(Ethics and Communication) reflect on the ethics followed by Jim Article

(Ethics and Communication) reflect on the ethics followed by Jim Lehrer - Article Example Talent alone would be of no use until and unless provided with a suitable chance to get exhibited and acknowledged. Jim Lehrer being a very good professional and a person of many talents when given a chance on a local channel stood out like a bright shiny star on the sky among others. He enjoyed the status of an undisputed king in the media as a chief anchor of his remarkably known and well acclaimed program named â€Å"The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer† for about four decades. At such a level the commendable sense of professionalism and personal goodness exhibited by Jim was simply exemplary. In gratitude to the favors bestowed to him by his organization and his colleagues he returned all the fame and success associated to him by branding the program with the name of the organization. Though, unnoticeably in the beginning, he changed the name of the ever famous program by deleting his name’s subscript from it and replacing it with the name of the organization. The change of the name to â€Å"The PBS NewsHour† was not only a mere transformation but a deliberate act to serve the cause of professional journalism. He also changed the format of the program by introducing multiple anchors to encourage his colleagues and juniors. Without any peer or higher management pressures and obligations, the ethical demonstration by Jim Lehrer was the result of his ultimate fairness and professionalism.

Developing Self-Assessment Skills in Nursing

Developing Self-Assessment Skills in Nursing Self-assessment is the way in which individuals reflect on past experiences and events in order to facilitate learning, and to develop and maintain skills and knowledge, in order to evaluate whether individual competencies are compliant with relevant codes of conduct by profession. Models within the literature on the process of self-assessment also use the term ‘reflection’ to describe such activity, whereby self-assessment / reflection method is seen to involve ‘returning to an experience, describing it and attending to thoughts and feelings.’ (Platzer, Blake Snelling, 1997;193) For nursing and other healthcare professionals (HCPs) in particular, self-assessment is a medium in which theory can be assessed during practice, and to tap into the personal knowledge resource of HCP’s ‘embedded in the practices and know how of expert clinicians. (Brenner, 1984;4) The cognitive processes involved within self-assessment activity are described within the literature as complex, involving high order cognitive capacities; making influences, generalizations; memory, analogies; emotional evaluation and problem solving (Moore, 1998). Analysing ones performance is thus described in terms of a professional development tool, whereby gaps in knowledge as well as areas of expertise may be identified, and form the focus of further training, and/or activities at work in line with Department of Health initiatives for continuing professional development. Self-assessment within clinical practice for nurses thus needs to be taught and coached, and may occur in a number of ways. Models of reflection and self-assessment documented describe the need for use of written records of practice within self-assessment, such as through reflective diaries (Platzer, Blake Snelling, 1997) which can be used as the basis for discussion during group-working projects and in one-to-one coaching sessions between mentors and student nurses for example. The use of reflection through self-assessment has been suggested as particularly relevant to nurses due to the nature of their work – the need to respond to individual requirements and needs of patients, and to avoid rigid routines of caring acts that can lead to performing duties on ‘autopilot’ (Cox, 1994) Self-assessment is thus suggested to prevent complacency or caring through pattern / ritual from occurring, by reflecting on ones practices to allow nurses to provide individualized patient care. Self-assessment practices may be taken by nurses during a number of reflection opportunties; critical incident techniques (Clamp, 1980; Flannagan, 1954) reviews of case studies and personal experiences or practice reviews (Wilshaw Bohannan, 2003) The reflection process thus enables learning for nurses through initiating discussion and thought in regards to comparing actions taken against suggested best practice. Self-assessment is becoming increasingly incorporated learning programmes for nurses, as well as receiving focus throughout careers in order to enable continuing professional development. Self-assessment of ones own competencies are thus predominantly portrayed in a positive light and emphasis given to associated advantages. One of the major benefits of incorporating self-assessment into both education and professional development, is the way in which theory and learning can be translated into more applied methods, and by increasing the relevance of taught theory, help students and new nurses to apply what they have learnt in the classroom into their patient care through evaluating learning in the context of their own experiences. Reflection and self-assessment throughout a career can also allow nurses to develop this initial knowledge base by incorporating future experiences to widen personal knowledge resource to continue to grow professionally. Benefits of the use of self-assessments can also be seen in the way in which they can allow more accurate evaluation of the training programmes used to educate nurses. Research indicates that the commonly used questionnaire technique to investigate students perceptions and evaluations of training can be influenced by a range of external factors that often make such ratings highly unreliable; like / dislike of the tutor, and the aesthetics of the learning environment are two such factors (Hicks Henessey, 2001), and are thus likely to contribute little to analyzing the true efficacy of the training undergone. Considerations should however be taken when using self-assessment for a number of reasons. Firstly the depth of evaluation and use of reflections will depend on the level of importance that an individual will place on their own knowledge and assessment abilities. It has been reported that many HCPs place little value on their own personal knowledge favoring only research based knowledge – thus underutilizing their own resource (Platzer, Blake Snelling, 1997) and so may subsequently place little value or effort into the process of self-assessment meaning learning outcome will be limited. The reliability of the cognitions underlying self-assessment techniques can also put into question the usefulness of the results for learning – memory for recounting events can be affected by anxiety (Newell, 1992), whilst others may feel under scrutiny and look to justify or rationalise actions (Wilshaw Bohannan, 2003) rather than reflect and learn from outcomes. This highlights the w ay in which self-assessment is only truly useable in environments that are not operating within a blame culture where personal evaluation would otherwise be inhibited. Lastly it is also reported that the coaching experience and ability of mentors to teach self-assessment techniques exerts a strong influence on the outcome in ability to complete self-assessment tasks for their students, and therefore the ability of coaches will have a positive or negative impact for students (Arvidsson,2005) The Nursing and Midwifery Council(NMC) openly supports the use of a self-assessment system as a means for nurses to identify ‘shortfalls’ in their skills, by rating their own performance. Self-assessment should be thus used to identify gaps in nurse’s abilities and so highlight key training needs, acting in what the NMC call an ‘early warning system’ capacity against poor standards (Duffin, 2004). Although not compulsory, self-assessment is seen as a way for nurses to contemplate critical areas within their clinical environment (information for clients on treatment, nurse/client relationships professional accountability: Duffin, 2004) that staff shortages and time pressures may otherwise push to the sideline, with the assessment of these factors proposed to