monarchy, non-hereditary aristocracy or democracy could be acceptable forms of executive. Rousseau was adamant that men and women were vastly different and should be educated appropriately. Men should learn a trade and how to become an enlightened citizen. Women should learn how to raise children, tend house and be a good wife. He did not consider women rational enough to be citizens. Education is not to be done by rote memorization, but is instead to take the form of exploration and learning through experience. In direct response to Rousseau, Wollstonecraft argues that educating women in the same fashion as men makes them better able to function in the roles of wife, mother and daughter. She argues that virtues are not gender specific, but without equal education, women cannot achieve virtues founded on knowledge. Since education begins in the home and mothers were to raise the children, women must be educated to be better mothers and provide their children with necessary education. Wollstonecraft sees human nature as truly equal, including equality between the sexes. The basic capacities of all humans are the same for reason and knowledge and the difference between the sexes has arisen out of the societal constructs that separate them. She supported the concept of a social contract, albeit with the inclusion of women as fully realized citizens. She did not believe that either a monarchy or aristocracy could be a legitimate form of government since it perpetuates the subordination of women. She considers property to be as one of the ills of society because it gives rise to the societal problems, which contribute to keeping women ignorant and subordinate. Civil society must be founded on reason, which women are as capable of as men given the proper opportunities and education. How to cite Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Wollstonecraft, Papers

Use of Antidepressants in the USA

Introduction Modern society has come to rely on medication to restore the body and mind to best functionality. Antidepressant medications, which are used to treat depression, have gained increased popularity in the United States. These drugs have taken the title of â€Å"most frequently prescribed drug†, suggesting that the US might be overusing them.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Use of Antidepressants in the USA specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Use of Antidepressants Antidepressants are used when a person experiences depression of a prolonged period and this depression interferes with the person’s ability to carry out daily activities or enjoy himself (Rees 335). They interact with the brain leading to a change of moods and bringing about emotional stability. Antidepressants take away the feeling of depression in a person and help them to feel the way they did before they became depress ed. These medications can also block symptoms of panic therefore enabling a person to carry out with the daily tasks effectively. Americans and the â€Å"Happy Pill† There is a significant overuse of Antidepressants in the US. A report by the CDC revealed that antidepressants were â€Å"the third most common prescription drug taken by Americans of all ages in 2005-2008† (1). Physicians are recommending and prescribing antidepressants as treatment for depression and insomnia at a higher rate than then did in the past. Attarian and Schuman observe that in the US, antidepressants have become some of the most commonly recommended and prescribed treatments for insomnia and depression complaints (18). This observation is supported by the CDC which documents that in 2005, about 5% of the total drug prescriptions by physicians all over the US were for antidepressants. Reasons for Increased Use A number of reasons have contributed to the significant increase in antidepressants use by Americans. Antidepressants create an illusion of happiness leading to their overuse by Americans whenever they feel sad or low. Americans have developed the habit of using medication to deal with mild depression or general low feelings that do not require the use of antidepressant medications. Rees notes that antidepressants provide a quick means for a person to feel better (Rees 335). The decrease in the quality of life for most people has increase risk of depression and the subsequent use of antidepressants. With the high levels of stress that people experience, they are likely to experience sadness and frustration that lead to depression at higher rates (Attarian and Schuman 17). This overall decrease in quality of life for many people in the US has contributed to the overuse of antidepressants.Advertising Looking for research paper on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More There has been a dramatic shift towards the use of antidepressants to cure conditions such as insomnia and anxiety disorders. While therapy was the most common means of dealing with anxiety disorders, there has been a trend towards using medication to deal with these conditions. With insomnia, in the past alcohol and sleeping pills were the most commonly used hypnotics among insomniacs. However, since the 1990s, antidepressants have become the preferred means of treatment of insomnia (Attarian and Schuman 18). Interestingly there is no hard evidence regarding the efficacy of these medications in dealing with insomnia. Conclusion Antidepressants use in the US is at an all time high. This is a troubling thing since these over prescription might decrease the effectiveness of the drugs. Reliance on the drugs to treat anxiety conditions even when other option such as therapy might be better is detrimental to the well being of the patient. Steps should therefore be taken to reduce the overuse of antidepressants in the U S. Works Cited Attarian, Hrayr and Schuman Catherine. Clinical Handbook of Insomnia. NY: Springer, 2010. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Antidepressant Use in Persons Aged 12 and Over: United States, 2005–2008. Oct. 2011. Web. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db76.htm Rees, Alan. Consumer Health USA. Boston: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997. This research paper on Use of Antidepressants in the USA was written and submitted by user Ayleen Z. 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.

