Thursday, October 31, 2019

CIPD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

CIPD - Essay Example INTERNAL FACTORS 1- DISCIPLINE AND GRIEVANCES Discipline and grievances are the guidelines that are incorporated in the company’s policy and have a great significance in shaping the behavior of employees in the company. These guidelines are the rules that teach the individual about the company’s culture or way of conducting operations. Policies design the structure and that structure shapes the behavior of individuals in the company. (CIPD, 2013a). The law facilitates the resolution of the grievances and maintenance of the discipline conducts. For example, Employment Relations Act provides the opportunity for the resolution of the personal grievances and other options are also present by law for dealing with issues. Importantly, for maintaining effective relationship since the start of the employment relationship everyone the organization is required to behave in good faith. Additionally, simple measures of developing contract and informing rights along with responsibil ities etc save the ER from being affected by grievances and result in maintenance of the discipline (MBIE, 2013). 2- EQUAL PAY Equal pay should be given to both men and women for the same job. None of the employer is allowed make biasness in giving equal salary or wages to men and women. Another perspective to analyze the injustice in equal pay is the comparison of pay with the market wage rate. If the company is paying low wage rate then it will negatively affect the employment relationship. (CIPD, 2013d). The law mandates employers to develop their pay structures in accordance to the Equal Pay Act. For the effective implementation and adoption Code of Practice and Equality Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is also available. Such facilitation by law results in the bridging of gap between the employees and employee on wage bargaining as things are determined by law and not by the personal consideration of employers (CIPD, 2014a). EXTERNAL FACTORS LAW Policy and law on the state level is one of the most important factors that drive the labor market and human resources management at the organizations. State laws are incrementally concerned for taking up measures that in turn contribute in the national exchequer. On the other hand, the state laws are also required to ensure the societal balance. These factors and their impact are also reflected in the laws regulating the labor market. Every year various developments in the laws are made in order to achieve the right balance between the country, exchequer and the employees and employers. All these also impact the employee relationship as the any burden of tax or any other contribution that state requires from the organizations results in squeezing the benefit that would have otherwise been used to expand the employee benefit. For example, Government’s Employment Law Review for allow greater flexibility in the labor market (CIPD, 2014b).Increasing flexibility for the labor market will contribute effectiveness for the two parties as both will be able to contribute their best with comfort working zone. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS Economic conditions have a significant impact on the relationship of employer and employee. If the economy is moving towards growth then the organization would possibly follow the same trend and it economy goes downwards then the organizations would possibly go with the economic trend. In affect from such economic factor

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Logistic Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Logistic Research Paper - Essay Example The existence of a commodity, from a logistics point of view, is not terminated with transfer to the customer. The reverse logistics avenue should be perceived to be in the range of logistics control and planning (Ayers, 2000). This paper will look at warehousing as a component of logistics management. As logistic systems continue to get better, production and utilization has continued to separate according to geography. Regions continue to dedicate themselves to the products that may be produced most adequately. Surplus commodities may be transported affordably to different consuming or manufacturing regions, and essential commodities not manufactured at a local level are being imported (Chopra & Meindl, 2003). This process of exchange utilizes the standard of comparative advantage. The standard of comparative advantage, when utilized to world trade, helps to account for the high level of world trade that currently happens. Adequate logistic systems permit the international business es to make the most of the notion that people and their lands are not identically fruitful. Logistics and logistics management are essential aspects of trade. They contribute to an elevated standard of living for every individual. A considerable number of organizations, especially those with distinct product lines, suppose it is significant to connect their supply chain procedures to the commodities they put up for sale. This means that they divide their supply chains in accordance to their needs. In addition, logistics management allows organizations to undertake time-consuming and considerable activities, for example, warehousing. Logistics management may be utilized through warehousing. There are a number of areas where an individual may benefit from warehousing to manage a global, multidimensional, and complex supply chains and logistics, anticipate and meet customer demands, control costs, and enhance end-to-end supply chain processes. They include optimize distribution and sou rcing, Enhance the process of order fulfillment, establish a more stout supplier management techniques, and lessen international transport activities (Bordner, 2013). The leading warehouses in North America were in the recent times outlined in a distinguished article at Modern Material Handling by the fine folks. A number of value stream mapping events at tier one suppliers, for example, Johnson Controls, TRW, Magna, and Yazaki were undertaken in 2008, just prior to the collapse of the American auto manufacturing. When a person is designing a supply chain, a person should consider a warehouse. In previous times, a warehouse was perceived to be a tremendous waste of financial resources. In lean consulting, a person would frequently find over processing, rework, additional inventory, and other improvident activities in a warehouse. Nonetheless, the auto vehicle industry is stable again and warehouses have become significant parts of logistics (Lynch, 2013). In addition, a piece pick, also referred to as over-pack or broken case pick is a form of order selection procedure where motor vehicles are handled and picked in single units and positioned in a container before they can be shipped to their different areas. This is a convenient way for auto vehicle traders because they can order a single or more vehicles from the manufacturers. Moreover, there

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Definition Of What Good And Evil Are Philosophy Essay

Definition Of What Good And Evil Are Philosophy Essay Hsun Tzu rejected the idea that humans had a natural inclination towards goodness. People were born with an evil mind and if the mind was to be properly trained, only then may it lead to goodness. He believed that all humans are bad by nature but he did not disagree with the fact that personal experiences and interactions could help to cure the evil mind and embody human goodness. For example, he believed that babies were evil because as soon as they are born they do not know any better. They do not know the difference between right and wrong. If a baby were to pull its mothers hair, it would not be considered a wrongful action. What humans define evil is the ideal evil of society. Doing something that makes somebody else uncomfortable or unhappy is considered a wrongful action, but whether or not it is, is a different story all together. Society has taught us that babies do not know the difference between right and wrong, therefore even if the action is considered wrong to a grown p erson, there is no way the baby knows what he or she is doing. Until you live life and are able to experience and interact with others, your mind is set to neutral. If a baby has not been taught the difference between right and wrong, regardless of what people who have been taught the difference believe, there is no possible way the babys actions are bad. Although Hsun Tzu believed this way, Mencius believed the complete opposite. Mencius believes that people are born good, and that it is the evil situations/surrounding that people are placed in that cause them to act evil. When discussing the Yi, it is referring to the way one values them self. As soon as a person falls under their own standards as a person, they are a disgrace to themselves as well as to everyone else. Keeping this in mind, because he believes that everyone is born with a good mind, they only way to destroy that is yourself. Regardless of the experiences that life throws at you, its up to you to make sure you do not fall victim to the negative aspects that could alter your non-evil mind. A very important aspect to consider is that of societies view on good and evil. Without knowing what is considered truly evil or good, no one can judge others or even themselves for that matter. Ones actions are judged by all, and if society has outlined something such as killing to be wrong, then the actions of a killer are evil. Usually when someone commit s a crime, they had to have thought about it first, so its safe to say that thoughts are just as evil as actions. The constant repeating of ones evil actions are also considered wrong or immoral. No one wakes up one day and decides to do something wrong unless they have gone through the experience of seeing someone else doing it or being taught it first hand. Therefore, once you are lucky enough to be given to opportunity to make a suitable life for yourself, it is up to what information humans attain to decide what type of person they turn out to be; good or bad. Platos idea of universal goodness and evil however are quite different from the views of both Mencius and Hsun Tzu. According to Plato, people are representations of things on earth and therefore people are born without being ultimately good or evil. It is impossible for a person to be truly evil, because humans only represent the ideal evil. Nobody truly knows what evil is. Evil is what is taught to us through the personal experiences we encounter throughout our life. It is also learnt through what is taught to us by teachers as well as other people. If someone is considered to be a good person, then it only takes one wrongful act to turn him or her evil, or so we have been taught. According to Aristotles Law of Non-Contradiction that states that something cannot be said to be and not be at the same time illustrates that man is good, and if man is good then he is not evil, concluding that good are evil are two opposite things. Nobody is perfect, so it is impossible to say that somebody can be truly good or evil. What everybody knows for sure is that what people view to be good and or evil actions differs from human to human. If there is no universal census or conclusion on what makes a person truly good or evil then it outlines that there is not just one answer as to what people are thinking of when first born. Everybody is born with a neutral mindset and without the experiences that life has to offer, regardless of whether it turns humans into good or bad people, it is what is taught to you in life that defines people as individuals. This concludes that without the knowledge of living life to the fullest, nobody can be considered good or evil because we are all born with neutral minds. Thee definition of what makes a person truly good or evil is impossible to prove as it differs between different societies as well as over time. No one can be considered truly good or evil, as it is only a state of mind placed on a person in a given experience from his or her daily life. Without the experience of being able to interact with others, it is impossible to consider someone good or evil. It because our nature it is because our nature has taught us to be both good and bad that there is no tangible evidence to prove that one overpowers the other to create the ultimate good or evil person. Furthermore, no one person can be born good or evil as it is against our biological make-up to be evil in the first place. People are born neutral and then learn how to define ones self through personal experiences and interactions. GOOD VS. EVIL ESSAY By: Alexee Simon Date Submitted: April 2nd 2010 Submitted to: Dr. Brown Course Code: HZT4U1

Friday, October 25, 2019

Use of Reflexivity in Ethnographic Research :: Anthropology Culture Ethnography Papers

Use of Reflexivity in Ethnographic Research Works Cited Missing The use of reflexivity in ethnographic research and writing is used to insist that the anthropologist has systematically and rigorously revealed their methodology and their self as the instrument of data collection and generation. Reflexivity can play a variety of roles in ethnographic writings as observed in the works of Renato Rosaldo, Dorinne Kondo, and Ruth Behar. These three anthropologists all use reflexivity in different ways to convey their findings and feelings. The three works, however, also point out the advantages and the limits of ethnographic reflexivity. Renato Rosaldo in his article â€Å"Grief and a Headhunters Rage† uses ethnographic reflexivity to show how in the beginning of his fieldwork he â€Å"was not yet in a position to comprehend the force of anger possible in bereavement† (Rosaldo, 7) and that it wasn’t until fourteen years later when he experienced the loss of his wife that he could comprehend what the Ilongots had told him about grief, rage, and headhunting. Rosaldo then writes â€Å"I began to fathom the force of what Ilongots had been telling me about their losses through my own loss, and not through any systematic preparation for field research† (Rosaldo, 8). Renato Rosaldo’s own experiences had helped him to understand and empathize with the Ilongots, who fourteen years earlier, he was not able to understand that the Ilongot’s statement that â€Å"Rage, born of grief, impels him to kill his fellow human beings.† (Rosaldo, 1)Rosaldo’s writings point out that having similar experiences allows the anthropologist to understand and empathize with the people they are studying. This comprehension on the anthropologist’s behalf allows for easier accessibility and transcription to the general public. Shared experiences, however, allow for more biases and interpretations to seep into the anthropologist’s writing. It is more likely that the anthropologist will use his or her own experiences and interpretations when writing on the culture. Renato Rosaldo addresses this issue when he writes, â€Å"by invoking personal experience as an analytical category one risks easy dismissal† (Rosaldo, 11). In the article â€Å"Dissolution and Reconstitution of Self: Implications for Anthropological Epistemology†, Dorinne Kondo uses ethnographic reflexivity to discuss her research in Japan, being a Japanese-American, and the expectations of being Japanese. Dorinne Kondo was torn between the American culture she was accustomed to and the Japanese culture she was studying and tried to associate with.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

