Nov 8,2007 - Paragraph Writing Practice 7B

In got up early this morning, prepared the breakfast for the whole family. After finished it, I have to sent all my three dears to kindergarten before 8am and hurry to the textile factory for the interviewing appointment at 9am by taxi owing to the heavy traffic in Manchester. It's really often raining here that made me blue and annoyed. Fortunately, I got recruited by the textile factory and I can start to work from next Monday. What's more, I can take the shuttle bus to the factory every morning at the bus stop near my dears' kindergarten. In the afternoon, I went to the supermarket to grab some vegetables and bread for today's dinner. At 4pm, I went to pick up my three dears and then cooked dinner when my husband helping children with their homework. After dinner, my husband washed the dish and I did laundry. About nine o'clock, all we family gathered in the living room sharing interesting news happened today. We went to bed together at 10:30pm. The life here is busier and more crowded than the small farming village I ever lived before; however, it's more convenient and newfangled, I believe we will get used soon and getting better and better.

Nov 8, 2007 - Graph Analysis Practice

The graph shows the everage daily use of the D.C. metro. During the day, 8am and 6pm imply the highest number of passangers use and the lowest at 6am and 4pm. From 6am to 10am, the spiked shape of the trend could be attributed to the rush hour people hurrying to work. From 10am to 4pm, there is a rise and then falling shape but not that sharp owing to the lunch time. From 4pm to 8pm, there shows a spiked shape of trend again due to the rush hour people are off duty to go back home. In summary, the D.C. metro is much more crowded at 8am and 6pm than at the other time during the day.

Nov 6, 2007 - CH4 7B:2 Paragraph Writing practice

When I was a junior in the college, I began to search information about getting a job. Surprisingly, I found that English capacity really influence a lot on candidate competition. Actually there is no big deal for Asian students' English skill in listening, reading, and writing. What really matters, and the most important as well, is the skill in English speaking. Therefore, I joined Toastnasters in NTU and founded a new one in NCCU. What I thought was trying to create more "English Speaking" environment for our college students. During our regular meetings, we held several sessions in variety, like joke session, table topic session, prepared speaking session, and evaluation session. The goal is to encourage club members to SPEAK UP. As a leader of the club, I have to play the role like a pioneer who is brave and enjoy speaking English naturally even sometimes made grammar mistakes. It's really fun and meaningful for all of us and improve our communication skills in English quite a lot. Although the learning stuff of my third year in college is the toughest, I not only managed my time much better but more concentrated on my academic learning because I treated Toastmaster learning as a kind of ENJOY, so it kept my life balance and went well. Even I continue my study career in US now, I still gain a lot of benefit of the Speak Up Courage learned in Toastmasters club.

Oct 9, 2007 - Paragraph Writing practice

The only movie about dinosaurs I have ever seen is Jurassic Park when I was in elementary school. What impressed me most is the dramatic sequences that even the eliminated creatures can be reborn by artificial works. Besides, in the last half part of the movie, there were three velociraptors wanted to kill the main characters in the kitchen, it's incredible that the dinosaurs are so smart that they even can open the door. Although Jurassic Park is fictional, it reminded people of the extinct species ever lived on the earth and give it a new image on it's characteristics.

Oct9, 2007 - Aslan: conclusion analysis

The rising proportion of foreign graduate students in economics raises a number
of broader issues that deserve the attention of the profession. Some

tentative observations are presented below.

Forty-five percent of our respondents planned to enter the U.S. labor market for a time, and 15 percent planned to stay permanently. Although the influx of foreign students does not seem to be changing the predominantly male composition of the economics profession in the United States, it may raise the degree of ethnic and racial diversity. It may also change the content or style of economics education. U.S. economics departments are recruiting a growing number of foreign-born professors. Our interviews (and a perusal of biographies of faculty at
eight leading economics departments) suggest that the research and teaching interests
of this group of professors often include international and comparative dimensions
like economies in transition, development, political economy of poverty, and international finance.
Forty percent of our respondents planned to leave the United States before or immediately after graduation. Upon their return, these U.S.-trained economists are likely to influence the teaching and practice of economics in their countries. Ninety
percent of the students who planned to work for academic institutions said they would replicate their notes, textbooks and course syllabi to some extent. How such
materials will be adapted, if at all, to the circumstances and concerns of specific
countries is a matter that merits further inquiry.

In the paragraphs above, the author draws the audiences' attention to the importance on the internationalization of economic education owing to the rising proportion of international graduate students by offering some finding data as the evidence to strengthen the author's position.
Besides, in the second and third paragraphs, the author not only offered the readers quantative data,but the author claimed some qualitative analysis and assumptions which didn't be discussed in this article( the limitation of this research) based on the current survey data. Thus, in the end of the third paragraph, the author indicated that the evidences and assumptions above could be some references in the future research. It offers the audiences concerned about this subject much clearier about the extent of this research and some directions about the further work.

The large number of foreign students who are looking to non-academic careers could support the claim that curricular change is necessary to bridge the gap between
theoretical and applied economics. Others may argue that instead of reforming doctoral programs, the needs of these students could be met by improving the quality and availability of master’s programs in economics, perhaps with a focus in specific policy areas. Recent examples of shorter, more policy-focused master’s proNahid
Aslanbeigui and Vero´nica Montecinos 181 grams include the Program in Economic Policy Management at Columbia University (supported by the World Bank), programs proposed or implemented by the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in south-Saharan Africa, and various programs being developed throughout Central and Eastern Europe (Goodwin and Kayode, 1993; Goodwin, 1995). Also, there are recent efforts to create or improve local doctoral programs in economics in less developed regions (Fine, 1997).

