Friday, November 15, 2019
Oxford Movement and the Church
Oxford Movement and the Church Article reprinted from Cross Way Issue Autumn 2008 No. 110 (C)opyright Church Society; material may be used for non-profit purposes provided that the source is acknowledged and the text is not altered. THE OXFORD MOVEMENT By David Phillips It is likely that we will see a growing interest in the Oxford Movement in the wake of proposals by Roman Catholics to declare one of its founders a saint. The early part of the 19th century was a period of great social change in Europe and the role of the Church was being weakened and threatened. However, some reform was necessary and parliament took the lead. In 1833 a Bill was passed to abolish two archbishoprics and eight bishoprics in Ireland. Whilst the decision was reasonable not least because of the problems in Ireland it was for some the straw which broke the camels back. There were those who believed this was unwarranted interference by the state in the affairs of the Church and demonstrated the weakness of the Church. John Keble responded with a sermon in the University Church in Oxford entitled national apostacy and he found support from three other Oxford men in particular John Henry Newman, Hurrell Froude and William Palmer. In September 1833 these men began to publish Tracts which were referred to as The Oxford Tracts giving rise to the later name The Oxford Movement. It is said that the chief concern of the Oxford men was the dignity of the Church and they argued in the Tracts that it was sacrilege for non-Church bodies to lay hands on the Church. They also had a strong aversion to the emerging liberalism and a desire for personal holiness. In these things they would have found sympathisers amongst Evangelicals but this was not all that surfaced in the Tracts. At the time High Church referred to those who had a high regard for the Church and its ways including establishment and its Protestantism. Thus High Churchmen were split in their response to the new movement. Some warmed to what was said about the nature and dignity of the Church whilst others saw that it would lead to disestablishment and indeed to some Roman practices at least. The impact of the movement was such that the old distinction of high church was largely lost and the term came to be associated with the Tractarians. The authorities in Oxford also distanced themselves from the Tracts and from any association of the name with the university. Historians will sometimes say that Evangelicals were slow to respond or even ill equipped to do so, but this is clearly not the case. The robustly evangelical newspaper The Record (later to become The Church of England Newspaper) commented on a letter sent by the Oxford men to the Archbishop of Canterbury and then later on the early Tracts in its December issues of 1833. We must confess the surprise was extreme and the sorrow poignant with which we read the tracts of the Apostolical Society at Oxford, extracts from which appeared in our last number. Had we not read them with our own eyes, it would have been difficult to persuade us that such effusions could have escaped, at any time, from the pen of Protestant clergymen The Record attacks the Oxford men on apostolic succession not because Evangelicals rejected the idea but because the Oxford men were touting the Roman view of succession. As a Protestant Church the Church of England, cannot nor would it wish to claim such succession and to do so was sheer folly. They also state that the Tracts talk of clergymen conveying the sacrifice, being intrusted with the keys of heaven and hell and being intrusted with the awful and mysterious gift of making the bread and wine Christs body and blood. The editorial describes all these as melancholy and wicked Popish delusions. Thus right from the outset Evangelicals, or at least some of them, saw the errors and responded to them, a fact that is not always recognised. Shortly afterwards Hurrell Froude, one of the original four died and his theological remains were published in 1838. These showed unequivocally his opposition to the Protestant Reformation and his empathy for Medieval Catholicism. This seems to have woken others up to the real heart of the Tractarians who were becoming increasingly critical of the Church of England and idealistic regarding the Church of Rome. In 1841 Newman published his famous Tract 90 attempting to argue that the Articles, if properly understood, support Roman Catholic doctrine. Newman himself seems to have eventually recognised that his arguments were wrong because he left for Rome but others continued and still continue to argue the same points. I recall one clergyman arguing that his belief in purgatory was acceptable because the Articles denounce the Romish doctrine of purgatory and that was not his doctrine. Eventually this perverse sort of reasoning had to be resolved and evangelicals found that they had to resort to law to do so. Evangelicals at the time, as today, were adamant that they were the legitimate Anglicans, the true heirs of the Reformed Church of England. The case of George Gorham therefore shook the movement to its roots. Bishop Philpotts of Exeter despised Evangelicals and when a Patron attempted to present Gorham to a living in the Diocese the Bishop argued and then set out to prove that Gorham did not hold to the doctrine of the Church on baptismal regeneration. This was serious because no evangelical believed in baptismal regeneration and nor did they believe that