Language and communication research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Language and communication - Research Paper Example Their definition of engagement describes perceptions, academic and leisure reading, as well as the number and type(s) of text that are read and how many hours are typically spent reading. The facts and results presented by this study are realistic and place a cruel indictment of failure upon American schools with the promise that addressing the problem of American students’ general lack of engagement in reading would make much progress in the overall level of reading competency. It is dry but provides an invaluable peek at the international perspective. The information is easily verified by internet search, accurately represents a balanced international perspective, and was published by a credible journal. Cassidy, J., Valadez, C., Garrett, S., & Barrera, I. (2010). Adolescent and Adult Literacy: Whats Hot, Whats Not. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(6), 448-456. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database. Although hardly an objective title or study, the material provides some interesting figures and a history of public opinion on issues of educational attainment. The research is brief but stark in its use of shock value. It assumes that the respondents were familiar with terms such as â€Å"striving readers†. The practical applications of this essay and its usefulness to an understanding of the generalized perspectives of instructors and parents in the last ten years are demonstrable. Even the â€Å"What’s Not† [hot] items were telling indicators of current public opinion and theories of education. There are a multitude of facts in a disjointed presentation, and some excellent points were buried in a large wall of text rather than broken up to emphasize their poignancy. The citation of facts was dull and lacking, and, as a result, gave the impression that the information should be taken with a grain of salt. Du Boulay, D. (1999). Argument in Reading: what does it involve and how can

Political Terrorism Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Political Terrorism - Term Paper Example Some of the most threatening terrorist groups are taking advantage of IT, like the Internet, telecommunication equipment, and computers to enhance the organization and coordination of scattered operations. This essay discusses the impact of information technology on terrorism; how policymakers, intelligence specialists, and scholars view this current change in the nature of terrorism; and the needed security or defense policies to disrupt this new form of terrorism. While numerous private companies have adopted information technology to conduct their businesses more competitively and with better adaptability, terrorist organizations are exploiting the potentials of IT to facilitate new structures of organization and functional ideologies. And while private companies are building consortiums to offer a wide variety of products and/or services to consumers, terrorist organizations are ‘fragmenting’ from hierarchical bureaucracies and shifting to more linear, autonomous, and frequently restructuring networks of organizations unified by a shared objective (Muckian, 2006). The emergence of networked terrorist organizations is a component of a larger move toward ‘netwar’. Netwar is defined as a developing form of crime and conflict requiring procedures far removed from conventional war where in actors are likely to be made up of small, scattered units who carry out, organize, and communicate their operations without an exact central authority (Arquilla & Ronfeldt, 2001, 3). Netwar is different from forms of conflict wherein the players favor hierarchical, independent, official structures, ideologies, and approaches, such as earlier attempts, for instance, to create consolidated revolutionary campaigns along the lines of Marxism. †¦ criminal organizations and networks based in North America, Western Europe, China, Colombia, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia will expand the