Pre Writing Skills

PRE WRITING TECHNIQUES Prewriting is the first stage of the writing process, typically followed by drafting, revision, editing and publishing. Elements of prewriting may include planning, research, outlining, diagramming, storyboarding or clustering etc. Prewriting is important because it helps you generate ideas for writing. Some of the prewriting techniques are: 1. Outlining 2. Free Writing 3. Thinking maps 4. Cubing 5. Directed Questioning 6. Note making and note taking 7. Brain storming 8. Clustering 9. Charting 10. ScanningThe detail of each skill along with its examples is given below. 1. Outlining An outline is a document that briefly summarizes the information that will be included in a paper, book, speech, or similar document. It shows the order in which the information will be presented and indicates the relationship of the pieces of information to each other. By making an outline of the document which we begin to write gives us inside of our document. Examples: 1. Suppose a general situation in which a person is given to write an article on a general topic, what should he do after selecting his topic?Of course he will begin to collect data for his article, now while collecting data, as he read through books and articles, he will create an index card. From each source the gathered information will be put in an index card. That index card will be his outline of that article and that process which he has adopted is outlining. 2. Consider another situation in which you are required to write an essay on your favorite personality (say Quaid-e-Azam). You will make an outline for the material you want to include in the essay. E. g. Birth, early education, higher education, interests, works, death etc. . Free Writing A strategy designed to â€Å"free† ideas from your subconscious mind and gets them down on paper. This kind of writing is â€Å"free† in another sense; you don't need to worry about punctuation, correct grammar usage, etc. Your main objective is to write for a sustained period of time (ten to fifteen minutes) without stopping. In this you are free to make mistakes and write whatever you want. Examples: 1. Suppose you are a student and your professor has just given you an assignment. You are required to write a paper about a specific topic, or to come up with a topic of your own.You begin to panic. â€Å"Where do I start? † you may ask yourself. â€Å"How do I begin? † There is just no need to be worried. Take your pen and start writing each and everything related to that topic. Once you have done this, now just organize the things and note them neatly. 2. Suppose you are an Electrical engineer and you work in an office and your BOSS has assigned you a task to estimate budget plan of constructing a building. Obviously it is not your job but order is order. As it is not your job, you don’t need to be panic and you can write anything that comes in your mind about the assigned task. . Thinking Maps Thinking maps are powerful tools to help you gather ideas and arrange information as you prepare to write for any occasion and purpose. It shows you how the parts of a subject are related. Once a person understands the essentials, â€Å"thinking maps† can be like completing a puzzle which is interesting. Examples 1. 2. Condensation Precipitation Evaporation Water vapor, a gas returns to liquid state Liquid water falls as rain, sleet, hail, or snow Liquid water becomes water vapours, a gas| 4. Cubing Cubing is the art of explaining any topic from different perspectives.Cubing is an excellent tool for rapidly exploring a topic. It reveals quickly what you know and what you don't know, and it may alert you to decide to narrow or expand your topic. These perspectives may include: 1. Describing to others. 2. Comparing with others. 3. Associating with others. 4. Analyzing it. 5. Its applications and usage. 6. Argue for or against it. Examples 1. If you produce a cosmetic item , you share your production with others, compare it with other cosmetic items, relate it to a good quality item, analyze it either it is costly or not, tell its benefits and at last give arguments in its favor. . If you are a mobile phone dealer, you go to different shops and tell them you sell Nokia or Samsung phones, you compare your items with other mobiles, relate your links that you are trustworthy dealer, you discuss its financial aspects and try to convince shop keeper to buy mobiles from you. Cubing helps you to write all this procedure in a good way. 5. Directed Questioning This technique works when you have a topic of your interest but you are not sure what and how to write it. It this kind of situation, you don’t need to expand your thoughts, rather you have to limit your ideas to the point.Also when you question yourself about the topic you are going to write, this mechanism of questioning makes it easier to write about the topic. Examples 1. If you are asked to w rite about educational services of Sir Sayad Ahmad Khan, you can discuss historic background of Sir Sayad but your focus should be educational services, and not the other aspects because it is not necessary to include all the things. 