Social and Political Issues Under Consideration - Intellect and vision

"War on Terrorism" or " Divide and Rule"

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 17:11:00 +0000

A common person who thinks about the situation of Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey and Yemen he describes it in a sentence " It is a game of America."More specifically we can say it as a 'game of divide and rule' in the name of 'war on terrorism.'No matter how hard it sounds or how strange it feels but there are reason to believe this sentence. It has developed over the past some years taking into account American policies towards Muslim world and other countries. Lets take a look at some factors which support this claim.

Eye Opening Facts about War on Terror:

Soon after nine eleven USA started its campaigns of Afghanistan and Iraq. Afghanistan was under the control of Taliban which lost the government after some day. They decided to start a guerrilla warfare. In Iraq situation was different as there was Saddam Hussein. His government also fell soon after.

There were some forces which replaced the already established system of government. In Afghanistan Hamid Karzai made his government. While in Iraq a new government was formed. Both of these governments were established by Muslims backed by United States and its allies. It is to be noted that governments replaced and established were Muslims. In Afghanistan Taliban became a major opposition while in Iraq Al-Qaeda Became a major opposition.

War on Terrorism Failure

Both of these incidents arose serious questions in the minds of common people. They were confused who were the real muslims? They were living under a government which was backed by USA but was Muslim. However this situation was eased when many incidents took place. Suicide bombing and other attacks started harassing people. It made people think about who was the real enemy. They started thinking about their own safety.

The Long War on Terror

Arrival of ISIS was another major breakthrough. It was an organization which had arisen to establish an Islamic state in the areas on Iraq and Syria. Its rise was sudden and shocked the world. It started targeting common people. However it made easy for people to reach at a decision"who are the real Muslims?"Muslim soon started taking them as terrorists and the already fighting mujaheddin also got negative fame. It was a situation which was strange for many peoples and still is.

Terrorism and Conspiracy Theories

There are some questions which need to be answered in order to take situation in full account. What triggered the rise of ISIS when there were many other organization working for the cause of jihad? What did they started a full fledged war? Why did they not attack Israel? Who provide ISIS war equipment? If Al-Qaeda is said to have links with USA then what was the need for ISIS? Why did america supported SEisi in Egypt despite its democratic claims? These are some of the questions which come into mind when we look at all the salutation from a rational perspective.

What is Brexit? | All You Need To Know

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 16:44:00 +0000

Brexit is a common topic of discussion nowadays. It has grabbed attention from all over the world. Many people are being affected by Brexit and many are in confusion about its true meaning. There are others who want to know about its consequences. Lets try to find answer of the question "What is Brexit?"What are consequences of brexit?

What is European Union?

European Union is an economic and political partnership involving 28 countries. It was established after world war two to foster economic cooperation. The idea was that countries which trade together are unlikely to go to war with each other. It has an estimated population of 508 million.

What does Brexit mean?

Brexit is used in short for “Britain Exit”. It is referred to the referendum in which Britain people voted in favor of leaving Europe on June 23.

What happens to UK citizens working in the EU?

Britain exit has left many questions about the future of that region. There are questions related to the Britain relationships with its neighboring countries and their countries.

It is the kind of deal which will decide about UK citizens. If they go too far EU citizens would have to apply for visa to work.

Brexit explained in this two minutes video

Brexit Consequences

There BREXIT sent world markets into shock. After the referendum Pound fell to its lowest level after 1985.

There is still some confusion about what will happen to UK economy, because it will make some new agreements with some countries.

Pro EU people had claimed that it will be a disaster for Britain economy to leave EU. But Pro Exit were hopeful about the future of Britain.

Voices for Scotland referendum are rising.

What will happen next? It is uncertain.

What is Brexit and what is going to happen now that Britain has voted to LEAVE the EU?

Some Pakistanis and Indian Culture

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 14:10:00 +0000

Many efforts are underway for a mutual culture between Pakistan and India to achieve certain objectives. Some of these objectives include promoting a common culture for people. In this way people can find similarity and they can move on other fronts. It is what we are seeing on our TV channels . Nearly every entertainment TV channel contains news of Bollywood. Singing and dancing are being promoted to create some common.

Who is going to benefit from it? It is that 8% faction of Pakistani population who thinks that we have been drawn in the wrong direction.

The Dreamer

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 10:08:00 +0000

It is not going to do anything in this regard as it seems contrary to the reality. It can be said as true but it is not seeming as it is.He thinks that it is possible but the circumstances are depicting it the other side.There are hurdles , pitfalls and barriers. .IT seems undo able .

10 inspiring Quotes for Students

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 17:25:00 +0000

Students have precious time to study which can do well for their own life. They have to do it well other wise it is possible that they can lose motivation. To keep themselves motivated there are some guidelines. However here are some of the quotes which can inspire students to take action especially in they days of exams.

“Learning is like rowing upstream, not to advance is to drop back.”

- Chinese Proverb

" The expert in anything was once a beginner."

-Helen Hayes

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow."

– Albert Einstein

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”

-Mark Twain

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

-Thomas A. Edison

“Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.”

- C.S. Lewis

"Good things come to those who wait… greater things come to those who get off their ass and do anything to make it happen."

- Anonymous

"There is no substitute for hard work."

- Thomas Edison

“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.”

- William Butler Yeats

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

- Winston Churchill

Why pakistan should not follow west in the fields of life

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 07:10:00 +0000

We are seeing a lot of different changes Pakistan is going through after the start of war on terror. This war has changed status-quo. At one front it has a milliliter aspect while on the other hand it has something like a change in the thoughts of Pakistani people. It has enforced a need to do something in order to move forward.

Entertainment Industry:

It is an major industry of Pakistan. It is related to provide people of Pakistan a way to enjoy after they come home of a busy day. It provides a way to promote culture and also provide somethings like a thing.

