Get Research Experience to Get Into Graduate School

Get Research Experience to Get Into Graduate School Applicants to graduate school encounter fierce competition for admission and funding in todays competitive market. How can you increase your odds of acceptance, and better yet, funding? Get research experience by assisting a faculty member to conduct his or her research. As a research assistant, youll have an exciting opportunity to do the research rather than just read about it and get important experience that will make you stand out in the graduate admissions pile. Why Become a Research Assistant? Aside from the thrill of generating new knowledge, assisting a professor with research provides many other valuable opportunities including: Gaining skills and knowledge that arent easily learned in the classroomWorking one-on-one with a faculty memberExposure to methods and techniques that will help you complete your research and dissertation.Get writing and public speaking practice by submitting papers to professional conferences and journalsDevelop a mentoring relationship with a faculty memberGet outstanding letters of recommendation Engaging in research is a worthwhile experience, regardless of whether you choose to attend graduate school, because it provides you with the opportunity to think, organize information, and demonstrate your commitment, reliability, and capacity for research. What Does a Research Assistant Do? What will be expected of you as a research assistant? Your experience will vary by the faculty member, project, and discipline. Some assistants might administer surveys, maintain and operate lab equipment, or care for animals. Others might code and enter data, make photocopies, or write literature reviews. What general tasks can you expect? Collect data by administering surveys, interviews, or running research protocolsScore, code, and enter data into a spreadsheet or statistical analysis programConduct general library research including literature searches, making copies of articles, and ordering unavailable articles and books through interlibrary loanDevelop new research ideasUse computer skills such as word processing, spreadsheet, scheduling and statistical analysis programsAssist in preparing submissions for local or regional conferences and, if accepted, work on poster or oral presentations for professional conferencesAssist faculty in preparing a manuscript to submit the results of your collaborative research to a scientific journal So, youre convinced of the value of research experience to your  graduate school application. Now what? How Do You Get Involved as a Research Assistant? First and foremost, you should perform well in class, and be motivated and visible in your department. Let faculty know that youre interested in getting involved in research. Approach faculty during office hours and ask for leads on who might be looking for  research assistants. When you find a faculty member who is looking for an assistant, carefully and honestly describe what you can offer (computer skills, Internet skills, statistical skills, and the number of hours per week youre available). Let the faculty member know that youre willing to work hard (be honest!). Ask about specific requirements such as the duration of the project, what your responsibilities will be, and the length of commitment (a semester or a year?). Remember that while you might not find anyone working on a project that you find fascinating, you will obtain excellent experience; besides your interests most likely will change as you gain more experience and education. Benefits for Faculty Youre now aware that there are many benefits to getting involved in research. Did you know that there are benefits for faculty too? They get a hardworking student to do some labor-intensive parts of research. Faculty often depend on students to further their research programs. Many  faculty  members  have ideas for studies that they dont have time to conduct   motivated students  can pick up projects and help to further  faculty research programs. If you develop a relationship with a faculty member, you might be able to help him or her conduct a project that may otherwise remain shelved for lack of time. Involving undergraduates in research also offers the opportunity for faculty to witness a students professional growth, which can be quite rewarding. As you can see, student-professor research relationships offer benefits to all involved; however, the commitment to become a research assistant is a big one. Its your responsibility to ensure that aspects of the research project get done. The faculty member will count on you to get it done right. Your performance here can give faculty members lots of good things to write in letters of recommendation. If you complete tasks competently, you might be asked to take on more responsibility and you will earn excellent letters of recommendation. However, there is a positive payoff from conducting research with faculty only if you perform competent work consistently. If you dont take the commitment seriously, are unreliable, or make repeated mistakes, your relationship with the faculty member will suffer (as will your recommendation). If you decide to work with a faculty member on his or her research, treat it as a primary responsibility and reap the rewards.

