Introductory Speech on Nelson Mandela free essay sample

Nelson Mandela to the Model United Nations students from around the world at the Global Classrooms Model United Nations Conference in the United Nations headquarters in New York City, United States. Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary general of the United Nations, Mr. Timothy Wirth, Former congressman president of the United Nations Foundation Better World Fund, Officials staff of the United Nations, Representatives of the Media, Model United Nations students, Ladies Gentlemen, a pleasant morning to all. As Secretary General of the Global Classrooms International Model United Nations, I have the gratitude and pleasure to welcome you here today, the 21st of September, World Peace day. We gather on this very special day to remember all the victims heroes of conflicts that thrived to bring peace to our world to set a huge example to our youth today who have a long road yet, hopefully, toward a culture of peace. We will write a custom essay sample on Introductory Speech on Nelson Mandela or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It is an honor and privilege for me to introduce to you our distinguished guest of honor, a very wise leader, and a mentor to all. His excellency, Nelson Mandela, who devoted his life to humanity, as a lawyer to all those in need, a prisoner of conscience, an international peacemaker, and the first democratically elected president of South Africa. He was born on the 18th of July, 1918 in Transkei, South Africa. He’s a very well educated man, completing his Bachelor of Arts degree via correspondence in Johannesburg in 1942 and then followed law studies at the University of Witwatersrand. During this time, he became actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement and joined the African National Congress. He was repeatedly arrested by South Africa’s apartheid government, and in June 1964, he was sentenced to life in prison on Robben Island, for struggling against the injustice of the apartheid regime. Dr. Nelson Mandela dreamt of democracy and equality among his people being also a great believer in life-long learning. During his 27 years incarcerated, he continued to study and earned a Bachelor of Law degree through a university of London correspondence program, and gave legal advices to his comrades and officers. He gained acceptance as the most significant black leader and a pure symbol of equality and freedom, and was released eventually in 1990; from which he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and emerged to become the country’s first democratic black president in 1994, devoting his life to bring peace to the world. Our leader has retired from politics in 1999 and is 93 years old today but keeps on working for peace, democracy and equality of humanity till the end of his life; he is raising money for his Mandela Foundation to build schools and clinics in South Africa and has formed a group of world leaders â€Å"The Elders† to help in the world’s toughest issues such as promoting peace and women’s equality. He is an inspiration to people around the world fighting injustice, to all of us. Please join me in welcoming Mr. Nelson Mandela to address you with his words of wisdom.