Promotion of values and culture which is very common in Pakistan is a good way to kick-start entertainment industry. There are some aspects which can be done in a good way to promote this. This needs to come on the spot . It can provide other ways to enjoy people and a love for culture can also be cultivated. It has an important effect on the lives of people.

Sports:

Sports are a good way to be health and strong. It is a way to enjoy. Sports are very good for health. However it is good to take full advantage of sports. Wrestling is an old sport in the region of Pakistan. It needs the attention of government. It can be a good way to spend energy.

What can be done in Pakistan? Pakistan can do a lot by promoting and motivating people to participate in sports which belong to this land or those who are good for the survival of society. It can be clearly seen that technological advancements have introduced other ways enjoy free time and leisure. It is better to find a mid way around these both the ways. Health should be a top priority for government.

Educational System:

Educational system of a country plays a vital role in the socialization of the members of the society. It can have long ranging effects. It can have be a good for the society. When we look at the status of education in Pakistan we can take a lot of things into consideration . We need to determine what education is with a special reference to the cultural , and religious background of Pakistan. Some people are not in favor of modern education while a few are not in favor of religious education. This situation has challenges for education sector in Pakistan. Pakistan need to focus on its education infrastructure. It is looking that government is willing to promote those subjects more which are good for those people out of this country(western countries).

We need to build a bridge between the science education and religion education. People should consider the importance of modern sciences but they should not ignore those subjects which teach us values and culture of our society. From the very start it is important to do something which is necessary for all the people. People should acknowledge the importance of modern education because without modern education we can be held back. People should be taught about the way Islam stresses on education.

There are different levels in education. Primary education is very important . It starts from the very early followed by higher education. Some education websites can also help to promote education among society.

Defense System:

Defense system of Pakistan is very important for the national solidarity. It has a lot of importance for the people of Pakistan. It is better to be self fulfilled for defense capabilities. But there are some challenges which needs to be well understood.

Defense capability is very important to develop. Country should not just consider India, it should consider other major armies of the world. It is important to note how other armies in the world are advancing their capabilities.In this way defense capabilities can do a good for the people of Pakistan.

What are different Types of Loans

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 06:53:00 +0000

Loans are a good way to support or business for its proper functioning. It can be used to start a business and to make a business run. It is imperative to have information about the way loans work. There are many things which a borrower need to know in order to get a loan. Some of those factors are discussed here.

Self-Assessment:

It is better to do a self assessment before applying for a business loan. Answering some of critical question can really make a difference. It can be useful for your decision related to business. Some of the question are given below.

Why do I want to apply for a loan?
How much money do I need?
How do i want to get loans? though a bank or a lending firm?
How will i pay it back?
How much time have been in the business?
What is the financial situation of my business?

These are some of the questions which can be very useful before applying for a loan. These question can be used to make a decision based on facts and figures. It can make things more clear.

Now here is the information about different types of loans...

There are three types of loans sources there. These can be used to take money.

1. Banks
2. Lending firms
3. SBA

1. Banks are traditional source of getting business loans. These are considered as a credible authority. Banks are trusted more than the other institutions around this business. There are some short coming to banks. Bank loans can be traditional style.There can be some issues with bank loans. Bank loans can be provided easily but there may larger interest rate. It can be easy to withdraw loan but it be a burden in terms of interest it imposes.

2. Lending firms are a good way to have business loans. These firms provide loans to business immediately. Conditions for loan acquisition may be hard but these loans can be quick.

3. SBA or small business administration is a authority which helps small business to grow through their workings. These loans are not provided by government but partners of SBA provide these loans to businesses. Best thing about SBA is that it involves governmental guarantee which is very useful.
On the other hand it can also be useful to do it on the other hand.

These are the types of businesses which can be considered on the basis of requirement of a business.
There are some type of loans which can be acquired in order to be a better business runner.

Business cash Advance:

It can be taken immediately. It is a cash which can be withdrawn immediately. Example can be taken form of a cash withdrawn from an ATM or through a bank cheque . Good thing about business cash advance is that it can be withdrawn immediately while on the other hand it can impose a high fees.

Working Capital Loans:

These are some types of loans which are used to make a business run smoothly. It can be in the form of bills and bank payrolls. These loans are useful that these provide an opportunity for business to make profit while at the same time getting loans.

Equipment Loans:

These are some types of loans which can be used to buy equipment. It can be furniture or other equipment for the office of other things. These loans can be acquired on related conditions.

Line of Credit:

It is a useful form of loan acquisition. Line of credit is gotten through a series of payments. It is not gotten at a greater time. It can be acquired slowly and by months. Best thing about this is that it can be a low interest.

Terrorism and the conspiracy Theories

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 17:52:00 +0000

At this time when the world is busy to counter terrorism, there are some hidden aspects of this war on terrorism. We can see it in the attitude of major forces which are fighting this war on terror. There are european countries which are fighting this war.
However here are some of the facts which cannot be ignored while taking into account war on terrorism.

1. Attitude of United Nations

United Nations was established after two world wars which made much destruction in the world. It started working in order to bring peace in the world. But those who were behind this development proved their unfair attitude. Britain , United Sates and Russia were those states which were the early members of united nations and laid foundation of it. However soon after the world war two , a war of monopoly started between united states and Russia. It gave way to many theories. However after the collapse of russian federation united nation has turned significantly towards USA. It can be seen that when israeal has made atomic bomb he is not criticised. On the other hand when any muslim country tries to make and atomic bomb , they start critising it. It is a dual face. We can take the example of iran.

USA has already tested its bomb on a country then why it is allowed to have atomic bomb again?
What is the guarantee that other countries of Europe will not use it against any other nation?
Why is there an injustice behind decisions of united nations?
United Nation's attitude toward Israel is also questionable?Why Israel not condemned despite all of its state oppression.

