The absorption and contribution income statements Essay

The absorption and contribution income statements - Essay Example Companies tend to have a need to produce different income statements since different details accrue on each of the statements. In other scenarios, the activities of a business entity may prompt the production of multiple income statements. The reason may be due to the kind of sourcing of the funds and the types of activities and programs that the company undertakes. The user of different income statements is also dependent on the immediate goal of the income statement. Some of the objectives that lead to different losses in profit accounts are the different goals the company may target. They include stablishing the past performance of the business entity, assisting in the future prediction of the future performance of the company or the assessment of the future capability of performance of a particular business entity.  The break-even analysis explains the point in time whereby an operation or a business activity generates no profit and incurs no loss. The analysis is important in establishing the earning impact that a particular marketing activity creates in a specific business activity. An example is the carrying out a break-even analysis after the advertisements of a particular commodity after prior entrance in the market. The analysis can show the differences in periods of supply and the improvement, stagnation or the successive failure of the product advertisement venture. The analysis thus helps managers to establish the diversities that attribute the relationship between sales, costs plus the resulting profits.     

Business environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business environment - Essay Example Organizational Mission Organizations are formed to pursue diverse aims depending on the values of the founders and the needs of the stakeholders. Hence, certain organizations may be formed to produce goods while others may be formed to provide services. Some organizations may also be formed with the explicit purpose of earning profits for their owners while others may not have the profit motive as their primary aim (Gaspar et al., 2005, p. 40). Charities such as The Asia Foundation and CARE International define the donations they receive as receipts rather than revenues; hence, their surplus is different from profit. Organizations such as the police force or fire department are public-sector organizations as opposed to private-sector organizations. These organizations are not formed with the intent of earning profits; rather, their purpose is to provide an essential service to citizens of the community (Gaspar et al., 2005, p. 40). The fact that they are owned by the state as opposed to private interests increases their credibility to provide essential goods or services without discrimination or bias to all citizens. Business organizations clearly exist to earn profits. At the same time, they address the needs of stakeholders who help them earn those profits. Therefore, their purpose is to identify a target market and develop goods and services to satisfy specific needs of the target segment. Organizations whose business activities extend the national boundaries are called international business organizations. Their purpose is to earn profits through efficiencies in supply chain and logistics while exploring new markets. However they may be described or categorized, organizations are influenced by their purpose or mission which defines the scope of their activities. The Influence of Stakeholders Due to the rapidly globalizing business environment, organizations have adopted a ‘stakeholder approach’ instead of the ‘shareholder approach’ (Hamilton and Webster, 2012, p. 100). The stakeholder approach encourages organizations to address the needs of those segments other than the owners whose interests are affected by the activities of the organization (Hamilton and Webster, 2012, p. 100). The stakeholders include such varied groups as customers, suppliers, competitors, media personnel, government authorities, regulators, the natural environment and the community. The manner in which the organization conducts its activities affects the interests of these segments. As organizations expand to international business, the number of stakeholders and their obligations increases substantially. Addressing the needs and interests of these stakeholders creates social capital and a positive reputation for the organization (Hamilton and Webster, 2012, p. 100). Some scholars argue that it is also economically sensible for organizations to pursue the stakeholder approach. With limited resources, organizations try to meet the needs of different stakeholders. Through its charitable causes, the Bill Gates Foundation established by the Microsoft founder helps the software giant develop a positive reputation marred by concerns about the competitive strategies pursued by the company. Another organization, British Petroleum (BP) regularly invests in green technology to protect the natural environment from pollution and destruction (BP, 2013). Nestle follows the stakeholder approach through its supply chain. The company supports sustainable

