Frequent Tests as the Ways to Overcome Procrastination and Anxiety

How to Use the Internet as a Reporting Tool

How to Use the Internet as a Reporting Tool At the risk of sounding like an old fogey, let me explain what it was like to be a reporter in the days before googling was a verb. Back then, reporters were expected to find their own sources and interview them, either in person or over the phone (remember, before the internet, we didnt even have email). And if you needed background material for a story, you checked the newspapers morgue, where clips from past issues were kept in filing cabinets. Or you consulted things like encyclopedias. Nowadays, of course, thats all ancient history. With the click of a mouse or a tap on a smartphone, journalists have access to virtually unlimited amounts of information online. But the strange thing is that many of the aspiring reporters I see in my journalism classes dont seem to know how to appropriately use the internet as a reporting tool. Here are three main problems I see: Relying Too Heavily on Material From the Web This is probably the most common Internet-related reporting problem I see. I require students in my journalism courses to produce articles that are at least 500 words, and every semester a few submit stories that simply rehash information from a variety of websites. But there are at least two problems that arise from this. First, youre not doing any of your own original reporting, so youre not getting important training in conducting interviews. Second, you run the risk of committing plagiarism, the cardinal sin in journalism. Information taken from the internet should be a complement to, but not a substitute for, your own original reporting. Any time a student journalist puts his byline on an article being submitted to his professor or the student newspaper, the assumption is that the story is based mostly on his own work. By turning in something thats largely copied off the internet or not attributed properly, you are cheating yourself out of important lessons and running the risk of getting an F for plagiarism. Using the Internet Too Little Then there are students who have the opposite problem - they fail to use the internet when it could provide useful background information for their stories. Lets say a student reporter is doing an article about how rising gas prices are affecting commuters at her college. She interviews plenty of students, getting lots of anecdotal information about how the price rise impacts them. But a story like this also cries out for context and background information. For instance, what is happening in global oil markets that are causing the price increase? What is the average price of gas across the country, or in your state? Thats the kind of information that can easily be found online and would be perfectly appropriate to use. Its laudable that this reporter is relying mostly on her own interviews, but shes short-changing herself by ignoring information from the web that could make her article more well-rounded. Failing to Properly Attribute Information Taken From the Web Whether you are using online sources a lot or just a little, its crucial you always properly attribute the information you use from any website. Any data, statistics, background information or quotes that you havent gathered yourself must be credited to the website it came from. Fortunately, theres nothing complicated about proper attribution. For instance, if you are using some information taken from The New York Times, simply write something like, according to The New York Times, or The New York Times reported†¦ This introduces another issue: Which websites are reliable enough for a reporter to use, and which sites should she steer clear of? Fortunately, Ive written an article on that very topic, which you can find here. The moral of this story? The bulk of any article you do should be based on your own reporting and interviewing. But any time you are doing a story that could be improved with background information on the web, then, by all means, use such information. Just make sure to properly attribute it.

Invasion of privacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Invasion of privacy - Essay Example The article complained about the intrusion of the media into the private and domestic life and argued that gossip had become a trade, with the goal of generally informing people about other people`s intimate activities. Gradually, the courts began to recognize invasion of privacy. Today almost all the states of the U.S. recognize all four sub-torts as common law: intrusion (any form of intrusion into someone`s private space), appropriation of publicity rights (use of a person`s name, likeness or identity without consent), public disclosure of private facts and false light (publication of false, highly offensive information about an individual). We can look at this case study: Steve recently joined a church. Church doctrine required that members reveal any personal indiscretions to the leaders of the church. Steve disclosed some of his personal indiscretions to the leaders of the church. After his disclosures, these leaders informed Steve that they intended to tell other members of the church about his indiscretions because they thought the church leaders might help him overcome his problems. Steve was dismayed that this personal information might be disclosed. He told the church leaders about his intention to leave the church rather than have his problems disclosed. The church leaders informed him that their next step was to tell the members of the church, his neighbours, and his employer about his problems. In this case we can look at the sub-tort public disclosure of private facts , from the tort invasion of privacy. Steve`s personal indiscretions are true and they were consented, but they were disclosed to church members for spiritual purposes and not in order to be discussed with the other members. In no way can that information be considered newsworthy to any part of the public, and its disclosure to other church members who might help Steve overcome his problems is an entirely separate issue that

Should people in the military who are underage be allowed to drink Annotated Bibliography

