Thursday 26 December 2013

Essays Made Easy with Software

Why use software to write?

The question should be...

Why NOT use software to write?

There are many smart people in the world that simply do not write well. They may have trouble organizing their thoughts or they may not understand the basic five paragraph format.

Essay writing software can help.

There was a recent review of an essay writing software program recently in the Writer's Digest online concerning a software called the Instant Essay Creator...

Some writers have trouble organizing their thoughts into essay format, while others are clueless as to how to write a conclusion. Middle school and high school students often struggle to master the art of writing the standard five-paragraph essays that English teachers love to assign. While there isn't a writing software program on the planet that can magically transform dull and uninspired writing into an enticing inspirational essay, a quality specialized writing software program such as the Instant Essay Creator is definitely helpful for generating, organizing and developing random thoughts and ideas into a fine essay.

The Instant Essay Creator does not work magic, but it does work hard. What this program does best is guide its user step-by-step through the essay writing process using a template-based program which breaks the essay writing process down into manageable tasks. Using this easy to install program is a breeze, and Sayles, who just happens to be a writer and public school teacher, includes plenty of helpful pointers for assembling, organizing and polishing the standard five-paragraph essay.

The organizational aspects of this program are pragmatic and accessible and will help even the most scattered and disorganized of writers become more focused and productive. Students will benefit greatly from the instructional text, which helps writers develop the critical elements of an essay, such as thesis and point-of-view, while more seasoned writers are certain to appreciate the structured templates, which assist the writer in shaping scattered thoughts into focused and structured sentences and paragraphs.

We're not talking brain surgery here. What the software basically does is break down the art of essay writing into small steps so that the writer doesn't feel overwhelmed or get off track. The Instant Essay Creator is not a sophisticated or complex software program, and it doesn't contain fancy graphics or elaborate illustrations, but it definitely makes the essay writing process less cumbersome and infinitely more accessible.

It won't instantly churn out elegant prose by the barrelful, but it will guide struggling students through problem areas and it's a great tool for practicing essay writing. The Instant Essay Creator is a useful tool for battling writer's block and for increasing overall productivity because it's a bit like having a writing coach by your side, guiding you along and helping you move forward in the right direction.

Self-Editing of Essays (for Korean English Students)

An ESL Student's Checklist for Systematic Self-Editing of Written Work (aimed at high school and university but should be used earlier).

Writing is difficult for the beginner and doubly so in a foreign language. My checklist covers the basics. This page was developed in South Korea, at Honam University, but can be adapted for writers the world over.

Korean English teachers (and the droves of instant ESL teachers) do not have the time and often do not have the skill to edit (correct and critique) their students' written work. This is a fact of life in crowded high schools, colleges and universities. Editing written work is so time consuming because the quality produced by students is often very low. A full re-write is often needed and that is not the teacher's job. The problem is being passed through the school system and goes uncorrected. Yes, class size is too large in the high schools and universities but I see the main problem being teachers who are not organizing students to self-edit their own and their classmates' work. Every class should make and boldly display the following checklist on the wall, and every student's notebook should have a copy pasted on the first page for reference. Teachers cannot expect students to guess their way through the editing process. Let's all be systematic.

1. Use spell-check or a dictionary.

2. Capitalize: names, countries, states, provinces, county, business names, 1st letter of a sentence, days, months, etc.

3. Punctuation marks: .,"!?/{[(:;

4. Plurals: leaf/leaves horse/horses this/these a/an.

5. Check sex/gender: My mother he is a hard worker.

6. Check positional (prepositions) and article words (in, on, under, at, of, to, a, an, the).

7. Tense: present, past, future (or general past with had and have). Simplify: Avoid using have and had as it is more complex.

8. Eliminate redundancy: e.g... It was a big, large, gigantic, sizable house.

9. Shorten sentences: Avoid long rambling statements; old fashion and may confuse.

10. Avoid overuse of a word. Check the thesaurus and avoid being a bore.

11. Avoid too much generality. Give specifics. Give useful data in your compositions.

Wrong: I have a brother and two sisters.

Right: I have three siblings, Jennifer 2, Cindy 5, and Bob 14 years.

12. Your composition (story/ report) must have logical flow. Check logical order (see #11 next).

13. Use paragraphs and headings. Headings will give logical order and flow. They are like an artist's sketch lines or a movie maker's story boards.

14. Avoid ambiguity (words with 2 or more meanings). Ambiguous words/expressions confuse your readers. Eg.. article means a thing and a story in a magazine.

