ART Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 22

ART - Essay Example According to the artist, he is an admirer of realists saying that there is a â€Å"basic visual magic in the ability of pigments to credibly translate our 3-dimensional world to the flat 2- dimensional world of paper and canvas† (scottsdalefinearts.com). Indeed, his work presents this feature, having those realistic traits one sees when looking at real subjects. As a viewer, when I look at the artwork, I seem to be looking at a photograph especially when I stand from a distance. The three-dimensional concept of real images is perfectly captured in the painting that one can only notice that it is a painting when he gets near the artwork. There is a sense of distance when one looks at the painting. This is achieved by presenting images as it would be naturally seen. For instance, the nearer images are made bigger than the other parts of the subject while the ones farther from the viewer are made smaller. Moreover, the parts which are presented to be near the viewer are more detailed while the ones farther are not. The parts of the subject which are supposed to be near the beholder show the color of whatever little number of grasses there are in the canyon. It also shows the fine details of what could be observed in real canyons, the different shapes only nature could create with the lands. The marks left by waters and other natural circumstances are clearly represented in the painting and I think these are what make the painting very real. On the other hand, the figures which are presented to be farther away from the observer look smaller. Furthermore, as on a natural setting, the scope of the view is also wider. The details are also lesser rather just as one would observe in real-life situations. Another element used in the painting that perhaps helps enhance to make the work magnificent is the painter’s use of colors. They are very natural and this is perhaps shows what a keen observer the artist is. The

Politeness and Pragmatics in the Cross-Cultural Communication Essay Example for Free

