Life of Pi book

In the book, Life of Pi[1], Yann Martel proposes many religious differences, and similarities from religions located around the world. These questions ask such things as, is it possible to be a multi-religion person? Are all religions different? How are some religions the same? Life of Pi was written in 2002 and is a fascinating story of how a young man, Pi Patel, makes it in a world with his own personal beliefs. He adopts the three major religions of the world being Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam.Life of Pi is a very questioning book at times and has the capability of persuading nonbelievers to re-evaluate their religious thought process and beliefs. After reading this book you will be comfortable in the knowledge that you will have on other religions, and just may judge them differently. One of the questions that surfaces in this book is â€Å"can a person believe in more than one religion? † The author uses the Christian, Islam, and Hindu religions all in one character to represent the different struggles that Pi Patel is facing within him self, just as animals were used as symbolic representation for people in the first story. As for the question itself, a person cannot believe in more than one religion at a time. This is shown when the three holy men meet Pi in the park and they argue over his religious practices. While arguing Pi’s father reminds the three holy men that â€Å"there is freedom for practice of whatever religion in this country†[2]. The holy men screamed in unison, â€Å"Yes! Practice-singular†[3]. This point supports how even the three major holy religions of the world believe that you can only have one. However, it is possible for people to change religions throughout their lives. As religions are faith based through personal convictions that come from within, you have purpose in what you believe, and therefore are only able to believe in one at a time. To say you believe in Christianity and Hinduism would be like saying you are both a communist and a progressive conservative, which are different philosophies. You have to choose one religion or another, just as in this story you need to believe the first story or the second story, and you cannot believe that both of these events occurred. A person cannot believe two tales of the same legend. The second story with people resembles culture within North America and how everything in the North American world is looked at as bare facts. Most people only believe things that they can see with there own eyes, or feel with there own hands. Starting from our education as children, to jobs in adulthood, knowledge of bare facts measures how much we are capable of doing. In math you add numbers that have relevance to our society, in science pre-determined experiments with actions or re-actions occur, as well as predictions and conclusions. Everything MUST have an answer. If there is a topic to which we do not have an answer we dig for scientific answers, and refuse to accept folk tales or stories from higher powers. In an area of the world with steadily declining religious numbers[4], we need to exercise our faith and imaginations. We all need to have an open and searching mind like that of a younger child. Pi Patel shows just how blunt and â€Å"factual†[5] North America people are by telling the second story, including the murder of people on a lifeboat. Murder is something we can all relate to, thus making the second story â€Å"the right story†[6] to most people. After the second story of realism, many people feel the first story to be a waste of time, showing again just how North American people struggle to explore the imaginative or symbolic side of things. Everybody justifies their respective view by saying, â€Å"that’s not even possible†[7] or â€Å"I’d have to see it to believe it†[8]. The first and second story connects in a way of showing resemblances between the two major religions of the world, Christianity and Islam. The purpose of this is to show how alike Islam followers are to Christian followers. They share most of the same religious views, with very minor differences in stories of interpretations. They also share many of the same characters, such as Jesus, who is God’s son. Jesus sends messages from God and heals people in Christianity, and in Islam a prophet shares the word of God. These two parts in the story show just how different the two religions are, yet are so similar. The first story also shows how, in the eastern world, the people are much more imaginative, by using Hindu and its animals to add a twist to create the first story. It uses the animals to also describe the real people that were on the boat such as the Orangutan, Pi’s mother. In Hindu a person who is caring and involved in religious studies has the possibility of becoming a monkey after death[9]. Pi’s mom was a very caring person who was against the eating of the zebra, or the young sailor. A zebra is looked at as an honest, friendly, and creative person because of his stripes[10]. By using these animals he is trying to show just how North American culture is so bare factual. This story parallels our own personal internal struggles as well as the struggles of different cultures and religions in the world. We begin to understand we have to ultimately face and deal with our own struggles, allowing us to come to terms with our own beliefs, where we are at in our own lives and how we fit into our culture. This story could be interpreted with different meanings by different people, but ultimately causes the kind of thought that moves us forward in terms of who we will become. The purpose of this story is to show the similarities of some religions, and also to show that the things that are different, are not so different after all. This is a book attempting to change minds on religious discrimination and indifferences.Reference http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm

Hill presents Edmund Hooper as a violent imposing figure, who shows no sympathy Essay

Hill presents the character Edmund Hooper as a unsympathetic character. Hill’s uses the technique of ‘unmitigated language’ to present Edmund as unsympathetic character; â€Å"You were only tenants then†, Edmund makes no effort to make his sentence any politer. The word â€Å"only† is chosen by Hill to try and ‘degrade’ Kingshaw’s ‘ status and to portray him, inferior to Edmund. Hill continues to show that Edmund is an unsympathetic character; â€Å"When did he die?†. The death of Kingshaw’s father is a personnel matter, and the ‘usual’ person is likely to feel sympathetic towards Kingshaw. Hill purposefully gives the question asked by Edmund no expression, the reader has no idea how Edmund states the question. By not including any expression, the reader is given the impression that Edmund is ignorant to the death of Kingshaw’s father, he is instead focused on being an imposing figure. Edmund is portrayed as an imposing figure and his unsympathetic nature reinforces this view. Furthermore Edmunds actions portray him as a imposing figure; â€Å"Hooper looked at him coldly†, the word ‘coldly’ would suggests lack of emotion and ‘warmth’. Edmunds lack of emotion ‘frightens’ the readers. The reader develops an image of an emotionless child, Edmund shows no emotion towards his father either; â€Å"Hooper stood very still, turning the pencil round and round†, the word ‘still’ can be linked to the lack of motion, Edmund is in one sense ‘frozen’, he emits no emotions, no warmth towards no one. ‘Turning the pencil round and round’ could suggest that Edmund is like an endless loop, he is shown to have no personality and trying to make contact with Edmund is like going ’round and round’, you do not end up anywhere different, you keep on going round in a circle. Finally, Edmund is shown to be violent; â€Å"He raised his fists and came at Kingshaw†. Fists are can be associated with boxing- a violent sport. Edmund with his fists ‘raised’ give the reader and image of a boy ready to fight. The word ‘came’ suggests Edmund can be compared to an object more than a human, which suggests that Edmund is a very unusual human, he is more like an object, emotionless and violent. The violence is emphasised as Edmund has only just met Kingshaw, the mere fact Edmund attacks Kingshaw almost immediately after meeting Kingshaw suggests Edmund does not try to understand Kingshaw, he just attacks Kingshaw to be seen as the superior person. Edmund shows no regret in hurting Kingshaw, â€Å"I’ll bash you again†. The word bash is not associated with humans but objects. It is unusual to say ‘I’ll bash you. Bash is a very violent word and the reader sees Edmund as intimidating and violent. The word â€Å"again† suggests that Edmund will willingly hurt someone, repeatedly. The repetetion of Edmunds violent nature tells gives the image of an imposing character. Hill tries to present Edmund as an imposing figure so that Edmunds character contrasts with Kingshaw. The reader sees Kingshaw as the victim and Edmund as the bully. The conflict between Kingshaw and Edmund is what engages the reader, and as the two characters have opposing personalities, conflict occurs a lot more frequently. The reader continues to read in anticipation that more conflict will occur, the conflict excites the reader and produces suspense.

