How to Style Legislative Terms

How to Style Legislative Terms How to Style Legislative Terms How to Style Legislative Terms By Mark Nichol Capitalization style for words and phrases related to legislation and international agreements is fairly straightforward, but here are some notes about treatment: Constitutions The phrase â€Å"US Constitution† (or â€Å"United States Constitution,† though the form with initials alone is sufficient) should be capitalized as such, as should names of state constitutions (â€Å"the California Constitution,† for example), but the word on its own is lowercased even as a subsequent reference to a specific document. The same is true of a word for components of a constitution, such as article. Names of specific amendments to the US Constitution are capitalized, but whether words or numerals are used to indicate them is contingent on which authority is used: The Chicago Manual of Style, the style manual of record for book publishers, calls for generally spelling out numbers up to one hundred, but the Associated Press Stylebook, which prescribes style for newspapers (some magazines and many Web sites adhere to it as well), uses numerals for 10 and up. So, write â€Å"Thirteenth Amendment† or â€Å"13th Amendment† according to the style your self-selected or externally appointed style guide recommends. Proposed amendments to the Constitution are often identified by their chief proponent (for example, â€Å"the Bricker Amendment†) or their aims (â€Å"the Equal Rights Amendment,† though some people argue that because there is no such amendment, only a movement to pass one, it should not be validated with capitalization). Bills and Acts A proposal for a new law enacted by the US Congress is offered as a bill. A bill proposed in the House of Representatives is given the body’s initials and a number (HR 99), followed by the name of the bill; a Senate is identified similarly (S 13). (As with US and other abbreviations, the initials are often followed by periods, but this style is unnecessary.) This style isn’t exactly mirrored in state and local legislation; for example, in the California Assembly, the local equivalent of the House of Representatives, a bill is abbreviated AB (for â€Å"Assembly Bill.†) If passed, the bill becomes an act, such as the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010. (Note that the year of enactment is often but not always part of the official name of the act.) In generic usage, even to a specific act, the word act is lowercased, though many legislative bodies and associated publications capitalize it when it refers to a specific act, as in â€Å"The Act would reverse a long-standing military policy that discriminates against gay service personnel.† Many other names for legislation exist, including code, ordinance, and statute. These words are capitalized as part of the name of a body of laws, such as â€Å"Civil Code† or â€Å"Municipal Code,† but are otherwise lowercased. Treaties and Such Nomenclature for treaties includes formal and informal styles. For example, one notable example’s formal name is the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, but the treaty associated with the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks is informally called the SALT treaty (with treaty lowercased because that is not the official name). A similar international understanding is referred to as an agreement, as in â€Å"the Sykes-Picot Agreement.† Then there is an armistice, which is merely a cessation of hostilities that may or may not be followed by a peace treaty. Many notable armistices have occurred, requiring specific nomenclature such as â€Å"the Korean War Armistice Agreement,† but the default event, that formalizing the end of World War I, is referred to simply as â€Å"the Armistice.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Possessive of Proper Names Ending in SWhat is the Difference Between Metaphor and Simile?

Seneca Falls Womens Rights Convention - 1848

Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention - 1848 The roots of the Seneca Falls Womens Rights Convention, the first womens rights convention in history, go back to 1840, when Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were attending the Worlds Anti-Slavery Convention in London as delegates, as were their husbands. The credentials committee ruled that women were constitutionally unfit for public and business meetings. After a vigorous debate on the role of women at the convention, the women were relegated to a segregated womens section which was separated from the main floor by a curtain; the men were permitted to speak, the women were not. Elizabeth Cady Stanton later credited conversations held with Lucretia Mott in that segregated womens section for the idea of holding a mass meeting to address the rights of women. William Lloyd Garrison arrived after the debate about women speaking; in protest of the decision, he spent the convention in the womens section. Lucretia Mott came from a Quaker tradition in which women were able to speak in church; Elizabeth Cady Stanton had already asserted her sense of womens equality by refusing to have the word obey included in her marriage ceremony. Both were committed to the cause of abolition of slavery; their experience in working for freedom in one arena seemed to solidify their sense that full human rights must be extended to women, too. Becoming a Reality But it was not until an 1848 visit of Lucretia Mott with her sister, Martha Coffin Wright, during an annual Quaker convention, that the idea of a womens rights convention turned into plans, and Seneca Falls became a reality. The sisters met during that visit with three other women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary Ann MClintock, and Jane C. Hunt, at the home of Jane Hunt. All were also interested in the anti-slavery issue, and slavery had just been abolished in Martinique and the Dutch West Indies. The women obtained a place to meet in the town of Seneca Falls and on July 14 put a notice in the paper about the upcoming meeting, publicizing it mainly in the upstate New York area: Womans Rights Convention A Convention to discuss the social, civil and religious condition and rights of woman, will be held in the Wesleyan Chapel, at Seneca Falls, N.Y., on Wednesday and Thursday, the 19th and 20th of July, current; commencing at 10 oclock, A.M. During the first day the meeting will be exclusively for women, who are earnestly invited to attend. The public generally are invited to be present on the second day, when Lucretia Mott of Philadelphia, and others, ladies and gentlemen will address the convention. Preparing the Document The five women worked to prepare an agenda and a document to be considered for passage at the Seneca Falls convention. James Mott, Lucretia Motts husband, would chair the meeting, as many would consider such a role for women to be unacceptable. Elizabeth Cady Stanton led the writing of a declaration, modeled after the Declaration of Independence. The organizers also prepared specific resolutions. When Elizabeth Cady Stanton advocated for including the right to vote among the proposed actions, the men threatened to boycott the event, and Stantons husband left town. The resolution on voting rights stayed in, though the women other than Elizabeth Cady Stanton were skeptical of its passage. First Day, July 19 At the first day of the Seneca Falls convention, with over 300 people in attendance, the participants discussed womens rights. Forty of the participants at Seneca Falls were men, and the women quickly made the decision to allow them to participate fully, asking them only to be silent on the first day which had been meant to be exclusively for women. The morning didnt begin auspiciously: when those who had organized the Seneca Falls event arrived at the meeting place, Wesleyan Chapel, they found that the door was locked, and none of them had a key. A nephew of Elizabeth Cady Stanton climbed in a window and opened the door. James Mott, who was supposed to chair the meeting (it still being considered too outrageous for a woman to do so), was too ill to attend. The first day of the Seneca Falls convention continued with a discussion of the prepared Declaration of Sentiments. Amendments were proposed and some were adopted. In the afternoon, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton spoke, then more changes were made to the Declaration. The eleven resolutions including the one that Stanton had added late, proposing that women get the vote were debated. Decisions were put off until Day 2 so that men, too, could vote. In the evening session, open to the public, Lucretia Mott spoke. Second Day, July 20 On the second day of the Seneca Falls convention, James Mott, Lucretia Motts husband, presided. Ten of the eleven resolutions passed quickly. The resolution on voting, however, saw more opposition and resistance. Elizabeth Cady Stanton continued to defend that resolution, but its passage was in doubt until an ardent speech by ex-slave and newspaper owner, Frederick Douglass, on its behalf. The closing of the second day included readings of Blackstones Commentaries on the status of women and speeches by several including Frederick Douglass. A resolution offered by Lucretia Mott passed unanimously: The speedy success of our cause depends upon the zealous and untiring efforts of both men and women, for the overthrow of the monopoly of the pulpit, and for securing to women of equal participation with men in the various trades, professions, and commerce. The debate about mens signatures on the document was resolved by permitting men to sign, but below the womens signatures. Of about 300 people present, 100 signed the document. Amelia Bloomer was among those who did not; she had arrived late and had spent the day in the gallery because there were no seats left on the floor. Of the signatures, 68 were of women and 32 were of men. Reactions to the Convention The story of Seneca Falls wasnt over, however. Newspapers reacted with articles mocking the Seneca Falls convention, some printing the Declaration of Sentiments in its entirety because they thought it was ridiculous on its face. Even more liberal papers like that of Horace Greeley judged the demand to vote to be going too far. Some signers asked to have their names removed. Two weeks after the Seneca Falls convention, a few of the participants met again, in Rochester, New York. They resolved to continue the effort, and organize more conventions (though in the future, with women chairing the meetings). Lucy Stone was key in organizing a convention in 1850 in Rochester: the first to be publicized and conceptualized as a national womens rights convention. Two early sources for the Seneca Falls Womens Rights Convention are the contemporary account in Frederick Douglass Rochester newspaper, The North Star, and Matilda Joslyn Gages account, first published in 1879 as National Citizen and Ballot Box, later becoming part of A History of Woman Suffrage, edited by Gage, Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony (who was not at Seneca Falls; she did not become involved in womens rights until 1851).

Effective Team and Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Effective Team and Management - Essay Example One outstanding person who has shown this is Virgin Group founder, Richard Branson. This essay will evaluate the success and achievements of Richard Branson (as a case study) on leadership and teamwork in relation to the theoretical models that conceptualise leadership and at the end it will unfold in a much more practical way, those ways that an effective leadership can be achieved. To meet this objective, the essay will analyse critically leadership styles that Richard Branson deployed that heightened his performance in effectively coordinating the teams he had and comparing this to the existing theoretical conceptions. Richard Branson was born on 18th July, 1950 in England and later on started going to school of which he did not complete. His school life was a misery and at age 16, he stopped going to school, an event that saw his life change for what it is today. It was this drop-out that got him into business enterprises which begun from the sector of music but has since developed to a myriad other sectors. His mother Eve (flight attendant) and father (Edward Branson) struggled with him so much to help him in education as he had dyslexia disorder but these failed and at age 16 he drop out. This prompted him to found a youth magazine called â€Å"Student† which he ran for some time until 1969 when he thought of venturing in a record shop that could help support his magazine financially and in 1973, he launched Virgin Records. Branson continued to go in his business enterprises step by step and today the Virgin Records he launched in 1973 has grown expansively and it is now a group of companies that host over 200 companies in very many countries. It’s not only that one line of business that Branson owns but number of several other businesses across the economy that has escalated him financially to become a billionaire. Virgin Group is a

Toyota in the path of Globalisation Dissertation

Toyota in the path of Globalisation - Dissertation Example And those facts are giving huge competitive advantage to Toyota over its rival’s automobile manufacturer in domestic market as well as global market. Globalisation in today’s world is more effective than anything else in the world. Globalisation means doing business all over the world. Not only business means goods and services but also it is an exchange of cultures, thoughts, ideas and views of the people of one location with the people of other locations. As more and more organisations are following that path so business is getting more competitive in everyday. Several strategies were included in the production line of Toyota to be more effective on the way of globalisation and to be more competitive in world market. Company Overview In 1937 Toyota was founded. It is a manufacturer of automobiles, headquarter is in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. In 1957 Toyota entered into United States market at first. In last seventy six years it introduced itself in one hundred and seventy countries all over the globe. Most promising markets of Asia and developed markets of North America and Europe, Toyota made its presence. As export grown heavily firm made its production bases in several regions according to that regions demand. This policy is widely known as "producing vehicles where the demand exists" (toyota-global.com). Currently Toyota has fifty one manufacturing base in twenty six different locations of the world. Not only manufacturing units all over the globe, but also Toyota now have nine different research and development bases all over the globe and developing "from development and design to production, as well as sales and service, Toyota has now achieved consistent globalization and localization" (toyota-global.com). Q.1. Marketing Mix of Toyota: To make its business global Toyota had several hurdle in developing that system. First thing that come up in the process is assurance in quality. Toyota achieved that by introducing one statement in its manufac turing unit that is â€Å"no matter where Toyota vehicles are made, they must have the same high level of quality." This company does not put any ‘Made in USA’ or ’Made in Japan’ tag over its cars. They only put one statement in their vehicles, which is ‘Made by Toyota’. This is a ‘Toyota Way’ kind of promotion in its every product throughout the globe. They do not bring highly educated or qualified or skilled labours or employees for production but they trained their own manufacturing people by themselves to enhance their level of skill. Just for that reason Toyota in 2003 opened a Global Production Centre (GPC) in its Toyota city inside of its Motomachi Plant. In 2006 to increase its presence in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America Toyota opened more Global Production centre in United Kingdom, Thailand and United States. Below diagram is showing the Toyota’s research and development units and manufacturing units in sev eral locations of the world- Source: http://www.toyota-global.com/company/profile/in_the_world/ There are two major principles on which Toyota’s manufacturing process is depending on; they are continuity in improvement and proper respect and remuneration to its employees. The main slogan in Toyota’s manufacturing system is ‘making thing’ and that is followed by a most innovative and productive process that is "lean manufacturing system" or it can be called as "Just-in-Time (JIT) system†. Constant improvement system is followed in production units to achieve "making the vehicles ordered by customers in the quickest and most efficient way, in order to deliver