Politeness and Pragmatics in the Cross-Cultural Communication Essay Introduction In this paper, we will examine the Natural Order Hypothesis which was first introduced by Stephen Krashen in the late 1970s and 1980s. Krashen proposed the Second Language Acquisition Theory with five hypotheses. The Natural Order Hypothesis is a part of this second language theory. This hypothesis claims that learners of second language acquire the grammatical structures in a predictable way. It includes that some grammatical structures acquired naturally earlier than the others and this synchronization does not affected by the learners’ native language, age or any condition of exposure. Using a case study approach we will observe whether this claim is valid in Bangladeshi context or not. To examine that how the Natural Order Hypothesis works in Bangladeshi context, we have chosen some Bangladeshi people from different ages. Some the students of first semester and second semester of University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh. We have asked them to answer some certain questions which have added in the last section. This paper is divided into several chapters. The first section of the paper introduces with the five hypotheses of Stephen Krashen’s Theory of Second Language Acquisition. The hypotheses are demonstrated one by one because all the hypotheses are interrelated. This part is concluded with some main points of criticism about the Natural Order Hypothesis. The next section of the paper analyses our examinations about the hypothesis. It includes the Findings and Results of the study. The last section of the paper explains recommendations and conclusion where we have given our opinion. Krashen’s Theory of Second Language Acquisition Stephen Krashen’s Theory of Second Language Acquisition is well accepted widely in all areas of second language research and teaching since the 1980s. This theory consists of five hypotheses. These are the Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis, the Monitor Hypothesis, the Natural Order Hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis and the Affective Filter Hypothesis. The explanations of these hypotheses are given below. The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis states that there are two ways to  develop second language proficiency for adult learners. One is ‘acquisition system’ and another one is ‘learned system’. According to Krashen, the ‘acquisition system’ is a subconscious process. In this system, it is claimed that the development of the L2 proficiency goes through naturally. More like the way children acquire their first language. The learners acquire language without knowing about that acquisition is taking place. The main point is that learners develop proficiency through using language in meaningful conversations where the focus is on meaning not in the rules of language. On the other hand, ‘learned system’ is referred to ‘knowing about’ language. According to Krashen, the ‘learned system’ is a conscious and explicit process. Through this system learners learn about the language as a conscious study of formal instructions. That means the two systems are totally opposite. Krashen states that acquisition is more important to develop second language proficiency. Learning cannot lead to acquisition. He adds that conscious rule of ‘learned system’ only performs as one function; Monitor or editor. So the error correction occurs in ‘learned system’ which affects in learning language. But error cannot affect in case of acquiring language because in development of L2 proficiency, ‘acquired system’ only gives learner a ‘feel’ of error subconsciously. To demonstrate the Acquisition- Learning hypothesis, Krashen also denies about Noam Chomsky’s Language Acquisition Device (Device). Chomsky claims that humans are born with the instinct or innate facility for acquiring language. There is a ‘black box’ in every person’s brain and it acquires any language before puberty. Krashen disagrees and says that acquisition of second language can also happen after puberty. He further explains that LAD also works for adult but that does not mean that adult will always acquire second language as native speaker. He claims that LAD function also works for adult second language acquisition. The distinction between ‘acquisition system’ and ‘learned system’ can be seen in the table given below. The Monitor Hypothesis Stephen Krashen explains in the Monitor Hypothesis that how acquisition and learning are used in second language performance. This hypothesis holds the theory that utterance in L2 is initiated by the acquired system at first and after that the learned system works if there is any need of changes. Krashen includes that utterance of L2 happens generally through acquired linguistic competence. The role of learned system is work as a Monitor or editor. To use Monitor successfully, Krashen gives three conditions. These are time, focus of form and know the rule. 1. Time: The first condition explains that the acquirer must have enough time to apply the Monitor. The problem regarding this condition is, during normal conversation one cannot look after the time. If someone tries to use the Monitor he/she will fail to utter in right time or if someone tries to maintain the time he/she will fail to use the Monitor. The important part is that this condition can be applied only in case of advanced acquirers who use Monitor occasionally. 2. Focus on Form: The second condition instructs that the acquirers must focus on form of the language. The acquirers must think about the correctness of the form. But the problem is using Monitor with focusing on form is really tough. To maintain this condition one can lose the track whether he/she will Monitor what he/she is saying or he/she will Monitor how is he/she saying it. 3. Know the rule: The third condition is the acquirer must know the rule of language. It is very difficult condition to maintain because everyone does not know about all the rules. Even the best students may not know all the rules of the language which they are exposed to. So, these are the three conditions which drive to use Monitor successfully. But later on Krashen has mentioned only about the focus on form and know the  rule. He did not mention about the first condition ‘time’. Learnt knowledge (Monitoring) Acquired knowledge Output Figure: Model of adult second language performance On the other hand, Krashen has explained about three individual differences regarding use of the Monitor though the difficulties of three conditions remain dissolved. According to him, there are three types of Monitor users. Monitor over-users, Monitor under- users and the Optimal Monitor users. 1. Monitor over-users: This type of people use the Monitor all the time. They always check their output with the conscious knowledge of the language. Krashen claims two causes for this type of Monitor users. Firstly, they acquire language with the restriction of grammar instruction. Secondly, they may have acquired a good amount of second language but can not trust their acquired competence. That is why they always try check and cover their mistakes by using Monitor. So, they speak hesitantly and try to correct their utterances at the middle of a conversation. 2. Monitor under users: These types of people whether acquire language not learning or they do not prefer to use their conscious knowledge. Actually they do not use the conscious knowledge even when the three conditions are met. The self-correction happen only from a ‘feel’ of correctness. 