Category: Uncategorized

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Mobile Cloud Learning for Education Sector

Cloud computing is the current technology that has numerous benefits and advantages and it is an easily adoptable technology in today’s world. The main benefit of utilizing this technology is that it minimizes the cost effectiveness for the development and implementation of software, hardware, and license for everyone (Issham Siti, Johari and Rozhan 34- 43). As it follows, this is the best time to analyze the implementation of the cloud and the technology behind it. In addition to this, the technology can also be utilized for the creation of low cost and quality education for all over the world (Rao, Sasidhar and Satyendra, 42- 47). The main objective of this paper is to examine the behavior of learners and the different ways in which they can take advantage of the cloud- education learning system that is designed and adapted for institutions, and delivered via private portable devices like mobiles, laptops, Smartphone PDA, among others.

Case Study

Educational technologies are commonly used today in most systems of education all over the world for different purposes, like managing the learning and the teaching process, delivering knowledge and enabling communication between instructors and learners, and between the students (Kukulska-Hulme and Traxler 123- 134). A great majority of current studies have indicated that the main issues affecting the development and the implementation of effective learning technologies are the considerations of extreme knowledge in designing effective learning environments for the technologies, and the adoption of enough pedagogical paradigms that utilize the special applications of the technology appropriately. The same studies indicate that local conditions such as cultural, economical, political, ethnographical, sociological and geographical circumstance play a pivotal role in the development and implementation of these technologies (Eshet-Alkalai and Aydin 32- 7).

Considering all these factors, the Middle East is a challenging and unique economical, geographical, political and cultural region, especially with its heterogeneous nature. The region has numerous, different cultures, religion, languages, and, as a result, several special considerations have to be put in mind during the development and designing of this technology. For example, the countries in the region vary widely economically; some are extremely wealthy while others are extremely poor. This, hence, requires adoption of special mixture of policies to ensure that the poor countries can cope with the expensiveness of these technologies. Technology- wise the countries also differ. Some are extremely advanced while others are in their early stages of adopting technologies (Eshet-Alkalai and Aydin 32- 7).

However, mobile learning can be designed in such a way that can be used and accessed by different users in the Middle East. M- Learning has been indicated to be an unobtrusive, personal, spontaneous, ‘anywhere, anytime’ method of learning and of accessing tools used in education and material that makes access to education larger for all individuals. This technology has also been indicated as a method of learning that is borderless; meaning that it can reach individuals in the most remote areas where there are no schools, tutors, libraries and schools (Ally 23- 45).

This ability to reach remote areas and new audiences in places that have not been discovered is especially relevant in such regions as the Middle East that is essentially an extremely challenging region for young people to obtain education. The ability for this kind of education to reach these regions has particularly been facilitated by the penetration of mobile phones, whose numbers have been indicated to have almost doubled for the last five or so years; the use of mobile phones has also been indicated to have overcome the use of landline internet access, as well as, the use of personal computers. As a result, mobile learning would be the best and the most advantageous educational technology in the region (Wellman 1).

M-Learning Applications

However, in order to realize the potential of mobile phones in providing quality educational tools, accessible and effective ways of offering high quality mobile learning are needed (Biggs 23-34). Mobile learning makes use of PDAs, handheld voting systems, pocket PC (Tremblay 217- 227), mobile telephones and handheld computers and other devices whose built is based on the same functionalities (Callaway 1). Mobile learning, however, using computers that handheld is relatively immature in terms of pedagogies and technology in the Middle East though it is definitely evolving (Smith and Ragan 12- 19). Today, research on mobile learning in both the developing and developed worlds has solely focused on the utilization of smart phones and handheld computers. It has been indicated that little research is available on mobile learning for simpler devices, something that must be quickly resolved to ensure that less fortunate countries in the Middle East and the rest of the world get access to high quality mobile learning (Traxler 1-12). SMS have been indicated to be effective tools for M-learning that can be applied in regions were resources are limited, as well as, podcasting (Clark, Westcott, and Taylor 23- 34).

Use of the technology in Education

These devices can help enhance mobile learning which can be useful in educational systems in various ways, since it implemented solely for use in education through the use of cloud computing (Haaff 1). The main purpose of mobile learning is that students can access knowledge from a central resource that is shared (Caruso and Salaway 67-98). They can do so anywhere, at anytime they want at a free or subsidized cost. This system can be used by learners to learn from any source about any topic of their choice without necessarily having to everything in their device. As it follows, students can access as much data as they wish from the cloud data centers for education on certain topics over their handsets even when they are at a small and inaccessible village. A student, for example, might want to learn about JAVA from their homes, villages, agricultural works or lands (Gregson and Jordaan 67- 89).

Response of Learners

The response of learners to this learning method has been indicated to be excellent, especially with most studies divided on as to whether the current young people natively communicate through the language of mobile phones, social networks, and the Internet. Today’s learners have been indicated to have more readily embraced learning and educational technologies than other traditional learning methods, as these new learning methods allow them to share their knowledge and experiences through online sites. Students have also been indicated to show better learning behaviors while using these learning technologies as they are flexible, a ‘fun’ way to learn, and manageable (Hug 123- 139).

User Behavior

A recent survey indicated that a large percentage of students own and use mobile phones and personal laptops. Most students in the study indicated that such devices as mobile phones and laptops are must haves, and that these devices must be portable and accessible to a reliable internet connection (Smith, Salaway and Caruso 1). Students wanted to be able to learn in an environment that allowed them to study while sitting with their friends in an informal place, to utilize their devices, and to have a reliable source of Internet, power and printing services (Steven and Teasley 88- 92). The students used the applications to find their friends, to access class information about timetables, assignments, and to be able to access lectures that were streamed directly into their devices (Mitchell 1).

Conclusion

Educational technologies are commonly used for various things in today’s education system. The uses of these technologies widely vary. They are, for example, used by students to access information from a central source, like a teacher’s site or an online blackboard. The applications are numerous given the fact that several devices can be used for M-learning. Such devices include handheld phones, laptops and smart phones. One thing that has become apparent is that most of the M-learning applications and technologies are only useful when installed in smart devices. As it was seen, simpler devices do not have the capacity to handle such applications. It is, therefore, essential for the concerned parties to come up with ways in which these M-learning technologies can be used in simpler devices that less fortunate students can afford and easily access.

Works cited

Ally, M. Mobile learning: Transforming the delivery of education and training.  Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press, 2009. Print

Biggs, J. Teaching for quality learning at university: What the student does (2nd ed.). Buckingham: Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press, 2003. Print

Callaway, Ewen. ‘ITunes university’ better than the real thing’, New Scientist, 2009. Web. 27 August 2011.

Clark, S., Westcott, M. and Taylor, L. ‘Using short podcasts to reinforce lectures’, The University of Sydney Symposium, 2007. Print

Caruso, J. B. and Salaway, G. Key findings: The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2007. Print

Eshet-Alkalai, Yoram and Cegiz Hakan Aydin. ‘A Bridge over Troubled Waters: Learning Technologies in the Middle East’, International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 10. 2 (2009): 32-7. Print

Gregson, J. and Jordaan, D. Exploring the challenges and opportunities of m-learning within an international distance education programme.  In M. Ally (Ed.), Mobile learning: Transforming the delivery of education and training (pp. 215–246).  Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press, 2009. Print

Haaff, Brian de. ‘Cloud computing – the jargon is back!’ Cloud Computing Journal, 2008. Web. 26 August 2011 http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com/node/613070

Hug, T. Micro learning: A New Pedagogical Challenge (Introductory Note). Paper presented at the Micro learning, 2005. Learning & Working in New Media Environments, Innsbruck. Print

Issham, I., Siti, S., Johari, M., and Rozhan, I. Acceptance on mobile learning via SMS: A Rasch model analysis.  International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 4.2(2010). Print

Kukulska-Hulme, A. and Traxler, J. Mobile learning in developing countries. Vancouver, BC: Commonwealth of Learning, 2005. Print.

Mitchell, A.  Translating mobile technologies into learning technologies: Creating a micro portal layer for the m-learning project. Online Educa Berlin, 2002.  Web. 26 August 2011. http://www.m-learning.org/docs/Online%20Educa%20paper%2028%20Nov%2002.rtf.

