Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Hamlet and Ophelia.

Hamlet and Ophelia. I DOUBT"Doubt thou the stars are five;Doubt that the sun doth move;Doubt truth to be a liar;But never doubt I Love."The attitude of Hamlet towards Ophelia is one of the greatest puzzles in the play. The exact nature of his feelings for Ophelia is left ambiguous. As most critics have agreed, Hamlet did once love Ophelia deeply and sincerely but he ceased to do so. Why? How can we explain Hamlet's conduct towards Ophelia throughout the play, his ruthlessness and savagery towards a gentle and inoffensive girl whom he had once loved so ardently?II LOVE IN HONOURABLE FASHIONOphelia herself gives testimony of Hamlet's genuine love towards her:"My Lord, he hath importun'd mewith LoveIn honourable fashion."He has approached her many times, with tenderness and holy vows of heaven as a testimony of his affection and honourable intentions. Her father, Polonius, advises her not to trust his vows, for they are brokers (Hamlet, I, iii, v.Hamlet127) - Lord Hamlet is out of her sphere; Polonius orde rs her to see no more of him. Her brother, Laertes is warning her that Hamlet's love is but"... a fashion and a toy in bloodA violet in the youth of primy nature,Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,The perfume and suppliance of a minute;No more."But a real "material" proof is put before us - a love-letter that Hamlet wrote to Ophelia. The letter is written in the conventional lover's stile and it is a real outbreak of passion. There is no doubt he loves her:"O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers,I have not art to reckon my groans: but that ILove thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu.Thine evermore most dear...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Pressured vs. Pressurized

Pressured vs. Pressurized Pressured vs. Pressurized Pressured vs. Pressurized By Maeve Maddox Many American speakers, myself included, have the impulse to laugh at statements like the following: Mendendez and Ensign try to pressurize the White House Should parents pressurize their children to get high marks in exams? We laugh because we think that pressurize should apply only to things like airplane cabins and pressure cookers. Some people who object to the use of pressurize in the context of psychological pressure often become quite testy in their criticisms: â€Å"I was pressurized into attending a girls college. I dont think she meant she had an air hose hooked up to an orifice to inflate her. The idea is that pressurize should be reserved for technology, while pressure is the only acceptable verb to use when speaking of psychological pressure. Neither British nor American dictionaries support the distinction. The online Oxford Dictionaries site offers the following among their examples of correct usage: Don’t let anyone pressurize you into snap decisions. People had been pressurized to vote. The online Merriam-Webster dictionary gives this example: Don’t let them pressurize you to do anything you don’t want to do. The noun pressure has been in the language since the Middle Ages, but the verbs pressure and pressurize are fairly recent coinages. Both verb forms originated in North America. The earliest OED citation for pressure with the meaning, â€Å"to apply pressure to, to coerce or persuade by applying psychological or moral pressure,† is from a Canadian publication dated 1911: Extreme protection brought the formation of gigantic trusts, which pressured the consumers, who are now in open revolt against that regime. The verb form pressurize was coined to describe the process of producing artificial atmospheric pressure. Pressurizing appears in 1940; pressurized in 1944. The use of pressurize to mean â€Å"to apply psychological pressure† is first documented in 1945: Thus, selective service continues to ‘pressurize’ recalcitrant military unfits into war plants. The use of quotation marks around pressurize indicates that the word was being used in a novel way. The most that can be said about pressure vs pressurize is that American usage prefers to reserve pressurize for technical contexts and save pressure for psychological contexts. Speakers and writers of British English don’t seem to be aware of any such distinction: A spokesperson of General Musharraf’s party said that fresh petition is an attempt to pressurize him to leave the country. He [Pravin Togadia ]also said that this election is the best time to pressurize political parties to ensure safety of Hindus. Brown’s administration â€Å"considered that any attempts to pressurize or lobby the Scottish government could be counterproductive to achieving this outcome Bottom line: Americans can continue to laugh at the use of pressurize in a psychological context, but British speakers are not amused. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What Does [sic] Mean?8 Writing Tips for BeginnersAppropriate vs. Apropos vs. Apt

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Discuss whether economic theory and the available empirical evidence Essay

Discuss whether economic theory and the available empirical evidence justi - Essay Example During the time of peek economy the company has to endure extra remuneration and compensation for the CEOs. Moreover, there is always deliberate discussion over the compensation policy, especially during the time of poor company performance and financial crisis (Balsam, 2002). In this regard, the aim of the paper is to examine the effect in the executive compensation regardless of the poor performance of the company with the help of various economic theories and the empirical evidence. According to Bertrand & Mullainathan (2001) the remuneration of the CEOs in an organisation is based on the principle of the economic agency model. In accordance with this model, the firm owners act as the principal and the hired CEOs are the agents acting on behalf of the owner. The authors argued the fact that the shareholder pays a key role in the organisation in designing the remuneration system of CEO’s in order to maximise the value of the organisation. Moreover, the article examines the fact weather the CEOs are paid on the basis of luck or not. Luck represents changes in the performance of the company, which are beyond the control of CEOs. These three measures include the changes in the pricing trend, firm performance, and year-on-year dissimilarity in the organisational performance. The finding of the evidence revealed that in the different scenario the CEOs pay is significant to luck. Additionally, it has been revealed that in the organisation the payment is largely affected by the luck not with the performance. Pay for the luck has large influence over the discretionary components, including compensation, salary, and bonus structure. It has been determined from the study that mode of the corporate governance plays a crucial role that significantly influences the CEOs remuneration (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2001). Moreover, the principle of agency model sometime helps the