3. The Optimal Monitor users: The optimal users are the people who apply the Monitor when it is necessary and appropriate. They know how to combine their learned competence with their acquired competence. They never use the grammar rules in their regular conversation because it can interfere in their utterances. This type of users most of the time achieve like the  native speaker in writing and planned speech. The Natural Order Hypothesis: According to Krashen the Natural Order Hypothesis deals with the grammar structures. The hypothesis explains that grammatical structures are acquired in predictable order. This order does not follow any rules that the easier grammar rule will be at first and then the complex one. It claims that there are some certain grammatical structures which acquired early by the learners of second language acquisition and then the others and it is for any given language. Krashen explains that the claim does not prove as 100% always, but there are some significant similarities. Krashen actually adopted this hypothesis from the study of Dulay and Burt’s study of what they called the order of acquisition of grammatical morphemes in English by five to eight year old children learning English as a second language (1974). They established a chart of morphemes for their study. So, Krashen adopt the idea of English morphemes and established his Natural Order Hypothesis. Krashen believed that there was no difference regarding the synchronization of the grammar structures. But later on Krashen develops his own idea about the order. He examines the study with both children and adult’s second language and illustrates the natural order of grammar structure according to his point of view. Table: Average order of second language acquisition in English. In further description about the Natural Order Hypothesis Krashen explains three facts. * Krashen claims that natural order cannot be changed. Teacher cannot change the order through drills or exercises. If a teacher tries to drill a certain rule for several weeks the result will be zero. Because the acquirer will only acquire language when it is ready to acquire the certain rule. This fact is very much related to the Affective Filter Hypothesis. * The natural order of grammar structures do not depend on any obvious feature. It can go through complex to easier or easier to complex. Some rules acquired later which are quite simple. On the other hand some rues acquired earlier which seem to be difficult in structures. It shows that curriculum designers might face problem that which one they should put earlier and which one in later. * The third fact is that the natural order is not the teaching order. So, if someone predicts that through learning the grammar structures he or she will acquire language proficiency, he/she might wrong. Because Krashen applied the Natural Order Hypothesis to extend the idea of ‘the Input Hypothesis’. The Natural Order Hypothesis actually helps to know how the comprehensible input can be acquired one by one. So the learners will acquire the language in a natural order as a result of getting this comprehensible input. Criticism of Natural Order Hypothesis: Krashen’s Natural Order Hypothesis faces many criticisms about the predictable natural order in second language learners’ acquisition of grammatical structure. His using of English morphemes as a model also causes criticisms. There are some important criticisms which really force linguists to rethink about Krashen’s Natural Order Hypothesis. These are, * Krashen claims that all L2 learners adopt the same nature of acquiring language to attain proficiency. However there is some individuality between learners. Every learner does not go through the same order of morphemes to  learn grammar rules. Some adopts the -ing form at first and later on go through the other rules step by step. On the other hand some adopts the pronoun case (he/she, his/her etc.) at first. So, Krashen’s hypothesis does not concern about individuality. * Another criticism explains that all languages do not have the same morphemes. Some languages do not have the function of Copula or definite/indefinite article. So as a result the learners from this type of languages face problem acquiring the morphemes though these are the simplest one. The learners pick up the morpheme according to their first language acquisition. Here, Krashen actually totally overlooked the possibility of the influence of L1 on L2. On the other hand he also ignored the role of negative and positive transferences. * Krashen claims that his model of natural order works for both adult and children. Critics raised questions about this generalization. That how did Krashen judge it as the both applied natural order for adult and children. Did the judgment was from instrument and task specific? A critic named Larsen-Freeman applied Krashen’s natural order model for both the adult second language learners and children second language learners and she found that the model really works but when she put it in some different tasks using different instruments, she could not found any similarity between adult learners score and children learners score. So, Krashen’s claim proved itself as unreliable because it does not work for every situation. So these are the criticisms regarding Krashen’s Natural Order Hypothesis. To evaluate our case study we have taken the help of these criticisms and we also found some problems in Bangladeshi context. The evaluation has given in the Analysis part. The Input Hypothesis: The Input Hypothesis gives the answer of the question that how we acquire language. Regarding this hypothesis Krashen states that, the learners acquire language by understanding input which is slightly beyond their  competence. He also adds that when the learners understand the messages of a language, they acquire language. The main theory of this hypothesis is ‘i+1’. Here ‘i’ is learners’ present competence and ‘i+1’ is the input of the language which can be understood by the learners. Krashen calls this ‘i+1’ as the comprehensible input. He not only states that but also strongly claims that ‘comprehending message’ can help to acquire language and there is no other fundamental process of language acquisition. Another point he claims that listening and reading comprehension are the primary important function of second language acquisition. There is one important point which should be noted that the Input Hypothesis and the Natural Order Hypothesis are interrelated. These two are combined to answer the question of how we move from one stage to another of acquisition. That means, Natural Order Hypothesis works for analyzing the Input Hypothesis that how learners move from ‘i’ to ‘i+1’. The Natural Order Hypothesis helps to decide that which one should be the comprehensible input or ‘i+1’ in the classroom. There are two corollaries in the Input Hypothesis. These are, 1. The first corollary is that speaking is not the cause of language fluency but the result of language accuracy. It cannot be taught directly. It is acquired through comprehensible input. 2. The second corollary is, if there is enough amount of comprehensible input the learner will automatically acquire competence from the teacher. There is no need to use grammar structure. That means there is no need to be finely tuned input which means the exact next grammar structure as ‘i+1’. It can also be roughly tuned input, like the nearer structures from the ‘i’. So, from this hypothesis we can understand that there is no need to use energy in acquiring language. The main important part is just to understand the messages. When we understand the messages of second language, the LAD starts to work. This is how we acquire language. The Affective Filter Hypothesis: The Affective Filter Hypothesis describes us that how people face obstacles to acquire second language. It tells us about a filter named ‘affective filter’ which works as an obstacle in the way of acquiring language. The affective filter does not work directly as a barrier but creates a ‘mental block’ in brain which prevents to acquire language. Krashen explains that if the affective filter is down then the comprehensible input reaches to the LAD and acquires competence but if the affective filter is up then the input does not reach to the LAD and acquisition does not happen. Krashen includes that there are some ‘affective variables’ which control this affective filter. The affective variables include motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. This variables help to acquire second language very easily. But if someone has low motivation, low self-esteem and debilitating anxiety the student will face difficulties to acquire language. Because these low motivation, low self- esteem and anxiety will ‘raise’ his affective filter and form a ‘mental block’ which will become an obstacle to understand the input and acquire language. So, the Affective Filter Hypothesis helps to determine that why a specific learner faces problem in dealing the comprehensible input though he/she has reached a native- like competence. The main point is one should have motivation, self-confidence and low anxiety if he/she wants to acquire second language. Many critics raised question against Krashen’s Theory of Second Language Acquisition. Some of them are reliable and the rest of them are from anti- Krashenites. From our opinion, though Krashen has applied many statements to prove his theory but the Natural Order Hypothesis really lacks in reliable informations. The hypothesis could not set with our Bangladeshi context. The discussion has given in the next section.

