How to Write a Powerful Memoir in 4 Simple Steps

How to Write a Powerful Memoir in 4 Simple Steps How to Write Your Memoir: A 4-Step Guide Memoir is not just a fancy literary term for an autobiography. I say that from the start, because I hear the terms used interchangeably so often. Your memoir will be autobiographical, but it will notbe your life story. Confused yet? Stay with me. Simply put, an autobiography is likely to cover one’s birth to the present - emphasis often on accomplishments, but the more honest and revelatory the better. A memoir draws on selected anecdotes from your life to support a theme and make a point. For instance, if your point is how you came from some unlikely place to where you are now, you would choose scenes from your life to support that. Maybe you came from: The wrong side of the tracks A broken home Having been a victim of abuse Addiction An orphanage To a position of: Wealth Status Happiness Health Faith You might start with memories that show how bad things once were for you. Then you would show pivotal experiences in your life, important people in your transformation, what you learned, and how you applied certain principles to see this vast change. Naturally, the better the stories, the better the memoir. However, great stories are not the point - and frankly, neither is the memoirist (you). What Publishers Look For Don’t buy into the idea that only famous people can sell a memoir. Sure, if you’re a household name and people are curious about you, that’s an advantage. But memoirs by nobodies succeed all the time - and for one reason: they resonate with readers because readers identify with truth. Truth, even hard, gritty, painful truth, bears transferrable principles. Memoirs full of such relatable candor attract readers, and readers are what publishers want. An astute agent or acquisitions editor can predict how relatable a memoir will be and take a chance on one from an unpublished unknown. Agents and editors tell me they love to discover such gems - the same way they love discovering the next great novelist. So, when writing your memoir†¦ You may be the subject, but it’s not about you - it’s about what readers can gain from your story. It may seem counterintuitive to think reader-first while writing in the first-person about yourself. But if your memoir doesn’t enrich, entertain, or enlighten readers, they won’t stay with it long, and they certainly won’t recommend it. Want to save this guide to read, save, or print whenever you wish? Click here. How to Write a Memoir in 4 Steps Know Your Theme Carefully Select Your Anecdotes Write It Like a Novel Tell Your Story (Without Throwing People Under the Bus) Step 1. Know Your Theme And remember, it’s not that you’ve made something of yourself - even if you have. Sorry, but nobody cares except those who already love you. Your understated theme must be, â€Å"You’re not alone. What happened to me can also happen to you.† That’s what appeals to readers. Even if they do come away from your memoir impressed with you, it won’t be because you’re so special - even if you are. Whether they admit it or not, readers care most about their own lives. Imagine a reader picking up your memoir and thinking, What’s in this for me? The more of that you offer, the more successful your book will be. Think transferable principles in a story well told. Cosmic Commonalities All people, regardless of age, ethnicity, location, and social status, share certain felt needs: food, shelter, and love. They fear abandonment, loneliness, and the loss of loved ones. Regardless your theme, if it touches on any of those wants and fears, readers will identify. I can read the memoir of someone of my opposite gender, for whom English is not her first language, of a different race and religion, who lives halfway around the world from me - and if she tells the story of her love for her child or grandchild, it reaches my core. Knowing or understanding or relating to nothing else about her, I understand love of family. Worried About Uniqueness? Many writers tell me they fear their theme has been covered many times by many other memoirists. While it’s true, as the Bible says, that there’s nothing new under the sun, no one has written your story, your memoir, your way. While I still say it’s not about you but really about your reader, it’s you who lends uniqueness to your theme. Write on! How toWrite a Memoir Without Preaching Trust your narrative to do the work of conveying your message. Too many amateurish memoirists feel the need to eventually turn the spotlight on the reader with a sort of â€Å"So, how about you†¦?† Let your experiences and how they impacted you make their own points, and trust the reader to get it. Beat him over the head with your theme and you run him off. You can avoid being preachy by using what I call the Come Alongside Method. When you show what happened to you, if the principles apply to your reader he doesn’t need that pointed out. Give him credit. Step 2. Carefully Select Your Anecdotes The best memoirs let readers see themselves in your story so they can identify with your experiences and apply to their own lives the lessons you’ve learned. If you’re afraid to mine your pain deeply enough tell the whole truth, you may not be ready to write your memoir. There’s little less helpful - or marketable - than a memoir that glosses over the truth. So feature anecdotes from your life that support your theme, regardless how painful it is to resurrect the memories. The more introspective and vulnerable you are, the more effective will be your memoir. Step 3. Write It Like a Novel It’s as important in a memoir as it is in a novel to show and not just tell. Example: Telling My father was a drunk who abused my mother and me. I was scared to death every time I heard him come in late at night. Showing As soon as I heard the gravel crunch beneath the tires and the car door open and shut, I dove under my bed. I could tell by his footsteps whether Dad was sober and tired or loaded and looking for a fight. I prayed God would magically make me big enough to jump between him and my mom, because she was always his first target†¦ Use every trick in the novelist’s arsenal to make each anecdote come to life: dialogue, description, conflict, tension, pacing, everything. Worry less about chronology than theme. You’re not married to the autobiographer’s progressive timeline. Tell whatever anecdote fits your point for each chapter, regardless where they fall on the calendar. Just make the details clear so the reader knows where you are in the story. You might begin with the most significant memory of your life, even from childhood. Then you can segue into something like, Only now do I understand what was really happening. Your current-day voice can always drop in to tie things together. Character Arc As in a novel, how the protagonist (in this case, you) grows is critical to a successful story. Your memoir should make clear the difference between who you are today and who you once were. What you learn along the way becomes your character arc. Point of View It should go without saying that you write a memoir in the first-person. And just as in a novel, the point-of-view character is the one with the problem, the challenge, something he’s after. Tell both your outer (what happens) and your inner (its impact on you) story. Structure In his classic How to Write Bestselling Fiction, novelist Dean Koontz outlines what he calls the Classic Story Structure. Though intended as a framework for a novel, it strikes me that this would be perfect for a memoir too - provided you don’t change true events just to make it work. For fiction, Koontz recommends writers: 1 - Plunge your main character into terrible trouble as soon as possible 2 - Everything he does to try to get out of it makes it only progressively worse until†¦ 3 - His situation appears hopeless 4 - But in the end, because of what he’s learned and how he’s grown through all those setbacks, he rises to the challenge and wins the day. You might be able to structure your memoir the same way merely by how you choose to tell the story. As I say, don’t force things, but the closer you can get to that structure, the more engaging your memoir will be. For your purposes, Koontz’s Terrible Trouble would be the nadir of your life. (If nadir is a new word for you, it’s the opposite of zenith.) Take the reader with you to your lowest point, and show what you did to try to remedy things. If your experience happens to fit the rest of the structure, so much the better. Setups and Payoffs Great novels carry a book-length setup that demands a payoff in the end, plus chapter-length setups and payoffs, and sometimes even the same within scenes. The more of these the better. The same is true for your memoir. Virtually anything that makes the reader stay with you to find out what happens is a setup that demands a payoff. Even something as seemingly innocuous as your saying that you hoped high school would deliver you from the torment of junior high makes the reader want to find out if that proved true. Make ‘em Wait Avoid using narrative summary to give away too much information too early. I’ve seen memoir manuscripts where the author tells in the first paragraph how they went from abject poverty to independent wealth in 20 years, â€Å"and I want to tell you how that happened.† To me, that just took the air out of the tension balloon, and many readers would agree and see no reason to read on. Better to set them up for a payoff and let them wait. Not so long that you lose them to frustration, but long enough to build tension. Step 4. Tell Your Story (Without Throwing People Under the Bus) If you’re brave enough to expose your own weaknesses, foibles, embarrassments, and yes, failures to the world, what about those of your friends, enemies, loved ones, teachers, bosses, and co-workers? If you tell the truth, are you allowed to throw them under the bus? In some cases, yes. But should you? No. Even if they gave you permission in writing, what’s the upside? Usually a person painted in a negative light- even if the story is true- would not sign a release allowing you to expose them publicly. But even if they did, would it be the right, ethical, kind thing to do? All I can tell you is that I wouldn’t do it. And I wouldn’t want it done to me. If the Golden Rule alone isn’t reason enough not to do it, the risk of being sued certainly ought to be. So, What to Do? On the one hand I’m telling you your memoir is worthless without the grit, and on the other I’m telling you not to expose the evildoers. Stalemate? No. Here’s the solution: Changing names to protect the guilty is not enough. Too many people in your family and social orbit will know the person, making your writing legally actionable. So change more than the name. Change the location. Change the year. Change their gender. You could even change the offense. If your own father verbally abused you so painfully when you were thirteen that you still suffer from the memory decades later, attribute it to a teacher and have it happen at an entirely different age. Is that lying in a nonfiction book? Not if you include a disclaimer upfront that stipulates: â€Å"Some names and details have been changed to protect identities.† So, no, don’t throw anyone under the bus. But don’t stop that bus! Common Memoir Mistakes to Avoid Making it too much like an autobiography (missing a theme) Including minutiae Bragging Glossing over the truth Preaching Effecting the wrong tone: funny, sarcastic, condescending How to Start Your Memoir Your goal is to hook your reader, so begin in medias res- in the middle of things. If you start slowly, you lose readers interest. Jump right into the story! Memoir Examples Thoroughly immerse yourself this genre before attempting to write in it. I read nearly 50 memoirs before I wrote mine (Writing for the Soul). Here’s a list to get you started: All Over But the Shoutin’by Rick Bragg (my favorite book ever) Cultivate by Lara Casey A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway Out of Africa by Karen Blixen Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt Still Woman Enough by Loretta Lynn Born Standing Up by Steve Martin The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff Molinaby Benjie Molina and Joan Ryan Want to save this guide to read, save, or print whenever you wish? Click here. Are you working on your memoir or planning to? Do you have any questions on how to write a memoir? Share with me in the comments below.

