Face of Racial Profiling Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Face of Racial Profiling - Research Paper Example The horrific terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 left an ineradicable mental image in the minds of people worldwide and changed many aspects of life in America not the least of which is the moral, ethical and legal debate regarding the concept of profiling based on a person’s race or country of origin.   The government and various agencies such as the transportation industry, as a response to possible future terrorist attacks, has led an anti-terrorism campaign focused on identifying people of Arab descent extending even to people of the Muslin faith and those who appear to be of   Middle Eastern origin.   Undoubtedly, if profiling in the name of terrorism has not been proved effective, the profiling of black citizens in the name of ‘getting tough on crime’ is not effective as well and causes more harm, ultimately, than whatever good may come of it.   â€Å"Racial profiling in any manifestation is a flawed law enforcement tactic that is in direct conf lict with constitutional values† (MacDonald, 2001).   There is no conclusive evidence that proves either way if the profiling of suspected terrorists which includes the factor of ethnicity or race is effective in safeguarding U.S. citizens.   What is known is that the majority of U.S. residents, legal or not, of every racial group are not involved in terrorist activities and were alarmed by the September 11 attacks.   Consequently, harassing, detaining or intruding on the liberty and privacy of individuals haven’t caused any reason to justify such an intrusion.... Undoubtedly, if profiling in the name of terrorism has not been proved effective, the profiling of black citizens in the name of ‘getting tough on crime’ is not effective as well and causes more harm, ultimately, than whatever good may come of it. â€Å"Racial profiling in any manifestation is a flawed law enforcement tactic that is in direct conflict with constitutional values† (MacDonald, 2001). There is no conclusive evidence that proves either way if the profiling of suspected terrorists which includes the factor of ethnicity or race is effective in safeguarding U.S. citizens. What is known is that the majority of U.S. residents, legal or not, of every racial group are not involved in terrorist activities and were alarmed by the September 11 attacks. Consequently, harassing, detaining or intruding on the liberty and privacy of individuals who are of a certain ethnic group will undoubtedly cause a certain amount of personal detriment to countless numbers of peo ple who haven’t caused any reason to justify such an intrusion. The reality of the situation will not totally convince those persons who argue that profiling is effective and helps keep the public safe. Unlike illegal drug trafficking which involves large numbers of U.S. citizens of all ethnicities, there is every reason to assume that very few people in the U.S. are not engaged in terrorist activities or are planning attacks. Hence, â€Å"any criteria police use to identify or ‘profile’ terrorists, whether or not those criteria rely on suspect classifications such as race, ethnicity, or national origin, will yield many more false positives than they will disclose

Reality of Teaching and Learning Pronunciation Essay Example for Free

Reality of Teaching and Learning Pronunciation Essay Rationale of the study Nowadays, with the rapid pace of integration and globalization, English becomes a golden key to open the door of many fields such as commerce, communication, science and technology throughout the world. Therefore, to meet the demand of the society, it is very necessary to teach English in schools at all levels. And the highest target is to get well in communication. If one wants to get successful in communication, he must be good at pronunciation: â€Å"a threshold level of pronunciation in English such that if a given non-native speakers pronunciation falls below this level, he or she will not be able to communicate orally no matter how good his or her control of English grammar and vocabulary might be† (Celce-Murcia, 1987:5). In the field of language teaching, the role of pronunciation has varied widely from having virtually no role in the grammar-translation method to being the central focus in the audio-lingual method where emphasis is on the traditional notions of pronunciation, minimal pairs, drills and short conversations. The growing emphasis on communicative approaches for the teaching of English has placed higher demands for correct pronunciation. Despite this fact, at the upper-secondary school level in Vietnam, in language teaching and learning, compared with vocabulary, grammar and language skills, pronunciation has so far been paid less attention to. In the official textbooks used for teaching English at high school level, there are a few exercises for pronunciation practice. To make the matter worse, all important English exams at schools as well as the entrance exam to universities are always in written form so most teachers as well as students have little motivation to teach and to learn pronunciation. As a result, students are often shy and unconfident to speak in English. And that is the reason why the effectiveness of teaching pronunciation still remains one of the most widely problematic subjects in the field of language teaching. Coping with this pressing fact, as a language teacher teaching English at Quynh Coi high school (QCHS), the author always thinks of some burning questions: in language teaching and learning, what is the present situation of teaching and learning pronunciation at high school level in QCHS? What are the problems teachers and students face in teaching and learning pronunciation? How to find suitab le methods to teach pronunciation? What should teachers do to teach pronunciation effectively? How should teachers make students become interested in learning pronunciation? The answers to these questions will help language teachers improve their students’ pronunciation as well as help them make progress in effective communication. For the above reasons, the author decides to carry out the study entitled: â€Å"The reality of teaching and learning pronunciation at Quynh Coi high school: problems and solutions†. 1. 2 Aims of the study The main purpose of this study is to discover the reality of teaching and learning pronunciation at Quynh Coi high school, especially to find out problems that teachers and students often have in pronunciation lessons. The writer also hopes to make some feasible solutions that can help the English teachers overcome those problems and improve students’ pronunciation. 1. 3 Research questions The above aims of the study can be realized by answering the following research questions: (1) What is the present situation of teaching and learning pronunciation at QCHS? (2) Which problems do the teachers and students at QCHS face in pronunciation lessons? (3) What teaching techniques can be used to improve teaching pronunciation for students at QCHS? 1. 4 Scope of the study As a case study, this study focuses on the reality of teaching and learning two aspects of English pronunciation: stress and intonation for the 12th form students at Quynh Coi high school. The subjects of the study are 12th form students those are familiar with learning pronunciation for two years at high school. Moreover, stress and intonation are two major aspects of pronunciation introduced in the official textbook used by the 12th form students. Other characteristics of English pronunciation would not be deeply investigated in this research. . 5 Methods of the study In order to fulfill the tasks mentioned above, both qualitative and quantitative methods are selected for this case study, involving the following instruments: survey questionnaires, classroom observations and interviews. Firstly, the survey questionnaires were delivered to both teachers and students to investigate the reality of teaching and learning pronunciation at QCHS. Then, some classroom observations and interv iews with some English teachers have been also conducted to get supplementary information. Finally, the results obtained from questionnaires, observations and interviews have been discussed and analyzed to with a hope for providing language teacher with some feasible teaching techniques to work successfully with their students. 1. 6 Significance of the study This study hopes to make contribution to teaching pronunciation at high school level in Vietnam and the result of the study is considered to be useful for teachers and students at school. Thus, this study will be an interesting reference material for any high school language teachers in Vietnam, especially for those who are in favor of improving their students pronunciation. This research will help teachers and students identify their problems in teaching and learning pronunciation and self- improve their pronunciation. 1. 