COMM 105 Informative Speech Assignment Sheet Essays - Narratology

COMM 105: Informative Speech Assignment Sheet Time: at least 3 minutes. Failure to do so will result in the loss of points. Do not "read" your speech. Rather, speak extemporaneously. Failure to do so will result in the loss of points. The use of a visual aid (PowerPoint, handout, etc.) is recommended, but not required. Be imaginative in composing your speech. Do not summarize information from an encyclopedia or the Internet. Explain ideas clearly. Think about ways to relate the topic to the audience. Failure to do so will result in the loss of points. Topic 1: Informing the audience about some object, process, concept, or event You may narrow the topic to concentrate specifically on a particular interest of information-giving, such as definition, demonstration, or explanation. Select topics that are useful and interesting. Topic 2: Demonstrating the steps of a process or how to perform the steps of a process You should present the steps of your process clearly and systematically, leaving out none of the essential steps along the way. In all but a few cases, these speeches fall naturally into chronological order. Topic 3: Explaining a significant aspect of a culture different from your own Possible topics include social customs, family traditions, holidays, clothing, foods, religious traditions, sporting activities, and the like. Research is required. If you have personal experience, use it to supplement your research. Evaluation Criteria: establishing eye contact; avoiding distracting mannerisms; formulating a sharp specific purpose statement; fulfilling the functions of an introduction and conclusion; limiting main points and arranging them properly; employing connectives effectively. The finished assignment . has a central, focused, controlling idea that demonstrates substantial, perceptive, and careful thought; . is developed by means of coherent paragraphs containing convincing and appropriate evidence that is integrated with the controlling idea; . is organized and unified logically, with transitions, a thought-provoking introduction, a forceful conclusion, and appropriate emphasis; . selects words that display a clarity of thought, avoids clichs, and maintains an appropriate tone for its audience; and . shows mastery of the rules of grammar, punctuation, and spelling in the construction of varied sentences. The instructor considers that the . speech shows a process of brainstorming for the generating of ideas; . ideas are organized in a chronological or logical order; . points (or ideas) are clear enough for the listener to follow; . speech has an identifiable topic, introduction, body, and conclusion; and . the language (Standard Edited American English) is appropriate. Database Research Do not choose excessively long articles because you have to print and read them. Scan a potential article before deciding that it is good for use. Just because a title seems acceptable does not mean that the article is about the required topic. After finding an acceptable article, print it from the database. Afterward, email the article to yourself so that you can go back to it at your will. Articles that may not be used: popular magazine articles PDF full text refers to Adobe Acrobat. HTML full text refers to an Internet file. Louisiana Library Connection Databases: http://lalibcon.state.lib.la.us/ Enter your library card number or password here: 123456789 Click on whichever tab refers to the type of research you are doing. Choose the search engines you want. "Limit Your Results": Click "full text" and "scholarly (peer reviewed) journals." In the "find" box: Type in your search, using quotation marks or "AND." Journal article citations have (1) author; (2) journal title; (3) date; (4) volume number and/or issue number; (5) page; (6) number of pages included. NOTE: Not all journal articles have issue numbers. Reference book citations usually have (1) author; (2) editor; (3) book title; (4) date; (5) volume; (6) place of publication; (7) inclusive page numbers. NOTE: Information in these types of citations may vary. Usually the title of the book lets you know that it is a reference book.

