First Impression in Recruitment

Introduction The recruitment of new employees into the company is usually very essential to maintain a productive labor force. The process should be taken carefully because making a mistake can have serious repercussions on the company. How the process is undertaken usually reflects the culture of the institution. The process can be undertaken by the company itself or through a recruiting agency. The process usually has various steps which include application, short listing, interviewing, selecting and training which a candidate must pass through.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on First Impression in Recruitment specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More All the steps of recruitment may be affected by internal or external factors. In ensuring that the process is carried out properly, the recruitment team should have the necessary skills and experience. This paper seeks to discuss first impression as one of the factors affect ing decision making in the recruitment process. The paper outlines its positive and negative effects in regard to selection of best applicant in the short listing and interview stages. First impression When one meets someone or a group of people, the way he/she presents himself is very important. This is because most people judge other people from their first impression (Lin, 2010). First impression has influence in decision making in the recruitment process (Skowronski Ambady, 2008, p. 148). The aim is usually to ensure that one fits within the company norms or culture. The recruitment being a very important activity to a company and the candidate as well, the recruitment team should be very curious not to make any wrong judgment. Wrong judgment would lock out the best candidate for the position and select least suitable candidates which may hinder the company from achieving its goals and objectives. The first impression importance varies from one kind of job to the other. In most management systems, business and jobs involving social interaction, the candidate must give a good impression to the recruitment team as well as the customer in administering his duties once appointed for the position. In most technical jobs, it may not have much significance in the work output. First impression significance can be argued to vary according to the job in question. There are some jobs which will require one to have a striking first impression for instance job which expose the employees of a company more to their clients while other may involve working at the back office and maybe mostly lonely. There is therefore a need to ensure that when first impression is being put into consideration, the job requirements in regard should also be considered. Short listing After advertising for a given position in a company through various means, the number of applications received is usually large. The application letters usually include those people who are qualified as well as those who are not qualified. The exercise is usually intended to be fair to all the applicants.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In selecting the candidates that best suits the position that was being advertised, first the applications are considered against the job requirements (Dale, 2004, p. 125). This usually eliminates a large number of applicants although still a large number of applicants pass to the next test. To eliminate another group of people, one considers specific skills attributed to the position after which those applicants with additional skills are considered. At this stage of recruitment, the recruitment team has not yet met with the applicant and thus cannot give credit to them based on physical first impression. The only available materials from the candidate are the application letters and other testimonials in which the way they are presented give varyi ng impressions. The presentation of the applicants documents are used to create an impression of the kind of a person the applicant is. In most cases, applicants take time to create and arrange their application papers in a smart way that will present them as the best candidates for the specific job being applied for. There is a likelihood that applicants may create a good impression that what actually they are. This is the reason why interviews are followed after the short listing process so as to verify some or all the qualities that are presented in the documents. Interviewing This usually follows short listing of the candidates. The candidates usually get a chance to express themselves as well as interact with the interviewers. There are various types of interviews: telephone interview, video interview, behavioral interview, information interview, group interview and panel interview among others (Darlington Schuman, 2008). In these interviews the interaction between the intervi ewer and the interviewee may be face to face or conversational through phone. At this time the interviewee is given a chance to sell him/herself. Depending on the type of interview, the interviewer is able to get certain traits from the applicants through the first impression by using various interview methods. There are some traits which are attached to certain jobs and thus the interviewer has to ensure that they are keenly analyzed (Elearn, 2009). This helps to select the candidates who do not require intensive training so as to fit into the job specifications well. Effects of First impression on short listing and interviewing At the short listing stage there is no direct interaction between the candidates and the recruitment team. This thus denies the recruitment team a chance to shortlist without basing their consideration on first impression with the exemption of just using the impression created by the applicant’s documents. It thus avoids possible mistakes that may ar ise later to be associated with wrong judgment at short listing stage that could be based on first impression judgment.