Free Essays on Photgraphy

Photography Hot Tips Through the exact centre of the frame†. It’s fine to know the rules, but it’s also essential to break them. Strictly adhering to the rules may ensure mediocre photographs. Top It’s easy to find rules about photography: â€Å"Keep the sun over your shoulder† or â€Å"Shoot only at sunrise and sunset† or â€Å"Shoot only around noon† or â€Å"Never let the horizon run photographers break the rules as often as they keep them. Photography should be spontaneous, alive, and exuberant. If it works visually, do it. Wildlife photography: Do not be content to simply show what an animal looks like - to just create its portrait. A good wildlife photograph should also show significant behavior. You must learn to anticipate the animal’s behaviour in specific situations and know the importance of different types of behaviour. Photographs of people: In photojournalism you should leave viewers feeling that they know the subjects - not only what they look like, but also how they live, what their attitudes are. Photograph people being active, rather than merely posing, and take enough time to put the subject at ease. Capturing the scene: Aim to capture the soul of the place as well as its physical appearance. The viewer should feel shat it’s like to walk down a particular street or view a landscape that you’ve shot. Time is again a crucial element. You must first experience a location’s moods - light, weather, smells - before you can convey them through photographs... Free Essays on Photgraphy Free Essays on Photgraphy Photography Hot Tips Through the exact centre of the frame†. It’s fine to know the rules, but it’s also essential to break them. Strictly adhering to the rules may ensure mediocre photographs. Top It’s easy to find rules about photography: â€Å"Keep the sun over your shoulder† or â€Å"Shoot only at sunrise and sunset† or â€Å"Shoot only around noon† or â€Å"Never let the horizon run photographers break the rules as often as they keep them. Photography should be spontaneous, alive, and exuberant. If it works visually, do it. Wildlife photography: Do not be content to simply show what an animal looks like - to just create its portrait. A good wildlife photograph should also show significant behavior. You must learn to anticipate the animal’s behaviour in specific situations and know the importance of different types of behaviour. Photographs of people: In photojournalism you should leave viewers feeling that they know the subjects - not only what they look like, but also how they live, what their attitudes are. Photograph people being active, rather than merely posing, and take enough time to put the subject at ease. Capturing the scene: Aim to capture the soul of the place as well as its physical appearance. The viewer should feel shat it’s like to walk down a particular street or view a landscape that you’ve shot. Time is again a crucial element. You must first experience a location’s moods - light, weather, smells - before you can convey them through photographs...

ACT Score All Questions Are Analytical

The Secret to Getting a Perfect SAT / ACT Score All Questions Are Analytical SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips It seems obvious that each ACT / SAT question must have exactly one answer, and this answer must be clearly and objectively correct. However, as we’ll explain below, that simple fact alone disqualifies vast swaths of reasonable questions that you otherwise see in everyday tests at school. This obvious fact also leads to a little-known secret that, when applied correctly, guarantees the cracking of each question.You don’t have to trust me read through this guide and ask any perfect or near-perfect scorer. They’ll agree on the secret. The premise is simple. Each ACT / SAT question must have exactly one right answer. This seems obvious enough after all doesn’t every multiple choice question have one right answer? It turns out that most multiple choice questions you’ve seen in life have relatively lax standards. Suppose your science teacher, Mr. Smith, gave you a multiple-choice quiz last week. Those multiple-choice questions are the same as those of the SAT / ACT right? Absolutely not! Mr. Smith is allowed to write imperfect questions. If there are two right answers, Mr. Smith will give some credit back. In the worst case, some students will have inaccurate scores. What if choice B is only a little more correct than choice C, and you put down C? Tough luck this question only counts for 2% of your grade anyway. A few bad questions a month is part of life. In short, the multiple-choice questions you are used to in school have much wider tolerances for error and fuzziness because they matter less in your academic career. Why the SAT / ACT Can't Tolerate Any Question Mistakes The ACT / SAT is a totally different ball game, a totally different league. The writers have to make a test that contains hundreds of questions, yet they can't make a single mistake. Not a single one of their questions can have two right answers or no right answers.Each question must have one right answer that stands objectively and clearly above all the other answers. This means that, if you put each question in front of 100 experts, all of must answer it exactly the same way, without any doubt. What happens if the SAT or ACT makes a mistake? The consequences would be tremendous. Many students on the margin would lose their scholarships. Students would literally lose their deserved acceptances to their dream colleges a product that the average