The Roman History Essay Example for Free

The Roman History Essay The history of Rome first century of Roman Empire is the time of toughening of emperor regime and strengthening of its authoritarian character. The indicated process, the most vivid external illustration was practice of political repressions, was stipulated by personal qualities of regents, and the very essence of principate regime. The scale and character of emperor terror in the 1st century is subject of discussions in the modern historiography, but doesn’t matter which point of view we have, it will not be a mistake to tell that its influence for Roman society was very great. The transformation from Republic to Empire event of revolution meaning for Roman history – wasn’t the same important for August’s contemporaries. Those advantages, which were the result of principate – civil peace, personal safety, economic goods – seemed to overshadow the new political changes (The End of the Roman Empire by Donald Kagan, p. 85). It took several dozens of years of Pax Augusti, where the political stability, which became a usual thing, partially lost status of absolute value for the Romans. The necessity to preserve Caesars power in the name of total safety was not so obvious for generation which grew during August government. Those who survived Tiberius repressions, madness of Caligula, petty tyranny of Neuron understood that the governmental regime of Rome experienced changes during August government and the very time of it starts to be understood as historical edge, which separate Senate republic and Roman people (Senatus Populusque Romanum) from Caesars Empire (The End of the Roman Empire by Donald Kagan, p. 92). This terror delivered a strong blow to old aristocracy: there were a lot of representatives of noble families: Aurelius, Domicius, Calpurnius, Emiluius, Scribonius, Eluis, etc. Still, even if not the terror, the old Nobiles early or later would disappear from the scene, giving place to new social forces. A new generation managed to grew in conditions of terrorist regime of Julius-Claudius, generation which will manage to determine the face of Empire. Let’s realize the meaning of â€Å"Nobiles†. The word â€Å"Nobiles† (Latin ‘nobilitas’) means noble, the best. The estate of Nobiles appeared during the war of patricians with plebs. Thanks to reforms of Servius Tuliy, in accordance with which the position of citizen was determined exclusively by property qualification, but not by belonging to some class, plebs became Roman citizens and the top of this class became nobility. Importance of Tulius constitution was also in fact that it was an important stage in development of new elite class of aristocracy – Nobiles. Common interests of land and slaves proprietors help consolidation of power class. Rich plebs and patricians are making one new class – Nobiles. So we can make important conclusion: if during the epoch of kings Senate stayed, by essence, patricians, so it becomes patrician-plebs during the Republic. Some patrician clans loose their importance and gradually disappeared. Some plebs clans, on the contrary, gained importance. Another fact is that Senate aristocracy consisted not only of plebs and patricians but also so-called â€Å"new people† (hominess novi). They were not a part Senate aristocracy and were able to gain some high positions only as exceptions. Economic basis of Nobiles-magnates was huge land-owning: Nobiles took the best lands; former lands of rulers became latifundias. Together with Italian patrimonies the rich gained big patrimonies in provinces as well. Frequent military campaigns to the other countries make rich military commanders from Senate class. They received big sums of money from provinces, the finances of Nobiles from wars and robberies of provinces were the basis for land development (Donald Kagan, et. al., The Western Heritage, vol. 1, chapter 5). Classical slave-owning were developed. The historians think that Senate oligarchy had several political means of influence the country such as: Consulate power; Appointing of dictators; Split in the environment of national tribunes; Opposition to decisions of plebs national meetings; Religion as strong support of aristocracy. Former simplicity changed by luxuriance. The next stage of struggle with regime of Senate oligarchy in the history of Republic became Caesars dictatorship. In 44 AD senate has given him a title of lifelong, eternal dictator (dictator in perpetuum), he has received also a title father of fatherland (parens patriae), a title of emperor which became part of his name, specifying connection with his army; and has been elected great pontific. Caesar has shown himself everywhere in purple clothes of triumphal accompanied by 72 leactors. Despite of dictatorship regime, traditional republican institutes were saved: a post of consul, national assembly which obeyed the orders of Caesar. The senate reorganized by dictator and consisting now of 900 person mainly his officers and even former libertines was the same. Caesar became the lifelong monarch. Bended before destiny and power of this person, writes Ploutarch, and allowed to put a bridle on them, Romans considered that individual power is rest from civil wars and other misfortunes. They have chosen him lifelong dictator. This irremovability in connection with unlimited autocracy was public tyranny (Donald Kagan, et. al., The Western Heritage, vol. 1, ch. 5). 40-ies AD were marked by violent struggle against senatorial oligarchy and formation of Second triumvirate (43 AD) for this struggle. Mark Antony, Lepide and Octavian became the triumvirers, which have received from the senate the extraordinary powers for the establishment of state (tresviri reipublicae constituendae), but in fact all these was made for struggle against republicans. Triumviri first of all acted as enemies of senatorial oligarchy, the main aim of them was destruction of old aristocracy. By Sulla’s example, they made lists of political opponents (proscription). Those repressions by quantity of victims and cruelty were much crueler then those of Sulla: they killed more then 300 senators and 2 thousand of horsemen. Cyceron was the head of opposition in Senate against triumvirs and particularly, against consul – a friend of Caesar, by whose offer Antonio was declared the enemy of fatherland. Cyceron made 14 speeches against him, accusing Antonio that he leads amoral way of life, drunkenness and debauchery; called him scoundrel, impudent, fool, coward, etc. Cyceron, the prominent Roman speaker, philosopher and political leader, was killed for his speeches. The killers brought his head to Antonio, who was finally satisfied (Donald Kagan, et. al., The Western Heritage, vol. 1, ch. 6). The Caesarians won a victory over Republicans and established an Emperor regime in January 13, year 27 – Principate – the early form of Empire with August at the head. His full name was as follows: Imperator Caesar Augustus, Divi Filius. Still, we can admit that Augustus really became the first dictator in world history to call for a nationwide plebiscite. Political system of Principate formally was based on traditional republican magistrates – the reason of it was that Senate gave to August extremely powers in order to renovate former Republic (N. Lewis M. Reinhold, Roman Civilization, I: The Republic and the Augustan Age, p. 260). But in fact all of them were now united in August’s hands, what contradicted the Republican constitution. Still, legally Senate (600 persons) was considered to be supreme governmental structure with court and legislative     functions, but it also became an obedient weapon in emperor’s hands, because Senate confirmed all propositions of his emperor. So, Seneca was right, when he exclaimed: â€Å"The Governor hided in the republican clothes!† When I studied the history of Ancient Rome, the book I liked was the book of R. Syme â€Å"Roman revolution† (1939). A.J.P. Taylor wrote that the book is a work of brilliant scholarship which can be enjoyed by the expert and the layman alike. Another estimation of Ronald Syme’s work was made by Sir Maurice Bowra who said that â€Å"his work is extraordinarily persuasive and interesting; it is the best book on Roman History that has appeared for many years†. The idea of this book is to examine transformation of Rome from Roman Republic to Empire like some kind of revolution, the main force of which was new Roman Army – armed proletariat. This book is a bright example of usage new prosophographic method of those times. This method was born in the West from the beginning of XX century. In contrast to Mommsen’s scheme, which supposed the existence of some ideological pivot in the outline of events, which determined activity of political groups, this method makes the main accent on egoistic essence of human being – subject of politics. The central theme of researches becomes not the struggle of ideas or the struggle of ideologies, but the rivalry of personal ambitions. So, this is the reason that representatives of prosophographic method have as direction of â€Å"party† war the war of family and clan groups. The scientists consider Geltzer, Muntzer and Syme to be the founders of this method. The first monograph of M. Geltzer is published in 1912 under the name â€Å"Nobiles of Roman Republic†, where the author suggests original conception, in accordance with which the Roman Nobiles consisted of Senator class and horsemen. But still, the main merit of this researcher is that he paid special attention to relative, friendly, client and other personal relations, with ‘fides’ in its basis. Developing his ideas, Geltzer criticized the conception, which was quite popular thanks to Mommzen, the idea of which was â€Å"two-party† character of political life in Rome. Ronald Syme considers that political struggle in Rome was determined not by struggle of the parties or political programs, but disputes of noble families, with admirers, which made a kind of group among the noble families, connected with them by extremely personal relations (Donald Kagan, et. al., The Western Heritage, vol. 1, ch. 6). Ronald Syme wrote other prominent words which are worthwhile to cite here: The nobiles by their ambition and their feuds, had not merely destroyed their spurious republic: they had ruined the Roman People. There is something more important than political liberty; and political rights are a means, not an end in themselves. That end is security of life and property: it could not be guaranteed by the constitution of Republican Rome. Worn and broken by civil war and disorder, The Roman people was ready to surrender the ruinous privilege of freedom and submit to strict government as the beginning of time.So order came to Rome. Acriora ex eo vincula, as Tacitus observes. Ronald Syme considers Caesar not the revolutionary, but rather an opportunist and realist because his actions and deeds, which was more conservative and much more Roman citizen, then some can him consider to be (R. Syme, The Roman Revolution, p.312); he determines Octavian as a real revolutionary leader. The most interesting, still, are conclusions made by Syme about Caesars dictatorship, his personality and character of power. Ronald Syme doesn’t see the necessity to suppose that Caesar had desire to create ellinistic monarchy. His political aims were determined by desire to liquidate consequences of civil war. He understood, of course, that government of Nobiles became anachronism in the world orb, as well as the government of Roman plebs from the moment when all Italics were able to take part in vote (Gabba, E. ‘True history and false history in classical antiquity’, Journal of Roman Studies 71 (1981) 50-62). But even in this position Caesar could be satisfied by dictatorship as it was; his autocratic position was forced to the great extent. In such a way Ronald Syme in his work â€Å"The Roman Revolution† gave very careful and reserved estimation or Caesar. Caesar wasn’t appraised the title of â€Å"revolutionary† even, although Syme examines the civil war after the Caesar’s death like a further intensification of revolution, and â€Å"the successor of Caesar, Octavian, is estimated as revolutionary leader. The arguments Syme uses, are often seem to be ineluctable. This conception influenced considerably the ideas and works of different scientists regarding transformation of Rome from Roman Republic to Empire. Ronald Syme writes the following about the Caesar: The rule of the nobiles, he [Caesar] could see, was an anachronism in a world-empire; and so was the power of the Roam plebs when all Italy enjoyed the franchise. Caesar in truth was more conservative and Roman that many have fancied; no Roman conceived of government save through an oligarchy. The researchers who tried to investigate the nature of problem of principate try to imagine this transformation not like simple change of political forms, but like a part of more wide social-political revolution. We mean, first of all, the theory of â€Å"Roman revolution†, which is expressed with full strength in the Syme’s work. The essence of changes, which took place in Roman government at the edge of old and new era, by opinion of English researcher, was that oligarchy of Roman Nobiles changed by other, consisted of different groups of Italian people. The principate appeared as a result of compromise between revolutionary leader, Octavian and Republican aristocracy, which lost its monopoly for power during the Civil Wars of I century before our century. This compromise, stipulated by Constitutional Agreement of AD 23, became the basis of political position of August, which was determined, besides the extremely powers, given to him by Senate and people, by the special influence of his personality (anctoritas Augusti), which had great power (Alfoldy, G. Two Principes: Augustus