Bottled water Essays

Bottled water Essays Bottled water Essay Bottled water Essay The term market research is the systematic problem analysis, model building and fact finding for the purposes of improved decision making in the marketing of goods and services, this basically means that through research companies are going to try and give customers what they want. In my assignment I too will use market research, and will be carrying out a research on bottled water. I intend to find out how pupils of my school feel about the idea of bottled water, and how the feel about certain brands, flavours etc.I also would hope to explain why bottled water has become the success it has, and why pupils of my school prefer it to a bottle filled with ordinary tap water. I have decided to use a questionnaire as part of my primary research. The questionnaire will set out to investigate our schools knowledge of water and well see how many people are consuming it daily. Through the questionnaires I will discover various different aspects in order to find out if it affects the market positively or negatively.Primary Research is a type of data which you find yourself albeit through* Discussions with people* Direct observation* Questionnaires and surveys* Sampling* Testing through pilot and field trialsFor my research I have decided to use the questionnaires and surveys method, combined with a method of sampling. This is to ensure the complete reliability of my research. I have chosen these methods mainly due to the fact that the project is based in school, therefore I must select the quickest methods available, this however will not deflect from the amount of effort needed in order to compile the questionnaire and to distribute them to the correct people.The two main types of data are collected by market research are* Quantitative This is generally numerical data, E.g. Statistics. This kind of data is collected using questionnaires and surveys* Qualitative This kind of data where people give ideas, this research is used most significantly for investigation purposes, E.g. Why people are buying a certain productI previously said I would be using a method of sampling, but first I would like to explain what sampling is. Basic sampling is a representation of a large body by a smaller body. The advantages of this are that the company saves much more time, and it gives them the opinions of their customers. However the downside is this, not all people may have the same opinion, this therefore means that they wont get their say as to how the company produce its goods. It is important with sampling that enough people are chosen to give confidence in the result. A sample size can be as low as 100 but obviously the more people asked, the more accurate the result obtained is.Here are the various different methods of Sampling:* Stratified Samples Choosing people from a specific group in the population.* Quota Samples Selected on the basis of the characteristics of customer profile.* Cluster Samples People are chosen from a spec ific area.* Systematic Samples Every Nth person within a group is chosen.* Random Samples Everyone has an equal chance of being picked.Of course, it is possible for an incorrect result from a questionnaire, this is could happen because of the wrong type of sample chosen or even because of poor facts and statistics. When compiling a question you should always* Show clarity and purpose to your enquiry* Show understanding to all sides of community; try to word questions so that everyone can understand.* Avoid misleading questions.* Good presentation and structure.The questionnaire is going to be made up of around 8 or 9 questions, and in it, it will include questions such as,Where do you buy your water?How much do you spend on water per week?Is water your preferred drink now?Is drinking water really healthy?Of course these are only example questions and I would expect to have varied them a little in my final questionnaire.To start of compiling my questionnaire I firstly drew up a rou gh page of ideas then begun work on Microsoft Pin point. Here I was able to lay down a question, and provide boxes for the reader to tick. I decided that a basic lay out was needed, so I ended up having a page with a border around, inset was the text of questions asking pupils about bottled water. The questionnaire had various different changes to be made, mostly because of the amount of space to provide for pupils to give their own ideas. Also the font was changed quite a bit from the original. After all the nit picking my questionnaire was finally ready, the next stage was the sampling. I decided that random selection was the fairest method so I randomly picked out two boys, and two girls from each class and stopped when I had reached a desired total. I handed them out to the selected people. Each of them filled out the questionnaire and gave it back to me. I then programmed all of my results into the computer.In order to get a clear view of each opinion I decided that graphs, pie charts would be the fastest and easiest way to access the information. All graphs and a copy of the questionnaire are printed on separate pages. There are 3 graphs in total, the first graph is outlining the most popular flavour of water, graph two is outlining the most popular brand of water and the final graph is showing the results for how often water is drunk/purchased by the pupils of Castlederg high school. Overall there were no surprising results.GRAPH ONE This graph showed that the most popular water was flavoured water. It had around 43% of the vote; still water was second with 30% with sparkling water third on 27%.GRAPH TWO This showed river rock as the most popular brand with almost half of the votes.GRAPH THREE This showed the popularity of water when everyone said they drink water often or at least on a regular basis, no one said that they never drunk water.Secondary research is data, which is published, either on hard copy or through an electronic source, which has been picked up by others for their own use. This kind of data must be taken with care, after all it is data, which has been used for a different purpose, and this may have affected the data analysis and presentation. When using secondary research companies should find out* Whether source is accurate* TrustworthyThere are various kinds of secondary research, desk research is a quicker method than field research, and it is also less expensive. However the problem is that findings are not as accurate as field research. Secondary research can be obtained from internal or external sources.The different forms of external research are:* Government statistics* Media* The internet* Market research companies such as key note, retail business* Market surveysThe different forms of internal are:* Databases of computers* Sales invoices* Complaint letters* Sales information* Financial informationExternal is probably a more important method of research as it doesnt affect the companies performance to its competitors, but internal offers a snapshot view of the company as a whole and is information that is already held within the company. I have used external, mainly because of Internet research. Through external research I was able to go through different companies websites and find out information on their water. Classic water is used within our school and although it is a popular seller, the pupils decided that river rock was their favourite bottled waterIn conclusion I feel that my research into bottled as went well, and have answered the questions I initially asked, why has it become more popular? The reason being pupils of my school think it is a healthy way of living. My results have shown many things, in particular the popularity of river rock within our school. Also showing that flavoured water is most preferred kind of bottled war.Need help on conclusion, dont know what to write!