M.A. English

Each course British Poetry British Drama British Novel Aspects of Language will comprise one assignment of 100 marks. This assignment be tutor marked. Aims: The TMAs are conceffred rrainly with assessing your application and understanding of the course material. You are not required to reproduce chunks of information from the course material but to use the skills of critical appreciation that you may have acquired during the course of study. These assignments airn to teach as well as to assess your performance.Please ensure that you read the texts and the ccompanying study guides that we have prepared for you. Let rne repeat: you must read all the texts prescribed. Do make points as you go along. It there is anything you do not understand, please ask your Counsellor at the Study Centre for clarification. Once you are able to do the assignments satisfactorily, you will be ready to take the exam Nith confidence. Instructions: Before attclnpting the assignment please read the following instructions carefully. 2 3 Read the detailed instructicns about the assignments given in the Programme Guide Elective Courses.Write your roll 1 ro. aflle, full address and date on the top right corner of the first page of your response sheet(s). Write the Course Title, Assignment Number and the Narne of the Study Centre you are attached to in the centre ofthe first page ofyour response sheet(s). The top of the first page of your response sheet should look like this: Use only foolscap size paper for your response and tag all the pages caref-ully. Write the relevant question nuinber with each answer.You should write in your own handwriting Submission: T'he completed assignment should be sent to the Coordinator of the Study Centre allotted to you ty 3tr† March, 2aL4 gar Juty 2013 Session) and 30'h Sept 201 i (for January 2014 Session). Please react the instructions given in the Programme Now read the following guidelines carefully before answering the questions. GUIDELINES FOR T MA You will find it useful to keep the following points in mind: 1. Planning: Read the assignment carefully. Make some points regarding each question and then rearrange these in a logical order.And please write the answers n your own words† Do not not reproduce passages from the units. 2. 0rganisation: Be a little more selective and analytic before drawing up a rough outline of your answer. In an essay-type question, give adequate attention to your introduction and conclusion. The introduction must offer your brief interpretation of the question and how you propose to develop it. The conclusion must summarize your response to the question. In the course of your answer, you may like to make references to other texts or critics as this will add some depth to your analysis.Make sure that your answer: ) is logical and coherent; b) has clear connections between sentences and paragraphs; c) is written correctly giving adequate consideration to your expression, style and presentation ; d) does not exceed the number of words indicated in your question. 3. Presentation: Once you are satisfied with your answers. you can write down the final version for submission, writing each answer neatly arid underlining the points you wish to emphasize. You may be aware that you need to submit your assignment hefore you can appear for the Term End Exams.Please remember to keep a copy of your completed ssignment, Just in case the one you submitted is lost in transit. Good luck with your work! Note: Remember the submission of ussignment is precondition of permission of appearing in examination. If you have not submitted the assignment in time you will not be allowed to appear in examination. MEG-OI: BRITISH POETRY Programme: MEG Max. Marks: 1 Ast code: MEG-OI ,TMA12013-1 4 In a conventional class your teacher would have discussed your assignment with you, pointed out what made a good essay and what a bad one. We have done exactly the same thing in Unit 52 of the British Poetry (M EG-OI) course.Read it carefully and discuss it with your counselor and class-fellows at the Study Centre. Thereafter decide upon a topic, i. e. a period or literary group in the history of British poetry. you may, if you wish, select a topic from the list given in sz. z. t (p. 70) in Block X. Alternatively, you could write on a British poet of your choice. you may write on a poet discussed in the units, i. e. on the syllabus, or even a poet we have not discussed in detail such as Robert Burns, G. M. Hopkins, R. S. Thomas, Ted Hughes or Seamus Heaney. You may have heard some of our lectures on The Movement, Philip Larkin nd Ted Hughes on the EduSat.It may now be available on e-gyankosh on wmw. ignou. ac. in You have yet another choice. Write an essay on a famous poem in English literature. Having decide upon your topic, do your research and then read section 36. 5 in Unit 36 in Block VIII for a model essay and a format for presentation. you may learn how to present your term paper/se ssional essay from 36. 5. You must not quote from unacknowledged sou rces. To sum up, write an essay on a period or a literarv group in British poetry or a British poet or a British poem in about 3000 words on the model provided in 36. (in unit 36).The full marks for the essay is 100. We look forward to reading your sessional essay. Sincerely yours Teacher MEG-02: BRITISH DRAMA (Based on Blocks 1-9) Programme Code: MEG Assignment code: N{EG-02 120 1 3-201 4 Maximum Marks: Answer the fbllowing questions in 300 words each. Discuss 2. the plot ot Dr. Faustus. l{ow would you rate A Mid,cummer Night's Dream 3. Clomment on the indecisive bent of mind of Hamlet. (10) 4. What features make Alchemisl an allegory? 5. How is Playboy relevant as a comedy? today? 6. Comment on Pygmalion as a Shavian play. 7. What fbatures make Murder in the Catherlral a poetic drama? 8.Conrnrent on the title of 9. Waiting. tttr Discuss the theme of Look Back in Anger. 10. Irrorn among the plays you have read cho ose any one that you have liked giving reasons lor your choice.Trace the development of modern English fiction with specific referenc6 to the major shifts in literary perspective during the nineteenth century. 20 2. Would it be correct to say that in Tom Jones, Fielding considers mariage to be a ere socio- economic arrangement under which women feel continuously suppressed?Discuss. 3. Discuss the metaphor of the web in the context of events and people relating to Bulstrode in Middlemarch. 4 Suggest the political and artistic implications ot placing the Orientalist paradigm. 5. How does Realism ftnd expression in ofl Passage to British fiction of the 1960s? Base your answer on your understanding of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. MEG. 04: ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE course code: All questions are compulsory Write short notes on any two of the following. Competence and performanceLangue and parole Conversion as a morphological device Falling tone and rising tone the conclusion India within sta ge. brietly the history ot language planning snowing clearly the tocus at each Give your own definiti* of language. What are the characteristics of human communication and how is it different from animal communication? 20 What is foregrounding? Discuss this in terms of deviant examples from your reading of literature. ‘Pick out your own examples; say how they are deviant, and what is the impact on the reader. What is the difference between pure vowels and diphthongs? How do you describe both?

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

A poem about a house on a windy day Essay

When you start to read wind you get the impression that it is going to be a poem about a house on a windy day. However this is not the case. The author is trying to illustrate how fierce Mother Nature’s army can be. He is making it seem as though the wind is fighting the house and it’s human inhabitants. The wind is trying to scare the people, by isolating it, from the rest of civilisation, for the night. â€Å"The house has been far out to sea all night†. As the wind travels across the countryside it’s destructive qualities become apparent, scaring the people almost to death. † The woods crashing through the darkness†. The wind is using the surrounding hills to its advantage by making impacting noise that seems to echo across the valley. â€Å"The booming hills†. As well as all this the wind continues it terrorising by stamping like a herd of elephants under the windowsills in the flowerbeds. â€Å"Winds stampeding the fields under the window†. The poet tries to illustrate the winds power and strength by saying that the house had become adrift overnight and the wind had carried it to a new location. â€Å"The hills had new places†. As the wind moved ad danced in the air it gave off colours that surrounded the little house, making it difficult to see past the garden. â€Å"Luminous black and emerald, flexing like the lens of a mad eye.† At midday one of the inhabitants bravely went outside to investigate the extent of the damage, caused by the overnight wind. As the person looked up in to the wind they had to turn away quickly, because of the shear force acting on their eyes. â€Å"Once I looked up through the brunt of the wind that dented the balls of my eyes†. The strength of the wind overpowered the hills; they could not endure any more beatings from the wind. They could no longer protect the house from the full force of the wind. â€Å"The tent of the hills drummed and strained on its guy rope†. Fearing the return of the wind overnight the whole of the scenery began to change and prepare for the onslaught before them. â€Å"The fields quivering, the skyline a grimace, at any second to bang and vanish with a flap†. Even the birds cannot understand the force of the wind. â€Å"The wind flung a magpie away and a black- back gull bent like an iron bar slowly†. I know that the people are because the poet has written about the house being as fragile as a great green goblet, ringing † in the note that at any second would shatter it â€Å". The people try to shut out the wind by sitting together in the living room and ignoring it. â€Å"Now deep in chairs, in front of the great fire†. Although they are trying to shut out the wind it is not working because they cannot concentrate on anything except the wind. â€Å"We grip our hearts and cannot entertain book, thought, or each other†. As the wind continues its attack the inhabitants learn to except it and ignore it, if slowly. â€Å"We watch the fire blazing, and feel the roots of the house move, but sit on, seeing the window tremble to come in, hearing the stones cry out under the horizons†. The poet does an outstanding job of promoting the winds excellence at its job, to terrorise the inhabitants of the house. He creates the impression by using metaphors, similes and adjectives, that make you feel as though you are really there, experiencing it for yourself. He has constructed the poem well because the sentences run into the next verse. This is effective because it is not used in many other poems. This intrigues the reader into continuing and reading right to the end. The writer uses a lot of hyperbole to exercise his points, such as â€Å"the hills drummed and strained on its guy rope†. He has created the impression well and I have enjoyed the poem, although I needed to read it through a few times to fully understand it.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

The Difference Between a Weak and Strong Verb

The Difference Between a Weak and Strong Verb The distinction between a weak verb and a strong verb is based on how the past tense of the verb is formed. Weak verbs (more commonly called regular verbs) form the past tense by adding -ed, -d, or -t to the base form- or present tense- of the verb, such as call, called and walk, walked. Strong verbs (usually called irregular verbs) form the past tense or the past participle (or both) in various ways but most often by changing the vowel of the present tense form, such as to give, gave and stick, stuck. Strong vs. Weak In Garners Modern American Usage, author Bryan Garner explains the difference between a week and strong verbs: Irregular verbs are sometimes called strong verbs because they seem to form the past tense from their own resources, without calling a The term strong has been inherited from Old English grammar, and many of todays irregular forms are descendants of common Old English verbs. Although fewer than 200 modern English verbs are strong, these irregulars- most of which are just one syllable in length- are among the most common in the language. Examples of Weak Verbs With week verbs, the stem vowel does not change in the past or past participle tense. Take the word walk, for example. The past and past participle of this verb would be walked because the stem vowel does not change. Another example would be work, where the verb becomes worked in the past and past participle. Other examples of the week, or regular, verbs would be as follows, where the verb is listed on the left with the past/past participle on the right: Add addedBeg beggedCall calledDamage damagedEarn earnedMark markedTaste tastedYell yelled The past tense or past participle of these verbs looks roughly the same as the present tense because, as noted, the stem vowel does not change. Strong Verbs Examples By contrast, strong verbs generally do have a change in the stem vowel in the past or past participle. For example, the past tense and past participle of bringing is brought. At other times, the stem vowel in a strong verb might change in the past tense but not in the past participle, such as arise, which becomes arose in the past tense but arisen in the past participle (as in he has arisen.) Other examples of strong verbs would be: Blow blew (past tense), blown (past participle)Break broke (past tense), broken (past participle)Do did (past tense), done (past participle)Feed fed (past tense and past particle)Lie (down) lay (past tense), lain (past participle)Speak spoke (past tense), spoken (past participle) As you can see, there is no hard-and-fast rule for determining if a verb is a week or strong. Since there are fewer than 200 strong verbs in English, the best method is to memorize their use in the past and past participle.