Soviets Change the Calendar

Soviets Change the Calendar When the Soviets took over Russia during the October Revolution of 1917, their goal was to drastically change society. One way they attempted to do this was by changing the calendar. In 1929, they created the Soviet Eternal Calendar, which changed the structure of the week, month, and the year. Learn more about the history of the calendar and how the Soviets changed it. History of the Calendar For thousands of years, people have been working to create an accurate calendar. One of the first types of calendars was based on lunar months. However, while lunar months were easy to calculate because the moons phases were clearly visible to all, they have no correlation with the solar year. This posed a problem for both hunters and gatherers - and even more so for farmers - who needed an accurate way to predict seasons. Ancient Egyptians, although not necessarily known for their skills in mathematics, were the first to calculate a solar year. Perhaps they were the first because of their dependence on the natural rhythm of the Nile, whose rising and flooding was closely tied to seasons. As early as 4241 BCE, the Egyptians had created a calendar made up of 12 months of 30 days, plus five extra days at the end of the year. This 365-day calendar was amazingly accurate for a people who still did not know the Earth revolved around the sun. Of course, since the actual solar year is 365.2424 days long, this ancient Egyptian calendar was not perfect. Over time, seasons would gradually shift through all twelve months, making it through the entire year in 1,460 years. Caesar Makes Reforms In 46 BCE, Julius Caesar, aided by Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, revamped the calendar. In what is now known as the Julian calendar, Caesar created a yearly calendar of 365 days, divided into 12 months. Realizing that a solar year was closer to 365 1/4 days rather than just 365, Caesar added one extra day to the calendar every four years. Although the Julian calendar was much more accurate than the Egyptian calendar, it was longer than the actual solar year by 11 minutes and 14 seconds. That may not seem like much, but over several centuries, the miscalculation became noticeable. Catholic Change to the Calendar In 1582 CE, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a small reform to the Julian calendar. He established that every centennial year (such as 1800, 1900, etc.) would not be a leap year (like it otherwise would have been in the Julian calendar), except if the centennial year could be divided by 400. (This is why the year 2000 was a leap year.) Included in the new calendar was a one-time readjustment of the date. Pope Gregory XIII ordered that in 1582, October 4 would be followed by October 15 to fix the missing time created by the Julian calendar. However, since this new calendar reform was created by a Catholic pope, not every country jumped to make the change. While England and the American colonies finally switched over to what became known as the Gregorian calendar in 1752, Japan didnt accept it until 1873, Egypt until 1875, and China in 1912. Lenins Changes Although there had been discussion and petitions in Russia to switch to the new calendar, the tsar never approved its adoption.  After the Soviets successfully took over Russia in 1917, V.I. Lenin agreed that the Soviet Union should join the rest of the world in using the Gregorian calendar. In addition, to fix the date, the Soviets ordered that February 1, 1918 would actually become February 14, 1918. (This change of date still causes some confusion; for example, the Soviet takeover of Russia, known as the October Revolution, took place in November in the new calendar.) The Soviet Eternal Calendar This was not the last time the Soviets were to change their calendar. Analyzing every aspect of society, the Soviets looked closely at the calendar. Although each day is based on daylight and nighttime, each month could be correlated to the lunar cycle, and each year is based on the time the Earth takes to circumnavigate the sun, the idea of a week was a purely arbitrary amount of time. The seven-day week has a long history, which the Soviets identified with religion since the Bible states that God worked for six days and then took the seventh day to rest. In 1929, the Soviets created a new calendar, known as the Soviet Eternal Calendar. Although keeping the 365-day year, the Soviets created a five-day week, with every six weeks equaling a month. To account for the missing five days (or six in a leap year), there were five (or six) holidays placed throughout the year.   A Five-Day Week The five-day week consisted of four days of work and one day off. However, the day off was not the same for everyone. Intending to keep factories running continuously, workers would take staggered days off. Each individual was assigned a color (yellow, pink, red, purple, or green), which corresponded with which of the five days of the week they would take off. Unfortunately, this did not increase productivity. In part because it ruined family life since many family members would have different days off from work. Also, the machines could not handle constant use and would often break down. It Didnt Work In December 1931, the Soviets switched to a six-day week in which everyone received the same day off. Although this helped rid the country of the religious Sunday concept and allowed families to spend time together on their day off, it did not increase efficiency. In 1940, the Soviets restored the seven-day week.

