Effects of Prevalent Gender Attitude on Teenage Girls in Western Europe

Gender stereotyping has adverse effects on teenage girls in the Western Europe. Despite the current level of civilization in many European states, the society still upholds the ancient stereotyped beliefs. The society maintains that boys and girls have unequal capacities in a majority of the fields.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Effects of Prevalent Gender Attitude on Teenage Girls in Western Europe specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Moreover, many people do not discuss gender equality in the Western Europe. They claim that both genders are equal. However, this is not reflected in the way they treat boys and girls. A research carried out in a number of schools found that teachers dedicate more time to boys than girls. The prevalent gender attitude in the Western Europe has made it hard for teenage girls to exploit their talents. This paper will discuss some of the effects of gender attitude on teenage girls in th e Western Europe. Despite the fact that girls’ education experience differs based on geographical location, socioeconomic status, disability, and ethnicity, gender stereotyping has significant influence on girls’ education. The manner in which teachers and students construe gender in the learning environment has effects on girls’ learning abilities. Even though schools are discouraged from practicing gender stereotyping, the vice is still prevalent in many schools in the Western Europe. One of the major problems is that gender stereotyping is normally restrained, and often uncontested or unnoticed. Hence, schools propagate gender stereotyping without the knowledge of the teachers or students. For instance, teachers refrain from asking girls hard questions since they believe that only boys can handle such questions. Consequently, it demotivates the girls leading to their poor performance. A research in many of the schools in the Western Europe discovered that tea chers relate with girls and boys differently. The study found that teachers allocate more time to boys than girls. Besides, boys have the courage to initiate discussions with teachers. In the Western Europe, the society treats girls as mediocre. The same culture is propagated in schools, which makes the teenage girls lack the courage to relate with their teachers. This contributes to their poor performance in schools, as they are afraid of making clarifications in areas that they do not understand. Besides, teachers praise boys whenever they perform well in class. Failure to praise girls affects their morale leading to poor performance in classes.Advertising Looking for essay on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Given the prevalent gender attitude in schools, many of the teenage girls suffer from low self-esteem. Even if a girl is brilliant in class, she ends up avoiding subjects that are associated to boys. In t he Western Europe, majority of the teenage girls do not learn physics. Many girls regard physics as â€Å"boyish† when asked why they avoid taking it. Besides, some girls still hold to the traditional beliefs, which maintained that boys’ brain has a high number of white cells that make them good at mathematics and sciences. Teachers do not acknowledge that they influence the decisions that teenage girls make when selecting their subjects. Instead, they regard it as an attribute of girls to avoid science subjects. Ironically, no teacher makes the initiative help the girls change the negative attitude towards science subjects. In Western Europe, different genders are associated with various types of actions. For instance, girls are considered as nurturing, caring, quiet, considerate, and helpful. Moreover, girls are said to put the welfare of others before their own. These perceptions lead to teenage girls fearing to succeed. Many of the teenage girls are afraid of perfo rming well in class since it might depict them as unfeminine. To look attractive to boys, girls ought to perform moderately. In the Western Europe, boys do not relate with girls that perform well in class. Hence, teenage girls end up sacrificing their learning for the sake of looking attractive to boys. The prevalent gender attitude in the region discourages teenage girls from making autonomous decisions. Moreover, many girls refrain from participating in matters affecting the public. They fear being criticised for taking sides in matters affecting the society. For this reason, teenage girls yield to all instructions issued by either boys or their seniors without questioning. Gender stereotype has led to parents taking their teenage girls to all-girls schools in the Western Europe. Presently, majority of the teenage girls do not interact with boys at school. Taking teenage girls to single-sex schools encourages them to study the subjects they consider as â€Å"masculine†. Gen der attitude leads to girls developing a perception that they are different from boys in terms of academic ability. Hence, girls shy away from studying the subjects that the society associates to boys. Numerous studies have shown that girls studying in single-sex schools have a higher propensity of taking subjects that are associated to boys relative to girls in mixed schools.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Effects of Prevalent Gender Attitude on Teenage Girls in Western Europe specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In single-sex schools, girls do not experience gender pressure. Therefore, they make decisions based on their interests. For instance, girls who wish to secure better paying jobs in future, select science subjects without considering that the subjects are associated to boys. Today, gender stereotype remains as one of the hurdles that prevent teenage girls from exploiting their talents freely. This essay on Effects of Prevalent Gender Attitude on Teenage Girls in Western Europe was written and submitted by user Tanner H. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Free Essays on Do Clones Have A Soul

As we learned in class about the different parts of an individual, a very interesting and unanswered question came to mind. Does a clone have a spirit or a soul? I think this question could stir up some very interesting conversations. As for me, I chose this question because it challenges, in some way, Plato’s definition of justice by ways of the individual. As the years go by, cloning has become a more widespread topic within the media. This is due in part because scientists have been getting closer to this huge breakthrough of cloning a human being. Of course, there is no guarantee that the genetic copy of the real individual will be able to develop and grow as we normal humans do. Although this may seem like a big step in science, what many don’t realize is that while achieving to replicate a human being, physically, the clone will probably not be considered a â€Å"whole individual†. According to Plato’s â€Å"parts â€Å"of an individual, to be considered as a whole, one must encompass physical body, appetite, reason, and spirit. Together, the appetite, reason and spirit are the components that make up the soul. So far, a human clone would have achieved only one of the parts of Plato’s theory: the body. In addition, it is possible for a clone to feel hunger and to be able to reason. If so, could it be possible that a clone could have a soul? The fact is, the clone would be lacking the most important aspect of the individual’s soul, and that’s the spirit. Therefore, justice would not exist for the clone since no one truly knows if it has a spirit or a soul. That’s why I believe cloning overall should not be permitted. The interesting point in this situation would be that it seems as though these scientists are trying to play God. I found this to be an interesting point because if God wanted us to be able to replicate ourselves, once we’ve died, then he would have blessed us with â€Å"humanly tools† to do so. I belie... Free Essays on Do Clones Have A Soul Free Essays on Do Clones Have A Soul As we learned in class about the different parts of an individual, a very interesting and unanswered question came to mind. Does a clone have a spirit or a soul? I think this question could stir up some very interesting conversations. As for me, I chose this question because it challenges, in some way, Plato’s definition of justice by ways of the individual. As the years go by, cloning has become a more widespread topic within the media. This is due in part because scientists have been getting closer to this huge breakthrough of cloning a human being. Of course, there is no guarantee that the genetic copy of the real individual will be able to develop and grow as we normal humans do. Although this may seem like a big step in science, what many don’t realize is that while achieving to replicate a human being, physically, the clone will probably not be considered a â€Å"whole individual†. According to Plato’s â€Å"parts â€Å"of an individual, to be considered as a whole, one must encompass physical body, appetite, reason, and spirit. Together, the appetite, reason and spirit are the components that make up the soul. So far, a human clone would have achieved only one of the parts of Plato’s theory: the body. In addition, it is possible for a clone to feel hunger and to be able to reason. If so, could it be possible that a clone could have a soul? The fact is, the clone would be lacking the most important aspect of the individual’s soul, and that’s the spirit. Therefore, justice would not exist for the clone since no one truly knows if it has a spirit or a soul. That’s why I believe cloning overall should not be permitted. The interesting point in this situation would be that it seems as though these scientists are trying to play God. I found this to be an interesting point because if God wanted us to be able to replicate ourselves, once we’ve died, then he would have blessed us with â€Å"humanly tools† to do so. I belie...