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Cultural Economy of the Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cultural Economy of the Media - Essay Example This study stresses that  since advertisements and consumer culture is an ongoing system, customers must be constantly motivated to buy and spend more money on products. It follows then that new strategies must be used to hook these buyers by replacing old goods with new ones and also being constantly in touch with current trends in terms of goods and services. The need for new inventions has pushed the advertisement market into new heights whereby the targeted customers are confused. This means that the targeted clients are more likely to look for new adverts just like looking for new products. Indeed, overcoming ideas to circulation of capital has led to the rise of commodity culture based on a high turnover of signfieds and signifiers.As the research highlights that  hidden beneath the innovations that create new images and colourful presentations are less than normal and discontinuous stories which define the society. The excitement found in this adverts are packed through te chnological fantasy to suit different segments if client base. Recognisable and traditional representations in seasoned advertisements are usually anchored on a combination of new ideologies as well as enduring ideologies.  This then brings about the sense of contoured cultural meaning which integrates different meanings to bring about relativity and conventionalism.  Ã‚  It is not surprising that businesses usually exploit dominant ideologies at the expense of the important elements of promotion which are expected to be dominant in adverts. (Caraher, Landon an

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Romeo and Juliet Essay Example for Free

Romeo and Juliet Essay Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story about two children whose families are feuding. It was written in about 1596 when Shakespeare was about 26 years of age. The play is set in Verona, Italy. It was set abroad because Shakespeare didnt want to offend anyone through the script, if they were to relate themselves to someone in it. Shakespeare got his inspiration from many sources. Romeo and Juliet gained its inspiration from an Arthur Brooke poem written in 1562, called The tragical history of Romeous and Juliet. At the time of writing, Shakespeare had been called a magpie because his ideas were not original. Another source of inspiration for the script could be his personal experience of young love. He was 18 when he got married to a 26 yr old woman called Anne Hathaway. Romeo and Juliet is still a popular play because of its theme. The theme of love which people can still relate to today. Also, the theme revolves around family honour and standing up for your beliefs, which people can also still relate to today. At the time that the play was set, the society was known as a patriarchal society. This meant that men were more in charge and had a higher status than women. Young girls from well-to-do families were expected to be married at a very young age, and they had very little choice in the matter. In Act 1 Scene 2, Lord Capulet is presented as a fair, liberal and generous man. In the scene he is speaking to Paris, and Paris keeps asking for Juliets hand in marriage. However, Lord Capulet disagrees, which would be unusual in those days. She hath not seen the change of 14 years, Let 2 more summers wither in their pride, Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride Here he is saying that she is only thirteen years old, and that if Paris comes back for her hand in marriage in two years, only then will Lord Capulet agree or consider wedding them both. Lord Capulet uses poetic language in this scene to show that he is a bit of a hero. It makes him look sophisticated and well mannered; therefore the audience has a positive view of him. Lord Capulet talks about Juliet in a very optimistic way. He says, She is the hopeful lady of my earth. This demonstrates to the audience that he is respectful and that Juliet means a lot to him. Juliet is also his only child, meaning that she is very precious to him. He also uses metaphors, for example he describes some women as earth treading stars. This is an example of natural imagery, which shows that Lord Capulet is quite light hearted. Another idea of the fact that he is light-hearted would be that he uses puns. An example of this is when he says the word marrd. At that moment he is talking about Juliets marriage, therefore the audience know straight away that he is referring to the word married. In old English, marrd meant spoilt. In the time that the play was set, Lord Capulet actions would have been quite unusual, and suggest that he values Juliets happiness aswel as his desire to see her married. Throughout the scene, Shakespeare gives us a positive view of Lord Capulet. He shows us that Lord Capulet is understanding and very considerate for a parent in that society. Fathers were usually not this liberal in those days therefore the audience find Lord Capulets actions and choices rather unusual. A lot happens between Act 1 Scene 2 and Act 3 Scene 4. Romeo and Juliet have met and fallen in love. They have secretly married. The only people who know this are the Friar and the nurse. Romeo kills Tybalt because Tybalt killed Romeos best friend Mercutio. Romeo has been banished to Mantua. During Act 3 Scene 4, Paris and Lord Capulet meet up again to discuss the marriage of Paris and Juliet. Lord Capulet re-assures Paris that Juliet will get married to Paris. Lord Capulet has seems to have changed his mind about the marriage. Before, in Act 1 Scene 2, he was trying to put Paris off, whereas now he wants the wedding to take place. The reason I think he has changed his mind is because Tybalt has died and he is now thinking about his own death. If Juliet was to marry Paris, she would have the security and protection that she needs. The Capulets have lost a dear member of their family therefore Lord Capulet doesnt feel as strong or confident anymore. He is grief-stricken and wants some level of protection for Juliet. I think that Lord Capulet is not being reasonable because one minute he intends to let Juliet choose who she marries, whereas now he is planning her wedding without even informing her. Lord Capulet is not confident about Juliet agreeing to the marriage. .. Of my childs love: I think she will be ruled In all respects by me; nay, more, I doubt it not. Here Lord Capulet is saying that he thinks that Juliet will agree. But then he re-assures himself that she will definitely agree. This is also a use of dramatic irony because the audience knows that Juliet has already disobeyed her father and secretly got married to Romeo. In this scene, Lord Capulet speaks in a hesitant and jerky manner. We know this because he makes a lot of references to time. He also uses very short sentences which shows his mind is breaking down too because he is also no longer using poetic language. In Act 3 Scene 5, Romeo has spent the night with Juliet and shortly after, she finds out shes going to be married to Paris. Juliet is shocked and upset, and refuses to agree. However, when Lord Capulet enters he believes that Juliet is upset because of Tybalts death. We know this because he compares her tears to a sea of grief. For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea, Do ebb and flow with tears This extended metaphor suggests that Lord Capulet is back in control because he uses poetic language. When Lord Capulet enters Juliets room he is back in control. He speaks in iambic pentameter. This gives his speeches rhythm, control and pace. However, this rhythm will break down later in the scene. He seems to be in a good mood and tries to comfort her because he thinks she is upset because of Tybalts death. Juliet replies to her father in a respectful way. She speaks her mind but at the same time stays respectful. She tries her best to stand up for herself but at the same time knows her place as his daughter. Proud can I never be of what I hate, but thankful even for hate, that is meant love. This shows that she tries to explain her decision without revealing too much. However Lord Capulet dramatically changes and starts using some extremely abusive terms. He is now describing Juliet as a mistress