The Writing Process

The Writing Process The Writing Process The Writing Process By Ali Hale Whether you know it or not, there’s a process to writing – which many writers follow naturally. If you’re just getting started as a writer, though, or if you always find it a struggle to produce an essay, short story or blog, following the writing process will help. I’m going to explain what each stage of the writing process involves, and I’ll offer some tips for each section that will help out if you’re still feeling stuck! 1. Prewriting Have you ever sat staring at a blank piece of paper or a blank document on your computer screen? You might have skipped the vital first stage of the writing process: prewriting. This covers everything you do before starting your rough draft. As a minimum, prewriting means coming up with an idea! Ideas and Inspiration Ideas are all around you. If you want to write but you don’t have any ideas, try: Using a writing prompt to get you started. Writing about incidents from your daily life, or childhood. Keeping a notebook of ideas – jotting down those thoughts that occur throughout the day. Creating a vivid character, and then writing about him/her. See also How to Generate Hundreds of Writing Ideas. Tip: Once you have an idea, you need to expand on it. Don’t make the mistake of jumping straight into your writing – you’ll end up with a badly structured piece. Building on Your Idea These are a couple of popular methods you can use to add flesh to the bones of your idea: Free writing: Open a new document or start a new page, and write everything that comes into your head about your chosen topic. Don’t stop to edit, even if you make mistakes. Brainstorming: Write the idea or topic in the center of your page. Jot down ideas that arise from it – sub-topics or directions you could take with the article. Once you’ve done one or both of these, you need to select what’s going into your first draft. Planning and Structure Some pieces of writing will require more planning than others. Typically, longer pieces and academic papers need a lot of thought at this stage. First, decide which ideas you’ll use. During your free writing and brainstorming, you’ll have come up with lots of thoughts. Some belong in this piece of writing: others can be kept for another time. Then, decide how to order those ideas. Try to have a logical progression. Sometimes, your topic will make this easy: in this article, for instance, it made sense to take each step of the writing process in order. For a short story, try the eight-point story arc. 2. Writing Sit down with your plan beside you, and start your first draft (also known as the rough draft or rough copy). At this stage, don’t think about word-count, grammar, spelling and punctuation. Don’t worry if you’ve gone off-topic, or if some sections of your plan don’t fit too well. Just keep writing! If you’re a new writer, you might be surprised that professional authors go through multiple drafts before they’re happy with their work. This is a normal part of the writing process – no-one gets it right first time. Some things that many writers find helpful when working on the first draft include: Setting aside at least thirty minutes to concentrate: it’s hard to establish a writing flow if you’re just snatching a few minutes here and there. Going somewhere without interruptions: a library or coffee shop can work well, if you don’t have anywhere quiet to write at home. Switching off distracting programs: if you write your first draft onto a computer, you might find that turning off your Internet connection does wonders for your concentration levels! When I’m writing fiction, I like to use the free program Dark Room (you can find more about it on our collection of writing software). You might write several drafts, especially if you’re working on fiction. Your subsequent drafts will probably merge elements of the writing stage and the revising stage. Tip: Writing requires concentration and energy. If you’re a new writer, don’t try to write for hours without stopping. Instead, give yourself a time limit (like thirty minutes) to really focus – without checking your email! 