The 8 Most Common Mistakes You Make on ACT English

The 8 Most Common Mistakes You Make on ACT English SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Over the past five years, I've tutored dozens of students on the ACT and seen them miss the same types of questions over and over again. The ACT English section really only tests a handful of concepts, so it's easy to make the same exact mistake onthree or four questions- which really hurts your score. Don't worry, though! I've come up with eightsimple rules you can follow to help you avoid the most common problemson the ACT English and automatically raise your score 1-2 points. Use my ACT English strategies and practice on a lot of realistic questions, and you'll raise your English score. A lot of common mistakes revolve around going with the answer that sounds right rather than the choice that follows the rules. To help you spot the difference, I'llgo through the mistakes most students make in order of frequencyand explain how you can avoid them: Avoiding NO CHANGE Not removing redundant or irrelevant words Insertingtoo many commas Incorrectly punctuating independent clauses Mixing up it's and its Using they instead of he or she Glossing over the question Missing modifier errors Mistake #1: Assuming Every Underlined Portion Includes an Error NO CHANGE seems like it must be wrong, but it's actually correct slightly more than 25% of the time. Don't automatically rule out choice A orF, and don't second guess yourself if you have NO CHANGE as the answer for multiple questions in a row. Instead, if you can't find an error and think NO CHANGE might be the best choice, look at the differences between the answers and try to determine whattypeof question it is. Are all the answers verbs? It's probably a verb tense or subject-verb agreement question. Does each answer have commas placed in different locations? It's likely a comma question. (Keep in mind, however, that some questions test more than one concept.) Once you know what kind of question it is, you can determine whether the original version avoids the error. Is the verb properly conjugated? The commas properly placed? The trick to not being confused by NO CHANGE is treating it like any other answer. If the best version of the underlined portion is the original one, then pick A. For more information on the frequency of NO CHANGE, check out our full analysis. Mistake#2: Leaving in Extra Words Relevanceand redundancy are two of the least intuitive concepts on the ACT English section. Questions that test these topics require you eliminate totally grammatically acceptable phrases that often seem to add information. The key to understanding how to approach these questions is recognizing that not all information is useful. Take a look at this example sentence: Every spring, I go through my yearly house-cleaning ritual and clean my home. This sentence is perfectly grammatical and easy to understand. However, it repeats certain ideas unecessarily. "Every spring" is by definition "yearly," so we don't need the second word. Moreover, the "ritual" is explicitlydescribed as "house-cleaning," so "and clean my home" is redundant. Every spring, I go through my house-cleaning ritual. If an answer restates something that's already been established or adds information that isn't directly related to the point at hand, it's probably wrong. Try taking the extra wordsout and see if the sentence still makes sense (both grammatically and logically). If so, pick the answer that leaves out the unnecessary words. Don't be afraid to choose OMIT the underlined portion, if you think the passage works without the whole underlined section. For a more in depth take on redundancy questions, see our full post on the topic. Mistake #3: Adding Unnecessary Commas Many students believe that you should put a comma any place in a sentence where there's a pause, but this approach will result in your missing a lot of questions. Take a look at the following example: I know Callie thought that accusing Jon, of stealing the headphones, would just cause more problems. These commas may seem correct, but they're actually unnecessary. Although this sentence is fairly long, it doesn't require any commas at all: I know Callie thought that accusing Jon of stealing the headphones would just cause more problems. The truth is that commas are only necessary in very specific situations. A good rule of thumb is "When in doubt, leave it out!" If comma questions are tripping you up, our complete guide to commas on the ACT can help you understand when you need them and when you don't. This is not a wise attitude to take towards commas. Mistake #4: Connecting Independent Clauses Incorrectly One of the most common ACT English comma issues is called a comma splice, it occurs when a comma is used to connect two independent clauses (this sentence is an example!). There are four correct ways to connect two complete thoughts: a period, a semicolon, a colon, and a coordinating conjunction with a comma. Let's look at some alternate versions of the sentence above: Incorrect: One of the most common comma issues is called a comma splice it occurs when a comma is used to connect two independent clauses. Incorrect: One of the most common comma issues is called a comma splice and it occurs when a comma is used to connect two independent clauses. Correct: One of the most common comma issues is called a comma splice. It occurs when a comma is used to connect two independent clauses. Correct: One of the most common comma issues is called a comma splice; it occurs when a comma is used to connect two independent clauses. Correct: One of the most common comma issues is called a comma splice: it occurs when a comma is used to connect two independent clauses. Correct: One of the most common comma issues is called a comma splice, and it occurs when a comma is used to connect two independent clauses. For more information on comma splices and other forms of run-on sentences, take a look at our in depth article. Mistake #5: Confusing It's, Its, and Its' The differences between can seem complicated, especially if you haven't studied them in a while, but they're actually quite straight forward. Its, with no apostrophe, is a possessivepronoun. It's equivalent to "his" or "her," which you'll notice don't have apostrophes either. It's, with an apostrophe before the s, is a contraction of "it is" or "it has." Contractions always have to have an apostrophe to replace the dropped letter or letters. Its', with an apostrophe after the s, isn't a real word. This construction will appear as an answer on the ACT but it's always wrong. When trying to determine whether the word needs an apostrophe, you should replace it with with "it is" (or "it has," depending on context) and see if the sentence makes sense. If so, "it's" is correct. If not, "its" is. Let's go over an example: The cat pinned back its' ears to show displeasure. We know "its'" can't be correct- we just have to determine whether it should be "it's" or "its." Let's plug in "it is" and see if that makes sense: The cat pinned back it is ears to show displeasure. That version doesn't make sense. "Its" is the correct choice, since the pronoun is meant to indicate that the ears belong to the cat: The cat pinned back its ears to show displeasure. For more information on its vs. it's and other apostrophe issues, check out our post on punctuation. This deer may be confused, but you don't have to be! Mistake #6: Using They or Their as a Singular Pronoun When we speak, we routinely use the plural pronouns "they," "their," and "them" to refer to individuals on uncertain gender (e.g. the child, the teacher, the inventor).In written English, however, this usage is considered a pronoun agreement error: the noun is singular, but the pronoun replacing it is plural. Take a look at this example sentence: Incorrect: At the end of many fantasynovel, the protagonist must face their nemesis in single combat. Correct:At the end of manyfantasy novels, the protagonist must face his or hernemesis in single combat. Though it may seemoverly complicated, the second version of the sentence correctly matches noun and pronoun. Pronoun agreement is frequently tested and can be tricky, so consider checkingout our complete guide to pronoun agreement on ACT English. Mistake #7: Not Reading the Question Because most of the questions on ACT English revolve only around underlined portions of the passage, it’s easy to gloss overquestions when they appear. However, as with the other sections of the ACT, it's extremely important to carefully read the questions and think about what they're asking. Usually, the best indication of the answer is right there in the question. This ruleis especially vital toanswering questions that ask about which version of a sentence or phrase is best. It can be tempting to simply pick the answer you think sounds best, but this approach will usually give you the wrong answer. Instead, look atwhat the question is asking for, e.g. "specific details" or "information that sets up a contrast." The ACT English section includesa pretty wide range of questions that usethis format, so if you're struggling with these types of questions take a look at some of our general advice on the ACT English questions and passages. Mistake #8: MisplacingModifiers Misplaced and dangling modifiers- descriptive words or phrases that are incorrectly placed in a sentence- are another type of weird error that oftendoesn't seem wrong. Nonetheless, the ACT includes them fairly frequently, so keep this key rule in mind: a modifier must be next to whatever it modifies. Incorrect: While walking, the banana peel tripped me. Correct: While walking, I tripped on the banana peel. Dangling modifiers (which, like the example above, are introductoryphrases that are separated from the thing they're modifying) are especially tricky. Be on the lookout for sentences that begin with descriptive phrases- they must be followed by the noun theydescribe. For further details on both dangling and misplaced modifiers, see our grammar guide to ACT Englishfaulty modifiers. Keep on going towards the score you want! (Image: Piermario/Flickr) What's Next? Take the time to get comfortable with other frequently tested concepts like subject-verb agreementandpronoun case. Looking to build a study plan? Read our complete plan to studying for the ACT, review what the ACT English actually covers, and take a practice test (or five!). If you're aiming especially high (or even if you aren't), make sure to check out these 9 key strategies from a perfect scorer. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this English lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Quiz How Well Do You Know Nursing Slang