minion and a baggage. This means that she is worthless and slave-like. The reason Lord Capulet responds like this is because he is astounded that Juliet is refusing to marry Paris. He enters the scene in a confident and happy mood, thinking that once he tells her about the marriage she will be happy. However this backfires because he finds out she is refusing and this makes him angry. He goes from being a poetic hero to someone who is quite insulting. He also tells Juliet he will drag her to the wedding even if she isnt ready. He says, or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither, out, you green-sickness carrion! He describes her as a green-sickness carrion which means she is a diseased, rotting piece of animal meat. In the earlier scenes he was using a lot of positive natural imagery, whereas now his speech has broken down and he is insulting his only child in a very bad way. His description of Juliet shows that he is very angry at her he has turned into a typical patriarchal father. In the scene, Lord Capulet has control over Juliets life because he is deciding her future for her. Juliet is different to other girls of her time because at first she did have the choice of marrying whoever she wanted to. Also, she is disobeying her fathers wishes, which would have been unusual because girls in those days didnt tend to argue with their parents decisions, and agreed with their wishes. In conclusion, Lord Capulet language, style and tone changes dramatically throughout the 3 scenes. The overall impression that we get of Lord Capulet is that he totally unfair. The fact that he is being considerate to her at the start makes his change more dramatic and shocking. Lord Capulet does want to see Juliet happy, but in the later scenes (act 3 scene 5), he is more demanding than he was before. In the time the play was set, the society was a patriarchal society. This could explain why Lord Capulet is forcing Juliet to get married. He is starting to think along the same lines as every other patriarchal father, whereas before he was putting his daughters feelings first. Juliet is shocked at her fathers behavior. She wasnt expecting him to force her to get married. This leads to Juliet going to see Friar Lawrence about the situation because she is already married to Romeo, and if she was to marry Paris, she would be committing bigamy. If Lord Capulet was to have been a bit more understanding then Juliet may have not gone to see the Friar. Shakespeare included these scenes into his play for many reasons. The scenes move the plot quickly to its tragic end. Juliet doesnt get a chance to make a choice about her life. The scenes make the audience empathise and sympathise with Juliet, and also raise dramatic tension. Lord Capulets speech changes dramatically throughout the scenes aswel. He goes from being a poetic hero, and talking in an elequent way.. to someone who is insulting and doesnt care about what he says.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and Takin it to the Streets as Drug-in

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and Takin' it to the Streets as Drug-influenced Literature Art influenced by drugs faces a unique challenge from the mainstream: prove its legitimacy despite its "tainted" origins. The established judges of culture tend to look down upon drug-related art and artists, as though it is the drug and not the artist that is doing the creating. This conflict, less intense but still with us today, has its foundations in the 1960s. As the Beatnik, Hippie, and psychedelic movements grew increasing amounts of national attention, the influence of drugs on culture could no longer be ignored by the mainstream. In an age where once-prolific drugs like marijuana and cocaine had become prohibited and sensationalized, the renewed influence of drugs both old and new sent shockwaves through the culture base. The instinctual response of the non-drug-using majority was to simply write drug-influenced art off as little more than the ramblings of madmen. Some drug-influenced artists tried to ignore this preconception, and others tried to downplay their drug use in the face of negative public scrutiny. For some drug-influenced artists, however, it was imperative to gain popular acceptance by publicly challenging the perception and preconceptions of mainstream America. An article in Newsweek from 1965 included in the anthology Takin' it to the Streets provides a useful indicator of mainstream society's distrust of youth culture in general and drug culture in particular. Citing federal and FCC regulations banning the broadcast of "obscene, indecent, or profane material," the writer of this article appears to be absolutely scandalized by the increasing presence of double entendres in popular music. Here, amid mutterin... ...hanged dramatically since the dawn of the 1960s, granting a sort of semi-legitimacy to drug-influenced art that grows stronger and less self-conscious every year. This pervasiveness of drug imagery in our culture today is no accident-it represents the outgrowth of these artists' introduction of drugs into the popular consciousness. The lingering effects of their efforts to publicize and poetize their altered states of mind can be readily seen in the mainstream culture of America today, which possesses both an awareness of and begrudging respect for the drug experience. Works and Sources Cited Allen, Donald. The New American Poetry. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960. Bloom, Alexander and Wini Breines. Takin' it to the Streets. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Wolfe, Tom. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. New York: Bantam Books, 1968.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Auteurs Theory and Stanley Kubrick Essay

In this essay there will be attempted to establish Stanley Kubrick as one of the world’s best directors by using the auteur theory witch elevates a director as not just a member of the film crew but as the artist bringing his personal style and personality to a film. Kubrick’s work will be analysed in accordance with the auteur theory in other to establish that he is one of the best directors in the industry. The auteur theory makes it possible for a film to be more than a collaborative industrial project but makes it possible for a film to be identified by its director who is seen by the auteur theory as its ultimate creator (turner 2009:53). According to Kael (1963:12) There are three premises to the auteur theory the first is that a director must have technical competence the second that the director must have a distinguishable personality that he or she brings to her films and thirdly that interior meaning is created in the film by tension between the directors personality and the material he is directing. In order of a director to be perceived as an auteur he must stay true to the principles that covens the theory. Technical ability of Stanley Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick is well known for his technical prowess, Hans Feldmann (1976:12) states that technically Kubrick should be considered as one of the top 3 or 4 directors in America. Kubrick is well known for using Slow continues shots. In 2001: a Space Odyssey Kubrick shows the hole process of HAL disconnection. Kubrick does not use Time compression or montage but shows the whole process the scene goes against the fast paste norm of Hollywood movies but Kubrick still manages to keep his audience attention. Kubrick also uses unusual shots in his films, In The Shining Kubrick places the camera directly below Jack Nicolson, filming him form an almost vertical angel. The Shot disorientates the audience and connects to the