کامیابی دراصل آپ کی سوچ ہے

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 14:21:00 +0000

Dreams

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 19:42:00 +0000

It is cold tonight as it is start of winter season. I am sitting inside the house considering to do something which can take me out of this situation which i don't like. I have somethings to do which are not going by itself.

There are a lot of things which attract a person. He who wants to have such desires in his heart can also face some difficulties for achieving his dreams like goals.When we see a dream we can make it our goal .But the question is that whether it can be unintentional. Can we take a seed of a dream and get a tree or plant from it which can be the output of our seed.

A lot of things in life which a person wishes to or want to can be the result of his conscious or unconscious mind.

Suppose a person who is sleeping and suddenly he sees a dream.Can he make it as his big dream to achieve something for which he has dream. It is a situation when he has to think a a lot of things about. But somethings can be like asking himself to be able for this situation. He may check and be exposed to his self esteem.

A person with a red bag

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 20:08:00 +0000

A person with a red bag...........

How can it be possible ?

Are you amazed at this?

What are the reasons?

You can be amazed because red colour and bag belong to women. It is used by a woman so you are not ready to easily swallow this situation.

I have to explain here. A person who was going in a far away land where there was greenish all around. He was just like a adventurer who was going on its first adventure. If you see him you can say that he is a person who has not allowed world to enter in it so much.

He advances further in his journey and reaches in a sand area after crossing greenish land. There he finds a woman who is going in his opposite direction.It can be said that if he is going in east then she is going to north. He was strange that from where this woman has come?

A perosn can easily be identified in this situation as a stranger. He leans forward and runs to that woman. He runs and runs but he cannot reach to woman. But he advances further. At last he reaches in a village which was surrounded by dat trees.

He finds that there were many people which were going here and there as their daily routines. He wants to find that woman but he finds that all the women have weared same clothes. It becomes difficult for him to recognize that woman. So he find in every house and check for the woman. Suddenly he listens the sounds of someone who is running.

He enters in the nearest house from where he listened such sounds. He finds some things in the house including a red bag. He opens the bag cuiously and find something.

It was a perfume bottle which was there. The fragrance had spread in the entire room. The smell was also affecting his senses. He was going out of his sense.After alll he laid on the ground and slept.

When he awoke he did not know what had happened to him?

He was again in the sand. It was all around him. He screamed in such a loneliness but his voice returned to him. He started shouting loudly. At last he found that he was alone there.

Suddenly he saw red bag which was lying aside him. He hold it up and started seeing it amazingly. He was going to open it again. He opened it but now there was nothing.It was empty.He didn't smell anything.

He started his journey again and found a way to go. He was going desperately by taking small steps. But he was not alone now becuase the red bag was with him.

Starting a blog

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 17:18:00 +0000

Today I am going to write a post on blog. It is my first post. After seeking inspiration from different people and from different sources I want to write my own blog.

The world of blogging has gain importance now a days. It is a way to explore yourself toward world. It has also power to handle it very good manner. And on the other hand, It can also earn you money. You can also find a friend in form of a blog on which it is useful to share your thoughts.

Finding a friend in the real life and in the digital life are two different things. You cannot include your emotions when you talk to your digitalized friend. It can show you ways as it has relationship with the world of web.But on the other hand it can not understand itself truly and as a result it does not include emotions.

Emotions are beautiful and they are good.You have to just find yourself in the light of emotions.They are doing things right for you. They are going towards you while coming from such a source.

What happens when you remember your past?Dose it hearts you?Does it pleases you?Does it feel you ashamed?Does it has nothing for you in common?

But

It can show you how to truly use your emotions and start feeling in a different way. You past can teach you about this. It can hurt you in this way that you cannot handle situation in the present context. But it is you who is going to be anything as a result. It is you who is trying to be just as yourself.

Emotions can be learned by this method. By truly examining our previous life and consdering the events which have felt good .It can feel a difference .There are other good things about this which can also go in this regard. You are not going to do the things but you are like to playing with them.

It is a first blog post by me so it should be taken as it is not but its context....................

Science alone will not save us

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 13:09:00 +0000

Wind Turbines at Royd Moor in south Yorkshire. Public support is crucial to the expansion of this clean energy. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

Changing behaviour will be as vital as new technologies in tackling climate change. So where is the funding for linguists, anthropologists and sociologists? Tariq Tahir reports

Naysayers aside, the world appears to have nudged its way towards the view that there is a scientific consensus that human activity has changed our climate. For many academics, the question is now about finding ways of dealing with the consequences of climate change. In that endeavour, natural scientists are increasingly being joined by other academics - most notably social scientists - in teams where many disciplines can interact.

But there is concern that a government desire to protect science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) subjects by ringfencing funding could, in the long term, affect the ability of these teams to conduct research.

For Professor Paul Wellings, chairman-elect of the 1994 group of smaller research-intensive universities, it is a question of getting together what he calls a "dream team", comprising not just scientists, but researchers from the social sciences and humanities, to deal with the nightmare scenario recently conjured by the government's chief scientist, John Beddington, in which the world is gripped by a "perfect storm" of war, starvation and mass migration.

Coming up with answers

For Wellings, it is not enough simply to rely on science and technology to come up with the answers we need. Looking at individuals' behaviour and getting them to change that is, he argues, as important as new technology.

While not opposed to ringfencing per se, he argues for a more nuanced approach, with support maintained for social sciences and humanities. The 1994 group estimates that the ringfencing of funding for Stem subjects during the 2008 research assessment exercise (RAE)cost its institutions 20p in the pound per researcher.

"If we were asked as institutions to help solve major global challenges, and asked what is the 'dream team' that we would want to field for doing that," says Wellings, "as soon as you start to put that together, there are engineers, technocrats and very often people in the humanities and the social sciences."

