The Early Inhabitants of the Americas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Early Inhabitants of the Americas - Essay Example In this regard, the United States sought to establish a strong presence across the world in order to enhance its superiority. On the other hand, the Soviet Union fought its way by seeking support in African countries and across the East (Jones, 19). 2) The discovery of America was a turning point in the European international affairs. Countries like England, Portugal, and France were envious of Spain on the great wealth it got from the American and this led to the fight for control of the colonial lands. The focus was basically to benefit from the huge spoils. Indeed, the discovery of America created the impetus and motivation for colonization of the world and the growth of empress across the world. In comparison to the modern times, it is seen that China and the West are increasingly getting interested in Africa due to the potential of the continent. The focus of China is therefore to establish a strong presence and this is already causing much concern for countries like the United States. As such, the United States is extending various development programs to Africa with the hope of neutralizing China’s presence (Jones, 70). 3) After getting interested in the Americas, the European powers began pressing into the interior of the land and laying claims. They placed much pressure on the Spanish and this led to a series of proxy wars. The whole region came under much competition and many of the proxy wars involved the natives. The last of the war, the Yamasee War marked the end of the militancy of the Native Americans in the South. On various occasions, the United States has used such proxy wars involving natives in achieving some of its goals. For instance, during the Battle of Tora Bora in search for Osama Bin Laden in 2003, the Americas used the natives of the region who were well acquainted with the conditions in fighting against the terrorists (Jones, 89).

The Lesson by Tony Cade Bambara Essay Example for Free

The Lesson by Tony Cade Bambara Essay We all learn differently. We can learn from books, from other’s life. We can also learn the hard way and easy way. Either way, learning can be painful for all of us. Especially for children who have to experience the real life around them. The short story â€Å"The Lesson† by Toni Carde Bambara, shows seven poor children who experience where they are a level of economy the hard way. Even though it hurts for the seven children to force the lesson down their throats, such lesson become the lesson that is necessary and valuable for them to change their life in the future. Bambaras short story The Lesson, starts out with seven children: Sylvia, Sugar, Junebug, Fat Butt, Mercedes, Rosie Girrafe, Flyboy, who live in a poor neighborhood. Sylvia is the main character in the story, from the way she speaks in the story; she is an uneducated child, same as the other six children who are with her at the time. Miss Moore is the educated woman in Sylvias neighborhood with the college degree. Miss Moore usually calls all the children to learn some information, such as arithmetic, money and other educated information. None of the children enjoy Miss Moores lecture when Miss Moore gathers them up at the mailbox. After the lecture, Miss Moore decided to bring the children to the expensive toy store called F.A.O Schwartz. All children are stunned at the expensive toys, especially Sylvia. Not only Sylvia is amazed, but also angry and ashamed at the same time, but not sure where she should express her anger to. Sylvia learns the hard way what kind of economic position she is in. From that lesson, she learns a way to make herself work hard to compete and survive in her economic life. The symbolism in The Lesson starts out with the mailbox that the children gather around with. Before Miss Moore takes them out to see a toy store called F.A.O Schwartz, all of the children, Sylvia, Sugar, Mercedes, Junebug, Fat Butt, Q.T, Flyboy, and Rosie Giraffe come together at the mailbox to learn a lesson from Miss Moore. A mailbox is a box where a mail can be sent or received. The children can be seen as the mail ready to be sent out to learn some new knowledge about life. Another symbol is the toys that the ch ildren observe while they are at the toy store. One of the toys is a sailboat. Sailboat is used to bring people out to the sea to travel or learn new experiences. The Sailboat represents the children being sent out to discover new experiences about life. Another toy that the children observe is the microscope. Microscope is used to see invisible bacteria. The microscope represents some kind of reminder for the children to see their real life and what kind of economic position they are in. Another symbolism is the clown toy that Sylvia admired. The toy is a clown which can be represent as a joke to Sylvia. The clown costs $35, which is expensive for Sylvia at the time. She imagined how many foods and home appliance can her family buy with that $35. The clown represent as a joke and a reminder at the same time to Sylvia economics position. Each character is represented differently in the story. In addition, the children also respond differently to the toys that they have been seeing. The main character, Sylvia, is the character who is stubborn and bad mannered. However, she can also be the clever one because she stole four dollars from Miss Moore’s taxi change. Even though Sylvia complain and criticize Miss Moore, in her mind, she realizes that she actually learn a valuable lesson after her visits to F.A.O Schwartz, only she does not want to express it to Miss Moore. In the end of the story, Sylvia mentions at the end â€Å"†¦ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nothin.† Sylvia knows that deep in her mind, she needs to work harder in order to compete against other people who are above her economic level. From the way Sylvia is angry at the store, it is clear that it is not easy for Sylvia to see where she is economically. Even though the lesson that Miss Moore gives can be a stab in the heart for Sylvia and the other children, the lesson becomes to be the valuable one for them because they will remember to work harder and change their life. In page 2001, Miss Moore gives a lecture about money and how poor they are. Sylvia, on the other hand, seems to disagree on that because she is trying to speak and talk back to Miss Moore until the taxi came. The children do not seem to respond very well to Miss Moore’s lectures. However, they respond and understand the lesson better after they experience the reality of where they are economically. The children’s characters show that even though learning a lesson can be a pain for children, it is still important for them to learn. When the children complain about not being able to buy the toys, the complaints show that they are in different level of economy. Mercedes seems to be the only ones with positive thoughts. For example, in page 2002, when they talked about  paperweight, Mercedes is the only one who mentions that she has stationery and a desk, while the others say that they do not even have a desk to place a paperweight with. Also in page 2004, Mercedes is pushes out of the group when she said she will go back to the store when she has the money. In addition, Flyboy seems the be to most poor child in the group because he mentions he does not have a home (2002). The group, however, do not seem to favor the ones who is too rich or too poor. For example, Sylvia says that the white people just want to feel sorry for Flyboy when he mentions he does not have a home. The group also pushes Mercedes out of the circle because she is the one who has enough. This show the children started to be able to discern the different level of economy, and start to see how unfair their life is in a democracy country. From â€Å"The Lesson,† we can see how hard, yet important it is for children to learn real life experiences. Bambara uses the children characters because they are the ones who have more chances to change to way economy works in the future. Even though it hurts for children to see where they are economically, especially the poor ones, by giving them a lesson, they will remember and learn what they must do to change their life.

Proposal for the Installation of Emergency Telephones On Highways in Connecticut :: Proposal Paper

Proposal for the Installation of Emergency Telephones On Highways in Connecticut Introduction I propose to install emergency telephones along Connecticut highways. Connecticut highways do not provide immediate help for emergencies. Daily, there is a 50/50 change of an accident or emergency happening. There are 45 and up to 70 emergencies in the Greater Hartford area alone. Proposal This report proposes that emergency telephones be installed on Connecticut highways. They would offer efficient ways to get help immediately for emergency situations and also would decrease the chances of crime that may occur while people have to wait for help. Benefits The following is a list of advantages Connecticut drivers would have along our highways when there is an emergency: It would be possible to get efficient help if there is an emergency. You would not have to wait for someone to stop or a police cruiser to come along. You will not have to walk miles before you get to a gas station or pay phone for help. Senior citizens and handicapped people would not have to do either 2 or 3. The chances of a crime happening will be decreased greatly. CURRENT SITUATION Connecticut Highways Connecticut highways do not provide efficient or accessible ways to get help immediately. There are between 45 and 60 emergencies in the Greater Hartford area that require roadside assistance. Usually, those people are helped by the state police, which are usually efficient, but emergency telephones would help greatly. Increasing Crimes Crime in the Greater Hartford area has risen 70% since 1988 and is still rising. Many times it may be dangerous to get stuck on certain parts of our highways. Emergency Illness If there were an emergency illness of some sort, the victim would no doubt suffer a while before help would arrive. What would happen if someone was having a heart attack? Weather Conditions We also have to consider bad weather conditions. It is almost impossible for a senior citizen or handicapped person to walk to a gas station or pay phone for help in a snow storm. PROPOSAL FOR CHANGE Installing Emergency Telephones Installing emergency telephones will create safer driving along our highways. Whenever there is an immediate emergency, help will not be far away. Senior Citizens and Handicapped People Senior citizens and handicapped people would have a better chance of getting help whenever they need it. It will not be as difficult for them as it is now. Eliminate Chances for Crime Emergency telephones would also lessen the opportunities for criminals to prey upon the disabled.