and Sir Ronald Syme, p.101-105). To call this system, created by August, the monarchy or not to call – by opinion of R. Syme is the matter of taste. It is important, that in fact this power was absolute, and there is no doubts and other opinions. The Republicanism of the Empire founder can be considered the fiction of historians of XIX-XX centuries: Tacit and Gybbon understood the real matter of facts more clearly then majority of the modern researchers, considers Syme (Alfoldy, G. Two Principes: Augustus and Sir Ronald Syme, p.112). Still, some historians don’t agree with Ronald Syme, who declares that the decisive role in the subsequent constitutional transformation played people who were very close to August: Vipsany Agrippa and Lyvia. Ronald Syme is sure that the relations of direct subordination between principles and proconsuls of Senate provinces are regulated only starting from the year 23. His point of view, as far as I think, is without any doubt, quite close to truth: it is not accidentally almost immediately after â€Å"regulation† of year 23 August undertakes long inspection trip at his Eastern lands. It goes without saying that Ronald Syme also divides great attention to problem of organization of public opinion in his work â€Å"The Roman Revolution† (R. Syme, The Roman Revolution, pp. 459-475). We are fully agree with conclusion of English historian, that laudation addressed to principal by Virgily, Goratio and other prominent poets of those days, cannot be considered only as usual court flattery. The poets of August government are natives of Italy. The opinions of Italian people are reflected in their creativity like in the mirror. (R. Syme, The Roman Revolution, p. 333). I think, particularly, that this work of Ronald Syme can be called one of the most important books on history of Rome. The book is written in amazing style and actually, I really think that it can change the life of person who’ll read it carefully and attentively. Let’s have a look nor for Roman problem with Suetonius’ eyes. When he published one of the most famous books â€Å"The Twelve Caesars†, Roman Empire already existed for more them 1,5 centuries. 150 years before the ancestor of dictator Caesar, Octavian became the only governor of huge Roman government. Civil wars, which took place for more then 20 years, were finished and the epoch of Roman republic finished as well. The fall of Republic was caused by a number of economic, social and political reasons. As result of long-lasting wars which lasted for more then three centuries, Rome, which once was an unpretentious city-government, subordinated almost the whole Mediterranean area. Rome managed to subordinate nations with very different level of social and cultural development: Greece, which already overcame its power, Asia, Syria, Egypt, where forms of property and exploitation, which were popular at the times of Ancient East, were combined with developed slave-owner relations. Northern Africa, Gallya, Spain, divided into plenty of regions and tribes, part of which already knew developed slavery, trade, city life, and part of which still lived in other conditions or was subordinated to kin aristocracy (JOHN W. BURKE, Emblematic Scenes in Suetonius Vitellius , p.12). So, explanation of events needs examination of facts in their connection and cooperation, where good and bad events are the reasons of the same motives. This is the way Plutarch and Tacit do, although for one of them this connection is spread for the whole Roman history, and for the other one is limited by life of one person. Estimation of events, still, needs maximum possible isolation of the fact: only in this position we’ll be able to compare it and estimate if it is good or not. This is the way Suetonius acts. He gives in his work a chain of biographies instead of consequence of events, and he proposes to the reader in each biography plenty of facts (JOHN W. BURKE, Emblematic Scenes in Suetonius Vitellius , p.13). His emperors seems to pass some kind of exam for a good governor for people who read his works, and he takes into account not the motives of their actions, but the only actions and their results. Tacit wanted to scare the reader, showing him the fatal inevitability of degeneration of the Emperor Rome; Plutarch wanted to console the reader, giving him moral examples, which they should obey and which they should avoid. Both of them wanted to touch the heart of their heroes and to find out some properties which are common for past, present and future. The history continues to live in modern time for them. Tacit feels that cruelties of former emperors can be renewed in any new governor, Plutarch knows that merits and demerits of ancient governors are still alive and will remain the example and the kind of lesson for all the times.   Suetonius doesn’t know these feelings (JOHN W. BURKE, Emblematic Scenes in Suetonius Vitellius , p.15). The contemporaneity for him already solved all questions which were accusing the past, the truth was reached and the former mistakes will never happen again: these were particulars, accidental details, which cannot be considered as common facts. So, having a look at them, he notices only the external side of events, he tries to find the features which are individual, different, unusual and bright; the peculiarity in small details is much more interesting for him, then similarity in common. To tel with other words, he aspires to interesting facts, but not to edifying ones. This is the task and this is the approach: estimation instead of explanation, a number of facts instead of chain of events, interesting facts instead of edifying. This approach determines all character of Suetonius’ biographies and in choice and place of the facts. The author is concentrated at the personality of emperor all the time. This is not the history of Empire, but a history of emperors. Suetonius doesn’t depict historical background: at best he reminds about it, supposing that all considerable events are familiar to the reader. Everything that takes place at the huge area of Empire seems to enter Suetonius’s work only by weak echo (JOHN W. BURKE, Emblematic Scenes in Suetonius Vitellius , p.16).   Events in provinces seem even don’t existing for him. Speaking about the Empire expansion he says only in few words:† so and so areas are turned into provinces†, or in better case he determines their location. (The Twelve Caesars (Penguin Classics) by Suetonius, Yul. 25, Tib. 16). So, the city of Rome and Emperor’s court are the focus of author’s attention.   Suetonius enumerates emperor’s building and spectacles, laws and addicts, shows relation of the governor to Senate, horsemen and nation, special attention he divides to organization of court and legal activity of the emperor. People who influence emperor and governmental affairs are in the shadow: for example, Agrippa and Mecenat are noted briefly in Augustus’ biography; in Tiberius’ biography only Sean was mentioned, and Macron wasn’t noted at all; there is no place for Seneca in Nero’s biography as well as for Nimphidius Sabin at biography of Galba; only while describing biography of Claudius, he enumerates his advisors- libertines, which considered the emperor their toy. But at the same time the figure of emperor, overshadowing all the other, is described with full details: here, in description of person, embodying the whole Roman Empire, there are no inessential details. He carefully collects facts regarding his health, character, habits, interests, way of life; personal life of the emperor seems to be integral part of his governmental activity, it opens to the reader the inclinations of governor in a simple person and allows to foreseen the features of politics with the help of character features. Besides, details of personal life of emperor, of course, allowed adding the interest to Suetonius work, which was of such great importance to the author and the readers. Suetonius writes more details about love adventures of Caesar then about conquest of Gally; he collects anecdotes of Vespassian and at the same time he doesn’t write anything about the famous resolution regarding division of power between Senate and Vespassian (JOHN W. BURKE, Emblematic Scenes in Suetonius Vitellius , p.17). The biographical scheme consists of four parts: life of emperor before he came to power, governmental activity, personal life, death and funeral. The first and last parts author use chronological scheme of events, if necessary, but the middle parts (which are dedicated to power of emperor) are completely built by logical scheme, with columns, headings and rubrics. Neque per tempora, sed per species – this is the main principle of Suetonius writing. Suetonius wasn’t an independent political philosopher. But still, his biographies are of great interest as a document of epoch, when the theory of monarchy was formed. In their details, they give full program, which should follow the leader, in case he wanted to be approved by ruling classes. Some features were the result of specific conditions; some seemed to be actual and real. This is the reason of interest to his work during the middle ages and nowadays, and thanks to this condition his work is quite popular and interesting even for modern reader. But, let’s come back to the Roman history. Variety of philosophic conceptions at the end of II and I century BC was only one demonstration of complete dissidence of nationality, which was monolithic before; this  Ã‚   dissidence took place in all spheres of culture, and first of all in interpretation of the most actual problems of Roman history for modern political struggle. In such a way, for Sallustius, the active supporter of Caesar, opponent of Senate party, Roman past was an example. But now the government fell into decay and seemed to die inevitably if some changes will not happen. The cause of decay is terrible spoiling of temper, which touched plebs as well, but the main damage caused to Nobile. So, what are the reasons of doom of the Nobiles? To tell the truth, the reason is always the same. â€Å"Often I think over the facts, writes Sallustiy,- in which way the great people achieve success and glory, how the nation raises with the help of prominent governors, which circumstances are the reasons of fall for huge countries and always I have the only one reason for all these: the same merits or the same demerits are the reason of these opposite events: all people who became winners despised the wealth, and all beaten ardently pressed toward them†. So to reach true greatness for a separate person and a government in common, is possible only by one way: to despise the wealth and physical enjoyments, to exercise in â€Å"work, patience, good events and brave actions† – it means, by way of moral perfection. These short formulas are the beginning of Sallustius’ theory of moral collapse. Nobile became corruptible, dissolute, self-interested and always been the enemy of common people, who struggled for freedom during the time of war between patricians and plebs. Some of the main reasons of doom of the Nobile can be called also two passions, two demerits, which are developed in the Roman society: desire for power, ambitions (ambitio) and desire for money, self-interest (avaritia). â€Å"Ambition made people to become liars; to have one in mind and to tell the other in words, to estimate friendly and enemy relations not by essence, but by benefit and to bemore interested in attractive appearance then in inner content† (Sallustius). The second demerit is even more dangerous for society, â€Å"because self-interest radically undermines faithfulness, honesty and other positive qualities in human being, and puts in the forefront cruelty and arrogance, it teaches people to treat the Gods without any regard and to count that you can buy everything†. Roman society once and for all was stucked in demerits and crimes. Only wealth is praised, virtue is downtrodden, poverty is the synonym of shame, and honesty seems to be almost unreliable. The youth couldn’t resist to all these and under influence of greed and luxuriance turned from one side to robberies, and from the other – to mad expenditures, forgot about shame and modesty and didn’t want to obey the laws- neither human, nor God. Rome was great until plebs and their representatives (national tribunes) remained free and strong – government became stronger thanks to its victories. The power of people and fear of strong external enemies held the Nobile in leash, but when Carthage was destroyed, this limiting beginning disappeared. The craving for power and wealth started to be shown more and more openly. Aristocracy in their aspiration for wealth ruined and corrupted by tips the nation which lost the freedom they won before. And still, there is only one factor which is still able to save Rome – nation. The task is to return freedom and power, usurped by the Nobile (P. A. Brunt, The Fall of the Roman Republic, p.65-72). Nation should realize their power, to remember that all decisions of consuls and Senate have meaning until the nation obeys them, and to act in the same manner – actively like plebses were struggling with patricians. Works Cited: Alfoldy, G. Two Principes: Augustus and Sir Ronald Syme, Athenaeum 81[71].1 (1993) Syme, The Roman Revolution (1939) The End of the Roman Empire by Donald Kagan Donald Kagan, et. al., The Western Heritage, vol. 1 (chap. 5-6) A. Brunt, The Fall of the Roman Republic (1988) Lewis M. Reinhold, Roman Civilization, I: The Republic and the Augustan Age (3 ed. Columbia University Press, 1990) The Twelve Caesars (Penguin Classics) by Suetonius, Penguin Books; Reprint edition (August 1, 1991) JOHN W. BURKE, Emblematic Scenes in Suetonius Vitellius (July, 1998) Gabba, E. ‘True history and false history in classical antiquity’, Journal of Roman Studies 71 (1981)

