Handwriting Definition, Examples, and Discussions

Handwriting is writing done by hand with a pen, pencil, digital stylus, or another instrument. The art, skill, or manner of handwriting is called penmanship. Handwriting in which successive letters are joined is called cursive script. Handwriting in which the letters are separated (as block letters) is called manuscript style or printing. Decorative handwriting (as well as the art of producing decorative handwriting) is called calligraphy. Examples and Observations Legible, fast and personal handwriting, like the other secretarial skills, will develop most effectively within purposeful writing contexts where pride in the writers own work links with a respect for the needs of the reader. (Michael Lockwood, Opportunities for English in the Primary School. Trentham Books, 1996)Technology seems to have ruined our collective handwriting ability. The digital age, with its typing and its texting, has left us unable to jot down the simplest of notes with anything like penmanship. A third of us cant even read our own writing, let alone anyone elses, according to a survey by the not-entirely-unbiased print and post specialists Docmail. (Rin Hamburgh, The Lost Art of Handwriting. The Guardian, August 21, 2013) Teaching and Learning Handwriting Given effective teaching, handwriting can be mastered by most pupils by the time they are seven or eight years old, enabling them, with practice, to go on to develop a faster and more mature hand ready for secondary school and adult life..To avoid handwriting practice becoming tedious, most teachers have a policy of little and often, rather than having fewer prolonged sessions; they may also utilise stories and story characters to represent letter shapes. Whatever approach is adopted, children need to be relaxed yet able to concentrate and (for right-handers) encouraged to hold a pencil between the thumb and forefinger with the pencil resting on the third finger.(Denis Hayes, Encyclopedia of Primary Education. Routledge, 2010)Let the pen glideLike gently rolling stream,Restless, but yetUnwearied and serene;Forming and blending forms,With graceful ease.Thus, letter, word and lineAre born to please.(Platt Rogers Spencer, originator of the Spencerian system of cursive handwriting, popul ar in the U.S. in the 19th century. Quoted by William E. Henning in An Elegant Hand: The Golden Age of American Penmanship and Calligraphy. Oak Knoll Press, 2002)All but five states [in the U.S.] no longer require the teaching of cursive handwriting in public elementary schools. Cooper Union, one of the nations premier art schools ... no longer offers a calligraphy major. And social stationery, the horse to calligraphys carriage, is in decline, as computer fonts and online invitation services offer cheaper, quicker alternatives. (Gena Feith, With Pen in Hand, He Battles On. The Wall Street Journal, September 3, 2012) The "Magic" of Handwriting Whether you use a pencil, a pen, an old typewriter or something electrical is largely irrelevant to the result, although there is magic in writing by hand. Its not just that it has been that way for 5,000 years or more, and has engraved upon our expectations of literature the effects associated with the pen--the pauses; considerations; sometimes the racing; the scratching out; the transportation of words and phrases with arrows, lines and circles; the closeness of the eyes to the page; the very touching of the page--but that the pen, not being a machine (it does not meet the scientific definition of a machine), is a surrender to a different power than those of mere speed and efficiency. In short, a pen (somehow) helps you think and feel. And although once you find a pen you like youll probably stick with it the way an addict sticks with heroin, it can be anything from a Mont Blanc to a Bic. (Mark Helprin, Skip the Paris Cafà ©s and Get a Good Pen. The Wall Street Journal, September 29, 2012) Digital Handwriting Even after the invention of the typewriter, many great writers stuck with longhand. Hemingway slashed out his words in pen and ink while standing at a specially made desk, and Margaret Mitchell scribbled Gone With the Wind in dozens of composition notebooks. But with the rise of the keyboard, and, more recently, the touchscreen, it seems as if pen-and-paper lovers are out of luck. Think again. While the technology that enables artists to draw accurately on touch screens has been with us for most of this decade, only recently have computer and tablet users been able to draw or write directly onto a screen using pens so sensitive they can change the appearance of the sketched lines depending on drawing speed and hand pressure... Except for the Livescribe pen, none of these devices precisely mimics the experience of writing on paper. But these styluses reproduce hand motions with enough fidelity to record notes with plenty of detail, and the handwriting recognition built into Windows 7 ensures your hastily jotted shopping list won’t read like Absurdist poetry. (John Biggs, Hand-Held Tools for Digital Scribblers. The New York Times, June 30, 2011) The Three Elements of Fine Penmanship Americas fine penmanship of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—whether basic handwriting, pointed-pen calligraphy, or something in between—was founded mainly on three elements: the appreciation of good letter-forms, the knowledge of good position (of fingers, hand, wrist, arm, etc.), and the mastery of correct movement (of fingers, hand, wrist, and arm). [Joseph] Carstairs and [Benjamin] Foster described a full range of movement techniques—whole arm, forearm, finger, combined movements—and these techniques (and terminology) were soon adopted by the Spencerians and others who came later. (William E. Henning, An Elegant Hand: The Golden