At the sharp end of what he is talking about are people such as Sarah Curtis, a geographer heading a group of Durham University academics working with engineers from Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University on a project to discover how storms, floods and heatwaves caused by climate change might affect the elderly and how infrastructure can be tailored to cope.

"Multidisciplinary work helps engineers and scientists, as well as the professional carers, tackle extreme weather events in the future and keep services running," Curtis says. "They also need to understand from the people receiving those services what's important to them and that's where the social science perspective comes in - really being able to interpret events and problems from different social perspectives.

"The social science perspective isn't just about individual behaviour, but helps us to think about the way that people work and interact together. I would argue that what's important to people and how they tackle problems is not just down to individual characteristics but also to the social circumstances they're in."

She is concerned about an over-reliance on Stem subjects to provide solutions to climate change. "This isn't just about sharing academic knowledge, but also the public debate as well, because in all honesty I don't think that natural scientists have all the answers to the problems we're facing over climate change and neither do I think that social scientists have the solutions. So we are going to have to negotiate across these different points of view if we are going to move forward."

Wellings, a population ecologist, says there is a pool of expertise within the 1994 group, with its strength in social science and humanities. He would like to see it drawn upon when it comes to tackling environmental issues. "If we don't get a grip on climate change we are going to see the world's largest diaspora, when a huge area of sub-Saharan Africa will be forced into absolute water shortage. At that point 300 million people could walk off the land and towards Europe. There are a family of issues that, if we get them badly wrong, will produce a perfect storm within about 40 to 50 years around some of those big picture issues.

"So who are the people who understand the culture of these areas and the management of diaspora? By and large, it's not scientists but social scientists and humanities people."

He points to the School of Oriental and African Studies, a member of the 1994 group. "I don't know what the future of geopolitics is, but I do know that in the future we are going to have to turn to people such as those at Soas, who are experts in languages and anthropology from that part of the world. It will be an inevitable response that we will need a world-class centre of excellence of the sort that we already have there."

In the meantime, Wellings, who is also vice-chancellor of Lancaster University, fears there will be less money for academics to engage in speculative research in social sciences and humanities.

"You can have a pretty shrewd guess there will be substantially less money going back into those departments than there was before," he says. "And so over the next 18 months you will see a sharp diminution in research activity. Some of that will be a reduction in the number of projects that are being run and some of it will be in the support to postgraduates.

"Less money will cause colleagues to be more entrepreneurial and in the short run they will be more market-facing, or recruit more international students, but it won't maintain research capacity and that is the thing that will be eroded. The intellectual need for there to be multidisciplinary research will not go away and that will put tremendous pressure on universities to ensure that the financial resources are there."

Wellings, who sits on the board of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, is calling for more transparency when it comes to the new funding mechanism that will replace the RAE, the Research Excellence Framework - in particular, in the funding of Stem subjects relative to social sciences and humanities. "In the future, there will have to be transparency about what the likelihood is of resource in each area," he says.

A wider research base

Diane Berry, Reading University's pro vice-chancellor for research, echoes this argument. "It is clearly important to protect funding for Stem subjects and medicine. However, we cannot afford to conceive our science base too narrowly - we must protect our wider research base.

"This is because addressing current and future global challenges depends on the successful interplay of all subjects. Furthermore, the boundaries between the natural sciences and the social sciences and humanities are becoming increasingly fluid as research at the frontiers of knowledge becomes increasingly inter- and multidisciplinary."

David Delpy, the chief executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, says: "Obviously, there needs to be a balance between arts and science funding. Both are important. However, there remains a shortage in physical sciences and engineering graduates. We agree that when it comes to priority areas such as climate change a cross-disciplinary approach is vital if we are to be successful." Delpy points to the Research Council UK's Living With Environmental Change programme as an example of how the seven research councils are working together "to try and solve major problems that face society".

"Increasingly," says Berry, "success in markets, which many people might assume to be dominated by technological advances, depends just as much on factors such as design, economics, branding and consumer understanding.

"Similarly, effectively tackling some of the most significant health and environmental challenges will depend just as much on changing people's behaviour as on advances in medicine, physics, or chemistry."

Writing for an academic journal: 10 tips

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 13:06:00 +0000

Academic writing. Rowena Murray offers her top tips for how to start writing that paper. Photograph: Alamy

What seems like common sense isn't common practice, says Rowena Murray who shares her top tips for getting published

1) Have a strategy, make a plan

Why do you want to write for journals? What is your purpose? Are you writing for research assessment? Or to make a difference? Are you writing to have an impact factor or to have an impact? Do you want to develop a profile in a specific area? Will this determine which journals you write for? Have you taken their impact factors into account?

Have you researched other researchers in your field – where have they published recently? Which group or conversation can you see yourself joining? Some people write the paper first and then look for a 'home' for it, but since everything in your article – content, focus, structure, style – will be shaped for a specific journal, save yourself time by deciding on your target journal and work out how to write in a way that suits that journal.

Having a writing strategy means making sure you have both external drivers – such as scoring points in research assessment or climbing the promotion ladder – and internal drivers – which means working out why writing for academic journals matters to you. This will help you maintain the motivation you'll need to write and publish over the long term. Since the time between submission and publication can be up to two years (though in some fields it's much less) you need to be clear about your motivation.

2) Analyse writing in journals in your field

Take a couple of journals in your field that you will target now or soon. Scan all the abstracts over the past few issues. Analyse them: look closely at all first and last sentences. The first sentence (usually) gives the rationale for the research, and the last asserts a 'contribution to knowledge'. But the word 'contribution' may not be there – it's associated with the doctorate. So which words are used? What constitutes new knowledge in this journal at this time? How can you construct a similar form of contribution from the work you did? What two sentences will you write to start and end your abstract for that journal?

