Killer Tips for Streamlining Your Copy, Part 2

KILLER TIPS FOR STREAMLINING YOUR COPY, PART 2 As promised, here’s the second installment of my series on packing more punch into your prose. In Part 1, we talked about using strong verbs, ditching the adverbs, and the benefits of active sentences. Those are essential points to keep in mind if you want to inject some life into your writing. So, this week, I thought I’d share two more of my favorite writing tips. Enjoy! 1. Avoid meaningless â€Å"filler† verbs: This has to be one of my biggest pet peeves – and it’s also something I see ALL the time – from web pages to brochures to marketing mailers. Verbs like â€Å"allow† and â€Å"help† are common offenders, but you also see filler phrases, too. My least favorite? â€Å"Meet your needs.† Words like these are kinda like the mystery bits in hot dogs. If you stuff ‘em in to your copy, they do make your paragraphs look plump and juicy – but upon closer inspection, they’re really just junk that’s not fit for consumption. Here’s what I mean: Original: Our expert staff at XYZ landscaping understands how to meet your needs. Our 20 years of experience allows us to help you achieve the backyard you’ve always dreamed of. Photo by Falling Sky See the filler? Somewhere along the line, a copywriter came up with the phrase â€Å"meet your needs.† It may have worked once, and it may have actually meant something at the time. Since then, it seems like every company in the world – from landscaping to healthcare to IT – claims to â€Å"meet your needs.† Whatever your â€Å"needs† are, exactly. And, don’t forget the filler verbs lurking in the copy. They weaken your sentences and make strong statements fall flat. Better: To the expert staff at XYZ landscaping, your yard is much more than a patch of grass. We work with you to design a backyard paradise so inviting that you’ll never want to go indoors. Instead of the tired, soggy, and flavorless â€Å"meet your needs† – we used something much more specific and original, giving the copy more personality in the process. And, while the original version sort of vaguely implies that, somehow, XYZ landscaping â€Å"helps’ make your yard dreamy, the updated draft tells the customer EXACTLY what XYZ does: they design . 2. Go easy on bolding. When used in moderation, bold type is an excellent way to get your point across and emphasize key words and phrases – especially when writing web copy. A lot of novice copywriters go WAY overboard with bolding – or, they simply use bolding haphazardly, highlighting seemingly random words and phrases. Too much bolding is hard on the eye and makes it difficult for your reader to figure out what’s important. Original: High Fashion Home Furnishings is your one-stop shop for all of your home decorating needs. From sofas and dining tables to custom upholstery and interior design services, we work with you every step of the way to transform your home into a beautiful, functional work of art Hard to read, isn’t it? The key to using bolding is to use it – sparingly – to highlight a few words and phrases. Since people tend to scan web pages, bolding ensures that the important stuff stands out. Better: High Fashion Home Furnishings is your one-stop home decorating destination. From sofas and dining tables to custom upholstery and interior design services, we work with you every step of the way to transform your home into a beautiful, functional work of art. See how your eye instantly jumps to the bolded phrases? Even if you quickly scan the paragraph, can immediately identify what High Fashion Home is all about: home decorating. So, what about you? Do you have any favorite copywriting tips to share? We’d love to hear what you have to say.

Bulling Essays

Bulling Essays Bulling Essay Bulling Essay Bulling BY sveta666 Some people say that bullying is only reason why children do not want to go to school. However others think that there are much more causes why pupils try to escape from schools. This essay will examine you some reasons of bulling and another reasons why kids dont want to attend schools. There are some forms of bulling which are more widespread nowadays. The first reason why the schools have the most bullies and victims of such incidents is because of how the kids are raised today. Therefore children who are raised in an unhealthy environment, kids who dont spend enough time with their parents can row up not knowing how to be socially accepted. Many bullies threaten their victims with a beating if the dont do as they say. About 160,000 children skip school every day for fear of being assaulted and bullied. Furthermore some strong children like to show their power and dominate the others, because they have an inferiority complex or some personal unhappiness. Actually, there are many other reasons why children are showing reluctance to attend schools. For examples, the major part of modern generation are very lazy today. They prefer to stay at home to go to school. Although many teachers do not have a way with children. They are often unjust of kids and take strong measures to them. Moreover our schools dont provide interesting and educational teaching for pupils. Children hate school because in school they are not free , they sometimes are bored and distracted on the lessons. In conclusion, I would like to say that it is necessary for schools implement a comprehensive anti-bullying program. We should pay more attention to our children and coordinated with their interests. They have a right to enjoy their schooldays. Sveta Zaichkina