Quiz How Well Do You Know Nursing Slang Can you ace this nursing slang text? Take the following quiz to find out whether you’re nursing knowledge is on point or whether you need a refresher course. Source:[women.com]

How Bodies will interact in the Future Depends On our Experience on Research Paper

How Bodies will interact in the Future Depends On our Experience on how they have interacted in the Past - Research Paper Example In the field of natural and physical sciences, the law of cause and effect works very well. Events that occur have their causes. Earthquakes are caused by volcanic eruptions; floods may be caused by heavy rains. When one doesn't eat he will surely die. There are several instances illustrating the veracity of these statements. These are simple occurrences that anyone can easily understand. We automatically believe that everything that happens has a cause. David Hume, a Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian advanced a totally different view of causation. According to him, causes and effects are not discovered by reason but through experience. When we see that one event "causes" another, what we see is that this event is constantly conjoined to another. Hume believes that there is no reason to believe that one caused the other or but they will be always conjoined in the future. This belief of Hume is somewhat intriguing for what relationship would exist between the occurrences of two unrelated events, one occurring before the other. InductiInductive reasoning works on the principle that past acts are reliable guides to future acts. This is based on the principle of uniformity of nature. Because of this uniformity interactions will be similar. There are numerous instances which illustrate this, but there are also instances where the contrary is exhibited. When the acts have the propensity to renew itself or its operation, we call this the effect of custom or habit. Forms of Induction According to Wikipedia contributors (2007), David Hume's inductive inference comes in two forms:1. Demonstrative or intuitive This reasoning is basically a priori. We cannot determine a priori that the future will conform with the past because logically the world may stop being uniform. This cannot be grounded on a priori reasoning, hence the need to put it aside. 2. Inductive Again we cannot rely on the past to infer that the future will be similar or like it. At first glance, this seems to be a logical theory. We arrive at the truth through induction. Again, the reason is expected as its determining factor in the process, so like the first method, the demonstrative or intuitive method, Hume also discarded.Hume proposed that these two have no rational foundations and therefore cannot be depended upon.