New England Soup Company: Business Overview Essay

On January 11, 1991, William Kolander, president of the New England Soup Company of Boston, Massachusetts, was reviewing a research report he had received from a Boston-based research house. The report presented the findings of a study on the firm’s new formulation of Kolander’s Chowder brand of canned soup. The study had also been sent to the firm’s sales manager, Kirk George, and the production manager, Edward Corey. A meeting was scheduled for January 12 with the research firm and the New England Soup Company management. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the research findings and to make decisions concerning Kolander’s product offerings. The Company The New England Soup Company was a small firm that produced and distributed a line of specialty canned soup products to both the institutional and retail markets. Approximately 62 percent of their 1990 sales volume went to the institutional market ($68,526), and 38 percent went to the retail market ($42,102). The company was founded by William Kolander in 1957. Kolander’s father was a successful owner of several restaurants in the Boston area that were famous for their chowder. The young Kolander convinced his father in 1956 that there was a market to sell the chowder to local institutions (restaurants, hospitals, etc.) in the New England area, and he developed a canned chowder under his father’s supervision. Production facilities were acquired in the same year. After losses in the first few years, the business turned profitable in 1960. At this time, Kolander decided to enter the retail market with Kolander’s Chowder brand. Both the institutional and retail business grew rapidly during the 1960’s, as did the firm’s profitability. Expanded production facilities were built in 1968, and two additional specialty soup lines were introduced in 1970. These lines experienced limited success at retail but were reasonably profitable in the institutional market. Current Situation The last five years had been a period of level and then declining sales for Kolander’s Chowder (1987 -6943 cases, 1988 — 5676 cases, 1989 — 5101  cases, and 19901 — 4900 cases). Kolander attributed this decline in sales to the market entry of two new canned chowders in 1986 and 1987 (see Appendix A). The new competitors were Fisherman’s Delight Chowder and Cape Cod Chowder. Both brands were produced locally and appeared very similar in formulation to Kolander’s Chowder. Both of the new competitors had entered the market with a somewhat lower selling price than the Kolander’s brand. Distributors were also attracted by the slightly higher margins plus the desire to carry a competitive alternative to Kolander’s Chowder. Several large retailers had advertised the Fisherman’s Delight brand as a â€Å"weekly special† at 43 cents per can. Management Objective Kolander recognized that the firm faced a serious competitive threat from the two new brand entries. While there were several long-term issues he was considering, his immediate concern was one of developing a competitive strategy to counter the sales decline of Kolander’s Chowder. Specifically, he wanted to recover the lost distribution of the brand and switch customers from competitive brands back to the Kolander’s brand. This was to be accomplished within the next 12 months. While increased distribution outside the current market area was a possibility, Kolander’s immediate objective was to improve the market position of Kolander’s Chowder at retail within the New England are. Estimated from 1989 company records. The Research Project In October 1989, Kolander contacted a local research firm. After a number of meetings, the research firm recommended that a series of group interviews be conducted with current users of the two competitive chowder brands in order to explore reasons for the product usage, reactions to the brands, and perceived product differences. Through group sessions of this nature, the research firm believed that the cause of declining sales of Kolander’s Chowder could be established and potential solutions identified. The results  of the group sessions suggested that an important proportion of the competitive canned chowder users preferred a chowder that was thicker and creamier than the current Kolander’s Chowder brand formulation. Of the former Kowlander’s Chowder users, the desire for a creamier formulation was the predominant reason for switching. Many of these chowder users had switched to either Fisherman’s Delight or Cape Cod Chowder. Based on these findings, the research firm recommended that further research be conducted to evaluate changing Kolander’s Chowder to a creamier formulation. For purposes of the test, it was recommended that two creamier formulations be developed, a â€Å"creamy† version and an â€Å"extra creamy† version. These two new formulations would be evaluated in a taste test along with Kolander’s current chowder plus the two competitive brands. After several meetings on specific aspects of the proposed research design, Kolander decided to approve the project. Appendix B presents the results of this study. Case Question Focusing on the retail market, what product line does the research suggest Kolander should produce? Guidelines for 3-Slide Submission Slide 1: Analyze the data in Table 1 and make a product line recommendation Slide 2: Evaluate the focus group and the taste test and judge the quality of data from each Slide 3: What would you have done differently if you had guided the research process for this problem? APPENDIX A: New England Soup Company, Audit of Retail Food Outlets (Tables from the Report) Fifty retail food outlets in the New England market area have been audited annually since 1975. These are deemed representative of the potential distribution outlets of canned soups for the New England Soup Company. APPENDIX B: Evaluation of Two New Formulations of Kolander’s Canned Chowder Research Objectives To evaluate the preference for two new chowder formulations among users of Kolander’s Chowder, Cape Cod Chowder, and Fisherman’s Delight Chowder. Research Design and Procedure Two hundred male (n=100) and female (n=100) canned chowder users were selected from four geographic locations representative of the New England market area. The subjects were selected using a probability sampling procedure involving a telephone-administered qualifying questionnaire. Each  subject was paid $5 for participating in the test. The subjects came to one of four test locations (local churches). They were tested individually in 30-minute sessions. Subjects were brought into the testing room and seated at stalls. An instruction sheet explained that the subject was to evaluate several samples of chowder, that the test would consist of three parts, and that they would be required to taste a total of 15 cups of chowder. Normal taste-testing procedures were followed. The first part involved tasting five samples of chowder and ranking them from â€Å"most preferred† to â€Å"least preferred†. The five chowders were Kolander’s regular chowder, Fisherman’s Delight, Kolander’s creamy (version 1), Cape Cod, and Kolander’s extra creamy (version 2). The second and third parts of the test involved tasting five samples again. The samples had different code letters and the subjects were not told the samples were identical to the previous five. After tasting the five samples, the subjects were again asked to rank order the five samples. For each subject, the test procedure resulted in three preference orderings of the five chowder samples. The preference orderings were combined to form a composite ordering for each subject, a procedure that resulted in a more reliable measure of each subject’s true preference ordering. Results The data set consisted of 200 preference orderings of the five chowders. Table 1 presents 20 preference orderings which are representative of the entire data set. The difference between male and female preference orderings was not statistically significant. The data set was analyzed by calculating the average rank order of each chowder and scaling the chowders on a five-point scale ranging from most preferred (1) to least preferred (5). Table 2 presents the results of this analysis. Recommendation and Discussion Recommendation: Change the current Kolander’s Chowder formulation to the  version 1–â€Å"creamy† – formulation and develop a new label which makes this change conspicuous at point of purchase. The table 2 results clearly indicate that the current Kolander’s Chowder formulation and the â€Å"extra creamy† formulation ranked significantly (.05 level of significance) lower than the two competitors’ brands and the â€Å"creamy† formulation. These findings suggest that the market position of Kolander’s Chowder can be improved by a formulation change to the â€Å"creamy† version, which ranks higher than the two competitors and should recapture a significant share of sales lost to the Cape Cod and Fisherman’s Delight brands.

Microeconomics of Customer Relationships

Reading: Microeconomics of Customer Relationships ? Reading: Microeconomics of Customer Relationships The follow is a critique and review of the reading of Microeconomic of Customer Relationships by Fred Reichheld. I will review the article and evaluate Mr. Reachheld. I will also apply economic theories into why and how I came to my conclusions. Overview on the Reading Microeconomic of Customer Relationships by Fred Reichheld is based on a simple survey based customer-relationship metric known as â€Å"net-promoter score†, or NPS.The NPS divides customers into three categories based on the simple question, â€Å"How likely is it that you would recommend us to a friend or colleague? † (Reichheld, 2006, pg. 73) Customers at the high end are labeled promoters, because of their likelihood of loyalty and positive word-of-mouth promotion. The low end of the spectrum is the opposite of the promoter and labeled a detractor. By quantifying the value the customers have the compan y can then devise action plans to solve problems, or expatiate growth. Evaluation of the AuthorFred Reichheld was very good at relating NPS in a practical and evaluative way. What I found most interesting in his analysis of NPS was the customer grid (Figure 1). Figure 1. Customer Grid. From Fred Reichheld’s Microeconomics of Customer Relationships. (2006, pg. 76) Reichheld came to the conclusion that the upper right was the top long-term priority. I completely agree with this conclusion. He then put the upper right and the lower right as the next highest priority. He does make some good points, such as bad word-of-mouth and high profits that could pick up ship and move on elsewhere.I, however, would put a higher priority in the upper middle section as long as this is a large corporation. A small business may very well need to stamp out the issues of the unsatisfied because they can’t afford the risk of losing base. In a large corporation, volume is huge and needs to be satisfied. If you can find a way to get the middle column to the right, your NPS would rise. Conversely, if you don’t satisfy the middle, or large volume customers, they could move to the left causing havoc. Netflix recently made a bold move of raising it’s prices 60% and split it’s services into two separate entities.This angered that middle column of subscribers that used Netflix, but didn’t have strong opinions toward it. Netflix’s stock prices have plummeted 26 percent this year(Randall, 2011). Netflix was counting on customer loyalty to prevail over the increase in prices, but instead had a huge backlash. An example of a company that focuses on the right and the middle of their NPS is Apple. Apple has created a company with an almost cult like following. Apple’s NPS is 79% with only 2% detractors based on a 2008 survey by Satmetrix (Schofield, 2008).Apple has been genius at getting customers to the upper right section of the customer g rid. It developed products to appeal to the masses. Criticism toward Apple has been their lack of Adobe flash integrated into their iphones(Chen, 2008). This causes anger to the left sections of customer who want flash enabled devices. Apple could easily try to appease this group and enable Flash, but because it views it as an unstable platform, it refuses to use it. Apple isn’t as concerned about the haters as it is about those loyal to Apple, or those who are on the fence.Recent commercials have depicted Apple as more stable and fun to used than PCs, in an attempt to grab at that market with no brand loyalty. Economic Theories I do realize my examples for my disagreement with Reichheld on priority placed on the NPS is not for all market conditions and companies. There are many factors that can sway priority away from where focus was previously. The Netflix example, for instance, was based on a company who thought it had somewhat of a monopoly, yet after it made it’s decision to raise prices realized costumers left for other options such as Hulu plus and Blockbuster’s DVD by mail service.Netflix is now forced to have its main focus on the left and pacify those who were angered. There is also supply and demand to consider. When there is a high demand for a product and a limited supply, a higher priority needs to be set on the upper right because holding a high percentage of the market share when supply is low will keep customers when or if the supply is increased and you will need customer loyalty when new competitors are able to enter due to a lower cost of entry. ConclusionFred Reichheld wrote an excellent article breaking down NPS and applying it to business. I had a slight disagreement over his priority placement mainly because it is flexible to the situation and I would focus on the masses rather and a select few. The article was well written and very practical with easy to understand data. References Chen, B. (2008, November 17). Why apple won’t allow adobe flash on iphone. Retrieved from http://www. wired. com/gadgetlab/2008/11/adobe-flash-on/ Randall, D. 2011, September 19). Nflx tumbles on qwikster announcement; are netflix's best days behind it?. Retrieved from http://www. huffingtonpost. com/2011/09/19/nflx-netflix-stock-qwikster_n_970879. html Reichheld, F. (2006). The microeconomics of customer relationships. MITSloan Management Review, 47(2), 73-78. Schofield, M. (2008, April 10). Satmetrix benchmarks net promoter scores in four key industry sectors. Retrieved from http://www. reuters. com/article/2008/04/10/idUS191482 10-Apr-2008 BW20080410

