Tag: Academic writing

Christine has a good life. To find out why, complete these sentences. Follow the model.QuestionsModèle
Christine / avoir / trois enfants (beau)
Example answerChristine a trois beaux enfants.End example answer
Ses voisins / être (poli)
Elle / avoir / des chiens (bon)
Sa (
Her
) secrétaire / être / une fille (jeune/intellectuel)
Elle / avoir / des collègues (amusant)
Son mari / être / un homme (beau)
Christine / être / une femme (heureux)
Ses (
Her
) filles / être / des étudiantes (sérieux)
Son (
Her
) mari / avoir / un travail (bon)
Elle / habiter / dans un appartement (nouveau)
Elle / avoir / des amis (sympathique)

Last Saturday, my grandfather and I spent some time in the modern section of the art museum. Our visit was completely (31) We’d come to see a show of mature photographs and wandered into the wrong room. Instead of leaving, Grandfather just stood there, staring at the paintings. His ideas of worthwhile art is the soft-focus photography on greeting cards, and here was an exhibit of angry paintings by political (32) S. In one painting, an empty plate and a plate piled high with food had been (33) (e)d on a table; the tablecloth that was an American flag. Around this painting was a golden frame that had been (34) (ejd with tiny plastic models of hot dogs, apple pies, and other typical American foods. There was nothing (35) about the message-it was crystal-clear. The artist was saying that some people in this country don’t have enough to eat. After a few moments of stunned silence, my grandfather jolted the sleepy-looking

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
The only way to tell whether something is real is to see if it works for you. Is this a legitimate principle?
In 1977, Maria Rubio of Lake Arthur, New Mexico, was cooking tor- tillas in her kitchen. One of them had a burn mark that resembled a human face. She concluded that it was an image of Jesus Christ, and, after the word got out, 600 to 1,000 people a day visited the shrine to the tortilla that she set up in her home. The Bible does not contain any detailed descriptions of Jesus’ physical appearance. Is Mrs. Rubio justified in believing that the face she sees in the tortilla is the face of Jesus? Why or why not?
In a random survey, if people were asked whether one is more likely to die from asthma or a tornado, what do you think the majority would say? Why?
Jane wants to buy a new car and is deciding between a Mazda and a Toyota. The most important factor in her decision is reliability. Consumer surveys indicate that the Toyota is more reliable. But her Uncle Joe owns a Toyota, and it has given him nothing but trouble. So she buys the Mazda. Is Jane’s conclusion reasonable? Why or why not?

Which represents the best way to compose experience statements?
?      a.Responsible for inputting data for more than 35 accounts into QuickBooks
?      Experienced with creating monthly billing statements to mail to customers
?      As receptionist, I answered customer billing questions, wrote e-mails to vendors
?      b.Input 35+ accounts receivable using QuickBooks
?      Prepared monthly billing statements and mailed them to customers
?      Answered phones in busy office, referred customer billing questions to appropriate staff, and wrote e-mails to vendors
?      c.Used QuickBooks to input accounts recievable
?      Prepare monthly billing statements for customers
?      Conducted general office duties such as phone inquiries, referring customers to proper staff, and I also wrote e-mails to vendors

A holacracy is a style of governance based on
A) profit margins, which involves employees being promoted based on their contribution to a company’s profitability.
B) individual autonomy, which involves equal say for all employees and evaluations by peers.
C) top-down management, which involves managers having more authority than other employees.
D) popularity, which involves employees voting for who will be their manager every year.

CASE 1: The Promising Chemist Who Buried his Results
Bruce, a research chemist for a major petro-chemical company, wrote a dense report about some new compounds he had synthesized in the laboratory from oil-refining by-products. The bulk of the report consisted of tables listing their chemical and physical properties, diagrams of their molecular structure, chemical formulas and computer printouts of toxicity tests. Buried at the end of the report was a casual speculation that one of the compounds might be a particularly effective insecticide.
Seven years later, the same oil company launched a major research program to find more effective but environmentally safe insecticides. After six months of research, someone uncovered Bruce’s report and his toxicity tests. A few hours of further testing confirmed that one of Bruce’s compounds was the safe, economical insecticide they had been looking for.
Bruce had since left the company, because he felt that the importance of his research was not being appreciated.
Define the rhetorical situation: Who is communicating to whom about what, how and why? What was the goal of the communication in each case?
Identify the communication problem (poor task or audience analysis? Use of inappropriate language or style? Poor organization or formatting of information? Other?)
Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.
Identify possible solutions or strategies that would have prevented the problem, and what benefits would be derived from implementing solutions or preventing the problem.