Containment Policy :: essays papers

Containment Policy America’s Policy of Containment was introduced by George Kennan in 1947. This policy had a few good points but many more bad points.Kennan's depiction of communism as a "malignant parasite" that had to be contained by all possible measures became the basis of the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and National Security Act in 1947. In his Inaugural Address of January 20, 1949, Truman made four points about his "program for peace and freedom": to support the UN, the European Recovery Program, the collective defence of the North Atlantic, and a â€Å"bold new program† for technical aid to poor nations. Because of his programs, "the future of mankind will be assured in a world of justice, harmony and peace." Containment was not just a policy. It was a way of life. In 1945 the United States saw the Soviet Union as its principal ally. By 1947, it saw the Soviet Union as its principal opponent. The United States misunderstood the Soviet regime. .Despite much pretence, national security had not been a major concern of US planners and elected officials. historical records reveal this clearly. Few serious analysts took issue with George Kennan's position that "it is not Russian military power which is threatening us, it is Russian political power" ; or with President Eisenhower's consistent view that the Russians intended no military conquest of Western Europe and that the major role of NATO was to "convey a feeling of confidence to exposed populations, which was suposed to make them sturdier, politically, in their opposition to Communist inroads." the US dismissed possibilities for peaceful resolution of the Cold War conflict, which would have left the"political threat" intact. In his history of nuclear weapons, McGeorge Bundy writes that he is "aware of no serious contemporary proposal...that ballistic missiles should somehow be banned by agreement before they were ever deployed," even though these were the only potential military threat to the US. It was always the "political" threat of so-called â€Å"Communism" that was the primary concern. Of course, both the US and USSR would have preferred that the other simply disappear. But since this would obviously have involved mutual annihilation, the Cold War was established. According to the conventional Western view, the Cold War was a conflict between two superpowers, caused by Soviet aggression, in which the U.S. tried to contain the Soviet Union and protect the world from it.

Appearance vs. Reality Essay

Appearance vs. Reality is a prominent theme in The Crucible as some people are carried and blinded by appearance while others actually look at the facts, John Proctor and Elizabeth are not carried away by lies while Abigail and the rest of her friends are ignorant and spread lies. The town of Salem, Massachusetts went through a yearlong period of witch trials. A group of girls led by Abigail the reverend’s niece manipulated the people of Salem to make them believe that witchcraft was happening in Salem. It began with Mrs. Puttman wanting Tituba to conjure up spirits of her dead babies, Abigail and her cousin Betty joined in along with other girls. â€Å"She always sings her Barbados songs, and we dance.†(Act1 line102)This is when she is trying to explain to her uncle what was actually going on in the woods. They were caught by Parris, Betty became sick and the girls decided that they were going to convince everyone this was witchcraft. This led to Abigail spreading rumo rs about people she did not like in the town. â€Å"We must tell the truth Abby!†(Act1 line 318) this was Mary Warren trying to convince Abby to tell the truth. It appeared that Elizabeth was committing witchcraft because of the voodoo doll found in her house when Cheever went to her house to arrest her. â€Å"Tis’ hard proof?(To Hale)I find here a poppet Goody Proctor keeps. I have found it, sir.(Act2 lines 812) Marry Warren told her she was mentioned in court but not yet accused and she attempted to clear her name but clearly failed. She knew that Abigail just wanted to get rid of Elizabeth because she wanted John for herself. â€Å"It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman†(Act1 line138) Abby was bitter that Elizabeth had fired her from the job but it was all Abby’s fault as she was getting to close to John. She needed Elizabeth in jail or killed for that to happen. So Abigail started the rumor that Elizabeth was doing witch craft on her. â€Å"Why Abigail Williams charge her.†(Act2 lines753) and that the voodoo doll was for her, she even went as far as stabbing herself with a needle. â€Å"And in the belly of the poppet a needle’s stuck.†(Act2 Lines813) Mrs. Putman is also adding to the fire of the hysteria, she brings up her even dead babies he  makes a big deal to reverend Hale â€Å"They were murdered, Mr. Parris! And mark this proof! Mark it! Last might my Ruth were ever so close to their little spirits†(Act1 lines232) She wants everyone to believe it wasn’t a coincidence all but one of her babies died. And now Betty is sick and so she is blaming it on an unholy cause. She is representing the appearance of things. The reality is Ruth is faking being sick and maybe she wasn’t making healthy babies, enough for them to be alive and well. Another example of appearance vs. reality is when john proctor finally gives in and admits he is a witch, he goes to the court. â€Å"He’s only playin’ you! He means to hang us all!† (Act3lines 382) He realizes that the truth will set you free he confessed but later took it back because he didn’t want his name soiled in the town â€Å"I have given you my soul; leave me my name!† (Act4 lines728) He doesn’t want his children to grow up having a father with a soiled name a blackened name. He prefers to be hung rather than lie to keep his life. In conclusion Appearance and reality are too different things it is one thing to see something but another to understand it. Appearance is never enough you must know the facts before jumping to conclusions. Most of the town would be better of knowing this lesson before they got carried away with silly stories made up by bored teenagers. They should look at the facts before getting carried away with appearance.

External Factors Affecting Organizational Structure

Environment The environment is the world in which the organization operates, and includes conditions that influence the organization such as economic, social-cultural, legal-political, technological, and natural environment conditions. Environments are often described as either stable or dynamic. ? Stable environment †¢ customers' desires are well understood †¢ remains consistent for a relatively long time †¢ Examples of organizations that face relatively stable environments include manufacturers of staple items such as detergent, cleaning supplies, and paper products. mechanistic structures to be advantageous †¢ This system provides a level of efficiency that enhances the long-term performances of organizations that enjoy relatively stable operating environments ? Dynamic environment †¢ Customers' desires are continuously changing—the opposite of a stable environment †¢ This condition is often thought of as turbulent †¢ the technology that a company uses while in this environment may need to be continuously improved and updated †¢ An example of an industry functioning in a dynamic environment is electronics.Technology changes create competitive pressures for all electronics industries, because as technology changes, so do the desires of consumers. †¢ organic structure provides the greatest benefits †¢ This structure allows the organization to respond to environment change more proactively. Organizations are now increasingly designed to be more organic now days. The HR Organizational Structure has to fit to new challenges born in the external environment. All the important and influencing people speak about the changes in the business world, as the current recession seems to be one of the worst recessions ever.The way the business was done will be discontinued and new business ethics and new business rules will be born. In Recession for example HRM Organizational Structure should be as flexible as possibl e, the HRM Employees should be really aware of the needs of the organization and they should be able to help the organization to survive the recession successfully. The HRM Organizational Structure Adjustment has to be based on the detailed analysis of the needs of the organization in the recession. Companies that nurture flexibility, awareness, and resilience are more likely to survive the crisis, and even to prosper.McKinsey-2009 Technology Advances in technology are the most frequent cause of change in organizations since they generally result in greater efficiency and lower costs for the firm. Technology is the way tasks are accomplished using tools, equipment, techniques, and human know-how. By using tools, equipment and strategy, technology helps workers accomplish their core tasks at a quicker pace. If a company has the appropriate organizational structure blended with the right technology, it can attain organizational success.Joan Woodward found that the right combination of structure and technology were critical to organizational success. In her book Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice (1965), the English management scholar classified three categories of core-manufacturing technology: ? Small-batch production †¢ Used to manufacture a variety of custom, made-to-order goods. †¢ Each item is made somewhat differently to meet a customer's specifications by the skills of the workers who work together in small groups. †¢ A print shop is an example of a business that uses small-batch production. Appropriate structure for this type is decentralized and flexible †¢ It works well in organic structure ? Mass production †¢ Automated machines are used that is programmed to make high volumes of standard products. †¢ It’s used to create a large number of uniform goods in an assembly-line system. †¢ Workers are highly dependent on one another, as the product passes from stage to stage until completion. †¢ Equipm ent may be sophisticated, and workers often follow detailed instructions while performing simplified jobs. †¢Example-A company that bottles soda pop †¢ It works well in rigid structure as has routine tasks †¢ Formal structure or mechanistic structures is the best choice for workers who must perform repetitive tasks. ? Continuous-process production †¢ Create goods by continuously feeding raw materials, such as liquid, solids, and gases, through a highly automated system. †¢ Such systems are equipment intensive, but can often be operated by a relatively small labor force. †¢ Examples-automated chemical plants and oil refineries. A flexible structure is necessary to allow workers to react quickly to unexpected problems. †¢ It works well in organic structures The other Technology factor that determines organizational structure is- ?IT-Knowledge management the sharing and integrating expertise within and between functions and divisions through real time interconnected IT that allows for new kinds of task and reporting relationships. CITATION: 1. (CliffsNotes. com. Factors Affecting Organizational Design. 29 Oct 2010 . Read more:  http://www. cliffsnotes. om/WileyCDA/study_guide/Factors-Affecting-Organizational-Design. topicArticleId-8944,articleId-8881. html? citation=true#ixzz13mZtlnHJ 2. Ref- HRM Organizational Structure HRM Advice Blog Adjustments in Recession http://hrmadvice. com/blog/2008/12/30/hrm-organizational-structure-adjustments-recession/ Technology/Task Consider check processing at a bank. This activity is usually performed by a business unit that is highly formalized, has a great deal of specialization and division of labor, and high centralization of decision-making.In contrast, the creative section of an ad agency is usually not formalized at all, the division of labor is often blurry, and it is highly decentralized. It appears that certain activities naturally â€Å"go with† certain structures. Joan Wood ward found that by knowing an organization's primary system of production, you could predict their structure: Unit production/small batch. Companies that make one-of-a-kind custom products, or small quantities of products (e. g. , ship building, aircraft manufacture, furniture maker, tailors, printers of engraved wedding invitation, surgical teams). In these companies, typically, people's skills and knowledge is more important than the the machines used. †¢ Relatively expensive to operate: work process is unpredictable, hard to pre-program or automate. †¢ Flat organization (few levels of hierarchy). †¢ Ceo has low span of control (direct reports). †¢ Relatively low percentage of managers †¢ Organic structure (see  handout) Mass production/large batch. Companies that sell huge volumes of identical products (e. g. , cars, razor blades, aluminum cans, toasters). Make heavy use of automation and assembly lines.Typically, †¢ bigger than small batch †¢ Taller hierarchies †¢ bottom level is huge (supervisor span of control is 48) †¢ Relatively greater number of managers (because hierarchy is so tall) †¢ Mechanistic, bureaucratic structure †¢ Relatively cheap to operate Continuous Production. Primarily companies that refine liquids and powders (e. g. , chemical companies, oil refineries, bakeries, dairies, distilleries/breweries, electric power plants). Machines do everything,   humans just monitor the machines and plan changes. These organizations are tall and thin or even inverted pyramid: almost nobody at the bottom †¢ At the very top there is an organic structure †¢ Lower levels more mechanistic, but because machines do everything, there is not much paper work, low level supervision, etc. Chick Perrow '67 looked at how the frequency and type of exceptions that occurred during production affected structure. Two types of exceptions: (a) can be solved via orderly, analytic search process (like mecha nic fixing car), (b) no analytic framework, rely on intuition, guesswork (like advertising, film-making, fusion research).    |Few Exceptions |Many Exceptions | |Un-analyzable |pottery, specialty glass, motel room artwork; plumbing; |film making; aerospace; (non routine research) | | |computer technical support (craftwork) |tasks that no one really knows how to do: work on | | |routine work, but when problems crop up, it is hard   |intuition, implicit knowledge | | |to figure what to do | | |Analyzable |routine, like screws; (routine manufacturing) |custom machinery, building dams; (engineering | | |the few problems that occur are usually easy to |production) | | |understand |the application of well-known principles and | | | |technologies to lots of new and different | | | |situations | It turns out that bottom left organizations (analyzable and few exceptions) tend to be highly centralized and formalized — in short, bureaucracies. Bureaucracies are the best possible org anizational form when the task is well-understood, and how to best execute it can be specified in advance.At the other extreme, the top right organizations (unanalyzable and many exceptions) are not well handled by bureaucracies. There are so many exceptions and new situations that having a set of formal procedures which specify how to handle every situation is out of the question. Organizations in this box tend to be highly decentralized and use informal means of coordination and control. The reasons have to do with human bounded rationality. (Bounded rationality refers to the fact that since humans have limited brain capacity, we cannot always find the absolute optimal solution to a given problem — we only have the time and capacity to consider a few possible solutions, and choose the best among those. But we can't consider all possible solutions. Really complex systems are difficult to pre-plan: there are too many contingencies. We simply can't figure it all out. Need to a llow for real-time, flexible adjustment. Environment Adaptation Organizations actively adapt to their environments. For example, organizations facing complex, highly uncertain environments typically differentiate so that each organizational unit is facing a smaller, more certain problem. for example, if Japanese tastes in cars are quite different from American tastes, it is really hard to make a single car that appeals to both markets. It is easier to create two separate business units, one that makes cars for the Japanese market, and the other that makes cars for the US market. Natural SelectionOrganizations whose structures are not fitted to the environment (which includes other organizations, communities, customers, governments, etc. ) will not perform well and will fail. Most new organizations fail within the first few years. If the environment is stable, this selection process will lead to most organizations being well-adapted to the environment, not because they all changed th emselves, but because those that were not well-adapted will have died off. Dependence The economy is a giant network of organizations linked by buying and selling relationships. Every company has suppliers (inputs) and customers (outputs). Every company is dependent on both their suppliers and their customers for resources and money.To the extent that a company needs it's suppliers less than they need it, the company has power. That is, power is a function of asymmetric mutual dependence. Dependence is itself a function of the availability of alternative supply. A depends on B to the extent that there are few alternatives to B that are available to A. Dependence is also a function of how much A needs what B has got. If the Post It's company starts to play hardball with you, and there are no good alternatives, it's still not a big deal because Post It's are just not that important. Organizations that have power over others are able to impose elements of structure on them.For example, GM is famous for imposing accounting systems, cost controls, manufacturing techniques on their suppliers. The sets of entities in an organization's environment that play a role in the organization's health and performance, or which are affected by the organization, are called  stakeholders. Stakeholders have interests in what the organization does, and may or may not have the power to influence the organization to protect their interests. Stakeholders are varied and their interests may coincide on some issues and not others. Therefore you find stakeholders both cooperating with each other in alliances, and competing with each other. [pic] Figure 1. Unconnected stakeholders.When stakeholders are unconnected to each other (as in Figure 1), the organization usually has an easier time of playing the different parties off one another. For example, it can represent its goals and needs differently to each stakeholder, without fear of being found out. Or, such competitive stakeholders in to outbidding each other (e. g. , a university can tel one alumnus that another alumnus is about to give a huge donation). Furthermore, when the stakeholders are unconnected, they cannot coordinate their efforts, and so have trouble controlling the organization. [pic] Figure 2. Well-connected stakeholders. In contrast, when the stakeholders are well-connected (as in Figure 2), the organization cannot represent itself differently to each one, or it will be found out.Furthermore, if the bonds among the stakeholders are closer than the bonds with the organization, the stakeholders may side with each other against the organization, and won't act in ways that negatively affect other stakeholders. Institutionalization Under conditions of uncertainty, organizations imitate others that appear to be successful. In other words, if nobody really knows what makes a movie successful, and then somebody has a blockbuster hit, everybody else copies the movie, and the organizational structure that p roduced the movie, hoping that they will get the same results. This can cause whole industries to adopt similar structural features. One reason why this happens is the fear of litigation or simply blame.If several well-known, successful companies start adopting some new management style — say, self-governing teams — and you don't because you know its not appropriate for your company, and then things start to go wrong for your company, people will say ‘see? you should have adopted self-governing teams. we told you so'. So to avoid that, if the top companies in a field all adopt some new style, then all the others do to to avoid being blamed. In addition, diffusion of ideas due to personnel transfer and professional school training can create uniformity as well.Ref:Organizational Theory:Determinants of Structure Stephen P. Borgatti October 08, 2001 http://www. practical-management. com/Organization-Development/Organization-s-External-Environment. html