Assess one sociological theory of religion

Assess one sociological theory of religion Using examples critically assess one sociological theory of religion In most traditional societies, religion is an important form of social togetherness. It augments a feeling of community and promotes a set of shared values and beliefs in some form of god. Religion also plays a central role in cultural life; people often synthesize religious symbols and rituals into the material and artistic culture of the society: literature, storytelling, painting, music, and dance. It is the focus of the society that is of interest to religious sociologists, in particular theories concerning the way religious behaviour differs between and within societies. Beckford notes that theories revolving around how social interaction benefits or holds back societies, has made sociology a renowned area of study. In order to establish a fundamental starting point in this thesis, the foundations of sociology and the sociology of religion will be described in context. Furthermore, it will discuss, in some detail, the sociological theoretical approach of functionalism by sociologists; a critical analysis will aim to show the differences in their approaches to functionalism and will include supporting and critical statements from preceding and subsequent sociological theorists. Sociologists generally define religion as a codified set of moral beliefs concerning sacred things and rules governing the behaviour of believers who form a spiritual community . Auguste Comte (1798 1857) describes sociology as the study of human societies. A classical view is that, it is a social science that, uses varied methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis, and is often used to develop theory about human social activity. The sociology of religion therefore takes into account the aforementioned and a lso includes the practices, historical backgrounds, developments, universal themes and roles of religion in society. Jones (2003) describes Comte as the first to proclaim the virtues of an empirically based social science, a type of sociology that would have enormous implications for someone like Comte, who had been born during the aftermath of the French Revolution. Bilton et al (1996) explain this further: Positive social knowledge could offer the means for peaceful reconstruction of social order by the elite of enlightened scientists and intellectualsSocial change need not depend upon revolutionary violence and the manipulation of the mob Comte was able to make use of the new science for the progression of society and the re-establishment of order as well as being able to apply the positive method to social theory . Comte and his fellow Frenchman Durkheim are said to be the forerunners in creating the discipline of sociology. Thompson (1982) describes Comte as giving the subject its name and an ambitious prospectus, whilst Durkheim gave it, academic credibility and influence. Functionalist sociologists focus their attention on the nature of institutional relationships in society. To understand this further, one can use Talcott Parsons functionalist ideas as an example. Parsons, [who supported functionalism in the United States] used the functionalist perspective to group institutions in society into four related functional sub-systems; economic, political, kinship, and cultural. This theory stressed the importance of interdependence among all behaviour patterns and institutions within a social system to its long-term survival. In a similar way Durkheim In trying to explain the value of social and cultural character, illuminated them in terms of their contribution to the operation of an overall system. Furthermore, Malinowski, who promoted functionalism in England, endorsed the idea that cultural practices had psychological and physiological functions, such as the reduction of fear and anxiety, and the satisfaction of desires. Another Englishman Radcliffe- Brown contended that, all instituted practices ultimately contribute to the maintenance, and hence the survival, of the entire social system, determining the character of inter-group relations. It is Parsons sub-system of culture that encompasses religion that we now turn to. A functional definition of religion is fundamentally based on the social structure and drawing together of people, it pays particular attention to how religion guides and influences the lives of people who are actively involved, and through this promotes unity and social cohesiveness. Durkheim believed and argued that, religion was a socially constructed institution, serving the needs of society by socialising members into the same norms, values and beliefs, therefore reinforcing the collective conscience upon which the stability of society rests. He looked in depth at the origins, meaning, and function of religion in society. His belief was that religion was not so much about God, but more about the consolidation of society and the sense of identity that this creates within a particular society. He fully believed that individuals who accepted their role within their own society develop a form of social conscience as part of that role, which Durkheim labels as the Conscience collecti ve, which in simpler terms could be labelled as, a common understanding. Published in 1921 and penned by Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, is renowned as the best-known study on the sociology of religion. Using secondary data, Durkheim studied native totemism in primitive Australian tribes, in effect the totem is a symbol that is an integral part of the group, and during ceremonies will be the magnet that draws everyone together to form a collective whole. Therefore, totemism in this instance is explained not in terms of what it is, [what the content of its doctrines and beliefs are] but what it does, that is, the function it performs for the social system. Durkheim claims that, the totem, the sacred object is a representation, by which society symbolises itself, which according to Fulcher and Scott, he believed to be the real basis of social solidarity. From his observations Durkheim developed his theory of the sacred and profane, believing that all things in society can be separated into these distinct categories, as a fundamental d ichotomy the sacred and profane are seen as two separate domains or worlds. For Durkheim the sacred meant the unity of the group embodied in symbols, as in his example of totems, the profane was more about the mundane or the individual, and less concerned with the group. However the British anthropologist Evans-Pritchard (1937) observed that sacred things may be profane at certain times, an example he gives is the case of the Azande , who, when their shrines were not in ritual use, were used as props to rest their spears. This analysis of the sacred and the profane was extended to all religions by Durkheim and his followers, making a focus on what is similar about what they each do, and about the integrative functions all these religions perform on their social systems. He therefore viewed religion within the context of the entire society and acknowledged its place in influencing the thinking and behaviour of the members of society. Furthermore he believed that order flowed from con sensus, from the existence of shared norms and values, for him the key cause of social upheaval stems from anomie, the lack of regulating norms. Without norms constraining behaviour, explains Durkheim, humans develop insatiable appetites, limitless desires and general feelings of irritation and dissatisfaction. Radcliffe-Brown continued Durkheims sociological perspective of society; he particularly focused on the institutions of kinship and descent and suggested that, at least in tribal societies, they determined the character of family organization, politics, economy, and inter-group relations. Thus, in structural-functionalist thought, individuals are not significant in and of themselves but only in terms of their social status: their position in patterns of social relations. When regarding religious ceremonies Radcliffe-Brown contends that ceremonies, for example, in the form of communal dancing, promoted unity and harmony and functioned to enhance social solidarity and the survival of the society, in this he agreed with another renowned anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. Malinowskis functionalism was highly influential in the 1920s and 1930s, a British anthropologist, he conducted one of the first major studies of religion from an ethnocentric perspective, on the people of the Trobriand Islands. The first anthropologist to undertake a long-term piece of field research, Malinowski lived among the Trobriand islanders for four years. In studying the functions of religion in a small scale, he agreed with Durkheim that religion reinforced social norms, values and promoted social solidarity. Malinowski also believed that religion could relieve social anxiety and could provide a sense of security especially when people are faced with situations in which they have no control, an example Malinowski gives is based on his observation of the Trobriand islanders fishing in a calm lagoon, no religious practice was attached, however when faced with the perils of fishing in the open ocean, religious rituals were always performed. In this way Malinowski believed huma ns could exert a perceived control over a world in which they held no significant, individual power. This individual, perceived control can be seen to be used by people facing a personal crisis. Often in a situation where they have no control over the outcome, people will turn to religion looking for guidance and sanctuary; thereby giving them a sense of power. For Malinowski then, religion also helped to conciliate periods of life crises and events such as death, marriage and birth, these rituals, known as rites of passage are marked by ceremonies, that by their very nature, are a form of social togetherness that help to create social order and contentment. These rites however can be seen to be controlled in that to a certain extent one is prepared for new life, death and marriage, these events form part the circle of life and therefore come with some prior knowledge. Ceremonies that relate to these life events could be seen as a predictable common bond that will help to reinforce social solidarity. Malinowski argues that religion minimizes the disruption, in particular, of death. He believes that the assertion of immortality gives rise to feelings of comfort for the bereaved, whilst the act of a funeral ceremony binds the survivors together. Coser (1977) explains further: Religion can counter a sense of loss, which, as in the case of death, may be experienced on both the individual and the collective level therefore religion as a social institution serves to give meaning to mans existential predicaments by tying the individual to that supra-individual sphere of transcendent values which is ultimately rooted in his society. So far we have seen that collective or communal gatherings are generally aimed at promoting social solidarity and cohesion, this is backed by the empirical evidence offered by Malinowski in his study of the Trobriand Islands. Hamilton (1995) offers that these gatherings can also be interpreted as involving the recognition of divisions, conflict and disharmonies inherent in the society and rituals may be seen as a means of coping with and defusing them. Concerning Malinowskis empirical evidence, a contrasting point is noted by Casanova (1995) who questions functionalism on empirical grounds, he argues that religion does not provide consensus and unity, instead he says that most conflicts [an example he gives is the Iran/Iraq war] in society have religious foundations. Marxist sociologists also criticise functionalists on a theoretical level. Marx claims that religion does not create societal consensus, instead it creates conflict between those that have wealth in the ruling class and those that do not in the working class. Therefore according to Marx, the only norms and values that are conserved by religion are those of the ruling class. Functionalist theory could therefore be said to neglect the areas in which religion has been dysfunctional for society, whereby religious divisions have caused disruption and conflict rather than promoting social order. History provides numerous examples of this including the aforementioned Iran/Ira q dispute, Northern Ireland and Bosnia. An Extreme functionalist assessment of religion, declares William Stevens, is put forward by American sociologist Robert Bellah. Bellah fuses Parsons argument that America derives its values from Protestantism, with Durkheims belief that the worship of god is the disguised worship of society. From this Bellah develops a new kind of religious concept, that of a civil religion. Therefore despite the individual belief systems of American citizens, it is the overarching faith in America that unites Americans. Wallis (1983:44) cited in Jones, explains that Bellah finds evidence of civil religion in Presidential inaugurations and ceremonials such as Thanksgiving Day and Memorial Day are similarly held to integrate families into the civil religion, or to unify the community around its values. A further point to be made here is that generally civil religion does not hold to a belief in the supernatural. Bellah disagrees and says examples of confirmation in the supernatural can be seen or hea rd on a daily basis, phrases such as God Bless America and the words In God we trust on the national currency, he believes are prime examples of this. However Stevens asserts that this is not the god of any particular creed, but a god of America. For Bellah then civil religion creates a social cohesiveness by gathering people together to collectively partake in some form of ceremonial event. Therefore flag waving at a sporting event or lining the street to celebrate a royal marriage or death can bring about a united outpouring of joy or grief that in itself generates order. A contemporary example is the untimely death of Princess Diana. Her funeral witnessed a monumental combining of people, faiths and nations in a symbolic act of grief. Functionalist sociologists tend to emphasize what maintains society, not what changes it and are criticized for being unable to account for social change because it focuses so intently on social order and equilibrium in society. Functionalists have to take into account that change does happen in societies and that change is a good thing, and can represent progress. Jones says that the functionalist way around this is to use an organic analogy social progress occurs as it does with organisms as an evolutionary change. Bilton et al explain that this takes shape in the form of structural differentiationdifferentiation is a type of splitting or separation of a previously undivided unit, the new units differ in that they are more specialised in the functions they perform. Talcott Parsons, in his approach to social change, emphasises differentiation. According to Parsons, Institutions change, if the need of the system changes. An example of a system change stems from The Industrial Revol ution, which was facilitated by capitalism, was increasingly demanding technological advances to increase profit. In order to make this possible there was a need for more educated workforces. As a result the industrial economy needed a new form of family to perform these specialist functions. Thus, as one aspect of society changed the economy and production it required a comparable change in the educational system, bringing social life back into equilibrium. This new modernization of society, explains Marske, is associated with the increasing indifference of the individual from the traditional social bonds of an intimate network of diffuse social relationships. Due to a greater demand in the workforce people from all walks of life came together causing an increase in the cultural diversity within a particular society. As a result individuality became a more prominent feature; religion it seems was becoming less social and more personal. Durkheim would disagree with this statement as he believed it was possible to be an individual as well as social institution, he explains, In reality, the religion of the individual is a social institution like all known religions. It is society which assigns us this ideal as the sole common end which is today capable of providing a focus for mens wills. Dillon (2003) explains that social scientists and Western intellectuals have been promising the end of Religion for centuries, Comte announced that, as a result of modernization, human society was outgrowing the theological stage of social evolution and a new age was dawning which the science of sociology would replace religion as the basis or moral judgements. Durkheim predicted the gradual decrease in formal world religions; in post-enlightenment society he felt that there would be a greater emphasis on the individual. This he believed would lead to a weakening of ties in the modern world. In addition he envisaged that social solidarity and the collective conscience would be taken up by other institutions that would evolve into new forms of religious experience. Furthermore a maturing modernity would see scientific thinking replace religious thinking. As a consequence, Durkheim considered the concept of God to be on the verge of extinction. In its place he envisioned society as promoting civil religion, in which, for example, civic celebrations, parades, and patriotism take the place of church services. If traditional religion were to continue, he believed it would do so only as a means to preserve social cohesion and order. Parsons disagrees with this synopsis, with modern life will come structural frameworks that are more competitive and specialised, however they would still persist because religion is an adaptable structural framework for the explanation of inexplicable social phenomena. A criticism applied to the functionalists perspective stems from Durkheims analogy that societies and social institutions have personalities. To imagine that a society is a living, breathing organism is a difficult concept when in fact it is seen as an inorganic object. This creates what can said to be a philosophical problem and an ontological argument that society does not have needs as a human being does; and even if society does have needs they need not be met. The view here is that society is alive in the sense that it is made up of living individuals. What is not taken into account is that each individual is a different entity, with their own wants and needs. As part of the unit they can function and integrate within the group as a viable member. However individual life choices may not always create a positive function for the society as a whole. Functionalists in general tend to have a too positive view by believing that everything that exists in society does so because it has some kind of functional purpose. Robert Merton believed that it was entirely plausible for society to have dysfunctional elements. Durkheim also recognised that some forms of social life could be seen in the same way, however he did not use the term dysfunctional. In his work on crime, he noted that crime was functional to society, this seems to be a contradiction in that he also said, too high a level of crime might not be functional, because it could create a state of confusion regarding what constitutes the norms that applied to peoples lives. As a society dysfunctional actions, in particular criminal actions are frowned upon, and as a society we can become mob-handed in the way people come together to condemn an act of crime. Durkheim has a point to make here in that, people combine together, forming a collective cohesion in defining themselves against what they are not. Picturing society like a vast machine, Merton argues that a society should best be considered as a cross bet ween the cultural goals of a society-what it holds its members should strive for-and the means that are believed, legally or morally, to be legitimate ways that individuals should attain these goals. In an ideally organized society, the means will be available to deliver all of its members to their goals. One must take into account when analysing such theories that at the time of writing the world was a very different place to the one we live in today. Social anthropology has come under criticism for looking into primitive societies as a representation of unchanged societies criticism in particular stems from the lack of historical records that could confirm or deny any findings. Radcliffe-Brown considered this type of work a mistakehis belief was that the religious and ritual systems had to be understood in the context of the existing society and their role in that society. One could linger on Durkheims prediction that religion would decrease with modernity, religion here being in reference to the act of attending a social gathering in the worship of some form, whether it be totemic or divine. However an important point to note is that at the time when the Sociology of Religion was in its infancy, religious practice was more of a regular occurrence than one would perhaps find in todays society. However individuals are still irrevocably influenced by the role of religion in their own lives. Their beliefs and values allow them to feel supported in their everyday life; religion sets aside certain values and infuses them with special significance. Culture plays an important part here, as values, customs and beliefs combine to become a moral code by which societies adhere to and live by and pass on to future generations. Religion encourages collective worship be it in a church, mosque, temple, home or some other specified gathering place. Through the act of collective worship the individual is encouraged to feel part of a wider community. Today, societies are classed as more secular in their nature, yet if one consider the earlier statement about religion being an important form of social togetherness it would be easy to make analogies with the different groups that make up the society we inhabit. For example schools hold assemblies, awards evenings and performances all which can be seen as an example of community spirit and social cohesion. People as individuals, have interests outside of their immediate social groupings, this does not make them an outcast or outsider, and instead it promotes a sense of identity, individualism and the self. The writings of sociologists such as Durkheim, Comte, Radcliffe-Brown and Parsons are still important today, especially in comparing the way society sees religion. However, in contemporary society sociologists have a different set of problems to contend with as belief in modern society and materialism for many becomes a more vital moral value than partaking in a religious practice . BIBLIOGRAPHY Beckford, James A. (2003) Social Theory and Religion, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003). Bilton et al, Introductory sociology 3rd Edn (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998). Casanova, Jose, Public Religions in the Modern World (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995) Christiano, Kevin J., William Swatos Jr Peter Kivisto, Sociology of Religion: Contemporary Developments Lanham, 2nd edition (MD: Rowman Littlefield publishers, 2008). Comte, Auguste, A Dictionary of Sociology (3rd Ed), John Scott Gordon Marshall (eds), (Oxford: OUP, 2005). Coser, Lewis A. Masters of Sociological Thought: Ideas in Historical and Social Context, 2nd Ed., (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1977), pp. 136-139, Coser, Lewis A. Masters of Sociological Thought: Ideas in Historical and Social Context, 2nd Ed., Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1977: 136-139, Dewar, Greg, Religious studies, Philosophy and Ethics, (London: Oxford University Press, 2002). Dillon, Michele, Handbook of the sociology of religion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003). Durkheim, Emile, The Division of Labor in Society. Translated by, George Simpson. (New York: Free Press, 1893/1964). Durkheim, Emile, and Coser, Lewis A., The Division of Labor in Society. (Free Press, 1997) Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life: A Study in Religious Sociology. Translated by, Joseph Ward Swain. (New York: Macmillan, 1915). E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Theories of primitive religion, (Oxford: Clarendon press, 1965). Emile Durkheim, Sociology and philosophy (New York: free press, 1974). Evans-Pritchard, E. E. Social Anthropology and Other Essays. ( London,1950).Contains a critique of Radcliffe-Browns functionalism from the perspective of historicism. Fulcher, J. Scott, J. Sociology, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). Giddens, Anthony, Durkheim, (London: Harper Collins, 1996). Goldschmidt Walter, Functionalism In Encyclopaedia of Cultural Anthropology, Vol 2. David Levinson and Melvin Ember, (eds) (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996), p. 510. Hamilton, M, The sociology of religion, 2nd edition (Oxon: Routledge, 2001). Hunt, S. Religion in Western Society, (Hampshire: Palgrave, 2002). Jones, Pip, Introducing Social Theory, (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003). Jones, Robert Alun., Rules of the sociological method 1895, in Emile Durkheim: An Introduction to Four Major Works. (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1986), pp. 60-81. Macionis, J. Plummer, K. Sociology: A Global Introduction (Essex: Pearson, 2005). Merton, Robert, Social Theory and Social Structure, (USA: Macmillan, 1968), chapter 3. Orenstein, Ashley D. DM, Sociological theory: Classical statements 6th edition (Boston: Pearson Education, 2005), pp. 3-5: 32-36. Sociology Quarter, Durkheim as a functionalist, vol 16 no 3 (Summer, 1975), pp 36 -379. Thompson, Kenneth, (1982) Emile Durkheim, (Sussex: Ellis Horwood Limited, 1982). Winthrop, Robert H. 1991. Functionalism In Dictionary of Concepts in Cultural Anthropology (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991), p. 130. WEBLIOGRAPHY Functionalism, in Anthropology and Sociology The Columbia Electronic Encyclopaedia. 2000-2007 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0819881.html (Accessed: 18.01.10). Functions OF religion learningat.ke7.org.uk/socialsciences/soc-sci/soc/a2/R. Accessed 14.1.10. CliffsNotes.com. Introduction to Religion. http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/topicArticleId-2695,articleId-26927.html. Accessed 10.1.10 Chris Livesey, Functionalist perspectives on Durkheim, www.sociology.org.uk Marjolin, Robert French sociology-Comte and Durkheim, University of Chicago press American journal of sociology, vol. 42, no 5 (Mar., 1937), pp693 -704. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2767763 (Accessed: 12.1.10.). Mark Glazer, Functionalism http://www.utpa.edu/faculty/mglazer/theory/functionalism.htm (Accessed: 13.12.09). Marske, Charles E, (1987) Durkheims Cult of the Individual and the Moral Reconstitution of Society, Sociological Theory, Vol. 5, No. 1, (American Sociological Association, 1987), pp. 1-14. http://www.jstor.org/stable/201987. Accessed: 17.01.10. The Azande, http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/EthnoAtlas/Hmar/Cult_dir/Culture.7829 (Accessed: 15/1/10). William J. Stevens, Religion: A Functionalist Assessment, http://www.helium.com/items841304-religion-a-functionalist-assessment. (Accessed: 24.11.09).