help nurses to work within the NMC Code of Professional Conduct, and protect staff against misconduct charges, by providing a practical route of translating codes of contact guidelines into action s and evaluating the effectiveness of these actions. The use of self-assessment procedures with nurses is already covered in some detail within learning and training courses for those new to the profession of nursing. In early training, mentors are used to facilitate the start of a journey of growth from knowledge (Price, 2005), through the ability to reflect on ones own actions, and feelings towards those experiences individually or in group work during nursing education (Platzer, Blake Snelling 1997) Self-assessment as a tool for learning is also actively encouraged within the continuing professional development initiatives set by the Department of Health which now stipulates the need for post-basic education for all HCP’s, and from the NMC’s own code of conduct which places great importance on the identification of skill-shortfalls through self-assessment alongside other identification means, in order to ensure patients are receiving the best care possible, from skilled and well trained nursing professionals. REFERENCES Arvidsson, B (2005) ‘Factors influencing nurse supervisor competence: a critical incident analysis study’ Journal of Nursing Management Vol. 13, 3 Clamp, C (1980) ‘Learning through critical incidents’ Nursing Times 1755-1758 Crawford, M (1998) ‘Development through self-assessment: strategies used during clinical nursing placements’ Journal of Advanced Nursing Vol. 27, 1 Duffin, C (2004) NMC system to give early warning of skills shortfall’ Nursing Standard Vol. 19, 5 p7 Flannagan, (1954) cited in Wilshaw, G Bohannon, N (2003) ‘Reflective practice and team teaching in mental health care.’ Nursing Standard Vol. 17, 50 p33-37 Hek, G ‘Developing self evaluation skills: a pragmatic research-based approach for complex areas of nursing’ Nurse Researcher Vol.11, 2 p73-82 Hicks, C Hennessy, D (2001) ‘An alternative technique for evaluating the effectiveness of continuing professional development courses for healthcare professionals: a pilot study with practice nurses’ Journal of Nursing Management Vol. 9 p39-49 Moore, P (1998) ‘Development of professional practice research training fellowships: occasional papers’ Health Professions Wales Morrison, J (2005) ‘ABC of learning and teaching in medicine’ British Medical Journal 326 (7385) p385-387 Newell (1992) cited in Platzer, H. Blake, D Snelling, J (1997) ‘A review of research into the use of groups and discussion to promote reflective practice in nursing’ Research in compulsory Education Vol. 2, 2 Platzer, H. Blake, D Snelling, J (1997) ‘A review of research into the use of groups and discussion to promote reflective practice in nursing’ Research in compulsory Education Vol. 2, 2 Price, B (2005) ‘Self-assessment and reflection in nurse education’ Nursing Standard Vol. 19, 29 p33-37 Wilshaw, G Bohannon, N (2003) ‘Reflective practice and team teaching in mental health care.’ Nursing Standard Vol. 17, 50 p33-37

A Comparison of The Pardoners Tale and Beowulf :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Importance of The Pardoners Tale and Beowulf Literary history is a history of the major literary traditions, movements, works, and authors of a country, region, etc. (Barber 837). The understanding of literary history allows us insight into the past, a recognition of historical events and tensions written into the works of those who witnessed them. By including societal behaviors, political tensions, and common folklore, historical authors have indirectly provided the reader with a broader and deeper understanding of the literature and the period in which it was written. Besides insight into collective societal culture, literary history has provided future writers with models of poetic device, style and content influencing literary works and building upon past literary ideas. Literary history is a vehicle to understanding the past and plays a major role in its influence on literature up to and including the present day. Knowledge of historical literature gives us insight into the traditions and societal conventions of the time in which the piece was written. One outstanding example comes from Anglo-Saxon times. Beowulf is a literary work which enables a reader to glimpse not only the societal customs but into the savage and seemingly uncontrollable environment of the first century. Literary historian, Raymond Chambers points out that in the fight between Grendel and Beowulf it appears as though Grendel is representative of the degraded form of human life attempting to gain power through violence, in his attempt to overthrow Hrothgar and take control of Heorot he is fatally wounded by Beowulf. Beowulf is a character who exemplifies the collective societal agreement as to the role of a hero and his duty to control a seemingly ungovernable environment (Chambers 46). The Beowulf poet describes Grendel and Beowulf as "Both ..enraged, fury filled, the two who meant to control the hall." (Beowulf 36). The fight for control of the hall could be seen as representative of the struggle between good and evil or perhaps the control of the king over an uncontrollable people. Taking into account Mr. Chambers explanation of Grendel, a reader may also reason that the dragon symbolizes a threat from outside the human realm. One notes that the dragon is not given the humanistic qualities of Grendel, he has no kin and appears to have no mortal thoughts. Due to his lack of humanistic characteristics, the reader may believe that the dragon is less representative of a human threat such as an enemy warrior, etc. A Comparison of The Pardoners Tale and Beowulf :: comparison compare contrast essays The Importance of The Pardoners Tale and Beowulf Literary history is a history of the major literary traditions, movements, works, and authors of a country, region, etc. (Barber 837). The understanding of literary history allows us insight into the past, a recognition of historical events and tensions written into the works of those who witnessed them. By including societal behaviors, political tensions, and common folklore, historical authors have indirectly provided the reader with a broader and deeper understanding of the literature and the period in which it was written. Besides insight into collective societal culture, literary history has provided future writers with models of poetic device, style and content influencing literary works and building upon past literary ideas. Literary history is a vehicle to understanding the past and plays a major role in its influence on literature up to and including the present day. Knowledge of historical literature gives us insight into the traditions and societal conventions of the time in which the piece was written. One outstanding example comes from Anglo-Saxon times. Beowulf is a literary work which enables a reader to glimpse not only the societal customs but into the savage and seemingly uncontrollable environment of the first century. Literary historian, Raymond Chambers points out that in the fight between Grendel and Beowulf it appears as though Grendel is representative of the degraded form of human life attempting to gain power through violence, in his attempt to overthrow Hrothgar and take control of Heorot he is fatally wounded by Beowulf. Beowulf is a character who exemplifies the collective societal agreement as to the role of a hero and his duty to control a seemingly ungovernable environment (Chambers 46). The Beowulf poet describes Grendel and Beowulf as "Both ..enraged, fury filled, the two who meant to control the hall." (Beowulf 36). The fight for control of the hall could be seen as representative of the struggle between good and evil or perhaps the control of the king over an uncontrollable people. Taking into account Mr. Chambers explanation of Grendel, a reader may also reason that the dragon symbolizes a threat from outside the human realm. One notes that the dragon is not given the humanistic qualities of Grendel, he has no kin and appears to have no mortal thoughts. Due to his lack of humanistic characteristics, the reader may believe that the dragon is less representative of a human threat such as an enemy warrior, etc.