7 Design of the study This thesis consists of six main chapters: Chapter one is the INTRODUCTION including the rationales, the aims, the scope, the research questions, the methods, and the design of the research. In the book â€Å"Pronunciation† published in 1994, Christiane Dalton and Barbara Seidlhofer (1994:3) consider pronunciation â€Å"as the production of significant sound†. They look at the word in two senses. First, it is used as part of a code of a particular language. That is the reason why English sounds are distinguished from sounds of other languages. In this sense, pronunciation can be told as the production and reception of sounds of speech. Second, sound is used to achieve meaning in contexts of use. Here the code combines with other factors to make communication possible. In this sense pronunciation is referred with reference to acts of speaking. In the scope of this study, the concept of pronunciation can be described as â€Å"a way of speaking a word, especially a way that is accepted or generally understood† (American Heritage Dictionary, 1992) or â€Å"may be said to conclude the sounds of the language or phonology; stress and rhythm; intonation; combination sounds; linkage of sound† (Ur, 1996). 2. 2 Features of pronunciation Gerald Kelly (2000) points out main features of pronunciation including phonemes and suprasegmental features, in which consonants and vowels belong to phonemes, intonation and stress are two main parts of suprasegmental. Phonemes are units of sound, they are known as segments. Suprasegmental features are features of speech which apply to groups of segments, or phonemes. The features which are important in English are stress, intonation, and how sounds change in connected speech. The following diagram shows a breakdown of the main features of pronunciation: Features of pronunciation (Kelly, 2000:1) As seen from the diagram, pronunciation is a broad subject with the boundaries of various items such as consonants, vowels, stress, and intonation. This study is intended to focus on two major features of pronunciation: intonation and stress are deeply investigated. According to Quirk R. and Greenbaun S. (1973:450), stress is the prominence with one part of a word or of a longer utterance is distinguished from other parts. This can be understood like this: when an English word consists of more than one syllable, one of these syllables is made to stand out more than the others. This is done by saying the syllable louder. For instance, in such words as â€Å"English†, â€Å"teacher†, and â€Å"student† the first syllables are stressed. Intonation is an important part that most teachers have to deal with when teaching connected speech, it refers to the way the voice â€Å"goes up and down in pitch† (Kelly, 2000: 86) when we are speaking. It plays a vital role in helping people express their opinions, and understanding thought of others. In short, the word â€Å"pronunciation† is like a big umbrella covering various sub-items as consonants, vowels, intonations, stress, etc. With such big boundaries of items, language teachers and learners have to think of how to master these key aspects, especially stress and intonation, to be successful in teaching and learning pronunciation. 2. 3 Teaching pronunciation 2. 3. 1 The importance of teaching/ learning pronunciation and a â€Å"paradox† 2. 3. 1. 1 The importance of teaching and learning pronunciation Pronunciation is as important as any other aspects of language like syntax and vocabulary. Some people may argue that speech is obviously much more significant than pronunciation. However, speech cannot exist without pronunciation. Correct pronunciation, in fact, is considered to be a prerequisite to develop the speaking skill. That is why teaching pronunciation should occupy an important place in the study of any language. According to Gerald Kelly (2000), pronunciation â€Å"involves far more than individual sounds† including word stress, sentence stress, intonation, and word linking. All of these influence the sound of spoken English. Sound is the core of the language. When teaching a language, the first and foremost thing teachers should do is to let learners have chances to expose themselves to the sounds of that language. That is the reason why more and more teachers pay much attention to teaching pronunciation to their students. Considering the importance of communication in general and pronunciation in particular, Gerald Kelly confirms â€Å"a learner who constantly mispronounces a range of phonemes can be extremely difficult for a speaker from another language community to understand. A consideration of learners’ pronunciation errors and of how these can inhibit successful communication is a useful basis on which to assess why it is important to deal with pronunciation in the class† (2000:11). Sharing the same ideas with Kelly, Martin Hewings (2004:10) adds â€Å"difficulties with pronunciation might mean that students fail to get their message across, even when the correct words are being used, or they might fail to understand what is said to them. † The inaccurate use of suprasegmetal elements, such as tress or intonation, can also cause problems. Errors in pronunciation can lead to a problem of reception, or comprehension of the meaning or function of an utterance, even worse, they can affect the perceived tone or mood of an utterance. Moreover, it is obvious that good pronunciation serves as a strong motivation for language learners. Most language learners show considerable enthusiasm for pronunciation as they consider it as a good way to show that they are competent in the language. Once they have obtained adequate pronunciation competence, they gradually build up strong confidence for themselves and are ready to learn new things without hesitation. 2. 3. 1. 2 A â€Å"paradox† As the matter of fact, the role of pronunciation in English learning process could not be negated. Regrettably, teaching and learning pronunciation has not received appropriate attention as expected and Gerald Kelly call this fact a name â€Å"a paradox† (Kelly, 2000: 1). It tends to suffer from being neglected. This may not be teachers’ lack of interest or motivation in pronunciation. The main reason comes from their teaching experience and confidence, â€Å"feeling of doubt as to hoe to teach† (Kelly, 2000:13). In spite of the fact that both teacher and students are keen on pronunciation, they often take grammar or vocabulary precedence over pronunciation for granted. If it is not neglected, â€Å"it tends to be reactive to a particular problem that has arisen in the classroom rather than being strategically planned† (Kelly, 2000:13). This is the most popular problem is pronunciation lessons. Teachers only deal with pronunciation when it comes to be problematic. There is no lesson plan, no strategy in teaching and learning pronunciation. Most teachers often prepare lesson plan for teaching grammar, vocabulary, but pronunciation. Yet pronunciation work can, and should, be planned for, too. Teachers should regard features of pronunciation as integral to language analysis and lesson planning. This paradox arises from both the nature of pronunciation itself, from the teaching staff as well as from the learners themselves. However, to deal with this problem, as language teachers, teachers need to have a good grounding in theoretical knowledge. Furthermore, in order to teach pronunciation successfully, teachers should be practically skilled in classrooms, and they need to have good ideas, approaches, techniques, as well as classroom activities. 2. 3. 2 Teachers’ roles in teaching pronunciation Mastering a foreign language pronunciation is not something impossible as far as the student and the teacher participate together in the total learning process. Thus, to succeed in a pronunciation program, the teacher plays an essential role. Kenworthy (1987), Nguyen Bang and Nguyen Ba Ngoc (2001), and Hoang Van Van, et al. (2006) shared the similar ideas about teachers’ roles in the teaching and learning pronunciation process, in which, teachers are responsible for: †¢Helping learners to hear: The teacher has a mission to provide appropriate input of the target sounds for learners to hear. Teacher needs to check that their students are hearing sounds according to the appropriate categories and help them develop new categories if necessary. †¢Helping learners to make sounds: It is true that some English sounds do not exist in the learners’ mother tongue. Some learners may be able to imitate the target sounds if they are provided models. However, for those who lack such an ability, it is teachers’ duty to explain the way those difficult sounds are made and provide aids to help learners produce correct sounds. †¢Providing feedback: Students need to be told where they are standing, how much they have gained and what they need to improve because sometimes, students themselves can not know whether they are making mistakes or not. The teacher must provide them with feedbacks on their performance. †¢Pointing out what is going on: In many cases, learners fail to realize what and how they are speaking, as speaking is for most parts unconsciously controlled, learners may sometimes make mistakes in the way they produce a particular sequence of sounds, or put stress in an incorrect place, leading