15. Think of your readers, your audience, when you read your own work. Who will read it? Will they be confused?

16. Think of the tone or message. Is the writing meant to be funny or serious?

17. Korean grammar is quite different from English so students cannot construct common English grammatical sentences unless they read, listen to and use 2-step translations.

E.g.:

Korean: Ad-u-she, kim-bap du-gay jusa-yo.

step#1 Direct translation: Mister, rice-rolls two give me.

step #2 English grammar: Mister, give me to rice rolls (please).

Students get mixed up when they try to go directly from Korean to step #2.

Poetry often breaks all the rules, so disregard the above!

Warren Buffet Essays are a Classic for Corporate Governance

The Warren Buffet essays are as good for Corporate America as Milton Friedman's papers were for Free Markets or Henry Kissinger's essays for Foreign Affairs. The stuff Warren Buffet wrote about is timeless. They are old now, but could have been written yesterday. Remember he is old school not a stock flipper, although today you could say he is a market maker, as his investments move stocks and industries. Well, I guess Kramer on TV is too these days.

The Warren Buffet essays on Corporate Governance should be considered classics. My copy is a hard copy, so I do not even know if they are digitally available on the Internet, I bet they are somewhere;

Yes this is the copy I have. I think if you will set your mind in efficiency mode, you will indeed think like that anyway. I do automatically now, even wrote a few essays myself.

Well I have bunch you should read on the Flows of Civilization; Water, Energy, Raw Materials, Transportation, Monetary, etc.

Let me know if you are interested in more of the philosophy of efficiency, flows and realities human civilizations? Most importantly you must concentrate on what you are doing and then constantly feed you mind as you do, it helps the thinking, problem solving and innovation process.

Really it separates the men from the boys in industry, government, research and development or your personal life. Those who succeed and those who also ran; You know what I mean? I hope you have enjoyed this thought I have shared with you today and I hope it helps you in your quest to be the best in 2007.

Off Grid Money Generator - An Amazing Home-Based Business Concept

How will you assess the true quality of a product? Relying on the opinions of the existing customers is the best method available and Off Grid Money Generator (OGMG) should also be evaluated on the basis of the opinions of the existing users. According to the makers, this product will make people familiarize with an innovative concept known as automatic advertising and this method offers wonderful opportunities to make money by selling Off Grid products without even spending time for making telephone calls to the customers. This concept may sound really strange for a lot people. How will you make money without even asking people to buy your products? Instead of having all these apprehensions, Off Grid Money Generator reviews have become a hot topic of discussion in these days.

Some years back, Bill Heid was a struggling individual who was trying hard to make both ends meet. The situation has changed and he has become a well known figure in the marketing world with the introduction of Off Grid Money Generator. What was the real reason behind his transformation? In order to get over his financial difficulties, he started making solar generators with "plug and play" solar method and a good number of people laughed at this crazy idea. In spite of having faced a lot of humiliation from various quarters, he was pretty adamant on his decision and eventually, he started getting a lot of orders for his solar generators. When he started getting orders in bulk numbers he decided to market his method of approach and that is how Off Grid money Generator came into existence. All impartial OGMG reviews clearly indicate that great income will become a reality with this innovative and effective home-based business and you can get off the monotonous corporate job grid without worrying about the financial aspects.

A good number of objective Off Grid Money Generator reviews suggest that a housewife, student or any other person can make use of 'automatic advertising' method, advocated in the OGMG, to earn money with great amount of ease. In a nutshell, it can be said that the marketing methods advocated in this program are extremely easy to implement and Bill Heid describes it as an off grid money making machine. A consistent stream of income while enjoying the comfort of your home is exactly what off grid money generator offers and all people aspiring to get away from the boring corporate job grid will find this opportunity as the best one available. This program will teach you how to get an Off Grid product and how to get it for nothing. It will also teach you to make use of celebrities to sell your products and this method will also make you familiarize with the most feasible way of collecting the name and address of all the potential customers.

You will come to know about how to send compelling post cards or emails with strong messages and OGMB will also make you learn the art of sending emails or physical mails without spending money. You will also learn about how to use Facebook and Google to generate huge income and innovative methods of making banners and classified ads to make $10,000 per day will become a reality with this unique program. If you want to feature your product on national TV without involving any cost you will have to purchase this product. The entire package consists of 7 CDs and this amazing product is available for a modest price of $79.95. If you are one of those first 100 buyers you will also receive 4 free bonuses worth $158.95 and they include transcripts of the CDs, effective techniques on how to save money on advertisements, the hugely popular book known as My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins and Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, "Compensation". All unbiased Off Grid Money Generator reviews clearly indicate that this unique product will redefine your future in the best possible manner.