Expiration Date on Marriages

According to a study from the Center of Women's Resources, for every two hours a woman is either slapped, beaten and subjected to other forms of abuse. In a day, twelve women submit to cruel acts caused mostly by their loved ones or people they know, making violence the number one crime against women. Statistics shows that there are too many victims of abuse yet no actions have been done. Margie Tajon, president of the 1-Babae Astig Aasenso (1-ABAA) party-list group, suggests that the proposal for 10-year expiration on Marriage would strengthen marriage and not destroy it. Tajon stated in an interview that this would allow couples to reassess the status of their marriage. In one of her points she states that it would benefit incompatible pairs who would like to be separated legally but have to undergo a tiring and lengthy process to annul their marriage. She stated that â€Å"Marriage annulment cases are clogging up our courts and we have to find a means to address the problem†. According to reports there were 8,000 annulment cases reported in 2008 and there are still more being deliberated in courts. A marriage license is a requirement for either a Civil or Church wedding to be held in the Philippines. The Application Form for a marriage license must be secured at the Local Civil Registrar from the city, town or municipality where the bride or the groom resides. The personal appearance of the couple is required in applying for the marriage license. Both parties involved shall file separately a sworn application for each license with the proper local civil registrar and proper supporting documents shall be submitted. According to Philippine law a ten-day waiting period is prescribed from the filing of the Application to the issuance of the marriage license. The license is valid for 120 days from date of issuance and may be used anywhere in the country. A marriage license is just like any other form applied for in the country. Like a passport or driver’s license which expires, why can’t a marriage expire too? According to Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano: â€Å"It’s a reflection of what is happening in our society,† referring to the growing clamor from women for more rights and social freedoms. Senate Minority Leader Aquilino â€Å"Nene† Pimentel, Jr finds the idea as funny. â€Å"It’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in my life. Does it mean marriage is just a trial? † Pimentel said of the proposal. Pimentel added that the issue of a marriage contract with an expiration date will go against the belief of the Filipino people that marriage is a sacred union done in the eyes of God. We are a predominantly Catholic country and the views of the people from the church are important. The Chairman of the CBCP’s National Appellate Matrimonial Tribunal said that the proposal is â€Å"some kind of desperate approach to right a wrong by something wrong. †. He says that â€Å"It is wrong for couples to separate and here comes a proposal for them to precisely separate,†. According to him there are dire consequences for this proposal. The most serious of which is the emotional trauma on the children whose parents are separated. It will also produce more children and result in a population explosion. He added that a man who gets married at age 20 and decides not to renew his marriage with his wife can go on and on until he marries his sixth wife at age 70. The question here is if we would allow such a thing to happen and I say yes. We may say that the family is the basic unit of the society and that it holds our society together but what about the individual? Families may seem happy on the outside but the inner workings are messed up. They may say that children will undergo emotional trauma if their parents separate. Children also undergo emotional trauma if they see or hear their parents fighting and if these situations worsen it will lead to abuse not only to the mothers but to the children as well. Our society has a problem indeed. We are stuck in the ways of the cavemen and our brain closes itself to the more liberated ideas which really benefit us.