to misunderstanding. It is the teachers’ role to specify the area that learners have to pay attention to so as not to cause miscomprehension. †¢Establishing priorities: Native-like pronunciation is not easy to achieve. Therefore, learners need a guide to tell them about what aspects they should master, what aspects they not need to be â€Å"perfect†. Inevitably, when learning a foreign language, it is dealt if learners master every aspect of it. However, as this is somehow unrealistic, learners should learn to satisfy at an accepted level of those aspects which are not vital. The level at which learners can feel satisfied at depends on different situations for different individuals. †¢Devising activities: It is not easy for teachers to cover all activities in a limited time. Thus, teachers need to identify what exercises will be suitable for their learners, what activities would bring them the best effect. In devising them, however, it should be accepted that certain activities are more suitable to some students than others. †¢Assessing progress: An important role of teacher is to assess progress. Learners need to know at what level they are in pronunciation. Tests allocated at appropriate times will serve as a strong motivation for students. When they look at their marks, they have a clear sense of how much they have gained. Judging learners’ pronunciation performance is very complicated. However, this should be done accordingly. 2. 3. 3. Approaches, techniques and activities in teaching pronunciation 2. 3. 3. 1 Approaches in teaching pronunciation In the book â€Å"Teaching pronunciation† (Celce-Murcia M. , et al. 1996: 2), the authors point out two general approaches to the teaching of pronunciation in the modern time, namely intuitive-imitative approach and analytic-linguistic approach. An intuitive-imitative approach depends on â€Å"the learners’ ability to listen to and imitate the rhythms and sounds of the target language without the intervention of any explicit information†. This means the teaching of pronunciation depends largely on the teacher’s turning on and rewinding a cassette player (or another instrument), and the main activities in the class are listening and repeating. In this approach, the teacher has no responsibility to explain how sounds are formed or produced and the learners do their main task of listening and imitating, and it is expected that learners will gradually gain pronunciation competence. Meanwhile, an analytic-linguistic approach â€Å"utilizes information and tools such as a phonetic alphabet, articulator descriptions, charts of the vocal apparatus and other aids to supplement listening, imitation, and production† (Celce-Murcia M. , et al. , 1996: 2). In this approach, learners are given explanation as well as training on how to form particular sounds of the target language. Between these two approaches, there is no scale on whether which one is better. Choosing to apply which approach into teaching pronunciation depends on teachers themselves and the level of learners. To do well with these two approaches, it is a need for both teachers and learners to fulfill knowledge of articulator system such as consonants, vowels, stress, and intonation, etc. In this study, the author considers the use of both approaches to gain best effect in teaching and learning pronunciation. 2. 3. 3. 2 Techniques and activities Pronunciation is never an end in itself, thus to receive expected result in teaching and learning pronunciation, teachers have made use of a great deal of techniques. It may be taught in isolation or in combination with language skills of speaking, listening, reading or writing. Supported by Kelly (2000:16); and Celce, et al (1996:8), some common techniques are: †¢Drilling: One of the main ways in which pronunciation is practiced in the classroom is through drilling. In its most basic form, drilling simply involves the teacher saying a word or a structure, and getting class to repeat it. †¢Listen and imitate† The pronunciation of the target language is provided by the teacher or tape recorders, language labs, etc. students are to listen to a sequence of sounds or sentences and repeat it. †¢Chaining: This can be used for sentences which prove difficult for students to pronounce, either because they are long, or because they include difficult words and sounds The above mentioned techniques are nearly similar; they usually take two forms, which are either all-class or individual. These two forms are actually the two phase of the same techniques. Normally, at first, the whole class repeats after certain sound and phrases. After a certain amount of class-drilling, individual students take turns and pronounce those items themselves. †¢Phonetic chaining: This technique makes use of articulator descriptions, articulator diagrams and a phonetic alphabet. Learners are provided with basic theoretical knowledge about how sounds are formed. They are also aided by the teacher to make genuine sound production. †¢Minimal pair drills: These relate to words which differ from each other only one phoneme. Normally, students are allowed to listen to the tape and distinguish between the two sounds. This type of activities is particularly useful to teach sounds which causes difficulties for learners or sounds that are mismatched. †¢Contextualized minimal pair: In this technique, the teacher establishes the setting and present key vocabulary; students are then trained to respond to a sentence stem with the appropriate meaningful response. When minimal pair drills seem a bit boring and too theoretical with separated sounds, the contextualization seems to be more useful because it is more practical. †¢Tongue Twisters: This technique rooted from speech correction strategies for native speakers. When other techniques look serious and sometimes put learners under pressure, tongue twisters provide a more delighting way to learn pronunciation. Sounds which are difficult to differentiate are put together to make meaningful sentences. †¢Reading aloud/recitation: Students are provided with a passage or scripts and then read aloud, focusing on stress, timing and intonation. This activity is often done with texts such as poems, rhymes, song lyrics, etc. †¢Recording of learners’ production. This technique can use audio-tape, video-tapes of rehearsed and spontaneous speeches, free conversations, and role plays. It needs the feedbacks of teachers as well as self-evaluation. †¢Practice of vowel shifts and stress shifts related by affixation: Base on rule of generative phonology, used with intermediate or advanced learners. The teachers point out the rule-based nature of vowel and stress shifts in etymologically related words to raise awareness; sentences and short texts that contain both number of a pair may be provide as oral practice material such as:PHOtograph And phoTOgraphy 2. 4 Learning pronunciation 2. 4. 1 Factors affecting learning pronunciation According to Joane Kenworthy (1987), there are many factors affecting learning pronunciation, including the native language, the age factor, the amount of exposure, phonetic ability, attitude and identity. The native language: it is inevitable that learners’ native language has a great impact on their ability of pronouncing English. The â€Å"foreign accent† is therefore easy to identity. The age factor: it is often assumed that the younger a person starts learning a foreign language, the better he is at pronouncing it and he has a greater chance of having a native-like accent. The amount of exposure: people who live in the country where the target language is spoken and is surrounded by an English-speaking environment may have some advantages over some who do not. Phonetic ability: researches have shown that some people naturally have a â€Å"better ear† for a foreign language than others. Attitude and identity: results from many studies have shown that learners who have a positive attitude towards speakers of a foreign language tend to have a more native-like pronunciation. 2. 4. 2 Students’ roles in learning pronunciation It is essential that in order to learn a language, motivation plays a vital role. The same thing happens to learning pronunciation. If students really care much about their pronunciation, they will become more cautious about their speaking, and gradually build up good pronunciation. In teaching and learning pronunciation, if teachers play the roles of a â€Å"speech coach†, students themselves need to involve in this process as much as possible in order to get good results. According to Nguyen Bang and Nguyen Ba Ngoc (2001), students need to satisfy some demands. Firstly, they need to perceive the model as exactly as they can. Secondly, they need to response as much as and as well as possible to the recognition, the imitation and repetition activities. Lastly, beside the help of the teachers, students should do self-correction of their pronunciation mistakes. 2. 