Top 10 Online Tools to Help You Write the Perfect Essay

Top 10 Online Tools to Help You Write the Perfect Essay Top 10 Online Tools to Help You Write the Perfect Essay Top 10 Online Tools to Help You Write the Perfect Essay By Ali Hale Writing essays can be tough and sometimes you need all the help you can get. The great news is that there are plenty of online tools that can help you write the best essay you can – and I’m going to be running through ten of the best. Before we get into the list, though, here’s a huge caveat. DO NOT use websites that write your essay for you. When I researched this blog post, I found (to my horror) lots of lists of â€Å"essay-writing tools† that linked to essay mills as if those were legitimate writing tools. These essay mills are websites that sell essays for $200 $500 each. Let’s be very clear: if you pay someone else for an essay and hand it in as your own work, that’s cheating. You could get into serious trouble – maybe even thrown off your course. Plus, you might get horribly ripped off. None of the tools in this post will help you cheat. All of them will help you write the best essay you can. Of course, there are times when all the online tools in the world can’t help: when you’re taking your exams. If that’s the case, check out 7 Essay Writing Tips To Ace Your Next Exam to help you. Here are ten tools that could help you with your next essay. I’ve split them into different categories of tools to help with planning and research, with writing, and with editing. Tools to Help You Plan and Research Your Essay Before you start to write an essay, you need to plan it (and probably do some research, unless you’re writing about a topic that you’ve already learned about extensively in lectures or in class). These tools will help you with the planning stage of the writing process. #1: Essay Map (free), from ReadWriteThink I’m a big fan of planning in advance – and this tool walks you through the process of planning an essay. You’re a bit limited by the format (three main ideas, each with three subpoints) – but if you’re new to planning, it could be a great place to begin. You can save your finished map onto the computer, If you prefer to work on paper, you can also print a blank map to fill in. Tip: This basic structure: introduction, conclusion, and three key points, each with supporting evidence, could work for other forms of writing too – like a blog post or article. #2: Evernote (free), from Evernote Corporation Evernote is like a set of online notebooks – where you can keep anything you like, from written notes to photos to videos. I keep all my work-related notes there, plus lots of administrative bits and pieces – it makes it really easy to find what I need. Because you can login and access it from any computer or device, Evernote could be a great place to keep ideas and rough plans for your upcoming essays. You can search all your notes for a particular word or phrase, so it’s easy to find things that you wrote weeks or even years ago. Tip: You can save whole webpages into Evernote at the click of a button if you use the Evernote Chrome extension. #3: JSTOR (paid), from ITHAKA JSTOR is an online archive of lots of different academic journals and books. Most universities have a paid subscription to it, so you can access it for free using your university credentials. You can search JSTOR by author, subject (keyword), or title. You can see a screenshot above of the first couple of results for my search for â€Å"Samuel Richardson† (my favourite 18th century novelist). Tip: If you don’t have access through your institution, you can sill access public domain resources on JSTOR for free, plus up to six articles per month – or you can pay for a â€Å"JPASS† for $19.50/month. Tools to Help You Write Your Essay Once you’ve got a plan for your essay, and you’ve gathered some useful books or journal articles to reference, it’s time to write. These tools will help you get that first draft down. #4: Freedom (paid), from Freedom This app and website blocker lets you block specific websites – great for when you want to focus but keep getting distracted. If you need access to the internet for other tools, that’s no problem: with Freedom, you can block specific sites (like Facebook and Twitter) or apps on your phone. You can also block the whole internet, if you want to. Once you’re running a Freedom session, if you try to visit a blocked site, it simply won’t show up. Freedom costs $6.99/month or $29/year: there’s a trial version available so you can give it a go before you buy, and there’s also a money-back guarantee. You can use Freedom on multiple devices at no extra cost. Tip: If you want a free alternative to Freedom, Cold Turkey is a good option (as is StayFocusd, but that only works on Chrome). #5: EndNote Basic (free), from Clarivate Analytics EndNote is one of the best-known reference managing tools and you can use it online for free. You can search online databases / library catalogues (the free version only gives access to ones from the British Library, the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, and PubMed) or you can create a reference manually by filling in a form. If you have a number of different essays on the go, you might want to organise your references into different groups. Other students can also share their groups of references with you – useful if you want to collaborate with coursemates. Tip: You can pay for a full version of EndNote (or your university may provide it) if you want to use advanced features, like accessing far more research database and attaching the full text of PDF sources to your reference database. #6: The Oxford English Dictionary (paid), from Oxford University If you study literature, linguistics, or any subject where you want an authoritative take on the origin of words, the Oxford English Dictionary is a fantastic tool. You need to login and access it online – which you can usually do through your university or local library. Otherwise, you can purchase a monthly subscription as an individual – but it’s pretty pricy ($29.95 in the US, or  £56+VAT for three months in the UK). So definitely check with your university or local library first, to see if you can access it through them. Tip: The OED provides a lot more information