20+ Ways to Source Content Ideas

Consistently coming up with clever and relevant topics for your audience is a huge challenge. You can monitor industry news and competitors, but there is a gold mine of source material that often gets overlooked: your own customers. Depending on your business, there are a number of opportunities to gain some key insights into what your customers think of you. Setting up processes to regularly listen to what they are saying is a critical way to keep your content marketing on point and, most importantly, generating business. In this post we’ll cover 2 approaches to coming up with fresh website content ideas as well as 17 sources you can use to find content ideas. Free Actionable Bonus: Want our complete guide to content creation? Get the guide plus a content calendar template and a list of our favorite content creation tools. 2 Approaches to Coming Up With Content Ideas 1. Keeping an Ear to the Ground Of course, the key to success in content marketing is to know your audience and understand what they are looking for. To do this though, you need to pay attention to where they’re talking to you (and what they’re talking about). Depending on the specifics of your business, these can include: Direct customer service feedback Blog comments Social media posts Surveys and questionnaire responses Online forum posts Reviews Comments on your competitors’ blogs and social posts (for your future customers) Once you’ve identified your audience’s interests and concerns, demonstrate your expertise and explicitly give them the information they’re looking in a format which will appeal most to them. Some possibilities include: Blog posts. Great for existing or potential new customers. They can be highly specific and people can find them via search engines. It’s also easy to share on social to expand your reach. Ideal for informational and the more ‘how-to’ types of content. Webinars and White Papers. Perfect for tech and/or science-focused companies to connect with audiences that are looking for a higher degree of detail. Micro-Content. To reach and attract a wider audience, relevant and visually compelling micro-content can be very effective at generating social engagement. 2. Customer-Focused Content Marketing: Done Right In 2009, Marcus Sheridan’s in-ground swimming pool company, River Pools and Spas, was on the brink of financial failure.Sheridan decided to retool the company’s marketing approach and focus on blog posts designed to answer customers’ most common questions. He did what the competition didn’t do: divulged sensitive – but essential – content that customers needed to know before making a purchase, such as the cost of various types of pools.River Pools’ honest, customer-centric campaign paid off:that single article about pool costs resulted in over $1.7 million in sales. Download our free guide on finding, vetting, and hiring freelance writers. Download the PDF now. Source 1: End-User Based Ideas 1. Just Ask. It’s That Simple. Asking about your consumer or end-user experience not only shows you care about what they think, but can also generate great feedback. What are their pain points? What do they love? What do they wish you offered? What other complementary or supplementary services are they interested in? If they consent to you quoting them verbatim, that’s fantastic user generated content for social proofing. Take advantage of every opportunity to gather real feedback and answer it in writing. 2. Be a Blog, Review and Facebook Snoop. Read through the comments on blogs of related offerings, competitors, industry-wide (and possibly your own) and then create website content that addresses unanswered questions. Do the same with consumer reviews and Facebook comments and you’ll have material for months. 3. Check Out Quora Questions. Quora is a great questions-and-answer website where members can vote on the answers provided (similar to Yahoo Answers and others). Simply type a relevant topic into the search box and you’ll be presented with a list of popular questions. There is also an ‘open questions’ link which features unanswered questions. Both the questions and the popular answers are sound sources of inspiration. 4. Relevant Forums. Use search engines to search for forums on just about anything and you’ll usually get a few pretty decent results. Explore them to see what people are talking about and what questions they have to filter out some more great ideas for your content creation endeavors. 5. FAQs. Look at your own website’s FAQ section, and those of your competitors. Are there any topics you can expand upon, explain and even enhance with a video, e-book or guide. The frequent questions your customer service team receive are also great fodder. 6. Social Media Trending. Check your social media content regularly to understand what your audience is interested in and what content they’re sharing. These channels are a great source for up to the minute trending topics and ideas for quick turn-around pieces. 