How to Create a Video From Your Essay

This is a simplified, step by step process for you to be able to create a video from your powerful message.

These are the items you will need to begin: An essay/story/message, Computer, Microsoft Office PowerPoint, Windows Live Movie Maker, and an account with YouTube.

1. Create your essay/story/message - This is important. It is essential to write your message first or at least have an outline of the message.

2. Choosing music can be a little more difficult. You don't have to have music but it does make the video much more powerful. The most important thing to remember; Music typically is copyrighted and unless you have permission you can't use it for your video. It doesn't matter that you aren't making money from it. There are some websites out there that sell copyright free music and a few websites that have free, copyright free music. When you have the music you want to use, download to your computer making note of where it is saved

3. Open PowerPoint Presentation - You can be as creative as you like but know that what you really want is to set up each slide to be transferred to Windows Live Movie Maker. None of the animations or music can be transferred. You will add them later in Windows Live Movie Maker. On the flip side, in W.L.M.M. you will be working with pictures of the slides, you won't be able to adjust any words, pictures or backgrounds.

To create more slides: Highlight a slide by selecting it then press enter.

The important tabs you will be using: Home, Design and Slide Show.

Decide on color, art, clip art, photographs, and word placement. Of course not using any copyrighted material. Don't worry about timing at this stage but it is wise not to put too many words per page. You can use the slide show feature to get a feel for how things are flowing but really, don't worry about timing.

4. When you are finished creating all the slides that you want: Go to Save As, click on Other Formats, click arrow Save as Type, select - PNG Portable Network Graphics Format, name it what you wish and select Save. It is going to create a folder with each slide saved separately. Pay attention to where that folder is so that you can find it. Also there will be a box pop up asking if you want to save just current slide or all slides. You want to save all slides.

5. Now open Windows Live Movie Maker. On the Home tab you will see "Add Videos and Photos" select and go to the folder with your slides. I suggest viewing them as medium size and you control that by selecting the small icon above on the right. You will be able to see a page of slides in picture format. Now select, starting with the first slide, to begin inserting them. They should be in order. A little tedious but there isn't a lot left to do.

Once you have added all the slides, click on the first slide, click on the Home tab, click, Add Music. Then on the Home tab, click on AutoMovie. It will set up your movie to the music, add animation etc. You are not quite done. Watch the movie with the auto timings and make sure that you can read everything and see everything comfortably. If you can't, click on each slide individually that you would like to adjust. From the animations tab you can change how the slide fades in and moves while being viewed. In the Edit tab you can adjust timing.

If you feel your movie needs more time than your song is long (Not longer than 15 minutes for YouTube), after you have changed the timing on all the slides you wish to change:

Select the slide where you need the music to continue.

Add the song again creating a loop, from the Home tab, by selecting Add Music or add a second song.

Listen as you watch from one or two slides before the insertion point'.

If there is a long fade out from the ending you can click and move the second insertion closer, crossing over to create a smoother transition.

When you have it just the way you want it go on to the final step.
6. Having already gone to YouTube and created an account, select YouTube icon on the Home tab, sign in and upload your movie.

Get Paid to Programs - Money Maker Or Hoax?

GPT programs or get paid to programs is a good money maker and if you know what you are doing it can be treated as legitimate online jobs that can give you a good amount of money each time you do your work. If you want to make money from it then you must know your strength and weakness and of course you must choose the program that leans on your strengths, for example you are good in writing articles and essay then you must choose paid to write to maximize your earnings and enhance your talent. People who earn decent amount of cash in GPT know how to schedule and they also know how to balance their time. You can also earn money on blogging but it will take a lot of hard work and too much promotion, sometimes search engine optimization will stress you out before you can make a single penny on using your blog.

Now let's talk about GPT programs, many people tell that it is scam and cannot be trusted, its true that finding a legitimate online jobs is hard but let me tell you this, there are many scam sites lurking on the internet especially in GPT sites, but you can easily spot the scam sites so it will not be problem, never join PTC or other easy money stuffs because they will only run away with your hard earned money, if you want a real trusted GPT then join legitimate program that do not promise high payment but they will surely pay you when you reach payout. You can find these kinds of sites in article writing job, product reviews, paid to upload, paid blogging and more.

There might be tons of scam sites but if you are careful and vigilant then you can easily spot and avoid them. GPT is a good money maker and like I said, it can be turned into legitimate online job that will pay you good amount of money online, but it is also the one of the target of pretentious people who promise to give you job and big pay but in the end they will scam you and you cannot do anything about it.

