The Prospectus and Dissertation Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Prospectus and Dissertation - Coursework Example This comes in handy in determining the approval of the proposed dissertation. It introduces the problem statement and argues the case with facts on the importance of writing the dissertation to address the question. It is basically an overview detailing to the reader about the problem statement. This holds the key to approval. It is therefore important that it is written well and convincingly. When writing this part, the writer also has a chance of finding more facts about his planned dissertation from previous research. The writer’s opinions should be factual; personal judgments without basis could lead to the proposed dissertation being ruled out (Joyner and Glatthorn) The third element of the prospectus caters for the methodology that the writer plans to use. One should be wise to detail the methods of research and evaluation that are best suit for his or her scope of study (Gonzales, 47). It is important to detail the proposed methodology since the committee could also help with additions. It proves to them that the writer has a grasp of content in the dissertation topic and can therefore carry out meaningful research (Roberts, 97). Lastly, as the department of planning of University of California writes, the prospectus has a conclusion. It concludes the details highlighted therein and tends to beseech the committee to view the proposed dissertation as being worthy of their

Characterisation Essay Example for Free

Characterisation Essay Main character: The character that plays the biggest role in the plot of the story. Major character: Characters that play a big role in the story. Minor character: Characters that play a minor role in the story. Round characters: Round characters are like real people. They have complex, multi-dimensional personalities. They are capable of growing and changing. They are often, but not always, major characters. Flat characters: They have one-dimensional personalities. They represent or portray one particular characteristic. They are a type, e. g. the jealous lover, the fool or the grumpy, old man. They are often, but not always, minor characters. Dynamic characters: They change as a result of their experiences. Static characters: They do not learn from their experiences, and, thus, remain unchanged. How does the author convey character? 1. Telling: The narrator tells how the character is, feels, thinks, etc. 2. Showing: The character reveals his or her personality through what the character says and does. 3. Setting: The author might use the setting (time and place) to say something about the character, e.g. about the character’s emotions or feelings. 4. Comparison to other characters: It might be useful to analyse how the character relate to the other characters in the story, e.g. if there are characters that are in opposition to, or different from, the character in question. 5. Appearance: The character’s clothes, looks and general appearance can often tell us something about the character’s personality. Questions to ask when analysing characters: 1. Is the character a main, major or minor character? 2. Is it a round or a flat character? 3. Is it a dynamic or a static character? 4. Does the author reveal the character through showing or telling, or both? 5. What does the way the character speaks reveal about his character? 6. What does his behaviour reveal about his character?  7. Is she similar or different from other characters in the story? How does she relate to the other characters? 8. Has the setting shaped the character’s personality? 9. Does the setting reflect the character’s mood or emotional state?

Imagination In Morte D Arthur :: essays research papers

Imagination in Morte D' Arthur A recurring theme in Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d' Arthur is the use of imaginative descriptions of characters and settings. Imagination is what the reader of the story must use to form his or her own mental images of a situation, and the better the storyteller is, the clearer the mental image. His descriptions, ranging from horrific to chivalrous, always manage to draw the reader into the story and make him or her an active participant, usually knowing a bit more than the characters about their own fates. Malory employs many literary techniques, but perhaps his most prominent is his use of imagination.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the exerpt begins, King Arthur is having a nightmare involving falling into a pit of serpents. Malory describes the scene in Arthur's head as if the reader were there with him. What separates the reader from the character is the fact that the reader knows it's only a dream, and Arthur doesn't. This is an interesting way of keeping the reader a safe distance from the goings on of the story. Malory uses this method again, when Arthur and his army are about to negotiate with Mordred and his. One of the King's soldiers notices a snake about to bite him, and he draws his sword to slay it. All that Mordred's men see is the blade being drawn, and a battle immediately ensues. Once again, the reader is told more than the characters. The only thing keeping the reader a part of the story is the vivid descriptions given of the nightmarish world of Arthur's dream, and the smoking, bloody battlefield of a war that wasn't meant to happen.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Malory also makes use of drama in his portrayal of the double-death scene, again with Arthur and Mordred. When he describes Mordred's sword being driven into Arthur's chest, and Arthur's spear running Mordred through, the reader almost cringes at the thought. However, it is not enough that they are both killed by each other's hand, Arthur doesn't die immediately. He is carried by his most faithful knights back to a chapel, where he died more honorably. The reader is bearing with him all the way, glad to be rid of the villain Mordred, but at the same time pitying him, for he was Arthur's son. This makes the story even more involving, and forces the reader to imagine