Amazon Ads For Authors Two Case Studies Showing That They Do Work

Amazon Ads For Authors Two Case Studies Showing That They Do Work Amazon Ads for Authors: Two Case Studies Showing They Do Work Amazon ads have been the talk of indie author town since Amazon opened its AMS platform to all KDP users in 2016. While Facebook ads become increasingly competitive, as Mark Dawson already predicted on this blog back in 2015, Amazon has made huge improvements to their advertising platform, and are progressively becoming one of the most favored channels for marketing a book.Like any other advertising platform, the AMS platform comes with its own challenges and learning curve. And like any other platform, success largely depends on data analysis and iteration. In this post, we’ll analyze two case studies (one fiction, one nonfiction) and try to understand what these authors are doing right.A brief intro to Amazon AMS adsBefore we get into the case studies, it’s important to have a look at what Amazon ads do. If you’re already familiar with them - or have taken the Reedsy Learning course on Amazon ads for authors, or Dave Chesson's video training - you can skip th is part.When judging any advertising platform, you should think about four crucial things:Placement: where do the ads show up?Targeting: how can I decide whom the ads get shown to?Cost: when am I being charged? What is the minimum I need to invest?Analytics: how do I know if my ads are working or not?PlacementThere are two types of ads you can try on Amazon:Sponsored Product: these ads show up on search result listings and other books’ product pages (below the â€Å"also boughts†).The main thing to note is that his targeting is automatic.â€Å"Here’s my logic: Amazon knows! It’s creepy, but Amazon knows what you’re shopping for, what you’ve been looking at, what your interests are and how best to deliver the right advert at the right time.†For more insights into Joseph’s campaigns, take our free course on Amazon ads! Two of the 10 lessons are written by him and he shares everything about his process. On top of that, Joseph's a freelance book marketer on Reedsy. If you’re a non-fiction author looking to self-publish or to dabble with AMS ads, you can get in touch with him and seek his help.Takeaways for nonfiction authors:Try Sponsored Product ads first;If your book’s metadata is well-optimized, go for automatic targeting;Even if the ACoS isn't the best, consider the number of impressions you're getting and the impact in brand awareness.What's your experience with the AMS ad platform been like?   Share your insights with us below. If you have any questions for Annelie and Joseph, feel free to ask in the comments as well!