The Awakening: Casting Shadows :: essays research papers

The Awakening: Casting Shadows Happiness; is it essential or is it a mere unimportant simplistic virtue in life's plans? Does everyone have the right to happiness? It is stated in the Constitution that we as Americans have the right to life, liberty, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. In the novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin the main Character Edna has the â€Å"perfect life†. The sweet loving husband, the cute children, enormous amounts of money and an extremely large house. Yet with all of this Edna is partially happy, but is not fulfilled. Since having a rushed marriage to spite her parents Edna never took time to examine her life to see what she wanted out of it. Edna late in the marriage wanted the freedom to explore her mind, find herself and find what this person liked. In the following I will defend the actions Edna took to find her happiness as irrational as they may seem. This story took place in the late 1800's when women's liberation was never heard of. In this era women were supposed to find happiness in serving their husbands and taking care of the children. There were no other options within the restrictive boundaries of marriage, and divorce was never an alternative. Women's lives were austere and self enrichment or self gratification were often times cast aside relative to the more mundane tasks of daily life. Most women accepted this but Edna did not. She figured that life was more than constantly doing for someone else. She wanted time for herself in order to figure out who she was. Some may see this as selfish but everyone is entitled to â€Å"me† time and space. Although I admit she did not go about it in the best way at times; Edna still was in going in the right direction. Edna's marriage to Leonce Pontellier was to spite her father the Colonel because Leonce was of a different religious faith. Also, Leonce was unceasingly devoted to Edna which was something that had never occurred in any other relationship. Edna, who had not experienced many male relationships before this was naive when it came to men. This naivetà © affected her in such a way that she neither knew love and it's limitations nor the experience it took to make it through a relationship. This showed Edna's immaturity which was a big issue in this story. This shown as the woman inside who had been asleep all those years. Her relationship with Leonce was what she sought to find happiness in. After six years of marriage to Leonce, Edna felt an ever-growing void in her The Awakening: Casting Shadows :: essays research papers The Awakening: Casting Shadows Happiness; is it essential or is it a mere unimportant simplistic virtue in life's plans? Does everyone have the right to happiness? It is stated in the Constitution that we as Americans have the right to life, liberty, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. In the novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin the main Character Edna has the â€Å"perfect life†. The sweet loving husband, the cute children, enormous amounts of money and an extremely large house. Yet with all of this Edna is partially happy, but is not fulfilled. Since having a rushed marriage to spite her parents Edna never took time to examine her life to see what she wanted out of it. Edna late in the marriage wanted the freedom to explore her mind, find herself and find what this person liked. In the following I will defend the actions Edna took to find her happiness as irrational as they may seem. This story took place in the late 1800's when women's liberation was never heard of. In this era women were supposed to find happiness in serving their husbands and taking care of the children. There were no other options within the restrictive boundaries of marriage, and divorce was never an alternative. Women's lives were austere and self enrichment or self gratification were often times cast aside relative to the more mundane tasks of daily life. Most women accepted this but Edna did not. She figured that life was more than constantly doing for someone else. She wanted time for herself in order to figure out who she was. Some may see this as selfish but everyone is entitled to â€Å"me† time and space. Although I admit she did not go about it in the best way at times; Edna still was in going in the right direction. Edna's marriage to Leonce Pontellier was to spite her father the Colonel because Leonce was of a different religious faith. Also, Leonce was unceasingly devoted to Edna which was something that had never occurred in any other relationship. Edna, who had not experienced many male relationships before this was naive when it came to men. This naivetà © affected her in such a way that she neither knew love and it's limitations nor the experience it took to make it through a relationship. This showed Edna's immaturity which was a big issue in this story. This shown as the woman inside who had been asleep all those years. Her relationship with Leonce was what she sought to find happiness in. After six years of marriage to Leonce, Edna felt an ever-growing void in her