2. If you are given any project, you select it and then questions can make it easy to write about it†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦e. g. why you are interesting in this project?How you got this idea? What are merits of it? What are demerits of it (if any)? Is this project financially supportive? etc. 6. Note making and Note taking The storing capacities of human memory are limited. It is useful, therefore, to know how to efficiently make notes of what one wants to remember. Note taking is a technique which is used when a person is reading or hearing something for the first time and he is trying to jot down the key information so he can use it later. Note making is when you return to those notes and make notes on them.This means you just go through notes, put things into your own words or summarize them and highlight key points. This technique is useful while gathering information for a respective article from books and lectures etc. Examples: 1. This technique is helpful when you are going to study a language other than you mother tongue. Because it is not easy to remember a lot of knowledge and vocabulary of the secondary language in one attempt. So there will be a need to read it again to learn and remember more about new language. 2. If you are attending a technical lecture (e. g. elated to some machine or something else), it is a good practice to make lecture notes because you might need them to make comprehensive understanding of the topic. 7. Brainstorming It means thinking of as many ideas as possible in a short amount of time. Brainstorming involves capturing all of the thoughts, ideas, and fragments in your head and writing them down on paper. Brainstorming is an informal way of generating topics to write about, or points to make about yo ur topic. The important point about brainstorming is that there should be no pressure to be â€Å"excellent†. You should simply open their minds to whatever comes into them.Think of it as a kind of free association. When someone say â€Å"literacy† what pops into our mind? Most of us will come up with more useless ideas, but that's okay. Examples 1. If a person has a lot of money, he thinks what he can do with it. He can visit other countries, can give donations to charity, he can buy books and also he can give scholarships with this money. This is brainstorming because all these ideas come in a person’s mind n a short time duration. 2. If you are asked to write some memorable experiences of your life, your mind just click and many such moments will come in your mind.This is also brainstorming. 8. Clustering Clustering is a non-linear brainstorming technique whose results yield a visual representation of subject and organization. Clustering is a generative tool that helps us to connect thoughts, feelings, and ideas not connected before. It allows us to loosely structure ideas as they occur in a shape that allows for the further generation of ideas. It taps our associative powers in a self-organizing process, encouraging us to create personally meaningful patterns. Examples 1. What else caused the War? Was slavery really the main issue?Civil War Main Events Outcomes Causes People of Interest Slavery Pres Emancipation Poverty Gettysburg ? Atlanta Mobile phone 2. Phone calls, messaging Cost and comparison Media player specifications 9. Charting Sometimes you will want to organize your ideas in the form of a chart. This technique works very well for comparison or contrast writing or examining advantages and disadvantages ( that is also a comparison). You can make many kind of charts depending on your topic and also the king of writing you are doing. Examples 1. 2. | City | village|Advantages | More Job, health, education and transport faciliti es| Less job, health, education and transport facilities| Disadvantages | Noise, air, water pollution| Calm atmosphere, pure vegetables, no noise| 10. Scanning Scanning involves a process of quickly searching reading materials in order to locate specific bits of information. When scanning you don't start from the beginning and read to the end. Instead, what you do is jump around in the text, trying to find the information you need. Scanning can help you locate specific pieces of information and gain an overview of the main points in an article or text.Examples 1. Suppose you are searching the meaning of a word in dictionary. Easy way to do this is that you first look the first alphabet, then second and so on until you reach the desired word. It is easier than starting from the first word of the dictionary to look the meaning. 2. While looking a number in a telephone book, you simply jump to the starting word of the name or other information known to you. This saves time. In this way Scanning involves moving one’s eyes quickly down the page seeking specific words and phrases.