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on First Impression in Recruitment specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Carrying out an interview makes it possible to ascertain the impression created through the documents sent by the applicant. During interviews, the recruiting team is able to get some characters that may be necessary in the work conduction. In this case, making the right character selection ensures that work output will improve (Davies, 1990). For example, in the selection of a receptionist, the interaction he or she has with other people including the customer is very vital. If the interaction is good then the results are favorable but when it is bad, serious problems may arise. Thus the judgment on first impression may help in selecting the best candidate that fits well with the position being rec ruited for (Demarais White, 2006). On the other hand, there are some people who may not give the right first impression as may be expected by the recruitment team but fits very well in the job specification. It is significant that the recruitment team goes a step further to ensure that incase a candidate has a wrong first impression it is found out whether he/she really fits in the job description well (Anon, 2011). This is important because first impression can be worked on using fewer resources than for instance training a person on technical issues. This thus means that first impression may make the company to lose the best qualified worker in the interview. This kind of mistakes is usually prevalent in technical job recruitment. In these jobs, a person may not present himself very well but when given a technical interview, he performs very well. Such mistakes may lower the workforce productivity which may hinder the company from achieving its set goals and objectives (Mahoney, 2006). This is mainly because the prediction of the candidate’s performance in the job may not be directly related to his/her personality. This judgment is mainly used in behavioral interview. Thus, some judgment in the recruitment based on first impression may have serious repercussions on the company’s performance in future. To avoid the occurrence of such mistakes, more analysis which could be in the form of tests should be undertaken (Burns, 2006). The recruitment process can thus be influenced by various factors including first impression. These factors have either positive effect, negative effect or both and thus proper analysis should be undertaken so as to eliminate the possibility of adverse effects on recruitment. The effect may vary depending on the various the various recruitment methods used (Rathus Nevid, 2010). Conclusion Recruitment is an expensive and crucial activity undertaken by the company. The issue of first impression usually plays a significant role in the initial judgment of a person. The judgment may be biased and may not reflect the true character of the candidates. This thus would have negative repercussions on the company development. On the other hand one can be able to get the traits possessed by a person that are crucial for a specific job.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This thus means that there are both positive and negative attributes of first impression on the short listing and interviewing of candidates for a given job. To avoid the negative effects, the interviewer should be flexible not to make conclusions from the first impression. This is due to the fact that human beings are not at their best always. Thus successive tests should be undertaken to make sure that the best candidate is selected for the position. References Anon. (2011) New Avenues Magazine’s blog. Does Your First Impression Really  Matter? Web. Burns, D. (2009) The First 60 Seconds: Win the Job Interview Before It Begins. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Dale, M. (2004) Manager’s guide to recruitment and selection. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Darlington, J Schuman, N. (2008) The Everything Job Interview Book: All You Need to Make a Great First Impression and Land the Perfect Job. Ohio: Everything Books. Darlington, J. Schuman, N. (2008) The Everything Job Inter view Book: All You Need to Make a Great First Impression and Land the Perfect Job. New York: Cengage Learning. Davies, J. (1990) First impressions, a series of letters from France, Switzerland and Savoy. Oxford: Oxford University. Demarais, A White, V. (2005) First Impressions: What You Don’t Know About How Others See You. New York: Cengage Learning. Elearn. (2009) Recruitment and Selection. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Lin, L. (2010) Harvard magazine. Your body language and first impression. Web. Mahoney, G. (2006) Fire Department Interview Tactics. New York: Cengage Learning. Rathus, S. A. Nevid, J. S. (2010) Psychology and the Challenges of Life. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Skowronski, J. J. Ambady, N. (2008) First impressions. New York: Guilford Press. This essay on First Impression in Recruitment was written and submitted by user Louis Kent to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Problem of Work

The Problem of Work Introduction Compared to other developed countries, the United States of America has the highest number of people experiencing the problem of work-family conflict. This problem is brought about by many factors, but it is majorly caused by the long hours that most people spend working in order to cater for all their needs. The middle class income earners are the ones who are mostly affected as they have to work for extra hours or do two or more jobs in order to live a decent life.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Problem of Work-Family Imbalance in Society specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is ironical that Americans experience more work-family related conflicts compared to Japan where people are known to die due to overwork. This problem is worsened by lack of enough laws to protect the rights of those who are working and at the same time have families. An example is the lack of paid leave which make many people to opt not to have the leave and end up overworking themselves. This paper will tackle the problem of work-family imbalance using a case study and suggest the possible solutions to the problem. Formulation of the problem In the given scenario, Chris is faced by several problems that he needs to address before things get out of hand. Being a young man, he has the challenge of bringing up his son alone and catering for all his needs, i.e., financial and the parental role of being with the child and teaching the other life lessons that can only be taught by parents. Since the son is still young, Chris has to work hard to continue providing for his needs until he is able to fend for himself. Although his relatives help him take care of the son, he can not rely entirely on them because their help is