5 Teachers’ and students’ problems in teaching and learning pronunciation Both teachers and students encounter various problems in the process of teaching and learning pronunciation. These problems do not only arise from the nature of pronunciation itself, but from various subjective and objective factors. In the light of the previous and current studies, some major problems that teachers and learners face in teaching and learning pronunciation are:. The nature of pronunciation According to Nunan (1991), the problem of acquiring the phonology of a second or a foreign language presents a formidable challenge to any theory of second language acquisition. In teaching and learning pronunciation, the biggest problem that most of the English teachers and students complain come from nature of pronunciation. English pronunciation itself contains so many complicated factors and invisible rules. In the light of this problem, Doff A. (1988) listed some common problems that learners often make when they speak English. The first is difficulties in pronouncing sounds which do not exist in the students’ own language. The second is the problems with similar sounds that often cause learners’ confusion. The third is difficulties in pronouncing consonant clusters. And the last problem mainly comes from English stress and intonation. Students seem to have a tendency to give all syllables equal stress and â€Å"flat† intonation. Class setting A lot of problems in teaching and learning pronunciation come from class setting such as classroom size, quality of the teaching staff, teaching and learning equipment. Firstly, a large class causes difficulty in teaching pronunciation. At high school, on average, there are over 50 students per class. With such a high student-teacher ratio, it is impossible to make sure that the teacher could carry out successful teaching techniques and activities, and the learner is not able to listen and receive what the teacher is saying. The quality of teaching staff is also a big problem. Most teachers of English are non-native speakers, and a few of them can have a native-like pronunciation. As a result, the language input that students receive every day is from non-native people. Therefore, it is impossible to require students to achieve perfect pronunciation. Teaching model According to Kelly (2000), in the past, the model of teaching English pronunciation was â€Å"received pronunciation†, the pronounciation of people in the southwest England. Today, there are a vast number of English: American English, Australian English, etc. Thus, it is difficult for teachers to choose what model to teach. In fact, each teacher often cannot produce a â€Å"perfect† accent without being affected by his own language. This fact sometimes causes both teachers and students problems in teaching and learning pronunciation. Some teachers do not feel confident with their own voice and students do not know what input language is perfect to receive. Intelligibility Beside factors from the nature of pronunciation, class setting, etc, teaching and learning pronunciation involves in its own problem that Kenworthy (1987) calls it as â€Å"intelligibility†. He defines â€Å"intelligibility† as â€Å"being understood by a listener at a given time in a given situation†. This means that intelligibility is affected by a number of factors: the speaker, the listener, the time, and the situation. This also means that teaching and learning pronunciation depends on many factors, causing many problems for both teachers and students. In conclusion, in this chapter, some theoretical backgrounds relating to teaching and learning pronunciation have been pointed out. These factors are the pronunciation concepts and their features. Factors relating to pronunciation teaching and learning as the importance, the problems, techniques and activities have been also given. It cannot be denied that pronunciation and teaching pronunciation is an important part to conduct in any language course. It is even more important for those who are or will be teachers of the language. Methods of teaching pronunciation are various with different elements of pronunciation. What are the attitudes of teachers and learners towards teaching and learning pronunciation? The school has 36 classes with 90 teachers and 1,800 students. Each year, the school enrolls more than 600 new comers. 3. 1. 2 Description of the course At school, all students when pass the entrance exam to the school have to study English as one of the compulsory subjects. During the process of learning English at school, students use three English textbooks (English 10, English 11, English 12) focusing on four skills including reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus part. The language focus comprises two major parts: pronunciation and grammar. Normally, students start learning pronunciation when they study English 10. However, at grade 10th, students only learn some vowels and simple consonants. At grade 11th, students continue to study complex consonants. And at grade 12th, students start to be familiar with stress and intonation exercises. That is the reason why stress and intonation are two major aspects of pronunciation chosen in this investigation. 3. 2 Subjects The subjects of this study comprised 10 teachers and 55 12th-form students at QCHS. All English teachers were invited to participate in this study. They are from 27 to 60 years old, and have taught English for more than 2 years. They graduated from both regular and in-service training. With those teachers who have taught English for many years, they have teaching experience, but were not well trained. They mainly graduated from colleges, even in-service training. With younger teachers, they graduated from many different universities: state and non-state universities. They are full of motivation, but lack of teaching experience. In general, these teachers are good at teaching grammar and do not feel confident to deal with speaking, listening, and pronunciation lessons. Thus, they often focus their lesson on grammar but the speaking and pronunciation. The class that the author chose to study consists of fifty-five 12th-form students. These students have had at least 6 years of academic English experience by the time they reach this course. However, their English proficiency is not good, especially at pronunciation. They may be good at grammar and can do these grammar exercises quickly, but can not speak fluently. Most of them do not feel confident to speak in class and express their ideas in English. These students have studied at high school for more than two years. Therefore, they have been getting similar with the teaching and studying methods, the conditions and the teaching environment, so it easy for the author to get their consent to participate in the research. 3. 3 Research methods As mentioned previously, the researcher chose a mixed-method approach to data collection, utilizing triangulation to measure a broad variety of variables in the research. Necessary data was gathered directly from the teachers and students participating in the research in several ways: Questionnaires: In order to collect reliable and comprehensive data, two questionnaires were designed: one for teachers and one for students. They are both open-ended and close-ended questions. Teacher questionnaire (Appendix 1): one survey questionnaire with 8 questions was designed for the teachers to get their ideas of pronunciation teaching and learning reality, problems faced by their students and some recommendations to improve learning pronunciation reality at school. To get this aim, the questionnaire is categorized into the following groups: †¢Teachers’ attitude towards present situation of teaching and learning pronunciation at QCHS; †¢Approaches, techniques and classroom activities used by teachers in teaching pronunciation; †¢Problems faced by teachers in teaching pronunciation; and †¢Teachers’ recommendations of techniques to improve students’ pronunciation. Student questionnaire Appendix 2): another survey questionnaire with 8 questions was designed for students including the following categories: †¢Students’ attitude towards learning pronunciation, especially stress and intonation; †¢Students’ problems in learning pronunciation; and †¢Students’ expectations in learning pronunciation. In-depth classroom observations: Six informal classroom observations during regular classroom sessions were used as an additional data source. The observations were carried out for two weeks during the course of the study to get more practical information about teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards teaching and learning pronunciation, and difficulties as well as techniques used in pronunciation lessons. During the process of observations, the author focused on some aspects taking in class as: †¢Teaching and learning materials used in class; †¢Students’ activities and their mistakes in producing pronunciation; and †¢Teachers’ approaches and techniques used in teaching pronunciation. Interviews and discussions (Appendix 3): after collecting data from the survey questionnaires and classroom observations, the author used the post interview in order to get the in-depth discussion about techniques used to improve students’ pronunciation. Because it is too difficult for the researcher to conduct long interviews with all teachers, the researcher randomly selected 5/10 teachers for interviews. They were willing to express deeply their opinions, and ideas about teaching techniques. 