it was the doctrine of the church. If Gorham was rejected on this basis then all evangelicals could find themselves driven out. An appeal was therefore launched but the Bishops decision was initially upheld. Evangelicals however contested the issue right to the Privy Council where they won. For Anglo-Catholics this demonstrated the problem of establishment that a secular court, as they saw it, had the final say. For Evangelicals it was a reminder that within the Church hierarchy they were weak and often opposed whilst they had much stronger support amongst the laity, and particularly in parliament. More importantly it demonstrated that men like Philpotts could not be trusted to read the Articles and Prayer Book in its plain historical meaning, revisionism had begun. From an early stage Tractarianism was manifest in Ritualism and they founded the Church Union to promote their cause. In 1865 Evangelicals responded by forming the Church Association which from the outset had amongst its aims the goal of clarifying the law on ritual and doctrine. Thus a series of test cases were fought which mostly, though certainly not in every detail, upheld the Evangelical view. This ought to have settled matters, but of course it did not. The Ritualists still refused to abide by the law. The obvious thing would have been for Bishops to remove such clergy from office but the Bishops generally declined to do this. This failure to discipline has plagued the Church of England down to the present and has encouraged all manner of practices and beliefs to flourish unchecked. The problem therefore for Evangelicals was what to do next and this led to division amongst them. The Church Association believed it must fight on and so they took the matters to the courts. The fact was that the law forbade certain practices and the Ritualists were doing them. Therefore the courts instructed the Ritualists to stop and they did not. If the law was to be upheld then there had to be a final recourse when people refused to obey it and thus some clergy were imprisoned. But many Evangelicals either did not like this approach either because they did not like taking the matter to court in this way or because they feared the outcome. Thus J.C. Ryle in particular encouraged the creation of a new body, The Protestant Churchmens Alliance, which absorbed the earlier Protestant Association. The Alliance also fought ritualism but not to the lengths the Association did. The Alliance merged eventually into the National Church League and thus was finally reunited with the Association in 1950 when both became Church Society. With the benefit of hindsight it is possible to see that the fears of many were realised because the imprisonments led to a swing in public opinion in favour of the Ritualists. At the same time the Association, as a primarily lay organisation, tried to do what the Bishops failed to do, which was preserve discipline as a mark of the Church. Today many of the practices that were opposed by our evangelical forebears are common within the Church of England and are even found, sometimes unwittingly, in evangelical churches. David Phillips is General Secretary of Church Society.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Our Town :: essays research papers
Our Town, by Thornton Wilder, is an American classic, expressing with warmth and humor the eternal truths of human existence. It is a heartening, compassionate glimpse of that time before the Great Wars; before our innocence was lost forever. From the time of its first performances in 1938, it has continued to be regarded as one of the best representations of life in America and of the richness of our theatre world. For decades it has remained a landmark of theatrical craftsmanship and a loving picture of American life. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Our Town depicts pathos set against a background of centuries of time, social history, and religious ideas. As the Stage Manager (who functions as a Greek chorus in the drama) says: "This is the way we were in our growing-up and in our marrying and in our doctoring and in our living and in our dying." Our Town is set in 1901 in Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, where the Gibbses and the Webbs are neighbors. During their childhood George Gibbs and Emily Webb are playmates and their lives are inextricably woven together as neighbors' lives are likely to be. But as they grow older they pass into a state of romantic (and embarrassing) interest in one another. George proposes to Emily in the drug store over an ice cream soda, and they are married with all the good folks of Grover's Corners in attendance. But George and Emily's happiness is short-lived. Emily dies in childbirth and is buried in the town's cemetery on a rainy, dreary day. There she is reunited with those friends and neighbors who have died before her, and who help her acclimate herself to her new existence. In one of the most vital scenes in modern theatre, the peace and quiet of death, which can never be understood by the living, is portrayed. Our Town is not just about Emily and George and, indeed, is not just about a small town in northern New England a hundred years ago. Our Town is a play about what we (and Thornton Wilder) thought America and Americans were. As we are about to take a head-long leap into the next century we are forced, not only to look ahead to what we might become, but to turn and look back at what allowed us to arrive at this threshold of the new millennium.