Strength of Oedipus Character

Strength of Oedipus Character Introduction Oedipus can be described as a Greek mythical personality in the Greek culture. He is described as a person who came to fulfill a certain prophecy. The prophecy itself involves this third king of Thebes killing his biological father. Later on, he unknowingly marries his biological mother.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Strength of Oedipus Character specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More All of this began with a prophesized oracle after the birth of Oedipus. Therefore, Laius orders his death to avert this prophesies. Unfortunately, while he was left out there in the wilderness to die, a shepherd picks him up and hands him over to a friend. Through the shepherd’s friend, he ends up in Corinth in the Kings house. The King and Queen take him as their own son. They see him as a blessing as they did not have a child. Initially, Oedipus was not aware of the fact that the King and Queen were not his true parent s. Therefore, when one day a drunk mentioned that he was adopted, it troubled him. He became even more troubled on visiting several oracles. Even though the oracles told him the truth, it was more troubling because at that time, he could not make sense of it all. One day, while Oedipus was on his way, he had a dispute with the King of Thebes and unknown to him he killed him after having the argument. He did not even know that he was the king of Thebes when he was killing him. Later on in the town of Thebes, his wits enabled him to answer a riddle and thus saved the people of Thebes. He thus went on to fulfill the prophecy by marrying King Laius’s widow. However, when mother and child came to learn later on their true relation to each other, the mother decided to commit suicide. Oedipus on the other hand decide to blind himself. Strength of character by Oedipus Oedipus has an outstanding central strength. This strength is his curiosity or in other words his truth seeking zeal. This strength can be termed as being part of him. This is first witnessed after he gets a tip of his true Identify. Since he wanted to really know the truth behind it all, he is seen visiting various oracles just to find out the truth. Even though it took quite a while for him to know the truth about his parents, he finally did find out the truth, though a bit late. His truth seeking nature can also be thanked for enabling him to earn the throne of Thebes. This riddle of Sphinx enables him become a ruler and gets a ready wife.Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The truth seeking nature of Oedipus can almost be described as being hard-coded in him. This is evident as he ignored all warnings to keep away from the truth. An example is a warning by the prophet who was blind, i.e. Tiresias. Terisias points out to him â€Å"You don’t’ want to know the trut h† It is in fact disappointing to him when he finally learns the truth. In fact it is the truth itself that brings Oedipus down and not even his defiance of the gods. The desire to know the truth thus forms the strongest motivating factor in Oedipus. His period of reigning as king comes down to being characterized as a truth seeking mission. It is no wonder that despite the big title that he held, his life had many uncertainties that formed a riddle around him (Simon, 201). It can be put down that in the whole play; the truth is vividly guarded from Oedipus. When it however finally dawns to him, the same truth shocks him. He however embraces this truth with open arms. Therefore one can say that his ability to move from being in pain and confused about the truth is a strength in character. It actually shows just how Oedipus has finally become wise. Throughout the play of Sophocles, Oedipus seems extremely careless on his quest for the truth irrespective of the consequences that are ever so painful. Even though one can say that his quest for the truth was accompanied by lots of despair, this same quest is the one that is attributed towards having changed Oedipus. Due to his many tribulations, Oedipus is forced to come to terms with new responsibilities. These were to affect not only his family and kingdom, but also himself. He is thus seen to have come out stronger. This strength of character also shows that he indeed has become mature. Conclusion Come to think of it, there was only one way through which Oedipus could have attained his strength of character. Therefore, Sophocles just puts out a simple fact through this strength of Oedipus. This simple fact is that every single person is always in a quest to find the truth about something. It is not a must for the quest to set you free. The fact however is that the journey on your quest will shape you Simon, Peter.  The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 1(2). USA:   W. W. Norton Company. 2009.Adve rtising We will write a custom essay sample on Strength of Oedipus Character specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More