7. Ask a Sales Person Ask a sales person about the common questions or pain points they hear prospects talking about. These are topics that you know prospects care about so it’s worth investing some time into create an article that speaks to the pain point. Source 2: Industry Insights 1. Google Alerts. Start with a base of core topics you already know resonate well with your audience and see how you can use and improve on what you find. 2. Google News. Not surprisingly this is an excellent source for hot industry topics and trends, use it! Subscribe to a few popular industry newsletters and look out for popular topics. Also look at what your competitors are offering in return for signing up. Can you improve on their incentives? 3. Interview Experts. Experts in your field are very often happy to collaborate and co-create in person, via email, by phone or on Skype. You can decide whether you want to get their permission to use the interview as content or to simply use the discussion for inspiration. 4. Conferences and Trade Shows. Listen to talks, follow the live blogging sessions if you can’t attend and take notes at any QA sessions you can access. Come up with content that answers the questions, take note of key nuggets and take-aways from speakers, quote them, and create content pieces around those nuggets. Go back in time and listen to old TED talks as well. There are some great high-level topics that can provide an enormous amount of food for thought and the written word. At tradeshows, speak to other attendees and exhibitors to get their thoughts on what’s new, what’s up-and-coming, what’s popular and what’s declining. 5. Industry Studies and Statistics. Popular industry reports on sites like Nielson and Emarketer are an excellent source for data-driven content pieces, like infographics. Additionally, you can simply pull a few key figures, tie them into the macro-and-micro environments of your subject matter objective and you have a nearly never-ending source of informational type articles. Source 3: Personal Experience Give your audience a behind-the-scenes look at your business. Regardless of your role or title, sharing the ins-and-outs of your working day is a great way to build credibility and engage like-minded readers. This also happens to be one of the easy content buckets to turbo-boost by adding photos and videos to your content arsenal. 2. Your Co-Workers. Ask team members for interviews or do a series of biographies to show the real people behind your business. The experts at your company will know more about their topic than you do. Ask your technical team about little-known product features. Ask your sales team about what they hear from customers. Ask your marketing team about current trends. Don’t expect them all to ‘get-it.’ In fact, this may be one of your tougher targets to tap for inspiration, so start with marketing and management and move out into the wider realm with proof of your efforts for the unconvinced. 3. Company News. Share pictures, commentary and comedic moments from a corporate event. Always write about awards won, milestones achieved (that can be publically shared), community involvement and upcoming events. If there’s a new product release on the horizon or your business is expanding, toot your own horn. If you’re sun-setting a product, comprehensively explain why to help alleviate negative sentiment and boost awareness of the approaching discontinuation. 4. Play Devil’s Advocate. Speculate. Approaching a topic in your industry from a different angle is an effective way to start a conversation and boost your brand’s profile. If you want to drive some potentially controversial discussion, speculate about the future direction of your industry, product type or technology. People are always looking for ways to prepare for the future and for ways to enhance their knowledge. This is an area is which you can be particularly obtuse as long as it falls within brand guidlelines. 5. Look To Your Tools. What tools do you use to make your life, work or work-life balance easier? It’s likely your audience will find your recommendations, reviews and insights engaging and interesting. Explain in your own words the benefits of downloading or purchasing an ebook, software, or an app, or just share what works for you and what doesn’t in each different area. 6. Amuse Your Readers. Sometimes poking fun at yourself when something either went amazingly right or drastically wrong at work or at home can offer a bit of diversion for both your readers and for you. When done well, these pieces can be highly engaging and can help to further grow your base of evangelists. If you don’t mind sounding like a bit of a klutz every now and then, these can be very effective provided they’re about you, not someone else or the business. In Summary Approach content creation from the perspective of your target audience. Answer questions before they’re asked. Keep a notebook on you at all times and make use of these ideas if only to make your life easier. Hopefully, these suggestions will help you in your content marketing journey and ensure you can deliver meaningful content to your audience consistently and for a long time to come. If you have any suggestions that we haven’t covered, please co-create with us and add your comments – we love great ideas too!