Monday, October 21, 2019

How To Keep Evergreen Content Fresh For 283% More Traffic

How To Keep Evergreen Content Fresh For 283% More Traffic Two of our blog posts tanked in January. And it was painful. These bad boys  reeled in 58% less page views and a soul-crushing 88% fewer email subscribers than our average blog posts. And this happened all while I was working with my  team to produce content that would generate 225% more traffic than an average blog post. Ouch. And you know why those two blog posts performed so terribly? Its because they targeted topics that were  outdated within a week after they launched.  Take a look, and youll know what I mean: How To Achieve Your Blog Writing Goals This Year How To Improve Your Blog Resolutions For The New Year Theres no reason to read blog posts like that right now, is there?  So let me save you from making the same mistake I did with a little simple, data-driven advice: Create evergreen content instead of newsy or seasonal stuff. How To Make And Repurpose #EvergreenContent To Get 283% More ResultsRead on to learn more about how you can capture 283% more results for yourself with a little help from evergreen contents awesomeness: Get inspired with a few creative evergreen content ideas and examples. Produce content that will  deliver traffic and signups for a long time after you publish it. Keep your evergreen content fresh  to continue building your audience. Get even more results out of your evergreen  content with a little repurposing. Youre about to become an evergreen content mastermind. What Is Evergreen Content? Evergreen content is timeless, valuable information your audience has needed forever and will continue to need well into the future. It's pretty awesome for many reasons: Continue to bring in traffic long after you initially publish your content: Evergreen blog posts get as much as 283% more traffic in just 30 days than newsy, seasonal content. Make the time you put into creating content have long-term payoffs:  Evergreen posts get an average of 30% return on traffic in the second and third months after publish. That's a huge ROI. Get more traffic with  less content:  Since newsy and seasonal content has a short lifespan, you need to publish more of it to get similar results to evergreen content. It takes 5.36 as many seasonal blog posts to match the success of one evergreen blog post. Are you sold? Let's get your brain going with a little evergreen inspiration. #Evergreen content gets 283% more traffic than seasonal content.Step 1: Get Inspired With  30  Evergreen Content Ideas And Examples When we asked you  about your biggest content marketing challenge a couple months ago, you told us that it's most difficult to find ideas worth executing. So a good place to begin  with evergreen content to make sure you get your 283% more traffic is by starting with awesome ideas. Questions And Answers Your audience has always had questions that need answers, challenges that need solutions, and problems they need to solve. Use your knowledge of your audience to  answer the tough questions no one else in your niche is doing well enough. Ideas: What Is The Best {Topic}? When Is The Best Time To {Topic}? Why Is {Topic A} Better Than {Topic B}? Examples: 10 Studies Answer: When Is  The Best Time To Send Email? What is the best way to get more relevant visitors to my blog? How do you size up opportunity cost when deciding to start a startup? Pro Tip: Quora is a  great place to find inspiration for questions that your audience is really asking. Step-By-Step Process The key to making an evergreen step-by-step post is to focus on the practical utility behind the strategy instead of the mechanics of the programs or tools your audience could use to implement your advice. For example, show someone the data-driven ways that work for building an email list rather than the programs they could use to achieve that success. The programs may likely change and vary for any reader, but the strategy behind  list building likely works with any tool. Ideas: How To Build A {Topic} In {#} Simple Steps The Complete Guide To Make A Successful {Topic} {#} Easy Steps To Make A {Topic} In {#} Minutes Examples: The Complete, 4-Step Email List Building Strategy That Will Make You Successful Want to Increase Website Traffic? Follow These 4 Steps†¦ How To Boost Conversions by 529% in 45-Minutes (Two Step-By-Step Case Studies) How-To Posts And Ultimate Guides Similar to step-by-step blog posts, evergreen guides focus on helping your readers understand the strategic thinking behind  a process. Sometimes, these guides  take on a different format than blog posts to appear super comprehensive. For example, you could write a how-to post about how to write compelling social media messages that will increase your traffic. The evergreen angle  for this post would focus on the psychology of  showing the benefits behind the click instead of the mechanics behind best message length for each social network. See the difference? Ideas: How To Make A {Topic} In {Time Frame} The Ultimate Guide To {Topic} How To {Verb} The Best {Topic} Examples: The Comprehensive Course To Finally Keep Your Editorial Schedule On Track The Advanced Content Marketing Guide How to Handle the Trickiest Support Scenarios Timeless Fundamentals For Success Fundamental posts typically present themselves as a list of ideas or ways to do something. These posts typically focus on presenting a lot of information in one place with the hopes that if your readers leave with even one takeaway, you've done your job. For example, let's say you want to write a post about  getting inspired when you hit a road block at work. To create an evergreen blog post, you'd present lots of ways, methods, or ideas to get past the challenge of being uninspired. Ideas: 20 Ways To Be {Desired Effect} When You Don't Feel {Desired Effect} 21 {Topic} That Will Make You {Desired Effect} 23 Ways To Get Even More {Desired Effect} From Your {Topic} Examples: 20 Ways To Be Creative When You Don’t Feel Inspired 3 Ways Your Experience Can Help You Sell Your Services Ten Tips for Creating Influential Content Using Social Media Thought Leadership And New Methods This type of content is one of the most influential kinds of evergreen content. Thought leadership and new method posts don't necessary look at what others in the past have done- or link to other sources to back up their claims- but instead are the posts that present theories, processes, systems, and ideas that no one has really covered ever before. For example, have you come up with a  modern way to do something that makes the standard process obsolete? That's likely an evergreen idea you could add into  your editorial calendar. Ideas: The {#}-Minute, {#}-Step Solution For The Best  {Topic} This Is The {Topic} Every {Audience} Needs How To {Desired Effect} With The {New Method} Technique Examples: Here's Why You Don't Need A "Content Marketing Strategy" The â€Å"Poster Boy† Formula: How I got my first 10,000 readers The Skyscraper Technique: (Content Marketing for Link Builders) Step 2: Publish The Best Content On The Internet That headline might sound like a tall order. It should. Rest assured, though, no matter your resources or who you compete against, you can publish better content than anyone. All it takes is some research, optimization, and dedication- all skills  you can learn as the  ambitious marketer you are. A caveat on why  this should be your goal:  It's hard to stand out. It's even harder if you're publishing content that isn't better than your competition. If you want to win at  evergreen content- like anything- you need to produce content that your audience finds  extremely useful and helps them produce real and measurable results. The process you're about to learn will help you do exactly that. It's hard to stand out. It's even harder if your content isn't better than your competition.Come Up With An Amazing Idea Since coming up with ideas is  a major challenge for many content marketers, let's start there. You know what types of evergreen content may work well for you, but how do you fill in the blanks with really great topic ideas? There's a simple process that will help you come up with hundreds of ideas in next to no time. It involves a couple folks who know your audience really well, an instant messaging app, and an hour to sift through those ideas to find the absolute best ones. Group #brainstorming doesn't work. #bloggingFirst, let's set the story straight: Group brainstorming doesn't work. But you can help your entire team brainstorm together in a way that is extremely effective. Set up an hour-long content planning meeting  with your team to get started: Base New Ideas On What You Already Know Will Be Successful Include an analysis  of your most popular content in your meeting invitation. That will help you and your team understand what sorts of ideas your audience already loves and will help your meeting generate lots of awesome new ideas. Begin by first understanding what your goals are, and how you measure success: Define the reason you're blogging.  Answer this: I am blogging to {reason}. Know how you'll measure that reason.  Answer this: To measure {reason}, I will measure success with {metric}. Determine which tool you'll use to find that metric.  Answer this: I'll use {tool} to measure {metric}. Find your top  blog posts' performance toward your metric in a given time frame.  For example, you could track the number of page views each blog post received within their first 30 days after they publish. This gives each post the same opportunity to be successful, which will help you understand which  blog posts are truly your top performers. Use the spreadsheet in your evergreen content kit to analyze  your data.  After you enter in your data,  sort  it to show your content from  awesome sauce stuff to the real stinkers. Use your analysis to  plan awesome content ideas from the get-go.  Attach the spreadsheet to your content planning meeting invitation and specifically tell your team to come with ideas that replicate your best content while avoiding anything that looks like your worst. Here's an example of what your spreadsheet might look like when you fill it out: Use the evergreen content planning meeting spreadsheet to discover your best-performing content to plan more ideas that will generate similar awesome results. And here's the  text you can copy and paste into your meeting invitation when you attach your spreadsheet: Hey team, Join me  for a  content planning meeting to help us discover new ideas that will help us {reason you're blogging}. Before you come, check out the spreadsheet attached to this invite. The URLs at the top of the list are our best-performing blog posts- the kind of ideas our audience seems to love and ones we should try to replicate. The URLs at the bottom of the list are stinkers, so we should try to avoid ideas like those. The meeting will consist of  20 minutes of individual brainstorming and 40 minutes of grading to narrow our ideas to the absolute best ones. This is gonna be fun! Recommended Reading:  How To Rock A Data-Driven Content Calendar Template That Will Boost Results By 299% Schedule 20 Minutes For Individual Brainstorming Come to your touch point prepared with three things  to kickstart your team's creativity: Explain why you're doing the content planning meeting. Say this: As a reminder, we're here today to find some awesome ideas that will help us {reason you're blogging}. Get them thinking about  the top content you just analyzed.  Say this: When you come up with ideas, ask yourself: How similar is this idea to our other top content? Help them think like a blog reader.  Ask  this: What are the top things our readers want to learn about? From there, give them 20 minutes to brainstorm on their own, typing out every idea in an Evernote note, Google Doc, Microsoft Word- whatever. This is especially helpful for remote teams because this exercise doesn't require you to be in the same room. Try this exercise to create the best #evergreen content on the Internet.Take 40 Minutes To Review Your Ideas This is the fun part. ;) Ask everyone on your team to send you their ideas, then create a master list only you can see. Prep your team to help you sift through the ideas to find the best ones for your audience: Ideas that are similar to your top content  or ones you think your audience would really enjoy get a 3 grade. When ideas fall flat of a 3, those are 2. An idea is a 1 if it's not right for your blog (though it might make for a good guest post elsewhere). From there, read each idea aloud off your master list and have the team instant message you their numbers. The lowest score is the final grade  for the idea- and that's  because at least one person on your team doubts that the idea will be as successful as your top-performing content. In this way, you: Help the team come to your meeting prepared with great ideas at the tips of their tongues. Allow for individual brainstorming to  get everyone involved. Get feedback as a team to harness the power of diverse skills. You'll get all of these benefits  without the groupthink or the one loud team member dominating your meeting. And, you don't get the siloed ideas that only you could think of but aren't necessarily the best ideas. It's a process we use at , and one we plan to continue doing to help us flesh out innovative ideas. Take 40 minutes to review all the ideas that you came up with. #contentplanningResearch Your Keywords You just found some amazing topics your audience will love. Now it's time to plan how you'll help them find your  evergreen content exactly when they want it- and long after you publish it. Remember, evergreen means that your content won't grow stale and could hold a ranking for a long time, so this is an awesome way to keep that traffic rolling in. Research and choose your keywords to understand which content you'll compete against.And chances are pretty high they'll use a search engine like Google to do just that. The good news is that when you research and choose your keywords, it also gives you the opportunity to understand which content you'll compete with, which you'll learn about in a little bit. Anyway, this process can be as simple or complex as you'd like it to be. I'd suggest starting simple: Use a keyword