A Practitioner’s Guide to Ethical Decision Making

Holly Forester-Miller, Ph. D. Thomas Davis, Ph. D. Copyright  © 1996, American Counseling Association. A free publication of the American Counseling Association promoting ethical counseling practice in service to the public. — Printed and bound copies may be purchased in quantity for a nominal fee from the Online Resource Catalog or by calling the ACA Distribution Center at 800. 422. 2648.ACA grants reproduction rights to libraries, researchers and teachers who wish to copy all or part of the contents of this document for scholarly purposes provided that no fee for the use or possession of such copies is charged to the ultimate consumer of the copies. Proper citation to ACA must be given. Introduction Counselors are often faced with situations which require sound ethical decision making ability. Determining the appropriate course to take when faced with a difficult ethical dilemma can be a challenge.To assist ACA members in meeting this challenge, the ACA Ethics Committee ha s developed A Practitioner's Guide to Ethical Decision Making. The intent of this document is to offer professional counselors a framework for sound ethical decision making. The following will address both guiding principles that are globally valuable in ethical decision making, and a model that professionals can utilize as they address ethical questions in their work. Moral Principles Kitchener (1984) has identified five moral principles that are viewed as the cornerstone of our ethical guidelines.Ethical guidelines can not address all situations that a counselor is forced to confront. Reviewing these ethical principles which are at the foundation of the guidelines often helps to clarify the issues involved in a given situation. The five principles, autonomy, justice, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and fidelity are each absolute truths in and of themselves. By exploring the dilemma in regards to these principles one may come to a better understanding of the conflicting issues. 1. Aut onomy is the principle that addresses the concept of independence.The essence of this principle is allowing an individual the freedom of choice and action. It addresses the responsibility of the counselor to encourage clients, when appropriate, to make their own decisions and to act on their own values. There are two important considerations in encouraging clients to be autonomous. First, helping the client to understand how their decisions and their values may or may not be received within the context of the society in which they live, and how they may impinge on the rights of others.The second consideration is related to the client's ability to make sound and rational decisions. Persons not capable of making competent choices, such as children, and some individuals with mental handicaps, should not be allowed to act on decisions that could harm themselves or others. 2. Nonmaleficence is the concept of not causing harm to others. Often explained as â€Å"above all do no harm†, this principle is considered by some to be the most critical of all the principles, even though theoretically they are all of equal weight (Kitchener, 1984; Rosenbaum, 1982; Stadler, 1986).This principle reflects both the idea of not inflicting intentional harm, and not engaging in actions that risk harming others (Forester-Miller & Rubenstein, 1992). 3. Beneficence reflects the counselor's responsibility to contribute to the welfare of the client. Simply stated it means to do good, to be proactive and also to prevent harm when possible (Forester-Miller & Rubenstein, 1992). 4. Justice does not mean treating all individuals the same.Kitchener (1984) points out that the formal meaning of justice is â€Å"treating equals equally and unequals unequally but in proportion to their relevant differences† (p. 49). If an individual is to be treated differently, the counselor needs to be able to offer a rationale that explains the necessity and appropriateness of treating this indivi dual differently. 5. Fidelity involves the notions of loyalty, faithfulness, and honoring commitments. Clients must be able to trust the counselor and have faith in the therapeutic relationship if growth is to occur.Therefore, the counselor must take care not to threaten the therapeutic relationship nor to leave obligations unfulfilled. When exploring an ethical dilemma, you need to examine the situation and see how each of the above principles may relate to that particular case. At times this alone will clarify the issues enough that the means for resolving the dilemma will become obvious to you. In more complicated cases it is helpful to be able to work through the steps of an ethical decision making model, and to assess which of these moral principles may be in conflict.Ethical Decision Making Model We have incorporated the work of Van Hoose and Paradise (1979), Kitchener (1984), Stadler (1986), Haas and Malouf (1989), Forester-Miller and Rubenstein (1992), and Sileo and Kopala ( 1993) into a practical, sequential, seven step, ethical decision making model. A description and discussion of the steps follows. 1. Identify the Problem. Gather as much information as you can that will illuminate the situation. In doing so, it is important to be as specific and objective as possible. Writing ideas on paper may help you gain clarity.Outline the facts, separating out innuendos, assumptions, hypotheses, or suspicions. There are several questions you can ask yourself: Is it an ethical, legal, professional, or clinical problem? Is it a combination of more than one of these? If a legal question exists, seek legal advice. Other questions that it may be useful to ask yourself are: Is the issue related to me and what I am or am not doing? Is it related to a client and/or the client's significant others and what they are or are not doing? Is it related to the institution or agency and their policies and procedures?If the problem can be resolved by implementing a policy of an institution or agency, you can look to the agency's guidelines. It is good to remember that dilemmas you face are often complex, so a useful guideline is to examine the problem from several perspectives and avoid searching for a simplistic solution. 2. Apply the ACA Code of Ethics. After you have clarified the problem, refer to the Code of Ethics (ACA, 2005) to see if the issue is addressed there. If there is an applicable standard or several standards and they are specific and clear, following the course of action indicated should lead to a resolution of the problem.To be able to apply the ethical standards, it is essential that you have read them carefully and that you understand their implications. If the problem is more complex and a resolution does not seem apparent, then you probably have a true ethical dilemma and need to proceed with further steps in the ethical decision making process. 3. Determine the nature and dimensions of the dilemma. There are several avenues to foll ow in order to ensure that you have examined the problem in all its various dimensions. Consider the moral principles of autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, and fidelity. Decide which principles apply to the specific situation, and determine which principle takes priority for you in this case. In theory, each principle is of equal value, which means that it is your challenge to determine the priorities when two or more of them are in conflict. o Review the relevant professional literature to ensure that you are using the most current professional thinking in reaching a decision. o Consult with experienced professional colleagues and/or supervisors.As they review with you the information you have gathered, they may see other issues that are relevant or provide a perspective you have not considered. They may also be able to identify aspects of the dilemma that you are not viewing objectively. o Consult your state or national professional associations to see if they can pro vide help with the dilemma. 4. Generate potential courses of action. Brainstorm as many possible courses of action as possible. Be creative and consider all options. If possible, enlist the assistance of at least one colleague to help you generate options. . Consider the potential consequences of all options and determine a course of action. Considering the information you have gathered and the priorities you have set, evaluate each option and assess the potential consequences for all the parties involved. Ponder the implications of each course of action for the client, for others who will be effected, and for yourself as a counselor.Eliminate the options that clearly do not give the desired results or cause even more problematic consequences. Review the remaining options to determine which option or ombination of options best fits the situation and addresses the priorities you have identified. 6. Evaluate the selected course of action. Review the selected course of action to see if it presents any new ethical considerations. Stadler (1986) suggests applying three simple tests to the selected course of action to ensure that it is appropriate. In applying the test of justice, assess your own sense of fairness by determining whether you would treat others the same in this situation. For the test of publicity, ask yourself whether you would want your behavior reported in the press.The test of universality asks you to assess whether you could recommend the same course of action to another counselor in the same situation. If the course of action you have selected seems to present new ethical issues, then you'll need to go back to the beginning and reevaluate each step of the process. Perhaps you have chosen the wrong option or you might have identified the problem incorrectly. If you can answer in the affirmative to each of the questions suggested by Stadler (thus passing the tests of justice, publicity, and universality) and you are satisfied that ou have selected an appropriate course of action, then you are ready to move on to implementation. 7. Implement the course of action. Taking the appropriate action in an ethical dilemma is often difficult. The final step involves strengthening your ego to allow you to carry out your plan. After implementing your course of action, it is good practice to follow up on the situation to assess whether your actions had the anticipated effect and consequences. The Ethical Decision Making Model at a Glance 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Identify the problem. Apply the ACA Code of Ethics.Determine the nature and dimensions of the dilemma. Generate potential courses of action. Consider the potential consequences of all options, choose a course of action. Evaluate the selected course of action. Implement the course of action. It is important to realize that different professionals may implement different courses of action in the same situation. There is rarely one right answer to a complex ethical dilemma. However, if you follow a systematic model, you can be assured that you will be able to give a professional explanation for the course of action you chose.Van Hoose and Paradise (1979) suggest that a counselor â€Å"is probably acting in an ethically responsible way concerning a client if (1) he or she has maintained personal and professional honesty, coupled with (2) the best interests of the client, (3) without malice or personal gain, and (4) can justify his or her actions as the best judgment of what should be done based upon the current state of the profession† (p. 58). Following this model will help to ensure that all four of these conditions have been met.