Death Essays (679 words) - Death Customs, Undertaking, Mourning

Death Essays (679 words) - Death Customs, Undertaking, Mourning Gurtegh Hora Period 1 Death is inevitable that one cannot escape and avoid the pain and sorrow that follows. Death cannot be avoided in any way, shape or form. This is seen in both poems Funeral Blues by W.H. Auden and Spring and Fall: To a Young Child by Gerard Manley Hopkins 1918. Death is so dreadful that it impacts everything starting with the environment and leading all the way to the outcomes of death. Death is so horrific that it even affects nature and the environment of one as a whole. He was my North, my South, my East and West, symbolizes that this man was her everything, her whole entire world, but could not stay with her forever. In the third stanza, Auden uses Metaphors to display how much the past meant to the narrator. Auden says that we must "stop the dog from barking," "silence the pianos," and bring out a "muffled drum. In the first stanza, there is a lot of Imagery that brings upon a feeling of grief, sadness and emotion. Margaret are you grieving/Over Goldengrove unleaving? Which brings up a very sad emotion because the leaves are are beginning to fall. There is use of Illiteration with the words grieving and Goldengrove, emphasizing its importance. Frequently people find themselves in a situation where they are unable to deliberate death openly. I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong. This displays that she couldnt have him forever. The use of Syntax was essential in this case because it calls for pause giving more depth to the sentence, and shows how the girl must be very sad do to her loss. In the second stanza, Auden describes having airplanes "circle moaning overhead Scribbling on the sky" indicating about how this person's loved one had died. There is a heavy use of Personification because airplanes aren't capable of moaning or scribbling; but giving an airplane the ability to do so adds a key element to the poem. It gave off the feeling that the airplane is mourning a death as well. Margaret is in the "spring" of her life and she is only a "young child,". But even though she's young, she's already starting to realize (due to the leaves falling) and that she will eventually grow old and die. The main device us ed here was Juxtaposition, which contrasts between youth and age, innocence and knowledge, spring and fall. The end results after a person or one has passed away or is going to one day, is a feeling that you cannot overcome. It is the blight man was born for/It is Margaret you mourn for. She is not mourning for the leaf, she mourning because she realizes that one-day she will fall just as the leaves. Also there is use of Illiteration with blight and born, blight-meaning burden gives the last to lines more emotion. As well as Conflict because she will mourn her own death one day. For nothing now can ever come to any good. Displays how the world isn't big enough to hold the pain of the death has taken place, and its not enough to go up, one must come back down. This is worst that could happen, it could one get better from this point on. The words that sated the first three line of the poem Stop, Prevent, Silence indicates negativity and death. Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come, shows that a he is dead and now mourning his death is last thing to do. Death is so significant that it last everyday until one lives there last day. The environment, people/family and the end results of death are all major points seen throughout the writings. When someone dies, it kills the person mourning day in and night. Death is not an easy thing to overcome when you know its approaching or it has already occurred, as displayed by these two poems.

On an individual basis critically analyse the CSR strategy of Disney Assignment

On an individual basis critically analyse the CSR strategy of Disney drawing upon Husted and Allens 7-step corporate social strategy framework - Assignment Example It will also help them to design the implementation plan of the strategy. Corporate social responsibility is the initiative taken by any organisation to assess various social and environmental issues and actively participating in the betterment of the society. 7 steps of well designed strategic plan have been introduced by Husted and Allen for the proper implementation of corporate social strategy (Husted and Allen, 2010). The 7 step framework of Husted and Allen has been used to design the implementation plan of corporate social strategy of Disney. The CSR of Disney includes activities such as healthy cleaning, recycling of waste materials, providing nutrition guidelines and online safety for kids (Hopkins, 2012). Women economic empowerment is a factor that can be considered by Disney to expand their existing range of CSR activity. Economic condition of women is miserable in various parts of African and Asian countries. The locations of Disney in those countries can help them to resolve this issue. Large companies like Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola are already involved in various operations to enhance the economical position of women in the society. Government of those countries are attracting more investment from top corporate towards the solution of unemployment and poverty (Lownes-Jackson and Guy, 2012). Disney can conduct training facility for the women under poverty level of these countries to enhance their working skills. Offering employment to these women can improve the economical status of these countries. Disney needs to analyse their available resources and the capabilities of the organisation before creating any plan. The major resources of any organisation are their financial resources and physical assets. Walt Disney holds a large number of consumer franchises that caters from soft toys selling to theme parks which are established in various parts of Africa and Asia. They have