research tool to help you understand the volume of searches for your topic. A great tool to start with is Google's keyword planner. Simply type in the main topic of your idea, then navigate to the Keyword ideas tab. Start your research with Google keyword planner, then navigate to the Keyword ideas tab. The planner will show you the number of times people search for that term in an average month, which is great. But the real value here is seeing the other ideas for terms you might not have originally thought about. Do any of those ideas get more volume that might actually work better for your evergreen content? Google's keyword planner is really great for finding synonyms for what you originally thought would be a good keyword. From here, use Moz's keyword difficulty tool to understand your potential ability to rank for those keywords. It's not really worth targeting a keyword you don't have a chance to rank for, so this is a crucial step to help you make the time you invest into creating awesome evergreen content totally worth your while. Recommended Reading: How To Boost Traffic With 27 Important SEO Tips You Need To Know (+Free Checklist) Use Moz to understand your keyword difficulty. Choose a keyword with low difficulty and a high search volume. Shoot for a keyword difficulty percentage in the 40s (or lower) to start with. It's a newer idea that you should now target multiple related keywords in your blog posts. From here, think about using those related terms- to get techy, this is latent semantic indexing or LSI keywords- as sections in your blog outline. I'll let Rand from Moz explain: Recommended Reading: An SEO Driven Approach To Content Marketing: The Complete Guide Research Your Competition For Those Keywords It seems like a lot of "marketing experts" suggest that creating better content than anyone else is the  best way to grow your blog and business. That's good advice. And they leave it at that... just... advice. Enter your keyword into Google and read the posts from your competition to plan how to create better content than anyone else. So here's how to actually publish the best content on the Internet: Use the keywords you just chose for your blog posts, type them into Google, and read every single one of the top 20 search results. Review them for: Common sections every top-ranking post seems to cover: Rand from Moz suggests that Google understands what LSI keywords the top content covers, so note those as potential sections for your blog post  outline. Ideas they may have touched on but failed to cover in depth: These are opportunities for you to provide better information than the top competition for your keywords. Ideas they should have covered but failed to even mention: When you read these 20 pieces of content, they should spark a lot of ideas that you should cover but they missed. These are gold to help you publish even better content. From here, dedicate 20 minutes to nothing but brainstorming and ideation. Put yourself in your readers' shoes: What would they absolutely love to know about this topic? Draft Your Outline This is where the  terms from your keyword research and the notes from your competition research come together to outline a comprehensive blog post on your topic. That word comprehensive is super important for your success. It means you'll publish a complete, blog post covering the topic in its entirety- the only one your audience  would ever need to read to learn everything they need to know to become rock stars. Word count doesn't matter. Word count doesn't matter when it comes to creating comprehensive content. #bloggingWant To Draft Your Outline? Here's How: List your related keywords in an order that makes the most sense. Add in the biggest relevant notes from your competitive research of ideas they completely missed that you should cover. Fill in  the gaps of your outline with the ideas you're just kinda obligated to cover- the ones all the other top posts talked about. Make sub-points from your notes on how you'll cover those areas in greater depth than your competition. Write Your Evergreen Content Honestly, the process  up to this point will ensure that you create better content than anyone else on the Internet. It will help your evergreen content get noticed and continue to flourish well into the future. Flesh out your outline with in-depth, actionable advice and step-by-step how-to information. Recommended Reading: How To Write Amazing Posts With This Blog Writing Checklist Step 3:  Keep Your Evergreen Content Fresh To Get Long-Term Results The process you're about to learn about is something we call historical blog post optimization at . We could have just as easily called it the update-content-and-get-lots-more-traffic-from-it-with-less-effort method. You see, this is what a historically optimized evergreen blog post looks like after you repost it like a brand new blog post: When you republish your evergreen content, you'll see a spike in traffic, then more daily traffic than before you republished. Even when you publish evergreen content, search engines still seem to reward the marketers who update that information periodically. So not only do search engines like older content, they like freshness, too. Republishing blog posts is an awesome way to help you make the most of the work you put into that content originally to get more traffic and more email subscribers. So this is a win-win-win. Are you going to give historical blog optimization a try? #bloggingGetting started is simple: Schedule a reminder for yourself to review the posts you published six months  after their original publish date. Update Your  Evergreen Content With More Related Keywords You just learned how to find awesome keywords for your evergreen content- and that you can and should target multiple related keywords per post. Those older posts may only target one keyword, so historical optimization gives you the opportunity to understand what your older posts are missing so you can include new sections targeting those relevant keywords. Follow  the advice from step #2 to research your keyword and competition to understand what your existing content is missing. Then create a new outline of your blog post to add those new sections into your existing content. Recommended Reading: Want To Make Your Blog Stand Out? Use The Blue Ocean Strategy Include New Information That Didn't Exist When You Originally Published The Post As you do more competitive research, you'll probably find a few ideas you didn't think of when you wrote the post originally. And with a little more experience since you published your post, you could probably also flesh out your original ideas with a lot more actionable advice, tips, and guidance. Look at your revised outline and make notes where you could flesh out your ideas further with even better information, modern data, and relevant stats. Recommended Reading:  The 10-Minute, 10-Step Solution For The Best Blog Outline Another way to look at this is by including more visual content in your blog posts. Pages with images get 94% more traffic than those without, and video is growing rapidly. Plus, both of those visuals  will help you optimize your social shares to get even more traffic. Recommended Reading:  How To Design The Best Blog Graphics With Free Tools And Design Theory Republish The Evergreen Content As If It Were Brand New The simplest approach is often the best place to start. So when you're ready, here's the easiest way to republish a blog post in WordPress: Create a new WordPress post  where you'll edit your content  so no one sees all of your changes live as you work through your blog post optimization. Change the date and time of the draft blog  post to when you'd like to republish your updated version. Make the permalink (AKA the URL or slug) the same as the original blog post. WordPress will add -2 to the end of your permalink when you do this, which means it worked. So if your original post URL was http://coolblog4life.com/awesome-sauce, your revised post URL will be  http://coolblog4life.com/awesome-sauce-2. That is an indicator for WordPress that even if you leave this -2 post in draft mode, it will republish over the old blog post on the specific day and at the time you specified as if it were a brand new blog post. This is an example of how to republish a blog post with WordPress. Pretty cool, right? Step 4:  Save Time While Getting Even More Out Of Your Evergreen Content The term repurposing content applies very nicely to evergreen content: Reuse it in different ways to make the time you invest into creating it and keeping it fresh totally worth it. Here are a few ways to get even bigger results from your content: Get More Email Subscribers By Improving Your Content Upgrade Content upgrades are related content you give away from your evergreen content in exchange for  your blog readers' email addresses. Common content upgrades include templates, worksheets, infographics, and bundles of all of these. This process is one of the tactics you can use to  grow your email list by 552% in one year. After you're done writing your new sections and adding new ideas into your post, grab the actionable advice and turn it into a worksheet format. Upload your content upgrade into your WordPress media library and grab the URL. Use LeadBoxes from LeadPages to create a link you can embed right in your blog post to show a popup your readers can  use to exchange their email address for your content upgrade. Set up the email function in LeadPages to send an automated email with a link to your content upgrade to the visitor who just subscribed to your blog content. Integrate LeadPages with your email service provider to capture that email address in the list where you manage all of your other subscribers. Improve your content upgrades to get more #email subscribers #bloggingThis  is the same process content marketing all-stars like Neil Patel use to  turn traffic to blog posts into email subscribers to keep their readers coming back. Neil Patel uses LeadBoxes from LeadPages to gather subscribes from inline downloads. Combine Older Evergreen Content Together To Create More Comprehensive  Blog Posts Do you have a couple older evergreen posts that are pretty similar? Chances are, you could combine those posts together to create one comprehensive post. Then all that's left is to redirect your old URLs to your new post, and you're set! Combine successful posts with similar topics to create a more comprehensive blog post? This is a practice we've started implementing at to help us reuse our older posts that haven't been quite as successful: Find a great topic you'd like to cover using the exercise in  step #1. During your competitive research phase in step #2, search your own blog content for related topics. If you don't have a search bar on your blog, use this query in Google: "site: YourDomain.com/  topic keyword". Find at least a couple blog posts that complement your topic and could serve as sections in a brand new post. Copy and paste them into a new blog post, then add the  outline you created from your research. After you publish the new post, set up 301 redirects from your old blog post URLs to your new post URL to maintain whatever SEO juice you had going to the original evergreen content. For example, Devin recently wrote a post about writer's block. She  knew people were searching for information on it because they were likely experiencing it. So she found a couple older posts- one on overcoming writer's block that wasn't ranking well or bringing in traffic to the blog- and combined that with a lot of new information on the topic of getting rid of writer's block. So far, the results have been fantastic. The process helped us recycle older content that wasn't performing by turning it  into a traffic-generating machine. Repurpose Evergreen Content As E-Books And Courses You create lots of awesome evergreen content that would complement itself nicely when packaged together in a different way- especially in longer formats like e-books and courses. The first step is to define your story flow: Brainstorm a broader topic under which you have already written several pieces of evergreen content. Gather the blog posts that may work well  to tell a comprehensive story under that topic. Determine the order of your story from the beginning to the end. Use  the content functionality in , an Evernote note, or a Google Doc to paste your blog posts in the order you just defined. Read through your content as a whole and remove any areas where you may have some repetitious information. For example, we recently wanted to  create something that would really help our audience keep their editorial schedule on track. We had a lot of evergreen content we compiled in order according to a story flow, then turned  all of that into four lessons we included in a comprehensive course. That course- made from strategically repurposing our best content in a logical order to solve a very specific problem- got more than 2,000 subscribers in less than two weeks. And it continues to bring in new subscribers every day, which is a pretty cool success story for repurposing content. Repurpose your evergreen content as e-books and courses. #blogging #amwritingFrom here, you just need  decide which format you'd like to roll forward with. Here's some light reading to get you started: Recommended Reading: 17 Apps That Help You Make Ebooks That Get Noticed The Ultimate Guide To Creating An Email Autoresponder Course How Will You Create Evergreen Content? You're ready to rock at this! You just learned how to: Start with ideas that are truly evergreen to make your return on creation pay off long after you publish your content. Flesh out your idea to publish the best content on the Internet. Literally. And that process will help you rank well in search engines to continue getting the traffic your awesome content deserves. Refresh and republish your evergreen content to keep search engines and your audience happy all while improving your content and saving a ton of time compared to writing brand new stuff every time. Upgrade your content to get more email subscribers, improve  underperforming content with brand new angles that will bring in more traffic, and repurpose content to  turn every last drop of effort into results. So where will you start?