Age of American Penmanship and Calligraphy. Oak Knoll Press, 2002) The Connection Between Handwriting and Spelling According to [E.] Bearne ([Making Progress in English,] 1998), the connection between handwriting and spelling relates to kinaesthetic memory, that is the way we internalize things through repeated movements. Forming letter shapes in the air, or in sand, with paint, with a finger on the table, on paper with a pencil or pen, or even writing out misspellings several times encourages the kinaesthetic memory for the particular movements. [M.L.] Peters ([Spelling: Caught or Taught,] 1985) similarly discussed perceptuo-motor ability and argued that carefulness in handwriting goes hand in hand with swift handwriting, which in turn influences spelling ability. Children who can fluently write letter strings such as -ing, -able, -est, -tion, -ous are more likely to remember how to spell words containing those strings. (Dominic Wyse and Russell Jones, Teaching English, Language and Literacy, 2nd ed. Routledge, 2008) The Poor Handwriting of Great Writers Before the blessed invention of the typewriter, printers used to wind up with the screaming meemies trying to decipher the manuscripts sent to them by publishers. According to Herbert Mayes, the erudite magazine editor, printers refused to work with Balzacs manuscripts more than an hour at a time. Mayes also reports that Hawthornes writing was almost indecipherable, and Byrons a mere scrawl. Someone described Carlyles handwriting in a manner reminiscent of mine: Eccentric and spiteful little flourishes dart about his manuscript in various odd ways, sometimes evidently intended as a cross to a t, but constantly recoiling in absurd fashion, as if attempting a somersault and destroying the entire word from which they sprung. Some letters slope in one way, and some another, some are halt, maimed and crippled, and all are blind. Montaigne and Napoleon, Mayes further reveals, couldnt read their own writing. Sydney Smith said of his calligraphy that it was as if a swarm of ants, escaping from an ink bottle, had walked over a sheet of paper without wiping their legs. (Sydney J. Harris, Strictly Personal. Henry Regnery Company, 1953)

Essay on Academic vs Mainstream Writing - 877 Words

There are many differences between articles written for scholars and articles written for popular audiences. According to Anne Johns, the author of â€Å"Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice,† there are ten conventions or moves that exist only in academic prose and when violated, author is seen as an outsider of the discourse community. John Swales (â€Å"Create a Research Space† (CARS) Model Research Introductions) and Ken Hyland also talk about writing and the similarities between all academic writing in â€Å"Create a Research Space† (CARS) Model Research Instructions and â€Å"Disciplinary Courses†. Based on research by Swales, Hyland, and Johns on academic writing, and research by Jeanne Fahnestock, Charles Sullivan and Cameron M. Smith on†¦show more content†¦(1b) CNN â€Å"Koreans use the term â€Å"hallyu† to describe the phenomenon. It refers to the â€Å"Korean Wave† of entertainment that has swept across the shores of almost every single country in the region, even increasingly beyond† (Farrar 1). The passages above are saying essentially the same thing, however, the one published by CNN is not as detailed as the scholarly one, and it only gives enough information for readers to know what the Korean Wave is. Also, in academic articles there are no pictures because unlike popular writers, scholars do not rely on pictures as a medium of capturing their readers’ attention or interest them in reading the article. The Structure of Mainstream Articles Mainstream articles tend to be 1-3 pages long, but page length is not the only difference from academic articles. Headlines are also a big aspect in popular as it is one of the mediums used to get people to read the article, even though at times the headline may not always be related to the content of the article. In popular articles you will see pictures and for online magazines you also see advertisements for different products, this is because unlike scholars, mainstream writers dependShow MoreRelatedCourse Study Guide Essay1931 Words   |  8 PagesAssignment 1 1. Explain the history of structured English immersion in Arizona. Lau vs. Nicols 1974 decided that non-English speaking children thrown into English classes and told to â€Å"sink or swim† violated their civil rights. Under the Supreme Court decision, schools were required to provide material and teaching necessary to help ELL students with the language. No more language based discrimination. Flores vs. Arizona 1992 argued that Arizona was not paying enough funds and adequate programsRead MoreTow Way Immersion Education Programs in the United States1864 Words   |  7 Pagesthe US. 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However, after several years of scholarly development of S-D logic in the form of academic articles, books and conferences, there still seems to be some confusion regarding what S-D logic actually is, and more importantly, its status as an intellectual device: a theory, a model, a paradigm or a ‘pre-paradigmatic lens’ (Vargo, 2007b:Read MoreGlass Ceiling and the Effects on Women3053 Words   |  13 Pagesinterviews with a university placement counselor. This recent graduate has an impressive resume, which lists her outstanding academic achievements. It is clear to the interviewer the graduate’s ability to multi-task while raising a family, working part-time and managing classes. Most of the attendees at the job fair are male, mid-twenties, aggressive and with similar academic achievements. The advice from the placement counselor was honest and straightforward, so he thought. The counselor statedRead MoreGp Essay Mainpoints24643 Words   |  99 Pages GP NOTES 2010 (ESSAY) Content Page 1. 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Sexual Discrimination in the Workplace Free Essays