Support for Gypsies and Travellers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Support for Gypsies and Travellers - Essay Example According to Gypsies and Travellers (2006) unauthorized sites could be classified into two categories. One such type is the unauthorized encampments wherein the gypsies or travelers are parked illegally on land not belonging to them. The other type is called unauthorized developments which are described as sites where they own the land but without the required planning permission (Fraser 2007). Other groups, who are financially capable opt to move into permanent housing but are still socially branded as gypsies (Keltcher 2004). There are no official figures regarding the total number of British gypsies and travelers. However, in Keltcher (2004) estimates the size of these groups put together living in caravans to be between 90,000 to 12,000 excluding the 200,000 residing in settled houses. The July 2004 statistics (in Keltcher 2004) reported that a total of 847 caravans of which 562 were in authorized sites, 76 on authorized private sites and 209 on unauthorized encampments. Thomas ( 2006) cited that the poor accommodation and the shortage of sites to stay is one of the biggest problems faced by the travelers. This is the continuous sickness that the government spends time to search for remedy. There were no polices against the gypsies in terms of their economic engagements during the 19th century. (Acton 1997) However in the 20th century, because of the economic changes, their trades became obsolete and they were forced to move out of their encampment sites. Acton (1997) explained that poorer gypsies resort to caravan while the wealthier ones began to buy land. However this was cut off by the 1960 Caravan Sites (Control of Development) Act (O'nions 1995). Such events led to the formation of the Gypsy Council on December 1966 (Thomas 2006). They demanded camping sites to open in every country, equal rights to education and equal standing through respect between themselves and the already settled neighbors (O'nion 1995). The government then enacted the Caravan Sites Act in 1968 (Acton 1997). Section 6 of this Act gave the Local Government a mandatory duty to provide "adequate accommodations for the gypsies living or staying in their area" (O'nion 1995). In return of such mo ve, the Local Government can apply to the Secretary of State to become a "designated area" (Thomas 2006) Section 10 also gave designated Authorities additional powers to remove Gypsies from unauthorized land within their governed areas (O'nion 1995). These powers were greatly resented because they were granted even before all the Gypsies in an area had a place to stay (Acton 1997). The glorious solution lasted for a short time. In 1977, Sir John Cripps reviewed the implementation and reported that this Act was not properly implemented. Many of the gypsies still had no legal right of abode and societal pressures are still evident. Sir Cripps recommended that the central Government must provide funding. (Regional Spatial Strategy Draft 2000) This was also not the remedy because many Local Authorities still fail to comply with their statutory duty (O'nions 1995). The Councils ignored the new planning circular that called them to assist Travellers to identify land they could buy themsel ves and be developed as sites. This resorted to the shortage of sites thus forcing the gypsies to live on unauthorized encampments (Thomas 2006). The gypsies or travelers moved to unauthorized

Natural Gas in Israel Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Natural Gas in Israel - Assignment Example This means that even as it focuses on economic development, Israel must give good attention to its defense and the activities of its neighbors and maintain a robust and well thought out foreign policy. One other challenge that the country has to deal with is pollution. With the development of new industries comes more pollution. The country has taken a raft of measures to ensure that it remains stable and harvest the resource sustainably. It remains to be seen, however, how the country will deal with these challenges. Â  For a long time, the world has known the economic importance of oil and natural gas. Many countries including The United Arab Emirates and Canada are the testimony to the wealth and power that comes with having natural gas and oil as part of a country’s natural resources. Being situated in the Middle East which is associated with massive oil and natural gas reserves, Israel hoped that it too would enjoy the benefits of having oil and natural gas wells ever since its establishment as a modern country. While this was the case, the country’s prospects of discovering natural gas and oil very little promise. Â  Between 1954 and 1969, the officially country began to hunt for natural gas reserves off and onshore as noted by Forman (2013). After more a long period of searching, the Tethys Sea Partnership announced that it had discovered natural gas in the Noa field. The discovery of the Mari B field after the first discovery was a feat that sparked great interest in Israel’s coast. The year 2005 saw Israel sign a contract with Egypt for the supply of 40 percent of its yearly demand (Forman 2013). The Tamar, Dalit 1, and Levithian reserves were discovered between 2009 and 2012 marks a major breakthrough for the small country (Forman 2013). For the first time in the history of Israel, natural gas from the Tamar reserve flowed in 2013 marking another major breakthrough in the country’s history. Â  

Political Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Political Studies - Essay Example he significance that such an analysis holds from the American political standpoint is of course a greater and more complete understanding of how different legislative political bodies gain and lose influence over time. Just as with the United States Congress merely 100 years ago, the amount of power it held was highly disproportional to the position it currently occupies. In this way, viewing a small period of time such as the one that has been displayed within the ebb and flow of the power dynamics of the House of Lords helps the researcher to understand the causal mechanisms that seek to exacerbate and/or weaken political structures over time (MacLean 47). Similarly, as in the case that the author relates, the resulting power structures necessitated changes of their own as a means to seek to incorporate this new and differentiated power into the governmental structure that already existed. In this way, the researcher can note that a change was necessitated not only within the House of Lords as a function of how it saw its role within the structure of governance but also with the remainder of the government as it sought to rapidly integrate and differentiate this altered entity into the power structure that currently existed. In this way, it becomes obvious that regardless of the individual gains and losses that key structures make within the political composition of a given nation (to include the United States), the remainder of the actors will necessarily rapidly seek to accommodate such a change and work to carve out a different power structure and dynamic from the changes that have taken place. 2. Your own argument in reference to whether you agree with the author’s conclusion or not, and why. This argument must be backed up by significant content. This means all assertions and statements that are made in your paper need to be backed up by detailed explanations, quotes, and/or statistics. The author begins by laying out a series of reasons for why the

Is it necessary to have VAT/GST in Hong Kong?

Is it necessary to have VAT/GST in Hong Kong? Limitations of Research: the researcher could not use all the internet sources because some of them are written in Chinese, the researcher followed the structure that is provided by you but I have noticed that there is repetition in the points that are mentioned in the objectives and the points that are mentioned in the chapter plan, also there is a repetition in the resources that are mentioned in the data and information needs and the points in relevant literature consulted. The researcher shall bear no responsibility for any confusion caused by the un-clarity of the attached document. Introduction: More than 120 countries have imposed Goods and Services Tax, the only developed country that has not imposed this tax is Hong Kong. VAT or GST has been introduced by France in 1954(Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry). All the developed countries (except Hong Kong) and most of the developing countries have followed France in imposing VAT/GST because this tax is considered: Fair: VAT/GST is considered a fair tax because it relates the amount of collected tax to the amount of consumption; the more you consume, the more you pay VAT. Simplicity: unlike any other taxes, VAT/GST is considered a straightforward tax; it is imposed according to a known percentage on the value of the products and services Efficiency: this tax is very efficient, it is very easy to collect it and it is very difficult to avoid it. Chapter2: Objectives: The purpose of this research is to find out whether VAT/GST is a suitable tax for Hong Kong or not. The research has covered very large material and literature about Hong Kong and similar economies to Hong Kong such as Singapore. The research also aimed to show that most of the governments of the world are broadening their budgets by imposing VAT/GST on customers while they are trying to reduce income and corporate taxes. Chapter3: Literature consulted: The research has covered a large part of literature published by global accredited organizations such as Price Waterhouse coopers, Ernest Young and the government of Hong Kong. The major text books have been used to give us a broad idea about the issue in research while the specialized working papers, Internet articles and government websites have been used in order to give us a clear idea about the issue in research. The research consulted working papers published by several universities and bodies in order to explain the theoretical principles behind imposing VAT/GST (Hubbard,G,R(1997)and the impact of VAT/GST on the informal sector in developed countries. Chapter4: Proposed Methodology: we can see from the above chart the deficit that have faced Hong Kong from 1997 until 2003, the revenue was very low compared to the spending which proved to be steady. †During the same year, about 70% of the total revenue collected by the Inland Revenue Department came from profits tax and salaries tax. Nevertheless, the profits and salaries tax nets are very narrow and shrinking. Less than 40% of our workforce of 3.2 million people pay any salaries tax, and only 10,000 people pay the maximum salaries tax rate of 15%. About 5% of the payers of profits tax contribute to 80% of the profits tax revenue. Further loss of profits could occur as a result of globalisation. Besides, the spread of e-commerce will have implications on all governments abilities to assess and collect business-related taxes. In this regard, both the Financial Secretary and the Secretary for the Treasury expressed their concerns on the impact of the exponential growth of e-commerce on Hong Kongs territorial-based tax system. The Government will set up a Task Force to review public finances and an independent committee on new broad-based taxes†, Wong, J(no date given) The research has depended on major questionnaire that have been distributed to citizens and companies in Hong Kong in order to get their opinion about VAT/GST tax. The response that I have got from this questionnaire has been used in predicting the change in consumption behavior by the citizens of Hong Kong. The research has also depended on comparative analysis in order to see how Hong Kong economy will be affected and how the whole tax system will be redesigned. The research depended on some graphs to illustrate the topic further. Chapter5: Data and Information needs and sources: This research needs theortical as well as practical data and comparative analysis. This research is different because it assesses the potential of something that might happen in the future. The researcher has conducted a questionnaire in order to measure the acceptance of the people to VAT and their views about the fiscal position of their country. The researcher tried to make sure that the sample is random, so the results are random too and not biased. The research required me to use some theoretical concepts in order to assess the impact of VAT. The research also depended on comparative analysis in order to see what happened to similar economies that have implemented VAT/GST. Chapter6: Chapter Plan: Understanding the principles behind using an expenditure tax like GST/VAT: Definition of GST: Goods and Services tax is imposed on: Goods and Services tax is broad-based and equitable and is capable of yielding sizeable and steady revenues. VAT or GST is a consumption tax, it is paid by the consumer of the product or the service as a percentage of the final price. It is related to all commercial