occasional and he needs to have a long term solution to the problem. The mother of the son lives away from them the son visits her over the weekends. The absence of the mother in the family probably contributes to the work-family imbalance problem that Chris is facing in raising his son. The greatest problem that he is facing is how to balance his job and the family which constitutes of his son. At the online food retailer where Chris is employed, the working hours are not very regular. As a result of this, Chris is forced to adjust in order to conform to the employer’s demands. Normally, he is supposed to work for an average of eight hours, i.e., from 9a.m to 5p.m but at times, he has to work until late in the night because this is when the shop gets many customers. This is an advantage to the employer because it is the peak time of the business. At the work place, Chris has to work cautiously and do his best in order to offer quality services and pass the three tests that ‘ODACO’ uses to measure ‘performance beyond expectation’ which would earn him some extra money and a good reputation too with the employer. Meeting the set targets i n his place of work not only earns him extra money which can be used to cater for any extra needs of the son that may arise from time to time but also causes him to have a feeling of satisfaction.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For a period of time, Chris is able to manage this kind of lifestyle and everything seems to be working out in his favor but after some time, things start to change for worse. Chris has to look for a way to balance his life because neither his family nor his job is doing well. His constant worry about his son when at work and his work when with the son is a problem that needs immediate attention because everyone around him is worried that he may not be able to perform his duties at home or at work effectively. His lack of sleep and constant worry about his ineffectiveness at work and also at home may affect his health if not addressed imme diately. The meeting that Chris initiates with his manager after receiving a text message that he is not performing his assigned duties effectively is expected to help him come up with a solution to this problem. Chris is not the only one who is undergoing such work-family imbalance problems. Williams Boushey (p 1) estimate that ‘around 90 percent of American mothers and 95 percent of American fathers report work-family conflict’. Work-family imbalance is a major challenge for many working people. Most middle income earners have to spend a lot of their time working in order to earn enough to support their families. This causes conflict between the family and one’s job. The main challenge is how to be effective in both because most of the people end up failing as much as they try to. This in turn results to frustration. Families with single parents like Chris’ family are the ones that suffer most although even those with both parents are affected. In such families, the husband may opt to work during the day and the wife at night in order to raise more money. This causes disintegration within the family and there is hardly enough time for the family to spend together. It is therefore important for a lasting solution to be sought in order to reduce occurrence of such cases. Strategies to reduce work-family conflict and to increase work-family facilitation The employer should be flexible The problem of work-family conflict is a rampant one that needs serious measures to be put in place to help alleviate it. Several steps can be taken to mitigate the situation. The family-work imbalance that Chris is facing is not just a personal problem as it has been thought by some in the past. Most working parents have young children who need their attention and yet they have to offer quality services in their work place which puts them in the same position as Chris is in. Consolidated efforts by the policy makers, the employers and the employees are needed in order to curb the problem.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Problem of Work-Family Imbalance in Society specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One of the things that can be helpful to Chris is assistance from his employer who already understands his problem because Chris chooses to initiate a meeting and inform him. If only the employer would agree to be more flexible and give Chris time to cope with some of the issues that crop up from time to time, may be some of the problems that Chris is facing would be solved. The employer should be willing to allow him to some of the genuine needs that require his attention without Chris feeling like he is doing something wrong and therefore his reputation may not be good and consequently, he may end up losing his bonuses. In a family set-up, the employers should understand that there are needs which are very legitimate and especially for the middle class, where Chris seems to belong. Being a single parent, he is faced with the challenge of single-handedly providing for his son who is still young and he is also accountable to his employer who expects him to deliver quality services. This kind of help from the employer would really help in reducing the increasing levels of anxiety and other negative emotions arising from the dilemma he is facing. This also applies to all other workers who are constantly faced with emergencies which require their immediate attention but lack support from their employers. Flexibility at the places of work should be embraced by all employers in order to allow their employees to attend to legitimate needs. Paid sick-off and leave Apart prom the un-foreseen issues that arise in the course of work that call for flexibility by the employers, workers also need to be guaranteed of being away from work for a certain duration of time but still be protected and receive their pay. If this is available in the life of Chris, pr obably things will change and he will be able to meet all his responsibilities without being worried of failure. Time off should be part of the employees’ benefits so that they can have time to be with their children and also accomplish other family responsibilities like caring for their elderly or sick relatives. Employees also need time to care for a new born child who needs full time attention of their parents. Regardless of the social class that one belongs to, it is important to get time off work during which one will receive payment. This is important because workers have not been having this privilege and have ended up overworking themselves in order to cater for their needs. Although The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 gives the workers the right to some weeks off their jobs, very few people utilize it because of the need to continue working to earn enough money to cater for their needs.