The History of Trade Unions Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The History of Trade Unions - Research Paper Example These unions gave a voice to the usually scattered laborers and spoke of their rights for the very first time, starting in the mid of 1800s and this has been the case ever since, trade unions ever since then have been a way of life and though their roles were diminished in the 1990s but they have been gaining much more support now and are almost back to the traditional role they performed. The reason for the downfall of these trade unions midway through the '90s was that they failed to align themselves with the change in the general business environment, this was the time when technical skills required among the laborers were most required and perhaps this was the time when they were required the most but the issue that kept them from playing a pivotal role in the changing environment was that large organizations and industries had somehow found a way to tackle these organizations through awareness amongst the employees and general strategy and policies were designed in such a way th at the role of these organizations was made minimal and hence they started losing their power. It is worth while to mention here that these unions were also used in a positive way by some organizations and there is a usual negative feeling associated with the very name of a trade union but we all have to face the that just like individuals there are different unions with different characteristics and hence the generalization that all trade unions are bad has not been a very smart idea. Slowly and gradually their role has been revived due to the increasing role of technology and this has been a major threat to the laborers because it is now quite evident that the threat of completely technical workplaces is becoming a reality really fast and hence laborers again are looking to these bodies to unite and voice their opinion and fear and also to make sure that the higher authorities know that they are united and will take action if and when needed. Given this brief contemporary history, a detailed history of the reason for their formation and also a detail of the work they perform are given below. Formation: There is a general misconception that trade unions were a by-product of the world turning from an agrarian to an industrialized world but unfortunately it is just that, a misconception, trade unions existed in one form or the other before being actually recognized as trade unions they existed in the form of medieval craftsman guilds. These guilds were basically formed to control the flow of craftsman into a particular field because craftsman were only valued as long as they were limited in number and hence if these guilds would not have been controlled the entry of people the trade would have been virtually barrier less and this would have pushed the value of this trade, in a very similar fashion trade unions also have the right to deny or grant anyone admission although in trade unions the strength of a union is usually associated with the number of people associated with it.  

Estuary Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Estuary Project - Essay Example The first step is to engage measures that aim to reduce, completely, the pollution to which the estuary is prone. This entails the employment of toxic reduction programs, which have the long time goals of reducing the load of toxic pollutants. Other additional measures include engaging in economic incentives that discourage the use of toxic raw materials and subsequently the production of harmful waste products. People and industries should be made accountable to their waste disposal mechanisms lest they wilfully engage in polluting the estuary, which are environmental audits. Environmentally friendly agricultural practises should be encouraged and advertised for those who are ignorant. These agricultural practises might need to include the creation of means via which pesticides will not penetrate the estuary. A disturbing fact is that new commercial products are being created and sold in the market daily. Some of these new products will be a source of pollution. Thus, pollution prev ention will not be complete if this avenue is not analysed. In this regard, stewardship programs should be employed that seek to guide on the reduction of pollution attributed to new commercial products in the market. ... Additionally, the accumulation of mercury and selenium should be controlled in respect to the source and sinks. A major concern, in pollution control, will be to manage the amount of run off arising from public and private establishments. Appropriate measures have been put in place to check on this, it varies from the implementation of ordinance and education the general public on the appropriate ways of managing run-offs. Additionally, measures have been proposed to curb and control the amount of pollution arising from energy and transportation systems. In the context of controlling pollution, the role played by mines and agricultural toxic waste has also been analyzed. Various avenues have been proposed in reaching this goal (Gordon Becker, 2011). When all this is done, it is of fundamental importance to check on the significance of pollution on the life of wildlife and the human population. This entails the cleaning up of pollutants of the aquatic species in the estuary. Additiona lly, the source of food for these species should be checked. Subsequently, the deposits or hot spots of the sediments be it mercury or selenium should be controlled if not completely eradicated. All these measures mentioned above are being employed in the endeavour of finally making the water quality better and conducive for life. An additional objective is to improve the water quality via the restoration and improvement of the tidal wetland functions. Subsequently, the riparian and floodplain actions in the wetland will also be improved. Aside from the aspect of pollution, biotic and abiotic factors impede on the productivity and diversity of life present and dependent on the estuary. The abiotic factors that affect the estuary consist of the amount of sunshine that is