Floating World in Japanese art history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Floating World in Japanese art history - Essay Example Asai Ryoi wrote his famous Tales of the Floating World (Ukiyo-monogatari) in 1661 and describes the floating world thus: "Living only for the moment, savouring the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves, singing songs, loving sake, women and poetry, letting oneself drift, buoyant and carefree, like a gourd carried along with the river current† (History of Ukiyo-e Woodblock Print). The floating world became a centre of refinement, art, culture and elegance and led the tone in a bourgeois society that gained the confidence to lead the taste in art and fashion. Although officially looked down upon by aristocratic circles, the world of courtesans, actors, entertainers and gentlemen of private means was more or less openly admired and copied. Japanese courtesans enjoyed a very high status in society, comparable perhaps, only to the very few privileged maitresses en titre at the French court during the 17th and 18th century, and the higher ranking courtesans were well educated in literature, music and the art of conversation as well as leaders in style and fashion. The pleasure districts of Edo (Tokyo), Osaka and Kyoto provided a lively background and meeting place for the merchant class and the demimonde. The most prolific era for the arts in Japan was the Genroku period from 1680 to 1730. Literature, painting, poetry, but also the sciences, flourished during this period and the arts were encouraged by the shogun (military ruler) whose seat was in Edo (Tokyo). At the time of the Japanese shogunate the emperor was sidelined – he was a powerless figurehead reduced to conducting ceremonies and composing poetry. His seat was in Kyoto, well removed from the centre of power in Edo. Japanese society was divided into four strata: the nobility (samurai), who held all political power, the peasants, who in theory were second only to the nobility, as they provided rice for the nation (Hibbett, 2002) and were therefore of fundamental importance, and

Architectural Criticism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Architectural Criticism - Essay Example Conventionally, each structural designer would wish to demonstrate considerable styles of modernity in his or her work (Roper 13). This explains why modern buildings convey aspects of contemporary art and delusional creativity. Practically, ideologies motivating advancement in architecture result from dynamics within the consumer market. Public and private consumers need real estate assets with unique aesthetic value. In this regard, we will appraise a current architectural development within the public platform, and understand the depth and breadth of objective concerns underlying such developments. The London Olympic Stadium In the recent past, London 2012 Olympic Stadium featured as one of the most controversial architectural design in the world. The 80,000 capacity stadium is located in Stratford’s Olympic park, in England. Its sole purpose of construction was to host final track and field events for the concluded 2012 Olympic Games. It is famous for hosting numerous elite political and social personalities during the opening ceremonies, including the iconic sky fall of James Bond. This stadium was designed by Sir Robert McAlpine in 2007. McAlpine was previously known for playing a supportive role in designing the spectacular Wembley Stadium in England (Lewis 28). After completion of all design prospects, construction commenced in November 2008 and ended in February 2011. Upon completion, the stadium’s design capacity was estimated at 80,000, with 25,000 permanent seats and 55,000 temporary ones. Apart from the sitting space, the facility also housed numerous changing rooms, parking garages and toilets for participating athletes and spectators. Architectural Facts about the Stadium On completion, Olympic Stadium was identified as one of the most spectacular public structures in the world. Such credit results from the fact that the stadium has unique architectural designs, with significant touch of fantasy and modernity. All the 55,000 temporar y seats are located on the top tier, which is detachable from the main part of the stadium. After completion of the games, the top tier was removed leaving only 25,000 seats on the lower decks (Roper 16). The aspect of including a dismountable upper deck was meant to address the issue of rigidity or permanence of the structure after Olympics. It was possible that Stratford would not get another foreseeable opportunity to host major sporting events like the 2012 summer games. With respect to this premise, designers would dismantle the structure into a small stadium with a conventional capacity for local events. Above the removable tier was a cable-supported roof made of glass. According to the design specifications, transparency of the roof would eliminate the need of artificial illumination during daytime events. Both the upper tier and the roof were supported by lightweight steel frames and low-carbon concrete (Bullivant 01). Actually, concrete used contained approximately 40% less carbon compared to normal concrete. This technical specification was meant to enhance implementation of green energy principles in sporting events. Use of low-carbon concrete is in line with England’s goals of promoting use of renewable energy sources. Despite its role in addressing green energy objectives, low-carbon concrete offers less structural strength compared to normal concrete. In addition, lightweight steel frames used for support the roof compromised further on structural