The Chrysler PT Cruiser Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Chrysler PT Cruiser - Essay Example The Chrysler PT Cruiser The Chrysler Group is Daimler Chrysler AG’s unit which is world’s fifth biggest automaker producing company in both passengers as well as commercial vehicle segments. The Chrysler PT Cruiser is built by Chrysler which is a â€Å"retro† styled station wagon. It is the marquee of Daimler Chrysler. The model resembles in size and shape to the 1997 Chrysler CCV prototype. The marketing plan is all about repositioning and revitalising the PT Cruiser that has been struggling since many years and underwent a decline stage. PT Cruiser has been one of the successful retro-styled vehicles. More than 1.3 million PT Cruiser cars were manufactured since the year 2000. However, despite its stylish look and many advanced features, the sales of the car have been plummeting in the recent years. It has been analysed that the reason behind the sales slide and the failure of the PT Cruiser have been that the Chrysler didn’t invest the required sum in this model. It has even b een argued that the reason behind its failure has been that the car was never improved by the company over its life span. The target segment was primarily the middle aged people who bought these cars. There are always two basic strategic choices for any company. Either the company can segment the market or it can treat its entire market as its potential customers for the goods and services that it renders. By the word ‘segmentation’ the development of the unique marketing strategies in order to meet the market needs of the market place, is perceived. (Weinstein, 2004). In addition to the middle aged people the target segment should be youngsters as well. By driving its attention towards this particular segment, the company can gain a significant number of customers in comparison to the middle aged people. In terms of psychographic segmentation, the company needs to segment its market to the outgoing people who usually hangout with their friends and relatives. The company has been providing its services all over the world; however, it would be better if the company targets the Asian countries as there is huge potential in these countries. In terms of benefit segmentati on, the company needs to focus upon investing in the style of the product as it has not gone through much change with respect to the product and there has been no investment made to upgrade it. In terms of physiographic segmentation, the company can target both the economy minded as well as the high income group people. Marketing Objectives The main objective of the company must be to invest adequate resources so that they can appeal to the mass consumers. In the era of competition, it is important for the companies to keep themselves updated with the modern technologies. The major reason for the failure of the product has been that the model and features provided by the car were same throughout its entire of its 11 years existence in the market. Therefore, the main objective of the company must be to make changes in the product model along with providing new advanced features with the aim to beat the

Managing gender equality in the workplace Assignment

Managing gender equality in the workplace - Assignment Example Organizations prefer to have individuals from diverse backgrounds as their team members because this choice can bring in more talent, innovative ideas, knowledge and learning opportunities. On the negative side, this measure can create a lot of anger, frustration, unhealthy competition, employees’ politics and complexes among the employees because of low tolerance and sexual superiority. In most organizations, we see that majority of the working force is of men and they are the ones serving at the superior positions. Women are not much appreciated in the business world because it is a common misconception in our society that women are just meant for taking care of the entire family, raising the children and doing the household work. In reality, the potential possessed by females is commendable. Some organizations encourage women to become a part of the business arena and they design special policies and rewards so that women feel secure and proud of their status. They treat wo men as equally to men and condemn gender discrimination in the workplace. Also those belonging to diverse backgrounds have to face real problems when mixing up with team who have entirely different cultural backgrounds. Due to such issues, the ultimate productivity of an organization suffers. Among many such organizations, Unilever is one organization which is a supporter of diversity and gender equality. In this paper, we will be focusing on the practices of Unilever that are aimed at managing equality and diversity within the organization, relate these practices with the theories based on equality and diversity and recommend possible diversity management strategies for Unilever. Theoretical Review Globalization has brought in challenges for almost all organizations. Of them, the biggest one is to survive and compete with other organizations in the industry. Multinational companies are realizing that inviting people from across the borders to become a part of them is an intelligent move which can certainly benefit the company. When a team is diverse, every member will be having his own ideas and opinions about things and when these ideas combine, the result is nothing but success. But this is possible only when diverse teams are managed in a way that their productivity is enhanced. Similarly, women in the business world are as capable as men. Today, companies are realizing that the talent and ability women possess cannot in any case be ignored and they deserve to be given opportunities. There are a number of key factors that an organization like our chosen one, Unilever is taking into account while designing and implementing its gender equality practices. At Unilever, they have a global diversity program, the purpose of which is to ensure that they have the right talent and creative people in the company. They also ensure that the workforce is gender balanced so that the maximum output can be achieved. Unilever is making it certain that the graduate recruits make fifty percent of the workforce. However, the annual reports reveal that although women are working in senior and middle level positions at the company but there is only one woman who is serving Unilever at the leadership level. We can relate this to the concept of glass ceiling effect.