3. Revising Revising your work is about making â€Å"big picture† changes. You might remove whole sections, rewrite entire paragraphs, and add in information which you’ve realized the reader will need. Everyone needs to revise – even talented writers. The revision stage is sometimes summed up with the A.R.R.R. (Adding, Rearranging, Removing, Replacing) approach: Adding What else does the reader need to know? If you haven’t met the required word-count, what areas could you expand on? This is a good point to go back to your prewriting notes – look for ideas which you didn’t use. Rearranging Even when you’ve planned your piece, sections may need rearranging. Perhaps as you wrote your essay, you found that the argument would flow better if you reordered your paragraphs. Maybe you’ve written a short story that drags in the middle but packs in too much at the end. Removing Sometimes, one of your ideas doesn’t work out. Perhaps you’ve gone over the word count, and you need to take out a few paragraphs. Maybe that funny story doesn’t really fit with the rest of your article. Replacing Would more vivid details help bring your piece to life? Do you need to look for stronger examples and quotations to support your argument? If a particular paragraph isn’t working, try rewriting it. Tip: If you’re not sure what’s working and what isn’t, show your writing to someone else. This might be a writers’ circle, or just a friend who’s good with words. Ask them for feedback. It’s best if you can show your work to several people, so that you can get more than one opinion. 4. Editing The editing stage is distinct from revision, and needs to be done after revising. Editing involves the close-up view of individual sentences and words. It needs to be done after you’ve made revisions on a big scale: or else you could agonize over a perfect sentence, only to end up cutting that whole paragraph from your piece. When editing, go through your piece line by line, and make sure that each sentence, phrase and word is as strong as possible. Some things to check for are: Have you used the same word too many times in one sentence or paragraph? Use a thesaurus to find alternatives. Are any of your sentences hard to understand? Rewrite them to make your thoughts clear. Which words could you cut to make a sentence stronger? Words like â€Å"just† â€Å"quite†, â€Å"very†, â€Å"really† and â€Å"generally† can often be removed. Are your sentences grammatically correct? Keep a careful look out for problems like subject-verb agreement and staying consistent in your use of the past, present or future tense. Is everything spelt correctly? Don’t trust your spell-checker – it won’t pick up every mistake. Proofread as many times as necessary. Have you used punctuation marks correctly? Commas often cause difficulties. You might want to check out the Daily Writing Tips articles on punctuation. Tip: Print out your work and edit on paper. Many writers find it easier to spot mistakes this way. 5. Publishing The final step of the writing process is publishing. This means different things depending on the piece you’re working on. Bloggers need to upload, format and post their piece of completed work. Students need to produce a final copy of their work, in the correct format. This often means adding a bibliography, ensuring that citations are correct, and adding details such as your student reference number. Journalists need to submit their piece (usually called â€Å"copy†) to an editor. Again, there will be a certain format for this. Fiction writers may be sending their story to a magazine or competition. Check guidelines carefully, and make sure you follow them. If you’ve written a novel, look for an agent who represents your genre. (There are books like Writer’s Market, published each year, which can help you with this.) Tip: Your piece of writing might never be published. That’s okay – many bestselling authors wrote lots of stories or articles before they got their first piece published. Nothing that you write is wasted, because it all contributes to your growth as a writer. Conclusion The five stages of the writing process are a framework for writing well and easily. You might want to bookmark this post so that you can come back to it each time you start on a new article, blog post, essay or story: use it as a checklist to help you. If you have any tips about the writing process, or if you want to share your experiences, tell us in the comments! Check Out Other Articles from The Writing 101 Series: The Writing Process Creative Writing 101 Story Writing 101 Letter Writing 101 Business Writing 101 Freelance Writing 101 Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Words for Facial Expressions26 Feel-Good WordsHow Do You Pronounce "Mozart"?