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The trend is similar across all social classes; although the middle and low classes are bear the greatest burden (Voydanoff, 2007). Fathers have been adversely affected because of the stigma associated with fathers taking leaves to take care of family needs like the young children as this has been seen as the role of the mothers. In the absence of the mother in the family, like Chris’ case, the father suffers most because he has no one to share the responsibility of bringing up his son with. Policies to protect workers from such laws which do not provide for paid leaves for workers should be formulated and enacted in order to ensure that workers get paid leaves and also sick-offs. If this is done, a significant amount of work related stress, which is brought about by overworking would be reduced which in turn would lead to reduced work-family conflict. If this is implemented also, workers will be aware that they can have some time away from their job to concentrate on other p ersonal issues without having to worry about where they will get their income during that period. Paid leave can be used as a time for one to be with the family and therefore this can make up for the time that one was not able to dedicate a lot of their time to the family. Formulation of policies that favor workers The existing law by The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 which provides for unpaid leave is outdated in the modern day family setting. This is because it seems not to cater for the single parents who would suffer in case they took an unpaid leave. At the time of its formulation, the law seemed to target the married people whereby the woman, who in most cases was earning lesser than her husband would take the unpaid leave while the husband continued working hence there was no much loss incurred by that kind of arrangement. According to Stebbins, (2001), with the increase in the demand for a better and decent life, which is not easily affordable, more and more people, i ncluding the women, are opting to forego the leave and concentrate on the job at the expense of the family. This has led to increased number of work-family related conflict. Chris is an example of how this arrangement has affected many single parents and hence the need for the policymakers to speed up reforms in the area of paid leave to reduce occurrence of such cases. Paid sick leave should also be accessible to every with no exclusion as is the case currently. People working in organizations with less the fifteen people are not entitled to the seven days sick off annually. It would also be helpful to the workers if they could get more benefits when working on a part time basis just as the full time workers get because this would reduce the number of people targeting the full time job market due of the benefits it attracts compared to the part time. Address discrimination at work Discrimination in the area of family responsibility has also been a challenge which needs to be addres sed to reduce cases of work-family conflict. Women who opt to take time off and care for their young children, low income workers and also fathers who shoulder the responsibility of caring for their children are some of the people that face this kind of discrimination. In Chris’ case, he could be suffering from the work-family conflict because of fear of such discrimination. Fellow employees should offer support to their colleagues who have responsibilities like Chris’ without making him feel as if they are discriminating him. There should be tolerance among the employees so that everyone can have a sense of belonging without feeling as if the rest are discriminating against them (Shelton, 2006). Affordable childcare institutions Chris can also try to bring in someone to take care of the son. This could be one of the relatives who he is comfortable with. This is because there are some of the relatives who one may be uncomfortable leaving their children under. This may include a sexually abusive or a negligent relative. According to Kelly (2011), this would help reduce the stress arising from the family and be able to concentrate more on the work without worrying about his son. In absence of this, he should consider putting his son under affordable childcare institutions. The government should help in setting up affordable institutions where children can be left during the day as their parents continue working. The government has been lax in looking into the matter of affordable childcare institutions and in the case of the existing ones; the employees there are poorly paid. This leads to poor services and in some instances very unaffordable charges in good institutions. Conclusion Chris’ case is representation of the problem that majority of the people are facing. The policymakers need to take seriously how life is like for a typical citizen and come up with measures to alleviate the problem. This would show the people that the government is concerned with the welfare and the needs of her citizens’ contrary to the belief held by many, that the government is uncaring and not concerned with the everyday struggles of its citizens. Work-family conflict cause a lot of emotional instability both at home and in the place of work leading to low output and dissatisfaction which is a key reason why it needs immediate attention. Reference List Kelly, E. L., 2011. Changing Workplaces to Reduce Work-Family Conflict. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Shelton, L. M., 2006. Female Entrepreneurs, Work–Family Conflict, and Venture Performance: New Insights into the Work–Family Interface. Journal of Small Business Management, 2006: 44(2), pp. 285–297 Stebbins, L. F., 2001. Work and family in America: a reference handbook. US: ABC-CLIO. Voydanoff, P., 2007. Work, family, and community: exploring interconnections. London: Routledge. Williams, J Boushey, H., 2011. The Three Faces of Work-Family Conflict: Th e  Poor, the Professionals, and the Missing Middle. California: University of California. Web.

