Extended commentary of ‘Neutral Tones’ by Thomas Hardy Essay

On the Title: â€Å"Neutral Tones† encourages the reader to postpone any immediate inferences about the poem. It also refers to the muted (â€Å"monochrome†) colour scheme found in the first and last stanzas; these colours, in turn, are used by Hardy to emphasise the blandness/†deadness† of the emotions between the persona and his love. Thus the title is an introduction to both the poem’s images and emotional back-drop. Themes: Love (cruelty of it), Distance, Pain Overall Structure: A four stanza lyric with a continuous A/B/A/B rhyme scheme. These repeated ideas may add to the idea of monotony or dullness in emotion. This is a weak idea, however. First Stanza Notes: Hardy presents a scene and a persona. The use of the personal pronoun â€Å"we† has two effects: 1) It establishes a subtle familiarity between the reader and the persona – we can partially associate with the persona if he/she (sex is not made explicitly clear) through the simple use of the pronoun. 2) The lack of fixed gender does also add to a feeling of distance – distancing effects are used throughout the poem and will be explored. This particular one is maintained throughout. The scene presented is one of two figures standing by a pond; nearby sits a â€Å"sod† – a small grass turf. The description of this scene is incredibly important to the understanding of the poem; it sets the mood and leads to an eventual repetition of the image itself (last verse). The scene is devoid of colour, Hardy-esque by character and elegiac in tone. HEREBY NOTE: Hardy only uses the sense of sight in this poem (a nuance maintained throughout) – this is the only sense which can be used from afar. Thus we discover another distancing effect. The scene is devoid of colour – Hardy is introducing his colour scheme. As previously discussed, this reflects the muted nature of emotion expressed in the poem. Perhaps one can label the colours monochrome? Evidence, if needed in an exam, with brief exploration: * â€Å"Sun was white†; suggesting a light drained of colour. This phrase becomes important when considering the other images associated with the sun and sunlight. â€Å"Chidden of God† means ‘told off’ by God. This is an intentionally extreme image, certainly a rather bleak one! Compare with the ‘God-curst sun’ in fourth stanza. * â€Å"Few leaves†; weakest of the quotes. Indicates a lack of green on the sod (in terms of numerical value). * â€Å"Starving sod†; the grass is dying, and therefore turning brown. Like dried grass in the summer? * â€Å"Fallen from an ash†; significant choice of tree (obscure point though). Ash is associated implicitly with death. * â€Å"Gray†; for use when desperate. The colours are numbed, as to reflect how the breakup of a relationship can be as numbing. Quote SLS: â€Å"Hints towards a passionless palate of senses.† Second Stanza Notes: Hardy reveals the meaning/purpose of his scene in this stanza, by explaining and poetically exploring the relationship between the persona and his (former) love. The muted colour scheme, it becomes clear, does have the effect above described. * â€Å"Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove/ Over tedious riddles of years ago;† This line indicates both the trivial nature that the persona associates with the couple’s ‘riddles’ (problems?) now, and the implied importance of these problems possessed in earlier days. What does this change tell us? * Perhaps that the couple grew cold and got bored with one another’s problems, hence the use of ‘tedious’. The line also suggests that the ‘riddles’ used to be solved, or that they have recurred. Remember that the partner is both unnamed and ‘unspecified’ in any way – perhaps he/she has grown so cold to the extent that he/she sees the persona only in terms of what ‘was’? It is negative thought in any case. Quote SLS: â€Å"They see previous mysteries which no longer excite them†. Indeed, Hardy continues to suggest both the boredom created within their relationship and uses more distancing techniques in the next lines: â€Å"And some words played between us to and fro/ On which lost the more of our love† Note how the words are given physical attributes, or entities, as opposed to acoustic ones. We can figuratively â€Å"see† the words (because they are ‘played’ between the figures), but can’t hear them. This reinforces our idea of distance, in that the scene is almost behind a glass screen, where the sexes of the characters are blurred, we can see only particular details and cannot hear, smell or touch anything. As before said, this allows the reader to associate with the persona, albeit vaguely. Boredom reinforced; ‘played between us’ suggests some crude game – these problems seem trivial and dull now. And they lost the more of their love on them – the games didn’t do the relationship any good! Third Stanza Notes: Hardy recreates the moment at which the love died, and the relationship fully ended. To achieve this, he focuses on the partner’s mouth. â€Å"The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing/ Alive enough to have strength to die;† The use of an oxymoronic superlative stresses the death of emotion between the pair, further emphasised by the enjambment used – it highlights both â€Å"the deadest thing† and â€Å"Alive enough†, making such an image both stark and even more surprising. The image presented, as if the smile embodied the relationship, in one which is so close to death but has enough physical strength to complete the physical action of dying. An odd idea, but it works effectively. Note how the juxtaposition between life and death presents further contrast (when comparing poems, this becomes important!). Ad. [As a further distancing technique, observe how Hardy keeps only to sight; he uses the smile to fully embody the relationship.] However, Hardy does not end his onslaught of depression there: â€Å"And a grin of bitterness swept thereby/ Like an ominous bird a-wing.† Hardy here notes the transformation of the lover’s weak smile to an ex-lover’s grin, a positively relished expression of bitterness. As the reader, it is impossible to discern exactly who is relishing the moment; is it the partner, in a very cruel statement of emotion? Or is it the persona, in some oddly malicious â€Å"reverie-state†, remembering this moment and the pain it brought to him then, only to scorn it now, as ‘keen lessons’ in love have numbed the emotional agony? (Probably the former, as the latter changes the entire dynamic of the poem!) In any case, it is another confusion of oxymoronic imagery (grins and bitterness tend to be mutually exclusive) to express the pain of the relationship’s end; it certainly emphasises a strong sense of emotion. Hardy’s use of such emotive language may be considered out of place in a poem all out numbing pain and emotion; surely an â€Å"ominous bird a-wing† would fit better in Macbeth than next to a grey pond? Consider this possible weakness of this for yourself. (It might just be a forced rhyme.) Fourth Stanza Notes: Time is the opening note upon Hardy opens the fourth stanza, simply by using the words â€Å"Since then†. They put the reader in the present; indeed, by implication, this emphasises how the rest of the poem was in the past. It’s a memory! What consequence does this bear? * El Nombre Uno) [And yes, I do think that Hardy should have been Mexican. One can have a lot of fun with a Poet in a sombrero.] Simply, it is another distancing technique. Distance in time! * Numà ©ro Deux: [Hardy eating snails?] The present tense allows for the circularity of the main image in the poem – see hence. â€Å"Since then, keen lessons that love deceives,/ And wrings with wrong, have shaped to me/ Your face, and the God-curst sun, and a tree,/ And a pond edged with grayish leaves.† At last, Hardy arrives at the crux of his poem; that Love deceives, lies and hurts. The fact of this (these â€Å"lessons†) takes on the mental image of the scene earlier described – it IS a memory, and a blurry one, given the sparse details described in the poem. In a little more detail, there are two phrases which must be analysed: I) â€Å"God-curst sun† is even more emotive that the previously described â€Å"chidden of God†. The variation in terms should be explored. The severity of judgement, carried out by none other than the almighty, presents us with a very bleak image – the sun has physically paled under the strain. II) â€Å"Wrings with wrong† is obviously emphasised by the alliteration and the harsh consonance which accompanies it. But does the sense of torsion implied by the word â€Å"wrings† suggest a tearing of a relationship? Perhaps. Note the continued use of the word ‘and’; does this not show the memory is broken and returns to the persona mentally in small pieces, thus adding to the distance created once again? Indeed, along with the variation in terms, it gives the impression of a minimalist, mottled and monochrome image, like a half-remembered dream. Is there a willingness to forget it? Does the persona want to avoid further pain by remembering the image, thus has repressed it along with the associated emotions? (Freudian psychoanalyst in the room.) On the same plane of thought, but to reach a different a conclusion, consider this thesis: the memory has actually faded already, either due to Time or a willing repression. We are reading about a faded memory, as opposed to the persona writing down his VIVID memory in order to repress it himself. Like the First World War poets. Difficult concepts†¦ I say this because the image obviously embodies the emotion, and the circular usage of these conjoined principles proves that the memory is haunting the persona. But if the memory is fading, as shown by all of the distancing techniques, then have the memories accompanying it faded along with it too? (So, dear Mr.) Conclusion. Two ideas. 1) In writing the poem and using the distancing techniques, the persona is neutralising the pain (right now, that is, given that literature is a verbal suspension of time) and is establishing ‘neutral tones’. 2) The memory has already faded along with the pain. This is a mere statement of the fact. ‘Neutral Tones’ have been established.