The Dowry System

My beloved girl, I love you†¦ I care you†¦ I want you†¦ I am constructing these high walls so that you will be secured†¦ You stay in this kitchen that no one else would stare at my beloved†¦ I will look after you well because your father has paid me well and full†¦ You are my great treasure. So I am locking you up in these heavy chains that no one will take away you†¦ Don’t move. I will protect you†¦ Because, You are my beloved wife†¦ FOR SALE India is a great land that has its rich heritage from the Vedic culture.From the very beginning of civilizations itself women had a great prominence in the society. She was worshipped as a deity, she was given respect and even the nature or the ‘prakrithi ’ was considered to be a woman. The later period witnessed a gradual transition and a gender discrimination occurred leading to the marginalization of women. We see in the epic, Ramayana saying that woman has to be protected by h er father in her adolescent period, husband in the youth and by her son in her old age. The woman does not deserve freedom any time.There were customs that ‘bought’ beautiful young bride to the family after ‘paying’ a good amount to bride’s parents. Even in this cyber century we see this being followed deliberately in the educated society and the greatest, disgusting evil that comes out of this marginalization is the â€Å"dowry system† or as it is presently called ‘The gift system’ . An embryo formed with two X chromosome is hunted from the very stage when it is called ‘she’ or ‘girl’. And then it is what Simon de Bouveire said, â€Å"A WOMAN IS NOT BORN. SHE IS MADE†. A girl child born to a family often hears,’ look, you are a girl’.This is how the stereotyping occurs. She is taught certain ‘norms’ that society constructed, forced to do certain assigned duties and is br ought up to be a good wife and good mother. She is expected to be caring, loving, passionate, sacrificing, and hardworking and express the so called ‘feminine qualities’. She is then sold and bought to another family†¦ Marriage is the happy blending of two individuals with the vows made to love and take care of each other. It is the harmony between two families too. Earlier woman was made to sit at home and look after her husband and children.Dowries were given as an asset or help to the family in case some tragedy occur to her husband. It was a help. In the later stages it began to be a ‘demand’. Now it is the matter of ‘pride’. When the dowry prohibition acts imposed tried to halt these it was the birth of the â€Å"GIFT SYSTEM†. Marriage is considered to have occurred in the heavens. It is wished to be happy. But sometimes it becomes a lifelong chain to woman. From time the girl child is born, her parents often think about her ma rriage. The price to be offered and the jewels to be bought are calculated equally among the rich and the poor.The poor and the middle class suffer mostly due to this system. The Dalit woman has to undergo double marginalization, the caste and the gender. The parent has to work hard to find ways that can ‘marry of’ the girl and the families often get into heavy debt once the ceremonies get over. The stage were dowry became a demand was the most ‘tragic period’ were girls married were slaughtered by their merciless â€Å"destiny†. Even after the marriage money is demanded again and again by the husband and the in laws. They are threatened that the girl would be send back to home at the failure of the demands.After the ceaseless suffering the bride finally is killed or commits suicide. This was called ‘Bride burning’. This was often ignored by the society calling it a suicide. It is in this background that the Dowry prohibition act came in to existence to ensure the equality and rights promised by the Indian constitution. When the law imposed limitations this was modified and known as The Gift System. Luxury car, Gold showered and the pocket money are ‘gifted’ to their daughter and her husband. There is a clear cut violation of the law with the permission of the ‘accused and the victims’.It is now matter of the Pride of the family. This shows how deeply this is rooted in each Indian. The wedding ceremonies take an amount more than a development scheme of a slum takes. Can a change be brought to this system? Earlier we could say that this was due to ignorance. But now how could educated women in a well developed society be a part of this? Feminism movements could not make a change to this evil. It’s each of us that encourage these. It’s ironic that woman who are on the boy’s side are more vicious to the bride. It should be understood that it’s not part of pride but Vanity.Each has their own role to do in this matter. The bride and her parents should pay respect to themselves and keep their dignity. She is not a commodity FOR SALE. Boys should be bold enough to say that they are stubborn to look after the family without the dowry. It should be the girl that they should marry. The ones who go for dowry should be ashamed to put a price tag on their wife. The girl should have the freedom to come to her home at any circumstance and get divorce at the worst. Pay respect to each other and keep up individuality. Make relations healthy and happy. Let them no more be in tears.

Planning Careers and Demand Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Planning Careers and Demand - Essay Example re also applicable in the United States? And (2) if so, what career advice would you give to these people if you were mentoring them? Specify three key pieces of advice. Planning Careers and Demand Applicability of Findings The findings in the United Kingdom indicating that the trend for college graduates is to look for jobs that accord vast opportunities for career breaks could not possibly be applicable in the United States. As aptly quoted from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics regarding career decisions, â€Å"making informed career decisions requires reliable information about opportunities in the future. Opportunities result from the relationships between the population, labor force, and the demand for goods and service† (cited from The Indians Abroad, 2009, par. 1). ... y Anderson (2001) acknowledged that "workers in the United States are putting in more hours than anyone else in the industrialized world" (Anderson, 2001, par. 1). The above information disputes UK’s trend on college graduates’ priorities on career breaks as being likewise applicable in the US. The mere fact that students opted to pursue college careers indicate that they are holistically prepared to get into the greater responsibilities, accountabilities accorded to college graduates – with the aim of being remunerated more than their non-college degree holder counterparts who are looking for employment. These groups of graduates are more high achievement oriented and recognize the need to earn more while the demands for their respective professions are high. Further, the basic difference in UK and US economy pertains to availment of health insurance benefits. The National Health Service (NHS) of the UK â€Å"provides free essential health care for all UK citiz ens - regardless of age, occupation or the ability to pay† (Healthinsurance, 2010, par. 1). In contrast, health insurance in the US is still being reformed to accommodate millions of uninsured Americans, who could not afford to pay for insurance coverages and therefore need to seek for appropriate high-paying jobs to afford exorbitant health insurance fees and medical costs. Thus, while newly hired college graduates in the UK could afford to look forward to career breaks, their counterparts in the US need to work their way up the organizational ladder to save for a rainy day. Finally, there really is a big difference in the standard paid vacation between the UK and the US. Infoplease (2011) cited the World Tourism Organization’s data which revealed that the number of days of paid vacation per year that

Stem Cell Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Stem Cell Research - Essay Example Scientists and researchers have continually been trying to develop ways in order for society to have healthier lives. The use of stem cells may be one of the best answers yet. â€Å"Stem cells hold a lot of promise to cure many nasty diseases.†(Cline) There should be no debate on its application. Indeed, there is an ethical issue to be resolved. Nevertheless, if the stem cells were to be used to further life, I think the ethical issue surrounding this side of stem cell research should easily be resolved. If not, then other scientific approaches to furthering life that are being practiced now such as organ transplant should be paused as well until a decision is made on stem cell research. When a person is in a coma, doctors and family depend on brain activity to determine progress. This goes to show how important the brain is for a person to function well. As such, cures for neurological diseases should be of utmost concern. If stem cell research appears to be the answer, why not

Petro-geology, petro-politics,and frontiers for Iraq(2005onward) Term Paper

Petro-geology, petro-politics,and frontiers for Iraq(2005onward) - Term Paper Example All these elements were already identifiable by the initial exploration geologists; thus a general procedure of exploration was to conduct drilling of the peak of the anticlines. Kirkuk is renown, very lengthy anticline, which was amongst the first sites to be drilled (Benko, 2008). The extensive reserves revealed in the carbonate basins gave a constructive response to the above mentioned discovery tactic, and in the preceding years a huge number of topographically articulate anticlines were bored. Even though a majority of these structures had a very huge amount of hydrocarbons, impenetrable exemptions do exist, or different explanations concerning reservoir rocks and their efficacy (Hips, 2008). In some oil mine fields of varying eminence, or gas and condensate was revealed in the matching reservoirs. It came to be noticed later on that cretaceous fonts are slightly established. The oil kept in the Cretaceous is obtained from a Cretaceous font. It is decayed in the open parts and n on-biodegraded in the deeper parts; though still at depth the tar is unaffected. In agreement with other regional research, the Jurassic foundation rocks are affluent and are in the oil window (Jassim & Goff, 2006). The carbonate font may give an explanation for the high quantity of sulphur and the considerably high viscosity, but the resultant oils must be of better quality than what is actually established. It was initially presumed that a sediment or gravitational division took place (Sarbazheri, Ghafor & Muhammed, 2009). All in all, more unstable divisions tend to be missing from these oil deposits. The system of Triassic must be late oil to damp gas established, and the petroleum established there keep up a correspondence to the proposed maturity of the origin (Pitman, Steinshouer & Lewan, 2005). Oil Frontiers in Iraq Iraqi Kurdistan region, celebrated by intercontinental petroleum firms as the final frontier for ashore gas and oil discovery, is making efforts to improve its en ergy infrastructure. Greeters at Erbil’s international airport have a sign that sums it all: Weatherford, General Electric, and Reliance-the forerunner of a wave of important new entrance prepared to bore wells or construct pipelines, energy factories and oil refineries (Navabpour, Angelier & Barrier, 2007). The main point of reference of the location’s gas and oil producers is that aid is within reach. This was the main motivation given the fact that in recent times the Kurdistan’s revolutionary oil and gas manufacturers had to be their own drilling and hauling service providers, engineers, repair men, and even mine cleaners. One of the founders of oil and gas exploration is the UAE that found Crescent Petroleum, which started manufacturing gas in Kurdistan in the late 2008. The Corporation’s CEO recounts the major challenges experienced in transporting over 60,000 metric tons of steel and marshalling numerous truckloads over the Turkish border in effort to establish their plant for oil and gas production. This was during the construction of the pipeline. They had to cross the rivers, construct bridges and clear the mines according to the report released by (Robert, 2006). The current situation is very different as power generation plant has been installed, facilitating a transition from the 185 MW supply of power to the current supply of 2,200 MW by use of a twin 50-year old hydroelectric power plant

Cross-Cultural Communication in the Management Research Paper

Cross-Cultural Communication in the Management - Research Paper Example In a progressively international construction market, communication problems will pose as one of the most crucial tests facing construction project managers. Having said that, the researcher recognized that an understanding of the importance and impacts of cross-cultural communication and the means by which it can be managed will provide the capacity to meet and get past these challenges; therefore justifying the need to study it. It consists of the effective rules for doing business, the boundaries between competitive and unethical behavior and the codes of conduct in business dealings. Business cultures differ and are affected by different cultural priorities and what is acceptable and allowable by society. This kind or culture is not immune to collision and that they particularly do so in the context of a foreign environment where business and cultural priorities differ from one’s own way of doing things. In addition, an integrated cultural framework is going to be devised so as to pinpoint the major differences in culture. To summarize, international project management necessitates an effective process regarding communication assessment. Tone identified several areas wherein varied cultures play a part in project management. He noted two situations that if not taken seriously and not dealt with will cause cultural difficulties. The first scenario is where a Canadian project manager for example and a manager in China, manage a construction bridge in a particular country which is both not their own.