activities involving the production and distribution of services; it is not charged on companies which mean that companies can deduct from their VAT liabilities the amount of tax they have paid to other taxable persons on purchases for their business activities. Hong Kong government is considering introducing VAT/GST tax in 2009(Hong Kong’s Inland Revenue). Difference between VAT and Sales Tax: VAT is imposed on every stage of production while Sales tax is actually collected in the form of extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. VAT and the Theory of Economics: There have been a long debate between different economic schools of thought around the world about tax reform. Some economists prefer income tax to VAT/GST because it provides fair treatment to the citizens of the country while others prefer VAT/GST. According to Hubbard,G,R(1997), some economists support VAT for the following reasons: Imposing VAT instead of income tax will encourage capital accumulation and savings. Removing income and profit taxes will remove distortions in the allocation of capital among different economic sectors. A broad based consumption tax would avoid potential costly distortions of firm’s financial structures. Importance of VAT: Today it is a key source of government revenue in over 120 countries. About 4 billion people, 70 percent of the worlds population, now live in countries with a VAT, and it raises about $18 trillion in tax revenue, Liam E., Michael K., Jean-Paul B. and Victoria S(1991) VAT has advantages and disadvantages: Disadvantages of imposing VAT: VAT discourages specialist economic activity and fragmentation in the production because VAT will be fragmented; VAT encourages integration in order to avoid compounded VAT. VAT encourages financing big governments: in the 1960s, the size of governments in the US and the UK were approximately equal, in the year 2002, the size of the government in Europe have exceeded the size of the US government, many analysts attribute the difference between the sizes of the two governments to VAT, The expansion of the government will lead to higher prices and inefficient production, the thing that will lead to more taxes in the future. VAT will reduce the available capital to private businesses and raise interest rates, increasing interest rates will stifle economic growth and reduce the potential growth. Advantages of imposing VAT: VAT could finance the debt of the government because it provides stable and steady stream of income that is capable of financing development projects. VAT could reduce consumption and make the citizens of any country save and invest more money. By encouraging integration, VAT could push the economy towards mergers that will reduce the stages of production; VAT simply tends to encourage big businesses to get bigger by buying other companies, this could yield economies of scale and generate synergies.. Selectivity: the government can select the products and services that it needs to impose VAT on, for example, most government exclude food from VAT, by using VAT governments could take into its consideration the difficult economic situation of the poor and decide the exclusions that apply to them. VAT is a secure way to finance the government’s structural deficit, VAT covers most of the economic segments in the economy and it is very difficult to evade it. Introduce a historical background, economy and tax system in Hong Kong: The Modern History of Hong Kong: Hong Kong was a British dependency from the 1840s until July 1, 1997, when it passed to Chinese sovereignty as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Pannell,C(1998). The British control of Hong Kong began in 1842, when China was forced to cede Hong Kong Island to Great Britain after the First Opium War. In 1984 Great Britain and China signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which stipulated that Hong Kong return to Chinese rule in 1997 as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. The Joint Declaration and a Chinese law called the Basic Law, which followed in 1990, provide for the SAR to operate with a high degree of economic autonomy for 50 years beyond 1997, Reference: China Connection. In the Fifties of the last century, the threat of the cold world was looming over the world. Investors were looking for a safe heaven to locate their businesses and investments in a neutral place away from the eastern and the western camps, investors found in Hong Kong a promising country that is able to deliver good business environment that could foster growth and political stability at the same time. Growth in Hong Kong depends on several other economies such as the growth in the US economy and the growth in China and Southeast Asia in general. Growth in Hong Kong is related to oil prices and world wide prices; Hong Kong is a small island with very little raw resources, it depends on exporting raw materials from abroad in order to manufacture them on its land and re-export them again to other parts of the world. Manufacturing: In 1950s, Hong Kong attracted manufacturing jobs and the vast majority of its work force where working in factories. In 1980s, Hong Kong had about 905,000 manufacturing workers and manufacturing was the most important economic sector, Economist Intelligence Unit (2003). Until 1990s, Factories were manufacturing products that depended on labour intensive work force, after that manufacturing jobs started dropping because of the climbing costs of labour and land. In 1990s, the number of manufacturing jobs was about 575,000 jobs. In 2001, the manufacturing sector contributed to less than 5% of the GDP, Economist Intelligence Unit (2003). Like most of the developed nations, Manufacturing in Hong Kong is becoming concentrated on manufacturing hi-tech products and services. The manufacturing sector has been replaced by rapidly expanding service sector, in 1991; the service sector has generated 72.3% of the GDP in Hong Kong and in 2002, the service sector has generated about 83.9% of the GDP, Economist Intelligence Unit (2003). Services: A- Banking: The banking sector is now the most important economic sector in Hong Kong, Hong Kong is currently the fifth largest banking centre in the world. Hong Kong offered investors a very good opportunity to invest in a growing emerging economy. Investors benefited from tax free capital gains and high dividends. B- Tourism: Tourism is a significant source of economic growth in Hong Kong; nearly 9 million people visit Hong Kong every year, Tourists spend around $7 billion every year. Tourism is the third source of foreign exchange reserves in Hong Kong. The banking and the tourism sectors have delivered a very good growth to the Hong Kong economy. In 1996, Hong Kongs per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was second to Japan and Singapore in Asia and exceeded that of the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, Reference: internet article: Marimari (no date given). . Sources of Success: Hong Kong offered investors business-friendly laws and gave complete freedom to the movement of capital in order to encourage investments and promote growth. Hong Kong is duty free zone and there are few barriers to trade goods and services; this has made the country an important link ring between the east and the west. Hong Kong left market forces decide wages and prices; the government did not legislate any minimum wage requirement or anti-trust laws. Competition in Hong Kong: The decline of the manufacturing sector has caused the decline of competition in Hong Kong. Competition is considered an essential part of the market system. Competition benefits consumers and businesses, it benefits consumer by lowering prices and it benefits businesses by allocating resources in a more efficient ways. Competition is very important to the health of Hong Kong economy, competition gives world economies the flexibility to adjust its prices in the case of external shock (macro-economic shock) Sturm,P, Jahangir,A, Breuer,P, Nishigaki,Y (2000). Emerging economies that depend on fixed exchange rates usually suffer from real exchange rate appreciation. The real exchange rate appreciation could be treated by either: Switching to a flexible exchange rate: according to the â€Å"law of one price† flexible exchange rate will adjust exchange rates in order to make tradable products have the same price everywhere in the world. Lowering prices: lowering prices of products is an important toll in avoiding international competition, lowering prices could only happen if the structure of the market is competitive. Having a competitive market structure in lowering prices and keeping international capital flows coming to Hong Kong. Tax Regime in Hong Kong: Hong Kong tax regime is based on a territorial-based tax regime; the tax is imposed on incomes that arise from Hong Kong, Hong Kong’ Inland Revenue. The economy of Hong Kong has gained a competitive advantage because it imposes no taxes on capital gains and dividends; this has encouraged many investors to invest in that country and established an important financial centre in Asia. Hong Kong has the following simple tax structure: Property Tax: Property tax is levied on rental income from land and buildings situated in Hong Kong. Salaries Tax: Salaries tax is imposed on incomes derived from working in Hong Kong or if incomes derived from services rendered from Hong Kong. Profits Tax: profits that are generated in Hong Kong are subject to taxes, profits of unincorporated business stands at a rate of 15% and corporations at 16.5%. The relationship between Hong Kong and the foreign exchange rate: The currency in Hong Kong is Hong Kong dollar which is pegged to the US dollar, if Hong Kong government wanted that peg to continue, it should tighten its fiscal deficit. The currency of Hong Kong is an investment asset, many investors diversify their currency allocations, this diversified allocation to the funds of the global investors results in an important cash inflow to Hong Kong. For the Hong Kong dollar to get part of the allocation, Hong Kong should stabilize its budget in order to attract more foreign investment. Analyze why the government considers launching a broad-based tax; Narrow tax base: Hong Kong has very narrow tax base, narrow tax base means that the collected revenues do not provide enough revenue to cover the expenditure of the country. If we compare TAX/GDP ratio in Hong Kong compared to other Asia Pacific and OECD countries we find out that Hong Kong has the lowest ratio of TAX/GDP. Hong Kong has a narrow tax base because the tax base is shrinking since 1998; sound tax systems are based on growing and stable (not volatile) tax base. Hong Kong has the lowest corporate tax rate among the OECD countries, the current corporate tax stands at 16%. Erosion of Tax Base: The erosion of tax base is actually a result of several factors, such as: sliding house prices, illegal betting, e-commerce and online stock trading. In the following section I will explain each of these factors separately: sliding house prices: For a long time, Hong Kong depended on land and property transactions to contribute to government revenue of Hong Kong. Collected tax from property in Hong Kong(stamp duty, rates and shares and estate duties) is well above the international benchmarks as a percentage of GDP, Property from taxes/GDP=24% for Hong Kong against 5% for the OECD and 10% for the Asia Pacific countries), Reference: Hong Kong Government, Tax Base Study. Hong Kong depends on Land sales revenues in financing its budget, this has made Hong Kong increasingly dependent on non-tax revenues. In the tax base study that has been conducted by the government of Hong Kong and KPMG consultancy, the study reports the fact that Hong Kong’s non-tax revenue is about 80% of its tax revenues against 16% for OECD benchmark. Because Hong Kong has enjoyed a buoyant business environment for years, banks started granting credit very easily to businesses, the expansion of credit was accompanied by rising house prices, land prices started going up sharply from 1984 to 1997, Gerlach, S Peng, W(2002). Many companies found working in the construction sector very profitable because they can make profit from two sources: Net profits from building new houses and buildings. Profits from capital gains resulting from continuous increase in house prices. The construction sector was one the most attractive economic sectors in the country. Foreign and national banks expanded credit to companies which operate in the construction sector; the banking sector played an â€Å"accelerator† role in the run-up of the property prices. The government in Hong Kong has constructed its tax system around the fact that land prices are going up all the time because they are in demand. Because of the financial crises of August 1997 that hit south east Asia and also because of the government policy on housing, Revenues from land sales and land utilization(lease, rent) dropped dramatically, suddenly the government found its huge revenues from land dwindling. On the 16th of January 2000, the secretary for the treasury stated that: â€Å"The other significant factor supporting our finances, in recent years, has been the high levels of revenue from land and property transactions. But as property prices stabilize, the huge windfalls are unlikely to recur in the future† illegal betting: Hong Kong’s treasury depended on revenues from betting activities in the country. Hefty taxes has made too many people start thinking about illegal betting, Schuman,M(2004). On the 16th of January 2000, the secretary for the treasury stated that: â€Å"The impact of illegal gambling and the rise of gambling through the Internet threaten to erode our income from betting tax† Hong Kong’s Home Affairs bureau said handle plunged 30% from 1996-97 to 65 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$8.3 billion; euro6.5 billion) in 2003-04, while government revenue from betting dropped from HK$12.3 billion (US$1.6 billion; euro1.24 billion) to HK$8.78 billion (US$1.13 billion; euro882 million). Meanwhile, the amount of cash and betting slips seized from illegal soccer and horse gambling operators jumped from HK$9.38 million (US$1.20 million; euro942,000) in 2001 to HK$19.7 million (US$2.53 million; euro1.98 million) in 2004, according to the government. The government said handle is projected to drop another 30% by 2007-08 if no action is taken, Reference: the associated press (2005). e-commerce: Hong Kong tax system is based upon territorial system, which means that profits and incomes that are derived from Hong Kong should be taxed according to Hong Kong tax laws, the development of e-commerce and the expansion in on-line selling to customers who are not based in Hong Kong through websites that belong to the global network makes hard for the government of Hong Kong to draw a clear line between the income that is derived from the internet and the income that is derived from Hong Kong. On the 16th of January 2000, the secretary for the treasury stated that: â€Å"The spread of e-commerce will have implications on all governments abilities to assess and collect business-related taxes. For us, the impact will be further accentuated by the territorial-base of our taxation regime† online stock market trading: the development of modern communications and the development of the financial markets made trading on-line possible from all over the world, trading has been made very easy by websites that are based on the web, the development of futures, options and spread betting markets have made possible to trade 24 hours a day. It is very hard to impose taxes on online trading because the companies who established these websites do not have a physical place in Hong Kong. On the 16th of January 2000, the secretary for the treasury stated that: â€Å"The acceleration in global stock market trading through the Internet will require us to consider whether the stamp duty we charge on stock transactions can be maintained at its present level, or whether by doing so we would impede the further development of the Hong Kong stock market† Hong Kong has a prolonged problem in tax revenues resulting from low income tax on working population and the constant decrease in the number of working individuals because of aging. The secretary of treasury addressed this problem by saying: â€Å"For we all take for granted the low level of taxation which we enjoy in Hong Kong. For example, less than 40% of the workforce pay any salaries tax, and only 10,000 people pay the maximum salaries tax rate of 15%. Companies pay profits tax at 16%, and only profits arising in Hong Kong are subject to tax. Also we have no taxes on other income or capital gains, no sales or value-added taxes on what we buy, and duty is payable on very few commodities. So much for revenue, on the expenditure side, the community expects more and better public services. An ageing population will place increasing demands on our health and welfare services. The need to tackle pollution will bring substantial costs. We need to reconcile this need for additional spending with a contracting revenue base. Based on the above reasons the treasury of Hong Kong is considering widening the tax base a strategic option. Expanding the tax base is a constitutional obligation as well as an economical obligation. Hong Kong has to reduce its deficit if it wants to keep the value of its dollar strong and able to attract investors. †¦. These sound practices are now enshrined in the Basic Law. So we are under a constitutional obligation to keep our finances in a healthy state. With a fiscal deficit last year, and a projected deficit this year and next year, the law and prudent financial management demand that we bring our finances back into the black in the near term. This would also have the added advantage of maintaining our fiscal reserves at the level necessary to help support the Hong Kong Dollar, an indisputable requirement given the events of 1998. 5- Aging population: Hong Kong has an aging population; this has put an increasing pressure on the social security system and the infrastructure. This has made the secretary of the treasury to state: The directions indicate that the continuation of current revenue and expenditure policy is not an option Considered that introducing general consumption tax is the most suitable for Hong Kong? In order to see if the general consumption tax is the most suitable tax or not we have to evaluate all Hong Kong tax options. Tax Options for Hong Kong: 1- Reduce Personal Allowance: Hong Kong tax systems is one of the most generous tax systems in the world, as we have said earlier fewer than 40% of the work force pay taxes, some tax experts are suggesting the government reducing its tax free income allowance in order to increase tax collection revenues, experts say that a reduction in the basic allowance of 10% will raise about $2bn revenue, even if Hong Kong decided to reduce the personal allowance by 50% this will raise 90% of its traditional revenue from the existing tax base is simply contributing more revenue, this options will not be suitable to Hong Kong because it does not broaden the tax base, this option will increase the weight of salaries tax in the overall tax collection, KPMG Tax base study. 2- Expand the Existing Tax Base via imposing capital gains tax: this option is not considered the best option because it will affect investment decisions negatively and lead to capital outflow from the country and make the country lose its competitive advantage. Imposing capital gains tax may cause job losses and that will make the tax collection from salaries substantially less, so the gains from imposing capital gains tax will be offset by loss of tax from loss of income and salaries taxes. Imposing taxes on dividends may not lead to desirable results. 3- Increase corporate taxes: Increasing corporate taxes is one of the main issues that the government of Hong Kong is discussing, most of the analyst believe that this is not an option because increasing the corporate tax will simply cause damage to the position of Hong Kong in the global market, analysts think that there is a global trend to reduce corporate tax in all over the world. Analysts think that countries are in competition with each other to provide facilities and tax concessions to corporations. If Hong Kong increased its corporate tax, it would be very easy for corporations to shift their headquarters to somewhere else in the world. According to Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants the government of Hong Kong is suggesting giving more corporate tax concessions to corporations in the following three areas: A- Full profits tax exemption to regional headquarters/offices in Hong Kong in respect of management consultancy income Derived by the Hong Kong entity from associated entities Overseas. B- Exemption of interest income received by regional offices from Loans made in Hong Kong to their overseas associates. C- Group relief. D- Loss incurred in the current year of assessment should be permitted to be offset against the assessable profits of one previous year. 3- Introduce New Taxes: introducing new taxes (apart from VAT/GST) could an innovative solution to Hong Kong’s structural fiscal deficit. In fact, there is no limit to the number of taxes that a government could impose in order to provide suitable macroeconomic environment for development. For example, Hong Kong could introduce environmental taxes in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from cars and factories, we all know that developed countries contribute significantly to the increasing stock of greenhouse gas emissions that causes global warming. Because Hong Kong has very busy airports and sea ports, Hong Kong could impose new taxes on land and sea departures. Experts advise the government to outsource the activities that it does not usually do efficiently, outsourcing will help the government reduce the deficit that is caused by inefficient use of resources. Experts did not only advise the government to introduce new taxes but also to abolish some taxes. For example, abolishing taxes on alcohol beverages in order to encourage wine tourism Experts think that applying this option will not solve Hong Kong’s structural deficit problem completely for the simple fact that Hong Kong has a reputation that it is a low tax country and if the government imposed taxes on several economic activities, Hong Kong reputation will be affected and this may have a damaging effect on the position of Hong Kong in the financial and business world. What experts are trying to say that Hong Kong government should introduce new taxes and abolish old taxes in order to keep the current balance of taxes and respond to the modern needs of the society (such as environmental taxes). 4- Broad-Based tax on general consumption: this could be VAT (Value Added Tax), GST (Goods and Services Tax) or Sales Tax. Kong’s structural deficit problems. Government says that a 3% GST will yield about $18bn which stands for 1.5% of GDP. Analysts recognize that GST is a powerful solution to Hong Kong’s Problem, 3% GST is capable of solving the problem, and in addition to that, 3% GST is in line with international standards. This tax is not only capable of covering the government expenditures but also capable of broadening the tax base since it is imposed on nearly all kinds of consumption. There are few points that the government needs to take in to its account when constructing the VAT/GST: It is recommended that the VAT/GST should be simple; simplicity is the common feature of Hong Kong tax system and keeping the proposed VAT/GST simple is consistent with the rest of the tax system. It is recommended that the VAT/GST should be comprehensive; in other words, it should include most goods and services in the economy, making the VAT/GST comprehensive will guarantee stable revenue to the government and will prevent further increases in the rate of VAT/GST. Stability: it is advised that the rate of the VAT should stay constant for 5-10 years to come, stability in the tax rate is very important in creating stable consumption and investment decisions, consumers will base their consumption decisions upon the prices of products and s

Characterization of Charlie Gordon :: essays research papers

Characterization of Charlie Gordon from the short story: Flowers for Algernon Charlie Gordon has all his life been mental disabled, but for just as long time wanted to be a geni-ass. One day he is given that opportunity and he agrees to let the doctors operate his brain. Before the operation Charlie is a very friendly man, who only sees the good things in life and trusts everybody. His lack of intelligence makes it impossible for him to see that his best friends are in fact victimizing him. (Report 8, page 117) He can’t imagine things. â€Å"I tryed hard but I still†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Report 2, page 112) Another important quality he hasn’t got, besides intelligence and imagination, is: Feeling. He is only able to be happy, he can not feel anger and love. One of Charlie’s best qualities is his motivation and what seems like his eternal strive for normal intelligence. After the surgery he slowly becomes more and more intelligent, along with the intelligence his imagination and his ability to have feelings grow. And suddenly he is no longer locked in a perspective where he is only able to see a purple present. Now he has been gifted with a new look on life. He sees present and past and how he has been treated by his ‘friends’, this leads him to be suspicious of everybody near him. â€Å"I didn’t know what to do†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (April 20, page 122) His intelligence reaches new, never known heights and he becomes even more an outsider than he was before, as a retard. And finally he’s stupid again. I like Charlie Gordon, and I liked him best when he was smart. But if he hadn’t been a retard before he became a genius, I guess I wouldn’t have liked him as much. I think being able to place oneself in another’s position and way of thinking is a great quality to have as a human being.

How Does Knowledge Management Influence Innovation and Competitiveness?

