7 Tips on How to Study Vocabulary

7 Tips on How to Study Vocabulary If youre taking college courses in the United States, youre most likely fluent in English or a native speaker. In either case, youre probably quite comfortable with your skill level and focusing 100 percent of your brain power on your coursework. However, studying new vocabulary is an important lifelong endeavor. Expanding your vocabulary will help you comprehend your reading materials more quickly and easily. A more varied lexicon will also improve those papers youre writing. Of course, if you plan to take a graduate school entrance exam, such as the GRE, youll definitely want to build and maintain your internal word list. Follow these seven tips for quick, fun ways to boost your vocab. Use Words Thesaurus Tool When youre typing a paper or even just notes, youre bound to pause from time to time to consider what the best word to use is. Whenever you stop for even a split second, try to get in this habit: type whatever basic word pops into your mind first. Then double-click it and check the thesaurus. Youll get a list of alternative words and will most likely learn some new ones. Note that you shouldnt necessarily choose the longer or more complicated word every time. But knowing you have options adds more variety and interest to your writing. Many times, the more advanced words are more accurate, and sometimes, theyre even shorter. Why say sheeplike when you can say ovine? Solve Crossword Puzzles During your free time, pull out a crossword puzzle book, find one in a newspaper or magazine, or search for a puzzle online. Crossword puzzles have long been an essential (and fun!) tool for every word-lover and vocabulary-builder. Note that if youre new to crosswords, you might want to skip those found in the Sunday paper, as theyre usually extremely challenging- even for seasoned experts. Play Word Games Crossword games are quite different from crossword puzzles. Instead of using clues to figure out predetermined words, you build your own words from a set of letters. Play Scrabble, Words With Friends, or a similar game against the computer or a brainiac friend. Make a note of the words your opponent generates, and dont be afraid to be inquisitive. Then use a dictionary to come up with great moves of your own. Of course, you can play the board version of Scrabble as well. Another fun board game is Balderdash, in which players make up fake definitions of advanced vocabulary words. Everybody then tries to guess the real definition. Youll certainly learn some new terms along the way. Find Word-A-Day Offerings Word-a-day calendars are popular gifts; put one on your Christmas wish list. Even if you dont learn all 365 words, the calendar is just one more vocabulary-building tool at your disposal. Alternatively, find an online word-a-day subscription service that sends new words to your inbox. Or simply bookmark and check a site such as Merriam-Websters Word of the Day (which also offers a subscription option). Read Attentively Sure, youre reading tons of material for your classes. But you may be reading passively. In other words (no pun intended), like many people, when you encounter a new word, you may very likely be skipping over it and mentally filling in the blank- even subconsciously. Instead, make a concerted effort to stop and look those new words up in a digital or old-school dictionary. Take Online Vocabulary Quizzes Search for free vocabulary quizzes or a similar term. Vocabulary.com is a great site for students to use regularly, as is knoword. But you can also try other sites or find random quizzes to take. Get an App You can find vocabulary-building apps for iOS or Android devices. Anytime youre on the bus, standing in line, or getting your mani/pedi, whip out that phone and learn a few words. Building your vocabulary doesnt have to feel like one more course added to your load. Following these tips is actually a lot of fun and will make you feel smarter. The confidence you gain will carry over into your class studies and will surely show in your grades.