Whole Food in Texas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Whole Food in Texas - Essay Example His acquisition strategy regarding independent small food stores and groceries helped him to uplift the company to be the nation’s one of the largest health food stores. The company aimed not only at the product quality but also the betterment of the employees, customers, shareholders, and the environment. They largely focused on social service activities such as sponsorship of several charitable foundations, and low interest loan program for local farmers in addition with the economic development operations. In order to meet the customer satisfaction, the firm expanded its prepared food section and added a restaurant area; it influenced the customers to spend more. The company had given comparatively good salary and incentives to the employees considering them as team members rather than employees. That was the real secret behind the success of the company. The CEO received only $1 per year in salary whereas the company executives were earning 19 times the average annual sala ry of full time team members. It shows his higher concern toward the success of the company. Wild Oats Markets is a Colorado based food company founded by Gilliland Elizabeth Cook in 1987. The company’s main growth strategy was new store developments and acquisitions. By this concept, they could acquire ranges of business ventures such as natural food stores and farmers markets.

Reflection on a Clinical Experience on Staffing Challenge

Reflection on a Clinical Experience on Staffing Challenge Description. As a requirement of my nursing course, am writing an essay on an incident that happened during my clinical experience. This was in a Tier 4 public hospital which serves a whole county within the republic in a densely populated area that has a population of 10 million people as per the latest censes of 2009. It also serves the neighboring counties. It has all the prescribed services of a tier 4 hospital apart from an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and a Renal Unit of which those requiring this service are referred to the country’s National Hospital and are escorted by the nurses on duty. I reported to work one Saturday, a day after reporting in this institution for very first time on rotation as per the nursing council requirement as partial fulfillment for the nursing degree course, in a medical ward that had seventy two inpatients the previous day. To receive us was the night duty staff who confirmed that there were only two of us to man the ward, a resident nurse and I. As the report was being read, I noted that two patients were waiting for blood transfusion and still others needed to be assisted with activities of daily living, and at the same time it was reported from the outpatient department (OPD), that we prepare beds to receive patients from them. After the report, those on night duty left and the resident nurse allocated the duties. She assigned me to administer medication, while she takes care of all the other duties. I asked her how this was possible of which she replied calmly and confidently that on this day, we were â€Å"overstaffed† as most times during the weekend only one nursing staff reports and that everything was going to be just fine. She was happy to have me around! I managed to quickly mentally adjust to this new and unfamiliar setting and hoped for the best. We started off by assisting those that required assistance in activities of daily living and tidying up the ward and then I immediately started off with the drug round alone. Almost half of the patients were on injectable medication meaning that I had to take time to restitute and calculate the doses as prescribed, taking care of infection prevention. The administration of drugs took too long noting that those that had a prescription of eight hourly administration of drugs as per this particular institution should get their doses between 9am and 10am but by the time I was through, it was almost 12.30pm meaning that those that got drugs after 11am were two hours late yet it was the best I could do given the circumstances as the resident nurse was busy with new admissions and attending to those that had been discharged as relatives complained of being kept too long before being attended too. Feelings As the report was being read, I was wondering how the two of us were meant to handle all the patients efficiently and effectively in relation to patient care outcome, not mentioning that we were also meant to admit those who would present during the day. Were we going to be timely in administering drugs? How would we handle an emergency arising in the midst of all the procedures awaiting us? How could the nurse manager leave and be settled wherever she was with such a situation in the ward? As a nurse, am aware that quality of care is more important than quantity yet these two should go hand in hand for positive productivity to be felt. Here I felt that the nurse manager had not forecasted on the staffing requirement for the unit which ought to be as indicated by the following, states, Nursing staffing methodology should be an orderly, systematic process, based upon sound rationale, applied to determine the number and kind of nursing personnel required to provide nursing care of a predetermined standard to a group of patients in a particular setting. The end result is a prediction of the kind and number of staff required to give care to patients (Adelotte Rousell, 2009). When learning as a student it was made clear that two nurses should be assigned administration of drugs as a team so as to counter check on the same and as per the Kenya Nursing Council Procedure Manual 2010. Also with the blood transfusion pending procedure, two nurses were required. I felt very inadequate and unprepared to face the day partly because I had not fully familiarized with these new environment and to me, this was a very big institution to be have had such a noticeable shortage of nursing staff. This is in reference to this institutions mission that reads ‘ To Promote And Provide Quality Curative, Preventive And Rehabilitative Health Services for All Kenyans’ making me feel that the organization in this unit did not put into consideration quality of service but rather left it to fete. According to Rousell (2009), ‘organizations exist to bring people and material to accomplish the work of the organization which should also allow for personal adjustment’, which to me did not seem to be observed as this was my second day in the said hospital. I feared that I would not deliver quality services and that the patients would find fault in me as I felt I would keep on enquiring from the resident nurse on areas that I was not certain. Evaluation What was positive about this situation is that I worked