Do We Need Passion to Start a Business Venture Research Paper

Do We Need Passion to Start a Business Venture - Research Paper Example A passionate entrepreneur associates their businesses with their lives and in the process, they develop a strong feeling of attachment towards it. Passion connects the entrepreneur with the power that makes him or her excel in the business activity. It provides enthusiasm, commitment, and hope that encourage the entrepreneur to press on with his or her business idea even when the circumstances are not conducive. A passionate entrepreneur has an intense feeling of love towards his or her business idea and always does things or activities that promote its growth, development, and sustainability. Passion leads to the development of purpose in a person. Entrepreneurs must have passion because starting and running a business is not an easy task. The idea of starting and running a successful business is overwhelming. There are so many questions to answer, hurdles to jump, losses to make, wars to fight and successes to celebrate at the course of business operations. All the above activities that occur during the startup and operation of any business requires a passionate heart. However, to be truly a successful entrepreneur, a person must possess other entrepreneurship qualities apart from passion. Passion forms an integral part and does not operate in isolation. Apart from being passionate, successful entrepreneurs are moderate risk takers, opportunists, visionaries, hardworking, innovative, creative, feedback-seeking, concern for excellence, positive thinkers as well as good negotiators. A person who possess all or almost all the above characteristics posses entrepreneurial tendencies and are more likely to create a thriving business in any field. Entrepreneurs who plan to achieve or realize their dreams must identify what they like most and develop a framework that guides them exploit the opportunities that accompany those activities they are passionate about.  

Wimm-Bill-Dann in Russian Market Research Paper

Wimm-Bill-Dann in Russian Market - Research Paper Example By the end of 1999 the wages of common people tumbled by 30% and their pensions by 45% in value. These factors had a cascading effect on the economy resulting in high fuel and grain prices, which coupled with inefficient agricultural production that almost halved livestock rendered supply of raw milk the weakest link in the supply chain for the dairy industry. While it was estimated that 35%-80% of a family budget was spent on food, the economic situation in the country demanded that producers keep their prices low. The other factors that had a bearing on competitive rivalry were access to financial resources, wider product range and efficient distribution. This in turn meant tight management controls on production and distribution costs especially to reach produce to regions where the purchasing power was lower than in cities like Moscow. Sources of competition (Five forces): Before WBD arrived on the scene the Russian dairy sector was either regional or city-centred. They were making packaged milk, kefir (a fermented dairy drink), soured cream, butter, cream, and cottage cheese. The packaging technologies available to the small players were not able to provide long shelf life and limited their geographical reach. As the regional dairies were catering to markets as far away as 500 miles, under utilisation of production facilities, high logistics and distribution costs pushed up the prices. The economic crash of 1998 and the erosion of the rouble made the consumer highly price sensitive. WBD spotted a business opportunity in the situation. By expanding its product range and longer storage facilities the company felt that it could reach wider markets, offer low prices and utilise business opportunities offered by a liberalised economy. WBD actively pursued the policy of regional expansion, expanded its product portfolio and continuous advertising helped the company capture 30% each in the national dairy and juices markets. The situation also prompted western companies to relocate their production facilities to Russia in order to trim costs and be able to compete there. Therefore during this period the company had to contend with the entry of new international players such as Campina, Danone, Erhmann and Parmalat. WBD relied on branding, quality control, expanding product range and continued diversification as the strategy for fighting competition. The recovery of the economy in the new millennium saw changing trends in consumers becoming wealthier, more westernised, inclined to spend more and demanding high end products. Consumers began demanding healthy diets, more products with biologically active ingredients, special product lines for children with various multi-vitamin and other supplements. SWOT: As WBD set its sights on becoming the nation's leading food producer early on the company had a head start on competition. The company began implementing the idea by a multi-pronged strategy: product development, distribution, quality control, packaging, marketing and geographical expansion beyond Russia's borders into other CIS countries like Kyrgyzstan and