Anxiety of a Preoperative Patient Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Anxiety of a Preoperative Patient - Essay Example Extensive surgery or surgery with uncertain outcomes also generates more anxiety than any surgery with a predictable course of events. Ambiguity about the outcome and unpredictability about the course, although depend on the type of the surgery and the indication for which it is done. Therefore the nursing staff that is usually in contact with such patients in the immediate preoperative period in the preoperative area has a chance to intervene provided they can assess these patients in a systematic manner for the experienced perioperative stress leading to elevated anxiety scores of these patients. Perioperative nurses are specially trained to do so, and they must find out time to intervene in these patients even in the preoperative area to deal with these patients' emotional distress. If the positive outcome of the care is the goal of care delivery, these interventions can change the emotional status of these patients in such a manner that the relationship between preoperative psych ological status and postoperative recovery of these patients is positively influenced (Stirling, 2006). The most common nursing diagnoses that require intervention from the nurses in this period are anxiety that may be partly related to knowledge deficit, but also partly contributed by the context and the environment. Therefore, the knowledge about the surgical procedure and the patient assessment findings can be combined to make an appropriate plan of care in such situations. It is to be remembered that every patient have their own perspectives of anxiety, and hence assessment and consequent plan of care should be individualized based on specific patient needs. A patient who needs surgery and is waiting for the in preoperative area may be surrounded by a sense of impending doom for the imminent surgery, and a nursing diagnosis of preoperative anxiety needs nursing intervention in that period only. Many of the incidents of anxiety result from patient knowledge deficits related to perioperative routine, surgical interventions, or outcome expectations (Stirling, 2006). Contextual assessment process would examine and assess the patient's knowledge about the surgery. Thus, the assessment must include the status and quality of communication the patient has already received, the patient's possible language barrier, assessment of sufficiency of the patient's mental capacity, extent of information received by the patient regarding the surgical procedure and why it is needed. Since most of the anxiety in this phase id related to the ignorance about the details of the surgical intervention and outcome expectations, the patient's level knowledge regarding those must be assessed in simple questions, so the nurse can design a customized intervention strategy and create the baseline communication link for future interventions before the surgery following this contextual assessment. This assessment should ultimately be able to determine the patient's learning needs and based on these needs, to design an intervention to fulfill the patient's knowledge deficits a ppropriate to the etiology of it (Mitchell, 2000). The environment plays a significant role in perioperative nursing, and the operating area environment has significant impact on all such patients. The perioperative nurse also is a part of the environment, and she can indeed catalyze a positive environment that can influence the patient's anxiety. While assessing anxiety,

Chesapeake and New England Colonies Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Chesapeake and New England Colonies - Term Paper Example Chesapeake and New England Colonies Early lifestyles of native Chesapeake inhabitants were affected by both geography and climate while social structure was imbalanced, especially that they had a shorter life expectancy. When Chesapeake became a British colony, there was no difference in terms of population growth. If it did, then it would be a lower life expectancy rate than those who were native settlers. The immigrants' life span was lowered to five years compared to that of the immigrants settling in Northern colonies. This is attributed to the immigrants' lack of immunity of the place's diseases such as malaria (Foner 16). Family life is well instilled in the early Chesapeake community. Children are trained to handle the family at an early age because parents die young. It is said that when a child turns 5, there is a 50 percent chance of losing a parent, or both parents (J. Volo and D. Volo). They were taught how to deal with familial responsibility such as taking care of their brothers and sisters and doing hous ehold chores. Their strong attachment to nature also influenced the natives’ belief system. As expected, they believe in supernatural and complex gods of nature. They attribute the weather, their harvest, and other natural events in general as the gods' reaction to their doings (Mountford). For example, if there is a storm, they would assume that the gods are not pleased with what they are doing. Another region in the colonial America is the New England colonies. While Chesapeake’s settlers had been living in the place ages before the formation of New England Colonies, the latter has a greater number of populations probably because they constitute more land area than the other or active economic ventures of the place. New England colonies include Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Islands, and Connecticut. New England colonies were more improved compared to the Chesapeake region. They make use of land and aquatic agriculture and sell its products to ot her people. In the farming area however, they are not as blessed as Chesapeake of having fertile soil. Farmers are able to plant only one kind of crop because the climate is cold and the soil freezes at certain points of the year. When this time of the year comes, they would shift their means of living to fishing. Being near the Atlantic is advantageous for the people's sustenance because of abundant fish supply. Women are even part of the active economic cycle as merchants, selling home made goods such as soaps, candles and garments (â€Å"The New England†). The religious activities of the people in the New England Colonies are very formal and institutionalized. Unlike in Chesapeake, religious institutions such as the Quaker, Puritan, Baptist, Anglican, Jewish, Catholic, and Congregationalist were beginning to grow, influencing much of the social norms in that society (â€Å"Life in the 13 Colonies†). Like the Chesapeake family life, families in colonial New England a re tight-knit and interdependent to each other. Parents follow a traditional child-rearing strategy, which was to give corporal punishment for children who disobey. Children are also expected to have "unquestioned obedience" to their parents (Wright n.pag.). The Chesapeake community and the New England colonies are different in various ways especially in religion, population, and economy. With the description of their