Management of Occupational Health & Safety Essay

Management of Occupational Health & Safety - Essay Example The incident was caused by the night crew putting a condensate injection pump into service, that earlier in the day had been taken out of service for maintenance. Additionally, the magnitude of the disaster was multiplied since a pressure safety valve had been removed for recertification. Such non-routine work increases risk of a catastrophic accident taking place (AICE, 2007: 287). Primarily, operator errors should have been prevented. Written, standardized procedures and permits applying to the entire facility or to the equipment, are a practical necessity for effectively and consistently controlling non-routine work related to high-risk activities. This includes two-way communication through checklists or permits to authorize the work, which highlight particular hazards that might be encountered and specify appropriate safeguards. Permits for non-routine work should be issued and reviewed by a trained person. Additionally, a preventive system of maintenance department locks should be in place (AICE, 2007: 293-295, 298). Further, the offshore installation manager (OIM) at the Piper Alpha was untrained to cope with the emergency. He did not communicate or take crucial decisions to cut off oil production, block supply of gas to the pipelines from the neighbouring facility, call for helicopters for rescue work, delegate authority or alleviate stress in the men (Flin et al, 1996: 262). Engineering design of the different components in the facility was faulty, such as interdependent couplings and linkages among the components of the facility, and with neighbouring installations. Hence, there was no provision for automatic shutdown of production, or for alarm, public address, and other critical systems. The mutual proximity of control room, radio room, electric generators, diesel room, with production modules caused a chain action of component failures due to fire propagation and explosions. The design of fire protection such as

Neorealist and Neoliberal Alternatives to U.S. - Russian Security Essay

Neorealist and Neoliberal Alternatives to U.S. - Russian Security Cooperation - Essay Example While neorealism essentially believes that international political situation is inherently anarchic and the only chance of survival a state has is through striking an acceptable balance of power, neoliberalism postulates the world is a community of nations where collective security should be the goal which can be attained through rational harmonization of sovereign interests of member nations (Calhoun 2002). So, it would be in the nature of things to briefly discuss these two apparently contradictory theories, more so the conflict between them, before one delves deeper into the intricacies of mutual relations between two United States and Russia. Anarchy has very often been the starting point of many theories of international relations and the first important point of difference between these two theories is how they perceive anarchy and how they draw their conclusions from such perceptions. The problem possibly lies in having implicit assumptions regarding strategic considerations of a state that are not clearly codified but clouds clarity in drawing rational inferences. The second point of difference is the issue of absolute and relative gains of states. The issue of absolute or relative gains is inextricably intertwined with strategic environment of a particular state and the extent of absolute or relative gains is measured by a particular state against the backdrop of the strategic environment in which it is located.

The History And Principles Of Lexicography

The History And Principles Of Lexicography Lexicography is separated into two types: Practical lexicography is the ability of accumulating, writing and editing dictionaries. The study or description of the vocabulary of a particular language, and the meaning that associates certain words to others in a dictionary, is recognized as Theotrical Lexicography. Theotrical Lexicography is particularly concerned with developing theories concerning the structural and semantic associations among words in the dictionary. As it involves theotrical analysis of the lexicon, Theotrical Lexicography is also identified as Metalexicography To gain a better understanding of lexicography, we should be familiar with lexicons. Lexicon is an expression used in linguistics to point out the archive of lexemes. Lexemes are abstract, smallest components in a language that connect interrelated forms of a word together. Lexemes, then, make up a lexicon which is the compilation of word meanings in a specified language. In a dictionary, the lexemes, sometimes loosely referred to as word stems, are given first and followed by variations of the base word. The lexicon also deals with semantics which is a field of linguistics. In addition to providing data on the morphology and semantics of a lexeme, the dictionary in addition offers structural information concerning the origin of the word, and chronological information about the development of the word into its present-day form. This is recognized as etymology. Lexicology took form to meet the demands of many diverse branches of applied linguistics. Its significance is that assists to motivate a systematic approach to the facts of vocabulary and an organised judgment of the foreign and native language. It is mainly helpful in building up the learners terminology by a useful selection, grouping and study of new words. The English Dictionary has not been created by a single man and not in one age. It has gradually developed through the ages. In the seventh and eighth centuries, Latin was the only language of books in Western Europe. Then, the education of Latin was the doorway to all the knowledge. Right about that time, a carrier of a Latin book came across difficult words which were not well known in Latin vocabulary. Upon discovering the meanings, he used to write them over the original text in easier Latin or a word in his own dialect. A Word written in such manner is called a gloss. Many examples of glosses have been found in old Latin texts. Professor Napier collected all the unpublished glosses. An assortment of glosses which was copied and put together into a single list comprised a Glossarium or Glossary; it was the distant forerunner of the seventeenth-century Table Alphabetical, or Expositor of Hard Words. In cooperation grammar and vocables were most likely communicated by oral teaching, and were passed down by speech from generation to generation. Records of vocables, with their meaning were sometimes preserved down in a paper or parchment leaves and a compilation of these composed a Vocabularium or Vocabulary.  [1]   The Vocabulary and the Glossary satisfied alike offices and so they were frequently united. When these documents were copied and re-copied, it was observed that their effectiveness can be improved by putting the words and phrases into alphabetical order, all the words with the same first letter was brought together. All the words beginning with A were extracted, then with B and so on. This is known as the first letter order. Another scribe sometime later selected the A words that began with Aa, Ab and so on. Now the vocabulary was to the extent of the second letter of each word. All these stages can be noticed in four of the earliest glossaries of English origin as the Leiden, the Epinal, the Erfurt, and the Corpus. The Leiden Glossary corresponds to the initial phase of such a work. Epinal Glossary, which uses part at least of the materials of the Leiden, adding in with them many others. This glossary has sophisticated to first-letter order. The third stage is characterized by the Corpus Glossary where the alphabetical arrangement second letters order. The MS. of the Corpus Glossary dates to the early part of the eighth century. The Leiden was created between 600 and 700 A.D. a lot of vocabularies were brought together between this time frame and the eleventh century. It is obvious that as time went by, these glossaries and vocabularies became more and it is noteworthy that those ancient glossaries and vocabularies not only became fuller and more systematic and more English. At first glosses were used to explain hard Latin words by easier Latin words. If an easier word was not known then the explanation was in Old English. In the Epinal Glossary the English words are therefore comparatively in a small amount. In the Corpus Glossary, and the glossaries that follow, the Latin explanations have become more eradicated and restored by English ones. In the tenth and eleventh centuries vocabularies were Latin-English. During the sixteenth century there were accumulated and published many important Latin-English and English-Latin vocabularies and dictionaries. In 1747, five or six London booksellers contracted with Johnson to create the preferred standard dictionary. From the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the lexicographical superiority of Johnsons Dictionary was undoubted. Noah Webster and Dr. Charles Richardson contributed independent works towards the development of lexicology. Noah Webster believed that America must have a dictionary of its own form of English. Richardson believed that definitions are unnecessary in a dictionar y, that quotations only are enough. He created a dictionary without definitions, but he exemplified each group of words by a large series of quotations. In the middle of the nineteenth century, Dr. Trench, then Dean of Westminster, called upon the Philological Society to take on the compilation of resources to complete the work already done by Bailey, Johnson, Todd, Webster, Richardson, and others, and to prepare a supplement to all the dictionaries, which must catalog all absent words and senses, and provide all the chronological information in which these works were deficient. From this urge the movement started which has concluded in the preparation of the Oxford English Dictionary, A new English Dictionary on Historical Principles, founded mainly on the materials collected by the Philological Society. Since then several large dictionaries have been accumulated.  [2]   3 What is the difference between a dictionary and an encyclopedia  [ ·]  ? The main differences between a dictionary and an encyclopaedia are that a dictionary makes definitions of words available for us, which are arranged alphabetically, gives information on how to pronounce the word, lexicons. Whereas an encyclopaedia is a set of books that contain articles on different subjects in alphabetical order. If we look at an example of the word table. The dictionary gives us different meanings of this word with sentences. When we look at an encyclopaedia for the same word, we get a range of articles that are related to the specific word with detailed information and even pictures. What jobs should dictionaries do? The following are some of the main jobs that dictionaries do: look up the meaning of an English word find the English translation of a word in your language check the spelling of a word check the plural of a noun or past tense of a verb find out other grammatical information about a word find the synonym or antonym of a word look up the collocations of a word check the part of speech of a word find out how to say a word find out about the register of a word find examples of the use of a word in natural language Dictionaries are used by people of different professions to help them at work. Below are some examples: Teacher: The dictionary means that the teacher is not required to investigate each word to find out if each of the students is able to recognise the use of this word in the specific circumstance. The skill to make use of a somewhat more highly developed vocabulary without risk strengthens this vocabulary for people who are familiar with it and to let others rapidly get hold of the vocabulary, giving them the self-assurance to take on more difficult texts. Additional, by presenting more than a few senses, the process of choosing the accurate one commences the cognitive course of disambiguation that the person who reads even having a superior vocabulary requiures to obtain. Out of all the likely meanings, the learner ought to single out the accurate one, therefore moving from a lexical to a semantic understanding of the term inside the text. Student: A thesaurus is a great tool if writing an essay. Teachers have a preference to writing where vocabulary is varied. Synonyms and related terms can be used for a particular meaning of the word. English learners: A dictionary is a great companion to prolong a diminutive vocabulary. If you find a word that you are not aware the meaning of, use of a dictionary will assist in defining that word and by providing examples of its usage in a sentence. When you are trying to find a word, you also get a chance to learn other new words which are related to that word. The word might contain more than a few meanings. The more you teach English, the larger the number of resulting meanings you desire to search for. These are frequently in sequence to how often the sense is used. The more your are improved in your English, the more senses you would like to become well-known with. This will keep away from confusion in the future as you start reading more