family pays five to six digits for. Colleges who obsess about assembling the dream class would be going off flawed data. The truth is, the stakes are super high with the SAT / ACT, so there is no margin for error. Of course, the pain isn’t just to students and colleges it gets transmitted to the test makers as well. Even a few mistakes a year results in scandals (see the June 2015 SAT blowup over â€Å"just† 5 minutes timing difference). Both students and colleges will stop using the error-prone test. And, to kick it off, these mistakes have resulted in lawsuits that have cost the ACT / SAT hundreds of thousands of dollars to battle. Therefore, neither test can tolerate any chance of two right answers, no right answer, or any other question mistake. Why Each SAT / ACT Question Must Have One Very Clear Answer The ACT / SAT is also not allowed to have unclear answers or answers that rely on fuzzy reasoning. Suppose an ACT science question asked: How many planets are there in the solar system? A) 8; B) 9 †¦ It seems that the answer is pretty clear most scientists would say A) 8. But this level of clarity is not good enough for the ACT.Very recently we had nine planets, so some educators might argue that students who put down nine are answering as they’ve been taught and should be given credit; these educators would have a good argument. Other fringe scientists may not accept the consensus and argue that nine is still right. Also, the ACT runs the risk of a new planet being discovered between publication and test date. If two answers are close to each other in how good they are, this creates headaches for the test makers.First, the test makersmight make a mistaken judgment call and claim the slightly worse answer is the right one this leads to the horror show above. Another scenario is more insidious: it affects students who put down the â€Å"less good† answer but are at the cusp of a big prize. Maybe the student is right at the cutoff of a sports recruitment or a huge scholarship. She would be hugely incentivized to get the test to accept her answer as correct. In fact, many students do cause an administrative or legal headache for the ACT / SAT by making a fuss. With that environment in mind, you hopefully have a better understanding as to why the ACT / SAT can afford zero mistakes on the test. You should also understand why their multiple-choice questions can’t have a best answer that is just 20% better than the next choice. Now we’ll discuss how we can use this information to your bestadvantage. Every SAT/ACT question has exactly one correctanswer, and, once you learn this method, that correct answer will look very different from all the other options. Three Ways to Think About Having One Very Clear Answer OK, the SAT / ACT has to have one very clear answer that’s a little theoretical. How canyou think about the degree of clarity in a way that will help you on the test? For my students, I’ve come up with three rules that illustrate what â€Å"very clear† means. These rules get at the same single, central idea from three different directions. You should make note ofthese three rules to remind yourself on the test what clarity means. Rule 1: The 10x Rule of Clarity It turns out that the clarity of the right answer is so important that the best answer is not just 20% or 2x better than the next best answer, but in fact 10x better. That’s right, you might think D and E are close answers, but, to an infinitely knowledgeable test-taker, it turns out that E is actually ten times as good as D. Rule 2: Panel of 100 Experts Agree Another way to think about how clear the right answer must be is to realize that, if there were a panel of 100 experts, all of them would have to agree on what the right answer is. If even one or two of them disagree, suddenly the question is no longer objective it’s subjective and up for debate the test maker's worst nightmare. Because questions must be objective, a panel of carefully thinking experts must agree on the correct answer. Rule 3: Provably Correct One final useful way to think about how clear the right answer needs to be is to realize that it must be provably correct.If given a long enough time, you could write almost a math-style proof on why the answer is correct and the other choices are wrong. If you couldn’t write a math-style proof, then some part of the logic process has to be based on a â€Å"hunch." Hunches are neither clear nor objective, and therefore, the ACT / SAT cannot rely on these. Again, the ACT / SAT must have questions that can be solved using precise, analytical logic. How do these rules help? When you’re stuck on a question and two answers are looking very close to each other, you’ll realize this can’t be how the question is meant to be answered by the 10x Rule of Clarity. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you have to rely on a subjective judgment, where you catch yourself saying â€Å"my opinion is this† or â€Å"it seems likely that the answer is this," then the Panel of Experts rule will tell you that you can do more to answer your question. The most powerful rule, the one rule to rule them all, is the Provably Correct rule. This rule tells you that you never need to rely on fuzzy reasoning or a feeling to answer a question. If you have enough background information, enough time, and enough logic, you can prove that every answer you choose is correct. Thinking about the Provably Correct rule in the negative is also helpful. It means that, for all the wrong answers, you must be able to identify a fatal flaw that disqualifies them. Example Problems These rules also mean that, if you are getting stuck solving the hardest problems for you, the solution is not to â€Å"get better intuition† or â€Å"get subtler at fuzzy thinking† but rather to learn how to penetrate the analytical, logical core of each question. How do you apply these rules? One of the best ways to learn is to try them on real questions. For the rest of this article, we will demonstrate the rules on a math question, a grammar question, and finally a reading question. The rule will be most obvious in math, but most insightful in reading. For each of these three example problems, we will write math-style proofs to show beyond any doubt that the answer we choose is the right one. By proofs, I just mean breaking the problem down into very small but clear steps. No background on proofs ina math class is needed. I use the word much more loosely in this article, usually to emphasize that an explanation is crystal clear instead of fuzzy. Math Example The easiest place to start demonstrating these concepts is math. Math is the subject where it is most obvious that each question has one very clear, objective, provably correct answer. Since it is so obvious to everyone that math answers are objective, the following demonstration is less subtle than in reading, but it’s still useful to go through this example to learn. One of the most difficult ACT Math questions is as follows: Consider all pairs of positive integers w and z whose sum is five. For how many values of w does there exist a positive integer x that satisfies both 2^w = x and x^z = 64. (Statement 2) 0 2 4 8 Infinitely Many You can get at the single very clear answer by completing a proof, as I'll show you: First, we'll start with the information given to us. The two integers w and z must add up to five. That gives us four options for integer pairs for (w,z): (1,4), (2,3), (3,2) and (4,1). Let’s call the second sentence of the question above statement (2). Now we can prove for all four pairs above whether statement (2) holds: In each case, since z is a positive integer 2^w = x is a positive integer, we can ignore the restriction that x is a positive integer. For (1,4), statement (2) gives that 2^1=x=2. And x^z = 2^4 = 16 =/= 64. Thus, for the first pair statement (2) is false. For (2,3), statement (2) gives that 2^2=x=4. And x^z = 4^3 = 64 indeed. Thus, for the second pair statement (2) is true. For (3,2), statement (2) gives that 2^3=x=8. And x^z = 8^2 = 64 indeed. Thus, for the third pair statement (2) is true. For (3,2), statement (2) gives that 2^4=x=16. And x^z = 16^1 =/= 64. Thus, for the fourth pair statement (2) is false. Therefore, the above is a mathematical proof in the most original sense, that there are two pairs that satisfy the answer. The answer is two. This corresponds to B. Note that, as a mathematical proof, the above explanation is watertight. (I would know I've taken dozens of courses in theoretical math and spent countless hours writing proofs.) This proof passes the 10x rule of clarity (no other answer would be even 1/10th as correct). It would pass the panel of 100 experts rule in fact, I bet every single professional mathematician in the world would agree with the proof above. Finally, the proof is fully analytical it breaks the entire solution into small but obvious pieces. Proofs in reading, science, or writing won’t be nearly as perfect, but the above serves as a guideline for later in the article. Important Notes First, all proofs depend on a set of indisputable, underlying facts (in rigorous proofs, these are called axioms). Here, the two underlying facts I cited were that:1) a positive integer taken to a positive integer power is positive, and2) there are exactly four unique pairs of positive integers (w,z) such that w+z=5. Understanding these facts is assumed to be part of being an expert in math, and if you find yourself missing these facts when constructing proofs, then you know the problem is an underlying content problem. Most of the underlying facts in math and grammar, and some in reading, need to be memorized beforehand.If you lack these facts, no amount of logic and no amount of time will let you solve the problems. Second, the proof method is best used as training wheels, as an illustrative tool. On the real test, they are too time-consuming to use on more than a few rare occasions.On a real test, proofs are most useful in reading, then grammar, and least of all in math. After all, in math, the fact that there is a single, clear, objective, right answer is usually obvious. When are proofs useful then? Proofs are useful when you are stuck on the hardest 1-3 problems in each section and have extra time.Proofs are also useful when you are practicing the SAT / ACT. Whenever you feel a question has â€Å"two right answers," you can do a proof exercise to convince yourself that’s not the case. Also, I put the math proof first because it’s the simplest to understand; in fact, it’ll be the reading proof at the end that you’ll find most helpful on SAT / ACT training. How to Use the Proof Method on Math Problems Here are some general guidelines to follow when you start to solve math problems using this method: First, read through the question and break down the information it gives you. Then, identify the axioms, or indisputable math facts, you'll need to apply in order to solve this problem. This is where having strong mathematical knowledge comes in handy. If, for example, the question is about triangles, you should be able to quickly come up with all the triangle rules and information you know. After you've done this, you can start the proof. Work through the problem, making a new line for each new statement, until you've solved it and figured out your answer. Grammar Example The following question is from an ACT English section, and it's similar to a grammar question you might find on SAT Reading. Grammaris a great area to illustrate the Provably Correct concept because it’s an area where many students use fuzzy thinking. Many students, especially native English speakers, are used to â€Å"sounding phrases out† and choosing the one that â€Å"feels best.