Effects of Computer Games to young student Essay

Introduction It is known that we are living in the technological era. Computers became an irreplaceable tool in everyday life of almost every person. The adult users generally use it for business purposes while youngsters for computer games. Computers are part of our life and are a very important component in many spheres of modern life. And nowadays majority of young people spend their time either gaming or surfing the net. Computer games have become one of the favorite past time of young people from kids, teens and even adults. These habits turn to an addiction that has a tremendous effect on young people. In an increasingly technology-dependent based society, people will continue to use computers not only for business but also for pleasure. Computers have become a social and economic necessity that permeates every part of our lives, it is feasible that in the future, every person in the world may own or use a computer. Therefore, necessary precaution must be taken in exploring all the uses of computers, and the negative consequences of using them on a daily basis. Acknowledgement We would like to use this opportunity to acknowledge the people who helped us to accomplish our research paper. First of all we would like to thank the students who had a big part in accomplishing our research paper. They all gave their insights about our topic and honestly answered all the questions we asked. We also give the thanks to the Psychologists and Sociologists who gave us much information and enlightened us about our topic. We would also like to thank our friends who are always there to help us and encourage us to make a successful research paper. I also thank my partner in this research who is always there to help me accomplish the tasks in our research paper, and lastly we would to thank our lord Jesus Christ for the strength and hope he gave us for the times we feel like we can’t finish our research paper. Background of the study Controversies about computer gaming addiction being linked to violence have been rampant since the 80’s. Studies show that most delinquents have had  some time playing video games before doing a crime. Although little to no proof is exhibited till today, we hope to share our insights on this matter. This research provides an exemplary background concerning a specific addiction amongst teens which is gaming, be it Pc or console, this research paper tackles the psychological aspect of a gamers behavior from consistent influence with factors emanating from games ranging from violent to educational ones, for as computer games grow in popularity, the negative and positive effects of usage should be studied.   Statement of the Problem This study aims to answer the following.  What psychological reason implies to game addiction.  How violence is usually associated with certain gaming genres. How game developing should be continued or discontinued?  If games can affect human behavior dramatically that it can change the very being of a person. If simulation can replace human interactions in the future. Objective of the Study The general objective of this study is to understand the true nature of gaming. Specifically, this research aims to fulfill the following:  To understand why majority of the youth prefer isolation through gaming rather than socialization, To know why addiction is prominent in today’s generation; and To the ultimate reason of addiction to gaming. Significance of study This section will provide brief description on the various significances of the study given the three categories Educational, Technological and Psychological. To students. The proposed study serves the students as their reference or guide to today’s temptation with present day technological marvels. It will also help students into taking computer related courses to enlighten the next generation on the matter on computer addiction. To experts. The proposed study will help Psychologists and Sociologists to have a deeper understanding to the said matter. By this study they will come up  with easier and effective treatment varying from correction to prevention. To future researchers. The proposed study will benefit and help them as a guide. The study can also open in development in association to whatever obstacle lies in the future with reference to this subject. Scope and Limitation of the study This research paper focuses on the nature of how PC/Console games contribute to today’s society, mostly students, for they are what make up the majority number of gamers, and whether it be negative or positive, this research paper aims to give a better understanding of how this form of entertainment can give such a huge impact to today’s society. CHAPTER II Materials & Methods In order to gather valuable data, the researchers conducted an oral interview with fellow gamers in a local computer shop (computer shop name disclosed). Oral interview was used since it is more applicable to the kind of problem being studied and because their eyes were glued to the screen at the moment of the questioning. The Oral interview was a five-item interview that deals with the student’s background and how gaming affected him/her academically. The questions asked are: 1. Who or How was computer gaming introduced to you? 2. How often do you play? 3. Does gaming affect your class standing? 4. For you, is gaming good or bad? 5. What genre of game do you prefer? CHAPTER III Results A total of 5 students were interviewed on the 4th of April 2014, somewhere between the times of 13:00 to 15:00. The survey only lasted for not more than two minutes and the volunteers were very cooperative. The gathered date revealed that the first 3 of 5 interviewees were doing exceptionally well in school despite spending some 8 hours of gaming on a daily basis, where they  favored a MOBA genre particularly LOL. The three of them were childhood friends and played together most of the time. Interviewee 4 is a scholar in a prestigious school (FEU-East Asia College). Despite admitting the she is a gaming addict; her habit never hindered her studies and managed to maintain an excellent streak of grades since her admission in the year 2012. She started playing games when her now ex-boyfriend introduced the MOBA game LOL. Interviewee 5 is an average person, with average grades, above passing; stating that for him, gaming was just a past-time, spending some 6-8 total hours of gaming, at home and in a computer shop. He favored the game Dragon Nest which is an MMO-RPG game. He started playing it because he found it curious and fun. CHAPTER IV Conclusion We came to the conclusion that gaming addiction was mostly related to the influence of the number of players that play the game. Curiosity then mostly by invitation is how a player starts with a game. Addiction, we believe, arises from peer pressure, or in worst cases, withdrawal from society due to negative treatment from people.