Should censorship be sometimes justified Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Should censorship be sometimes justified - Essay Example The government must have powers to censor sensitive security information, such as the military strategy, deployment of forces, and placement of key weapons systems in times of conflicts and wars. Some people, mainly libertarians who see little or no role for government, argue that the United States has no room for censorship citing the First Amendment to the US Constitution that prohibits restrictions, among other things, on the freedom of speech and the press. However, protecting the United States and American people becomes more important than preserving the freedom of speech in times of conflicts and wars, because giving away sensitive security information could help domestic quislings and external enemies to harm the country and hurt the people. Recognizing this imperative, Congress has enacted several laws, including the Smith Act, Communist Control Act and Atomic Energy Act, which give the US government the powers to impose censorship. Even the criticism of the governmentâ€⠄¢s recent request to withhold the details of the experiment that produced deadly H5N1 influenza virus, which could be used by terrorist, has been made only on a narrow ground that someone had already shared that information at a conference in Malta (Markel). Censorship also becomes necessary to prevent hate speech that destroys social harmony and leads to violence in a country characterized by enormous racial and cultural diversity. Opponents of censorship argue that individuals can make their own judgment and apply self-censorship, and US courts have sometimes put the freedom of speech above the need to control hate speech, such as by upholding the right of the Ku Klux Klan to carry out anti-minority marches. However, personal judgment and self-censorship alone are not enough to prevent hate speech that could disrupt communal harmony and lead people to harm each other due to enmity, bigotry or other narrow interests. The rant against Muslims in public places and in the media in th e wake of terrorist attacks against the United States in 2001 led to violence against Muslims and turbaned Sikhs across the country, which could have been avoided by censorship. Although Congress has already outlawed slander, libel, incitement to riot and obscenity, government should have broad censorship powers to control hate speech and promote social harmony (Stork), a proposition with which I agree. Likewise, the government must have powers to impose censorship to protect the rights, dignity and innocence of children who cannot do it themselves. Those who advocate absolute freedom of speech hold the view that individuals and the media are capable of using their discretion to withhold indecent and obscene information that could harm children. However, there is no shortage of pedophiles, rapists, rogue journalists and other criminals eager to exploit children’s vulnerability and innocence, and the government has obligation to protect children from them, if necessary, by imp osing censorship. I shudder with the fear that my own brothers, sisters and relatives could become victims of such criminals, lured by indecency and obscenity in the media and public places. Recognizing the need for censorship to protect children, Congress has made several laws, including the Communications Decency Act of 1966, that classify films