I know it is hard to earn money online and finding the best legitimate jobs is hard to find. To help you in this dilemma you can visit Earn at Home Jobs

Writing Essays - New View in Joyce's Short Story, Clay

Like literally every other short story ever published, "Clay" makes a strong old view value statement early on and then shows a new view reversal of that old view at the end. Let me demonstrate a three-step method that helps you analyze any short story using those concepts and that will help you get started writing literary essays:

#1- EARLY ON, STRONG STATEMENT: At the beginning of a short story, a strong value statement, an old view, is given by or about the main character, asserting an evaluation or describing some characteristic, goal, or desire.

The very first sentence identifies a goal or desire of the main character:

The matron had given her leave to go out as soon as the women's tea was over and Maria looked forward to her evening out.

In the description of Maria's getting ready to go out for the evening, as she's preparing and serving tea for the women of the Dublin by Lamplight laundry, two strong old view value statements are made about two important characteristics of Maria,
Maria, you are a veritable peace-maker!
Mamma is mamma but Maria is my proper mother.
Because of the strength of the first old view value statement, we are given expectations of finding out how Maria was a strong-willed, clever, resourceful peace-maker, one who could bring peace to any troubled situation. And we expect from the second one to find out how she was Joe's proper mother in all the idealistic ways that the phrase suggests.

#2-IN MIDDLE, SUPPORTING/UNDERCUTTING: In the middle of a short story, the old view is supported or undercut with descriptions, conflicts, and resolutions that set up the new view at the end.

DESCRIPTION: Many descriptions occur throughout the story that undercut the old views, so we'll have to zero in on those with the clearest impact on the old view - new view relationship in the story.

In the beginning of the story, there's a mixture of short descriptions of Maria's character, her past, her plan for her trip to Joe's house that evening, her relationship to Joe and Alphy as their nursing maid and nanny, how Joe and Alphy got Maria her the job at the laundry, Joe and Alphy's presently strained relationship, the happenings at tea time, and Maria's thoughts while dressing to get ready for her evening out.

During the tea-time meal, Lizzie Fleming said Maria was sure to get the ring and, though Fleming had said that for so many Hallow Eves, Maria had to laugh and say she didn't want any ring or man either; and when she laughed her grey-green eyes sparkled with disappointed shyness and the tip of her nose nearly met the tip of her chin.

Since Lizzie had said, Maria was sure to get the ring... for so many Hallow Eves, it is plain that Lizzie had long wanted for Maria to get the ring, get a man, and get married. So did Maria. Though Maria says she didn't want any ring or man either, her laughing with disappointed shyness says otherwise. She always wanted to be a proper mother, to raise her own family, but she never quite got the chance of getting married, which would have made that possible.

And what's up with the description of Maria's laughing and the tip of her nose nearly met the tip of her chin, which occurs again two sentences later, as well as at Joe's house, when she's being blindfolded to play another fortunetelling game? It must be important, though it's not clear how. Maybe it just emphasizes her disappointed shyness about her relationships with men and her feelings about wanting to get married.

Right after Lizzie Fleming's prediction, Then Ginger Mooney lifted her mug of tea and proposed Maria's health while all the other women clattered with their mugs on the table, and said she was sorry she hadn't a sup of porter to drink it in.

This description is important to bear in mind at the end of the story. I'll bring it up in my discussion about the story's ending, later.

CONFLICT: In the beginning, it was clear that Maria was always sent for when the women quarreled.

RESOLUTION: Why? Because she talked always soothingly: 'Yes, my dear,' and No, my dear.' It was Maria's soothing niceness, her way of passive peacemaking, which always resolved conflicts at the Dublin by Lamplight, not any cleverness of persuasion or strength of personality that earned her the status of veritable peace-maker.

CONFLICT: In the middle of the story, when Maria went to a downtown pastry shop on Henry Street, the stylish young lady behind the counter, who was evidently a little annoyed by her, asked her was it wedding-cake she wanted to buy. That made Maria blush and smile at the young lady; but the young lady took it all very seriously.

RESOLUTION: Maria's solution to the little conflict-she blushed and smiled. Her soothing didn't really solve the conflict, but it did smooth it over. More passive niceness.

CONFLICT: Near the end of the story, the girls couldn't find a nutcracker for Maria and Joe got upset about it.

RESOLUTION: Maria nicely said she didn't like nuts and they weren't to bother about her. Again, passive soothing, not solving.

CONFLICT: When Joe and his wife tried to push beer and wine on her, Maria tried to refuse.