Critical appraisal of a nursing quantitative study Essay

Critical appraisal of a nursing quantitative study - Essay Example is critical exposure of the nurse participants their levels of hygiene compliance despite work load and is important I self evaluation for personal competence improvements. The participants could also develop a better understanding of mediator roles of external factors on the nurses’ motivation and ability to comply with standards. This could then inform the nurses for self initiatives to managing the environmental factors towards higher level competence and compliance to hygiene standards and other standards. The major risk that the authors do not identify is possible psychological effects of the nurses knowledge of their lack of compliance because of the potential consequences of the non compliance to quality of delivered services. The authors are also silent on the process of recruiting research participants. There was however informed consent from research participants and administrator of the hospital facility that was used for data collection. Existence of informed consent further suggest voluntary participation by the involved nurses. It is however difficult to report possible approval by the institutional review board because the researchers do not report on it. Meeting minimum requirements for publication, such as ethical principles, however suggest that the authors ensured institutional review board approval besides informed consent and voluntary participation. The major variables are identified, though not explicitely, but are not defined. External factors, interms of work load, is the independent variable while staff compliance with hand hygiene standards is the dependent variable. personal observations and interviews were used for data collection and even though the researchers do not explain their rationale for choice of data collection methods, advantages such as convenience and unlimited access to information suggest the choice (Kothari, 2004). Data collection occurred over a one year period, beginning in June 2007 and ending in May 2008. It was

International Law - tax system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Law - tax system - Essay Example The meaning of tax can be actually described as the money, which is charged by the government for Public Sector Borrowing Requirement (PSBR) (Public Acts 1994). When we interpret the definition, we may find out the reason why countries charge tax. The governments levy tax upon its citizens because they want money to regulate it in the whole country. It as actually meant for the betterment of the country and the nation itself. Governments may built roads, built a better infrastructure, improved public organization services, improve the level of education, building schools to remote areas, proving better and free health care, etc. Government may charge the tax to invest back to the country in turn. Where as international law refers to the general rules and regulations practiced in most part of the world (Mifflin 2007). It is the law which is followed by all the countries worldwide and so it is called international. There are certain rules and procedures which are followed in every country of the world. These practices are important to carry out in the country, as they enable governments to work and perform better and in organized way. Those laws are called international, as they are practiced in every country and are accepted as well. ... but the thing which binds then together is the law which they practice in the country, only that is common in them and it keeps the countries linked together. This essay will include all the necessary and valid information about the international laws regarding the taxation issues. As far as the case study is concerned, I will try to ensure the reader abut the authentication of the information and will make sure that my answer shall convince the reader as well. The essay will proof to be the perfect guide for the three friends for their decision about the avoiding tax and the OECD proposal about the business. As described in the case study, that the friends do not want to pay taxes and their nature of business is to contribute to the tertiary sector of the country. It is yet no specified that whether the owners plan is to provide services to the country only or to the rest of the world as well. The type of job which these friends are going to do can be practiced in a country as well as outside the country, ignoring boundaries. It is because of the reason that, the friends will have headquartered at one place and will precede the business from there only. That means headquarter; will exist in one place, yet their operation in different part of the world at the same time. This is what most of the translational companies do, ignoring the boundaries. But trans-national businesses do not try to void tax and in this case, the partners are trying to ignore the tax as well. Now, it is very essential to understand the two types of taxes, direct and indirect. Before I shall proceed, I may make it clear that the direct taxes are unavoidable. This means, the direct taxes cannot be ignored and we have to pay them even if do not want to. These taxes are the