This Is What JavaScript Is Used For

This Is What JavaScript Is Used For There are a number of different places where JavaScript can be used but the most common place to use it is in a web page. In fact, for most people using JavaScript, in a web page is the only place where they use it. The Three Languages of a Website The first requirement of a web page is to define the content of the web page. This is done using a markup language that defines what each of the component parts of the content are. The language that is normally used to markup the content is HTML although XHTML can also be used if you do not require the pages to work in Internet Explorer. Hamza TArkkol / Getty Images The HTML defines what the content is. When written properly no attempt is made to define how that content is supposed to look. After all, the content will need to look different depending on what device is being used to access it. Mobile devices generally have smaller screens than computers. Printed copies of the content will have a fixed width and may not require all the navigation be included. For people listening to the page, it will be how the page is read rather than how it looks that needs to be defined. The appearance of a web page is defined using Cascading Style Sheets that specify which media the specific commands apply to, so the content formats appropriately for the device. Using just these two languages you can create static web pages that will be accessible regardless of which device is used to access the page. These static pages can interact with your visitor through the use of forms. After a form is filled out and submitted, a request is sent back to the server where a new static web page is constructed and eventually downloaded into the browser. The big disadvantage of web pages like this is that the only way that your visitor has of interacting with the page is by filling out the form and waiting for a new page to load. Add JavaScript for Dynamic Pages JavaScript translates your static page into one that can interact with your visitors without them needing to wait for a new page to load every time they make a request. JavaScript adds behavior to the web page where the page responds to actions without needing to load a new page to process the request. No longer does your visitor need to fill out an entire form and submit it in order to be told that they made a typo in the first field and need to enter it all again. With JavaScript, you can validate each of the fields as they enter it and provide immediate feedback when they err. Tetra Images / Getty Images JavaScript also allows your page to be interactive in other ways that do not involve forms at all. You can add animations into the page that either attract attention to a specific part of the page or which make the page easier to use.You can provide responses within the web page to various actions that your visitor takes so as to avoid the need to load new web pages to respond. You can even have the JavaScript load new images, objects, or scripts into the web page without needing to reload the entire page. There is even a way for JavaScript to pass requests back to the server and handle responses from the server without the need for loading new pages. Incorporating JavaScript into a web page allows you to improve your visitors experience by converting it from a static page into one that can interact with them. One important thing to remember though is that not everyone visiting your page will have JavaScript and so your page will still need to work for those who dont have JavaScript. Use JavaScript to make your page work better for those who have it.