The Impact Of Cooperative Listening Materials Adaptation Education Essay

Abstraction Listening comprehension has gained more prominence in EFL/ESL categories. Due to this prominence, bookmans have tried to cast visible radiation on different ways of bettering scholars ‘ listening comprehension. One of these ways is utilizing listening schemes. There is still a contention over the effectual function of these schemes in bettering listening comprehension. Therefore, the proposed schemes have ever been reviewed and reformed. Adopting either scheme, the class shall be rather uneffective if it fails to increase scholars ‘ engagement in the class. The intent of this survey was to look into whether or non peer-cooperative self-access stuffs version has any consequence on scholars ‘ engagement and engagement in listening categories. In add-on, the present survey tried to examine any possible alterations in pupils ‘ attitude toward listening as a consequence of the intervention. In order to carry through the intent of the survey, 90 Persian pupils who w ere analyzing at Islamic Azad University, an independent university, were selected based on their obtained tonss in a linguistic communication proficiency trial ( TOEFL ) . They were indiscriminately assigned to one control and two experimental groups. Then they undertook a 17-session intervention. With a quasi-experimental pretest posttest design, it became apparent that holding pupils adapt listening stuffs improved listening comprehension public presentation. And besides a positive alteration occurred in pupils ‘ overall attitude toward listening. Keywords: Material version, Self-Access stuff, Listening Comprehension, Cooperative version Introduction Not until decreasing prominence of Latin ( Richard & A ; Rodgers, 2001 ) , listening was paid much attending. Stressing the of import function of listening, research workers argue that larning shall be enhanced through understanding the intended significance. It is done through processing and comprehending the characteristics of the linguistic communication and/or transforming informations into information ( Alalou & A ; Chamberlain, 1999 ; Finocchiaro & A ; Bonomo, 1973 ; Horton, 2000 ; Molina, 1997 ) .Thus it would be advisable to see listening as an incorporate portion of linguistic communication categories because developing different modes of accomplishments like listening provides scholars with rich linguistic communication acquisition experiences. Otherwise, low listening proficiency may deter scholars to actively take part in unwritten treatments ( Hayati & A ; jalilfar, 2009 ) . On the other manus, such experiences help scholars successfully monitor their ain acquisition ( R ichards, 2008 ) . In other words, scholars will use the acquisition schemes including meta-cognitive, cognitive and socio-effective 1s to supervise their acquisition procedure ( Shirini Bidabadi & A ; Yamat, 2011 ) . Furthermore, â€Å" See [ ing ] linguistic communication in-use † motivates scholars through doing the linguistic communication larning puting more interesting ( Harmer, 2001. p. 282 ) . Yet it is instead hard to promote scholars to affect themselves in listening procedure as the consequence of either medium or context ( McDonough and Shaw, 1997 ) . One possible solution is to better scholars ‘ attitude through acquiring them familiar with the procedure involved ( Taylor, 1981 ) . Such consciousness enables scholars to use what they have learnt to better their linguistic communication skills non merely during but besides after the class. This can be achieved merely through guaranting that instructional content being developed best suits the pupils ‘ demands and co-ordinates foreign linguistic communication direction on a campus-wide footing ( Branch, 1998 ; Chaput, 1993 ; McApline, 1998 ) . Materials development is a cyclic procedure that ne'er ends. In a sense, in no phase of this procedure, one would be certain of the rightness of the included stuffs for a peculiar group of scholars in a peculiar scene. So, the stuffs should ever be revised when it is traveling to be used in different scenes. Tomlinson ( 2005 ) argues that most EFL stuffs are written by well-qualified native-speaker instructors who experienced merely little categories with motivated scholars. Yet most users of these stuffs experience EFL in big category of unmotivated scholars. In a nutshell, the context is wholly different. To work out this job, Nunan ( 1993 ) believes non until we expand pupils ‘ and instructors ‘ apprehension of the procedures involved in linguistic communication acquisition, we can non develop appropriate classs. Such understanding brings about consistence among the undermentioned variables: context ( national, regional aˆÂ ¦ ) scholars ( age, linguistic communication degree aˆÂ ¦ ) instructors ( personality, learning manners aˆÂ ¦ ) stuffs ( text, undertakings aˆÂ ¦ ) intent and aims ( class course of study aˆÂ ¦ ) ( Masuhara, 2004. pp. 1-3 ) Problem statement About 50 to 70 per centum of the category clip is spent on hearing ; nevertheless, it is done inefficaciously ( Jalongo, 1991 ; Smith, 1992 ) . Hence instructors ‘ ailment about the deficiency of instructional stuffs on hearing is n't uncommon ( Swanson, 1997 ) . They have been discoursing the lack of some listening stuffs available to the instructors and pupils ( Fujiwara, 1996 ; Rost, 2001 ) . The job is non merely with the importance of learning the hearing accomplishment, but it is with the activities, processs and stuffs adopted to near it. In appropriate listening stuff, as reported by Yasin Sharif and Ferdous ( 2012 ) , leads to listening comprehension anxiousness. Empirically, carry oning such a survey might add to our apprehension of the procedure of listening comprehension. The consequences of such a survey might be of value both to instructors, course of study interior decorators and even pupils. Merely that manner they can assist scholars be equipped with listening accomplishment, and accordingly heighten their acquisition via hearing ( Molina, 1997 ) . Making so, it is apparently required to look into the sorts of Schemes and techniques curriculum interior decorators and stuff developers can utilize to assist scholars better their hearing comprehension. Since larning stuff is the nucleus beginning in any language-teaching/learning plan ( Richards, 2010 ) , sing these schemes and techniques while planing, they assert, will guarantee us that the designed hearing stuffs appeal to scholars ‘ personal involvement ( Brown, 2001 ; Nunan, 1997 ) . It will prolong attending and positive emotion. cooperatively-adapted ( instructor and pupils ) stuffs non merely enjoys high face cogency but consequences besides in consistence in assemblage of divergent sentiments at times convenient to participants ; meetings dominated by content non personality ; attachment to a structured docket without loss of those thoughts after the session ends ( Helten & A ; Nye, 2005 ) Therefore such coaction in stuffs version ensures the success of the plan. Yet the impression of including the most appropriate stuffs to run into the lesson aims, class and leaners ‘ demands is comparatively new to the research literature ( Tomlinson, 2001 ) . Bearing it in head, research workers have conducted a figure of surveies on class design, stuffs development and scheme preparation. They hoped they could assist scholars go independent. Research Questions In the present survey, listening as a macro-skill as stated by Nunan ( 1993 ) and material version ( an of import phase of course of study development ) are selected as the starting point. Thus material version is intended to pull the pupils ‘ attending and affect them into the learning plan. Based upon such an premise, the present survey was developed to look into whether peer self-access stuff version has any consequence on listening comprehension, and whether or non this would alter the pupils ‘ attitude toward listening comprehension. In order to give way to the survey, the undermentioned inquiries were formulated: Does peer concerted self-access hearing stuffs adaptation have any consequence on genre-based hearing comprehension ( films and intelligence ) of Persian EFL scholars? Does peer concerted self-access hearing stuffs adaptation have any consequence on Persian EFL scholars ‘ perceptual experience of listening comprehension acquisition? These directing inquiries are seeking to touch the facet of a receptive accomplishment which harmonizing to Carkin ( 2005 ) â€Å" lacks the strong background of†¦ literate accomplishments † ( p. 114 ) . Such a instead weak background stems from the fact few surveies have been carried out on stuffs development in general and listening stuffs version inparticular ( Bhatia, 1994 ; Brown, 2001 ; Fujiwara, 1996 ; Rashidi & A ; Safari, 2011 ; Tomlinson, 2001 ) . Literature Review Uvin ( 1996 ) , in an effort that led to the development of an ESOL class for Chinese health-care workers, asserts that scholars and clients should be actively involved in all phases of class and stuff development. Doing so would ease the scholars ‘ engagement. To trip scholars ‘ engagement, he used two attacks. Problem-posing: here, a state of affairs was described and scholars were supposed to respond by â€Å" treatment, planning, action and feedback † ( p. 49 ) . The other attack was experimental acquisition in which scholars ‘ day-to-day experience was used. These attacks, he argues, helped scholars achieve competences ( sense of ownership, motive and self-pride ) . In add-on, category activities became more compatible with preferable acquisition activities. Materials, he continues, were extremely relevant because they were all generated by the scholars. Pinheiro ( 1996 ) , in a survey on planing a authorship constituent, regarded the scholars ‘ background. Therefore, she provides the scholars with in-class and out-of-class ranked activities. Having conducted the survey, she argues that such a procedure may increase scholars ‘ interaction or coaction. Sing listening some surveies have been done excessively. Fujiwara ( 1996 ) , seeking to promote the scholars to be more active in the hearing category and better their attitude, involved scholars in the procedure of stuffs version. She designed listening diary prep. At the terminal, she, in a study, found that the scholars ‘ attitude toward listening had become more positive and their comprehension had greatly improved. All the above surveies have been carried out to ease comprehension public presentation. However, scholars ‘ demands should non lose sight of. In different state of affairss the scholars ‘ demands differ from one another. To guarantee that these demands will decidedly be met those who undertake listening stuff development demand to acquire familiar with the scholars at least through a distributed questionnaire. Roll uping such informations that manner increases the possibility of run intoing such demands. 2. Methodology 2.1 Participants The survey can be categorized as the quasi-experimental pretest posttest control group design. The field work was conducted in Islamic Azad University of Qom where 90 participants ( both females and males ) were selected based upon their tonss on the TOEFL Test ( 2008 ) . The trial was given to 120 pupils, and from among those who clustered around the entire mean, 90 pupils were selected. 60 pupils were assigned to the experimental group, which included two subgroups with 30 pupils each, the staying 30 pupils were assigned to the control group. Ages of participants ranged from 20 to 26. They were all senior pupils analyzing at their 6th term. They enrolled in a two-credit class on either â€Å" Oral interlingual rendition II † or â€Å" Movie interlingual rendition. † In this survey, peer concerted stuff version and genre-based hearing ( intelligence and films ) were considered as independent variables ; while, scholars ‘ listening comprehension public presentation and pupils ‘ attitudes toward listening as the dependent variables. 2.2 Instruments The instruments used in this survey include a standardised TOEFL trial ( adopted from Barron TOEFL 2008 ) , a standardised hearing trial ( TOEFL ) used as the â€Å" pretest † and â€Å" posttest † and a questionnaire. In add-on to the major instruments, a instructor ‘s usher and informal observation were besides used to command some of the variables, which were supposed to act upon cogency of the survey. Teacher ‘s usher, the 2nd instrument, was one of the steps taken to guarantee instructors were following the same processs for comparison intents. As non to pique experient instructors or overload instructors ‘ heads with inside informations, instructors guide points were formulated as suggestions and efforts were made non to travel into inside informations of the stairss in different stages of each lesson. The other step taken to guarantee consistence in managing the intervention was informal observation. The research worker himself attended the categories without anterior notice. The intent was to see if the instructors adhered to the instructors ‘ usher provided by the research worker. Then, for the pretest, a TOEFL trial was administered. Siting it, the pupils were required to reply 122 multiple-choice points consisting listening subdivision with 50 points, usage of English with 26 points and reading comprehension with 46 points.This trial was used to measure both linguistic communication and listening proficiency degree of the scholars. Posttest was the following instrument used to mensurate the topics ‘ accomplishment after the intervention. In order to examine whether or non there is any alteration in the listening public presentation of the scholars, a standardised hearing trial was used. The listening portion of the TOEFL trial, which was used as the pretest and comprised 50 points was once more administered to all three groups. The questionnaire was the last instrument used in the present survey. The questionnaire was organized into three parts. The first portion aims at arousing the demographic information ; full name ( optional ) , major, and the participants ‘ survey semester. The 2nd portion included 20 points. The intent was to analyze the attitude of the respondents towards listening. In this subdivision pupils ‘ replies were mapped on a five-level Liker Scale ( 1 bespeaking â€Å" strongly hold † and 5 â€Å" strongly differ † ) . Finally, in the 3rd subdivision, the respondents ‘ remarks were elicited through an open-ended inquiry. The whole points in the questionnaire were categorized into two parts. The firs portion measures pupils ‘ positive attitudes ; while the 2nd portion negative 1s. To guarantee the lucidity and understandability of the points included for the participants, the questionnaire was constructed in patricipants ‘ L1. 