Best Writer

Each week we will have devotions from The Financial Stewardship Bible (CEV). Each devotion has four key sections:
PRAY. Take a moment to connect with God. Ask him to help you understand his Word. Begin with focus and openness to see what God has for you.
READ. Read the selected Scripture slowly. Mark intriguing words and phrases and read them a second time.
REFLECT. Take time to think. Reflect on what grabs you. Examine your attitudes and priorities. Think through what God is communicating to you at this point in your life.
RESPOND. Speak to God directly about what is on your mind and heart. Take action. Create a plan. Design a budget. Strive to be generous, and start by giving yourself to God.
Week One – Wrong Master, Wrong Outcomes
PRAY. God, help me connect with you as I seek to know you and understand your Word.
READ. Romans 6:16-18, Matthew 6:24-26. You probably don’t think of yourself as a slave, but Romans 6 says otherwise, implying that your only choice is whether you are a slave to sin or a slave of God. Choosing one master leads to death; choosing the other pleases God and sets you free. Matthew 6 poses another shock: your choice of masters is God or money. If you’re like most people reading this, your response is predictable: “I would never choose money over God.” If only the choice were that obvious. Unfortunately, it never is. The world’s value system – distorted by Satan – subtly leads us into rationalization and self-deception.
REFLECT. What are your highest priorities in life? How do you know? How are they proven by your time and money management? Do you worry more about making ends meet or pleasing God through trust and obedience?
RESPOND. God knows that money is one of his greatest competitors for your heart. Decide now not to let it master you. Choose, and keep on choosing, the right master. You may want to pray this prayer: Lord, help me to see when my actions serve money rather than you. You are the only one worthy of my trust; I consciously choose you.

Assignment Guide: The Persuasive Letter

Assignment Prompt
For this assignment, you will be writing a letter compelling a friend or family member to change either a behavior or a belief with which you disagree. Choose your own topic, but for example, this letter could petition an enthusiastic neighbor to scale down his blinding Christmas decorations, an immature cousin to take a gap year between high school and college, a grandparent to vote to pass the new school district budget, a friend to stop drinking, or a spouse to reconcile with an estranged sibling. Because the letter will be written to an individual of your choosing, you must tailor your language and logic to the person to whom you are writing.

Assignment-Specific Requirements:
Length: This assignment should be at least 750 words.

Thesis: Underline your thesis statement or the main claim of your letter.

Sources Needed: None required. Cite if used, following MLA guidelines.

Page Formatting: Use MLA guidelines. Also add an opening salutation (e.g. Dear Sarah, or Hello, Jon.), and a closing salutation & signature (Best regards, Tom or Sincerely, Liza)

MLA Requirements: See Formatting your Essay: MLA 8th Edition

Rhetorical Mode
The goal of persuasive writing is to get a reader (your audience) to agree with your point of view. Persuasive writing blends facts and emotion to convince the reader that the writer is right. This genre relies on opinion and emotion to a greater extent than argumentative writing, but in moving a reader, the successful persuasive letter also deploys logically sound argumentation and quite often researched support and fact.

Rhetorical Considerations
Purpose:
The purpose of drafting a persuasive letter is to move your reader to agree with your point of view. Persuasion is single-minded; it is based on a conviction that a particular way of thinking or acting is the only way to go; all of the energy of the letter works toward this end. As a writer, you will present one side–your side. While an opposing point should be mentioned, it is only mentioned to be refuted or dismissed in the service of your position.

Audience:
Persuasive writing is almost always written with a particular audience in mind. For this piece of writing, you will direct your persuasive letter to one person. Thus, your audience is not imagined, but rather very real, and that person and their characteristics will inform many of the choices you make as a writer. The persuasive letter requires constant negotiation with another person’s mind. At every phase of the writing process, as you prewrite, draft, and revise, this assignment will ask you to imagine and anticipate how your reader feels, responds, and thinks.