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Business Capstone Project Responsibility

The investigation introduced in the paper highlights the importance of product market based on money spent on packaging (size, labelling, color material and design) and the way it has been constitutes to be one of the ponents in the customer perception. Nevertheless, there has been effective contribution towards the quality packaging of the product that further adds weight to the research. Moreover, investment done on packaging can be analyzed based on the Australian supermarkets Coles and ALDI and the way it had been supporting in decision making of buying milk products from the store. Packaging is the process of evaluation through design, distribution, labelling, and colour that helps in giving a pretty face to the customers view so that it can attempt to attract customers’ attention to motivate the product’s consumption. However, packaging remains to be i plete if there is no design, style, colour, shape or the material used, as they are deemed appealing to the customers irrespective of the choices made by them. On the other hand, appearance of the product not only adds to be the means of munication for the brand but also helps in conveying brand meaning to the customers (Schleenbecker and Hamm 2013). There are several ways that product designs influence consumer preference. The design of a product determines consumers ´ first impression of the product and quickly can municate product advantage. In addition, the design of a product will generate consumer inferences regarding several product attributes. Furthermore, the product or package appearance can reinforce the image of a brand, as the identity of a brand is expressed visually in the appearance of products (Riley, Martins da Silva and Behr 2015). Although, there are large individual and time-specific differences in the experience of colour and form, there are certain associations that seem to be relatively constant. Overviews of the influence of colour and form on consumer perception of symbolic value (and ergonomic and aesthetic value as well). For example, angular forms are associated with masculinity and dynamism, while roundness evokes femininity and softness (Raheem, Vishnu and Ahmed 2014). On the other hand, when it es to milk products, the packaging needs to be soothing as well as feminine such that with a picture of cow with white background can be forting to eyes as well as eye catching. However, the packaging concept in milk should be regular and not so fancy because they are obtained from natural plants (Okenwa 2016). Moreover, labelling of the pack should be highlighting more on nutrient balance, amount per saving and ingredients. Aldi and Coles, being one of the top retail stores in Australia wish to see their product shelved and making profit. Although, initially, the profit might be cut but later the same process will lead to more sales. Conversely, the use of sale packaging according to customer perception held to be of relevant factors in optimization. This is because from an environment as well as economical perspective, though it’s a costly venture but primary research showed that needs of customers for products like milk and baby care products can only be satisfied based on performance, reliability and packaging (Alvarez et al. 2016). Accordingly, it can be said that, packaging even constitute to be an important aspects that Coles and Aldi should focus on as it adds value to customer perception. In addition, shape, size, design and colour needs to be maintained so that the customers remain inclined towards a product like milk which can be added value through consistency. Milk/food packaging is the holder that holds, secures, saves and distinguishes the item, and which likewise encourages capacity and mercialization. Packaging likewise assumes a noteworthy part in drawing in customer consideration and affecting shopper buy choices. Concerning, current packaging market, bundling gives sustenance organizations the last opportunity to convince customers to purchase the item before brand choice. Along these lines, all bundling ponents must be consolidated to pull in the shopper when acquiring the product. However, the quality in packaging is perceived on two views- first is perceived quality and the second is objective quality. Perceived quality is different from actual reality as it is a higher level of abstraction than a particular attribute towards the products. As a result, the judgement is only made based on the consumer suggested set. The perceived quality differs from objective quality but it not only helps in adding ideal standards but it also helps in analysing the packaged goods based on technical and manufacturing based quality. However, when it es to sensitive products like baby care and milk products, the superiority and excellence of material attracts the consumer while paying more attention to the concept â€Å"health† (Jhandir 2012). The perceived quality ponent can be explained with the specific and intrinsic attributes to infer as well as indicate quality that not only sustains to higher level of abstract dimensions but also generalizes to quality of products. Figure: Perceived Quality ponent Source: (Akdeniz, Calantone and Voorhees 2013) When we analysed the â€Å"Total Food Quality Model† the â€Å"health† dimension not only adds to the perceived quality of the product but also helps the customers in decision-making. According to (), TFQM integrates the multi-featured and the various levelled ways to deal with quality recognition. In addition, it incorporates two other real ponents of shopper conduct in milk products and organic products, in particular the aim to buy, as a trade-off between give and take segments and the clarification of customer fulfilment, as the variation amongst experienced and expected quality (Yin et al. 2016). The following diagram that studies the basic outline of before purchase can be given as under. The model accordingly incorporates rationale or worth satisfaction, the way satisfaction of the customers adds to the a plishment of coveted ou es and qualities. External/ Outward cues, for example, label and information create assumptions about u monly high eating quality; precisely, giving the customer a sentiment extravagance and delight of life. The qualities looked for by buyers will not only affect quality measurements that are looked for but also studies the changed cues that could be seen and addressed. The grouping from prompts/cues, through quality increases the buy intentions based on the hierarchy of progressively theoretical intellectual order (Beneke et al. 2013). The packaging ultimately adds and signifies the overall features as well as uniqueness and originality to the sensory evaluation of milk products that help in brand preferences and municates favourable as well as implied meaning of the product (Drake et al. 2009). When it es to milk products, it is important that the nutritional value of the product is added highlighting good quality protein, easily digestible fat, source of iron and vitamin with calcium. Although, package labelling constitutes to be the â€Å"sense of seeing† that adds additional value. Moreover, sales of the packaging can only be increased by shelf impact, band imagery and functional and satisfaction after using the product (Young 2016). Accordingly, packaging helps in increasing sales of the product majorly, through its size and design and the way customer perceive it quality to be after going through the facts stated through labelling. In addition, it links to business value as an evidence while documenting shoppers decision. The sales helps on the impact of preference as well as petition in the market because Coles and Aldi are petitors justifying their packaging through price while ensuring market share at the same time. On the other hand, foster packaging innovation will lead to mitment and process while assessing new concepts in the marketing world. Corporate Social Responsibility ensures sustainability because of its corporate philanthropic nature tha not only directly benefits the shareholders but also in building brand imaging. CSR portrays the degree to which authoritative results are steady with societal qualities and desires. At its grass roots, being socially mindful has been a worry especially related to the justification that organizations will probably do well in a thriving society than in one that is going into disrepair (Gurung 2013). In today’s petitive marketplace, packaging with the organization guarantees economic profitability. However, to operate in the healthy society, it is important that the resources emphasized to the product offerings are not harmful and are not discontinued in the environment such that pany can emphasise environmentally friendly manufacturing and packaging materials (Sparks, Perkins and Buckley 2013). On the other hand, when it es to packaging, full disclosure about materials as well as origin is important to meet the practices of reporting and meeting the goals. Packaging is the only basis through which the organization depicts its CSR to the customers. Product bundling has the capacity that fits for CSR messages, since it permits purchasers to show their backing of capable organizations to themselves as well as other people, and the data is promptly accessible to them. Besides, the significance of packaging as a promoting tool is progressively recognized, since it empowers promoting munication to happen in the genuine acquiring circumstance and it a panies with the buyers into their homes (Pedersen 2013). The basic functions of packaging holds to be true for protection, preservation, facilitating distribution, promoting customer choice as well as consumer convenience. This form of marketing munication of CSR through packaging is unique because it not only enforces the purchase decision but also adds value to the product every time it is used. As per the list, it is important that environmental and health consciousness can likely occur on packages which can be considered as a value driven package consideration for environment and social causes. However, CSR can be beneficial to packaging through the elements of packaging influencing consumer’s purchase behaviour (Kuvykaite, Dovaliene and Navickiene 2015). Figure: Elements of Package and Consumer’s Purchase Behaviour Source: (Kuvykaite, Dovaliene and Navickiene 2015) However, when analysed on milk products, a brand logo that depicts a cow with a pleasing punch line as well as visual representation of environmentally checked product can not only receive environmental friendly process but also signifies a colour and size that looks fit for the kids. Moreover, milk products also employs labelling to convey CSR on the package and represent the product as responsibly manufactured which can be used while ensuring sustainability standards (Deselnicu, Costanigro and Thilmany 2012). Accordingly, the Corporate Social Responsibility and packaging labelling and design not only adds to the customers value but also ensures that the product is safe and secure. However, Aldi and Coles should also depicts their CSR through Products as external practices may be visible but internal practices can attract and retain the customers in the long run. The brand preference and packaging expenditure are moreover a relationship that is negatively influenced in a way that as the brand preference increases, the organization can lessen its expense on packaging while lowering expenditure. On the other hand, brand preference is assumed to be beneficial only when the product is recognized in the market and the customers are known to the alternatives. However, it is important that buying decision making should be   observed based on the impact of change that is significant on consumer perception, needs and tests, while additionally, adding products that are manufactured as well as changed on their subsequent positioning. Although, these changes have influenced consumer awareness but also have increased demand for products leading to expenditure in packaging depending on the consumer choices (Ahaiwe and Ndubuisi 2015). To conclude, it can be said that packaging holds to have equal important that any other marketing strategy used in the products. However, organizations need to adapt to different methods of packaging that not only increases the product sales but at the same time increase the corporate social responsibility of the product. Moreover, the packaging expenditure needs to be initially invested to shelf the product but later once the brand preference increases, the packaging expenditure can be less and the changing can be made in the process of innovation. Ahaiwe, E.O. and Ndubuisi, U., 2015. The Effect Of Packaging Characteristics On Brand Preference For Cosmetics Products In Abia State, Nigeria.  British Journal of Marketing Studies,  3(8), pp.79-90. Akdeniz, B., Calantone, R.J. and Voorhees, C.M., 2013. Effectiveness of marketing cues on consumer perceptions of quality: The moderating roles of brand reputation and thirdà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ party information.  Psychology & Marketing,  30(1), pp.76-89. Alvarez, A., Garcà ­a-Cornejo, B., Pà ©rez-Mà ©ndezà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚  c, J.A. and Roibà ¡s, D., 2016. Diversification in Spanish Dairy Farms: Key Drivers of Performance.EEvery Generation Needs Its Leaders., p.163. Beneke, J., Flynn, R., Greig, T. and Mukaiwa, M., 2013. The influence of perceived product quality, relative price and risk on customer value and willingness to buy: a study of private label merchandise.  Journal of Product & Brand Management,  22(3), pp.218-228. Deselnicu, O., Costanigro, M. and Thilmany, D., 2012. Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives and Consumer Preferences in the Dairy Industry. In2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington  (No. 124616). Agricultural and Applied Economics Association. Drake, M.A., Drake, S., Clark, S., Costello, M., Drake, M. and Bodyfelt, F., 2009. The Sensory Evaluation of dairy products. Grunert, K.G., 2005. Food quality and safety: consumer perception and demand.  European Review of Agricultural Economics,  32(3), pp.369-391. Gurung, R., 2013. The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives and Customer Centric Initiatives on Customers. Jhandir, S.U., 2012. Customer satisfaction, perceived service quality and mediating role of perceived value.  International Journal of Marketing Studies,4(1). Kuvykaite, R., Dovaliene, A. and Navickiene, L., 2015. Impact of package elements on consumer’s purchase decision.  Economics and Management, (14), pp.441-447. Okenwa, N.J., 2016.  Consumer Acceptance of Made in Nigeria Packaged Food Products in Enugu (A Study of Packaged Cosmetics and Food Products)  (Doctoral dissertation). Pedersen, A. 2013.  CSR munication via Product Packaging: A General Discussion and an analysis of Innocent Drinks. Pure.au.dk. Available at: https://pure.au.dk/portal/files/45284499/BA_for_upload.pdf.%20Retrieved,%20June%2010 [Accessed 15 Sep. 2016]. Raheem, A.R., Vishnu, P. and Ahmed, A.M., 2014. Impact of product packaging on consumer’s buying behavior.  European Journal of Scientific Research,  120(2), pp.145-157. Riley, D., Martins da Silva, P. and Behr, S., 2015. The impact of packaging design on health product perceptions. Schleenbecker, R. and Hamm, U., 2013. Consumers’ perception of organic product characteristics. A review.  Appetite,  71, pp.420-429. Sparks, B.A., Perkins, H.E. and Buckley, R., 2013. Online travel reviews as persuasive munication: The effects of content type, source, and certification logos on consumer behavior.  Tourism Management,  39, pp.1-9. Yin, S., Chen, M., Chen, Y., Xu, Y., Zou, Z. and Wang, Y., 2016. Consumer trust in organic milk of different brands: the role of Chinese organic label.British Food Journal,  118(7). Young, S. 2016.  Documenting the "Business Value" of New Packaging Innovations - Perception Research Services International. Prsresearch . Available at: https://www.prsresearch /prs-insights/article/documenting-the-business-value-of-new-packaging-innovations/ [Accessed 15 Sep. 2016].

Friday, October 18, 2019

Milton Glasers nurturing ideas Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Milton Glasers nurturing ideas - Assignment Example Based on Glaser’s talk, it is useful when he says that every single poster made in a banal way is a half-way toward an original design. Moreover, as he notes, intellectual activity should constantly work in order to compare this or that piece of design (Glaser, 1998). On the other hand, the relationships between different elements of design are too significant to make something unusual.PART IILooking at the way designers work, I have chosen the following four ways of design methods, namely: 1) Being your users; 2) Brainstorming; 3) Cluster and vote; 4) Physical prototyping (Design Council, 2010). First, I tried to replicate the whole picture of how potential clients would reflect on the design. It is obvious that a divine design is when people cannot but be embarrassed by what a designer created. Thus, being your users is a method to make point at the very start. It is a prerequisite toward an innovative creation. Second, brainstorming is the way of creative work which needs h uge intellectual efforts in order to generate spontaneous ideas of possible use for the overall design. In fact, it is a method supporting the whole process since the very outset until the finishing strokes (Bierut, 2006). Third, cluster and vote method is needful for me among the rest due to its aim at identifying a pattern in the problem area (Design Council, 2010). In other words, it deals more with brainstorming as long as the latter method is a so-called drive for selecting particular solutions through cluster and vote.