Discovering the Identity behind History: Days of Awe Essay

Dealing with the past opens many opportunities in unveiling the mysteries that life is continuously giving us. By looking at the details where we can see the picture not only in a two dimensional perspective, but to all the sides that we can, a broader explanation and exploration can be made. This is an important part of humans’ experiences because it gives way for them to reveal the roots and explain the things that serve as a puzzle to them. Puzzle that gives question that many people think will never be answered. But, through the persistence of different forces, a new way of enlightening the path towards the truth will be open for them to be set free. As the story in Days of Awe written by Archy Obejas, dealing with the protagonist’s main conflict can be associated in our daily lives. We can see how she was able to find the real meanings behind her doubts and questions and how she was able to find the answers in her own queries. By putting into the consideration all the factors that she think might affect her perception in the things she know, she should be the one to first understand the things her own conflict with her own beliefs had made. This story teaches us a great lesson in life that can be applied in our daily interaction with different kind of people as we continue our own odyssey towards life’s great journey. This lesson is not new to us, but in fact, can be found even in the smallest things that we are doing but we are too distracted by our own personal attachments to certain things that forbid us to open up our selves in many opportunities that life is offering us. This lesson is in great value especially in dealing with the things that we know is too valuable for us to lose. By giving this importance, we will be successfully forge a deal that will benefit a greater part of humanity. This lesson is acceptance. Accepting the things that we know are real and existent although sometimes, it comes with a great deal of pain and suffering. Even though how much we suffer and realize that there are many hindrances in the world that make things more difficult and harder for us, we should not let it control our direction and lead us to another way, than listening to what our future discoveries can be. This is a challenge that had been made by various problems that hones our personality and our life’s point of view. By accepting that these things are part of the life of human society, we will be able to understand more the things that we don’t understand before. And in effect, will cost us a greater price that no one before had managed to do so. Brief Summary: Born in the New Year’s Day, year 1951, a girl named Alejandra San Jose was born in Havana where there are conflicts that had been arising due to the opposing powers and beliefs of the higher people in the place. And because of this, her parents decided to escape from the danger they foresee that will be brought by these opposing parties. Making this decision is not easy for her parents because they will not only leave their house but also their heritage that they treasured in many years. Their go to the shores of North America but later joined the group of Cuban Refugees in Chicago. This settlement gave them another opportunity for them to live their life as normal. Although she had knowledge in her home place in her childhood, she got distracted due to her youthful days but later on brought back her passion and curiosity in the said culture. In her teen age, where she learned different things through her father who was a linguist himself, she later on developed her skills in that field. As a translator, she had given an opportunity to go back to her homeland where she worked with her mage as an American and highly different from the natives living there. She had the notion that she does not belong there because of she think that she is really an American. Later on, she discovered that her ancestors were Jews and not as Catholics, as she always believed. Because of that, she learned different things in life. The essence of being a Catholic and Jews, the definition of difference between religion, the culture and beliefs and how it affects ones perspective in looking at life, these factors taught her the essence of life and its mysteries, as it gives people the chance to understand it, and the people have all the prerogative which lessons they want to pick. Historical Background: Jews, as defined by most scholars, are people who associate themselves as having a trace of their ancestry to the ancient Hebrews or people who converted themselves on the religion of Jews, which is Judaism. Talking about it, Judaism is one of the oldest religion in the world, and also, the mother religion of the world’s largest and most powerful religions, Islam and Christianity. It is a religion believed to be founded way back to history. Traditionally, one can be a Jew in two primary reasons. First, if her mother is a Jew and second, if he or she voluntarily converted him or herself to Judaism. If he or she satisfied any of the condition, he or she can freely call him or herself as a Jew. (Spector, 11-13) It is said that before, Jews are the people being said by the old scriptures and claims had been made that it is their contribution to the foundation of civilization. They are the first one who devised different rules that will govern not only their church but also their societies as well. In dealing with this, they had opened the opportunity to integrate the core values of their beliefs to the way of life of the people. By doing so, they had the utmost control to the flow of the society where people view them as sacred and too holy to be disregarded. In doing such, people had become connected with it at the same time, makes things possible for the religion to conquer their own beliefs and perceptions to their experiences. But, as the time passed by and many religions had made their way in being recognized by the people, and they become more and more established, Jews began to weaken its impact to the world. They became the minority group in almost all places where they fist began to explore and share their faith. And history had proven that some times, there are conflicts and bloody wars because of the Jews persistence to value their faith and their beliefs as their own heritage and the identity of their own cultural inclination. (Akiva & Gottlieb, 23-41) History marked the times when they are almost extinguished by people who want to eliminate their beliefs in the world. Some of these steps had ended the lives of millions of Jews all over the world. That is why, the number of Jews all over the world started to fall in number because of the many attempts to persecute them. Jews contribution to the human civilization is their rich culture and their beliefs in many aspects of life. They had developed certain guidelines that made them advanced compared to the other people living in the world. In having so, many people had misinterpreted their values in their beliefs making pre-judgment that affected their interactions with them. Many people had developed stereotypes and discriminated them in many ways that had affect their personal understanding to what is happening to his or her environment. This tragic interaction with the Jews and many other member of society became a social phenomenon, where the Jews are now living not only on their own standards but also, to the definition of the people watching their moves. Because of their drive to promote the teachings of their own beliefs and the way of life they want people to do so, they kept their traditional ways of life and adapt to their environment as the world is dynamically changing with regards to the modern things and elements that somehow interfere with their way of life. This is a condition where they had different outlook in life, as they give another meaning to the details of their actions and the people’s defined action to them. In looking this matter at a higher level of thinking, we can see that the social system which discriminated the people in their own personal environment spaces, had became a venue where they experience problems and conflicts, that should be a part of their pre-understanding of the world. (Barnavi, 18-21)

The Role and Functions of the European Medicines Agency Research Paper

The Role and Functions of the European Medicines Agency - Research Paper Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that the agency is made up of a Secretariat (ca. 600 staff), a board of management, a total of 6 scientific committees (human, herbal and veterinary products, orphan drugs, pediatrics and advanced therapies) and a number of scientific working parties (European Medicines Agency. 13 September 2011). The organization is well structured into five units which are mutually related to each other in terms of operation and services. The EMA derives its resources from over forty National Competent Authorities and over 4500 experts from all over European Union countries(European Medicines Agency. 13 September 2011). Although the Community pharmaceutical legislation is based essentially on the Single Market provisions of the EU Treaty, the primary stakeholders obviously include patients and healthcare professionals who operate in quite different healthcare delivery systems (HMA Strategy Paper, 2007). While maintaining regular checks on the manufacturing of biotechnological products, the EMA agency provides for relevant advice to the pharmaceutical companies and caters for the public interest. The field of medicine is a very sensitive area since it embodies the life of an individual and animals as well. Therefore, there has been a need to provide a quality assessment in the medicinal field in order to ascertain safety, efficiency, and quality in the process of manufacturing pharmaceuticals(HMA Strategy Paper, 2007). These require detailed assessment by an external body (EMA) which acts as autonomous body capable of carrying out its activities without the influence or engagement of political entities. Medicines are meant to improve quality of life; any deviation to the expected standards of requirement has devastating effect on the human and animal health.