Discussion and Planning Log Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Discussion and Planning Log - Assignment Example Nevertheless, Gunther offers useful tips that include being specific, addressing the topic, focusing on strengths, good communication, include authoritative links, and being formal. However, some tips like reading everything aloud before sending the email and using paragraph breaks are too basic for any writer to forget. Notably, Gunther would have helped the applicants by offering short, detailed, and positive advice without irritating them with his pride and all-knowing attitude. He should have started with appreciating the applicants for applying and include only the most important tips to shorten the letter. Having received other rejection letters, I think Gunthers approach was ineffective. The other rejection letters were short, objective, and communicated the unavailability of the applied position in a courteous manner. This letter should be shorter for the reader to develop some interest on its content. The letter should also be positive, sincere, courteous, and objective. The rudeness, emotions, and pride depicted in the letter discourage the applicants from appreciating its contents. This letter should advice the rejected applicants on how to write successful job application emails. The letter should also inform them of the reasons for their rejection in a short, sincere, polite, and positive manner. Addressing the letter to only the rejected applicants would be the most effective manner to help future job applicants. The letter should only include the most important tips. In writing the letter, I will consider the fact that the readers do not like long letters, hate a negative approach in writing, appreciate objectivity and sincere rejection, and need advice on how to apply for a job. The readers have prior knowledge of rejection letters after failures in applying for jobs. They know the contents, length, and tone of a rejection letter. However, they lack knowledge on unique rejection letters that define the reasons for a rejected