than a standard dictionary, and entries might look a bit overwhelming at first. You can â€Å"Hide all† quotations, which makes them a bit more manageable if you don’t need the quotations or if you’re hunting through a few different words to figure out which one you want! #7: Google Timer, from Google It can be really tough to stay focused when you’re writing, even with distracting websites blocked. Sitting down and planning to write for a whole morning or afternoon doesn’t work well for most people – you simply can’t concentrate on an essay for that long at a stretch. I like to use timers when I’m writing, to keep me focused and to break my writing session into short chunks. Around 30 – 45 minutes works well. (If you’re on a roll, you can always set the timer for another writing burst straightaway). While the timer’s running you’re writing! To set a timer in Google, simply search for â€Å"set a timer for X minutes† – e.g. â€Å"set a timer for 10 minutes†. The timer will appear on the screen and start automatically. WriteToDone has a bunch more tips on time management for writers. Tools to Help You Edit Your Essay Once your essay is written, you’re not done you still need to edit. It’s a very good idea to separate the drafting process from the editing process, and if you’ve done that, your first draft may well be a little rough and ready in places. These tools will all help you get it into shape. #8: Grammarly (free), from Grammarly Grammarly uses artificial intelligence to help you with grammar, spelling and style. You can turn it on and use it as you write – which can be very helpful for things like emails – but if you’re writing an essay, you might prefer to draft first then use Grammarly afterwards. It’s available as a Chrome plugin, and as a download for MS Office, so you can use it online or offline. Grammarly will flag up mistakes (like typos) but it’ll also spot places where you’ve used more words than you need or where you’ve used vague language. As you can see above, you can click on an underlined work to see Grammarly’s recommendation for fixing it – clicking the â€Å"See more in Grammarly† link gives you more details about what’s wrong, helping you to get things right next time.   #9: Hemingway (free), from Hemingway App The Hemingway app works in a similar way to Grammarly, though with a focus on style and readability rather than on spotting typos and misused words. It’s named after the American novelist Ernest Hemingway, who was known for his clear, concise writing. You can access the app without logging in, simply by going to the website: copy or type in your chosen text. It encourages you to avoid overly complex words and sentence structures: don’t feel that you need to change all of these (particularly in an academic essay, where a certain level of complexity is desirable!) – but do check any flagged words or sentences to make sure you’re happy with them, and that you don’t want to switch to a simpler alternative. Tip: You can download the Hemingway app for PC or Mac, rather than using it online – but it’ll cost you $19.99. #10: Thesaurus.com (free), from Dictionary.com Do you ever struggle to find quite the right word? It happens to me a lot: I know what I want to say, but I can’t think of the very best way to say it. Or, I’ll have used a particular word already and I want to avoid using it too often (the principle of elegant variation). A great way to broaden your vocabulary is to use a thesaurus to look up words with a similar meaning to the not-quite-right one that you’ve already got. Do make sure, of course, that you don’t simply pick a different word that you like the sound of: you want to get the one that precisely conveys your thoughts. Tip: If you want to find some options for the opposite of a word, Thesaurus.com can do that too – scroll down past the list of synonyms to the antonyms. What tools do you use to help you write better essays? Have I missed something off the list that you’d highly recommend? Pop a comment below to tell us about it. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Grammar Test 1Try to vs. Try andHow Verbs Become Adjectives

The Structure of an Academic Paper - Proofeds Writing Tips

The Structure of an Academic Paper - Proofeds Writing Tips The Structure of an Academic Paper Most academic papers have a five-part structure. This can vary depending on what you are writing (a full-length dissertation or thesis will include dedicated literature review, methodology and results chapters, for example). Nevertheless, a shorter essay will always require the following parts: Title Introduction Main body Conclusion References or bibliography These parts can be characterized as follows: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Title The title of your paper should clearly indicate the subject matter and the argument you are going to put forward. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Introduction The introduction should outline the topic of the essay, the rationale for your research (i.e., why the topic is worth studying and your motivations for doing so) and the general structure of your argument. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Main Body This is the core of your paper. In the main body, set out each point of your argument in turn and discuss how they contribute to your overall point. Each point should be supported by evidence, such as examples, quotations or data. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Conclusion The conclusion should be a concise review of the main points explored and your final thoughts on the matter. No new material should be introduced at this stage, but nor should you simply summarize what you have written so far. Instead, focus on how each part of your argument contributes to your final position. Try to write something that leaves an impression on the reader. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚   References At the end of your document, make sure to include a list of the sources you used to write your paper. If youre not sure, remember to check with your institution about which referencing style to use. Commonly used referencing styles include Harvard, MLA, and APA. Proofed has helped hundreds of students with their essays; they could help you too! Give us a go today!