Architecture and the Environment Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Architecture and the Environment Paper - Essay Example In particular, it describes how physical structure affects human behavior, analyzes architecture as a means of controlling human behavior, describes the environmental psychological implications of commercial and residential design, including purpose and consideration, and analyzes the importance of architectural development supporting sustainability. Effects of Physical Structure on Human Behavior The behavioral effects of physical structure on humans are believed to be due to a number of factors such as surroundings, layout, light, color, texture, and so on. There are immediate feelings when one enters new places and this affects people’s moods. In environmental psychology, it is understood that our surroundings also affect our intellectual development. The effect can be either positive or negative but there is a relationship between environment and behavior regardless. Christopher Day (2004) explored the theme of how architectural design affects people and places in his book ‘Places of the Soul’. Close associations are shown between architecture and our consciousness, health and various other aspects of human life. Frumkin (2003) explored the evidence for the existence of healthy places, i.e. buildings, public spaces, etc. that could have a positive impact in terms of human health. It was found through various studies that the quality of a place, beyond its mere physical features, has important implications for public health. Architecture therefore has the potential to be used positively such as for promoting public health, as long as it is designed appropriately. Use of Architecture for Controlling Human Behavior Supermarkets make effective use of environmental architecture in subtle ways in order to persuade shoppers to buy its products. In this case, architecture is used to control purchasing behavior. Examples of environmental factors that contribute to influencing consumer behavior in the retailing context include store layout, interi or design, focused in-store lighting, color effects using bright and warm colors, and background music. A study by Richardson et al. (1996) showed that the store atmosphere does affect consumers in the case of perceptions of store brand quality. Background music also helps to create the right ambient conditions to influence consumer behavior in service environments (Oakes, 2000). In the field of education, architecture plays a key role in Waldorf or Steiner schools and color is an important tool used for influencing student behavior. Rudolph Steiner described color as â€Å"the soul of nature†. Thus, in a Waldorf school classroom, colors are used to support specific stages of child development. For example, pink is used in the nursery and kindergarten because of its innocent and loving feminine quality. The rest of the colors of the rainbow are used for the remaining classes in order, which are believed to suit the child’s development. In Steiner’s philosophy, à ¢â‚¬Å"the best architectural and utilitarian design does not arise only from considerations of structural and physical functions, but rather should be ‘living forms’ that also speak to the emotional, psychological, mental, moral, and spiritual natures of human users† (Adams, N.d.). These extra qualities of architecture are what grant it the power to control behavior. The control of human behavior is more pronounced in the practice of what is known as ‘

Effects Of The Internet On Travel Agencies Tourism Essay

Effects Of The Internet On Travel Agencies Tourism Essay The internet has provided opportunities for travelers to book their travel directly online thereby circumventing the traditional travel channels i.e. travel agencies. Nowadays even airlines have started encouraging travelers to book tickets directly on their websites thus avoiding having to pay 10% commission to the travel agents. Thus it has made it an urgent need for traditional travel agents to find new methods and strategies to stay in business (Yamanouchi, 2004). While serving as an intermediary channel between travelers and travel service providers, what the internet has done is to eliminate the relevance of the traditional intermediary (travel agents) or at the very least make that traditional role very different in todays practice (Taylor, 2003). Today, would-be travelers can arrange for their own travel by booking straight from the providers themselves via the internet (Law, Leung Wong, 2004). Online travel websites more or less eliminates the need for traditional middlemen, who as Law, Leung Wong (2004) notes; are debatably on the verge of extinction. Internet mediation may ultimately lead to disintermediation of travel agencies since the travel service and product providers can sell their services and products directly to the travel clientele. Yet, the internet and its travel websites does not portend only doom for