GreenZone The Movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

GreenZone The Movie - Essay Example However, it became apparent that the weapons of mass destruction that was being searched for by the American army were never found. The green zone movie can therefore be described as a reality movie since it tells a real story about the America and Iraq conflict (Mowle, 7). However, other scholars and movie analyst have argued on the contrary. The production of this movie first was initiated in Spain, then to Morocco and was first released in Russia and Australia in the year 2010 during the month of March and later was available in America after few days of release. According to Mowle, (9), the movie does not refer to the invasion by the American troops into Iraq but it demonstrates the several attacks that the American government had done to the countries to the east which includes Iraq and the Afghanistan as well as the intension of the American government to attack some of the nations to the east in search of weapons of mass destruction. It is important to note that nuclear weapon s has been one of the America’s big issue of concern for the security of the world. The weapons of mass destruction posses a security threat to the U.S. government and the other western nations and Europe. According to, the movie therefore demonstrates how America has begun and the overall intension and objective of America to destroy all weapons of Mass destruction. However, the fact remains that it is one of the current movies that tells the recent American experiences in the war in Iraq. Greene zone has also received certain political interpretation from different people who have viewed it as a political tool that was meant to harm the American government. According to Scott, the movie is an â€Å"anti American movie† and does not reflect the true experiences of the soldiers in the war. Others have also argued that is an antiwar and hence it does not reflect a sincere picture of what the American soldiers experienced in Iraq. The character of Miller forms the basis of these arguments by the political interpreters of this movie. This is because of his rogue activities and disobedient to the government which is described in the movie as being corrupt. The movie represents the corrupt pentagon through the character of Kinnear and hence the political side view of this movie asserts that the government did not play its role in the search for the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In this context, the movie seeks to send to the minds of Audiences how the government forced an attack which was not important. Others have however contradicted these arguments stating that the movie main themes to outline the mistakes that the American government made before they could actually authorize the attacks on Iraq and the attitude of the soldiers towards such attack. However as stated by Scott, the political controversies cannot be described as irrelevant or relevant. In this context, it is noticeable that the government through pentagon made mistakes before a uthenticating the war against Iraq. Gonzales who is one of the people involved in the war and whom the character of Miller is based has put everything straight. Gonzales has argued that the political controversies are meaningless and the reactions from political interpreters are inappropriate. According to Scott, Gonzales was one of the technical persons in the processing

Earth Science Geology - Land Forms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Earth Science Geology - Land Forms - Essay Example These mountains compose the very complicated group of mountain ranges in US due to the wide scope they have reached in all directions (â€Å"Transverse Ranges,† 2012). The Transverse Ranges, as it is popularly known, captures Los Angeles until in San Diego and holds three major forests in California. Unlike other mountain ranges, it extends an east-west pattern, which was caused by tectonic movements of Pacific and North American plates million years ago (Roberts, n.d.). Roberts (n.d.) further indicated that as long as the San Andreas Fault finally aligns from its crooked trend, tectonic movements will be continuously felt in some areas of the mountain ranges and transformations in some areas will occur. With changes in sea levels, Transverse Ranges are expected to regain their original formation - being a set of mountains in one island. Another land formation in Southern California is Cowles Mountain locally known as â€Å"S† mountain, which rises 448 from the ground and is known as the highest peak in San Diego (McNair, 2012). Cowles Mountain was formed due to tectonic movements near San Diego which caused the convergence of two plates. It is mostly composed of granite and sedimentary cover. Its edges in the eastern part prove that they are â€Å"remnants of a wave-cut terrace† (â€Å"Cowles Mountain,† n.d.). Since it is visited by many hikers, some accessibility improvements can be expected. Nevertheless, its features will be practically preserved. This rock formation found in the west part of Point Loma Peninsula near San Diego is composed of sandstone and siltstone (Hall, 2007). Cutting across its vicinity is the Rose Canyon fault zone, which has not yet caused any movements (Moore, 1972 as cited in Girty, n.d.). Girty (n.d.) further proved that this ancient rock formation was formed from tectonic movements that occurred million years ago. Since the nearby fault remains to have no signs of tectonic movements, then Point Loma formation is expected to retain its

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Advanced Valuation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Advanced Valuation - Essay Example the specific case are: a) the criteria that should be ‘adopted by the parties and nominated valuers in relation to the rent review of a lease’ (par. 1). In the above context, a series of similar issues are also examined like the role of notices and the good faith in the development of the relevant procedure and the completion of the task delegated to valuers. The issue of the use of two valuers is also presented in this case. The facts of the particular case could be described as follows: The lease ‘commenced in 1994 and created a term of twelve years commencing on 1 January 1995 (with three successive options for renewal for further terms of five years) covering twenty five floors and a secure area in the Governor Macquarie Tower, Sydney’ (par. 2). On the other hand, the agreement regarding the payment of the lease has been as follows: ‘he rent reserved, referred to in the lease as the minimum rent, was $13,224,7891 per annum and in the original term there were to be five rent review dates occurring two-yearly, the first being 1 January 1997; At or about the commencement of the lease the lessor made an incentive payment to the lessee of $68 million’. It should be noticed that the procedure referred to certain requirements like the ‘negotiation in good faith’ and the ‘appointment of valuers’ however, the relevant guidelines did not precisely followed. T he main issue under examination in the particular trial has been the article 2.11(b) of the relevant contractual agreement. In order to identify the meaning of the above article the parties called experts. At a first level the creation of a completed assumption by the court has been a challenging task because of the existence of many ‘contradictory’ terms in the relevant contractual agreement. For this reason it was supported by the court that â€Å"the parties to the Lease took the view that the benefit of the incentives would be amortised over the first ten years of the Lease; it is

Pricing and Quality Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Pricing and Quality - Assignment Example g them to provide a top quality healthcare service, our healthcare organization can benefit as it fulfills the ultimate objective of a patient which is none other than obtaining a quality healthcare service and we are here to provide that quality service to every patient. There are different justifications for negotiating the rates with the managed care organizations such that a long term relation with those managed care organizations can ensured in future, assurance of charging high price from the customer but expecting an exchange of providing the top quality service from the managed care organization to the patients, ensuring the managed care organization to increase their share in the profits in the future if they kept providing higher quality services to both the healthcare organization as well as to the patients. As the healthcare organization is in its early stage therefore in order to make an impact upon the patients, initially higher quality of healthcare must be provided to them even at a lower cost, but as the healthcare organization will be gaining more popularity, the price charged from the patients can be

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Earth Science Geology - Land Forms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Earth Science Geology - Land Forms - Essay Example These mountains compose the very complicated group of mountain ranges in US due to the wide scope they have reached in all directions (â€Å"Transverse Ranges,† 2012). The Transverse Ranges, as it is popularly known, captures Los Angeles until in San Diego and holds three major forests in California. Unlike other mountain ranges, it extends an east-west pattern, which was caused by tectonic movements of Pacific and North American plates million years ago (Roberts, n.d.). Roberts (n.d.) further indicated that as long as the San Andreas Fault finally aligns from its crooked trend, tectonic movements will be continuously felt in some areas of the mountain ranges and transformations in some areas will occur. With changes in sea levels, Transverse Ranges are expected to regain their original formation - being a set of mountains in one island. Another land formation in Southern California is Cowles Mountain locally known as â€Å"S† mountain, which rises 448 from the ground and is known as the highest peak in San Diego (McNair, 2012). Cowles Mountain was formed due to tectonic movements near San Diego which caused the convergence of two plates. It is mostly composed of granite and sedimentary cover. Its edges in the eastern part prove that they are â€Å"remnants of a wave-cut terrace† (â€Å"Cowles Mountain,† n.d.). Since it is visited by many hikers, some accessibility improvements can be expected. Nevertheless, its features will be practically preserved. This rock formation found in the west part of Point Loma Peninsula near San Diego is composed of sandstone and siltstone (Hall, 2007). Cutting across its vicinity is the Rose Canyon fault zone, which has not yet caused any movements (Moore, 1972 as cited in Girty, n.d.). Girty (n.d.) further proved that this ancient rock formation was formed from tectonic movements that occurred million years ago. Since the nearby fault remains to have no signs of tectonic movements, then Point Loma formation is expected to retain its

Pricing and Quality Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Pricing and Quality - Assignment Example g them to provide a top quality healthcare service, our healthcare organization can benefit as it fulfills the ultimate objective of a patient which is none other than obtaining a quality healthcare service and we are here to provide that quality service to every patient. There are different justifications for negotiating the rates with the managed care organizations such that a long term relation with those managed care organizations can ensured in future, assurance of charging high price from the customer but expecting an exchange of providing the top quality service from the managed care organization to the patients, ensuring the managed care organization to increase their share in the profits in the future if they kept providing higher quality services to both the healthcare organization as well as to the patients. As the healthcare organization is in its early stage therefore in order to make an impact upon the patients, initially higher quality of healthcare must be provided to them even at a lower cost, but as the healthcare organization will be gaining more popularity, the price charged from the patients can be

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Beyond The Last Lamp and During Wind And Rain Essay Example for Free

Beyond The Last Lamp and During Wind And Rain Essay Compare the ways in which Hardy presents reactions to the loss of loved ones in these two poems Thomas Hardy uses change and passing time as symbols of death and loss in both poems: Beyond The Last Lamp and During Wind And Rain. The title, Beyond The Last Lamp, is a metaphorical way of describing darkness as the lamp signifies light and beyond light lies darkness, a representation of pain and misery. The whole poem revolves around a supposedly grieving, mysterious couple that the speaker observes over time. During Wind And Rain is also a depressing title as the rain suggests anguish and sorrow. The wind suggests progressing time, which could be seen as life, and perhaps death because that’s what life ultimately leads up to. A family is the subject of this poem and the speaker, again, tracks their progression over time. It is said that the poem is about the family of Emma Hardy, Thomas Hardy’s wife. Time represents and is represented by several different objects in both poems. Both poems use stanzas (Beyond The Last Lamp has five stanzas and During Wind And Rain has four) to develop ideas throughout the poem and show the passing time. ‘Ah, no; the years O!’ and ‘Ah, no; the years, the years;’ are alternately used as the penultimate line in each stanza of During Wind And Rain. This gives a sense of time moving at a fast pace and it being terrible and only bringing misery as the line is followed by an image of death. Place is used in powerful metaphors associated with time, life and death, and it gives the poem its atmosphere. Beyond The Last Lamp is set in a wet, dark lane, setting a heavy and depressing atmosphere. Even the light used in the poem is used to accentuate distress, ‘Each countenance as it slowly, as it sadly caught the lamplight’s yellow glance, held in suspense a misery’. There is also a close association between people and place as the speaker only remembers the lane through the couple: ‘Without those comrades†¦that lone lane does not exist’. Contrastingly, the atmosphere of During Wind And Rain is lively and happy for the first four lines of the stanza, as it focuses on a garden and family, however, it seems like the cheerful recollection ends with an ellipsis and the speaker is almost shaken back to reality. The last line of the stanza shows the place and nature in a dramatic and ghastly way, a clashing chord to the beginning: ‘How the sick leaves reel down in throngs’, showing the uncontrollable nature of death and the autumn season. ‘Reel’ connects with the previous to lines about music, ‘they sing their dearest songs’ since as a noun it means an Irish or Scottish folk dance. ‘And the rotten rose is ript from the wall’ uses alliteration to dramatize and emphasise the suddenness and horrific nature of death. Place is used to represent time, the stanzas show a progression of seasons: summer tree. Place is also used to describe the family going to heaven: ‘They change to a high new house’. The garden is also like a metaphor for life as it shows how people try and control it although it’s uncontrollable: ‘they clear the creeping moss†¦making the pathways neat’. People are the main focal points for both poems whether it is a family or a couple. The speaker writes as an outsider, an observer of these people. The couple in Beyond The Last Lamp are first described as ‘two linked loiterers’ which is then developed to ‘the pair seemed lovers’ in the second stanza, ‘twain, in the third, ‘tragic pair’ and then ‘comrades’. Through this change in description, the speaker’s change in perspective and opinion of the couple’s relationship is visible as they deteriorate from lovers to tragic pair. Although there is deterioration, the pain is present from the beginning of the poem. Absence of happiness is used to create the sad feeling of the poem. Time represents a change for the worse. Their emotions follow a similar pattern and can also be traced from heavy thought in the first stanza, to misery in the second to wild woe in the third. The actual change from happiness to misery isnt shown extensively in the poem, but it is hinted at: no longer orbed in loves young rays. However, the family’s relationships seem to remain intact throughout During Wind And Rain. The family of During Wind And Rain are shown as happy but unaware of the way time and death can remove everything: they are blithely. This almost naà ¯ve unawareness and the sudden, unexpected loss of happiness is used to emphasise feelings of pain. Time and their growth is shown by the differing description of its members: ‘Elders and juniors’ to ‘Men and maidens’. But they all die in the last stanza: ‘Down their carved names the rain-drop ploughs’. Time in this case represents death. The speaker has two very different styles in the poems although the perspectives are just as pessimistic about life and time. The already pessimistic perspective of the speaker also worsens as the poem progresses.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Early literacy support programme