Discuss Five Features of a Persuasive Letter
Rhetorical Situation: Persuasive Writing vs. Argumentative Writing: Persuasive writing, in a way, is a form of argumentative writing; however, the goal of persuasive writing is to get a reader or group of readers to agree with you/your point of view on a particular topic, and the goal of argumentative writing is to get the reader to acknowledge that your side is valid and is worth considering. Persuasive writing blends facts with emotion in an attempt to convince the reader that the writer is “right,” while in argumentative writing, the writer cites relevant reasons, credible facts, and sufficient evidence in order to convince the reader to consider a particular perspective. The nuances are subtle but important to consider. (Later in this course you will be crafting an argument and will see the differences in these genres of writing with greater clarity. The letter makes balanced use of the three rhetorical appeals to persuade a reader to change a behavior or belief. The three appeals, which come to us from that consequential deceased Greek, Aristotle, are:

Ethos: a writer’s or speaker’s credibility. In your letter, therefore, ethos is you, sort of. It’s the “you” that your writing transmits to your reader, the sum total of your tone and language choices, and also the values and intelligence that your writing communicates. Therefore, be vigilant with your work because ethos is the appeal that’s most immediately harmed by faulty word choices, punctuation mistakes, and lapses in tone.

Pathos: the appeal to a reader’s emotions and values. Get your reader to feel. Play (in a non-evil way) on their emotions–their compassion, their fears, their sense of community.

Logos: the appeal to a reader’s logic or reason. Ensure your claims are logical, free of fallacies, and backed with specific support.

Organization: Organize using argumentative structure: an introduction with a thesis/main claim, body paragraphs that advance points in support of the thesis/main claim, and a conclusion.

Transitions: Uses transitional phrases to connect your ideas and move the reader forward smoothly and logically between sentences.

Known Audience: The letter’s appeals are personalized to the reader’s characteristics–their professional role and its obligations, as well as their values and emotions.

Formal or Informal Writing? The tone of the letter depends upon the recipient and your relationship and also upon subject matter. The tone should enhance the letter’s persuasive efforts, not undermine them. Always strive for a respectful approach.

Mini-Lesson on ETHOS – PATHOS – LOGOS
Plan to use these appeals heavily throughout your Persuasive Letter.

Ethos

This is an ethical appeal. It relies on your reliability and credibility as the author.

Includes reliable sources

Is written from an unbiased perspective

Shows the writer’s expertise through the presentation of careful insight and research

Pathos

This is an emotional appeal. It relies on the construction of careful connection between the claims presented and the emotions of the readers.

Includes the writer’s values and beliefs

Uses stories or examples that convey emotion

Contains broader appeal and focus

Logos

This is an appeal to logic and reason. It relies on facts and figures that can convince the reader of the claims.

Relies on fact and opinion

Focuses on reasonable claims and organization of ideas

Only includes relevant material with a narrow focus

Situational Case Study
Buena Vista Racing Corporation planned a new regional stock car racing track and spectator grandstand facility in the Township of Hopewell Springs, West Virginia. The new facility would replace an existing grandstand and bleachers with a new, modern, fully enclosed air-conditioned grandstand with state-of-the-art video and sound systems, a motor racing museum, and restaurant and support facilities. The existing oval racing track will be replaced with a new track surface and sidewalls, stadium lighting for nighttime racing, and crew pit areas and 5000 SF support maintenance building. The budget has been set at $65 million with design-build (DB) selected as the project delivery system.

A contract award has been made to the VMI Construction Corp of Lexington, VA. with an agreement signed between Buena Vista Racing Corp and VMI. Design-Build was selected by Buena Vista as the PDS because of the need to fast-track the project. The project has a contract completion date of 18 months after the Notice to Proceed (NTP) – to be ready for the opening summer event that will accommodate 75,000 racing enthusiasts.

A guaranteed maximum price (GMP) for the project was set for $65,255,000 with the completion of 75% construction documents (CDs), including the design, the construction work, construction management fees, and general conditions. A contingency fund of $3,000,000 under the control of both the project owner and the design-build contractor was agreed on and included in the overall price of the contract amount. A savings clause was also included in the contract where VMI Construction would receive 25% of the savings amount below the GMP.

Explain how societal conceptualizations o human sexuality are conflicting with and/or influenced by our biological.

Write a paragraph for each of the following four prompts:

Reflect on the process of choosing your topic for your final essay.
Did you encounter any challenges as a result of your topic choice?
Did you learn any surprising or interesting information?
Did you find any information that changed your mind about the best argument for your chosen controversial topic?

Look back at your outline assignment.
How closely does your final draft follow your outline assignment?
If you made any changes, why did you make them?
How did they make your essay stronger?
Discuss ways that you think you could have strengthened your original essay.