How American Civil War Was Inevitable History Essay

How American Civil War Was Inevitable History Essay The American civil war was the largest ever armed conflict to occur on Americas soil and it occurred in between the years of 1861 to 1865. It was deadly and arguably the most important event in the nations history. Sections entrenched in the constitution of the united sates Catapulted tension between the northern and the southern states leading to a brutal war. Slavery was a root cause of the conflict. This war increased Americas economic dominance until it overtook all the other countries of the world. It also lead the country into having a strong constitution that made Americans to be part of a single nation instead of a corporate made up of different states with their own rules and institutions. The war indeed changed the way Americans viewed their own nation seeing it as one nation. After the war every part of Americas national fabric changed; from the role of the federal government to the status of African Americans. The war was triggered by the victory of Abraham Lincoln in the elections of 1860.  [1]   Factors That Made the Civil War Irrepressible In these elections, the Republican Party led by Lincoln won, beating three other candidates. The southerners did not vote for him so his victory was seen as a northern affair. His speech, given in 1858, stated that, a divided house cannot stand and visualized that America can not endure a half-slave and half-free. This clearly showed that he was a moderate and was therefore not up to task, in the views of the southerners, to be able to tackle the abolitionist they perceived as a threat.  [2]  He countered this by stating he will uphold the doctrine of states right. Most southerners distrusted him. His victory in the election led to the withdrawal of eleven states from the south from the union leading to the formation of the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as its president. This was viewed by the US administrators as an act of treason. Hostilities were prompted in April of 1861 when the confederalists attacked a US military installation at fort summer in South Carolina prompting Lincoln to call for each state to volunteer an army. He declared these acts of secession as illegal and asked for 500,000 soldiers from the Congress to destroy what seemed to be a threatening and aggressive rebellion. This led to declaration of secession by four other states. In 1862 Lincoln emancipation declaration made ending slavery in the south the goal of the war. This was the principle of abolition. As a principle it was more than just the need to limit and abolish slavery. Slavery existed in the southern states and the federal government could not intervene as the constitution did not permit. Previously most northerners had favored a gradual and compensated scheme of slave emancipation but this was rejected by 1849 where they know demanded its immediate end every where. In 1807 external slave had been abolished making slave trade to be purely internal. The Dred Scott decision effectively limited the expansion of slavery in the US but the fugitive slave act that was subsequently passed declared slaves as properties. This led to hostilities between the southern states and the northern ones. Politicians in a bid to stem the feuds brought the compromise of 1850 and negotiated the status of territories gained after the Mexican- American war (1846-1848). This compromise was also aimed at maintaining the balance of power in Congress between leaders of slave states and those of Free states. It designated land, boundaries and processes by which a country could be slave state or a free state. Still, these compromises did not prevent divisions from growing. Opposition to the abolition movement in the south was strong due to several factors. The coexistence of the slavery south with the free states of the north was a recipe for disaster. Abraham Lincoln had not proposed any laws to curb slavery and most politicians were riding on the fence. Political feuds were a bout expanding slavery to the new territories of the west so as to enhance economic security of the south. These new territories were more likely to become Free states, a move that propelled southerners to embrace secessionism. Both leaders of the north and south used Thomas Jefferson ideas listed in his Kentucky resolutions to defend there hard line positions. Slavery indeed was the chief reason for secession. The southerners used state rights as a cover for defending slavery. They used this doctrine of a states right to base many of their grievances. The Constitution aimed at taking a middle ground by juggling the notion of a federal government with the freedom of individual states to govern them.  [3]   This doctrine to which the United States was founded became the basis for the South in its quest to block northerners from imposing anti-slavery laws to it. The support of secession was correlated to the number of plantations in the south and these were the regions that had more slave owners who had more than 100 slaves. To the southerners the notion of equality with blacks coupled with loss of economic prosperity was a worrisome matter. The north and south were different as the south had an agricultural economy based on slavery while the north had an industrial economy based on free labor and was an industrial power. The north had an abolitionist movement that which had a large membership and that was rapidly growing. This mounted a lot of fear to the southerners as the movement had the power and ability to cut down slave trade which would change their normal ways of life. States located at the border between Pennyslavia and Maryland had begun to proscribe slavery in the eighteenth century. This led to temperament and brewing sectional conflict leading to the Missouri compromise of 1850 where the northern leaders accepted into the Union a new slave state of Missouri, on condition that Maine, another state is a free territory. These are the major primary factors that precipitated the American civil war.  [4]   Conclusion The southern states were agricultural in nature. Hence they relied heavily on slavery as the main means of labor provision. This is what underpinned the high economic growth experienced by these states prior to the crush of the 1850s. Hence when the abolitionist was campaigning for equal rights and equality, these were viewed as a direct threat to there means of survival and wealth creation. The implication of slavery vibrated through the political, social and economic dimension in the relationship between the southern states and the northern states. Thus this was the primary reason for the civil war and these factors made the slide to the civil war inevitable.