Teaching Kids with Learning Difficulties in the Regular Classroom Essay

Teaching Kids with Learning Difficulties in the Regular Classroom - Essay Example It has been known that these learning difficulties in some children are due to neurological deficiencies in students. Some attribute the problem to possible hereditary or genetic factors. However, recent studies show that learning disabilities can also be caused by ineffective and inefficient learning strategies used by these students when dealing with regular classroom tasks. This, in turn, makes them more frustrated and prone to errors. But these students with learning difficulties can be taught different efficient and effective learning techniques for them to gain more parity with other normal students (Westwood, 2003, p. 10). Many parents or guardians of these children with learning disability believe that their children will be better off in a school or institution that specifically caters to these so-called special students. That is possible because the faculty and staff of these special schools are trained for special education and know how to handle these types of children. Also, the curriculums in these schools are particularly designed for children with special needs. However, the lack of social interaction with normal kids in these schools may make it a little difficult for them to cope with the challenges of the "real world" as they grow, though there are some who became successful in their own right. Including learning disabled children in a regular classroom setting is a common practice now. Children with learning difficulties are allowed to interact and mingle with normal kids so as not to make them feel different or outcast because of their disability. This inclusion movement, though, makes it difficult for teachers who are used to just teaching normal kids to handle these students with special needs. As Schultz (2003) stated, "many - despite their excellent track records - find themselves ill-prepared or inadequately supported to meet the special needs of students who require specialized instruction." However, with continuous learning of different teaching approaches and seeking advice from professionals and experts in special education, a so-called "hybrid teacher" (Schultz, 2003) can be achieved. This is a kind of instructor who knows how to deal with both normal and learning disabled students in one classroom, and be successful in it. There are different kinds of approaches to teaching children with learning difficulties. It can be student-centered, process-centered or direct approach. These styles can be combined to achieve best results. But after some analysis were made in the outcomes of these approaches, the following features, when combined, are identified to create the most effective teaching approach for children with learning difficulties: carefully controlling and sequencing the curriculum content to be studied; providing abundant opportunities for practice and application of newly acquired knowledge and skills; ensuring high levels of participation and responding by the children []; using interactive group teaching; modeling by the teacher of effective ways of completing school tasks; teaching children how best to attempt new learning tasks []; making appropriate use of technology []; providing supplementary assistance (e.g. homework; parental tutoring, etc.) []. Abundant guided practice; the

The Challenge of Seeking a Career with an International Component Assignment

The Challenge of Seeking a Career with an International Component - Assignment Example This, therefore, creates challenges in managing the two and people seeking a career with an international component but must also be managed as their cultural background are obliged to find a way of balancing the two. Learning teamwork is the most fundamental way to work in such a context. Teamwork enables people with different backgrounds, skills, and expertise to come together and work collaboratively to achieve the set ends. With this in mind, one should learn to work with others by creating an attitude that makes them easy to relate and work with. It is critical to understand that people will have a different opinion and in a team, conflict is meant to arise on certain issues where people do not agree on something and the best thing to do is to learn to compromise on issues that may cause disagreements. Learning to live with people despite differences that may arise enables one to be in a demanding environment like the global workplace as it eliminates chances of disputes, which may hamper collaboration. In the global workplace, companies are now providing an environment of allowing people to be their own individuals despite being required to maintain the international context. This means that the companies will provide an environment that allows for collaboration and teamwork where people will learn from each other and understand one another (Martin 28). The companies also engage employees in constant training and one should ensure that they are adequately trained to conquer all the challenges that they may encounter while on the job. Training will enable one to be aware of how they will deal with people from different backgrounds and gives them a common way to ensure that they follow the guidelines of international labour laws. In order to manage a career with international component but must be managed as one's cultural background, it is necessary to ensure that one is well versed in the company’s values.     

