Essay Assignments: Hints on How to Work with Them Appropriately

• What? (essay subject)
• When? (time period)
• Where? (territory)
• How? (research methods) etc

If you are not given an exact narrow topic, you will have to develop it on your own on the basis of essay assignment requirements.
 
Essay assignments: length. It is better to delete a sentence or to add one than to write more or less than an essay assignment requires. To avoid problems with essay length, plan your essay: decide how much space you will devote to each element/idea/argument.
 
Essay assignments: format. Do not forget to check whether you should follow MLA, APA or another format style. Each time you format your essay, use a format guide even in case you have already worked with this format: you may easily forget some details.
 

Remember: An essay assignment does not provide you with an essay title. You can be as creative as you want when choosing a title for your paper. Consider these examples:

• Topic: Why many people do not like avant-garde art?
• Title: Understanding Art Requires Exercising
• Title: Avant-garde art: Strange… or Fascinating?

Florida’s state universities consider higher ed reforms

At the urging of Gov. Rick Scott, the governing board for the State University System considered a plan Thursday to track performance of universities, reward good professors and encourage more graduates in science, technology, engineering and math.

The plan, presented by a group comprised primarily of university presidents to the State University System Board of Governors on Thursday, would use job placement, licensure exam rates, graduation and retention rates, as well as the number of patents and research grants awarded to judge the performance of the 11 state universities.

But along with this willingness to embrace greater accountability comes a plea from university presidents to use market rate tuition and grant them greater flexibility over how tuition dollars are spent.

“We really need to be able to approach the market rate on tuition,” said Florida State University President Eric Barron. “We need to have the flexibility to decide how much tuition to set for particular programs.”

The board will spend two months studying the plan and soliciting input from stakeholders, with more decisive action expected at the next meeting in January – in time for the 2012 legislative session. Some of the ideas in the plan, such as more flexibility to set tuition, could only be determined by the Legislature.

Prompted by a similar effort by Gov. Rick Perry in Texas, Scott has focused on reforming higher education, pushing universities to take a closer look at whether they are graduating students that are prepared for jobs. He has also shown an interest in linking state funding for universities to performance.

Thursday’s proposal was the first formal response from the state university system. Barron has previously done his own analysis of what Florida could do to make changes in higher education.

“I appreciate the fact that our Governor is very interested in higher education,” said Board of Governors Chairwoman Ava Parker. “We have an executive branch that realizes our state university system really is the economic engine of our state.”

The state university system’s plan indicated a willingness to go along with tracking performance through an array of measures from graduation rates to job placement, including starting salaries of graduates, to patents and licenses.

Scott has particularly emphasized making sure universities are offering degrees that will result in jobs, saying science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees should be emphasized over liberal arts.

University of North Florida President John Delaney, who explained the proposal to the Board of Governors, said Scott may be on the right track. “We need to provide some relevant information to students as to their prospects for jobs and salaries,” Delaney said. “We need to track that in terms of how they do once they are employed.”

The proposal included ideas for graduating more STEM students, such as offering lower tuition for those degrees, loan forgiveness, career training programs during college and graduation grants.

Several presidents warned that not all universities would perform well through the suggested performance-rating system. New College, for instance, a public liberal arts school in Sarasota, would rank very poorly if judged by patents and licenses because it isn’t a research university.

One thing university presidents made clear they are not willing to do is give up control over their budgets, including decisions such as tenure, class sizes and degree offerings.

In fact, universities are hoping the Legislature will give them more control over things like tuition. Currently, universities face a strict limit of 15-percent increases each year on how much they increase tuition.

Market rate tuition is currently allowed only for certain online and continuing education courses. Most of the degree programs that use market rate tuition raised their tuition rates as a result, but a few decreased them.

“What we seem to find is market rate tuition is working well,” said Tico Perez, the chair of the board’s Budget Committee. “It allows universities to benefit and put that money back in play often times in those other graduate categories…We are going to get creative as budgets get tighter.”

The plan also suggests eliminating restrictions on how state funding and tuition is spent, such as the requirement that 30 percent of all dollars generated from tuition increases go toward need-based financial aid.

Some university presidents said this new political focus on higher education may turn out to be a good thing.

“Higher education is on the tips of everybody’s tongue right now,” said University of West Florida President Judy Bense. “At least now higher education has spoken and that is very important.”

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Kindergarten Teachers Say Students Are Behind on Day One

According to a new survey presented at the annual conference for the National Association for the Education of Young Children yesterday, two-thirds of kindergarten teachers say the majority of their students start school without knowing basic preschool concepts like the alphabet. At a time when closing the achievement gap is a national imperative for our nation, veteran kindergarten teachers say students are less prepared for school than ever before.