Aerobic Exercises act as Brain Boosters

Many newspapers, magazines and online articles have in the past reported research findings done by other people. For those people who may not be critiques, the information found from these media avenues may be complete sources of information, but for those that are interested in verifying any given information, then studying the original research will be very vital. This is because the research reports in media may not provide finer details of methodology or other cautionary statements that have been made by the researchers.This term paper makes a critical analysis of Peter Jaret’s article on the CNN’s website entitled â€Å"Brain boosters: Exercising your mind as you age. † Research: Aerobic Fitness Reduces Brain Tissue Loss in Aging Humans The research entitled â€Å"Aerobic Fitness Reduces Brain Tissue Loss in Aging Humans† was conducted to examine the relationship between aerobic fitness and brain tissues in an old adult population (Colcombe ET al, 200 3). The research was important in that the brain starts losing tissues as one gets older which in turn makes the cognitive performance to decline.This can enable measures that can reduce costs related to geriatric care put in place. This may be done by coming up with mechanisms that can be used to reverse or reduce this brain deterioration. The research was also done to either confirm or refute the previous researches that suggested that aerobic fitness training does improve the cognitive function of old people and that it can improve the brain health of aging animals tested in the laboratory (Colcombe ET al, 2003).The targeted population was made up of older adults in the community who were over fifty five years, were right handed, high functioning, and had been recruited for public fliers, campus wide e-mailings and newspaper advertisements (Colcombe ET al, 2003). Those who were excluded were those that were below the stated age, got less than twenty in Mini-Mental State Examinati on and had a history of organic brain dysfunction and stroke. Also the participants were excluded if the reported claustrophobia or had pacemakers or metallic implants, this was done for safety reasons pertaining to magnetic resonance imaging setting.The respondents were also to get written approval letters from their doctors so that they can undergo the cardiovascular stress test. The research was approved by the University of Illinois’ Institutional Review Board in addition to the researchers meeting ethical standards that were relevant (Colcombe ET al, 2003). The first part of the research methodology was to measure the gray and white matters of the brain from the Magnetic Resolution (high density) images and then the estimates of the maximal oxygen uptake (V O2max).The brain images were taken using three dimensional spoiled gradient sequences on a General Electric scanner. The Rockport 1-mile walk protocol was used to assess the participant’s cardiovascular fitness . The impact of cardiovascular fitness on brain tissue differences in density that are age related was accessed using a voxel-based morphometric technique. The technique is useful in that it provides a means of estimating tissue atrophy in the entire brain with spatial resolution that is high which then allows conclusions of the variables on brain matter change (Colcombe ET al, 2003).Before analysis was done the images were taken through different preprocessing stages. First the tissues that are non brain were removed from the image of the head of the participants. The other three images were divided into three maps to represent the density of the white matter, the grey matter and the cerebrospinal fluid. All the images were then examined by experts who did not have prior information of the participants’ fitness so that they could be objective in their calibration (Colcombe ET al, 2003).Though sixty individuals had expressed their interest to participate in the study, fifty f ive were eligible to complete both faces due to the fact that three were younger; one person had an implanted pacemaker, eight had claustrophobia and one scored less MMSE score. The participants were aged between fifty five and seventy nine years meaning that the age mean score was 66. 5 years. Generally the sample was 44. 4 percent men; many being well educated (average 16. 1 years in education). The results showed that the white matters of the brains were being lost as one continued aging.Also, those regions that are mostly affected by aging are the ones that showed the greatest advantages of aerobic fitness. Fitness according to the results plays the role of moderating decline in tissue density that is related to age. The results showed that tissue densities in the parietal, frontal and temporal cortices of the brain reduce as the aging process progresses. Also it was found that the losses were reduced by the cardiovascular fitness function even when other variables were controll ed (Colcombe ET al, 2003).The research was very important as it was a confirmation that there is a relationship between cardiovascular fitness and the degeneration the fact that had previously been hypothesized. There was also the confirmation that cardiovascular fitness protection and enhancement of the cognitive function in the older adults has a biological basis. This is a justification of the other studies that had shown that taking antioxidant supplements could reverse aging in older brains; cognitive training could