† However, it’s also obvious that grammar follows hard, explicit logical rules like math does. And those hard logical rules, not your ear, are the only method guaranteed to get you every question right. Consider now the following question: Choose the best replacement for the underlined portion. A musician balancing a cello case, two Buddhist monks in saffron robes, and a group of stockbrokers in crisp, charcoal gray suits get on the subway at the Wall Street station. No Change. charcoal gray suits, charcoal, gray suits charcoal gray, suits Like math questions, you can follow a set of steps to solve English questions using proofs. Every question on the English section will relate to at least one grammar fact. Your first step is identifying which grammar fact they are referring to. This requires a strong knowledge of English grammar, but if you study enough, you'll be able to easily identify the particular grammar rule you need. For this example, the sentence has multiple phrases with the same grammatical structure; therefore, the grammar fact you need to use is parallel construction. Go through the answer choices, applying the grammar rule to each of them, until you have clearly identified one correct answer and three incorrect answers. This one fact is particularly important for this question: Grammar fact (parallel construction): When there are multiple phrases that have the same grammatical structure, these phrases are to be separated by a comma. Conversely, separation by a comma strongly suggests phrases are parallel. E.g. The US flag is red, white, and blue. The words â€Å"red†, â€Å"white†, â€Å"and blue† are parallel construction and separated by a comma. Now, let’s examine the answers. Note that the only difference is in the placement of the comma (if it exists at all). We will prove the right answer by deconstructing all versions and showing that all but one is nonsensical or ungrammatical. Choice A: No Change. The sentence is talking about â€Å"charcoal gray suits†. The word â€Å"charcoal† modifies gray (it’s a type of gray), and the phrase â€Å"charcoal gray† modifies suit. This makes sense. Also, the commas imply parallelism between the three nouns in the sentence: the group of stockbrokers, the Buddhist monks, and the musician. This is also correct. Choice B: â€Å"charcoal gray suits,†This option puts a comma at the end of the phrase. This separates the sentence into four suggested parallel phrases: A musician balancing a cello case, two Buddhist monks in saffron robes, and a group of stockbrokers in crisp, charcoal gray suits,get on the subway at the Wall Street station. The first three are noun phrases and contain subjects (musicians, monks, and stockbrokers, respectively). The fourth phrase, however; doesn't include a subject and is instead a verb phrase which violates suggested parallel construction This means that placing the comma after the word "suits" would not be signifying parallel construction. To be rigorous, you must be aware that, in addition to parallel construction, commas can only be used to set off nonessential clauses, along with a few other minor cases. The verb clause is an essential part of this sentence; without it the sentence would not make sense, and it wouldn't be grammatically correct. The placement of the comma for option B is therefore inappropriate. This disproves B. Choice C: â€Å"charcoal, gray suits† By our first Grammar Fact, this suggests that charcoal and gray are parallel. This means both are modifying the word â€Å"suits." The suits are both gray (makes sense) and charcoal (doesn’t make sense). The suits are not literally made of the same charcoal that you barbecuewith! This parallelism gives the sentence the wrong meaning and thus can be provably disqualified. Choice D: â€Å"charcoal gray, suits† By our first Grammar Fact again, the commas here would strongly suggest that the phrases â€Å"crisp," â€Å"charcoal gray† and â€Å"suits† are parallel. However, the first two are adjectives, and the final word is a noun, again violating parallelism and disproving this option as the correct answer. And there we have it, we have â€Å"proven† above that the right answer must be A. (To be even more rigorous, we would want to list all valid uses for commas and eliminate these cases in each of the answers above. This gets truly arduous, but it will advance this proof from â€Å"10x correct† territory to â€Å"100x correct† territory. This again is a demonstration between thetrade offsbetween full rigor and time spent.) Who Is This Proof Most Useful For? The proof is best used for a student who is stuck between two answers which both look right. In this case, many students have complained that they can’t tell whether A or C is correct after looking at the question long and hard. They both â€Å"sound† correct. A proof allows you to show that one answer must be very right while the others are very wrong. In the case above, we relied on the role of the comma in parallelism. You'll