To Kill a Mocking Bird Essay Example for Free

To Kill a Mocking Bird Essay Socialising is a very complicated process, for we often make unjustified assumptions that lead to misunderstandings or even worst, it might even cause the innocents to suffer. In To Kill a Mocking Bird, it was demonstrated a number of times, both in court and in every day life, often caused by peoples limited observations skills causing misjudgements; Jem and Scout made that mistake, thinking his dad is old and feeble and maybe useless but in reality he is actually a great shooter who doesnt like to boast about his talents. I truly admire the Atticuss personality, he was not thought highly by his town folks because he was humble and was not bind by the fashion in town. Harper Lee had uncovered the truth of human nature; because of Atticuss appearance and modesty, he was not justified fairly. Just like the old saying goes, Dont judge a book by its cover, sadly, this is a philosophy that many cannot achieve. Inessential factors including bias, appearance racial hatred and so for always get in the way of justification, twisting the fact into the justifiers favor and that is when injustice happen. In To Kill a Mockingbird, this had happened a number of time, even children had inherited this bad vile trait, including the main characters- Jem and Scout. In chapter 10, it was demonstrated when they were justifying Atticus on p.98: Our father didnt do anything. He worked in an office, not in a drugstore. Atticus did not drive a dump truck for the county, he was not the sheriff, he did not farm, work in a garage, or do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone. Besides that, he wore glasses. From the above description, we can tell that Jem and Scout were judging Atticus with their measures for an admirable person. They were counting what Atticus was not instead of what he could do, in addition, they didnt know Atticus well enough to be able to make a judgment about him and they refused to listen to what others have to say about Atticus, in this case, its Miss Maudi. Jem and Scout were affected by prejudice and judged Atticus only based on his appearance and their own measures. Jem and Scout always thought his father-Atticus was weak and feeble only because he was different from the rest of the fathers in town; he was not very active like the other fathers were due to his old age. Jem was never satisfied with Atticus, because to him, he was not a exciting father he could be proud of, until he discovered Atticus outstanding shooting skill. Jem and Scout always thought they knew everything about Atticus until that incident, Scout was quite young so she could not understand it, whiled Jem had finally understand Atticus wisdom of modesty and displayed his maturity by stopping Scout from bragging about Atticus in front of their friends and said this interesting quote. Atticus is a gentleman, just like me. (Chapter 10 p.109) Jem and Scout was always disappointed their father because Atticus is different from the others but his opinion for him had gradually changed as he matured, and as it did, he finally came to an understanding of the real values a gentleman should posses. Atticus was a model father for his children and a great educator; he had earning respects from his fellow town folks, the readers and gradually, his children. He had always been thought as weak and feeble by his own children, but it changed right after his children discovered his nick name One shot Finch, their perspective for him has immediately changed. We could not completely blame his children for misjudging him; Atticus had hid his talents well with to his humble personality. I truly admire Atticuss great personality: he was a true gentleman and showed great wisdom and humbleness. Even though his talent was discovered by his children, he still refused to brag about it, this was shown in shown in chapter 10 p. 108 when Mr. Tate spoke to Jem Whats the matter with you, boy, cant you talk? said Mr. Tate grinning at Didnt you know your daddys Hush, Heck, said Atticus.' Atticus even stopped others from praising him, plus he still chose to keep his principles after he just prevented his neighbors from being attacked by a mad dog. Atticus was a great model for Jem and he greatly contributed to Jems grown in maturity. To Kill a Mockingbird had a timeless topic; similar versions of this story had appeared again and again in human history, where innocents almost always suffer. Harper Lee had exposed the ugly truth of human nature and the fact that injustice exists in this society often caused by some peoples ignorance or selfishness. Jem and Scout started of misjudging Atticus and fortunately, it was all cleared up after the incident with Jem finally understood the values of a gentleman. Jem and Scout were lucky to have Atticus as a father, he was a great educator and he tried his hardest to make sure they are safe, safe from the weaknesses in human nature. To Kill a Mockingbird was a well-written narrative; it flawlessly uncovered a variety of human nature- the finest of humanity as well as ugly human natures.

I Hate Narrative Essays -- Personal Narrative Essay Example

I stared at the blinking cursor, unbelieving at what I had just done. I was indeed done; done with a paper I agonized over for 6 hours. The paper was due in a scant 4 hours and I had all week to do it. The radio had stopped working because my brother got on the Internet and thus cut off my connection. That was the least of my problems working on this paper. I got it done, though. My life changed with one trip of a teacher to the chalkboard and one phrase, narrative essay. God, I hate narrative essays. My day was going well. I devoured a big breakfast, my brother, for once, got out of the shower quick, and no major assignment was pending. Life was very, very good. Then life began to fall into oblivion. I saw on the board in the front of Mrs. Smith's room the journal entry for the day. It was about what would I write about in a narrative essay. Hope faded away. Somewhere on the planet a nuclear bomb went. An earthquake struck in some unknown place on the Earth. A volcano erupted on Jupiter's moon Io and killed a bunch of Ionians. Somebody's red rose just wilted and the petals fell onto the ground. The end of the world was indeed upon us. My jaw dropped and warning bells went off in my head. I went completely and utterly blank. I tried as hard as I could to write my journal. Channel One came on and talked about a nuclear bomb going off in India that caused an earthquake that somehow caused a volcano to erupt on Io (that killed a bunch of aliens). My jaw dropped once again. It was now the floor. As I was finishing my journal, Mrs. Smith went to the front of the room and talked about, du du du, narrative papers. She gave us a cold, white study guide that gave me no hope for survival. She then gave us another evil sheet of pap... ... am to get a halfway decent grade. So, I started it up and felt confident that I was going to get it done. God, I hate narrative essays. You have to write about your own personal experiences and expect to get a three-page paper out of it. I have no events in my life that would fit a three-page paper. The events in my life are either to foggy in my mind, are too insignificant in my mind to fit a three-page paper, or are too big and broad to be able to fit in an essay and would need a 500-page book to explain. I do far better at other kinds of essays than narratives, such as the persuasive paper. I look forward to those kinds of essays more than I look forward at all to doing any more narrative essays. In, the mean time, however, I am going to try to get James to get off the Internet. Maybe then I may have a better narrative topic. I hate narrative essays anyway.