assist in the preservation of brain function.The research report also suggest that there are aerobic exercises’ benefits that go beyond health markers (cardiovascular) which can even affect the brain (Colcombe ET al, 2003). Synopsis of the article In the CNN’s article online that is entitled â€Å"Brain boosters: Exercising your mind as you age,† there are some research issues that the author, Peter Jaret has handled. He states that the research ers have established that physical and mental activities protect one’s memory and helping him or her stay alert (Jaret, 1999).He also refers to the previous researches stating that the speed of brain processing does slow down as one continues to advance in years and also that between the age of twenty five and fifty five people can loose about twenty five percent of their synapses (connections which relay messages between neurons). Also that the older people experience problems in coming up with either numbers or names; this being because memory takes more time in retrieving the data.He also mentions Robert Dustman’s article in 1990 that states that those people who are aerobically fit are better in staying alert and pay attention or even in remembrance of information. He quotes the director of Gerontology at the University of Texas who states that two physical factors are the ones that predicts the performance (on tests of information processing) of a person. The auth or gives the reason why aerobic fitness affects the brain precisely because exercises allow blood vessels to remain open and the heart to remain strong, thus allowing the brain to function properly since the nutrients can reach the brain cells.He states that neurons that make two percent of the total body weight use about one quarter of the oxygen and glucose intake by the body. Exercises also allow parts of the balance and movement that keep the connections of the neurons strong (Jaret, 1999). Jaret (1999) also mentions the researches that found out that mental gymnastics are useful in the preservation of brain power. He cites the research by Meyer who recorded his research findings in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society in 1990 stating that blood flow for those who have allowed their minds to be inactive declines.The author mentions the 1998 issue of Neuroscience where the researchers found that brain cells can reproduce; the study that was done using rats. He also menti ons Robert Goldman’s suggestions on the ways one can develop brain connections that are underused. First, one can play games that require thinking, memorize poetry and verses, reading articles and books that are challenging and finally engage in practices that are regarded as complex or difficult (Jaret, 1999).Critique of the Article Studying the article, it is clear that the author had done enough research before he decided to submit it for publishing. This is because many of the research findings that he mentions are either preceded or followed by their authors or the sources from where the information had been gotten. Information about the speed of brain’s processing slowing with the advancement of age had already been proved in the researches by Colcombe ET al.Other claims that the author has made and that are verified by the findings of this research include the percentage of the synapses that are lost as age progresses, between the age of twenty five and fifty fi ve and that exercises keeps the blood flowing to the brain cells facts that are also mentioned in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. When he states that mental gymnastics can preserve brain power he aggress with the research done by Marks Et al (2007) entitled â€Å"Role of aerobic fitness and aging on cerebral white matter integrate. †Despite the researched facts that the writer of the article has given, there are details that he has not given the readers perhaps because of the space limit allowed in the media publications. The methodology used by the researchers has not been indicated and other important details such as research designs, data collection methods, and the variables. This makes the readers unable to get the final details of the researches. This however does not at any form mislead the reader as the author was careful to cite the sources of the information that he has written.Conclusion In conclusion, it is clear that Peter Jaret article was well written, citing the sources from where the information has been retrieved. However, the article could have been made more informative by giving finer details of the original researches that were conducted. REFERENCES Colcombe, J. et al (2003). Aerobic fitness reduces brain tissue loss in aging humans. The Journal of Gerontology Series: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 58:M176- M-180. — (2003). Aerobic exercise training increases brain volume in aging humans. The Journalof Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 61:1166-1170. Erickson, K. , Kramer, A. (2008). Aerobic exercise effects on cognitive and neural plasticity in older Adults. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 43:22-24. doi:10. 1136/bjsm. 2008. 052498 Jaret, P. (1999). Brain boosters: Exercising your mind as you age. Retrieved March 12, 2009, from http://archives. cnn. com/1999/HEALTH/aging/12/15/brain. boosters. two. wmd/index. html Marks, B. Et al. (2007). Role of aerobic fitness and aging o n cerebral white Matter Integrity. New York: New York Academy of Scienc