Sociology of the body Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Sociology of the body - Essay Example This study is being undertaken in order to establish a well supported notion or social construct in the sociology of the body. Discussion Different members of society often fashion or build their bodies based on accepted societal views of masculinity and femininity. In so doing, they often try to shape and use their bodies to fit their gender and cultural expectations. This practice seems to emphasize not so much on the distinctiveness of our bodies, but more on what society dictates as acceptable forms or shapes (Lorber and Martin, 2007, p. 227). Our genes partially determine our biological make-up and other environmental factors complete our physiology. Outside such biological constructs, cultural and social factors and attitudes attached to gender-based practices are also a crucial part of our overall make-up. Such practices create bodies which some social groups classify as masculine or feminine. In effect, the longing for better looking bodies have manifested in trends which len d greater support to cosmetic surgery, growth hormones, anabolic steroids, bodybuilding, and other fitness regimens for both men and women (Lorber and Martin, 2007, p. 227). Many advertisements for plastic surgeries also target men and women in their vulnerabilities. Men with gynecomastia or enlarged breasts, and women with small breasts have been exposed to ads which declare solutions to their issues – for men wanting to be rid of their gynecomastia and for women wanting bigger and perkier breasts (Lorber, 1994, p. 3). Women have also been exposed to the societal notion or expectation that having perky, large, and firm breasts, as well as slim bodies is the accepted shape to be in. In effect, many women wanting to fit the accepted societal demands have given in to breast lifts/reductions/augmentations and to puffier lips, toned abdomens, and shapely buttocks (Grogan, 2008, p. 52). Advertisements for plastic surgeries have capitalized on the portrayal of ideal images of beaut y – young, fresh, thin, and shapely forms. Millions of Americans have heeded these demands with about 6.9 million of them giving into the cosmetic surgery in 2002 alone; 88% of these are actually women (Lorber and Martin, 2007, p. 278). Most of these surgeries have included liposuction, eyelid surgery, nose reshaping, breast augmentation, breast reduction, as well as hair transplants and ear reshaping for men. In terms of age, most of those seeking plastic surgery fall in the 34-50 year age group and most of these surgeries have been carried out among the whites, with few having been performed on minority groups (Lorber and Martin, 2007, p. 8). Due to its high cost, these surgeries have mostly been carried out in the affluent population, however, considering the general population’s obsession with losing weight through exercise machines and diet pills, it is a trend which still covers many people regardless of financial capability or ethnic affinities. Bodies are socia lly constructed because they are tools used by many people in order to gain some form of progress or advancement in their life (Davids, Evans, and Lorber, 2006, p. 55). Even if the business and employment world may capitalize on one’s skills, talents, knowledge, and educational background to determine employment, still, it cannot be denied that one’s looks affect a person’s success and employment status. One classic example is the fact that there has

Statistics Essay Example for Free

Statistics Essay 1. Age, income, length of labor, return to work and number of hours working per week 2. Mean and standard deviation were used to describe the length of labor. These were appropriate since mean and standard deviation can be calculated on an interval level of measurement. 3. Range could also be used to describe the length of labor since this statistic can be used on interval data with no natural zero point. 4. The distribution of scores was similar for the experimental and control groups for length of labor. The experimental group had a mean of 14.63 hours and the control group had a mean of 12.79 hours which is a difference of less than 2 hours with a SD of 7.78 for experimental and 7.2 for control. 5. The experimental and control groups were similar in the type of feeding. More people fed with a bottle than breast or breast and bottle in the experimental and control group. The percentages in both were lowest for breast and bottle with 6.3% for experimental and 5.6% for control. 6. Married was the marital status mode for the experimental group and control group since it was the largest group. The frequency and percentage are 25 and 78.1% for the experimental group and 31 and 86.1% for the control group who are married. 7. Yes a median can be determined for the educational data. The median for the experimental and the control group are the people in the some college group. The median is the â€Å"middle† category and can be determined for ordinal data like education. 8. The findings from this study cannot be generalized to Black women since the sample size is so low in the experimental group and there are no Black women in the control group. Black women might have different self- care interventions to manage post- partum fatigue than white women. 9. There is a note at the bottom of the table that mentions that there is missing data. Perhaps some mothers did not reveal that data. 10. The sample was adequately described. However, adding information about any complications before or during birth, the type of delivery for example C-section vs. natural, or if the women had any help such as a nanny would add to the description.