with what I had, here meaning limited consultation. The resident nurse was very supportive with excellent interpersonal communication skills as she treated me with respect and as her equal, and provided me with a brief orientation on how to go about it, giving me confidence to take up the task with ease. I took it positively and interacted with patients very comfortably and at the end of it all I enjoyed my achievement and felt secure to undergo the same task should it so arise. Good communication skills are essential in mentoring new staff as well as goes a long way in removing barriers and obstacles to effective teamwork (Gullatte, 2011). This was what motivated me to carry on with the assigned activity without complaining. The nurse delegated this task to me which is an efficient time management tool and made me comfortable by reassuring me that she would be accountable and responsible to everything that I did and that she would be present in the ward in case of anything. I learnt that self-confidence coupled with a pleasant confident manager is in itself very motivating and felt I would use this skill in future. The patients were very relaxed and some going out of their way to assist me lift those that needed a little help as they took their medication. It made me realize how passionate patients can be once they stay and get to know one another and that they feel helpful once they are allowed to assist. What was negative is that it took too long to accomplish one assignment and that almost three quarters of the patients got their treatment late and did not raise a voice, maybe because they do not know of the right to timely services or are too intimidated to do so. This to me was an ethical issue that needed to be addressed as the full benefit of medication was compromised as a direct result of understaffing. One of the ethical issues in nursing is distributive justice meaning giving a person that which is deserved (Sullivan Decker, 2007). They did not deserve to get medication late. Goal setting for both long and short term are stated in terms of what the patient and the nurse will accomplish providing direction and vision for actions and time frames (WHO, 2010). This to me had not been factored in as the duties were being prepared which left room for risks arising that would cost the patients a lot in terms of long recovery time plus maybe subject them to long hospital stay. This hospital is a teaching institution whereby nursing and other health service providing students come for practice and internship during the weekdays and I could not understand why all the students in all the basic schools are allowed weekend offs. To the best of my understanding, this was the best time to introduce students to the unique working times of health care workers as health issues are not regulated by the time of the day but rather by the demand of the services. I am looking at an opportunity of balancing students throughout the week in contrast to allowing them to overcrowd specific days as had been the case the previous day and overworking the resident nurse over the weekend. I feel that this would have eased the burden had students been allocated weekends as part of their training. I strongly agree that, Addressing the nursing shortage requires a response to the total number of nurses but also the level of nurse’s education due to the fast growing demand and complex patient care, technologies, and a widening scope of knowledge and expertise (McHugh, 2010). Conclusion At the end of the day I was left with mixed feelings on one hand that I had provided services to the best of my ability given the prevailing constraints, and on the other, that the patients didn’t get the kind of quality care meant to be rendered due to staffing shortage. I feel that since decision making is a key function in management, this institution, should as a temporary measure incorporate students in rendering services during the weekends under supervision as happens during weekdays starting off with simple tasks and scaling up responsibilities as they gain confidence. I feel that the nurse managers and the administration ought to call in the policy makers in this county with a well-defined document ,in it the international standards of staffing as per the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations in the Workload Indicators Staffing Needs (WISN), It is a method of human resource management tool that provides health managers with a systematic way to make staffing decisions In order to manage human resource well and is based on health workers workload with activity (time) standards applied for each workload component (WHO,2010). The manager should at this sitting have found out the external standards of nursing as developed by non-nurses here meaning the county government in question as I believe they also do have expected practice by the same. This is in confirmation by Burkhardt Nathaniel,( 2008) who have demonstrated that ‘External standards of nursing standards are guides for nursing developed by the government or institutions describing expectations of agencies or groups that utilize services for nurses’. This could go a long way in advocating for hiring of more nurses and is a better platform to effecting productive changes in the running of health services than the industrial actions that nurses undertake due to frustrations other than strikes. According to Rousell (2009), ‘There is strong evidence that adequate number of nursing staff available to care for and coordinate care among the disciplines has an impact on patient outcomes. I want to acknowledge here that from accounts from fellow colleagues, nursing shortage is felt in most institutions but this particular experience was almost horrifying. Action The action plan for me and the entire team is to acquire the WHO, WISN manual and use this tool to make a workable staffing outline and call in the county health committee and present our findings in comparison with the actual on the ground and help make recommendations so that as the policy makers budget for the next financial year, they be advised by this document which will have been prepared by the stakeholders in addition to re- distributing student nurses throughout the week. Reference Burkhardt, M.A, Nathaniel, A.K. (2008).Ethics and Issues in Contemporary Nursing. (3rd ed.).United Kingdom: Delmar. Gullatte, M, M. (2011), Nursing Management Principles and Practice (2nd ed), ONS: Atlanta McHugh, D. (2010), Hospital Staffing and Public Health Emergency Preparedness; Implications for Policy; DOI; 10 111/J 1525-1446.2010.00877X Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc 2998349 Tomey, A, M (2009), Nursing Management and Leadership (8th ed): Mosby, Indiana. WHO, (2010). Workload Indicators of Staffing Needs (WISN), ISBN: ISBN 978 92 4 1500197.