A Trip to an Unfamiliar Place

Adwoa A Adu 10/1/12 English 101 Final Draft A Trip to an unfamiliar place It all started when I was called to see the principal of my school (high school), we were actually five girls involved and we were travelling to England because we had an exchange program with a school in Kent, England called the Weald of Kent Grammar School for girls. I was so excited because it was my first time travelling outside Africa and it did have a good impact on me. In all, we were about thirty students chosen and these students should be good academically and also have good morals.Before we left for England there were a lot of preparations we did while we were inn school, we learnt some new dances, poems in French and other dialects in my country Ghana, this part of learning dances was funny because it was so hard for since I am not a good dancer but I made it through at the end. We also learnt other cultures because we were going to have some presentations in the school and we didn’t forget d iseases that are killing Africans like Malaria, AIDS, Tuberculosis and so on, we did researches on these when we went back home on vacation. We came back to school from our vacation with our luggage ready to leave for England.From school to the airport was very boring, it was about an hour and thirty minutes’ drive, we left school around 6pm and arrived at the airport 8:30pm our plane was taking off at 12 midnight so we hanged around the airport for a couple of hours. My dad was there with so was other parents with their daughters. I had mixed feelings at the time my dad was there till he left because I was sad and the fact that I was leaving him and happy because I was travelling to a place I had never been before. We checked in at 10pm and the plane took off at 12 midnight.It was boring in the plane so I slept from Ghana to Morocco where we made a transit and we took another plane from Morocco to London Airport where the Weald of Kent girls picked us from they took us to th eir school and we met the families we were going to live with I met my own family too and we went to their house. My first day with them was a feeling I can’t really express with words but I will say I was very shy because I hadn’t come into contact with British or the Whites before but after my third day I got along well with them and felt very happy living with my new family, they were very wonderful people.Except for weekends, every morning I went to school with Laura and Laura was the student I had come to live with her family. My first day at Weald of Kent Grammar School was exciting because first of all, I was marveled at the site of the school beautiful building it was and the grass are kept short and clean. Classes with them was great, we had a Social Studies and Japanese classes and I loved it I learnt some new words in Japanese language. We had classes the first week from Monday to Friday and on the weekend I spent at home with my family.The next week we went with the principal of the school to tour the city of London we went to the Buckingham Palace where the Queen of England lived, there were a lot of people around because a parade was being held in front of the palace. From there we went on to see the London Eye it’s a huge Ferris situated on the River Thames in England, we also cruised on the River Thames it was fun and a good experience. We also took some pictures in front of the Westminster Abbey this is a collegiate church of St Peter, a very large one situated in the city of Westminster my friends and family loved the pictures when I showed it to them back in Ghana.There were a lot of great thing we saw like the clock Tower in Westminster, the Tower of London, very beautiful malls where we shopped in fact I really enjoyed myself with my colleagues. In the second week, Thursday precisely, we went back to school and I attended a French class which we watched a movie we were to analyze, I loved it so much and the reason that made me enjoy their classes is their way of teaching and learning, it’s marvelous, very easy to follow the teacher, very easy to understand and it’s ok to ask questions.They have a lot of facilities that makes learning easier compared to my school in Africa where we don’t get such opportunities but if we adapted such strategies will make going to school fun and easy. On Friday night, a farewell ceremony was held at the school premises because we were leaving the next day on that night we did some African dances, recited African poems, some cultural presentations and they also gave us some performances since it was an exchange program.When I got home that Friday night, I packed all my stuff ready for tomorrow I was very sad but I spent some time with the family we talked about Ghana compared to England and the wished to visit one day. The next morning we all met at the school and a bus took us to the airport, indeed this trip was a very memorable one which is al ways in my memories especially because of the way the teachers at the school taught and how they taught us to learn changed my perception about learning and that was a very good impact it had on me and I wish to go on a trip to England the second time.