4 Ways Customer Feedback Determined Our Greatest Design Features

4 Ways Customer Feedback Determined Our Greatest Design Features Your feedback matters. Here at , we want to be the #1 marketing calendar for everything you need organized. And we know that it’s the little things that matter the most†¦ which is why we are constantly making improvements to your calendar, so you can focus on the big things. In the past six months (yep, just six  short  months), made a few AWESOME updates: Calendar Refresh: Updated the format of your calendar so you can easily track and manage your content from the master view. Custom Content: Added more content types (not just the ones we originally thought you needed), and now you can organize them to boot. New Content Editor: Eliminated distractions from your content editor by creating a simplified and clean interface. And starting today†¦.NEW custom color labels (keep reading)! All of these updates were because of YOUR feedback. Your ideas make even better, and let’s be honest, they help us  get more organized, too. Which is why we are excited to announce the launch of our newest feature†¦

Demo speech essays

Demo speech essays As I walk into the room, the ringing of my phone and my side of the conversation. Has this ever happened to you? You get a call and you need a quick gift for an unexpected visit to a sick friend or relative. And weve all had the need for a gift for someone who is So hard to buy for. Or perhaps your pocket is a little low on dough around the holidays; you still need to give a gift! Thats why today I am going to show you how to make a gift jar As a child, I always made gifts for family and friends; then I grew up and decided that a store bought gift was much better. I realized I was forgetting about birthdays, I was needing a gift for someone I wasnt necessarily close with or someone who had just caught the flu. Well instead of running to the store, once again I began making gifts, Gift Jars. Regardless how my checkbook looks, I still find it much more rewarding to make most of my gifts. I have had tons of positive feedback, people really enjoy receiving something that took time and effort. Today I am going to show you an example of a quick and inexpensive heartfelt gift jar. When it is mixed up and baked by the recipient, it will be appreciated for its thoughtful convenience and ease of preparation. So, sit back and think of your favorite cookie mix, and youll see just how easy it is to put together a gift jar. I: THE FIRST STEP TO MAKING A GIFT JAR IS TO CONSIDER WHO YOU ARE GOING TO GIVE IT TO. A. Most everyone likes cookies, so cookie recipes are always good choices. B. You might have someone who is on a special diet, or an elder who perhaps cant have many sweets, so you might try a hearty soup mix, which also makes a unique gift in a jar. C. You can get ideas for gift jars from a website, Cookieinajar.com.. ...

Critical Success Factor Analysis

Critical Success Factor Analysis Critical Success Factor Analysis Critical Success Factor Analysis: How to Reach Success? Welcome to the best paper writing website! First and foremost, lets find out what factors are called critical success factors! The notion critical success factor or CSF denotes an element (some action, condition or a type of conduct) that is necessary for a company or an organization to reach success. You should know that there are 4 types of critical success factors. They are: Industry CSFs that result from industrial characteristics of a subject (an organization or a company); Environmental CSFs resulting from the outside world (economic, political or technological changes); Temporal CSFs resulting from different circumstances within the subject; Strategy CSFs that result from the strategy chosen by the subject. What is the purpose of making critical success factor analysis? Actually, critical success factor analysisis necessary to be made when some new actions are planned. It may be launching of a new program, project or something else. It goes without saying that the main aim of any action that is planned is to reach success. If a company or an organization reaches success in new business it reaches all aims stated. What should you do before making your critical success factor analysis? Critical success factor analysisis a complex work. That means that you cannot consider critical success factors as separate phenomena. You should study them in the context of the given case. When speaking about a case we mean that there is a subject (for example, a company) that is planning to do some actions (to launch a new product, for instance) and is interested in what circumstances are necessary for it to reach success. Thus, when making critical success factor analysis, first and foremost, you should study a subject and an action that is planned and find out on the basis of the obtained results what critical success factors are vital in this case. Why should you study a subject? You should know its strengths and weaknesses, its previous experience in the sphere (if there is some) in order to find out in what way strong qualities may be used and disadvantages may be compensated. Thus, you may define what factors are necessary for this subject to reach success. Why should you study an action? You should know what challenges it suggests and what behavioral patterns it will require. When you analyze all this information, you may start making your critical success factor analysis: Need help in making critical success factor analysis? If you have any problems with your critical success factors analysis, you are welcome to contact us! You may rely on us. Every day we provide students like you with help in their studying and we will be glad to help you. Just make an order on our essay writing site. Read also: How to Write a Thesis History Thesis Dissertation Writers Dissertation Thesis Dissertation Service