Rao, N., Sasidhar, C. and V. Satyendra Kumar. ‘Cloud Computing Through Mobile- Learning’, International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications 1.6 (2010): 42- 47. Print

Smith, S. D., Salaway, G., and Caruso, J. B. The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2009: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2009. Print

Smith, P., and Ragan, T. Instructional design (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2005. Print

Steven, Lonn and Teasley, Stephanie D. ‘Podcasting in higher education: What are the implications for teaching and learning?’ The Internet and Higher Education 12 .2 (2009): 88–92.print

Traxler, J. ‘Learning in a mobile age’, International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning,

1.1(2009): 1–12. Print

Tremblay, Eric. ‘Educating the Mobile Generation – using personal cell phones as audience response systems in post-secondary science teaching’, Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 29.2 (2010): 217-227. Print

Wellman, S.  Google lays out its mobile user experience strategy, 2007. Web. 26 August 2011. http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/04/google_lays_out.html

Mock Counseling Report

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Institutional Affiliation

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Professors Name

Date

Mock Counseling Report

Introduction

A counselor is someone who has a cognitive awareness of the setting in which you work and the labor market today. While the person still needs to come up with a workable answer, obtaining the help of a counselor is almost like getting rescued from their profession decisions confusion. A strong opinion view on the problems that have to be sorted, is given by a profession’s counselor. This is significant since the counselor could assess your recent positive results and make suggestions for growth areas. A counselor assesses your professional aptitude and makes suggestions for identity formation to advance your overall growth. This mock counseling report consists of the procedures and techniques used in the mock counseling session, the theoretical orientation, the central issue, career assessments, and treatment goals.

Summary of Procedures, Techniques, and Counselling Session

In the counseling session, I met my client, a seventeen-year-old female whom the young lady could not decide on her career path. She was in high school and was about to take her SATs, which would help her land a prestigious university. She was best in mathematics and science subjects but could not settle for either engineering, medical or information technology courses. She, however, did not want to choose a course based on her parents’ and teachers’ preferences. Her mother was a doctor, and her father was an engineer. Both parents wanted her to follow in their line of work. On the other hand, her teacher felt strongly about her becoming a professional in information technology.

The primary technique that I will use for this counseling session is directive counseling. The counselor is the critical character in this strategy, often referred to as counsellor-centered (Snow et al., 2018). I was responsible for consciously replacing the lady’s emotive conduct with sensible conduct. I made an effort to stay away from directive advice whenever I could. Following this procedure, I arranged the counseling session, examined the issue, determined its specifics, pinpointed its antecedents, and offered several solutions (Snow et al., 2018). It involved several steps. The first step was to analyze the case. I gathered all information from the client, her medical reports, close friends, and family. The next step was to do a synthesis where I organized all the information gathered. This information included background, qualifications, and potential.

I then found out the problem and the cause of the problem. Doing this made it easier to find a solution. A prognosis was also done to discover what may happen in the future if the problem is not solved (Snow et al., 2018). I then conducted the counseling session, listening keenly to what the client had to say. I considered the client a child who was confused about her future. After the counseling session, I asked for feedback to see if my counseling technique was effective.

Directive counseling is advantageous in terms of time commitment. Time is saved. The issue and the individual are given more attention. The client can see the counselor’s eyes directly. Counseling places more emphasis on an individual’s cognition than feelings. Finally, the client is entirely satisfied because the counselor is now easily accessible to help (Snow et al., 2018). To the best of my ability, I gave the client the facts I knew she needed about her career. I assisted her in deciding the route she wanted to go in. I provided various choices in the same vein so that the client might pick the profession of her choosing. I tried to delve deeper into her career choice during counseling, such as why certain subjects motivate her. Was her choice honorable and sincere?

Theoretical Orientation Used During the Mock Counselling

I chose to focus my theoretical orientation on cognitive-behavioral paradigm. This is because it focuses on a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors all engage with one another (Gaesser & Karan, 2017). Clients are treated under the presumption that thinking influences emotions and actions and that problematic ideas and sentiments can lead to issues by therapists who utilize CBT as their theoretical orientation in therapy. My client was confused because she could not decide what career path she wanted to take. She chose not to choose one, making her parents and teachers think she was not focused on her future. She felt pressured to decide (Gaesser & Karan, 2017). Making her understand that her future was her decision and that her parents and teachers would fully support her would make her feel less pressured.

Major Concerning Issue

From the analysis, the young lady suffered from depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. She was depressed for being in a pressured situation whereby her friends all knew what they wanted to do on campus, but she did not. She felt left out, leading to low self-esteem (Savickas, 2019). She knew that time was running out for college applications, but there was nothing that she could do. She had even thought of taking a gap year, but she knew her parents would be against it. She was anxious because she did not know if her chosen career would satisfy her parents and teachers. She felt that she would have to let one down or the other.

Career Assessment from the Mock Counselling

There are two forms that I used for career assessment. Intake forms are used to learn as much as possible about the client; counselors use intake forms at the beginning of the session. They enable the career counselor to comprehend the need for career counseling assessment, the anticipated objectives, and any challenges (Lipshits- Braziller, 2018). Feedback forms are used to evaluate the therapist’s performance to see whether the counseling was effective. From the feedback forms, I will know where to improve in the event of another similar situation.

Treatment Goals

The main goal was to help my client settle for a career perspective that was comfortable for her. Her parents had advised her throughout her life, and she felt that their opinions were valid in making her decision (Savickas, 2019). I will also discuss with the parents and teachers the impact of their opinions on their daughter’s future. This will help my client feel less pressured to follow in either of her parent’s footsteps.

Reflections from the Counselling Session

My primary focus when discussing my counseling session will be professional advancement-related difficulties. The identification of learners’ personal and academic strengths, in addition to their passions, abilities, and key competencies, is encouraged. Learners can then use those concepts to aid in their career exploration. They are able to connect their abilities, choices, and skills to potential career paths in the prospective (Savickas, 2019). Using skills necessary for employee engagement and accomplishment, using planning and career exploration to apply to establishing and accomplishing longtime occupational goals, and educating learners where and how to find resources about higher education options are a few of the crucial aspects of professional expansion that I will recognize.

When providing career counseling, I will encourage students to use their decision-making abilities to classify various jobs into relevant career sectors (Savickas, 2019). They are also urged to consider the different of professions that engage them and the aims they have for their prospects while doing this. I will provide them with tools to continue their career research outside the classroom. Along with intellectual progress, counseling also addresses social-emotional growth (Savickas, 2019). I will also encourage self-esteem and self-awareness. Teachers and parents should also be encouraged to take their children to career counseling to avoid the confusion and pressure of choosing a career.

Conclusion

Counseling can also be used to advise on academic matters and career paths. Career counseling involves evaluating career potential as a counselor offers advice on developing your identity to promote your overall development. In directive counseling, the counselor attentively considers the counselee’s situation, obtains data, and offers a solution. This kind of counseling carries out the advice-giving function, but it can also reassure, provide an emotional release, and, to a lesser extent, help with thought clarification. The counselor gathers data about the counselee to better comprehend the client’s issue from various sources. However, this technique may be ineffective because since the client entirely depends on the counselor, he or she may not make good decisions once the client is away from the counselor. That is why counseling should entail decision-making and problem-solving. Teachers and parents should also be involved and advised appropriately.

References

Gaesser, A. H., & Karan, O. C. (2017). A randomized controlled comparison of Emotional Freedom Technique and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy to reduce adolescent anxiety: A pilot study. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 23(2), 102-108. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2015.0316Lipshits-Braziler, Y. (2018). Coping with career indecision among young adults: Implications for career counseling. In New perspectives on career counseling and guidance in Europe (pp. 71–85). Springer, Cham. https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/62929685/394780_1_En_5_Chapter_Author20200412-76874-15vorf5-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1665090392&Signature=KUijsDSfjyv-Savickas, M. (2019). Career counseling (pp. xvi-194). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. https://wikious.com/en/Career_counselingSnow, W. H., Lamar, M. R., Hinkle, J. S., & Speciale, M. (2018). Current practices in online counselor education. Professional Counselor, 8(2), 131-145. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1193678.pdf



Business Rules and Data Models

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Professor’s name,

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Date

A database is filing system and an application used to collect, organize and store information for various reasons such as to have a huge amount of information for future use, to computerize a computer procedure of some classification according to the stored data and for quick search ability. Databases determine the information displayed on websites, to keep fiscal records, to record computer files as well as to maintain one’s in- box. Colleges use huge amounts of different data that need to be classified and stored for their references in academic work. On the other side, data base is crucial to keep track of the instructors, their subjects and the courses they teach (Kroenke, 2006).

An entity is an object that has a physical existence or conceptual existence such as; a place a person, a university course, a thing, a person, a job or a company that data can be collected.

For instance to develop a college’s database for maintaining information on students, the application should be able to provide and store data on students such as when was the student was admitted; is the student still with the college; if the student has left the college when did he leave the college; which course does the student partake; who is his/her instructor; what stage the student is in and much more. In the above example, the entities are college, course, student, and instructor. The entities that are being tracked are stored in database tables that have table rows and their names on the row box (Kanchinadam, 2008).

Attributes

An Attribute is a property that makes up an entity thus Databases have information on each entity that is tracked in character fields known as attributes. This usually corresponds to the data base table columns. For instance, the student’s entity might have attributes corresponding to the student’s first and last name, date of birth, and a unique student identifier such as the admission number.