Family Essay

1. Describe 5 different types of familiesA family is a group of people living in a household together either by reason of marriage, blood relation or adoption. Families are the reason for creating today’s society. This is because in a family, people are created and brought into the world, cared for, and given the correct tools to survive in life.There are five different types of families, which are as follows:I. Nuclear Family: The nuclear family is a family that consists of a mother, father, and their child/children. In most cases, the parents in a nuclear family are married. An alternative name for a nuclear family is an elementary family.II. Extended Family: The extended family expands wider than the nuclear family. This is because it consists of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins living either nearby or in the same household.III. Single Parent: A single parent is when a parent lives without their spouse, leaving them with most of the responsibilities to raise the chi ld/children on their own. A single parent is usually considered the primary person who takes care of the child. In some cases due to divorces or separation, the child lives with their primary parent, but is given the privileges of visiting the residence of their noncustodial parent, meaning the parent who does not have complete custody over their child. In this case, the noncustodial parent is most likely to be the father of the child. Single parenting has been caused by many reasons in today’s society, which include:Death of a partner.Child abuse.Neglect.Divorce.Adoption, when the adoptive parent does not have a partner/spouse.IV. Blended Family: A blended family or sometimes called a â€Å"step family† is a relationship when both spouses have been married before and have remarried again, which sometimes lead to a child being brought into the marriage from the past relationship.V. Foster Family: Foster means to help someone grow  and develop. A foster family is two adults that take care of one or more children that belong to other parents. This action is usually called adoption.2. What are the rights and responsibilities of family members?A right is something that people are entitled to. A responsibility is the opportunity to work independently and make your own decisions without being told what to do. Being a part of a family imposes rights and responsibilities on each family member that must be taken seriously. The overall rights and responsibilities of family members are essentially to look after the house and to take care of each other. The responsibilities of the parents are very critical.This is because a parent is supposed to feed, clothe, shelter, educate and provide a safe and comfortable living environment for their child/children. The rights of parents are to interact with their souls mates especially through tough times when they need someone to talk to. Overall, parents should provide companionship for each other. Similarly, child ren also have responsibilities, which include performing the chores that their parents give them to do.These chores can include cleaning, assisting with cooking and looking after younger siblings or other family members. Children also have the responsibility to be respectful and obedient to their parents. The right of a child is to be able to request some things that can be valuable to them from their parents. Perhaps most importantly, the joint responsibilities and rights of all family members are to ensure that the home is a safe and loving environment.3. How does social pressure affect the family?Social Pressures are the combined pressures that surround individuals during everyday life. Examples of social pressure are Peer Pressure, and Academic Pressures. Social Pressures can be confusing and stressful. Despite the strain, these are common pressures that families are normally faced with, especially in the teenaged life. Social pressure affects the family because if not properly managed, it can cause family members to make poor choices, which can lead to the family breaking apart, someone being taken away from the family, or in a worst case scenario, death.Social pressure with the big impact of it, sometimes lead family members into taking drugs trying to relieve their stress. Social pressure can lead up to death in various occasions. This reason is caused mostly because of the pressure that is placed on an individual, forcing them into taking dangerous medication or hanging themselves which leads to death. Many people turn to drugs or alcohol to relieve themselves from pressure. Other social pressure that people are affected by is unemployment or a general lack of finances.In this case it can force a family member to start stealing and committing robbery in attempt to provide for their family members. This can affect the family because it usually leads to person being remanded to prison for several years. Imprisonment of a parent automatically causes the d ynahousehold to become a single parent family and When it comes to the family members trying to fix their problems with alcohol or drugs, this can normally lead up to addictions.In reference from pastor Philip Stubs, he states that social pressure affects a family unit primarily by way of supplanting the family time that is essential for the nature of the family unit. The competition with the family time, from various social events, projects or circumstances results in individual family members opting to reduce their involvement with their family and instead investing their time, money, and emotional energy in societal events, resulting the family unit being weekend. †4. Divorce has been one of the causes of the change in the Bahamian family Structure. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons to support you answer.Before answering this question it is first and most important that we understand what is divorce. â€Å"Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate. à ¢â‚¬ (Mark 10:4) â€Å"Now to the married, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. † (1 Corinthians 7:10-11). In the â€Å"Oxford Student’s Dictionary,† a divorce is the legal ending of a marriage. An online dictionary, â€Å"Datasegment.  com,† refers to a divorce as a legal dissolution of a marriage contract by a court or other body having competent authority.I agree, divorce has been one of the causes of the change in the Bahamian family structure. I then questioned Pastor Stubs on his view of the question. Pastor stubs agreed as well, he stated that â€Å"Of course the Bahamian family structure has also been defined by single parents who have never been married. While many single parents continue to lead excellent households, the best model for a family is the one in which a married man and woma n work together as a team and lead the household and family.I then questioned pastors from my church, Abundant Life Church where Pastor O’Neil Russel along with Pastor Gil. gave their view about the question. They too agreed with the statement. The pastors said that â€Å" Indeed, divorce has been one of the major causes of the change in the Bahamian family structure. As a nation, the Bahamas has been founded upon biblical principles. The biblical model for the family is for a husband and wife to be living together in a godly marriage which, as a result, produces children which ought to be brought up in the fear and admonition of the Lord.However, when a divorce occurs there is a disorting of what the family structure ought to look like. The structure is different when a husband and wife are not living together and this structure produces problems in the homes with the children as well as with society as a whole. In the Bahamas, there have been many divorces and as a result the basic family structure is deficient in function and effectiveness when it comes to our society.5. To what extent does the change in the Bahamian family structure lead to the many social problems in our society todayIt is very important to understand first that every family makes up today’s society. The change in the Bahamian family structure is highly responsible for the many social ill in our country say’s pastor Gil. This is especially the case when it comes to young men. Most of the social problems in our society are being committed by young men. These young men do not have any sense of identity, direction, or purpose in life.When the young men decide to take part in criminal activity, it always ends up in to a family losing a loved one. In the Bahamian society today, many residents complain about the men who are doing the crime not being brought up properly in their homes. The reason being for that problem is because of the fact that there is no father figure i n the hose hold. This is the job for their fathers. When a father does not live up to his responsibility in the lives of his children, he causes problems with their identity.They are not given the discipline, love, acceptance, and direction that God has designated the father to introduce to them and thus they turn to other vices or persons to the detriment of their lives. The intake of this question from Rev. Philip Stubbs was very straight forward to the question too as well. Rev. Stubbs said that â€Å" In our society the family is the most foundational unit. It is through the family that persons are socialize, that is to learn social skills so that they might be properly prepared to function well in society.The sad diminished familial situation had directly resulted in many social problems in our society. These problems include low academic performance, violation of the nation’s laws, low levels of ambition and long term planning amongst young people. † In my opinio n, the social problems are mainly because of how some parents are raising their children. Inside the homes, some parents may not take time to spend with their children, show no kinds of love towards them, treat the aggressively and with all of this being done can lead to the child being a pest to the Bahamian society.6. How do you think the family can help to combat the social problems of today?The family can help to combat social problems today by being responsible enough to raise their children properly. Parents should pay close attention to the problems that are going on today and realize that because of the poor teachings about being a good citizen are leading to the many problems today. Pastor Gil says that â€Å" the family can help to combat the social problems of today by seeking to remain together as husband and wife while raising godly children in the fear and admonition of God. The parents are to be an example to the children of godliness and they should as a result foll ow their example.When more families decide to take on this purpose, the social problems of today will be decreased over time. Wanting to know more on what someone else thought we could do to combat social problems, I again question Rev. Stubbs on his point of view. He said that â€Å"Socialization through transference of excellent values like self- respect, respect for others, respect for law and order, promotion of Christina spirituality, promotion of education and industry are key ways Bahamian families can help to combat social problems in the Bahamas.7. Assess the role the church plays in creating a good familyBefore we can answer the question, we must first understand what is a church. A church is said to be a place that we can go and give thanks and praise to the almighty God. We can also go to the church for weddings, funerals, help with funds, and family crisis. The church plays a very big role in creating a good family. Pastor Gil says that â€Å" the church plays a funda mental role in creating a good family.The church is the pillar , ground of truth and the place where the family ought to go to receive biblical preaching and instructions that will help them to grow together into becoming a family that is pleasing to the Lord. It will train fathers to lead, wives to submit to the husbands in the Lord, and for children to obey their parents. The church is important because the teaching of God’s Word will help the family to be what it ought to become in the sight of God so that it will be functioning and the possibility of it producing social problems is decreased.