Oxfam Marketing Analysis

Oxfam Marketing Analysis The charitable organisation chosen in this assignment is Oxfam international organisation. Oxfam standing for Oxford Committee for Famine Relief was founded in Britain in 1942 by a group who ran campaigns for food supplies to send for starving women and children in .. (Oxfam, 2012) In 1955, the Oxfam international charitable organisation was formed by a group of 17 independent non- government organisations in 94 countries with the aim to reduce the poverty and injustice. This assignment will discuss various activities of what Oxfam does and how this organisation raise money including fundraising campaign, the awareness programs, organizing inspirational events, etc. running shops which Oxfam has been doing to get money and implement 2 important objectives of the organisations including fighting poverty and fighting for right. Also, this assignment will explain various market and environmental factors which affect the organisation present and future direction. These factors include micro environment and macro environment. In an organization, marketing department is often considered as one of primely important departments to contribute to an organisations success. So, the roles and duties of marketing staffs cannot be denied to success of the department and the organization. This assignment will also discuss about the role play by the marketing staffs of The Oxfam international charitable organization. ANALYSIS The organisations activities Oxfams objectives is fighting poverty and for human rights, in more specific term, injustice in all over the world. The organization has worked world-wide to enable people to act for their rights and manage for their own lives. They believe that everyone has the right to access the essentials of life such as food, clean water, shelter, healthcare, sanitation, education, and livelihood to support themselves, their families and the society. Also, everyone has the right to live free from injustice such as gender injustice, oppression, human violence. So, how does Oxfam accomplish its aims ? The organization has been run many activities including running fundraising campaign, entertainment event, to get money from the donors as well as run many shops selling donated items from donors or products from companies. They will use all the money to support poor and needy people and victims of injustice, so that, these people can eliminate their difficulties and have better life. Firstly, Oxfam believes that poverty is not inevitable , however, it is a real challenge to overcome (Oxfam). To tackle this challenge, Oxfam has been focusing on 2 important areas which are economic justice and Essential services. With economic justice, Oxfam Charitable organization aim is that more men and women will realize their right to secure and durable livelihoods (OXFAM INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN 2007-2012). To achieve this aim, Oxfam charitable organization works together with many allies and partners in all over the world to accomplish 3 things which are making agriculture work, achieving fairer trade rules, and decreasing the impacts of climate change. They make more agriculture work for poor farmers and labors living in susceptible circumstances to reduce the economic differences among people. They also work to make sure farmers in poor countries have fair trade in world trade. By this activity, farmers in poor countries can access to the big fair trade zone such as EU agricultural markets. For example, Oxfam urges EU to allow Arab countries to fully access to EU agricultural markets while keeping a certain level of protection to their rural development needs (Euro-Med: Seeds of a raw deal?). Oxfam, in addition, supports vulnerable people, especially in agriculture, to adapt climate change. With essential services, the target of Oxfam is that people in poor condition, especially women and girls realize their rights to accessible and affordable essentials of life such as food , clean water, shelter, healthcare, sanitation, edu cation. This activity of Oxfam is focusing on demanding national governments to perform their responsibilities as well as their commitments in delivery of these essentials, supporting civil society organizations to push these governments to take their responsibilities in supplying these essentials, and making sure that rich countries and international associations will donate more funds as well as commit their promise on aid and debt reduction. Secondly, besides fighting poverty, Oxfam is also fighting injustice, especially gender injustice. Oxfam believes that Poverty often happen when peoples basic rights are violated. So that, fighting injustice is one of many ways to fight poverty (Oxfam, 2012). In more specific area, Oxfam fight gender injustice. The goal of Oxfam in this activity is to help more women attain power in their lives, live their lives without violence, and have the right to make decisions. This activity aims to change women attitudes, thinking and beliefs about relation of men and women in order to reduce the rate of violence to women as well as eliminate the gender differences in the work place . This activity supports women to engage more activities, access to leadership at all levels and have the rights to make decisions, so that, they can gain their power over and manage their own lives. Oxfam is known as one of the top charitable