Canada is composed of people from all walks of life and from every race, color,creed and ethnic background imaginable. Despite our varied lifestyles and beliefs, we areall equal and are entitled to the same treatment before the law and in the workplace. Although we have this diversity, discrimination is something that unfortunately, mostpeople have to deal with it at some point in their lives. We will write a custom essay sample on Sexual Discrimination in the Workplace or any similar topic only for you Order Now Provincial human rights codes tryto prevent this unpleasantness, by prohibiting any type of discrimination in service,accommodations and employment. Zero tolerance grounds are based on Discrimination by: race, gender, ancestry, place of origin, color, citizenship, creed, sexual orientation,age, family status and handicap. Discrimination can also include harassment based on both race, and ethnic origin, as well as sexual harassment. Despite these codes, discrimination is not guaranteed to never occur. In fact,everyday people lose their jobs or promotions because of discrimination, and women areharassed at work or people with disabilities are denied opportunities. Harassment, whether by a supervisor or co-worker, creates a barriere to equality by demeaning its victims, interfering with their ability to work effectively and, in some instances, even forcing them to resign. Eventhough there is plenty of publicity surrounding this issue, studies consistently show that women continue to face harassment in the workplace. No organization can afford to lose the talent of its female staff because of outdated attitudes, the imposition of higher standards for women, or a failure to give women the opportunity to acquire relevant experience in key areas of the organization. There is a need for employers to take a hard look at lingering stereotypes and misconceptions and to ensure that high-potential women benefit equally with men from career-enhancing. Although it is not often spoken of, there are occasionally occurrences of sexual discrimination against men. Imagine a day-care center where 12 women and one male work. You are a first time mother and for the first time you are leaving your two year old child in the care of someone else for an entire day. Many women would be likely to ask for their child to remain in the care of strictly some females, due to their loving caring nature and maternal instincts. If you think about this it is obvious how males could getdiscriminated against by women, it is just not reported as often because most men do not want all that attention, and feel it would be better to just forget about it. Employers have a responsibility to: I) provide a working environment that is free from harassment and discrimination; and, ii) deal effectively, quickly and fairly with any situations involving claims of harassment or discrimination that come to their attention. Employers could be held liable by a court or tribunal if they or their managers do not act to put an end to discrimination or harassment in their workplaces. There are several questions that are not allowed to be asked of an employee not only surrounding gender. For example questions about or relating to physical characteristics such as color of eyes, hair, height, weight, or requests for photographs. Questions about speaking English or French fluently, unless to do so is a reasonable and bonafide requirement for the position are also strictly prohibited. Questions about or relating to religious affiliation, religious institutions attended, religious holidays, customs observed,willingness to work on a specific day which may conflict with requirements of a particular faith (e. . Saturday or Sunday Sabbath days)are also against the law. The human rights laws however do come in handy as a way for victims to fight back. How a human rights complaint is handled varies from country to country. In Ontario an individual who believes he or she has been the victim of some form of discrimination asserts his or her rights by filing a complaint with the human rights commission. The complaint is then investigated by an officer of the commission who will try to reach a settlement with the parties involved. If the officers attempts to arrive at a settlement fail and it is concluded that the complaint has merit, a recommendation will be made to the Minister of Labor to appoint a board of inquiry. The board will then conduct a formal hearing, where both parties have the opportunity to present their cases. In Ontario, the board of inquiry has the authority to direct the offending party to do anything necessary to comply with the code, such as ordering restitution for monetary loss and awarding up to $10 000 for mental anguish. When a formal complaint to the human rights commission is made, it can get very expensive an time consuming for the company. As a general rule, the commission publishes settlements and awards that are viewed as having a public education value, thus damaging the company†s reputation. Aside from both the cost and the damage to the company†s reputation employers should recognize that promoting an equal opportunity work place can also help motivate employees and improve a company†s performance. Apart from the adverse publicity, human rights laws have penalties such as a monetary awards, public apologies, reinstatement of employees or orders of financial compensation for lost time, expenses incurred, and damages to professional or personal reputation and fires. Human rights officials can also order companies to make a job offer to a