Essay --

Main Ideas Europeans Explore the East Section 1 1. The factors that helped spur European exploration were the new spirit of adventure and curiosity brought on by the Renaissance, the desire to be rich, the desire to spread Christianity, and advances in sailing. 2. Portugal’s Prince Henry conquered Ceuta, a Muslim city in North Africa. Prince Henry and his men discovered stores with exotic spices and large quantities of gold, silver, and jewels in Ceuta. Once he returned to Portugal, him main goal was to find the place in the East where the treasures came from while spreading Christianity. Eventually, he founded a navigation school to teach his students how to improve such skills as mapmaking, instrument making, and shipbuilding. 3. The significance of Dias’ voyage was to spread Christianity while serving His Majesty, to grow rich and "give light to those who were in darkness" while da Gama explored the East African coast and its rare silks and gems. He returned to Portugal with spices, such as pepper and cinnamon, and provided Portugal with a direct sea route to India. 4. The Dutch were so successful in establishing a trading empire in the Indian Ocean because they were a leading sea power with the largest fleet of ships in the world and they established the Dutch East India Company which minted money, made treaties and raised its own army. The Dutch seized the port of Malacca and the Spice Islands which helped Amsterdam become a leading commercial center and controlled the Cape of Good Hope which was a resupply stop. China Limits European Contacts Section 2 5. China did not undergo widespread industrialization because the idea of commerce conflicted with China's Confucian beliefs and their economic policies favored agricult... ..., Tokugawa Ieyasu was upset by the success of missionaries converting the Japanese and felt that the missionaries were belittling Japanese traditions and beliefs in order to convert the Japanese to Christianity. Sometimes the missionaries became involved with politics and tried to reform the local governments. Also, by 1612, the shogun banned Christianity and tried to get rid of all Christians in his country. 5. The Manchus earned the respect of the Chinese by upholding China's traditional Confucian beliefs and social structures. One leader, Kanghi personally led troops to the northern border to protect the people against Mongols threatening there and also reduced government expenses and taxes, offered intellectuals government positions, invited Jesuits at court where he learned about developments in medicine, science and mathematics that were popular in Europe.