Sunday, November 10, 2019
Manager Resume Example Essay
ALBERT A. YAGUDAEV Home (718) 956-7299  Cell (917) 865-4782 Fluent in English & Russian CORE KNOWLEDGE AREAS Risk Management Finance Management Strategic Analysis Team Building Problem Solving Statistical Analysis Commercial Banking Client Relations Budget Management Report Management Goal-Oriented Communication Skills Bond Assurance Detail-Oriented Decision Making Team Building Time Management Organization Skills PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE  Calyon New York, NY                                                                                              2005 – Present Senior Analyst – Capital Markets / Global Funding Desk Prepares and presents consolidated entity level risk reports for Senior Management including the Senior Executive of the Trading Desk. Provides consultation and advice regarding dynamic hedge strategies utilizing interest rate derivatives. Automates various workflows utilizing Excel and Visual Basic. Identifies and quantifies all risks borne by the trading books. Reviews and analyzes calculations of risk parameters including sensitivities, volatilities, VaR, and reporting of total position risk. Runs scenario analyses and stress loss tests. Explores P&L and positional impacts of market movements. Quantifies portfolio size and stop-loss limits; monitor and report on breaches. Guides traders on market risk, P&L, liquidity risk, and limit utilization. Analyzes the integrity and maintains the quality of the data feeds from various global systems by establishing effective processes for timely VaR reporting for the Investment Bank. Optimizes the management framework. Produces ad-hoc reports and quantitative analysis for the Treasury/Global Funding Desk. HSBC Bank USA, New York, NY                                                                                 2001-2005 Sr. Risk Analyst – Interest Rate Derivatives Desk Verified and analyzed daily Profit and Loss. Analyzed calculations of risk parameters including volatilities, stress testing and (VaR). Deconstructed and analyzed reports on Fixed Income and Interest Rate Derivatives. Measured and analyzed credit exposures and various elements of risk. Provided financial reports to Head Office and Senior Management. Reorganized the use of proprietary relational databases, complex spreadsheets, and concomitant macros to streamline corporate business operations. Tested and implemented the VaR model (Taylor-Series). Ensured levels of risk were consistent with limits established by management. Continue†¦page 1 of 2 ALBERT YAGUDAEV                                                                                             Page Two Integrated Leasing, Melville, NY                                                                                         2001 Consultant Successfully streamlined corporate business operations through the utilization of spreadsheets and macros. Developed and maintained relational databases for product centers. Natexis Banque Populaires, New York, NY                                                               1999 – 2000 Treasury Risk Manager – Fixed Income and Interest Rate Derivatives Desk Performed VaR analysis using RiskMetrics. Analyzed the results of Monte Carlo simulations and historical Time Series risk measurement Responsible for defining department’s market risk measurement methodologies, including statistical measures, stress testing, monitoring overall positions and setting limits to govern exposure Researched simulation models for incorporation into firm’s risk systems Managed P&L risk on both an intra-day and end-of-day basis, specifically monitoring risk exposure  Ambac Capital Corp., New York, NY                                                                           1997-1999 Risk Analyst – Fixed Income Desk in Asset/Liability Management Prepared detailed mark-to-market risk analysis of a $10.5 billion asset and liability portfolio for Securities including GICs, CMOs, Corporates, ABS, Municipals and Treasuries. Analyzed and recommended appropriate hedges with respect to interest rate exposure for duration, convexity, and time value utilizing options, futures and other derivative products. Measured portfolio risk utilizing dollar and effective duration, convexity, key rate duration, volatility, prepayments, and basis between Treasury, Libor and AAA Corporate yields. Maintained, reviewed and updated model assumptions for measuring sensitivity of the GIC portfolio to market value fluctuations and changes in interest rates. J & W Seligman & Co., New York, NY                                                                          1995-1997 Business Analyst Conducted quantitative and statistical analysis for the Fixed Income Analytical Team. Reviewed and analyzed trends in the bond market, interest rates, and yields. Effectively prepared and presented detailed reports to Senior Management describing the firm’s current risk status. Salomon Smith Barney Inc., New York, NY                                                                   1994-1995 Associate Analyst Evaluated department financial progress through the compilation and manipulation of data utilized in daily reports. Significantly reduced the capital charge imposed by the SEC on aged items from $159 million to $13.3 million. Successfully managed the $83.2 million Smith Barney commission account for proper allocation. TECHNICAL SKILLS Bloomberg  ¨ Bloomberg Trader Workstation  ¨ Reuters 3000 Calypso  ¨ RiskWatch  ¨ RiskMetrics,  ¨ Summit,  ¨ Kondor Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Advanced Excel w/ VBA & Functions, Access) EDUCATION St. John’s University – College of Business Administration, Queens, NY Bachelor of Science in Finance, (date) Associates in Computer Science, (date)
Friday, November 8, 2019
Big Picture Questions in SAT Reading Strategies and Tips