Land Law Essay

Proprietary estoppel protects a person who has a non contractual agreement over land but they have suffered a detriment due to them acting upon a reliance based on an assurance made by the claimant. There has been much discussion in recent case law and academic commentaries as to the elements which make up the nature of proprietary estoppel. Unconscionaibility is a major point for discussion in deciding whether it should be treated as a separate element or if it is linked into the three main elements. This essay will consider and discuss the nature of proprietary estoppel and the two views on unconscionaibility; whether there will always be unconscionaibility if there has been a non-performance of an assurance causing the claimant to suffer a detriment based on the assurance which they relied on or if unconscionaibility should be proven as a separate element in each case. The starting point of proprietary estoppel was in the case of Willmott v Barber (1880) where five criteria were laid down, which had to be satisfied by a person claiming proprietary estoppel and the courts applied these criteria to a wide range of proprietary estoppel claims. However these criteria were criticised for being too strict leading to the broader approach established in Taylor Fashions Ltd v Liverpool Trustees Co Ltd (1982) where Oliver J stated: ‘whether, in particular individual circumstances, it would be unconscionable for a party to be permitted to deny that which, knowingly or unknowingly, he has allowed or encouraged another to assume to his detriment’. Although the approach became broader there still remained essential elements which must be satisfied for a successful claim. The more modern approach towards proprietary estoppel is based on three main elements, firstly an assurance of land or property being made to the claimant, the claimant relying on the assurance which has been made and finally the claimant suffering a detriment as a consequence of relying on the assurance made. The main point for discussion and questioning in proprietary estoppel is the role of unconscionaibility and whether it should be treated as a fourth element which too must be satisfied in order for a claim to be successful or if unconscionaibility is interlinked with the other elements of proprietary estoppel. Proprietary estoppel acts as ‘a sword and a shield’ and can be used in one of two ways. ‘Put positively, the reason why it is possible to use proprietary estoppel to generate a property interest in a favour of a claimant despite the absence of the normal formality rules is because of the need to prevent unconscionable conduct. This is why unconscionaibility is the foundation of estoppel. It is the antidote to the otherwise fatal absence of formality. ’ This is one of the views on unconscionaibility which suggest that unconscionaibility is at the heart of proprietary estoppel rather than a separate element of it. The first element of proprietary estoppel is encouragement where the claimant’s belief that they would have some rights over land or property has been encouraged by the promisor and this could have been done actively or passively. Active encouragement is seen in common expectation cases where the claimant has been actively persuaded through an express representation as in Inwards v Baker (1965) where a son was actively encouraged to build on his fathers land in the expectation that it would be his in the future. Common expectation cases are dealt with more generously by judges, compared to passive cases, as the promisor has lead the claimant to have a reasonable belief that they would acquire the land therefore leading them to rely upon that assurance causing them to suffer a detriment. It would be seen as unconscionable in a common expectation case for the claimant to have been encouraged to suffer a detriment for the promisor to then go back on their assurance, meaning that unconscionaibility is instantly a running theme in the elements as it can be seen at the first instance and should therefore not be treated as a separate element. The encouragement could also be passive, for example a land owner standing by watching someone build on their land knowing that somebody is acting under a mistaken belief. The nature of a passive expectation made to the claimant can be distinguished in commercial and domestic cases as was seen in Cobbe v Yeoman’s Row Management Ltd (2008) where the House of Lords established that the expectation of an interest in land should not be vague in a commercial situation. The expectation should be for ‘a certain interest in land’ for proprietary estoppel purposes which was not the expectation held by Cobbe therefore the expectation was held to be too vague. Lord Scott stated ‘Unconscionaibility in my opinion plays a very important part in the doctrine of equitable estoppel, in unifying and confirming, as it were, the other elements. If the other elements appear to be present but the result does not shock the conscience of the court, the analysis needs to be looked at again. This statement shows how case law endorses the unconscionaibility approach as being interlinked with the other elements of proprietary estoppel however if all of the elements are not satisfied there can not be a claim for proprietary estoppel as is the case here. In domestic (family) cases, the nature of the expectation doesn’t have to be so specific as long as there is an interest or right in land that would amount to a significant expectation. The assura nce made must be clear enough so that claimant is found to have relied upon. Lord Walker stated in the case of Thorner v Major (2009) â€Å"There is no definition of proprietary estoppel that is both comprehensive and uncontroversial†¦the doctrine is based on three main elements, although they express them in slightly different terms: a representation or assurance made to the claimant; reliance on it by the claimant; reliance on it by the claimant; and detriment to the claimant in consequence of his (reasonable) reliance† One view on unconscionaibility stated that ‘Once there has been detrimental reliance on an assurance, it is unconscionable to withdraw it’ therefore if it cannot be proven that an assurance existed then it wont be unconscionable for it to be withdrawn showing that unconscionaibility is a running theme within proprietary estoppel rather than a separate element. One difficulty in deciding these kinds of cases is that although an assurance has been made to the claimant in the way of a will, the claimant is also aware th at the will could be revoked at any time therefore the question to be asked is whether their reliance based on the assurance was adequate. The second element of proprietary estoppel is reliance where the claimant must have been encouraged to rely on the promisor’s assurance which has caused them to suffer a detrimental loss by changing their position and there must be a sufficient causal link between this in that the encouragement must have caused the detriment suffered. Reliance can not be treated as an element alone it has to have caused a change in the position of the claimant, if no detriment has been suffered then there can be no claim for proprietary estoppel. There are several ways in which the courts can show how the claimant was influenced to rely on the encouragement; firstly is by clearly showing that there has been a change in position by the claimants positive act, for example the claimant spending money on the land or making property improvements based on the assurance that it will become theirs, causing them to suffer a detriment. Where the claimant has acted in a way different to what he would had the assurance not been made nd relied on this can also show how the encouragement has influenced the reliance causing a detriment as in Jones (AE) v Jones (FW) (1977) where a son acted on the assurance of property becoming his left his job and house to live with his father, however had the assurance not had been made he would not have done this leading to the detriment that he suffered. There can be a presumption made that the claimant relied on the assurances given to them based on there conduct and in these cases the burden is put onto the other party to prove that the claimant did not rely on the promises made and this is hard to prove as it is a subjective matter based on the claimants state of mind. This was the case in Greasley v Cooke (1980) where the defendant did not have to prove that she relied on assurances as it was presumed from her conduct. The final element of proprietary estoppel is that the person must have suffered a detriment due to the reliance on the assurance which has caused a change in their position. The detriment suffered can be in many forms not just that of financial detriment although it must be substantial in making it unconscionable for the land owner to withdraw their promise of land to the claimant. Walton v Walton (1994) shows where financial detriment wasn’t the main detriment suffered, the claimant had suffered a personal detriment as he had spent years of his life relying on the assurance made to him that the farm would one day be his, and he couldn’t get those years of his life back. Public policy in formalities of contracts plays a major part in the deciding claims for proprietary estoppel. Section 2 Law of Property (Miscellaneous Previsions) Act 1989 states that (1) A contract for the sale or other disposition of an interest in land can only be made in writing and only by incorporating all the terms which the parties have expressly agreed in one document, or where contracts are exchanged, in each. This act stops informalities in land transfers where a claimant would be expected to sign up a contract but hasn’t done so, as in Cobbe, and this is where they would turn to proprietary estoppel to try and show that the detriment which they have suffered is due to the unconsionability of the removal of the assurance which they had originally relied on. Proprietary estoppel acts as a way around formalities and a form of protection for those who have not followed contractual formalities in the transfer of land. Why should people be able to use proprietary estoppel to make a claim for land where they have followed formalities and drawn up a contract as in Cobbe, it can be seen that it is not unconscionable for the promisor to withdraw as there is no contractual agreement. However in domestic cases where there wouldn’t always be an expectation of a legal contract to be drawn up proprietary estoppel can stop unfair decisions being made due to the lack of formalities where it would be unconscionable for the defendant to suffer a detriment due to an assurance on which they have relied. There are clearly two competing arguments against proprietary estoppel, the first being that ‘once there has been detrimental reliance on an assurance, it is unconscionable to withdraw it. Indicating that unconscionaibility is a function of the three elements. If unconscionaibility was seen as a separate element then it would be pointless in having formalities as it wouldn’t matter whether it was unconscionable or not as long as the other elements had been satisfied. The second view on unconscionaibility is that of it being a separate fourth element and in some circumstance this can be seen as being successful for example in commercial cases where the first three elements of proprietary estoppel have been established but it would be unconscionable for the claimant to benefit due to the lack of formalities and contractual agreement.