Just 6 percent of kindergarten teachers say that students are very well prepared academically when they enter the classroom. Students come in lacking the ability to hold a pencil or write their name. Fewer than 9 percent of teachers rated incoming students oral language skills as very good. Given that the size of a students vocabulary is an indication of how well theyll do academically for the rest of their lives, that doesnt bode well for ensuring students are on the track toward college or careers.

The problem, of course, is that despite universal acknowledgement of the importance of early childhood education—and President Obamas support of such initiatives—too few students attend high-quality preschool programs that teach them the basics. Funding for preschool programs has been cut in state after state, and more cuts are on the way. Sure, every parent should spend time reading with her child, practicing the alphabet, and counting to 10, but that doesnt always happen. Even parents who have gone to college are busy working long hours and dont always take the time to read with their kids. Wealthier families have a huge advantage because they can compensate by paying for private preschools.

Thats a real shame. If every student had access to early childhood education, theyd all start kindergarten at the same place, essentially cutting off the creation of the achievement gap. Until that happens, we shouldnt be surprised when kindergarten teachers say students arent ready to learn.

Train to Become a Medical Assistant in Bensalem

If you’re the kind of person that enjoys helping others, and wondering if the health care field can be the right fit in helping develop your skills, why not consider looking into Everest’s Medical Assistant program at its Bensalem campus.

The truth is physicians and health care professionals increasingly rely on trained medical assistants to help in such areas as medical centers, medical specialty clinics, insurance billing agencies, medical transcription agencies, laboratories and emergency rooms. Education and training is important in today’s world. And it’s becoming more and more critical for people to possess it if they want to get ahead in life.

Medical assistants may perform the following tasks:

• Take patient vital signs
• Run laboratory tests
• Answer phones
• Receive incoming patients
• Medical insurance billing
• Medical coding
• And more

Of course, the world is a big place and your responsibilities and employment opportunities may depend on where you work, the local economy and your own commitment to becoming the best employee you can be.

And for many, the idea of being able to train for a career and graduate in under a year means they’ll be able to pursue entry-level employment and get on with their lives.

Medical assistant training may be worth looking into.

Agreement of Purchase and Sale

Agreement of Purchase and Sale An essential business documents, an Agreement of Purchase and Sale, transfers business assets from one company to another.

Contracts of purchase and sale are concluded every minute of the day. Most people routinely enter into such agreements without giving them a single thought. Legally, every time we buy something we are entering into a contract. In general transactions there is no need for a written agreement. It would be time consuming and not cost effective. When dealing with expensive items, however, a written contract is preferred.

Agreements of purchase and sale are legal contracts. In general, a contract is broken into smaller sections called clauses. Each clause will deal with a separate area of the contract. Clause 1 almost always identifies the parties to the contract. This is important as it establishes who is selling and who is buying. The second clause will go on to describe what is being sold. It is not enough in an agreement of purchase and sale to describe goods vaguely. For example, when purchasing a chair, it is not enough to write Chair if being sold. An accurate description of the materials, style, color, upholstery, age, and ownership of the chair is required. The more detail that is provide the less chance that a dispute will arise in the future.

After outlining who is selling what, the next most important aspect of the agreement of purchase and sale is money. The price of the item being sold must be stated clearly, including which currency is being used. It is always wise to write the amount in words as well as figures. This protects against any typographical mistakes. As well as the amount of money being exchanged, the agreement must also state how the money is being transfered. Is it being paid in cash, if so when is it payable? Any financing that is being given by the seller must be outlined and detailed in the agreement.

Warranties are guarantees offered by the seller to the buyer regarding a specific aspect of the good. For example, the seller may guarantee that the chair from the above example has been treated with the appropriate varnish. If, at a later date, the buyer discovers that the chair was not varnished as promised, he can revoke the contract and gain his money back. Some warranties provide for specific remedies as opposed to the contract being revoked. In the case of electronics, the warranty will usually state that the seller will try to repair the item before replacing it, for example.

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If there is a dispute in the future regarding the wording of an agreement of purchase and sale, a judge will construe the contract against the person who drafted it. This means that if there is a vague or ambiguous term within the contract, the judge will interpret the term to favor the person who did not draft the contract. This principle is designed to protect the little man who may not have fully understood the contract terms and conditions.

Caveat Emptor or buyer beware, is a standard legal term used to describe the legal principle, that in general, the buyer must satisfy themselves of the value of the goods, and the seller is not under any onus to provide the buyer with the best deal. The seller is not allowed to act dishonestly, nor is he allowed to conceal material facts about the item being sold.

In order for the agreement of purchase and sale to be binding, it must be signed. The signatures of the parties to the contract are normally placed at the end of the contract. Their signature, full name, address and contact information is usually included within the same section. One Independent witness is always advised to sign the contract as additional protection should something go wrong. In order to stop one of the parties adding additional clauses into the contract, each party should initial each page, along with the witness.

When drafting any legally binding document, it is always best to seek independent legal advice.