Monday, May 25, 2020

Writing News Peculiarities of Stephen Kings Writing Style

It is hard to find a person who doesn’t know who Stephen King is – even if one hasn’t read a single book written by him, he still knows that King is one of the most well-known – and probably the most well-known – horror and thriller author of all time, probably rivaled only by Howard Phillips Lovecraft, whom King often mentions as the writer who influenced him the most. But what makes King unique among scores of other authors writing in the same genre? Most commonly horror/thriller is considered to be a rather lowly literature genre, which is usually not treated very seriously, with few exceptions, one of which is Stephen King. So what is special about him? It wouldn’t be news for anybody who has more than a passing acquaintance with stylistics that it is style, language and imagery which are the most important factors in fiction – not even the most fascinating plot can live by itself. If a writer doesn’t have a decent style, his works will be unreadable, even if their plot is brilliant. Stephen King’s style is to a very much degree characterized by his usual choice of characters: he likes three-dimensional, human, flawed characters, people with traumatic past and subdued memories, with psychological problems. Another approach is showed in his first published novel, Carrie. It tells the story of a high school girl who is bullied and ostracized from the society of her peers because she is different from them in many ways – it is something most if not all people can sympathize with. And although there is strong supernatural undercurrent in the novel, its characters still stay human, understandable and realistic. King is in general very partial to children as protagonists. Probably it is so because of the way children view the world – as something only half-understood and full of unknown, unknowable, mysterious and terrifying entities. Just like the world of It, another King’s bestselling novel, in which a horrible extradimensional being terrorizes and kills children simply because they find it so easy to believe in it. Yet another theme that is often found in King’s books is the image of a small American town as a background for the most horrific and unbelievable events – it has since became a usual trope in many other works of fiction. All in all, it can be said that due to his approach to style Stephen King has managed to raise horror genre higher than anyone before him.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain - 1510 Words

Huckleberry Finn, a Dark Tale The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is one of the more serious and immersive books I’ve personally had the pleasure of reading. Its â€Å"prequel† The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is so much lighter. Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn there is a tone of sadness. His life is so vastly different from his friend, Tom’s. Huck’s life is full of adventure and so is Tom’s, but Huck’s life is more dark and depressing. Huck experiences things at a young age no one should have to in their entire life. The stress and grief of his life is massive, a huge burden to bear. The similarities between Huck and Tom may be prevalent, but there is much more than similarities, there is a difference. â€Å"Pap got too†¦show more content†¦Tom’s life compared to Huck’s life is easy going and seems like he only has to worry about what he wants to do that day. This is when Huck goes to live with Widow Douglas, a Christian woman who has taken it upon herself to try and civilise the boy that is Huckleberry Finn, to make him into a proper young boy who will fit quite well into society. Huck Finn is not known for being a good rule abiding, and school going child. He skips school to go swimming or just to wander around town and no adult attempts to stop him. Huck tries everything he can do to keep from being â€Å"sivilized† by the Widow Douglas, who has taken him in since his abusive, alcoholic father did not take good care of his son. â€Å"She put me in them new clothes again, and I couldn t do nothing but sweat and sweat, and feel all cramped up. Well, then, the old thing commenced again. The widow rung a bell for supper, and you had to come in time. When you got to the table you couldn t go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals (Chapter 1.Paragraph 3).† Huck simply hated having to dress up in presentable clothing, unlike Tom, who like any boy, didn’t love it but still accepted it as a social norm. Huck’s reluctance to go to class or to wear the clothes given to him assist him in being coming the runaway he is. Now another difference would be how easily Huck can lie. Tom can lie, but not nearly as much or

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Issue Of Abortion On The United States - 1606 Words