Viewing The Crucible with a Feminist Lens Essays -- Arthur Miller 2014

To be seen and not heard; a quality shared by the inanimate object, and the conventional woman. Society has conformed women into accessories, and therefore, literature has followed suit. Inherent in this ideology, are many base traits attributed to women. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible exploits these traditional feminine characteristics to aid the female character in her role of complimenting the male. When observing something from an alternate perspective it can take on a whole new meaning. Studying novels from different lenses can seem as if you are reading a different work than the author intended. A feminist lens allows the reader to look past obvious themes in the novel for the implicit or concealed misogyny within. This lens â€Å"examines, interprets, and seeks to redress the marginalization of women through a critical response to literature, within the larger context of a male-dominated literary establishment.†(Boswell OL) When examining a work through a feminist lens a variety of components must be taken into account. The main objective is, of course, to analyze the portrayal of women. To do so adequately, however, one must explore gender roles, and therefore look into relations between male and female characters to see if they are equal. (Boswell OL) The purpose of feminist criticism is to reveal the patriarchal dogma of literature. Arthur Miller’s experiences with women are depicted through their roles in his plays. He is quoted as saying â€Å"I like the company of women. Life is boring without them†. This is fitting because he married one of the most interesting women in American history. Marilyn Monroe is a notorious sex symbol because she was objectified during her time as an actress. Her blond hair and pretty face easil... ...e Crucible, New Edition, Bloom's guides. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 3 May. 2012. Boswell, Marshall. "Feminist Literary Criticism." In Boswell, Marshall, and Carl Rollyson, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Contemporary World, 1946 to the Present, vol. 4, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 10 May. 2012. Marlow, Stuart. "Interrogating The Crucible: Revisiting the Biographical, Historical and Political Sources of Arthur Miller's Play" In Bloom, Harold, ed. The Crucible, New Edition, Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 10 May. 2012. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: Penguin Books,1976.

Populist Party’s Premature Fall into Obscurity Essay

Towards the end of the 19th Century, agricultural discontent was growing among the nation’s farmers. In the South, cotton that was selling for roughly 30 cents per pound after the Civil War was, at times, worth under six cents in the 1890’s. Wheat from the Midwest that had sold at $1.50 per bushel after the Civil War brought in 60 cents in the 1890’s. The nation’s agricultural base was tired of getting the raw deal from politicians, and finally made their voice heard through the Populist Party. When it first stepped onto the public stage, the party was very successful. However, the success was relatively short lived. While a number of factors contributed to the demise of the Populist Party, the failed election of 1896 played an integral role in its fall due to its inability to find a strong figurehead. The Populist Party formed from Alliances that had come from farm radicalism. Many of the Alliances were statewide, and most formed in the late 1870’s. Eventually, using the success of minor farm groups who had won elections, the Populist Party formed from southern and western farmers. Although there was a large group of northerners that was sympathetic to the party, it still tended to vote Republican. The party’s first convention, held in Omaha, Nebraska, brought in a variety of groups, including the Knights of Labor. The People’s (Populist) Party was trying to attract anyone and everyone to join its cause. General James B. Weaver of Iowa was nominated for President, and his running mate was a Confederate veteran. The party’s platform was very widespread, and it bordered on socialistic. The platform included graduated income tax,  national ownership of utilities, a subtreasury, and bimetallism. To please industrial workers, the party also advocated eight hour workdays, restriction of â€Å"undesirable† immigration, and it also shunned Pinkerton detectives. The party’s main supporters were still, however, the farmers. In order to raise prices on agricultural products, it supported unlimited coinage of silver, increasing the amount of money in circulation, and also allowing the holding of agricultural products off the market in times of low prices. In the 1860’s, the amount of silver it took to make a silver dollar was actually worth more than $1, which made coining the metal unprofitable. However, with the discovery of a large number of silver deposits in 1874, it again became plausible to coin the money. However, the Coinage Act of 1873 demonetized the metal and put the U.S. on the Gold Standard. This â€Å"Crime of ’73† infuriated inflationists and silver miners, who demanded a return to bimetallism. In 1878, the Bland-Allison Act made for the purchase of $2-4 million of silver per month, at market value. The government always bought the minimum, however, and this did very little to the economy. In 1890, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act required 4.5 million ounces of silver to be bought monthly, but even this was not enough to save the plummeting value of silver. As no one was happy with the compromises, Grover Cleveland repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893, which reverted the country back to a gold standard, and caused the southern and western democrats to split from the party. These issues were still present for the election of 1896. The Democratic nomination for President, William Jennings Brian, was also supported by the Populists. While they feared losing their individual identity, they had no candidate of their own that could win the election. As a matter of fact, a pure Populist nominee would ensure McKinley’s election. In an attempt to preserve the party’s identity, the Populists nominated a vice-president separate from the Democrats’. Although Brian managed to win the South, the Plains states, and the Rocky Mountains, McKinley pulled out the rest, and won with 271 electoral votes to Bryan’s 176. Brian lost in the popular votes by fewer than 600,000 votes. The lost election spelled the end of the Populist Party. In addition to the lost presidential election, the party also lost many local and state elections. The South divided again, because their support of blacks went against their white supremacy beliefs, which caused a great rift. In addition, the western farmers’ agendas were quite different from those of the southerners, which caused another split in the already wounded party. It was just a matter of time before the party faded into obscurity. The Populist Party, while short-lived, did bring a number of issues to America’s attention. The silver debates, agricultural economy, and many other arguments brought forth by the populists were still argued after their demise following the Election of 1896. Without the populists, the gold standard may have remained longer, and we may have even retained it today. The populists challenged things everyday Americans took for granted, and taught us a valuable lesson. Things can be changed, and those changes, while hard to bring about, can be for the betterment of the entire nation.