3. 2. Data collection procedures The study was conducted in the first term of the school year 2010-2011 (from September 2010 to December, 2010). At the beginning of the first term, two sets of questionnaires were given to the teachers and the students who agreed to participate in the research. After two days, these questionnaires were collected. The information from these questionnaires were then summarized and presented in the form of statistics. For the following two weeks, the autho r carried out some classroom observations. The observations during six English lessons including one in reading, one in writing, one in listening, one in speaking and two in language focus periods. At each session, the researcher took field notes on what happened when the students learned pronunciation. Finally, when the information from the survey questionnaires and classroom observations were collected and analyzed, structured interviews were carried out. The data collected from three different resources were read through to obtain a sense of the overall data. They were then analyzed both descriptively and interpretatively. The initial sorting-out process was writing findings in the form of reflective notes and summaries of field notes. The information was then displayed in forms of tables and figures while qualitative data from the open-ended questionnaire items, classroom observations and interviews were presented by quoting relevant responses from the respondents. CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION OF THE DATA This part, the information from collected data was presented in accordance with the category of data collection instruments. 4. 1 Survey questionnaires 4. 1. Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards teaching and learning pronunciation Assuming that the consideration of the teachers’ and students’ attitude towards teaching and learning pronunciation would be beneficial to the research, at the outset, these factors were surveyed. The results, shown in below, reflect that grammar is the most concerning aspect in learning English at high school. Surprisingly, only 10% of the t eachers think that pronunciation is the most necessary for their students. They always pay much attention and time and energy on grammar. In contrast, teaching and learning pronunciation as well as developing listening, speaking or reading skills do not receive enough attention to. 4. 1. 2 Students’ pronunciation level From the chart 2, we can see an optimistic reality of students’ level in learning pronunciation at Quynh Coi high school. Being asked about this, all the teachers said that students’ level is not equal, however; it is not good as expected. 60% teachers said that their students’ level at pronunciation is at average; and even 30% of the students get under average level. None of the teachers evaluate their students’ level at pronunciation is good or excellent. . 1. 3 Pronunciation teaching and learning time Chart 3 presents time that teachers and students spend on teaching and learning pronunciation. One more time teachers and students share the same ideas about the fact that too little time is on pronunciation. 80% of the teachers and 43% of the students said that they di d not have time to spend on teaching and learning pronunciation in one teaching session (45 minutes); 20% of the teachers and 32% of the students spend less than 20 minutes on teaching pronunciation. None of the teachers and a very small number of the students teach and learn pronunciation for more than 20 minutes. The overall results indicate that the reality of teaching and learning pronunciation at Quynh Coi high school is not positive as expected. Although both teachers and students are very optimistic towards teaching and learning pronunciation, students’ level is not good as well as time spent on teaching pronunciation is limited during one normal teaching session. 4. 1. 4 Teachers and students’ problems in teaching and learning pronunciation Chart 4 shows that both the teachers and the students face many problems during the process of teaching and learning pronunciation. The biggest problem that both teachers and students face comes from the nature of pronunciation. The next two factors preventing students from gaining good pronunciation are teaching time and students’ competence. 27% of the teachers and 22% of the students said that they do not have enough time on pronunciation. 20% of the teachers considered that their students’ competence in pronunciation is too low. 22% students also agreed with that idea. Class setting is the next factor that 20% teachers chose. It is clear that quality of teaching staff is not good enough to come over all the difficulties in teaching pronunciation. In contrast, only 1% of the students agreed with this. The smallest factor that both teachers and students think that causing problem in teaching and learning pronunciation is students’ motivation. 4. 1. 5 Teachers’ and students’ problems in teaching and learning intonation and stress From the chart above, most of the teachers (50%) and students (43%) think that stress is the most difficulty in teaching and learning pronunciation. the second is intonation: 30% of the teachers and 14% of the students think that intonation causes trouble. Meanwhile, none of the teachers meet any difficulties in teaching consonants and vowels. Particularly, chart 6 shows that 43% of the students cannot know the place of stress in a word; 20% said they cannot pronounce stress though they may be know place of stress in those words. Surprisingly, 27% of the students said that they do not know anything of stress. From the above chart, we can see that the reality of learning intonation is even worse than learning stress. 56% of all surveyed students understand nothing about intonation, causing a lot of difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation.

Impact of International Business in India

Impact of International Business in India India has emerged as a potential and a diversified market for the Western firms and other foreign investors. Earlier establishing a business in India was a challenging assignment, but economic reforms, brought in by different Indian governments over a period of time, have smoothen the course of entry for Western multinationals and other business magnets. Still it is considered difficult and a different proposal to do business in or with India, mainly because of its different business and socio- economic culture. Western multinationals/ investors dealing with India so far had to adopt major changes in their business style in order to serve effectively to their customers. This write up examines in detail the prevalent business, socio- economic, and cultural environments that western multinationals have to face in India, as well the implications of their adopted major changes in business practices to succeed in India. Business, socio- economic and cultural environments of India Family Business and non corporate culture Despite revolutionary changes since independence of India, the basic business style has remained the same as of family controlled businesses. Leading business families, from Birlas and Tatas to Reliance, keep total control on business of companies promoted by them. Major management posts in these business houses are always held by responsible family members. Though joint family system is slowly disappearing, but still there is a common tendency in Indian families to own a business. Another prominent feature of the Indian economy is that non- corporate sector has the largest share of the total business of the country. They are the largest employment providers. Growth in non- corporate sector is much faster than even in the corporate sector. Non- corporate sector is engaged in wide spread manufacturing and service industries, and these are again mostly family business. Non corporate sector work according to available conditions and develop their business models suiting prevalent conditions and systems. This way India is a high powered distant society. Western businesses will have to accept family authority while negotiating business deals with non- corporate as well as family controlled corporate sector. Multi Linguistic and cultural market with political challenges The business language in urban India is local language mixed with English. It is also mixed with Hindi and state dialects making it difficult for a casual business operator to negotiate. There are wide ranges of languages spoken in diverse India. Accordingly, perfection in one language by a Western business negotiator does not mean that he or she can represent his/ her business deals effectively in all parts of India. Though middle class rules the roast in India, but this class mostly believes in eastern culture, making it imperative for Western multinationals to adopt eastern tastes in their goods and services being marketed in India. At the same time it is difficult for foreign companies to standardize their products on national basis because of diversity in regional culture; but it may be possible in India on regional basis. Also foreign MNCs need to find out the consumers tastes in India before launching their products or services in Indian markets. One thing is necessary to understand that economic growth in India has brought up its middle class to the fore front; and at the same time rural poor are largely isolated from the achievements of growth.With a robust and working democratic system, India is a federal republic where bulk of executive power rests with prime minister and his or her cabinets. As a nation state, India presents a vast mosaic of hundreds of different ethnic groups, religious sects, and social castes. About one third of population lives in urban areas; an overwhelming majority of the remainder is engaged in the agricultural sector.