Business rules are the rules a company or firm uses to define its constraints. They assert the manner in which the business is controlled or influenced. The rules apply to individuals, corporate behavior and the organization of the firm’s computing systems in order to achieve the organizational set goals. The art of writing down business rules ensures that incidences where conflicts occur because of poor interpretation of rules are limited and it is also cost effective.

There are several business rules; For instance, the facts relating relevant terms to each other rule is used to illustrate how a language can be expressed. In this case, a customer’s decision to place a business order acts as a business rule. The facts that have been documented by the customer can act as relationships and also as attributes in creating graphical models.

The description of business terms is mainly the basic business rule. It is used to provide a description of the manner in which individuals think and discuss about things. Terms are documented in the glossary and can be utilized in creating conceptual models. Conceptual data models are used in the structuring of strategic data models. The model posses an abstract nature hence referred to as the conceptual models. The model has a varying number of entities between 100-1000 entities though they are dependent on the model’s scope. Often, in the conceptual model, the attributes have data types that are assigned with both length and precision. The model too addresses in two dimensions majorly the cardinality and null ability (Kanchinadam, 2008).

On the other hand, physical models use objects including columns and tables that are generated on the basis attributes and entities that were identified in logical modeling. The physical model is software data specific. Their constraints may include foreign keys, check constraints as well as primary keys (Kanchinadam, 2008).

References

Kroenke, D. M. (2006). Database processing: fundamentals, design, and implementation (10th

ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Kanchinadam, K. M. (2008). DataMapX a tool for cross-mapping entities and attributes between

bioinformatics databases. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University.

Academic Writing Genres in Postgraduate Levels: Similarities and Differences among the varied Genres

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State

Word Count: 1925Academic writing that serves as one of the compulsory activities of students pursuing their studies at postgraduate level is a somewhat challenging yet exciting experience for students (Petrova 2017). Such forms of writing at a postgraduate level require lots of critical reading, thinking, analyses and evaluations. Subsequently, authors rely on available data and information as baseline for establishing new documents. It is very important that students learn to write effectively because it can improve their logical thinking, organization skills and data collection skills. In addition, good writing can lead to better mark and overall impressive performance. This essay will dissect and explain the main genres of academic writing at postgraduate level. Also, it will look at the skills a student needs to write successfully.

Precisely, there are four main writing genres at postgraduate level which entail essays, research proposals, research reports, and reflective writing. Essay writing entails in-depth exploration, analysis, and evaluation of a given topic. Moreover, essays are written in prose and presented in a continuous structure with the use of connected paragraphs from the introduction, body, and conclusion. Also, essays are grouped into four basing on their purposes; descriptive, argumentative, expository and narrative essays (Solomon et al. 2013). Narrative essays present writers’ stories from certain points of view to attain specific goals. Descriptive essays offer intricate details and descriptions of characteristics and traits of chosen subjects. Expository essays entail critical explanations of subjects’ traits, characteristics, and description. Finally, argumentative essays endeavor to persuade and convince their audience of particular stances and claims.

On the other hand, research proposals are academic documents that strive to explain details about the plan, methodology, purpose, and objective of a research study that could be undertaken in future. Accordingly, writers employ their critical thinking capabilities to elaborate and explain the importance of conducting research studies in chosen subjects as well as necessary resources. Moreover, research proposals do not contribute additional information but endeavor to present existing gaps and the need for necessary research studies (Walonick 2005). Hence, research proposals are established to exhibit and explain reasons why some research should be conducted in a given field of study to attain some missing information.

Moreover, research reports are types of academic writing which rely on particular sections which entail discussion, methodology, literature review, finding and discussions, and recommendations and conclusion to present detailed information concerning selected topics. Accordingly, the authors employ their critical reading, analysis, and evaluation skills to develop research reports (Walonick 2005). Writers would find and critically read suitable resources for necessary evidence and development of the literature review sections. Consequently, research reports strive to expand existing knowledge through their conclusions and recommendations.

Furthermore, reflective writing offers detailed responses that a writer develops through their critical thinking capabilities with regards to a given document or situation (Rai 2006). Accordingly, writers critically analyze and evaluate specific life experiences and develop suitable responses. Thus, reflective essays depend significantly on personal emotions, judgment capabilities, and authors’ writing skills.

Also, each of the academic writing genres relies on evidence to support their points. Different academic writing documents depend on predetermined information to support their ideas and give them authority (Cumming, Lai and Cho 2016). Since critical thinking facilitates the development of personal opinions and ideologies, evidenced and findings from earlier experiments and research findings are crucial in validating and proving such individual inferences. For instance, each type of academic writing relies on either direct quotes or paraphrased versions of other scholars’ findings. Thus, evidence act as qualifiers and validators of all categories of academic documents.

Still, all the different types of academic writing adhere to particular order and structures to guide the audience. Every form of academic writing exhibits a specific structure and order to ensure that their information flows smoothly from the begging to the end (Street 2009). Most academic documents rely on the use of three-part approach which entails the use of an introduction, body, and conclusion. Even so, every category of writing has a unique structure and order due to their varied purposes. For instance, research reports rely on sub-sections with the use of sub-titles that entail literature review, findings, and discussions, conclusions, and methodology to extensively elaborate and explain its varied groups of information.

Additionally, each type of academic writing exhibits in-text citations and the use of a reference list to reinforce their points and provide links to areas of further reading. Citations and references are crucial in all academic writings since they attract more value and qualify the documents (Fox, Paine, and Sauterey 2016). References play vital roles in supporting ideas that an individual develops through their critical thinking capabilities. Moreover, writers appreciate previous academic projects through the use of references and citations. Information that other academicians and scholars established contributes significantly to validating and reinforcing claims of a writer. Therefore, references are vital sources of evidence as well as validators and qualifiers of academic documents.

Further, academic writing at the postgraduate level relies significantly on critical thinking capabilities, evaluations, and analysis. Advanced levels of academic writing extend beyond mere descriptions of an idea or subject to include personal interpretations, responses, and conclusions (Andrews 2007). Since virtually every form of academic writing at advanced levels of studies strive to expand existing knowledge, personal inferences and conclusions are essential in contributing to such desired growth. Moreover, educational documents require writers to use reliable findings and facts to develop new information through critical thinking.

Besides, each form of academic writing has a specific thesis that acts as their baselines. Theses are vital aspects of academic writing since they act as a guide and controller to ensure that the writer remains within the essential areas of coverage (Toprak 2014). For example, theses dictate the extent of what the writer would cover, the type of objectives and research questions that a writer would use. A well-directed document is relatively easier to understand and read since the audience would have specific expectations. Therefore, academic documents strive to explore, explain, and support particular theses.

Nevertheless, a key difference amongst the varied writing genres is based on the degree of research studies that a writer has to conduct. The amount of research studies that an individual does depends on the quantity of information that is needed (Shim 2005). For example, research reports and research proposals require extensive research studies to attain adequate documents that would be used in the literature review and other sections of the paper. On the contrary, essays and reflection tend to rely on limited but enough sources to support their claims and ideas. Since reflections strive to present personal emotions, interpretations, opinions, and believes about a given subject, they depend primarily on a writer’s critical thinking, evaluation and analysis skills rather than exhaustive research studies. Hence, the extent of research studies differs from one category of writing to the next.

Correspondingly, all forms of academic writing at postgraduate level demand advanced research and reading skills. Research skills are essential in ensuring that a writer provides the right and valid information that enriches their wealth of knowledge. Similarly, critical reading enables readers to collect crucial information from a given document. Accordingly, research skills involve intensive and extensive critical analyses and evaluation of available materials to establish the most suitable ones that would be employed in a given piece of writing. For instance, an individual would have to find, read, analyze and evaluate various documents to determine and select the most appropriate sources that would be used to enrich their literature review section (Fox, Paine and Sauterey 2016). Such a practice is highly-involving since the practice of establishing verified, and credible sources consume lots of time and energy. An individual could end up replicating the work of another person, thus generating similar information rather than expanding the existing ones by failing to conduct adequate research studies. Still, a writer should conduct exhaustive research studies to avoid plagiarism while increasing their knowledge for better information development (Bakhtiyari et al. 2014). Thus, research skills are critical in all academic writing.

Similarly, advanced writing skills are crucial in postgraduate level writing activities. At postgraduate levels, academic writing tends to be more sophisticated since it entails expression and explanations of particularly complex subjects in in-depth and lengthy approaches (Langan 2013). For example, an individual could be required to provide basic descriptions of a chosen topic then offer their inferences and conclusions. Accordingly, a writer should be able to establish a suitable writing structure and style to develop an interesting document that is relatively easy to read and understand. Moreover, writers should use appropriate terms and sentence structures that are relatively easier to understand by avoiding ambiguity while ensuring clarity and simplicity. Also, meticulous referencing, appropriate structuring, proper grammar, apt planning, and drafting of academic documents are critical in promoting quality work. Thus, suitable writing skills are essential in every type of academic writing at postgraduate levels because they enable writers to adequately communicate their messages to the target audience.