Early literacy support programme This small-scale research project focuses on The Early Literacy Support (ELS) Programme (DfES, 2007) within an urban primary school. Over the past few years there has been a large amount of investment provided by the Government to help raise childrens attainment in literacy. As a result, additional support programmes and interventions have been developed. The ELS Programme is an intervention produced by the National Strategies aimed at Year 1 children, who with additional support, should reach or exceed age related expectations in literacy. Aims This research aimed to study the ELS programme to identify how children are selected to participate in in the programme and to investigate the staff and childrens perceptions of the intervention and impacts as a result of the programme. This research examined three key questions; How is Early Literacy Support supporting childrens specific needs? What are the perceptions of teaching staff on how Early Literacy Support has impacted on childrens enjoyment, development and attainment in literacy? What are the perceptions of the children on Early Literacy Support and their enjoyment and development in literacy? Rationale I have a keen interest in literacy and am interested in learning about different ways to support children who struggle to easily acquire literacy skills within the mainstream classroom. The main reason for conducting research into this area was to enable me to gain a better awareness of literacy interventions for young children, which will ultimately increase my understanding and inform my future practice as a teacher. The class where I was on placement had a large number of children who required additional literacy support, so it seemed the ideal opportunity to further investigate the literacy interventions that children were involved in. Furthermore, although research has previously identified the positive impact of ELS and other phonics interventions, there is no documented research assessing childrens or adults views on the programme. The present research aimed to address this literature gap. Literature Review Learning to read, write and spell are among the most critically important and empowering skills that children will learn at school (Pumfrey Elliott, 1990, p. ix). Literacy skills provide the grounding for education and future life, however, a large proportion of children in the education system experience literacy difficulties. Children who struggle to acquire literacy skills are a continuing educational concern in todays modern society (Pumfrey Elliott, 1990). Browne (2009) identifies that teachers largest concern is surrounding children who fail to make progress in reading and writing. There are a wide variety of possible causes of childrens literacy difficulties, for example language delay, visual impairment, absence of books at home and general learning difficulties (Browne, 2009). It is therefore essential for teachers to assess the pupils difficulties and identify underlying causes in order to provide support that is tailored towards their individual needs. At Key Stage 1 in 2009, 84% of children achieved level 2 or above in reading and 81% of children achieved level 2 or above in writing (DfCSF, 2009). These figures remained relatively stable between 2007 and 2009. Although the majority of children are achieving age-expected levels, there is still a proportion of children who are under-achieving in literacy during their early school years. The gap between children who are struggling in literacy during their early years of schooling and their progressing peers will widen as children continue through their school life, which will have a negative impact on their self-esteem as well as educational attainment (Moore Wade, 1995; Rose, 2006). Graham (2008) states that approximately 35,000 children (6% of Year 6s) each year are leaving primary school with literacy levels below their age expected potential. Moore and Wade (1995) highlight that difficulties in literacy will also impact attainment in other areas of the curriculum, as reading and writing are crucial skills. It is therefore essential that children receive suitable, individualised support as early as possible to prevent later, exacerbated difficulties (Moore Wade, 1995; Graham, 2008). Rose (2006) argues that childrens reading and writing difficulties can be avoided through early assessment and by implementing appropriate interventions to support their individual needs. The use of early interventions can be seen as a preventative approach to avoid later difficulties (Burroughs-Lange Douetil, 2007; Savage Carless, 2008). This view has been recognised by the Government and schools are now formally required to provide focused support to children before Year 3 (Graham, 2008). Following the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy in 1998, the Government introduced additional initiatives with the aim of alleviating literacy difficulties in todays young population, in order to raise attainment (Shiel, 2003; Soler Paige-Smith, 2005; Graham, 2008). The Government instigated three waves of support to help schools plan and implement adequate provision for every child (DfES, 2007; Graham, 2008). Wave 1 describes the provision of Quality First Teaching which consists of systematic phonics and a rich language environment that all children should receive within whole-class literacy lessons. The DfES (2007) argues that good teaching is the most effective way to raise childrens achievement (p.9). Wave 2 is designed to help children who have experienced quality teaching but are still behind their peers, although they have the potential to reach age related expectations. This level of support is in addition to daily literacy lessons and usually consists of group work following a structured programme that is delivered by a teaching assistant. Wave 3 is designed for children who have Special Educational Needs and require personalised one-to-one support (DfES, 2007; Graham, 2008). A recent focus in schools has been on Wave 2 interventions, with the aim of helping children to make progress in literacy (Rose, 2006). A commonly implemented Wave 2 intervention is The Early Literacy Support (ELS) Programme (DfES, 2007) produced by the National Strategies. The approach is used for children in Year 1 (age 5-6 years) whose literacy skills are developing slower than expected during their first term in Key Stage 1 (Shiel, 2003; Graham, 2008). The children identified to participate in ELS are expected to progress to, and possibly exceed, age-related expectations following small, focused group sessions (DfES, 2007; Hatcher et al. 2006a). A teaching assistant delivers the group sessions in close collaboration with the class teacher, which is essential for successful application of the programme (DfES, 2007). The ELS programme consists of planned, systematic sessions that work alongside the Primary Literacy Strategy and incorporates aspects of Letters and Sounds (DfES, 2007). The sessions focus on supporting and developing childrens phonological skills, helping them to link sounds to graphemes, decode words and subsequently improve their reading, spelling and writing (Hatcher et al. 2006a). This is essential, as studies assessing a variety of interventions have repeatedly identified that successful literacy interventions focus on phonological knowledge as a starting point to reading and writing (Hatcher et al. 2006b; Savage Carless, 2008). Ehri et al. (2001) conducted a meta-analysis of 52 intervention studies and concluded that phonemic awareness was the most significant contributor to reading and writing development. Rose (2006) stresses that effective interventions must build upon phonic work that the children have experienced within the mainstream classroom. Furthermore, he argues th at interventions will only be successful if the work completed in the sessions is sustained and built upon back in the classroom when the intervention finishes (Rose, 2006). Research has shown that the ELS programme has positive impacts in improving childrens literacy skills, particularly reading (Burroughs-Lange Douetil, 2007). Soler and Paige-Smith (2005) documented that children who were experiencing mild difficulties in acquiring literacy skills, progressed in literacy following the ELS programme. Further evidence comes from Hatcher et al. (2006a), who evaluated the effectiveness of the ELS programme compared to another reading intervention. They found that the reading skills of 6 year olds were raised in line with their peers by the time they had finished the programme. However, in this study there was no unseen control group, so results cannot be compared to children with low literacy skills who did not engage in the programme (Hatcher et al. 2006a). On the negative side, a constraint with the ELS programme is that the sessions are delivered by teaching assistants, rather than trained teachers. Researchers have argued that children who are struggling should be taught by skilled professionals who have knowledge of how to support and improve childrens attainment (Stainthorp, 2000) However, research has consistently shown that interventions delivered by teaching assistants can be effective in improving childrens literacy attainment (Hatcher et al., 2006b; Savage Carless, 2008). Rose (2006) highlighted that successful interventions were regularly carried out by teaching assistants who worked effectively with groups of children. Evidence comes from Hatcher et al. (2006b) who assessed the effectiveness of a reading intervention and found that the majority of children had caught up with their peers by the end of the programme, although a proportion of children still required extra support. They concluded that teaching assistants are mo re than capable of successfully teaching a group intervention in order to raise attainment. Additional support comes from a longitudinal study conducted by Savage and Carless (2008). They found that the majority of pupils who had engaged in teaching assistant directed interventions in Year 1, achieved national average results at the end of Year 2. Research to date stresses the importance of early interventions and highlights the success of teaching assistant directed group sessions. However, an important consideration regarding additional support is ensuring that the type of intervention given is related to the childs specific needs in order to raise attainment (Bradley, 1990). Furthermore, although research has previously investigated the effectiveness of ELS, there is a lack of research that has examined the teachers, teaching assistants or childrens perceptions of the intervention and subsequent impacts. The present research aimed to further examine the ELS programme to address this literature gap by studying the intervention in an urban primary school, where staff had recently implemented the programme in order to raise literacy skills for a group of Year 1 children (see Appendix 1 for project plan). The research aimed to investigate: How is Early Literacy Support supporting childrens specific needs? What are the perceptions of teaching staff on how Early Literacy Support has impacted on childrens enjoyment, development and attainment in literacy? What are the perceptions of the children on Early Literacy Support and their enjoyment and development in literacy? In order to answer the above research questions, ELS sessions were observed and staff and children were interviewed. Furthermore, childrens literacy targets were obtained and their reading and writing levels were compared from before and during participation in ELS. Methodology Design This small-scale research project employed a case-study design, examining the ELS intervention within one urban primary school. Demetriou (2009) identifies that case studies enable researchers to collect and record in-depth data within a real-life context. Participants A purposive sample (Burton et al. 2009) of three Year 1 children from an urban primary school were recruited for the study as they had been selected by their class teacher to participate in the ELS programme. The sample also consisted of the Year 1 class teacher and teaching assistant who delivered the programme. Data collection methods A mixture of qualitative and quantitative data collection methods was used in this study. Mason (2006) recommends using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research methods to enable a clear view of the data. Furthermore, Evans (2009) highlights that using different categories of participants (teachers, teaching assistants and students), alongside a range of data collection methods enables triangulation and therefore increases validity and reliability of the methods and data collected. The majority of the data collection involved qualitative research methods, in order to gain rich, detailed data regarding individuals beliefs and opinions surrounding the ELS programme (Evans, 2009). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the class teacher, teaching assistant and three children who participated in ELS. This form of interview enables the researcher to respond to interviewees answers to gain more detailed information (Burton et al. 2009). A set of key questions were planned (Appendix 5, 6 and 7) and additional questions were asked during the interviews depending on the participants response. Open-ended questions were asked to enable participants to express their own opinions, leading to more detailed, in-depth data (Burton et al. 2009). All interviews were recorded using a dictaphone and later transcribed. Three sequential ELS sessions were directly observed, with the observer as a non-participant. Although this is a time consuming method, Burton et al. (2009) argue that observation can be one of the most powerful tools in research (p. 95) as it can yield rich, real-life data that can be essential for the research. The observations were noted using a continuous narrative and were also recorded using a dictaphone to ensure objectivity. Quantitative methods were used to examine childrens literacy targets and attainment levels. Childrens literacy levels before participating in ELS (Autumn Term 2010) were compared to levels after completing a few weeks of the programme (Spring Term 2011). This data was also compared to adults and childrens perceived improvements as a result of the programme. Data analysis Observations and interviews were transcribed and coded using the open coding method, by identifying emerging codes from the data related to the key research questions (Burton et al. 2009). The observations were transcribed and coded according to the ELS session activities that the children engaged in, such as sounds, spelling and writing sentences (Appendix 8). All interviews were transcribed and systematically coded according to themes related to the key questions, for example childrens needs, development, enjoyment and attainment (Appendix 9). Ethical considerations Before conducting the research, an ethical consideration form was completed (Appendix 2) using Bera (2004) guidelines, which was signed off by my MA Tutor. As the research was being completed in a school, the research proposal was explained to the Head Teacher and she gave informed consent for the research to be carried out in her school (Appendix 3). As the research involved children under 16 years of age, parents of the three children involved were sent a letter explaining the research and asking for their permission for their child to be interviewed and observed. All parents returned the letters signed (Appendix 4). The research was also briefly explained to the children and they were informed that they didnt have to answer any questions if they didnt