Europe’s Interaction with Africa, Asia Essay

In the mid-15th century, European nations started sending merchants, explorers, colonizers and missionaries to various parts of the world. Historians often referred to this phenomenon as the Age of Discovery, an era in which unknown seas were traversed, new lands and peoples were discovered and an astounding new phase in global encounters was initiated (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 3). The Age of Discovery played an important role in the political and economic development of Western Europe. Some of its key legacies included colonization, the development of large-scale horticultural industries and the spread of Christianity. The Age of Discovery, however, is usually portrayed as exclusively European and historically unique. It must be made clear that such a description is misleading and incomplete. Exploration and expansion are not historical novelties, and neither are they uniquely European. Furthermore, they have other motivations, attitudes and cross-cultural perceptions apart from the desire to discover other lands (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 3). Muslim and Chinese explorers and traders have been traveling across Asia, Arabia and Africa centuries before Christopher Columbus set out from Spain in 1492. The journeys of Ibn Battuta in the mid-14th century, for instance, took him through the vast extent of the Islamic world. Zheng He, a fleet admiral who lived during the Ming Dynasty, sailed as far as the coast of east Africa in the mid-15th century (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 3). Tunisian philosopher and historian Ibn Khaldun traveled as far as Spain in the 14th century (Ahmed 102). But European and non-European explorers differed in terms of the motives behind their respective journeys. Non-European explorers traveled primarily to create extensive religious and trade networks. Muslims were partially bound by religion and commerce as a form of compensation for the near-absence of political unity in the Islamic world. Despite ethnic and regional differences, their adherence to Islamic laws and values provided them with a sense of unity and shared identity. The establishment of long-distance trading networks, meanwhile, allowed Muslim producers and consumers from different regions to communicate with one another, as well as with peoples of different religions (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 4). Muslim traders therefore organized camel caravans to the frontiers of India and across the Sahara in Africa. They likewise established equally profitable trade routes by sea across the Indian Ocean. By the late 15th century, the commercial activity in most of the regions surrounding the Indian Ocean was almost under their control. Furthermore, certain localities in the Islamic world were gaining recognition for their excellence in specific industries. Persia, for example, was renowned in the 14th century for its exquisite glassware, jewelry and pottery (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 4). Extensive trade and industry, in turn, provided the Islamic world with urbanized and cosmopolitan societies. Sophisticated commercial centers such as Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Timbuktu and Zanzibar attracted residents from distant regions that eventually converted to Islam. These new converts subsequently spread Islam and elements of Islamic culture to their respective homelands. The Delhi Sultanate of India and the West African kingdom of Mali are some examples of regions that were not originally Islamic but were later Islamized (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 4). In sharp contrast, the motive behind most European explorations was the pseudo-revival of the Reconquista (the struggle of the Spanish and Portuguese Christians to expel the Moors from their respective countries). In the 14th and 15th centuries, anti-Moor sentiment was still strong in Spain and Portugal – it was during these periods that Spanish and Portuguese Christians successfully expelled the Moors from Iberia. But this victory soon left many knights idle and looking for new adventures. Many knights thus joined overseas expeditions, viewing these as new opportunities to vanquish the hated Moors (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 5). Certain economic conditions in Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries were also responsible for the xenophobic attitude that many European explorers had during the Age of Discovery. In these eras, most European economies were still small, largely agrarian and geared towards meeting local needs. Muslim merchants and middlemen were the sole sources of spices and other luxury goods. In addition, Europe was politically fragmented – the continent’s monarchs wasted scarce resources and manpower in the numerous wars and conflicts that they waged against each other. Lastly, the Black Death (bubonic plague) killed millions and further weakened economies, adding to the pervasive atmosphere of dread and xenophobia (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 5). Given the insular, backward and unsophisticated nature of Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, it was no longer surprising that the expeditions from the continent had mostly detrimental effects. Many explorers viewed the natives that they encountered in foreign lands as â€Å"barbarians† that must be â€Å"civilized† by being subjugated to them. By the 16th and 17th centuries, therefore, many countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas ended up being the colonies of Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain and France (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 5). In addition, the transatlantic slave trade occurred from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Mainstream historians had indeed painted a misleading and incomplete picture of the Age of Discovery. By claiming that the Age of Discovery was an exclusively European and historically unique phenomenon, they are implying that it was an event that was born out of Europe’s benevolent desire to discover other lands. But the truth is that the Age of Discovery should not be glorified. Exploration and expansion have already been taking place long before it happened – proof that the inhabitants of the regions outside of Europe are not savages. The Age of Discovery occurred at a time when Europe was still insular, backward and unsophisticated. Thus, many of the continent’s explorers exhibited a fearful and xenophobic attitude when it came to dealing with people not of their own race. This paranoia, in turn, led to the colonization of several nations in Africa, Asia and the Americas. In addition, slavery became a centuries-old practice. Works Cited Ahmed, Akbar S. Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society. New York: Routledge, 1989. Sanders, Thomas, Stephen Morillo, and Samuel H. Nelson. Encounters in World History: Sources and Themes from the Global Past, Volume II: From 1500. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.

Scalia vs. Breyer: Differences in Constitution and Statutory Construction

Justice Scalia’s decision-making process could be summed up in two words: text and tradition. Scalia is wary of any departure from the original meaning of the Constitution’s text, strongly criticizing Supreme Court decisions that he believes demonstrate an activist judiciary rather than a neutral decision-making branch of a democracy. Scalia â€Å"argues that primacy must be accorded to the text, structure, and history of the document being interpreted and that the job of the judge is to apply either the clear textual language of the Constitution or statute if the text is ambiguous, yielding several conflicting interpretations, Scalia turns to the specific legal tradition flowing from that text to what it meant to the society that adopted it.In the case of Schwarzenegger v Entertainment Merchants Association, Justice Scalia will most likely find that California’s law to censor patently offensive video games for minors is unconstitutional, and reject Californiaâ €™s assertion that the court should use a new Ginsberg standard rather than the strict scrutiny standard when evaluating the Bill in dispute, because his textualist approach would be highly inhospitable to California’s arguments.On the other hand, Stephen Breyer promotes a highly specialized Constitutional philosophy known as the living constitution or evolutionist approach. In his book Active Liberty, he illustrates this approach to constitutional interpretation, which focuses primarily on making America’s experiment in democracy functional by giving a voice to the people through the collective opinions and judgments of the nine unelected Justices of the Supreme Court.The notion of active liberty allows not only a democratic boost of power to American citizens by giving their convictions influence over judges’ interpretation of the Constitution, but also focuses practically on the consequences that rulings have for the American people and their ability to e ngage in democratic self-governance. Additionally, Breyer defends The Living Constitution approach and adds a new theoretical framework to propel the evolution of Constitutional interpretation a democratically-minded approach when interpreting a legal text will yield better law; law that helps a community of individuals democratically find practical solutions to important contemporary problems.