Big Picture Questions in SAT Reading Strategies and Tips SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Of the many question types on SAT Reading, "big picture" questions are the ones that require the most thorough comprehension of large amounts of text. You'll be asked to discuss and examine the main claim or purpose of a paragraph, passage, or even multiple passages. But how do you identify these "big picture" questions on SAT Reading? And what are the best ways to approach answering them? Below, I’ll discuss the three primary types of big picture questions you’ll encounter on the SAT, along with common ways the SAT will ask you about each. I'll also give you expert SAT Reading strategies to answer these questions, illustrated with examples from real practice questions. Secret Bunker Turn Right and My Garden_in The Big Picture by Amanda Slater, used under CC BY-SA 2.0/Cropped and rotated from original. Big Picture Questions: A Brief Intro On SAT Reading, there are three kinds of questions that require you to read large amounts of text and distill them down into answers. At PrepScholar, we call these "big picture" questions. In contrast to "little picture" questions that ask for specific details, big picture questions tend to ask about big ideas found in large chunks of text, which can be anything from a paragraph or a series of paragraphs up to an entire passage (or multiple passages, if it's a paired passage question). Learning to answer these sorts of questions will prove very useful for college or university, where professors will expect you to do exactly this with even more dense and academic writing. Type 1: Main Point, Perspective, and Author Attitude On the SAT, you'll rarely get asked questions about the main point of a passage outright like this: "The main idea of the passage is that the author..." "Over the course of the passage, the main focus shifts from..." Instead, questions are far more likely to ask you about the author’s attitude or perspective towards something discussed in the passage. Here are a few examples of ways I’ve seen these questions asked, all modified from actual SAT questions: "This passage is written from the point of view of a..." "The author's attitude toward narrative structure is best described as one of..." "Which of the following best characterizes Staffaroni's attitude toward 'today's digital technologies' (lines 42-43)?" "Which best reflects the perspective of the "narrativists" (line 42) on aleatoric music? "The authors of both passages agree that Valve’s Portal..." "With which of the following statements about the role of music in games would the author most likely agree?" In some ways, these perspective questions are just inference questions that are only focused around the point of view of the author (or narrator). What makes these questions big picture questions, rather than inference questions, is that the perspective of the author or narrator inevitably affects what is written in the whole passage. Being able to answer these kinds of perspective questions is not only important for your SAT score, but an important skill for you to have going into post-high school life: if you can figure out where someone’s coming from and what their attitude is, you can use that to inform how trustworthy you should consider their information. Type 2: Primary Purpose These questions ask what’s the point (vs. what’s a point, which would be a detail question). Is the cited text describing an issue or event? Is it trying to review, inform, prove, contradict, parody, or hypothesize? Primary purpose questions are almost always asked in this way: "The primary/main purpose of the passage(s)/paragraph/X paragraphs is to†¦" On occasion, there's a little variation in the wording: "The sixth paragraph (lines 67-68) is primarily concerned with establishing a contrast between†¦" "The passage primarily serves to " Sometimes questions asking about purpose are function questions, rather than big picture questions; which type of question it is depends on the answer choices. More specific answer choices that include information about what the point of the paragraph is indicate a big picture question, while vaguer answer choices point to questions asking about the paragraph's function (what does the paragraph do). For example, if the question was "The primary purpose of the paragraph is to†¦", answer choices like "analyze a faulty assumption" or "disparage an opposing viewpoint" would indicate this is more of a function question. If, on the other hand, the answers choices were more like "discuss findings that offer a scientific explanation for the Venus flytrap’s closing action," "describe Nawab’s various moneymaking ventures," or "convey the passage’s setting by describing a place and an object," then it would be safe to assume it is a big picture question. Type 3: Rhetorical Strategy Rhetorical strategy questions are more commonly asked about, but not limited to, paired passages. Rather than asking why something happens in the passage (an inference question), these questions ask how something happens/happened in the passage(s). In contrast to primary purpose questions, which have relatively specific answer choices (eg. "The primary purpose of this paragraph is to...explain what rhetorical strategy questions are"), rhetorical strategy questions sometimes require generalization. Like the answers to primary purpose questions, however, the answers to rhetorical strategy questions are usually in the form of "verb a noun" (or more often, "verbs an X of Y," as in "explaining the appeal of a discredited tradition"). Abstract answer choices can be tricky, because they can require some degree of analogy/inference skill (you have to take the answer choices and see if they apply to the passage). How do you get around this? Answer the question in your own words first, then see which answer aligns with yours (we’ll show an example later on). Here are some examples of questions you might be asked that fall into the rhetorical strategy category: "Which best describes the overall relationship between Passage 1 and Passage 2?" "Which choice identifies a central tension between the two passages? "Which best describes the overall structure of the passage?" Notice that the wording of some of these questions is similar to that of little picture/detail questions. Again, just as with primary purpose questions, the answer choices are what turn the question into rhetorical strategy. Here's a specific example: In the context of each passage as a whole, the questions in lines 25-27 of Passage 1 and lines 67-69 of Passage 2 primarily function to help each speaker (A) cast doubt on the other's sincerity. (B) criticize the other's methods. (C) reproach the other's actions. (D) undermine the other's argument. This is a rhetorical strategy question because the answer choices are relatively abstract. If the answer choices were more specific (eg "relate Maguire's study of mental athletes to her study of taxi drivers"), then this would be a detail question, and you would need to use little picture skills to find this specific detail in the passage. A Brief Warning: Big Picture Questions ≠Function Questions Caution Tape by Eugene Zemlyanskiy, used under CC BY 2.0/Cropped from original. Big picture questions are different from function questions because they ask what the author said (not asking why the author wrote a thing). The wording of the questions sometimes makes it difficult to clearly see this, so I wanted to hash it out here. Questions about the author’s purpose (function question) ask "why is the author writing this?" rather than "what is the perspective the author is saying/arguing?" (which would be a big picture question). Questions about the paragraph’s function ask "how does this paragraph function?" or "what is the purpose of this paragraph in the context of the passage as a whole?" rather than "The main argument of this paragraph is," "what is the primary purpose of this paragraph" or "The author develops her argument by†¦" Read more about what exactly goes into answering SAT Reading function questions in this article. Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today! Strategies For Answering Big Picture Questions Naturally, part of your strategy depends on how you read the passages. If you have enough time to read each passage all the way through, then you should be trying to figure out the main point and author perspective as you read. You can do a quick check to see if there will be any questions about it first (usually they're among the first few questions on the passage), but even if there aren’t any questions that directly ask you about the main point, knowing it can be helpful in answering other questions (more on that later). If you read the questions first before going back to the passage, you may be able to get a sense of what the big picture is just by the various questions that are asked- for instance, if all the passages are asking about food in the UK, you can be pretty sure that the main point of the passage isn't going to be about the Mayan calendar. This is also the one case where I recommend answering detail questions first- those are much easier to answer with just line numbers, and their answers (as well as the questions themselves) may give you even more clues about the main point/primary purpose/rhetorical strategy of the passage. If you skim the passage, then attack questions, you should focus on just the key information the first time skimming through and answer the big picture questions first. But how do you know what the key information is? Read on for three strategies to help you out with that. #1: Check The Introduction and Conclusion When it comes to nonfiction passages, chances are that if the author’s done a good job, the main point and perspective should be clear in the conclusion (if not also in the introduction). This can be true for fiction passages as well, but since having a clear thesis isn’t as essential to the construction of a successful piece of fiction, the author doesn’t always structure her writing that way. When finding the main point of a single paragraph, however, this rule gets a little fuzzy, because sometimes there will be direction-changing words in the middle of the paragraph that are essential to understanding the main point. In addition, last/conclusion sentences often try to take the argument a step beyond what has been discussed in the article, placing it in a broader context. Still, reading the introduction and conclusion can be helpful as a place to start. If the introduction and conclusion seem to contradict each other, that is a clear sign that you need to go even deeper into the passage/paragraph to find the main point/primary purpose/rhetorical strategy. #2: Use Key Words as Clues If you're looking for key words in a passage or paragraph, it makes sense that you’d want to note where the author says things like "important" or "significant"- those things probably are important (or even significant). What isn't as obvious, however, is that you should also pay attention to words that signal changes of direction to help uncover key information. Words like "in contrast," "while," "however," and so on, indicate important, contrasting information, while words like "again," "still," and "similarly" indicate the information is the same (or comparable to) what was just written. Spotting key words and reading the sentences around them can help you get to the meat of the issue and also help you avoid the trap of just reading the first sentence of a paragraph and assuming that's what the paragraph will be about. Let's take a look at this strategy in the context of a sample of my own writing: This paragraph is excerpted from the paper "‘This was a triumph:’ Narrative and dynamic uses of music in Portal" by Laura Staffaroni ( ©2013 by Laura Staffaroni). This paper was written as the final assignment for a Research and Materials class. In general, because Portal is a puzzle game, it might be expected to lack a strong narrative; this, however, is not the case. While the gameplay is focused on the solving each level’s puzzle, you are also provided with tantalizing bits of story in the form of dialogue spoken to you by GLADoS, the AI directing the "tests." Bits of the story are revealed over the course of the game in this way, picking up with the introduction of secret rooms with writing on the walls and the adorable but deadly turrets. The beginning sentence seems to start with "Portal doesn’t have a strong narrative," which might cause you to stop reading- after all, you've found the author's argument, right? Not so fast! The word "however" in that sentence should catch your eye, as should the following sentence that starts with "While", because they indicate that something in contrast to the opening statement is being presented.  ©2013 Laura Staffaroni Don't just read the first part of a sentence or paragraph and walk away- look out for key words as well! #3: Answer In Your Own Words First If you come across a question that asks you a big picture question, try to formulate the answer using your own words before you look at their answer choices. When doing this, it's important that you rely only on what you read in the passage or paragraph, not on things that could be true but aren’t supported by the passage. After you've answered the question in your own words, when you go to look at the answer choices you can simply see which one best matches your own answer and choose it. You must be careful, however, not to oversimplify with this strategy. Remember, the central argument and primary purpose are asking about the specific point the author is making, not a general topic or theme. Also, since you're not being directly scored on your "own word" answers, you should use as few words as possible to write them down- you don’t want to waste too much time on something that won’t be graded. Putting SAT Reading Strategies To Use: An Example Before I set you loose on big picture practice questions, I've written out a walkthrough of an example from an actual SAT to find the primary purpose of a paragraph. Here's the relevant paragraph for the purposes of this question (fifth paragraph, lines 45-56 of the passage): This passage is adapted from Ian King, "Can Economics Be Ethical?"  ©2013 by Prospect Publishing. There is yet another approach: instead of rooting ethics in character or the consequences of actions, we can focus on our actions themselves. From this perspective some things are right, some wrong- we should buy fair trade goods, we shouldn't tell lies in advertisements. Ethics becomes a list of commandments, a catalog of "dos" and "don'ts." When a finance official refuses to devalue a currency because they have promised not to, they are defining ethics this way. According to this approach devaluation can still be bad, even if it would make everyone better off. Here's the question: The main purpose of the fifth paragraph (lines 45-56) is to (A) develop a counterargument to the claim that greed is good. (B) provide support for the idea that ethics is about character. (C) describe a third approach to defining ethical economics. (D) illustrate that one's actions are a result of one's character. Where should I start with figuring out the main purpose of the fifth paragraph? Step 1: Check out the introduction and conclusion (sentences, in this case). Introduction: There is yet another approach: instead of rooting ethics in character or the consequences of actions, we can focus on our actions themselves. Conclusion: According to this approach devaluation can still be bad, even if it would make everybody better off. What do these sentences reveal about the main purpose of the paragraph? My thinking: Both these sentences call whatever's being discussed in this paragraph an "approach", so the main purpose probably has something to do with whatever this approach is. Since both the intro and conclusion tie back into this approach, maybe the main purpose of the paragraph is to explain it? Not enough information just from this to be sure, though. Step 2: Look for direction words The next step is to look within this paragraph for words that indicate the author might be presenting information that either contrasts with or matches what he already wrote about. Direction words in this paragraph: "yet another", "instead", "even if" My thoughts: Wow, there are a lot of direction words in this paragraph, most of them in that first sentence: "There is yet another approach: instead of rooting ethics in character or the consequences of actions, we can focus on our actions themselves." So "yet another" is interesting because it implies that there were at least two other approaches before the one described in this paragraph; if it were just one other approach, the author wouldn't bother with the "yet" and would just say "another". The word "instead" also backs this up, because it implies that in previous paragraphs at least one alternate approach was taken. Plus, two alternate approaches (rooting ethics in character and rooting ethics in consequences of actions) are listed in the same sentence. What about "even if"? Does that add or change anything? "According to this approach devaluation can still be bad, even if it would make everybody better off." Hmm, not much more here. It further fleshes out the idea that doing a thing that some might see as good (devaluation) can be bad under the approach described in this paragraph, I guess. Step 3: Answer the question in your own words The final step is to answer the question in my own words before looking at the answer choices. My thoughts: The main thing this paragraph talks about is the ethical approach of focusing on actions themselves, rather than on their character or consequences, which means the main purpose of the paragraph is probably something like "describe the action-focused ethics approach?" maybe? let's check how it fits into the rest of the passage to see if that changes everything- nope, that seems pretty accurate. Here's the question, once more: The main purpose of the fifth paragraph (lines 45-56) is to (A) develop a counterargument to the claim that greed is good. (B) provide support for the idea that ethics is about character. (C) describe a third approach to defining ethical economics. (D) illustrate that one's actions are a result of one's character. Okay, now that I've gone looked at the first and last sentences, key words, and answered it in my own words, let's consider the answer choices one by one. (A) develop a counterargument to the claim that greed is good. Not really? I guess it kind of has a counterargument to the other two ethics approaches, but it doesn't really say one thing or another about greed being good. Oh and plus there's that thing about this approach seeing devaluation as bad even if it technically is better for everyone, which doesn't seem greedy. I'm going to put this one as a probable nope. (B) provide support for the idea that ethics is about character. This one is a definite no- in the very first sentence of the paragraph it says that the approach being discussed in this paragraph is an alternative to ethics being about character ("instead of rooting ethics in character"). And the rest of the paragraph follows through on ethics being about actions, not character. (C) describe a third approach to defining ethical economics. Yep, this is pretty much what this paragraph does. The author talks about "yet another approach" which is at least the third approach based on wording, definitely the third approach based on reviewing the rest of the passage and counting the other approaches mentioned. And this answer lines up with my "answer in my own words" answer, which was "describe the action-focused ethics approach." This answer's certainly more correct than choices (A) or (B). I'll double check that the last choice isn't an even better answer, though. (D) illustrate that one's actions are a result of one's character. For one thing, no, it doesn't do that; for another, isn't that basically the same as (B)? I guess not exactly, but either way, it's still wrong. The main purpose of this paragraph is to say that in yet another approach, you could say that ethics is about the actions we take. It doesn't say anything about whether or not those actions are a result of one's character in particular. Looking back over the answers, (C) is clearly the one that discusses the main purpose of this paragraph, which is to talk about "yet another" way to define ethical economics. Boom! The answer is (C). August 25th "The Big Picture We've Done It_I'm a World Record Holder!" by Amanda Slater, used under CC BY-SA 2.0/Cropped from original.Huge success! Try It Out on Your Own! Below, I've provided three questions on short paired passages from an official, publicly available SAT practice test. As a bonus, these questions also involve paired passages (for more on paired passages, read my article about how best to attack paired passages on the SAT). Want more practice tests? Check out our list of official practice SATs, complete with links to free content! Questions 1-3 are based on the following passage. This passage is adapted from Henry W. Blair's statement to the United States Senate during the 1886 "Debate on Woman Suffrage" in Washington, D.C. There is no escape from it. The discussion has passed so far that among intelligent people who believe in the republican form- that is, free government- all mature men and women have under the same circumstance and conditions the same rights to defend, the same grievances to redress, and, therefore, the same necessity for the exercise of this great fundamental right of all human beings in free society. For the right to vote is the