How to Get 800 on SAT Reading 11 Strategies by a Perfect Scorer

How to Get 800 on SAT Reading Strategies by a Perfect Scorer SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you scoring in the 600-750 range on SAT Reading + Writing? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible - to a perfect 800? Getting to a perfect SAT Reading test score isn't easy. It'll require perfection. But with hard work and my strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've consistently scored 800 on Reading on my real SATs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score - or get very close. Brief note: This article is suited for advanced students already scoring a 600 on SAT Reading or above (this equates to a Reading Test Score of 30+ out of 40 on the New SAT). If you're below this range, my "How to Improve your SAT Reading Score to a 600" article is more appropriate for you. Follow the SAT Reading tips in that article, then come back to this one when you've reached a 600. Also, the New 2016 SAT now has a single 800 Reading + Writing score, combining the individual Reading and Writing test scores. Technically, when I mention a perfect Reading test score, I'm referring to a perfect 40/40 test score, which is essential to getting an 800 Reading and Writing score. In this guide, I'll use800 and 40 interchangeably to mean a perfect Reading score. We won't talk about Writing here, but if you want to improve your Writing score too, check out my Perfect SAT Writing score guide. Overview Most guides on the internet on how to score an 800 are pretty low quality. They're often written by people who never scored an 800 themselves. You can tell because their advice is usually vague and not very pragmatic. It's not enough to be reminded of simple Reading tips like "don't forget to guess on every question!" In contrast, I've written what I believe to be the best guide on getting an 800 available anywhere. I have confidence that these strategies work because I used them myself to score 800 on SAT Reading consistently. They've also worked for thousands of my students at PrepScholar. In this article, I'm going to discuss why scoring an 800 is a good idea, what it takes to score an 800, and then go into the key SAT Critical Reading strategies so you know how to get a perfectSAT Reading score. Stick with me - as an advanced student, you probably already know that scoring high is good. But it's important to know why an 800 Reading and Writing score is useful, since this will fuel your motivation to get a high score. This guide has been updated for the New 2016 SAT, so you can be sure my advice works for the test you're about to take. Final note: in this guide, I talk mainly about getting to an 800. But if your goal is a 700, these strategies still equally apply. Understand the Stakes: Why an 800 SAT Reading + Writing? Let's make something clear: a 1550+ on an SAT is equivalent to a perfect 1600. No top college is going to give you more credit for a 1590than a 1550. You've already crossed their score threshold, and whether you get in now depends on the rest of your application. So if you're already scoring a 1550, don't waste your time studying trying to get a 1600.You're already set for the top colleges, and it's time to work on the rest of your application. But if you're scoring a 1540 or below AND you want to go to a top 10 college, it's worth your time to push your score up to a 1550 or above. There's a big difference between a 1450and a 1550, largely because it's easier to get a 1450(and a lot more applicants do) and a lot harder to get a 1550. A 1540places you right around average at Harvard and Princeton, and being average is bad in terms of Ivy League-level admissions, since the admissions rate is typically below 10%. So why get an 800 on SAT Reading+Writing? Because it helps you compensate for weaknesses in other sections. By and large, schools consider your composite score more sothan your individual section scores. If you can get a perfect 40 in SAT Reading, you can get a 39 in SAT Writing (for a total of 790 in Reading + Writing) and a 760 in SAT Math and still be confident about your test scores. This gives you a lot more flexibility. Harvard's 75th percentile Reading score is 800. There's another scenario where an 800 in SAT Reading is really important. If you're planning to apply as a humanities or social science major (like English, political science, communications) to a top school. Here's the reason: college admissions is all about comparisons between applicants. The school wants to admit the best, and you're competing with other people in the same "bucket" as you. By applying as a humanities/social science major, you're competing against other humanities/social science folks: people for whom SAT Reading is easy. Really easy. Here are a few examples from schools. For Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and U Chicago, the 75th percentile SAT Reading score is an 800. That means at least 25% of all students at these schools have an 800 in SAT Reading. But if you can work your way to an 800, you show that you're at an equal level (at least on this metric). Even if it takes you a ton of work, all that matters is the score you achieve at the end. I'll be honest - SAT Reading wasn't my strong suit in high school. When I started studying, I was scoring around the 700 range. I was always stronger in math and science. But I learned the tricks of the test, and I developed the strategies below to raise my score to an 800. Now I'm sharing them with you. Know That You Can Do It This isn't just some fuzzy feel-good message you see on the back of a Starbucks cup. I mean, literally, you and every other reasonably intelligent student can score a perfectSAT Reading score. The reason most people don't is they don't try hard enough or they don't study the right way. Even if language isn't your strongest suit, or you got a B+ in AP English, you're capable of this. Because I know that more than anything else, your SAT score is a reflection ofhow hard you work and how smartly you study. SAT Reading is Designed to Trick You. You Need to Learn How Here's why: the SAT is a weird test. When you take it, don't you get the sense that the questions are nothing like what you've seen in school? I bet you've had this problem: in SAT Reading passages, you often miss questions because of an 'unlucky guess.' You'll try to eliminate a few answer choices, and the remaining answer choices will all sound equally good to you. Well, you throw up your hands and randomly guess. This was one of the major issues for myself when I was studying SAT Reading, and I know it affects thousands of my students at PrepScholar. The SAT is purposely designed this way to confuse you. Literally millions of other students have the exact same problem you do. And the SAT knows this. Normally in your school's English class, the teacher tells you that all interpretations of the text are valid. You can write an essay about anything you want, and English teachers aren't (usually) allowed to tell you that your opinion is wrong. This is because they can get in trouble for telling you what to think, especially for complex issues like slavery or poverty. But the SAT has an entirely different problem. It's a national test, which means it needs a level playing field for all students around the country. It needs a solid test to compare students with each other. Every question needs a single, unambiguously, 100% correct answer. There's only ever one correct answer. Find a way to eliminate three incorrect answers. Imagine if this weren't the case. Imagine that each reading answer had two answer choices that might each be plausibly correct. When the scores came out, every single student who got the question wrong would complain to the College Board about the test being wrong. If this were true, the College Board would then have to invalidate the question, which weakens the power of the test. The College Board wants to avoid this nightmare scenario. Therefore, every single Reading passage question has only one, single correct answer. But the SAT disguises this fact. It asks questions like: The author would most likely agree with which of the following statements? The first paragraph primarily serves to: In line 20, 'dark' most nearly means: Notice a pattern here? The SAT always disguises the fact that there's always one unambiguous answer. It tries to MAKE you waver between two or three answer choices that are most likely. And then you guess randomly. And then you get it wrong. You can bet that students fall for this. Millions of times every year. Students who don't prepare for the SAT in the right way don't appreciate this. BUT if you prepare for the SAT in the right way, you'll learn the tricks the SAT plays on you. And you'll raise your score. The SAT Reading section is full of patterns like these. To improve your score, you just need to: Learn the types of questions that the SAT tests, like the one above Learn strategies to solve these questions, using skills you already know Practice on a lot of questions so you learn from your mistakes The point is that you can learn these skills, even if you don't consider yourself a good reader or a great English student.I'll go into more detail about exactly how to do this. One last point: let's make sure we understand how many questions we can miss to score an 800. What It Takes to Get a Perfect 40 in Reading If we have a target score in mind, it helps to understand what you need to get that score on the actual test. There are 52 questions in the Reading section, and how many questions you miss determines your scaled score out of 40. From the Official SAT Practice Tests, I've taken the raw score to scaled score conversion tables from 4 tests.(If you could use a refresher on how the SAT is scored and how raw scores are calculated, read this.) Raw Score Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 52 40 40 40 40 51 40 39 40 39 50 39 38 39 39 49 38 37 38 38 48 38 37 38 37 47 37 36 37 36 46 37 35 36 35 45 36 35 36 35 These grading scales are harsh. For tests 2 and 4, if you miss just ONE question, you get dropped down to a 39. This means your maximum Reading + Writing score is a 790. For tests 1 and 3, if you miss one question, you're still at a perfect 40, but miss another and you drop down to a 39. The scoring chart curvedepends on the difficulty of the test. The harder the test, the easier the curve. But you can't predict what kind of test you're going to get on test day. The safest thing to do is to aim for perfection. On every practice test, you need to aim for a perfect raw score for an 800. Whatever you're scoring now, take note of the difference you need to get to a 800. For example, if you're scoring a 35 raw score, you need to answer six to seven more questions right to get to a perfect 40 and an 800. As a final example, here's a screenshot from my exact score report from March 2014, showing that I missed one question and earned an 800. (This was from the previous 2400 version of the SAT, but it had a similar grading scale). OK - so we've covered why scoring a higher Reading score is important, why you specifically are capable of improving your score, and the raw score you need to get to your target. Now we'll get into the meat of the article: actionable strategies and reading tips that you should use in your own studying to maximize your score improvement. Strategies to Get aPerfectSAT Reading Score What's your greatest weakness? Strategy 1: Understand Your High Level Weakness - Time Management or Passage Strategy? Every student has different flaws in SAT Reading. Some people don't have good strategies for tackling the passage questions. Others don't manage their time correctly and run out of time before getting through all the questions. Here's how you can figure out which one applies more to you: Find an official SAT practice test, and take only the Reading section. We have the complete list of free practice tests here. For each section, use a timer and have it count down the 65 minutes for the Reading section. Treat it like a real test. If time runs out for that section and you're 100% ready to move on, then move on. If you're not ready to move on, keep on working for as long as you need. For every new answer or answer that you change, mark it with a special note as "Extra Time." When you're ready, grade your test using the answer key and score chart, but we want two scores: 1) The Realistic score you got under normal timing conditions, 2) The Extra Time score. This is why you marked the questions you answered or changed during Extra Time. Get what we're doing here? By marking which questions you did under Extra Time, we can figure out what score you got if you were given all the time you needed. This will help us figure out where your weaknesses lie. If you didn't take any extra time, then your Extra Time score is the same as your Realistic score. Here's a flowchart to help you figure this out: Was your Extra Time score a 35or above? If NO (Extra Time score 35), then you have strategy and content weaknesses. All the extra time in the world couldn't get you above a 35, so your first angle of attack will be to find your weaknesses and attack them (We'll cover this later). If YES (Extra Time score 35), then: Was your Realistic score a 35 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 35, Realistic 35), then that means you have a difference between your Extra Time score and your Realistic score. If this difference is more than 3points, then you have some big problems with time management. We need to figure out why this is. Are you using the best passage reading strategy for you? Does it take you too much time to get the answer for each question? Generally, doing a lot of practice questions and learning the most efficient passage strategies will help reduce your time. More on this later. If YES (both Extra Time and Realistic scores 35), then you have a really good shot at getting an 800. Compare your Extra Time and Realistic score - if they differed by more than 2 points, then you would benefit from learning how to solve questions more quickly. If not, then you likely can benefit from shoring up on your last content weaknesses and avoiding careless mistakes (more on this strategy later). Hopefully that makes sense. Typically I see that students have both timing and content issues, but you might find that one is much more dominant for you than the other. For example, if you can get a40with extra time, but score a 35 in regular time, you know exactly that you need to work on time management to get a 40. This type of analysis is so important that it's a central part of my prep program, PrepScholar. When a new student joins, he or she gets a diagnostic that figures out specific strengths and weaknesses. The program then automatically customizes your learning so that you're always studying according to where you can make the most improvement. No matter what your weakness is, my following strategies will address all weaknesses comprehensively. Strategy 2:Learn to Eliminate 3 Wrong Answers This strategy was by far the most effective for me in raising my Reading score. It completely changed the way I viewed passage questions. I spent some time talking above about how the SAT always has one unambiguous answer. This has a huge implication for the strategy you should use to find the right SAT Reading answer. Here's the other way to see it: Out of the four answer choices, three of them have something that is totally wrong about them. Only one answer is 100% correct, which means the other three are 100% wrong. You know how you try to eliminate answer choices, and then end up with a few at the end that all seem equally likely to be correct? "Well, this can work...but then again this could work as well..." STOP doing that. You're not doing a good enough job of eliminating answer choices. Remember - every single wrong choice can be crossed out for its own reasons. You need to do a 180 on your approach to Reading questions. Instead, find a reason to eliminate three answer choices. "Can I find a reason to eliminate this answer choice? How about this one?" You have to learn how to eliminate three answer choices for every single question. "Great, Allen. But this doesn't tell me anything about HOW to eliminate answer choices." Thanks for asking. One thing to remember is that even a single word can make an answer choice wrong. Every single word in each answer choice is put there by the SAT for a reason. If a single word in the answer choice isn't supported by the passage text, you need to eliminate it, even if the rest of the answer sounds good. There are a few classic wrong answer choices the SAT loves to use. Here's an example question. For example, let’s imagine you just read a passage talking about how human evolution shaped the environment. It gives a few examples. First, it talks about how the transition from earlier species like Homo habilus to neanderthals led to more tool usage like fire, which caused wildfires and shaped the ecology. It then talks about Homo sapiens 40,000 years ago and their