A stereotype is defined by the Oxford Dictionary

A stereotype is defined by the Oxford Dictionary Every individual holds stereotypes. A stereotype is defined by the Oxford Dictionary of Psychology (pg. 730) as: a relatively fixed and oversimplified generalisation about a group or class of people, usually focusing on negative or unfavourable characteristics. When people put too much faith in stereotypical descriptions of people they can become prejudiced and can often discriminate against other groups. This can be very harmful and has led to countless atrocities, such as the racial purging of the Jews by the Nazis. Prejudices still are being fought through laws, such as Equal Opportunities legislation. However, the subject being discussed is not whether stereotypes are harmful or justifiable; it is whether they have a practical purpose, or are wasteful. It is generally the common consensus that stereotyping and prejudice should not continue. However without stereotypes we may find the social world a lot harder to perceive and understand. We rely on stereotypes to help us function in society. With such a diverse population, the environment we live in could be very confusing. Unfortunately stereotypes may block out a lot of what makes our society so diverse and just group people into simple categories. They may also affect peoples choices in life. Career paths people may want to take could seem inappropriate for someone in their group and so are avoided. From an evolutionary standpoint, stereotypes must have a use because they exist. People start creating stereotypes from a very young age and they are hard to break. However, having a purpose doesnt exclude the fact that stereotypes are wasteful. The main beneficial use of stereotypes is that they greatly speed up cognitive processing. The world is full of people, they all look unique and the all behave differently. If each person chose to actively perceive and evaluate every individual they encountered, there wouldnt be much time for anything else. This is why stereotypes exist. People can glance around a room, see a spectrum of faces and not have to stop to think about each person. This frees up the brain for more important tasks. Macrae, Milne, Bodenhausen (1994) as cited by Taylor, Peplau, Sears (pg. 184). conducted an experiment to see if the priming of stereotypes can leave the brain freer to process other information. Students were presented with a list of trait words for an individual and, at the same time, information about Indonesia. Half of these students were first given a group label for the individual, e.g. Black or Italian. Those given the group label remembered more traits that were label consistent and more information about Indonesia. This demonstrates that stereotypes make the social world a lot easier to process and are definitely very useful. However, this oversimplification of the world we see can lead us to prejudice against other groups, and can lead to discrimination. People often look only at the negative characteristics of a group. In doing this we may waste the important contributions that these different groups perspectives can offer. Taylor, Fiske, Eticoff, Ruderman (1978) as cited by Taylor et al. (pg. 185) asked participants to observe a conversation between people of a mix of races. When asked to remember which individual made certain contributions the participants would often only be able to remember the race of the individual. This shows that people often place far too much emphasis on group membership and can ignore the attributes of the individual. This can lead people to ignore information that comes from a source that they may deem inferior. The second beneficial use of stereotypes is their ability to increase individuals self esteem. Everyone has the desire to increase their self esteem and a lack of self esteem can lead to depression and social isolation. Stereotypes can improve an individuals self esteem through a number of ways. Tajfel (1982) as cited by Taylor et al. (pg. 188) proposed the Social Identity Theory. This is the process by which people categorise the social world into in-groups, in which the individual is a member, and out-groups, into which everyone else is categorised. People can derive their self esteem from their inclusion in the in-group if they perceive their group to be superior to other groups. This is theory is enhanced by Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, Flament, (1971) as cited by Taylor et al. (pg. 186) and their theory of In-group Favouritism. People will automatically positively discriminate towards their in-group, which promotes the view of a superior in-group. Also Ethnocentrism can play a part in promoting self esteem, through the assumption that the in-group is the centre of the social world and is superior to all out-groups. While many people may argue that deriving self esteem from the view of superiority is immoral, that is not the topic being discussed. High self esteem is an advantage to all people, and so any method for raising self esteem can be seen as useful. But this method for promoting self esteem does come with disadvantages. The Social Identity theory can have quite negative effects on peoples lives. If an individual holds a negative image of the in-group or the in-group is associated with a negative stereotype then this can be harmful to the individuals self esteem. Asgari, Dasgupta Gilbert Cote (2010) undertook a longitudinal study into how exposure to successful in-group members affected female students. They found that not only did the students have to have frequent contact with the role model, but they also had to have evaluated the contact to be meaningful. This however not only improved their self concept of their in-group; it also raised their career aspirations and their engagement in their studies. This in turn led to improved academic success. This study shows that victims of stereotyping can often believe those stereotypes so much that it takes repeated, powerful interaction with stereotype inconsistent individuals to feel that they too can break out of the stereotype they find themselves in . People that are exposed to negative stereotypes are also subject to stereotype threat. Stereotype threat was first proposed by Aronson and Steele (1995) and it occurs when members of a group find themselves subject to a negative stereotype. It results in the individual being aware that they are being stereotypically evaluated and so their performance, in areas associated with the stereotype, suffer. However, stereotype threat has been shown to spill over into many areas of everyday living. Being in a stigmatized group can contribute to a number of societal problems, such as aggression, obesity, decision making and impulse control (Inzlicht Kang. 2010). This serves to maintain the negative stereotype. However the study by Inzlicht and Kang was a correlation study, and so cause and effect could not be inferred. This is one example of how stereotypes can be self fulfilling prophecies. However they can also act in a positive direction. If a person is aware of a positive stereotype about them then they can have an improved performance. Shih, Pittinsky Ambady (1999) as cited by Taylor et al. (pg. 172) showed that Asian women performed better at a maths test when the Asian stereotype was cued. However they performed worse when the women stereotype was cued. These studies show how stereotypes can have a dramatic effect on our behaviour without any conscious action. Stereotyping can also have affects on career choices. Women exposed to primes of gender inconsistent roles (e.g. a female surgeon) showed lower enthusiasm for these roles because of upward social comparison threat (Rudman Phelan. 2010). They felt threatened by being outperformed by someone in their in-group. If women didnt believe that it was rare for women to be able to become a surgeon, they may not have felt this comparison threat. Also students are often choosing to not go into a career in sales because of their stereotypes about salesmen. (Lee, Sandfield Bhaliwal. 2007). Students think of salesmen as pushy and unsatisfied, hence they assume that if they were to go into sales then they would waste the time they spent on their degree. This cuts off a career path that may have been right for some students, but they choose not to take it because of the stereotypes they hold. So while stereotypes do have some definite uses, they also create waste. Stereotypes speed up cognitive processing, which is necessary for people to function in the diverse social environment in which we find ourselves. This is at the cost of the individual; we lose focus of each person and just push people into categories. Stereotypes can increase the self esteem of some. However not all can gain the benefit of this boost in social identity. Stereotype threat can have a very negative effect of peoples lives. Stereotypes can waste the potential of many people that have denied themselves, or have been denied through prejudice. Stereotypes have led to the needless waste of life in wars and through civil struggles for equality. Therefore, while stereotypes serve a purpose, they waste potential, information and happiness.