Likewise, proper time management and planning is another essential skill in the development of all the varied academic documents. Appropriate time management enables writers to adequately study, analyze, evaluate, and interpret collected data while ensuring that sufficient time is available for writing quality documents (Rani and Mangala 2010). An individual would probably conduct quality analysis, evaluations, and interpretations when they have ample time. Research and critical thinking activities consume relatively lots of time and energy. On the other hand, students at postgraduate levels tend to operate under tight time schedules following the complexity of their studies. Accordingly, an individual should establish and stick to a suitable timeframe that puts into consideration every aspect of the writing processes.

Additionally, all the varied categories of academic writing rely primarily on proofreading and editing to gain adequate quality. Proofreading and editing a document contribute significantly to ensuring that it exhibits all the desired qualities while presenting extremely minimized or not errors (Harwood, Austin and Macaulay 2012). For instance, writers could proofread and edit their work to ensure the inclusion of all the required sections and proper titles/ subtitles while embracing the correct tenses and vocabulary. Well-edited and proofread documents are free of punctuation and spelling mistakes. Consequently, such documents would exhibit high-quality because they communicate effectively while ensuring a smooth flow of information from one point to the next. Moreover, the writers would present full details by ensuring that they provide all the necessary details. Therefore, proofreading and editing are vital tools that are used to refine academic documents to ensure they are of high-quality.

Overall, academic writing at postgraduate level comprises four main genres that entail research proposals, research reports, essays, and reflections. The varied groups of documents tend to be more sophisticated since they demand lots of critical thinking skills to provide valuable information for expanding existing knowledge. The main similarities in the varied groups of writing entail the use of critical thinking and evaluation skills, time management and planning skills, editing and proofreading skills, writing skills, the use of a thesis, and essential reading and research skills. On the other hand, the differences exist in the structures and extent of research studies that are employed to develop the different types of documents. Research papers demand extensive research studies since they focus on literature reviews. On the other hand, reflections and essays tend to rely on limited amounts of research because they depend mainly on critical thinking, analyses and evaluation skills of an individual. Therefore, academic writing at postgraduate levels is more demanding and requires a sufficient understanding of the varied writing genres to ensure quality work.

References

Andrews, R., 2007. Argumentation, critical thinking and the postgraduate dissertation. Educational Review, 59(1), pp.1-18.

Bakhtiyari, K., Salehi, H., Embi, M.A., Shakiba, M., Zavvari, A., Shahbazi-Moghadam, M., Ale Ebrahim, N. and Mohammadjafari, M., 2014. Ethical and unethical methods of plagiarism prevention in academic writing. International Education Studies, 7(7), pp.52-62.

Cumming, A., Lai, C. and Cho, H., 2016. Students’ writing from sources for academic purposes: A synthesis of recent research. Journal of English for Academic purposes, 23, pp.47-58.

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Business Strategy Plan for American Red Cross

Student’s Name

Institution Affiliation

Course Name and Code

Professor’s Name

Date

Business Strategy Plan for American Red Cross

Introduction

The chosen organization for this task is the American National Red Cross. This is a local organization in my area that provides humanitarian and emergency services to people faced with disasters. The non-profit organization provides disaster relief, disaster preparedness, and disaster education to Americans faced with floods, fire, thunderstones, and earthquakes. It also provides humanitarian assistance to the communities faced with the pandemic like in the case of Covid-19. According to my interview with the manager of the organization, I managed to retrieve a lot of information describing the vision, mission, and objectives of The American National Red cross. The manager depicts that the American National Red Cross is an affiliate of the Red Crescent Societies, the International Federation of Red Cross, and the Red Crescent Movement. The basis of its history, the American Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton in 1881 in Dansville, New York (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Notably, its first local chapter gets traced at the English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Dansville. Moreover, the organization has managed to score four stars at the Charity Navigators because of the increasing provision of blood donations, provision of tissue services, plasma services, Leukoreducation, and research in blood laboratories. It has continued to provide cellular therapies in blood as well as the training services like the administration of emergency oxygen, asthma training, basic life support, and lifeguard management (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Furthermore, it also provides disaster services and the national response framework to the services to mitigate the detriment of the increasing disaster challenges in the United States of America. Therefore, the project examines the organization’s motivation, innovation strategy, and people strategy to determine the objective of service provision. It also evaluates the American National Red Cross’s social responsibility plans, the organization culture, competitive position, possibilities, potential generic strategies, potential grand strategies, potential value discipline, and the potential generic strategies. Most importantly, the study describes the National Red cross change management strategies that the management has considered and the recommendations which depict the areas the company should improve.

The American National Red Cross Motivation

The American National Red Cross gets motivated by the desire to create assistance for Americans without discrimination. It provides humanitarian services to the people that are affected by the disasters like diseases, floods, world fires, and pandemics (Pellegrino et al., 2020). Also, it is motivated by the need to alleviate human suffering in the United States of America through the protection of health and life hence the provision of respect for the human being for social, economic, and political life sustainability. The American National Red Cross has managed to promote friendship, understanding, cooperation, and lasting peace among Americans through the eradication of the forces that may become a detriment to peace (Issaias, 2022). Through the use of a strong network of donors, volunteers, and partners, the American Red Cross has been inspired to make compassion into actions to enable the people affected by the disasters to receive care like shelter and other basic needs. It also prepared the communities for disasters by making them understand the ease of access to safe medical services. Wnenev4r an emergency occurs; the trained individuals are motivated to work hence enabling the use of the Red Cross skills in saving the life. Notably, the American Red Cross is motivated by the fundamental principles of impartiality, humanity, neutrality, and independence (American Red Cross, 2011). It continues to provide voluntary services through the use of the principle of unity and universality. The use of the principle of Unity has enabled the organization to undertake services across the American territory.

How the American National Red Cross Monitors Ethics

Monitoring the ethics within the company enables the employees to become productive in all areas delegated to them by the management. Before monitoring the ethics, the company should ensure that all the employees monitored are provided with the knowledge of what is monitored, the reason for monitoring, and the methodology of monitoring. Also, the American Red Cross must limit what is to track by tracking the things that rea relevant to keep the company productive. The American Red Cross also ensures that the employees’ data are kept safe through the provision of access to data (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). As such, the major method of monitoring ethics is through the use of the telephone where the manager can record the telephone conversation. Also, the Red Cross has managed to monitor the ethics through the use of geolocations and videos to determine the location of the employees once delegated the duties. Emails and social media can suit the ethical monitoring strategy through the determination of the social relation of the workers with the clients.

Innovation Strategy

The American National Red Cross has applied technological innovation which has created a mechanism for changing American lives. Through innovation, the models of human interaction for the accessibility of the humanitarian aid provisions have been enhanced by the organization. The program provided by the organization remains the strategy that the American National Red Cross uses in response to the provision of blood services, military support, and training services for the delivery of the mission which alleviates human suffering during emergencies. Notably, the innovation at the American National Red Cross operates by focusing on the opportunity delivery that impacts humanity in the shortest possible time (Bessant et al., 2015). Majorly, the areas of innovation are artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence enables the American National Red Cross to transform the methodologies of delivering its services. Through machine learning power, the organization has created the supply and demand predictions for continuous service provision. Also, the American National Red Cross has implemented Chatbots which describes the customer-facing information system for the improvement of the service delivery by the staff. Consequently, the organization uses voice skills to provide easy access to the Red Cross information and the use of transactions. (American Red Cross, 2011). Majorly, the voice skills get enabled by the management through the use of Amazon Alexa and a plan for the extension with the Google Home and the Smart Speaker. Another innovative approach by the organization is the use of Robotic Process Automation which aids in the automation of the manual process for the improvement of the employee experiences hence devoting the workforce time to strategic activities and repetitive tasks. An in-depth analysis of the organization shows that the American National Red cross applies digital transformation as an innovative approach through the use of the digital ecosystem for the visualization of all the aspects of the disaster response (Bessant et al., 2015). The geographic Information system continues to characterize the innovative strategy of the American National Red Cross through leveraging of data for the analysis of the information and the creation of visualization tools hence easing the support for domestic disaster operations. The technical staff has also used drones for the provision of immediate and aerial; perspectives for the improvement of situational awareness. Furthermore, the American National Red Cross uses the mobile apps launched in 2012 to enable people to learn and deliver immediate response services to disasters. The open-source software continues to enhance digital communications. The projects of open-source software provide portable mapping services in areas with limited networks like the photogrammetry used for the processing of the drone imagery.