The Fall of the House of Usher

Madeline of the House of Usher Role-playing games are a great past time for literature enthusiasts. A player sits down, creates a character with quirks and a personality, usually special abilities, and meets with other people who have done the same. They sit at tables, in couches, on porches all around the world. They sit down to hear and participate in a story, a story told by the storyteller. The storyteller creates a scenario, a background, extra characters (NPCs), and certain rules. Once the story begins, control is a relative term.The storyteller knows the story, but the characters are free to move about and unknowingly change the story as they go. In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher,† the storyteller and characters interact in a very strange way. The storyteller tries to maintain control and the characters try to free themselves. It is a struggle against two aspects, the oppressor and the oppressed, masculine and feminine. Madeli ne Usher, the sole female character in the story, is kept in the background, but holds her own by being the main drive for much of the plot.Roderick Usher, the male descendant of the Usher household, has qualities of the feminine, but introduces a powerfully masculine identity into the house. The line of triumph of the oppressed feminine over the oppressive masculine is blurry and leaves much to be desired. The first key to the house as a story and backdrop is the connection often attributed to Roderick and the house. The idea that the house deteriorates with the last wielder of the Usher name has been argued before. Roderick’s slow descent into madness is marked by cracks in the foundation of the house.This theory holds good merit from textual evidence. The story itself follows that line; Roderick describes the house as having â€Å"an effect which the physique of the gray walls and turrets, and of the dim tarn into which they all looked down, had, at length, brought about upon the morale of his existence† (119). But this is just one influence the characters have over the plot and vice versa. This view of the house and the connection to the family is shaded by a masculine identity. Surely the last male heir of the Usher house must be the cause for the decay, regardless of the feminine Usher remaining.It is easy to label Madeline Usher as a weak character. Not only is her lack of presence in the story noted, but her physical descriptions are that of a weak girl. Roderick explains to the narrator that she suffers from an unknown disease, â€Å"[a] settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although transient affections of a partially cataleptical character†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (119). Madeline suffers from an unknown illness and is kept indoors in case she becomes the victim of her own frailty.The narrator sees her only briefly before her burial later in the story, and soon after her appearance, she is confined to her bed. The char acter of Madeline Usher is subjugated. She is kept in the background. Her family line is given to Roderick, her twin brother, as was the custom at the time. Within the story, she could be representative of other women in the nineteenth century: left in the home with no rights. Madeline can also represent one of the more important aspects of the feminine as a whole, the idea of death and rebirth in her premature burial and subsequent escape from her tomb.Beverly Voloshin makes note of another point of Madeline’s femininity through color association. â€Å"Madeline matches her brother’s pallor, but her special mark is red†¦blood red being the token of both life and death† (14). Not only is she often introduced with the color red, a generally accepted color for the feminine, but her actions in the story speak directly to the idea brought about by that color. Madeline is, essentially, the feminine half of the Usher family. Roderick Usher, Madeline’s twin and the masculine half of the Usher family, is the initial, obvious oppressor.As Leila May explains as historical background in her essay, â€Å"’Sympathies of a Scarcely Intelligible Nature': The Brother-Sister Bond in Poe's ‘Fall of the House of Usher’,† the social and political authority over the household was given to the men (389). As far as the outside world is concerned, Roderick is the head of the household, putting him in a legal and social position over his sister. Diane Hoevler makes some very sound arguments for the idea of Roderick as an oppressor in her essay â€Å"The Hidden God and the Abjected Woman in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’. She points out Poe’s own frustration with women and the idea that Roderick strives for a world, a â€Å"purely masculine universe, a fortress where males engage in discourse without the intrusion of the female in any form –living or dead: ‘Us’ versus ‘her†™: ‘Us/her’† (388). Legally, Roderick is the superior half of the last vestiges of the Usher family. It was Roderick, after all, who invited the male narrator to the house. The narrator explains that the two had been friends before and Roderick had recently sent a letter insisting that he come to the house (Poe 114).It is Roderick’s decision in the story to entomb his deceased sister in the vaults underneath the house before her burial. This burial can be viewed as an attempt by the masculine identity to rid itself of the female identity, Roderick making a final struggle against his sister. However, as Cynthia Jordan argues, â€Å"he is but a character in the story himself, and his actions are at least in part the product of his narrator’s construction† (6). The idea of plot control being in the narrator’s hands puts the narrator in the sole position of masculine oppressor and not just over Madeline Usher.The narrator in â€Å"The Fa ll of the House of Usher† views, or at least tries to explain, everything from a distanced point-of-view. His logical take on what happens at the house paints a picture with traditionally masculine tones. He also is focused on the masculine half of the Usher twins. His focus is so centered on Roderick that he would as soon dismiss Madeline from his story entirely. Jordan notes this striving towards sole masculinity influence in her essay â€Å"Poe’s Re-Vision†¦Ã¢â‚¬ : â€Å"The narrator’s first encounter with Madeline confirms the conflict between the male storyteller and the lady of the house† (7).His first encounter with Madeline is almost half way through the story. He describes her briefly, almost as a wraith, when Roderick mentions her. â€Å"I regarded her with an utter astonishment not unmingled with dread; and yet I found it impossible to account for such feelings† (Poe 119). His reaction to the feminine aspect of the Usher household is obviously negative, describing his emotions of shock and fear in the face of Roderick’s sister. After this brief mention, he leaves her out of the story once again, citing that she succumbed to her bed after his almost encounter and that he would not see her again alive (120).Jordan notes that this absence of Madeline is an attempt on the narrator’s part to keep Madeline out of the story: â€Å"the narrator uses language covertly to relegate Madeline to a passive position in relation to himself† (7). Roderick, in this case is not the masculine oppressor; the narrator is. The irony of the situation, though, is that in trying to suppress Madeline, the female twin and the object that the narrator prescribes to femininity, he lets that feminine essence flourish. By the end of the story, the narrator is forced to face that he cannot create a solely masculine story.As Raymond Benoit, a voice in Explicator’s long series of essays on â€Å"Usher,† point s out, the narrator is forced to face the feminine through the reading of â€Å"Mad Trist† at the end of the story: â€Å"a mad story that parallels what is occurring in the house and reflects and even enables the awakening of the feminine side thought to have been laid to rest in the philosophy and