frightening mood of the scene. Kubrick is also well known for making bold use of extreme wide angled lenses. In a clockwork orange Kubrick uses wide angled lenses in both dolly and hand hald shots. (Stanley Kubrick film techniques). The use of music in Kubrick’s films is also unconventional. In 2001: a space odyssey Kubrick uses light classical music to in contrast to the dark theme of the film. Kubrick unconventional use of camera angles, lenses and music is never done in self indulgent manner. His techniques connect to the overall theme and feel of the film. Kubrick is not unconventional for the sake of being unconventional. Kubrick Personal style Kubrick usually confronts his audience with an unlikeable protagonist, Kubrick plays with the audience morals and gets the audience to form an emotional bond with an unlikable main Character thus commenting about the duality of right and wrong in a individual, In the shining the main protagonist of the film goes insane and tries to kill his family. In Full metal jacket the audience form a emotional bond to a struggling private in the marines who is being bullied. The soldier later goes insane killing his drill sergeant and himself. Is characters often face making important decisions with moral implications. Connecting to his unlikeable characters is the coldness of his films. His characters are hard to warm up to and the overall tone and feeling of his films don’t hallow audience to easily connect to the subject matter. This could be done do force the viewer to consider and think about the subject matter and not watch the film purely for entertainment. His work does not offer essay answers put forces the audience to engage with the themes of his films. Another noticeable element of Kubrick’s personal style is his use of colour. He uses contrasting colours to enhance the visual impact of scenes in his film, using primary colours to draw attention to objects. Kubrick’s use of colour gives his film a toy like surreal atmosphere. In the shining Kubrick uses shocking colours in the individual rooms of the hotel and the carpeting of the hallways witch contrast with the frightening dark feel of the film. In 2001: a space odyssey the film explores the complicated theme of the evolution of the human mind but the use of playful primary colours gives an uneasy feel too the film. (authentic society) Interior meaning in Kubrick films Kubrick explores deep into the philosophy about morality, his films are character studies about the workings of the modern man. According to Feldmann( 1976: 12) With a Clockwork orange, 2001: A Space odyssey and Barry Lyndon Kubrick constructs a trilogy exploring the moral and psychological nature of the modern western man and the nature of the future the western civilization is moving towards. Kubrick’s films can create a level of confusion. Feldmann (1976:12) states that his work is technically brilliant and praised by film critics but is often seen as without any real substance, he leaves his film critics yawing. According to Feldmann(1976:12) â€Å"Stanley Kubrick apparently has nothing clear, profound or interesting to say but he says it magnificently† Feldmann continues stating that the character studies and studies into human behaviour forces his critics to take him seriously. As Kubrick himsels states â€Å"I like slow starts, starts that go under the audience skin and involves them†¦ [they] don’t have to be pounded over the heat with plot points and suspense hooks†(Kagan 2003:7) His work often employs character driven plots and lack of suspense which causes boredom amongst people who are use to fast pace story driven films. Kubrick believes that a real film investigates characters and the reality of life rather then telling a story. (kagan 2003:7). Conclusion In using the Three premises of The auteur theory and stating how the work of Stanley Kubrick relates to them, Kubrick use of colour, lenses and shots to enhance the visual impact of his film, his use of unlikeable characters and cold tones to get the audience to participate in his films and his character driven narratives investigating human behaviour gives his film a personal style. As an auteur Kubrick is more than just another member of the film crew he is an artist and influential to the development of motion pictures.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Abstract-writing guidelines Essay

An abstract allows the author to communicate to his audience the critical information of his original research in a concise manner. Foote (2006) and December and Katz (nd) recommend that in writing a good abstract, it should contain four elements – background or objectives, methods, results and conclusion. The background highlights the research questions and/or hypotheses, the methods describe the study population, data gathering techniques and statistical analysis. The results indicate the most pertinent findings and should contain actual data (Maughan 2001) and illustrative examples. The conclusion summarizes the findings and implications of the study (Rooryck & van Heuven 2003). The abstract should be between 100 and 250 words (Foote 2006, Shannon 2000, Guidelines for writing an abstract n. d. ) and should never be longer than a page (Rooryck & van Heuven 2003). Staiger (1965) suggests that a good abstract can have as little as 150 words once the information is concisely presented. Shannon (2000) and December and Katz (n. d. ) advise that nonessential information such as literature reviews should be avoided. In terms of style only common abbreviations should be used and only minimally (Foote 2006, Shannon 2000) and jargons should not be used (Maughan 2001). The future tense, adverbs and adjectives should also be avoided. The text should flow and be intelligible and easily comprehended by non-specialists and international readers. Abstract The traditional pattern of negotiation and placing of insurance risk between brokers and underwriters follows a face-to-face and paper approach but the new electronic placing system (EPS) is available to allow for submitting, transmitting and negotiating risks and processing claims electronically. This study explores the reasons for introducing, causes for the slow adoption and resistance to the implementation of the EPS systems. In a longitudinal research between 1993 and 1996, we surveyed 94 senior Market management, IT directors and staff, brokers and underwriters in the London Insurance Market using semi-structured interviews, observations of insurance risk placement work practices along with resource reviews. Reasons for introducing, delaying or resisting EPS introduction were copied verbatim and categorized based on its impact on work transformation or professional identity in the workplace. EPS was implemented because of the benefits of productivity, efficiency, speed and cost, its capability to facilitate simultaneous risk transmissions and potential to broaden job horizons. Reasons for resisting or delaying introduction of EPS were the resulting minimization of client, broker and underwriter interaction, the EPS’ inability to transmit supporting customer documents to potential underwriters and its potential to undermine the professional role and identity of brokers and underwriters and to worsen employment conditions and job satisfaction. Brokers also saw EPS as a potential threat to their employment security. There is resistance to technological change in the London Insurance Market and failure to adopt these technologies. EPS challenges the traditional mode of operation. We recommend that there be a balance between the use of computer technologies and traditional methodologies. References December, J. & Katz, S. nd, ‘What is an abstract’ The writing center, [Online] Available at: http://www. rpi. edu/web/writingcenter/abstracts. html Foote, M. 2006, ‘Some concrete ideas about manuscript abstracts’, Chest, vol. 129, no. 5, p. 1375-1377. ‘Guidelines for writing an abstract’, Sigma Theta Tau, International, [Online] Available at: http://www. umassd. edu/nursing/theta_kappa/research_committee/guidelines_abstract. doc Maughan, R. 2001, ‘Editorial: abstract thoughts’, Journal of Sports Sciences, vol. 19, no. 5, p. 305. Rooryck, Johan & van Heuven, V. 2003, ‘Guidelines for writing abstracts’, Leiden University, [Online] Available at: http://www. unc. edu/linguistics/confinfo_files/hil-tips. pdf Shannon, S. 2000, ‘Writing a structured abstract’, Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal, vol. 51, no. 6, p. 328-329. Staiger, D. L. 1965, ‘What today’s students need to know about writing abstracts’, Journal of Business Communication, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 29-33. Walsham, G. 2001, Making a world of difference: IT in a global context, Wiley, Chichester, pp. 150-160.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Volcanoe Damage essays