Scan other sections of the articles: how are they structured? What are the components of the argument? Highlight all the topic sentences – the first sentences of every paragraph – to show the stages in the argument. Can you see an emerging taxonomy of writing genres in this journal? Can you define the different types of paper, different structures and decide which one will work best in your paper? Select two types of paper: one that's the type of paper you can use as a model for yours, and one that you can cite in your paper, thereby joining the research conversation that is ongoing in that journal.

3) Do an outline and just write

Which type of writer are you: do you always do an outline before you write, or do you just dive in and start writing? Or do you do a bit of both? Both outlining and just writing are useful, and it is therefore a good idea to use both. However, make your outline very detailed: outline the main sections and calibrate these with your target journal.

What types of headings are normally used there? How long are the sections usually? Set word limits for your sections, sub-sections and, if need be, for sub-sub-sections. This involves deciding about content that you want to include, so it may take time, and feedback would help at this stage.

When you sit down to write, what exactly are you doing:using writing to develop your ideas or writing to document your work? Are you using your outline as an agenda for writing sections of your article? Define your writing task by thinking about verbs – they define purpose: to summarise, overview, critique, define, introduce, conclude etc.

4) Get feedback from start to finish

Even at the earliest stages, discuss your idea for a paper with four or five people, get feedback on your draft abstract. It will only take them a couple of minutes to read it and respond. Do multiple revisions before you submit your article to the journal.

5) Set specific writing goals and sub-goals

Making your writing goals specific means defining the content, verb and word length for the section. This means not having a writing goal like, 'I plan to have this article written by the end of the year' but 'My next writing goal is to summarise and critique twelve articles for the literature review section in 800 words on Tuesday between 9am and 10.30'. Some people see this as too mechanical for academic writing, but it is a way of forcing yourself to make decisions about content, sequence and proportion for your article.

6) Write with others

While most people see writing as a solitary activity, communal writing – writing with others who are writing – can help to develop confidence, fluency and focus. It can help you develop the discipline of regular writing. Doing your academic writing in groups or at writing retreats are ways of working on your own writing, but – if you unplug from email, internet and all other devices – also developing the concentration needed for regular, high-level academic writing.

At some point – ideally at regular intervals – you can get a lot more done if you just focus on writing. If this seems like common sense, it isn't common practice. Most people do several things at once, but this won't always work for regular journal article writing. At some point, it pays to privilege writing over all other tasks, for a defined period, such as 90 minutes, which is long enough to get something done on your paper, but not so long that it's impossible to find the time.

7) Do a warm up before you write

While you are deciding what you want to write about, an initial warm up that works is to write for five minutes, in sentences, in answer to the question: 'What writing for publication have you done [or the closest thing to it], and what do you want to do in the long, medium and short term?'

Once you have started writing your article, use a variation on this question as a warm up – what writing for this project have you done, and what do you want to do in the long, medium and short term? Top tip: end each session of writing with a 'writing instruction' for yourself to use in your next session, for example, 'on Monday from 9 to 10am, I will draft the conclusion section in 500 words'.

As discussed, if there are no numbers, there are no goals. Goals that work need to be specific, and you need to monitor the extent to which you achieve them. This is how you learn to set realistic targets.

8) Analyse reviewers' feedback on your submission

What exactly are they asking you to do? Work out whether they want you to add or cut something. How much? Where? Write out a list of revision actions. When you resubmit your article include this in your report to the journal, specifying how you have responded to the reviewers' feedback. If your article was rejected, it is still useful to analyse feedback, work out why and revise it for somewhere else.

Most feedback will help you improve your paper and, perhaps, your journal article writing, but sometimes it may seem overheated, personalised or even vindictive. Some of it may even seem unprofessional. Discuss reviewers' feedback – see what others think of it. You may find that other people – even eminent researchers – still get rejections and negative reviews; any non-rejection is a cause for celebration. Revise and resubmit as soon as you can.

9) Be persistent, thick-skinned and resilient

These are qualities that you may develop over time – or you may already have them. It may be easier to develop them in discussion with others who are writing for journals.

10) Take care of yourself

Writing for academic journals is highly competitive. It can be extremely stressful. Even making time to write can be stressful. And there are health risks in sitting for long periods, so try not to sit writing for more than an hour at a time. Finally, be sure to celebrate thoroughly when your article is accepted. Remind yourself that writing for academic journals is what you want to do – that your writing will make a difference in some way.

These points are taken from the 3rd edition of Writing for Academic Journals.

Rowena Murray is professor in education and director of research at the University of the West of Scotland

Sociology

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 13:00:00 +0000

What will I learn?
Academics claim sociology is more than a subject – it's a whole way of seeing the world. From the topics studied on sociology degrees, they may just be right.

Sociology is the study of human societies and how they interact to shape people's beliefs, behaviors and identity. The subject is the academic cousin to the more practical social policy, so you will examine different social theories and models (expect mention of Karl Marx at least). You will also explore how society has changed over time, touching on subjects such as industrialization, urbanization, inequality and globalization.

You may find yourself investigating consumer society, looking at classic and contemporary (postmodern) theories of consumerism, and applying these to shopping, fashion or music.

You could look at work and employment, how these are viewed in societies, and how these views have changed over the years. Expect to explore issues of feminism, class and the trade union movement.

You could also study sexuality, religion, or youth culture and identity.

Sociology courses can often be studied alongside other complementary subjects, such as history, social policy, politics, or cultural or gender studies.

Courses will be largely taught in lectures and seminars.

What skills will I gain?
During your studies you should learn how to formulate and investigate sociological questions and theories, and draw your own conclusions.

You should be able to carry out independent research, but also know how to discuss facts and figures within a group. You will have developed good communication skills that allow you to present your arguments clearly in a variety of styles.

By the time you graduate, you should have sharp, critical thinking and good problem-solving skills. And all that time spent in the library sourcing material and tapping out essays will have developed your computer skills.