Music in Brazil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Music in Brazil - Essay Example The French Revolution also had a significant impact on Brazilian music. Similarly, mines are another major influence in the evolution of Brazilian music. The music of Brazil appeared very limited as only very few compositions could be found in their original tradition. The authors were: Francisco Gomes da Rocha (1754-1808), Manuel Dias de Oliveira (1735-1813), Jose Joaquim Emerico Lobo de Mesquita (1746-1805) and Joao de Deus de Castro Lobo (1794-1830). The first reference to Brazilian music pertains to 1578 and is titled â€Å"Viagem a Terra do Brazil,† or the journey to the land of Brazil, composed by Jean De Lery. A major trend in the Brazilian music scenario was the prevalence of discrimination on the basis of religion, gender and socio-economic status. This trend also reflected on music education in the country and only a few children had studied music in Brazil. Thus, formal education in this fine art remained limited. Thus, most of the music derived from the informal le arning background and through traditions. The musical practices in Brazil developed into two distinct categories in the states of Para and Marahao. In the Brazilian tradition, children also enjoyed music as adult and they had songs on a wide variety of themes, during the Orphenonic movement in the 1940s. The songs, which were usually heard during many of the traditional celebrations, were sung by illiterate people from all the communities, thus adding up to the history of Brazilian music. The Principle Characteristics of Brazilian Music The history of music in Brazil began with the arrival of Portuguese and the Jesuits used choir groups in the church. As a result, music became more popular among common people. During those days, slavery was prevalent in the country and the children of slaves did not have the privilege of schooling. Hence, a wide gap came into existence between the musical practices of the rich and poor people in the earlier times. Music appeared to be a major discip line in Brazilian culture. Researchers from various places developed an interest in the musical practices by different communities, as well as the traditional institutions. Many educational institutions began publishing the material on music, which brought music practices by different communities in Brazil to the limelight. An irrefutable element in the Brazilian music is the strong influence of the Portuguese language. Besides, many African and native words also found their way into Brazilian music which contributed to the forging of an African rhythm, which rendered to the Brazilian music a more sensual and romantic style in its transformation. Brazilian music deploys a wide array of musical instruments in its composition. In the early days the composers mainly relied on drums and percussion, which was similar to the African Diaspora. Another significant influence was the Atabaques, which are narrowed drums of Africa, with their top covered by calf skin. These drums came in differ ent sizes, which were prominently used in the rituals in Brazil. Other instruments included bamboo, which is in the category of surdos, which meant deaf drums; Alfaias (rope-drums); Zabumbas which had a low sound with two heads; repiniques which were a high pitched drum; Pandeiros which were a single headed hand drums, and so many others. â€Å"In contrast to the economic inequality that historically pervaded Brazilian society,

History Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

History - Article Example ich changed milk into cheese, meal into bread, malt into beer, and flesh into bacon.† (Ulrich, p.48) Further, â€Å"preparing the simplest of meals required both judgment and skill...The most basic of housewifes skills was building and regulating fires – a task so fundamental thtat it must have appeared more as habit than craft. Summer and winter, day and night, she kept a few brands smoldering, ready to stir into flame as needed.† (Ulrich, p,47) Simple as these activities might sound, one becomes an expert in them through long and arduous training during their formative years. Often times, women use intuition and common sense to supplement the skills they leart from their mothers and aunts to carry out these complex and challenging household tasks. Given that the colonial society was an agrarian society, the housewifes domain extended â€Å"from the kitchen and its appendages, the cellars, pantries, brewhouses, mikhouses, washhouses, and butteries which appear in various combinations in household inventories, to the exterior of the house, where, even in the city, a melange of animal and vegetable life flourished among the straw, husks, clutter and muck†. (Ulrich, pg. 45) In order to handle all of these places on an everyday basis and single-handedly requires high skilfulness and presence of mind – both qualities women in colonial America possessed in abundance. How did colonial American women participate in economic activities that helped sustain their families, even if they did not have a job outside the home? In other words, what sort of things did they do? The importance and complexity of womens contributions were not acknowledged due to the subordinate status assigned them by society and also due to the fact that their activities were confined within household limits. Whereas men, by virtue of involving themselves in more conspicuous labor activity in the open farms were easily recognized as the breadwinners and providers for their families.

Work Placement in Hailong Hotel (Learning Log) Essay

Work Placement in Hailong Hotel (Learning Log) - Essay Example They must possess the necessary skills and knowledge so that the person can fit into any kind of organisation and help the organisation at attaining the goals of the organisation. The table below helps to comprehend how competent enough I am for the job in which I am presently working. Numerous kinds of skills are generally to be possessed by the individual prior to entering the workplace. These numerous skills include problem solving ability, time management, communication skills written, decision making skills, organisational skills, leadership and motivation among others. It can be analysed that I am quite competent enough in terms of adaptability, self motivation, tolerance, and negotiation skills. I also find myself proficient enough in dealing with large amount of data which is considered as one of the most significant skills for a person in an organisation. I am also competent enough in resolving the problems and planning. Most of the organisations state the fact that it is qu ite significant for the employees to possess problem solving as well as planning skills since the employees possessing these two skills can assist in attaining the goals of the organisation and can help in maintaining sustainable advantage.... ning v Desire to achieve/motivation v Curiosity v Deep understanding v General knowledge v Relevant work experience v Equipped for continuous education v Problem setting ability v Ability to use IT v Knowledge of the organisation v Specialist factual knowledge v Prior knowledge of the job v Knowledge of social/political issues v It can be analysed that I am quite competent enough in terms of adaptability, self motivation, tolerance, and negotiation skills. I also find myself proficient enough in dealing with large amount of data which is considered as one of the most significant skills for a person in an organisation. I am also competent enough in resolving the problems and planning. Most of the organisations state the fact that it is quite significant for the employees to possess problem solving as well as planning skills since the employees possessing these two skills can assist in attaining the goals of the organisation and can help in maintaining sustainable advantage. However, I find myself less competent in terms of time management, team work as well as leadership potential. Efficient time management is vital in order to attain the tasks of the organisation and to evade wasting the valuable organisation assets. Leadership as well as team management are all about being capable of directing a team to perform the best that it can. Team management is about the capability to obtain the best from the workforce. Leadership can also be observed to be a process of making oneself to be looked upon as an example in any organisation. The organisations cannot run efficiently without a good leader. Similarly, it is also significant to possess skills related to proper team management. Therefore, in order to place myself in a better organisation I need to equip myself with the

Chines Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Chines Art - Essay Example ur symbolize the â€Å"five virtues†: civil virtues, because its comb makes it look like a mandarin and therefore suggests advancement and promotion; martial virtues, because of its spurs; virtues associated with courage because of its conduct in battle; virtues in association with kindness, because it protects its hens; virtues related to confidence because of the accuracy with which it heralds the dawn. It also spoke of  reliability, epitome of fidelity and punctuality. Cock fighting is said to be the world’s oldest spectator sport and was entrenched in ancient India, China, Persia, and other Eastern countries, and was introduced into Ancient Greece in the time of Themistocles (c. 524–460 BC). In 1949 Mao Zedong, poet and founder of New China, wrote a verse that included the stanza: "The rooster sings, the bright sky turns.† The rooster is known to be a fierce fighter; this line celebrates its proclamation to the nation of victory over darkness at the start of each day. In this sense the battling rooster is symbolic, but China also has a history of competitive cock fighting that dates back 4,000 years. It is, therefore, deeply rooted in its culture. Goading roosters into fighting is an easy matter, as it is their instinct to ward off any rivals for their hen

Christian and Bible Fundamentalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Christian and Bible Fundamentalism - Essay Example Christian and biblical fundamentalism refers to aspects based on ideologies that oppose the other theories that explain the nature. Scientific theories have been developed to explain the origin of life and the earth. Christian and Bible fundamentalists believe that the earth was created in seven, twenty-four hour days. In addition, they believe that the other theories that explain the origin of the earth are based on false ideologies. They focus on the creation account contained in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament of the Bible. They oppose biological theories of life and consider the people who formulate them as being directed by the evil. Christian fundamentalists argue based on the literal interpretation of the Bible. In this essay, Christian and Bible fundamentalism will be analyzed in detail. Fundamentalism refers to the total adherence to the values and doctrines of Christianity with respect to the literal interpretation of the Bible (Barrett & Kurian 45). Fundamentalism developed from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, when the Protestant movement strictly opposed the application of Christian doctrines to the current theories of science and philosophy. Fundamentalism has resulted in social and economic problems. The development of Christian fundamentalism was accelerated by the Protestant movements in different countries. The aspect of fundamentalism developed from the United Kingdom and the United States of America in the 20th century. Christian and Bible fundamentalism started with the development of the social Gospel which was associated with the name of Walter Rauschenbusch in the United Kingdom (Gifford 2).