1.Identify 10-15 food crops that originated in the Old World (Africa, Essay

1.Identify 10-15 food crops that originated in the Old World (Africa, Asia and Europe) and the New World (the Americas) - Essay Example Each of these groups of food crops originating from the separate worlds has an impact on the modern global food system. Rice is considered one of the most significant and main sources of food for more than three billion individuals in the world today. In the modern world, rice cultivation has contributed to poverty eradication in many parts of the world, enhanced food security, and also contributed to a lot of developments. In other worlds, rice cultivation has enable people from all corners of the world to access enough food to sustain their lives (419). As fruits, pineapples have a lot of health benefits. Including them in the diet means that an individual is benefiting from a balanced diet and hence certain illnesses associated with poor diets are eliminated. Pineapples are either sold fresh or are used to make fresh fruit juice. Fresh juice has a lot of health benefits. Cultivation of pineapples is also a source of revenue or capital to a lot of people in the world. People are also able to purchase pineapples and its products locally instead of importing. In doing so, revenue is maintained locally and hence farmers are able to expand and sustain their farming

Fast, global,and entrepreneurial; supply chain management , hong kong Case Study - 1

Fast, global,and entrepreneurial; supply chain management , hong kong style and interview with victor fung - Case Study Example Several changes have been done since its establishment in a bid to conform to the recent demands in the supply chain management field. Globalization has brought about increased interactions among countries in different continents. As such there has been increased focus on eliminating some of the most recurrent challenges faced during conduction of international business such as language barrier. Organizations conducting international businesses have invested deeply in overcoming language barriers among other challenges leading to elimination of intermediaries such as interpreters. During the first years of its establishment, Li Fung ripped heavily from interpretation due to the ability of its founder to speak English. However, such a role in the modern day is seemingly irrelevant hence the need to come up with other strategies to gain competitive advantage. For instance, Li Fung came shifted focus to production of full products from the entire region rather than a single product from one place. This increased relevance of the company in the supply chain since an organization could rely on Li Fung to get all necessa ry materials required at one point. This implies that organizations need to constantly come up with strategies corresponding to market changes in order to prevent elimination. However, production techniques changed once again hence Li Fung was now charged with the responsibility of managing the entire production process for its clients to come with a finished product. However, changes in economic status in Hong Kong triggered yet another shift to employment of dispersed production. This shows that market status is heavily dependent on the economy among other external factors. The changes evident in the life span of Li Fung are a clear indicator of the many changes requiring attention taking effect in the supply chain management sector. This implies that

Lord of the Flies Essay Example for Free

Lord of the Flies Essay Every child, regardless of when, loses their innocence; it is inevitable. In Lord of the Flies, the reader can recognize this law live up to its word, namely in the protagonist Ralph. Upon arriving on the island, Ralph was oblivious to the circumstances he was soon to be subjected to. Ralph’s innocent and childlike mindset has distorted itself into that of a hostile hunter. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the reader witnesses the Loss of Innocence theme and observes Ralph’s descent into impurity. Ralph is first portrayed as just another kid, waiting for his problems to disappear. He had no plan on how to get off the island, and no reason to worry about it; â€Å"daddy† would take care of it for him. Ralph was not concerned about what to do about the situation he was in, and told Piggy why. Ralph tells Piggy, â€Å" Daddy taught me. He’s a commander in the Navy. When he gets leave he’ll come and rescue us†¦ They’d tell him at the airport. † (7) Ralph relied upon the airport telling his father where their plane crashed, with little to no knowledge as to where they could have landed. Though the odds were very slim, Ralph counted on his daddy coming to get him from the island in the middle of the Pacific. He was like a helpless little child, grasping his daddy’s hand and waiting to be led. With the increase of time spent on the island, Ralph’s innocence begins to diminish. Ralph is no longer the helpless little child he once was when he first landed; Ralph has evolved from a benign child to a hostile hunter. After going hunting with the boys, Ralph tried to regain the group’s attention as they all focused on Jack’s’ wounded left arm. Ralph reminisced on how he hit the pig with his spear and then began to act as though Roger were the pig, jabbing at him while Roger rushed away. Soon, the group surrounded Robert, all participating in the jabbing: â€Å"Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was overmastering. † (101) The boys all got hold of Roger and, without any second thought, began to poke at him, hurting him as a result. The â€Å"innocent Ralph† would have attempted to prevent the actions, rather than beginning the prodding of Roger. Ralph has evidently lost his innocence and this situation shows no different. As Ralph spends more time on the island, he, along with the reader, becomes aware of his loss of innocence.. After the deaths of both Simon and Piggy, Ralph has officially become a loner. Everyone else on the island has transferred over to Jack’s group of uncivilized hunters, the polar opposite of the group once run under Ralph’s chieftainship. Knowing that Ralph is now an independent individual in hiding, Jack sweeps the island to ensure that he finds Ralph. After Samneric reveal Ralph’s position, however, Jack lights the island on fire so Ralph cannot escape the fiery wrath of the opposing chief. After desperately sprinting away from the hunters, Ralph runs into a naval officer. The officer questions Ralph about the group and after answering these questions, Ralph has another moment of clarity and begins sobbing. â€Å" Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy. † (182) After being given the chance to relax, Ralph begins to grasp the concept that he has changed throughout this entire experience. The innocent stage has now passed, for himself and the rest of the group. Ralph now knows that he is no different from the other children; all children lose their innocence at some point. Golding’s depiction of Ralph from the beginning of the novel to the end of the novel greatly reflects the theme of loss of innocence. Ralph evolves from the helpless child to the hostile hunter after the crises he is put through. Ralph is a representation of every child on the earth and the inescapable loss of innocence. Through Ralph, the reader can learn that a crisis, no matter the scale, can affect the victim.

The Count of Monte Cristo Essay Example for Free

The Count of Monte Cristo Essay I. The Count of Monte Cristo II. Characters Edmond Dantà ¨s The protagonist of the novel. Dantà ¨s is an intelligent, honest, and loving man who turns bitter and vengeful after he is framed for a crime he does not commit. When Dantà ¨s finds himself free and enormously wealthy, he takes it upon himself to act as the agent of Providence, rewarding those who have helped him in his plight and punishing those responsible for his years of agony. The Count of Monte Cristo The identity Dantà ¨s assumes when he emerges from prison and inherits his vast fortune. As a result, the Count of Monte Cristo is usually associated with a coldness and bitterness that comes from an existence based solely on vengeance. Lord Wilmore The identity of an eccentric English nobleman that Dantà ¨s assumes when committing acts of random generosity. Lord Wilmore contrasts sharply with Monte Cristo, who is associated with Dantà ¨s’s acts of bitterness and cruelty. Appropriately, Monte Cristo cites Lord Wilmore as one of his enemies. Abbà © Busoni Another of Dantà ¨s’s false personas. The disguise of Abbà © Busoni, an Italian priest, helps Dantà ¨s gain the trust of the people whom the count wants to manipulate because the name connotes religious authority. Sinbad the Sailor The name Dantà ¨s uses as the signature for his anonymous gift to Morrel. Sinbad the Sailor is also the persona Dantà ¨s adopts during his time in Italy. Mercà ©dà ¨s Dantà ¨s’s beautiful and good fiancà ©e. Though Mercà ©dà ¨s marries another man, Fernand Mondego, while Dantà ¨s is in prison, she never stops loving Dantà ¨s. Mercà ©dà ¨s is one of the few whom Dantà ¨s both punishes (for her disloyalty) and rewards (for her enduring love and underlying goodness). Abbà © Faria A priest and brilliant thinker whom Dantà ¨s meets in prison. Abbà © Faria becomes Dantà ¨s’s intellectual father: during their many years as prisoners, he teaches Dantà ¨s history, science, art, and many languages. He then bequeaths to Dantà ¨s his vast hidden fortune. Abbà © Faria is the most important catalyst in Dantà ¨s’s transformation into the vengeful Count of Monte Cristo. Fernand Mondego Dantà ¨s’s rival for Mercà ©dà ¨s’s affections. Mondego helps in framing Dantà ¨s for treason and then marries Mercà ©dà ¨s himself when Dantà ¨s is imprisoned. Through acts of treachery Mondego becomes a wealthy and powerful man and takes on the name of the Count de Morcerf. He is the first victim of Dantà ¨s’s vengeance. Albert de Morcerf The son of Fernand Mondego and Mercà ©dà ¨s. Unlike his father, Albert is brave, honest, and kind. Mercà ©dà ¨s’s devotion to both Albert and Dantà ¨s allows Monte Cristo to realize her unchanging love for him and causes him to think more deeply about his sole desire for revenge. Signor Bertuccio Dantà ¨s’s steward. Though Bertuccio is loyal and adept, Dantà ¨s chooses him as his steward not for his personal qualities but because of his vendetta against Villefort. III. Settings The movie takes place in a number of settings, but most of the plot occurs in Marseilles Chateau dIf, and Paris (France), Rome, the island of Monte Cristo, and Greece. IV. Summary Edmond is sailing in French waters along with his best friend, Fernand, when their captain falls ill. They stop for help at a nearby island, which happens to be where Napolean Bonaparte is in hiding. Bonaparte pulls aside Edmond and asks him to deliver an innocent letter to an old friend in Marseille, France. Edmond agrees, as that is the price for the use of Napoleans physician. The captain unfortunately dies, so the crew returns home to Marseille. Edmond is made captain for his bravery in seeking a physician, and the first mate comes to despise him for it. Fernand finds out about the letter, and reads it while Edmond is sleeping, and is angry that Edmond did not tell him about it. Edmond, not knowing that Fernand knows about the letter, rushes to greet his fiance, Mercedes, and tell her that they can now be married as he was just promoted to captain. This is also the point in the movie when you realize that Fernand is in love wiht Mercedes, but she loves Edmond. Fernand, still angry, decides to work together with the furious first mate, and get Edmond arrested for treason, which he didnt commit. Fernand works also with a very important magistrate, Villefort, whos father is the man Edmond was to deliver the letter to. (Villefort does not know of this). Thus, Edmond is arrested, and thrown into a remote island prison by the name of Chateau Dif. There, he meets Priest, who teaches him many valuable lessons about life, how to sword fight, and give Edmond a proper education. All this is in turn for Edmond helping to dig, in order to escape the prison. For 13 years, Edmond is held captive in the Chateau Dif, and unknown to Edmond, a letter was sent to his family and Mercedes saying that he was executed on grounds of treason. Finally, Edmond escapes when the priest dies, and becomes part of a crew on a merchant vessel, along with his good riend Jaccapo. After 3 months, Edmond is released along with Jaccapo, and they go in search of finding out what has happened to Edmonds loved ones. They find out that Edmonds father commited suicide, and the Mercedes wed Fernand a month after learning of Edmonds execution. Edmond has by this time (with the help of the priest while in prison) figured out that he was framed by Fernand and the others. Thus, he and Jaccapo sail to a remote island that the Priest told Edmond about, and there they find a treasure, making Edmond extremely wealthy. Edmond decides to become a count in order to get revenge on those who betrayed him, so he becomes The COunt of Monte Cristo, being the treasure he found The Treasure of Monte Cristo. Soon after, he saves Fernand and Mercedes son Alber from captivity, and thus enters the lives of those he is trying to hurt like they hurt him. Mercedes begins to suspect that The Count is really Edmond, and when she confronts him privately, he denies it but slips and she realizes that he really is Edmond. Then, they kiss, and realize that they are still in love, so Mercedes goes back ot her Chateau to inform Fernand that she is leaving him, when Fernand tells her that he has gone bankrupt (which is really Edmonds doing, but he doesnt know this) and is leaving the country. (By this time, Villefort has been convicted of murdering his father and sent to jail, also doings of Edmonds). Mercedes preceds to inform Fernand that Alber is not his son, but Edmonds. Fernand becomes angry and goes out to his old, abandoned villa to collect the gold he had supposedly stolen from The Count of Monte Cristo, only to find that it is not there (Edmonds doings, again). Then, Edmond shows up, and tells Fernand where he has been all these years, and they begin a duel, only to be stopped by Mercedes and Alber. Mercedes then tells Edmond that Alber is really his son, not Fernands. Fernand then shoots Mercedes in the shoulder (she lives) and runs off. Edmond follows him and they begin sword fighting again. Fibally, Edmond kills Fernand, and goes back to Mercedes and Alber and Jaccapo. At the very end, Edmond buys the Chateau Dif thanks the Priest for his wisdom and help. V. Value Implication The â€Å"Count of Monte Cristo† is the greatest tale of betrayal, adventure, and revenge the world has ever known. One of the morals in that story is what goes around comes around. The people who betrayed the count ended up by paying with their lives as he cleverly took his revenge on each one. Plus, the fact that the count actually really did find treasure and good friends (in the form of pirates) meant that he was a good person who attracted good people. Regardless of the fact that the pirates could have treated him badly and even shot him when he found the treasure, they didnt, they became his friends and they benefitted from his success. The main moral is that the bad deeds we do in life do not go unpunished and the good ones get rewarded.