Pressured vs. Pressurized

Pressured vs. Pressurized Pressured vs. Pressurized Pressured vs. Pressurized By Maeve Maddox Many American speakers, myself included, have the impulse to laugh at statements like the following: Mendendez and Ensign try to pressurize the White House Should parents pressurize their children to get high marks in exams? We laugh because we think that pressurize should apply only to things like airplane cabins and pressure cookers. Some people who object to the use of pressurize in the context of psychological pressure often become quite testy in their criticisms: â€Å"I was pressurized into attending a girls college. I dont think she meant she had an air hose hooked up to an orifice to inflate her. The idea is that pressurize should be reserved for technology, while pressure is the only acceptable verb to use when speaking of psychological pressure. Neither British nor American dictionaries support the distinction. The online Oxford Dictionaries site offers the following among their examples of correct usage: Don’t let anyone pressurize you into snap decisions. People had been pressurized to vote. The online Merriam-Webster dictionary gives this example: Don’t let them pressurize you to do anything you don’t want to do. The noun pressure has been in the language since the Middle Ages, but the verbs pressure and pressurize are fairly recent coinages. Both verb forms originated in North America. The earliest OED citation for pressure with the meaning, â€Å"to apply pressure to, to coerce or persuade by applying psychological or moral pressure,† is from a Canadian publication dated 1911: Extreme protection brought the formation of gigantic trusts, which pressured the consumers, who are now in open revolt against that regime. The verb form pressurize was coined to describe the process of producing artificial atmospheric pressure. Pressurizing appears in 1940; pressurized in 1944. The use of pressurize to mean â€Å"to apply psychological pressure† is first documented in 1945: Thus, selective service continues to ‘pressurize’ recalcitrant military unfits into war plants. The use of quotation marks around pressurize indicates that the word was being used in a novel way. The most that can be said about pressure vs pressurize is that American usage prefers to reserve pressurize for technical contexts and save pressure for psychological contexts. Speakers and writers of British English don’t seem to be aware of any such distinction: A spokesperson of General Musharraf’s party said that fresh petition is an attempt to pressurize him to leave the country. He [Pravin Togadia ]also said that this election is the best time to pressurize political parties to ensure safety of Hindus. Brown’s administration â€Å"considered that any attempts to pressurize or lobby the Scottish government could be counterproductive to achieving this outcome Bottom line: Americans can continue to laugh at the use of pressurize in a psychological context, but British speakers are not amused. 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 Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What Does [sic] Mean?8 Writing Tips for BeginnersAppropriate vs. Apropos vs. Apt