the travel agents. Travel agents still have the advantage of providing personalized services especially in offering advice to travelers with a personal touch. This ability to make services personal will guarantee that the role of travel agents remains secure. (Law, Leung, Wong, 2004). The internet has become a distribution channel in the travel industry such that the role of traditional intermediaries like travel agents has also changed. Yet rather than be patients of the internet, travel agents have seized the opportunity to employ the internet in their daily operations. Travel agents are using the internet to market themselves and to advertise their services. They are also offering some of their services online (Vrana, Zafiropoulos, 2004). The travel agents themselves have found it easy to make arrangements and bookings over the internet for their clients thus reducing their operational costs. The internet adoption among travel agents has made their services more efficient and timely and gaining a reliable means of communication with their contacts and clients (Vrana, Zafiropoulos, 2004). Literature Review How Travel Agencies Take Advantages of the Internet and Avoid Its Negative Effects on Their Business Travel agents are nowadays using the strategy of If you cant beat them, join them. They have started using the internet to their own advantage by using the internet to market their own services online and by contacting travelers via their own websites. They also provide services that travel sites cannot provide like personalized services and complex travel arrangements and iteneries (Vrana, Zafiropoulos, 2004). Travel agencies also nowadays focus more on building lasting relationships rather than trying to maximize their profits. They do this by providing quality personalized services. This is a strategy adopted by most travel agencies in Japan (Zhang, 2004). By so doing, travel agencies are today exploiting the internet opportunities such as virtue communities, to build what travel websites cannot, personalized relationships with clients (Maurer, 2002). This way, they can exploit the benefits that come with the internet, and avoid losing their role in mediating travel, by making their services uniquely personalized. Travel agents form networks, create newly branded travel services, exploit the internet to market themselves, get specialist packages and products unveiled by online agencies and seek to provide consumers with competitive deals if they have to survive (Downes, Legg, 2006). Why People Book Over the Internet Customers mainly book over the internet since it is convenient, cost saving, and resourceful. It is more accessible and less expensive. Travelers also can compare the various rates offered by different service providers and thus make a much more informed choice. Online service providers offer more competitive rates and better discounts due to the low operational costs. Customers can also access extensive amount of information on the internet. It is also very useful for working professionals who do not have time to go and meet travel agents to make their travel plans when they can just do their booking when they are at work or at home (Heung, 2003). Customers also have the opportunities of learning more about the places they are visiting from the internet and thus able to book hotels online. The bottom line that one is able to make all arrangements needed before traveling without involving any intermediary as long as he or she has access to internet. The advent of internet has also been coupled with people acquiring personal computers and internet providers thus bringing the technology closer to the people (Lewis, Ira, Semeijn, Janjaap, Talalayevsky, Alexander, 1998). Why People Book with Travel Agents The main reasons why customers book via travel agents are the security concerns (credit card scams), interpersonal communication i.e. face to face transactions, human contact in transactions, and ability to make custom made travel packages as opposed to by travel websites (Vrana, Zafiropoulos, 2004). Travel agents are able to make all arrangements for their clients unlike in travel websites for example hotel bookings, sightseeing bookings, airport drop and pickup, and flight tickets, something they might not be able to or might lack the time to do (Buhalis, Licata, 2002). Most clients who go to travel agents are also those who want to build relationships with their travel facilitators and those who need the guarantee of human element in transactions (Cheyne, Downes, Legg, 2006). There are some circumstances where by customers are left with no choices other than using the agents. This happens mostly in situations whereby one has to pass through different destinations. It is very hard to do several online bookings when one is traveling as it means dealing with many different entities. When one has to pass through different destinations, it is easier to use the international agents who have offices in different places around the world. By doing this one is able to deal with one company because he just have to state his or