People’s Strategy

People’s strategies depict the move by the Red Cross to provide a humanitarian and peaceful environment that enables Americans to adapt to 21st-century challenges. The strategies create a mechanism through which the Americans and the organization prepare for the dynamic global networks for amicable service delivery. Also, the people’s strategies create anticipation, response to, and quick recovery from the crisis through the improvement of the local response and the preparedness for easy tackling of the crisis (American Red Cross, 2011). People create a lead safe, dignified life and healthy opportunities as a strategic move towards the promotion of the mental, social, and physical; health of the individuals affected by the disasters hence acting as a mechanism of supporting livelihood. Another strategy that peoples use to enhance the comprehensive growth of the American Red Cross is the mobilization for inclusivity and peaceful communities. The American National Red Cross promotes and provides support to the equitable, more inclusive, and cohesive environment for the eradication of the humanitarian detriments that affect the economic, social, and psychological life of Americans. Through the embodiment of humanitarian values, people have created a mechanism of enhancing social responsibility hence determining quick response to the life scenarios that undermine human services (Donaldson et al., 2016). People are also prepared to mitigate the climate and the environmental crisis through the use of sustainable environmental management frameworks. The workforce in the American Red Cross has taught people about the need to understand the growing gap in the health and well-being of Americans hence easing the need to provide the peaceful resolution of the merging challenges. Through migration and identity, the Americans have formed a framework through which local migration has been safely enhanced for the promotion of economic, social, and political development within the American societies. Moreover, people have inspired and mobilized volunteerism as a strategy for promoting the non-profit organization’s values, vision, and mission. Other strategies that people have implemented towards the growth of the American National Red Cross are the influence of humanitarian actions, effectively working as a distribution network and enhancement of trust and accountability.

American National Red Cross Corporate Social responsibility plans

The social responsibility plan of the American National Red Cross as a non-profit organization creates a mechanism for enhancing the long-term commitment between the company, workforce, and society in general. As such, there exist several social responsibility plans that the Red Cross has put in place for the sustainable achievement of the vision, mission, and values. Majorly, the American National Red Cross works towards achieving the 2030 goals agenda as a sustainable development agenda through the provision of humanitarian aid and assistance. The 2020 plans describe the move by the organization to eradicate human suffering and the creation of peace through the mitigation of the human-caused factors and detriment as well as the provision of the opportunities and training to strategize the move of solving the challenges of the natural calamities. Also, the American National Red Cross has created a framework for enhancing social responsibility through the induction of corporate volunteering (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Corporate volunteering has enabled the Red Cross to organize marathons that involve all the members of the American society regardless of age, gender, or social; affiliations. The marathon has been used by the organization as a marketing tool to sensitize the public on the need to promote social approaches to human calamities. The American National Red Cross also organizes for blood donation campaigns to increase the provision of blood to the hospitals to ease accessibility to blood transfusion services to those in need (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Digital volunteering characterizes the social responsibility plans where the community members have provided cheap and voluntary services for the digital transformation of the organization. Other social service plans that the American Red Cross has implemented are the support of religious celebrations like Christmas and the Easter holidays. Moreover, social responsibility plans for the American Red Cross define the move to get the event sponsorship. The event sponsorship provides economic and financial services to the organization (American Red Cross, 2011). The management is always looking forward to creating an enabling environment that attracts the sponsors like the Diamond Trust Bank, federal government funds, and other organizations that are willing to support humanitarian aid.

The Organization Culture

The American Red Cross work toward achieving the common goals in the provision of humanitarian aid to the public through a strategized framework. As such, it is characterized by several cultures for the achievement of common goals. Majorly, the American Red Cross has a compassionate culture through its dedication to improving the lives of those affected by the disasters. Compassionate culture enables the effective treatment of people with care and respect. Also, the American Red Cross gets characterized by a collaborative culture where the employees and the volunteers work towards creating togetherness through partnering with other organizations like Johnson and Johnson (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). The culture of creativity continues to characterize the American National Red cross. Creativity enables the organization to seek new ideas and create rooms that are liable to change hence creating a better environment for the service delivery to the vulnerable. Commitment culture enables the American Red Cross to hold accountability for the determination of the clear objectives and the mission delivery of services to the public. Moreover, the credibility culture enables the organization to act with integrity and transparency hence creating a notion of public trust and the honor of the promises (American Red Cross, 2011). Cultural sensitivity continues to define the culture of the American Red Cross where the employees have the capability of reflecting cultural diversity. The diversity is achieved by the partners, suppliers, workers, and project initiators. Most importantly, the organization offers resources to the group of employees without regarding the LGBTQ communities, the African-Americans, and the Latinos. The minority groups in the United States of America air their views and concerns for the generation of opinions that are helpful for the sustainable development of the resources. The organizational culture of the American Red Cross continues to characterize the professional development where the employees are given the chance to develop their profession through further studies by the management. The American Red Cross has enhanced the strategic leadership headed by the chief executive officers. Other branches in management include the financial officers, human resource department, and disaster management officers. Also, the American Red Cross has a high retention rate of employees because of the need to show examples to the public on the provision of humanitarian services as opposed to individual needs.

The Organization’s Environment

The environment of the American Red Cross favors the need for climate and ecosystem conservation for the provision of humanity to the vulnerable in society. The organization comprises the director of the climate change and sustainability that organizes fundraising for the domestic climate change actions hence supporting the resiliency of the communities that are vulnerable to extreme weather. Also, the grants and the community initiatives enable the organization to offer grants and financial assistance to the communities affected by natural calamities (American Red Cross, 2011). It also characterizes the voluntary workers who provide services for the benefit of vulnerable societies.

Competitive Position of the American National Red Cross

The American Red Cross remains number one in the provision of services to the people affected by the disaster in the United States of America. The first position is achieved by the move to involve strategic measures in the management of the available resources and the need to eradicate the detriments that affect the social life of the employees, stakeholders, and the entire American population (American Red Cross, 2022). The major competitor is World Vision which has moved to attract sponsors due to its increasing move to provide sustainable services to the vulnerable in society. World Vision is a private company that was started by the Evangelical Christian Humanitarian Aid groups. It provides healthcare by creating easy accessibility to water and sanitation programs for the vulnerable members of American societies (American Red Cross, 2022). Also, the Goodwill Industries of Texas competes with the Red Cross through the provision of government and public services to the communities affected by the disasters. It gets sponsorship from most of the well-wishers and the government hence creating a divisive mind that has split the financial sponsorship of the American Red Cross. Goodwill Industries of Texas is located in Tyler as its headquarters. Consequently, Sutter Heath remains the major competitor of the American Red Cross. Sutter Health provides the hospital care and the other healthcare programs hence scrambling for financial resources with the American Red Cross.

Possibilities

There exist several possibilities that make the American Red Cross viable for the provision of services to disaster-affected people in the United States of America. It has the possibility of restoring the family links by locating the loved ones missing due to war., civil unrest, and natural disasters. It also sends messages to the separated family members. It also has the possibility of training the American communities on disaster response and preparedness through the implementation of disaster preparedness programs (American Red Cross, 2011). It provides emergency healthcare services that get aimed at tackling the healthcare challenges like Covid-19. The possibility of providing blood services has enabled the organization to save many lives by using contemporary medical technology in blood donations and transfusions. Through the use of the quality assurance units, the American Red Cross has been able to manufacture FDA-regulated products that meet compliance standards (Cotter, 2018). The American Red Cross has continued to provide awareness and education programs through the use of contemporary technology and video programs that inform the public about the need for self-protection in case of a crisis. It emphasizes disaster readiness hence mitigating the expected challenges that the societies might undergo.

Potential generic strategies

The American National Red Cross gets characterized by business-level generic strategies for the sustainable development of the organization. It has cost leadership which enables the management to carefully use the financial resources to achieve the goals and objectives of helping the disaster-affected people in the United States of America. The differentiation strategy also characterizes the American Red Cross. It enables the organization and the management to evaluate the current trends in the provision of services with the past and the future trends in the management of disasters. Consequently, the focused cost leadership strategy employed by the American Red Cross has created a framework through which the organization has focused on the service provider to the vulnerable in society (Rozario, 2003). Furthermore, the focused differentiation strategy has enabled the American National Red Cross to apply the methodological framework in the analysis of the criteria of delivering the services to the public that aims at the mitigation of the challenges affecting the human race.

Potential grand strategies

The potential grand strategies used by the American National Red Cross are growth, stability, and defense. The growth as a grand strategy enables the American Red Cross to comprehensively grow in terms of technological innovation to increase the probability of providing humanitarian services to the public affected by the disasters. Also, stability as a grand strategy enables the organization to be stable in the provision of services and the maintenance of the productive workforce for the sustainable delivery of services (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Furthermore, the defensive strategies enable the American Red Cross to determine the effective approaches in defending the communities against aggression like in the case of the war. It continues to link the government and its people through a defensive mechanism for handling disasters.