Simple Explanation What Is FAFSA

Simple Explanation What Is FAFSA SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Have you heard your high school counselor or other students reference the FAFSA, and you didn't know what they were talking about? What is FAFSA, and what do you have to know about it?Well, if you're hoping to get financial aid for college, then it's criticalthat you know about the FAFSA. In this article, I will explain what the FAFSA is, why it's important, and the information you need to fill it out. What Is the FAFSA? FAFSA is an acronym that stands for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Colleges and universities use this form to determine your eligibility for federal, state, and college-sponsored financial aid, including grants, educational loans, and work-study programs. Therefore, even though the FAFSA is technically the application for federal aid, you have to fill it out to receive state and college-sponsored financial aid as well. If you're hoping for any government or school financial aid for college, you should file a FAFSA. How does the FAFSA determine your eligibility for financial aid? The FAFSA is used by the US Department of Education to calculate your Expected Family Contribution, or EFC, for college. Your EFC is a dollar amount that reflects how much you can afford to pay for college for the following academic year. The lower your EFC, the more aid you're eligible to receive. Your EFC is determined based on income, assets, and other household information you'll be asked to provide on the FAFSA. What Information Is Required on the FAFSA? You can check out the FAFSA worksheet to see all of the information you need to properly fill out the FAFSA. Now, I'll explain the information you need to enter on the form. Citizenship Status/Alien Number You need to be a legal resident of the United States or a US citizen to submit a FAFSA. However, if you're an undocumented immigrant, you have other options to get financial aid for college. Dependency Status For FAFSA purposes, most of you will be considered dependents, meaning that you're under the care of your parents. All dependents have to answer questions about their parents on the FAFSA. Due to varying family situations, this is the FAFSA definition of a "parent" for the purposes of filling out this form: "Parent" refers to a biological or adoptive parent or a person determined by the state to be a parent (for example, if the parent is listed on the birth certificate). Grandparents, foster parents, legal guardians, older siblings, and uncles or aunts are not considered parents on the FAFSA unless they have legally adopted you. If your legal parents are living and married to each other, answer the questions on the FAFSA about both of them. If your legal parents are not married and live together, answer the questions about both of them. In case of divorce or separation, give information about the parent you lived with most in the last 12 months. If you did not live with one parent more than the other, give information about the parent who provided you the most financial support during the last 12 months or during the most recent year you received support. If your divorced or widowed parent has remarried, also provide information about your stepparent. Financial Information Dependents have to report information from their parents, including their parents' previous year's adjusted gross income, government aid, untaxed income, and any other financial benefits. Your parents may be able to use the IRS Retrieval Tool to transfer their tax return information to your online FAFSA. Also, you have to report any financial benefits you received in the previous year, even if you're a dependent. What Happens After You File Your FAFSA? Student Aid Report After you file your FAFSA, if you provide a valid e-mail address, you'll receive your Student Aid Report, or SAR, in 3-5 days. Without a valid e-mail address, you'll receive your SAR via mail in 7-10 days. Your SAR will have a summary of the information you submitted on your FAFSA along with your EFC. Remember that your EFC does not determine the amount of aid you will receive from colleges; it determines the amount of aid you're eligible to receive. The EFC that displays on your SAR is a calculation based on the information you provided on your FAFSA. If there are any errors in your SAR, you can correct the information online. If your application is incomplete, your SAR will not include an EFC, but it will display text that specifies any issues that need to be resolved. In this situation, you'll also be able to complete your FAFSA online. Financial Aid Award Letters The colleges you list on your FAFSA will have access to your information electronically one day after it's processed. Colleges will use the information from your FAFSA to help determine what financial aid they offer you. Shortly after you receive your college acceptances, or even with college acceptance letters, you'll receive financialaid award letters from the colleges that accepted you. However, if you apply early decision or early action, you may have to wait until those who applied for regular decision receive their acceptance notices to get your financial aid award letter. The financial aid award letter outlines your financial aid package, including the amount of aid you'll be offered in grants, government loans, and scholarships. Subtract the amount of financial aid you're offered from the cost of attendance, and you can determine your out-of-pocket expenses for the upcoming academic year. Typically, you'll receive your aid award letters in March or April and have to commit to a college by May 1. Is the FAFSA Required? The FAFSA is only required if you want to be eligible for federal financial aid. Remember that most states and colleges also require the FAFSA to receive state or college-sponsored aid. If you or your parents can afford to pay the full cost of attendance to the colleges you apply to, then you don't have to file a FAFSA. If, based on your EFC, colleges determine that you can afford to pay the full cost of attending, you're unlikely to receive any need-based aid, even if you do file a FAFSA. Also, if you have received a scholarship that makes additional financial aid unnecessary, then you don't have to file a FAFSA. Keep in mind that regardless of whether or not you file a FAFSA, you or your parents can still take out loans to cover your college costs. What's Next? You need to submit a FAFSA to be eligible for valuable financial aid like the Pell Grant and work-study programs. Now that you understand the importance of the FAFSA, learn about how much college really costs. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Book Review of Jesus Under Fire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Book Review of Jesus Under Fire - Essay Example From here, his interested in the New Testament and other pieces of Biblical literature started, and from here he went on to study for a Master’s degree. His PhD was in New Testament with specialisms in 2nd Temple Judaism and Old Testament Theology. He went on to work as a pastor, then accepting an appointment at the Talbot School of Theology, where he is currently based. He has worked on several research articles, books and chapters in his chosen fields of New Testament theology, Christology and discipleship. About Jesus Under Fire Jesus Under Fire is essentially an examination of the critics and criticisms of Jesus Christ throughout history. It is an academic work comprising of contributions from eight authors who put forward accounts of the life of Jesus and assess the historicity of the way that Jesus is perceived in the Bible. These scholars take into account the work of the Jesus Seminar and the role in which this has played on the view of Jesus and His life throughout hi story. The work is essentially a criticism of the methodology of the Jesus Seminar, and presents different accounts which give evidence that the Jesus of the Bible is historically accurate. It does this by examining the New Testament and the words and actions of the Jesus contained within. It can be classified as a work of religious non-fiction opinion. The book starts with the question â€Å"Where Do We Start Studying Jesus?† This is an interesting one, and sets the tone for the rest of the book by describing how scholars and laymen alike should approach the Bible and Jesus’ teachings. Interestingly, this section covers the issue of scholarly scepticism regarding the Gospels and how this has affected the approach to Biblical study in modern times. Blomberg, the author of this chapter, argues that this scepticism of modern times is not warranted, and goes on further to examine reasons why this is the case and where the scepticism arose from. This sets the tone for the whole book, which aims to prove that the texts found in the Bible are generally trustworthy and are not deserving of such a response from the academic communities. Scot McKnight is the author of the second chapter, which investigates Jesus studies and the correct way of approaching the historicity of Jesus as found within the Bible. This is a very informative chapter that introduces some methodology. Many of those who disagree with the Jesus seminar suggest that the methodology is faulty, so this section is necessary to examine the different ways of approaching the study of Jesus that may be more appropriate and useful in determining historicity. The book then moves on to examine the words of Jesus. Firstly, it ascertains that there were no tape recorders or newspapers, and this makes it difficult to understand how information may have travelled in these earlier times. The culture in which Jesus lived was an oral one, and therefore most information travelled by word-of-mouth, includ ing a number of Jesus’ teachings. This chapter argues that some of the differences between the Gospels where similar events are reported can be said to be due to differences in priorities between the reporters and their reporting style. This is a middle ground between those who think everything in the Bible literally records everything like a Memorex tape recorder and those (like the Jesus Seminar) who believe that the Bible represents only a loose idea of what the historical Jesus was saying. Chapters four and five cover what