In this paragraph, the author mentioned the alternative arguments of this article by indicating that some people may think it's more necessary to improve the quality and availability of MASTER'S programs in economics and some specific policy areas than focus on the reforming of doctoral programs. To give the alternative argument support, the author make some practical examples which has been conducted. It's the claim about the limitations of this research which only discuss about the necessity of internationalization of economic educations in doctoral programs, rather than the comparison between the signifacance of improving doctoral and master's programs. Thus, the author gave hints about the directions in the future work( for example: fill the gap whether to improve the doctoral programs in economics or to emphasize on the improvement of quality and availability of master's programs is more important than the other)

Many believe that the export of U.S.-style economics is a valuable contribution
to the welfare of nations (Harberger, 1993; Williamson, 1994). In some cases, politically savvy and technically skilled economists have contributed to the consolidation of economic reforms under democratic institutions. If economists’ technical credentials and skills are employed to encourage pragmatic cooperation among political parties and social groups, they may help reduce market and social instability (Montecinos, 1993; Domı´nguez, 1997). However, critics worry that some less desirable traits of the profession are also being replicated on a world scale (Amsden, 1992). For example, some analysts have argued that in Latin America, technically skilled economists may be so convinced of their diagnoses and solutions that when they obtain significant power over crucial policy decisions, they tend to bypass or sidestep representative bodies (Centeno, 1994; O’Donnell, 1995; Centeno and Silva, forthcoming). Others are concerned with what they feel is the inability of economists to address socially important but less quantifiable issues (Smelser and Swedberg, 1994).
The growing internationalization of economics education is a crucial dimension of the evolution of the economics profession. It deserves more systematic attention
both within and outside economics.

In the last second paragraph, although the author indicated the positive side of the export of U.S.-style economics, he claimed some possibly risks of it in the other side, which reemphasizes the significance of internationalization of economic education.So in the last paragraph, it restates the importance of the internationalization of economics education.

Oct.4, 2007 - Aslan: Introduction Analysis

The growing presence of foreign students in U.S. doctoral programs in economics is an indication of a trend toward internationalization of economics(Coats, 1997). Although the number of doctorates has remained relatively stable over the last quarter century (at approximately 800 degrees annually), the proportion of these doctorates conferred on foreign students has increased from 20.5 percent (183 in total) in 1972 to 43 percent (368) in 1988 (Bowen and Rudenstine, 1992, p. 378). Our own survey of 51 Ph.D. programs in economics, to be described below, indicated that 52 percent of the doctoral students in economics were foreigners in 1995–96. The share of foreign students receiving doctorates is much higher in economics than in the social or physical sciences, but lower than that in engineering fields (National Science Foundation, 1987, xii).

Move1: context
- In the first sentence of this paragraph, it showed the trend that more and more foreign student's in U.S. doctoral programs in economics influences America toward internationalization of economics to point out the growing interest about the subject of this research. So, the author cited some historical data about the growth percentage of foreign students in U.S. as the support of the background of this research. Besides, the author also mentioned a little about the data result in this research to offer some evidence to support it.

Some studies have examined the general flow of foreign students to the United
States, or their fate upon returning to their countries (Barber, 1985; Goodwin and
Nacht, 1986; NSF, 1987). But to our knowledge, only a few inquiries have considered

foreign doctoral students in U.S. economics programs

. Among them are Rao (1995) and Montecinos and Aslanbeigui (1997), which discuss the issues of time-to-completion and foreign students’ choice of country of residence. Valde´s (1995) has analyzed the trajectory of the ‘‘Chicago Boys’’ in Chile.

Move2: Problem
- In the second paragraph, the author pointed out although there are a lot of work about the flow of foreign student in U.S. has been done before, there still exits the gap, that is the still unknown about the concerntration of the foreign doctoral students in U.S. economics programs. It spotlights why this research should be conducted to fill this gap.

In this article, we use data from our survey as well as evidence from other sources to

present

a profile of

foreign students in U.S. doctoral programs

; to

explore the factors

behind the growing internationalization of U.S. graduate economics education;

to shed light on foreign students’ interests, career plans and assessment of the training they are receiving

; and to

draw attention to implications and questions

for further research in this area.

Move3: Response
- To fill this gap, in the first part of this paragraph it mentioned about the methodology of how this research filled the gap mentioned in the paragraph above and the scope of this research concerned about, like the data from the survey and the evidence from other sources to present .....foreign students in U.S. doctoral programs. And in the second part the author discussed about the purposes of this research.
-Besides, from the content of the second part of this paragraph, the audience of this research may be the administrators or the professors of U.S. doctoral program developement.

Oct 2, 2007 - Effective Thesis Statements Practice

1. In this article, it will examine the negative environmental effects of commercial development owing to the recession in Taiwan during the past decade based on the historical economy data published by government.

2. TV commercials are obnoxious because it disturbs the person who is intent on watching a good show.

4. Although some people think rap music has negative image in the society, more than half editors of top ten fashion magazines indicated that rap music has significant influence on the clothing style due to its creative and original characteristics.

5. One of the senior officials of NASA indicated recently that unless people are conscious of pollution, the world will be destroyed by the year 2050 because the ozone hole has got larger and larger.

8. Although some people think the World's Fair was exciting for little children, it was a disaster actually because of the argument it claimed is just conflicting with the evidence used to support it.