want to use this method practically, and only if youhavesubstantial time to eliminate all ambiguity. You can use it 1) on a real test if you have extra time left 2) if you are studying and want to conquer the most difficult questions 3) if you’re working on improving content and don’t mind spending extra time demonstrating to yourself why one answer is exactly right. Proofs aren’t infinitely powerful. After all, you have to know the underlying Grammatical Fact put out at the beginning. A proof doesn’t give you an answer if you don’t know the subject! Second, proofs take much too long to implement on all questions on a live test. In a live test, you absolutely want to eliminate some choices â€Å"by ear† when they sound egregious, and you absolutely want to take timing shortcuts that give you 90% of the accuracy in 10% of the time. However, even if you don’t do an actual proof on the test, just knowing that a proof must exist is incredibly empowering. Even when you are using intuition or fuzzy feelings, you then know that the intuition or feeling must be overlaying a cold, hard fact. If you are going by intuition, you know that the final word in the answer cannot possibly be just a feeling. Provably Correct is something that should totally change your perspective on an ACT / SAT questions. Reading Example ACT / SAT Reading is my favorite area to apply our rule to! This is because reading seems so touchy-feely, so subjective, that it’s tempting for students to think of the section as uncertain, subjective, and intuition-based. In fact, reading questions are exactly the opposite: they are certain, objective, and analytical. Reading is the opposite of math in that proofs are the least obvious but the most helpful tool to improve your score. Let’s get to the question: Consider the following paragraph: "We plan makers are accustomed to things turning out not quite as good as we had in mind. Our world view includes the â€Å"diminished excellence† component. Diminished excellence is a condition of the world and therefore never an occasion for sorrow, whereas flawed competence comes out of character and therefore is frequently the reason for the bowed head, the furrowed brow." In the last paragraph, a comparison is made between "diminished excellence" and "flawed competence." From the narrator's point of view, the conditions are different because the one is: A source of sorrow while the other is a source of pride. Based in the family while the other is based in the self. Inherent in the environment while the other is inherent in the individual. A sign that the individual can improve the world while the other is a sign that the individual can't. If you want to really learn the proof method, I strongly encourage you to work through this problem. Give yourself 10 or even 20 minutes if you need. Write out your logic and compare it against the rigor below. If you are confused, introspect about your confusion. In just a few moments you’ll see an explanation that will prove beyond a doubt that one of the answers is clearly 10x correct. What Not to Do First, let’s go over what a student using â€Å"fuzzy thinking† might do. Frank the fuzzy thinker might look at F and think, â€Å"The paragraph does mention one of them being sorrow, so this looks fine.† He may then go onto G and go, â€Å"Well, there was no discussion of family in this paragraph, so that’s clearly out.† For H he thinks, â€Å"Yes, one of them is about the world while the other isn’t, so let’s keep H.† Finally, he goes onto J and thinks, â€Å"Well, yes, one of them is improvable, while the other isn’t†; so he keeps J. Frank has eliminated F because it feels a bit off to him, and he eliminated G because of a "feeling" he had. However, both H and J sound good. Frank would estimate that H sounds about twice as good as F, but J sounds the best of any of the answer choices, beating H by maybe 10-20%. Frank thinks the answer really depends on how you see the question it's subjective anyway, so he chooses J. Unfortunately for Frank, he chose the wrong answer. Even worse, the way he solved the problem demonstrates the worst of fuzzy logic! Rules That Frank the Fuzzy Thinker Broke Note that his final reasoning broke every one of our three â€Å"clear answer† rules. First, he thought that the best answer was only 10-20% better than the next, and at most 2-3x better than the third best answer, violating the 10x clear rule. Second, he thought the answer was subjective and broke the â€Å"consensus of 100 experts† rule. Finally, his reasoning lacked substantial analytical rigor. He relied on how he felt about the answers and used simple â€Å"word matching," breaking the Provably Correct rule. Breaking the Provably Correct rule on reading questions invariably shows some patterns. Frank illustrates some of them: Associative thinking: Frank saw the word "sorrow" in the paragraph and thought that, since answer F contains that word, it has a high chance of being right. Likewise, he ruled out G based on only the single word â€Å"family." While it is tempting to use word-matching to choose answers, this is the lowest form of non-analytical, fuzzy thinking. Reading questions are more subtle than hunting for the right word. Drawing inferences from the outside: To Frank, whether something is â€Å"inherent in the environment† (from the source paragraph) is the same as â€Å"a sign that the individual can’t improve the world† (answer J). However, this latter statement is actually not stated in the paragraph at all! Dropping or adding words to force things to fit: Frank