great primitive right. It is the right in which all freedom originates and culminates. It is the right from which all others spring, in which they merge, and without which they fall whenever assailed.This right makes, and is all the difference between, government by and with the consent of the governed and government without and against the consent of the governed; that is the difference between freedom and slavery. If the right to vote be not that difference, what is? No, sir. If either sex as a class can dispense with the right to vote, then take it from the strong, and no longer rob the weak of their defense for the benefit of the strong.It is impossible to conceive of suffrage as a right dependent at all upon such an irrelevant condition as sex. It is an individual, a personal right. It may be withheld by force; but if withheld by reason of sex it is a moral robbery.But it is said that the duties of maternity disqualify for the performance of the act of voting. It can not be, and I think is not claimed by anyone, that the mother who otherwise would be fit to vote is rendered mentally or morally less fit to exercise this high function in the state because of motherhood. On the contrary, if any woman has a motive more than another person, man or woman, to secure the enactment and enforcement of good laws, it is the mother. Beside her own life, person, and property- to the protection of which the ballot is as essential as to the same rights possessed by man- she has her little contingent of immortal beings to conduct safely to the po rtals of active life through all the snares and pitfalls woven around them by bad men and bad laws which bad men have made. And she has rightly to prepare them for the discharge of all the duties of their day and generation, including the exercise of the very right denied to their mother.I appeal to you, Senators, to grant this petition of woman that she may be heard for her claim of right. How could you reject that petition, even were there but one faint voice beseeching your ear? How can you deny the demand of millions who believe in suffrage for women, and who can not be forever silenced, for they give voice to the innate cry of the human heart that justice be done not alone to man, but to that half of this nation which now is free only by the grace of the other. By our action today we indorse, if we do not initiate, a movement which, in the development of humankind, shall guarantee liberty to all without distinction of sex, even as our glorious Constitution already grants the su ffrage to every citizen without distinction of color or race. #1: The central claim of the passage is that (A) the United States Senate should extend suffrage to women. (B) both sexes should have all of the same roles and responsibilities. (C) members of the Senate wish to enslave women by denying them the vote. (D) the female vote will lead to improved laws and better politicians. #2: The second paragraph is primarily concerned with establishing a contrast between (A) the interests of men and the interests of women. (B) politics before and after slavery ended. (C) governments in different countries. (D) having and not having suffrage. #3: With which of the following statements about the right to vote would the author most likely agree? (A) It is unrelated to the protection of other privileges (B) It is essential to the preservation of liberty (C) It is difficult to institute and execute in society. (D) It is unnecessary to some social groups. Answer key (scroll down when ready): 1. A 2. D 3. B In Conclusion Big picture questions require being able to read through a text and sum up "what’s the point," "what's the author's point of view," or "what does the author do here?" Knowing the answers to these questions can be useful for answering other types of questions, like function and author technique questions, that rely on you understanding the "big picture" of what's going on in the passage. No matter how you approach the passage, use the strategies of checking the intro/conclusion, looking for key words, and coming up with the answer in your own words to help you answer big picture questions What’s Next? Want more in depth guides like this? Our ultimate study guide for SAT Reading is a fantastic index of all of our SAT Reading strategy articles, including ones on Inferences, Words in Context, Analyzing Data Graphics, and many more. What if you can't finish Reading section before time's up? Learn strategies to improve your time management and stop running out of time on SAT Reading here. What are the other types of questions you’ll find on the SAT Reading section, and what’s the best way to read the passages to answer them? Check out our article on the three best ways to read the passage on SAT Reading. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Reading lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
The Ethical Implications of Embryonic Stem Cell Research essays
The Ethical Implications of Embryonic Stem Cell Research essays Technology seemingly never stops growing and changing. And why should it? Just as every human being changes with experience and age, so then do our creations. Unfortunately, it is in our collective nature as humans to be afraid of change. Change inevitably raises moral questions within us, removing us from the simplistic routine of daily life and placing us in the uncomfortable realm of controversy. When big changes happen, its as if a fellow human has just died it makes us re-evaluate our lives and the effect that such an event will have on them. Such is the case with embryonic stem cell research. Stem cell research, in and of itself, is not a new technology. Scientists and doctors have used adult stem cells for treatments on various blood diseases for years. No one is hurt in such a situation, and the Hippocratic oath is preserved. The issue of embryonic stem cell research is different, though. Embryonic stem cells are the very basis of human tissue, and therefore can replace almost any functional tissue in the human body, whereas adult stem cells are already grown and therefore cannot be given other tasks. Scientists remove the stem cells from embryonic tissue known as blastocysts, and as a result the embryo dies (Latham). Thus, the controversy - is this blastocyst, which, if allowed to continue growing, will become a normal human baby if in vitro fertilization is used, human at this point? If so, what is the difference between killing an embryo and killing a normal human? Not as simple an issue as it at first seemed, eh? Perhaps youre already noting the similarities between this and that other issue of playing God at birth, abortion. As such, theres two definite positions at play here, with the requisite grays in the middle too. Complicated and somewhat vague conjecture regarding exactly when humans get souls has arisen, as well as the basic questions. Is the child a li...