What job can I get?
Sociology graduates are found in a variety of jobs. Among the favorites are those in the social services, which, with a bit of extra study, could involve becoming a social worker. Alternatively, a job in education, the criminal justice system, in local and central government as a researcher, or in the voluntary sector, perhaps working as a fundraiser, community development worker or counselor, could be more your thing.

You will also have the skills to pursue a career in journalism or management, or in academia.

What will look good on the CV?
· The ability to appreciate the complexity and diversity of social situations
· The ability to make reasoned arguments and interpret evidence
· The ability to undertake and present scholarly work.

What does the future hold for sociology?

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 12:53:00 +0000

"Disappointment in the achievements of sociology has often come from excessive expectations of different sorts, while announcements of its demise are usually accompanied by fanfares for alternative discourses and post-disciplines that turn out to require a strong sociological dimension.

Looking ahead, we will want to continue to make 'structural' sense of our societies, so the basic rationale for sociology remains compelling. A different problem is that a growing amount of sociology is now conducted by journalists, think-tanks and private research organisations. This gives rise to the paradoxical, mistaken view that academic Sociology lacks public relevance.

One could see a future where there is plenty of sociology, but no Sociology going on. As long as universities are allowed to continue to carry out "intrinsic" research and debate, this could be progressive, relieving sociologists of the burden of presenting and defending 'the discipline' in rather stilted terms."

Gregor McLennan , head of sociology, University of Bristol

"Where much of 1990s sociology was about defining and assessing the extent of globalisation, sociology in the 21st century seems to be more about looking for ways of responding to and resisting globalisation. Sociology today seems to be about the search for forms of democratic agency in a world of 'networks and flows' of information, capital, consumer marketing and media saturation and the increasing blurring of the distinction between the social and the natural or physical."

Austin Harrington , department of sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds

"I have not been in sympathy with culturalist, poststructuralist, and postmodernist 'turns' within sociology. We do need theories, but our theories should be systematically evaluated in relation to society.

I think a sociological tendency to move on too quickly has resulted in our being left with areas of unfinished business. The area that interests me is the division of labour, in which "labour" is taken to include non-market as well as market 'work'.

Changes in the position of women mean we need a renewed emphasis on the articulation between employment and domestic and family life. Despite the current emphasis on globalisation, nation-states have a crucial impact in this area. Thus we need comparative empirical work - as C. W. Mills put it: we should be working at the conjecture of 'personal troubles' and 'public issues'."

Rosemary Crompton , department of sociology, City University

Study Love in Kolkata

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 12:49:00 +0000

Kolkata’s Presidency University will be offering ‘love’ as a subject from January next year.

Shakespeare’s Romeo had it that “Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books, But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.”

One Indian university is hoping to upturn this aphorism by making love a part of its curriculum for the first time.

Kolkata’s highly-regarded Presidency University will offer a course on the nuances of love and its interplay with society and culture.

The program will be run through the department of sociology, said Souvik Mondal, an assistant professor in that department. The elective subject will be open to all first-year students but is particularly aimed at those studying for undergraduate degrees in more technical subjects such as math and physics.

“They are going to learn about love in a classroom setup, that is something very new for them,” said Mr. Mondal. “If you are teaching something like ‘post-structuralism of sociological theory’ in the very first year, that won’t intrigue them,” he added.

Very few universities offer love as subject in their curriculums, though in the U.S., theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst offers a subject titled the ‘Sociology of Love’ and the University of British Columbia also has as a subject called ‘Love, Sex, and Mating in Cross-Cultural Perspective.’

Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, two of the biggest universities in India’s capital city, don’t offer love as a subject in their sociology syllabus.

The course at Presidency will start in January next year, and enable students, who often concentrate on love outside the classroom, to examine the phenomenon from an academic standpoint.

It will teach different forms of love, whether with siblings or animals or objects, said Mr. Mondal. The influence society has on the expression of love in a particular country will also be addressed, he added.

“We are going to talk about love in ancient and medieval period,” the professor added.

Love will be taught under Presidency’s general education program, which was introduced earlier this year and allows students to take three elective subjects for the first two years of their undergraduate degree outside their major.

This year, the sociology department is offering a subject called ‘why study society,’ which covers the basics of sociology.

Love falls under sociology of emotion, which uses sociological techniques to analyze human emotions, academics say.

Though the structure of the curriculum is not finalized yet, Mr. Mondal and his colleagues plan use movies and popular culture to teach how the expression of love has evolved.

Students have welcomed the university’s decision to introduce the subject, according to Mr. Mondal. Many have enrolled in ‘Why study society’ program, which will help them once they move to the next semester and study love, he added.

“I didn’t expect this much [appreciation] from the students,” said Mr. Mondal.

By Saptarishi Dutta

Let’s Shake Up the Social Sciences

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 04:56:00 +0000

TWENTY-FIVE years ago, when I was a graduate student, there were departments of natural science that no longer exist today. Departments of anatomy, histology, biochemistry and physiology have disappeared, replaced by innovative departments of stem-cell biology, systems biology, neurobiology and molecular biophysics. Taking a page from Darwin, the natural sciences are evolving with the times. The perfection of cloning techniques gave rise to stem-cell biology; advances in computer science contributed to systems biology. Whole new fields of inquiry, as well as university departments and majors, owe their existence to fresh discoveries and novel tools.

In contrast, the social sciences have stagnated. They offer essentially the same set of academic departments and disciplines that they have for nearly 100 years: sociology, economics, anthropology, psychology and political science. This is not only boring but also counterproductive, constraining engagement with the scientific cutting edge and stifling the creation of new and useful knowledge. Such inertia reflects an unnecessary insecurity and conservatism, and helps explain why the social sciences don’t enjoy the same prestige as the natural sciences.