As Sam Brownback once quoted, â€Å"Unborn children do not have a voice, but they are young members of the human family. It is time to look at the unborn child, and recognize that it is really a young human, who can feel pain and should be treated with care.† In America alone, more than half of pregnancies among American woman are unintended, and about seven out of ten of these 500,000 unintended pregnancies are terminated by abortion each year in America. In today’s modern American culture, many consider an unborn fetus a non-life form; however, an unborn fetus possesses many, if not all, characteristics of life. The issue of abortion in the United States has been one that has courted controversy and created a public, ethical, and moral division in our American society and culture. Different opinions and views on this contraceptive subject has brought on multitudinous moral and ethical arguments. Morally, many people in our modern culture believe that if the mother of the unborn child has certain mental issues or health issues, it is suitable for that mother to terminate the life of her unborn child for the better health of the baby and for the mother herself. However; once an unborn fetus is aborted, the symptoms after an abortion have long-term and lasting impacts on the mother that can worsen the mother s health and mental stability. After an abortion, many mothers have experienced extreme sadness and anger, periods of long-term depression and regret, and some haveShow MoreRelatedThe Issue Of Abortion On The United States Essay1280 Words   |  6 Pagespaper is the issue of Abortion, My thesis in this paper is to analyze the history of abortion in the United States prior to the Roe vs. Wade decision and afterwards, and to demonstrate the ways in which our two major political parties’ views on this issue have shifted over time along with the public’s view on the issue. Abortion has been practiced for most of human history. The ancient Greeks and Romans practiced it, although not all ancient thinkers had the same views on abortion. Ancient GreekRead MoreAbortion: An Issue that Should Be Revised in the United States561 Words   |  3 PagesThe United States of America grants its people a right that is now being challenged by a portion of the country. Abortion is an issue that has divided the country in two. Pro-life supporters demand for the criminalization of abortions while pro-choice supporters advocate for womens continuation of their rights. I believe that the government should not play a role in the choice of women to get an abortion. Last summer, I spent two weeks in a Christian overnight stay camp. I met numerous uniqueRead More Restrictions On Abortion Essay1742 Words   |  7 PagesThe Restrictions on Abortions: Post-Roe Cases, Legislation, and Societies View Since 1973, when Roe verses Wade was decided, there have been several restrictions made to a woman?s right to obtain an abortion. These restrictions have come from several different angles and from a conservative ideological background. The restrictions that have been made to Roe v. Wade have come from other Supreme Court cases that were argued after 1973 and from State and Federal Legislation; which, ultimately, mustRead MoreA Brief Note On Euthanasia And Pro Life Essay802 Words   |  4 PagesPROBLEM DESCRIPTION Abortion is commonly practiced in many countries including the United States and has been practiced throughout most of the world ((Henshaw, S., et al. (2008). Abortion is one of those subjects that people for different reasons are passionately for or against (abortionist vs pro-life). The reasons are many and complicated. Abortion raises fundamental questions about our existence, such us what is human and when does life begin (Brannigan Boss, (2001). Abortion speaks to the rightsRead MoreAbortion : The Legal Precedent1170 Words   |  5 PagesThere have been many debates over abortion. One of the more famous acts in history about abortion is Roe vs. Wade on January 22, 1973. In this case the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that the constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman’s right to make her own personal medical decisions. This includes the decision to have an abortion without interference from politics and regulations, or religion. Therefore, a state may not ban abor tion prior to viability. About 42 years have passed and numerousRead MoreAbortion : The Issue Of Abortion1411 Words   |  6 Pages â€Å"Abortion is one of the most common medical procedures performed in the United States each year† (Abortion Overview and History). It is the termination of a human pregnancy, which is often performed during the first twenty-eight weeks of pregnancy. The topic of abortion seems to be a major issue in todays time. There are many people who are for it and many people who are against it. Religion has a lot to do with the side that people take on this issue. Many people see abortion as committing murderRead MoreThe Controversial Issue Of Abortion1555 Words   |  7 Pagestopic of abortion in the United States has been and remains one of the most controversial issues in western culture and politics. An abortion can be defined as the expulsion of a fetus from the uterus before it can survive on its own. This comprises two major forms of abortion: spontaneous, which is ofte n referred to as a miscarriage or induced abortion, which is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy. The term is commonly used to refer to the induced abortion, and this is the abortion, which hasRead MoreEssay on Should Abortion Be Determined by the State or the Mother?1414 Words   |  6 PagesHomework #2: History and overview of the Policy Issue Should Abortion be determined by the State or Mother? Abortion has been one of the most controversial topics in America. Abortion is defined as the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed in the first 20 weeks of the pregnancy. Abortion is when the pregnancy is ended to prevent child birth. The pregnancy is taken out of the uterus of the women by medical abortion which involves taking medicines to causeRead MoreAbortion Should Not Be Legal Essay1596 Words   |  7 Pages Abortions have been performed on women for thousands of years. Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy. Most often it is performed during the first 20 weeks of being pregnant. The controversy over whether or not abortion should be legal continues to divide Americans till this day. An important landmark case was the Roe v. Wade case, where the Court argued that the zone of privacy was broad enough to encompass a woman s decision whether or not to terminateRead MoreAbortion Should Go Back to Being Illegal in the United States1239 Words   |  5 Pagesthan 30 years, the United States has been separated over the issue of abortion. Abortion is the deliberate killing of the most innocent nature among us, babies whom are not yet born. In 1973, abortion was legalized in the United States via the famous court case of Roe vs Wade. Roe was a single and pregnant woman who was fighting the state of Texas where the law stated she was not allowed to get an abo rtion. Roe won the case and abortion was legalized. Even though millions of abortions have been performed