Individualism versus Collectivism Essay Example for Free

Individualism versus Collectivism Essay The concepts of individualism and collectivism apply to the description of societies and individuals within the society. Cultures vary in their levels of individualism/ collectivism while individuals within these specific cultures vary on the same dimension. Idiocentric and allocentric are constructs that are very important in differentiating consistent variations of an individual’s attitudes, beliefs, self-definition, normative behavior and self-definition. Individualism is termed as the person’s level of idiocentric while collectivism is the person’s level of allocentric (Udehn, 2001). Idiocentric individuals emphasize more on their own goals and needs over those of the group to which they belong. They are much independent and self-reliant. On the other hand, allocentric individuals tend to be more cooperative, interdependent and they also have a stronger desire to partner with others. In addition allocentric and idiocentric individuals differ in their source of intimacy and companionship to satisfy their several needs and to strengthen their self-esteem. For instance, idiocentric obtains their social support from peers and best friends while allocentrics obtain their social support from their parents. Individuals with allocentric tendencies have fewer daily but more in-depth discussions than individuals with idiocentric tendencies. People who express more allocentric or idiocentric tendencies vary in various ways. For instance, the people who tend to be more allocentric have good reliability and inter-correlation thus showing convergent validity. They are characterized with three main aspects which include individual to group goals, in-group as extension of the self and in-group identity. Individuals who are more idiocentric mainly use equity and need in distributing rewards. Individuals who are more allocentric mainly emphasize on the values of cooperation, fairness and honesty while individuals who are more idiocentric put much emphasis on values of comfortable life, competition, pleasure and social recognition. Persons who are allocentric receive much and better quality social support while those who are more idiocentric are usually higher in achievement motivation, alienation and greater loneliness. The difference between collective and individualist cultures is mainly based on self. In collectivist cultures, the self is more linked to in-group memberships while in individualist cultures; self-concept is obtained from independently groups which are based on the varying characteristics and contributions of the individual. In collectivists’ cultures, there is high adherence to the goals of the in-group and to in-group values and also the maintaining of in-group harmony (Lee Kelly 1996). In individualistic societies, the aims and the goals of a particular individual are more important and less significance is attached to in-group harmony. Nevertheless, individualism is mainly based on Western cultures while collectivism is related with Eastern cultures. Collectivistic cultures have lower rates of suicide, psychopathology and relatively higher marital satisfaction than individualistic cultures. I consider myself to be idiocentric. This is because I always concentrate on my own goals and achievement over those of the other people and I carry out my tasks independently. I normally display a different tendency towards the allocentric. For instance, in making purchase of luxury brands, I purchase goods for my own sake pleasures ad interests while the allocentric purchase the luxury brands only with an aim of seeking social recognition (McCarthy, 2005). As a result of these differences, conflict and misunderstanding emerges. This is because as a personally motivated consumer, I will purchase the luxury brands for self-interests while on the other hand an allocentric individual who is socially motivated will make the purchase of luxury brands with an aim of seeking social recognition.

Bessie Coleman :: essays research papers

Elizabeth â€Å"Bessie† Coleman was born on January 26, 1892 to Susan and George Coleman who had a large family in Texas. At the time of Bessie’s birth, her parents had already been married for seventeen years and already had nine children, Bessie was the tenth, and she would later have twelve brothers and sisters. Even when she was small, Bessie had to deal with issues about race. Her father was of African American and Cherokee Indian decent, and her mother was black which made it difficult from the start for her to be accepted. Her parents were sharecroppers and her life was filled with renter farms and continuous labor. Then, when Bessie was two, her father decided to move himself and his family to Waxahacie, Texas. He thought that it would offer more opportunities for work, if he were to live in a cotton town. While Bessie was young, and her older brothers and sisters started to work in the fields, Bessie took on some new responsibilities. She would now look after her sisters, and sometimes even help her mother in the garden. Bessie started school when she was six years old and walked four miles to school everyday. In school, she was very intelligent and excelled at math. Then, in 1901, when Bessie was nine, her life changed dramatically, her father George Coleman left his family. It was said that he was tired of the racial barriers that existed, and so he returned to Oklahoma (Indian Territory as it was called then) to search for better opportunities. When he was unable to convince his family to come with him, he left Susan and his family. Shortly thereafter, her older brothers also moved out, leaving Susan with four girls under the age of nine. This caused Susan to have to get a job, which she found very soon. She became a housekeeper for Mr. and Mrs. Jones, who allowed Susan to still li ve at home, and they would also give her food and other handed-down clothing. Since her mother was now at work, Bessie took on the responsibility of acting as a mother and a housekeeper. Every year at the cotton harvest, Bessie’s routine was changed because she now had to go out into the field and pick cotton for her family to be able to survive. This continued on until Bessie was twelve, and this was when she was accepted into the Missionary Baptist Church, where she completed all of her eight grades.