Interview Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Interview - Research Paper Example He is now staying with his daughter Mary Slater in the same city. It seems that he is of 90 years now. I got acquitted with him by one of my friends, Alex. Actually Mr. Anderson is a relative of Alex. Last month I had visited the aunt of Alex, Mary Slater and from there I got acquainted with Anderson who talked a lot about his period when he was a boy. He was very friendly with me and so when I thought of such an assignment I had no other choice, but Anderson. I went to his house and I showed the list of choice of assignments on which he would have to talk a little of his experience. He chose the topic ‘silent motion picture’ that he had seen when he was a boy. Actually his father was a dramatist and who had acted in many plays. Anderson too had deep interest towards the making of films. He had seen the film ‘The Kid’ by the greatest comedian of all ages, Charlie Chaplin. Anderson was much excited to speak on the first film that he had seen in his life. He navigated me through the film: the comedies and at the same time the pathos associated with it. How the child in the film happened to be parentless and how the Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) tried his level best to return the baby to its mother. This aroused much laughter among the audience. As he failed in this attempt he had taken the pain of looking after the baby. Their attempts to earn a living by breaking windows and mending the same made the audience roared wit h laughter. He remembers that people laughing together at the farce of the characters created a sense of unity. For ‘little Anderson’ the play of the Tramp and the Kid seemed to be real and he associated it with his father. He remembered that situation of the period was also the same as in the film. The poor had to struggle a lot to earn their livelihood, and he was familiar with the Tramps in his surroundings. Mr. Anderson admitted that he had seen the same film in a second time in the Chaplin’s festival at New York City. And this time

Oil & Gas Operations Industry Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Oil & Gas Operations Industry - Research Paper Example Despite these challenges, analyst have continued to forecast positive trends in this industry, particularly because the demand of gas and oil is on the rise, coupled with more advanced technology, which has improved production processes and fundamentally reduced production cost. My choice of portfolio in this industry is majorly motivated by the need to strike a balanced diversification, with the aim of spreading risks across different companies with different risk profiles, as well as maximizing the returns. In particular, I have diversified the portfolio across different companies that have invested from different geographical background, including the United States, United Kingdom, China, and Russia. Although the 10 companies that my portfolio cuts across, deals with similar products, there are slight differences on the combination of products that they deal with, which boost my diversification profile. This report will also provide a brief summary of each company, and some key re asons why I intend to invest in them. Most of the reasons are motivated by the need to diversify and mitigate the risks from different companies. The report has identified various challenges that this industry is undergoing, which has led to a conclusion that it has a high risk profile, but one worth investing in because of its optimistic long-term prospects. A comprehensive analysis of movement of prices of the shares for four weeks that ended mid May has been undertaken. Evidently, there has been a decline of share prices for all companies, which has led to loss of value of my portfolio, but this has not significantly affected my goals of making capital gain in the long-term, because these are short-term fluctuations, which are not likely to last for long. Essentially, I have undertaken the valuation of my portfolio in terms of US Dollar, and hence had to convert the value of shares that are traded in other currencies such as Chinese Yuan. This has significantly affected the accur acy of valuation of the portfolio as the exchanges rates are mere estimates. Different trends are made clear by use of tables and graphs. At the end, I have carried out a percentage analysis and found that the shares have fundamentally lost value. I have also used the Dow Jones Industrial Average as a benchmark to assess the performance of my portfolio. Investment Analysis A brief overview of Oil & Gas Operations Industry The oil and gas industry is operating under a challenging and a dynamic global marketplace and a progressively more adamant group of participants. The regulatory demand is increasingly putting pressure on the operations, and the demand growth is becoming sluggish, while the existing reserves are more expensive and difficult to generate. As the demand to meet future demand builds up, worldwide alliances are becoming more significant. Over the recent years, oil price fluctuation has become the order of the day. In spite of this, the companies in this industry have a challenging task of ensuring they focus on the medium to long-term conditions if they are to make credible decisions and achieve their growth targets. Investing in people, technology and R&D are critical to ensuring a lasting competitive edge (Dybvig & Stephen, 1985). The industry has to contend with mounting uncertainty that is particularly typical of the current decade. With tighter regulations and new policies to adhere to, long term planning and strategy are very critical, given the uncertain environment. In a bid to balance the mounting demand with sustainable and sufficient energy, oil and gas companies are adopting new technologies to supply

Total Quality Management Essay Example for Free

Total Quality Management Essay Concept of Leadership Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. Though there is no universal definition of leadership and indeed many books have been devoted to the topic of leadership, Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. James Mac Gregor Burns describes a leader as one who instills purposes, not one who controls by brute force. A leader strengthens and inspires the followers to accomplish shared goals. So leadership requires an intuitive understanding of human nature- the basic needs, wants, and abilities of people. It helps leaders direct them on the right track. So leadership should be based on the following concepts: 1) People, paradoxically, need security and independence at the same time. 2) People are sensitive to external rewards and punishments and yet are also strongly self-motivated. 3) People like to hear a kind word of praise. Catch people doing something right. 4) People can process only a few facts at a time, thus, a leader needs to keep things simple. 5) People trust their gut reaction more than statistical data. 6) They distrust the leader’s rhetoric if the words are inconsistent with the leader’s actions. Characteristics of Quality Leaders There are 12 behaviors or characteristics that successful quality leaders demonstrate: 1) They give priority attention to external and internal customers and their needs. Leaders place themselves into the customers’ shoes and service their needs from that perspective. They continually evaluate the customers’ changing requirements. 2) They empower, rather than control, their subordinates. Leaders have trust and confidence in the performance of their subordinates. They provide the resources, training and work environment to help subordinates do their jobs. However, the decision to accept responsibility lies with the individual. 3) They emphasize improvement rather than maintenance. Leaders use the phrase â€Å"If it isn’t perfect, improve it† rather than â€Å"If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.† There is always room for improvement, even if the improvement is small. Major breakthroughs happen but it’s the little ones that keep the continuous process improvement on a positive track. 4) They emphasize prevention; â€Å"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure† is certainly true. It is also true that perfection can be the enemy of creativity. We can’t always wait until we have created the perfect product. There must be a balance between preventing problems and developing better but not the perfect one. 5) They encourage collaboration rather than competition. When functional areas, departments or work groups are in competition, they may find subtle ways of working against each other or withholding information. Instead, there must be collaboration among and within units. 6) They train and coach rather than direct and supervise. Leaders know that the development of the human resource is a necessity. As coaches, they help their subordinates learn to do a better job. 7) They learn from problems. When a problem exists, it is treated as an opportunity rather than something to be minimized or covered up. â€Å"What caused it?† and â€Å"How can we prevent it in future?† are the questions quality leaders ask. 8) They continually try to improve communications. Leaders continually disseminate information about the TQM effort. They make sure that TQM is not just a slogan. Communication is two way- ideas will be generated by people when leaders encourage them and act upon them. 9) They continually demonstrate their commitment to quality, that is; they just do what they have committed to do. They walk their talk- their actions, rather than their words. They let the quality statements be their decision making guide. 10) They choose the suppliers on the basis of quality, not price. Suppliers are encouraged to participate on project teams and become involved. Leaders know that quality begins with quality materials and the true measure is the life cycle cost. 11) They establish organizational systems to support the quality effort. At the senior level, a quality council is provided, and at the first-line level, work groups and project teams are organized to improve the process. 12) They encourage and reorganize team effort. They encourage, provide recognition and reward individuals and teams. Leaders know that people like to hear that their contributions are appreciated and important. This action is one of the leader’s most powerful tools. The Seven Habits of highly effective people: Habit is an intersection of knowledge, skill and desire. Knowledge is what to do and the why; skill is the how to do; and desire is the motivation or want to do. In order for something to become a habit one must have all the three. Stephen R. Covey introduced â€Å"The Seven Habits†- a highly integrated approach that moves from dependency (you take care of me) to independence (I take care of myself) to interdependence (we can so something better together). The first three habits deal with independence- the essence of character growth. Habit 4, 5 and 6 deal with interdependence- teamwork, cooperation, and communication. Habit 7 is the habit of renewal. That’s why, these habits are necessary for leaders to be effective. Habit 1: Be Proactive Being proactive means taking responsibility for your life- the ability to choose the response to a situation. Proactive behavior is a product of conscious choice based of values, rather than reactive behavior, which is based on feelings. Reactive people let circumstances tell them how to respond. On the other hand, proactive people let carefully thought-about, selected and internalized values tell them how to respond. It’s not what not what happens to us but our response that differentiates the two behaviors. No one can make you miserable unless you choose to let them. The language we use is a real indicator of our behavior. Comparisons are given in the table below: Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind The most fundamental application of this habit is to begin each day with an image, picture or paradigm of the end of life as the leader’s frame of reference. All things are created twice- there’s a mental or first creation and a physical or second creation all things. To build a house we first create a blueprint and then construct the actual house. If we want to have a successful organization, we begin with a plan that will produce the appropriate end; thus leadership is the first creation and management is the second. Leadership is doing the right thing and management is doing things right. In order to begin with the end in mind, leader should develop a personal philosophy like:- * Never compromise with honesty * Maintain a positive attitude * Exercise daily * Do not fear mistakes * Read a leadership book daily By centering our lives on correct principles, we create a solid foundation for a the development of the life supporting factors of security, guidance, wisdom and power. Principles are the fundamental truths. They are tightly interwoven threads running with exactness, consistency and strength through the fabric of life.