organizations in UK as well as around the world. Like other charitable organizations, Oxfam have to do fundraising to get money for activities that they are doing for people and it has to comply to UK legal principles and international laws and regulations for charitable organizations as well. There are many activities which Oxfam have been conducting to raise funds for the organization. There are 2 types of activities that the organization, specifically members of the organization, perform to raise money, and they are direct and indirect activities. First of all, indirect activities of a charitable organization would include activities such as †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Influences of Market and Environment Factors to the Organization. In the 21st century, Profit organizations and Non-for-profit or charitable organizations have to face many challenges. The rapid changes of the economy environment in national and international sphere require these organizations re-formulate and implement new strategies, objectives to meet new challenges. Together with formulate the strategies, objective, the organizations themselves need to make changes to enjoy the competitive advantage from other competitors. As a charitable organization, Oxfam has to face with some changes and challenges that they never faced in the past which are climate change and its consequences, famines and crises of the prices, global financial crises, limitation of energy, proliferation of weapons, urbanization, shortages of natural resources, etc (Oxfam, 2012) . http://www.oxfam.org/en/about/what/purpose-and-beliefs To adapt these changes, Oxfam has to figure out what market and environment factors and forces may influence on their strategies, objective and future direction. There forces can be classified into 2 types which are micro environment and macro environment (Jobber, 2001). The micro environment consisting of factors such as suppliers, customers, distributions and competitors may directly influence the organisations ability to manage to supply their products and services to their selected markets. The macro environment includes various broader forces which not only affect the organization itself but also all factors in the micro environment. These factors in macro environment consist 6 key groups under demographic environment, economic environment, technological, political-legal, and social-cultural environment ( Kotler, †¦). While the micro environment factors can be managed and controlled by the organisation, the macro environment factors are uncontrollable. (Kotler, ). There are 2 types of approaches which are undertaken by Oxfam to analysis the micro or internal environment and macro or external environment market environment. They are PEST analysis and SWOT analysis. PEST ANALYSIS ; SWOT ANALYSIS To analyse the macro environment, it is helpful to indentify all the factors which may affect the organisations demand level, supply level, and cost (Kotter and Schlesinger, 1991). kotler (1998) claims that PEST analysis is a tool which is very helpful for an organization to understand their position in the market, the stage of their business like growth or decline. Together with SWOT analysis, an organization can identify their strengths, weakness, potential opportunities or threads. So that, the organization can develop plan, strategy and direction for operation properly. The marketing of the charitable organization is quite different from marketing of any other profit organizations. While the profit organization can earn the profits by their business by hiring and paying their staffs to achieve the target, the charitable organization keeps their jobs going by getting the donations from donors and supports from volunteers. The Oxfam charitable organization run their all activities not for profit maximization, but more on collecting the money which they get and helps people who are in poverty and need help such as poor farmers, children, women, illiterate, etc. Like other profit and not-for-profit organization, Oxfam charitable organization is affected by market and environment forces. Firstly, economic factor may be the first factor which affects the Oxfams income in particular period obviously because the salary and income of common donors may be affected by the economic conditions such as inflation, high rate of unemployment. The changes of economic condition also affect the selling of products of many of Oxfams shops (Oxfam, 2004?) . Secondly, Oxfam charitable organization is affected by the legal-political environment which varies from country to country. As a international organization, Oxfam affiliates are all over the world. All their activities have to comply with each countrys laws, regulations, legal framework to avoid the illegal form in collecting donations which could affect their image in the future. For example, in UK, all the activities and operations of charitable organizations have to follow the regulations of   the Charities Act, 2006 () which requires the organization keep the annual records, prepare annual account and publish to public on request. So, the Oxfam organization in UK has to follow this regulation strictly in keeping all record about the income, expenditure from fundraising campaign as well as shop selling activities. PHILOSOPHIES Known as one of significant charitable firms in the world, Oxfams marketing concept can be considered as Societal