want to. Interviews with both staff and children were completed at a convenient time for the participants and were kept short so as to not impact on their usual school/work routine. Interviews with children were conducted in a quiet room that children were familiar with to ensure that they were comfortable. Furthermore, observations of ELS sessions were conducted during normal timetabled sessions to minimise intrusion or distress for children. All data collected was coded to ensure confidentiality and anonymity. Once the data was transcribed and reported, all interview recordings were deleted (Bera, 2004). Results Observations of ELS sessions are shown in Appendix 8. Interview transcripts with the class teacher (CT), teaching assistant (TA) and three children (A, D, and E) are shown in Appendix 9. The three childrens writing targets are shown in Appendix 10 and their literacy levels from September 2010 to April 2011 are shown in Appendix 11. How is Early Literacy Support supporting childrens specific needs? Childrens needs During the interview, the class teacher (CT) stated that the ELS programme was implemented at the school as there was a need in Year 1, particularly to raise the levels in writing. The three children were selected to participate in ELS as they were working on a W level in literacy and they lacked confidence in reading and writing. She said they all have potential, they are beginning to use their sounds but need more input with decoding words to read and sounding out words to spellà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.independently they werent able to produce a sentence on their own. Furthermore, child E had a lot of time off school so was selected in order to fill the gaps in his learning that he had missed. The childrens writing targets prior to starting the programme (Table 1), were all focused towards using sounds to spell and writing a simple sentence with correct punctuation independently. The teaching assistant (TA) said she was unaware of the childrens literacy targets, but knew the children has been selected for the programme to increase their confidence in reading and writing. Table 1 Childrens writing targets. Writing Targets January 2011 Child A To use full stops and capital letters in my sentences. Child D To use a Thrass chart to help me spell. Child E To write a sentence on my own. ELS session activities During a typical ELS session, the TA stated that they look at letter sounds, apply an action to each sound, learn key words and write simple sentences using the key words. She said a lot of the sounds and words we use in the sessions are also Thrass words, and the children often recognise that. During ELS observations (Appendix 8), the majority of the activities observed were focused on sounds and spelling. Session 18 incorporated writing simple sentences using the sounds and spellings that they had learnt in the previous sessions. Children were occasionally required to read key words, however there wasnt a specific reading activity incorporated into the observed sessions. Both the CT and TA stated that the ELS programme is followed strictly and not tailored according to the childrens specific needs or individual progress. However, the CT said that a feedback and assessment procedure is currently being implemented whereby the TA records a brief summary of the sessions to pass on to t he CT. What are the perceptions of teaching staff on how Early Literacy Support has impacted on childrens enjoyment, development and attainment in literacy? Enjoyment The CT and TA both identified that the largest impact of the ELS programme has been on the childrens confidence in reading and writing, both in the ELS sessions, whole class lessons and at home, which has increased their enjoyment in the subject. CT said they now believe they can write and seem to enjoy writing. Furthermore, she stated that the children are also starting to write things at home and show them to the rest of the class, which they never used to do. Within whole class lessons, she has also observed that the children are more involved during discussions and are definitely more positive towards their work, especially child A. The majority of the children seem to enjoy their extra literacy sessions. However, the TA noted that child A sometimes seems frustrated because she is missing out on class work, but otherwise she is enthusiastic in the sessions. The CT said that the children always come back from the session with a big smile on their face, which highlights their enjoyment of the ELS sessions. Furthermore, when in the classroom, the children are now showing pride and pleasure in their literacy work. The TA stated that children come over and say look at all the work Ive done, or can you read my writing. Development During interviews, both the CT and TA were very positive regarding the impact that ELS has had on the childrens literacy skills since starting the programme in January. Children are now confidently answering questions, they are able to write sentences independently and use their sound knowledge to spell and read words. CT stated they can now write a sentence independently without getting stressed out and they are beginning to spell all the simple words correctly. She also identified that children are more focused on their class work and are able to confidently complete writing tasks independently. CT described child E who was previously not focused on his work, whereas this week when he wrote about the school trip he wrote half a page on his own, which he would never have done before. This development has also been noted by the TA during ELS sessions, with child A now willing to try any activity, child D can correctly sound out words and child E has caught up with peers after a lot o f time off. The TA stated that all children have definitely benefitted from the programme already. Attainment As shown in Table 2, all of the three childrens levels in reading and writing have increased from W levels (not yet accessing the Year 1 curriculum, so assessed against P scales) in November 2010, to at least a level 1c in April 2011 during the period that ELS was implemented. The greatest improvement has been in writing, with child A and E achieving a level 1c+. What are the perceptions of the children on Early Literacy Support and their enjoyment and development in literacy? Enjoyment During interviews with the children, it was clear that all children enjoy the ELS sessions, however child A stated that she didnt want to be in the group anymore as she doesnt think she needs to be in it. All three children stated that they enjoy sounding out letters in the sessions and described how much they enjoy helping Pip the puppet with her sounds. Child D said I like it when we talk to Pip and help her sound out letters and likewise child E stated I like sounding out letters and reading things. Writing was consistently the activity that children enjoyed the least as they found it the most difficult. However, when describing her favourite piece of writing, child A stated I enjoy writing lots of things because I know how to write now. Development When describing what the children thought they had improved at in literacy, all the children identified that they can now sound out letters to help them with their reading and writing. Child A felt that she had got better at sounding out letters and stated this was because she had been practising with the TA. She also talked about finding writing difficult in Foundation Stage and said now I just remember how to write a word and can write it down. Child D said Ive got better at my reading because I can now sound out words to help me read. I am on List 9 hotwords already. Child E stated I have got better at writing. I always make the sounds for the letters and words to help me to write. Discussion This research aimed to investigate how the ELS programme is supporting childrens needs and assess adults and childrens perceptions of the programme. Interviews, observations and obtaining childrens targets revealed that the ELS programme is at present supporting the childrens specific needs. Furthermore, overall both staff and children expressed positive opinions regarding the ELS programme. The ELS session activities focused mainly on sounds and spelling, with writing a simple sentence incorporated into some sessions. This links directly with childrens needs before starting the programme and their individual writing targets, which Bradley (1990) argues is crucial in order for an intervention to be successful. Furthermore, the phonics covered in the session was linked to Thrass, which is the phonics programme that children experience in the mainstream classroom. This is crucial, as Rose (2006) argues that it is essential for children to have continuity to enable them to transfer their skills from the classroom into the session and vice versa. Although the sessions at present are supporting childrens needs, their targets will change over time and it cannot be concluded that the sessions will continue to support their needs. The ELS programme is followed strictly, with no room for incorporating work to specifically target the childrens individual needs if they are not cove red by the programme. This is therefore in contrast to the view held by Bradley (1990). Although the programme must be followed, it might be beneficial if the TA knew the childrens targets so she could focus on those particular skills, within the planned sessions. Both the adults and childrens perceptions of the programme were very positive. The adults have seen improvements in childrens literacy skills during the past few months, particularly with the childrens confidence in all aspects of literacy. The adults stated that the children are now more confident at sounding out words and will independently complete writing tasks that previously they struggled with. The children were able to identify what they felt they had improved at, which were in line with the adults opinions of the childrens development. This increase in confidence appears to have had an impact on the childrens enjoyment in aspects of literacy, although writing was consistently their least favourite aspect. Only one child expressed her frustration with being involved in the group as she felt she was missing out on class work. The ELS sessions are timetabled for 20 minutes at the same time each day, meaning children are always missing foundation subjects as part of their topic work. Although the intervention is clearly aiding childrens development, the children are potentially missing out on crucial learning experiences within the mainstream classroom. It would be interesting to investigate whether childrens opinions of the intervention were more positive if the interventions were timetabled on a rotational basis to ensure that children were not always missing the same lessons. The adults positive opinions surrounding the impact of ELS are supported by the increase in childrens progress and attainment in literacy. The childrens attainment in both reading and writing had increased from W levels, to at least a 1c during the period that ELS was implemented. The current research therefore supports previous findings that have documented improvements in childrens literacy skills and attainment following participation in the ELS programme (Soler Paige-Smith, 2005; Hatcher et al. 2006a; Burroughs-Lange Douetil, 2007). However in this study, it cannot be concluded that increase in literacy attainment is solely attributed to the ELS programme, because other variables were not controlled. Alongside the intervention, children were also experiencing quality teaching during their whole class sessions, with reading and writing supported across the timetable. Furthermore, the school has recently implemented the Read Write Inc. phonics scheme to use during the literacy le ssons, which focuses heavily on sounds and spellings. Therefore, it may be a combination of the ELS intervention, quality first teaching and literacy phonics schemes that have led to an improvement in literacy skills and subsequently an increase in reading and writing attainment. Further, controlled studies need to be conducted to assess the specific impact that the ELS intervention has on childrens literacy skills. Additionally, the present research only assessed a snap shot of the intervention and did not assess the impact of the programme on literacy skills and attainment in the longer term. Although the research documents an increase in skills and attainment, it cannot be concluded that the programme helped children to reach or go beyond age expected levels in literacy by the end of a school year. It would be interesting to conduct longitudinal research to see whether children participating in ELS during the spring term of Year 1, achieve age-related expectations of at least a level 1b by the time they finish Year 1. Although Savage and Carless (2008) conducted a longitudinal study of ELS and assessed results at the end of Year 2, research has yet to assess childrens attainment across the whole of Year 1. The current research also supports the literature that suggests that teaching assistants can deliver interventions successfully in order to raise attainment (Hatcher et al. 2006b; Savage Carless, 2008). However, prior to starting the programme the teaching assistant received no training and simply had to deliver the programme following the session plans. She was not confident in using Thrass as she had had no phonics training. In agreement with Savage and Carless (2008), it can be argued that to further improve childrens attainment, teaching assistants who are delivering interventions need to be trained in phonics programmes and should be aware of approaches to support childrens learning. As this was a small-scale case study conducted in one urban primary school, the findings from this research cannot be generalised to other children or schools (Demetriou, 2009). Furthermore, case study designs have been criticised for being influenced by the researchers subjectivity (Demetriou, 2009). However, to overcome this issue, the present research adopted multiple research methods and recording approaches in order to ensure objectivity, which therefore increases the validity and reliability of the findings (Burton et al. 2009). A strength of the research was that observations of ELS sessions were conducted sequentially over a 3 day period in order to increase reliability and observations were noted and recorded to ensure objectivity. However, the researchers presence may have influenced the children and staffs behaviour, meaning the observed sessions may not have been a true reflection of typical intervention sessions (Wilson Fox, 2009). Furthermore, the interviews yielded hi ghly valid, in-depth data, however once again the results cannot be generalised as the answers were specific to the children and staff interviewed (Wilson Fox, 2009). Conclusion In conclusion, this small-scale study revealed the positive benefits that the ELS programme has had both on the childrens confidence and their attainment in literacy. The research has increased my understanding of literacy interventions to support childrens learning and increase their attainment. Interventions would be something I would consider implementing in my own classroom if there was a need to boost childrens literacy skills. Furthermore, I would carefully consider the timing of the interventions so as not to greatly impact of their learning in other subjects that the children may enjoy. The recent changes being proposed in the Education Bill currently going through Parliament, has led to a period of uncertainty with regards to the curriculum, National Strategies,