2.3 Data Analysis In order to analyze the psychometries of the questionnaire utilized in this survey, a pilot survey was carried out. To gauge its cogency and dependability of the points included, the feedback of three PhD holders in TEFL was collected sing the suitableness ( relevancy ) and lucidity of the points included. They were supposed to rate the points in 1-5 evaluation graduated table on two feedback signifiers ( one for suitableness and the other for lucidity ) . As table 1 and 2 indicate, the critical value of â€Å" R † at 22 grades of freedom is.43. Since all the computed â€Å" R † are higher than.43, it shows a high grade of understanding among the raters on the relevancy and lucidity of each point in the questionnaire at the important degree of 0.01 ( 2-tailed ) . Table 1. Spearman Inter-Rater Correlation Co-efficient ( Relevance ) Rater 1 Rater 2 Rater 3 Rater 1 Pearson Correlation 1 .749 ( ** ) .678 ( ** ) Rater 2 Pearson Correlation .749 ( ** ) 1 .694 ( ** ) Rater 3 Pearson Correlation .678 ( ** ) .694 ( ** ) 1 Table 2. Spearman Inter-Rater Correlation Co-efficient ( Clarity ) Rater 1 Rater 2 Rater 3 Rater 1 Pearson Correlation 1.000 .806 ( ** ) .693 ( ** ) Rater 2 Pearson Correlation .806 ( ** ) 1.000 .626 ( ** ) Rater 3 Pearson Correlation .693 ( ** ) .626 ( ** ) 1.000 Alternatively, an effort was made to prove out the dependability of the questionnaire. In so making, the questionnaire was administrated to 23 EFL pupils ( 15 females and 8 males ) . The informations obtained were fed into the SPSS package to run Cornbach alpha. The consequences showed that the questionnaire was dependable ( I ¬=0.74 ) . Procedure In order to transport out the present survey, the undermentioned stairss were followed. First, the TOEFL trial was administrated in the first session of the term to function a double intent. It was traveling to mensurate the general linguistic communication and listening proficiency degree of the pupils to guarantee that all topics are approximately at the same degree of proficiency. Having done it, the homogeneousness of the groups was assured. In instance of the homogeneousness of the topics, the trial aimed at choosing 90 topics in the available categories. The 90 topics were selected from among those whose tonss fell one criterion divergence above and below the mean. The chosen topics were so, indiscriminately, assigned to two experimental groups and one control one. The listening portion of the TOEFL trial was besides used as the pretest. Then the listening portion used as pretest was once more administrated as the posttest. The intent was to analyze the alterations that might hold occurred in the listening ability of the pupils. Next, the questionnaire was administered to look into the scholars ‘ perceptual experiences toward listening. Therefore an attitude questionnaire was used both at the beginning and terminal of the survey. The experimental groups received the intervention, which consisted of assignments for learning listening comprehension. The assignments were different from what were the normal instruction processs used with control group. The control group was fundamentally exposed to listening audio plans, which were played and replayed for comprehension intents followed by activities focused on linguistic communication of the texts used for listening. The experimental groups were exposed to listening stuffs that are intelligence and films. The stuffs were selected by the pupils themselves. The activities were designed based on theoretical accounts proposed by Brown ( 2001, see Pp. 260- 264 ) . Following the 17-session intervention, the attitude questionnaire was given to the groups to find any alterations or deficiency of alterations in their attitudes. Attempts were made over the intervention period to hold instead the same status in all these categories. One manner to run into such a standard was to inquire the instructors to carry through the undertakings in conformity with cheque list provided to them. In order to look into whether the same processs were used toward the instruction stuffs and whether the categories were held harmonizing to the checklist provided to the instructors, informal observations were conducted. The standard for observation were those points included in the checklist. This sort of observation showed that all the instructors followed the guidelines in the checklist. The instructor assumed the function of adviser in the experimental groups. In other words, at the beginning of the experiment, the instructor introduced the standards needed to be taken into history while accommodating listening stuffs in a briefing session. Then, he was available for audience at the different phases of the procedure. On the other manus, the instructor was the lone beginning of information in the control group. 3. Consequences and Discussion The first statistic was Descriptive to guarantee the homogeneousness of the groups. It is shown in table 1. Table 1. Descriptive Statisticss of the tonss in the TOEFL trial Nitrogen No of Items Mean South dakota 120 122 15.4 2.04 From among the pupils whose tonss were one standard divergence above and below the mean, 90 pupils out of 120 were selected. Then, they were indiscriminately assigned to 3 groups ( two experimental groups and one control group ) . Table 2 shows that the mean and discrepancy of the three groups with 30 members each are about the same, so the three groups can be considered as homogeneous. Table 2. Descriptive Statisticss of Proficiency trial Nitrogen Mean Std. Deviation Discrepancy EXP-G1 ( film ) 30 15.02 2.04285 4.173 EXP-G2 ( News ) 30 15.35 2.04223 4.171 Control-G 30 15.08 1.99613 3.484 In order to look into listening ability of these three groups, the tonss obtained in the listening portion of TOEFL were once more fed into SPSS. The consequences are presented in table 3. Table 3. Descriptive statistics of Listening Proficiency trial Nitrogen Mean Std. Deviation Discrepancy Exp-G1 ( film ) 30 13.95 3.09 9.60 Exp-G2 ( News ) 30 13.01 3.12 9.77 Control G 30 13.63 3.41 10.60 It can be inferred from the informations that the three groups had about the same Mean and Standard divergence, which indicate the homogeneousness of the groups sing listening ability. The following effort was to find the pupils ‘ perceptual experience toward listening larning before transporting out the intervention. In so making, the questionnaire was distributed among the topics. Then, the consequences obtained from the first disposal of the questionnaire were gathered and fed into SPSS. In order to look into whether the difference was important, Chi-Square was run. Table 5 summarizes the consequences. Table 4. Chi-Square Statisticss for pretest Chi-Square Trials Value df Asymp. Sig. ( 2-sided ) Pearson Chi-Square 138.895 ( a ) 4 .000 Likelihood Ratio 143.839 4 .000 Linear-by-Linear Association 120.582 1 .000 A 0 cells ( .0 % ) have expected count less than 5. The lower limit expected count is 44.96. The figure shown in table 4 indicates that there is a important relationship between points mensurating positive attitude and those mensurating negative attitude. In order to look into whether the magnitude of the topics ‘ inclination moves toward positive or negative, a correlativity coefficient was run. Table 5. Spearman ‘ rho correlativities of points of questionnaire Positive Negative Sum Sum Correlation Coefficient .620 ( ** ) .848 ( ** ) 1.000 As depicted in table 5, the correlativity between the overall mark and the negative subdivision is much higher than the correlativity between the overall mark and the mark of the positive subdivision at the important degree of 0.01. This suggests that the pupils have an overall negative attitude toward listening. In order to reply the first research inquiry, the addition mark of each pupil was calculated. Derive tonss calculated show 13 % betterment on pupils ‘ listening accomplishment. In order to see if there was any important difference between the average mark of three groups, a One-way ANOVA was conducted on the addition mark. The P value, at 2 and 87 grade of freedom was smaller than.05 ( table 6 ) . Table 6. The consequences of One-Way ANOVA for the Gain Mark Sum of Squares df F Sig. Between Groups 4.83 2 20.21 .00 Within Groups 10.41 87 The consequences obtained from running One-Way ANOVA showed that there were important differences between the average tonss of these three groups. This consequence does non demo where precisely the existent differences lie. To happen out where the groups were significantly different, a Pos Hoc comparing of agencies ( Tukey ) was conducted. Table 7. The consequences of Multiple Comparisons ( Tukey ) for the Posttest Average Difference ( I-J ) Std. Mistake Sig. 95 % Confidence Interval Control-G Exp-G2 ( intelligence ) .52 ( * ) .089 .00 .73 .30 Exp-G1 ( Movie ) .45 ( * ) .089 .00 .66 .24 Exp-G2 ( intelligence ) Control-G .52 ( * ) .089 .00 .30 .73 Exp-G1 ( Movie ) .06 .089 .74 .14 .27 Exp-G1 ( Movie ) Control .45 ( * ) .089 .00 .24 .66 Exp-G2 ( intelligence ) .06 .089 .74 .27 .14 As it is shown in Table 7, there is a important difference at the degree of 0.05 between the Control and Experimental ( News ) and Experimental ( Movie ) . The consequences besides show that there is no difference between the Experimental groups. In order to reply the 2nd research inquiry, the consequences of the 2nd disposal of the attitude questionnaire were fed into SPSS. The consequences are shown in table 8. Table 8. Chi-Square Statisticss for Posttest Value df Asymp. Sig. ( 2-sided ) Pearson Chi-Square 122.062 ( a ) 4 .000 Likelihood Ratio 125.407 4 .000 Linear-by-Linear Association 105.693 1 .000 Harmonizing to the consequences presented in table 8, the difference is important at alpha degree of.05. To be able to demo the attitude way move clearly, a correlativity coefficient was run. The consequences are summarized in table 9. Table 9. The Spearman ‘ rho correlativities of points of questionnaire Positive Negative Sum Spearman ‘ rho Sum Correlation Coefficient .854 ( ** ) .565 ( ** ) 1.000 The consequences show that the correlativity found between the positive points and the entire figure of responses is higher than the correlativity between the tonss on the negative inquiries and the entire mark. The figure 0.85 is much higher than 0.56, which suggests a positive way in pupils ‘ attitude. The abovementioned consequences for the first phase of the survey indicate that concerted stuffs adaptation significantly affected the listening public presentation of linguistic communication scholars. The ground may be due to the fact that adapted listening stuffs met scholars ‘ demands, were interesting to them and accordingly increased scholars ‘ engagement. Subsequently the instructor shall detect an betterment in scholars ‘ addition tonss. In this survey, the topics in the experimental groups who had the opportunity to accommodate listening stuffs hand in glove accomplished the undertakings assigned better than those in the control group who did non hold such an chance. It advocates the necessity of affecting those who are traveling to utilize the hearing stuffs in the procedure of stuff usage version to guarantee run intoing run into the true demands of the pupils ( Tomlinson, Dat, Masuhara and Rudby, 2001 ) . As for the consequences for the 2nd portion of the survey, the impact of such a Strategy on altering scholars ‘ attitude toward listening was probed. In this survey, a positive alteration occurred in the attitude of scholars in experimental groups though the so great. So it may be concluded that the attitude improved as listening stuffs users were playing an active function in the procedure of instructional stuffs development. The ground of such a alteration might be due to raising scholars ‘ consciousness, run intoing their true demands and concerted stuffs version. The consequences support the earlier surveies done on different facets of affecting scholars in the procedure of larning stuffs version. Using a process reverse to the most common one ( teacher selected stuff ) presently exercised by instructors in learning listening comprehension, Fujiwara ( 1996 ) reported a alteration in the public presentation and attitude of those who themselves adapted listening stuffs. Unlike her topics who adapted stuffs in isolation based upon listening diary, the topics of the present survey adapted stuffs hand in glove from among self-access stuffs. This scheme proved to promote scholars to be involved in executing in-class and out-class hearing activities in order to better their hearing public presentation. As stated by Tomlinson, Dat, Masuhara and Rudby ( 2001 ) and Fujiwara ( 1996 ) the benefits achieved through the engagement of scholars may be important provided that such process is employed by stuff interior decorators and instructors. The findings besides support a work by Uvin ( 1996 ) . He reported that larning would be fascinated through the engagement of the scholars into all phases of ESOL class. Like his attack, in this survey, job resolution technique ( treatment, planning and action ) was utilised toward stuffs version. Finally the consequences of the survey go in line with a work by Pinheiro ( 1996 ) . She in her survey relied chiefly on scholars ‘ anterior experiences and background while developing the instructional stuffs. Like her survey, the findings show an betterment in compatibility of larning activities. She reported an addition in scholars ‘ interaction and coaction as the consequences of such compatibility. Based on such findings peer concerted self-access stuff version serves as an foil in the procedure of listening comprehension instruction and development of this accomplishment. This scheme helps the instructors motivate and encourage EFL scholars to take part in in-class and out-class hearing activities. Yet it is apparently required to keep a briefing session during which the major acquisition issues are introduced and discussed. The general result of the session was bettering scholars ‘ consciousness. The 2nd result which straight contributes to such an consciousness was version of stuffs which best suited their demands. Marrying up these two and peer cooperation led to high degree of engagement, interaction, coaction and finally a sense of accomplishment. However, there is still a fact that should non be lost sight of. Material version by scholars does n't intend that merely scholars should set about material version. What the scholars do demands to be supplemented by audience, aid and support on the portion of the instructors. In fact the function of rating listening stuffs and undertakings, which is needed to be carried out merely by professionals- stuff developers, instructors and etc, should non be ignored. The latter is surely a common process peculiarly used by instructors in listening categories, and it has confirmed to be affectional ( Nunan, 1993 ) . However, the usage of scholars ‘ engagement as a scheme offers some possible extra advantages to listening comprehension sweetening. 4. Decision and Deductions Didactically talking, the findings of the present survey should modify our understating of nature of stuffs version. Through version activities, scholars non merely see the existent usage of linguistic communication but besides the input they receive will be enriched culturally ( Alalou and Chamberlain, 1999 ) . One thing that debilitates listening comprehension is the deficiency of EFL scholars ‘ engagement in the procedure. An appropriate solution for this job is the engagement of scholars in the procedure of stuff version support teachers a batch because first it motivates scholars to take part enthusiastically in the hearing activities ( Hull, 1996 ) . It is merely because when they adapt listening stuffs, the stuff adapted will be based on their involvement. Therefore, they needfully become to the full involved in larning the new linguistic communication. Second, in their efforts to accommodate self-access hearing stuffs, run intoing their true demands is guaranteed. Third , it allows the pupils to be more adventuresome with the linguistic communication. This at the terminal enriches input from cultural point of position. As a affair of fact, larning and stabilising a new linguistic communication through promoting scholars to go involved volitionally in listening undertakings is one side of the coin. The other one is that instructors and stuff developers can acknowledge the debatable countries in listening through the procedure. Practically, strategic usage of equal concerted self-access stuff version has positive slipstream consequence on learning. In a better sense, instructors can easy detect cognition spreads and seek to take the obstructions. This is achieved through allowing scholars cheque and examine the available hearing stuffs harmonizing to their demands and involvements. Meantime, scholars should be concerted and at the same clip independent. Knowing it, the course of study interior decorators and stuff developers along with the instructors can successfully accommodate effectual hearing stuffs. Therefore, it apparently is the duty of the course of study interior decorators and stuff developers to affect scholars in the procedure of stuff version to the extent that their enthusiastic engagement additions and as the consequence larning takes topographic point. Hopefully, this survey is non an stoping but the beginning. More research is needed to be done to increase our apprehension of how different factors such as different proficiency degrees, genres and linguistic communication accomplishments may impact scholars ‘ engagement, attitude and accordingly public presentation. Recognitions The honest university professors, my co-workers, pupils and friends have been of priceless aid in the readying of this research. My debt of gratitude is to Dr. M.R. Anani Sarab whose priceless cooperation and aid helped me transport out this undertaking. I am highly thankful to Dr. M. R. Ataii for supplying me nice remarks to enrich the undertaking.