How does knowledge management influence innovation and competitiveness? The Authors Alberto Carneiro, Alberto Carneiro is Assistant Professor in the Polytechnic College at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Abstract Is concerned with human value management, examines the relationships between organizations’ competitiveness, innovation advancements, and knowledge management and presents a set of considerations regarding how these relationships affect strategic management and the formulation of competitive strategies. By considering how knowledge development is related with personal characteristics and personal development, this study review attempts to provide useful insights on the linkages between innovation and competitiveness. These considerations point out the importance of knowledge development and the role of knowledge management in order to assure competitiveness. This work proposes also a conceptual model, with special focus on the relationships between knowledge management, competitiveness, and innovation. The major factors are presented and directions for future research are suggested according to the proposed model. Introduction Management is increasingly aware that knowledge resources are essential to the development of their organizations. Nowadays, the knowledge and the information technology (IT) are critical success factors for strategic formulation. Critical success factors refer to those managerial and organizational constructs that need to be effectively addressed in order to further the likelihood of implementation success. Since industry attractiveness depends on those factors, strategies and their implementation should be supported by a set of informational data and a knowledge development process. Knowledge is becoming progressively more useful because management is taking into account the value of creativity, which enables the transformation of one form of knowledge to the next. The perception of the existing relationships among several systems elements leads to new interpretations and this means another knowledge level where a new perceived value is generated. This relationship indicates that the innovation highway depends on the knowledge evolution. On the other hand, all the technologies that are present in the activities of the chain value have to be articulated and assisted by an efficient knowledge level. Some of the knowledge involved in the use and improvement of technologies can be written down in detail in procedures manuals and use instructions. Others are tacitly transmitted and learned through practical knowledge. Moreover, the success of technological modifications needs to be supported by more clarified and enhanced knowledge. With but few exceptions, most firms have had difficulty in developing a viable strategic knowledge system. There are manifold reasons for this, but certainly a major one is the omnibus nature of the sources required. Knowledge may flow into the organization in a continuous but unsystematic manner, probably because the amount of information processing resources varies by level of management activity. The lack of specific system objectives inevitably led to a data bank of enormous magnitude. It is necessary to consider the structure of such a system and to implement it, in accordance with the organizational functions that use information to realize activities and to decide. Considering the need to increase managers’ concerns, this work sustains that a set of factors is dramatically useful to justify the relationship between innovation process, competitive advancements and a strategic knowledge management (KM). First, it presents a brief review of the relevant literature on the role of knowledge in the management processes. Second, and in a modelization perspective, we will discuss the relationships among these factors to suggest a better way to deal with human value, to improve KM, and to attain a higher level of competencies. Finally, this article discusses the implications of KM on innovation and competitiveness and presents suggestions for future research. Knowledge: an organizational asset What kind of knowledge should organizations develop? Organizations need to use adequate information to check the status of business activities as well as to make informed business decisions (Martin et al. , 1998). According to their tasks, managers must have the adequate information and the ability to analyze and evaluate alternatives in the light of the goal sought. This information comes from different internal and external sources and their credibility is crucial to provide an adequate knowledge (Joyce, 1993). Managers have to consider that the most valuable human attributes should be developed because they are one of the most important assets of many corporations. To do so, they need to adopt a new KM philosophy, based on search of information and innovative efforts. In this philosophy, managers should distinguish between different levels of knowledge. Initially, everybody can be aware of various facts and use data coming from those sources. This means that knowledge is reduced to a basic level, although each individual already has a professional understanding of his/her role in the organization. In the next phase, knowledge tends to specialization. The knowledge level and the fields of specialization will increasingly be taken as standards to measure the companies’ value of their assets. However, without being stimulated, it may stay in a static relation within functional areas, although tasks are performed in a qualified manner. If management is interested in knowledge development, it is necessary to consider that knowledge workers should be included in a dynamic process. This process demands the support of motivation, creativity and the ability to improve an intellectual and comprehensive vision of the relationship between the organization and its environment. Management should differentiate these levels, because the core of the decision-making process could be severely damaged if they were intended as similar. In fact, knowledge workers (strategists, engineers, technicians, researchers, etc. ) are able to offer insights in what concerns problems and/or new situations. In an upper level they can also contribute drastically to include more evident values into the company’s offering in order to generate the client’s preferences. Knowledge workers are the core intellectual competence of many firms. In fact, they dominate their expertise fields and, for example, they know how to optimise the systems software that is relevant to strategic decisions. Knowledge workers create most of the value in some industries. The benefits are immediately visible in some innovative industries, such as software, pharmaceutical, health care, financial services, communications, and consulting. That is, knowledge influences competitiveness. At this moment, it is necessary to underline a question: can knowledge be seen as a specific value for the organization or is management only using the employees’ brain capacities in a very innocent manner, because they are human resources? In the past, the returns on investment came predominantly from physical assets like physical products and equipment. Today, knowledge is the main source of another type of assets: intellectual assets. Knowledge levels can be an asset only if they are enhanced and efficiently used. Being so, managers must purposely organize, motivate and control the development of their knowledge workers. These ones are able to provide new solutions in the complex network of organization-client relationships. Owing to technologies, materials, and competitiveness, several industries find themselves in complex scenarios. Knowledge is not the solution, but, in the near future, the intellectual capital will be required to deal with this complexity, and to support innovation and creativity (Brooking, 1996). Usually and specially in the context of dynamic industries, higher knowledge levels live near a frequent dissatisfaction and the capacity of questioning what seems to be already understood. The need of search is one of the consequences. In various industries, the search activities can lead to new products and to innovative processes. Undoubtedly, the increasing complexity of research militates in favor of formal institutions like universities and government laboratories. Nevertheless, if KM is able to stimulate and support their commitment, individual innovators may have an important role in the changing process. Moreover, research activities in the business sector tend to be integrated within manufacturing firms (Mowery, 1983) and they can propose incremental innovation. Considering their missions and strategic objectives, organizations have to define what kind of knowledge will be more important to take care of. Managers should develop the ability to stimulate knowledge workers in order to obtain better effective levels in what concerns the analysis of target markets, technological innovations, and economic trends. Knowledge and information technology Data and information are used for a variety of purposes in organizations, namely for improving the possibility of increasing knowledge potential. Some information is simply data obtained from the database in its initial stage, which is mainly supported by internal documentation and tacit knowledge. Sophisticated or specific information is included in a management information system. Based on various subsystems of information, KM may use many combinations of factors in accordance with the database system and data that are provided by the users (DeSanctis and Gallupe, 1985). In general, firms’ search for information can be viewed as part of a process, through which an organization adapts to its external environment in order to survive and to become more competitive. Particularly, organizations look for information about specific activities, such as the purchase of new equipment and launching of new products, to obtain benefits of improved final decisions. Information requirements depend on the nature of each situation and on the need to formulate competitive strategies (Wetherbe, 1991). Building effective information systems is a very important challenge that managers are facing today, but it is necessary to pay attention to the need of comprehensive information systems architecture. A firm and its managers use a variety of approaches to combine, sort, and process the environmental data to produce timely and relevant information for forming, monitoring, evaluating, and modifying strategy. This variety should reach a high integration level in order to be possible to obtain a strategic information system. Knowledge professionals do have a decisive role in this integrative task. Summarizing, aggregating, comparing, or combining various sets of data collected in the environment and from competitors and customers produces other information sets, which are used, for example, to measure performance and report on the financial health of the organization. Knowledge workers are often exposed to incomplete information on new events and modifications, but they also have the option to search for additional information in order to update their knowledge levels (Ozanne et al. 1992; Burke, 1990). KM is also a question of cultural way of operating in the market. To enable this culture to prevail, IT is needed. Nowadays, IT is assuming a decisive role in KM and is one of the most important tools, which is used to decide, to fight competitors, and to catch target markets. In fact, adequate software can capture and distribute to knowledge workers all the useful information the company has stored over t ime. Taking this operation as a training process, knowledge workers can integrate several types of data and try to find new solutions for their problem tasks. This is true because they can use information about clients and competitors, technical databases, decision support systems, management models, successful solutions to competitive situations, and access to specialized sources of knowledge. Understanding, interpretation, and the use of IT may enable a possible competitive advantage to be identified and obtained. These three aspects cannot be done without specific and organized knowledge of the relationships among hardware, software, processes, and required results. In fact, some equipment replaces human command-and-control procedures, but knowledge advances have o be used to optimize this equipment utilization. Knowledge workers have adequate qualifications to communicate the information that is needed. Information sharing is a very usual practice. However, some of them avoid this communication flow, because they are not able to see the organization as a system, where the global objectives should be accepted as a common value. In some organizations, information sharing should be stimulated, because it is one of the most important tools of creativity and, moreover, intellectual assets, unlike physical assets, increase in value with use. Knowledge management: some guidelines Management has to analyze in the right time all the environmental elements because they affect the organization performance. Managers must intend to come to the best solution by selecting the alternative that best satisfies goal achievement. The main role of environmental analysis is to detect, monitor, and analyze those current and potential trends and events that will create opportunities or threats to the organization. A number of companies have developed effective means of learning about their environments and, most importantly, have implemented strategic decision systems which allow them to capitalize on opportunities