Summary of The Color Purple Essay -- essays research papers

Alice Walker's The Color Purple is a touching story of one African American woman's journey through abuse and oppression to finding her own voice and self-worth as well as definite place in the world around her. The novel is written in an epistolary format and has a very confessional and emotionally raw tone. Through using this format, Walker has more freedom to weave an impressive network of heartfelt themes and colorful characters, in addition to displaying her talents for delivering to her readers an addictive and suspenseful plot. The story opens with a hideous sexual crime against Celie, the fourteen-year-old protagonist of The Color Purple. Having being raped by Pa, the man that she knows as her father, she becomes pregnant twice and bears him two incestuous children. Pa, who has consistently abused Celie over the years, is ashamed and enraged at the birth of their children, and takes them and kills them while Celie is sleeping. Celie is told "You better not tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy" (Walker 1). This tragic incident ruins Celie's child-bearing ability permanently and introduces her as the submissive, obedient, and abused character that she is through-out the majority of the story. After her mother dies and leaves her alone with her father on their rural Georgian farm, her only source of hope, comfort and security comes from her younger sister Nettie. Soon afterwards, Pa has a discussion with a widowed man in town who has interest in marrying Nettie. Pa, who has incestuous interest in Nettie , says that she is too young in order to keep her for himself. However, he convinces the man to marry Celie, saying "She ugly...but she ain't no stranger to hard work. And she clean. And God done fixed her. You ca... ... lover and motherly-figure that Celie takes refuge in. By the end of the story, Shug is entirely in love with Celie and settles down to live with her. Walker does and impressive job with the characters in The Color Purple. Through making them all round and dynamic, it is easier to connect and relate to their situations and decisions. The plot is laid out through the first person view and is therefore very personal and touching, as the story is told through Celie’,s eyes and heart. Although the epistolary format, time gaps and the lack of definite setting can make the novel confusing at times, Walker’,s choice to write in the manner does help to make the story more believable and personal, much like reading a diary. Beautifully imagined and deeply compassionate, The Color Purple is a successful novel rich in passion, pain, inspiration, and an indomitable love of life.