Evaluation of Sources Addressing Sleep and Performance Essay -- Resear

Evaluation of Sources Addressing Sleep and Performance Sleep loss and shifting sleep patterns are known to be widespread across college campuses throughout the United States and the world at large. Yet, while many studies exist relating sleep to performance, a much smaller amount of studies focus on the Through analysis of these sources as they would prove useful when researching and writing upon the idea of sleep and its correlation to academic performance it was found that a paper titled â€Å"Sleep-Wake Patterns and Academic Performance in University Students†, which was presented to the European Conference on Educational Research, is overall the most useful source represented to research the topic. While points, claims, and statistics may be found within all of the sources used for the research, the sheer amount of referenced studies and works within the â€Å"Sleep-Wake† paper lends weight to it’s usefulness as a reliable source. One of the otherfactor of sleep and its affect within the college community. Three sources varying in criteria and usefulness were found that related to this subject and were studied. sources, â€Å"College Students try to Cheat Sleep Needs†, a college newspaper, offers basic facts and elementary assumptions such that could be found within any biology textbook or encyclopedia. These references are to such things as sleep cycles and sub stages and the general consequences of an out of balance sleep cycle. The study from the Biological Rhythm Research writers, however, hints at previous studies and findings that â€Å"several factors, such as social and academic demands, part-time jobs, [...] affect the sleep-wake cycle of college students.† but then only states the findings of a particular study, and does so in... ...tive sources. As seen by its thoroughness, and attention to detail and reliability by its specialized writers, this paper is the most useful location for information regarding the topic. Works Cited Anderson, Ph.D., Keith J. â€Å"College Students try to Cheat Sleep Needs.† Polytechnic Online. 13 Feb. 2002. 2 Feb. 2004. . Gomes, Ana Allen, Jose Taveres, and Maria Helena Azevedo. â€Å"Sleep-Wake Patterns and Academic Performance in University Students.† 7 Oct. 2002: 7. Education-Line Database. 2 Feb. 2004. Medeiros, Ana Ligia D., et al. â€Å"Relationships Between Sleep-Wake Cycles and Academic Performance in Medical Students.† Biological Rhythm Research. 32.2 (2001): 263-270. 2 Feb. 2004. .