Should people in the military who are underage be allowed to drink alcohol - Annotated Bibliography Example On the other hand, the opponents point out that the existing law prohibits underage drinking. Such division warrants a deeper examination of the issue from a multi-faceted approach. The US law espouses that the youth below the age of the twenty-one years should not take alcohol while serving in the military. Many states in the US have enforced the laws restrict the underage from drinking. Article XXI of the US Constitution bans the underage from possessing and consuming alcohol. Statistics indicate that heavy drinking and substance abuse is a huge problem that has plagued the military. The personnel use alcohol to relieve boredom, stress, loneliness, and lack of recreational activities. The US laws that control the underage drinking is applicable even on overseas deployments. Hence, the youths should comply with the US laws, even if the host country allows the underage use of alcohol. A good example of the application of the US law is evident at the US-Mexican border. The Mexico laws allow people less than twenty-one years to drink alcohol. However, the military ensured that the US youths did not take the alcohol by enforcing the existing laws that prohibit underage drinking. The people below the age of twenty-one years are not mature enough to exercise the responsibility of their lives. Hence, allowing the youths to drink alcohol can affect the delivery of duties in the military. The application of the law is on equal measure to all the US citizens. The laws are clear that people under the age of twenty-one years should not possess and consume alcohol. The choice to join the military does not imply that the youths are above the law. Joining the military is a choice that one makes. The fact that the youths have enlisted in the military does not mean their brains are mature enough to take alcohol responsibly. In fact, studies have shown the people under the age of twenty-one years cannot make conscious decisions. It is not advisable to

The Extraction of Aluminium Essay Example for Free

The Extraction of Aluminium Essay The metal aluminium is a very important to many of the worlds industries how ever it requires a special process called electrolysis to extract it form other metals which is commonly found with. As i mentioned aluminium is an extremely useful metal and has many uses which we depend on in our daily lifes which are any thing from packaging to being used in transportation. This means that we have to to be able to extract aluminium, as it is extremely rare to find aluminium as a free metal. In fact, it is know to combine with over 270 other metals. Extraction is a major problem for aluminium and there is no ideal solution. However there are many not so perfect solutions that are currently being practiced today. In this essay I will look into some of the limitations and benefits of the current extraction techniques. I will also look at some of the economic and environmental effects the extraction of aluminium has. When aluminium is extracted from the other metals it must go through processes called electrolysis. Aluminium is not an easy metal to extract from other metals it is found in nature with, therefore it takes a lot of electricity to extract aluminium. Because it is such an energy consuming processe researchers have found ways to cut down the energy usage by adding different compounds to the aluminium. The most common way to do this is to add molton cryolite to the molton aluminium. With adding molton cryolite to the molton aluminium alone it effectively lowers the temperature needed extract from 2000à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C to 950à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C, that is more than a 50% decrease in the required temperature 2. However due to the fact that the oxygen reacts with the carbon positive electrodes this can cause an inconvenience. When oxygen (O) reacts with carbon (C) it forms carbon dioxide (CO2). When the carbon dioxide forms it eats away the positive electrode over time. As the positive electrodes are eaten away they must be replaced on a frequent and regular basis, this is a negatieve inconvenience that further adds to the cost of producing aluminum which is already high form the large amount of energy that is needed 3. In the remainder of this essay I will look at the aluminium electrolysis plant located in Reydarfjordur, Iceland. I will look at some of the environmental and economic consequences of this plant run by Alcoa. When a new plant or factory is created it can either be good or a bad thing and have both positive and negative effects on the economy and the environnent. With this plant in Reydarfjordur it has a great effect on the economy as it brings many new jobs to this not yet developed region of Iceland. In order to build this plant it requires around 1800 temporary jobs. After the plant is in a running and stable condition it will require about 450 people on a daily basis as well as another 300 jobs that will be indirectly created 1. As jobs in the eastern Iceland or Reydarfjordur area have been steadily decreasing over time this will hopefully boost the employment rate and provide jobs for many. When extracting aluminium there is no environmentally friendly solution however many new plants, including the Alcoa plant in Reydarfjordur have much lower emissions than others that are older or less environmentally friendly. The new plan for the Alcoa plant in Reydarfjordur has significantly lower emission rates than other Alcoa plants which are all within local standards. Alcoa claims they are a large supporter of sustainable development and for this plant alone they have over 60 experts looking in to and implementing ways to preserve our environment. This new factory meets and exceeds all European Union and Icelandic emissions requirements, this is the first step to creating a sustainable plant. In fact, a recent study regarding this factory shows Alcoa factory located in Iceland had 35% lover CO2 emissions than other leading aluminum plants. As well as having lower CO2 emissions they also boast 40% less PFC emissions and a 80% lower nitrogen oxide emissions 1. Bibliography: 1. Alcoa. Acoa. 2 Feb. 2008 http://www.alcoa.com/iceland/en/info_page/reydarfjordur.asp. 2. Various. Alumiumum. Wikipedia. 1 Feb. 2008. 2 Feb. 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium. 3. Extraction of AL. BBC. 2 Feb. 2008 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/chemistry/usefulproductsrocks/electrolysisrev3.shtml.