Metal Casting Process

Metal Casting Process Materials and Design Pressure Die Casting Process Executive Summary Since the discovery of the earths minerals, metal casting process has played an important role in society. An integral part of every technological advance, castings have allowed us to build equipment to feed our people, fight for democracy, build infrastructure and manufacture cars, trains and airplanes. In general, castings have been and will continue to be the key ingredient in the recipe for a better way of life. There are various types of casting process, such as sand-casting, permanent-mould casting, investment casting and die-casting. Due to the words limitation, in this investigative study, only the development, technical challenges, recent findings, future direction, range of applications and shortcomings of pressure die-casting process will be discussed. Introduction Pressure Die-casting is similar to permanent mold casting except that the metal is injected into the mold under high pressure of 7-350Mpa (1,000-50,000) psi. This high pressure will not be removed till the solidification is finished. It is called die-casting, because the molds in this casting operation are called dies. Metal is forced into the die cavity by the pressure is the most notable feature that shows this process is different from others in the casting category (Long et al., 2008). In this technique, the mould will not be destroyed after each cast but is permanent, being made of a metal such as cast iron or steel. There are two types of pressure die casting processes, High pressure die casting and low pressure casting. High pressure die casting is the most widely used, representing about 50% of all light alloys casting production. Low pressure die casting currently accounts for about 20% of production and its use is increasing. Rests are gravity die casting, vacuum die casting and squeeze casting process (AZOM, 2008). Literature Review High pressure die casting process In high pressure die casting process, the liquid metal is injected at high speed and high pressure into a metal mould. A schematic view of high pressure die casting is given in Figure 1. Above equipment contains two vertical platens on which bolsters are located which hold the die halves. One of the platen is fixed and the other can move to open and close the die. A measured amount of metal is poured into the shot sleeve and then introduced into the mould cavity using a hydraulically-driven piston. Once the metal has solidified, the die is opened and the casting removed (AZOM, 2008). For high pressure die casting process, special precaution must be considered to avoid too much gas inclusions which cause blistering during the subsequent heat treatment or wielding of the casting product. Since the casting machine and its dies are quite costly, only high-volume production will use the pressure die casting process for economical reason (AZOM, 2008). Low pressure die casting In Figure 2, the die is filled from a pressurised crucible below. Low-pressure die casting is especially suited to the production of components that are symmetric about an axis of rotation. Light automotive wheels are normally manufactured by this technique (AZOM, 2008). Benefits of the process development Over the last three years the biggest improvement of die casting process is the development of material property data and interfacial hear transfer coefficients. Material property thermal data is the essential part of any simulation program, which has been developed for various mold materials, feeding system and metal alloys, such as aluminum, steel and compacted graphite iron. Furthermore, the work done to understand the fluid mechanics of filters is another development of the die casting process, which include the developed pressure drop data for pressed, extruded and reticulated foam filters and these data is easily available in the industry literature (ALLBUSINESS, 2008). There are types of the casting defects occur during production of pressure die casting process such as insufficient pouring, cooling separated, crack and shrink. They are formed in the mold filling and solidification processes, which contributed to the final casting performance. The processes of mold filling and solidification are developed in time sequence while the casting defects are forming, which can be reflected by its numerical simulation in order to predict the locations of the casting defects (Minaie and Voller, 1998). Numerical simulations of mold filling and solidification processes include numerical analysis, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, solidification theory, engineering mechanics, computer aid graph analysis etc. The mold filling process can be described very precisely and the reliable initial temperature field is provided for the next solidification process by using the advantage of numerical simulation on temperature and fluid fields, which benefits to elevate the simulation accuracy of solidification process. Numerical simulations of mold filling and solidification processes, which play the key function in the casting production, are the world known leading area, widening and promoting the development of casting subject by using the advance computer technology. And it also initiates a new way to improve the casting quality (Baicheng and Houfa, 1998). Technical Challenges Details The molten metal flow is the major issue that relates to the mold filling process, heat and mass transfer flow process at changeable temperature accompanied with heat loss and solidification. This process can be presented by the continuity and momentum equations. In addition, the energy balance equation can describe the heat exchange between the molten metal and the casting chamber. The consideration of position and movement of the free surface is the key for the calculation of unstable flow. Also, it is essential to deal with the boundary conditions of the free surface. There for, the mathematical equations can be expressed as follows [1], [2], [3], [4] and where à Ã‚  is the density and u is the velocity The numerical simulation is a non-linear instantaneous thermal analysis in the solidification process. The casting form changes gradually with the decreasing of temperature from liquid state to semi-solid and solid states, in which many physical process and phenomenon played an important role for the casting quality take place, and the temperature field of the casting varies with the time. Therefore, the shrinkage cavity and slack can be predicted with the numerical simulations of the filling and solidification processes (Laurent and Rigaunt, 1992). Range of Applications CAD/CAM/CAE is now as an essential part to keep pace with growing technology and demand for quality, low cost, precision and faster delivery in tool engineering. The followings are the few latest methods, which are being used today in die making industry: Scanning of product to be die cast. CAD/CAM (Computer added design and manufacturing) CAPP (computer added process planning) CAI (computer added inspection) 2D drawing to 3D modeling 3D model to 2D drawing Black-box designing (conceptual base designing) Analysis Simulation (stress, Strain, thermal analysis etc.) Analysis for Gate, runner, ejector pins and cooling line etc. NC data generation Rapid prototyping Concurrent engineering Pressure die casting process is widely used in resource producing company, such as world class Aluminum company Alcoa and NALCO, and copper alloy giant Kennecott. Drawbacks The formation of blow-holes in the die casting is a major drawback, which is resulting from the turbulence produced by the high velocity when the liquid metal alloy is injected. Another major drawback is inevitable shrinkage of the casting as it solidifies, and which is proportional to the temperature at which the alloy is injected. Though cheap to make, the poor quality of current die cast components therefore makes the use of finer quality alloys unfeasible (Moschini and Renzo, 1998). Recent finding Future direction In the world of computer simulation time, the pressure die casting process improvements move very fast in the foundry industry today, a lot has changed in the last few years, for example, three years ago the computers that industry companies using to process the die casting process simulation were based on Unix workstations, which was more than $30,000 and the only way to analyze the filling of a mold cavity was using NavierStokes equations, which was extremely slow. Nowadays, the personal computer (PC) conversion is finished, some of new machines can run 20-30 times faster than the one in three years ago. For example, a very complicated filling and solidification work that used to run days and days can be completed in one hour (ALLBUSINESS, 2008). The concurrent development of optimization techniques have been capitalized on and incorporated by the software companies into their programs. At first glance, this allows the user to let the computer help optimize such things as riser placement and size and chill locations. However it isnt hard to imagine that this is just the beginning, and that we are about to get on a journey in which die casting process simulation programs soon will perform what is unthinkable today (ALLBUSINESS, 2008). Conclusion Die casting molds tend to be expensive as they are made from hardened steel-also the cycle time for building these tend to be long. Also the stronger and harder metals such as iron and steel cannot be die-cast in the past. However, by the developing of the numerical simulations system and optimization techniques, these issues are no longer impede the pace of progress in the modern world. Numerical simulations and optimization techniques can help foster the success and viability of the foundry industry for many years to come. The more capability and accuracy that is built into our simulation tools, the better and more efficient casting can be produced. Reference ALLBUSINESS 2008, Solidifying castings future: process simulation software round-up, http://www.allbusiness.com/manufacturing/fabricated-metal-product-manufacturing/244509-1.html [Accessed 2 May 2008] AZOM 2008, Aluminium Casting Techniques Sand Casting and Die Casting Processes, http://www.azom.com/work/gmQ9Dmtd0mw9jnoTHN6z_files/image008.gifimgrefurl [Accessed 2 May 2008] B. Minaie and V.R. Voller, Comprehensive numerical models for die casting process, Model. Cast. Weld. Processes IV (1998), pp. 513-525. J, M. Long, N. Deshpande, C. Ferguson, M. Kwok and H. Briggs, Materials and Design: Module 2 Introduction to Manufacturing Processes, Deakin University. 2008, pp. 229-230. L. Baicheng and S. Houfa, Progress in numerical simulation of solidification process of shaped casting, J. Mater. Sci. Techol. 11 (1995) (5), pp. 312-324. Moschini and Renzo 1998, Die casting process for producing high mechanical performance components via injection of a semiliquid metal alloy, http://www.freepatentsonline.com/EP0513523.html [Accessed 2 May 2008] S.M. Xiong, F. Lau and W.B. Lee, Numerical methods to improve the computational efficiency of thermal analysis for the die casting process, J. Mater. Process Technol. 1-3 (2003), pp. 457-461. S.P.SHARMA 2008, Upgraded Technology and Application in Die Casting, http://www.creativecadcam.net/die-casting.pdf [Accessed 2 May 2008] V. Laurent and C. Rigaut, Experimental and numerical study of criteries functions for predicting microporosity in cast aluminum alloys, AFS Trans. 100 (1992), pp. 647-655.