Monday, November 4, 2019
Analysis of Mercury in Water Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Analysis of Mercury in Water - Research Paper Example Most of the analysis methods used today were developed in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s and are immensely dependent on laboratory equipment. However, in the wake of the technological evolution, several other high-tech methods have been developed as we will see with the Anthony’s Mercury Analyzer. Most of these advanced methods not only provide for the basic laboratory setting but also for field purposes. Purge and Trap - since the discovery of elemental Mercury in water, there is no doubt that this method is one of the best for analyzing Mercury in the field. Basically, this method entails purging water samples with nitrogen and consequently extracting Mercury from the samples prior to analyzing the levels using Mercury analyzers. This method was widely used in the early 1990’s to screen water samples from wells and construction sites across the United States (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency p. 2). However, due to its lack of sensitivity and prone to environmental factors, this method is limited especially when trying to retrieve precise measurements from the samples owing to the contamination of reagents in the field (Murphy & Dooley p.2) Cold Vapour Atomic Absorption Spectrometry- in an attempt to refine the purge and trap method, cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry method, has become synonymous with various chemists around the world due to its precision. In this technique, Mercury is reduced to a free atomic state by chemically reacting to the sample with a strong reduction agent like sodium borohydride in a sealed reaction system. The free Mercury, which is now volatile, is then forced from the reaction container by effervescing gases in the solution. Mercury atoms are then transmitted in the stream of gas to a connected absorption cell, which is positioned on the path of light from the atomic absorption spectrometer and the readings relayed to the analyzers. The sample is then digested in potassium permanganate-po tassium persulfate and oxidized for two hours at 95 degrees. The resultant Mercury levels are then measured using automated Mercury analyzers (Hirata p. 4). Oxidation- this is rather a more advanced method of analyzing methyl Mercury and involves extraction of methyl Mercury by pre-treatment in dithizone-toulene solution. The resultant solution is injected into a Gas-liquid Chromatograph with electron capture detector (GLC-ECD) with chlorine gas. The results from the reaction are then used to determine the level of Mercury in the test sample since Mercury is sparingly soluble in water. Owing to its high precision this is one of the best methods used in the test of methyl Mercury and moreover inorganic Mercury. This method is generally applied when analyzing Mercury in food samples such as fish and also Mercury analysis in human blood (Suzuki p. 97). However, due to the high costs associated with this method, chemists and environmental analysts rarely use it as sometimes there might be a need to conduct multiple analyses on the same sample or repeating the procedure more than twice to refine the final results. Most of the above methods require specialized equipment and the analysis is usually conducted in laboratories hence making the above methods inflexible. With the advancement in technology however, more reliable and advanced techniques are continually being developed. Anthony’s Mercury Analyzer is a unique technique that builds
Friday, November 1, 2019
Political action Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Political action - Essay Example Firstly, by joining a national citizen activist group called Americans for Responsible Solutions, the intention was to take head on the influential gun lobbyist in terms of their coverage and resources. This involved constantly getting on the phone and email to contact legislators, engaging in online discussions, blogs, as well as twitter communications. The objective was to act serenely and rationally in order to make the legislators understand that there will be electoral repercussions of not voting for meaningful gun control measures. Secondly, before the congressional votes on existing plans took place, there was massive and coordinated booking of appointments from the representatives and senators office. The intention was to let them know the feelings and emotions driving genuine gun control measures. Thirdly, protest march also formed a major aspect of demanding meaningful legislation, and with the support of citizen activist groups referred to as Washington CeaseFire, protest marches and demonstrations were organized near Capitol Hill and state legislators’ buildings to commemorate victims while demanding legislative responses so as to transform the tears into concrete action. Furthermore, television ads urging Congress to take steps without delay were prepared from state to state, and this involves contributing amount s even less than $5 per person. Signing of online petitions calling for enactment of gun laws was meant at augmenting social media campaign as it is a useful resource for dealing with anticipated counter-petition (Carroll, 20). Hence, lawmakers should be made to understand that assault weapons or any high-capability ammunition magazines, does not have any place in the streets and communities The key issue driving such approaches is that the loopholes within current gun ownership and registration laws have enabled criminals and individuals with suicidal mental health to acquire
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