Performance Measurement Essay Example for Free

Performance Measurement Essay Performance measurement tools have been used by many organizations or companies these days as one of their strategies in achieving success. Specifically, this tool is useful for detailed evaluation of the production process of one company, provide extensive guidance for the decision making process, and assess the performance of the company departments and individual employees. In general, measurement tools are created to give the company an easier access to a feedback system regarding its consistency in achieving their goals, and to provide them with options on how they can improve their current process. Basically, it gives companies a preview of how they are currently performing and where they might be heading. Another benefit of having a performance system is being able to better motivate the employees to do better with their jobs. However, such tool also has its consequences and the company should also be ready for it. Managers can easily monitor how their employees are doing by having a performance measurement tool. And one way for them to make their work performance consistent is by having a reward system. With this employees will really work harder with the hopes of attaining the reward. There have been many records and surveys that testified to the positive impacts of performance measurement tools to the employee work performance. In the US Municipalities, 9.6% of the respondents found the tool substantial, and 33.3% find it moderate. Moreover, these results are supported by the same survey conducted in other US counties, which gathered 31.5% of the respondents agreed to the accurate effectiveness of the performance measurement tool. In terms of its impact on employee motivation, 32-68% of the respondents agreed to its effectiveness. All these records only suggest that there are many organizational aspects that the performance measurement tool can improve. Below are some of the major points to consider to ensure that a company has a good performance measurement system are: †¢ The results should be kept clear and brief. †¢ A company has polished both its internal and external communication †¢ Employees and other stakeholders should know about the performance measurement tool. †¢ The manager should be able to establish a proper implementation of the performance measurement tool. †¢ Whatever results gained from performance measurement should be reflected with the employees’ salary, incentives, and recognition. Organizations have many ways of reflecting the results of the performance measurement results by giving them either monetary rewards, or additional off days. It is also ethical for an employee to receive a feedback directly from his or her supervisor, whether it is a positive or negative feedback. One of the most popularly used performance measurement tool is the dashboard. The most important information about the company can be found in the dashboard, such as the target and performance data reports, which can be printed out through a spreadsheet on a regular basis. This makes it easier for managers to access whatever information they need, instead of constantly waiting for someone else to give it to them. Information such as performance of the employees, organizational productivity, custom orders, and order fulfillment are some of the necessary information for managers. From this accessible information, the managers can readily make decisions for the company or with regards to any issue. Dashboards used to be highly static, meaning it is only capable of providing one preview of a data at a time. However, due to the technological advancements, dashboards are growing to be more interactive. Now, it is already possible for the users to upload their own data on the dashboard (Carr, 2008). Motorola first invented the six-sigma in 1980s, with the goal of providing better quality for the processes in various businesses, which many hug and small businesses are already using. This program is very useful in ensuring customer value and reliability. It was initially developed for quality control of businesses, but later on, companies are starting to use it to improve their communication system, thus resulting to more improved processes in companies. The major result of this is still higher quality of outputs. Apparently, the six-sigma program was developed for the sole purpose of enhancing the business processes, such as the variation reduction and financial reporting. Because of the goals, the result of the six-sigma program is well-improved customer satisfaction of most businesses. The technology behind this program is DMAIC methodology or defines, measure, analyze, improve, and control. Define stage is where the problem is identified, and then it is quantified during the measure stage. The causes of the problem are then identified during the analyze stage. Improving stage is when the problems are fixed. Finally, the control phase is putting everything in place assuring that the problem will not happen again (Six-sigma program, 2004). Perhaps, almost any type of organization has already experienced having a project fail. Any project failure can cost an organization a lot of millions. Common reasons for a failed project are cancellation and failure to complete it at the given timeline. Moreover, failure to specify project details will also lead to its failure, as well as lack of communication and project management. Finally, the major factor that leads to project failure is the lack of project measurement. It is one aspect of the project that actually sports any issue on the project and address them before the proper project kick off and implementation. These are some of the project development and implementation based on the EDA PM system: †¢ Performance measurement should be used to determine possible hindrances to a project. †¢ Project must be according to the priorities of the project. †¢ A strong project management system should be well established. †¢ It should be noted that implementation of the PM system can take a lot of time, effort, and at some point, money. Thus, a company should have the most competent staff to work on it, with the close monitoring and support of the top management. †¢ Performance measurement can also be used to easily recognize achievements from thee project. †¢ The duties and responsibilities should be clearly set for the entire phase from project planning to implementation †¢ Performance measurement will clearly identify the needs of the project. †¢ Consistency should be observed in terms of the project development and implementation with the company objectives and expected deliverables. In this method, the collect, analyze, interpret and report process in the project measurement should be identified. †¢ Business processes should include the project performance measurement in order for them to systematically collect, analyze, interpret, and report whatever is derived from the project development. †¢ Performance measurement should be objective, just, quantifiable, and results oriented, while including substantial qualitative information (Shayne, 2004). Performance measurement can have different functions: customer satisfaction, business development, employee motivation, and business process enhancement. It has been widely used as a tool to motivate employees to do better in their jobs, with the promise of incentives or rewards. Having a pool of motivated employees will eventually lead to high quality outputs. Moreover, performance measurement will allow a company to operate according to their goals, and have a way to analyze how the output of their current processes will go. It will also give the company a chance to improve certain areas, which they think are more useful in achieving their goals. Performance measurement is also a reliable tool for managers for their decision-making processes, because of its objectivity. References Carr, N. (2008). The Data Dashboard. American School Board Journal, 195(12), 42. Retrieved August 2, 2010, from Master FILE Premier database. Mausolff, C., Spence, J. (2008). Performance Measurement and Program Effectiveness: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach. International Journal of Public Administration, 31(6), 595-615. doi:10.1080/01900690701640929. Shayne, B. (2004). Performance-Measurement. Retrieved August 2, 2010, from http://www.performance-measurement.net SIX-SIGMA PROGRAM. (2004). In Encyclopedia of Health Care Management, Sage. Retrieved August 2, 2010, from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/sageeohcm/six_sigma_program