literature of the Enlightenment and by Roderick/narrator† (80). The narrator cannot ignore the strong feminine influence in the house, much as he tries.Perhaps this is because the source of the feminine influence is sitting beside him. Throughout the story, Roderick appears as a romantic and an artist. He reads romance and gothic novels and is emotional to the point of hysteria at times. Beverly Voloshin enters her theory in the series shared with Benoit and others on â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† in Explicator. Her theory follows the lines of Roderick being the feminine half of the Usher twins. â€Å"Roderick is associated with the abstract, atemporal, and ideal† (14). These attributes are generally feminine in nature, gentle and imaginative.In a usually feminine role, Roderick’s actions are often reactions to other characters, showing subordination. His madness is spurred by the supposed death of Madeline, an irrational and emotional reaction to an action of another character. Roderick’s death, often attributed with the ultimate fall of the house itself, is a reaction to the return and death of Madeline. His death is a reaction to the death of a feminine character, which gives power to the feminine over the masculine. Poe is known to have sickly seraph types in his stories, but these seemingly weak female characters speak to his fondness for women.Poe’s life was filled with women who were taken away by illness, making them physically weak: his mother, his cousin and wife. But the women in Poe’s life were often the source of his strength, making them spiritually and often mentally strong. The experien ce of physically weak, spiritually strong women in his life greatly influenced his portrayal of women in his stories and poetry; Anabelle Lee comes to mind. Similarly, Madeline follows the guidelines for Poe’s memory of women. In a strange way, Poe often put these women on pedestals.Madeline’s presence is very rarely in the foreground of Poe’s short story, but the times when she does appear, it is her appearance that changes the mood of the scene. Madeline owns every scene in which she appears. Her actions are catalysts. The character is weak, but Poe puts her in a position of power beyond character; Poe gives Madeline a position of power over the plot. While the ultimate portrayal of Madeline might be a slap in the face against feminists, her role in the story is large enough to create a strong female influence.Poe follows his own guidelines in the character of Madeline Usher. She fits his ideal for true beauty. John H. Timmerman helps lead the way towards view ing Madeline in this light by explaining Poe’s reasoning. He explains Poe’s drive towards creating beauty in his writing, a beauty that he believed could only be achieved through sadness (232). Because of this connection and his past with women, Poe comes to the conclusion that â€Å"the most sad thing, and therefore the most beautiful, is the death of a beautiful woman† (232).Madeline, though pale and sickly, is one of these beautiful women. Her death, then, is a thing of beauty in Poe’s eyes. The concept is not a very enthusiastic one, nor is it useful in citing Poe as an advocate for women, but that he put emphasis on women is a step in the right direction. From his idea that a beautiful woman’s death is indeed the most beautiful occurrence in nature, he spurned the male characters in his stories to help reclaim the feminine within his stories. The male counterparts to these tragic women are the main argument for Cythia Jordan.In her essay †Å"Poe's Re-Vision: The Recovery of the Second Story,† Jordan argues that Roderick Usher and C. Auguste Dupin are male characters who attempt to bring to light the feminine or â€Å"second† story. While the narrator has ultimate control over the plot of â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher,† Jordan points out times when Roderick tries to wrestle that control from him and reassert Madeline as a prominent figure in the story. The final scene of â€Å"Usher† is where Roderick gets that victory, â€Å"Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door! † (130).Jordan explains that this marks a moment in which Roderick takes control of the narrative long enough to call the narrator out on his oppression and to bring Madeline out into the spotlight (11). Roderick proves again that he is not the male oppressor but is instead a supporter if not aspect of the feminine. The question becomes, then, why would Roderick want to bring Madeline to the forefront ? The sole reason being that she is his twin is likely not enough. The idea of them being two aspects of the same being, or two sides of the same face is more concrete.But consider that Roderick is an artist, not only placing him in a feminine role, which would be cause enough to help the feminine thrive, but as an artist he must meet that ultimate goal that Poe put forth for himself: to create beauty. If Poe’s characters follow his own guidelines, then, Roderick’s only way to express that which is most beautiful in the world is to bring his beautiful sister’s death to the forefront of the story. Thus, in Roderick’s moment of control over the plot, in revealing the â€Å"second story† of Madeline, he follows those rules of an artist so avidly produced by his own author.The end result is not just Poe’s ideal of beauty, it also gives voice to the silenced feminine within the story –both Madeline’s and possibly Roderick’s o wn. The connection between Madeline and Roderick as twins is an interesting part of their mixed and almost non-existent gender roles. It has been suggested that their relationship is an incestuous affair, bringing together that mixed-gendered ambiguity into an even more scrambled position. Voloshin and others regard the twin connection, Voloshin looking specifically at the dichotomies apparent within that connection. †¦[T]he Usher twins also represent the duality of culture and nature, or more precisely, that they correspond to many cultural constructions of masculine and feminine, which divide the genders along the axis of culture and nature† (14). The fact that Poe decided to use twins pushes the idea that such dichotomies exist. Roderick, similar to Madeline, is afflicted with an ailment, one that is â€Å"a constitutional and a family evil, and one for which he despaired to find a remedy –a mere nervous affection† (118). This nervous condition is display ed throughout the story in his outbursts and personality shifts.It is suggested that the ailment, being a family curse, is close to if not the same as Madeline’s. Madeline, however, shows strength in that she did not succumb to the illness before the narrator arrives. Madeline is given credit for being the stronger of the two, a masculine trait. The dichotomy does not fit what society would expect from gender roles. The male is the feminine and the female is the masculine. It has been suggested that Roderick and Madeline are the same person, or aspects of the same person. Hoeveler plays with this idea in her essay on the â€Å"Abjected Woman. She discusses the idea that Madeline is in fact the feminine half of Roderick that has escaped to become an alter-ego (391). Not only would physical evidence within the text dispute that idea –the fact that the narrator sees Madeline during a conversation with Roderick –but why, then, would Roderick assume so many feminine traits of his own? And why would Madeline seem to uphold those traits generally accepted as masculine? The rest of the essay is another key: the idea of dualities in religion, the goddess and the god. The duality returns to the twin idea, and the twin concept requires a semblance of balance.If Roderick is the feminine role, Madeline must step in to play the role of the masculine. Traditionally, in feminist readings, the masculine identity can be discovered by its subjugation and subordination of the feminine identity. Madeline is buried in the vault, making her symbolically subordinated, but in the