difficult documents. It is also helpful to look for for synonyms whilst you are there. Looking up synonyms is a excellent way of authenticating that you have in fact understood the word. Are the synonyms listed by the dictionary the same in a sentence with the word you are looking up? If not, you might have the incorrect sense of the word. Another great tool for learning is related terms. You can look up additional universal or more definite terms. Looking up more general terms is great for reading; it helps better understand the word but letting look at words that have somewhat different meanings and understanding why they are not synonyms. An additional way of using a dictionary is to understand a term into your language. Learning another language: An online dictionary is great for people who are learning a new language. If you dont know a language at all, then you have probably tried one of the many online translators; these translators translate a page of a foreign language into English. You will not need to translate the matter if you have even a little understanding of that language. You can use a dictionary to find out the meanings of words that you are not familiar with. When writing: A dictionary is an important tool for writers. This is because they have to be certain that the words are spelled correctly. An automatic spell checker will not give you the same results as a dictionary would. Editors will always tell you to differ your vocabulary. You can look up in the thesaurus to find similar words to the ones you wish to use. 4 5 Consider more recent developments in modelling lexical meaning such as network representations. A Data-graphical Model of the Linguistic Sign. The triangle is the vital graphical formula of the sign. The semantic triangle is the first graphic model of the sign. This triangle imitates the proposition which has been acknowledged since the Middle Ages, that the form of a linguistic expression (Symbol) denotes the thing (Referent) by virtue of understanding (Thought). This is the logical triangle by the German logician and mathematician G. Frege. In this triangle, the graphical image separates and brings together denotation (Bedeutung), concept (Sinn), and sign (Form). The British linguist John Lyons in his model articulated the temperament of the word (Word) more accurately as a double-sided entity. He associates the meaning of a word with the concept (Concept) linked to the form of the word (Sing) in the minds of the speakers, thus continuing the medieval tradition. All the models considered above are semantic models, since they are associated only with the semantic dimension of semiotics. 6 The value of this idea is that the meaning of a word is formed as an autonomous unit belonging to the system, and not identified either with concept (Concept) or with a thing (Referent). Ferdinand de Saussure, the eminent twentieth-century Swiss linguist, warranted the sign character of language in his theory. The study of language as a system of signs articulating ideas holds an important place in his linguistic origin. For Saussure, the linguistic sign is the signifier. In this model by Novikov, the triangle is replaced by a trapezoid and distinguishes the scientific notion of an object and lexical meaning of a word which calls this object, and also distinguishes the internal sign and the external sign. The lexical meaning depends upon objective reality, thought (idea of an object), and the language system, which is reflected in the scheme as its relationship to the subject, scientific notion, and sign. Lexical meaning comprises of different characteristics, which are interrelated and work together among themselves. L.A. Novikov differentiates here the significative meaning, the structural, which in turn is subdivided into syntagmatic and paradigmatic, emotive, and denotative. Novikov projected however another model, which produces all the kinds of relationships that shape the structure of the sign: semantic, syntactic, pragmatic and sygmatic. Below is a modification of this model.

The Double Helix Essay -- Double Helix Essays

The Double Helix    "The discovery of the structure by Crick and Watson, with all its biological implications, has been one of the major scientific events of this century." (Bragg, The Double Helix, p1) In the story of The Double Helix, James Watson tells of the road that led to the discovery of life's basic building block-DNA. This autobiography gives insight into science and the workings within a professional research laboratory that few members of society will ever be able to experience. It also gives the reader an idea of the reality of life for one scientist and how he struggled with the problem of DNA. However, the author's style is marked by his lack of objectivity and inclusion of many biased opinions and personal prejudices.    One example of this ongoing subjective style can be seen in Watson's writing on women, particularly in his dealings with Rosalind Franklin. The fact that Watson believes that all women are good for is pleasure and keeping house can be seen in the word choice and style of several passages throughout The Double Helix. These passages' subjects include Rosalind Franklin's appearance, appeal, and acceptance of the double helix model and concept.    In the first several chapters of The Double Helix, James Watson gives detailed descriptions of the places and people who were of some importance in this charade of science. Watson wrote of his personal history and of how he arrived at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. In this laboratory was a yet-unknown thirty-five year old man named Frances Crick . When Watson joined the team at Cavendish it was to help continue studies on the structure of proteins. Some of the people in the lab that Watson mentioned were Sir Lawr... ...be shed. In comparing several passages written about Rosalind Franklin, it can be seen that Watson carried a certain style and pre-determined opinion of women and their place in society. In the first passage written about Rosy's appearance, Watson criticizes her choice of dress and then tries to blame her family for the way she turned out. The second passage dealt with Rosy as a presenter and her appeal to the audience, particularly Watson. In the final passage, Watson is shocked to find that Rosy can be rational and was not always being outrageous. By examining the amount of objective and subjective material in three of Watson's passages, it is viable that his style can be fingerprinted by his lack of objectivity and by his splashing of personal opinions.    Works Cited Watson, James. The Double Helix. WW Norton & Company, New York London. 1980.