Potential value discipline

Potential value discipline defines the nature of the American Red Cross as a local organization within the area. The American National Red Cross get characterized by diversity, inclusivity, and equity where the management band the entire organization attains rich diversity through the equitable distribution of resources to areas affected by the calamities. Also, fair treatment and progressive discipline define the American Red Cross by creating a lovely working climate for the employees (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Also, the non-discrimination approaches enable the organization to use the defined mechanism of handling the issues relating to the company’s inclusion in the workplace. Security safety and health define the American Red Cross through which the organization can provide security to its workers, safety to the affected public, and the provision of health care services to the general community. It continues to provide environmental conservation measures through the induction of sensitization formulas for the benefit of the ecosystem. Violence-free workplace and a harassment-free workplace give a clear definition of the American Red Cross where the management tries to manage the violence occurrence through the use of the peaceful method of conflict resolution.

American National Red Cross change management strategies

The American Red Cross consists of half a million volunteers and 35 000 employees headed by the board of governors who oversees the management and the organization’s strategies. The board of governors consists of 12 to 20 members including the chair who is appointed by the president of the United States of America. The president and the CEO are appointed by the board. As such, the management has the responsibility of planning carefully for the activities of the organization. The board of governors also communicates the strategies that require implementation by the workforce. Consequently, they provide a mechanism through which the communities participate effectively in the development of humanitarian provision (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Another mechanism through which the board of governors uses the change the strategic management includes the invitation of the companies to participate in the provision of humanitarian aid, creating the roadmap for the implementation of the changes and the provision of the training to the employees and the general communities on the disaster management.

The recommendations depict the areas the American National Red Cross should improve

The American National Red Cross should devise communication and messaging policies that are not perceived as moralizing to enable the workforce to work diligently towards achieving the company’s mission and vision. The use of an effective communication model will create a framework through which the organization will easily identify the challenges affecting the general society in times of crisis and disasters (Briones et al., 2011). Through the application of the technological system of communication, the American Red Cross will create an atmosphere for the provision of sustainable services.

The management should develop multicultural approaches in recruiting, training, and assigning duties to the staff. The use of multicultural approaches will mitigate the conflict and stereotypes within the organization (Potera, 2011). Reduction of bias and duty delegation will motivate workers by enabling them to work as brothers.

The head of the delegation should decide on the empowerment formulas in risk management. The risk management framework will determine the possibility of continuing with the operation. Also, if the operation seems to be unprofitable, the risk management team should issue guidelines for suspending the activities.

Conclusion

American Red Cross remains the major charity organization in my local area and America at large. It has enabled the well-wishers to provide economic, social, and psychological assistance to the individuals affected by calamities, disasters, and war. It has also enhanced health care provision and the provision of educational services to the Americans on the need to handle the calamities like diseases. As such, the American National Red Cross has motivated the workers through the use of the sustainable service provision mechanism to increase their need for humanitarian aid provision. It also uses technological innovation approaches to enhance communication like drones, and the geographical information system. There exist competitors which enhance the provision of the quality services like World Vision. Notably, the changes in the management strategies ha enable the organization to get the appropriate approaches to handling the issues that may become a detriment to the provision of services. Moreover, ethics remains the most effective criterion for making the workforce get motivated toward achieving its goals. Furthermore, the American National Red Cross should improve in some areas to increase its chances of effectively reaching the American communities that are affected by Natural disasters and wars.

References

American Red Cross. (2022). American Red Cross competitors and similar companies. Craft. https://craft.co/american-red-cross-1/competitorsAmerican Red Cross. (2011). American Red Cross Guide to Services. https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/atg/PDF_s/GuideToServices.pdfBriones, R. L., Kuch, B., Liu, B. F., & Jin, Y. (2011). Keeping up with the digital age: How the American Red Cross uses social media to build relationships. Public relations review, 37(1), 37-43. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0363811110001335Bessant, J., Rush, H., & Trifilova, A. (2015). Crisis-driven innovation: The case of humanitarian innovation. International journal of innovation management, 19(06), 1540014. https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1363919615400149Center for Ethical Organizational Cultures. (2018). The American Red Cross Faces Organizational Integrity Challenges. https://harbert.auburn.edu/binaries/documents/center-for-ethical-organizational-cultures/cases/american-red-cross.pdfCotter, C. (2018). Red Cross. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, 10. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/pdf/1914-1918-Online-red_cross-2018-04-10.pdfDonaldson, J., Campos-Nanez, E., Mazzuchi, T., & Sarkani, S. (2016). A collaborative resource allocation strategy for hurricane preparedness for private, public, and government sectors. AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, 31(1), 13-17. https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/agispt.20160587Egan, T. B., & Pravongviengkham, T. (2016). American Red Cross: a history and analysis. Naval Postgraduate School Monterey United States. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/AD1030846Issaias, T. (2022). Imperial spectacle and emergency shelters: the American Red Cross programs presented at Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, 1915. Planning Perspectives, 1-32. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02665433.2022.2104350Rozario, K. (2003). ” Delicious Horrors”: Mass Culture, The Red Cross, and the Appeal of Modern American Humanitarianism. American Quarterly, 55(3), 417-455. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30041983Potera, C. (2011). Red Cross Nursing Aligns with IOM Recommendations. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 111(12), 14. https://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/fulltext/2011/12000/Red_Cross_Nursing_Aligns_with_IOM_Recommendations.8.aspxPellegrino, J. L., Charlton, N. P., Carlson, J. N., Flores, G. E., Goolsby, C. A., Hoover, A. V., … & Swain, J. M. (2020). 2020 American Heart Association and American Red Cross focused update for first aid. Circulation, 142(17), e287-e303. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000900

Academic Writing Genres in Postgraduate Levels: Similarities and Differences among the varied Genres

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Word Count: 1980Academic writing that serves as one of the compulsory activities of students pursuing their studies at postgraduate level is a somewhat challenging yet interesting experience (Petrova 2017). Whilst academic writing at undergraduate levels tends to be less demanding, academic writing at a postgraduate level requires lots of critical thinking and associated skills. Precisely there are four main writing genres in postgraduate level which entail essay, research proposal, research report and reflective writing. Essay writing entails in-depth exploration, analysis and evaluation of a given topic that is written in prose and presented in a continuous structure with the use of connected paragraphs. On the other hand, research proposals explain details about the plan, methodology, purpose and objective of a research study that could be undertaken in future. Moreover, a research report relies on particular sections which entail discussion, methodology, literature review and conclusion to present detailed information concerning a selected topic. Reflective writing offers detailed responses that a writer develops through their critical thinking capabilities with regards to a given document or situation (Rai 2006). Such categories of writing demand the use of particular structures and supporting evidence to back up information that is generated through critical thinking and the use of specific writing skills. Nevertheless, some variances exist amongst the different genres because of their varied purposes. Therefore, essay, research proposal, research report and reflective writing genres exhibit certain similarities and differences relating to their structures, required skills, development processes and purposes.

Each of the academic writing genres relies on evidence to support their points. Different academic writing documents depend on predetermined information to support their ideas and give them authority (Cumming, Lai and Cho 2016). Since critical thinking facilitates the development of personal opinions and ideologies, evidenced from earlier experiments and research findings are crucial in validating and proving such individual inferences. For instance, each type of academic writing relies on either direct quotes or paraphrased versions of other scholars’ findings. Nevertheless, such evidence should be obtained from reputable sources that may include quality scholarly articles that were developed through proven and acceptable processes like scientific experimentations and research studies. Without evidence, a document would be less convincing, and hence a writer may not attain their desired objectives and goals. Therefore, an individual has to conduct extensive and intensive studies and evaluations of available documents to determine the most suitable ones to be used in a given topic of writing. Thus, evidence act as qualifiers and validators of all categories of academic documents.

Secondly, all the different types of academic writing adhere to particular order and structures to guide the audience. Every form of academic writing exhibits a specific structure and order to ensure that their information flows smoothly from the begging to the end (Street 2009). Most academic documents rely on the use of three-part approach which entails the use of an introduction, body and conclusion. Each type of writing presents an introductory section that serves to inform and prepare the reader on what to expect from the other parts of the document. The body of the writing is where the author expresses and explain their points. Finally, the conclusion section offers summarized points and personal inferences that are drawn from the findings. Even so, every category of writing has a unique structure and order due to their varied uses. For instance, a research paper relies on sub-sections with the use of sub-titles that entail literature review, findings and discussions, conclusions and methodology to extensively elaborate and explain its varied groups of information. On the other hand, some forms of writing that include the essays rely on are continuously-flowing documents that are written in prose to ensure that their paragraphs are interrelated. Hence, order and structure are crucial in every type of academic writing at the postgraduate level.