overhunting of species like woolly mammoths to extinction. So then we run into a question asking, "Which of the following best describes the main subject of the passage?" Here are the answer choices: A: The transition between Homo habilus and neanderthals B: The study of evolution C: How the environment shaped human evolution D: The plausibility of evolution E: The influence of human development on ecology (We're using five answers for purposes of illustration - the SAT will only have four choices). As you're reading these answer choices, a few of them probably started sounded really plausible to you. Surprise! Each of the answers from A-D has something seriously wrong about it. Each one is a classic example of a wrong answer type given by the SAT. Wrong Answer 1: Too Specific A: The transition between Homo habilus and neanderthals This type of wrong answer focuses on a smaller detail in the passage. It’s meant to trick you because you might think to yourself, "well, I see this mentioned in the passage, so it’s a plausible answer choice." Wrong! Think to yourself – can this answer choice really describe the entire passage? Can it basically function as the title of this passage? You’ll find that it’s just way too specific to convey the point of the overall passage. Wrong Answer 2: Too Broad B: The study of evolution This type of wrong answer has the opposite problem – it’s way too broad. Yes, theoretically the passage concerns the study of evolution, but only one aspect of it, and especially as it relates to the impact on the environment. To give another ludicrous example, if you talked to your friend about your cell phone, and he said your main point was about the universe. Yes, you were talking about the universe, but only a tiny fraction of it. This is way too broad. Wrong Answer 3: Reversed Relationship C: How the environment shaped human evolution This wrong answer choice can be tricky because it mentions all the right words. But of course the relationship between those words needs to be correct as well. Here, the relationship is flipped. Students who read too quickly make careless mistakes like these! Wrong Answer 4: Unrelated Concept D: The plausibility of evolution Finally, this kind of wrong answer preys on the tendency of students to overthink the question. If you’re passionate about arguing about evolution, this might be a trigger answer since ANY discussion of evolution becomes a chance to argue about the plausibility of evolution. Of course, this concept will appear nowhere in the passage, but some students just won’t be able to resist. Do you see the point? On the surface, each of the answer choices sounds possibly correct. A less prepared student would think that all of these were plausible answers. But plausible isn't good enough. The right answer needs to be 100%, totally right. Wrong answers might be off by even one word - you need to eliminate these. Carry this thought into every SAT Reading passage question you do and I guarantee you will start raising your score. Strategy 3: Predict the Answer Before Reading the Answer Choices As we've discussed already, the SAT is designed to goad you into making mistakes by putting really similar answer choices next to each other. In Strategy 2, we covered the strategy of ruthless, unforgiving elimination of answer choices. Here's another Strategy that works well for me. Before reading the answer choices, come up with your own answer to the question. Gaze into your crystal ball and predict the right answer. This strategy is exactly designed to counteract the trickiness of the answer choices. If you DON'T apply this strategy, your thinking process likely meanderslike this: "OK, I just read the question. Answer A is definitely out. B can kind of work. C...it doesn't exactly fit, but I can see how it mightwork." and so on. By now, you've already fallen into the College Board's trap of muddling the answer choices. Take the opposite approach. While you're reading the question, come up with your own ideal answer to the question before reading the answer choices. This prevents you from getting biased by the SAT's answer choices, especially the incorrect ones. If it's a "Big Picture" type question asking about the main point of the passage, answer for yourself, "What would make a good title for this passage?" If it's an "Inference" question, answer for yourself, "What would the author think about the situation given in the question?" Even if you can't answer the question straight away - for example, if you have to refer back to the line number to remember what the passage was saying - try to solve the question before looking at the answer choices. The key here is that the passage must support your answer choice. Every correct answer on SAT passages needs to be justified by the passage - otherwise the answer would be ambiguous, which would cause problems of cancelling questions I referred to earlier. Warning: this only works if you can read and understand passages well, and if you have prior experience with SAT Reading questions! That's why I don't recommend this strategy yet before you hit a 600 level since you're more likely to come up with the wrong answer choice in your head. Strategy 4: Experiment With Passage Reading Strategies and Find the Best for You In your prep for the SAT, you may have read different strategies for how to read a passage and answer questions. Some students read the questions before reading the passage. Others read the passage in detail first. At your high level, I can't predict which method will work best for you. We're going for perfection, which means that your strategy needs to line up with your strengths and weaknesses perfectly, or else you'll make mistakes or run out of time. What I will do, however, is go through the most effective methods. You'll then have to figure out through your test data which one leads to the highest score for you. Passage Method 1: Skim the Passage, Then Read the Questions This is the most common strategy I recommend to our students, and in my eyes the most effective. I prefer this one myself. Here it is: Skim the passage on the first read through. Don't try to understand every single line, or write notes predicting what the questions will be. Just get a general understanding of the passage. You want to try to finish reading the passage in 3 minutes, if possible. Next, go to the questions. If the question refers to a line number, then go back to that line number and understand the text around it. If you can't answer a question within 30 seconds, skip it. My preferred way to tackle a passage: skimming it on the first read-through. This strategy is a revelation for students who used to close-read a passage and run out of time. This skimming method works because the questions will ask about far fewer lines than the passage actually contains. For example, lines 5-20 of a reading passage might not be relevant to any question that follows. Therefore, if you spend time trying to deeply understand lines 5-20, you’ll be wasting time. By taking the opposite approach of going back to the passage when you need to refer to it, you guarantee reading efficiency. You're focusing only on the parts of the passage that are important to answering questions. Critical Skill: You must be able to skim effectively. This means being able to quickly digest a text without having to slowly read every word. If you're not quite good at this yet, practice it on newspaper articles and your homework reading. Passage Method 2: Read the Questions First and Mark the Passage This is the second most common strategy and, if used well, as effective as the first method. But it has some pitfalls if you don't do it correctly. Here's how it goes: Before you read the passage, go to the questions and read each one. If the question refers to a series of lines, mark those lines on the passage. Take a brief note about the gist of the question. Go back to the passage and skim it. When you reach one of your notes, slow down and take more notice of the question. Answer the questions. Here's an example passage that I marked up, with questions coming first. Notice that beyond underlining the phrase referenced in the question, I left clues for myself on what's important to get out of this phrase. (questions not relating to specific lines aren't shown above) In the hands of an SAT expert, this is a powerful strategy. Just like Method 1 above, you save time by skipping parts of the passage that aren't asked about. Furthermore, you get a head start on the questions by trying to answer them beforehand. But there are serious potential pitfalls to this method if you're not careful or prepared enough. Here's one: when you first read the questions before the passage, you won't have enough time to digest the actual answer choices (nor will they make sense to you). So you have to make your best guess for what the question is asking when you're writing a note along the passage. In some cases, this can lead you astray. Take this example from above: When I read the question, I saw that it asked me to find how Woolf characterized the questions I marked in lines 53-57. The problem is how broad the question is. How something can be characterized gives a wide range of options. Here are a number of plausible characterizations as I read the text: important, life-changing ("have to ask ourselves") communal ("we") detail-oriented ("on what terms?") urgent ("here and now") ambitious progressive and future-looking ("where is it leading us") There's a lot of flexibility in interpretation here, since the questions really do touch upon all these characterizations. It turns out "important" and "urgent" are the right interpretations, for answer choice C. But when I'm reading the passage and see my note, I can waste a lot of time coming up with potential options that aren't even correct answer choices. In the worst case, it can bias me toward the wrong answer. Critical Skill: You need to have so much experience with the SAT Reading section that you can anticipate what the question is going to ask you for your notes to be helpful. If you're not sure of this, you can easily be led down the wrong track and focus on the wrong aspect of the passage. Passage Method 3: Read the Passage in Detail, Then Answer Questions This method is what beginner students usually use by default, because it's what they've been trained to do in school. Some beginner books like Princeton Review and Kaplan also suggest this as a strategy. It's my least favorite method because there are so many ways for it to go wrong. But for the sake of completeness, I'm listing it here in case it works best for you. Here's how it goes: Read the passage in detail, line by line. Take notes to yourself about the main point of each paragraph. Answer the questions. As you might guess, I don't like this method for the following reasons: By reading the passage closely, you absorb a lot of details that aren't useful for answering questions. The notes you take aren't directed toward helping you answer the questions. By interpreting the passage ahead of time, you risk being led astray. But this might work especially well for you if you're very good at reading for understanding, and if you have so much expertise with the SAT that you can predict what the test is going to ask you about anyway. Choose Which Works Best for You, Based on Test Data Because I can't predict which one will work best for you, you need to figure this out yourself. To do this, you need cold, hard data from your test scores. Try each method on 2 sample test passages each, and tally up your percentage score for each. If one of them is a clear winner for you, then develop that method further. If there isn't a clear winner, choose the one that feels most comfortable for you. As part of our PrepScholar program, we give you advanced statistics on your score performance so that you can experiment with methods that work best for you. Next strategy:Understand your mistakes. Strategy 5: Understand Every Single Mistake You Make On the path to perfection, you need to make sure every single one of your weak points is covered. Even just one mistakewill knock you down from an 800, as we saw in the score charts above. The first step is simply to do a ton of practice. If you're studying from free materials or from books, you have access to a lot of practice questions in bulk. As part of our PrepScholar program, we have over 1,500 SAT questions customized to each skill. The second step - and the more important part - is to be ruthless about understanding your mistakes. Every mistake you make on a test happens for a reason.If you don't understand exactly why you missed that question, you will make that mistake over and over again. I've seen students who did 20 practice tests. They've solved over 3,000 questions, but they're still nowhere near a perfectSAT Reading score. Why? They never understood their mistakes. They just hit their heads against the wall over and over again. Think of yourself as an exterminator, and your mistakes are cockroaches. You need to eliminate every single one - and find the source of each one - or else the restaurant you work for will be shut down. Here'swhat you need to do: On every practice test or question set that you take, mark every question that you're even 20% unsure about. When you grade your test or quiz, review every single question that you marked, and every incorrect question. This way even if you guessed a question correctly, you'll make sure to review it. In a notebook, write down 1) the gist of the question, 2) why you missed it, and 3) what you'll do to avoid that mistake in the future. Have separate sections by question type (vocab questions, big picture questions, inference questions, etc). It's not enough to just think about it and move on. It's not enough to just read the answer explanation. You have to think hard about why you specifically failed on this question. By taking this structured approach to your mistakes,you'll now have a running log of every question you missed, and your reflection on why. No excuses when it comes to your mistakes. Always Go Deeper - WHY Did You Miss a Reading Question? Now, what are some common reasons that you missed a question? Don't just say, "I didn't get this question right." That's a cop out. Always take it one step further - what specifically did you miss, and what do you have to improve in the future? Here are some examples of common reasons you miss a Reading question, and how you take the analysis one step further: Elimination: I couldn't eliminate enough incorrect answer choices, or I eliminated the correct answer. One step further: Why couldn't I eliminate the answer choice during the test? How can I eliminate answer choices like this in the future? Careless Error:I misread what the question was asking for or answered for the wrong thing. One step further:Why did I misread the question? What should I do in the future to avoid this? Vocab: I didn't know what the key word meant. One step further:What word was this? What is the definition? Are there other words in this question I didn't know? Get the idea? You're really digging into understanding why you're missing questions. Yes, this is hard, and it's draining, and it takes work. That's why most students who study ineffectively don't improve. Many people don't know the right way to study. Of the people who do, very few will diligently apply the right methods, day in, and day out, with discipline. But you're different. Just by reading this guide, you're already proving that you care more than other students. And if you apply these principles and analyze your mistakes, you'll improve more than other students too. Reviewing mistakes is so important that in PrepScholar, for every one of our 1,500+ practice questions, we explain in detail how to get the correct answer, and why incorrect answers are wrong. We also point out bait answers so that you can you can learn the tricks that the SAT plays on test takers like you. Bonus Tip: Re-Solve the Question Before Reading the Answer Explanation When you're reviewing practice questions, the first thing you probably do is read the answer explanation and at most reflect on it a little. This is a little too easy. I consider thispassive learning - you're not actively engaging with the mistake you made. Instead, try something different - find the correct answer choice (A-D), but don't look at the explanation. Instead, try to re-solve the question once over again and try to get to the correct answer. This will often be hard. You couldn't solve it the first time, so why could you solve it the second time around? But this time, with less time pressure, you might spot a new reason to eliminate the wrong answer choice, or something else will pop up. Something will just "click" for you. When this happens, what you learned will stick with you for 20 times longer than if you just read an answer explanation. I know this from personal experience. Because you've struggled with it and reached a breakthrough, you retain that information far better than if you just passively absorbed the information. This is perfect for SAT