Social Networking Service Essay Example

Social Networking Service Essay Example Social Networking Service Essay Social Networking Service Essay Essay Topic: The Social Contract A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact over the Internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. Online community services are sometimes considered as a social network service, though in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centered service whereas online community services are group-centered. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks. citation needed] The main types of social networking services are those which contain category places (such as former school year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages) and a recommendation system linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with Facebook and Twitter widely used worldwide, Nexopia (mostly in Canada);[1] Bebo,[2] VKontakte, Hi5, Hyves (mostly in The Netherlands), Draugiem. lv (mostly in Latvia), StudiVZ (mostly in Germany), iWiW (mostly in Hungary), Tuenti (mostly in Spain), Nasza-Klasa (mostly in Poland), Nyx. z (mostly in Czech Republic), iCubee (mostly in Philippines), Decayenne, Tagged, XING,[3] Badoo[4] and Skyrock in parts of Europe;[5] Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America;[6] and Friendster, Mixi, Multiply, Orkut, Wretch, renren and Cyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands and LinkedIn and Orkut are very popular in India. There have been attempts to standardize these services to avoid the need to duplicate entries of friends and interests (see the FOAF standard and the Open Source Initiative). A 2011 survey found that 47% of American adults used a social network. [7] History The potential for computer networking to facilitate new forms of computer-mediated social interaction was suggested early on. [8] Efforts to support social networks via computer-mediated communication were made in many early online services, including Usenet, ARPANET, LISTSERV, and bulletin board services (BBS). Many prototypical features of social networking sites were also present in online services such as America Online, Prodigy, and CompuServe. Early social networking on the World Wide Web began in the form of generalized online communities such as Theglobe. com (1995),[9] Geocities (1994) and Tripod. om (1995). Many of these early communities focused on bringing people together to interact with each other through chat rooms, and encouraged users to share personal information and ideas via personal webpages by providing easy-to-use publishing tools and free or inexpensive webspace. Some communities such as Classmates. com took a different approach by simply having people link to each other via email addresses. In the late 1990s, user profiles became a central feature of social networking sites, allowing users to compile lists of friends and search for other users with similar interests. New social networking methods were developed by the end of the 1990s, and many sites began to develop more advanced features for users to find and manage friends. [10] This newer generation of social networking sites began to flourish with the emergence of SixDegrees. com in 1997,[11] followed by Makeoutclub in 2000,[12][13], Friendster in 2002,[14] and soon became part of the Internet mainstream. Friendster was followed by MySpace and LinkedIn a year later, and finally, Bebo. Attesting to the rapid increase in social networking sites popularity, by 2005, MySpace was reportedly getting more page views than Google. Facebook,[15] launched in 2004, has since become the largest social networking site in the world. [16]Today, it is estimated that there are now over 200 active sites using a wide variety of social networking models. [citation needed] May 2011: Based on TNS research, the global average of who access daily the social networking sites accounts is 46 percent. [17] [edit]Social impacts Web based social networking services make it possible to connect people who share interests and activities across political, economic, and geographic borders. 18] Through e-mail and instant messaging, online communities are created where a gift economy and reciprocal altruism are encouraged through cooperation. Information is particularly suited to gift economy, as information is a nonrival good and can be gifted at practically no cost. [19][20] Facebook and other social networking tools are increasingly the object of scholarly research. Scholars in many fields have begun to investigate the impact of social networking sites, investigating how such sites may play into issues of identity, privacy,[21] social capital, youth culture, and education. 22] Several websites are beginning to tap into the power of the social networking model for philanthropy. Such models provide a means for connecting otherwise fragmented industries and small organizations without the resources to reach a broader audience with interested users. [23] Social networks are providing a different way for individuals to communicate digitally. These communities of hypertexts allow for the sharing of information and ideas, an old concept placed in a digital environment. In 2011, HCL Technologies conducted research which showed that 50% of British employers had banned the use of social networking sites/services during office hours. [24] [25] [edit]Typical structure [edit]Basics Social networking sites share some conventional features. Most often, individual users are encouraged to create profiles containing various information about themselves. Users can often upload pictures of themselves to their profiles, post blog entries for others to read, search for other users with similar interests, and compile and share lists of contacts. In addition, user profiles often have a section dedicated to comments from friends and other users. To protect user privacy, social networks usually have controls that allow users to choose who can view their profile, contact them, add them to their list of contacts, and so on. In recent years, it has also become common for a wide variety of organizations to create profiles to advertise products and services. [edit]Additional features Some social networks have additional features, such as the ability to create groups that share common interests or affiliations, upload or stream live videos, and hold discussions in forums. Geosocial networking co-opts Internet mapping services to organize user participation around geographic features and their attributes. There is also a trend for more interoperability between social networks led by technologies such as OpenID and OpenSocial. Lately, mobile social networking has become popular. [citation needed] In most mobile communities, mobile phone users can now create their own profiles, make friends, participate in chat rooms, create chat rooms, hold private conversations, share photos and videos, and hare blogs by using their mobile phone. Some companies provide wireless services which allow their customers to build their own mobile community and brand it, but one of the most popular wireless services for social networking in North America is Facebook Mobile. [edit]Emerging trends in social networking As the increase in popularity of social networking is on a constant rise,[26] new uses for the technology are constantly being observed. At the forefront of emergi ng trends in social networking sites is the concept of real-time web and location based. Real time allows users to contribute content, which is then broadcasted as it is being uploaded the concept is analogous to live radio and television broadcasts. Twitter set the trend for real time services, where users can broadcast to the world what they are doing, or what is on their minds within a 140 character limit. Facebook followed suit with their Live Feed where users activities are streamed as soon as it happens. While Twitter focuses on words, Clixtr, another real time service, focuses on group photo sharing where users can update their photo streams with photos while at an event. Facebook, however, remains easily the greatest photo sharing site Facebook application and photo aggregator Pixable estimates that Facebook will have 100 billion photos by Summer 2011 [27]. Foursquare gained popularity as it allowed for users to check-in to places that they are frequenting at that moment. Gowalla is another such service which functions in much the same way that Foursquare does, leveraging the GPS in phones to create a location-based user experience. Clixtr, though in the real time space, is also a location based social networking site since events created by users are automatically geotagged, and users can view events occurring nearby through the Clixtr iPhone app. Recently, Yelp announced its entrance into the location based social networking space through check-ins with their mobile app; whether or not this becomes detrimental to Foursquare or Gowalla is yet to be seen as it is still considered a new space in the Internet technology industry. 28] One popular use for this new technology is social networking between businesses. Companies have found that social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are great ways to build their brand image. According to Jody Nimetz, author of Marketing Jive,[29] there are five major uses for businesses and social media: to create brand awareness, as an online reputation management tool, for recruiting, to learn about new technologies and competitors, and as a lead generation tool to inter cept potential prospects. 29] These companies are able to drive traffic to their own online sites while encouraging their consumers and clients to have discussions on how to improve or change products or services. One other use that is being discussed is the use of social networks in the science communities. Julia Porter Liebeskind et al. have published a study on how new biotechnology firms are using social networking sites to share exchanges in scientific knowledge. 30] They state in their study that by sharing information and knowledge with one another, they are able to increase both their learning and their flexibility in ways that would not be possible within a self-contained hierarchical organization. Social networking is allowing scientific groups to expand their knowledge base and share ideas, and without these new means of communicating their theories might become isolated and irrelevant. Social networks are also being used by teachers and students as a communication tool. Because many students are already using a wide-range of social networking sites, teachers have begun to familiarize themselves with this trend and are now using it to their advantage. Teachers and professors are doing everything from creating chat-room forums and groups to extend classroom discussion to posting assignments, tests and quizzes, to assisting with homework outside of the classroom setting. Social networks are also being used to foster teacher-parent communication. These sites make it possible and more convenient for parents to ask questions and voice concerns without having to meet face-to-face. Social networks are being used by activists as a means of low-cost grassroots organizing. Extensive use of an array of social networking sites enabled organizers of the 2009 National Equality March to mobilize an estimated 200,000 participants to march on Washington with a cost savings of up to 85% per participant over previous methods. [31] The use of online social networks by libraries is also an increasingly prevalent and growing tool that is being used to communicate with more potential library users, as well as extending the services provided by individual libraries. A final rise in social network use is being driven by college students using the services to network with professionals for internship and job opportunities. Many studies have been done on the effectiveness of networking online in a college setting, and one notable one is by Phipps Arabie and Yoram Wind published in Advances in Social Network Analysis. [32] [edit]Social network hosting service A social network hosting service is a web hosting service that specifically hosts the user creation of web-based social networking services, alongside related applications. Such services are also known as vertical social networks due to the creation of SNSes which cater to specific user interests and niches; like larger, interest-agnostic SNSes, such niche networking services may also possess the ability to create increasingly niche groups of users. [edit]Business model Few social networks currently charge money for membership. In part, this may be because social networking is a relatively new service, and the value of using them has not been firmly established in customers minds. citation needed] Companies such as MySpace and Facebook sell online advertising on their site. Their business model is based upon large membership count, and charging for membership would be counterproductive. [33] Some believe that the deeper information that the sites have on each user will allow much better targeted advertising than any other site can currently provide. [34] Social networks operate under an autonomous business model, in which a social networks members serve dual roles as both the suppliers and the consumers of content. This is in contrast to a traditional business model, where the suppliers and consumers are distinct agents. Revenue is typically gained in the autonomous business model via advertisements, but subscription-based revenue is possible when membership and content levels are sufficiently high. [35] [edit]Issues [edit]Privacy Privacy concerns with social networking services have been raised growing concerns amongst users on the dangers of giving out too much personal information and the threat of sexual predators. Users of these services also need to be aware of data theft or viruses. However, large services, such as MySpace and Netlog, often work with law enforcement to try to prevent such incidents. [citation needed] In addition, there is a perceived privacy threat in relation to placing too much personal information in the hands of large corporations or governmental bodies, allowing a profile to be produced on an individuals behavior on which decisions, detrimental to an individual, may be taken. Furthermore, there is an issue over the control of data- information that was altered or removed by the user may in fact be retained and/or passed to third parties. This danger was highlighted when the controversial social networking site Quechup harvested e-mail addresses from users e-mail accounts for use in a spamming operation. [36] In medical and scientific research, asking subjects for information about their behaviors is normally strictly scrutinized by institutional review boards, for example, to ensure that adolescents and their parents have informed consent. It is not clear whether the same rules apply to researchers who collect data from social networking sites. These sites often contain a great deal of data that is hard to obtain via traditional means. Even though the data are public, republishing it in a research paper might be considered invasion of privacy. [37] Privacy on social networking sites can be undermined by many factors. For example, users may disclose personal information, sites may not take adequate steps to protect user privacy, and third parties frequently use information posted on social networks for a variety of purposes. For the Net generation, social networking sites have become the preferred forum for social interactions, from posturing and role playing to simply sounding off. However, because such forums are relatively easy to access, posted content can be reviewed by anyone with an interest in the users personal information. [38][39][40] Following plans by the UK government to monitor traffic on social networks[41] schemes similar to E-mail jamming have been proposed for networks such as Twitter and Facebook. These would involve friending and following large numbers of random people to thwart attempts at network analysis. [edit]Data mining Through data mining, companies are able to improve their sales and profitability. With this data, companies create customer profiles that contain customer demographics and online behavior. A recent strategy has been the purchase and production of â€Å"network analysis software†. This software is able to sort out through the influx of social networking data for any specific company. [42] Facebook has been especially important to marketing strategists. Facebook’s controversial and new â€Å"Social Ads† program gives companies access to the millions of profiles in order to tailor their ads to a Facebook user’s own interests and hobbies. However, rather than sell actual user information, Facebook sells tracked â€Å"social actions†. That is, they track the websites a user uses outside of Facebook through a program called â€Å"Facebook Beacon†. [43] [edit]Notifications on websites There has been a trend for social networking sites to send out only positive notifications to users. For example sites such as Bebo, Facebook, and Myspace will not send notifications to users when they are removed from a persons friends list. Similarly Bebo will send out a notification if a user is moved to the top of another users friends list but no notification is sent if they are moved down the list. This allows users to purge undesirables from their list extremely easily and often without confrontation since a user will rarely notice if one person disappears from their friends list. It also enforces the general positive atmosphere of the website without drawing attention to unpleasant happenings such as friends falling out, rejection and failed relationships. [edit]Access to information Many social networking services, such as Facebook, provide the user with a choice of who can view their profile. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from accessing their information. [44] Parents who want to access their childs MySpace or Facebook account have become a big problem for teenagers who do not want their profile seen by their parents. By making their profile private, teens can select who may see their page, allowing only people added as friends to view their profile and preventing unwanted viewing of the profile by parents. Most teens are constantly trying to create a structural barrier between their private life and their parents. 45] To edit information on a certain social networking service account, the social networking sites require you to login or provide a password. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from adding, changing, or removing personal information, pictures, and/or other data. [edit]Potential for misuse The relative freedom afforded by social networking services has caused concern regarding the potential of its misuse by individual patrons. In October 2006, a fake Mysp ace profile created in the name of Josh Evans by Lori Janine Drew led to the suicide of Megan Meier. 46] The event incited global concern regarding the use of social networking services for bullying purposes In July 2008, a Briton, Grant Raphael, was ordered to pay a total of GBP ? 22,000 (about USD $44,000) for libel and breach of privacy. Raphael had posted a fake page on Facebook purporting to be that of a former schoolfriend Matthew Firsht, with whom Raphael had fallen out in 2000. The page falsely claimed that Firsht was homosexual and that he was dishonest. At the same time, genuine use of social networking services has been treated with suspicion on the ground of the services misuse. In September 2008, the profile of Australian Facebook user Elmo Keep was banned by the sites administrators on the grounds that it violated the sites terms of use. Keep is one of several users of Facebook who were banned from the site on the presumption that their names arent real, as they bear resemblance the names of characters like Sesame Streets Elmo. [47] [edit]Risk for child safety Citizens and governments have been concerned by a misuse by child and teenagers of social networking services, particularly in relation to online sexual predators. A certain number of actions have been engaged by governments to better understand the problem and find some solutions. [specify] A 2008 panel concluded that technological fixes such as age verification and scans are relatively ineffective means of apprehending online predators. [48] In May 2010, a child pornography social networking site with hundreds of members was dismantled by law enforcement. It was deemed the largest crimes against children case brought anywhere by anyone. [49] [edit]Trolling Main article: Troll (Internet) A common misuse of social networking sites such as Facebook is that it is occasionally used to emotionally abuse individuals. Such actions are often referred to as trolling. It is not rare for confrontations in the real world to be translated online. [citation needed] Trolling can occur in many different forms, such as (but not limited to) defacement of deceased person(s) tribute pages, name calling, playing online pranks on volatile individuals and controversial comments with the intention to cause anger and cause arguments. Trolling is not to be confused with cyber-bullying. edit]Online bullying Online bullying, also called cyber-bullying, is a relatively common occurrence and it can often result in emotional trauma for the victim. Depending on the networking outlet, up to 39% of users admit to being â€Å"cyber-bullied†. [50] Danah Boyd, a researcher of social networks quotes a teenager in her article, Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites. The teenager expresses frustrati on towards networking sites like MySpace because it causes drama and too much emotional stress. [51] There are not many limitations as to what individuals can post when online. Inherently individuals are given the power to post offensive remarks or pictures that could potentially cause a great amount of emotional pain for another individual. [edit]Interpersonal communication Interpersonal communication has been a growing issue as more and more people have turned to social networking as a means of communication. Benniger (1987) describes how mass media has gradually replaced interpersonal communication as a socializing force. Further, social networking sites have become popular sites for youth culture to explore themselves, relationships, and share cultural artifacts. A Privacy Paradox Many teens and social networking users may be harming their interpersonal communication by using sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Stated by Baroness Greenfield, an Oxford University Neuroscientist, My fear is that these technologies are infantilizing the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment. [52] The convenience which social network sites give users to communicate with one another can also damage their interpersonal communication. Sherry Turkle, the founder and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, stated, â€Å"Networked, we are together, but so lessened are our expectations of each other that we feel utterly alone. And there is the risk that we come to see others as objects to be accessedand only for the parts we find useful, comforting, or amusing (Turkle 154). †[53] Furthermore, social network sites can create insincere friendships, Turkle also noted, â€Å"They nurture friendships on social-networking sites and then wonder if they are among friends. They become confused about companionship (Turkle 17). †[54] [edit]Psychological effects of social networking As social networking sites have risen in popularity over the past years, people have been spending an excess amount of time on social networking sites and on the Internet in general. The excessive amount of time that people spend on social networking sites has led researchers to debate the establishment of Internet addiction as an actual clinical disorder. [55] Social networking can also affect the extent to which a person feels lonely. In a Newsweek article, Johannah Cornblatt explains â€Å"Social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace may provide people with a false sense of connection that ultimately increases loneliness in people who feel alone. † John T. Cacioppo, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, claims that social networking can foster feelings of sensitivity to disconnection, which can lead to loneliness. [56] [edit]Patents Number of US social network patent applications published per year and patents issued per year There has been rapid growth in the number of US patent applications that cover new technologies related to social networking. The number of published applications has been growing rapidly since 2003. There are now over 3500 published applications. As many as 7000 applications may be currently on file including those that havent been published yet. [57] Only about 400 [58] of these applications have issued as patents, however, largely due to the multi-year backlog in examination of business method patents and the difficulty in getting these patent applications allowed. [59] It has been reported that social networking patents are important for the establishment of new start-up companies. 60] It has also been reported, however, that social networking patents inhibit innovation. [61] On June 15, 2010, the United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded Amazon. com a patent for a Social Networking System based on its ownership of PlanetAll. [62] The patent describes a Social Networking System as A networked computer system provides various services for assisting users in locating, and establishing contact rela tionships with, other users. For example, in one embodiment, users can identify other users based on their affiliations with particular schools or other organizations. The system also provides a mechanism for a user to selectively establish contact relationships or connections with other users, and to grant permissions for such other users to view personal information of the user. The system may also include features for enabling users to identify contacts of their respective contacts. In addition, the system may automatically notify users of personal information updates made by their respective contacts. [63] The patent has garnered attention due to its similarity to the popular social networking site Facebook. 64] [edit]Investigations Main article: Use of social network websites in investigations Social networking services are increasingly being used in legal and criminal investigations. Information posted on sites such as MySpace and Facebook has been used by police (forensic profiling), probation, and university officials to prosecute users of said sites. In some situations, content posted on MySpace has been used in court. [65] Facebook is inc reasingly being used by school administrations and law enforcement agencies as a source of evidence against student users. The site, the number one online destination for college students, allows users to create profile pages with personal details. These pages can be viewed by other registered users from the same school which often include resident assistants and campus police who have signed up for the service. [66] One UK police force has sifted pictures from Facebook and arrested some people who had been photographed in a public place holding a weapon such as a knife (having a weapon in a public place is illegal). [67] [edit]Application domains [edit]Government applications Social networking is more recently being used by various government agencies. Social networking tools serve as a quick and easy way for the government to get the opinion of the public and to keep the public updated on their activity. The Centers for Disease Control demonstrated the importance of vaccinations on the popular childrens site Whyville and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a virtual island on Second Life where people can explore underground caves or explore the effects of global warming. [68] Similarly, NASA has taken advantage of a few social networking tools, including Twitter and Flickr. They are using these tools to aid the Review of U. S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, whose goal it is to ensure that the nation is on a vigorous and sustainable path to achieving its boldest aspirations in space. [69] [edit]Business applications The use of social networking services in an enterprise context presents the potential of having a major impact on the world of business and work (Fraser Dutta 2008). Social networks connect people at low cost; this can be beneficial for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand their contact bases. These networks often act as a customer relationship management tool for companies selling products and services. Companies can also use social networks for advertising in the form of banners and text ads. Since businesses operate globally, social networks can make it easier to keep in touch with contacts around the world. One example of social networking being used for business purposes is LinkedIn. com, which aims to interconnect professionals. LinkedIn has over 100 million users in over 200 countries. [70] Another is the use of physical spaces available to members of a social network such as Hub Culture, an invitation only social network for entrepreneurs, and other business influentials, with Pavilions in major cities such as London, UK. Having a physical presence allows members to network in the real world, as well as the virtual, adding extra business value. Applications for social networking sites have extended toward businesses and brands are creating their own, high functioning sites, a sector known as brand networking. It is the idea a brand can build its consumer relationship by connecting their consumers to the brand image on a platform that provides them relative content, elements of participation, and a ranking or score system. Brand networking is a new way to capitalize on social trends as a marketing tool. [edit]Dating applications See also: Online dating service. Many social networks provide an online environment for people to communicate and exchange personal information for dating purposes. Intentions can vary from looking for a one time date, short-term relationships, and long-term relationships. [71] Most of these social networks, just like online dating services, require users to give out certain pieces of information. This usually includes a users age, gender, location, interests, and perhaps a picture. Releasing very personal information is usually discouraged for safety reasons. [72] This allows other users to search or be searched by some sort of criteria, but at the same time people can maintain a degree of anonymity similar to most online dating services. Online dating sites are similar to social networks in the sense that users create profiles to meet and communicate with others, but their activities on such sites are for the sole purpose of finding a person of interest to date. Social networks do not necessarily have to be for dating; many users simply use it for keeping in touch with friends, and colleagues. [73] However, an important difference between social networks and online dating services is the fact that online dating sites usually require a fee, where social networks are free. [74] This difference is one of the reasons the online dating industry is seeing a massive decrease in revenue due to many users opting to use social networking services instead. Many popular online dating services such as Match. om, Yahoo Personals, and eHarmony. com are seeing a decrease in users, where social networks like MySpace and Facebook are experiencing an increase in users. [75] The number of Internet users in the U. S. that visit online dating sites has fallen from a peak of 21% in 2003 to 10% in 2006. [76] Whether its the cost of the services, the variety of users with different intentions, or any other reason, it is undeniable that social networking sites are qu ickly becoming the new way to find dates online. [edit]Educational applications The National School Boards Association reports that almost 60 percent of students who use social networking talk about education topics online and, surprisingly, more than 50 percent talk specifically about schoolwork. Yet the vast majority of school districts have stringent rules against nearly all forms of social networking during the school day - even though students and parents report few problem behaviors online. Social networks focused on supporting relationships between teachers and their students are now used or learning, educator professional development, and content sharing. Ning for teachers, Learn Central,[77] TeachStreet and other sites are being built to foster relationships that include educational blogs, eportfolios, formal and ad hoc communities, as well as communication such as chats, discussion threads, and synchronous forums. These sites also have content sharing and rating features. Social networks are also emerging as online yearbooks, both public and private. One such service is MyYearbook which allows anyone from the general public to register and connect. A new trend emerging are private label yearbooks only accessible by students, parents and teachers of a particular school similar to Facebook beginning within Harvard. [citation needed] [edit]Finance applications The use of virtual currency systems inside social networks create new opportunities for global finance. Hub Culture operates a virtual currency Ven used for global transactions among members, product sales[78] and financial trades in commodities and carbon credits. [79] [80] In May 2010, Carbon pricing contracts were introduced to the weighted basket of currencies and commodities that determine the floating exchange value of Ven. The introduction of carbon to the calculation price of the currency made Ven the first and only currency that is linked to the environment. [81] [edit]Medical applications Social networks are beginning to be adopted by healthcare professionals as a means to manage institutional knowledge, disseminate peer to peer knowledge and to highlight individual physicians and institutions. The advantage of using a dedicated medical social networking site is that all the members are screened against the state licensing board list of practitioners. 82] The role of social networks is especially of interest to pharmaceutical companies who spend approximately 32 percent of their marketing dollars attempting to influence the opinion leaders of social networks. [83] A new trend is emerging with social networks created to help its members with various physical and mental ailments. [84] For people suffering from life altering diseases, PatientsLikeMe offers its members the chance to connect with others dealing with similar issues and research patient data related to their condition. For alcoholics and addicts, SoberCircle gives people in recovery the ability to communicate with one another and strengthen their recovery through the encouragement of others who can relate to their situation. DailyStrength is also a website that offers support groups for a wide array of topics and conditions, including the support topics offered by PatientsLikeMe and SoberCircle. SparkPeople offers community and social networking tools for peer support during weight loss. [edit]Social and political applications Social networking sites have recently showed a value in social and political movements. In the Egyptian revolution, Facebook and Twitter both played a pivotal role in keeping people connected to the revolt. Egyptian activist have credited social networking sites with providing a platform for planning protest and sharing news from Tahrir Square in real time. By presenting a platform for thousands of people to instantaneously share videos of mainly events featuring brutality, social networking proves to be a vital tool in revolutions.