Volcanoe Damage essays HOW DO THE FOLLOWING THINGS AFFECT THE DAMAGE ON A COUNTRY BY VOLCANIC ERUPTION: (A) Population density can affect the results of a natural hazard in several ways. Depending on how large a population is the amount of damage can vary. The larger the population the more people there are to get hurt so there is more chance of death for a larger population and the death rate would probably be higher. For a small population there are less people so there are less of them to get hurt. The higher the population is the more hoses and buildings there are likely to be surrounding a volcano so the more damage there will be to property and possessions. For a smaller population there is less property to be destroyed or lost so the chances are that less damage will occur s a result of the hazard. (B) The more economically developed a county is could be a good or bad thing in the time of a volcano. If the country is very developed e.g. Japan then there are more things to destroy that could be of use to the country. There are more buildings and probably a large population, so there is a large chance that this hazard will affect them a great deal. If a country is less economically developed there would be less damage sustained because e there is less to damage. On the other hand if a country is more economically developed then there is more chance that the country will have the equipment t o monitor the place which would give them time to evacuate the area making it safer for a larger population. (C) If a country is monitored then it could save thousands or even tens of thousands of lives. Mostly rich countries and countries with the most active volcanoes are monitored. Because the movements of the crust and the characteristics of the volcano are watched closely then it is easier to see when a volcano will erupt and with modern technology there is enough time to evacu ...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

How to Write Content Both Humans and Search Engines Love

How to Write Content Both Humans and Search Engines Love I’m a big fan of Google. That means that every single word that I write has the â€Å"mumbo jumbo† that appeals to search engines. In other words, each post that I write has at least some sort of keyword analysis to it. For example, this post itself is based around keywords like how to write for search engines and content writing. But, that’s not all. I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m a fan of writing for humans too. Why? Because even if you get ranked at the top, at the end of the day, Google doesn’t pay you, nor do they subscribe to your website. Humans do. That being said, it is an age long debate between SEOs  who you should really write for: search engines, or humans? Well, today, I’m going to show you how you can actually do both. In this post, I’ll share with you a little about the history behind the conflict between search engines and humans, why there has been so much debate going on around it. I will also go super in depth into how, by the end of reading this post, you can have a good idea of how to write content that both search engines and humans love. Let’s begin! Download Your Free SEO Content Template and Guide Bundle Creating the best content possible that achieves high search engine rankings and inspires readers to click isnt easy. That is, of course, unless you have these 12 free downloadable resources. Apply the advice youll get in this post with these free templates and guides: On-Page SEO Checklist SEO Content Strategy Guide Latent Semantic Indexing Infographic Best Time to Publish Blog Posts Guide Keyword Research Template SEO Rank Tracking Template Blog Post Outline Template Blog Post Writing Checklist Catchy Blog Title Infographic How to Write a Blog Post Template Emotional Power Words Tear Sheet Content Calendar Excel Template How This Post is Written I was originally going to write this post in the manner of a listicle, when I decided that â€Å"’s readers don’t need this! They don’t need another list telling them what to do!† And that’s true. The Internet’s already full of this stuff. That got me the idea of writing this post to be as actionable as possible. At every step of the way, I will be listing down particular steps that you can take, and apply immediately to your own blog. Recommended Reading: How to Boost Traffic With 34 Important SEO Tips You Need to Know (+ Free Kit) The Ultimate Blog Writing Process to Create Killer Posts How to Make an SEO Content Strategy That Will Improve Your #1-3 Results By 248% The Test Bed In order for us to understand this post in detail, we’ll have to use a standard post for our study. In this case, we’ll be using my post on LinkedIn profiles: The Debate Between Search Engines and Humans If you want to understand the debate between Search Engines and Humans, first you’ll have to understand how different these two beings analyze the same chunk of text. For this case study, let’s use the best search engine word reader that every WordPress owner knows and love: the YOAST analyser. Should you write for search engines, or for humans? The answer: both.Your SEO Best Friend, The YOAST Analyzer The Yoast Analyzer is a plugin  that you can install easily from the WordPress Repository, and is totally free (though it comes with paid upgrades that you really don’t need). Downloading Yoast Installing Yoast is pretty straightforward. First, you’d want to go to Plugins on your WordPress Dashboard. Click on it. Then, click on Add new on the top left-hand corner. Next, on the left-hand corner of the screen, you should see a box that looks like this: Type in Yoast, and you should see the following option at the bottom: Click on the blue install button (my button says active because it has already been installed). Accessing Yoast To access the Yoast analyser, simply click on Posts on the left hand side of your WordPress Dashboard: Next, choose a post that you’re working on: Then, inside the Edit Post section, scroll down to the bottom, and you’ll see the Yoast Plugin. The Yoast Analyzer displays key SEO information on your post that looks something like this: Here’s what the colors mean: Orange: Meh†¦Your content is good...but not that good Green: Yay! Red: Change it. NOW. Here's how to make the most out of @yoast for your #WordPress blogAnalyzing your Content for Search Engine-Friendliness The first thing we have to understand in order to create search engine friendly words, is to understand that how Yoast breaks down your post. In this section, you will learn all about the different ranking points that