What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses in English?

There are a number of both strengths and weaknesses which I possess in regards to English and the areas of reading and writing. My strengths are that I have a passion for reading, I have a good understanding of grammar and its correct usage and I am a decent speller. I also understand and respect that English is an important part of everyday life. My weaknesses are that I do not enjoy writing, I do not have a good writing process for when I do have to write and I tend to procrastinate when faced with an English assignment. I think that my biggest strength in English is that I love to read. One of my favorite pastimes is curling up with a good book, particularly a good murder mystery or suspense novel. I am pretty good at being able to extract information and understand the authors meaning from the piece of writing I am reading. It is also through my love for reading that I gain a broader view of the world and become more knowledgeable. Reading for enjoyment is a great way to learn about new things and not even realize it at the time! Another of my strengths in English is that I have a good grasp on grammar and word usage. This is something that I learned as a child but has improved over time, especially due to my work environment. Whether the goal is to achieve a higher education or persuade a company to use a service, using correct grammar can be the difference between succeeding and failing. This includes the proper use of vocabulary, punctuation, and standard grammar rules such as subject and verb agreement. The goal of communication is to be understandable; proper grammar is a crucial step in reaching this goal. The ability to spell is also an important strength in English. I was lucky when it came to spelling in school and had a certain gift for spelling. I never had to study much, if at all, for a spelling test. This helps a lot in my career when composing memos and proposals for clients. And although I am grateful to Microsoft Words spell check and auto correct functions they have â€Å"dulled† some of my skill in this area. English and writing are important and necessary in everyday life. English is used everyday both written and orally. It is a very important subject because it is a form of communication and is very important all around the world. How would businesses function with out some sort of base communication? They wouldn't. From letters to books to resumes, reading and writing is used by everyone. My biggest weakness in English is that I hate to write. I seem to have a hard time trying to articulate myself and get my ideas into words on paper. I especially do not enjoy writing about personal experiences. I think the main reason for this is that I am a private person and do not want my emotions to â€Å"pour† out on paper for everyone to see. Another contributing factor to writing being one of my weaknesses is my writing process. Well, actually I don't even have one! Usually, not always, but usually, I wait until the night before the paper is due and then begin to brainstorm and write out my thoughts. This is very ironic to me, because for every other class I have a scheduled study time and follow that very closely. Maybe because I dislike writing so much I don't plan on doing it. My lack of a writing process adds to another one of my weaknesses, being a procrastinator and having a lack of motivation (when it comes to English). When I am required to write a lengthy paper on a subject that is boring or unimportant to me as a person, the writing process is often tedious and mind numbing. I can mull the topic over and over in my mind and get no where! My only thoughts being that â€Å"I am NEVER going to get this done! † After looking at and thinking about several of my strengths and weaknesses in English, I would conclude that the best course of action for me would be to continue to use and practice activities that use my already strong skills. Making time in my busy schedule for brainstorming and critical thinking could be the first step in trying to overcome my weaknesses in English as they all pretty much stem from not wanting to write.