J.C. Penney Gift Certificate Concerns :: GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

J.C. Penney Gift Certificate Concerns J.C. Penney Company, Inc. has recently introduced a new point of sale (POS) system developed by NCR Corporation into their stores. In the first six months of operation, it has become apparent that there are unanticipated problems with the accounting and control functions pertaining to gift certificates. The new POS system does not provide for adequate tracking or control of the certificates on the sales floor, store level sales audit has inadequate procedures or data capture capabilities in place to track sales accurately and assign responsibility for missing certificates, and corporate accounting has no control over the gift certificate accounting on the store level and are constantly struggling to reconcile gift certificate information. Problems on the Sales Floor At the POS terminals on the sales floor, gift certificates are being stored underneath the cash register in a drawer with no security or control. The security and control of gift certificates has been overlooked during the drafting of the procedures for the new POS system. As a result, the security and control on gift certificates on the sales floor that had been in place with the old system has simply stopped. Employees are purely on the â€Å"honor† system. When sales associates ring up a gift certificate sale they have to key 1) the appropriate twelve-digit SKU from a list of 3 choices, and 2) a dollar value for the gift certificate shown on the face. For example, SKU #1 represented the $25 gift certificate, SKU#2 represented the $50 gift certificate, and SKU #3 represented the $100 gift certificate. After the sales transaction is complete, the sales associate must manually record the dollar value of the gift certificate on their cash audit report. During times of high volume, sometimes this final step is overlooked. Typically, the cashiers are just keying SKU #1 for any gift certificate sale and keying in the appropriate dollar value from the face of the gift certificate. The SKU’s are not electronically tied to a dollar value. This is a limitation of the previous POS system that was not addressed during the testing stage of the new system. Therefore, the error rate is very high and discrepancies in gift certificate sales are common. At the close of the shift, an electronic cashier report is generated on the register that just shows a total dollar amount tied to a SKU.

Describing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

1. In two to three paragraphs, describe the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and why it is important to the accounting profession. (15 points) Sarbanes-Oxley Act was created in order to ensure that controls were implemented and monitored by the regulating authority. Congress wanted to make sure that there was a specific standard and guideline for companies to follow in order to prevent fraud at such a large scale. When followed correctly there are controls set in place that are internal which are governed by the managers and checked upon by the Federal regulatory authorities.This act was passed in 2002, prior to then the rules were more relaxed and when the crisis occurred with Enron that was a breaking point for the American people, especially those who lost a lot of money. Needless to say this just made it harder for fraud to occur. There were and still are several grey areas that the players involved exploit.2. Name and briefly describe the five components of COSO’s internal control fram ework. (10 points) The five components of COSO are as follows: a. Control Environment: Basically means that the leaders of the organization set the tone for ethics and enforce them with a code of conduct followed by consequences when not abided by. b. Risk assessment: this just means they check there controls for weaknesses regularly and fix any discrepancies with stronger controls. c. Control activities: These are segregation of duties, account reconciliations, and info processing controls. They are considered internal controls as well that protect the processes in place. d. Information and communication: The internal and external reporting process. The text book stated that it includes technology assessments as well.3. Describe the relationship between the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and COSO. (10 points) COSO is used to check in on the organizations and offer guidelines for them to follow when setting upo their controls. If all five elements are followed then they will not have much to wo rry about when auditing occurs and fraud would be less likely.4. Tom Jackson is a CPA who really likes to go to Las Vegas, play poker, and bet on football games. Tom knows that the accounting profession disapproves of gambling, but because he spends a lot of time studying sports facts and how to win at poker, he feels that he is simply making educated decisions based on facts. He says that this is no different from using accounting information to buy stocks. Use the fraud triangle as a basis to comment on Tom’s gambling activities. (15 points) In this case Tom has all of the elements in place to commit fraud. He has the opportunity because of the nature of his business.He has already decided that gambling excessively is ok because it is a calculated risk. Not realizing he is putting himself in a position where the pressure will come into place when he does lose. Debt is always looked at when being evaluated for sensitive positions that deal with national security or money inv olvement. Even if it is just a public trust clearance that the person is seeking on order to get the position they still will review your credit history at a minimum.