The Ultimate Resume Guide for Every Job Seeker

The Ultimate Resume Guide for Every Job Seeker Remember that old song by Destiny’s Child, â€Å"Skills, Skills, Skills†? Oh, wait, that was â€Å"Bills, Bills, Bills.† Still, you can still use that old tune to remind you that skills are the beating heart of your resume. Work experience and your network are essential to get you to the next step, as is a solid interview performance, but skills are what get you hired. Think of them as a kind of currency: you collect them along the way, and trade them to employers in exchange for experience and more skills to add to your wealth. They’re also something that affects every level of job seeker, from the least-experienced folks just starting out to those who have many years in the trenches and are looking for a new job. No matter who you are, you can always find new and better ways to build and showcase your skills to take advantage of new opportunities. 1. Which Skills Belong On Your Resume?2. The Newbie Applicant3. The Changing Careers  Applicant4. The Paus ed Career Applicant5. The Promotion Seeker via ImgurWhich Skills Belong On Your Resume?â€Å"Skills† can seem like an abstract concept. We hear about social skills, communication skills, job skills, sports skills. On the most basic level, skills answer the question, â€Å"What am I good at doing?† or â€Å"What are my competencies?† In the context of the resume, we get more selective and focus almost entirely on the types of skill areas that help you do your job:Communication skills: How you convey needs and results to colleagues or clients, or how you present yourself in writing and in personProblem solving skills: How you approach challenges in the workplaceOrganization skills: How you structure your tasks, and set up the resources you need to do themTechnical skills:  How you use tools (like specific equipment, programs, or processes) to do your jobInterpersonal skills: How you interact with bosses, colleagues, team membersHard Skills vs. Soft Skillsâ€Å" Hard† skills are those that are easily quantifiable, and can be learned formally. Some examples:Software training or competency (like Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office, InDesign, SalesTracker)Program certificationsComputer programmingForeign language fluencyTyping (words per minute)Hard skills are important because they show immediately what you can do. If you have training in Photoshop or other photo editing software, that tells the resume reader that you have a very specific area of expertise. Hard skills are ones that can be developed fairly easily, though tutorials, classes/education programs, or practice.RELATED:  13 Skills You Need to Put on Your Resume â€Å"Soft† skills are those that are a little more subjective and open to interpretation- but don’t be fooled into thinking they’re less important! Some examples:CommunicationWork ethicProblem solvingTeamworkOrganizationMultitaskingAdaptabilityCreativitySoft skills are harder to pick up; they tend to come more through experience and personality instead of a class or tutorial. However, soft skills are gaining more traction in the job hunt world, as hiring managers look for personalities that will mesh well in their work environment. This is not to discount the importance of experience and hard skills- but recruiters and others are turning more and more to the less quantifiable strengths (sometimes referred to as â€Å"emotional intelligence†) that suggest a well-rounded candidate.So which set of skills reigns supreme? Well, neither- and both. The best resume will have a strong showing in both categories, so you’ll need to find a balance between them. The important thing to remember is that your resume should play to the strengths required by the job you’re seeking. If you’re applying for a job that has a heavy computer programming focus, emphasize that on your resume, but also make sure to include bullet points about how your softer skills support t hat hard skill. The way you use these skills on your resume may also be affected by what kind of goal you’re hoping to achieve in your job hunt. If you’re a non-traditional candidate (entry-level, applying for jobs after a break, or already employed), the best format for you is likely a skill-based resume over the traditional reverse-chronological format. Let’s walk through different job seeker scenarios to see what would be the best way to use your skills on your resume.The Newbie ApplicantIf you’re just entering the workforce, creating a resume can be really tough. How do you fill in that page when you don’t yet have much experience? This is where skills become especially important- because you may not have work experience yet, but you definitely have skills. It’s just a matter of framing those in a â€Å"hire me† way. Through your classes and activities, you likely picked up experience in problem solving, or teamwork, running meeti ngs, or communicating with others. These may not fall under the heading of â€Å"work experience† per se, but don’t count out your skills just because you haven’t been paid for them (yet!).RELATED:  10 Biggest Job Search Mistakes of New College GradsAccording to The Muse, there are many soft skills that you may have picked up along the way without even realizing it, including:Analytical skillsTeaching classesEditing publicationsDramatizing ideas of problemsOrganizing people and tasksRaising fundsCommunicationMotivating othersSetting up demonstrationsAdvising people writing reportsCoordinating eventsMeeting the publicCustomer ServiceFinding informationManaging your own timeBookkeepingCounseling peopleInterviewing peopleProblem solverSchedulingEnduring long hoursIncreasing productivitySelling productsEscorting VIPs on toursInventing new ideasOffice managementInvestigating problemsDisplaying ideas graphicallyHandling complaintsPersuading othersUpdating filesAdmin istering programsDelegating responsibilityAnalyzing dataArranging social functionsAdvertising/promoting eventsSpeaking in publicEvaluating programsProposing alternate approachesConfronting other peopleCorresponding with othersInterpreting languagesListening to othersEntertaining peoplePreparing materialsManaging an organizationDispensing informationWorking under pressureHandling detail workSketching charts and diagramsWorking collaboratively with people with different backgroundsImagining new solutionsPlanning organizational needsMaking decisions with incomplete informationSupervising othersCollecting moneyRunning meetingsCompiling statistics And don’t forget personal skills as well- those can show potential employers what kind of employee you’d be. Prized personal skills include punctuality, flexibility (think â€Å"adaptable,† not â€Å"gymnast†), responsibility, persistence, and creativity. The best way to use those on your resume is to tailor the docu ment to the job description for which you’re applying, and come up with examples (bullet points) of those skills that match the job. After all, the hiring managers will understand that you’re fresh on the job scene, experience-wise, but you want to help them understand how you’re already well equipped for that next step into the career world. Your career path might be a blank slate at this point, but you’re not.The Changing Careers  ApplicantA similar scenario is someone who’s changing careers, or shifting lanes within an industry. If you’ve decided to pull a career switcheroo and pursue a different type of job from the ones you’ve already held, experience can be as much as an issue as it is when you’re just starting out.RELATED: 6 Things You Must Know About Changing Career In that case, a skills-based resume could help ease that transition. In this kind of resume, you put a hefty â€Å"Skills† section front and center , followed by an abbreviated work history section- tailored to the highlights you can most easily apply to your potential new job/industry. You can also skip bulleted points, and just include company names, position titles, and dates. Definitely include any volunteer experience or internships, classes, etc. that pertain to your hoped-for job. On a traditional chronological resume for an experienced employee, you’d likely skip those (unless directly relevant to your job), but here you’re aiming for flexibility and the transferability of skills you already have.The Paused Career ApplicantResume gaps can occur for a lot of different reasons: job loss + challenging hiring landscape, personal issues, maternity/paternity/family leave, etc. Whatever the reasons, your skills can be recruited to help ease the frustration of experience/work history gaps on your resume. The most important thing to remember is that this isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker: you just need to do a little extra work and tailoring to show that the gaps don’t define your career path or goals. The skills-based resume is a good option for you as well. You want to emphasize that regardless of your experience, you have the tools necessary to be a great employee.RELATED:  6 Ways to Handle Employment Gaps on Your ResumeFor your skills-based resume, it’s extra important to customize your resume for the individual job description. You’ll need to be able to a) get your resume seen by someone who might be screening for more experience or who’s currently working in the field; and b) convince the reader that hmm, this person may have a gap, but s/he’s got experience and the right skills, if not doing it currently. Before applying, do your research:Which tasks/skills are specifically outlined in the job description?What background information can you find about the company’s values? (Company websites often have mission statements, or brief summari es of the company’s values and goals.)Does anyone in your network work at this company? If so, the benefits are twofold: this person could help get your resume in the right inbox, but he or she could also give you some insight into what the company’s culture is like, and what qualities would be most welcomed.Once you have as much info as you can find, tailor your â€Å"Skills† bullets. For the work history, you can keep the position info brief and as vague as you dare- just know that if you don’t include dates or company names, it could be either a red flag to a reader, or lead to specific questions about it in an interview. It’s okay to be honest about gaps and employment dates†¦just be prepared to speak to why, then pivot the conversation about how you’re ready for the opportunity at hand.The Promotion SeekerIf you’re seeking an advancement where you already are, your case is a little different from the resume builders mentione d above- you’re already in, you just want to go up. In that case, it can be easy to dismiss the need for a resume at all. After all, they already know you, right? Not so fast.RELATED:  7 Workplace Tips For Getting a PromotionThe resume can be a great way to reintroduce yourself, the you that has picked up skills and experience (and maybe even awards or professional certifications) along the way. Your old resume is likely picking up dust (literally or digitally) somewhere in HR’s files. No one’s likely to dig it up to give you the promotion you deserve, so take the initiative to update your resume and show why you deserve a promotion or raise. This has the added benefit of your experience: back when you applied, you probably framed your resume based on what you thought would apply to the job. Now you know what applies to the job, because you’ve been doing it. You can refine skills that are directly relevant, and weed out ones that never really applied to your day-to-day. You can also add specific examples and achievements from your time at the company.The skills-based resume is a good format for a promotion because your work history is less crucial here. They know where you’ve been†¦right in cubicle C. It’s good to keep the abbreviated work history section in there, just to give the powers that be a reminder of your path to your current position- but the spotlight should really be on the skills you have, and have built in your current job.If you’re looking for a raise, emphasize skills that show you going above and beyond your basic job description. If you’re looking to move into a more senior position, emphasize your leadership and management skills. Again, you have the benefit of inside information about the job and the company, so use that to tailor the heck out of your resume. Don’t just brush off your old resume file†¦start from scratch and think deeply about what skill areas you wa nt to emphasize.Skills, Skills, SkillsSkills are one of the most effective tools you have in shaping your career narrative. Names, dates, and titles only go so far in telling a hiring manager what you can do. No matter where you are in your career, crafting a resume that makes your skills shine could be the key to your next big opportunity.