Student Essay

In both â€Å"Hard Choices† and â€Å"Initiation into Adulthood† we are giving a look at three different stories, everyone who is approach to adulthood is filled with growing pains, and stretching out of our comfort zones, and the decisions that make us who we are. Each of the Essays looks at them differently. What made one better than the other? We learn that getting and keeping the reader's attention Is very important. The author of â€Å"Hard Choices† let us know what we are going to be reading about fast. In the essay â€Å"Hard Choices† we are given a clear Introduction and thesis statement.Telling us that we are looking at an overview of different stories, not Just a story written about children's choices or their passage to adulthood can help us to understand what we are reading. By letting us know right away what the essay Is looking at makes It easier to read. Furthermore, â€Å"Hard Choices† did a good Job comparing the three stones. Not o nly holding our attention with clear overviews that were Interesting but also a paragraph at the end comparing them all. Then closing with a conclusion that was short and to the point will help with understanding.In tot essays we get a comparison of the 3 stories in the conclusion, there are still some points that left me looking for clarity, after reading â€Å"Initiation into Adulthood† In the â€Å"Hard Choices† They not only looked at each story it addresses a total comparison taking the comparison further. One weakness that I saw in the essay â€Å"Hard Choices was the way two of the paragraphs started, â€Å"Like† and â€Å"Likewise† are so similar that is almost repetitive. There are other words that could have replaced one of them. Starting each of the paragraphs differently would make for better reading.Although the word choice was great the start of each of the paragraphs was repetitive. On a whole the essay â€Å"Hard Choices was well written and superb at keeping our attention altering the way each paragraph was started would have made it more enjoyable. Looking at â€Å"Initiation into Adulthood† the start was misleading; don't wait till the thesis statement to let us know the essay is a comparison of stories. When first reading â€Å"Initiation into Adulthood† it appeared as though this paper would be talking about how we all become adults and grow to have our own say in the life e live.This can be miss-leading and loose some reader at that point. Also, being more concise and interesting in your disruptions of each story will help to keep each reader reading, looking for more. We were told what happened in the story but the reader's attention may or may not be held if they are not a little more Involved. â€Å"Initiation into Adulthood† was written using proper grammar and conveyed the correct Information. Summing it all up, Writing a paper comparing the works of others can be helpful and also hu rtful at the same time.The approach best taken loud be one that holds a reader's attention telling us as we go the highlights and comparisons, Including the good and bad. But then at the end answers any questions that might be out there unanswered and still needing more Information Student Essay By Tweets We learn that getting and keeping the reader's attention is very important. The the essay â€Å"Hard Choices† we are given a clear introduction and thesis statement. Understand what we are reading. By letting us know right away what the essay is looking at makes it easier to read.Furthermore, â€Å"Hard Choices† did a good Job impairing the three stories. Not only holding our attention with clear overviews that were interesting but also a paragraph at the end comparing them all. Then closing some points that left me looking for clarity, after reading â€Å"Initiation into Adulthood†. Reader's attention may or may not be held if they are not a little more involv ed. Correct information. Summing it all up, Writing a paper comparing the works of comparisons, including the good and bad. But then at the end answers any questions that might be out there unanswered and still needing more information

Murder and manslaughter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Murder and manslaughter - Essay Example or in the event that the offender causes death in the process of carrying out an illegal act.2 According to Sir Edward Coke, murder is applied where a person of sound memory and age unlawfully kills in any country another human being under King’s peace with malice, which is premeditated as expressed by the party or implied by the law such that the wounded person dies within an year and a day out of the same. 3 To conclude that the person should be held under actus reus, there first of all has to be unlawful killing and the act of the offender must have been the established cause of death of the victim.4 The killing must be of another human being and under queen’s peace which means stipulates that killing of an enemy in war is not murder. However, the death after an year and day was removed in the law reform act of 1996.5 Under this, there is the malice afterthought. In R v Moloney (1985), the House of Lords concluded that nothing less than the intention to kill or cause bodily harm would be seen as malice afterthought. Just foreseeing the death of a victim as probable was not sufficient. There are two things to be considered under Mens Rea, first the intention to kill where murder is identified as a crime of specific intent.6 The intent in this case could be direct or oblique. In direct intent, the offender desired the death. In oblique, the death is foreseen by the offender as virtually certain, however, not desired for its own sake. Secondly, the intention to cause grievous bodily harm which was accepted under as sufficient mens rea for murder since if the offender was willing to inflict serious body harm, then he had no way of knowing certainly knowing the victim will not die. Intentional body harm is evidence that a victim could die. 7 In the case of Anthony the political activist who set up bombs in order to get attention for what he was lobbying against, genetically modified crops, a couple of considerations can be identified in this case. First, in

The Bridge Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Bridge Project - Essay Example The Bridge Project Economics We will ensure that the cost is as low as possible by first, limiting the weight to 254.9 or below then use both glue and sticks in reduced quantity. The truss bridge that we managed to design had its cost greatly reduced. It will therefore, require several joints hence will not be much effective. Load Since the higher the load the more successful the structure will be, we managed to make the normal bridge structure withstand the weights easily. We also managed to lower the tensional and compressional force, which will be adjusted by increasing overlaps to the high beams. Aesthetics The more appealing to the eye a bridge is, the more it will be used. We plan to make our bridge very attractive by even introducing advertisement pictures on it. Ease of construction Since we only have a short time for this project, it must be easy to construct. This will allow us to carry out this project with minimal errors. We managed to design a bridge without many complexities but with seve ral parts. This will also enable to build it without much flaws. There were several alternatives that we could choose from based on the sustainability of engineering materials i.e. strength, recyclability and cost effectiveness. However, we had to choose an alternative, which was very economical, simple and strong. The main factor that we had to consider was that the material had to be readily available and be relatively cheap for us to afford. Moreover, it had to be stronger to sustain the expected load. Selection of the Bridge type We settled for the sticks bridge due to its strong nature, simplicity and cost effectiveness. It is less expensive to construct yet can still hold the weight quite well. All the rest were weaker compared to these two. Thus, these two were more sustainable than the rest. Prototype construction We curved the top and the bottom into their maximum heights, directed the beams towards the center, and had the cross section at the middle. It was constructed to meet the minimum requirements for width and height. The weight was set at 140.4 gm. and had load to weight ratio of 105:7. Estimated load capacity This was established by the breaking point of the design’s beam. In addition, it was determined by comparing the previously tested ones with our bridge. Prototype testing We used two beams to place the bridge 29 inches apart. Then added a wooden block on it and hang a chain from it. We then added a bucket below it to add the weights. Prototype performance It managed to hold 32.72 lbs. and broke at the point where the height begun reducing and at the joint right above it. Results The bridge held on to the weight as required but broke when the weight was increased. For the bridge to support more weight we need to add more support beams and change the materials used to construct the bridge. Discussion Shorter distances between the beams that supported the bridge are needed to make the bridge more strong. This will help in distributing the weight evenly on the bridge the beams will increase the load capacity by twice. The chain that was used before needed a change. A stronger chain that can withstand a higher strain is needed. With the extra beams, the bridge is bound to be heavier. Changes are needed in all materials used. The wooden block that was on the other bridge needed a change.

Select a passage from the reading (no more than 40 words long) of Research Paper

Select a passage from the reading (no more than 40 words long) of Young Goodman Brown, then explain its significance in the cont - Research Paper Example During the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692, one of the most nightmarish episodes in Puritan history, twenty-five innocent people were accused of being witches and killed mercilessly. This witch hunt craze was based on accusations involving revenge, jealousy and any other reason that might have been perceived as witchcraft to the distraught and frightened populace of Salem. Hawthorne even goes to such lengths as to appropriate the names of Goody Cloyse and Martha Carrier, to of the supposed witches murdered at Salem. By including these historical references, he does not let the reader forget the dubious history of Salem and the legacy of Puritans, and he also accentuates the historical roots of Goodman Brown’s fascination with the Devil and the dark side that so lusciously leads him into the forest, despite him being fully aware of the fact that he is on an evil endeavor. John Hardt states that â€Å"Brown’s retreat into nature is at least partially a retreat from h is wife, but by naming Brown’s wife â€Å"Faith,† Hawthorne further presents his journey into the forest as a trip away from faith (both theological and epistemological) towards realms of uncertainty and doubt† (37). She represents the importance and stability of the domestic sphere in the Puritan dogma. From the moment he leaves the security of his home and Faith, who begs him to stay and not to go, symbolizing his own faith keeping him from succumbing to darkness, and delves into the forest, he has simultaneously commenced a journey into the dark side of his mind and soul. The beginning of this tragic journey is marked immediately by fear of the wilderness, a dark and evil place where no good takes place. This also echoes another predominant belief of the seventeenth century Puritans, who blindly believed that the New World was something to be feared, converted and then controlled. Aligning himself with his fellow Puritans, Goodman Brown associates the forest w ith Indians and he sees one behind every tree: â€Å"There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree† (Hawthorne 112). The Indians were perceived as savages, the devil’s servants, lacking moral and religious ideologies attributed to Puritanism, and thus were doomed to go to Hell for not praising the name of the Lord during their lifetime. They were associated with all that is dark and unholy, while the wilderness they resided in was an epitome of their own existence: devilish, frightening and dark. Goodman Brown honestly believes that the Devil could easily be present in such a place: â€Å"What if the Devil himself should be at my very elbow!† (Hawthorne 112). He fears meeting the dark lord, yet he willingly and consciously embarks on this unholy journey: â€Å"as if a dream warned [Faith] what work is to be done to-nigh. But, no, no; ‘t would kill her to think it† (Hawthorne 111). He knows the stakes of his perilous wager, yet he continues on, as if this is something that needs to be done, without something his life will be deficient. He enters the forest and eventually sees the waiting Devil. This image of evil lurking in the guise of an ordinary man symbolizes the idea that every man, including such a seemingly pious figure as Goodman Brown himself, has the capacity for

Crafting a Compensation and Benefits Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Crafting a Compensation and Benefits Plan - Essay Example Despite these internal factors, there are also those external factors that compel the manager to offer a particular salary range for employees. Some of these include the salary that is provided for the same position by other organizations that provide similar kinds of services. However, the ability to recruit and maintain employees lies on the ability to value and appreciate their efforts as opposed to issuing any monetary values. Comparable organizations in the same industry tend to offer varied salary and benefit ranges for the purposes of recruiting and retaining their employees for different reasons. In this case, the company that I created in a coffee shop that is renowned for the best service of beverages. This is mainly because both the provision of goods and services are given directly to the customers by the employees hence it is important to ensure that the best are recruited and the best efforts made to retain them for the sake of customer satisfaction. Those that may be involved as competitors and who are in the same industry include supermarkets and large retail chain stores as well as restaurants that may be involved in the sale of similar products at the same price. All of these tend to have the same structure in the composition of their staff and overall staffing with minor differences hence similar levels and need for recruitment and retention. Their salary and benefit ranges are as follows The 21st Century is varied from the other periods in terms of the abilities to recruit and maintain employees in terms of payment. What the current employees consider as benefits is completely different from what they considered to be so in the past. Monetary terms and payment played a large role in the recruitment and retention of employees in the past. It is, however, no longer the case as the current employees consider the value of the organization towards them more. What they consider as benefits of the company is the need to be engaged and involved