Convergence-towards-ifrs-in-malaysia-issues-challenges-and-opportunities Essay Example for Free

Convergence-towards-ifrs-in-malaysia-issues-challenges-and-opportunities Essay In the year 2008 the then Malaysian Accounting Standard Board’s (MASB) chairman, Dato Zainal Abidin Putih, announced that Malaysia will be converging with International Accounting Standard Board (IASB)’s International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS). From that point onwards many initiatives were lined up by MASB and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) in order to educate, train and inform all the relevant stakeholders in tandem with fast approaching deadline to converge, which is for the earliest year-end financial reporting date, 31 December 2012. On 19 November 2011, MASB issued the third accounting framework to be applied in Malaysia and this new accounting framework that is IFRS-compliant is dubbed as Malaysian Financial Reporting Standards framework (MFRS). The issuance of MRFS is vital to show and prove the Malaysian commitment and also it becomes a solid guideline for all entities that are administered by Securities Commission of Malaysia and the convergence begin on or after 1 January 2012. Historically, Malaysian accounting standards have always closely followed the former International Accounting Standards (IAS) and the current IFRS. This is due to the colonisation effect on Malaysia, where Malaysia was a British colony up to the year 1957 and many of the accounting standards applied in the United Kingdom has always made its way to be adopted by the Malaysian standard setters authorities and regulators. As Mohammad Faiz Azmi stated in forums that the Malaysian story of convergence has been a ‘slow and steady’ approach and this phased-in approach even though slower is expected to put Malaysian entities in a better position as the problems and challenges faced by Malaysian companies are far much reduced compared to other countries that adopted the ‘big bang’ approach, for example the South Koreans, where the accounting standard setters and regulators in South Korea agreed on full adoption of IFRS (Nazatul Izma, 2009; Suh, 2011) ACCOUNTING FRAMEWORKS IN MALAYSIA Currently Malaysian entities are subject to three sets of accounting frameworks, the first accounting framework is the old Financial Reporting Standards framework (FRS), next is the Private Entity Reporting Standards framework (PERS) and finally the Malaysian Financial Reporting Standards framework (MFRS). All these three frameworks are legally approved frameworks by MASB and can be applied by entities in Malaysia but subject to the type of entity. The three types of frameworks are outlined and discussed below. MFRS framework is to be applied by all entities other than private entities for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2012. Private entities are private companies which are incorporated under the Companies Act 1965, that are not itself required to prepare or lodge any financial statements under any law administered by the Securities Commission Malaysia or Bank Negara Malaysia. Private entities are also not subsidiaries or associates of or jointly controlled by an entity which is required to prepare or lodge any financial statements under any law administered by the securities Commission Malaysia or Bank Negara Malaysia. However ‘Transitioning Entities’ are excluded from applying MFRS and these ‘Transitioning Entities’ are entities that are in the scope of MFRS 141 for ‘Agriculture’ (equivalent to IAS 41) and IC Interpretation 15 for ‘Agreement for Construction of Real Estate’, (equivalent to International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) 15) including its parent, significant investor and venture. These ‘Transitioning Entities’ have an option to either apply the MFRS framework or the old FRS framework, but this leeway is only allowed for one year, as these ‘Transitioning Entities’ need to apply the MFRS framework by  Page 43 International Journal of Business, Economics and Law, Vol. 1 ISSN 2289-1552 2012 annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013 at the latest (Nazatul Izma, 2009; KPMG, 2011; Accountants Today 2012; Ganespathy, 2012; Jebaratnam, 2012). PERS framework is to be applied only by private entities but these private entities have an option to apply MFRS framework for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2012. If the private entities choose to apply MFRS framework and these entities are in the scope of MFRS 141 for ‘Agriculture’ (equivalent to IAS 41) and IC Interpretation 15 for ‘Agreement for Construction of Real Estate’, (equivalent to IFRIC 15), therefore known as ‘Transitioning Entities’, they have the choice to either apply MFRS framework or FRS framework, but these freedom is applicable up to 31 December 2012, as these entities need to revert to MFRS framework for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013 (Accountants Today, 2012; Jebaratnam, 2012). FRS framework which is the Malaysian version of IAS, which has been the main accounting standards framework for nonprivate entities before the introduction of MFRS framework can be applied only by ‘Transitioning Entities’, but as stated earlier, such entities need to revert to MFRS framework for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013 (Accountants Today, 2012; Jebaratnam, 2012) ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN FULL ADOPTION OF IFRS IN MALAYSIA MFRS 1 covers issues pertaining to ‘First-Time Adoption of Malaysian Financial Reporting Standards’ and the transition date stated in MFRS 1 is the beginning of the earliest period for which an entity presents a full comparative information under MFRSs in its first MFRS based statements. Following the requirement of MFRS 1, MFRS 101 on ‘Presentation of Financial Statements’ requires reporting entities to present three ‘Statements of Financial Position’ and two ‘Statement of Comprehensive Income’, ‘Statements of Changes in Equity’ and ‘Statement of Cash Flows’ each. MFRS also dictates that entities need to present statement of financial position as at the beginning of the comparative financial year, therefore reporting entities requires their financial statements to be prepared based on the requirement of MFRS from the financial year beginning on and after 1 January 2010, or otherwise be very cautious to make retrospective restatements and/or reclassify items in all the financial statements and notes to accounts and the transition date would be on or after 1 January 2011. The expectation is that the entities are able to present MFRS compliant financial statements come the year-end financial reporting on 31 December 2012, which may become an issue, if these entities are not MFRS ‘ready’ (Accountants Today, 2012). Another challenge for full adoption of IFRS in Malaysia is that under MFRS 1, whenever the cost of complying with MFRS exceeds the benefits to the users of financial statements and also if retrospective application would mean that judgement by management of a known transaction is required, IASB would grant exemptions and therefore this would create unlevel playing field amongst non-private entities in Malaysia that are supposed to apply MFRS framework as the criterion for full-adoption. To ensure that the reporting entities in Malaysia are MFRS compliant, these entities should perform a comprehensive, thorough and detailed examination of the readiness of their entity in becoming MFRS compliance to avoid any investigation by the authority due to non-compliance after the grace period for full adoption is over. If Malaysia ends up trimming its MFRS as a convergence framework that can be adapted to fit the local conditions and not a one size fits all set of standards, because a full adoption forces countries to surrender their sovereignty, then Malaysia will have serious issues and will face difficulties to be endorsed as a country that compliances to full IFRS adoption (Nazatul Izma, 2009). But as it is evident, MFRS 141 and IC 15 for ‘Transitioning Entities’ is an exception given to such entities to comply to full IFRS adoption by reverting to MFRS framework for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013. Even though the IAS 41 assumption that fair value can be measured for biological assets was an issue, but this sort of issues should be communicated clearly to the practitioners and this is where the education and training of the practitioners is key for a successful full adoption of IFRS. For example MFRS 141 (IAS 41) disagreement with IASB need to be entirely made clear to the Malaysian practitioners, as IASB currently have agreed to recognise palm oil tree as a non current asset and not as an inventory (Nazatul Izma, 2009). One of the most common perceived advantages of convergence to IFRS is the possibility of increased foreign direct investment (FDI) (Gardiner, 2000; Christiansen, 2002), but as of 2010, report on the most attractive FDI destinations, the world’s highest FDI receivers are China, United States of America and India, of which none have converged to IFRS. Therefore, the notion that IFRS convergence will attract FDI is not valid, and this so called advantage cannot be applied to entice countries to adopt IFRS for financial reporting of their entities. IFRSs for SME is another reason to ponder on the real plausibility of full adoption of IFRS. If MASB chooses to adopt IFRS for SMEs to replace PERS, than we will have another version of ‘diluted’ IFRS as a framework within the Malaysia accounting scenario. Dr Paul Pacter, the board member and chairman of the SME implementation group, mentioned that some topics in the IFRS were omitted from the IFRS for SMEs, due to its irrelevance and also due to the fact that the ‘diluted’ version will be a simpler option for the SMEs to apply (Nazatul Izma, 2010). The IFRS for SMEs were simplified on the recognition and measurement and the disclosures were also reduced. Brian Blood, the Chief Executive of Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA) mentioned that the IFRS for SMEs were developed to assist SMEs to prepare and present high quality and timely financial statements and information. Other benefits of SMEs applying the IFRS for SMEs are that the financial reporting is done in a consistent manner and not too expensive to prepare (Nazatul Izma, 2010). Having said all that, the fact is that there is a different set of IFRS for SMEs, therefore, it does not allow for full adoption, but maybe just a mere convergence. James Sylph, the executive director, Professional Standards and External Relations of International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in a forum in 2012, strongly advocated that national accounting standard setters’ authorities and regulators should move away from the mere concept of convergence to a more profound notion of full-adoption. Page 44 International Journal of Business, Economics and Law, Vol. 1 ISSN 2289-1552 2012 Mohammad Faiz Azmi, MASB chairman, indicated that Malaysia will not require the IFRS for SMEs to avoid an ‘underconverged’ version used by SMEs due to the lack of human resources to implement new IFRS based regulations; therefore MASB is still uncertain about how exactly they should deal with the issue related to SME and IFRS (Nazatul Izma, 2010) MASB together with MIA will have to look into the issue of the readiness of the Malaysian education system to deliver enough trained accountants that are IFRS savvy, as a full IFRS adoption can be burdensome and the human capital need to be created to fulfill this need. Mohammad Faiz Azmi mentioned that MASB is working with enforcers to amend the Financial Reporting Act (1997) to allow making amendments to accounting standards in Malaysia if there are any substantial issues that MASB disagrees with IASB (Nazatul Izma, 2009). This again will give some space for MASB for not to adopt the full adoption of IFRS as there will be some possible avenue to make changes in the IFRS provided by IASB. Companies Act 1965 and Financial reporting Act 1997 are the two most important acts pertaining financial statements reporting in Malaysia. The directors are supposed to be responsible for the preparation and presentation of a true and fair set of financial statements of reporting entities and these directors should be aware and be sure that their entities are IFRS ready.