John D. Rockefeller essays

John D. Rockefeller essays John Davidson Rockefeller was at one time the worlds richest man. He made his good fortune through the oil business. Many things have been written about Rockefellers business deals. His first big industrial combination was made by using business methods that were questionable. Later though he made contributions to the welfare of people in America. Before he died, Rockefeller had given away $500 million to welfare. Most of that money went to foundations and organizations. The Rockefeller Foundation was the best known of all the foundations where the money went to. Also, the Rockefeller Institute, the General Education Board, and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, were of his well-known foundations. Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York on July 8, 1839. He was the second of six children and the first son of Eliza Davidson and William Avery Rockefeller. Eliza and Williams ancestors came from Germany in the 1720's. William, who was also known as Big Bill, was not really a good model for John to follow. In 1849, William was charged for rape and Johns family moved from Richford to Owego, New York to avoid the trial. Big Bill was a mix of a businessman and charlatan. He could speculate on land as well as cure cancer, as he claimed. Big Bill lived a double life. In his other life he lived by the name of Dr. Levingston and married another woman while married to Eliza. William definitely did not teach John rules of having good morality; however, he did teach him a lot about business and money transactions. That came to Johns advantage with his later life. Johns mother, Eliza, raised John in the protestant ethic of hard work and worship. Johns devotion to the church came from his mother and probably influenced all the charity that he showed in his life. Johns life story is one of those rags to riches type stories. When John was fourteen years old, his famil ...

The eNotes Blog Literary Lunch-Box Giveaway FromeNotes

Literary Lunch-Box Giveaway From Agh, yes, it is that time of year again: back to school! To make things a little easier for you (and to make your friends a lot jealous), were giving away a super sweet lunch-box set. Our exclusive literary kit includes: An Edgar Allan Poe lunch box A pack of Shakespeare insult gum A tin of Jane Austen bandages A whole bunch of neon pencils And a FREE pass to for 1 year! Never have bad breath or lose a pencil again To win, just mention your favorite author in a comment here or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook. Well pick two winners at random on 9/17/14 (U.S. shipping only).