Discrimination in Employment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discrimination in Employment - Essay Example Sec.2000e-2. [Section 703] has clearly mentioned the following guidelines on discrimination issues. 1- If any employer fail to discharge or hire any individual or refuse to discriminate against any individual in terms of compensation, employment condition due to individual’s religion, race, color, sex, and national origin then it will be classified as unlawful employment practice. 2- If any employer segregate or classify any employee based on individual’s religion, sex, race, color and national origin then it will be termed as unlawful employment practice. Employer should not limit any individual from employment due to race, sex and nationality (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, n.d.). In the other case, the sentence can be judged on the ground of common employment practice. They are using the advertisement to invite female candidate for employment opportunity without any intention to create discrimination in terms of age, sex and nationality. They employer might need female employee to handle Hispanic customers in customer relationship management department. Hence the advertisement is more situation specific rather than intention driven in terms of employment

Story of an hour, Lady with the pet dog Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Story of an hour, Lady with the pet dog - Essay Example I feel that Chopin does a very effective job with using descriptive words and putting the reader in the scene with the characters. She also allows the reader to see Mrs. Mallard’s emotions very well. At first she is sad and nearly sobbing and compares her to â€Å"as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.† The reader then sees that she is dumbfounded and unable to think. Then after looking out the window at the sky she begins to feel free. As a reader, it was interesting to see her emotions very clearly and speculate how she really views her husband and their marriage. Perhaps in this story the author is conveying how she views marriage in general, or at least certain marriages. Chopin may view herself as someone who feels more free on her own and not â€Å"tied down† with what she sees as the burdens of marriage. It would be interesting to read more of her stories and find out if this is a theme that comes up often in her writing. The ending of the story is particularly interesting. Mrs. Mallard is obviously very shocked that her husband is still alive. Perhaps it was just plain shock that killed her or the fact that she felt shocked and then trapped and stressed out again.

In what ways has the post-Cold War economic globalization expose Essay

In what ways has the post-Cold War economic globalization expose workers, consumers and countries to new insecurities and how can the risks associated with process be managed - Essay Example The Cold War, after all, albeit essentially a geopolitical divide spawned a great economic divide between two blocs that characterised the world set up since the end of the World War II until the late 1980s. Since the divide did not confine itself between the then two superpowers but spread throughout Europe, Asia Africa and Latin America the ensuing economic split was extensive and thorough throughout the globe. Economic competition was all-consuming between the two blocs and the trade between them and their allies was virtually reduced to barter and countertrade. Internal trade within each bloc however, grew during the Cold War as represented by such pacts and agreements as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) or the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) for the US bloc and the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) for the Soviet bloc (Aldonas 2009 29-30). With the end of the Cold War, economic changes far and wide ensued. Gone were the restrictions and barriers that characterized the economic and trade relations between countries belonging to the respective Soviet and US blocs. More significantly, it freed up the economic resources that were previously used to fund the excessive manufacture of weapons and armaments on both sides. Trade liberalisation unfettered by ideological constraints brought China’s entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and saw the latter’s rise and emergence, along with India, as the new economic superpowers. The new economic freedom facilitated world economic growth that reached a new height in 2004 at 3.8 per cent, an economic development that exemplified the rapid economic growth that outpaced that of the last three decades combined (Aldonas 2009 29). Yet, along with the unprecedented rapid economic growth, the unification of the world market or globalisation in the post-Cold War

Animal Testing is Wrong Essay Example for Free

Animal Testing is Wrong Essay Animal testing is cruel and inhuman! It is morally wrong to toture animals for our own benefit. Over 3 million animals have been tormented all in the name of research. It has been found that only 5-25% of side effects caused by medicines are accurately predicted. This leads me to wonder what is actually being gained by animal experimentation. It’s bad science! The Food and Drug Administration reported that 92 out of every 100 drugs that pass animal tests fail on humans, making it wasteful. In recent years there has been the recognition that animals rarely serve as good models for the human body. Animal experiments prolong the suffering of people waiting for effective cures by misleading experimenters and squandering precious money, time, and resources that could have been spent on human-relevant research. In the name of science, animal experiments globally are around 100 million experiments each year. Cats, dogs, rabbits, mice and other animals, no different to those we have as pets, are used in experiments. Animals are force-fed harmful substances, infected with lethal viruses, subjected to brain damage, heart attacks, stokes, cancers and ultimately killed. Several cosmetic tests commonly performed on mice, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs include:skin and eye irritation tests where chemicals are rubbed on shaved skin or dripped into the eyes without any pain relief. repeated force-feeding studies that last weeks or months, to look for signs of general illness or specific health hazards. widely condemned â€Å"lethal dose† tests, where animals are forced to swallow large amounts of a test chemical to determine what dose causes death. The fact that animals are used to study pain, depression, anxiety, and to test pain-killing drugs for human use, demonstrates that scientists recognize that animals are capable of suffering in many ways just like humans, but these sentient animals are unable to give their consent to participate in research. The fact that animals can suffer and experience pain is sufficient reason to refrain on moral grounds from harming them. Beyond pain, there is also persuasive evidence that animals, in particular mammals and birds, have thoughts, intentions, and memories. This means they can be harmed by confinement, frustration, fear, isolation, and loss of life experiences unavoidable for animals confined in Laboratories and used in experiments. The measurement of stress hormones, and presence of ulcers, immune suppression, abnormal behavior and brain dysfunction in laboratory animals, provide further evidence that animals commonly used in labs do suffer pain and distress. Some people claim that because animals do not have duties or responsibilities in the way humans do, they are not deserving of the same protection. However, some humans have no responsibilities or duties, such as babies, the mentally ill, or very infirm, yet they are not stripped of their rights in this way. Indeed, such individuals are usually considered more deserving of protection, not less. Others argue that the potential benefit to human society justifies experiments on animals. However this argument is a slippery slope, as this reasoning would also justify experiments on a few non-consenting humans for the ultimate benefit of human society a clearly unethical scenario. â€Å"If we didn’t use animals, we’d have to test new drugs on people. † The fact is that we already do test new drugs on people. No matter how many animal tests are undertaken, someone will always be the first human to be tested on. Because animal tests are so unreliable, they make those human trials all the more risky. What I have to wonder is why do we test on animals, or feel the need to have people volunteer for something potential dangerous with its unknown side effects when we have child molesters, rapists, and murderers in prison who are catered to three meals a day? I believe we should enact instead of animal testing, (which has been proven to be highly ineffective) testing on convicted criminals on death row, or prisoners looking to cut down some time in exchange for experimentation and observation.