The Feminine in William Butler Yeats Poetry Essay -- Poems Women femi

The Feminine in William Butler Yeats' Poetry William Butler Yeats had a long history of involvement with women. He was deeply affected by all types of women; from love interests with Mrs. Olivia Shakespear, Maud Gonne and her adopted daughter Iseult, to a partnership and friendship with Lady Gregory, to marriage with Georgie Hyde-Lees, and finally the birth of his own daughter Anne Yeats. These relationships are reflected in his poetry on many different and multi-layered levels. The mentions of women in his work gives the readers some historical content as well as show the development of his feminine idea. As different as his many relationships with women were, so was his reflection of them in his writing. Yeats took people he knew and transformed them into images and patterns of order (Unterecker 12). In this case, it is important to notice Yeats's use of biography within his poetry. In 1889, Yeats was introduced to Maud Gonne who became a central part of his life and major theme in his work. She was an adamant Irish nationalist and a beautiful woman to Yeats. He pursued her much of his life, only to be rejected repeatedly by her. In 1894 he met Mrs. Olivia Shakespear whom he regarded as a confidant, despite their short affair. Yeats found friendship and maternal caring in Lady Gregory. "She became for him an image of aristocratic courtesy" (Untereker 14). Yeats spent time at her estate, Coole Park, and traveled often with Lady Gregory and her son Robert. He became director of Abbey Theatre with Lady Gregory in 1906. In 1911 he met George Hyde-Lees and due to the encouragement of Mrs. Shakespear and Lady Gregory he proposes. Yeats married Georgia Hyde-Lees and on February 2 4, 1919 their daughter Anne was bo... ...ess. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Jeffares, Norman A. A New Commentary on the Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1984. Keane, Patrick J. Yeats, Joyce, Ireland, and the Myth of the Devouring Female. MO: University of Missouri Press, 1988. Kline, Gloria C. The Last Courtly Lover: Yeats and the Idea of Woman. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1983. Stubbings, Diane. Anglo-Irish Modernism and the Maternal: From Yeats to Joyce. New York: Palgrave, 2000. Unterecker, John. A Reader's Guide to William Butler Yeats. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1996. Whitaker, Thomas R. Swan and Shadow: Yeats's Dialogue with History. Durham, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1964. Yeats, W.B. The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats. Ed. Richard J. Finneran. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

Agricultural Tools Essay

Farmers in Medieval times did not have tractors or farm machines as we do today. All that a farmer needed was a horse or ox, a wife and a plough. The mould-board plough was invented after the fall of the Roman empire by Slavic tribes. This complicated device was made out of metal and wood. The design allowed six or more oxen to pull the plough which was used to break up ground, or heavy, clay burdened soils. The second invention was the horse collar. The old horse tackle was useless because an animal could not use its full strength. The new horse collar did allow horses to use their full strength when pulling a plough, or heavy loads. This created a big increase in the horse population, as the horse was more versatile a beast of burden than the ox. In later years people discovered the 3 field system from trial and error. The 3 field system was the system where a field was left fallow for a couple of years, depending on the quality of the soil, while two other fields were planted with crops. Farmers would then rotate fields leaving a different field fallow so that it could rebuild its fertility.

A Comparison of the University of California Campuses