Effective Team and Performance Management Essay

Effective Team and Performance Management - Essay Example 6). The team has become more effective, in norming stage. Each individual began to focus on the possible ways to improve their team. Due to this, more group effort and unity has increased within the team. At this stage, the team is focusing on collaboration or cooperation. The task of the group is to interact, and to ensure the flow of data. It is my duty to support the members and group as a whole. â€Å"During the norming stage of team development, team members will begin to solve discrepancy they felt between their individual expectations and the reality of the team experience† (Parcon 2007, p. 33). I have been a part of the best  team, and that worked out very well, for the reason that all of us, as a team loved the work we were doing. So the teams are ready to set aside their differences, and we truly move forward for attainment of team goals. In norming stage, leaders â€Å"help the team take responsibility for progress towards the goal. This is a good time to arrange a social or a team-building event† (Gears off a Leader Seriies (GOALS) 2011, p. 2) team interacted well each other. This means that we worked together efficiently, and are well with conscious of our goals, and the ways to accomplish those goals. There is no teamwork, devoid of regular communication. â€Å"Teamwork accomplishes a task more effectively and efficiently than individual efforts. Every team member should contribute equally toward accomplishing the task† (Gibson et al. 1980, p. 6). The â€Å"individual behavior† (Gupta 2010) is influenced by factors like abilities, gender, race and culture, perception, attributes, and attitude of the individuals. Behavior and Expectation for the Team in Each Area of Norms: Meeting: All team members should be attending at the meeting, so that they can own group norms resulting from the meeting. In the meeting, only one person at a time is supposed to speak. The opinion of each member is to be placed during the meeting t ime itself. If a member is found to be late, the member is not supposed to interrupt in between the meeting. A member, if always comes late for the meeting, should be asked to depart the group. All members are asked to get involved in the meeting, and the silent members are encouraged to speak and place their opinion. Specific time is also alloted for each member to speak. â€Å"Meeting norms  set ground rules or expectations on how people treat each other at a meeting† (Meeting Process Recommendations n.d.). Decisions: Decision is made by the consensus of the team members. Consensus means the voluntary support from the group. It is difficult to obtain complete consent for a team decision, but the members have to support the decisions, whatever it might be. All members are supposed to contribute their views and opinions regarding the issues. If they remain silent in the group means they too support the decisions. This is applicable for those who abstain from the meeting, as their opinions in absentia have no value. Communication and Co-ordination: Every member should participate, speak on one’s burn behalf, and also give chance for others to speak. Each person will be held responsible for their own actions. There are three choices left before every member: to accept the decisions, or to try to work to make it superior, or leave it. But they are not expected to complain about it, if one is not ready to work on it. Communication

Visual Arts and Design Assignment in The Engineering II building in UC Essay - 11

Visual Arts and Design Assignment in The Engineering II building in UC Santa Barbara - Essay Example    The building’s interior design provides the essential space that the university would require in addressing congestion through the provision of conference rooms, lecture halls, and staffrooms (Foulsham 1). The building’s architectural design coincides with the use of energy efficient facilities that reduce the exploitation of the non-renewable energy sources; hence, it is renowned for its conservative measures. Further, the building’s engineers used the recommended materials to make the world’s greenest public facility. The essence of evaluating the building’s inclusion of solar panels on the dome emanate from the society’s emphasis that the mankind should adopt renewable energy sources in order to avoid the risk of pollution from non-renewable energy sources. The Engineering II building’s construction process adhered to the institution’s mission that fosters the need of its constituents to apply eco-friendly measures in order to safeguard the future outcomes (Foulsham 1). For example, the facility’s architectural design reduced the use of electricity by 36 percent for every square foot of its space. Arguably, the plumbing team in stalled a natural gas system that would suppress the units consumed at a rate of 15 percent compared to the previous year. Despite the institution bordering the state’s coastline, the artistic building’s drainage facility evokes the understanding that its drainage system instills the environmentally conservative measures, which reduce the risk of pollution. Another architectural aspect, which is evident in the building’s interior design, is the utilization of space to serve the engineering department’s teachers and students.  Ã‚