Think about the process of conducting research.
How difficult was it for you to find sources relevant to your chosen topic?
Look at the publication dates of the articles you chose. How recent are they?
Was it important for your topic to have sources that were recent?
Describe any problems or successes you had as you searched.
Explain why you ultimately chose the sources that you did, and discuss any sources you may have looked at but decided not to use, explaining why you did not incorporate them.

Describe your experience with the revision and editing process.
Are these stages something that come naturally to you, or do you find that you are reluctant to make changes after completing your first draft?
What changes would you say that you made during the revision process that ultimately had the biggest impact on your essay?
How helpful was the review that you received from your peer?
Was there any feedback from your peer that you used to strengthen your essay? Were there any suggestions that you ultimately did not incorporate? Explain your reasoning.

Thoroughly describe the disorder in terms of symptom presentation and DSM-5 diagnostic criteria.
Discuss treatment options for this disorder, being sure to outline both pharmacological and psychotherapy-based options.
Select a minimum of one peer reviewed scholarly journal article from the APUS Library that relates to your selected diagnosis. Summarize the article and discuss how it relates to your selected diagnosis.
The required minimum length of this paper is 8 pages, in addition to a required a cover page and a reference list. Papers must comply with APA formatting rules, including font size and margins, and must have a scholarly focus and tone. Quoting of published material and use of the first-person “I” are not permitted and will result in point loss. All source material must be paraphrased into your own words and cited appropriately.

I need these bullet points completed for a case study on Lululemon, using Wall Street Journal and Business Source Complete as sources if applicable. The page and word count do not matter as long as all bullet points are discussed.
Internal and external analysis (SWOT analysis)
Thorough examination of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
Explain in a narrative
Central issues affecting company
Two to three
To help them improve current operations or positioning them for future success
Why they are important
Central recommendation
One
Based on analysis
Why is it important
How to implement central recommendation
Should be in detail and include financial responsibility
Necessary steps to ensure successful implementation
Test strategy or fully commit at beginning?
Who is responsible for performance?
cost?
How to pay for it?
when will it be implemented?
how will competitors react?

Analyze how both the environment (nurture) and genetics (nature) can either have a positive or negative effect on a child.

Discuss the following:History/Origin, Pharmacology, Methods of misuse/subjective effects of inhalants
Complications induced y misuse

A. Background Information

The City of Anywhere, USA has two public high schools, both of which need critical classroom expansions and extensive repairs for its aging infrastructure and building conditions. The board of education is tasked with selecting the best procurement and project delivery procedures to get the schools designed and built. The program has not been fully budgeted at this time, but early cost estimates place project costs in the range of $75,000,000. In addition, it has been 20 years since the school district has been involved with a major capital construction program. Furthermore, its previous experience with a PDS has been limited to the traditional design-bid build, lump sum delivery system. The board’s planning committee is very inexperienced with processes related to the design and construction of major school projects. The ad hoc committee is composed of representatives from the faculty, staff, board of education, parents and community persons working with the school district.

The school district’s planning committee has contracted with a local program management (PM) firm to serve as the owner’s representative for the building program. You are the designated project executive for the PM. And while the project is considered a public works program, relatively new state laws allow for a variety of project delivery systems (PDS) to be used to design and construct the building additions and renovations. Procurement options include design-build-build (DBB), design-build (DB), agency construction management (CM), and construction management at risk (CMR). The initial task for the firm is to fully explain the options (pros and cons) to the planning committee and to make a PDS recommendation. Thus, a recommendation to depart from the traditional DBB method of project delivery will take a well-documented reasoned evaluation and presentation from the PM.

B. Situational Case Study No. 1 Questions

1. The key issue to address is why the school district should depart from the traditional form of project delivery. Inexperienced public owners appropriately are hesitant to take on risks that are not fully understood. Define the pros and cons of each PDS and provide a persuasive reasoning for why or why not the PDS may be appropriate for this project.

2. Finally a consensus needs to be sought by the planning committee and the board of education. They will rely upon the recommendation of the PM to the board of education that they can understand, accept and defend to their constituents. Make a case and recommendation for the PDS that is the most appropriate for the project.

A. Design-Bid-Build

1. Pros

2. Cons

B. Design-Build

1. Pros

2. Cons

C. CM as Agent

1. Pros

2. Cons

D. CM at Risk

1. Pros

2. Cons

E. Project Delivery Recommendation