Cheltham prison was a medium security prison

There was a cold chill in the air as keys jangled in the distance. ‘Lights out!' shouted a voice from the end of the corridor. ‘How did I end up in here?' James thought to himself. As the cells descended into darkness. ‘I had a good education and I blew it all for a group of people.' Cheltham prison was a medium security prison. It housed around seven hundred inmates. The offences committed by the inmates varied from traffic penalties to common burglary. James Henderson was one of many at the prison. ‘I could have had such a good life. Good job, nice car, big house and a family, but I don't and its all my fault.' When James was fifteen he had problems at home because of this he got in to a bad crowd. ‘I lost everything thanks to these people.' James had become friends with typical young hooligans he started using drugs, going to pubs and just generally getting into trouble. ‘Wednesday nights were the worst; we couldn't go to the pub. So we just hung around the streets.' One man, Martin Walsh, controlled the group of about six. Martin was only sixteen but had already been in trouble with the police three times. It was on Wednesday night that Martin came up with the idea of going to the local park. ‘That's when the real trouble started.' We were bored with nothing to do so†¦' a voice broke James's thoughts. ‘Quieten down, this isn't a place to socialise.' ‘†¦We broke all the play equipment.' It had been Martins smart idea to vandalise everything. ‘We were all too scared of him to refuse, so we just did it. The playground was decimated by the time we had finished. Martin stood back to admire his work; I can still remember his words,' ‘Well done everyone same time next week!' Martin said proudly. Martin wasn't kidding. Within a month the group had destroyed four public play areas and three school playgrounds. Nobody had stood up to Martin. By this time the police had been involved, but still no one knew it was Martin. ‘I remember the exact day Martin got found out. We had met, like we always did, on a Wednesday night. Martin wasn't himself; he was angry, violent.' ‘The police have been to see me.' Martin growled ‘they know about the playgrounds. How do they know? Who told them? Come on own up' No one did. Although Martin had an idea, a small boy name Chris was his target. Chris was a gifted boy, he didn't agree with Martin's ways but was a friend though fear. ‘Martin took it out on Chris. Punching, kicking. No one stood up to him. After that night we never saw Chris again.' ‘As time went on and our crimes got worse I started to see how I had wasted my life.' James and the group, still lead by Martin, had started stealing. At first it was just sweets then CDs, clothes, CD players, TVs if it wasn't bolted to the floor Martin would steal it. ‘ I could handle stealing small but TVs CD players that had gone to far. Stealing a CD player was when I first got caught.' ‘A local shop Tim's TVs was my target on that particular day. It was a small family business easy to steal from, so I thought.' ‘It was a Saturday morning and the shop was rather busy, that surprised me, I had stolen many times before so I just walked in. I must have looked suspicious from the start, but they didn't let on. I walked around for a while. When I got to the CD players, I checked to see if anyone was around, no one was, so I just put it in my coat. I was so calm as I reached for the door handle but just at that seconded a hand reached out and grabbed my arm, id been caught.' The police were called and as it was James's first offence he got away with a strong warning. The next time the group met Martin was pleased. ‘James well done for your efforts and the way you handled the police. I have a task for you' Martin beamed at James. James knew it was a bad idea but was too afraid to argue. The next night James met Martin. ‘You've proved yourself as a good friend James.' Martin started walking down the street. ‘I had no idea what to do, so I just followed Martin. Bad choice.' The next ten minutes were all a blur to James. ‘The next thing I knew I was sitting in a car, driving really fast. I started to shout at Martin to let me out.' ‘What's gotten into you Henderson, you were all for it a minute ago.' Martin screamed. ‘Just let me out!' I screamed back. Martin stopped the car and James got out. ‘You aren't who I thought you were James, don't let me see your face again.' With that martin was gone. James was left to walk home. ‘It was cold and dark, I suddenly realised what had happened, id been involved in a grand theft auto. I was as horrific as Martin. I had wasted a good education to become a common criminal.' It had been two years since James met Martin; it had been a roller coaster of vandalism and embezzlement. James had no future. That wasn't the end of Martin. The police had caught him. Martin had told the police about James's involvement. The police paid James a visit the next day. ‘It was terrible; the look of disappointment on my parents faces. They had no idea. Both Martin and I were called into court on grand theft auto. The judge was harsh. To set an example he said, a jail sentence and community service.' So James isn't the only one in prison. ‘Martins in here too.' A voice disrupts James thoughts. ‘James shifts over.' The voice bellowed from the darkness. ‘No, Martins in here all right. On a jail sentence. The only difference is at least community service lets me go home at night,' ‘Thanks mate. I'll see you tomorrow.' With that James was gone.