and to defend themselves against threats. These analyses and systems are based on IT and KM. KM improves the conditions for strategic action by way of appreciating and treating problems and challenges by the company. Strategically, the success of most management decisions depends also on a competitive effort, which includes a deep knowledge of customers’ attitudes and an adequate analysis of the stronger competitors (Curren et al. 1992). This means that managers must learn: weaknesses, strengths and movements of their direct competitors; and how their customers perceive their products. Finally, all these findings should be integrated into a management information system. Managers should become aware that the great challenge is settled on the efforts to innovate, to exploit te chnological advances, competitors’ failures, industry opportunities, and the investment in knowledge processes and knowledge workers. In fact, knowledge and knowledge workers can be interpreted as a company’s intellectual capital, and also as a key factor to its sustainable development. According to Kao (1996), some companies are already able to carry out internal knowledge audits in order to quantify the innovative effort for competitive advantage. Most of the times, the intellectual capital is not well recognized and remains largely hidden from the view of financial analysts and executives alike. As a consequence, it is undermanaged. This means that its potential is not entirely used. Top management should focus their attention on these situations because the intellectual capitals of their companies and innovation infrastructure are one of the real sources of future competitiveness (Leonard-Barton, 1995). It is well known that managers have to face uncertainty, that is, they must make decisions under uncertain conditions, often before all the required data are in. Today, managers must be able to embed more knowledge-value in their decisions. Doing so, they will become much more prepared to come out with a new improved and even better alternative before their competitors. Knowledge workers may help in these situations. In fact, they are adequately able to deal with information and present hypotheses and proposals. Therefore, they can have an efficient role in the reduction of uncertainty. This point of view demands new directions of KM. To stimulate the development of creative skills, management should point out some directions to the most important knowledge workers: †¢to be able to define objectives of each task in a systemic network in order to share knowledge and available information with others; †¢to increase the level of individual commitment; †¢to be entirely aware of the amount of resources (equipment, software, materials, assistance) that they are going to need; and †¢to ask for answers, creativity, and innovative solutions. Management needs to show some interest in the intellectual capital, the crucial importance of creativity, the need to sustain a constant flow of innovation, and the new concept of learning organization. Competitiveness and knowledge management Knowledge and the formulation of competitive strategies The success of a strategy depends also on a co-ordinated resources management. Resources may be divided into two groups: physical resources (money, equipment, materials, facilities, and time) and conceptual resources (data, information, and knowledge). Managers have to decide how available resources will be distributed throughout their organizations. In fact, the organizational context calls for or demands certain decisions and results. Being a manner of finding a solution for a problem or formulating a strategy to achieve the objectives previously defined, every decision should be based on: an integrated set of information; the knowledge skills of human resources. In what concerns dynamic organizations, KM is a valuable strategic tool, because it can be a key resource for decision making, mainly for the formulation of alternative strategies. KM should be able to combine innovation efforts, updated IT, and knowledge development in order to achieve a set of capabilities to increase competitiveness. In fact, when this combination is adequately managed, the company can formulate competitive strategies, which integrate innovative products and new technological weapons to face its competitors. Management decision is a very complex process whose evolution integrates several stages. The first step in solving a decision problem is its formulation. In a practical perspective, defining its boundaries and critical components depends on information resources. The analysis of input data needs also a complete and updated understanding of several realities and the capability to find relationships among them. Further, the decisionmaker is able to predict the outcomes because they result from each available alternative. These stages are always based on data, which need to be organized in order to be useful; that is, every management decision must be supported by a set of information because of each situation, the context where it is occurring, and the organization objectives achievement. In a fast-changing environment, the competitive advantage of many companies is based on the decision to exploit, to develop the power of knowledge development. That is why some corporations try to provide opportunities for personal and professional development and are seeing that they should stimulate knowledge development to formulate competitive strategies. To find out and exploit opportunities, companies need to establish the main orientations of KM in order to enlarge their growing possibilities based on innovation and competitiveness. Managers know that it can be disastrous to enter or compete in an industry without being aware of changing critical success factors that define their target markets, since they play a significant role in determining the likelihood of implementation success or failure. If a firm is entirely aware of the vital importance of these factors, management decisions have to consider a complex background where the knowledge of the clients’ needs and preferences and the competitors’ strategies is decisively important. Practically, this means that a market orientation includes the concept of competitive orientation (Slater and Narver, 1994; Day, 1994, 1990). In this context, a company can decide its competitive advantage as a function of the capability to generate radical change in its processes and technologies and of the flexibility to adapt its resources to the strategic formulation. For example, if an organization decides to become a fast innovator, managers should co-ordinate the ability to formulate a competitive strategy and to build advantages against competitors. This ability depends on the capacity of speeding up creative operations to generate innovations (Page, 1993). These considerations are already known and well accepted, but we need to extract from them the logical consequences. A competitive decision should be based on a wide and quite firm support, which shall integrate the different relationships among several types of knowledge. As a consequence, a comprehensive knowledge is the vital ground where competitiveness should be built. Increasing competitiveness using knowledge benefits According to modern approaches, KM is already considered as a key factor in the organization’s performance, because it deals with different resources that can aid decision makers in many ways (Keen, 1991). Managers require complete and updated information and, according to their level of activity, they hope to rely on their knowledge workers. Nevertheless, this hope is useless if these experts are not effectively motivated to deepen continuously their levels of knowledge. Some companies know that the innovation effort and the adoption of new procedures and new technologies may increase competitiveness (Goel and Rich, 1997). This relationship seems to have the following reasons: †¢the innovators can be inventors if they are able to manage research and development function (Gilbert, 1995); †¢knowledge workers can perceive and deal with what target market accepts or expects as value; †¢knowledge development is a fruitful background where incremental innovation may be attempted; †¢if a company can use a knowledge-based competitive edge, it is able to defend itself against the aggressive movements of its competitors. The need for scientific and technical information flow within the firm is well recognised. Knowledge and information derived from data are required for competitive initiatives such as improving customer satisfaction, developing new products and markets, and providing faster response. The link between knowledge and systemic databases should be understood within the context of information resource management (McFadden and Hoffer, 1994). This means that effective decision making requires a rational selection of inter-related data and the possibility of these data being integrated into KM. This orientation can be applied in the strategic planning area, and it presents flexible capabilities. In fact, managers have the possibility of asking for more updated information, using pre-programmed models based on the integrative knowledge of previous situations, considering alternative solutions, and stimulating the construction of innovative proposals. A KM can lead managers to anticipate problems better and to experiment and innovate. Based on a good KM, managers are more able to analyse and evaluate environmental scenarios, and adequate response alternatives in the light of the global objective previously determined (Dutta and King, 1980). At this point, managers can desire to come to the best solution by selecting the alternative that best satisfies the achievement of global objectives. This means that they are deeply concerned with increasing competitiveness. A primary objective of this orientation in modern business organizations is to contribute to greater efficiency in achieving organizational objectives. To assure this contribution, researchers should reinforce their efforts to explore the relationship between the competitiveness optimisation and the KM optimisation, and also the effectiveness of a KM, which has not been entirely clarified. Innovation and knowledge management Can knowledge management support innovation? The innovative efforts include the search for, and the discovery, experimentation, and development of new technologies, new products and/or services, new production processes, and new organizational structures. The consequences of these efforts are sometimes seen as a raw material of information industry. New management philosophies are aware that information is the result of knowledge evolution and that a solid network between intellectual effort and technological innovations is enlarging. The innovative efforts are also the right consequence of the investment in knowledge and knowledge workers. If KM is positively influenced by the search of innovations, the investments in the development of new knowledge may propel companies into new business in more rewarding markets. To achieve better results, innovative efforts have to be strategically combined with a competitive orientation and its consequent movements. This combination depends vitally on the highest level of individual knowledge and on its technological basis. Many companies are taking into account that new technologies and management approaches are changing the traditional perspective of managing intellectual resources. According to some works (Harari, 1994; Nonaka, 1994; West, 1992), the organizations that are able to stimulate and to improve the knowledge of their human capital are much more prepared to face today’s rapid changes and to innovate in the domain where they decide to invest and to compete. Managers should recognise that the skills of human resources and the motivation level make possible creative suggestions, different proposals, and research activities to build up innovations. Due to the new insights of KM, a creative knowledge worker can contribute to face the problems that need new kinds of resolution, the situations that demand innovative approaches, and the relationships that can be discovered in the more and more complex markets where companies are operating. In old times, capital was the company’s most critical and scarcest resource and human attributes were used to contribute decisively to obtain the return of the company’s investment in equipment and plants. Presently, companies are trying to understand and to use a new logic of value, which is founded on its competencies, customers’ evaluation criteria, and competition. It should be underlined that the knowledge development in the fields of technological innovations, specialisation on business processes, and innovative products is the strongest source of competencies. Moreover, all competitive efforts, which come from competitors’ knowledge and innovations, dramatically affect the success of strategies (Gatignon and Robertson, 1993). Innovation should be viewed as a complex process, which involves a set of investment possibilities. In this investment perspective, knowledge has to be considered as a sort of capital. Owing to this reason, its development process is a managerial concern, because it can lead to the launching of a new product. The success of an innovative product is notoriously connected to research activities and changing orientation. On the other hand, these two elements depend on the development of knowledge levels and the innovative efforts of knowledge workers. Knowledge development How to intensify learning involvement One of the most important objectives of a