Communications Plan Template How to Build Yours In 12 Steps

Communications Plan Template How to Build Yours In 12 Steps What message do you want to communicate to your audience? What do you want your audience to know about your organization? Whats your brands mission and purpose? These questions can leave marketers grasping at straws.   If you cant answer them clearly, though, your communications plan is bound to go off the rails. And thats exactly why weve written this post. Youre about to learn exactly how to create a consistent messaging strategy for your organization. As you go along,  youll learn how to document it all using a simple communication plan template. Plus, youll learn how to execute that plan using your blog, social media, and email marketing. Get Your Free Communication Plan Template + Bonus Calendars To make planning your communications strategy easy, we’ve built this free template. Plus, we’ve also included two calendar templates to keep your execution organized. Here’s what your kit includes: Communication Plan PowerPoint to lay out your entire communications strategy. Marketing Calendar template  to plan all of your content and campaigns. Social Media Calendar template  to schedule all of your social media messages. Download them now, and then let’s get down to work. How To Create A Communications Plan in 12 Steps (Free Template)What Is A Communication Plan For this post, a communication plan is: "A communication plan is a detailed strategy that outlines an organization's target audiences and the messages they need to receive to drive desired business outcomes." What is a communication plan, anyway?12 Steps To Develop A Solid Communication Plan Now that you know what a communication plan is, you can work on building one. The following 12 steps will help you plan a full strategy that you can share with your team. Here's how to develop a communications plan in 12 steps.Step One: Establish Your Mission Statement The first step in your communication planning process is reminding your team of your mission statement. Your mission statement is the end goal that your company wants to fulfill for your customers. Here are a few example mission statements to inspire your own (if you don’t have one yet): Starbucks:  To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time. :  Organizing the world one marketing calendar at a time. Nike:  To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. Try using this template to format your mission statement. Our organization exists to provide [benefit], [benefit], and [benefit] through [product or service]. Once you have your mission statement record it in your communication plan template: Do you know your organization's mission statement?Step Two: Identify Your Business Objectives The next step in your process is to identify your business objectives. Business objectives are goals your company or organization needs to hit to be successful. Every goal your team sets needs to contribute back to these objectives. If you’re unaware of what you’re aiming for, you’ll miss every time. Talk to or schedule a meeting with your manager to find these objectives. Once you have them record them in your template: Step Three: Develop Audience Personas The next step is to find your target audience or audiences. These are the people your organization is trying to reach. Therefore, you need to identify who they are and what makes them tick so you can create messages that connect with them. Identify Your Target Audience Before you start developing your audience personas, you need to identify your target audience. Your target audience is the group of people who are most likely to purchase your product or service. Here are a few ways to learn more about your target audiences: Survey current customers to learn more about them.  Try using tools like SurveyMonkey  or Google Forms  to gather data from your audience. Ask demographic style questions  to gather the information you are looking for. Dig into Google Analytics  to learn more about who is currently visiting your website. Search through your competitors  social media followers to see who they appear to be attracting (and compare that to your own followers). Once you’ve gathered the data, you need to create a one to two sentence description about your audience. It could look something like this: Our target audience is made up of professional 20 to 28-year-olds who have just started their first job after graduating from college with a four-year degree. Remember to keep it brief, as you’ll go into more detail later. Record these statements in your communications template: Are you using personas in your communication plan?Develop Your Audience Persona Once you’ve determined the basic information of your target audience, you can use the survey information you collected earlier to create a detailed audience persona. Each persona should contain the basic information about each of your target audiences including: Age Gender Job Title Location Income There’s also space to fill out interests and hobbies of your audiences as well as the problems they are currently facing. Recommended Reading: How To Find Your Target Audience With A Marketing Persona Step Four: Identify Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) To craft effective communication, you need to know your unique selling proposition. What is a USP? According to Entrepreneur, a unique selling proposition is: The factor or consideration presented by a seller as the reason that one product or service is different from and better than that of the competition. Let’s take a look at an example. Casper is an online mattress retailer, and their USP is focused around one simple idea. Since their product is sold directly to the consumer, they can offer lower prices than what you would find if you went to a brick and mortar store.  Unbeatable low cost sets them apart. Big or small, identifying your USP  will make a huge difference in your communication strategy. Work with your team to come up with your USP and record it in your template. What's your unique selling proposition?Step Five: Draft Your Calls To Action Each one of your target audiences will have a call to action. What do you want your audience to do after they have read or heard your message? For example, let’s say your organization is a budgeting program  designed to help people create financial freedom.   Your target audience is ages 20-28, starting their first job and dealing with a   mountain of student loan debt. Your call to action would be to sign up for a free consultation to help them get their loans paid off as soon as possible. You know what you want them to do; now you have to figure out the right phrasing that creates the final push they need to take action. This graphic is packed full of 54 different words that you can include in your CTA: If we go back to our example some CTAs that this company could use are: Discover how to get ahead of your student loan payments and sign up for a free consultation. Register for a free consultation and take advantage of this special offer before it’s gone. These CTAs should identify the action and general messaging your organization needs to communicate to each audience. Record them  in your template. Does your communication plan include clear calls to action?Step Six: Choose Your Channels The next step in your communication plan process is choosing the channels that you’re going to share your message on. Blogging According to Express Writers, featuring a blog  as a key part of your website increases your chance of better search engine rankings by 434%. Blog posts are great for sharing a variety of news including: Company events. Company news. Feel good projects your organization has taken on. How-to content. Updates to products and services. Launches of new products and services. Recommended Reading: How to Create Effective Blog Posts That Convert Like Crazy Email A second channel option to consider is email. According to Imagination, emails usually generate 38 dollars for every 1 dollar spent. That’s a 3,800% return on investment. So how can you use email to spread your message? Some common tactics are: Email Newsletters that keep your audience up to date with your latest content and news. Press Relations:  Need to get a press release out in a hurry? Email is a great way send your press releases out to your press contacts. Sales Offers:  Having a limited time offer to entice your customers to buy from you? Let them know with a quick email blast that is full of message copy that encourages them to buy. Tools like MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, and Wordfly  can help you get started. Social Media If you decide to use social media, ensure that your organization is using the best channels for your purposes. Here’s are some facts to keep in mind about each network. You can also choose your networks based on where your audience would be most active. According to the Pew Research Center, this the most updated audience demographic data as of 2016. Source: pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/ Use this data to see where your target audience is most active. Recommended Reading: How To Automate Your Social Media With And Get Your Time Back Choose your channels and record them in your template. Step Seven: Decide Your Publishing Frequency Now that you have your channels decided, your next step is to determine how often you’re going to publish your content. Each channel has its own set of best practices regarding publishing frequency. Blog Post Publishing Frequency Your blog post publishing frequency will vary a lot depending on your content team’s work span and how often they can write full blog posts. Start small and grow your blog post publishing frequency as you get ahead in your content. As you start to publish your blog posts, refer to this graphic to figure out the optimum days to post your content. Recommended Reading: When Is The Best Time To Publish Blog Posts? Email Send Frequency According to Crazy Egg, if you grow your email list by subscribers, your optimum send frequency is: Source: https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/email-marketing-frequency/ Again remember that these are just suggestions. If your audience wants to hear from you more often, give them what they’re asking for! Recommended Reading: What 10 Studies Say About The Best Time To Send Email Social Media Publishing Frequency For social media, there are two things your communications team should focus on when sending messages; how often to post and when to post. Here’s an infographic on how often you should post to social media according to 14 different studies: Recommended Reading: How Often To Post On Social Media? [Proven Research From 14 Studies] After you’ve determined how often you want to post to each of your social media channels you can move on to deciding when you’re going to post. This is important because posting at the right time helps increase the chance that your audience will see your content in their newsfeed. Check out this infographic on the best times to post on your social media channels: Recommended Reading: What 20 Studies Say About The Best Times To Post On Social Media It’s important to note that you don’t have to follow this publishing schedule exactly. Create one that works for your team and focus on growing it as you become more comfortable posting to the channel. So how do you decide what your initial publishing schedule will be? An example schedule might be: Publish 3 Facebook posts a week. Publish 15 tweets per day. Publish 2 blog posts a week. Send 3 emails a week. This publishing frequency is here to help you get started. If you can’t post as frequency as this schedule suggests, try working your way up to it instead. The main thing to focus on is consistency. Ultimately the schedule that you decide on will depend on you and your team. Once you have figured out your initial publishing schedule, record it in your template. Step Eight: What Messages Do You Need To Deliver? You have your strategy, now comes the fun part, deciding what messages you want to send. Each one of your target audiences has a specific message they need to hear to beat the final hurdle to converting. So how do you figure out what that message is? Each of your audiences experiences a particular problem that would draw them to your product or service. The messages you create for each of your audiences should address: The problem they’re currently facing. The solution your organization offers. The call to action you created in step six. Creating your messages involves a five-step process: Let’s walk through an example of this five step process. Think back to the example of the financial company who’s looking to help students who just graduated with their loans. This is how it should look in your communications plan template. Their target audience would be 20 to 28-year-olds who have just graduated from college and are in their first job. After you have identified your target audience, determine the problem they are facing and the solution your company can offer: Next, create a message your company’s target audience would connect with. Try using this fill in the blank template to start: Are you experiencing [insert problem]? See how [insert company name] can help with [product or service]. [insert the CTA that you came up with in step six.] In your template, it could look something like this. Your next step involves finding the channels that your audience would prefer to receive your message on. For this example, we could assume that 123 Accounting’s target audience would be most receptive to their message coming from a variety of social media channels. Then decide on the frequency that you will send your message out. Finally, take the CTA that you created for your target audience earlier in this post and add it to your messaging matrix. What are the core messages your brand needs to communicate?Step Nine: Determine Your Important Events and Campaign Plans Another critical part of your communication plan is going to be laying out the essential events your team needs to keep track of throughout the year. You’ll also want to start formatting the campaign plans for each of those events. To start take a look at your calendar for the next year. What common recurring events would your audience be interested in? This could be holidays, company events, anniversaries, or recurring sales or promotions. Some common holidays are: Christmas Thanksgiving (In the US) Hanukkah Easter The Fourth of July (In the US) Memorial Day (In the US) Veterans Day (In the US) Labor Day (In the US) President’s Day (In the US) Valentine’s Day Halloween St. Patrick’s Day New Year’s Day Many sales and promotions will fall around the holidays, but there are also some recurring dates to keep in mind: End of quarters (the end of every third month). End of companies fiscal year (this will depend on the organization). Beginning of a new season. End of a new season. Recurring industry conferences. Mark any of these recurring events and holidays in your calendar: Record those recurring dates in your communications plan so your team doesn’t have to flip through a previous calendar. Make sure your communication plan anticipates important events ahead of time.Step Ten: Set Your Communication Goals The next step in your communication process is to set goals that your communications team needs to reach. These goals should relate back to the business objectives you identified earlier in this post. For example, let’s say your business objective is to increase charitable donations by 50%. So a communications goal for your team could be: increase the number of event signups by 75% from last year. Each goal that you create should also be SMART or: S: Specific. M: Measureable. A: Attainable. R: Relevant. T: Timely. Try this fill in the blank template when you’re creating your goals: Our [insert team name] will reach [number] [metric] every [time frame] by [date]. So in practice, it could look something like this: Our communications team will reach 5,000 event trial sign-ups every quarter by December 2018. Once you have your goals you need to determine what metrics you’re going to track. Metrics are data points that show whether or not you are reaching your goals. If you’re looking for blog metrics some common ones are: Unique page views Total pageviews Time spent on site Bounce rate Organic search ranking Backlinks If you’re tracking email metrics, some common data points are: Email opens Number of new subscribers Total subscribers Link clicks Unscribers Finally, here are some common social media metrics your team could track: Impressions Reach Follower total New followers Engagements Once you’ve connected your goals to your metrics, record them in your template. Recommended Reading: How To Set SMART Marketing Goals Step Eleven: Using Your Marketing Calendar to Execute Your Communications Plan You finally have a full communications plan. Now comes the time to execute it. The question is how? That’s where your marketing or content calendar comes in. Using the content calendar template that you downloaded earlier, fill out each one of your events and the length of the campaign it’s related to. It could look something like this: You can add in what days your blog posts, emails and more are publishing: To schedule your social media posts open your social media calendar and use the same color codes to indicate which social media posts are related to each campaign: Do This With You may start to notice you need three, four, five maybe even six tools to get your messages out to your audience. That seems like a lot. What if there was a way you could do it all in one tool? That’s where comes in. With our marketing calendar software, you can: Manage your team’s workflows, plan all your content, and see deadlines in one place. Automate your WordPress and social media publishing schedule (and email scheduling is coming soon). Measure your content + social performance. Plus a whole lot more. Recommended Reading: The Ultimate Guide to Execute your communications plan on one marketing calendar. @will show you how.Step Twelve: Measuring Your Results The very last step in your communication plan is to measure your results. You need to know what you’re doing is working right? This is where you’ll pull the metrics that you created for each one of your goals and start tracking them to see if your efforts are indeed paying off. If you’re going to be tracking blog post metrics, Google Analytics is going to be your best friend. To find the data you need to go Behavior → Site Content → All Pages: There you’ll be able to find all the data on the metrics we mentioned earlier in this post including page views, average time spent on page and bounce rate. Email metric data should be found in your ESP or email service provider tool. Each one will vary a bit on what data they pull and where this is located on the platform. Social metrics actually need to be found and tracked in Google Analytics and the internal analytics that the app gathers. Google Analytics will let you find traffic by going to Acquisition → Social → Network Referrals: From there you’ll be able to see the number of sessions, pageviews and session durations coming from your social media channels. Another way to find your social media data is to go to the in-app analytics of each of your social media channels. Each channel holds its own series of analytics including post reach, post engagement, audience demographics and more.