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Reliability and validity

Question: What is the difference between reliability and validity? Which is more important? Why? What are the different ways of assessing reliability? What are the different ways of assessing validity? What are the different ways of obtaining validity evidence? Answer: Introduction Reliability and validity are the scales of measurement that is used in research methodology. However, both the terms sound as like they are similar in nature, but there are technical differences between them. Reliability Reliability is the scale or instrument of measurement that is consistent with its result. It means if any test is taken using any instrument for a particular subject and the result of the test will be similar in every attempt then it will be considered as reliable. Reliability is more concerned with the consistency and the stability of the test result (Bryman Bell, 2015). Validity Validity is the instruments or scale by which one can measure the outcomes of a certain research hypothesis about how strong the outcomes are. With the help of validity, one can answer the question such as are we right about the research methodology or the outcomes. Validity is more concerned whether the measure has been done with the right concept or not. Reliability and validity both are related with each other in the process of measurement. Reliability is the stability of the test score and validity stands for the accuracy of the test score. Technically both of them are important for a research methodology. It is also notable that research methodology can have reliability without validity but to obtain the validity of the result or the outcome it is very important to have reliability. It means without the reliability there is no existence of validity so it can be said that reliability is more important than validity (Cooper, et al, 2006). Different ways of assessing reliability The measure indicates about the extent of the biases and ensures measurements that are consistent across time and items of the instrument. There are different types of methods for assessing reliability is discussed below. Test-retest reliability In this process, the coefficient of the outcome can be obtained by repeating same measures for a particular research. Test-retest method is done when there is a questioner that contains few items, which are supposed to use for a measurement of a certain concept that has administered to a set of respondents. If the same respondents are used after few weeks or more than six months, then the correlation obtained are from two different times. This outcome from the same respondent in two different times called test-retest coefficient. The higher the coefficient, the better the test-retest reliability and the result of the test will be more consistent and reliable (Abdulkadir Uzunz, 2011). Parallel form reliability When there are two comparable sets that will be tapping for measures the similar construct and they are highly correlated then the assessing of reliability will be called parallel form reliability. In this, case both the research methodology will contain similar things and the response formats for both the studies remain same. Here the change, which is done to maintain the difference in two methods, is the sequence of the question in the questioner. In this type of research method if the two results are highly correlated then it can be said that the results are fairly certain and reasonably reliable. Internal consistency of measures With this methodology of measures, one can indicate the homogeneity of the things that can tap the construct. In this case, the research methods should be together as a set. In spite of remaining in a set, the items should has the option of independently measuring the concepts that are similar so that when respondents provide the same meaning for each item. The help of examination and their outcomes can see this type of measures whether the subsets of different items are highly correlated. Internal consistency of the research methodology can be examined by the interitem consistency reliability and the split half reliability test (Avcu, 2015). Interitem consistency reliability In this method of measuring, there is the consistency of the reliability test by the respondents who will provide an answer to every item of the measure. In this way of measuring the reliability of the items, there should be measures that are independent should have the same concept that will remain correlated with one another. There are also two types of interitem consistency reliability test, which are Cronbachs coefficient alpha and Kuder-Richardson formulas. The first one is used for the multipoint scaled items and the second is used for dichotomous items. Here is also the higher coefficient is, the better measuring instrument (Aygun Ergun, 2015). Split-half reliability By the help of this reliability measure, one can correlate the two halves of an instrument. The