One reason citizens, politicians and university donors sometimes lack confidence in the social sciences is that social scientists too often miss the chance to declare victory and move on to new frontiers. Like natural scientists, they should be able to say, “We have figured this topic out to a reasonable degree of certainty, and we are now moving our attention to more exciting areas.” But they do not.

I’m not suggesting that social scientists stop teaching and investigating classic topics like monopoly power, racial profiling and health inequality. But everyone knows that monopoly power is bad for markets, that people are racially biased and that illness is unequally distributed by social class. There are diminishing returns from the continuing study of many such topics. And repeatedly observing these phenomena does not help us fix them.

So social scientists should devote a small palace guard to settled subjects and redeploy most of their forces to new fields like social neuroscience, behavioral economics, evolutionary psychology and social epigenetics, most of which, not coincidentally, lie at the intersection of the natural and social sciences. Behavioral economics, for example, has used psychology to radically reshape classical economics.

Such interdisciplinary efforts are also generating practical insights about fundamental problems like chronic illness, energy conservation, pandemic disease, intergenerational poverty and market panics. For example, a better understanding of the structure and function of human social networks is helping us understand which individuals within social systems have an outsize impact when it comes to the spread of germs or the spread of ideas. As a result, we now have at our disposal new ways to accelerate the adoption of desirable practices as diverse as vaccination in rural villages and seat-belt use among urban schoolchildren.

It is time to create new social science departments that reflect the breadth and complexity of the problems we face as well as the novelty of 21st-century science. These would include departments of biosocial science, network science, neuroeconomics, behavioral genetics and computational social science. Eventually, these departments would themselves be dismantled or transmuted as science continues to advance.

Some recent examples offer a glimpse of the potential. At Yale, the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs applies diverse social sciences to the study of international issues and offers a new major. At Harvard, the sub-discipline of physical anthropology, which increasingly relies on modern genetics, was hived off the anthropology department to make the department of human evolutionary biology. Still, such efforts are generally more like herds splitting up than like new species emerging. We have not yet changed the basic DNA of the social sciences. Failure to do so might even result in having the natural sciences co-opt topics rightly and beneficially in the purview of the social sciences.

New social science departments could also help to better train students by engaging in new types of pedagogy. For example, in the natural sciences, even college freshmen do laboratory experiments. Why is this rare in the social sciences? When students learn about social phenomena, why don’t they go to the lab to examine them — how markets reach equilibrium, how people cooperate, how social ties are formed? Newly invented tools make this feasible. It is now possible to use the Internet to enlist thousands of people to participate in randomized experiments. This seems radical only because our current social science departments weren’t organized to teach this way.

For the past century, people have looked to the physical and biological sciences to solve important problems. The social sciences offer equal promise for improving human welfare; our lives can be greatly improved through a deeper understanding of individual and collective behavior. But to realize this promise, the social sciences, like the natural sciences, need to match their institutional structures to today’s intellectual challenges.

Nicholas A. Christakis, a physician and sociologist at Yale University, is a co-director of the Yale Institute for Network Science.

The Disestablishment of Marriage

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 04:49:00 +0000

AT first glance, the prognosis for marriage looks grim. Between 1950 and 2011, according to calculations by the University of Maryland sociologist Philip Cohen, the marriage rate fell from 90 marriages a year per 1,000 unmarried women to just 31, a stunning 66 percent decline. If such a decline continued, there would be no women getting married by 2043!

But rumors of the death of marriage are greatly exaggerated. People are not giving up on marriage. They are simply waiting longer to tie the knot. Because the rate of marriage is calculated by the percentage of adult women (over 15) who get married each year, the marriage rate automatically falls as the average age of marriage goes up. In 1960, the majority of women were already married before they could legally have a glass of Champagne at their own wedding. A woman who was still unwed at 25 had some reason to fear that she would turn into what the Japanese call “Christmas cake,” left on the shelf.

Today the average age of first marriage is almost 27 for women and 29 for men, and the range of ages at first marriage is much more spread out. In 1960, Professor Cohen calculates, fewer than 8 percent of women and only 13 percent of men married for the first time at age 30 or older, compared with almost a third of all women and more than 40 percent of all men today. Most Americans still marry eventually, and they continue to hold marriage in high regard. Indeed, as a voluntary relationship between two individuals, marriage comes with higher expectations of fairness, fidelity and intimacy than ever.

But marriage is no longer the central institution that organizes people’s lives. Marriage is no longer the only place where people make major life transitions and decisions, enter into commitments or incur obligations. The rising age of marriage, combined with the increase in divorce and cohabitation since the 1960s, means that Americans spend a longer period of their adult lives outside marriage than ever before.

The historian Nancy F. Cott suggests that recent changes in marriage could produce shifts similar to those that accompanied the disestablishment of religion. Most American colonies, following the British model, had an official church that bestowed special privileges on its members and penalized those who did not join it. Residents were sometimes fined or whipped if they failed to attend the established church. After the American Revolution, states repealed laws requiring people to belong to a particular church or religion to qualify for public rights. When the official churches were disestablished, new religions and sects were able to function openly and compete for followers. And the old church had to recruit members in new ways.

An analogous process is taking place with marriage. Many alternatives to traditional marriage have emerged. People feel free to shop around, experimenting with several living arrangements in succession. And when people do marry, they have different expectations and goals. In consequence, many of the “rules” we used to take for granted — about who marries, who doesn’t, what makes for a satisfactory marriage and what raises the risk of divorce — are changing.

Until the 1970s, highly educated and high-earning women were less likely to marry than their less-educated sisters. But among women born since 1960, college graduates are now as likely to marry as women with less education and much less likely to divorce.

And it’s time to call a halt to the hysteria about whether high-earning women are pricing themselves out of the marriage market. New research by the sociologist Leslie McCall reveals that while marriage rates have fallen for most women since 1980, those for the highest earning women have increased, to 64 percent in 2010 from 58 percent in 1980. Women in the top 15 percent of earners are now more likely to be married than their lower-earning counterparts.