competitive KM should be to increase frequently the different levels of knowledge. Increasing them implies: †¢to straiten the links among the latest advances of IT and the processes of gathering and process information; †¢to motivate knowledge development by recognising its importance in companies’ evolution; †¢to promote the acquisition of scientific culture, specially in the fields directly connected with the company’s main activities; †¢to invest in theoretical courses and practical training; †¢to intensify an effort to get updating in industry. According to the usual characteristics of all learning and experience curves, the knowledge level may grow exponentially if management is able to stimulate the conditions to learn more and to increase experience. Considering the power of these stimuli, which should be integrated into a global human resources policy, management has to define the adequate procedures to enlarge and to deepen knowledge development. Within a scenario of competitive imperatives of speed and considering the need to innovate constantly, learning will be the essential hedge against the possibility of negative consequences. Organizational learning should be seen as one of the most important responsibilities of top management. In fact, organizations may use the individuals’ learning activities and learn through them to create an organizational learning system, which provides the possibility of enhancing the capacity to generate new offering proposals (Coopey, 1995; Sinkula, 1994; Senge, 1990). Some authors consider that an organizational learning includes the ability to increase the understanding level from experience through analysis of problems, experimentation of solutions, and evaluation of results (McGill and Slocum, 1994; McGill et al. 1992). Organizations’ development needs to have the support of the positive changes in the education and training of the work force. This means that management should stimulate and organize this changing process. In general, there are two main ways that managers have to consider: 1. (1) updating efforts: scientific and technological knowledge is almost constantly changing and everybody in the organization should be conscious of the state-of-art of their fields of work; 2. 2) knowledge progresses have to be transformed in a more effective effort in order to obtain better production processes and more competitive technological advances. Learning involvement could be defined as a state of energy that a knowledge worker experiences in regard to an effort to increase his/her knowledge level (McQuarrie and Munson, 1987). A knowledge worker who is highly involved in learning is likely to expect more abilities to create and to suggest new ideas. A set of adequate information technologies should be foreseen. In fact, at any time during the learning process, errors or imprecision can occur. To avoid their negative consequences, KM should take into account the reliability of the information sources and also the data accuracy. These factors will affect positively the objectives’ achievement. Knowledge development as a strategic management instrument If management has a true strategic orientation, the knowledge development is a systematic, integrated, and planned approach to improve the effectiveness of intellectual capital of an enterprise (Edvinsson and Malone, 1998). It is designed to solve problems that adversely affect operating efficiency at all levels. Knowledge is one of the branches where development movements can occur to help managers in their decision-making process, to create new responses, and to enable a set of competitive reactions and/or pro-active proposals. In the last two decades, we have seen a knowledge explosion and a change of the labour force. In fact, knowledge workers are not directly involved in manual activities, but make up a greater proportion of the labour force than ever before. Many companies try to provide an internal environment for experiential learning in which knowledge workers become more and more involved in solving job-related problems. In a quickly changing environment, the organization’s flexibility is one of its key success factors. This flexibility should be strategically combined with knowledge workers’ adaptability and high-quality standards to obtain two types of competition tools: 1. (1) sustainable advantages against competitors; 2. (2) capability to offer to the target market new alternatives. Knowledge development is a sort of response to changes in the external environment and nternal situations. It can be adapted to solve problems that negatively affect operating efficiency, including the need to replace obsolete products by new ones. In what concerns knowledge development, the improvement of products (incremental innovation) and process innovation (radical innovation) should be integrated. The aim is to improve the horizo ntal flow of information, because this flow is a very important tool to understand the relationship between the organization, its clients and its competitors. To make better decisions, managers have the option to search for more accurate information. One of the most important sources is the knowledge development of their collaborators, because they have been adequately trained to find out what are the new advances of science and technology. Training and motivational measures can be used to leverage professional intellect, but human intellectual capabilities can not be managed as if it was the only goal. In fact, top managers must consider the critical knowledge bases, the intellectual skills, and also the accumulated experience that can be used to increase the organization performance and to support their strategic decisions. Most developments at enterprise level are not possible without changes in education and training of the human resources, namely the intellectual capital. In fact, this capital is focused on innovative effort, on the information about competitors, and on proactive strategic decisions (Prescott and Gibbons, 1993). In many important complex problems there simply are not enough empirical data to provide a basis for complete analysis. Many aspects of a decision process require personal judgement, that is, the presence of updated knowledge workers. The problem-solving capabilities of knowledge workers lie in education background, professional training, creativity, and motivation. Non-routine processes demand for more skilled workers, because innovative solutions should be found and adapted to market needs. Sometimes, an organization needs to assimilate competitors’ technologies, to imitate them, and, in a benchmarking perspective, to adapt them in order to obtain specific benefits (reduction of costs, faster capacity to satisfy their market needs). This strategic effort demands a sufficiently motivated intellectual capital. In fact, even people with exceptional talent will not be able to develop potential without the adequate motivation (Twining, 1991). Moreover, knowledge development should include an effort to integrate the intellectual power of the organization’s human resources. Skills that are integrated according to a systemic perspective are more effective than a set of disconnected and/or uncoordinated talents. The co-ordination of the various abilities and aptitudes may lead to a learning process with a holistic approach. Being so, knowledge workers can learn more, recall information more accurately and use all their resources to build up innovative solutions. Influence of KM on competitiveness and innovation The influence of KM on management decisions effectiveness should be considered to support and also provide insight into how knowledge workers can contribute to obtain better results. However, management must consider that knowledge is not a simple and unique entity. The commitment to generate new discoveries and a more demanding understanding is not enough. The organizations need to look for the knowledge that is able to add value. Value adding knowledge is very different to an information-mix. This mix can be important, but first it is necessary to find out how the markets perceive the presence of value. These considerations can be taken as a guideline for KM. There are perhaps an unlimited number of factors that can define management attitudes regarding the role of intellectual capital into organizations’ life. Some managers evaluate significantly this capital as a very important resource that should be used to obtain adequate profits. Therefore this capital should be constantly improved. As can be seen in Figure 1, a conceptual model of KM is proposed. It emphasises that innovation and competitiveness can be a function of the KM. This model takes into account numerous determinants (determinant factors) of the relationships among various fields. The top portion of the model shows the most common factors that usually define management’s attitudes and deals with the following questions: †¢How important is intellectual capital? †¢How does management evaluate knowledge development? Is training one of the important aspects to be planned? †¢Is knowledge considered as a strategic tool? †¢Are managers prepared to motivate knowledge development? †¢Are managers able to stimulate the potential capacities of their knowledge workers? KM has to deal with two domains: 1. (1) personal characteristics of each knowledge worker; 2. (2) factors that affect personal development. The most common factors t hat affect initially the personal characteristics of a knowledge worker are education level, attitudes and values, innovativeness and creativity (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993; Allen et al. 1992; Mayo and Marks, 1990; Bearden et al. , 1986; Hirschman, 1980). Innovativeness is an important factor for supporting innovative efforts and it contributes also to define the personality. However, it is not enough to desire new products or new processes. In fact, an innovation that an enterprise presents into the market may be also due to the creativity of its knowledge workers. Personal development is directly related to professional experience. Any personal experience may be an information source and a learning situation. As a result from a personal or a managerial decision, training courses may contribute to reawaken previously acquired knowledge and to facilitate the access to a higher knowledge level. The development of each knowledge worker has its own dynamics, which is related with personal objectives. The more demanding the objectives are the more the learning efforts should be intensified. Nowadays, learning processes and knowledge updating procedures depend on information technology. Moreover, it has a decisive role on knowledge development because competitive advantage can only be maintained by the use of information for innovation (Huffman et al. 1990). Nowadays, managers have to decide whether they want to obtain better results from their knowledge workers or they prefer to lose the creative power that they possess in their minds and their professional experience. Managers’ attention must be focused on personal development. To obtain an effective knowledge level, investment in knowl edge development is needed. Managers should improve their ability to motivate knowledge workers to attain higher knowledge levels, because the arousal of this set of intellectual needs may be caused by external stimuli. Motivations should be intensified, because they should impel knowledge workers to increase their knowledge levels. This movement will be decisive in terms of innovation and can contribute to a stronger competitiveness. Even when no innovation is possible, an improved knowledge of the market and competitors can lead to more competitive movements. The technical capacities of a modern information technology will help this motivational scheme. Companies have to find ways to reach knowledge workers’ involvement. A person’s level of involvement plays a role in how much effort is used to learn new subjects or to deepen knowledge. Moreover, this involvement is an adequate condition for information sharing among knowledge workers. Adding IT, creativity and knowledge leads to a particularly potent combination. Managers can obtain impressive results in what concerns the companies’ abilities to innovate if they are able to develop the stimulation of innovative proposals through motivational methods and adequate rewards. The same can be said in what concerns key success factors: managers should practice frequently the stimulation of competitive efforts, provided through utilisation of both existing and new technologies. This conceptual model intends to interpret the relationship between KM, innovation, and competitiveness. It may contribute to an integrated understanding of the knowledge development process and its influences into the domains where management efforts should be focused. Conclusions This article intends to provide insights to a better understanding of KM in what concerns the possibility of influencing innovation and competitiveness. Its considerations provide considerable support for the importance of knowledge workers as a decisive contribution to the strategic enhancement. The implications for managers have been underlined. Regarding these implications, some concluding remarks can be made: †¢define methods for measuring the degree of KM effectiveness; †¢develop effective strategies for integrating innovative efforts, professional experience, skills, interactive capacities to create value for a company’s competitiveness; †¢determine the means to capture, transfer and leverage knowledge effectively; †¢let KM enter into strategic decisions concerning the profitability of intellectual assets. The suggested model also enables us to extend some of the frameworks for understanding managers’ evaluation criteria. This extension to traditional models of management strategic decisions is a direct result of the informational complexities in modern organizations. Consequently, these considerations intend to represent an important step forward in unravelling the KM as an efficient support for innovation and competitiveness relationships. Directions for further research Deepening the analysis of managers’ interest on knowledge is critical to understand how KM can contribute to improve strategies’ formulation. Future research should examine the differences among industries, and measure accurately the relative importance of the factors that affect personal characteristics and knowledge development. Because these relations are not fully investigated, we suggest additional studies concerning the industries where knowledge workers have a more defined and important role. Future research on managers’ attitudes facing the linkages between strategic management and human value may have to examine carefully the role of a KM orientation as an effort to support adequately successful strategies. This discussion contributes to a better understanding of the consequences of a management orientation, which is able to leverage knowledge advances. 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How to Write a Technology Term Paper Easy-to-Implement Steps