Peoples Democratic Republic Of Algeria English Language Essay

Peoples Democratic Republic Of Algeria English Language Essay Over three years period of learning English as a foreign language, English LMD students still find the written demands extremely challenging. Moreover, third year LMD students in the English Department at Saad Dahlab University of Blida encounter many difficulties in writing their mini-projects. Therefore, this study is needed to reveal these difficulties and their effect on further learning. Furthermore, it is an important study mainly because of the fact that academic writing is required for anybody who is studying English and has to write essays and other assignments for exams or coursework. 2. Statement of the Problem: This study will investigate the effect of having academic writing difficulties on ACHIEVING THE FINAL PROJECT of third year LMD students in the English Department at Saad Dahlab University of Blida. 3.The research question: What are the effects of academic writing difficulties on the final projects progress of third year LMD students in English Department at Saad Dahlab University of Blida? 4.The research Sub-questions: What are the academic writing difficulties that hinder the final projects progress of third year LMD students in English department at University of Blida? 5.Hypothesis: Third year LMD students in English department at University of Blida may have difficulties in cohesion. 6.Objectives of the Study: To identify the difficulties that faces the third year LMD students in English department at University of Blida when writing academically. To reveal the significance of academic writing difficulties to third year LMD students further studies in English department at University of Blida. To show how academic writing difficulties affect third year LMD students learning progress in English department at University of Blida 6. Structure of the research proposal: This research proposal covers the main points that will be examined in the final thesis entitled Effects of Academic Writing Difficulties on Achieving the Final Project of Third Year LMD Students in English Department at Saad Dahlab University of Blida. The first part is a general introduction that includes the background and significance of the study, statement of the problem, research questions and the objectives of the study. The second part is a review of the literature which consists of two chapters. The first chapter is a review of literature on the EFL academic writing difficulties. It consists of a definition of academic writing, the rhetorical, strategy and vocabulary challenges of EFL writing. The second chapter deals with the effect of writing weaknesses on EFL learning development. It includes the influence of rhetorical, strategy and vocabulary difficulties on the scores achievement. The third part describes the methodology design of this research. It includes data to be collected, data collection procedures, the population, procedures and data analysis procedures. The last part is a conclusion of the previous chapters and it includes a summary of the main points. CHAPTER 1: Review of the literature on EFL academic writing difficulties Introduction: Academic writing in English at advanced levels is a challenge even for most native English speakers. However it is particularly difficult for English as foreign language learners. Recent studies have researched the difficulties of academic writing. This part sheds light on previous studies and reviews relevant literature on the EFL academic writing difficulties. First, the researchers intend to provide a definition of the academic writing, and then they give some basics of academic writing. Finally, this chapter discusses the challenges that face EFL learners when writing academically. 1.1. Definition of academic writing: Academic writing is a mental and cognitive activity, since it is a product of the mind. The image of an individual working alone in a quiet environment has furthered the view of writing as a mental and cognitive activity. However as has been pointed out, writing can be understood only from the perspective of a society rather than a single individual(Burke, 2010,p.40-41). 1.2. Basics of academic writing: Academic writing is expected to address an intellectual community in which the students engage in active learning. Some basics or rules must be established. Using information to ones advantage is a key part of learning. Success at the postgraduate level depends on the students ability to access, evaluate, and synthesize the words, ideas, and opinions of others in order to develop their own academic voice. When presenting what they have learned, it is therefore vitally important that students are able to show clearly what they have drawn from others and what is their own (Bristol Business School, 2006, p. 3). A student must be honest about how much ownership he/she can claim over the ideas formed, the answers found, and the opinions expressed (Bristol Business School, 2006, p. 3). The student must follow certain rules to ensure good academic writing, including punctuation guidelines. 1.2.1 Punctuation The essential punctuation marks are the period, comma, semicolon, and colon. These include the following: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The period primarily marks the end of a sentence. A period is also used after an abbreviation where the final letter of the word is not the final word of the abbreviation, e.g., in enc. for enclosure, although Mr. for Mister is an exception (Murphy, 2010, p. 9). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The comma is primarily used to separate parts of a sentence so that the meaning remains clearer for the reader. (I) A comma separates words in a list, e.g., He brought coal, kindling, matches, and turf. (II) A comma separates subordinate clauses within a complex sentence where two separate sentences are not required (Murphy, 2010, p. 9). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The semicolon has two common uses. First, it may be used to separate items in a list after a colon. Second, it may be used to indicate a certain relationship between two parts of a sentence (Murphy, 2010, p. 9). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The colon may be used to indicate the start of a list, as is similar to the above example for the semicolon. It may also be used before a quotation begins (Murphy, 2010, p. 9). 1.3. Challenges of EFL academic writing: Writing is considered as a complex activity, a social act which reflects the writers communicative skills which is difficult to develop and learn, especially in an EFL context. Research in this field has examined the nature and types of writing task and by providing better understanding of EFL students writing needs, there has been an effort to help the development of this major skill theoretically and pedagogically (Zhu, 2004; Carson, 2001; Hale et al, 1996).   Examining the features of EFL writing tasks and the students problems in performing the task would certainly be pedagogically beneficial. As stated by Atkinson (2003, p.95), EFL students writing in a language classroom context shows their ability to solve a rhetoric problem and their awareness of their own communicative goals, of the reader, and of the writing context. In spite of numerous approaches to the teaching of writing, tackling EFL writing is still one of the challenging areas for teachers and students. Many EFL te achers think that grammar and vocabulary are the main problem area and that their writing would improve with remedial grammar/voc lessons. As Widdowson (1995, p.74) points out, we need to consider the larger discourse context or the meaning that lies beyond grammatical structure. To go beyond grammar, language should be looked at as a form of social practice (Fairclough, 1992, p.122). As Casanava (2002  ,p.19) points out, learning how to write for academic purposes poses a clueless challenge because the rules of the game are almost all implicit. This is especially true for Algerian university students when they write an academic research paper in English for the first time: they are faced with a number of unfamiliar, daunting tasks. Of all these, the most formidable and crucial challenge appears to be learning how to organize and develop their ideas in an academically persuasive manner; that is to organize their assertions into logical and cohesive arguments that will convince the reader. Their papers often end up lacking clear logical flow and unity, not to mention a persuasive linear argument. Conclusion Most EFL students find writing difficult and some students report that their difficulties continue, even years after their confidence in other academic skills such as speaking, listening, and reading has grown (Zhang, 2010,p.71). Explanations for students struggle go beyond grammar and vocabulary though these are clearly significant. Most writing specialists agree that writing difficulties are down to the specialised nature of academic discourse (Schmitt, 2005, p.65) and to the complexity of the craft of writing itself. CHAPTER 2: The research methodology design Introduction: In this chapter, the researchers describe the research methods, informants and data collecting tools. The results collected from the research tools will be analyzed scientifically in order to answer the research questions. Research method: Since the current study aims at showing the effects of academic writing difficulties on students final project achievement, the researchers opted to use a descriptive study on third year LMD students in English Department at University of Saad Dahleb- Blida. A descriptive method facilitates the gathering of information and data to assist in achieving study goals. As a first step, the researchers tend to administer a questionnaire to third year LMD students in English Department at University of Saad Dahleb- Blida mainly to confirm whether they face difficulties when writing academically (see appendix 01). Then, supervisors will be interviewed about