Police Control of Juveniles Essay Example for Free

Police Control of Juveniles Essay The paper that was written by Donald J. Black and Albert J. Reiss Jr. started by the definition of the deviance as a behavior in a group wherein there is a chance that there is a sanction when deviant behaviors are detected. This control approach as defined by the authors is a process carried on with the analysis, detection and the process of giving the adequate sanctions in the process of policing the juveniles.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Donald J. Black, as one of the authors of the study, was a professor of the social sciences at the University of Virginia. He completed his doctorate at the University of Michigan during the nineteen sixties. He pursued his post doctoral studies at Yale Law School as a Russell Sage Fellow in Law and law and social sciences. After that, he moved to the Harvard University during nineteen seventy nine. Where he held appointments in law school and the sociology department where he also used to be   in the Yale School. After that, he taught as Law School teacher when he moved to the University of Virginia in the nineteen eighties.Due to his professorship, he is able to teach in any of   the different schools and departments of the university.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Due to his wide experience in teaching and studies, he has numerous publications in the sociology of morality, law and conflict. Due to the expanding works o f Black, it includes works such as theory of the differential success of ideas, a theory of scientific theory, theory of scienticity, and theories of the behaviors of natural beings. The 1994 theory Prize plus the Distinguished Book Award of the American Sociological Association due to his most recent work: the Social Structure of Right and Wrong. His other work also include: (1) Behavior of Law which was translated to different languages; (2) The Manners and Customs of the Police and Sociological Justice, and ; (3) an article which has won him the   Distinguished Scholarship Award still from the American Sociological Association entitled â€Å"The Epistemology of Pure Sociology† a recent article that was published in Law and Social Inquiry. He was also an editor of the Oxford University Press for the books called â€Å"Studies on Law and Social Control†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Moreover, his popularity made him invitees as speakers and lecturers to a number of countries in the world: Denmark, Finland, Sweden, France, Scotland, Poland, England and Japan. Furthermore, he is father and founder of a sociological class which includes no psychology or even people as such. This sociological class is known as pure sociology. This sociological class is believed to publish a book   regarding the subject with the title â€Å" the Death of the Person†. Also, other works such as a book-length project about a general theory about the prediction and explanation of the existence and of struggle in human relationships.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another author, Albert J. Reiss is considered one of the greatest influences of the Penn Criminology. Reiss works distinct and uniform emphasis on the organized field research and evidence-based policy is considered the trademark of Penn Criminology.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Albert Reiss has been the research director for President Lyndon Johnsons Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice during the nineteen sixties.   Using laboratory like procedures and precision and direct observations, he has able to introduce a fresh way of studying violence. Due to his works, he has found out that the endangerment of having violence directly depends on the type of police encounter. The two types of police encounter is â€Å"proactive† and â€Å"reactive†. The first relies on the idea that the police has been invited by a person who is present in the area to intervene in   the situation while the second one refers to the idea that the police has intervened in a situation even without the invitation of the people whoa are present in the scene. This means that the police has intervened in the situation at their own expense. From the results of the researches conducted by Reiss, he theorized that police encounters on situations with the consent of the people around brings about less resistance compared to the situations wherein the police has intervened on their own which brings about more resistance from the civilians that brings more violence. Reiss studies has made headlines that almost seventy five percent of all the white police exhibits racial discrimination against black civilians. However, the results of Reiss studies brings about the fact that there in no significant difference in the brutality of the police against black and white. He also found out that both races has been illegally assaulted and brutally treated in front of the public either during their arrest or not. Aside from Reiss project on police control, he also introduced the method of using surveys and studies of reported crimes. This method has detected high rates of undetected delinquent works among middle and upper class juveniles.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Reiss was born in Cascade, Wisconsin on December 9, 1922. He studied at Marquette University, however, he disturbed his studies by joining the US Army Air Corps in World War II by serving as a meteorologist. He finished his doctoral studies in sociology at the University of Chicago. While teaching at the university, he also led some studies regarding probation, juvenile and neighborhood delinquency. When he finished his doctoral studies during 1949, he was promoted to assistant professor. After that, he shifted to Vanderbilt University as he was delegated the chairman of the Sociology Department of the university in the 1952. After serving as the Chairman of the sociology department in the Vanderbilt University, in 1959, he moved to University of Iowa, then University of Wisconsin and then, finally serving as the chairman of sociology at the University of Michigan in 1961. He began doing his field research about police in the University of Michigan. And then, from 1970, until the year he retired in 1993, he began teaching at the Yale University. During his stay in Yale, he published â€Å"The Police and the Public†, his most influential writing about social organizations regarding police confrontation with citizens. He spent his time serving as a senior adviser to ranges of surveys, experiments and researches in Europe, United States and Asia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Basically, the research that was conducted by Black and Reiss is about finding results on the official detection and countenance of juvenile aberrant. In the investigation, the study is centered on the specific conditions that would in effect cause the chance of having sanction by arrest with relation to the involvement of the police force in certain situations. In general, the study is about processing a control method for juvenile deviance. In relation, the study is also inclined to the interaction that is happening between the juveniles and the representatives of the police system. According to the research conducted: (1) most of the representatives of the legal systems engagement with juveniles would come up due to the direct response of the citizens who take the drive in mobilizing the police during situations; (2) a high fraction of juvenile and police encounters occurs due to reasons that are of minor significance; (3) t he chance of having certain sanctions due to arrest was found out to be very low for the juveniles who have had encounters with the police; (4) the chances of having arrest increases with the alleged seriousness of juvenile offenses as defined by the criminal law for adults; (5) the way the representatives of the legal force sanctions the juveniles is directly dependent on the preferences of the complaints of the citizens during encounters; (6) there is highly significant difference between the number of blacks that are detained than the number of whites detained, however, there is low or even no evidence of racial discrimination; (7) situational evidence is very important in correlating the act of juveniles in order for an arrest to take place; and, (8) the chances of having arrest is most likely in respectful juveniles than those who are disrespectful.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The research continues from the deviance definition and is defined as applicable to any class of behavior wherein there is a great possibility of a sanction that is negative and is regardless of its detection. From the eight ideas that were gained from the research, it was known that there are different factors that relates the detection of the negative sanctions particularly the sanctioning of juveniles. Therefore, the research was made in order for the instances and factors that requires control for the existence of the situation. Moreover, the aim of the research was definitely to discover and investigate the organization of deviance and control.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The study of Reiss and Black about the juvenile control has examined the officers and the representatives of legal systems encounter with the juveniles. They have employed a wide range of methods involving orderly approaches and systematic social observations. The research also took into account the actions that are done by the police and the juveniles in each of the different situations that they have encountered. They have also included the actions and reactions made by the police in their multiple attempts to resolve situations with juveniles. The research has also brought to public a more clear view of the kinds and varieties of offenses and situations in which juveniles can be involved. Moreover, the research also includes a broader scope on the situations that may bring about the juveniles into juvenile justice system and the like.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Generally, the research conducted by Black, Reiss and Lundman is focused on the decisions that are made by the members of the legal system when it comes to juvenile cases and in police-juvenile encounters. Another study conducted by Worden and Myers has similar scopes and documentations. This independent study in the other hand, is focused on the practices that can be observed in police and the representatives of the legal system during encounters and arrest of juveniles. This research also focused on the other forms anf kinds of the authorities that are used by the police such as, investigative tactics, advising, threats and commands. Still another study focuses itself on the contact records from 1968 to 1975 and analyzes the practices that are used by the police members in arresting juveniles. This research has been done Sealock and Simpson.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Generally, all of the studies that ere conducted were very similar to each other. They are focused on the decisions that are made by the police and the members of the legal system during or not during arrest and confrontations. All the researches aims to know the factors that helps the police and the legal   system members decide on what certain actions are they going implement and what factors are they going to consider in implementing such actions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are also studies that only replicates the works of Reiss and Black. A study that is conducted by Lundman, Richard, Richard E. Sykes and John P. Clark entitled Prevention and Control of Juvenile Delinquency. For the author, Richard Lundman achieved his doctoral studies in the University of Minnesota in the 1973. Dr. Lundman is also an alumni and a distinguished professor at the Ohio State University. Lundmans areas of expertise is in the deviance, white collar and corporate deviance, criminology, juvenile delinquency rate, race, ethnicity, policing and gender. He has also garnered certain awards such as Excellence in instruction Award of the Department of 2002 Sociology Undergraduate Students at the Ohio University. Also, he is recognized as an outstanding faculty member of the Ohio State University during 1997.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This work has been repeatedly updated and in its third edition, the work has been really updated and has included primary trends in the environment. It also covers neighborhood and  Ã‚   individual based origins of juvenile delinquency. The research also covers the study on the problems which includes the minority problems of ever representation i n the justice system. The study also include the situations pertaining to diversion.  Ã‚   It is also concerned with the vital projects that are fundamentally shaping the ideas, decisions and thoughts or actions regarding crimes that are achieved by the youth. The author of the study also added the idea that the things that has been done in the past should also be the ones to be done in the future. He also believed that doing less to the juveniles than doing more to them will be of great help to them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Primarily, the research that was conducted by the author of the replication of the works of Black and Reiss supports the ideas that were given by the first research. The second research that was conducted by Lundman also believes on the ideas regarding the effects and results given by the reactions of the citizens and the juveniles in certain situations. Moreover, ideas that were presented in the second research were only reiterations of the first research. However, there are only certain changes in the scope and the primary concern of the research. Generally, there the scope and the primary concern of the research was broadened in the second research. The first research has only limited its scope in the juveniles and the representatives of the legal system before engaging in arrests and sanctions. It is also concerned with the results and the effects of the reactions and actions of both the juvenile, the representatives of the legal system as well as the citizens that are present in the situation. However, in the second research, it mostly is concerned with the broadening of the scope and the concerns of the research. If the first research is only about the juveniles and the representatives of the legal system, the second research has also included the reasons and effects that brought about the reactions of youth and the reasons that bring them into crimes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As a summary, the two researches that were conducted by the three different authors are really of great help to the society, representatives of the legal system but also to the juvenile personalities inside and even outside the corners of the prison cell. It also aids in bringing out the idea that the possibility of racial criticism that is believed to be experienced by the black juveniles. Racial discrimination is believed to have been done by the representatives of the legal system during situations wherein the ones that achieved crimes are black. Discrimination is also believed to have been practiced by the police during application of sanctions. For so long, racial discrimination among the blacks and the whites is very rampant and is still believed that it can be still observed in certain situations nowadays. However, due to the researches conducted, it was discovered that the belief that racial discrimination can still be observed in the police and the manner of application of the sanctions to the juvenile is denied. Also, the researches has also set the ideas regarding the actions and reactions that can be observed during police involvement in certain situations. Reference New York Times (2006) In Memoriam: Albert j. Reiss Jr. Retrived, November 30, 2007, from http://www.crim.upenn.edu/reiss.htm. Sage Publications. (1978). Police Control of Juveniles. Retrieved, November 29, 2007, from http://jrc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/15/1/74. URMMA. Juveniles, Police Model Policy. Retrieved December 1, 2007, from http://www.urmma.org/html/juveniles.html. Division of Criminal Justice (1990). Juvenile Matters. Retrieved December 1, 2007, from http://www.state.nj.us/lps/dcj/agguide/juvenile.htm. Sherman, Lawrence. Criminologist Albert Reiss Dies at 83; Pioneered Research on Violence. Retrieved December 1, 2007, from www.yale.edu/sociology/news/docs/reiss_obituary_nyt.pdf. SCCgov. (2007). Representation for Juveniles. Retrieved December 1, 2007, from sccgov.org/portal/site/scc/chlevel3?path=/v7/SCC Public Portal/. New Hampshire Bar Association. The Rights of Juveniles. Retrieved December 1, 2007, from http://www.nhbar.org/for-the-public/the-rights-of-juveniles.asp. Black, D. and Reiss, A. Police Control of Juveniles. American Sociological Review, Vol. 35, pp. 63-77.