Seven laws of teaching Essays

Seven laws of teaching Essays Seven laws of teaching Essay Seven laws of teaching Essay The book is a modern take on classic literature about learning dynamics and classroom management. The book tackles these subjects in the same way as its predecessor but incorporates modern adaptations to the matter. In the law of the teacher, the book is sensitive to current problems brought about by a lack of competent teachers in the public school system. It reestablishes the timeless line that â€Å"one cannot teach what one doesn’t know†. In the law of the learner, the book gives emphasis on the effects of media and popular culture and how teachers of the present should evolve with these trends in order to keep in touch with their student’s mindsets. It is argued that interest and attention must be culled by the teacher from the students by appealing to their present interests and relating subject matter to them. This gives the transition to the law of the lesson, where it was discussed that students have become alienated with classroom learning. This problem could be addressed by understanding student background and using it to the teacher’s advantage. Teachers should draw the beginning of each lesson out of learner’s experiences that could include popular music, television shows, and fashion and gaming trends. In the law of the language, issues on ESL learners and bilingualism were put into focus. It was explained that classroom diversity has expanded to a point that teachers cannot expect their students to be readily fluent with the English language. That being the case, teachers must make appropriate use of other tools of expression in order to get through to their students. In the law of the teaching process, modern concepts like student-centered learning were integrated to modern tools such as rubrics, portfolio, and other materials. In the law of the learning process, the advent of multiple intelligences was discussed within the context of achieving genuine learning. In the law of review and application, common day issues and concerns were addressed with emphasis on the usability of learned knowledge to modern life.

Freemen essays

Freemen essays Americans view of the world and our place in it has changed many times over. Our history is filled with significant dates that shaped our history, July 4, 1776, December 7, 1941, June 6, 1944, and most recently September 11, 2001. April 19, 1995 was such a date. That day, at approximately 9 a.m. a massive explosion destroyed most of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. 167 people were killed in the explosion, which was caused by a bomb made of fertilizer that was placed in a rental truck. The arrest and later conviction of Timothy McVeigh helped to shed light on a new threat to Americans, homegrown militias. Modern Militias have become synonymous with fringe elements of society, and they are more often feared and dismissed as lunatics. The militia movement has affected practically every part of the country, some more than others. The west, it seems, has been particularly affected. In 1995 the relatively peaceful routine of the residents of Jordan, Montana was shattered by a standoff between a group known as the Montana Freemen and Federal authorities. Many thought that Jordan would become synonymous with places like Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas. The standoff, however, remained peaceful, and the Montana Freemen surrendered on June 13, 1996. For some, there are many questions that are left unanswered, who were the Freemen, what did they believe, and why did they defy the government for so long? This paper will look at the Freemen organization and its leaders. I will look at the background of the group; its motivations, and the results of the standoff. More importantly, I will tackle the why. Why did the group issue threats against government officials, and why do they claim that the U.S. government is illegal? I will try and determine if these men are patriots or criminals. Two men, Rodney Skurdal and LeRoy Schweitzer, formed the Montana Freemen in the early 1990s....