end, it is she who buries Roderick: â€Å"†¦with a low moaning cry, fell heavily upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated† (Poe 131).The first item of note is the fact that Roderick’s name is not mentioned once in his death scene. Roderick is placed in the passive part of the sentence, â€Å"upon the person of her brother,† rather than given an active death. His name is not mentioned, instead he is listed as the brother of Madeline. He is also noted as being a victim, a position often associated with the feminine. Here, Roderick is not only stripped of identity of his own, but is made the passive victim of a violent force against him. The idea of Madeline as a violent or at least controlling force over Roderick is used in the somewhat popular vampire theory.Lyle Kendall discusses this theory and cites examples from the text to help prove it. He suggests that Roderick asks the narrator to come to the house to aid him in the destruction of his oppressor, the vampire, Madeline (451). J. O. Bailey goes into more depth, citing the history and mythology behind the vampire theory. He, however, notes that both of the twins seem to exhibit traits of one who has been attacked by a vampire, but that Madeline was the one whose body is inhabited by a vampiric entity (Bailey 458).Vampires in stories have been male and female –there is no prescription for the sex of these mythological creatures. The idea of the vampire, though, of one who comes and sucks the life out of others fits the mold for a control aspect. The masculine identity is the controlling identity, and if Madeline is indeed a vampire, then she becomes that controlling identity; Madeline becomes the oppressor and Roderick the oppressed. Another supposedly masculine trait is the sense of structure and order.Robinson brings the dichotomy of order/disorder into play in his formalist reading of the short story in his essay â€Å"Order and Sentience in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’. † Robinson writes, â€Å"[t]he progress of the story sees Usher, his house, and his sister Madeline changing from an organized to a disorganized state, until finally all sink together† (69). Robinson also brings to light the notion that Madel ine’s physical senses dim through the story while Usher’s heighten (75). Roderick becomes more sensitive where his sister becomes less so.Their traits become intermingled, masculine and feminine twisting their positions to the opposite sex until finally it all comes back together into a union. The final union between the masculine and the feminine is the destruction of the house, according to Robinson, when the house and the story fall into a state of disorganization. The final scene in â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† seems to be a culmination of all that is feminine within the work. Roderick sits and listens to his favorite romantic story, â€Å"Mad Trist,† which brings the feminine back into the plot.During this reading, Roderick comes into a position to speak against the narrator, for the narrator, when he calls him a â€Å"madman,† and reveals Madeline standing outside the door. When Madeline appears for her final scene, her coup de grace , she is in her burial shroud with blood on her, a symbol of rebirth. The walking symbol of the feminine falls upon Usher, who without a fight, falls to the ground, and the two die. The narrator flees the fall of the house of Usher, and watches as the house behind him is mysteriously destroyed.The story comes together, finally, with a seeming grand finale of femininity. Symbols, romanticism, disorganization, all of those ideals that have been attributed to feminism culminate. But looking back once again on Roderick’s death, there is the passivity. Madeline, in the midst of this fantastic moment of feminine symbolism, takes on the role of a masculine identity, pressing Roderick beneath her and putting him into a passive state. Are the symbols enough for this story to triumph over masculine influence?Or has the narrator put his foot down on the final scene to ensure that some semblance of masculine oppressiveness remained in the story? Regardless of masculine or feminine traits , at the end of the story, as the world of the narrator collapses into romantic idealism, it is the woman, the female half of the Usher family, that finally oppresses the man. Madeline triumphs, but only when put into a masculine gender role. Leo Spitzer, author of â€Å"A Reinterpretation of ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’,† also notes the near necessity for the two to die as one.He first shines light on the importance of Madeline, citing her as a deuteragonist and pointing out the eerie timing of her appearances, and he goes on to say that â€Å"Roderick and Madeline, twins chained to each other by incestuous love, suffering separately but dying together, represent the male and the female principle in that decaying family whose members, by the law of sterility and destruction which rules them, must exterminate each other† (352). They do destroy one another at the end, leaving the narrator to escape.And, as Jordan points out, the narrator gets the last w ord, â€Å"for his final act of ‘sentencing’ is to dispatch Madeline and her too-familiar twin into the ‘silent tarn,’ out of mind and out of language one last time† (12). Despite this triumphant climax for Madeline and Roderick, the narrator clings tightly to his story. The narrator, or storyteller, in â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† fights for control over the characters within the story, both female and feminine. He takes on, ultimately, the role of masculinity.Whether, within the house, Madeline was oppressed or Roderick was matters very little –their aspects were in sync with on another and bound to come together eventually. But their ultimate victory and freedom from the masculine narrator is achieved only in their deaths, and the storyteller condemns the last vestiges of the feminine. In this story at least, the victory of femininity is short-lived and ultimately futile. Works Cited Bailey, J. O. â€Å"What Happens in â₠¬Ëœthe Fall of the House of Usher'? † American Literature: A Journal of Literary History, Criticism, and Bibliography 35. (1964): 445-66. Benoit, Raymond. â€Å"Poe's ‘the Fall of the House of Usher'. † Explicator 58. 2 (2000): 79-81. Hoeveler, Diane Long. â€Å"The Hidden God and the Abjected Woman in the Fall of the House of Usher. † Studies in Short Fiction 29. 3 (1992): 385-95. Jordan, Cynthia S. â€Å"Poe's Re-Vision: The Recovery of the Second Story. † American Literature: A Journal of Literary History, Criticism, and Bibliography 59. 1 (1987): 1-19. Kendall, Lyle H. ,Jr. â€Å"The Vampire Motif in ‘the Fall of the House of Usher'. † College English 24. 6 (1963): 450-3. May, Leila S. ‘Sympathies of a Scarcely Intelligible Nature': The Brother-Sister Bond in Poe's ‘Fall of the House of Usher'. † Studies in Short Fiction 30. 3 (1993): 387-96. Robinson, E. Arthur. â€Å"Order and Sentience in â€Å"the Fall of the House of Usher†. † PMLA 76. 1 (1961): 68-81. . Spitzer, Leo. â€Å"A Reinterpretation of â€Å"the Fall of the House of Usher†. † Comparative Literature 4. 4 (1952): 351-63. . Timmerman, John H. â€Å"House of Mirrors: Edgar Allan Poe's ‘the Fall of the House of Usher'. † Papers on Language and Literature: A Journal for Scholars and Critics of Language and Literature 39. (2003): 227-44. Voloshin, Beverly R. â€Å"Poe's ‘the Fall of the House of Usher'. † Explicator 46. 3 (1988): 13-5. Works Referenced Obuchowski, Peter. â€Å"Unity of Effect in Poe's ‘the Fall of the House of Usher'. † Studies in Short Fiction 12 (1975): 407-12. . Peeples, Scott. â€Å"Poe's ‘Constructiveness' and ‘the Fall of the House of Usher'. † The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. Kevin J. Hayes. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2002. 178-190. Stein, William Bysshe. â€Å"The Twin Motif in ‘the Fall of the Hou se of Usher'. † Modern Language Notes 75. 2 (1960): 109-11. .