the challenges they meet when orienting students with academic writing difficulties (see appendix 02). During the study, which will take three months, the researchers will observe the students progress in achieving their final project using an observation check list (see appendix 03). Population: The informants of this study are students and teachers from the English Department at the University of Saad Dahleb- Blida. The researchers select 10 groups of third year LMD students; each group consists of 3 members working on their final project in didactics field, and 5 didactic MA Degree teachers who supervise the 10 groups. The informants are 19 female students and 11 male students. The age of the informants ranges from 20 to 26 (see table 1). The original names of the students are replaced with fictitious names to keep the identity of the informants confidential. Table 01: Description of the groups Groups Gender Age Previous tuition of English 1st group 2 females/ 1 male 20 23 8 years 2nd group 3 females 20 8 years 3rd group 3 females 20 22 8 years 4th group 3 females 24 26 8 to 10 years 5th group 2 males / 1 female 20 23 10 years 6th group 3 females 20 10 years 7th group 3 females 20 10 years 8th group 2 females/ 1 male 21 10 years 9th group 3 males 20 22 10 years 10th group 3 males 21 25 10 to 13 years Data collection tools: The researchers intend to use three research tools to collect the data needed in order to answer the research questions of this study: 3.1- A questionnaire with closed-ended questions is distributed to the 10 groups of the 3rd year LMD students. It consists of 13 closed ended questions which aim at detecting the category of the difficulties whether in cohesion, coherence, vocabulary or strategy. 3.2- Semi-structured interviews are conducted to collect data from the perspective of the 5 supervisors. Interviewing the supervisors on the basis of their feedback to the groups will help to specify the types of difficulties, to confirm the data collected from the questionnaire and to know the challenges of supervising students with academic writing difficulties. 3.3- Observation check lists are distributed each month to the 10 groups in order to examine the effects of the academic writing difficulties on the progress of accomplishing their final projects. The list contains the supervisors negative feedback besides the data collected from the interviews and the questionnaire. Each group is provided with a check list to examine how much each difficulty is considerable to hinder the progress of the final project. 4. Data analysis Procedures: After the data are collected, the researchers intend to analyze them according to teachers and students answers: 4.1. A questionnaire with closed-ended questions: The data collected from the questionnaire will be analyzed quantitatively. The researchers will describe and comment on the answers objectively. Then, the data will be interpreted scientifically. Through this process the difficulties of academic writing will be revealed. 4.2. Semi-structured interviews: The data collected from the semi-structured interviews will be analyzed qualitatively. The reasons for choosing qualitative methods for collecting data are: the need to attain highly personalized data, there are opportunities for probing, a good return rate. (Gray, 2004, p.96). These semi-structured interviews will specify the kind of the difficulties. 4.3. Check list observation: The data collected from the observation check list will be presented in graphs. Graphs will give a clear vision on the effect academic writing difficulties on the third year LMD final project achievement. Conclusion and Suggestions for Further Research: In view of the data presented, the researchers conclude that third year LMD students in English department at Saad Dahlab university face many difficulties and stresses in their academic writing. These difficulties severly hinder the progress of the students final project. The following recommendations are made for future studies: The present study could be replicated on a wider scale that includes diverse populations and various levels of education to examine more thoroughly the difficulties of academic writing. Further field-based research should be conducted to address other important skills, such as reading, listening, and speaking. -Since the subjects of this study were male and female students, future studies could be conducted with only male or only female students to determine the effect of gender on academic writing difficulties. General conclusion The research proposal is a crucial step in any scientific research. It clearly describes the study process. This research paper describes the study which is intended to be applied on the topic Effects of Academic Writing Difficulties on Achieving the Final Project of Third Year LMD Students in English Department at University of Blida.This research proposal considers the most important points in the study. The first chapter is the literature review which contains different ideas about the data that will help answering the research questions. This chapter deals with the EFL academic writing difficulties. It gives a definition of the academic writing, tackles its basics and defines its challenges. The second chapter in the research proposal is the research methodology design. It describes the followed methods in the study process which are the research method, the population, the data collection tools and the data analysis procedures. Bibliography Burke, S. (2010). The construction of writer identity in the academic writing of Korean ESL students: a qualitative study of six Korean students in the U.S. Doctoral dissertation. Walter. L. (1977). College Composition and Communication. Major Problems in Doing Academic Writing. Vol 28/1. pp 26-29. Hyland, K. (2003). Second language Writing. Cambridge, Cambridge Press Al Khuweileh, A, Shoumali. I. (2007). Writing Errors: A study of the Writing Ability of Arab Learners of Academic English and Arabic at University [Abstract]. Language and Culture and Curriculum, 13 (2), 174-183. Silva, T. (1992). L1 vs. L2 writing: ESL graduate students perceptions. TESL Canada Journal, 10 (1), 27-48. BBC English Teachers Supplement. (1995). The challenges of teaching academic writing. [Online] Available: http://www.uefap.com/articles/furneaux.pdf Fulwiler, T. (2002). A personal approach to academic writing. College writing: Third Edition. Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc. Heinemann. Murphy, Anne. (2010). Academic writing and publishing matters for the scholar- researcher. D.I.T Dublin Institute of technology 9- Woodrow, L. (2006). Academic Success of International Postgraduate Education Students and the Role of English Proficiency. University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 1, 51-70 10- Brookes, A; Grundy, P. (1998). Beginning to Write. Cambridge, Cambridge Press. 11- Fitze, M; Glasgow, R. (2009). Input Enhancement and Tense Formation in Arab EFL Writing by Cross Cultural Exchanges. English for Specific Purposes, 17(4), 391-412. 12- Taranopolsky, O. (2005). Creative EFL writing as a means of intensifying English writing skill acquisition: A Ukrainian experience. TESL Canada Journal, 23(1), 76-78. 13- Weigle, C. (2002). Assessing Writing. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 14- Bacha, N.N., Bahous, R. (2008). Contrasting views of business students writing needs in an EFL environment. English for Specific Purposes 27, 74-93. 15- Badger, R; White. G. (2000). A process-genre approach to teaching writing. ELT Journal, 54(2): 153-160. Appendices Appendix: 01 Questionnaire with closed-ended questions This questionnaire is part of MA dissertation. It is administered to third year LMD students in English department at university of Blida. Please, answer the following questions according to your writing experience. Thank you for your collaboration. Do you face any difficulties when writing your mini-project? Yes No Is the grammatical features one of the problems you face in your English writing? Yes No 3. Do you spend time reviewing what you write? Yes No 4. Does most of your reviewing focus on the sentence and paragraph level? Yes No 5. Do you always focus your reviewing on the grammar points of your writing? Yes No 6. Do you know which type of plague words and phrases you should avoid? Yes No 7. Do you often make sentence mistakes in your writing? Yes No 8. Do you often make subject-verb disagreement mistakes in your writing? Yes No 9. Do you experience difficulty combining sentences in your writing? Yes No 10. Is it difficult to create an understandable and coherent paragraph? Yes No 11. Do you include each of the three steps (planning, writing, and revision) in your writing process? Yes No 12. Do you write an outline before writing draft? Yes No 13. Do you think that writing skills are important factors for successful writing? Yes No Appendix: 02 Semi-structured interviews The semi-structured interviews below are part of MA dissertation entitled Academic Writing Difficulties and their Effect on the Learning Progress of Third Year LMD Students in English Department at Saad Dahlab University of Blida. 5 supervisors of 10 groups of third year LMD students will be asked face to face the following questions: Do you think that third year LMD students in English Department at Saad Dahleb University of Blida have difficulties in writing academically when working on their final projects? According to your experience, what are the difficulties that faced by third year LMD students in English Department at Saad Dahleb University of Blida when working on their final projects? Do these difficulties affect the students progress of their final projects? According to the groups you are supervising, do the academic writing difficulties differ from one group to another? To what extent do you think that academic writing is important for third year LMD student to accomplish their final projects? What are the challenges you face when supervising students with academic writing difficulties?