her demands to the agent and all his needs will be taken care of. (The Travel Insider, 2010). Repeat Clients in Online Booking Customers will go to the same website and online portals or directly to particular service providers using the internet if such providers have created brand name of products, built global marketing, have lower cost due to discounts, facilitates labor saving means and if they have standardized processes, products and service delivery (Vrana, Zafiropoulos, 2004). Improved service delivery and competitive website features are the main ongoing preferences for online service providers in Hong Kong (Chu, 2001). Another reason why customers repeatedly use one online service provider is that they were initially satisfied with the service that was provided and do not want to research another serviced provider (Cheyne, Downes, Legg, 2006). Repeat Clients for a Travel Agent Customers mainly repeatedly book via travel agents due to the relationship that they have built with that travel agent (Vrana, Zafiropoulos, 2004). Therefore travel agents in Japan are using this strategy of building lasting relationships with customers to improve business rather than just focusing on maximizing profits by trying to attract more customers (Zhang, 2003). If a customer is satisfied with a travel plan that a particular travel agent has made for them they prefer using the same travel agent to make all their future travel plans. Therefore providing good quality service also generates repeat clientele for travel agents (Wyne et al., 2001). Demographics Characteristics that Predetermine Online Booking and that of Travel Agency Booking The choice of internet and travel agent booking is influenced by sex, age, education, income, and occupational characteristics of customers (Furr, Bon, 1998). Studies indicate that internet bookings are mainly made by females aged between 21 and 30, educated and earning high incomes and working in education related professions who prefer commercial lodgings during travel and who predominantly prefer to travel by air (Heung, 2003). On the other hand the demographics of non- internet travel agent users is mainly married men traveling with families on a long vacation from medium earning brackets aged between 36 to 45 years. This is mainly because when traveling with families travel agents can provide much more extensive information on the types of hotels and which types of hotels offer certain types of services and also they provide information on the different types of sightseeing options and which one would suit the familys requirements best (Heung, 2003). Effects of Airlines on Internet Bookings The industry of travel agency involves communication and processing information of its clients. Initially, the agencies had access to details of flights so the customers had no alternative. The fact the airlines are able to do their advertising online and directly to the customers and the customers are able to apply for their travel tickets online has affected the travel agencies a lot. It is also of paramount importance to note that airlines have realized this trend and have thus reduced fares, as they no longer pay the commissions they used to pay the agents (Bennett, Marion, Lai, Chi-Wen, Kevin, 2005). The customers needs have also changed significantly in their demands due to the development in IT since one is able to learn all the exotic places there are to visit at the touch of a button. It is more convenient for a customer to do his or her research at the convenience of his or her sitting other than going to an agent. It is worthy noting that it is cheaper to book online since one will be dealing with the airline directly without involving an intermediary. The airlines are also happy to serve their customers directly for they will be able to understand their needs more. The advent of the internet technology gave the airlines an opportunity to be close to their clients and they realized that the need for an intermediary is not that important. (Frias, Rodrà ­gueza, Castanedaa, 2008). It is important to note that a minute means a lot in the amount one may pay for an air ticket since the fares change from time to time. When one is passing through many points, it is less demanding to use the agent for they will be able to fix his or her time according to the lowest fares possible. By doing this you end up saving money and time since you will be having someone who will be taking care of your travel plans. When one is doing booking, it is important to do research so as not end up paying more than what he would have paid through an agent (Farooqui, 2010). Refernces Bennett, Marion; Lai, Chi-Wen Kevin (November 2005)The impact of the internet on travel agencies in Taiwan http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/pal/thr/2005/00000006/00000001/art00002 Buhalis, D., Licata, C. (2002). The future of eTourism intermediaries. Tourism Cheyne, J., Downes, M., Legg, S. (2006). Travel Agent vs Internet: What influences travel consumer choices? Journal of Vacation Marketing. 