Directions:
Read the following statements carefully. Decide if each statement is true or false. Write T on the blank if the statement is true, if false, write F then rewrite or revise it to make it correct. Use the space provided after each statement.
______1. Anyone who is a proficient speaker of a language will find communicating across cultures easy.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
______2. Our emotions do not matter whenever we communicate with others.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
______3. There is no such thing as the right culture or a wrong culture.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
F   4. All cultures have the same way of thinking about time.
Other cultures have different way of thinking about time.
Not all cultures have the same way of thinking about time.
___T___5. Communicating across cultures happens in one’s own country because of the diverse domestic workforce of many companies today

Read the “Legal research the Sushi Memo ARTICLE” shown below,  you are required to answer the following questions.
Explain why many people may think this memo is a joke.
Did the writer choose the best delivery channel for this message? (Explain your answer, do not just say yes or no)
When would you use a memo to deliver the sushi option message?
Legal research the Sushi Memo ARTICLE
The memo has footnotes. It has exhibits. It is crisp and professional and is written on stationery of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, one of New York’s elite law firms. Indeed, it is the hottest law firm memo around town, but it is not about Enron, Tyco or any corporate scandal. It was not even written by a lawyer.
It is the sushi memo, and here is its story.
A Paul Weiss partner, Kelley D. Parker, apparently received a subpar order of takeout sushi. So, according to the memo, she asked a paralegal to research local sushi restaurants. The paralegal took to the task aggressively, interviewing lawyers and staff members at the firm, reading online and Zagat Survey reviews, and producing a three-page opus with eight footnotes and two exhibits (two sets of menus). The memo concludes by expressing the hope that Ms. Parker will now be able to choose ”the restaurant from which your dinner will be ordered on a going-forward basis.”
The memo was written more than three months ago, and its studiously formal language suggests it could be a parody. Regardless, it is making the rounds of New York law firms and Web sites like Gawker.com, circulated by associates and paralegals eager to expose what they see as the capricious and demanding behavior of partners. Some believe it illustrates the climate of a large law firm for many paralegals, who may feel compelled to give every assignment the single-minded vigor of a filing in a capital case, even if they are only helping to find some particularly fresh raw tuna.
”This is what people fear,” said an associate at another law firm, speaking generally and anonymously out of fear of partner retribution. ”It’s some sense of arbitrary, dictatorial relationship that we all fear goes on between bosses and their underlings. People really do make people do these things.”
Neither Ms. Parker nor Kimberly Arena, the paralegal, returned phone calls seeking comment. Jason Schaefer, a junior lawyer at the firm whose name is also on the memo, declined to comment and hung up the phone for emphasis. In fact, no one at Paul Weiss, whose Midtown offices are surrounded by sushi restaurants, wanted to discuss the memo, making it hard to figure out if it is serious.
The memo is well sourced, repeatedly citing ZagatSurvey restaurant reviews. It seems to include useful information, claiming, for example, that Monday is the worst day to order sushi because fresh fish is usually delivered on Tuesday.
”This paralegal probably felt that it was very important for him or her to do as  good a job on this assignment as on any other,” said David Wilkins, director of the program on the legal profession at Harvard Law School.
”The real question,” he added later, ”is where did the paralegal bill his or her time?”
Law firms can charge more than $100 an hour for a paralegal’s time, and paralegals generally must account for all their working hours. That means that either a client paid for the time it took to prepare the memo, or the billable hours spent on the memo were lost to the firm.
”The partners at the firm might have something to say about whether that was a very good use of the paralegal’s time,” Mr. Wilkins said.
While the law firm would not address any other questions about the memo, a spokeswoman did respond to this one. She said that no client of Paul Weiss was billed for the time spent writing the sushi memo.

Friendships have all of the following characteristics EXCEPT:
a. Friends are usually peers
b. Friendships are involuntary
c. Friendships have a lifespan
d. Friendships are governed by rules
2. Committed relationships require intimacy which takes time to build.
a. True
b. False
3. Feminine communication relies on expressive talk that builds relationships and masculine communication relies on instrumental talk that solves problems.
a. True
b. False

“Lather and Nothing Else”
Discussion Questions:
answers to these questions (all parts). There is NO RIGHT ANSWER.
1. The narrator frequently refers to himself as a professional:
“I would have to shave his beard just like any other, carefully, neatly…”
“…I was a conscientious barber, proud of the way I did my job”
“…for I am a painstaking barber”
“A good barber like myself stakes his reputation on not permitting [bleeding] to happen to any of his customers”
“I am a good barber, the best in this town, and I say this in all modesty”
“You came in to be shaved. And I work honorably”
What is the purpose of these references to his professionalism as a barber?
How would the story be different if they weren’t included?
2. After explaining his own professionalism and noting that he is Captain Torres’ enemy, the narrator admits, “So it was going to be very difficult to explain how it was that I had him in my hands and then let him go in peace, alive, clean-shaven.”
To whom would it be difficult to explain that Torres left his barber shop, alive and shaved? Why?
3. Why do you think the author included this line?: “A little more lather here under the chin, on the Adam’s apple, right near the great vein.”
Does the specific language, such as “on the Adam’s apple,” do more than just paint a picture? What other purpose might it serve?
4. Describe the moral dilemma that the narrator faces. How does his mindset change over the course of the story? Include at least 2 examples from the text in your description.
5. Why do you think the narrator chose not to kill Captain Torres? Which of the arguments in his head do you think convinced him not to kill Torres?
6. At the end of the story, Torres admits that he came to the narrator to find out if he would kill the Captain after “they” told him that the barber would kill him. What purpose does that serve in the story? How does it alter your perception of the narrator’s moral dilemma?
7. If the narrator killed Captain Torres, would you consider the narrator a murderer or a hero? Both? One more than the other? Why?
8 at least 1 discussion question of your own