Peer Correction in Teaching Writing Skills

Peer Correction in Teaching Writing Skills CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background of the problem Writing skill which includes language, private knowledge and skill, emotion and the interaction of personal opinion is difficult and challenging to learn and develop for many students in EFL contexts in general and in Vietnam in particular. In Vietnam, there are many teachers of English who even believe that teaching writing skill to EFL learners is more complex than teaching other communicative skills (Mazdayasna Tahririan, 2001). Although language learners have to learn hard to have good compositions, they still have made a variety of errors or mistakes when writing. In other words, EFL learners often feel stressful and anxious when writing in a foreign language (Spratt Leung, 2000). Consequently, language teachers and researchers have made an effort to know how they can do to help students be able to minimize their mistakes in their writing. However, they also admit that it is impossible for them or any teacher to read and correct all the students compositions on writing lessons because â€Å"correcting written work is time-consuming† (Ur, 1999, p.74), especially for large classes. Peer feedback (also peer correction, peer response or peer review) with its advantages can be a promising way which can be used to encourage students to read and give comments and suggestions together for enrichment of their peers writings before the final versions of their products are submitted to their teachers. Peer correction works as a vital part in the process approach to teaching writing because it helps learners realize their learning level as well as their demands for enhancement of writing ability. Brown (1994) and Gipps (1994) have the same opinion that feed back is one of the main factors in the process of English learning and teaching. Many other researchers, for example, Paulus (1999), Min (2006) promote the idea that verbal and written feedback should be applied to foster writing skills. This strategy, thus, has been used popularly on the writing lessons of many English classes in Vietnam consisting of those at centre of Informatics and Foreign Language, Thai Nguyen College of Education, Thai Nguyen Uni. Ur (1999, p.74) states that peer correction can help us not only save time, but also develop the â€Å"critical reading† skill for â€Å"content, organization, style and language accuracy†. Additionally, peer feedback can receive an efficient method to make students to have critical thinking of writing and assessment skills than teacher feedback. In other words, peer feedback helps learners make good use of their own effort to make their writings expressive and effective. However, in spite of its roles and impact on the process of writing, peer feedback has not been paid much attention in Vietnam. Some researchers such as Tran (2007), Phan (2007) who are interested in peer response in writing introduce their point of view, knowledge and experience about this topic in their researches which show the present state of emplo ying peer feedback learners attitude and especially offer some suggestions to better the current response training. 1.2. Purpose of the study As mentioned above, it is not difficult to find out studies which research the role of peer feedback in writing skill on the way to foster it. However, the writer of this study with to do the research to know about the fact of peer feedback in Vietnam in general and the Centre of Informatics and Foreign Language, TNCE, TNU more clearly. This study also investigates whether peer feedback can have positive impact on ESL writing process among pre-intermediate non major students at this Centre or not; they can revise their own writing works to develop their writing skill or not and how this process really happens. Bearing in mind, the writer decides the research with title â€Å"Using peer correction in teaching writing skill to help Vietnamese college non-major students at CIF, CE, TNU reduce errors in their written compositions† 1.3. Research question(s) or statement of hypothesis This study aims at finding answer to the following research question: How can peer correction help EFL learners reduce mistakes in their written compositions? The question is addressed to one of the writing classes that I am teaching this term in Centre of Informatics and Foreign Language, College of Education, Thai Nguyen University with the aim to examine how peer correction affects the process of revising and writing a complete composition of my students here. 1.4. Organization of the study This study can be divided into five chapters. In this chapter, background of the EFL writing in local context is given and the aim of this study is also identified. Chapter 2 mentions some reviews of the literature which go through related literature and researches, in which, general of writing teaching and a brief idea of peer feedback in writing skill will be focused. In chapter 3, the writer describes the methodology and processes of the research. Chapter 4 presents data analysis and findings. Chapter 5 gives some implications of the study, summarizes main point discussed in the study, indicates some limitations and proposes some suggestions for the further researches. Lastly, the final parts of the study are appendices and references. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Overview of writing process Lannon (1989) claims that writing is a process delivering meaningful messages and including its own specific goal. This process requires students to work hard instead of regarding it as an uncomplicated act (Byrne, 1988). However, in language teaching and learning process, Tribble (1996, p.3) defines writing as a language skill that involves â€Å"not just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thoughts in a structured way†. This means writers need to arrange their ideas logically and systematically. There have been different approaches to teaching writing EFL classes but two most popular ones are product approach and process one. Product approach can be the traditional method of writing which stresses the final outcome of the writing process as well as grammar, usage, form and mechanics of the composition. Students are often asked to write a similar paragraph basing on the model and using new taught structures, vocabularies or any aspects of language. After that, the teacher will correct students writings or â€Å"feedback in the class commonly means the correction of the students language errors† (Mazdayasna Tahririan, 2001, p.56). Therefore, students find difficult to know why and how they made errors to avoid repeating them on the next tasks. Though thanks to this method students can sometimes reject errors (Tribble, 1996), it does not encourage students create in writing at all, â€Å"the use of language is manipulate of fixed patterns; the patterns are learned by imitation† (Pincas, 1962, p.185). Over the last forty years, there has been remarkable interest in writing process. There are many researchers and educators suggesting language teachers that they should pay attention to students writing process instead of only their final writing version (Paige Way, Joiner and Seaman, 2000). Process writing can contain stages such as rewriting, writing, revising and rewriting or editing. However, Reid (1993) supplement this process with three more stages, namely, responding, evaluating and post-writing, in which peer feedback is focused more in responding. Prewriting: something done before drafting such as choosing a topic, brainstorming, collecting data, organizing. Composing / drafting: actually writing. Revising: selecting organization, structures, edition or collection word. Rewriting: completing stage step by step. Responding: getting the teacher and peers responses, discussing with them about papers to improve the content. Evaluating: receiving marks or scores from the teachers. Post-writing: any activities happened after completing rewriting and getting assessment (role-play) Cresswell claims that to as students to exchange their writing draft is an effective way to foster their learning autonomy and help them become alert reader when proofreading their partners written tasks (2000). As the result, they also have critical thinking when they read their own paper to find and correct themselves their mistakes in those, i.e. their writing ability can be develop (Markino, 1993). It is necessary to allow students to have more time to write and get feedback from their teachers and classmates, and then rewrite the drafts so that they can let reader be abele to understand their idea expressed on the paper better (Frankenberg-Garcia, 1999). 2.2. Definition and some types of errors Different researchers have different ways to categorize errors. In this study, the writer only wishes to refer one of classification strategies based on the relation to comprehensibility given by Burt and Kiparsky (1972) because of its close concern with the notion of mistakes mentioned in this study. These researchers divided error into two main types: global errors and local ones. Hendrickson (1978) notes that we will be able to realize which error is global or local, because error can be regard as â€Å"communicative† or â€Å"non-communicative† ones. According to Ellis (1997), while global errors such as over generalization or simplification have an effect on explanation of the whole structure of sentence, local error just affect a single factor in sentences, i.e. word, phrases, closures or grammatical morphemes. Burt and Kiparsky (1974) also claim that global error have higher hierarchy than local errors. Thus the global ones seem to be care about and be corrected more than local ones Norish (1983). However, those local errors can be considered as â€Å"minor ones†, error in tense and aspect†, they are popular mistakes of English writing learners. 2.3. Peer feedback and its impact on reducing mistakes and developing writing skill â€Å"Knowledge is best acquired through negotiated interaction† (Grabe Kaplan, 1996, p.380). There are many approaches to error correction and also definitions of peer feedback from many linguists and experts. According to Richards, et al, Peer feedback is an activity in the revising stage of writing in which students receive feedback about their writing from other students-their peers. Typically students work in pairs or small groups, read each others compositions and ask questions or give comments or suggestions (1992, p.268). Some other researchers of EFL writing state that feedback play an essential role in the process of writing. Keh (1990) claims that giving feedback means giving comments and suggestions, which helps the writer edit his or her composition. Through teachers or classmates feedback, students can know what kinds of mistakes they made and how to cope with those mistakes. Therefore, if students can get a â€Å"productive feedback†, they can correct their own errors and avoiding making the similar mistakes in the later writing tasks. It is wise for teachers to require learners responsibilities for their own writing performance and their peers ones because of the strong effect of peer feedback on students review as well as their writing skill. Zamel (1987) supposes that peers are actual and direct readers or reviewers. In the fact that, there are a number of methods teachers utilize to assist students check their mistakes but indeed teachers seem to not be able to resolve the problem individually. Students play the parts of both writers and readers or givers and receivers. Hefernik (1983) regards peer editing as learning and teaching instrument for teachers and learners because students can give helpful feedback each other. Peer writers can edit their own written compositions basing on the readers remarks and comments (Mendonca and John, 1994; Rollison, 1998), so the writers can be better at learning writing. Students can also have superior performance by the student-to-student activities because these activities are often more detailed than teacher feedback (Caulk, 1994). Also, Mangelsdorfin thinks that peer review can help many students to have diverse perception about their topics as well as foster the ideas and make them more clearly in the EFL writings. Therefore, researchers believe that â€Å"peer feedback can have a positive effect on classroom dynamics and can help to train learners in skills they need to become autonomous† (Spratt et al, 2005, p.157). Joyce (1997) employs a research to explore main strategies so as to respond to the EFL students composition writings. After the twelve-week period, by comparing the initial writing sample and the third one after using peer editing, he shows that writing competency of students grows strongly and concludes this strategy is efficient and necessary. In the research conducted by Wong (1999), peer correction was carried out and discovered by qualitative data to ease the process of EFL writing in four factors: grammar, rules and concepts, meaning and emotional elements. In addition, it helps students improve awareness of writing skill. Quantitative findings of this study introduce 97% students admit that they want to apply peer correction in the future. It is important to stress that the writer of this study learns a lot from Wongs research, and longs to use some his methods in this research to examine whether it is suitable for the writer teaching fact. Kurt and Atay (2007) also experimented with 86 Turkish Prospective Teachers of English. Those participants are divided into 2 groups: Experimental group (writing an essay and receiving peer feedback) and control group (writing an essay and receiving teacher feedback only). This study concluded that peer feedback helps Turkish PTs reduce writing anxiety and it is really considered as a complementary factor of the teacher feedback. Despite its advantages, peer response has its own weakness. Its procedure requests the training and organization from the teacher as well as it depends on students ability of collaboration with peers. Many students give their partners too general and ambiguous reviews. They make their peers find it difficult to understand and catch messages or information. The writing ability, thus, seems to not improve (Tsui Ng, 2000). CHAPTER 3: METHODS AND PROCEDURES 3.1. Methods of the study The research is done qualitatively in the context of a 30-student English class. They are non-major students; their level of English proficiency is pre-intermediate and their writing ability is average. In this report, the writer uses two research tools to collect and analyze the needed data, i.e. recording and interview. Recording is used to record the process of peer correction. Chosen subjects were invited to record their discussions and then they were transcribed (Appendix 4) for analyzing. Voice recorder is chosen instead of video recorder to prevent their discussions from the presence of another people, which may interrupt their current process of peer correction. The writer also hopes that through recordings she can derive how students check and correct their writings each other and what types of mistakes are corrected most. The second tool used in this study is interviews with students at the end of the research to study whether this strategy is really suitable for them or not, that is, expose students attitude toward peer correction strategy as well as their opinions and get their suggestions to make this process better. According to Herbert and Irene (1995), in interviews students need to know the way of actual listening. Because they are pre-intermediate non-major students, they can only use English during the interviews, so they can speak in Vietnamese and then the writer record and translate them into English. 