Complete Guide Criminal Law Research Paper

Complete Guide Criminal Law Research Paper Primary Principles of the Criminal Law Research Paper Writing a Criminal Law research paper is an obligatory assignment for plenty of students from various disciplines, such as Criminal Justice and Criminology, Paralegal Studies, Law Enforcement Administration, and International Crime Justice. Since criminal law is a set of behavior rules for citizens, you will be allowed to discuss some of them or present cases related to those rules. In general, with the help of this task, you will be able to expand your knowledge about a specific topic and improve your analytical and critical thinking skills. Besides, thanks to this paper, your professor will be able to check your understanding of the material. Since criminal law is one of the most compelling areas of the entire legal practice, you will be able to research a current issue and try to find your own solution to the matter. For this assignment, you may be asked to examine particular cases or even suggest your own solutions to the presented cases. Moreover, the research paper should also be based on the relevant legislation to support your points. As a result, the process of writing the Criminal Law research paper may be complicated and demanding for you since it requires a good understanding of the selected issue and basic knowledge of the entire criminal law. Most Popular Types of Research Papers Two major types of the research paper can be applied to this assignment, namely analytical and argumentative one. The central difference between these two types is the fact that each of them has specific requirements for both – the content and the topic. To receive a high mark, you have to follow those requirements strictly. Therefore, the following description of these two research paper types will help you to choose the most appropriate one. Analytical Research Paper. This type of research paper states a topic which should be explored. Generally, this topic is provided in the form of a question and takes a neutral stance. In this research paper, you need to merely state the research question and provide readers with the answer only at the end of the paper. The central goal of this paper is to suggest a well-supported critical analysis and present actual information without personal opinion. Hence, the main body of the research paper should contain multifaceted information and thorough analysis of critical points. For this type of research paper, you may explore whether the United States jury selection is always conducted fairly or investigate the probable motives behind a particular crime. As you can see, there are a lot of issues that can be analytically examined. Besides, it has to be mentioned that some common analytic designs can help you to create new ideas. Change Over Time; Hypothesis/Proof; Cause/Effect; Problem/Solution; Comparison/Contrast; Question/Answer. Argumentative Research Paper. For an argumentative type of research paper, you need to both – state the topic and provide readers with the position you will argue. You should include this information in your thesis statement which must be located at the end of the introductory paragraph. What is more, in this type of research paper, you should persuade readers to accept a particular side by presenting evidence, various suggestive devices, and sound reasoning. Besides, for this research type, you must choose a highly-debatable and even controversial topic to be able to discuss all possible sides. For instance, you can examine the effectiveness of the Witness Protection Program in different countries. How to Find a Perfect Topic to Talk About in Criminal Law Research Paper Your professor should provide you with the list of acceptable topics or indicate your topic in the paper instructions. However, it may happen that s/he will allow you to select the topic on your own. In this case, you have to take into consideration three aspects to choose the best topic. First of all, you need to consider what fields of criminal law you have better knowledge in since if you select the issue which is connected with unknown criminal law aspect, it will be difficult for you to discuss it properly. Second of all, the future topic should be relevant and not obsolete since you have to easily find a sufficient number of sources to provide readers with fact-based evidence to support your points. Third of all, it is better to choose a topic of your interest as it will encourage you to conduct in-depth research and search for new and interesting information. Furthermore, you have to create your topic carefully since not all of them can be suitable for the research paper in the field of Criminal Law. If you find choosing a topic too difficult, you may ask your professor for help. As a result, if you follow all those three aspects, you will be able to select a perfect topic. The following list of topics may help you to create your own. Juvenile Recidivism Causes of Victimization The Key Principles of Forensic Science The Relationship Between Aggression and Crime Is the Witness Protection Program Effective? Information Sources: the Secrets of Choosing the Right Ones Before writing your first draft of the Criminal Law research paper, you need to search for some information. In general, professors ask to visit various libraries to find reliable sources, but you may also utilize the Internet. However, you have to remember that not all websites are credible. For example, you have to pay special attention to the sites which end in .edu and .gov since different educational institutions and governments maintain them. Moreover, you should consider three types of sources that you can apply, namely – primary, secondary, and tertiary ones. Primary sources serve as a basis for different research papers, such as court records, constitutions, statutes and ordinances, and common law. Secondary sources are used to analyze or describe primary sources. This type of sources includes textbooks, encyclopedias, books and articles which synthesize, review or interpret the original fieldwork. The last type of sources is tertiary one. It locates and organizes primary and secondary sources, and therefore, indexes, abstracts, and databases related to this source type. Moreover, when you find an article or book which coincides with your chosen topic, you may scan its references to collect more sources. Apart from that, if you cannot find any reliable sources on the selected topic, you may pick another one as it is impossible to develop a well-supported research paper without credible sources. Prewriting Strategies and Criminal Law Research Paper Prewriting Tips from Our Experts When you finished the process of collecting sources for your Criminal Law research paper, you have to start writing the first draft of it. In the beginning, you can create an outline for your writing. With the help of it, you will be able to organize the paper and collect all primary arguments. However, if it is too complicated for you, you may complete some other pre-writing strategies, such as Brainstorming, Freewriting, and Clustering. Brainstorming is one of the most effective techniques which can help you to gather as many ideas as possible. The central goal of this activity is to write each idea which comes to your mind. For this technique, you can