Similar changes are occurring across the developed world, even in countries with more traditional views of marriage and gender roles. The demographer Yen-Hsin Alice Cheng reports that in Taiwan, educated women are now more likely to marry than less educated women, reversing trends that were in force in the 1990s. High earnings used to reduce a Japanese woman’s chance of marrying. Today, however, such a woman is more likely to marry than her lower-income counterpart.

Until recently, women who married later than average had higher rates of divorce. Today, with every year a woman delays marriage, up to her early 30s, her chance of divorce decreases, and it does not rise again thereafter. If an American woman wanted a lasting marriage in the 1950s, she was well advised to choose a man who believed firmly in traditional values and male bread winning. Unconventional men — think beatniks — were a bad risk. Today, however, traditionally minded men are actually more likely to divorce — or to be divorced — than their counterparts with more egalitarian ideas about gender roles.

What Our Words Tell Us

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 04:46:00 +0000

About two years ago, the folks at Google released a database of 5.2 million books published between 1500 and 2008. You can type a search word into the database and find out how frequently different words were used at different epochs.

The database doesn’t tell you how the words were used; it just tells you how frequently they were used. Still, results can reveal interesting cultural shifts. For example, somebody typed the word “cocaine” into the search engine and found that the word was surprisingly common in the Victorian era. Then it gradually declined during the 20th century until around 1970, when usage skyrocketed.

I’d like to tell a story about the last half-century, based on studies done with this search engine. The first element in this story is rising individualism. A study by Jean M. Twenge, W. Keith Campbell and Brittany Gentile found that between 1960 and 2008 individualistic words and phrases increasingly overshadowed communal words and phrases.

That is to say, over those 48 years, words and phrases like “personalized,” “self,” “standout,” “unique,” “I come first” and “I can do it myself” were used more frequently. Communal words and phrases like “community,” “collective,” “tribe,” “share,” “united,” “band together” and “common good” receded.

The second element of the story is demoralization. A study by Pelin Kesebir and Selin Kesebir found that general moral terms like “virtue,” “decency” and “conscience” were used less frequently over the course of the 20th century. Words associated with moral excellence, like “honesty,” “patience” and “compassion” were used much less frequently.

The Kesebirs identified 50 words associated with moral virtue and found that 74 percent were used less frequently as the century progressed. Certain types of virtues were especially hard hit. Usage of courage words like “bravery” and “fortitude” fell by 66 percent. Usage of gratitude words like “thankfulness” and “appreciation” dropped by 49 percent.

Usage of humility words like “modesty” and “humbleness” dropped by 52 percent. Usage of compassion words like “kindness” and “helpfulness” dropped by 56 percent. Meanwhile, usage of words associated with the ability to deliver, like “discipline” and “dependability” rose over the century, as did the usage of words associated with fairness. The Kesebirs point out that these sorts of virtues are most relevant to economic production and exchange.

Daniel Klein of George Mason University has conducted one of the broadest studies with the Google search engine. He found further evidence of the two elements I’ve mentioned. On the subject of individualization, he found that the word “preferences” was barely used until about 1930, but usage has surged since. On the general subject of demoralization, he finds a long decline of usage in terms like “faith,” “wisdom,” “ought,” “evil” and “prudence,” and a sharp rise in what you might call social science terms like “subjectivity,” “normative,” “psychology” and “information.”

Klein adds the third element to our story, which he calls “governmentalization.” Words having to do with experts have shown a steady rise. So have phrases like “run the country,” “economic justice,” “nationalism,” “priorities,” “right-wing” and “left-wing.” The implication is that politics and government have become more prevalent.

So the story I’d like to tell is this: Over the past half-century, society has become more individualistic. As it has become more individualistic, it has also become less morally aware, because social and moral fabrics are inextricably linked. The atomization and demoralization of society have led to certain forms of social breakdown, which government has tried to address, sometimes successfully and often impotently.

This story, if true, should cause discomfort on right and left. Conservatives sometimes argue that if we could just reduce government to the size it was back in, say, the 1950s, then America would be vibrant and free again. But the underlying sociology and moral culture is just not there anymore. Government could be smaller when the social fabric was more tightly knit, but small government will have different and more cataclysmic effects today when it is not.

Liberals sometimes argue that our main problems come from the top: a self-dealing elite, the oligarchic bankers. But the evidence suggests that individualism and demoralization are pervasive up and down society, and may be even more pervasive at the bottom. Liberals also sometimes talk as if our problems are fundamentally economic, and can be addressed politically, through redistribution. But maybe the root of the problem is also cultural. The social and moral trends swamp the proposed redistributive remedies.

Evidence from crude data sets like these are prone to confirmation bias. People see patterns they already believe in. Maybe I’ve done that here. But these gradual shifts in language reflect tectonic shifts in culture. We write less about community bonds and obligations because they’re less central to our lives.

DAVID BROOKS

Just Because

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Marketer) — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 04:42:00 +0000

© Angie Flores

Just because I have never done drugs, doesn't mean I'm not cool.
Just because I am a virgin, doesn't make me lame.
Just because I'm not a fighter, doesn't mean I'm weak.
Just because I am not a party girl, doesn't mean I can't hang.
Just because I get good grades, doesn't mean I'm a nerd.
Just because teachers like me, doesn't mean I am teachers pet.
Just because I am not a rebel, doesn't mean I'm scared.
Just because I am quiet, doesn't mean I don't speak up for what I believe in.
Just because I have morals, doesn't make me a good two shoes.
Just because I walk away from trouble, doesn't make me a pushover.
Just because I think before I act, doesn't make me a loser.
I am who I am and this is who I shall forever be.
I do not care what others think of me. Like me or not that is your choice.
Accept me for who I am.