marketing concept. The firm with societial marketing concept manages their marketing strategy in the way that emphasizes on determining and satisfying the needs, wants and interests of target market more efficiently and effectively than competitor. of poor people and people living in poverty and SEGMENTATION; TARGETING; POSITIONING When an organization knows about their target audience, they know everything and it is much easier for them to able to communicate with their target audience. There are many factors that an organization should know about target audience, which can be age, gender, income, types of products they use, programs they watch, etc. The target market of Oxfam charitable organization is the people in poor condition and needs assistances from all areas, regions, religions, etc in all over the world. The target market of the organization also emphasizes on people who are living in condition of injustice, specially women and girls. http://www.oxfamtrailwalker.org.nz/about/oxfam http://www.oxfam.org/en/about/what/purpose-and-beliefs http://www.oxfam.org/en/about/why http://www.oxfam.org/en/about/accountability/strategic-plan

Explication de Texte of Main Street by Sinclair Lewis

I. SUBJECT Carol Milford is a student of Blodgett College, and the protagonist of Main Street by Sinclair Lewis. Her ambition is to settle down in a prairie village and transform it into a place of beauty. She works as a librarian at St. Paul after her graduation. She marries the doctor Kennicott, whom she met at a friend’s house. Life in Gopher Prairie offers no challenges. Kennicott takes her on a long tour to California and other places. Carol returns to Gopher Prairie and tries to be enthusiastic about the town but feels tired of the hypocrisy and decides to leave. Kennicott feels distressed and she assures him that she would come back if she is able to find out what she needs. She works in Washington for two years. Kennicott visits her in Washington to woo her for the second time. Carol mellows and admits her desire to return to Gopher Prairie. Kennicott asks her to return only when she is prepared. She talks to the leader of the suffrage movement who tells her that she cannot achieve anything without total dedication. She convinces Carol that she can play at least a small role in changing life by persistently asking questions whenever she finds anything that hinders social change. Her life in Washington helps her to acquire a mature outlook towards life and is at last able to accept Gopher Prairie and its people as they are, but she does not give up her fight to make Gopher Prairie a better place. She gives birth to a daughter and feels optimistic that her daughter will carry on the fight that she had started and witness a united world. II. THEME The main theme of the story is rebellion and reformation. The rebellion is against materialism, lack of equality between the rich and the poor, the ugliness of the town, its narrow-mindedness and its prejudices. Carol wants to reform the town by teaching the people to appreciate poetry and to surround themselves with beauty and by teaching them to play. She tries to put up a play, read poetry to Kennicott and campaign for a new city hall, school and a better rest room and also by organizing parties and games. Though she cannot bring about any radical changes, her triumph lies in utting up a fight and keeping her faith. Main Street brings to light the discontent of the protagonist because of her inability to bring about a change in the attitudes of the people of Gopher Prairie. She appreciates beauty of simplicity. She believes that life should uphold the virtues of equality and freedom. She disapproves of exploitation. Therefore she opposes the industrialization which wipes out the b eauty of the land and the spirit of adventure of the pioneers of America. She also rebels against the exploitation of the farmers and the laborers. She incurs the wrath of the matrons of Gopher Prairie by paying six dollars a week to her maid and also by justifying the wages by pointing out that the job they did is very tedious. She insists that the rest room for the farmer’s wives should have better facilities, because it brought the farmer’s business to the merchants of the town. The reforms she proposes are very simple. She wants beautiful buildings. She wants to cultivate the taste of the people. She wants to teach the farmer’s wives the proper way to care for their babies and to make good stew. She suggests setting up an employment bureau so that they will not depend on charity. The women of Gopher Prairie snigger at Carol’s suggestions. They oppose the idea of empowering the poor women to be self-sufficient because that will deny them the chance to be charitable. When Carol suggests that they should mend the clothes before handing them out as charity, the women pounce once again on Carol and overrule the suggestion as unnecessary because it would encourage those women to be lazy. Carol feels frustrated by this mindlessness. Hence she leaves Gopher Prairie so that she can find out what she can achieve in life. In Washington, she gains the objectivity necessary for any reformer. She gains courage and learns how to direct her energy to effect changes, and returns to Gopher Prairie reconciled. The minor theme of the novel is that marriage is not to be taken lightly. Carol does not accept the institution of marriage blindly. Her expectations and demands