Bestowed Existence :: essays research papers

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites Knives and forks are objects external to us. They have an objective - or at least an intersubjective - existence. Presumably, they will be there even if no one watches or uses them ever again. We can safely call them "Objective Entities". Our emotions and thoughts can be communicated - but they are NOT the communication itself or its contents. They are "Subjective Entities", internal, dependent upon the existence of one observer - us. But what about numbers? The number one, for instance, has no objective, observer-independent status. I am not referring to the number one as adjective, as in "one apple". I am referring to it as a stand-alone entity. As an entity it seems to stand alone in some way (it's out there) - and be subjective in other ways (dependent upon observers). Numbers belong to a third category: "Bestowed Entities". These are entities whose existence is bestowed upon them by social agreement between conscious agents. But this definition is so wide and all encompassing that it might be considered useless. Religion and money are two examples of entities which owe their existence to a social agreement between conscious entities - yet they don't strike us as universal and out there (objective) as numbers do. Indeed, this distinction is pertinent and our definition should be refined accordingly. We must distinguish "Social Entities" (like money or religion) from "Bestowed Entities". The latter - in stark contrast to the former - are not universal, they re dependent on the society, culture and period that gave them birth. Not so with numbers. Numbers are Platonic ideas which come into existence through an act of conscious agreement between ALL the agents capable of reaching such an agreement. While conscious agents can argue about the value of money (read, about its existence) and about the existence of God - no rational, conscious agent can have an argument regarding the number one. Apparently, the bestowed entity category seems to free itself from the eternal dichotomy of internal versus external. It is both and comfortably so. But this is only an illusion. The dichotomy does persist. The bestowed entity is internal to the group of consenting conscious-rational agents - but it is external to any single agent (individual). In other words, a group of rational conscious agents is certain to bestow existence on the number one.

Essay example --

Value-Belief-Norm Theory The aim of this research paper will be to depict the difference between criminals who engage in money laundering and tax evasion. In this regard, the theory of Value-Belief-Norm can be taken into concern. According to this theory, actions of an individual are directly influenced by his/her moral and personal values that impose considerable impact upon the behavioral attitudes (Boersema & Reijnders, 2008). Hence, these psychological aspects further forms as a difference between a normal individual and a criminal. Money Laundering Money can often be duly considered as one of the prime reasons for which most of the criminal activities happen in this world. In this regard, one of the commonly identified crimes associated with money is the aspect of money laundering. Money-laundering is regarded as the process through which criminals of all sorts cover the origin of their wealth in order to avoid suspicions from various law-enforcement agencies. This is also performed by the people with the intention of hiding evidences that could lead to their trail in front of the law. Money laundering can be executed through several ways that include structuring and round tripping among the primary ones. In the method of structuring, money is broken into several small deposits that reduce the chances of any suspicion from various law enforcement agencies. In relation to the method of round tripping, money distorts the market, further lessening the chances for law enforcers to detect the money (UNODC, 2013; [1] Legal Informatio n Institute, n.d.). In terms of law, money laundering is considered as a crime and penalty is thus imposed on people involved in laundering money. E.g. 18 USC Â § 1956 of law dep... ...inals Who Engage In Money Laundering and Tax Evasion From the above discussion, several differences can be depicted between criminals engaged in money laundering and tax evasion. In this context, criminals involved in money laundering are influenced to conduct the crime in order to hide the destination or the source of their income. On the other hand, a criminal involved in tax evasion mainly tends to hide real financial status in the form of paying less tax to the concerned authorities. One more dissimilarity between the two can be apparently observed as the legal actions that are imposed over these criminals. Criminals of money laundering are expected to get stern penalty as compared to that of tax evasion. Additionally, moral values, according to Value-Belief-Norm theory also differ in nature between the criminals engaged in money laundering and tax evasion.