Indian Mathematicians And Their Contributions Essay

Ramanujan He was born on 22na of December 1887 in a small village of Tanjore district, Madras. He failed in English in Intermediate, so his formal studies were stopped but his self-study of mathematics continued. He sent a set of 120 theorems to Professor Hardy of Cambridge. As a result he invited Ramanujan to England. Ramanujan showed that any big number can be written as sum of not more than four prime numbers. He showed that how to divide the number into two or more squares or cubes. when Mr Litlewood came to see Ramanujan in taxi number 1729, Ramanujan said that 1729 is the smallest number which can be written in the form of sum of cubes of two numbers in two ways, i.e. 1729 = 93 + 103 = 13 + 123 since then the number 1729 is called Ramanujan’s number. In the third century B.C, Archimedes noted that the ratio of circumference of a circle to its diameter is constant. The ratio is now called ‘pi ( ÃŽ   )’ (the 16th letter in the Greek alphabet series) The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 1053 with specific names as early as 5000 B.C. during the Vedic period. ARYABHATA Aryabhatta was born in 476A.D in Kusumpur, India. He was the first person to say that Earth is spherical and it revolves around the sun. He gave the formula (a + b)2 = a2 + b2 + 2ab He taught the method of solving the following problems: BRAHMAGUPTA Brahma Gupta was born in 598A.D in Pakistan. He gave four methods of multiplication. He gave the following formula, used in G.P series a + ar + ar2 + ar3 +†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. + arn-1 = (arn-1) à · (r – 1) He gave the following formulae : Area of a cyclic quadrilateral with side a, b, c, d= √(s -a)(s- b)(s -c)(s- d) where 2s = a + b + c + d Length of its diagonals = SHAKUNTALA DEVI She was born in 1939 In 1980, she gave the product of two, thirteen digit numbers within 28 seconds, many countries have invited her to demonstrate her extraordinary talent. In Dallas she competed with a computer to see who give the cube root of 188138517 faster, she won. At university of USA she was asked to give the 23rd root of 91674867692003915809866092758538016248310668014430862240712651642793465704086709659 32792057674808067900227830163549248523803357453169351119035965775473400756818688305 620821016129132845564895780158806771. She answered in 50seconds. The answer is 546372891. It took a UNIVAC 1108 computer, full one minute (10 seconds more) to confirm that she was right after it was fed with 13000 instructions. Now she is known to be Human Computer. BHASKARACHARYA He was born in a village of Mysore district. He was the first to give that any number divided by 0 gives infinity (00). He has written a lot about zero, surds, permutation and combination. He wrote, â€Å"The hundredth part of the circumference of a circle seems to be straight. Our earth is a big sphere and that’s why it appears to be flat.† He gave the formulae like sin(A  ± B) = sinA.cosB  ± cosA.sinB