education Essay -- essays research papers

Rather than emphasizing on maintaining discipline in a classroom, classroom management would be more appropriate for an effective teacher. Discipline has two significant limitations such that discipline highlights the individual rather than the classroom and secondly it connotes negative behavior (352). Whereas classroom management is broadly defined as â€Å"all of those positive behaviors and decisions a teacher makes to facilitate the learning process of their students† also reiterating all of those â€Å"activities necessary to create and maintain an orderly learning environment† (352). The reason why creating an effective classroom management plan is essential is to create a positive and productive learning environment, be able to work and communicate with the students, â€Å"reduce the incidents of misbehavior† while maintaining student interest, motivation, and involvement.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Everyone classroom is diverse since not one person is the same. Keeping this concept in mind, it is important to understand that everyone, primarily the students, have different cultural beliefs, values and attitudes. Some students may also come from a single parent home or may have their family going through a divorce. By understanding each student and their various cultural diversities, it will help the effective teacher produce a stronger level of communication with their students and encourage a productive learning environment. It is important to acknowledge each students differences and not ignore their needs outside the academic setting.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With the focus of creating an effective classroom management plan, it is essential to define rules and implement them so they may be clearly and easily understood. While establishing rules it is important to remember that the goal is â€Å"to establish and maintain an effective learning environment† (361). While developing rules for the classroom, it is best that the list of rules be few yet clear and concise. â€Å"It is also important to involve the students in the development of these rules; this not only facilitates their understanding and ownership but also cultivates their sense of power and self-esteem† (362). The effective teacher will realize that by including students into the decision making process of their own classroom management, they are encouraging a more productive learning environment. ... ...ively enthusiastic in a classroom is important to engage student motivation. This can be implemented by showing interest in the subject matter being discussed and the teacher’s enthusiasm should reflect onto the students’. Organization is important to be developed in the classroom so that the students may carry the organizational skills outside the classroom and through out the rest of their lives. This can be implemented by having the students organize their desks at the end of every week and having a binder/notebook of their work shown to the teacher periodically which is organized according to the rules the teacher has established. Following through the rules is also important for the children because it is necessary that they have a consistent environment. The rules may be positively reinforced but this must be consistently done. It is a teacher’s role to have patience and with that the students will benefit the most. Finally, rules shall be implemented w ith respect, courtesy and listening on both ends of the spectrum. By showing the student that you, the teacher, has these qualities, they will realize that these are crucial in the proper development of a well-rounded student.

Free Glass Menagerie Essays: You Can Run, but You Can’t Hide :: Glass Menagerie essays

You Can Run, but You Can’t Hide in The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie, a play written by Tennessee Williams, takes place in a dingy apartment in St. Louis. The theme of the play could be summarized as â€Å"waiting for better times†. Across the street from the dingy apartment is a club called Paradise Dance Hall. The family’s apartment could be considered the the exact opposite of Paradise. The family who occupies the apartment is not wealthy, and the members of the family all want to be somewhere else. The main characters in the play are the elderly woman Amanda, and her grown-up children Tom and Laura. Amanda's husband, Mr. Wingfield, left his family many years ago. The family still got a picture of him hanging on the wall. Tom is working at a warehouse. He hates his job, but has to earn money to support his mother and sister. He's not happy with his life, and would rather do something completely different. Tom doesn't like to stay at home. He goes out every night, drinking, and going to the movies. Tom doesn't like the way Amanda always tells him what to do. All he wants is for his mother to leave him alone.He'd like to run away and leave his family behind, just like his father did, but he's not sure how to do it. Laura is a very shy young woman. She hardly ever talks to anyone besides her family. She's disabled, and because of that, she has no self- confidence. She can't see how any decent man would like to marry her. The most important things in Laura's life are some old records that belonged to her father, and her collection of glass figures. Amanda is not happy about the way her life turned out to be. When she was young, she had gentleman callers coming over every day. She loves to tell stories from her youth. Then she was a prosperous young woman who believed she'd live happily for the rest of her life. But fate wanted it different. The man she chose, left her, and she had to take care of the children all by herself. Now the only thing she wants, is for her daughter to get married. Amanda wants Laura to get married. But no gentleman caller seem to arrive. Amanda therefore talks Tom into inviting one of his colleagues home for dinner.

Personal Assessment Interview Essay

1. What are your three most important reasons for wanting to be a teacher? I want to be a teacher because I value education. I apprehend the importance of education in leading a meaningful and successful life, and I plan to become a valuable vehicle in realizing the purpose and acceptance of learning. I would regard it as an honor to play a part in the learning process and find that the teaching instruction provides desirable holistic changes that unlocks potentials and makes room for personal growth and development in the learners. I want to be a teacher because I realize the importance of education in building a strong and stable foundation of society. Teachers are granted the capacity to mold the future of society by training learners to become responsible and productive citizens. A vision of a peaceful environment, where people work together harmoniously to build a prosperous, righteous and humane society, is nurtured through the teaching-learning process. I want to be a teacher because I also want to learn in the process. In the teaching-learning process, the teacher and the learners swap roles successively. It is not only the teacher who teaches, but also the learner. Learners have different cultural backgrounds, perspectives, worldviews, and opinions that a teacher should learn from in order to enhance understanding and widen the boundaries of the mind. 2. What characteristics do you possess that you believe will make you an effective teacher? I am passionate about learning and education. I believe that there is always something valuable to learn from everything and I know that love for learning completes who I am as a teacher. In everything I do, I always look for opportunities to learn and improve. This innate quality measures up to the attributes of an effective teacher because the growing passion for learning impels the teacher to influence learners to the same. Moreover, teachers who are highly motivated to learn are also highly motivated to teach. I deem education boundless. It is not limited within the confines of the classroom, nor is it limited to books, teacher-learner interaction alone, and other traditional means of teaching. I am open to changes in trends and developments. Open-mindedness allows me to become an efficient teacher because I am able to tolerate and acknowledge change in order to unlock new avenues for the teaching-learning process. I am adaptable to unfamiliar situations, because I am open to new frontiers, as long as I deem it has potential to improve the teaching-learning process. Adaptability and open-mindedness yields an efficient teacher, able to cope with global changes allowing real-time learning that assists learners to survive in the ever changing world. 3. Name three staff development topics you believe would be most beneficial to offer in schools. Staff development is highly significant in order to improve services that will be provided by educational institutions. It should be implemented in order to assure that the quality of educational services efficiently meets the requirements of learners and the obligations of the school as an academic institution fostering learning and development. I believe that the three most important topics that should be included in staff development are legal and ethical issues, team building, and professional growth. Legal and ethical issues guide the staff to act accordingly, putting the best interest of the learners, and stakeholders (families, the community, the state, etc.) first. Educational institutions must be able to abide by constitutional laws pertaining to education, and act accordingly to invite respect and integrity to the field of education. Team building is necessary in order to ensure that all members of the staff of the educational institution work together to meet the mission, vision, goals, and objectives of the school. Promoting professional growth is most important to teachers because it encourages improvements and developments in pedagogical processes as well as personality development. This may be attained by graduate program services related to teaching, made available to the teaching staff in order to assist them enhance their craft, apprenticeship, seminar, training programs, etc. Valuing professional growth means that educational institutions take necessary steps in ord er to enhance the quality of educational programs and services that they provide to learners. 4. Prior to planning a lesson, what do you need to consider? Planning a lesson is crucial in the teaching-learning process because it dictates the learning outcomes, especially changes in the learners’ behaviors as influenced by a particular lesson. There are various factors to consider when planning a lesson, all of which determine whether a lesson will effect to desirable learning outcomes or not. Prior to planning a lesson, there is a need to consider the existing skills and abilities of the learners. The depth of the lesson, teaching strategies and approaches, instructional materials and activities should be designed to suit the skills and abilities of the learners. This ensures that learners will be able to grasp the concepts that will be taught in each lesson. Instructional objectives should be set prior to planning a lesson because it reminds the teacher that the content of the lesson should be in line with the objectives. Instructional objectives form the framework of a lesson. Another thing to consider in planning a lesson is the variety of resources available that will go along with the learning objectives. Presenting a lesson through aids and materials is highly dependent on the availability of resources. Therefore, before planning activities for learning, available resources should be checked. Once these factors are met, the teacher is prepared to plan a lesson. 5. What ideas do you have to address diversity (e.g. culture, special needs, ESL, etc.) in your classroom? As a teacher, I should be able to promote equality within the classroom and recognize the rights of the learners as human beings. Although individual differences is considered in instructional planning, due to the learners’ varying skills and abilities, diversity in relation to other aspects including culture, disabilities or handicap, proficiency in the English language should be undervalued. Teachers should be able to determine when to acknowledge individual differences, and when to promote camaraderie and egalitarianism in the classroom. To address individual differences and diversity, the teacher should be able to design the program of instruction in such a way that it is discernible and achievable to all learners considering their talents, skills, abilities, and interests. Educational programs and activities in part should focus on diversity by including the need for learners to be aware of other cultures, non-native English speaking individuals, and special needs of other learners experiencing difficulties. An example of an educational program may be a cultural show where students share their culture through artistic forms (dancing, singing, dramatization, role-playing, etc.), or an activity wherein a non-native English speaker teaches the rest of the class some significant words in his native tongue. It is important to remember that the key is to promote learners’ awareness of differences. 6. What do you anticipate to be the greatest challenge in your teaching? Perhaps the greatest challenge in teaching is meeting its ultimate objective, and that is to affect desirable learning outcomes and behavioral changes to the learners. Accomplishing this objective requires a diverse set of knowledge, talent, and skills. Teaching is a long process, from diagnostic assessment, to lesson planning, classroom management, going about the teaching process itself, evaluation, etc. The greatest challenge is how to keep it together, despite the pressures and demands of the teaching-learning process, in order to complete the process and in the end prove that the ultimate objective of teaching was achieved. 7. What would you like to see as outcomes of your student teaching experience and your experience in the Teacher Education Program? I am expecting that my experiences in student teaching will affirm my aspiration to become a teacher. All knowledge obtained from classroom courses will equip me with necessary information in order to go about the student teaching experience knowledgeably and appositely (i.e. classroom management techniques, teaching strategies and approaches, laws protecting the rights of the learners, etc.). The student teaching experience becomes a playing field where all the information learned is applied and weathered and the skills and abilities as an aspiring teacher is tested. Through these experiences, I am able to determine my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher, and determine ways in order to improve and become a professional educator worthy of respect and learning inspiration. The Teacher Education Program provides the essential knowledge and skills that must be learned, required of every teacher. 8. Describe an ideal classroom situation. An ideal classroom situation is one where classroom management is consistently implemented (i.e. children are disciplined, routine activities are followed, lessons are completed on time, etc.). Learners are highly motivated to learn, allowing a harmonious and interactive classroom environment, guided by the teacher. The objectives of learning are attained at the end of each lesson, and the learners are able to apply what they have learned in real life situations. The teacher is able to play all the necessary roles of the teacher as a manager of classroom activities and discipline, a facilitator of learning, a guide and a role model, a good listener, and a nurturer of well-motivated learners. Learners are able to adjust to changes in the classroom environment, and although it is called an ideal classroom situation, they are allowed to make mistakes. Through these mistakes and the identification of their weaknesses, they are able to take it constructively and push themselves to improve and become independent learners.

Analysis of music in the film Grease

I think the effectiveness of a musical film In comparison to a film score in a non- musical largely depends on the target audience of the film, genre of film, and plot of the film. In musical films Like Grease, Chicago, Less Miserable, West Side Story, and Mama Ml, the musical and choreographed aspects of film work with the plot In an effective manner. I feel Like [romantic] comedies (egg. Mama Ml and Grease) and dramas (egg. Less Miserable and Chicago) are the two genres that are best made in to musical films.Musicals are able to break down language barriers, telling the plot of he film through song which evokes plenty of emotion that is universally understood. West Side Story is a perfect example of a musical where choreography and music helps the audience to understand the story even though they might not understand every word of the lyrics. Musicals are able to effectively tell a story if the plot is more simplistic. Contrary to [romantic] comedies and dramas, turning an action o r science fiction film into a musical would be simply ridiculous.If we were to imagine an action film like The Dark Knight or Star Wars as a musical, I don't think these films would eve been nearly as successful as they have been today. One reason for this Is the target audience for films Like Star Wars and The Dark Knight have the potential to be vastly different from the type of people who enjoy watching musicals like Dream Girls and Rent. The plot for The Dark Knight and Star Wars largely benefit from the music being comprised of a film score that is not classified as a musical.It would also be difficult to convert these genres into a musical because the plots are often too complex to understand if everything is sung. The scores in non-musicals serves to implement the plot, not to tell the plot which can often be taken more seriously by the viewers. â€Å"Summer Nights† (0:14:04) Is the first song In the film, Grease, that gives us an introductory look Into what the charac ters are going to be like. Sandy Is seen as very Innocent and sweet from the way she recounts her and Dandy's summer romance from an emotional perspective- â€Å"he got friendly holding my hand†.Dandy's telling of his summer romance is a little more crude and revealing about the physical aspects of the romance -â€Å"she got friendly down in the sand†. The song establishes Danny as he cool leader of the greaser clan known as the â€Å"T-birds† and Sandy as the new girl who the schoolgirl clique, â€Å"The Pink Ladies†, have their eye on to recruit. This song also introduces the other eight main characters (the rest of the T-birds and The Pink Ladies), allowing each of them to ask questions that reveal their characters.The next song that helped to further develop some of the characters is â€Å"Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee† (0:27:30) which is a comedic song performed by Orzo and The Pink Ladies. A taunting, underlying tone In the music is heard right away. Razz's tough and arctic tone Is established through her lyrics In this song as she is mocking the Innocence of Sandy. When the characters are mocking Sandy inability to Inhale properly while smoking, we hear a clapper Instrument to compliment them coughing.The rest of The Pink Ladies: French, Marty, and Jan, seem to follow their leader, immature and highly compliant to what Orzo wants them to do or think. â€Å"Hopelessly Devoted To You† (0:32:00) is a ballad performed by Sandy which has a slower tempo than the other songs we have previously heard in the film. The song starts off by sing heavy strings to create an emotional feel then later we hear the piano. This is a character song which enables Sandy to express her romantic feelings for Danny, and reflect on their relationship.The chorus, â€Å"hopelessly devoted to you† is how Sandy feels towards Danny and these feelings are emphasized by the repetition through the song. â€Å"Greased Lightning† (0:37:2 0) is performed by Danny and the T-birds and serves to establish the major cultural influences of the sass's: cars and rock and roll. We hear 3 stingers using ascending notes played on brass at the beginning of the Eng to compliment Dandy's ideas of what the car could be (automatic, systematic, hydromantic).There is also a lot of call and response between the protagonist, Danny, singing the main course and the T-birds backing him up by providing musical responses to his lines. This song uses heavy percussion, piano, bass, and brass instruments to create a genuine rock and roll feel. The tempo stays consistent throughout the song except when it slows down at the ending chorus. The ending chorus is also where we hear drums and vocals being harmonize. â€Å"Sandy† (01:19:10) reformed by Danny is Dandy's counter song to â€Å"Sandy's Hopelessly Devoted To You†.This is also a ballad as it expresses the deep emotions Danny has for Sandy and shows how vulnerable he is without her. We see a different side of Danny here because he is not acting tough or cool; he is being raw and real. This song uses empathetic sound as we can hear Danny on the verge of crying at some points in the song which causes the viewer to empathetic with the sadness he feels. â€Å"Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee (Reprise)† (01 :31 :38) is a turning point for Sandy's character.The song tarts out as wholesome and pure, like she is, accompanied by the piano in a high key with a light tone (we hear consonance). Then the lyrics get more powerful along with the intensity of the music (crescendo and lower key on the piano) as she decides to say goodbye to her innocence. â€Å"You're the One That I Want† (01:36:47) performed by Danny, Sandy, Pink Ladies, and T-Birds shows how the characters have succumbed to their feelings. Danny has become the man that Sandy wanted him to be all along and vice versa.We hear a riff on the piano to introduce the new, sophisticated Sandy. The causa l harmony between Danny and Sandy is symbolic of the new found harmony in their relationship and the all black costumes they are wearing is symbolic of both their maturity. This is an example of a rhythm song because it is driven by energetic rhythm patterns. Personally, this is my favorite song of the film because I feel it has the catchiest underlying beat and I felt that the choreography and props were used really effectively to capture the viewers attention. We Go Together† is a production number which involves the full cast and expresses the major changes in the plot room the opening to closing act. This cheerful tune is expressive of the happiness found by the entire cast and all the main characters are happily coupled off. Grease does include a lot of dancing which I found to be quite effective. It is more visually appealing and helps with the flow of telling the story through song. If at some points in the film the characters were Just standing there rather than moving around and dancing, the audience is more likely to be disengaged. Dancing also provides the catchier.Dance is also an important part of detecting a characters emotion through odd language; in the song Mimi Are The One That I Want†, Sandy is seen to have a new gained confidence and attitude which reflective not only in her lyrics, but in her dancing as well. I find it effective that performers in musical films treat their song and dance numbers as if there is a live audience watching. It helps to engage the audience more because they feel as though they are more closely connected to the performers. It also helps the performers find the emotional energy to perform different songs and dance if they have an audience's energy to thrive off of.

Assessing Leadership Skills Essay

This paper will provide information about the theoretical approaches that I will use to enhance my leadership effectiveness, it will discuss my leadership style and the reason I choose the style. This paper will also explain the leadership skills and qualities I already possess, with the skills and qualities that need improvement, along with how to implement the leadership/follower interaction to improve the organization where I would like to work, and finally describe one point of action that I’ve learned from my Self Insight papers, that will include a description of how each point will be implemented. Let’s begin by defining leadership; leadership is the influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes. (Draft, 2011, p.5) Leadership is a people activity and is different from administrative paper work or planning activities. Leadership happens with people, it is not something done to people. (Dr aft, 2011, p.6) The theoretical approaches that I will use to enhance my leadership effectiveness will be to incorporate the democratic leadership style; along with the Fiedler’s Contingency Model. The democratic style of leadership delegate’s authority to others encourages participation, relies on subordinates’ knowledge for completion of tasks and depends on subordinates respect for others. (Draft, 2011, p.44) Democratic leadership style is similar to Theory Y Democratic leaders treat subordinates as fully capable of doing the work on their own. Democratic leaders work with subordinates they encourage, they treat each one fairly. They don’t put anyone down, they see themselves as guides. They give suggestions, rather than trying to change them. Democratic leaders provide information, in their evaluation they give objective praise and criticism. (Northouse, 2009) Although a Democratic leader will make the final decision, he/she encourage other members of the team to have a say in the decision making process. This not only boost job satisfaction by connecting employees or team members in what’s going on, but it also help to develop  people’s skills. Employees and team members feel in control of their own destiny, such as the promotion they deserve and so are motivated to work hard by more than just a financial reward. As participation takes time, this approach can lead to things happening more slowly but often the end result is better. The approach can be most suitable where team work is essential and quality is more important than speed to market productivity. (Bhatti, N, et, al.2012) The outcomes of democratic leaders are mostly positive, first it results in greater group member satisfaction, commitment, and cohesiveness. Second, there is more friendliness, mutual prates, and group mindedness. The teams members interact with each other in a positive manner, and the goal is has the group in mind with making we statements opposed to I statements. Lastly, democratic leaders result in stronger worker motivation and greater creativity, and under a democratic leader group members participate more and are more committed to group decisions Fiedler’s Contingency Model; this model was designed to enable leaders to diagnose both leadership style and organizational situation. (Draft, 2011, p.68) This model was also designed to diagnose whether or not the leader is task oriented or relationship oriented and match the leader style to the situation. The Tasks oriented people are goal oriented. They want to achieve. Their work in meaningful, they are doers. Then we have Relationship oriented people they find meaning in being rather than doing. Like the democratic style, relationship oriented people they want to be connected to people. There is also Task leadership and Relationship leadership. Task relationship behaviors facilitate goals accomplishments; they are behaviors that help group members to achieve their objectives, while re lationship leadership behavior help subordinates feel comfortable with themselves, with each other, and with the situation which they find themselves. The reason why I choose these models is because they best fit my leadership style, and I think it’s a productive way of leadership. In utilizing this skill I‘m ale to listen to other perspective, and welcome an assortment of resolutions. My best leadership qualities are in the category of a transformational leader. Transformational leaders are a leader that influences, inspire, move and literally transform followers to achieve organizational goals beyond their self-interests thus initiating about positive change. They also introduce new business models, products and services because of their ability to  create new organizational visions, strategies, cultures, and structures through committed followers. Transformational leaders positively change follower’s lives, lifting spirits and even the commitment to ethics and morality (Weiss, J. (2011) My preference would be a transformational leader because they deal more with the person rather than the task. They build relationships with their team members, they encourage and motivate, and I think that their followers will get more work done because of the rapport that is made with the team. Another quality that I posses is â€Å"Stewardship† stewardship involves the support and belief that leaders are deeply accountable to others as well as to the organization, without trying to control others, define meaning and purpose for others, or take care of others. I’m in favor of this type of leadership because it allows the people to do the work without being micro managed. There are four components to this style of leadership, reorient towards partnership assumptions, localize decisions and power to those closest to the work and the customer, recognize and reward the value of labor, and expect core work teams to build the organization. (Draft, 2011, p.176) By using these methods the leader is to lead the organization taking control of the follower. They are able to work together in harmony with team members. By using the stewardship method you are able to treat team members as partners, by sharing power, and maintaining control over their own work. This model also allows relationships to form between leaders and followers that will contribute to the organizations success. Independent thinking refers to thinking, questioning assumptions, and interpreting data and events, according to one’s own beliefs, ideas, not according to prestablished rules, routines or categories defined by others. (Draft, 2011, p.138) I’ve always been an independent thinker. I’m not the type of person that agrees with people for acceptance, or just to go along with the most popular answer. I’m very opinionated, and I’m able to get my views across without being rude or mean. In my current position, I have to always be alert, and able to think critically because systems are always changing Although I fell that I’m a good overall leader my weakest skills falls under administration skills, administration skills. Administrative skills are those competencies a leader needs to run an organization in order to carry out the organizations purpose and goals. Administrative skills are divided into three categories:  managing people, managing resources, and showing technical competence. (Northouse, 2009) I work well with people but dealing with administrative task has always been an issue for me. I’m not the best typist, nor am I well organized. Since becoming a student at AU I’ve become more organized. Another quality in need of improvement deals with system thinking, System thinking means the ability to see the synergy of the whole rather than just the separate elements of a system and learn to reinforce or change whole system patterns. (Dra ft, 2011, p.142) The leadership/follower interaction that I would implement to improve the organization where I would like to work is leader follower collaboration. In the leader follower collaboration leaders and followers have more in common than they think. In my ideal work place I would use this model as the blueprint for my company. Beginning stages of a project or assignment. The leader and follower roles differ significantly in the initial stages of a project. The leader should provide direction in the form of scope, objective, expectations, limitations and guidelines while the follower should ask questions to ensure understanding and should contribute to the project or assignment definition as appropriate. Middle stages of a project or assignment. The leader and follower roles exhibit greater similarities during the middle stages of a project. This is where the bulk of work occurs. Leadership should shift, based upon who possesses the appropriate knowledge or expertise. With egos in check, leaders should permit, and even encourage, followers to initiate ideas and opinions. With cowardice in check, followers should exert leadership by offering ideas and opinions. If leader and follower can fulfill these new roles, a high degree of collaboration will occur and project success will increase. Final stages of a project or assignment In this stage, leader and follower roles again differ. It is up to the leader to define the end of one project and the beginning of the next. For optimal learning, leader and follower might collaboratively engage in a â€Å"lessons learned† dialogue. (Don Grayson & Ryan Speckhart) What I’ve learned from my Self Insight Papers is that I  might be a bit timid in my leadership ability. I thought that I was a good leader but it seems as though that I still have some work to do. Prior to taking this course I thought that I was a very good leader, but it seems as though I have a lot to work to do to improve my leadership skills. In doing an assessment of my strengths and weaknesses, I realized that in order to become a more effective leader I will have to become much more confident in certain areas. The areas that improvement is needed is in my motivation techniques, I thought that I encouraged my team in a positive manner, but what I realized is that I’m doing the bulk of the work while encouraging, what sense does that make? I have to set outlines and allow my team members to make mistakes, and learn from them. Because we get paid by performance is probably why I do that. As a leader, you can develop backbone to accept personal responsibility for achieving the desired outcomes, going against the status quo, and standing up for what you believe. You can learn to push beyond your comfort zone and break through the fears that limit you. (Draft, 2011, p.182) That statement sums it up for me. If a leader can live by that statement everyone will benefit in the end. In conclusion this paper has defined leadership, identified the skills and qualities I possess, in addition to the qualities that need improvement, as well as how to implement the leadership/follower interaction to improve the organization where I would like to work, and finally describe one point of action that I’ve learned from my Self Insight papers, that will include a description of how each point will be implemented. References Bhatti, N., Maitlo, G. M., Shaikh, N., Hashmi, M. A., & Shaikh, F. M. (2012). The impact of autocratic and democratic leadership style on job satisfaction. International Business Research, 5(2), 192-201. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/963357720?accountid=32521 Daft, R. L. (2011, 2008). The leadership experience (5/e). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Northouse, P.G. (2009). Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Weiss, J. (2011) An Introduction to Leadership. Bridgepoint Education, Inc. www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/†¦/grayson_speckhar