Yoast identifies after years of being in the industry as the top plugin for SEO. Step 1: Enter Your Focus Keyword The focus keyword is what the Yoast plugin operates around with. It’s this section that helps Yoast to analyze your post, and give you all the useful information that you saw in the screenshot above. Naturally, it’s also the first step that you should take when you use this plugin to analyze your text for search engine friendliness. Now, you try it: Select a keyword that you want to rank for, depending on the topic that you’ve earlier decided. For example, in the case of my LinkedIn profile post, I naturally chose to rank for the keywords Linkedin profile. If you’re just starting with writing a blog, you might want to consider using long tail keywords (3 or more words as your focus keyword), but for the sake of this tutorial, we will just keep things basic. Once you’ve decided on the keyword that you want to rank for, input your keyword into the focus keyword section, and wait, as YOAST analyses your text, and churns out your report. Step 2: Keep Your Slug Short and to the Point Simply speaking, the slug is simply the end phrase that your post URL ends with. For example, this is the slug of my LinkedIn article: Take note that the slug cannot contain stop words, which we will cover in Step 3. Take note that the slug should be short, concise, and should not contain irrelevant information in regards to your keyword. If you’re wondering what irrelevant information looks like, it might include the following: The date of your post The category of your blog The time that you posted One general rule of thumb that you can steal from me is to simply use the objective of your article and effect that it brings for the user. For the sake of helping you to understand what objective and effect is, here’s a deeper explanation: Objective: What is the purpose of the article? What is the article based around? Effect: What end goal or effect does it bring the user? What benefits can the user expect out of the article? The first step is to go your headline, and identify what your objective and effect is. For example, going back to my LinkedIn article, my post title looks like this: As you can see, I’ve identified the objectives and the effect of the LinkedIn post, which then gives me a starting point for my slug. In this case, my objectives and effect look something like this: Objective: LinkedIn profiles. Obviously, since the entire article is dedicated to talking about LinkedIn profiles, this part is a no-brainer. Effect: Simple steps. It’s a list of simple things that readers can do to get their desired effect. Converts. What’s the point of writing up a LinkedIn profile if it doesn’t convert? This is a sure winner. When you piece together the Effect and Objective of your title, it becomes super easy for you to come up with a decent slug. Here are some examples that I came up with for my post: Powerful-linkedin-profile Highly-converting-linkedin-profile Simple-steps-linkedin-profile-converts As you can see, I chose the first one, because I felt that it was more direct, to the point, and more importantly, search engine friendly for that particular keyword. Now that you understand what a slug is, it's time to understand what stop words are. Quick #SEO tip: make your slugs search engine-friendly.Step 3: Inbound and Outbound links Links are at the heart of the internet. They help search engines understand website, and they also help humans to better reach and access information. In other words, every time you create a blog post, be sure to do your linking correctly, if you want both search engines and humans to love it. Links consists of two types: inbound and outbound. Inbound Links Inbound links are links that pointing internally within your site, and are also known as internal links. In other words, these are links that you point out to the other pages in your website. For example, if I were to do a post on content marketing, and the work that I have done as a Content Marketing Consultant, I could include a simple line in my post that says â€Å"after being in the Content Marketing field for 6 years...† I could then point a link from the sentence to a page where I talk more about my Consulting career, and how I can help my clients. Internal links help search engines to better understand where all the information is connected together, and how your site functions. This means that from a technical standpoint, it’s a bonus for the search engines, because they don’t have to run into walls every time they crawl your site. Also, internal links help your audience to stay on your site longer, because you are hopefully pointing them elsewhere with relevant information, which then helps them to understand what you do, and what your site is about. Needless to say, your bounce rate (the percentage of people who leave your site without any engagement with it) decreases because your visitors are now staying longer on your site, because they're more engaged with your content. For example, at Contentrific, I found that by increasing the number of internal links to my site by five, I found out that my bounce rate actually decreased by roughly 7%, which is not too bad for a start. How can adding internal links help decrease bounce rates?Outbound Links On the other hand, external links are links that are actually pointing out from your site. In other words, they are links that point search engines from your site to other websites. To really understand external links, it's best to use an example. Imagine that you have a new shoe company in town. You’re trying to tell the town hall to put up advertisements on their noticeboards, so that you can advertise your town. But imagine the town hall doesn’t really understand what you’re saying. â€Å"Is it an apparel shop?† â€Å"Do you sell food there?† Frustrated, you come up with a brilliant reference for them: â€Å"My shop is like a Nike of this town.† Now imagine the collective sigh that the town office gives you, when they finally understand it. If you haven’t guessed it yet, the town hall was Google in my example, and your shop was your website. By externally linking out to other authority sites like Nike (assuming your site sells shoes and sports apparel), it helps search engines like Google to better understand your site by referring your content and pointing them towards authority sites that have already been ranked highly. For example, if I were to do a post on content marketing, I’d make it a point to link out to other   learning resources on authoritative sites like Content Marketing Institute, Copyblogger, and any other sites that have been around for awhile. Think of Google as a learning baby,  and your objective is to teach this baby how to associate red with danger, green with go, and so on. Although it might not seem like a lot, these changes do contribute to an increased ranking when it all adds up. Don't worry that you might be pointing to your competitors, because in due time, you'll just rub the authority that they have, establishing yourself as the main voice in your industry as well. Step 4: Length of Text The length of your blog post plays a significant role in getting your posts to rank. Long-form blog posts are also increasingly becoming the most popular form of content of choice, because of the changes in Google’s algorithm in the recent years. So what exactly is long-form content? To put it simply, you can assume that you’re writing long form content when your blog posts go beyond 1,500 words. You’re writing long form content when your blog posts go beyond 1,500 wordsMy personal recommendation is to write content that goes above 2,500 words, since it has been proven extensively that this