The More You Tell, The More You Sell

The More You Tell, The More You Sell The More You Tell, The More You Sell The More You Tell, The More You Sell By Michael Most writers dont need encouragement to write more words. After all, thats how some of them get paid: by the word! Using the words you need and no more writing concisely is a skill that every writer spends a lifetime learning. Mark Twain once said, â€Å"I didnt have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.† But the main problem of many writers, especially reluctant writers and business owners, is not that they say more than they need, but rather, that they say less than they need. Writers can be too lazy to edit and trim their work, but they can also be too lazy to think enough about their subject to cover it adequately. The direct mail copywriters of old had a saying, The more you tell, the more you sell. It was a bold statement. Other copywriters argued that people dont want to read long copy, would stop reading before they got to the end of the sales letter, the advertiser would lose sales. Thats a valid objection, to which the proper response is, Then ask for the sale before they get to the end! Theres nothing wrong with giving the customer more than one chance to buy. Besides, none of us reads more than we want to, except for students and acquisitions editors. We all read until we lose interest, or we skip ahead, go back, or jump to the end. We keep reading as long as we feel theres something in it for us. And thats where, as a copywriter, you win more when you tell more. The more reasons you give the customers to buy, the more likely they will buy. Once theyre convinced, they will stop reading anyway and start ordering. Or they might go back later and read the rest to reassure themselves they made the right choice. Reassurance is an important purpose of marketing communications too. Start your writing process by listing all the reasons someone should buy your product or service. Get a friend or a customer to tell you if you dont know. Dont be lazy. If a reason is compelling, dont leave it out if you have space. On your website, you have unlimited space to tell your story. List your most attractive benefits and let your readers decide which ones are most attractive to them. True, you dont want your marketing piece to appear too long to read. You have to format your writing so people can read only what they want. In sales literature, you might use bold text and headings so your readers know where to skip to. When writing for the Web, its especially easy add links to other pages. Your benefits dont all need to be on the same page, as long as customers can find them when they need them. Your potential customers will follow the links that interest them, and will ignore the ones that dont. Certainly, start off short and sweet for those who dont want to read much. But dont stop until youve told the whole story to those who insist on hearing it all. Comparison shoppers, such as myself, actually look for longer text. We tend to believe that the product that mentions the most benefits probably has the most benefits. If the copywriter neglected to mention that it has a five-year warranty, how are we supposed to know that it does? Customers buy for many reasons. Some are convinced by one point, others are convinced by another. But if you leave out their favorite point, thats one point that wont help make the sale. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Business Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Useful Stock Phrases for Your Business EmailsWhat is the Difference Between Metaphor and Simile?How Long Should a Synopsis Be?

Annotated Bibliography for Dummies or Step-by-Step Directions to Get Armed for the Scientific Paper Reference

Annotated Bibliography for Dummies or Step-by-Step Directions to Get Armed for the Scientific Paper Reference Having to write an annotated bibliography for the first time can be intimidating and working on it usually raises a lot of questions: Where to begin? What can I do? What can’t I do? A lot of students do not have a clear idea of how this works, so we have put together an â€Å"annotated bibliography for dummies† guide that will help you start. First of all, let’s shed some light on what an annotated bibliography really is and how it is different from other types of bibliography. An annotated bibliography is different from the straightforward one because it comes with concise annotations added to the reference list. An annotation is a short text, which offers a brief overview on the purpose of the cited text, what the central ideas of the material are and how the author approached them. If you immediately thought of it like being the abstract you can find at the beginning of an academic article, you are almost right, but an annotation is usually more than a descriptive summary. While you can write a purely descriptive annotation, it helps a lot if you add your critical personal view, as it shows that you have truly researched your thesis or essay and have put thought into it. The two main types of annotations are descriptive and evaluative. Here are the key elements for each: Citation details (write them as you would do for a simple bibliography; you can use APA, MLA or Harvard citations styles, depending on the requirements); Present the main purpose of the work in one short statement (You can start with â€Å"In this article the author presents† or â€Å"The author’s research focuses on†, etc.); Write a summary of the main ideas, and how the author has approached them (used an academic style; kept the sentences clear and concise or used transition words such as therefore, moreover, however etc.). So far, these are the elements of a descriptive annotation. To write an evaluative annotation you have to add some personal impressions and comments. Present a few personal points of view on how strong the research is, what its limitations or strong points are. Connect the author’s work to your research: how helpful it is and how you plan to include it in your own research. Common mistakes while writing an annotated bibliography are directly related to drifting from its definition. Adding up irrelevant pieces of information or omitting the required one might provide you with a negative review, so make sure all the references have correct annotations. Do not include the title of the cited work in the annotation, as you have already mentioned it in the citation. It might give the impression that you have no idea what to write about and you have not researched enough. Do not cross references in your annotation. You should focus on how the author approached the main ideas of his work. While he might cross other authors’ references to make a point, your annotation should not go into these details, but keep the information to the cited article or book. And keep in mind that you can avoid any mistakes with the help of our automated Free Citation Generator.