3.2. Procedure As a matter of ethics, the whole procedure of teaching and learning is implemented similarly to all students of the class after all of them give consent to be part of the research (Appendix 1). However, due to the limit of the study, I only focus to record and interview the learning engagement of two students (who I call anonymously in this report as A1 and A2 as a matter of ethics) during this process as the data for analysis. The writer after considering carefully decide to make peer correcting tasks in class. Before the real peer correction, the writer design some exercises to introduce the way to check a composition. They were guided to focus on some discrete mistake. Items are subject-verb agreement, spells, tense, verb form, number, part of speech. The structure of sentence, content, and organization of the composition/essay is also asked to be commented. Firstly, the students were asked to check sentence by sentence and then, they worked in pairs to check the paragraph (Appendix 2, Appendix 3) This research lasted for 8 weeks, and the writer chose 3 topics to ask students to write, discus and correct and then rewrite before submitting to give the teacher. These topics are informal letter to a pen friend; a descriptive passage about a close relative in your family; a biography passage of a famous person. Topic 1: Describe a person in your family Topic 2: Write an informal letter to your pen-friend Topic 3: Write a brief biography of a famous person you admire During this process, the writer asks students to give them tape-recorder to record their own discussions. In this paper, interviews are well-prepared. After recording them, the writer will transcribe and translate them (Appendix 6). CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 4.1. Data analysis à ¼ Analysis of data from the recordings The writer, in this part, wishes to learn about the process of peer correction through discussions taken recordings of subjects and interviews between the writers and them. After that, the writer would assess the result of the recorded discussions and interviews. It is undeniable that peer correction helps students improve EFL writing a lot, although the level of subjects is not high, they can give comments on a variety of types of mistakes language such as article, preposition, S-V agreement, infinitive or gerund an sometimes even whole structure of the composition or word choice. When correcting mistakes, they also give some suggestions and explain the reasons for those mistakes. Below are some examples in collected data. Extract 1(topic 1, A1s composition) Before correction: She and I are very different but we got on well together. She is short and Im tall. She likes stay at home and watch television with my parentss. A2: Ok. Sentence 1 is ok. In sentence 2, you should use get, not got, simple present. Next sentences let me see, here, like add v-ing not bare verb. My parentss, I dont know my parentss here mean, without possessive mark is correct. Do you agree? A1: Yeah of course After correction: She and I are very different but we get on well together†¦. She is shorter than me†¦.. She likes staying at home and watching television with my parents Extract 2 (topic 1, A2s composition) Before correction: My young brother is a 15 year old and I am 20 year old. My brother learn at Song Cong town and I learn at TN college of education. A1: My young brother is a 15 year old. You dont need an article here, it is not a noun and years, not year. Its plural. My brother learn at Song Cong town and I learn at TN college of education, wrong form of the verb the third singular person. A2: Okie. Learns not learn After correction: My young brother is 15 years old and I am 20 years old. He learns at Song Cong town and I learn at TN college of education. Extract 3 (topic 2, A1s composition) Before correction: I was born in a family of farmer. My parents are workers in a company and my brother is married and works for the post office. A2: I dont understand the next sentences. I was born in a family of farmer. My parents are workers in a company. Why? A1: Oh, so so sorry, I mean classes in society. But I cant express this idea. A2: Working class, you mean? Or you will not ? sentence. Are you clear? Now, next, any brother is married, was, not is and works for the post office. After correction: My parents are workers in a company and my brother is married and works for the post office. Extract 4 (topic 2, A2s composition) Before correction: Its verry wonderful. A1: Verry? Wrong spelling. Its Very. Can you find out the sentence? A2: Yes. Thats right. After correction: Its very wonderful! Extract 5 (topic 2, A2s composition) Before correction: I am looking forwalk to learning from you. Write soon! A2:†¦ And the last sentence, forwark, what do you mean? Forward, you mean that, wrong word. Learning what here? I think its hearing. A1: Yes. Thats terrible. After correction: I am looking forward to hearing from you. Please write soon to me! Through recordings, the writer also realizes that apart from getting knowledge to improve their writing skill, students are very interested in their discussions. They seem to feel confident and have responsibilities with their task. Extract 6 (topic 1, A2s composition) A1: Your handwriting is beautiful and their writing makes only a few mistakes. A2: Kaka. Thanks Extract 7 (topic 1, A1s composition) A1: Ok. Many thanks. I think I need to rewrite this topic carefully, a lot of mistakes A2: Try hard! Extract 8 (topic 2, A1s composition) A1: Yes. Thats terrible. A2: No, its very normal, me too. A1: Thanks Extract 9 (topic 2, A2s composition) A1: Theres few mistakes in their writing. Well-done! Hi Hi. I only give mistakes, you try to look at the writings. A2:Yes, Its OK. No problems. Be quick! However, when facing a little bit more difficult topic, both of them have difficulties in the way to express their ideas due to their lack of vocabularies, explanation of rules of grammar. They suppose that for those mistakes they need the support from the teacher. Extract 10 (topic 3, A1s composition) A2: Due to 1954, you mean? Since 1954, †¦This paragraph, you need to read again and correct structure to clarify. Honesty, I am not sure to edit this section exactly. I just give some comment. For example, you should use fight to liberation, not fights to unify whole country; instead of using comma and then unify country. A1: OK. I will try. After that, we can ask teachers help. à ¼ Analysis of data from the interviews The information from the interviewed reveals students thoughts, feelings and ideas toward this process. Although A1 has not tried peer correction before, she is convinced of this strategy after this study. She feels that she can realize her mistakes clearly and correct them. She is also able to avoid repeating on the next task. She wants to work in group of 3 or 4 to get more feedback from her peers. That means she admit the role of the peer feedback in developing her writing skill. Extract 11 (interview between the writer and A1) W: Will you use this strategy again? A1: Yes, of course. W: Can you give some suggestions to make the process better? A1: I like working in group of three or four. Thats all. W: Thank you very much! Unlike A1, A2 has used this strategy many times. Therefore she has a lot of experiences. Her ideas express her deep understanding of peer correction. She also likes it and she knows how it assists her in her writing process. However, she stresses the role of the teacher in the process of revising. Extract 12 (interview between the writer and A2) A2: I like it. But I still want teachers correct it finally. W: Why do you think so? A2: Because I myself sometimes find out my own mistakes. My partner can help me that. Moreover, when reading the text of my partner, I can learn something from it. However, there are some mistakes we cant correct we need teacher. 4.2. Findings Through the data collected from 3 writing assignments with recorded discussions and recorded interviews of students, the study has had the answer to the research question: Does peer correction help students reduce mistakes in their writing skill? The findings shows that peer correction affect pre-intermediate students writing ability, i.e. it has positive impact on students writing ability. There must be different factors or element affecting students changed writing versions. However, at various levels, students can profit from peer feedback to reduce mistakes in their composition. The result can help students review the writing process of an assignment, especially careless mistakes, grammatical and â€Å"discrete mistake item† rules of word choice (Wong, 1999, p.23). In contrast, the result says that students have difficulties in supporting the content, and the organization, structure depends on different opinions, so it is flexible. For students of low level, the teacher feedback is also very necessary when they can not cope with their problems alone or in pairs or in groups. Besides, the attitude toward peer feedback is quite favorable and sympathetic, they consider it useful and appropriate for them to use and they long to apply it to their learning in the future. CHAPTER 5: REFLECTION AND CONCLUSION 5.1 Reflection This study can be seen as a good opportunity to know more about my students, about what is the reason for the fact that they are not good at writing. In the study, I also have chance to access a number of researches of many experienced language educators and teachers, from which I obtain new knowledge of language teaching and learning in general and knowledge of peer correction in teaching writing composition in particular. Besides, during the process of doing this research, I can learn more about the methods of doing research scientifically and seriously. I also realize that it is important to learn looking at the practice of my English learning and teaching by critical thinking and make research questions with the hope of improving it. I also learn to arrange and organize my ideas and my work systematically to fit the timetable of the research procedure. However, the thing I feel sympathizing fully is that I get the way to put my background knowledge into the knowledge repertoire of related previous researches to have a more general view of my situation and to utilize my research skills, i.e. summarizing or synthesizing effectively by stimulating them actively, creatively and critically. However, the research still has some limitations regarding the methods of data collection and analysis that I might change in my next research if I have any chance. Firstly this study was conducted with 2 subjects, so it is difficult for the researcher to have an overall view of peer feedback and its impact on the writing process of students. This affects the validity of this research. Secondly, the study has not categorized students into different pairs with different levels such as high-high, high-low, and low-low. In the other word, this study has not generalized about the effectiveness of peer feedback in different students level of English teaching and learning. Thirdly, because the writer of this research can be seen as an inexperienced one, and there exist time limit, the writer is hoped to be able to do a further and better research which is expected to overcome the shortcomings in this study. 5.2 Conclusion To sum up, the research has brought to the writer some important lessons of English teaching and learning in general and of working with my students in particular. The research affirms for the writer that peer feedback activities are useful and suitable ones that students want to do regularly when learning writing. It is not because in the activities, students have opportunities to get productive responses and suggestions from their friends in order to edit errors in their own writing and avoiding repeating them but also because those activities let them read their peers writing, they can learn a lot from this, and also in those activities they feel confident and relaxing. Thus, they can comfortably improve their English fluency. The writer also realizes that to have peer feedback activities, teacher needs to arrange and organize carefully and systematically. The role of the teacher need to be cared for because in any case, the correction of the teacher is the most important and exact one. However, since the research is not totally as good as the writer expected, the writers would like to do further research on this topic to overcome the limitations of this study mentioned above.