(Michael F. Martin and K.Alan Kronstadt, August 31, 2007)Â  [i]Â  An Indian is so politically informed or connected that it would not be wrong to say that every Indian treats himself/ herself as a politician in one sense or the other. With the result every political event in India has great impact on consumer markets. Politically there is a relaxed atmosphere at present for foreign direct investments (FDIs). But businesses often get disturbed with unwanted political rallies and events. Very frequently opposite national political parties call for nation- wide strikes (called bandh in Indian dialect) on any hot issue. The entire economic process gets disturbed and with the result corporations and other businesses suffer huge losses. For example on July 5, India went on strike. The country closed down at several places after opposition parties protested an increase in the price of petrol or gasoline. (In India, the government controls petrol prices). The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimated that nationwide strike caused a production loss of US $ 2.8 billion (Human Resources, July 29, 2010)Â  [ii]Â  . Indian economy is also badly bitten by the inflationary bug. Even necessities of life have become costlier for public at large. Average citizens find it difficult to save something for luxuries. Still luxuries like cars, foreign tours etc are being sold at rates that envy other economies of the world. But this is a fact of urban India only, where black marketing and corruption is rampant. Corrupt politician and business people make ugly display of their wealth. There is no doubt that Indian economy is growing, but this growth is lopsided. The required growth in infrastructural sector is lagging behind. This has created a real bottleneck for long term growth and economic expansion. This information is necessary for Western MNCs to decide about their target sector as well the type of market available in India for their products and services. India is a free economy and taking advantage of this, many Western MNCs are also raising part of their capital investment from India itself. BPO business brought in by multinationals in India succeeded because the MNCs exploited the conditions to best of their advantage. The shortage of infrastructure for BPO business was a matter of concern for MNCs. But MNCs found that building infrastructure in India is much cheaper than developing the same in western countries. India is a developing country with huge populations. Naturally the availability of educated labor force at lower prices was a distinct advantage that MNCs exploited to enhance their overall profitability. Indian young population has proved to be more hospitable and courteous than their counterparts in Western countries. Educated young people have a lot of command in English language making it very easy and economical to get the customer convinced about the product being marketed by BPOs. The result is that BPO business in India has become not only a profitable for MNCs, but a bread earner for thousands and lakhs of its staff without pressing government resource s. Changes adopted by international firms to serve customers in India Adoption with local conditions or changing of business rules provide international business to grow firmly. Western multinationals have taken many rational and objective decisions keeping in view marketing and other conditions prevalent in India. Changes in business style are necessary as the risks in the international business are not the same as in domestic markets. Some of changes adopted by Western MNCs to serve their Indian customers are discussed hereunder. Organized Retailing and direct marketing Barring exceptions like Bata stores and few others, retailing in India so far has been fragmented and not organized. Organized retail stores and trendy chain stores to catch the young customer is be one of the major changes brought in India by Western MNCs to serve and attract their customers. Though the trend is same as in western countries, but organization style has changed. Family owned businesses are being attracted to own retail stores and develop a chain of stores as franchisee or under other arrangements with MNCs. A few successful examples are McDonalds, Levis Strauss and others. Organized retailing is growing in India. With the results manufacturers are loosing their positions. Even local brands like Pantloons and Shoppers Stop are offering competitions to manufacturers owned stores. An organized franchisee style of retailing has ushered. It is also seen that family owned businesses seek franchisees of western MNCs. Many multinationals are entering Indian market though partnerships with local giants in the organized retail sector. Direct marketing is another change brought in by the MNCs. Earlier joint venture technique of marketing has changed to direct marketing. Products are not being sold on agency basis. Goods are not manufactured but traded by MNCs in chain stores either owned by them or their franchisees. Earlier the trend was to find low cost manufacturing location in India for producing goods in India, and then marketing the goods by entering into joint venture agreements with local giants. No doubt MNCs are still benefitting from low cost production, but the trend has changed to offer the products and services directly to customers. Creating products to serve Indian markets One of the major changes that western MNCs have made is the introduction of products and services that suits Indian style of consumption. This means not only developing affordable products and services that deliver value to the customer, but also finding right kind of distribution channels and designing credit systems to permit the access of the poor to financial services. (Michael John Baker and Susan Hurt, 2007)Â  [iii]Â  In fact MNCs are taking full advantage of availably of large number of engineers, technicians, and other experts to introduce products as per Indian tastes of consumptions. Take the case of US Pizza Hut selling pizzas through its outlets in India. What they have brought to India is not an American style pizza but a way of serving food in a nice, clean, bright place at a price an ordinary family can afford. But the food they serve is what Indians like. In many cities in India, Dominos offers a 100 percent vegetarian pizza, cooked in a separate kitchen where no me at items are allowed. (Subash C. Jain, 2003)Â  [iv]Â   In fact marketing style the product has also changed by Western MNCs. For example creating small packs with simple designs and less volume at affordable prices will not only boost sale but also create brand awareness among a particular section of consumers. Introduction of financing schemes with marketing of products create an urge to buy among those who cannot afford the goods temporarily. This is certainly not unethical if the interest rates are reasonable. This is because reasonability is the basic rule of marketing. Another marketing idea floated by MNCs is to provide products and services on rental or lease basis instead of making a direct sale. This may take shape of hire- purchase sale or simple renting if the consumer does not want to purchase the product. Conclusion Indian market has peculiar characteristics. Owning family business is still the rage in Indian society that is multi linguistic with Hindi or English as link language. Inflation is very high and the conditions in India always remain political charged. Abundant educated labor force is available at reasonably cheaper wages. Corrupted people flaunt the use of money in an ugly way. Under such circumstances different democratically elected Indian governments created liberalized conditions for MNCs and other foreign investors to enter the Indian market. Businesses like BPO units succeeded immensely in India. Foreign investments also established varied businesses for their customers in India. For satisfying customers in India, these MNCs made concessions and changes in their traditional style of operations. Direct marketing and organized retailing are the major changes bought in by MNCs to satisfy their Indian clientele. Products also changed to suite Indian tastes of consumptions. Leasing and hire- purchase selling have become style of MNCs to satisfy their customers in India.