keeps F even though the word â€Å"pride† isn’t anywhere in the paragraph. F otherwise seems like a good answer, so Frank ignores the minor inconvenience that an entire word is out of place. How to Solve This Problem Analytically With a Proof Now, let’s see why the above question is really not a subjective, â€Å"two good answers† situation. We’ll do this by bringing out our usual tool of analytical rigor, the proof. First, read the paragraph word-by-word slowly and carefully.Think about what each sentence means after reading it. Then, re-read the entire paragraph. I will start the proof by restating a large majority of the paragraph in my own words. The following statements are logically contained within the original paragraph: We are plan makers. We are used to things turning out less than our plan. The way we see the world includes a part called â€Å"diminished excellence." Diminished excellence is a condition of the world. Because of this, â€Å"diminished excellence† is not an occasion for sorrow. However, â€Å"flawed competence† comes out of character. Because of this, â€Å"flawed competence† is often why there is the bowed head, the furrowed brow. Each statement is a rigorous transformation of the original and totally implied by the original. We will use both the original and the implied transformation to prove the answers. Choice F: A source of sorrow while the other is a source of pride. The first part of this answer is true. It's true that one is implicitly a cause for sorrow. The paragraph states that â€Å"diminished excellence† isn’t a cause for sorrow, but the conjunction â€Å"however† implies strongly that â€Å"flawed competence† indeed causes sorrow. However, for all F to be true, the second part must be true as well; we must have a source for pride. Since â€Å"flawed competence† is taken by sorrow already, if F were true, then â€Å"diminished excellence† must be a cause for pride. Intuitively, â€Å"diminished excellence† doesn’t seem like a good cause for â€Å"pride†, but let’s prove it. The paragraph just says diminished excellence is a condition of the world and not a cause for sorrow. Nowhere do we have it explicitly said or strongly implied that â€Å"diminished excellence† is a cause for pride. This means F cannot be wholly true. Therefore F is wrong. Choice G: One is based in the family while the other is based in the self. Reading all the logical statements in the original paragraph, it is easy to see that no statement says anything about a family, nor anything that would imply a family (such as a group, relative, etc). Therefore, we can deduce that â€Å"based in the family† cannot possibly be a conclusion of the paragraph. Thus G is ruled out as an answer. (If you’re looking for extra credit, it is indeed true the paragraph says that â€Å"flawed competence† is based out of character, which is strongly associated with the self, so the second half of statement G is true. However half-true is just not good enough!) Choice H: One is based in the environment while the other is inherent in the individual. The paragraph clearly does state that diminished excellence is a condition of the world and thus the environment. This proves the first part of the statement as true. Now, the paragraph says the other term, â€Å"flawed competence," comes out from the character, which almost definitionally is inherent to the individual. This proves the second part of the statement as true. As a bonus, further reinforcing this proof is the fact that the entire paragraph is a parallelism between a concept with roots in the world, versus another with roots in character. This world vs. character contrast is exactly targeted by this answer which compares environment vs. individual. Thus H has very strong support, a proof in fact. Choice J: A sign that the individual can improve the world while the other is a sign that the individual can't. With fuzzy thinking, J looks similar to H. However, let us be precise. J says that one is a sign that the individual can improve the world. This first concept J refers to cannot possibly be â€Å"diminished excellence† since the paragraph does not say anything at all about the individual with respect to â€Å"diminished excellence†. Thus, if J were true, the first part of J must refer to â€Å"flawed competence†. It is true that the paragraph says â€Å"flawed competence† comes from the character and thus the individual. However, the paragraph says nothing about flawed competence being changeable. Also, even if â€Å"flawed competence† implied any potential for change, nothing in the paragraph speaks about the ability of this change to â€Å"improve the world†. Thus, J is disproven. As a bonus, you can also point out multiple other logically-rigorous, fatal flaws in J. For example, the paragraph says nothing about ifâ€Å"diminished excellence† modulates whether an individual can impact the world. The fuzzy thinking here is that the paragraph talks about two concepts that come from the world versus the individual, while choice J is instead talking about the impact of the individual on the world. Same concepts, but totally unrelated. It would be as unrelated as if the paragraph talked about the weather of New York compared to that of Los Angeles, and the answer talked about flights between New York and Los Angeles.Thus J is rejected too. We have written relatively objective, logical, and analytical proofs that show that H must be the right answer, and all the others must be wrong answers. Hopefully, if you thought the question was vague, subtle, and subjective before, the proof shows