Reading because you'll often miss a question because of an incorrect interpretation of the text. By forcing yourself to get the right answer, you'll practice getting the CORRECT interpretation of the text. Even better, you'll be scrounging the passage for clues as to why the correct answer is correct, which is exactly what you need in your passage strategy to begin with. It's too easy to just read an answer explanation and have it go in one ear and out the other. You won't actually learn from your mistake, and you'll make that mistake over and over again. Treat each wrong question like a puzzle. Struggle with each wrong answer for up to 10 minutes. Only then if you don't get it should you read the answer explanation. Strategy 6:Find Your Reading Skill Weaknesses and Drill Them Reading passage questions might look similar, but they actually test very different skills. At PrepScholar we believe the major passage skills to be: Big Picture/Main Point Little Picture/Detail Inference Words and Phrases inContext Citing Textual Evidence Perspective Analyzing Word Choice Analyzing Text Structure Analyzing Multiple Texts Analyzing Quantitative Info Whew - that's a lot of skills. That's a much more detailed breakdown than what appears at first glance, and what most books and courses offer. Each of these question types uses different skills in how you read and analyze a passage. They each require a different method of prep and focused practice. The SAT requires a lot of skills. Make sure you know which ones are your weaknesses. If you're like most students, you're better at some areas in Reading than others. You might be better at getting the Big Picture of a passage, compared to the Inference. Or you might be really strong in vocabulary, but weak in understanding the function of sentences in a passage. If you're like most students, you also don't have an unlimited amount of time to study. This means for every hour you study for the SAT, it needs to be the most effective hour possible. In concrete terms,you need to find your greatest areas of improvement and work on those. Too many students study the 'dumb' way. They just buy a book and read it cover to cover. When they don't improve, they're SHOCKED. I'm not. Studying effectively for the SAT isn't like painting a house. You're not trying to cover all your bases with a very thin layer of understanding. What these students did wrong was they wasted time on subjects they already knew, and they didn't spend enough time on their weaknesses. Instead, studying effectively for the SAT is like plugging up the holes of a leaky boat. You need to find the biggest hole, and fill it. Then you find the next biggest hole, and you fix that. Soon you'll find that your boat isn't sinking at all. How does this relate to SAT Reading? You need to find the sub-skills that you're weakest in, and then drill those until you're no longer weak in them. Fix up the biggest holes. Within reading, you need to figure out whether you have patterns to your mistakes. Is it that you don't get Inference questions? Or maybe you're really weak at interpreting details? Or from strategy 1: is it that you're running out of time in reading passages? For every question that you miss, you need to identify the type of question it is. When you notice patterns to the questions you miss, you then need to find extra practice for this subskill. Say you miss a lot of inference questions (this is typically the hardest type of question for students to get). You need to find a way to get focused practice questions for this skill so you can drill your mistakes. Bonus: If all of this is making sense to you, you'd love our SAT prep program, PrepScholar. We designed our program around the concepts in this article, because they actually work.When you start with PrepScholar, you’ll take a diagnostic that will determine your weaknesses in over forty SAT skills. PrepScholar then creates a study program specifically customized for you. To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill, with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score. We also force you to focus on understanding your mistakes and learning from them. If you make the same mistake over and over again, we'll call you out on it. There’s no other prep system out there that does it this way, which is why we get better score results than any other program on the market. Check it out today with a 5-day free trial: SAT Free Signup // Strategy 7:Read the Italicized Passage Introduction This is a quick tip that many students ignore. Each passage comes with an italicized introduction, like this for the passage shown above: This is a freebie. It gives you context for the entire passage. By knowing that the passage is about "the situation of women in English society," you hit the ground running when you read the very first sentence. This helps a lot. Sometimes, the introduction alone can giveyou the answer for the "Big Picture" question about what the main point of the passage is. Always always make sure that you read this introduction, no matter what passage method you use from Strategy 4. Strategy 8: Be Interested in the Passage Subject Matter The SAT has passages about a lot of weird topics. Victorian novels, underwater basket-weaving, and the evolution of gerbils are all fair game. It's unlikely that you're naturally thrilled about all the subjects you'll read about. This makes it easy to tune out when you're reading the passage. This makes it harder to answer the questions, which will make you more frustrated. Instead, adopt this mindset: For the next 10 minutes, I am the world's most passionate person about whatever subject this passage is about. This passage is the most frickin' exciting thing I could be reading right now. For every single passage, be as excited as she is. Force yourself to care about what the passage is telling you. Pretend that your LIFE depends on understanding this passage. Maybe you're about to give a lecture on this subject. Or someone's holding a puppy hostage if you don't answer enough questions correctly. Or your crush turns out to be a huge mid-18th century English literature fan, so you pay rapt attention to every single word. When I was preparing for the SAT in high school, I took this so far to the extremethat I ended up genuinely fascinated bywhatever the passage was telling me about. I remember reading a passage about volcanic activity and thinking, "Wow, I'm really glad I just learned this." (I know this sounds crazy.) If you stay engaged while reading, you'll understand the passage so much better, and you'll answer questions with way more accuracy. Strategy 9: DON'T Spend Time on Vocab Vocab typically gets way too much attention from students. It feels good to study vocab flashcards, because it seems like you're making progress. "I studied 1,000 vocab words - this must mean I improved my score!" This is why other test prep programs love teaching you vocab - it feels like they're teaching you something useful worth your money, but it's not obvious that vocab actually isn't helping your score. Fortunately, vocab doesn't play a big role in your SAT Reading score anymore. This is especially true in the redesigned 2016 SAT. They've completely taken out Sentence Completion questions, and the words that you have to analyze in context are usually pretty common. Here are examples of words that you need to understand in context in the current SAT: ambivalent clashes convey plastic postulate These are somewhat advanced words, but they're nowhere near the level of the words you used to have to know, like "baroque," "diatribes," "platitudes," and "progenitor." College Board lowered the emphasis on vocab because of complaints that memorizing esoteric vocab was useless in college success and career success. Instead, it's now asking you to figure out the meaning of more common words the way the author intended. For example, "plastic" can mean "malleable," "artificial," or "sculptural." Only one of these is right in the context of the passage. This doesn't mean that vocab is totally useless. For one, SAT Writing still has a few vocab questions (read more about this in my Perfect SAT Writing guide). Furthermore, sometimes knowing the definition of the words in context is helpful. Here are a few tips on what to learn, and how to learn vocab effectively. First, I've written a super detailed guide on the best way to study SAT vocabulary. This method makes your studying much more efficient so you retain words longer and engage with the most difficult vocab most often. Second, you need to take notes on vocab words that you don't know that you see in your practice questions. Don't just focus on the right answers- understand the definition of wrong answers as well. Only take notes from official SAT tests. It's hard to predict what words the SAT will use, and the SAT doesn't often repeat words from previous tests. But the official free practice tests from the Official Study Guide that we integrate in our PrepScholar program are the best sources. Strategy 9B: Don't Spend Time Reading Books or Magazines Over the many years I've studied for tests or run a test prep company, I've heard this advice for SAT Reading: "Read great novels and well-written magazines, like in the New York Times or the Atlantic. This will help with reading comprehension." I hate this advice. A test like SAT Reading is very specific. It tests reading comprehension in very specific and formulaic ways, as I showed with all the question types in Strategy 3. Reading for general leisure does NOT train you effectively for the test. You're not exercising the same skills you need on the test, nor is it goal-driven enough to help you make progress. This terrible advice is like saying you can train for a swim meet by standing in the shower for longer. Yes, by being in the shower, you'll be in water, just like you will in the swimming pool. But you're not using the same skills. Yes, if you have a lifetime of strong reading, with thousands of hours of leisure reading experience, you will do better on SAT Reading. But right now, reading general material won't help you efficiently. Take your extra time and do SAT Reading practice questions instead. Strategy 10: Finish With Extra Time and Double Check Your goal at the end of all this work is to get so good at SAT Reading that you solve every question and have extra time left over at the end of the section to recheck your work. In high school, I was able to finish a Reading section in about 60% of the time allotted. For SAT Reading, this means finishing all 5 passages and 52 questions in 40 minutes. This means I have a whopping 25minutes left over to recheck my answers two times over. How did I get so fast? 1) I have an efficient reading strategy that works best for me. Namely, I skim the passage and work through the questions afterward. 2) Through a lot of hard work, I have a strong instinct for the test. I understand the test so well that when I read a question, I can predict the answer within a few seconds. I can rule out wrong answers instantly because they just feel wrong. I've surveyed thousands of questions and understood every single SAT skill deeply to design PrepScholar, so I can typically understand exactly what the College Board is asking. Kind of like Neo seeing code in The Matrix. Here are some time benchmarks that might help: You should finish skimming a long passage within three minutes. Each passage question should take you no more than 30 seconds. If you can do this well, you'll finish the entire section in 40 minutes, leaving a lot of time to double check. What's the best way to double checkyour work? I have a reliable method that I follow: Double check any questions you marked that you're unsure of. Try hard to eliminate answer choices. If it's a reading passage question, make sure that the passage supports your answer. If I'm 100% sure I'm right on a question, I mark it as such and never look at it again. If I'm not sure, I'll come back to it on the third pass. At least two minutes before time's up, I rapidly double checkthat I bubbled the answers correctly. I try to do this all at once so as not to waste time looking back and forth between the test book and the answer sheet. Go five at a time ("A D B C B") for more speed. If you notice yourself spending more than 30 seconds on a problem and aren't clear how you'll get to the answer, skip and go to the next question. Even though you need a near perfect raw score for an 800, don't be afraid to skip. You can come back to it later, and for now it's more important to get as many points as possible. Quick Tip: Bubbling Answers Here's a bubbling tip that will save you two minutes per section. When I first started test taking in high school, I did what many students do: after I finished one question, I went to the bubble sheet and filled it in. Then I solved the next question. Finish question 1, bubble in answer 1. Finish question 2, bubble in answer 2. And so forth. This actually wastes a lot of time. You're distracting yourself between two distinct tasks - solving questions, and bubbling in answers. This costs you time in both mental switching costs and in physically moving your hand and eyes to different areas of the test. Here's a better method: solve all your questions first in the book, then bubble all of them in at once. This has several huge advantages: you focus on each task one at a time, rather than switching between two different tasks. You also eliminate careless entry errors, like if you skip question 7 and bubble in question 8's answer into question 7's slot. By saving just ten seconds per question, you get back 200 seconds on a section that has 20 questions. This is huge. Note: If you use this strategy, you should already be finishing the section with ample extra time to spare. Otherwise, you might run out of time before you have the chance to bubble in the answer choices all at once. Strategy : Be Ready for Turbulence in Scores Now you know what it takes to achieve perfection in SAT Reading. You know the best strategies to use for tackling the passage. You know how to identify your weaknesses and learn from them. You know how to save time, and you know to stay engaged while reading a passage. Even despite all this, sometimes a passage just won't click with you. Of all SAT sections, I find that Reading has the most volatile score. How you vibe with a passage has a big impact on your score. You might get a string of questions wrong just because you couldn't really understand what the passage was really about. This doesn't happen on Math or Writing. No matter what happens, you need to keep calm and keep working. You might swing from an 800 on one practice test to a 710 on another. Don't let that faze you. Don't start doubting all the hard work you've put in. Keep a calm head, and, like always, work hard on reviewing your mistakes. This might even happen on the real SAT. You might get below your target score and be crestfallen. Pick yourself up. This happens. If you've consistently been getting 800's on practice tests, you should take the test again and try to score higher. Very likely, you will. And because most schools nowadays Superscore the SAT, you can combine that new 800 with your other sections for an awesome SAT score. In Overview Those are the main strategies I have for you to improve your SAT Reading score to an 800. If you're scoring above a 600 right now, with hard work and smart studying, you can raise it to a perfect SAT Reading score. Even though we covered a lot of strategies, the main point is still this: you need to understand where you're falling short, and drill those weaknesses continuously. You need to be thoughtful about your mistakes and leave no mistake ignored. Here's a recap of all the strategies, in case you want to go back and review any: Strategy 1: Understand Your High Level Weakness: Time Management or Passage Strategy Strategy 2:Learn to Eliminate 3 Wrong Answers Strategy 3: Predict the Answer Before Reading the Answer Choices Strategy 4: Experiment with Passage Reading Strategies and Find the Best for You Strategy 5: Understand Every Single Mistake You Make Strategy 6:Find Your Reading Skill Weaknesses and Drill Them Strategy 7:Read the Italicized Passage Introduction Strategy 8: Be Interested in the Passage Subject Matter Strategy 9: DON'T Spend Time on Vocab Strategy 10: Finish With Extra Time and Double Check Strategy : Be Ready for Turbulence in Scores Keep reading for more resources on how to boost your SAT score. What's Next? We have a lot more useful guides to raise your SAT score. Read our complete guide to a perfect 1600, written by me, a perfect scorer. Read our accompanying guide to a 800 on SAT Math. Learn how to write a perfect-scoring 12 SAT essay, step by step. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We have the industry's leading SAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. I built the PrepScholar program based on the principles in this article - the principles that worked for me and thousands of our students. I'm confident they'll also work with you. Check out our 5-day free trial today: