The Challenges Of Academic Writing English Language Essay

The Challenges Of Academic Writing English Language Essay Academic writing is clearly very important for a student and cannot be avoided. Moreover, not only will quality academic writing help to succeed in your college life, it is essential for your career as well. The documentation you present to your manager or supervisor is the direct reflection of your ideas, your knowledge and, most importantly, of you on the paper. Academic writing encourages you critical thinking, brings out the creativity and potentially facilitates intellectual growth. To me, academic writing is an art. Art that requires a lot of research in the field. After collecting all the data, the writer has to put his thoughts on the paper using good vocabulary and phrases in the best way to open up the subject. The benefits of academic writing are very obvious, so are the difficulties that come with it. Courses like English 1101 are designed to prepare students for proper academic communication, however, its hard to believe that one can learn how to write in one semester. I think my academic writing has developed tremendously, considering the fact that features like MLA and active voice dont frighten me as much; however, using third person voice is still very challenging and is something that I will have to keep working on. No doubt, using MLA format is probably one of the biggest challenges for students in their academic careers. Im not going to lie, when I first started the course, I had no idea what MLA was and, truthfully, I was terrified just by looking at aspects like in-text citations, paraphrasing, integrating quotations and, especially, Works Cited page of the essay. To me it was really important to realize the purpose of using MLA style in my academic writing. First of all, it is a distinctive format that creates the proper way of written communication, secondly, it is a system of referencing the sources through the parenthetical citations and Works Cited pages which gives the writer credibility. Given these points, it didnt take me long to realize that I will probably have to use this style through out my whole academic career, and I immediately came to the conclusion that the sooner I will learn all the details of it, the better foundation I will have for the future. Looking back now, I real ize that there was nothing to be scared of . Undoubtedly, it didnt come easy: learning MLA was very time-consuming, required a lot of effort and practice. At the end of the day, I am feeling pretty comfortable with it, and if I have questions in the future, I have the right tools to address the issue. Another aspect of academic writing is using active voice. This is something I was very familiar with from the very beginning, however, knowing it doesnt mean that you can use it. A lot of times I had to catch myself trying to make my sentences sound very à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“formalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ , which often meant putting sentences in passive voice. As a result, I would end up having long, confusing and unclear sentences, that left the reader guessing. It was essential for me to comprehend that not only does passive voice creates an obstruction in understanding who is doing the action, but also passive voice sentences end up being wordy and distracting. On the other hand, using active voice in academic essays helps to phrase your thoughts and ideas straight to the point giving the reader a clear explanation of your point of view. For this reason, I found that using complex-compound sentences in active voice is the most powerful way of portraying your ideas, because its those elements tha t add richness and color to the essays. In addition,varying the rhythm by alternating short and long sentences can add playfulness and sound less monotone. Also, varying sentence openings will help to make everything cohesive and add individuality to each sentence. So, my ultimate goal is going to be balancing all of these aspects. My biggest personal challenge in this course was writing the academic essays in third voice. Even though the whole concept of why we should write in third voice was clear to me, using it in actual essays was extremely difficult. Yes, it sounds less subjective, more credible and professional. No doubt, maintaining third voice in academical writing helps to give a serious tone and convey the information in a clear way. However, the formality of it sometimes leaves very little for individuality and your personal style. Not being able to use I, I think or in my opinion just kind of left me disopinionated. How can you write about your experiences, attitudes and viewpoints without including yourself in them? Ultimately, in this process I had to shift my thought process: by not using the personal language and personal judgment phrases, I was able to express many different opinions. Writing in third voice helps to stay neutral and strictly refer to the facts. Overall, I think Im on right tra ck, although I know I still have a lot of work ahead of me. All things considered, I think my academic writing skills improved excessively, especially considering that they were non-existent before. Im glad I took this course early on my journey because Im taking a lot with me to the future. Along the way I had a chance to to sharpen up my research making skills, exercise rational and creative thinking and learn about helpful sources like online library and online tutoring sessions. Im sure I will be able to use these skills not only in my academic life but also in my professional and personal lives in various ways. Do I consider myself a writer? Probably not. However, Im definitely more comfortable with my writing. I understand there is room for improvement, but I have all the tools to succeed.

Hepatitis A Essay -- essays research papers fc

Introduction: Hepatitis is caused by a virus that is targeted at the liver, one of your most important organs!! Specifically, it causes inflammation and injury to the liver. Hepatitis comes in many different forms, five to be exact. There is Hepatitis A, B, C, D & E. Hepatitis is caused mainly by viruses, all of which are set on shutting down your liver. I will be specifically concentrating on Hepatitis A in this report. Hepatitis A is also known as infectious Hepatitis, an extremely contagious viral infection that often effects young children and young adults, especially those in large groups. It has been known to break out in schools, summer camps and music festivals etc. Hepatitis A is also very common in developing nations. Outbreaks occur due to unsanitary conditions such as contamination of the food and water supply. The Liver: The liver is an organ which is located upper right part of your abdomen. It has one main function. This function is to clean out your blood. How this happens is from your inferior venacava, there is a group if veins called the mesenteric veins. They branch off and take dirty blood to your liver to be cleaned. Now, when the virus moves in and stops the liver from doing its job, just imagine all the toxins and unwanted waste and chemicals that build up in your body.!! Causes: Hepatitis A is transmitted almost always by the fecal oral route. It is spread by close personal contact with fecally contaminated water supplies, fruits and vegetables. Poor personal hygiene promotes spread of the virus as well which is why the incidence of Hepatitis is higher in developing nations, where poor sanitary conditions exist. It can also be transmitted by raw or partially cooked clams from contaminated water. Properties of the virus: The hepatitis A virus is a non - enveloped 27 nano meters in size, virus. It is characterized as a RNA based virus. Inactivation of viral activity can be achieved by heating to 100 Â °C for five minutes, and by contact with formaldehyde and chlorine or by ultraviolet irradiation. The virus is present in the liver, bile, stool and blood during the illness. Symptoms: The symptoms of viral hepatitis are not very pretty. Getting Hepatitis is not a fun experience. The first symptoms of Hepatitis A are mild and vague. They generally appear from about 2 weeks to 6 months after ex... ...me up with a new vaccine against Hepatitis A called Havrix. I know about this because last year, before my family and I went on a trip to India, we all got vaccinated against Hepatitis A with Havrix. None of the books from which I researched had any thing about Havrix because they were not that up to date. Prognosis: In most cases of infectious Hepatitis, previously healthy people fully recover with in 2 - 6 weeks. Patients in old age or people with serious underlying disorders such as heart failure, Anemia, diabetes, cancer etc. have a much longer recovery period and are more likely to develop a much worse case of the infection and have a poorer prognosis. However, the over all mortality rate of Hepatitis A is less than 1 percent. Bibliography: 1) Principles Of internal Medicine, Isselbacher, Adams, Braunwald, Petersdorf, Wilson, Mc Graw Hill 1978 2) Medical diagnosis & Treatment, Marcus A. Krupp, Milton J. Chatton, 1980 3) Principals and practice of medicine, Harvey, Johns, Mckusick, Owens, Ross, Appleton - Century - Crofts 1979. 4) Medical & health Encyclopedia, Sidney S. Schipper, Round the world books, 1988 5) World Book Encyclopedia, 1992

Our Emotions Diary

Identifying and measuring our emotions is difficult because it is not easy to objectively assess what we are feeling at that specific situation for emotions are subjective experiences. To accurately identify the range of our emotions and to classify it correctly takes greater control and self-awareness that I could not possibly muster. I have tried to identify the emotions based on the situations that triggered it. The James-Lange theory of emotion said that we first have physiological responses to a situation and only then will we interpret those experiences to determine the present emotion (Zajonc & McIntosh, 1992).Which is actually how most of us respond to an situation, like when I knew I felt anxious because I was feeling uneasy by getting late for class. On the other hand, I also felt confused on whether I got it mixed up; whether I experienced the situation and then the physiological arousal together with the emotion occurred at the same time, the Cannon-Bard theory supports t his explanation although they did not give much importance to the thoughts that occur during that experience (Stein, Trabasso & Liwag, 1993).Although, we get to experience a myriad of emotions and in varying degrees, some emotions are easier to identify like happiness and anger, while differentiating being upset from being sad is difficult. I could categorize it according to whether it is positive or negative and when I smiled I knew that I was happy at that time. Facial feedback theory says that the facial changes that occur in response to an event cues our brain and then define what kind of emotion we feel at that moment (Strongman, 1996).I also observed that we tend to respond to facial expressions, like when a person burst into tears we know that she is sad or afraid. With this activity, I learned that emotions, physical arousal, cognitive thoughts, and our brain interact together to produce different emotions. As to how all these element interact remains to be discovered, which I think will always be an aspect that will remain a mystery. References Stein, N., Trabasso, T. & Liwag, M. (1993). The representation and organization of emotional experience: Unfolding the emotion episode. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland (Eds.), Handbook of Emotions (pp. 279-300). New York: Guilford. Strongman, K. (1996). The Psychology of Emotion: Theories of Emotion in Perspective, 4th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Zajonc, R. & McIntosh, D. (1992). Emotions research: Some promising questions and some questionable promises. Psychological Science, 3, 70-74.

The Youth Of Francis Essays - Franciscan Spirituality, Assisi

The Youth Of Francis Essays - Franciscan Spirituality, Assisi The Youth of Francis Giovanni Bernardone was born around September 1182 to Giovanna (Pica) and Pietro di Bernardone. When little Giovanni was born, his father, a very successful cloth merchant, was on a business trip to Champagne, France, to buy fine French cloth. In his absence, his mother had him baptized him John. When his father arrived home, he was outraged to find his son named John, and had it changed to Francesco, or "Frenchman". When Francis was about 10, his wealthy parents sent him to Saint George's, a school near the city walls of Assisi. The school belonged to the Church of Saint George, and was taught by canons. It was here young Francis heard the story of Saint George and the dragon. Then, Francis's heart was set on becoming a Knight. What young boy can resist the story of a brave knight fighting evil dragons in order to save the beautiful princess? Francis turned 14, and then his wild parties began. He and his other young friends would eat and drink themselves sick, at Francis's treat of course. After that, all through the night the large party would dance through the town, Francis leading them and singing his heart out the whole way. Didn?t it disturb the townspeople? Yes, but when they saw it was Francis, everyone would smile and shake their heads. No could not love this charming boy with his looks, generosity, and splendid voice. Of course, all this merry-making cost money. And who was the ever-ready provider? Why, Pietro Bernardone, of course. He and his family were very wealthy, and he kept his boy's pockets well lined. He also made sure Francis wore nothing but the best. He being a clothier, his son wore nothing but the finest fabrics in the newest styles. But still, he would sometimes cringe at the way Francis ridiculously spent money. Or when he gave it away. Francis was very generous, and would give to every beggar. When he had no more, he would give the fine clothes off his back. This pleased his mother, but when would the spending stop? As Francis became older, the dream of knighthood never left him. In January 1200 war broke out with Perugia. For two years, this was nothing more than skirmishes, a game of cat and mouse between the two cities. It wasn't until December 12, 1202, that a true battle was fought. The armies of Assisi were assembled. And where was our young knight? With the knights and nobility. He had been splendidly outfitted by his father, who was anxious to see him with the nobles. With the army, he charged into the fighting plain, along the banks of the Tiber. It was a fruitless massacre. Perugia?s armies slaughtered Assisi?s men. Only knights were taken prisoner, because owning a horse meant one could pay a ransom, horses being a sign of wealth. Assisi?s nobles were put into dark Peruvian dungeons, to be left there for years. Being stuck in a dungeon was not good for Francis, who contracted tuberculosis. He was released early by a charitable organization who cared for sick prisoners. His father paid a ransom, and Francis went home. He was about 19 when he was taken prisoner. He was now 22. Francis?s Calling Francis was having troubles at home. After returning defeated, his father was very disappointed. And upset at the money he spent on fine clothes for Francis. When he was recovering from his illness, he was very quiet and spent much time reflecting and praying. He no longer sang. And Assisi was having a hard time recovering from the war. But after while, things again began to lighten up. Once again, the dream of knighthood was stirred in Francis. It was the time of the Crusades, the Holy Wars. And Francis was drawn to go. This time he would come back victorious. His father spent the equivalent of a large farm fro the armor and horse of Francis. And so Francis went off once again. While on his way to Spoleto, Francis fell ill, and lodged with his squire in an inn. In the silence of the night, a voice called him. The voice asked Francis what he was going to do. When Francis explained,

The Traditional Modes of Discourse in Composition

The Traditional Modes of Discourse in Composition In composition studies, the term modes of discourse refers to the four traditional categories of written texts: narration, description, exposition, and argument. Also known as the  rhetorical modes and forms of discourse. In 1975, James Britton and his associates at the University of London questioned the usefulness of the modes of discourse as a way of teaching students how to write. The tradition is profoundly prescriptive, they observed, and shows little inclination to observe the writing process: its concern is with how people should write rather than how they do (The Development of Writing Abilities [11-18]). Also see: Current-Traditional RhetoricDiscourseExpository WritingModels of CompositionTheme Writing Examples and Observations Beginning with Samuel Newmans Practical Systems of Rhetoric of 1827, American rhetoric textbooks . . . were supplementing Whatelian argumentative rhetoric with other modes. Teachers were coming to prefer books that offered concrete treatment of the different sorts of communication aims obviously served by writing. As writing displaced oral rhetoric, the older insistence on a single argumentative purpose did not serve, and in 1866 the desire for a multimodal rhetorical system was met by Alexander Bain, whose English Composition and Rhetoric proposed the multimodal system that has remained to this day, the forms or modes of discourse: narration, description, exposition, and argument.(Robert Connors, Composition-Rhetoric. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997)Writing in Multiple Modes- A mode is . . . considered as one dimension of a subject, a way of viewing the subject as static or dynamic, abstract or concrete. A typical discourse, then, may make use of all the modes. For instance, to write about a monarch butterfly we may narrate about the butterfly (e.g., trace its migration north in the spring or its life cycle), describe the butterfly (orange and black, about three inches wide), classify it (species, Danaus Plexippus, belonging to the family Danaidae, the milkweed butterflies, order Lepidoptera); and evaluate it (one of the most beautiful and best known of butterflies). However, even though the discourse may include all of the modes, it is common to use one of the modes to organize the discourse, as is suggested by the title of one of [James L.] Kinneavys textbooks: Writing: Basic Modes of Organization, by Kinneavy, Cope, and Campbell.(Mary Lynch Kennedy, ed. Theorizing Composition: A Critical Sourcebook of Theory And Scholarship in Contemporary Composition Studies. IAP, 1998)|- No theory of modes of discourse ever pretends that the modes do not overlap. In actuality, it is impossible to have pure narration, etc. However in a given discourse there will often be . . . [a] dominant mode. . . .These four  modes of discourse [narration, classification, description, and evaluation]  are  not an application of the communication triangle. They actually are grounded in certain philosophic concepts of the nature of reality considered as being or becoming.(James Kinneavy, A Theory of Discourse. Prentice Hall, 1972) Problems With the Modes of DiscourseThe modes are faulted for relying on faculty and associationist psychology. Faculty psychology assumes the mind is governed by the faculties of understanding, imagination, passion, or will. Associationist psychology contends that we know the world through the grouping, or association, of ideas, which follows basic laws and order. Thus early proponents of the modes of discourse assumed that one should choose a form of discourse according to the faculty to be influenced and based on laws of association. . . .In light of current composition theory, problems with the modes of discourse as a guiding principle of composition pedagogy are numerous. For example, Sharon Crowley (1984) faults the modes for focusing only on text and writer, ignoring the audience, and thus being arhetorical.(Kimberly Harrison, Contemporary Composition Studies. Greenwood, 1999)Adams Sherman Hill on the Kinds of Composition (1895)The four kinds of composition that seem to requir e separate treatment are: Description, which deals with persons or things; Narration, which deals with acts or events; Exposition, which deals with whatever admits of analysis or requires explanation; Argument, which deals with any material that may be used to convince the understanding or to affect the will. The purpose of description is to bring before the mind of the reader persons or things as they appear to the writer. The purpose of narration is to tell a story. The purpose of exposition is to make the matter in hand more definite. The purpose of argument is to influence opinion or action, or both.In theory these kinds of composition are distinct, but in practice two or more of them are usually combined. Description readily runs into narration, and narration into description: a paragraph may be descriptive in form and narrative in purpose, or narrative in form and descriptive in purpose. Exposition has much in common with one kind of description; and it may be of service to an y kind of description, to narration, or to argument.(Adams Sherman Hill, The Principles of Rhetoric, rev. edition. American Book Company, 1895)