form of content is the ideal type of content that gets the most number of social shares and engagements  (assuming you don't have time to write mega posts of 8,000 words like I do). At every step of the way, you want to make sure that the content that you put out is not just there so that you can hit the word count, but actively works to elaborate and reinforce your main point. For example, if you're writing a post on LinkedIn profiles, you'd want to write extensively on the different aspects of a LinkedIn profile, instead of just the usual â€Å"create an account on LinkedIn and start filling it up†. A good start point for elaborating on your main topic is to find related topics and subtopics to write about. The key point is to fill up the meat of your content, so that it becomes an impressive hamburger that your readers will boast about to their friends. Step 5: Keyword Density Keyword density is simply technical jargon which basically means the number of times that particular Focus keyword appears in your content. For example, if my focus keyword is "linkedin profile," then the measure of my keyword density is the number of times the words â€Å"linkedin profile† appears in my entire blog post. In general, it is best to come up with keyword density of more than 1.5%; if you can't go higher than 2%, it would be best. Take note, however, that over-stuffing your posts with keywords is a bad thing. This gives a negative signal to Google that you're trying to flood your blog post with the key word, in an attempt to rank for it, instead of really providing information that shows value to the reader. Recommended Reading: Your Ultimate Content Marketer's Guide to Keyword Research Step 6: SEO title Your SEO title is something that you want to pay particular attention to, mainly because your headline is a key make or break factor that determines whether or not a reader clicks through to your article. Now, this is where it gets a little bit tricky. It's tricky because marketers and bloggers like you have to come up with SEO titles that are both human friendly, which means it intrigues, persuades, and excites, but it also has to be easy enough for search engines to understand it at a glance. Fortunately, Yoast makes this extremely easy for us. Just follow the green button! Kidding. Recommended Reading: Here Are the 101 Catchy Blog Title Formulas That Will Boost Traffic By 438% Step 7: Length of Page Title The next step that we have to take is to make sure that your page title isn't too Long. It's important for you to pay close attention to the length of the page title, since you wouldn't want your title to cut off mid way like so: Step 8: Focus Keyword Appears in URL Next, you have to make sure that the focus keyword that you've selected earlier is included in the URL. In other words, make sure that your focus keyword is included your slug as we've mentioned in step 2. This might actually get a little confusing, since we just covered the topic of effect and objective, but if you get your objective right, it’s a piece of cake. For example, if I were to do a blog post about tennis balls, and the main objective is tennis balls, why wouldn’t you place the words tennis balls in your URL? Chances are, you would. Step 9: First Paragraph of Copy Search engines tend to prioritize the words that you place in front of your copy, as opposed to the words at the back. More specifically, by placing your focus keyword in the first paragraph of your content, you’re telling Google â€Å"Hey! This keyword has been repeated in the page title, the URL, as well as the first paragraph!† What does that tell you? It tells you that the keyword is something that Google should pay extra attention to. For example, if I were to do a post on blogging, but I only mention the keyword â€Å"blogging† at last paragraph of my blog post, how relevant do you think my article is? Well, search engines work in roughly the same way as well. Recommended Reading: How to Maximize Your On-Page SEO in 2017 With One Awesome Checklist Step 10: Meta Description Although the meta description has been widely debated by SEOs whether it is a ranking factor, it is generally agreed that they are relevant for driving human interaction with a site. This is because when a searcher searches for information about a particular topic or question on Google, the queries come back to him/her looking like this: The shaded portion is where the meta description is located. Can you see why it is still considered important, even though most SEOs think that it’s not considered a ranking factor? Think of your meta description as an elevator pitch of sorts. Its job is to condense the information in the post into either a question or a sentence, to attract the attention of the reader, and convince them to click  through. The important points that you must have in your meta description are: A value proposition of the article Clear, concise summary of the article Create points of intrigue about your article, so that the prospective reader is incentivised to click through Make sure that your keyword is also included in the Meta Description. You don’t need to place your keyword at the front of your Meta Description. Step 11: Single Instance of Keyword This might come as a shock to you, but when I first started out in SEO, I initially thought that the way to rank for keywords on Google was to create a ton of content around the same keyword! Boy, was I an idiot. But, now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense why I would think this way. It’s because most gurus online didn’t explain it clearly, or didn’t bother to explain it at all. When they say â€Å"create more content around your keyword†, it doesn’t mean create more content that are around the same keyword. Instead, what you should do is to create content around related keywords to your main keywords. Create content around related keywords to your main keywords.For example, in my LinkedIn profile writing article, my main keyword is obviously on LinkedIn profiles, but the topic is about LinkedIn in general. If I want to â€Å"create content around the same keyword,† what I should instead do is to find related keywords around the general topic â€Å"LinkedIn†, and find other keywords that are related to it. In this case, I can create come up with keywords such as: LinkedIn Publishing LinkedIn Sales Emails LInkedin Groups You get the point. When you create related content around a certain set of keywords (or keyword groups), you are in fact re-emphasising to search engine that your blog and website is about those particular group of keywords. Just don’t make the same mistake I did by using the same keyword over and over again- that’s suicide! Recommended Reading: How to Improve Your Keyword Research With Latent Semantic Indexing Before We Proceed to the Human Side ... Whew! We just covered what it takes to write for search engines. That’s a lot to digest (I know, my content gets comments like that all the time), but it’s information worthy to know. But, since this post is also about writing for humans, let’s cover that in the next section. What About Human Readers? Obviously, since this post is about search engines and human readers, we can’t continue without defining what human reading is. For those of you who are experienced bloggers (as I know you are, because you use :P), you’ll know that YOAST provides another section that helps you to analyse your post, and see if it scores well in the human’s eye too. This section is called the Readability Section. Again, access your Yoast Analyzer in your Edit Posts page, then click on Readability. You should see the Analyzer display a completely different set of information on your post. Again, the colors green, orange