Racial self loathing in The Bluest Eye Essay

In â€Å"The Bluest Eye†, author Toni Morrison builds a story around the concept of racial self-hatred and how it comes to exist in the mind of a young child. â€Å"The Bluest Eye† deals directly with the individual psychology of the main character, Pecola Breedlove. So intense are Pecola’s feelings of self-loathing and inferiority that she would do anything to soothe them. In her young mind, she needs a miracle; she needs the bluest eyes. All of the tragedies in this novel can be directed back to one main issue, whiteness as a standard of beauty. This belief that white sets the standards for beauty is a major factor to the racial self-loathing, which occurred in America in the past as well as today. The show of racism through white beauty, and the desires of the black society to acquire this beauty, led to the destruction of many characters in this book. ‘The Bluest Eye† provides a description of the ways in which internalized white beauty standards disfigure the lives of black girls and women. Obvious messages that whiteness is superior are everywhere, for example the white baby doll given to Claudia, the praising of Shirley Temple, the fact that the light-skinned Maureen is cuter than the other black girls, the idealization of white beauty in the movies, and Pauline Breedlove’s preference for the little white girl she works for over her daughter. Adult women, having learned to hate the blackness of their own bodies, take this hatred out on their children Mrs. Breedlove shares the conviction that Pecola is ugly. The lighter-skinned Geraldine also curses Pecola’s blackness. Claudia remains free from this worship of whiteness, but she does realize that society does, imagining Pecola’s unborn baby as beautiful in its blackness. Morrison describes Claudia’s rage against this belief, while at the same time, shows the other characters being enveloped by this nonsense. This standard of beauty can be seen throughout the novel. But the book hints that once Claudia becomes older, she too will learn to hate herself, as if racial self-loathing was a necessity to be mature. Through the dark-skinned Pecola, Morrison constructs her as hiding her true feelings form everyone in the novel. Yet although Pecola hardly meets the  physical qualifications of light skin and â€Å"good† hair, she does possess the key emotional characteristics, which is a desire for white privilege and an increasing breakup from the black community but not from her family. Ensuring that we do not miss her point Morrison introduces â€Å"a high-yellow dream child† named Maureen Peal (Morrison 52). It’s the light-skinned Maureen who reveals Pecola’s connection with the traditional self-hating black. The person who suffers most from white beauty standards is, of course, Pecola. She connects beauty with being loved and believes that if she possesses blue eyes, the cruelty in her life will be replaced by affection and respect. To Pecola, blue eyes symbolize the beauty and happiness that she associates with the white, middle-class world. They also come to sym bolize her own blindness, for she gains blue eyes only at the cost of her sanity. Beauty and ugliness form the basis of black self-loathing. In simplest terms, blackness is linked to ugliness and therefore inferiority, while beauty is seen as a characteristic found only in whites. Also, white beauty becomes parallel with purity, and Pecola’s father Cholly imagines God as â€Å"a nice old white man, with long white hair, flowing white beard, and little blue eyes† (Morrison 134). Of the few whites that appear in The Bluest Eye, none can even approach this idealized white beauty. White beauty, therefore, exists as an ideal and not a reality, a goal to which even white people can only hope. Morrison portrays this impossibility by adding the Dick and Jane passages showing what white people as well as black people should aspire to. They should live and act how the characters of â€Å"Dick and Jane† do, but it is evidential that it is impossible. The men in the story react to the racial self-hatred in different ways. Cholly believes what all blacks think of race; the whiter you are the more beautiful you are. By all rights, we should hate him, given that he rapes his daughter. But Morrison explains in her afterword that she did not want to destroy her characters, even those who destroy one another, and she succeeds in making Cholly a sympathetic figure. He has experienced much suffering, having been abandoned as a baby and having suffered humiliation at the hands of white men. He is also capable of pleasure and even joy, in  the experience of eating a watermelon or touching a girl for the first time. He is capable of violence but is also vulnerable, as when two white men violate him by forcing him to perform sexually for their amusement and when he defecates in his pants after encountering his father. Cholly represents a negative form of freedom. He is not free to love and be loved, but he is free to have sex and fight and even kill. He falls apart when this freedom becomes a complete lack of interest in life, and he reaches for his daughter to remind himself that he is alive. Soaphead Church’s family is proud of its white heritage and light skin and thinks of itself as superior to darker skinned and less educated blacks. He is a religious hypocrite light skinned Indian who hates all kind of human touch but the one of touching little girls. Being a pedophile he gives little girls money and candy for him to touch them. He believes that he is religiously higher than everyone and compared himself to god once he helps Pecola â€Å"get her blue eyes†. He is a very malignant character that will go through anything to prove to himself and others that he is better then them because of race and because of his actions. In conclusion racial self-loathing corrodes the lives of the characters from â€Å"The Bluest Eye†. Characters such as Cholly, Maureen, and Soaphead church abused Pecola. To recognize themselves in Pecola is to show their own degradation. Desperate to avoid this painful truth, blacks put as much distance between themselves and Pecola by humiliating her. Yet in the process of victimizing Pecola, they also victimize themselves and their race by contributing to the use of racial self-hatred.