Personal Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Personal Statement - Essay Example Pursuing Master’s in this area will be a valuable investment for the future prospects since the business industry is growing tremendously and technology continues to advance at a high rate. I have deepened my understanding of marketing while pursuing the degree. In this respect, I believe that my knowledge in marketing will increase after pursuing my Master’s degree. In the 21st century, marketing is the most important department in any business whether small, large, or medium. The business world requires an individual who is adequately equipped to solve complex challenges that emerge in the marketing field. I believe that experts are required in this field to provide solutions and analytical skills of emerging the best in a globalized world. As such, I believe that furthering my studies will deepen my understanding of any business and thereafter, I will educate many people about the creative side of marketing and the psychology behind it. I look forward to learning mor e about this course at Master’s level so that I can offer the best services and make my career rewarding and fulfilling. MSc International Business Personal Statement I strongly believe that International Business is a great development as it permits to express my desire for business and hobby for travelling. The aim of pursuing this development is to develop my skills and understanding in the commercial world. The course is important as it allows students to understand the nature of technology particularly in the business world. Having completed a Bachelor degree in this course, I believe that the course has given me the sense of responsibility and commitment from, which I thrive for in this field. Specifically, I am eager to learn and increase my knowledge in this field. Pursuing a master in this course is important, as it will increase my knowledge in international business. After completing my Master’s, I believe that I will have opportunities to explore my passion and interests in this field as a competitive employer or employee. The course will allow me to utilise my skills and talents that I have, in essence, I love travelling all over the world. I have a great passion in the business world and I yearn to bring the best in this field. I perceive international business as a great course in today’s society due to globalisation and innovations in technology. As the business world becomes competitive, it requires experts to come up with the best strategies to remain competitive internationally. Pursuing MSc in international business is important since I will be adequately prepared to understand the process of globalization as a whole. Consequently, I will be competitive in the field of international business. I will have adequate knowledge that the society needs to solve complex problems that emerge in this field. MSc Project Management Personal Statement I have a strong expertise in the discipline of organizing, controlling, motivating , and planning resources. In the realm of education, I have established that the primary challenge of project management is to understand the project goals and objectives, and honouring the scope of time and budget. In my professional life, I have been involved in project management roles and this has made me aware of the diverse challenges that project managers face. I believe that the failure or success of projects, in political, social, and economic field rest on the quality of the project’s goals and the expertise of those involved in the project. In

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - Assignment Example Google ensures through compensation that these talented people are retained. The reward and compensation system at Google is pay-for-performance. The stock option system of the company ensures that employees get compensated and rewarded along with the growth of the company. The most astonishing factor is that in 2005-2006 the employees by themselves demanded a wage cut. According to the Director and Professor of Human Resource Center working at Wharton Business School, "these perks and benefits help Google to recruit people who are willing to spend most of their time at work place". Statistics show that software engineer at Google receives an average salary of $81,239 which is just $8000 less than their senior competitors, yahoo (Small Business, n.d.). Nowadays, many young engineer and professional aspire to get employed at Google. The reason is due to excellent fun and work environment. Top it all, bonuses and compensation, flexibility in working on projects etc. Google has been the most renowned example of a motivating and encouraging employer. There wouldn’t be any single person who wouldn’t wish to work at Google. ... Under this head, comes the most extensively debated subject that is soft HRM and hard HRM. In Soft HRM, companies consider their employees as the most valuable and important resource. For such companies, the needs of employees must be catered at first. Such types of companies are usually considered as ‘good’ employers. Therefore, these companies offer their employees substantial chances to grow not only as workers but also as individuals. Employees are provided regular training in order to ensure that prospect promotions. In hard HRM, companies generally treat their employees as a means of obtaining profits and efficiency. Hard HRM usually do not takes into account the needs and wants of employees. Hard HRM allows the employer to have full control over its workforce and operations. In such organizations, the morale and skills of employees are relatively lower. Companies utilize these approaches according to their corporate culture and type of industry. Those organization s which operate in such industry where norms, standards and benchmark needs to be maintain adopts hard HRM. On the other hand, those companies which are research based and require creative and innovative tactics utilize soft HRM where employees are given full authority to do the work in a way they feel the best. Hard HRM is widely accepted and implemented in organizations like KFC, McDonalds and Ryanair while soft HRM is implemented and encourages in organizations like Facebook and Google. Yes! Google utilizes soft HRM approach (Peter Bamberger, 2000). The culture of Google gives liberty to its workers to bring in innovative and creative stuff. In this regard, they are expected to research and work as per their own way. In fact, Google encourages its employees to spend 20% of

Rough draft of chapters 1,2 and 3 as it pertains to the template Research Paper

Rough draft of chapters 1,2 and 3 as it pertains to the template provided and topic I provided - Research Paper Example The problem concerning Limited Brands LLC Company is that the part-time employees are not satisfied with the number of working hours they are being offered, and they tend to leave the company voluntarily. Employees are a key aspect of making sure a company meets its objectives. I will attempt to solve the problem of employee retention within my place of work through the use of questionnaires and surveys which will determine that the employees need and want more hours per week. The problem is in Limited Brands LLC Company, which is the umbrella company for Bath and Body Works, Victoria’s Secret and White Candle Barn. The organization has eight stores within each district for the company of Bath and Body Works. Each store is rated by the amount of volume they do each year. The Stores that perform at the highest sales rates are the A volume stores. The stores that are between high and low volume, are the B volume stores and the stores that have the lowest amount of sales are the C volume stores. In my South TN district, there are 8 stores. These stores are A volume and C volume only. By standard practice, A volume stores are allowed to employ a full time store manager and a full time Co-manager along with 3 customer sales leads that are each to receive no more than 39 hours per week. Each A volume store is allowed to employ up to 50 part time employees all year round. The amount of hours that the A volume stores are allotted each week for part time em ployees, depends on the sales forecast for that week, which is determined by the same week of the year as the previous year’s sales. In the A volume stores, workers are seen to be given 20-30 hours a week compared to the other volumes which are given less than six hours a week. The problem arises when the part-time employees are complaining about the minimal hours they are receiving from the

Philosophy - Marx - Capital, Volume 1 (1867) - Ch 1, sec 1-2 Ch 2 Essay

Philosophy - Marx - Capital, Volume 1 (1867) - Ch 1, sec 1-2 Ch 2 - Essay Example Early in the book, Marx declares that he writes of individuals â€Å"only in so far as they are the personifications of economic categories, embodiments of particular class relations and class interests† (Marx, 15). Today, the world economy is made more complex by the advent of the Internet, over which countless transactions take place in the blink of an eye, and the introduction of new and ever more sophisticated financial products. Consequently, relationships between labor and commodity, and between the working class and bourgeoisie, have grown more complex. The profound effect of recent economic instability in the U.S., aggravated by relaxed restraints on Wall Street and deprivations of the corporate elite, would seem to bear out Marx’s contention (Name) 2 that not only is crisis the nature of capitalism, but that the essence of human action and interaction in a capitalistic society is inherently economic.

Workplace bullying Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Workplace bullying - Essay Example There is more than an adequate dearth of material and resources to complete and fulfill this dissertation project. The researcher has printed more than one hundred professional research journal articles. The researcher considers this present study to fill a contemporary need to identify potential practices the organization may employ to counter the increasing number of reported, as well as those not reported, bullying incidents in the workplace. Leaders will most likely benefit from the information this study presents. Penney and Spector (2005) report that negative factors such as incivility, organizational constraints, and interpersonal conflict appear to relate to counterproductive work behavior (CWB). In their study, â€Å"Job stress, incivility and counterproductive work behavior (CWB): the moderating role of negative affectivity,† as Penney and Spector assess the effects of workplace incivility on employee satisfaction and CWB, they also note that basically, the relationships between job stressors and CWB proved stronger for employees displaying negative affectivity than for employees demonstrating low negative affectivity. Vartia-Vaananen makes exceptional points and inevitably questions who is responsible for the bullying. Contrary to the obvious, it remains ambiguous and it is avidly manifested by her descriptions of how each term is socially known. For example, she states that, "six main types of bullying were identified among government employees visiting occupational health care units: slander, gossip, and rumors, 2) social isolation and keeping people uninformed, 3) giving a person too few or overly simple work tasks, 4) continuance criticism of peoples work and its results, 5) threats or acts of physical violence, and 6) insinuations about persons mental state (Vartia-Vaananen, 2003). Research into bullying at work has been naturally focused on the target and has, therefore, focused on the environment and leadership