collect your points in the form of a list. The primary goal of the second pre-writing technique, which is called Freewriting, is to get ideas out of your head. You may think that it is the same as Brainstorming but it is not. For this strategy, you do not need to think and then write. Instead, you have to think and write simultaneously. Therefore, you have to write anything you like but never stop writing. One may state that Freewriting is the perfect activity for those who find it difficult to start writing since this exercise helps to warm up the brain. The last pre-writing technique which will be described is Clustering. This strategy will be effective for you if you have a great imagination since you should imagine the connections between arguments and link them t o the supporting points. Then, you need to put central arguments in circles and draw some lines which will symbolize the supporting ideas. Hence, with the help of this activity, you will be able to see how each idea is related to other ones. If you combine all of the strategies mentioned above, it will be much easier for you to create interesting content and organize the paper properly. Structure of the Criminal Law Research Paper To receive as many points as possible for your Criminal Law research paper you need to organize your paper thoroughly. Moreover, it will help readers to comprehend your arguments properly and not to lose the train of thought. The structure of the Criminal research paper consists of an Introductory paragraph, Main Body paragraphs, Concluding Paragraph, and Reference page. If a professor requires you to write the paper in APA style, you need to create a title page as well. The following paragraphs are going to describe each element of the Criminal Law research paper. Title Page This section of the paper has to be located on the first page. Generally, it contains the title of the paper, the student’s name, and the educational institution. Besides, at the top of the page, you have to create a running head which will include the title of the research paper. Your title should attract readers’ attention and never exceed the number of fifty-one characters or twelve words. Besides, the title should contain neither words which have no purpose nor any abbreviations. Introduction The introductory part of the research paper is of high significance, and therefore, you need to pay particular attention to writing one. First of all, you need to remember that this part consists of some background information, key arguments, and thesis statement. You must create a solid thesis statement to be able to support it with some arguments in the Main Body paragraphs. Besides, the thesis statement has to contain a research question which will be answered at the end of the paper. Furthermore, you are not allowed to insert any quotations or in-text citations. In general, this section should only introduce the topic to the readers, and consequently, it has to be short. Main Body This part of the research paper should contain at least two paragraphs since you have to provide readers with no less than two arguments. As you can see, you have to describe one point per paragraph. In contrast to the introduction and the conclusion, here you should you insert some quotations or in-text citations to support your point. If you use some of them, you must cite them properly to avoid plagiarism. There are many referencing styles, but the most common ones are APA and MLA. Hence, if the selected referencing style is MLA, your citation should look like this â€Å"(Smith 100),† while with APA referencing style, the citation has to look like this â€Å"(Smith, 2018)†. What is more, you can create or insert some charts to present some figures. To make your paper smoother, you need to use linking words, such as â€Å"moreover†, â€Å"although†, â€Å"furthermore†, â€Å"in addition to†, and â€Å"on the contrary†. Besides, you h ave to remember that the chosen linking word has to correspond to the context and not confuse readers. Conclusion The concluding paragraph has to summarize the entire paper and give the answer to the research question. However, in this section, you cannot add any new information and insert any quotations or in-text citations. As a consequence, the conclusion should resemble a brief version of the entire paper. Reference Page The reference page has to be located on the separate page at the end of the paper. You need to write the word â€Å"References† if you write in APA style or â€Å"† if you write in MLA style. One should claim that you have to include all the sources that you applied to your Criminal Law research paper. Each entry should be indented one-half inch. Besides, you need to locate your sources in alphabetical order. References Gibbs, D. (2018). Writing a Research Paper: Types of Research Papers. Library Guides, libguides.piedmont.edu/c.php?g=521348p=3564632. Lahl, A. (2008). A Guide to Prewriting Techniques. Student Learning Center, slc.berkeley.edu/you-start-writing-paper-guide-prewriting-techniques-0. Research Help: Types of Sources. (2018). LibGuides, libguides.merrimack.edu/research_help/Sources. Volokh, E., Kozinski, A. (2007). Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review. 3rd ed., Foundation Press. Wills, T. (2011). Tips for Writing a Research Paper. NMU Student Organizations, www.nmu.edu/writingcenter/tips-writing-research-paper.

gilgamesh and lysistrata essays

gilgamesh and lysistrata essays In reading the two ancient tales, Gilgamesh and Lysistrata, I have begun to question many of the social paradigms surrounding gender roles. While finding many differences, I have drawn several parallels between the ideas of these writings and our modern ideas of what it means to be a man or woman. These stories were very clear in illustrating mens positions of authority and the ideas of kingship, militarism, and heroism. Men were continuously expected to demonstrate the tough guy persona that is perpetuated throughout todays media. Conversely, particularly in Gilgamesh, the positive ideas of brotherhood and male bonding are represented. I have surmised that the role of women in society in both antiquity and modern times is very limited in its importance and that men continue to dominate all of the established power structures. However, in my reading, I have also realized that there seems to be one recurring theme that contradicts my last statement. In both Lysistrata and Gilg amesh, the female characters seemed to represent a certain control over the male characters. Unfortunately, this one display of power is through the use of sex, of course. In this paper, I will examine the aforementioned themes and analyze their meanings relating to the text as well as contemporary examples. The epic poem Gilgamesh is the first heroic epic of world literature. The story tells of the arrogant and ruthless, Gilgamesh, a powerful figure of a man but a poor king. He tyrannizes his people, exhausting men in combat and claiming the right to sleep with any woman he pleases. The gods create Enkidu, a wild creature, to challenge Gilgamesh. After being tamed by the harlot, Shamhat, Enkidu enters the city to confront his now equal. After an initial clashing of two egos, Gilgamesh and Enkidu become friends. On an expedition, they confront the demon Huwawa in the Cedar Forest and the Bull of Heaven requested by Ishta...