as a wife are juxtaposed with the other wives in Gopher Prairie. Her rebellion seeps into her personal life as well and makes it so much the better for it. III. DICTION Sinclair Lewis has a vivid style. His description of nature provides the appropriate background for the mood of the characters. When Carol goes out for a walk with Erik they pass a grove of â€Å"scrub poplars†¦ looming now like a menacing wall† (392). When she is with Kennicott beside the lake she watches â€Å"long grass†¦ mossy bogs and red winged black birds† (57). When she is brooding she sees gray fields closing in on her. He uses verbs very effectively. Carol â€Å"perceives† when she observes something seriously. When she is upset with Kennicott for forgetting to give her money, she â€Å"commands† him to come upstairs because she does not wish to discuss the matter in the presence of company and Kennicott â€Å"clumps† after her. His use of satire is very effective and adds color to his narration. Carol watches a professional play, which to her is boringly ordinary in all aspects and finds the audience lapping it up. She comments sarcastically that â€Å"the only trouble with The Girl from Kankakee is that it is too subtle for Gopher Prairie† (225). The description of the idiosyncrasies of the occupants of Gopher Prairie is full of humor. When Raymie praises about the trust of Kennicott’s patients in the doctor comments wryly, â€Å"It’s me that got to do all the trusting†, and in a dramatic aside, whispers to Carol â€Å"gentleman hen† (59). When Kennicott is excited about the motor trip he expects Carol â€Å"to be effusive about academic questions as ‘now I wonder if we could stop at Baraboo†¦ ’† (196). Kennicott’s faith in cars is a â€Å"high-church cult with electric sparks for candles, and Piston rings become the alter-vessels† and â€Å"liturgy† composed of â€Å"intoned and metrical road comments† (196). The plot moves through a combination of dialogue and narrative. With minor pauses in some seemingly meaningless conversation, the diction shows the inner workings in Carol’s mind and throughout the other characters of Gopher Prairie, such as Vida who was a devout Christian. The narrative half of the plot gives insight characterization. For instance, she says this to no one, but Vida had considered her moment with â€Å"Professor’ George Edwin Mott† somehow naughty, and thought that she was â€Å"superior†¦ to have kept her virginity† (251). The diction upholds the subject and theme through the usage of words such as â€Å"reformer†, â€Å"suffragist†, and other choice words involving civil rights. It relates to Carol’s constant want to change the town of Gopher Prairie, and the other reformations happening in Washington, D. C. and the opposition she faces in her town, and in her own home. In times of despair, she finds her surroundings closing in around her: â€Å"She saw the furniture as a circle of elderly judges condemning her to death by smothering† (31). IV. TONE The atmosphere of hostility is produced by the conflict between Carol’s desire to change the town and the town’s resistance to Carol’s ideas. She is bewildered and hurt by the rebukes and rebuttals. Carol develops the right attitudes necessary for a reformer in the last three chapters of the novel. This helps her to face life with more sympathy, tolerance and hope. V. SYMBOLISM Carol’s interests in trains, books, and nature all symbolize her desire to escape the narrow confines Gopher Prairie. In Chapter 19, she daydreams about taking a train to escape the town. In Chapter 22, she escapes the town mentally through reading a number of books. Beginning in Chapter 5, she finds natural beauty in the countryside that she does not find in town. Indeed, throughout the novel, Carol often takes walks and spends time in the countryside in order to escape Gopher Prairie. In Chapter 2 and Chapter 38, Kennicott shows his wife pictures of Gopher Prairie as he attempts to court her and convince her return to the town. In Chapter 2, Carol sees only â€Å"streaky† pictures of â€Å"trees, shrubbery, a porch indistinct in leafy shadows, [and] lakes† (18). The fact that she sees the pictures in Chapter 2 as â€Å"streaky† and â€Å"indistinct† symbolizes her detachment from the community. However, in Chapter 38, she sees her own house and familiar faces in the photographs, symbolizing her connection to the town. As Lewis indicates in his preface, Gopher Prairie represents a microcosm of America in the early twentieth century. Lewis creates many characters as exaggerations, or typical, rather than individuals, to suggest that the people and institutions found in Gopher Prairie can be found anywhere. By criticizing Gopher Prairie, Lewis therefore attacks American society as a whole. Carol and Vida seem to be foils in that Carol is a reformer, whereas Vida is the representation of a society reluctant to let go of their ways. Though in a passage Vida thinks that she is, â€Å"and always will be, a reformer, a liberal† (253), she puts lie to this statement at the beginning of the chapter: she displays as much open-mindedness as a nun when Lewis writes that â€Å"[s]he hated even the sound of the word ‘sex’†¦ and prayed to Jesus†¦addressing him as her eternal lover† (251). Carol, on the other hand, indeed does try to bring reform to the town. She tries to bring beauty and culture, but is met by the bulwark of Gopher Prairie. Yet still she pushes on, introducing a professional play, music and poetry. Despite all her attempts, she still fails. Though some battles cannot be won, she wants to give her fighting spirit to her daughter. VI. SPEAKER The speaker of Main Street is in third person, who is omniscient of the happenings and minds of the citizens of Gopher Prairie. VII. STRUCTURE The novel is divided into six parts, plot-wise. The first part introduces Carol, the heroine of the novel. The second part deals with her marriage and elaborates on her fears of life as the wife of Dr. Kennicott in the small prairie town. The third part describes her house warming party in which Carol makes a statement about her taste and attitude followed by the details of the trials and tribulations of Carol as a reformer of the smug town. The fourth part is the thirty-sixth chapter, which may be called the climax of the story because Carol walks out of her marriage and Gopher Prairie. The following two chapters form the fifth part which describes Carol’s work in Washington, her reconciliation to life in Gopher Prairie and it also reunites Carol and Kennicott. The physical construction of the novel consists of a yellow and black cover, with a small portrait of the author in the approximate middle. It is four hundred and fifty-one pages, divided into thirty-nine chapters, which are then sub-divided; both are numbered by Roman numerals. Preceding the story is a miniature biography of the author (viii) and a small preface that explains Gopher Prairie is a small pocket of America, but America nonetheless, whose citizens are set in their ways. VIII. IMAGERY This is an example of personification: â€Å"the land humming† (139). This describes the beauty of the land around Gopher Prairie and inspires Carol, since she wants to make the town just as beautiful through her reforms. This is an example of a simile: â€Å"Kennicott was as fixed in routine as an isolated old man† (291). With the use of â€Å"as†, Kennicott is compared an old man being set in his ways. An example of antithesis would be that when Kennicott, before his marriage to Carol, had put his arm around Vida â€Å"carelessly†. While she strained away, she longed to move nearer to him† (251). In this example of personification, â€Å"the deep-bosomed bed stiffened in disgust† (32) at having such an extravagant shirt laid on it. In the same paragraph, the said â€Å"chemise and lace was a hussy† (32) and seemed overly lavish in the simple house in which Carol lived. In this conceit, Lewis writes that â€Å"[a] villag e is†¦a force seeking to dominate the earth, drain the hills and seas of color† (267). He is saying that such a village drains the world of its natural beauty, to be replaced by man-made materialistic things, with a standard style. Anything else would seem out of place. Carol calls the people who live in the Northern Middlewest â€Å"pioneers, these sweaty wayfarers† (24). They have just begun to build a society in that area, and she thinks that such an area has much hope. When Dr. Kennicott takes Carol hunting, she wonders why he hasn’t fired when a â€Å"crash† sounded and â€Å"two birds turned somersaults in the air, plumped down† (55). Such is an example of onomatopoeia.

The Crisis Of The Fukushima Nuclear Plant After An Earthquake

The current energy sources we consume in the US are in need of a change. Dependence on the fossil fuels of oil and coal are hazardous for two important reasons: their undesirable impact on the environment and it has created the economic boom in the US. There is an agreement between the public and experts that nuclear fission is not the answer. The catastrophic meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant after an earthquake in Japan provides the proof. The introduction of horizontal drilling by the gas industry combined with successful development techniques of hydraulic fracturing has showcased as a solution to solve these problems altogether. We now gain access to the 100 years worth of energy in the form of natural gas underneath the†¦show more content†¦We lose more than we will gain from it. Hydraulic fracturing pollutes our water. It contaminates the air by the use of fossil fuel (transportation), methods that allow toxic gasses into the air, and methane emissions. Furthe r, hydraulic fracturing has been connected to seismic hiked activity. It raises a critical question of â€Å"what sacrifice will we make to the environment in order consume this cheap energy?† Hydraulic fracking has received the spotlight in recent years for several reasons. First, the burning of natural gas is the cleanest of fossil fuel. It contains 50% less than coal, and 25% less carbon than oil (McGlynn 1053). Also, burning natural gas is less toxic because there are no heavy metals in its composition (Marsa). These features help the gas industry to captivate an audience. The properties of the gas itself have never, and still are not, viewed as the issue. It is the process and method that extraction of shale-bound natural gas deposits that has led to an uproar of controversy. What s the problem? Is fracking hazardous to our health? Let’s us analyze the economic rewards of fracking, before answering these questions. How much can the US benefit from the increase in extraction and production of natural gas? It has estimated that it can boost GDP up to 3.3 percent, an equivalent of $126.5 billion dollars in a form of new manufacturing jobs by 2025. More significantly, as McGlynn notes direct and, indirect