How to Write a Technology Term Paper Easy-to-Implement Steps Struggling with your technology term paper? Most students are afraid of such assignments because of the stress connected with academic writing. In this article, you’ll find some useful technology term paper writing tips that will help you create a fantastic academic term paper with little stress and ensure an efficient writing process. Follow these easy steps in writing a term paper on technology and you’ll overcome writer’s block and work more productively. We will guide you through the entire writing process and give some useful tips on editing and proofreading. Besides, you’ll find here 20 good technology term paper topic ideas that you can use for writing your own projects. Keep reading. What Is a Technology Term Paper? First, let’s discuss what type of academic assignment a technology term paper is. A technology term paper writing is a long essay or a report assigned to students to be written in a college course during a term. It’s a complex task that can help you develop analytical and critical thinking skills and learn to present your ideas in a concise and logical manner. It’s your opportunity to devote your time and think about the topic you are interested in detail and do it in a quiet and focused way. The basic structure of a technology term paper includes 3 parts: the introduction, the main body, and the conclusion. Choosing a Good Technology Term Paper Topic: Advice from Our Experts If your instructor hasn’t assigned a specific topic for your term paper on technology, you should carefully consider what topic you would like to use. The best advice may be to pick a topic you enjoy because researching and writing is a long process and you will work with pleasure if you choose a topic that you are interested in. But first, you have to check online and in your school library to find out if there are enough resources available for doing research. Otherwise, you’ll need to select a different topic. To help you get started, we have made a short list of amazing technology term paper topics. Look it through to get some ideas for inspiration and brainstorming. How Is Digital Learning Changing Schools And Education? Negative Effects of The Development of New Technologies; Impact of the Advancements in Military Technologies on the Wars in The Middle East; What Are the Most Important Programming Languages? How Is Big Data Changing Biology? Long-term Impact of Virtual Reality on Education; Future of Cloud Computing; How Can DNA Be Used For Storing Information? Management of Large Amounts of Information in Data Storages; How Are Technologies Changing the Way We Read? Do Military Technology Advancements Make Our World Safer? Why Is Texting Dangerous? The Fourth Industrial Revolution and IT; What Makes People Addicted to Technologies? Impact of Social Media on Family Communication; Advantages and Disadvantages of Virtual Reality Technologies; Should Scientific Investigations on Humans Be Limited? Coning and Its Influence on the Value of Human Life; Approaches to Solving the Problem of Genetic Diseases; Discuss Contemporary Organ Transplant Procedures. When you have chosen a broad topic for your term paper, it’s critical to narrow it so it could fit the word count of your written project. For example, the topic reproductive technologies is too broad to cover it in a school or college term paper so you may write about the regulation of reproductive technologies or about ethical problems connected with infertility technologies. You have to think about the concrete research question and decide what aspects of the topic you would like to explore. This step is very important and for good reason. Without a specific research question, you will not be able to stay focused while doing research and writing your term paper. If you don’t exactly know what you want to investigate, it will be difficult to develop your argument to the point. You should also think about the title of your term paper and make things even more concrete. Doing Research and Making First Notes Now that you have a clear question that you want to work on, you have to find relevant primary and secondary sources that you can use for writing your own paper. You can look for them in your school library or in online databases. Wondering what sources you can use? the commonly used resources include: books that provide a detailed analysis of an issue; reference books that give compiled information; articles from scholarly journals with the latest information; newspapers that can serve as primary sources and provide basic information; authoritative websites that offer the quickest way to find relevant information. Make notes as you read about your topic. Jot down the key points that can help you organize your argument. It’s better to write in full sentences so that you could understand what you wrote and why it’s important when you start reviewing your notes later. You will need to reread your notes at the planning stage. If you plan to use some ideas for direct citing or paraphrasing, write down all the necessary information about your sources (author’s name, title, the year of publication etc.). It will help you make the list of your sources on the references page. As you read your secondary sources, you have to evaluate them and decide how they can be helpful for writing your technology term paper. Your research question will serve you as a guide in choosing the right literature on your topic. Making an Outline After you have read lots of credible sources on your topic, it’s time for brainstorming in order to create an outline for your technology term paper. You can use such techniques as clustering and mind-mapping to come up with interesting ideas. Try to make a detailed outline for your writing project because it will guide your writing and help you save a lot of time and overcome writer’s block. Having an outline, you will know exactly what you want to write about so it will be possible to start writing your term paper from any section. When making your outline, you may find out that you lack ideas for your term paper and you will need to do additional research. You should also organize your notes and quotes to determine how you can use them to support the key points in your outline. Writing a Draft You have done a lot of pre-writing work so you can get started and put your thoughts down on paper. You can start writing any way you like – by writing an introduction or by writing in the middle. Start with a portion of your technology term paper that you know well. Don’t think about spelling, sentence structure or other formal aspects of writing – just write. You will organize your ideas later. No one can write a perfect first draft – you will need to revise your notes several times, making necessary changes and improving the content and the logic. That’s why you should save all your notes and versions. Be ready that you can get stuck at some point so instead of staring at the blank screen of your computer, start writing any other portion of your paper you feel comfortable with. Here are some tips on how to write essential parts of a technology term paper. Introduction Writing an introduction can be a frustrating experience so you’d better write it when you have finished your body paragraphs. Then you’ll know exactly what your technology term paper is about so it will be easier to introduce your topic and grab your audience’s attention. You should start your introductory paragraph with an interesting quote, an odd fact, impressing statistics or a story. You need to present your research question/thesis statement and describe your approach by explaining the topic and the structure of your paper. Writing a strong thesis statement is important for a number of reasons: It helps you stay focused and clarifies your ideas; It provides a unified structure for your technology term paper; It serves as a hook for your topic sentences; It can be revised if you get new evidence and refine your arguments. Here is an example of a thesis statement for a technology term paper on genetic testing: ‘Genetic testing has potential benefits for people, providing much -needed explanation for an illness and helping doctors determine the most effective course of treatment.’ Body The body of your term paper is made of different sections and subsections. Each chapter of your paper should have a title. When writing each section, you should formulate a question or a specific topic that you want to cover in it. Then you need to write paragraphs that will give an answer to your question, provide an argument for your thesis statement or present the content of your technology topic. Remember: each body paragraph has to present one idea and develop it in a coherent form through the logical order of its sentences. You have to state the main idea of each paragraph in a topic sentence which typically comes at the beginning of the paragraph. And one more thing – in an academic text, paragraphs never consists of a single sentence. Your statements should be concrete and you should prove or illustrate them with relevant quotes from primary and secondary sources. To avoid plagiarism, you must cite the sources for all your quotes. This is true for direct quotes and for summaries and paraphrasing as well. To help your readers follow your argument, you need to give short summaries at the end of each section and use transitions to show relationships between different parts of your academic paper. Don’t forget to inform your readers where you are going. Conclusion When the body of your technology term paper has been completed, you need to create a conclusion, putting the results of your research together in a short summary. Besides, you have to draw a conclusion from the results of your research. You can also make suggestions about the further implications of the research you have made. Bibliography Create a bibliography page and include all the sources that you have quoted, summarized or paraphrased in the text of your technology term paper. You have to organize your references page according to the citation style specified by your professor (MLA, APA or other). Revising a Draft When your rough draft is complete, you should review it from your reader’s point of view. You have to think of your term paper as a whole and check the logical order to ensure that your readers can easily follow your argument and will not have to guess anything. Next, you should read your technology term paper sentence by sentence and edit the content, style, and formal aspects. Make changes to improve the logic in your paragraphs, fix mistakes in word choice and in verb tenses. Finally, you should check the documentation to ensure that your term paper is formatted properly and meets the requirements of a specific formatting style. You need to make the necessary adjustments until you are satisfied with the logical flow and see that your term paper looks like a clear and concise prose. Proofreading is the final step of the editing process where you have to focus on correcting minor grammar errors, misspellings, and punctuation mistakes. It’s the process of polishing your final draft and making it flawless. It’s very important for making a good impression on your readers so you should devote enough time for doing it. Editing and Proofreading Tips You Can’t Skip Put your technology term paper aside for some time. You won’t be able to edit and proofread your paper properly if you have just finished writing and you can skip over lots of errors; If you have enough time, you should edit and proofread your term paper in several short blocks of time. It’s difficult to focus your attention if you work too long, trying to edit and proofread the entire paper at one time; Don’t rely completely on spelling and grammar checkers because they typically have a limited dictionary and work with a limited number of rules. They often make mistakes in identifying errors; In order to stay focused, try to identify only one kind of mistake at a time; An effective technique for checking the spelling is to read your paper backward sentence by sentence. You can also read out the text of your technology term paper loud to hear how the words sound together.