Sticky fingers Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sticky fingers - Case Study Example This paper explores an ethical issue faced by the retail store and will analyze checkpoints that can help in resolving the business ethical situation at hand. The case at hand presents a business environment where moral reasoning and evaluations are based on moral sensitivity. Even though there arises a moral issue, tolerance of moral ambiguity and disagreement is observed at managerial level. Management is seen processing moral judgments through efforts to integrate moral competence with managerial proficiency. b. Todd who has served the retail store for three consecutive years as a salesman was found responsible for security control on the day the theft took place. This has become evident from the videotapes of closed-circuit TV placed within the premises. d. Mike, loss prevention/security manager, has conducted lie-detector tests to determine which employee is guilty of the underlying theft. His investigations have proven that Todd is the only employee who has failed the test. e. Todd’s employment files have revealed misleading information regarding his previous workplace. Sworn bonding forms as well his application forms do not match with the given information. This step is harshly taken against the store’s rules and can result in immediate termination. b. Whistle blowing and misleading top management regarding an employee is another ethical misconduct exhibited by Mike, the security manager. He purposely is seen pressurizing Susan, manager of the retail store, to explore any unethical issue in Todd’s employment files so as to fire him. c. Better performance evaluation report can be achieved by Mike in case of closing internal theft case on Todd. This extrinsic reward is pushing Mike to conduct whistle blowing and misleading top management against Todd. a. Thorough re-investigation of the store’s theft can be undertaken to effectively find out the

Finding Partners Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Finding Partners - Coursework Example They will also be encouraged that having AIDS is not the end of everything they should go on and fight for their lives. As a public health officer, I will need help from different people such as, other local health officers, church bishop, politicians, school principal, and government officer in land department. I will also need help from; mahindi investments, NGOS, university in health departments, eldowers and radio presenter from a local station. With the help of this people, I will be able to eliminate AIDS from my community leaving my people healthy and fit. Bishop Njenga will be instrumental in encouraging and advising the victims living with HIV/AIDS. He will also assist in reducing the level of stigmatization of AIDS patients within the community. The Catholic Church has particular interest in helping the sick and the needy. This is the main reason why the bishop, as a representative of the Catholic Church, will heed to join this mission. Mr. Kibwana will be instrumental in this project by assigning the AIDS victims with a portion of land provided by the government to support people living with the disease. The government is keen on ensuring that the people living with the disease have equal opportunities within the society, such as the right to land ownership, which some of them usually lose owing to the high level of stigmatization within the community. Mr. Kibwana will be an interested partner in this project because it will assist him in identifying people living with HIV/AIDS in the community. Mr. Musyoka will be instrumental in this project by providing the necessary funds needed to undertake the project. The city of Sirare is on a heightened initiative to create HIV/AIDS awareness within the community owing to the high rate of victims who succumb to the disease. For instance, the immediate former town mayor died of HIV/AIDS. As such, this project