Essay --

Saving Our Democracy: Campaign Finance Reform Introduction Since the founding of the United States, money has played a large role in electoral politics. Of course, there was a time when political campaigns were much smaller than they are now – before television, radio, and the Internet. Modern campaigns cost millions, or even billions, of dollars, especially in presidential elections. This enormous increase in spending over the last few decades has caused many to fear for the future of American democracy. If so few can contribute so much, why would politicians even bother to listen to the average voter? Lawmakers have taken steps on numerous occasions to reign in this political spending and even the playing field for the average voter, but that would mostly be undone with the Supreme Court’s decision in the 2010 case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. This controversial decision struck down many regulations, citing that they violated the First Amendment. In the election cycles since, we have seen an unprec edented wave of shadowy organizations contributing unimaginable sums of money, drowning out everyone else. In order to understand how the Supreme Court came to it’s conclusion and how the average voter can ultimately overcome it, we must understand the history of campaign finance law in the United States. Background Concerns about corporate influence in national elections found its way into the halls of Congress after President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1904 re-election. President Roosevelt himself suggested to Congress that they make a point of passing legislation that would ban corporate contributions to political campaigns. In 1907, the Tillman Act was passed, which did just that. Those that violated t... ...The financing in both states is funded by tax check-offs, as well as fines paid by past violations of their campaign finance laws. Many of these programs also contained a provision that granted matching funds to the publicly financed candidate to counter what a nonparticipating candidate raised, but the Supreme Court struck this down in 2011 in the case Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett. The majority opinion stated that this matching of funds interfered with First Amendment rights, because it could cause donors to withhold their spending – or as the Supreme Court saw it, their speech. After the Bennett decision, New York City devised what has become known as â€Å"flexible financing†, a system in which candidates receive funds that match their own fundraising as opposed to their opponents’ fundraising. Shareholder Authorization Conclusion

Psychology Paper; How Stress Affects the Human Mind

My topic of choice is stress. My first article informs you about the effects stress can have on your body and what you can do to avoid stress to keep your body healthy. (http://www. webmd. com/mental-health/effects-of-stress-on-your-body). The Effects of Stress on Your Body Stress is the body's reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses. Stress is a normal part of life that happens to you and many things that you do yourself put stress on your body.You can experience stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts. How Does Stress Affect Health? The human body is designed to experience stress and react to it. Stress can be positive, keeping us alert and ready to avoid danger. Stress becomes negative when a person faces continuous challenges without relief or relaxation between challenges. As a result, the person becomes overworked and stress-related tension builds. Stress t hat continues without relief can lead to a condition called distress — a negative stress reaction.  Read also Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder  (PTSD).Distress can lead to physical symptoms including headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, and problems sleeping. Research suggests that stress also can bring on or worsen certain symptoms or diseases. Stress also becomes harmful when people use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to try and relieve their stress. Unfortunately, instead of relieving the stress and returning the body to a relaxed state, these substances tend to keep the body in a stressed state and cause more problems. Consider the following: * Forty-three percent of all adults suffer  adverse health effects from stress. Seventy-five percent to 90% of all doctor's office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints. * Stress can play a part in problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asth ma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety. * The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) declared stress a hazard of the workplace. Stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually. * The lifetime prevalence of an emotional disorder is more than 50%, often due to chronic, untreated stress reactions.My second article below, talks about the myths of stress. What we should believe and the other factors of stress that are simply not true or unrelated to stress. (http://www. apa. org/helpcenter/stress-myths. aspx). Six myths surround stress. Dispelling them enables us to understand our problems and then take action against them. Let's look at these myths. Myth 1:   Stress is the same for everybody. Completely wrong. Stress is different for each of us. What is stressful for one person may or may not be stressful for another; each of us responds to stress in an entirely different way.Myth 2:   Stress is always bad for you. According to this view, zero stress mak es us happy and healthy. Wrong. Stress is to the human condition what tension is to the violin string: too little and the music is dull and raspy; too much and the music is shrill or the string snaps. Stress can be the kiss of death or the spice of life. The issue, really, is how to manage it. Managed stress makes us productive and happy; mismanaged stress hurts and even kills us. Myth 3:   Stress is everywhere, so you can't do anything about it. Not so. You can plan your life so that stress does not overwhelm you.Effective planning involves setting priorities and working on simple problems first, solving them, and then going on to more complex difficulties. When stress is mismanaged, it's difficult to prioritize. All your problems seem to be equal and stress seems to be everywhere. Myth 4:   The most popular techniques for reducing stress are the best ones. Again, not so. No universally effective stress reduction techniques exist. We are all different, our lives are different, our situations are different, and our reactions are different. Only a comprehensive program tailored to the individual works.Myth 5:   No symptoms, no stress. Absence of symptoms does not mean the absence of stress. In fact, camouflaging symptoms with medication may deprive you of the signals you need for reducing the strain on your physiological and psychological systems. Myth 6:   Only major symptoms of stress require attention. This myth assumes that the â€Å"minor† symptoms, such as headaches or stomach acid, may be safely ignored. Minor symptoms of stress are the early warnings that your life is getting out of hand and that you need to do a better job of managing stress.My articles presented facts on stress I was unaware of. Such as how a little stress can be good for you, because it keeps you alert and well managed. An individual with too much stress could have quite the opposite effect and become severely depressed and even eventually, lead to death. Another thing I came across is that everybody can have stress; however, everybody deals with stress in different ways. The stress I have most likely isn’t the same kind of stress that my parents have, and that means we all cope with stress with different techniques.The stress that I most often experience has to do with school, work and dealing with my addict mother. From what I’ve read, school and work are some of the most frequent stressors that a person my age has to deal with. However, living with a severe drug addict has increased my stress in work and school exponentially. My articles also explain the negative and harmful effects that stress can have on a person’s body. If someone is too overwhelmed with stress they then start experiencing a condition known as distress.Distress is followed by headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pains and problems sleeping. When I’m stressed and have a lot on my mind, I find that I have difficulty sleeping. Th e lack of sleep then results in more stress and it becomes a vicious cycle. Also, seeing how people become stressed from being overworked, some people turn to substances to compensate and relieve stress. However, research has shown that substances can worsen the effects of stress tremendously. Substances such as alcohol keep the body in a stressed state and eventually cause more problems.Any form of stress that you may be experiencing should be brought to attention. Covering up stress with medication and not treating the source could be damaging in the long run. The minor symptoms of stress are signs that your life is getting somewhat out of hand, you need to make necessary adjustments for your mental and physical well-being in order to avoid further stress. This is what is recommended anyways, but this is said so much easier than done. It’s insane how many people do not take these precautions and let their lives slip through their fingers.Some Forty three percent of adults s uffer health effects from stress and seventy five to ninety percent of doctor office visits are stress related, and if stress is camouflaged or ignored it can lead to an emotion disorder. Fifty percent of emotional disorders are the result of untreated stress. As I said earlier, everybody experiences stress differently, therefore, not everybody will have the same exact regiment to treat stress as others have. Stress not only affects you, but also affects the people at home and in your work environment. Stress can cause even the closest of relationships to diminish.Stress is also present in your work atmosphere. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration declared stress a hazard of the workplace. Stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually. Reading several articles pertaining to stress and my knowledge from class has presented me with different outlooks on how to avoid stress and more importantly how to handle stress in every task. By doing so, I can prevent myself from harming my body, mentally or physically. It’s imperative for people to realize that stress is an inevitable factor of life and that there are ways to cope with it.