and red mean the same thing as I’ve mentioned above. Understanding the Different Factors that Make Up Human-Friendly Words In the next section of our post, we're going to take a look at the different factors that give us an understanding of how to write persuasively toward human readers. But before we proceed, let's take a look at the objectives of writing for humans: We want readers to subscribe We want to persuade readers to take a specific action Readers of our content have to be convinced that the content has value They have to find that the information on the blog post is easy to consume Now that we've defined the objectives of writing for humans, let's see what Yoast gives us. Step 1: Subheadings Do you like to read chunks of messages that are lumped together? I didn’t think so. That’s where subheadings come in handy. Subheadings are headings other than the H1 tag in your blog post: Generally, you’d want to make sure that you follow these steps when you write content on your blog: Have a subheading every 300 words Include your focus keyword in your subheadings - this keeps things on track for the reader too Include only 1 H1 in your content Step 2: Write Sentences No More Than 20 Words Long This should be a no-brainer too. Generally speaking, when you write sentences that are short and concise, it's easier to read your content. Step 3: The Reading Test Recently, I started seeing plenty of bloggers and writers trying too hard to write like the â€Å"big boys†, where they staff a ton of technical jargon and hard to understand sentences into their posts. While it's important to show that you know your stuff, it can hurt readability in the Long run, and lose you more readers than you would otherwise. For example, this post could have been explained using terms like canonical keywords, technical on-audits, and so on, but I deliberately chose to right in a simple way. But why? Shouldn't we write to impress? No. You should instead write to achieve your blogging goals, which most of the time means getting new subscribers to your website. Think about it this way. How are you supposed to convince new visitors on your site, sign up for your newsletter when they don't have a clue what you're talking about? For that reason, I always make it a point to  write in a way that even a high school kid will be able to understand. As a rule of thumb, you should always assume the majority of your readers are total beginners. In fact, Copyblogger did a case study, and they found out the number of beginners visiting their site was a staggering 80%, while advanced users were at 20%. How much traffic did you just lose? In fact, total beginners are the people who are trying to search for information the most, and the most desperate for a solution. If you can put across a concept or technique easily, in a way that is able to relate to that pain point, why won't they subscribe to you? Recommended Reading: How to Build New Marketing Skills in 11 Simple Steps (Backed By Science) Step 4: Paragraph Length With the attention span of a reader significantly reducing, it becomes harder and harder for marketers and content creators to maintain the level of attention to the words that we are saying. This means that any small mistake with the formatting of your content will turn off your readers, and significantly increase your bounce rate. And when it comes to keeping the attention of your readers, one of the most important aspects of overall readability of your content is the length of your paragraphs. Why is it so important to have paragraphs done right? Because the length of your paragraph creates an overall look and feel of your content. Which would you rather choose to read? Chances are, you’d choose the one on the right. Tip: For best results, keep your lengths to 20 words per sentence and no more than three sentences per paragraph. Step 5: Transition Words/Phrases Transition words are words that help to guide readers along your content. They make reading your content easier, in short. When you write blog posts, especially blog posts that are actionable in nature, you’d want to use words like these: Step 6: Passive Voice If you take away one piece of advice today from this post, and it'd be to  never write in a passive voice. I say this again. Never write in a passive voice. But, what exactly is passive voice? I'll give you an example. Say for example we are writing a simple sentence describing an elephant in a forest. Can you guess which voice is passive, and which is not? â€Å"The elephant went through the forest and came out a teddy bear† Versus: â€Å"An elephant is the best companion that you can have when you go to the forest, because it’ll become a teddy bear† The first one is the passive voice. Passive voice makes your content dull, monotonous, and irritating to read, because the reader is not a part of the action. For example, Ramit Sethi, one of the world’s top bloggers, uses a ton of active voice in his content. This keeps his content engaging, and is the main reason why readers read to the last sentence. Why should you never write in passive voice?Four Additional Tips So†¦ the key idea is to follow whatever Yoast tells us, and we’ll be alright, right? Well, not quite. You see, much as Yoast is a great plugin, it can only do so much by analyzing our text. The truth is, there are many other ways that you can improve your content, so that both search engines and your readers will love it. Since there are an endless number of ways that you can go about doing it (maybe I should come up with a blog post about it in the future), I’ll just list down four simple steps in this post that you can take additionally to improve your content.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Contemporary Issues in Consumer Bahaviour Essay

Contemporary Issues in Consumer Bahaviour - Essay Example Within the broader framework of globalisation and market capitalism, consumption choices give special meanings and symbols to individuals that make it attractive to consumers and help develop consumer culture that thrives on consumption. Aldridge’s ‘classification of images of consumers in Western discourses’ therefore indicates restructuring of the social identity based on evolving consumer culture. The notion of consumer discourse is broadly social and refers to consumers’ social practices that are influenced by myriad socio-psychological compulsions which influence his/her consumption pattern. Consumption has emerged as a concept which is market driven and highlights complex relationships between interrelated elements of the market that are intrinsically linked to consumer behaviour. It is distinct in its social identity, social activity and cause. The consumption of commercial goods becomes important because of the role of external environment that tends to impact consumers through rhetorical communication used by producers of goods and services. The various discourses adopted by the market give it a unique perspective that promotes consumer culture defined by new values and based on consumption of goods. Aldridge (2003: 7) analyses the discourse on growing consumption compulsions and investigates the way people are redefining not only their values but also the way they see themselves as consumers in contemporary society. He emphasizes that the images of consumers are need driven but at the same time, those needs are continuously being manipulated by external environment of personal and professional rivalry. Thus, consumers have becomes more conscious of the way they are likely to view themselves and also the way others look at them. He also says that modes of communication like advertisements greatly influence their behavioural pattern and consumption habits.