Eschools as Organisations Post 16 Options for Young People and Adults Essay

1. 2 Explain the post 16 options for young people and adults: – Once a young person has reached year 11 there are a number of choices to make about their future, this could be choosing a new course at school or college or entering employment and training. These options will give them a good base on building a future career. Post 16:- Continue in full time education either sixth form or at a local college. Depending on their results they can choose from the list below:- Post 17:- If they have just completed a one-year course, following Year 12, they may decide to continue their studies full time or look for jobs and training:- Post 18:- Following Year 13, they will have a number of choices to make about their future. They may decide to continue their studies full time or look for jobs or training. List of options for post 16, 17 and 18. Course at entry level- Entry level courses do not require any exam passes and usually take one or two years to complete, a course at this level is an – Entry Level Certificate. Course at Level 1(foundation Level) – Foundation level courses do not usually require any exam passes. Depending on which course they do it usually takes either one or two years to complete. Examples of courses at this level are: -Introductory Certificates/Diplomas -National First Award (level 1) -National certificate/Award (level 1) -GCSEs -NVQ Level 1 Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification (foundation Level) All foundation Level courses can lead to higher level courses or work and training. Courses at level 2 (intermediate level) – Intermediate Level courses may require two or three passes at grades D–G and they usually take two years to complete. Examples of courses at this level are: – GCSEs – First Certificates/Diplomas – National Certificates/Awards (Level 2) – NVQ Level 2 – Foundation Apprenticeship – Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification (Intermediate) All Intermediate Level courses can lead to higher level course or jobs with training. (Providing they get the grades required). Courses at level 3 (advanced level) Four or five GCSEs at grades A*- C or equivalents are usually required for entry. Depending on the type of course, they generally take either one or two years to complete. Examples of courses at this level are: – AS/A levels, including applied A levels – National Diploma – International Baccalaureate – Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification (Advanced) †¢ NVQ Level 3 – Apprenticeship. All Advanced Level courses can lead to higher education or jobs and training (providing they get the grades required in the appropriate subjects). Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification:- The Welsh Bac is now becoming available to more learners throughout Wales in schools, colleges and work-based settings. It allows for more flexibility in their studies. They will also develop skills and learning styles that prepare you for further and higher education, as well as the world of work. The Welsh Bac consists of two parts: Core – consisting of five components: – An Individual Investigation (which is like a project) into a subject of their own choice. – Wales, Europe and the World – Key Skills – Work-related education – Personal and social education. Options – where they choose from course/programmes that are currently offered, for example: – GCSE – AS/A levels – VCE (Vocational A levels) – NVQ – BTEC – OCR-*- New Principal Learning and Project Qualification will also be available as option within the Welsh Bac. Apprenticeships: Apprenticeships bring them formal qualifications and highly specific work skills. They must be employed so they will be earning while they learn. They can also use Apprenticeship as a stepping stone to higher qualifications. As an Apprentice, their skills and role are respected, many top managers started out by learning a trade and understanding how the organisation works from the ground up. To gain access to an apprenticeship applicants would need: — Four or five GCSEs at grade C or above are usually needed. – They’d be paid while they learn the skills that employers are looking for. – They’d gain an NVQ Level 3 qualification as an Apprentice or a Level 2 qualification as a foundation Apprentice. Higher Apprenticeships are also available at a Level 4 or above. Traineeships: If the student was leaving school or college a Traineeship could help them get the skills needed to get a job or progress to further learning at a higher level, for example Apprenticeships or further education. In most cases they can start on a Traineeship at any point during the year and they don’t need any formal qualifications to access the programme. There are different levels of Traineeship. (Post 18) †¢ Engagement: If they are finding it difficult to find the right job, get into work or develop their skills and learning, this level will help prepare them for the world of work or full time learning. This level can include work placements, community projects or training. Level 1: If they know what career they want to follow and are ready for full-time learning at Level 1, this level will allow them to progress their skills further in their chosen subject and can also include work placements and community projects. If they have successfully completed a Level 1 and are still out of work, they maybe eligible to start learning at Level 2. Voluntary work: As well as doing something worthwhile and rewarding in its own right, voluntary work can also be a good way of gaining skills and experience, especially if they don’t find a job or training right away. It also looks good on a CV. Youth Gateway: If they need some extra help and support before applying for a course, job or training, Youth Gateway is a short programme run by Careers Wales to help them with identifying and developing skills, job search, making applications and choosing suitable courses. Information on this can found at the local Careers Wales Centre. Direct. Gov [15 April 2012] www. education. gov. uk [1 April 2012 wales. gov. uk [ 1 April 2012].