The Piercer

S w 908M57 The Piercer Colleen Sharen and Nicole Nolan wrote this case solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. Ivey Management Services prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmittal without its written permission. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization.To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Management Services, c/o Richard Ivey School of Business, The University o f Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail [email  protected] uwo. ca. Copyright  © 2008, Ivey Management Services Version: (A) 2008-08-22 â€Å"Don’t forget, your business idea pitch is due in two weeks, † said Professor Sharen at the end of class. Jessica Pierce turned to look at her project team mate, Ashley Mound.Jessica and Ashley were fourth-year management and organizational studies students at Brescia University College, taking an introduction to entrepreneurship course. Ashley and Jessica had developed an idea for the assignment: a personal safety alarm that both shrieked and flashed lights when the person carrying it set off the alarm function. Given the concern that many people had over personal safety, it seemed like a great business idea. In order to present their idea, they needed to show that there was a market for this product and that they had a way to sell it to consumers.The problem was that they did not really know how or where to start to get the information that they needed. They had a lot of work to do to be ready to present their project in the next two weeks. THE ASSIGNMENT The business pitch assignment was challenging. Sharen had asked students to deve lop an interesting business idea and present it to a panel of potential investors. These investors included a successful serial entrepreneur, a business consultant who practised in the area of small- and medium-size enterprises, an owner of a marketing and advertising services business and a business professor.The students were asked to present an innovative idea, show why it would be successful in the market place, demonstrate potential markets, show the business model and sell themselves to the investors as entrepreneurs. The investors were instructed to view their investments as seed money to enable the students to further develop business plans and prototypes of their ideas. The students weren’t required to complete a financial analysis for this assignment. Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 Page 2 9B08M057The investors were asked to assess project ideas on the basis of the feasibility of the idea and whether they believed that t he entrepreneurs would be able to deliver. They could consider the appeal of the idea itself, the logistics and operations required to run the business, the effectiveness of the business plan, the longterm viability of the business or the size of the market. The assignment would be graded 50 per cent based on how much money the teams received from the investors and 50 per cent on the quality of their presentation by the professor. THE IDEA The Piercer was a small device that hung on a chain worn around the neck.When activated, The Piercer emitted a piercing sound that traveled for approximately 500 meters, as well as a bright flashing light. To deactivate The Piercer, the wearer had to push two buttons simultaneously. This was to prevent an attacker from being able to deactivate the device. The piercing noise and the bright flashing light were designed to scare away attackers and attract those who might assist the person being attacked. In the situation of imminent attack, a person would not have to rely on their voice or bring a whistle to their mouth to signal for help.Ashley and Jessica had researched costs and thought that by manufacturing in China, they could make The Piercer for $2 and sell it for $7. 50 wholesale, with a retail price of $14. 95. The idea made sense to Ashley and Jessica. It fit with recent social and demographic trends as aging baby boomers began to need assistance with injuries and falls, and with increased general concerns about health, safety and violence. WHAT NEXT? Jessica and Ashley thought that they had a good idea. Now they had to prove it. What were the target markets for this product? How big were they?Which ones should they choose? How should they sell to them? What proportion of the target market should they expect to capture? Where should they look for information to help them make these decisions? A SIMPLE GUIDE TO INFORMATION RESOURCES AND EVALUATION Ashley and Jessica must do secondary research to be able to evaluate and implement their idea. They will need to consider 1) how to evaluate resources, 2) how to develop effective search strategies and 3) how to identify proprietary resources that support the case for this business. 1. How to Evaluate ResourcesInformation is available everywhere, and for this reason, Jessica and Ashley need to be able to discriminate between good and poor quality information. Appropriate information usage for an academic project includes evaluating and assessing resources for reliability and credibility. Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 Page 3 9B08M057 Goals ? ? ? ? ? Ashley and Jessica should be able to locate and differentiate free versus proprietary web resources. They should be able to identify a quality website. They should be able to evaluate books and other print resources for quality and reliability.They should understand the difference between scholarly and non-scholarly articles and resources. They should be able to cite information properly. Free Versus Proprietary Web Resources Many students think that the World Wide Web has the answers for everything. While the web can have valuable information, students pay (through their tuition) to have access to quality proprietary information resources. Ashley and Jessica could examine some free web sites to help them. For example, associations, company information and government information can be very helpful, as long as the user knows how to determine the quality of a website.Quality Web Sites Anyone anywhere can make a website. Just because it is on the web, does not mean it is good quality or reliable. When Ashley and Jessica are evaluating websites, they need to consider: Who is providing the information? ? Is it a government institution, a university or a company? ? Does the url make sense (e. g. .org, . edu, . on. ca)? ? Does the owner of the website have anything to gain by providing the information? ? Does the owner of the website have good c redentials? ? Has anyone updated the website recently? Note that Wikipedia is not necessarily a reliable resource.Anyone anywhere can modify these pages. While it might be a place to find some resources or links, students should not cite Wikipedia as a reliable resource in an academic paper. The University of Alberta put together a good web evaluation checklist: http://www. library. ualberta. ca/instruction/science/evalweb. pdf For a more comprehensive list on evaluating web resources, see the bibliography on the topic: http://www. lib. vt. edu/help/instruct/evaluate/evalbiblio. html Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 Page 4 9B08M057Evaluating Other Resources Ashley and Jessica need to be critical of all the resources they use, not just websites. Ideally, they should be able to discriminate between proprietary and non-proprietary websites, scholarly and non-scholarly resources and evaluate the quality of any book used. Things for Ashley and Jessica to consider include: ? Who published the book or made the information available? ? How old is the information? ? Has the information been updated recently? ? Is the information peer reviewed? Does this matter? ? Did the library buy and recommend the resource? Is the author credible? Scholarly Versus Non-Scholarly Resources An academic library will provide access to both scholarly and non-scholarly resources. Scholarly work generally refers to published work that has been through a peer review process. Especially in the field of business, there are many practitioner resources. Therefore, Jessica and Ashley need to be aware of the type of information they are gathering. For example, industry trends, say from Standard and Poors NetAdvantage, is not a scholarly resource, yet the information within them could be valuable.Alternatively, ProQuest ABI Inform Global provides access to scholarly articles. Ashley and Jessica may also consider the relative value of evidence or fact ver sus opinion. Students should not read things and trust that what they are reading is accurate. Students should think about the rigor with which the argument is made and the evidence presented. ? Is there evidence to back up a claim? ? Has the evidence been collected in a reliable way? ? Is the author stating an opinion without backing up his or her ideas? Citing Work It is important that Ashley and Jessica cited their work properly, to avoid accidental plagiarism.Some of the more confusing things to cite include Statistics Canada data or online information. Statistics Canada has a website that describes systematically how to cite its tables, publications or other datasets: http://www. statcan. ca/english/freepub/12-591-XIE/12-591-XIE2006001. htm In addition, most academic libraries will have information about citation procedures, or will have copies of publication manuals available for borrowing. Any librarian can be asked about citation procedures. Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia . [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 Page 5 9B08M057 2. How to Develop Search StrategiesGoals ? ? ? ? Ashley and Jessica should know the difference between searching in different search fields, such as the abstract field and title field They should be able to use this technology to search the unique fields They should be able to use the â€Å"AND,† â€Å"OR,† or â€Å"NOT† features of a search engine to help narrow their search. They should understand what truncation and proximity search strategies are, and how that influences a search. Most search engines that index information have similar features. If Ashley and Jessica understand the concepts in searching, they can apply them to any search engine.Take Advantage of Search Fields For example, records in an index have many different fields such as keywords, title, author, publication title, document title, abstract, full document, date, author, etc. It is often possible to specify what part of the recor d to search in, which helps to be more specific with the search. Searching an entire text document may retrieve less meaningful records than a search of just abstracts. Use Boolean Search Strategies Using â€Å"AND† and â€Å"OR† can be helpful in expanding or narrowing a search. AND narrows a search and OR expands it. Using the term â€Å"NOT† can also be helpful, but should be limited.For example, searching for beer companies will retrieve companies on diamonds (DeBeers). Excluding the term â€Å"diamond† from a search on beer companies could be helpful in narrowing one’s search. Truncation and Proximity Many search engines allow for truncation and proximity searching. In ProQuest, an asterisk symbol will truncate. For example, if one types â€Å"leader*† into a search box, records with leader, leaders and leadership will be retrieved. This helps capture all variations of a word. Proximity searching refers to how close two words are togeth er in a document.Presumably, if two words are close together in a document, they are more likely to have something to do with each other. In ProQuest, a â€Å"w/1† or â€Å"w/2† (â€Å"w/3,† etc. ) facilitates proximity searching. For example, if Ashley or Jessica typed â€Å"organizational w/3 learning† in the search box, they will retrieve documents where the word â€Å"organizational† is within three words of â€Å"learning. † Find Creative Ways In There are many different ways to find information. Knowing a company name or a competitor’s name is convenient. Taking advantage of key words (or subject terms) also is a good way to search.Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 Page 6 9B08M057 It is also a good idea to brainstorm for synonyms prior to beginning a search. Being d eliberate about a search strategy and deciding on what concepts to combine can really help make the search go easier. Sea rching is iterative as well. One is advised to read some articles to learn the jargon of the topic, then go back and do the search again using the subject jargon. Most librarians will help on developing a search strategy! 3. How to Identify Proprietary Resources GoalsAshley and Jessica should be able to identify library resources and understand what type of information they can find in various types of resources. The following databases are some of the library databases that Ashley and Jessica could consider. They could also go to the library (or call or e-mail) and ask for assistance. Library staff will know what resources the library has, if there are any other resources that may be of use and how to access and use the resources. Finding Background Scholarly Articles ProQuest ABI Inform Global is a database that indexes business and management journal articles.Most of the articles are available in full text, and both scholarly and non-scholarly articles are available. The search b ox in ProQuest has a drop-down menu on the right that allows users to search in specific fields. For example, users can search the title, abstract, author, company or publication fields. Scopus is a database that indexes articles on the social sciences, life sciences, physical sciences and health sciences. For the purposes of a business or entrepreneurship project, searching only the social sciences category would be appropriate. This resource indexed scholarly articles.Google Scholar is a free resource that indexes scholarly information from the World Wide Web. There is an advanced search engine feature to help specify a search. Many academic institutions integrate access to full text articles with Google Scholar. This means that any article the student has access to via the library, is also available to them via Google Scholar. Because Google Scholar is integrated with library resources, the student will likely need to either be on campus, or logged into the off-campus proxy serve r to take advantage of these services.If they are off campus or not logged into the proxy server the student can still search Google Scholar, but access to full text resources may be limited. Finding News and Magazine Articles Factiva is a database that indexes newspapers and magazines. While this resource does not index scholarly articles, it is a broad resource that captures current global news and events. LexisNexis has a comprehensive database that indexes newspapers and magazines. significant Canadian content indexed there. Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 There is alsoPage 7 9B08M057 Finding Industry Trends Several databases including Standard & Poors NetAdvantage, Mintel and Marketline provide reports on industry trends. These databases provide regularly updated reports on broad industries. Each database tends to report on different industries, so students would have to do some trial and error research to find relevant reports. Stu dents may find their topic is too narrow for these reports. The Financial Post Investor Suite is a database that provides industry information from a Canadian perspective. Finding Company InformationCompany information may be important for a project such as The Piercer, especially for researching competitors. MarketLine provides company information, including financial information, company descriptions and a list of competitors. Similarly, Hoovers provides comprehensive company descriptions. Not all companies are in both resources, therefore checking both resources is recommended for company research. Marketing and Advertising The World Advertising Research Center (WARC) is a resource that provides access to information about marketing and advertising, as well as to case studies of winning ad campaigns.Such a resource could be helpful in this context to see if other, similar products have been marketed, and if so, how they have been marketed. There is scholarly and non-scholarly inf ormation in this resource. Technology Information Both eMarketer and Forrester have information about technology trends. There may be information about the Internet, emerging technologies or electronic marketing. Statistics and Demographics Statistics Canada provides access to demographic data. Many secondary educational institutions participate in the Data Liberation Initiative.This means that information a member of the public would have to pay for, can be retrieved for free by a student. Students, through the academic library website, can use data for research. For more information about accessing statistics, students can talk to their subject librarian. Some resources that Statistics Canada has that might be useful to find demographics include the Market Research Handbook, Canadian Business Patterns, CANSIM data, Census data, and Canadian Social Trends, among others. There are other resources available via www. statcan. ca such as Community Profiles.Data are available down to gr oupings of the population of about 2,000 to 7,000 people, meaning students can find demographic data for each 2,000- to 7,000-person neighbourhood across the country. Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 Page 8 9B08M057 Global Information Although global research may not be as important for a product such as The Piercer, other entrepreneurial projects may require researching the global market. Economic Intelligence Unit, Global Market Information Database and Business Monitor Online are three resources that provide global market and industry information.Other Helpful Resources Students are encouraged to use the World Wide Web to help them find good information. For example, city homepages often have information about setting up a business. Association websites also can have helpful information. Also, banks have entrepreneurial information on their websites. In addition, many books in the library explain how to develop small business plans or provide information on entrepreneurship. Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013