12(1), 41 Chu, R. (2001). What online Hong Kong travelers look for on airline/travel websites? International Journal of Hospitality Management. 20(1), 95-100. Farooqui, S. (2010, April 20). Travel Agent and Internet Marketing Impact, Benefits, and Planning. Retrieved June 9, 2010, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Travel- ­Agent- ­and- ­Internet- ­Marketing- ­- ­- ­Impact,- ­Benefits,- ­and- ­Planningid=4141656. Fields, J. (2007). Great weather, deserted beach, wonderful holiday. The Sunday Herald. March 25. Frà ­as D. M, Rodrà ­gueza M. A., Castaà ±edaa J. A,(Feb 2008) Internet vs. travel agencies on pre-visit destination image formation: An information processing view , Retrieved June 09,2010, from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL_udi=B6V9R-4NKJ174-1_user=10_coverDate=02%2F29%2F2008_rdoc=1_fmt=high_orig=search_sort=d_docanchor=view=c_searchStrId=1364306231_rerunOrigin=google_acct=C000050221_version=1_urlVersion=0_userid=10md5=192643fd560ef019b68e8e8f888325e2 Heung, V. (2003). Internet usage by international travellers: reasons and barriers. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 15(7), 370-378 Law, R., Leung K., Wong, J. (2004).The Impact of the Internet on Travel agencies. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality management. 16(2), 100 107. Lewis, Ira, Semeijn, Janjaap, Talalayevsky, Alexander(June 22 1998) The impact of information technology on travel agents. Retrieved June 09, 2010 from http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/695794-1.html Machon, N. (2008). High-street travel agents are losing out to their online rivals (Survey). New Media Age. Available at http://www.nma.co.uk/opinion/analyst-speak-high-street-travel-agents-are-losing-out-to-their-online-rivals/39912.article Management. 23(3), 207-220. Maurer, E. (2002). Internet for the Retail Travel Industry. London: Delmar Cengage learning. Monaghan, K. (2006). The Travel Agents Complete Desk Reference. New York: The Intrepid Traveler. Murray, M. (1999). Tripped-up travel agents. National Journal. 31(49), 34-79. The Travel Insider (15 May 2010) Airfare Wars Internet vs. Travel Agencies Retrieved June 09,2010, from http://thetravelinsider.info/2002/0614.htm Vogel, H. (2001). Travel industry economics: a guide for financial analysis. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press. Vrana, V., Zafiropoulos, C. (2004). Tourism agents attitudes on internet adoption: an analysis from Greece. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 18 (7), 601-608 Wyne, C. Et al. (2001). The impact of the Internet on the Distribution Value Chain: The Case of the South African Tourism Industry. International Marketing Review. Vol. 18 (4). pp. 420 431. Zhang, Z. (2004). Organizing customers: Japanese travel agencies marketing on the Internet. European Journal of Marketing. 38(9/10), 1294-1303

Puritan History :: essays research papers

in the 17th century some Puritan groups separated from the Church of England. Among these were the Pilgrims, who in 1620 founded Plymouth Colony. Ten years later, under the auspices of the Massachusetts Bay Company, the first major Puritan migration to New England took place. The Puritans brought strong religious impulses to bear in all colonies north of Virginia, but New England was their stronghold, and the Congregationalist churches established there were able to perpetuate their viewpoint about a Christian society for more than 200 years. Richard Mather and John Cotton provided clerical leadership in the dominant Puritan colony planted on Massachusetts Bay. Thomas Hooker was an example of those who settled new areas farther west according to traditional Puritan standards. Even though he broke with the authorities of the Massachusetts colony over questions of religious freedom, Roger Williams was also a true Puritan in his zeal for personal godliness and doctrinal correctness. Most of these men held ideas in the mainstream of Calvinistic thought. In addition to believing in the absolute sovereignty of God, the total depravity of man, and the complete dependence of human beings on divine grace for salvation, they stressed the importance of personal religious experience. These Puritans insisted that they, as God's elect, had the duty to direct national affairs according to God's will as revealed in the Bible. This union of church and state to form a holy commonwealth gave Puritanism direct and exclusive control over most colonial activity until commercial and political changes forced them to relinquish it at the end of the 17th century. Because of its diffuse nature, when Puritanism began to decline in America is difficult to say. Some would hold that it lost its influence in New England by the early 18th century, but Jonathan Edwards and his able disciple Samuel Hopkins revived Puritan thought and kept it alive until 1800. Others would point to the gradual decline in power of Congregationalism, but Presbyterians under the leadership of Jonathan Dickinson and Baptists led by the example of Isaac Backus (1724 - 1806) revitalized Puritan ideals in several denominational forms through the 18th century.