that the question is, in fact, analytical with a very clear, objective, and logical answer. For Reading questions, you'll want to first start by reading the passage, then transforming it into your own words, while keeping its entire original meaning intact, like we did in the example. Then, go through each of the answer options and compare them to both the original passage and your rewording to see if they are true. Remember, each part of the answer must be true. If only half the answer is true, then it is not the right answer. Takeaways From the Proof I hope that the proof above gives you confidence that, with enough time and application of logic, you can clearly show only one answer is true. By transforming what seems like a fuzzy question into cold hard logic, hopefully, the above demonstrated that, on the ACT / SAT, all questions are in fact analytical and provable. But if all questions are analytical, logical, and provable, then why doesn’t the ACT / SAT just directly test these skills in straightforward ways? The reason is that most of reading / English in academia is indeed subjective and often fuzzy. Who’s a better writer, James Joyce or Vladimir Nabokov? Subjective. What social actions did Orwell want to encourage in his readers by writing his bestseller 1984? Again, subjective. Many interesting and difficult academic subjects are inherently subtle and subjective. I can tell you this from firsthand experience, from writing countless college essays on topics like film studies and the Jewish Bible. Since much of real academia has a feeling of intuition, subtlety, and subjectiveness, the ACT / SAT wants to mimic these factors. They dress their questions up to look as subtle and fuzzy as possible. But we know from the beginning of the article that the ACT / SAT cannot afford truly fuzzy or subjective questions.Therefore, the fuzziness is a ruse. It becomes a set of trap answers for the student. The core of any ACT / SAT question is a hard, analytic question, and if you only see a fuzzy question, this means you haven’t seen the core of the question yet! Conclusion Now that you know that each SAT / ACT answer is provable, you’ll no longer approach difficult questions the wrong way. It is so common for students to think that they need to develop a finer sense of intuition or better fuzzy thinking to get the hard questions. In fact, what you should be working on is a fast analytic breakdown of every question. You can definitely do this yourself, and the above steps offerpretty good guide-by-examples of how to do it. For those interested, we also should mention that PrepScholar trains you in this method as well. Our program will detect when non-rigorous thinking is the major source of your errors. We see this mostly in high-performing students trying to nail those final questions, but we also see it to some degree in all students. Our program will provide you with lessons that teach you how to be analytic and give you practice problems for you to apply your new skills. If you liked our lesson here, give our program a free try: What's Next? Ready to try this method on your own?One of the best ways to prepare for standardized exams is to take practice tests. Check out our official SAT practice tests and official ACT practice tests. Aiming for a top score?Learn how to perfect your score on the SAT or ACT! Want to take your studyingone step further?Read aboutthe pros and cons of each type of test prep and learn which method is the best for you.

Challenges posed by the aging population (be specific) Research Paper

Challenges posed by the aging population (be specific) - Research Paper Example The difference in opinion is as a result of new findings of health care resources usage by the elderly and also from the recognition of the responses of elder patient in the past. Conversely, these changes bring some opportunities since people have longer and healthy lives. This essay is to present the challenges posed by an aging population and how the government, society and the businesses have responded to the whole issue. First, it is important to see the reason as to why the population is aging by looking at the population trends in the past half century (Neumark, 2009). Aging people are in most countries of the world. There are some factors behind this trend. For instance, longevity has increased in most parts of the world compared to the previous years. Globally, the life expectancy has increased from the age of 48 years in the 50s to 68 years presently. For the past 50 years, community division project aims to make the expectancy reach 76 years. In addition, the fertility rate of the world fell from five kids per woman in the 1950s to approximately 2.5 presently. Fertility is further projected to decline to about 2.2 in the next 50 years. Similarly, aging of a large number of children born after the World War II coupled by an equal boom elsewhere in the world are leading to a generation of an older people. UN estimates that the global number of old people will increase from 800 million currently to more than 2 billion by 2050 (equivalent to 22 percent of the entire population) (Shapner, 2006) Aging of a community presents many challenges and raises concerns on the pace of the future economic progress, financial integrity of pension systems and health care services and operation, and the health of the elderly (Shapner, 2006). Economic prosperity of any given economy depends crucially on the quality and size of the labor force to be productive and maximize on the available resources. From