RESOLUTION: ... but Joe insisted. So Maria let him have his way.

Once again, Maria solved a conflict by being nice and passively giving in to others, just smoothing things over.

CONFLICT: Maria thought she would put in a good word for Alphy. But Joe cried that God might strike him stone dead if ever he spoke a word to his brother again.

RESOLUTION: Instead of being a proper mother and a peace-maker with her 'children,' Joe and Alphy, Maria said she was sorry she had mentioned the matter. As she noted earlier in thinking about the Joe-Alphy conflict, but such was life, and Maria certainly was too passive and not peace-maker enough to resolve the situation.

#3-AT END, A NEW VIEW REVERSAL. At the end of a short story, a new view reverse of the old view is usually revealed.

When Maria gets to Joe's, there's another Irish fortune-telling game (called Puicíní: "poocheeny"). In the game, a blindfolded person is seated in front of a table on which several saucers are placed. The saucers are shuffled, and the blindfolded, seated person then chooses one by touch. The contents of the chosen saucer supposedly foretell the person's life during the following year: water meant travel, a prayer book meant the priesthood or a nunnery, and a ring meant marriage.

In being blindfolded to play this game, Maria laughed and laughed again till the tip of her nose nearly met the tip of her chin-more evidence of the disappointed shyness we saw earlier. At first, her hand touched a soft wet substance with her fingers... Somebody said something about the garden... Mrs. Donnelly said... that was no play... Maria understood that it was wrong that time and so she had to do it over again: and this time she got the prayer-book.

As just one happening of the evening, just a game, the incident seems innocent enough. But what is soft and wet and comes from the garden? Clay, which is the title of the story. And clay is soft and passive and moldable by whatever pressures it. Doesn't that describe Maria?

Where's the strong veritable peace-maker or the proper mother who molds others, who directs and guides and blesses her children through thick and thin? This incident is a strong undercutting of those old views and reminds us of her indecision in buying cakes downtown and chatting with the stout gentleman on the tram, where all she could do was favor him with demure nods and hems.

And she gets the prayerbook in the game, not the ring. That's appropriate for Maria because, as Joyce shows us time and again, she truly can't handle much of anything else.

The strongest suggestion of Maria never getting a man and never, therefore, having the chance to be a proper mother, is when she sings a song at Joe's request at the very end. The song brings to mind Maria's life compared to the life of the woman whose words she is singing. The song was, "I Dreamed that I Dwelt," and two lines in the song remind us of the women at tea time: And of all who assembled within those walls, That I was the hope and the pride.

You'll recall that at tea time Ginger Mooney lifted her mug of tea and proposed Maria's health while all the other women clattered with their mugs on the table.

That kind of clattering with their mugs on the table is probably also very like how those in the song would express That I was the hope and the pride, when they assembled within those walls. Where else would they assemble to express such hope and pride except in a banquet hall? Feasts and banquets would be the natural setting, and the rich feasters would, no doubt, toast the rich woman Of a high ancestral name with clattering and banging their mugs on the table, just as the poor, unwed mothers of the laundry did at tea time for their nice, poor friend, Maria.

The song was about a woman with riches and a high ancestral name. And the woman in the song felt That you loved me still the same, referring to some rich man, no doubt. Of course, that was the exact opposite or reverse of practically penniless Maria, who, blushing very much as she began singing, was very much aware that she was very poor, worked in a laundry for unwed mothers, and couldn't even handle a common conversation with a common man on a tram without losing her wits and her plum cake.

At the story's end, Joyce suggests once again that Maria is, in fact, the new view reverse of a strong-willed peace-maker with persuasive powers for solving conflicts, which the women of the laundry believed she was. As to being my proper mother, Maria's letting Joe manipulate her so many times-past and present-actually show that she had not even been a strong substitute mother, let alone a "proper mother."

The fact is, Maria's entire character-as developed more fully in the middle and end of the story-is the new view reverse of the two strong character descriptions given at the beginning. Maria is actually as weak and passive and moldable and non-propagating (not giving of life, as a proper mother would be) as the title of the story suggests: She was lifeless, passive, moldable clay. Perfect fit.

Based on our discussion, here are some sample thesis statements to give you a few ideas for writing a strong essay on Joyce's short story, "Clay:"

Joyce's story "Clay" shows us the theme that, 'Anyone who gives up too many personal choices to others can become sterile, unproductive, and incapable of controlling their own lives.'
Joyce shows with Maria in his story "Clay" that society may think we are one way, when we are, ironically, exactly the opposite.