complainant, begin an affirmative action program in the company or sen staff to the discrimination awareness seminars. If a company has a government contract , the board may even seek cancellation of that contract. To avoid the above consequences there are five steps that can be followed to ensure equal opportunity in any workplace. The first step is to make a clear corporate commitment to human rights. Senior executives should declare their commitment and be accountable at each tier of the management structure. There should be a written policy on discrimination distributed to every member of the company. The second step is to examine recruiting procedures. Employers should look for anything that may offend the aw, such as unusual language or physical requirements, unless it can be proven essential to the job. Application forms should be reviewed and interviews should avoid any conduct or comments that could be perceived as discriminatory. The third step is to monitor the workplace. Management has an obligation to intervene if there is any evidence of harassment or discriminatory behavior. Consider providing a hotline whereby employees can report to. Harvey†s, which is operated by CARA limited, has a fairly complex yet easy to follow policy, that other companies could follow. It is five page typed policy that was last updated in May of 1995. It defines sexual harassment as â€Å"deliberate and unsolicited and can be offensive sexual comments, gestures or physical contact that are unwanted or offensive either on a first time basis or as a continuous series of incidents. It may also involve favours, promises of favours, advantages in return for giving in to sexual advances or, the threat of revenge for refusing them. It states that flirtation, or a workplace romance between two consenting persons is not harassment. (Cara Operations limited, 1) Teammates who feel that they are being sexually harassed should immediately SAY NO!!!!! The employee is responsible of immediately making sure that the offender is out of line and that the behaviour is totally inappropriate. 2) The employee is encouraged to approach his or her supervisor and/or a member of the Human Resource Team for guidance. 3) The employee is encouraged to immediately file a complaint with the Human Resource Department. There are also five steps that management guarantees they will take when a complaint of harassment is filed. First they will ensure than an examination of the complaint will take place immediately. Next they will advise the alleged person that a complaint has been lodged. Then an interview with all persons involved will take place. Interviews will be taken with any witnesses followed by a clearly, accurately filled out document. On the final page of the policy, there is a section entitled â€Å"corrective action†. It basically states that is an offender is found guilty he/she will be terminated. It also states that if it is found that someone has intentionally wrongfully accused someone then he/she will be terminated as well. Other methods of corrective action that are stated are suspension, or loss of responsibilities. As you have seen sexual discrimination and harassment are two acts that go hand and hand, and unfortunately they are both issues that are delt with much too often. If all workplaces joined together and made similar policies that are strictly enforced, perhaps our world would be a little more equal, and discrimination would be unheard of. How to cite Sexual Discrimination in the Workplace, Essay examples

Cormac McCarthy Biography free essay sample

Both athletes and fans believe that audience support (e. g. , cheering) is one of the top influences on a teams success, particularly at home when the crowd is predominantly supportive, possibly contributing to reported home-field advantage (Courneya Carron, 1992). Yet there are few experimental investigations of whether distinctive types of audience feedback have differential effects on athletes performance of particular sports skills. In this study, college athletes performed a familiar task in their respective sport (pitching, free throw shooting, hitting a golf ball) n front of audiences who cheered, Jeered, and remained silent, depending on the assigned condition. Basketball players free throw performance was unaffected by audience condition, but Jeers hurt performance for baseball pitchers, and Jeers and cheers resulted in worse performance for golfers. Audiences or fans can impact performance, but impact may depend on sport, the specific sport skill, and specific audience behavior. Implications for understanding the role of audiences and home- field advantage are considered. We will write a custom essay sample on Cormac McCarthy Biography or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There are a number of factors that can influence an athletes performance during a game other than the athletes skill. Athletes must perform in front of crowds in every game, and crowds express their feelings about athletes performances by, for instance, cheering (supporting them) or Jeering (discouraging them). The presence of such an audience may affect team and individual athlete performance. Social facilitation has been characterized as the effect of observers on individual performance (Butler Baumeister, 1998; ZaJonc, 1965). In general, research shows the presence of one or more spectators can enhance performance if the skill is easy or well learned, but performance may decrease if the task is difficult or unfamiliar (Cottrell, Wack, Sekerak, Rittle, 1968; Forgas, Brennan, Howe, Kane, Sweet, 1980; Strauss, 2002a; ZaJonc, 1965). For example, in one of the earliest studies on social facilitation, Travis (1925) found that participants engaged in a pursuit-rotor task performed significantly better (made fewer tracking