two halves of the measurements will justify the estimate of the methods. If the Cronbachs coefficient alpha is lesser than the split half reliability in those circumstances, which are being, underlined more than one response dimension then the measure of certain other conditions will be met as well. Looking after these measures it can be said that in all the cases interitem consistency reliability gets the perfect and adequate indexing from Cronbachs coefficient alpha factor (DeLuca, 2011). Different ways of assessing validity Different types of validity assessing methods are Content validity, Criterion validity and construct validity. Content Validity In the assessment of validity where measures are adequate and include representative item set is in content. When the scale of measuring item represents the higher domain of universe of concept the greater the validity of the content is. The content validity will be well delineated by the different function of dimension and elements of the measurement process. One of the minimum indexes of content validity is the face validity. This is the indication of those items that are intended for a concept to measure (Endo et al., 2014). Criterion-related validity This is the validity that is established during the measurement differentiates of an individual on a expected or a predictable criterion. This type of validity demonstrates the correlation of the statistical relationship between job performance and the test performance. The Criterion-related validity is of two type Concurrent validity If there are validity test at the same time when the test is given then it is known as the concurrent validity Predictive validity If there is a validity test that is done before and then the criterion are given to the method then this is known as the predictive validity (Fikkers, Piotrowski Valkenburg, 2015). Construct Validity This type of validity measure involves the requirement of demonstration about the measure of the test that measures the characteristic of the claimed measure. This type of characteristic is important for the successful completion of the job. There are also two different type of construct validity. Convergent validity This type of convergent validity is generally established because there are two different measuring instruments are used which are similar and correlated with each other. Discriminant validity In this case they are based on the same theory, but the variables are different from each other. In this case, the variables remain uncontrolled because the variables are predicted for the measurement instrument (Haner Rude, 2015). Validity evidence There are three ways by which one can obtain validity evidence Evidence based on content measure is done by studying the construct, test content is examined then it is to decide about the representation of the adequate test content. Experts do this. Evidence based on internal structure determination of dimension, which will be, used known as factor analysis. Item will be examined for homogeneity and coefficient alpha will be calculated. Evidence based on the relation with other variables Test scores are related to certain criteria. Correlation is done between the test score of the same construct and another construct to obtain convergent evidence (Leung, 2015). Reference List Bryman, A., Bell, E. (2015). Business research methods. Oxford university press. Cooper, D. R., Schindler, P. S., Sun, J. (2006). Business research methods(Vol. 9). New York: McGraw-hill. Abdulkadir Uzunz,. (2011). Reliability and validity towards environment attitude scale for secondary school students. Educ. Res. Rev., 6(16). doi:10.5897/err11.236 Avcu, R. (2015). Turkish Adaptation of Utley Geometry Attitude Scale: A Validity and Reliability Study. Eurasian Journal Of Educational Research, 15(58). doi:10.14689/ejer.2015.58.1 Aygun, O., Ergun, A. (2015). Validity and Reliability of Sun Protection Behavior Scale among Turkish Adolescent Population. Asian Nursing Research. doi:10.1016/j.anr.2015.04.006 DeLuca, C. (2011). Interpretive validity theory: mapping a methodology for validating educational assessments. Educational Research, 53(3), 303-320. doi:10.1080/00131881.2011.598659 Endo, A., Suzuki, M., Akagi, A., Chiba, N., Ishizaka, I., Matsunaga, A., Fukuda, M. (2014). Reliability and Validity of the Upper-body Dressing Scale in Japanese Patients with Vascular Dementia with Hemiparesis. Occup. Ther. Int., 22(1), 10-18. doi:10.1002/oti.1378 Fikkers, K., Piotrowski, J., Valkenburg, P. (2015). Assessing the Reliability and Validity of Television and Game Violence Exposure Measures. Communication Research. doi:10.1177/0093650215573863 Haner, M., Rude, S. (2015). Establishing the Reliability and Validity of a Performance Measure of Big Picture Appraisal. Cognitive Therapy And Research. doi:10.1007/s10608-015-9688-2 Leung, L. (2015). Validity, reliability, and generalizability in qualitative research. J Family Med Prim Care, 4(3), 324. doi:10.4103/2249-4863.161306