How to Write Management Term Paper Full Guide for Those in Need

How to Write Management Term Paper Full Guide for Those in Need Have no idea how to approach your challenging term paper in management? Writing term papers seems like a daunting task for many students who often prefer to put it up and, as a result, get bad grades on academic papers that otherwise would have got them easy A’s. Read our easy guide where we’ll walk you through the most important aspects of making an excellent term paper in management from the very beginning to the end. In this guide on how to write a management term paper, you’ll learn: approaches to choosing a good term paper topics; tips for organizing the structure of your management term paper; techniques for revising, editing, and proofreading your paper. Besides, we will provide you with interesting management term paper topic ideas. Let’s get started. What Is Management Term Paper? A term paper in management is actually a research paper that is written by students over the academic term and that accounts for a large part of the student grade. It is a major academic assignment in a course that discusses a certain topic in a detail and is several pages in length. Typically it is due at the end of the semester. You have to research information on a chosen topic, write a report about your findings, and present your own point of view on a specific problem. The format of your management term paper typically depends on the chosen topic – you can write it in the form of the scientific report or in the form of the literature review. The scientific report format typically includes Abstract – a brief description of your paper (about 150 words); Introduction – here you need to present an issue or a problem, give a literature review and describe findings and approaches; Methods that you used to search for data; Results – here you present your findings and explain how they help answer the research question; Discussion – in this section you need to summarize your findings and explain their significance. How to Choose a Great Management Term Paper Topic: A Few Sample Topics from Our Writers The first step in preparing to write a term paper in management is to choose a good topic. Of course, the main thing is to select a topic that is interesting to you. Make sure that your topic is broad enough so you can easily find enough sources when doing research. But if your topic is too broad, you can’t stay focused on your topic and your argument can be too vague. So in this case, you need to narrow your topic and make it manageable within your word limit to create a strong argument. You can make a list of keywords that describe your potential topic and search the internet for more ideas so you can modify or change your initial idea. For example, if the topic of your term paper is risk management in project management, you can search using such keywords as risk management, risk management process, risk management strategies, risk management definition etc. You can start research by using general-purpose reference books such as fact books and encyclopedias where you can find related terminology and suggestions for sub-topics. These books typically contain extensive bibliographies that can be very helpful. Reading such books can help you focus your research or stimulate additional questions. If you can’t decide what topic to pick and need some inspiration, have a look at our short list of interesting management term paper topics. Feel free to use them for writing your own term papers. Why Is Risk Management Important to Project Success? Conflict Management in Work Teams; Women Entrepreneurs Who Are Changing the World; Strategic Planning in Organizational Management; What Causes Small Businesses to Fail? Competency Requirements for an Effective Job Performance; Key Concepts of Information Security Management; Financial Management in Organizations; Strategic Workplace Management; Time Management in the Workplace: Ways to Improve Productivity; How to Create a Compelling Employee Value Proposition; Strategic Management in Large Organizations; Security Issues Facing Companies And Management; Top Challenges in Security Management; Key Activities to Build Employee Engagement. Find Suitable Sources for Your Management Term Paper You can use a large variety of information sources – books on management, authoritative newspapers, journal articles, and more. You can look for sources in the library and take advantage of a computer access system to find relevant books on the subject of your management term paper. Keep in mind that if you select a current topic, there may be few books available on it. In this case, you should rely on the articles in scholarly journals where you can find analyses and up-to-date information. Other sources of valuable information on contemporary business and management trends are reports of government agencies and committees. When looking for relevant primary and secondary sources, you should try to find answers to your research question. Besides, you should get organized and make notes about your sources using spreadsheets. You should include bibliographic information and page numbers if you plan to use the source for quotations. You can also use index cards for that. This way, you can easily find any source you need when you start writing and it will take less time to complete your reference page. Term Paper Writing Process You have spent a lot of time doing research and absorbing information on your topic. Now it’s time to come up with a good research question or a thesis statement. It will guide your writing and will help your readers understand the significance of your subject. If you succeed in writing a strong thesis statement, your readers will know what to expect and it will be easier for them to digest your information. The thesis statement typically consists of a sentence which you include in the introductory paragraph. In the thesis, you have to make a claim that other people may dispute and provide an argument in your term paper to support your point of view. A good idea is to create a working outline that will help you stay focused. You need to include sub-topics and key points in it and mention the evidence you are going to use to support your thesis. You may change your outline in the process of writing – include or exclude some points but all the same, you will work more productively if you think about the structure of your management term paper in advance. With an outline, you’ll never miss some vital points and ensure that they are included in your essay. Create the First Draft Your term paper can consist of several parts the number of which will depend on your topic but typically, all academic papers consist of an introduction, the body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each of these parts plays a significant role. It’s not obligatory to start writing your term paper in management with an introduction and many students usually start writing the beginning with body paragraphs. They develop their argument and when the main part of the paper has been completed, create an introduction and a conclusion. When you use this approach, you are likely to complete the introduction faster because you’ll know very well what your project is about and it will be easier for you to define the purpose of your paper and outline the structure. Introduction Your introduction plays an important role in telling your readers what your paper is about, where you are headed and what goals you hope to achieve.   You’d better begin it with an attention grabber, for example, an interesting quote, statistics data, a thought-provocative question, a definition etc. e.g. Do you know that one-third of employees now either skip surveys or give false answers? Then you should provide some background information to introduce the context. You may give the literature overview in the field and mention different approaches to the subject of your management term paper. After that, you should define your thesis statement/research question and briefly outline the structure. Body Paragraphs The body is the largest part of a management term paper; in this section, you gather and arrange relevant evidence that will persuade the audience of your argument. That’s why it should have a logical organization. If your term paper is long, a good idea is to divide it into several parts with headings and sub-headings. For example, you can have such sections as literature review, methods, results/findings, and discussion. In your methodology section, you should provide information about major sources of primary and secondary research and tell about the limitation or weakness of each source. You will mainly use secondary sources like news articles, magazine articles, company annual reports, encyclopedias, and business textbooks. The body of your paper is the part where you can really impress your instructor. Wondering how you can do that? You should review several related management concepts and theories more extensively that it was done in the course; Demonstrate that you are an expert in some aspects of your research question; You should make sure that the body section is not just descriptive but analytical; You have to provide a logical argument to support your claims and use relevant evidence and in-text citations to prove that your ideas are right. In this case, you will need to include parenthetical citations when referencing another authors text in the body of your term paper. Show your analysis throughout the entire body that is to bring the research data, events or other relevant materials together and interpret the fact you have presented as you develop your argument. Conclusion The main goal of the conclusion is to summarize what you have said in the body and to emphasize the evidence that supports your analysis. Here are some tips on how you can do it right. You can restate your thesis statement/research question and highlight once again the significance of your research topic and your findings; You can synthesize all mini-conclusions you presented in the text and present some interesting insights based on them; If your term paper is lengthy, you can include some evaluative insights, for example, the pros and cons, short-term and long-term effects etc.; You can also mention some weaknesses and limitations of your research; Don’t include any new information in this section; You can discuss some valuable information that you couldn’t access; You can provide some recommendations or suggestions for possible future research. Abstract If your management term paper is long, you may be assigned to include a brief abstract of about 150-200 words. It is actually a miniature version of your research project. You should complete this section of your paper after you have written all the other parts. You’d better write your abstract in active voice because it will be easier to read and many people make a decision on whether the paper is worth reading based on the abstract. Make your abstract as clear and concise as possible. References When you complete your management term paper, don’t forget to make a references list. You have to alphabetically list all the sources that you referenced in the body paragraphs. If you made notes about your sources when doing research, you are likely to cope with this task fast. It’s important to follow the specific style guide recommended by your professor or by your school, for example, MLA or APA. Revise and Edit Your Term Paper When you complete your first draft, you need to read it and make revisions if necessary to improve the content, the logic, and the flow. You may need to do it several times to ensure that your management term paper presents a strong and clear argument. When you achieve that, it’s time to polish and double-check everything. Read your term paper aloud and check organization, sense, and logical structure. Make sure that you correctly cited your sources. Check your grammar and spelling and fix mistakes and typos if there are any. Keep in mind that your readers will evaluate your project not only by the quality of research and its content. They will also take into account the quality of writing so you have to be attentive when proofreading your management term paper and make it the best it can be.