Additionally, each type of academic writing exhibit in-text citations and the use of a reference list to reinforce their points and provide links to areas of further reading. Citations and references are crucial in all academic writings since they attract more value and qualify the documents (Fox, Paine and Sauterey 2016). A piece of writing could be isolated from the wealth of academic writings if it does not recognize and appreciate work of other writers. References play crucial roles in supporting ideas that an individual develops through their critical thinking capabilities. Moreover, appreciate previous academic projects through the use of references and citations. Information that other academicians and scholars established contribute significantly in validating and reinforcing claims of a writer. For instance, the diverse categories of academic writings use in-text citations and reference lists to support their information. Therefore, references are vital sources of evidence as well as validators and qualifiers of academic documents.

Further, academic writing at the postgraduate level relies significantly on critical thinking capabilities, evaluations and analysis. Advanced levels of academic writing extend beyond mere descriptions of an idea or subject to include personal interpretations, responses and conclusions (Andrews 2007). Since virtually every form of academic writing at advanced levels of studies strive to expand existing knowledge, personal inferences and conclusions are essential in contributing to such desired growth. For instance, an individual could rely on recommendations and suggestions from previous research papers to conduct new studies, thus uncovering more vital information and growing the wealth of information. Academic documents could be of no or less value if they replicate what other persons accomplished without providing additional information. Nonetheless, findings from previous work by other scholars and academicians are referred to provide foundations for new writings. Moreover, academic documents require writers to use reliable findings and facts to develop new information through critical thinking.

Furthermore, each form of academic writing has a specific thesis that acts as their baselines. Theses are vital aspects of academic writing since they act as a guide and controller to ensure that the writer remains within the essential areas of coverage (Toprak 2014). For example, theses dictate the extent of what the writer would cover, the type of objectives and research questions that a writer would use. A well-directed document is relatively easier to understand and read since the audience would have specific expectations. Moreover, a reader who gains a clear understanding of what the writer intends to present would be eager to learn applicable procedures and eventual findings. Still, theses are important during evaluation of a document. Therefore, academic documents strive to explore, explain and support particular theses.

Also, all forms of academic writing at postgraduate level demand advanced research and reading skills. Research skills are essential in ensuring that a writer provides the right and valid information that enriches their wealth of knowledge. Similarly, critical reading enables readers to collect crucial information from a given document. Accordingly, research skills involve intensive and extensive critical analyses and evaluation of available materials to establish the most suitable ones that would be employed in a given piece of writing. For instance, an individual would have to find, read, analyze and evaluate various documents to determine and select the most appropriate sources that would be used to enrich their literature review section (Fox, Paine and Sauterey 2016). Such a practice is highly-involving since the practice of establishing verified, and credible sources consume lots of time and energy. An individual could end up replicating work of another person, thus generating similar information rather than expanding the existing ones by failing to conduct adequate research studies. Still, a writer should conduct exhaustive research studies to avoid plagiarism while increasing their knowledge for better information development (Bakhtiyari et al. 2014). Thus, research skills are critical in all academic writing.

Still, advanced writing skills are crucial in postgraduate level writing activities. At postgraduate levels, academic writing tends to be more sophisticated since it entails expression and explanations of particularly complex subjects in in-depth and lengthy approaches (Langan 2013). For example, an individual could be required to provide basic descriptions of a chosen topic then offer their inferences and conclusions. Accordingly, a writer should be able to establish a suitable writing structure and style to develop an interesting document that is relatively easy to read and understand. Moreover, writers should use appropriate terms and sentence structures that are relatively easier to understand by avoiding ambiguity while ensuring clarity and simplicity. Also, meticulous referencing, appropriate structuring, proper grammar, apt planning and drafting of academic documents are critical in promoting quality work. Thus, suitable writing skills are essential in every type of academic writing at postgraduate levels because they enable writers to adequately communicate their messages to the target audience.

Similarly, proper time management and planning is another essential skill in the development of all the varied academic documents. Appropriate time management enables writers to adequately study, analyze, evaluate, and interpret collected data while ensuring that sufficient time is available for writing quality documents (Rani and Mangala 2010). An individual would probably conduct quality analysis, evaluations and interpretations when they have ample time. Research and critical thinking activities consume relatively lots of time and energy. On the other hand, students at postgraduate levels tend to operate under tight time schedules following the complexity of their studies. Accordingly, an individual should establish and stick to a suitable timeframe that puts into consideration every aspect of the writing processes.

Additionally, all the varied categories of academic writing rely primarily on proofreading and editing to gain adequate quality. Proofreading and editing a document contribute significantly on ensuring that it exhibits all the desired qualities while presenting extremely minimized or not errors (Harwood, Austin and Macaulay 2012). For instance, writers could proofread and edit their work to ensure the inclusion of all the required sections and proper titles/ subtitles while embracing the correct tenses and vocabulary. Well-edited and proofread documents are free of punctuation and spelling mistakes. Consequently, such documents would exhibit high-quality because they communicate effectively while ensuring smooth flow of information from one point to the next. Moreover, the writers would present full details by ensuring that they provide all the necessary details. Therefore, proofreading and editing are vital tools that are used to refine academic documents to ensure they are of high-quality.

Nonetheless, a key difference amongst the varied writing genres is based on the degree of research studies that a writer has to conduct. Amount of research studies that an individual conducts depend on the quantity of information that is needed (Shim 2005). For example, research reports and research proposals require extensive research studies to attain adequate documents that would be used in the literature review and other sections of the paper. On the contrary, essays and reflection tend to rely on limited but enough sources to support their claims and ideas. Since reflections strive to present personal emotions, interpretations, opinions and believes about a given subject, they depend primarily on a writer’s critical thinking, evaluation and analysis skills rather than exhaustive research studies. Hence, the extent of research studies differs from one category of writing to the next.

Overall, academic writing at postgraduate level comprises four main genres that entail research proposal, research reports, essays and reflections. The varied groups of documents tend to be more sophisticated since they demand lots of critical thinking skills to provide valuable information for expanding existing knowledge. The main similarities in the varied groups of writing entail the use of critical thinking and evaluation skills, time management and planning skills, editing and proofreading skills, writing skills, the use of a thesis and essential reading and research skills. On the other hand, the differences exist in the structures and extent of research studies that are employed to develop the different types of documents. Research papers demand extensive research studies since they focus on literature reviews. On the other hand, reflections and essays tend to rely on limited amounts of research because they depend mainly on critical thinking, analyses and evaluation skills of an individual. Therefore, academic writing at postgraduate levels is more demanding and require sufficient understanding of the varied writing genres to ensure quality work.

References

Andrews, R., 2007. Argumentation, critical thinking and the postgraduate dissertation. Educational Review, 59(1), pp.1-18.

Bakhtiyari, K., Salehi, H., Embi, M.A., Shakiba, M., Zavvari, A., Shahbazi-Moghadam, M., Ale Ebrahim, N. and Mohammadjafari, M., 2014. Ethical and unethical methods of plagiarism prevention in academic writing. International Education Studies, 7(7), pp.52-62.

Cumming, A., Lai, C. and Cho, H., 2016. Students’ writing from sources for academic purposes: A synthesis of recent research. Journal of English for Academic purposes, 23, pp.47-58.

Fox, C.W., Paine, C.T. and Sauterey, B., 2016. Citations increase with manuscript length, author number, and references cited in ecology journals. Ecology and Evolution, 6(21), pp.7717-7726.

Harwood, N., Austin, L. and Macaulay, R., 2012. Cleaner, helper, teacher? The role of proofreaders of student writing. Studies in higher education, 37(5), pp.569-584.

Langan, J., 2013. College writing skills with readings. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Petrova, O., 2017. Writing as a part of postgraduate training English (Doctoral dissertation).

Rai, L., 2006. Owning (up to) reflective writing in social work education. Social work education, 25(8), pp.785-797.

Rani, E. and Mangala, S., 2010. Need and importance of soft skills in students. Journal of Literature, Culture and Media Studies, 2(3).

Shim, E., 2005. Introductions in research papers: Genre analysis of academic writing. ENGLISH TEACHING (영어교육), 60(4), pp.399-422.

Street, B., 2009. ” Hidden” features of academic paper writing. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics (WPEL), 24(1), p.1.

Toprak, F., 2014. The graduate students’ autonomy development in a thesis writing course for postgraduate students at EMU (Master’s thesis, Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU)-Doğu Akdeniz Üniversitesi (DAÜ)).