Chinese Influence On Your Culture Essay

Historically, Vietnam has undergone many wars with some countries all over the world. After each war, Vietnamese culture was influenced by those countries. Especially, China is the huge country, which dominated Vietnam for a thousand years, (countryside, n,d). Thus, it is no surprise that Vietnamese culture has been affected by Chinese culture in many aspects such as calendar, language, religion and food. The most obvious influence can be seen is the calendar. In Vietnam, there are two different kinds of calendar. First calendar is International calendar, which is counted by the sun’s circulation. Another calendar is counted by the moon’s circulation, which is also known as lunar calendar, (fullmoonphases, n.d). Based on lunar calendar, we have some celebrations such as Lunar New Year, which is also called â€Å"Tet† holiday. It is the most important celebration in both countries. Besides that, in August of lunar calendar, Vietnamese have Moon day on 15th, August, which is known as Mid-Autumn festival. In that day, Vietnamese eat moon cakes and children bring lanterns, walking around their neighbors’ houses. Vietnam and China share similarities in celebrations due to the effect of Chinese calendar. Secondly, the influence of Chinese culture is apparent in Vietnamese language. Because China colonized Vietnam for over a thousand years, the Vietnamese language developed based on Chinese. In the 13th century, â€Å"Chu Nom†, which was known as Vietnamese writing, was developed but it was not popular in daily life of Vietnamese, (lonelyplanet, n.d). Until the 15th century, Vietnamese still used traditional Chinese language and after the middle of 20th century, it was superseded by the new, Latin alphabet, (languagetranslation, n.d). However, the greatest influence on Vietnamese language is Chinese language. It is about 60% of the Vietnamese words that can be known as original Sino-Vietnamese, (Chinatravel, 2014). Besides language that Vietnamese use daily, Chinese also affect Vietnamese literature. When people go to high school, they have to study creation and poetics in origin from China. Up to now, Chinese language still exists in Vietnam as a valuable subculture. Apart from the influences that have been mentioned above, the transformation of religious views is also remarkable owing to China’s domination. Confucianism appeared in Vietnam in the first century by Chinese, when they were dominating Vietnam. â€Å"It advocates a code of social behavior that man ought to observe so as to live in harmony with society and attain happiness in his individual life†, (Huynh, n.d). Moreover, this religion has a slight point of view about world beyond and death. Besides that, Buddhism is one of the greatest religions all over the world. It is very popular in Asia, (history, n.d). In the second century B.C. Buddhism was introduced by Chinese and Indian, who came by ocean, (Huynh, n.d). As those religious view dated, they have become popular and developed prosperously in Vietnam, especially Buddhism. Finally, Chinese also has wide impacts on Vietnamese cuisine. Vietnamese have rice and vegetable for their mean meals daily. During the time of domination, Chinese people spread their cooking methods to Vietnamese. For example, they taught Vietnamese how to steam and stew in clay pots, (southeastfood, n.d). Furthermore, in some special occasions, both Vietnamese and Chinese people have typical dishes for each celebration. For instance, Lunar New Year is the biggest festival that has tangerines and oranges. It is known as lucky and wealthy fruit. Nevertheless, Chinese and Vietnamese do not organize tangerines and oranges in fours because this number is believed to have a connection with the death, (chow, n.d). In addition, typical food in Mid-Autumn festival is Moon cake. It is made of flour, pork, egg and a lot of kinds of peas, (chinesefood, n.d). During of this time, Vietnamese usually eat moon cakes and drink tea with their family. It is obvious that thanks to China’ domination, Vietnamese cuisine had a novel and wonderful break-through. In conclusion, the Vietnamese share many similarities in culture with Chinese because of the domination of Chinese. A thousand years is really such a long time to be colonized. Moreover, when Chinese had dominated Vietnam, they left behind many terrible consequences. For example, many people died and Vietnamese had to live independently during the war, which occurred between  Vietnam and China. On the other hand, Chinese directed Vietnamese about language, religions and cuisine in the period of national construction. Up to present, even though Vietnam is a dependent country and about to become a developed country, Vietnamese culture is still influenced by Chinese.