Strategic Financial Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Strategic Financial Management - Case Study Example As a result, the share prices listed in the stock market do not always reflect the true market value of a company. This perception has gained such currency that people who invest in stocks are driven more by speculation than certainty. The thinking that the stock market is not always a reliable indicator of firm value works against the interests of the company seeking capital for expansion because it may not be able to attract as many investors as it wants. One such firm is the fast-growth airline EasyJet plc, which was ranked No. 72 by Business Week in the list of the World's Most Innovative Companies in 2006. In the view of its officers, the airline's share prices have been distorted by the current volatilities that they fail to represent the true market value of the firm. Since the firm's formal listing in the London Stock Exchange in 2000, exactly five years after its establishment in 1995, EasyJet has worked hard to create value for shareholders but it seems unconvinced by the s hare prices reflected in the trading floor. For the benefit of investors and its board of directors that needs accurate financial data for decision-making purposes, EasyJet would naturally want to establish the correct market value of the firm. This paper affects a strategic financial analysis for and in behalf of EasyJet to find the true stock market value o... Then we chronicle how EasyJet plc has delivered such value to shareholders for the past five years and the trajectory of change in its equity value over the last 12 months, with the market value picking up in 3-4 months and then dropping without warning. To determine the firm's true market value, this paper evaluates EasyJet's equity at current prices using the firm's net asset value, price-earnings ratio and discounted cash flow for 10 years. Finally, we attempt to reconcile any differences in value obtained from these financial analysis methods. Based on the results, we set the correct stock market value for the firm. Strategic Financial Management Through strategic financial management, the company may find its true stock market value by isolating the sum of all expected future cash flows discounted to the present and then dividing the sum of these discounted cash flows with the number of available shares. Equity valuation can also be done by comparing the firm's current share price with its net asset value, price-earnings ratio and its discounted cash flows for the next 10 years. Strategic financial management is defined as the identification of strategies that can maximize an organization's present net value in order to increase shareholder value (Leading Concepts, 2006). Its key objective is precisely to create shareholder value. According to Grundy & Scholes (1998), strategic financial management seeks control of the company's bottom line through proactive, involved and customized means in a manner that is dynamic, forward-looking and outward-oriented. In effect, the firm looks at the links between corporate strategy and strategic financial management to see how the process can play a positive and proactive role in

Workplace bullying Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Workplace bullying - Essay Example There is more than an adequate dearth of material and resources to complete and fulfill this dissertation project. The researcher has printed more than one hundred professional research journal articles. The researcher considers this present study to fill a contemporary need to identify potential practices the organization may employ to counter the increasing number of reported, as well as those not reported, bullying incidents in the workplace. Leaders will most likely benefit from the information this study presents. Penney and Spector (2005) report that negative factors such as incivility, organizational constraints, and interpersonal conflict appear to relate to counterproductive work behavior (CWB). In their study, â€Å"Job stress, incivility and counterproductive work behavior (CWB): the moderating role of negative affectivity,† as Penney and Spector assess the effects of workplace incivility on employee satisfaction and CWB, they also note that basically, the relationships between job stressors and CWB proved stronger for employees displaying negative affectivity than for employees demonstrating low negative affectivity. Vartia-Vaananen makes exceptional points and inevitably questions who is responsible for the bullying. Contrary to the obvious, it remains ambiguous and it is avidly manifested by her descriptions of how each term is socially known. For example, she states that, "six main types of bullying were identified among government employees visiting occupational health care units: slander, gossip, and rumors, 2) social isolation and keeping people uninformed, 3) giving a person too few or overly simple work tasks, 4) continuance criticism of peoples work and its results, 5) threats or acts of physical violence, and 6) insinuations about persons mental state (Vartia-Vaananen, 2003). Research into bullying at work has been naturally focused on the target and has, therefore, focused on the environment and leadership

The Financial Planning and Strategies of Firms within the Hotel Essay

The Financial Planning and Strategies of Firms within the Hotel Industry in the U.S - Essay Example The report focused on the forecasts that the industry makes as strategies of growth. This also touched on the business trends exhibited within the sector. The report merged the trends’ comparison with the other industries’ business trends over the past years. Analysis of industrial forecast and a business trend has acted as a measure of market competition among the firms within the global economics. Other analysis within the report included industrial financial scenario. In this analysis, the report undertakes to shed light on the financial management state of the firms and or companies within the hotel industry. From the analysis, it would be possible to provide an overview of the likely context of the industry in the face of scorching global financial recession. Finally, the report gives a broad analysis of the pricing system of the industry’s products and services. Here the analysis included the pricing policies, considerations, and standards. Like any other r esearch report, this report of the research conducted on the operational context of the hotel industry seeks to bring to the knowledge of the policy and decision makers in the hospitality sector, the operational reality on the grounds for allied companies and or firms within the industry. The insights from this report seek to provide a platform for informing decision and policy-making within the hospitality industry with special focus on the hotel and hoteliers in the U.S. It shall also serve to assist as a point reference for planners in the hospitality sector who focus on the strategic planning for the hotels. Planners in the hotel industry, therefore, shall feel enlightened in their endeavors amid likelihood of stiff competition with other industries in the global market.

Nature in Literature Essay Example for Free

Nature in Literature Essay Nature is one of the most powerful forces that has ran through literature throughout human history. Ever since the first recorded dramas and philosophical works, man could not avoid being in contact with the world around him, and so his connection to the earth must inevitably be part of his story. In literature, when nature is addressed, it is often in praise or awe, of its terror or of its beauty. Nature can represent the real and visceral as well as the sublime and the mystic. If one examines the work of the Transcendentalists, the Romantic Poets, and certain novelists, it is evident that the underlying feeling is that Nature provides inspiration and bliss, as well as a much-needed refuge from society. One of the best known schools of thought which dealt with Nature in literature is Transcendentalism. The Transcendentalist movement began in America in the 1800s. Transcendentalists believed that the divine could be reached through nature, by any man. The hallmark work of the movement was Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature. The most famous section of the work is when Emerson recalls an experience he had in the woods, and says I become a transparent eye-ball. . . . I see all. The currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. (Cromphout 210) Emerson tapped into an experience of non-being, connecting on a purely spiritual level through nature, without need of church or religion. Equally famed is Henry David Thoreau’s work Walden. In this classic, Thoreau captures the spirit of nature, solitude, and finding joy in both. As an experiment, Thoreau left society and went to live in a cabin on Walden Pond. In this famous statement, Thoreau sums up the mission of his experiment: I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. .. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms. † (Thoreau 5)He was making a stand against the materialism and convoluted nature of society- â€Å"Our life is frittered away by detail, simplify, simplify,† he says. For him nature represented the bare essentials- trees, rock, hunger, thirst; the things that lay behind the trappings of society. He took immense joy in the solitude and beauty of his life at Walden Pond. He farmed, observed, and lived in harmony with nature. Walden opened people’s eyes and inspired them, and might be the most classic example of nature in literature. Another Transcendentalist, the most radical and wonderfully incendiary, was Walt Whitman. His most famous work, Leaves of Grass, was written in free verse and was seen as controversial and even obscene by the uptight intellectuals of the day. The essence of his work is a deep oneness with nature, having no shame in being, and joy in what can be seen and felt. In Song of Myself, he says, â€Å"I am satisfied†¦ I see, dance, laugh, sing. † â€Å"The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag†¦ The feeling of health†¦ the full-noon trill†¦ the song of me rising from bed and meeting the sun. † (Whitman 12) For Whitman, nature is all he needs, he takes endless joy in being, tempering the intellect with natural physical pleasures. An equally important school of thought was the Romantic movement in Europe. Romanticism grew out of a rebellion against the Enlightenment and its stark intellectualism. Instead, romanticism revolves around passion, emotion, nature, mystery, turmoil, and all the qualities of life that were not constrained by reason. â€Å"Nature mysticism† was one of the most important aspects of the movement. (Micale 140) The romantics preferred the country and the wilderness to the city, and loved both gentle, pastoral landscapes as well as the turbulent, sublime, dramatic, and exotic. (Micale 150) Of course, literature was at the core of the Romantic movement, and the love of nature is reflected in its works. An excellent example of the â€Å"sublime† side of nature is found in the work of the mysterious literary figure Ossian, who influenced so many of the romantic writers. Ossian was actually the Scottish poet James Macpherson(1736-1796) who wrote a collection of ancient Scottish poems, claiming to be word-of-mouth folk tales, but it is supposed that he wrote them himself. (Simonsuuri 192) The poems involved misty, windblown, rocky landscapes and moonlight, and the romantic images and ideas he brought about captured the imagination of society and of individuals such as Goethe, Napoleon, and Jefferson. (Simonsuuri 287) People were drawn to this exotic, wild side of nature and the worlds that it conjured. An example of the green, pastoral side of nature in romantic literature is found in William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience. In the poem Laughing Song, he says:â€Å"When the green woods laugh with the voice of joyAnd the dimpling stream runs laughing by,When the air does laugh with our merry wit,And the green hill laughs with the noise of it. † (Blake 28) In Songs of Innocence, Blake connects the lovely landscape with youth, joy, and happiness. In his poetry, the countryside represents â€Å"innocence† and all things good, while the city represents â€Å"experience† and disillusionment. In conclusion, nature is one of the strongest forces found in literature. Men have written about the natural world and how it affects them for centuries, and will continue to do so. In Europe, Nature was at the core of the Romantic movement. Their works reflect both the stormy and sublime side of nature as well as the peaceful and pastoral. Either way, the romantics were moved to bliss and rapture by the beauties they saw around them. In America, a similar movement took place with the Transcendentalists, who believed that the unifying spirit in all things could be reached directly through nature. In literature, nature is often perceived with some amount of mysticism. To man, nature represents all that is not machine and society, it represents a state of freedom, passion, and beauty. If one examines the work of the Transcendentalists, the Romantic Poets, and certain novelists, it is evident that the underlying feeling is that Nature provides inspiration and bliss, as well as a much-needed refuge from society. Word count: 1100.