Cross Culture Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Cross Culture Management - Essay Example The proposition under discussion states that 'national culture' is of no significance in the communication skills needed by him. Communication between individuals is carried out through the medium of speech and/or writing, and both are once the inherent constituents and the inevitable outcomes of the culture of a people. An effective managerial quality that we would expect of our 'international manager' is great communication skills. In the light of these facts, we examine the extent of the validity of the statement under discussion. In a discussion of national culture, it is both useful and relevant to consider Hofstede's concept of national culture in the context of the milieu in which the present-day global manager functions. However, before a discussion of the constituent elements in Hofstede's concept of national culture, the qualities expected of an international manager, and his communication skills, it is necessary to clarify the nature of the environment in which he functions and how he has come to be where he is at present. The simple answer to this question is that he has come to be where he is at present because of globalisation. Globalisation 'Globalisation' has been a 'buzz-word' for quite some years now. Many scholars have used the term to describe the changing economic, political, cultural, and environmental scenarios that have occurred in the world during the last couple of decades or so. Different scholars have analysed globalisation through application of the tools and insights of various disciplines. In economics and business, globalisation has to do with the 'opening up of the frontiers', and the practice of "deregulation", in the Western world between 1980 and 1988 and the domination of the 'free market economy model'. Globalisation of the economy has implied free international trade, free international capital flows, and more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology, and greater integration of financial markets. It has heralded greater interdependence of national economies, and been instrumental in bringing about the hegemony of the US in the world economy. International cultural movement that has followed g lobalisation, according to Hoodasthian, is 'westernisation'.1 Hoodasthian asserts that "westernization is responsible for the domination of English language in the world"2. This is an important statement in the context of the topic of our discussion. For, if in a 'globalised' world, the vehicle of communication is the English language, and when that language is part of the 'global culture', would it not follow that a 'local' or 'native' 'national culture' is indeed "of virtually no significance in relation to the communication skills needed by the modern" global manager, when that manager may happen to be an American or a British This aspect of the argument will be considered in a subsequent paragraph. In the next section, the discussion is about the concept of national culture in the context of

CISG Contract , Goodscan Contract Fact Pattern Assignment

CISG Contract , Goodscan Contract Fact Pattern - Assignment Example This condition applies if offeree gets the withdrawal before the offer or at the same time like the offer. Goodson is the offeror, in the case being analyzed, while Hospitex is the offeree. There is an offer from Goodscan to sell Hospitex five X-ray machines. A negotiator from Goodscan travels to Toronto to make an offer to the CEO of Hospitex. Terms of the offer are two hundred thousand Canadian dollars for 5 x-ray machines. Hospitex (offeree) accepts the offer but on a condition that Goodscan includes a clause stating that incase of any conflicts in future the two parties will use Canadian law to resolve it. It is evident there is an offer and an acceptance from the offeree, but there are additions that constitutes to a counter offer according since the offeree agree to the offer on condition that the clause is included (Ramberg 5). A mutual agreement refers to a contract that is agreeable to both parties. Article 29 clarifies that a mere agreement of both parties can be initiated to either modify or terminate a contract (Ramberg 6). The two parties agreeing to enter into an agreement are capable of performing specific duties of the contract against each other. Ramberg (6) says each of the both parties may be precluded by each other’s conduct from asserting certain provisions to a point whereby the other party has respectively relied on the other’s conduct respectively. Any contract can be a mutual contract, as long as it binds two parties. In this case, the contract between the two parties is mutualistic in that Goodscan should deliver the goods and the offeree (Hospitex) should pay the agreed fee to Goodscan. Both parties, according to the contract, have something to benefit from each other. Consideration is typically a concept of legal value in relation to contracts. It involves valuable goods promised to each other in a contract. It takes the form of physical objects,