Despite ongoing changes in society, sexism still remains a burning issue

â€Å"Discriminating in favour of members in one sex; assuming a person's abilities and social function are predetermined by his or her sex.† – Definition of sexism taken from the Oxford English Dictionary. Sexism today is everywhere. Our society is extremely sexist. â€Å"1, an organized community; a system of living in this. 2; people of the higher social classes. 3; company, companionship. 4; a group organized for a common purpose.†(also taken from the Oxford English Dictionary), the definition of society, meaning simply states the society as it would be as if it is ideal, but it is far from it if we looked at it from a gender researchers point of view. Times are changing; our society is not as stereotypical as it has been in the past. There have been many changes in society to reduce sexism. In 1918 women finally won the right to vote after fifty-two years of campaigning. In the end women had to resort to methods of violence just to fight for the same rights as men. â€Å"In Victorian times writers (mostly men) were fascinated by the idea of an ideal woman. She was a very desirable creature innocent but sensual, passive but alert, and always obedient to men. Her aim in life was to be a patient and attentive wife, a loving and affectionate mother. Family was everything to her.† (taken from Hodder English 4, Victorian Women.) This shows us just how narrow minded the society was back in Victorian times. Also women's achievements in history are not publicised as much as men's if atall; they are now, but not as much as they should do In the English language there are lots of sexist words, for example the word ‘history'. This word ‘history' implies that all of the past is to do with men and not women. ‘Human' is also a sexist word and so is ‘woman', both of those words contain ‘man'. Here is a list of some sexist words in the English language: ‘human', ‘history', ‘woman', ‘mankind', ‘Walkman'. As we can see the English language is very ‘man' dominated. When people talk of God, ‘He' is wrote about and not ‘She' or ‘It'. ‘He' is always referred to as a male. The Bible itself is sexist, â€Å"And God said, let us make MAN†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . With women appearing as â€Å"an helpmeet†. All the sexism in language which is used to offend the same sex is of an opposing sex nature. For example men call other men ‘girls' if they are not as capable as they are in something, for example sports. There is a video about sexism and at the beginning of it the words ‘girls don't swear' came up in big bold lettering, which is clearly not true, society thinks females cannot be as grotesque as men but obviously they can. It seems to be acceptable for men to swear but if a women does it, she is sinned upon. On television programs which have swearing contained in them, mostly all of it is scripted to the males, and the women do not have hardly any swearing scripted to them. It also seems that women are not treated with as much respect as men are. If a woman is blonde they are thought to be ‘dumb', whereas a blonde man would not even be thought to be ‘dumb'. In the past women were not even entitled to the right to a free education, this changed in the middle of the nineteenth century, but black women were not entitled to a free education until the middle of the twentieth century. This shows us that women did not have as much respect as men and that still carries on today, but not as severely. Women are thought to stay at home and cook while the husband is at work. This is changing now partly because there is a considerable amount of male chefs on television. Young girls are thought to be very delicate, and are described as food, whereas young boys are thought to be rough and dirty and are described as animals: Girls â€Å"Sugar and spice and all things nice, thats what little girls are made of!† Boys â€Å"Slugs and snails and puppy dog's tails, that's what little boys are made of!† Clearly whoever wrote these little sayings had a very narrow mind, and the time in society in which these were wrote was very narrow-minded. When women are described as food they are described as sweet foods such as; crumpets and honey. When women are described as animals they are described as animals which are thought as to be ugly and medalling: cow, minx, dog. Men are never described as food, but they are described as animals which are thought to be dirty and slimy: slugs, snails. Men are very rarely described as sexuality but women are quite commonly. Some of the words which describe women as sexuality are: ‘tramp', ‘dyke', ‘lesbian', ‘slag', ‘tit', ‘slut', ‘whore', ‘hooker'. There are no words that describe men as sexuality, but it offends men to be called a ‘woman'. This implies that women are thought to be considerably weaker than men. Even middle-aged men call each other ‘little girls' if they are not as strong as another, for example. You cannot call a man the same names as a woman can be called e.g. ‘slag' which is very sexist. Men brag, gender is about power. Many people think when baby boys play with cars and when baby girls play with dolls it is nature. It could be nature but most things which are input into babies are from their parents, so it is most likely to be nurture. Also with babies it is expected that boys where blue and girls wear pink, if a boy wears pink people automatically think it is a girl and visa versa, it just shows how predigest our society is. The same applies for older males and females. Girls can wear trousers but boys cannot wear skirts, that is extremely sexist. Children's books mainly aim themselves at the different genders simply by their titles. ‘Ms Muffet' is â€Å"supposed† to be for girls, and ‘Fireman Sam' is â€Å"supposed† to be for boys. The media is extremely sexist, first of all starting with newspapers. At the beginning of every issue of â€Å"The Sun†, there is a half naked woman. Never a man, always a woman. Also the whole newspaper is aimed at men, the newspaper concentrates on women, and male dominated sport. Women's sport is never publicised on television, radio or in the newspaper. This could be because, it does not have an interest in people's lives. Newspaper articles are sexist in many ways, and in mostly all the newspapers which are sold. An article in ‘The Daily Mail' publicised on Thursday, February, 24th, 2000, was about women making men redundant i.e. women working instead of staying at home doing housework. The article also comments on how men are taking women's roles', â€Å"Everywhere we look these days, we see the complete feminisation of men.† The ‘Daily Star' newspaper is also aimed at men. It has countless pictures of women (clothed and un-clothed), male dominated sports and adverts for men's magazines. In one particular issue, (Saturday, September, 28, 2002), there was an article supposed to be about a golfer, but was mostly about his girlfriend, â€Å"Tiger Woods' gorgeous girlfriend Ellin Nordegren.† Another article in ‘The Evening Echo' publicised Wednesday, February, 2nd, 2002, was about a woman who worked in a post office who had to battle just for the right to wear trousers, â€Å"they can wear trousers and will not now be facing a disciplinary hearing.† This quote shows just how sexist our society is, women having to battle just to wear trousers. On television there are mostly male newsreaders though sometimes on the odd occasion there might be a man and a woman reading it together. The news on television, again only reports on male dominated sports with a female presenter, which shows who the sports are aimed at. I think our society is extremely sexist, but it is getting better, we have moved on very far since the Victorian times. But some people live their lives in the past and are a lot more sexist than others.