Telecommunications and Networking Report :: Telecommunications Technology Essays

Telecommunications and Networking Report 1.â€Å"Free Web Services Challenge AOL’s Dominance† - Internet business analysts generally are not yet convinced of the viability of the free web service business model for bring profitable. None-the-less, most agree that the free access will probably take a significant chunk of AOL’s market share before running out of investor’s money. 2.â€Å"Visitalk.com Builds White Pages for Web Phone Calls† - Visitalk.com has unveiled plans to simplify the routing of phone calls over the Internet. They will provide a directory service which will provide subscribers with a unique 12 digit Internet phone number. The directory will capture user’s current IP address and update their database, serving as a switchboard for Internet phone calls which are routed over IP. This solves a major problem with the fact that IP addresses change for users as they move from computer to computer. 3.â€Å"Cisco to But Software Maker for $325 Million† – Cisco Systems agreed to acquire WebLine Communications, a software maker producing e-mail routing and collaborating software. WebLine is to be assimilated into Cisco’s Applications Technology Group. This was Cisco’s 12th acquisition this year. 4.â€Å"Firm Agrees to Purchase Cable-Modem Technology† – Intel agreed to purchase the cable modem technology of Stanford Telecommunications, Inc. The deal puts Intel face to face in the marketplace with Broadcom Corp., which currently holds the majority market share for cable modem chips. 5.â€Å"Qualcomm Pact Targets Wireless Network Products† – Lucent Technologies signed a development agreement with Qualcomm to product wireless networking equipment. Qualcomm will give its CDMA technology, including chips and software to Lucent. Lucent plans to have trial systems utilizing the technology in place next year. 6.â€Å"MCI Worldcom, Sprint Ponder Merger† – The world’s second and third largest long-distance carriers are in talks are in talks over a possible merger. The deal would give MCI it’s only nationwide wireless network. An obvious stumbling block over such a large telcom merger would be close scrutiny by regulators. It is also expected that regional Bell companies may soon have permission to compete in the long distance market as well. 7.â€Å"Earthlink and MindSpring to Merge, Forming No. 2 Internet Access Firm† – This deal makes the new Internet Provider second only to AOL. The combined company will have 3 million subscribers, still a far cry from AOL’s 18 million, but none-the-less a viable competitor. 8. â€Å"Teledesic ‘Sky Internet’ May Start Sooner† – Teledesic chief Craig McCaw is attempting to raise funds for his planned ‘Sky Internet.

Marxist Cultural Theory Essay -- Film Review, Adorno on Cinema

This chapter examines two forms of practice that communicate messages from a group or an individual to the public, cultural production and political public speaking in the light of Marxist cultural theories. The review of writings about the practice of art by mid-20th century Marxist thinkers makes one thing clear - aesthetic utterances by artists and cultural figures fulfil a role in the political and social discourse and the importance of this role within the context of class struggle must not be ignored. The role of aesthetics as viewed by Marxist theorists such as Adorno and Horkheimer is to educate and inspire the public to live a life more worthy of living. (Adorno, 2006, p. 39) This chapter argues that cultural practitioners have a responsibility to encourage the public to confront their social and political conflicts. Two methods of assuming this responsibility are discussed. First is the claim that a political message in an artwork is to be communicated without attempting to create an emotional anchor for the public to identify with. This method, primarily expounded by Brecht, sees the political message as the most important aspect of the work; thus it is crucial that the public receives it and does not get distracted. The second approach, as envisaged by Lukà ¡cs, supports a representation of reality which allows an audience to relate to and identify with the political messages. The emotional connection is presented in this concept as essential to the successful transmission of an idea, as human beings relate more easily to topics they can connect to emotionally. These two methods are discussed in the chapter in relation to the conveyance of political messages through aesthetics, not strictly in the art world, but also ... ... also art which is popular and pleasurable, not just art which has a politically 'correct' line. Indeed to be politically correct, art must be pleasurable and accessible.' (Lovell, 1980, p. 77) Brecht saw art as a verb. He saw a social revolution as inevitable and believed art should be more than affirming to the current state of affairs. The artist's role is to bring social change through pushing the public into a critical thought process, and that is achieved by producing daring, experimental and confrontational work, not only in the subject matter but in the form as well. Brecht viewed the existing form of art practice as supporting the social status quo rather than revolution. He developed his model of the Epic Theatre following his analysis of the bourgeois theatre and singling out the elements in this form that were not serving revolutionary enough messages.

John Adams :: biographies bio biography American History

John Adams (1735-1826) Founding father. Second President of the United States, first vice-president of the U.S., member of the Continental Congress, helped draft the Declaration of Independence, helped negotiate the treaty of Paris with England in 1783. Also known as the Paris Peace Treaty, this agreement ended the United States War for Independence, giving formal recognition of the United States, and established it's then-boundaries. Second President (1797-1801) John Adams devoted much of his presidential energy to dealing with infringements on American neutrality in an Anglo-French war. He succeeded in keeping the United States from being drawn into those hostilities. He did so, however, at great cost to his popularity, and he left office feeling much battered and wrongly abused. Many years later, Adams observed: "No man who ever held the office of President would ever congratulate a friend on obtaining it." THE PARIS PEACE TREATY (PEACE TREATY of 1783): In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity. It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts of the most serene and most potent Prince George the Third, by the grace of God, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, duke of Brunswick and Lunebourg, arch- treasurer and prince elector of the Holy Roman Empire etc., and of the United States of America, to forget all past misunderstandings and differences that have unhappily interrupted the good correspondence and friendship which they mutually wish to restore, and to establish such a beneficial and satisfactory intercourse , between the two countries upon the ground of reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience as may promote and secure to both perpetual peace and harmony; and having for this desirable end already laid the foundation of peace and reconciliation by the Provisional Articles signed at Paris on the 30th of November 1782, by the commissioners empowered on each part, which artic les were agreed to be inserted in and constitute the Treaty of Peace proposed to be concluded between the Crown of Great Britain and the said United States, but which treaty was not to be concluded until terms of peace should be agreed upon between Great Britain and France and his Britannic Majesty should be ready to conclude such treaty accordingly; and the treaty between Great Britain and France having since been concluded, his Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, in order to carry into full effect the Provisional Articles above mentioned, according to the tenor thereof, have constituted and appointed, that is to say his Britannic Majesty on his part, David Hartley, Esqr.