Michael Barzelay have published various books like Breaking through Bureaucracy: A new vision for managing in government, the new public management: improving research and policy dialogue. His research is concerned about making management field into design science. He has extensively written about this in his books and talked about it in conferences. His work focuses on European commission’s supervision of financial management of spending programmes by European union and other member states. His main contribution is in the book Preparing for the future. His ideology of science in public administration is mentioned in his book The new public management : improving research and policy dialogue

Mitre Mapping

Name

Module Code and Name

Instructor

Date

Mitre Mapping

Often, the first step in protecting networks and data is to figure out how attackers might act. This information is very important for network defenders to find and stop intrusions because they depend on it. The MITRE ATT&CK (Advanced Tactics and Computer Hacking Tactics and Techniques) system is a knowledge bank that can be accessed anywhere in the world (Kwon et al., 2020). It is based on real observations of the tactics and strategies of opponents. The ATT&CK knowledge base is used to build specialized threat models and methods for businesses, the government, and the community of cybersecurity product and service providers. ATT&CK is free, available to anyone, and can be used by any company on the planet. Its goal is to get communities to work together to make better cybersecurity. In their analysis, Al-Shaer, Spring, and Christou (2020, p.3) define the MITRE ATT&CK architecture as one that shows how a security attack can be done in many different ways. It shows the common strategies, operational procedures, and tactics used in sophisticated, persistent attacks on business networks. Successful ATT&CK applications should provide a clear and consistent set of mappings that can be used in reporting for detection, response, and mitigation, as well as for making adversary profiles and analyzing activity trends.

For network protection, analysts can choose their own starting point when using Mitre Mapping based on the information they have and how well they know ATT&CK. One example is the difference between the words tactics and techniques. The first step in getting rid of areas of possible intrusion is to be aware of it. Looking for signs of attack is different from looking for signs of compromise, malware file hashes, URLs, domain names, and other traces of a previous attack (Georgiadou, Mouzakitis, and Askounis, 2021). The first step of a mitre mapping pprocess is to look for signs of how the attacker interacts with different platforms and applications to find a pattern of strange or suspicious behavior (Kwon et al., 2020, p. 107). At this point in the process, analysts try to figure out how the initial breach happened and how the post-breach activity was done.

In the second stage, behavior analysis is done in order to determine how best to protect networks. More research might be needed to get the background information needed to understand why an opponent or program might be acting in a hostile way. Analysts have to look at the original source reports to see how the behavior was described. There are also reports from security groups, government cyber groups, international CERTS, internet sources that may be helpful in the mapping process (Tatam et al., 2021). Even though not every enemy operation can be broken down into methods and sub-techniques, a mix of technical details can show the overall behavior and goals of the enemy. The analysts have to look for words that will help them figure out what is going on. In reports, it is common to look for key verbs that point to aggressive behavior. Analysts can use terminologies such as to execute a command, make a connection, create a scheduled task, and send a connection request.

The next step is to figure out what strategies have been used. Analysts must carefully look over the report to figure out how the enemy attacked and where it was going as a whole within a network. The first step in this process is to figure out the opponent’s plan, which is also called their goals. Focus on your opponent’s goals and what drives them instead of their techniques. A common operational strategy is to look for signs that could show if the target wanted to steal, trash, or improve their rights (Hacks et al., 2021). After the mapping is done, analysts must look at the definitions of strategies to see if the behaviors seen could be interpreted as taking a certain approach. If analysts know how the attack went, they may be able to figure out what methods or sub-strategies an attacker used.

The next thing for analysts to do is to decide what methods will be used in accordance to the network they operate in. Analysts must look at the technical details of how the opponent plans to reach their goals when they are mapping. This comes after figuring out what the enemy is doing. For example, in order to know how to respond, analysts need to know how the attacker got in the first time. One of the most important things to think about is whether or not access was gained through spear phishing or a third-party remote service (Ahmadjee et al., 2022, p. 7). The next step in mitre mapping is to narrow down the options by looking at the report and judging the behaviors that have been seen. Analysts can only map down to the strategy level if they don’t have enough information to come up with a good plan, and this level of analysis doesn’t give any information that can be seen. Analysts are taught to see a foe’s tactics and sub-techniques as parts of their playbook, not as separate things they do on their own. Opponents often use the information they get from each operation to decide what techniques to use next in the attack cycle. So, the tactics of an attack are often linked together.

The fifth step of mapping is to list all of the different sub-techniques that are used within a network. Analysts should read through the descriptions of the sub-techniques to see if they match the information in the report. When there is alignment, it usually means that the current sub-technique is right. Because the reporting isn’t always clear, Pell et al. (2021) notes that it may not be able to figure out the exact sub-technique in some cases. When there isn’t enough information to find a sub-method, you should only map everything to the parent technique. If it’s hard to figure out what a sub-technique is, it might not always be there. The new information could either confirm a mapping or show that more research needs to be done on an alternative mapping (Georgiadou, Mouzakitis, and Askounis, 2021, p. 3267). There is always a chance that a certain behavior points to a new technique that ATT&CK hasn’t looked into yet. This is very important to keep in mind.

Finally, at the end of the mapping process, it should be possible to compare the results to what other analysts have found. Analysts must work with other analysts to improve their maps, since mapping is a group activity. Working on mappings with other analysts is helpful because it gives you a wider range of perspectives and sheds light on other points of view. This may help you become more aware of possible analyst bias. Using a methodical approach that includes peer review and consultation can help people share different points of view, learn more, and improve performance as a whole (Pell et al., 2021). Peers could look at a report with notes on the proposed strategy, methods, and sub-techniques to map TTPs that were missed in the first study. If this method is used, the mapping work of the whole team might be more consistent.

Reference List

Ahmadjee, S., Mera-Gómez, C., Bahsoon, R. and Kazman, R., 2022, ‘A study on blockchain architecture design decisions and their security attacks and threats’, ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM), vol. 31, no. 2, pp.1-45.

Al-Shaer, R., Spring, J.M. and Christou, E., 2020, ‘Learning the associations of mitre att&ck adversarial techniques’, In 2020 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security (CNS) (pp. 1-9). IEEE.

Georgiadou, A., Mouzakitis, S. and Askounis, D., 2021, ‘Assessing mitre att&ck risk using a cyber-security culture framework’, Sensors, vol. 21, no. 9, p.3267.

Hacks, S., Butun, I., Lagerström, R., Buhaiu, A., Georgiadou, A. and Michalitsi Psarrou, A., 2021, ‘Integrating security behavior into attack simulations’, In The 16th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (pp. 1-13).

Kwon, R., Ashley, T., Castleberry, J., Mckenzie, P. and Gourisetti, S.N.G., 2020, ‘Cyber threat dictionary using mitre att&ck matrix and nist cybersecurity framework mapping’, In 2020 Resilience Week (RWS) (pp. 106-112). IEEE.

Pell, R., Moschoyiannis, S., Panaousis, E. and Heartfield, R., 2021, ‘Towards Dynamic Threat Modelling in 5G Core Networks Based on MITRE ATT&CK’, arXiv preprint arXiv:2108.11206.

Tatam, M., Shanmugam, B., Azam, S. and Kannoorpatti, K., 2021, ‘A review of threat modelling approaches for APT-style attacks’, Heliyon, vol. 7, no. 1, p.e05969.

Suzy Student

Dr. Keel

English 1301

17 January 2008

MLA Format for Essays and Research Paper (for Microsoft 2007)

This is a sample page for the proper MLA format you will use throughout this semester. The first thing you should do before typing anything is to set your Font Size to 12 and your Font to Times New Roman. Click Default, and you will only need to do this once. Next, within the Home Tab, open the Paragraph menu box. On the Indents and Spacing tab, go to Line Spacing and choose Double. Make sure the Before and After Spacing is set at 0. Check the box that says Do not include extra space between paragraphs of the same type. Click Okay to close this after it is set. If you are on your home computer, click Default, and you will only need to make these changes once.

Now you should set your margins for the paper. All papers require 1” margins for Top, Bottom, Left, and Right. To set margins, click on Page Layout Tab, and then choose Margins. Select the Normal option to set your margins (top, bottom, left, right) to 1”. Open the Page Setup menu box and select Layout. Make sure that the Header and Footer margins (on the Layout Tab) are already set for 0.5”. Click on Defaulty to set this.

Notice that the header of this sample page has the student’s last name and page number at the top right corner. Set the page number first by clicking on the Insert Tab and then clicking open the Page Number menu. Select Top of Page, and chose Plain Number 3, which will set your page number at the top right corner. (On your blank page, a blue Header line will appear.) While your cursor is at this number 1, type in your last name with a space. This action should place your last name next to the page number. Then click Close Header and Footer (Red X on Menu Bar). All of your pages will then have the same header and will automatically paginate.

Your heading will always be at the top left and will be in the order of your name, instructor’s name, class name, and the date an assignment is due. Begin your heading on the first line of the page. Notice that the date is inverted with the day first, then month and year.

Notice that there is no extra line spacing anywhere in this sample. All lines are equally double-spaced; therefore, do not double-double space between the date and the title, between the title and the text of the paper, or between paragraphs. Also notice that the title of this sample paper is properly centered (using the Center Align icon on the Home Tab), has no italicized words, is not underlined, and is not in bold print. (Be sure to take off the Center Alignment and return to the Align Left icon before beginning the text of your paper.)

Make sure that you follow these directions when you type your papers. It is important that your formal essays and research paper maintain the proper MLA format.